Chapter 110
Thud… swish.
Thud thud… whoosh!
Taking one step and looking back, walking a couple more steps and surveying the surroundings repeatedly—he looked like a thief trying to steal something.
Thump.
“Waah!”
An amateur thief who was so clumsy that he nearly stumbled when his own foot caught on his leg while looking around. He flapped his whole body trying to regain balance as he moved forward, and at some point entered the influence of the streetlight placed at the kindergarten entrance.
Click, clack…!
Thanks to that, the figure that had been hidden in darkness was now clearly revealed. The would-be phantom thief who had somehow managed not to fall and straightened himself muttered under the streetlight.
“I-I almost fell.”
The identity of the suspicious but inept figure was none other than Muyoung, with a completely flustered expression.
“Phew…”
With a sigh, he ran his hand over his startled heart and continued what he considered to be stealthy movements.
Shuffle, shuffle. The small noise of dry soil rubbing against the soles of his shoes somehow seemed unnecessarily loud.
Muyoung’s destination, as he added tiptoes to his movement, was the back of the kindergarten building. After sneaking to the end of the building without being detected, Muyoung quickly turned the corner. The hidden space was revealed, but…
Pause.
“I can’t see anything.”
Nothing was visible to his eyes. Once the streetlight was blocked by the building, his entire field of vision was engulfed in darkness. Even the faint moonlight wasn’t much help. It was complete darkness.
‘It’s so dark that even if someone had their face right in front of me, I wouldn’t know… Aaaah! No, don’t think about that! Don’t think about it!’
His thoughts flowing naturally soon led him to imagine the creepy image of someone’s face right in front of him in the empty space.
Rustle, swish.
“Gasp…”
With bad timing, the sound of leaves rustling in the wind added to the naturally eerie atmosphere.
‘I-I’m scared!’
From that moment, there was no turning back. The space that had been ordinary, just dark, began to feel like a scene from a horror movie. With chills running down his spine, Muyoung wanted to return immediately to the comfortable sleeping place where the three were waiting.
But he couldn’t. Because…
“It’s too late to prepare something else now.”
Clenching both hands to squeeze out courage, Muyoung moved forward, groping through the air. With nothing visible in front of him, his sense of distance and direction became blurred. His movements had to be cautious as a result.
“Hmm… he said it would be here.”
How many false attempts had he made after that? It felt like he had walked quite a distance, but still nothing touched his hands. He gradually began to worry that he might not find his way back.
“If only I had my phone, this would be solved, but of course I forgot to bring it at a time like this.”
Normally, he would have kept it in his pocket for use in emergencies. But today, before showering, he had left it in his bag and forgotten to take it out again.
‘I was so busy preparing when I found out it was hyung’s birthday right after the shower, so I guess it couldn’t be helped…’
Yes. The reason Muyoung was wandering around the kindergarten alone at night was solely to find a birthday present for Seokjae.
Of course, following Junwoo’s insistence and judging that they had enough food, they had prepared a hearty breakfast/lunch. There was no birthday song or cake, but they did offer congratulations. However…
‘This is the first and last birthday I can celebrate with him, so I can’t just let it pass so casually with nothing!’
He would have liked to throw an event like the birthday cafe that Gwanghun had taken him to, and prepare a custom-made cake like the one Kim Gwanghun had boasted about, but… it was practically impossible.
In a stopped city, the cafe owners who could rent out their spaces and the pastry chefs who could make cakes had all become zombies. There weren’t even any stores nearby to find a birthday present!
All circumstances prevented him from properly celebrating the birthday, but the fortunate thing was that he had time to prepare a gift.
After Seokjae had run away that morning, the other two had showered in turn and came out, and as promised, they immediately prepared and ate a meal. Not long after that…
‘Snore~’
‘Mmm…’
Perhaps tired from the fatigue accumulated and unresolved from yesterday, plus the sudden early morning mountain hike, Kyungho and Junwoo fell asleep. Muyoung took that opportunity to convey to Seokjae the information he hadn’t been able to share on the mountain.
‘So that’s why I suggested we move a little further today…’
‘I see. Then we’ll have to shift our moving time. The pace will naturally get faster as we have more time to move, so you don’t need to worry.’
