Chapter 145
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Whoosh— Crunch, crunch.
The sound of the strong sea breeze was accompanied by the low noise of pebbles being crushed underfoot. Muyoung couldn’t hide his worried expression as he continuously looked around.
“The kids escaped safely, right?”
“At least all the zombies in that area followed us, so they should have.”
“I wonder where they’re waiting for us…”
“Well, I’m not sure, but I told them to go to the barricade, so at least our paths won’t cross.”
“I guess so?”
Since this question had been repeated several times, Seokjae soothed him with a familiar response.
In truth, there was a reason Muyoung was so anxious. They had arrived at the railroad tracks where they were supposed to meet the children far later than the scheduled time.
The time spent celebrating Seokjae’s survival and clearing his name had been quite long and intense, and as a result, Muyoung had to be carried on their departure day.
Additionally, the sun was about to set just a few hours after they left, so they could only reach the railroad tracks the next day after spending the night elsewhere, though they should have arrived on the same day originally.
One might say they could just wait, but this was a place where life-threatening situations could occur at any moment. Therefore, a day was far too long.
‘They must have been so worried…’
Just as he was now belatedly worrying about the two of them, Kyungho and Junwoo must have been worried about them too, which pricked his conscience. He had forgotten about them while spending passionate time with Seokjae.
If anything had happened to those two, he felt he would be consumed by guilt for the rest of his life. So, Muyoung couldn’t help but fidget and bombard Seokjae with all sorts of questions throughout their journey.
“What if they went a different way instead of the railroad tracks…”
“Don’t worry about that. We already made plans last time about how to move to the outskirts, right? The kids aren’t stupid, and we marked it on the map, so they would have followed it well.”
“W-what if they went in the wrong direction?”
“We have a compass, remember?”
Seokjae, who had been calmly answering Muyoung’s incessant questions, raised an eyebrow when he spotted a building in the distance.
‘That’s strange. There was no station at such a place on the map. Could it be an old station building?’
He glanced sideways and saw that Muyoung hadn’t yet noticed the building.
If this was the building he was thinking of, there was a high probability that the children were waiting there. If he told Muyoung about this, he’d surely run off immediately, saying it was great news. That meant their time alone was about to end.
“…Aren’t you worried about me?”
After a moment of deliberation, Seokjae spoke. Muyoung, who had been fidgeting with his fingers nervously, looked up at Seokjae in surprise.
“W-what?”
“Whether I’m tired, whether my legs hurt, whether I’m hot. Aren’t you worried about me?”
Why don’t you care about me? If Seokjae’s words were summarized, that would be it. The kind of whining a seven-year-old child might do, but coming from a 190cm adult male, it could seem creepy.
‘Is he sulking right now? How cute!’
To Muyoung’s lovesick eyes, it just seemed adorable. But he wasn’t so tactless as to show such feelings in front of someone who was feeling neglected, so he frantically explained while flailing his hands.
“Ah, n-no. It’s just that the kids are young—”
“Mmm, so you’re saying you’re more worried about Kyungho and Junwoo than me?”
“No! That’s not it! It’s just that you’re here by my side, but I don’t know what happened to the kids, so I can’t help but imagine bad things. That’s all it is!”
Seokjae could have challenged him for suddenly acting like a sensitive partner, but perhaps due to his gentle nature, Muyoung looked like a puppy that had accidentally bitten its owner’s finger. Seokjae almost burst out laughing at the sight, but to slow down their pace, he deliberately picked at his words.
“Ah, so since you’ve caught this fish, you’re not going to feed it?”
“Whaaat?”
Caught this fish? Who could ever describe Seokjae in such a way? Even now, it was hard to believe that someone as perfect as him shared the same feelings. If anything, it would be the other way around.
But somehow, those words made him happy. The way Seokjae described himself as a fish that Muyoung had caught felt like he was declaring that he belonged to Muyoung.
“…Hyung, are you angry?”
Muyoung asked, trying to suppress the corners of his mouth that were threatening to rise.
“I wonder?”
In response, Seokjae gave an answer that could only be described as coy. Encouraged by Seokjae’s earlier words, Muyoung stepped forward energetically, as if he had been waiting for this moment.
Tap—
Smooch!
“P-please don’t be mad.”
He had blocked Seokjae’s path, stood on his tiptoes, and kissed him. Not on the cheek, but on the lips. It was an act that required tremendous courage.
