Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 77

‘I’m glad I could protect hyung’s honor.’

If they had been caught in that position, they would surely have asked why they were like that, and he couldn’t say that Seokjae was holding him in his arms to forget his fear. He thought it was perhaps the one good thing among the mistakes he made while on watch.

“Um… Muyoung hyung.”

It was then, as his recollection of blaming Seokjae had veered off course into other thoughts. Muyoung heard a hesitant call. Immediately cutting off his thoughts and returning to reality, his eyes met Kyungho’s worried gaze.

“By any chance…”

Muyoung hadn’t realized it, but recalling the night’s events had brought a troubled expression to his face. Reading this, Kyungho combined their not being woken up, the evasive explanation of what happened while they slept, and the current outside situation to form one conjecture.

“Was there… another survivor outside?”

The cause for all the zombies outside to move at once. A heavy situation that the hyungs couldn’t properly explain. If it was something like that, this was the only pessimistic possibility.

“What?”

Muyoung couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the unexpected question. He had just been reminiscing about the heart-pounding memories of the night, but what had they seen in him to reach such a conclusion?

‘What, what did I do?’

If Kyungho hadn’t been distracted by something else during his brief moment of distraction, he must have been watching him continuously. If so, there must be a clear reason in himself that made Kyungho assume such a serious situation…

‘Is it because of my expression?’

Thinking about it, he might have frowned a bit while trying not to grin stupidly as he recalled Seokjae acting clingy. Muyoung, though uncertain, felt sorry for making them think scary thoughts unnecessarily and glanced at the two.

‘So… that’s what it was.’

While Muyoung was struggling to find the cause of the problem, Kyungho’s misunderstanding was reaching its peak. The time Muyoung spent pondering wasn’t long, but the expressions he showed during that time were the issue.

From touching his own face with a surprised look to failing to hide his embarrassment and then glancing at them nervously. Although Muyoung hadn’t intended it at all, when all these reactions came together, it became a situation where it was harder not to misunderstand.

Kyungho glanced at Junwoo beside him, and he too had a look in his eyes that said he was prepared to accept whatever the situation might be. The exchange of glances ended quickly. Junwoo nodded slightly towards him, and Kyungho, receiving the signal, opened his mouth with a grave expression.

“Hyung, if it’s something like that, I wish you’d tell us honestly.”

“Huh, what?”

While the two were prepared in one way, Muyoung too was steeling himself in a different sense, but this had no effect. He had been thinking they would get angry and ask ‘Why aren’t you focusing on the conversation?’ Receiving an unexpected question, he couldn’t give a proper answer.

Faced with their seemingly determined attitude, Muyoung froze, his eyes widening in surprise. Junwoo, who had been quiet, spoke in a serious voice.

“It must have been something you did for all of us, but I don’t think it’s right for just the hyungs to carry the guilt. Maybe we disappointed you with such a thing-“

“Wait! No! It’s really not like that!”

Muyoung, who had been listening blankly, not understanding the rapid-fire words, finally came to his senses and shook his head.

While spending the night in Seokjae’s embrace was something to be kept secret, it was absurd to implant guilt in the two about sacrificing others to survive.

“It’s absolutely not like that, so don’t worry.”

“But it doesn’t make sense that all those zombies suddenly moved somewhere when there’s nothing out there.”

“…Then you were lying about not passing on the night watch, weren’t you?”

When Muyoung strongly denied it, even crossing his wrists to form an X, the two’s eyes, which had been downcast with worry, showed signs of regaining their intensity.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but really, neither of those is a lie. Kids, I’m really curious too about why the zombies acted so strangely…”

Sitting on the floor, the momentum of the two standing over him and questioning was enough to intimidate. Muyoung instinctively looked towards Seokjae, like a dog losing a battle of wills and seeking its master.

But he was sound asleep in the same position as before, as if their conversation was a lullaby.

Despairing that Seokjae couldn’t help him, Muyoung soon calmed down and rolled his eyes around, trying to find a way to resolve the situation.

“Well… that is… Ah! That’s right!”

After wracking his brain to the point of letting out a small groan, Muyoung finally found a basis for rebuttal and exclaimed with a bright face.

