Chapter 126
Without realizing it, Muyoung had become not the obedient child he had aimed to be, but a betrayed child—and this strange misunderstanding wasn’t limited to just Seokjae.
“Do you know what kind of bastard he is?! He’s a killer! He killed someone from his own group! And then to have the nerve to form another group with innocent kids. What an shameless bastard!”
Sangjin, seeing Seokjae lose his composure for the first time, felt intoxicated with victory and rapidly spewed out words.
‘Fuck. Shut up. Shut the fuck up.’
Seokjae clenched his fist, wanting to rip out Sangjin’s tongue right then and there, but maintained a fragile expression.
“Muyoung…”
Because Kang Muyoung was looking at him.
He called Muyoung with a sad voice implying there were circumstances.
“…”
But Muyoung, like before, maintained a complicated expression without answering. Unable to tell if this was a good or bad sign, Seokjae called him once more and took a step forward.
“Muyoung, I—”
He seemed to have completely forgotten that a gun was pointed at him. Feeling ignored despite clearly having the upper hand, Sangjin gritted his teeth and cocked the hammer of the revolver.
Click.
With the weighty sound, Sangjin shouted firmly as if he were an agent from an action movie.
“Don’t move!”
“It’s all a misunderstanding. Don’t listen to him.”
Despite this, Seokjae’s gaze remained fixed solely on Muyoung. Being despised by Muyoung was more terrifying and frightening than being shot. If Muyoung would love him, he wouldn’t care about being shot.
But Sangjin couldn’t know Seokjae’s irrational yearning. He just thought he was being made a fool of, and despite needing to watch his words to win Muyoung over, he couldn’t control his emotions and began to rage.
“You bastard! I’ll really shoot?! I’m really going to shoot! Don’t ignore me!”
He even put his finger on the trigger.
Of course, he had no intention of actually firing. Or rather, it was almost impossible. As soon as the gun was fired, all zombies within hundreds of meters would swarm to them. Someone without the skill to escape or the ability to establish a new place would die immediately.
And Sangjin had enough objectivity to know that he was such a person. In other words, the gun was merely a bluff for him. With a little thought, one could notice the weakness in his flimsy threat.
But an ordinary person would be so startled at the sight of a firearm that they wouldn’t even notice the bluff, let alone respond calmly.
“I can explain everything. So—”
“D-don’t come any closer!”
And Muyoung, being one of those ordinary people, shouted in fear. He felt sorry for interrupting Seokjae mid-sentence judging by his lip movements, but it was more important that Seokjae not get shot.
“Just stay there.”
After confirming that Seokjae had frozen in place at his words, Muyoung didn’t notice the abandoned dog-like face Seokjae made while looking toward Sangjin for cues.
“Yes, that’s right! Who would want to stay with a killer who might kill you at any time!”
“…”
Though he was still shouting something vehemently, his angry face had transformed into an expression that could either be a smile or a grimace. Seeing this, Muyoung exhaled silently.
‘He seems to have calmed down a bit. So hyung’s movement was the problem.’
Fortunately, it was obvious when Seokjae took each step forward, as Sangjin’s face gradually turned bright red. Having put out the most urgent fire, Muyoung was concerned about Seokjae’s condition, which he hadn’t properly assessed, but he couldn’t look away in case Sangjin became excited again.
‘What on earth did he say to make hyung have such a pained expression…’
However, he couldn’t stop himself from picturing Seokjae’s face in his mind. When Muyoung had entered this place, Seokjae had an expression that seemed both fearful and despairing… difficult to describe, but clearly pained.
Recalling that image anew, the suppressed impulse suddenly rose.
‘I want to remove my earplugs… Can I move my hands a little?’
The scattered, heavily muffled words he heard weren’t enough to understand anything.
He quickly gave up on understanding the content and had been roughly gauging the atmosphere through gestures and expressions. But his curiosity about this suddenly dangerous situation didn’t disappear.
‘Hmm… No, I’d better not.’
Though his fingers twitched with the desire to remove the earplugs immediately, he soon shook his head inwardly. Doing so might cause Sangjin’s wariness to extend to him as well as Seokjae. That would complicate things for what he needed to do next.
