Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 60

Muyoung couldn’t quite grasp why she needed to secretly summon him through the child, to the point of passing a hidden note.

‘Does she have something to ask?’

The only thing that came to mind was her plan that she said she’d organize by tomorrow morning.

‘Does she need my advice?’

He racked his brain but couldn’t come up with a clear answer, so he decided to just wait until he met her.

‘…This isn’t a dangerous thing, so it should be okay to keep it secret, right?’

The promise he’d just made with Seokjae briefly worried him, but since they were meeting inside the house and she was physically weaker than him, there was practically no risk.

“Tell your unni I understand.”

After considering various conditions and concluding that this meeting wasn’t dangerous, Muyoung said.

“Okay, got it.”

The child nodded vigorously and, as if this was her only purpose, waved her hand and immediately disappeared upstairs. Muyoung stood still until the sound of the child’s pattering footsteps faded away, then entered his room, and the empty hallway became silent without a trace of anyone.

* * *

Although Muyoung wasn’t good at lying, thanks to no one seeing him talk with the child, he was able to make it to the appointed time without being discovered.

Waiting in his room until the appointed time, Muyoung got up from the bed as soon as he saw the numbers “3:00” on the clock and carefully opened the door to come out.

‘This time, there really shouldn’t be anyone, right?’

Despite the late hour, he couldn’t let his guard down. There was still a chance that Seokjae might open his door like last time, or that Kyungho and Junwoo might come out for water shortly after he left.

Determined to be more cautious this time after previous failures, Muyoung slightly pressed his ear against Seokjae’s door.

He could hear very faint breathing from inside. It was such a small sound, as if deliberately suppressed, that only he could hear it.

‘Fortunately, it seems he’s not having nightmares or anything today.’

If he was having a nightmare, his breathing wouldn’t be so regular, right? Muyoung straightened up, relieved.

Muyoung had bumped into Seokjae just as he was entering his room right after finishing his shower in the evening. And only when Seokjae said “Good night” did he realize that a visitor might come in the early morning.

‘I was wondering if I should use the excuse of getting water if hyung came looking for me today…’

Fortunately, it seemed he wouldn’t wake up due to nightmares today.

‘I hope he sleeps well until morning.’

Not because of his promise to meet her alone, but simply wishing for Seokjae’s good sleep quality. Muyoung muttered inwardly as he continued down the hallway.

After checking the children’s room doors as well, he found that both were sound asleep, making cute “poo, poo-” breathing sounds, allowing Muyoung to secretly move to the kitchen safely.

As he carefully entered the kitchen past the living room, he saw a figure standing awkwardly with the lights off.

‘Why is she standing like that?’

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness after the indirect lighting in the hallway disappeared, he saw that she had a child on her back.

“You’re late.”

She had been inwardly wondering if he would really come. As if tired of waiting for Muyoung while carrying the child, she readjusted the child she had slightly perched on the desk.

“S-Sorry. I was trying to come secretly.”

He was only about a minute late to keep his promise to come alone, but lateness was lateness, so he apologized sincerely.

“Um, should I hold the child instead?”

Thinking it must be heavy to keep carrying the child, he reached out to take her, but was met with a sharp refusal.

“It’s fine. What if you wake her up?”

“Ah, right.”

Awkwardly lowering his arm, Muyoung slowly examined her appearance with eyes now more accustomed to the darkness.

‘Bringing a sleeping child is one thing, but… Huh? Why did she bring a bag?’

She was carrying a large backpack in her hand while having the child on her back. It was far from the image of someone seeking advice that he had expected. If anything, it looked more like she was about to run away in the night.

But there was no way she would do something like running away at night when she had insisted on staying here because she didn’t want to move. There was no reason for it either.

“So… why did you want to see me?”

As it became almost certain that even his guesses were wrong, Muyoung couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked.

“Can you promise not to tell anyone what I’m about to say, at least until tomorrow?”

She said after hesitating for a moment, her lips moving slightly.

“What?”

“If you promise, I’ll tell you. If not, you can just go back.”

Then she firmly closed her lips as if she wouldn’t say anything more and looked at Muyoung.

“…”

Flustered, Muyoung quickly scanned her determined expression, the child on her back, and the bag in her hand.

‘Surely she’s not really trying to run away…’

But no matter how he thought about it, that was the only thing that matched her appearance.

“Umm.”

He was reluctant to make a promise based on such vague information, but if he went back to his room without any explanation and they really disappeared the next day, it would keep bothering him.

“Alright.”

After thinking for a moment, Muyoung nodded and put forward one condition.

“As long as it doesn’t put hyung and the kids in danger.”

If she couldn’t even agree to this, Muyoung was prepared to go wake the others immediately, despite feeling sorry for her.

“It doesn’t.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, a straightforward answer came from the woman, different from before.

“Then I’ll do that.”

As Muyoung readily promised, feeling relieved, the woman glanced at him and immediately started moving.

“Follow me.”

After following the quickly walking woman for a few steps, Muyoung realized she was heading towards the utility room.

‘…No way.’

There was something that immediately came to mind when thinking of the utility room.

While Muyoung hesitated, the woman entered the utility room and hastily put on shoes she had placed in front of the back door earlier. Moving carefully so as not to wake the child, she turned around before opening the back door.

“What are you doing standing there? Hurry up.”

The woman frowned upon seeing Muyoung standing still.

“Ah, I’m, I’m coming.”

How did she know about the existence of this back door? Was she really trying to leave? If so, where was she planning to go? Countless questions filled his mind. Momentarily dazed due to the confusion, Muyoung stuttered at her urging.

“Why on earth… ah…”

Tilting her head at his strange reaction, she unconsciously looked down and noticed his bare feet.

“Wear the slippers here.”

Thinking Muyoung was flustered because he had no shoes, the woman pointed with her chin to the slippers she spotted in the corner.

“Or do you want to go get your shoes now? I can wait that long.”

Seemingly embarrassed that she had only prepared her own shoes, the woman fiddled with the strap of the bag in her hand as she spoke.

“No, no. It’s fine. I’ll just wear these.”

Muyoung felt inwardly relieved as he spotted the old slippers scattered in the darkness.

‘I guess she’s not planning to go completely outside the main gate.’

If that were the case, she wouldn’t have told him it was okay to wear slippers. She wouldn’t recommend shoes that could easily slip off in a situation where they might need to run frantically at any moment.

Having eased his biggest worry, Muyoung moved as she instructed with a slightly more relaxed mind.

Creak.

The woman carefully opened the back door and held her breath, listening for any surrounding sounds. It was obvious that attracting the attention of zombies that might be nearby wasn’t a good idea, even with the main gate and walls.

“Follow me.”

After being cautious for a moment, she stepped outside once she confirmed the surroundings were quiet.

“…By the way, how did you know there was a back door here?”

Following her into the yard, Muyoung couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked in a low voice.

“Didn’t you play hide-and-seek with Hayun?”

The woman stopped and turned to look at him upon hearing the question.

“Ah.”

Instead of an answer, another question came back, but Muyoung’s face turned to one of realization as he understood the meaning behind it.