Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 62

“I see… That must have been really difficult for you.”

Although surprised by the sudden personal story, it wasn’t something he couldn’t empathize with. As Muyoung carefully offered words of comfort with furrowed brows, the woman, slightly calmed by his gentle voice, let out a deep sigh.

“It was terrible. Then another person came in, and just when I thought I might get some relief, they forcibly sent me to the kitchen because of food shortages, and it ended badly.”

“Ah.”

“If it hadn’t been for that person, it would have been me. I was really thinking I might die this time, so I was refusing to go in even if they kicked me out, and that’s when you all arrived.”

Hearing the woman’s words, Muyoung naturally recalled the situation when they went to rescue Seokjae. There were clearly two zombies that came out when they overturned the table blocking the kitchen.

“So the zombie in the kitchen at that time…”

There seemed to be one zombie that was particularly badly mutilated, which must have been the person who was forcibly sent in. Muyoung’s eyes sank with sadness for the man who was forced to die by the same people.

“That’s right. The person they asked to clean up was that person.”

The woman, who had been watching the mood sink due to the story she had told just to distract Muyoung, made a small grunt as she adjusted the child on her back once more and brought up what she really wanted to say.

“Anyway, because of that, I never felt at ease there for a moment. But I didn’t have the courage to leave. As a result, I found myself constantly getting angry at the child. Like a real madwoman… Pathetically.”

The woman trailed off self-deprecatingly, then shortly after, she continued with a small laugh.

“But you all didn’t pay any attention to me at all, did you?”

“Well…”

“I’m not complaining, I’m saying I liked that. It must have been annoying to come up every mealtime, but you never once acted like you were doing me a favor. Thanks to that, after coming here, I was able to relax and get a good sleep for the first time in a long time. So much so that Hayun checked several times to see if I was still alive.”

Muyoung suddenly remembered the day when the child had come down without the woman knowing, and how she had grumbled that the woman was just sleeping. It seemed she wasn’t tired from playing due to the difference in stamina, but was catching up on sleep she hadn’t been able to get.

“When I was able to think straight again, the first thing I did was apologize to Hayun. I was worried about what I’d do if Hayun didn’t forgive me, if she no longer trusted such an inadequate adult… Fortunately, she accepted it. She still said I was her favorite.”

Even though I couldn’t properly fulfill my role as a guardian and just got irritable. The child, instead, hugged the woman tightly and comforted her. Hyunyoung’s eyes reddened as she recalled the emotion of that moment.

“It’s late, but thank you so much.”

He had felt sorry for forcibly bringing her along, even threatening her to save Seokjae, but unintentionally, it had ended up helping her.

“No need to thank me. I’m glad you made up well.”

As Muyoung smiled brightly, having completely lifted the burden from his heart, a full smile appeared on the woman’s face for the first time.

“That’s why I could have just snuck in, but I wanted to ask you first. It might be uncomfortable, but somehow I felt like it would be okay to stay with you. And Hayun likes you too.”

Muyoung only gave an awkward “Hmm…” response to the woman who shrugged her shoulders lightly. While it’s better to have a positive image than a negative one, he hadn’t actually done anything for her sake.

The escape from the hotel, bringing meals – it was all just her being incidentally involved in his personal reasons, so Muyoung felt embarrassed to be thought of as such a good person.

“Thank you for thinking well of me.”

Muyoung, who was rubbing the back of his neck as if embarrassed even though she hadn’t particularly praised him, looked truly too innocent to survive in this harsh world.

“I just stated things as they are, so I can’t say I’m thinking well of you. And…”

The woman, watching such a Muyoung, gave some serious advice for the last time, knowing they’d probably never see each other again after this parting.

“I don’t usually say this, but I think it would be better for you to become a bit meaner.”

“What?”

Become meaner? Unsure whether this was advice or a curse, Muyoung tilted his head with round eyes.

‘…I guess that’s just innate and can’t be helped.’

