Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 66

“They went in alone without telling us? And here we were thinking about sharing food with them… As expected, kind people always lose out.”

Though his tone was sharp, his relaxed expression showed he was relieved. However, one person who was feeling guilty for not informing them despite knowing seemed not to notice this expression.

‘There’s no need to feel so sorry.’

Seokjae glanced at Muyoung, who was checking the atmosphere beside him, and spoke.

“Did you want to go into the bunker with them?”

“No? Not at all. Even if they asked me to come along, I would’ve refused. I just feel like I wasted time worrying about it.”

Upon hearing this straightforward answer, the cloud over Muyoung’s face instantly cleared. Seeing this easy-to-read change, Seokjae let out a deflating chuckle, while Kyungho, standing in front of the table, asked in a quiet voice.

“Why?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Wouldn’t a bunker be safe, and probably have a lot of food? Isn’t it worth waiting for…? If we ask, wouldn’t they open the door for us?”

Kyungho, who had been quietly examining the contract, trailed off while fiddling with the paper, seemingly reluctant to let go.

“You…”

Junwoo frowned as if he was about to lose his temper. He was frustrated. He knew that the timid Kyungho preferred staying in one place rather than moving. It’s not like they hadn’t tried to stay in one place before.

At first, he too thought the situation would end soon and wanted to stay in a safe place. But the situation didn’t end as quickly as they thought, and what they experienced was the malice of people in isolated places and despair over the stagnant situation.

It’s not that zombies rushing at them weren’t scary. But it was better than the helplessness of thinking this horrific situation would continue until death.

Junwoo wanted to live like a human, and he wanted the same for his precious friend, Kyungho. He wanted to return with his friend to the days when the college entrance exam was the biggest hardship in life, as soon as possible.

‘Is it because I caught a cold?’

Maybe his friend, who had been patient and doing well all this time, was wavering due to staying in one place for too long. Junwoo, feeling sorry that Kyungho was struggling because of him, tried to comfort him in his own way.

“Hey, you want to force your way into a place with a woman and a child? Besides, we’re really close to the outskirts now. If we endure a little more, we can return to normal life. Do you think it’s right to give that up and stay here for days, no, maybe months?”

After a moment of silence, Kyungho put the paper on the table and answered.

“You’re right. Just a little more…”

“Yeah, man. Just hang in there a bit more and we’ll be out! Besides, now we have Muyoung hyung with us.”

Muyoung, who had been tense thinking the two were fighting, was startled by the sudden mention of his name and opened his eyes wide like a rabbit, then came to his senses and nodded vigorously.

“Y-yeah? That’s right. I’ll do my best, Kyungho.”

Seeing him clench his fist as if saying to just trust him, Seokjae silently sighed. It seemed he had completely forgotten his promise not to do dangerous things alone.

“We should work hard together. Don’t think about doing it alone. Right?”

Seokjae interjected, tapping Muyoung’s fist, which looked about as powerful as a cat’s paw, with his finger, intending to remind him of the promise.

“Ah, I didn’t mean to pressure you. Of course, I’ll work hard too, so just assign me anything.”

“That’s right. We should work hard together. Thank you, hyung.”

“Hyung, guys…”

Although it was just a preventive measure in case Muyoung might cause trouble, the three misunderstood his intentions differently, and suddenly the atmosphere became warm as they strengthened their resolve.

Seokjae knew they had misinterpreted his words, but seeing Muyoung’s eyes sparkling with emotion, he decided it didn’t matter and let it slide.

Afterwards, Junwoo, who had been enduring hunger, suggested they should eat now, and the two growing teenagers shared the meal left by the departed owners. With this, the encounter with the two who had stayed as guests came to a complete end.

As the sun began to set, a small ‘clank’ sound came from the front gate that hadn’t been opened for days.

“…”

After a while, when nothing unusual happened, Seokjae peeked through the opened gap to survey the alley. Confirming that there were no moving entities up to the point where the alley of mixed houses and villas curved, he gestured to those behind him to follow.

Seeing the signal, Muyoung quickly stood by his side, with Kyungho and Junwoo following closely behind. Originally, the lead position would have been Seokjae’s alone, but it was an achievement won by persuading him that having two people was better for responding to situations than being alone.

“Don’t get separated.”

Seokjae glanced at Muyoung standing beside him and spoke as if giving a warning.

“Yes.”