‘First, I need to take the gun away.’
He swallowed dryly while pretending not to look at the gun still aimed at Seokjae.
‘To point a gun at someone who returned from a dangerous place to repay a favor, instead of letting him rest… That’s too much.’
In fact, while Muyoung had seen Seokjae holding a weapon and couldn’t understand what the two were saying, he had been on Seokjae’s side from the beginning nonetheless.
‘I’m going to protect hyung.’
This was why he had started traveling with him and why he had kept his distance these past few days, even while secretly crying.
He had been determined to be Seokjae’s shield in any situation. Even now, if he couldn’t think of a way to snatch the gun, he was prepared to take the bullet instead.
‘I still don’t feel pain, so even if I get shot, it shouldn’t hinder our movement.’
Just as Muyoung finished this thought, his eyes shining with determination, a scene flashed quickly through one corner of his mind.
‘A quick way to snatch something from someone, even with a small body and slow movements…’
Muyoung carefully opened his mouth.
“Um, Sangjin-ssi. Is it okay if I come over there…?”
“Yes, yes. Come behind me. If that bastard tries anything, I’ll immediately—”
Meanwhile, Seokjae, unaware of Muyoung’s determination, bowed his head low.
‘Fuck, don’t listen to that cock-rubbing bastard. You believe someone you’ve known for less than a day?’
It was because he felt he couldn’t hide his eyes filled with anger.
‘If I had known this would happen, I should have gone all the way back then.’
Seokjae regretted not having fully taken Muyoung’s body. If he had, he would have left a stronger impression than now. At this rate, wouldn’t he be remembered as a killer? No, he might not be remembered at all.
‘Rather than that…’
Maybe I should just become the worst enemy and tie him to my side. Yes, like that…
THUD!
Just as Seokjae’s mind was about to be covered with sticky obsession. Startled by the strong impact, Seokjae raised his head to see Muyoung with one arm extended. And at the end of it, a solid fist embedded in the chest of the muscle-less Sangjin.
“…?”
As Seokjae slightly opened his mouth, unable to grasp the situation, CLANG! Sangjin fell backward from the impact and dropped the gun he had been holding onto the floor.
‘Success!’
Muyoung smiled brightly at this sight.
Yes, the solution Muyoung had found was the method used by Meonggu, the Jindo dog living at his grandmother’s house, to get food from his cousin who teased him with snacks. If you hit someone’s chest hard, they will reflexively let go of what they’re holding, either to brace themselves against the ground or to clutch their chest as they fall.
‘Thank you, Meonggu! I’ll grill you some Korean beef when we get back!’
While Muyoung was celebrating and giving all credit to Meonggu, there was something he had overlooked: the maintenance condition of the gun Sangjin was holding.
BANG-!
CRASH!
The safety mechanism of the gun, broken from the impact of falling to the floor, fired a bullet that shattered the small management office window and disappeared into the distance.
“Gasp!”
“…”
He had tried to resolve it quietly! But instead, he had caused a major accident.
Muyoung alternately looked at Sangjin, who was staring at them with a pale expression while still lying down, the broken window, and Seokjae standing blankly. Then, remembering that zombies would swarm at the loud noise, he grabbed Seokjae’s wrist and headed out of the office.
Screech-
“Nng- Hyung, come quickly!”
…That’s if Seokjae had allowed himself to be pulled along obediently.
He looked at the flustered Muyoung holding his wrist with disbelieving eyes.
“I haven’t yet.”
Explained anything…
Not only was it surreal that Muyoung had punched someone to save him, but what was most unbelievable was that this righteous person was touching him without any hesitation, even though he had committed murder, probably the act Muyoung despised most. So Seokjae could only act like someone not fully awake, beyond bewilderment.
“…Am I okay?”
It was strange that Seokjae was acting so frustratingly when they needed to leave immediately. But Muyoung misunderstood that it was all because of Sangjin, and belatedly removed his earplugs, throwing them away as he shouted.
“Hyung! Let’s just go! He’s a person who tried to kill you! Don’t be nice even to people like that!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
