Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 67

“Muyoung.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Despite having his head suddenly grabbed, which could have been unpleasant, Muyoung immediately acknowledged his mistake when his name was called with a stern gaze.

“Don’t move alone.”

Seokjae also knew that Muyoung wouldn’t be harmed by zombies. So, before he could cause an incident that shouldn’t happen, he intended to train him to ‘wait’ in advance. That’s why he was deliberately being strict.

‘Tsk, next time I should scold him with his eyes covered or something.’

But seeing how quickly he lowered his tail just by calling his name once, it became difficult to say anything more, so he ended up just giving a warning instead of nagging.

“Yes.”

Muyoung reflected on his behavior, which was unbecoming of a survivor, not realizing he wasn’t actually being scolded.

‘I must have seemed careless…’

He had just acted as he always did, but it must have looked dangerous in Seokjae’s eyes. Not wanting to appear like a troublemaker to him, Muyoung furrowed his brow as he recalled the behaviors of survivors in his memory.

‘If I act that cautiously, it seems like he’ll try to solve everything before I can do anything.’

Even now, if he hadn’t poked his head in first, checking the safety inside the store would have been entirely Seokjae’s job. If that happened, there would be no point in him trying to stand beside him rather than behind him.

‘…Maybe if I speak before acting, it would work?’

Muyoung thought that the reason Seokjae stopped him was not only out of concern for safety but also because he acted suddenly without saying anything. After all, one person’s mistake could lead to the entire group’s demise, so it’s impossible to leave someone who moves without any warning alone.

Of course, even if he spoke, it didn’t seem likely that he would easily allow dangerous actions from a normal person’s perspective, but he thought there might be a possibility compared to now when he didn’t know what he was going to do.

‘And if he keeps insisting on doing everything alone, I have something to say too. He’s the one who said we should all work hard together.’

As much as he had been working alone to protect the children, it might be awkward for him to share the risks with Muyoung. But if he continued to show reliable behavior, he might come to see Muyoung not as someone to protect, but as someone he could trust to watch his back.

‘But, didn’t he trust me enough before to ask me to save him? Why now…?’

At the hotel, he had entrusted his life to Muyoung, whom he hadn’t even properly talked to, which was surprising. But now, as if that never happened, he was overprotecting him just like he did with Kyungho and Junwoo.

‘…Could it be that I’ve become less reliable during our time living together?’

Stunned, Muyoung recalled his behavior during the few days they spent at the residence.

‘I woke everyone up trying to throw away empty cans, burned my mouth while eating, and even got caught lying on the last day…’

There were many other incidents, and thinking about it all, he hadn’t been very reliable.

Kyungho and Junwoo had said they thought of their “benefactor” as an incredibly capable person with a special occupation… Even if not to that extent, Seokjae must have had some expectations too. What if the real Muyoung he met didn’t meet those expectations?

…Perhaps as their familiarity increased, the trust in his survival skills had inversely decreased.

‘This, this can’t be.’

Muyoung watched Seokjae, who was already inside the store, efficiently checking even behind the reception desk that he had intended to check himself. Judging by how he didn’t spare a single glance at Muyoung until he finished inspecting the interior, it seemed he had no intention of entrusting any tasks to him.

In fact, it didn’t make sense to look elsewhere while checking for the presence of zombies, but due to the great shock, Muyoung failed to realize this obvious fact.

‘This won’t do…!’

He had joined the group to protect Seokjae, who was a treasure to all of humanity, not to become a new subject of his protection. Muyoung pondered how he could regain the lost trust.

‘It’s probably because I haven’t had a chance to show my abilities for a while, so from now on… no, wait. If that’s the case, isn’t it better if there are no opportunities to show them?’

To be frank, apart from not being detected by zombies and having slightly better physical abilities, he had nothing exceptional. This meant that for his abilities to shine, he would need to encounter zombies.

‘I… I’m too awful.’

Hoping for danger to come just to gain Seokjae’s trust. He almost had such a terrible thought because he became impatient thinking Seokjae might be disappointed after learning his true nature.

‘Can-cancel! Cancel! Ptui ptui ptui!’

They say words can become reality, and even though he didn’t say it out loud, he frantically patted his lips and shouted internally, worried that he might jinx it.

I’ll earn your trust by working hard to show more mature behavior in the future, so please, don’t let any dangerous situations come, not even a little bit!

“It seems okay, so close the door and come… Muyoung, what on earth are you doing?”

Seokjae, who had quickly finished checking the store as it wasn’t large and didn’t have many blind spots, raised an eyebrow as he saw Muyoung frantically trying to take back his bad thoughts.

“Ah, it’s nothing. My mouth was a bit itchy, like there was dust on it…”

Right after vowing to show a more mature side! Embarrassed at immediately displaying strange behavior, Muyoung answered with an awkward smile.

“G-guys. Come in quickly.”

As Seokjae’s gaze didn’t leave him, Muyoung hurriedly called to the two people who were keeping watch behind them with tense expressions.

Click-

After letting Kyungho and Junwoo into the store, he quickly closed the open door, and the door lock engaged. After securing the door, the four people moved to the wall where they wouldn’t be visible from outside due to the angle, and sat down on the floor.

“Hah…”

“I’m dying…”

Although it wasn’t safe because the door was made of glass, Kyungho and Junwoo leaned against the wall, sighing deeply as if relieved by the sense of security provided by being indoors.

“Is it because we’ve been outside for the first time in a while? It’s really hot…”

Even though the sun was setting, the asphalt that had heated up during the day hadn’t cooled down, and heat was still rising from the ground. Junwoo muttered as he wiped away his sweat, struggling with the heat and humid air he had temporarily forgotten thanks to the comfortable indoor living.

“Yeah. Should we turn on the air conditioner for a bit?”

“Oh… thanks.”

Kyungho also had beads of sweat on his forehead. He got up and walked towards the reception desk, and after a short while, the air conditioner installed on the ceiling started running with a brief electronic sound.

“Phew… No matter how I think about it, isn’t it so fortunate that those things don’t react to the outdoor unit noise? If not, we would have died from heatstroke before the zombies got us.”

The distance from their shelter to this store wasn’t very far, but because their movement speed was slow, they had walked for about 20 minutes, and Junwoo’s face was slightly flushed.

“It’s really hot…”

Feeling sorry for the panting Junwoo, Muyoung fanned him vigorously, trying to help the heat dissipate faster.

As Junwoo said, there were a few sounds that zombies didn’t react to. These included the sound of large machine motors running, like those you might hear in a supermarket, outdoor unit noises, and the sound of waves.

‘If they had reacted to the sound of waves, they would have all walked into the sea on their own, and this situation might have been resolved quickly.’

At first, he thought they might not understand sounds made by nature or machines, but seeing how they reacted to cell phone ringtones or the sound of leaves rustling loudly in the wind, there seemed to be some other specific reason.

After a few experiments, Muyoung had narrowed down the reasons to roughly two, observing that zombies reacted to the electronic ‘ding’ sound when the air conditioner turned on, but not to the newly running outdoor unit noise.

First, they might have learning abilities and know that even if they go to places where such sounds are heard, there’s no prey. Second, because it’s a sound they’ve been hearing constantly since becoming zombies, they don’t react sensitively and can’t feel the slight increases or decreases.

As zombies becoming smarter would make things harder for people, Muyoung hoped the latter was the correct answer, but no one could know for sure.

“Thank you… Come to think of it, you’re not even sweating and look the same as before? Aren’t you hot?”

While thanking him for the fanning, which felt like a faint breeze of feathers tickling him, Junwoo looked curiously at Muyoung, who, unlike himself, looked no different from when they left home.