Muyoung nodded, tightly gripping the baseball bat he had found in the house before coming out.

In the winding alley, no sound was heard except for the footsteps of the four people. If it weren’t for the bloodstains here and there and the rotten smell that wafted with each gust of wind, the alley bathed in sunset would have looked incredibly peaceful.

‘I thought there would be a few zombies wandering around since it’s been quite some time since they were cleared out…’

Whether it was because more people had evacuated before martial law was declared as they got closer to the outskirts, or because many zombies had entered buildings chasing prey, it seemed the number of individuals roaming the streets was decreasing.

‘Well… even if I don’t know the exact reason, it’s good for us, I guess.’

Muyoung, who had been extremely tense as it was his first time out in a while and unlike before, now had people to protect, felt relieved at the situation that was safer than expected.

The four of them passed through several blocks without encountering anyone.

After a while, a wide road appeared at the end of a straight path. They had reached the commercial area. At that moment, Muyoung, who had been moving as close to the wall as possible following Seokjae’s lead, heard a sound he would have preferred not to hear again from beyond the last corner leading to the main road.

“…Grrrr.”

Muyoung immediately grabbed Seokjae’s clothes. At his restraint, everyone stopped moving, and Muyoung carefully checked beyond the corner. Apart from abandoned vehicles and scattered signboards, nothing was visible.

‘I definitely heard it though.’

Just as he was about to lean out a bit more to make sure, a sound like something being scraped – kkkrrr – was heard.

Following that sound, Muyoung turned his gaze and almost made an “Ugh…” sound as if shuddering, like when he was alone, but he covered his mouth.

‘Ugh.’

On the sidewalk not far away, a zombie with its lower body horribly torn off, its intestines spilled onto the concrete floor, was crawling face down. No, it was flailing its arms trying to move forward, but its fingertips, already rotten and decayed to the bone, couldn’t even drag the weight of the body with only the upper half remaining, leaving dark red marks as they scraped along the ground.

This horrifying being, which wouldn’t die unless attacked in the head or neck area, kept moving incessantly despite losing more than half of its body.

‘No wonder the smell seemed to be getting worse. It wasn’t because we were getting closer to the main road, but because it was right next to us.’

Although he felt nauseous at the terrible state of the first zombie he saw after coming out, which happened to be horrific, on the other hand, he thought they were lucky because it wouldn’t be a threat as long as they didn’t get close.

The zombie’s head was also facing the opposite direction from them, so if they just passed by quietly, they wouldn’t attract the attention of other zombies that might be hiding somewhere with noise.

“…This way.”

Seokjae must have also noticed the being on the ground, as he whispered quietly before walking towards the center of the road. The kids behind must have seen the miserable state of the zombie too. Their breathing became rougher, but they remained quiet.

If there were zombies on the road, it would have been safer to advance using the ones on the sidewalk as cover. But now, as the straight road was empty, the danger was more likely to come from zombies jumping out from shops or other alleys.

They chose to move away from the sidewalk to buy enough time to escape in case of an emergency, and advanced with slow steps until they were far enough that the zombie on the ground couldn’t sense them. Then, when the chilling sound of bones scraping the ground was no longer audible, they gradually increased their speed.

In less than a few minutes, the four reached the point where the line of commercial buildings ended.

“Let’s go in there.”

Seokjae, who had been checking store signs since the buildings started to become sparse, found what he wanted and grabbed Muyoung’s wrist before turning his head to convey his intention to the kids. The hand holding his weapon was pointing at a store with “Bicycle Rental” written in large letters.

At his gesture, the three headed towards the store, avoiding the bicycles scattered in front of it, covered in viscous liquid and tangled together.

The folding-style entrance door was half-open and made of glass, making it easy to check the interior before entering. Unlike outside, inside the store, bicycles were neatly lined up on one side, with a reception desk at the very back.

Muyoung stood behind Seokjae, who was staring inside while clinging to the store door, and poked his head in. He intended to check for sounds and smells from inside.

‘We’ll need to check under the reception desk once we’re inside.’

Even after sniffing a few times and perking up his ears, nothing caught his attention. But given the creatures’ habit of suddenly jumping out when you’re feeling relaxed, a thorough check was necessary.

Just as Muyoung was about to take a step forward after finishing his thoughts, he felt a force grabbing his head. Startled, he looked up and met Seokjae’s eyes, who was holding his head with one hand like a claw machine grabbing a doll.