Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 70

“I’ll keep my bag next to me, so if you need anything, just tell me. I’ll get it for you.”

“Y-yes, okay…”

Muyoung responded, thinking someone had said something to him, but he was so dazed that he wasn’t sure if he had answered correctly. He didn’t regain his senses until Seokjae took the bag from his hand and released his cheek and shoulder.

As Seokjae had intended, Muyoung was completely unaware that the two were disappointed by the loss of his help.

* * *

“Since it’s been a while and everyone must be tired, I’ll take the first watch.”

After roughly covering the door with boxes and papers from the store, Seokjae spoke up while they were making makeshift beds. Kyungho and Junwoo, who were lying on the floor laying out boxes, quickly objected as they looked at him.

“I’m against it!”

“Me too. Absolutely not.”

Typically, the first and last watch shifts were the easiest, while the middle was the hardest. At first glance, it might seem like Seokjae was trying to use his seniority to take the easier shift, prompting the younger ones to rebel. However, their reasons for objecting were quite the opposite.

“If you do that, you won’t wake us up again. We can’t trust you.”

“That’s right. You’re not even allowed to take the middle shift anymore, so just take the very last one.”

The reason was that Seokjae never woke up the next person when it was his turn to keep watch. He would just quietly wait for them to wake up on their own, and without an alarm, it was nearly impossible for the next person to wake up on time, resulting in Seokjae frequently staying up all night alone.

Of course, when they found safe accommodation, they sometimes slept without a watch, and since their set travel times were short, Seokjae rarely went completely without sleep. But if they didn’t object like this, even that would decrease further, so the two always tried their best to steal the first shift.

“Um…”

Muyoung, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, timidly raised his hand.

“If hyung can’t do it, can I go first?”

Suddenly, the distrustful gazes directed at Seokjae shifted to Muyoung. The simultaneous focus of their gazes was more threatening than he expected. As Muyoung flinched reflexively, Junwoo’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m sorry, but you’re not exactly…”

“Hmm, I guess that’s true.”

Even while lowering his eyebrows apologetically, Kyungho agreed. Muyoung couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the quick opposition, which came as fast as it had for Seokjae, who had a track record.

“Huh? Why me?”

Although he had lied to them before, he thought there was no reason to treat him like the boy who cried wolf, as he had managed to get away with it without being caught, thanks to Seokjae’s help.

“…Did I do something to make you not trust me?”

He asked out of genuine curiosity about why they didn’t trust him, but somehow, after saying it, he felt a wave of disappointment. He looked so dejected that drooping ears wouldn’t have seemed out of place on him.

Seeing him like this, Kyungho and Junwoo felt as if they had done something terribly unkind and hurried to explain.

“It’s not that. It’s just that Muyoung hyung, you’re always trying to be too considerate of us, just like Seokjae hyung.”

“That’s right. We’re not being unreasonable. It’s just that considering how much you’ve helped us so far, we think you’d naturally stay up all night.”

Hearing this, it seemed they didn’t think of him as a liar after all. While the misunderstanding was cleared up and his disappointment faded, one thing they said bothered him, so Muyoung opened his mouth to correct it.

“I’m not as good as hyung.”

It was true that he had tried to keep his turn exactly as they had guessed, and he did want to be considerate of them, but there was a fundamental difference between himself and Seokjae. Seokjae had probably given up his rest entirely for their sake, but Muyoung hadn’t given up a single thing.

‘Actually, it’s to my advantage if everyone’s asleep.’

That way, he wouldn’t have to pretend to sleep with difficulty in a body that couldn’t sleep, and if zombies appeared, he could move without worrying about others noticing. And there was one more thing, an even better point than the previous two reasons.

‘I can comfortably admire hyung’s sleeping face.’

He had had several opportunities to see Seokjae sleeping before, but except for the time he fell asleep on Muyoung’s lap, he had never properly looked at his face even once. How could he have the courage to look at his face when he felt like he was going to die from the dizziness caused by Seokjae’s breath, body shape, and touch?

“You’re saying you’re not as good as Seokjae hyung?”

“Yes.”

Muyoung nodded firmly to Junwoo, who asked with a strange expression. Although he couldn’t openly refute it because his reasons were all ones he couldn’t disclose, as the number one fan, he couldn’t accept not denying it.

“So… Muyoung hyung, are you saying that you’re not as considerate of us as Seokjae hyung?”