Surprisingly, Seokjae believed him without questioning once.
At first, when Muyoung said zombies seemed to be getting smarter, Seokjae had tilted his head as if it sounded absurd, but after explaining what he saw in the schoolyard, Seokjae quickly agreed and adjusted the plan.
‘You believe me?’
‘Hm? Is it a lie?’
‘No! It’s just that I’m the only one who saw zombies fleeing from sunlight, and honestly, it’s hard to believe. I thought you’d tell me not to joke around…’
‘You wouldn’t joke about something involving people’s lives. If it were like that, you wouldn’t need to tell me secretly, worried about the kids.’
Though he couldn’t tell him about the zombie that had contemplated whether he was prey or not, making his evidence seem weak, Seokjae continued to trust him despite feeling he hadn’t done anything properly yesterday or today. He even smiled kindly without any signs of resentment.
In the midst of falling for his humanity once again…
‘It would be better to move quickly, but let’s rest here for today and move tomorrow morning. We’ll have to move more busily from now on, so let’s recover our condition one last time before going.’
He had suggested staying at the kindergarten for a day out of consideration for the two who were sleeping soundly.
Since it was also a great opportunity for him, Muyoung had no choice but to agree immediately. If they had woken them up and moved, he wouldn’t have had time to search the office while pretending to explore the kindergarten! Then he wouldn’t have found the chocolate bread with marshmallows in the drawer, or the candles that appeared to be leftover from a birthday party.
This way, a somewhat decent birthday celebration had been arranged, but…
‘I’m glad I managed to prepare something like a cake somehow, but…’
He still hadn’t found the most important thing—a present. No matter how much he searched the kindergarten, there was nothing that would make Seokjae happy.
But just as a dejected Muyoung was about to give up, rummaging through even the lockers in the classroom, he discovered something:
[Let’s introduce our class’s flower friends!]
It was a plant journal. And it contained an introduction to a flower called ‘gomphrena’ that had been recorded most recently. As soon as Muyoung saw it, he thought, ‘This is it!’
‘Of course, flowers are the perfect gift!’
In truth, he had never received flowers except on graduation day. However, he clearly remembered that despite not particularly liking flowers, he had felt good when receiving them.
‘Besides, even though Dad gave them every year, Mom always loved them. It can’t be a gift that makes someone feel bad when they receive it.’
Above all, he had a small personal desire to see Seokjae holding flowers.
‘He’ll look so pretty!’
If people who knew Seokjae’s true nature saw it, it might look like a bear holding flowers to eat them. But in Muyoung’s imagination, Seokjae was already no different from a god of beauty.
‘I really want to give it to him… why can’t I find it?’
Thump.
Just as he was about to give up after waving his arms around for a long time, thinking he might not be able to give even what he had prepared, the toe of his shoe caught on something, and he felt a soft yet rough and bristly texture at his fingertips.
‘Found it!’
Muyoung smiled brightly.
* * *
At the same time Muyoung was rejoicing at finding the flower, the streetlight dimly filtered through the blinds, illuminating the classroom. And in the quiet and peaceful atmosphere where only soft breathing sounds could be heard, one fierce gaze was shining in the middle of the classroom.
“…”
It was Seokjae, who had been awake since the moment Muyoung left his place. Actually, he had opened his eyes when he heard Muyoung trying to open the door.
At the time, he was about to call out to him, but seeing how incredibly cautious Muyoung was, he wondered what on earth Muyoung was trying to do and pretended to be asleep for now.
‘There’s no crazy person who would climb a mountain at this hour, so I guess there’s no need to stop him.’
In the past, he would have thought of Muyoung as a stray cat unable to forget freedom and would have absolutely forbidden him from going out alone, but now he had developed some level of trust that Muyoung would return.
Of course, even so, he was planning to discipline him to some extent when he came back.
‘Tsk, I can’t take my eyes off him.’
It absolutely wasn’t because he was holding a grudge after waking up from sleeping with his knee as a pillow only to find himself using that rag-like gown as a pillow instead. It was because he felt he might develop insomnia due to Muyoung constantly disappearing somewhere like Pororo whenever he slept.
Really.
