Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 53

“From early morning? What kind of conversation…”

A conversation that needed to be had alone, first thing in the morning? It seemed they had unintentionally piqued the curiosity of both young men. Not only Junwoo, who had asked Muyoung the question, but Kyungho, standing quietly beside him, also had curiosity clouding his eyes.

“Ah, well…”

I haven’t thought about it yet? Muyoung’s eyes rolled to the side.

Muyoung knew that if he delayed his answer, it would be obvious that he was lying, so he needed to continue speaking as quickly as possible. But just as he was hesitating, being naturally slow-witted in these situations, Junwoo made an “Ah” sound.

“Are we moving now, by any chance?”

“Huh?”

Muyoung, who had just been thinking about his own food problem, was startled when a more important topic suddenly emerged.

“Well, we were here because of me, but now that I’m better, it makes sense to leave right away. I’m fine with it anytime.”

Junwoo seemed to think it was a good opportunity since the topic had come up and expressed his agreement enthusiastically. He had been watching carefully, unable to bring it up first due to his history of causing trouble, but he had been constantly concerned about being tied down to this place.

“Hyung. Didn’t you say it would be better not to move until Junwoo’s cough completely stops?”

But immediately after, a disapproving response followed. Unlike the person in question, who had collapsed and had almost no memory, Kyungho had observed the entire situation from the side.

“Hey, I’m not coughing anymore, you know?”

“You were still coughing yesterday.”

“That was yesterday! I haven’t coughed once since I woke up today.”

The two started bickering familiarly. Seokjae, who had glanced down at Muyoung who was flustered and wondering if he should intervene, opened his mouth.

“Kids.”

“…”

“…”

With just one call, both of them stopped arguing and looked at Seokjae. Judging by their slightly guilty expressions, they seemed to think Seokjae was going to scold them.

“Nothing has been decided yet. We just brought it up thinking we might have to soon. I was going to talk about it after breakfast.”

Seokjae, who had actually just intervened because Muyoung looked flustered, summarized the situation appropriately.

“And this isn’t something we can decide on our own and just inform them about, is it?”

Seokjae closed his mouth after glancing briefly towards the ceiling. Following his gaze naturally upwards, Junwoo nodded embarrassedly.

“That’s true. I had completely forgotten about them since I’ve never seen their faces.”

“Huh? Really?”

Muyoung’s eyes widened in surprise at the mention of never having seen their faces.

“Yes. I don’t remember anything before coming here, and since then, those people have never come down from upstairs. I just vaguely know it’s a woman and a child.”

“Come to think of it, that’s right.”

The child had come downstairs a couple of times out of mischief, but even then, he hadn’t encountered Junwoo.

“…Then, since we’re on the topic, should I go up now and talk to them?”

Muyoung suggested cautiously. While her wariness on the first day was unavoidable, excluding her from important conversations for that reason seemed to make it impossible to become closer in the future.

“Is that necessary?”

Seokjae raised one eyebrow as if he didn’t like the idea.

“Ah, I thought it would be good to inform them in advance because they might be flustered if we suddenly ask them to come down right after eating.”

Muyoung, understanding Seokjae’s words as asking why they needed to go now when they would be delivering breakfast later anyway, blinked his eyes gently and explained.

“You don’t need to go up every time. I’ll go up this time.”

Seokjae, who had briefly closed his eyes tightly before opening them, said as he blocked Muyoung’s path with his arm.

“Huh? No… um, okay. Please do.”

Muyoung, who was about to habitually say he would do it, nodded, thinking that it could also be a problem if only he kept communicating with those two.

After sending Seokjae up, the three of them gathered in the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Even so, it was mostly just tasks that could hardly be called cooking, like microwaving instant foods or pouring water into ramen.

These days, transferring Muyoung’s food to a bowl for his dignity had been added to the routine. That too didn’t take much time, so when several people worked together on the preparation, it always ended in no time.

Today was the same, but there was one small difference.

“Hyung, eat this today!”

“That’s…”

“It’s beef bone soup. I found just one in the corner of the pantry earlier, don’t you think you could eat this?”

