Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 78

Clunk. Thud.

As it was time to move, the four people began taking out the bicycles they had previously picked out.

“Hey, why do you look so gloomy?”

Muyoung, who was standing a bit apart from the other three, unconsciously stopped with his bicycle half-lifted when he heard Junwoo’s voice, his ears perking up.

“I’m a bit worried since it’s been a while since I rode a bike. I hope I don’t fall.”

In response to his question, Kyungho sighed softly and spoke with an uncertain voice.

“Come on, you’re worrying too much. Hey, even if it’s been a while, we used to bike to and from school until just before things got hot, remember?”

“That’s true, but…”

“If you’re really worried, ask Seokjae hyung to let you ride on the back of his bike.”

“Not you?”

Kyungho burst into a small laugh, seemingly finding it absurd yet amusing. Seeing that his tension had eased a bit, Junwoo snorted and said,

“I don’t let anyone taller than me ride on the back. But since you’re my friend, I can specially offer to ask hyung on your behalf, considering your shyness.”

“It’s fine. I’ll just be careful not to fall.”

Junwoo, pretending to joke casually while actually comforting his friend to ease his mind. And Kyungho, recognizing his friend’s kindness and smiling in return. It was a heartwarming scene that would make anyone with emotions smile.

‘Ah, youth.’

Until lunchtime, the two of them had been frequently checking outside, and after confirming the empty streets, they always exchanged suspicious glances. So Muyoung had eavesdropped on their conversation to see if they had forgotten about it now… Thanks to that, he ended up witnessing an unexpectedly beautiful youth movie scene.

‘That must be the ideal friendship, right? In contrast…’

As the admiration passed, another emotion slowly crept up.

Meanwhile, the bicycle wheel that had been awkwardly suspended in the air gradually turned sideways. And then…

Clang-!

Muyoung only noticed this when he felt the recoil in his hand as the wheel completed its rotation and locked.

“Huh.”

He applied force as soon as he noticed the anomaly, but the frame had already tilted diagonally, and the front wheel was about to collide with the body of the bicycle right next to it. If this continued, it would make quite a loud noise.

But there wasn’t enough space to lift the bicycle higher or quickly move back, so there was nothing he could do immediately.

It would be fortunate if it ended with just a noisy disturbance, but if the disappeared zombies heard the sound and, unlike yesterday, decided to return here, it could become a major incident. Those creatures had swarmed at the sound of a single can rolling, so even if none were visible now, they couldn’t be at ease.

‘I, I have to stop it!’

As soon as Muyoung realized he couldn’t prevent the collision, he let go of one of the hands holding the bicycle and reached forward. He intended to either grab the bicycle wheel with his hand or block the gap with his arm to hold it back.

In the past, he would have lacked the strength, dropping the bicycle he was holding and only getting his arm caught and injured between the metal parts. But now he had enough strength to hold the bicycle with just one hand, and he couldn’t feel pain, so it was worth trying.

‘Please! Don’t let it make a loud noise!’

Just as he was stretching his arm forward as much as possible while inwardly pleading, Muyoung, who had been focusing solely on holding the bicycle and hadn’t had the chance to check below, lost his balance. The tip of one foot, which he had extended forward to match his upper body bent from reaching out his arm, had caught on the pole supporting the adjacent bicycle rack.

“Ack!”

Stumbling with the bicycle he was holding, Muyoung let out a strange sound involuntarily, feeling as if his heart had dropped.

‘Ah, it’s over.’

He tightly closed his eyes at the dizzying future that was about to unfold. As expected, he felt his body being pressed from front and back, and Muyoung gritted his teeth, bracing for a loud noise.

“Ugh.”

However, no matter how much time passed, there was no loud noise, and he didn’t feel his body colliding hard with anything.

When he cautiously opened his eyes, he could see that he was hanging from the bicycle suspended in mid-air, as if time had stopped in the middle of falling.

“Huh?”

“Don’t let go of the bicycle, hold on tight.”

While he was trying to grasp the situation, a commanding voice came from above his head. Reflexively, he gripped the bicycle frame he was holding as if it were a lifeline, and the bicycle that had been floating motionless in the air slowly moved backward.

Dragging. Muyoung, who hadn’t even had the presence of mind to stand properly, was dragged by his heels while clinging to the bicycle, emerging from between the densely packed display racks.

“Are you okay?”

Hearing Seokjae’s voice again and seeing the hand gripping the spokes covering the axle part of the frame, he finally realized. Seokjae had grabbed both wheel axles, supporting not only the bicycle but also Muyoung’s weight as he was about to fall.

The feeling of being stuck somewhere was because he was wedged between Seokjae’s body, which had squeezed into the narrow gap, and the frame.

