Even Zombies Have Fandoms

Chapter 79

Unlike the commercial area where abandoned vehicles were pathetically strewn about, the coastal road, consisting of a single lane, was quiet and peaceful. Muyoung, who was maintaining the lead while matching his speed with the other three, tilted his head in confusion.

‘Is it because it’s a single-lane road that no accidents happened up here? It’s good for us, but…’

While muttering to himself, he focused all his attention on his hearing every time he turned a corner, trying to detect any zombies that might appear.

But after about ten minutes of this, his tension gradually eased.

‘Hmm, I guess it really is safe?’

Above all, the wide-open road, the sound of waves crashing against rocks, and his hair fluttering pleasantly in the wind – all of these combined to make him momentarily forget that this journey was an escape route.

Muyoung’s gaze, which had been fixed straight ahead until now, turned towards the sea, relying on the continued calmness.

‘It seems like there haven’t been any zombies around here.’

The vast blue waves sparkled in the sunlight, and the occasional glimpse of rocks beneath the emerald sea created a mysterious landscape that seemed like another world existed below.

“Wow. It’s beautiful…”

Faced with a scene worthy of being called a tourist attraction, a small exclamation escaped Muyoung’s lips.

Cha-reureuk-

Unconsciously relaxing his legs on the pedals, wanting to savor the view a bit more leisurely, a loud ratchet sound rang out from Muyoung’s bicycle. At the same time, a low voice that he, if no one else, could never miss came to his ears.

“You’re right, it is beautiful.”

“Gasp.”

Distracted by the surrounding scenery and unaware that someone had approached, Muyoung’s handlebars wobbled greatly.

After floundering for a while, he fortunately regained his balance and looked to the side, meeting Seokjae’s eyes, who was frowning as if worried.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

As Muyoung took a deep breath to calm his startled heart and answered, Seokjae smiled slightly. It was clearly a smile meant to express relief without any particular intention, but Muyoung felt guilty for being distracted while in the lead and spoke up after glancing around nervously.

“I’m sorry for getting distracted…”

“No, at times like this, you need to look at beautiful things to recover mentally. Otherwise, you can’t endure.”

Seokjae raised one eyebrow in puzzlement at Muyoung’s dejected voice. Seeing that Muyoung’s mood hadn’t improved, he added another comment.

“And you’re not the only one doing it.”

Seokjae meant himself, who had been watching Muyoung and waiting for his guard to drop before rushing over, but Muyoung thought he was referring to the two high school students behind them who were exchanging dialogue like, “Hey, do you think we could swim from here to that rock?” “Hmm… without resting once?” and burst into laughter.

“Muyoung.”

Seeing Muyoung’s relaxed face, Seokjae thought this was his chance. Pretending to pedal diligently while subtly closing the distance, he spoke to Muyoung, who turned his gaze at his call.

“You know that this morning, it wasn’t that I didn’t help you, but that I couldn’t help you, right?”

“Huh?”

Looking confused, Muyoung showed a surprised reaction with a “Hah!” after about 3 seconds. He was probably thinking something like, ‘Right, I’m supposed to be feeling upset with hyung! I forgot again.’ Seokjae, while clearly reading Muyoung’s mind, pretended not to know and continued speaking.

“You might not be curious, but I want to say it. Will you listen?”

“…What is it?”

He seemed to have waited a bit before answering, thinking that responding immediately would show how curious he was, but his expression that couldn’t hide his curiosity made it ineffective.

Seokjae thought Muyoung, who couldn’t even stay upset for long, was so cute he wanted to bite him, but he smiled like a mischievous boy, excited at the thought of teasing him.

“You didn’t tell the truth about what happened then. You were trying to keep it a secret for my sake, right? Because I don’t like the kids seeing me in a vulnerable state.”

“Vu-vulnerable state, what do you mean…”

As the truth about the night’s events came out instead of an explanation, Muyoung flinched and looked back. He was worried that the other two might have heard.

“Ah, no use playing dumb.”

“Then how about a full-body swimsuit?”

Fortunately, thanks to the loud wave sounds and the appropriate distance between them, the two hadn’t heard and were still arguing about their imaginary swimming competition.