“No, I…”

Kyungho added an explanation next to the smiling Junwoo. As he said, the packaging was crumpled as if it had really been stuck in a corner.

“This is bland so people even add salt to eat it, and it’s healthy food, isn’t it?”

“…”

I’m not sure about that either…

He felt like he should say it wouldn’t work, but both of them were looking at him with such proud faces that he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Smiling awkwardly, he checked the expiration date on the package with a glimmer of hope, but the date written was not just okay, but quite generous.

“We’ve been worried because you always eat unpleasant things.”

“I’m used to it, so it’s not that unpleasant.”

“Come on, this must taste better than that, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so…”

In the end, Muyoung couldn’t bring himself to refuse.

‘It’s not like every meal like before, I just need to endure one meal. And since it’s soup, I can gulp it down quickly.’

He wouldn’t be able to feel the heat anyway, so he should be able to drink it quickly. While Muyoung was solemnly preparing himself mentally, Seokjae, who had come down after delivering the message, saw the beef bone soup Junwoo was holding and asked:

“What’s that?”

“Oh, you’re back, hyung?”

“This is what we found, it’s for Muyoung hyung’s meal today!”

“He can eat that?”

“Yes! This isn’t salty and it’s nutritious, right?”

“Is that so…?”

Seokjae’s narrowed eyes moved from the two to Muyoung, who was internally breaking out in a cold sweat. As soon as the conversation ended, Seokjae whispered, hidden from the two who couldn’t take their eyes off the microwave timer.

“Are you really okay with this?”

“Huh?”

Muyoung, who had been dejectedly waiting for the poison that would soon be served to him, turned his head towards Seokjae in surprise. Seokjae, who had been leaning his upper body to whisper, thinking Muyoung hadn’t heard him, moved a bit closer.

“I’m asking if you can really eat that. If you’re forcing yourself because of the kids, I’ll tell them not to eat it.”

Seokjae’s action of grabbing one shoulder and whispering closely was a big stimulus to Muyoung, who had been off guard. The frowning face full of worry, the low voice touching his ear, and even the ticklish breath. It felt like everything inside him had dropped down with a thud, like riding a roller coaster.

“Ah, no. I-I’m really okay.”

Muyoung waved both hands and then pretended to rub his neck while actually rubbing his ear, which felt like all the fine hairs were standing on end. He tended to lose himself when Seokjae approached even usually, but somehow it seemed to have gotten worse, which was bewildering even to himself.

‘Is this an after-effect of sleeping together? Did my feelings for hyung grow stronger because we were hugging all night? Am I really a pervert?’

To think his feelings grew stronger after touching his body. Was he actually someone who valued the exterior more than the interior? Even while feeling dejected alone, Muyoung didn’t forget that Seokjae had worried about him and looked up at him, saying:

“Thank you for caring.”

“What’s there to thank for? It’s natural. You’re not one of the kids, after all.”

Seokjae grinned as he said this while stroking Muyoung’s hair at the nape of his neck, which was still standing on end.

‘He must mean he cares more because we’re f-friends, right?’

Embarrassed that he had almost interpreted his words in a more special direction, Muyoung averted his gaze and said:

“So, what did Hyunyoung-ssi say? Is she coming down?”

“…Yeah. She said she understood.”

“I see… That’s good.”

“She can’t miss an important conversation, if only for the child’s sake.”

Seokjae, who had summarized the conversation from upstairs while shrugging his shoulders, rolled his eyes once.

‘He’s calling her by name. I hope he hasn’t gotten close to that woman too.’

Because Muyoung was so adamant about delivering food, Seokjae couldn’t forcibly take it away and had to leave it be. It was a short time that didn’t even add up to 10 minutes a day, and he had been reassured knowing that the reason Muyoung didn’t want to give up this task was because of the meals…

Seeing him call her by name started to bother him. Even though the honorific “ssi” wasn’t used for very close people, why did it irritate him so much?

As he was wondering if he had always been this possessive, he soon found the reason.

‘Has he ever called me by my name?’