As she saw the image of a gentle dog looking puzzled and asking “Why?” even after having its snack taken away overlapping with his face, she shook her head, thinking any further advice would be unnecessary.

“It’s nothing. Just ignore it.”

“Okay…”

Although he didn’t understand, it didn’t seem to have been said with bad intentions, so Muyoung rolled his eyes before answering.

“I told you to ignore it, and you’re acknowledging it?”

“Huh? Was I not supposed to answer?”

“Well, that’s not exactly it, but…”

The woman let out a small laugh, finding it hard to believe that someone this gentle had threatened to break through the glass door if they didn’t come out immediately. Looking at him now, he seemed far from scary and more like a perfect target for scammers.

‘No, that scary person will be sticking by his side, so he probably won’t get scammed.’

She corrected her thought, remembering Seokjae, whose eyes flashed with a menacing aura just by looking at Muyoung. Having dismissed her momentary worry, she quickly recalled in her mind the first conversation she had with Seokjae this morning.

This morning, when she heard a knock on the door, she had opened it without suspicion, thinking it was naturally Muyoung bringing a meal, only to let out a silent scream at the sight of the huge figure. Seokjae’s first words to the woman, who was stepping back in fright, were neither an apology nor a greeting.

‘We’re planning to move to another place soon, so we need to set a schedule. Come down to the living room after breakfast.’

He had dispensed with pleasantries and gone straight to the point. Isn’t it basic to apologize first when you’ve startled someone? Even thinking about it now, it was infuriating.

‘Does he think just putting on a smiling expression without his eyes smiling at all is enough?’

Moreover, at first glance he seemed to be wearing the kindest smile, but anyone with a sense of awareness could tell that his attitude was utterly dry. What was most unsettling was that he didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding it. It felt like dealing with a machine wearing a human disguise.

Not wanting to face him for long, she had to swallow her desire to argue against the sudden announcement and just answer that she understood, in order to end the conversation quickly.

As soon as he heard her response, he walked towards the stairs as if he had been waiting for it, and she thought thankfully that it was over. But just as he stepped down one step, he turned back and delivered a big blow to her.

‘Getting so easily surprised by such trivial things, it unnecessarily tires out the people around you, so you should fix that.’

While she was stammering, unable to say anything in response to the harsh words she had heard while defenseless, Seokjae went down without a care, and she had to grab the back of her neck from the morning.

‘And then in the living room, he glared at this person like he was going to kill him just for looking at him once…’

Who should be glaring at whom? It was infuriating even thinking about it again.

‘It’s rather surprising that there are any scammers around when you’re being so overprotective.’

She shuddered slightly as she recalled Seokjae fiercely warning her with just a glance, as if she might harm Muyoung. Then suddenly, the thought ‘What would happen if Seokjae caught us in this situation?’ crossed her mind, and as she imagined that scenario, her face gradually hardened.

‘…Wouldn’t I be treated as that scammer?’

Strictly speaking, she’d be more of a kidnapper than a scammer, but she hadn’t asked with the real intention of having him join. Logically, Muyoung, who had risked his life to save Seokjae, wouldn’t accept an offer to come in alone.

‘I just called him because I thought I’d have no regrets if I at least tried asking…’

From Seokjae’s cautious perspective, it seemed highly likely that she would appear as a kidnapper trying to lure him away.

‘There really isn’t anyone around, right?’

She looked around with an even more tense expression than when she first came out the back door.

“Um, are you not feeling well?”

Weren’t they having a fairly warm conversation until just now? Muyoung couldn’t keep up with her sudden mood change as she frowned and looked around as if suddenly frightened. So, wondering if something had happened, he asked, and the woman suddenly turned her head to look at him.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

“No one knows that I called you, right?”

“Yes, of course. I even checked that everyone was sleeping before I came out.”

Muyoung answered kindly despite his confusion, but the woman’s survival instinct was still flashing red signals. With just a slight exaggeration, she felt that him appearing might be scarier than a zombie suddenly appearing.