“Yes!”

Muyoung answered even more confidently to Kyungho’s following question. His impure motives versus Seokjae’s pure and noble goodwill – he thought putting the two on the same level would be an insult to Seokjae, and his answering appearance looked almost solemn for a moment.

However, unfortunately for Muyoung, to Kyungho and Junwoo, this attitude just made him look like an extremely humble and kind person. Unless they had some special ability to read others’ minds, this was the natural result.

“I see…”

“Hmm…”

Having been with ‘someone’ who denied being kind even before meeting Muyoung, the two just exchanged glances without affirming or denying. They had learned through experience that no matter how much they said, he wouldn’t accept it.

“Hyung, you know what? Truly kind people never say they’re kind.”

However, Junwoo, who would get a thorn in his tongue if he didn’t say what he wanted to say, didn’t give up, and eventually came up with a new solution with his friend.

“Huh?”

“Just, that’s how it is. The people I know are super kind, but they always deny that they’re that kind.”

“You too, Junwoo? The people I know do that too. I guess that’s really true. Don’t you think so too, hyung?”

“Uh, um… yeah?”

“Right? Isn’t it?”

What are they talking about? Confused by the two talking without giving him a chance to interject, Muyoung ended up nodding vaguely at their repeated urging.

“I knew hyung would agree because you’re kind.”

“Ah, no, I-“

“Huh? Are you denying it? See, you really are kind.”

“That’s right.”

This was a tactic that had failed when they tried it on Seokjae, who had responded with an unexpected answer: “Well, people pretending to be kind would probably pretend to be humble too, so it might be hard to distinguish.” But it worked on Muyoung, and the two, excited by this, teased him a couple more times.

“Hey, stop teasing Muyoung. If we don’t decide on the watch order soon, I’m going to take the first shift.”

Seokjae, the unofficial instigator of this situation, only stopped them after enjoying the sight of Muyoung silently pleading for help with his eyes after falling into the younger ones’ trap.

“Ah, that’s not fair. Absolutely not.”

“That’s right!”

Thanks to Seokjae, Muyoung was freed from the prison of compliments, but he still didn’t want to give up his watch shift. Afraid of becoming the target of their teasing again, he sat a little away from the two students protesting against Seokjae and spoke up.

“Um, since this doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, how about we decide by luck…?”

“Luck?”

“How are we going to decide?”

Fortunately, they seemed to have lost interest in teasing him now. Muyoung, slightly relieved by the curious looks in Kyungho and Junwoo’s eyes that replaced their playful ones, lightly raised his fist.

“How about rock-paper-scissors?”

“That’s… certainly fair. It would be a loss if none of us get to sleep, so I’m okay with it.”

“Me too.”

Although it might seem childish, the two agreed to this method, which was simpler and fairer than discussion. Seokjae, too, seemed to have given up his intention in the face of the three’s determination to keep watch, as he let out a shallow sigh and nodded.

“Shall we do best of three?”

“No. Men settle it in one round.”

Junwoo responded confidently to Muyoung’s question, and with everyone’s agreement not to dispute the results, they began the rock-paper-scissors to determine the watch order.

* * *

“…Next time, let’s do best of three.”

The person with the third watch shift, lying on the boxes spread on the floor and staring at the ceiling, said in a gloomy voice. Muyoung, sitting by the door where it was easy to keep an eye on the outside, chuckled softly at the cute sound.

“Okay.”

“Hyung, you really have to wake me up.”

After passing the clearly dejected third shift person, Junwoo, this time Kyungho, who had the last watch shift, raised just his head from his lying position to look at Muyoung.

“Don’t worry and go to sleep.”

“You promise?”

“Yes, I promise.”

After soothing the two whining high school students as if they were kindergarteners, the store interior finally became quiet. Only then did Muyoung lean comfortably against the wall.

Muyoung’s eyes, which had been staring straight ahead until the sounds of the two tossing and turning disappeared and deep breathing sounds began, slowly rolled to the side.

“Gasp.”

And at that moment, he almost let out a scream, covering his mouth as his whole body jolted in surprise at the gaze directly fixed on him.

They had turned on a single bicycle light instead of the main lights for better sleep, but it provided enough illumination to clearly see Seokjae’s distinct features, which weren’t lost in the darkness. Rather, the shadows cast on his face made his atmosphere even more dangerous.