‘Hyung is really strong…’

Whether it was due to the shock of witnessing Seokjae’s strength, which far surpassed his own zombie strength, or the relief of having narrowly avoided a major accident, Muyoung couldn’t help but collapse to the floor as soon as Seokjae put the bicycle down.

“Yes, yes. I’m fine. Thank you, hyung.”

Even in his dazed state, Muyoung diligently answered Seokjae’s question, and then Kyungho and Junwoo, who had been at a distance, hurriedly approached.

“Muyoung hyung, are you hurt anywhere?”

“Are you okay, hyung?”

The two, judging that the reason for his sitting on the floor with a stunned expression was due to injury, flustered and examined Muyoung.

“Ah, no. I’m fine. I’m not hurt at all thanks to hyung. I’m just a bit shocked.”

In fact, even if he had really been hurt, it would have been embarrassing to receive concern from dongsaengs much younger than him. Moreover, he was the hyung who not only caused the accident but also had no injuries thanks to Seokjae. Yet, receiving all sorts of worry made him gradually feel embarrassed, and his senses quickly returned.

“I’m really fine. Sorry for making you all worry. If everyone’s ready, shall we depart?”

Feeling burdened by the concerned gazes, Muyoung stood up, forcing a bright smile.

As he busily looked for and put on his bag, whether they believed his assurance that he was fine or they realized he was uncomfortable and decided to let it go… the two moved to retrieve their own bicycles.

Now, all that was left was…

“Hyung, thank you again. I’ll wheel the bicycle from here.”

Muyoung awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the enormous presence still behind him, and reached for the bicycle handle that Seokjae had been holding all this time.

Seokjae, who had been staring at him intently, surprisingly handed over the handle without resistance and then whispered in a voice low enough that the other two couldn’t hear:

“Have you stopped being angry now?”

“Pardon?”

Muyoung, who was about to wheel the bicycle towards the store’s door, looked at him in confusion before recalling one fact he had forgotten. Unlike the two students who had been displaying their beautiful friendship and youth earlier, the slightly, very slightly cracked friendship between himself and Seokjae.

‘Right, I was avoiding hyung.’

Even so, every time he saw Seokjae’s face, his heart softened, and after trying to glare a few times, he gave up and just tried to avoid eye contact as much as possible, unable to ignore or give short answers to Seokjae’s words.

Yet, it seems his hurt feelings were showing. Or perhaps Seokjae was just perceptive.

“Wh-why would I be angry?”

Even as he said this, remembering the misdeed of being left alone in embarrassment while Seokjae pretended to sleep, a sullen look crossed Muyoung’s face.

“Then are you feeling hurt?”

Seokjae’s face, which had been frozen when Muyoung almost got hurt, melted like the arrival of spring at this unconsciously cute sulking. He was now grinning, unable to hide his amusement.

“Ahem…”

This time, Muyoung couldn’t deny it. If he had been asked if he was angry or sulking, he could have said no. But the truth was, he had felt a little hurt that Seokjae didn’t help even though he knew Muyoung was in a difficult situation. Enough to shake his belief that Seokjae always did good things for about 0.1 seconds.

“The, the others are waiting, so let’s hurry.”

Left without words, Muyoung felt childish and petty for feeling hurt over something like this, so he quickly fled the scene. Seokjae followed behind, suppressing his laughter.

“Let’s check outside, and if it’s clear, we’ll depart right away. Okay?”

“Yes.”

“We’re ready.”

Upon reaching the glass door, Muyoung spoke to the two dongsaengs who had been waiting diligently, not giving Seokjae a chance to speak. Kyungho and Junwoo, unaware of anything, answered dutifully. And then…

“Alright.”

Maybe it was his imagination, but Seokjae’s voice seemed to come low and after a pause. Muyoung felt as if he was being chided for running away from the conversation, so he cleared his throat with a ‘hem’ before checking outside.

Fortunately, just like a few hours ago, the outside was quiet, and no zombies were visible in the vicinity.

“Yeah. There’s no one. I think we can go now.”

Muyoung told the three people behind him and then manually turned the doorknob of the lock, which had its batteries removed beforehand to prevent noise, and went outside.

The three who came out one by one looked at the long road stretching before them and got on their bicycles.

Squeak-

And beside Muyoung, Seokjae had somehow naturally taken his place.

“Le-let’s go!”

Muyoung flinched, feeling guilty in advance, but soon pretended to be nonchalant as he spoke and pedaled hard to get away from Seokjae as much as possible.

Seeing this, Seokjae laughed with a deflating sound and moved forward leisurely, matching Muyoung’s speed. Kyungho and Junwoo followed behind with tense expressions on their faces.

And so, without any anticipation of the crisis that lay ahead, they began a journey from which they could not return even if they wanted to.