“See? You’re still trying so hard to keep the secret.”

Just as Muyoung was feeling relieved, he heard words filled with trust along with a ticklish laugh. Feeling shy, Muyoung gripped his handlebars tightly and stammered an excuse.

“It-it’s not exactly like that. Actually, I fell asleep around dawn, so…”

“Liar.”

Faced with this firm denial, Muyoung couldn’t say anything more. Seokjae’s smiling face as he rode his bicycle, staring at him, looked like a scene from a movie. And… his eyes were so confident that Muyoung almost thought Seokjae might know he couldn’t sleep.

“So, how could I stop that?”

Seokjae, looking at the speechless Muyoung, spoke while trying to suppress his twitching mouth that kept trying to smile.

“We agreed not to stop each other from protecting one another, right? At that time, the sun had risen and the bet had started.”

“What? What do you mean…”

Even for Seokjae, it sounded like a flimsy excuse.

Muyoung tried to argue, but soon a thought of ‘Is that so?’ crossed his mind, and he trailed off.

‘It was me trying hard to make excuses for hyung’s sake… Could that be considered protecting him?’

Although it seemed like wordplay, they hadn’t properly defined the scope of protection when making the bet, so it wasn’t completely nonsensical. It felt a bit uncomfortable, but if that was the case, it meant he was currently ahead in the bet, which wasn’t a bad calculation.

“Okay. I’ll believe that you couldn’t help me, not that you didn’t help me.”

“Really? Thank you.”

He was accepting it in a way that made the bet progress in his favor, yet Seokjae was thanking him. Muyoung’s conscience pricked at Seokjae’s seemingly innocent demeanor.

‘But I can’t help it. For this bet not to be a scam, I have to win!’

Despite feeling ashamed of his own craftiness, he couldn’t bring himself to look directly at Seokjae and rolled his eyes, when Seokjae muttered.

“Then it’s not 1-0, but 1-1.”

“What?”

“I helped you when you almost fell with your bicycle.”

“Ah.”

“If you had said it didn’t make sense, I was going to count it as 1-0 for me. I’m glad. Right?”

Muyoung gaped at the grinning Seokjae, feeling like he’d been hit on the back of the head. Not because he was now tied with Seokjae, but because he realized that if Seokjae hadn’t mentioned it, he would have fallen behind in the bet.

‘How, how can someone so kind and angelic, no, I mean, such a perfect gentleman exist…?’

His heart seemed to tingle at Seokjae’s fair and harmless nature. In reality, that benevolent being was trying to hold back his laughter at Muyoung’s big reaction. Completely unaware of this fact, Muyoung just fidgeted, wanting to express his overwhelming feelings somehow but feeling like he shouldn’t.

At that moment.

Rumble-

A deep, heavy sound shook Muyoung’s eardrums. Startled by the feeling as if his brain was shaking, he immediately turned his head this way and that to find the source of the sound, but nothing was visible, and the sound didn’t come again.

However, this allowed him to gain unexpected information.

‘It seems to be getting dark too quickly?’

The possibility of meeting other survivors on the road was almost non-existent. They had set out earlier than usual to secure as much time as possible to search for a place to stay after crossing the road. But already, there was an atmosphere as if about a third of the sun had disappeared.

‘It’s not time for it to be this dark yet.’

Even as he checked his wristwatch, the dark energy, as if a shadow had been cast from behind, continued to approach little by little. With an uneasy feeling, he looked around in all directions and could see the edge of a dark cloud beyond the mountain beside them.

Could that rumbling sound from earlier have come from there?

“Hyung. The clouds…”

“Yeah, I wonder if it’s going to rain.”

Muyoung immediately relayed this information to Seokjae, who seemed to have already grasped the situation and immediately called out to those behind.

“Kids, can you speed up a bit? It looks like it might rain.”

“Gasp. Yes!”

“We will!”

The four increased their speed as if they had never leisurely enjoyed the sea view.

Thus, only the sound of wheels rolling continued in silence, and after a few minutes, the end of the long coastal road came into view. They carefully reduced their speed, quieting down as they approached the end of the road.