“……”
But Seokjae’s reaction after the kiss discouraged him. Instead of smiling or his expression softening, he slightly narrowed his eyes and touched his lips.
‘…Did I make him more angry instead of appeasing him?’
Was it too presumptuous to think his kiss would make Seokjae feel better? Just as Muyoung was anxiously checking Seokjae’s reaction and about to speak, Seokjae leaned his face closer.
“Do it again.”
“What?”
“I said do it again. It was too quick, I couldn’t feel it properly.”
“M-more?”
And then Seokjae even closed his eyes, leaving Muyoung unable to refuse, yet too embarrassed to brazenly kiss him, so he hesitated. It had seemed easy just a moment ago, but now that the stage was set for him, his body wouldn’t move easily due to shyness.
“I’m hot, so if you don’t do it quickly, I don’t think a kiss will be enough to make me feel better.”
Seokjae urged him with a furrowed brow. The sweat that had dripped from his forehead rolled down his jawline, suggesting his claim about being hot wasn’t a lie.
‘I can’t keep hyung standing in this scorching sun, and he said my kiss helps improve his mood…’
After hesitating, Muyoung was encouraged by his words and charged forward with his eyes tightly closed, aiming for Seokjae’s lips.
Smooooch!
And taking the feedback that he had been too quick, he pressed his lips firmly for as long as possible. Right on cue, Seokjae opened his closed mouth and extended his red tongue, licking and delving between Muyoung’s lips.
“Mmph!”
Slurp, as Muyoung reflexively tried to escape, Seokjae grabbed the back of his neck and waist, pulling him closer to continue the kiss.
The kiss on the railroad tracks, which was sizzling in the sunlight, only ended after Muyoung’s face had completely reddened for reasons other than the sun. Seokjae carried him on his back as Muyoung’s legs gave way and he staggered, walking with satisfaction while licking his lips.
And not long after, they arrived at the old station building. As he had thought, Kyungho and Junwoo were waiting for them.
“Hyung…!”
“Oh, oh, kids! Th-thank goodness. You’re safe!”
Unlike Seokjae and Muyoung, who were relatively clean, the two were soaked in sweat and covered in dirt, presumably because the abandoned station had no electricity or water. Seeing their pitiful state, Muyoung made a “tsk tsk” sound and got down from Seokjae’s back, then Junwoo asked with a surprised face:
“Muyoung hyung, are you hurt somewhere? There’s even a bandage on your forehead…”
“Ah, this is just a minor scratch. Don’t worry! Being carried here is… because I said I was tired and hyung c-carried me. Right?”
“…Mmm. Well, yeah.”
In response to Muyoung’s urgent excuse, Seokjae nodded, making a sound like deflating air.
‘Being exhausted from kissing is also being tired, I guess.’
Reading roughly what Seokjae was thinking from his sly gaze, Muyoung cleared his throat unnecessarily to divert attention, hoping the two wouldn’t notice. Thankfully, his effort seemed to work as Kyungho said to Muyoung with a concerned expression:
“It was very hot outside, wasn’t it?”
“Huh?”
“Your face is bright red.”
“Ah, ahaha. So it is. Outside is, uh, extremely hot.”
The midsummer heat was indeed unbearably hot, but since that wasn’t the reason for his flushed face, Muyoung laughed awkwardly.
“We thought we were going to die with no air conditioning and so many mosquitoes here…”
“We should have come a bit earlier. Sorry.”
“Nah, it’s good that you arrived safely! It looks like you had a hard time too, right?”
It was a visibly awkward response, but Junwoo was too busy telling them about their life while separated to notice anything strange.
“Yeah. You must have been really itchy too, hyung.”
“Hmm?”
“My arms were completely destroyed by mosquitoes, but I see you got bitten a lot on your neck.”
“Mosquitoes…?”
At this unexpected remark, Muyoung felt his neck. Mosquitoes? When did he get bitten? As Muyoung tilted his head in confusion at his neck that wasn’t even itchy, Junwoo opened his eyes wide.
“You didn’t know? There’s a mirror over there, go take a look.”
“Uh, uhh…”
Muyoung approached the dusty mirror hanging on the station wall and became confused when he saw the reddish marks remaining on his neck.
‘What are these…? Are they really mosquito bites? But they don’t itch…’
As he was touching each red mark with his fingers, wondering what they could be, he met Seokjae’s gaze watching him from the corner of the mirror.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