“If it was something like that, why wouldn’t I have woken you up until morning! If I hadn’t wanted to pass on the night watch, I would have woken you when the sun started to rise because we needed to leave. And if there had been another survivor, it would have been safer to move while the zombies were distracted by that person, so I would have woken you right away. Right?”

Muyoung, who had spoken quickly and accurately to avoid raising suspicion by stammering, watched their reactions nervously, unsure if his explanation had been convincing.

“That’s…”

“That’s true.”

Fortunately, the two looked at each other and nodded, their faces showing that they were somewhat uneasy but convinced.

Just as he was relaxing his shoulders that had been tense with nervousness, thinking he had finally cleared up the misunderstanding, Junwoo muttered with a suspicious “Hmm” sound.

“But why was Seokjae hyung awake?”

“Huh?”

That’s right. Because the two had woken up not long after Muyoung had left Seokjae’s embrace, Kyungho and Junwoo had witnessed him sitting next to Muyoung instead of in his own sleeping place.

‘They’re asking about it after all.’

Muyoung flinched involuntarily when they pinpointed the very thing he had hoped would pass unnoticed.

“You said you couldn’t wake us because there shouldn’t be any noise, so why was hyung up… Seeing how he’s still lying down now, he seems quite tired, which means he must have woken up earlier than usual.”

As Junwoo’s sharp deduction seemed to back him into a corner, Muyoung swallowed hard. The two turned their heads simultaneously to look at him.

“Hyung, don’t tell me…”

“You didn’t wake us because you didn’t trust us?”

Maybe because they were childhood friends, even without prior agreement, they were in perfect sync without any hitches. Feeling like he was surrounded by two fierce street cats, Muyoung let out an awkward laugh, “Haha…”

To avoid getting scratched, the best strategy would be to answer quickly. Muyoung gave them the most truthful information he had told them so far.

“No, no. That can’t be. Hyung wasn’t woken up by me, he got up on his own. I was really surprised when he suddenly woke up too.”

Although he didn’t mention that it was right when he started his night watch… the part about Seokjae waking up on his own and him being greatly surprised was completely true.

“…Well, Seokjae hyung does have particularly sharp ears for that kind of thing, so he might have woken up hearing the zombie sounds.”

“That’s true. Hyung does have some animal-like qualities, so it’s possible.”

“Hey, what do you mean animal-like about hyung.”

“It’s a compliment, a compliment. You know, like animal instincts or something.”

Thankfully, the two made their own assumptions, and thus Muyoung, having escaped the investigation, hurriedly tried to pretend to sleep, afraid they might find something else strange. Since they had missed the dawn hours and decided to move in the evening, it would be fine to act as if he had woken up around lunchtime.

‘I hope they forget about this by then. …Still, I handled it well on my own!’

As he lay down and closed his eyes, he could finally savor the fact that he had resolved the misunderstanding well without Seokjae’s help and successfully kept their secret.

‘Hehe. Am I more talented at talking than I thought?’

Feeling proud, Muyoung grinned and slowly turned his body to lie facing Seokjae’s direction.

And not long after, he stiffened, his body jerking greatly. He had tried to enjoy the fact that he had maintained his composure while watching Seokjae sleep soundly. But what the now-awake Muyoung saw was the arm that had been covering his eyes now slightly raised to about eyebrow level.

At first, he was just happy thinking ‘Did he change his position?’ as it allowed him to see his face better, but then one eye half-covered by the arm slightly opened!

‘Wh-when did he wake up…’

One eye narrowly opened. The black pupil rolled around to look at Muyoung. And then… it formed a beautiful curved line.

In other words, Seokjae, whom he thought was asleep, was smiling at him. On top of that, it didn’t take long to realize that there was no trace of sleepiness in those eyes.

‘…!’

Muyoung felt a greater sense of betrayal than when he was young and saw a part-time worker he thought was Santa taking off his beard and resting at kindergarten.

He thought Seokjae had been sleeping soundly, recovering from the exhaustion of anxiety! That’s why he had racked his insufficient brains and endured that ordeal alone instead of the eloquent Seokjae!

‘Have you been pretending to sleep all this time?!’