Chapter 131
Both Seokjae, who was looking at the wound where bleeding had resumed with a mixture of trouble and amusement, and Muyoung, who had been blushing, immediately turned their gaze toward the door upon hearing that unpleasant cry. Muyoung in particular, as if he had never blushed at all, directed all his attention to what was happening outside with a deathly pale face.
‘Even though we didn’t make any loud noise, if they’ve come up here, could it be…’
Muyoung hadn’t noticed the blood slightly pooling in his wound. But what other reason could there be for zombies, who should have fallen down the stairs rather than come up, to reach this place?
‘They followed the smell of blood all the way here.’
He knew the reason better than anyone.
‘Is it because of the smell that spread while wiping the blood? Or there could be blood that dropped along the way.’
These creatures had better hearing than sight, and better smell than hearing. Dropping droplets of blood while escaping from such beings was no different from leaving markers asking them to follow.
However, until just before entering this room, he hadn’t known that zombies would react to his blood. So he couldn’t have paid attention to such things.
‘What if there are blood drops around here?’
Right after the wound occurred was one thing, but by the time they entered the room, the blood would have somewhat congealed, so there shouldn’t be any at the door rather than the stairs. However, having never visually confirmed his condition, Muyoung couldn’t stop the nagging thought.
‘Maybe I should leave the room even now.’
If he had noticed that his wound was bleeding again, Muyoung would have panicked and kicked the door open without a moment’s hesitation. He was silently screaming that such a ridiculous situation—leading Seokjae to death because of his own excitement—must not happen.
‘Fortunately, I’m close to the door… When I leave, I can push hyung away to buy time. I should still have enough strength for that, right?’
Of course, even without knowing, Muyoung’s conclusion wouldn’t have changed much.
‘But if I do that, hyung might follow me out with no weapons, just as he said earlier.’
He only had enough reason left to worry that Seokjae might chase after him if he acted recklessly. This was quite fortunate for Seokjae.
For now, Muyoung thought he should try to persuade him. If that didn’t work…
‘I’ll think about that when the time comes.’
In truth, the only methods that came to mind were nearly impossible ones like knocking Seokjae unconscious or tying him up, so Muyoung suppressed a sigh and called him in a small voice.
“Hyung, hyung.”
“Be quiet.”
“No, please listen to me just once.”
“…What is it?”
“I really think I should leave. The zombies outside might have come because of the blood I shed.”
“What?”
“I was so gr— stupid that I didn’t pay attention to the bleeding. A few drops of blood might have fallen on our way here.”
Since he couldn’t explain that he didn’t know his blood would look appetizing to zombies, he had to use carelessness as an excuse.
‘He’ll think I’m pathetic, won’t he…?’
Looking at Seokjae’s frowning face, it was clear. It was a bit sad to be treated as a foolish person by him, but there was nothing he could do.
“It seems there’s only one outside now, but it won’t be long before others gather.”
Muyoung looked back at Seokjae, who was silently looking down at him as if contemplating, with desperate but courageous eyes.
Looking at Muyoung like that, Seokjae thought:
‘I thought it was because he was surprised earlier, but is he just dull…? He doesn’t even know if his head is bleeding or not.’
He was feeling dissatisfied with Muyoung for not being sensitive to his own physical condition.
‘In this state, he’ll keep this up until we escape from here.’
Perhaps thanks to allowing him to speak, anticipating that he would start talking nonsense again the moment a zombie appeared in the corridor, Seokjae didn’t get as angry as before.
“No, you’re not bleeding.”
“How do you know that, hyung?”
“Of course I know. I carried you, why wouldn’t I know? I made sure your head never fell down to stop the bleeding.”
“What? Really?”
Thanks to this, Seokjae was able to quickly dismiss Muyoung’s nonsense with a reasonable explanation and continue thinking with a cool head.
‘We are screwed, though…’
As much as he hated to admit it, there was a part of Muyoung’s words that he couldn’t refute. The fact that if Muyoung didn’t go outside, zombies would flock here.
‘It’s too late to try to stop the bleeding again.’
If a zombie in the corridor smelled the blood-soaked bandaging material before they could throw it outside, it would be over. The creature’s cry would attract other zombies.
‘Then this flimsy-looking door would be destroyed in an instant.’
But he had no intention of letting Muyoung go out alone. How could he part with him again so soon after reuniting with the now fully human Muyoung? Especially now that, unlike before, they had come to understand each other’s hearts.
‘Though we both have a lot we’re hiding.’
Well, Seokjae already knew the secrets, even if the parties themselves didn’t.
In fact, Seokjae was the only one hiding many things, but he rationalized that secrets could only truly be resolved when revealed by oneself.
Thud.
“Urghh…”
Perhaps because death was imminent, all sorts of thoughts were running through his mind when a dull sound was heard, as if the zombie outside had bumped into something. And it was clearly closer than before.
“Huh.”
Muyoung, who had been speechless after learning of Seokjae’s consideration that he hadn’t known about, came to his senses and took a sharp breath at the noise.
“Tsk.”
Seokjae clicked his tongue briefly. Judging by the lack of a horrific shriek, though the zombie had reached the floor following the few drops of blood on the stairs, it didn’t seem to have detected which room they were in.
‘But that won’t last long either.’
He knew very well from experience that a mere door couldn’t completely conceal the smell of fresh blood from a wound, not to mention dried blood.
‘Damn, and I haven’t even kissed him yet.’
It was quite vulgar as a regret in the face of imminent death by being torn apart by zombies, but Seokjae was serious.
“Hyung, please. You said no, but we can’t be sure. I really don’t want you to die because of me…”
Muyoung, thinking Seokjae’s grim expression was due to fear, pleaded.
“…”
Despite these heartfelt words, Seokjae didn’t even answer. It seemed that Muyoung’s proposal was truly the only way to survive, but he’d rather die than take it.
If he sent Muyoung outside alone, he would surely become prey for the zombies. Afterwards, if Muyoung came back to life as neither zombie nor human, that would be fortunate, but with bad luck, he might die completely or become a full zombie.
Even if that didn’t happen, what if he lost his memory when he opened his eyes again? The miracle of him liking Seokjae might not happen again.
‘Even though his body has improved, his face hasn’t been taken care of, so he’s in worse condition than before.’
He seemed to have liked Seokjae’s face. His hair had become shaggier since their reunion, and his skin tone had darkened. The current version of himself might not be to Muyoung’s taste enough for him to feel attracted.
‘I never thought I’d be worrying about my appearance…’
While inwardly laughing at himself, Seokjae continuously sought ways to stay with Muyoung.
“Hyuuung- Hyung. Please answer me.”
Using Muyoung’s desperate calls of “Hyuung, hyung” as background music while he racked his brain, as if ready to cling to him if he weren’t shirtless, Seokjae soon came up with a trick.
‘…This wouldn’t be the worst option, whatever happens.’
It was a quite innovative method to immediately mask the smell of blood, stemming from his thoughts of wanting to bite and suck on Muyoung all this time.
“Muyoung.”
“Yes, yes? So I should go out—”
Just as Muyoung, who was nearly sobbing by now, brightened up at finally hearing his voice and lifted his head.
Smooch-
Along with a burning sensation on his forehead, a moist and hot touch pressed against it.
Slurp. Seokjae pressed his lips to Muyoung’s wound and licked the droplets of blood.
“H-hyung!”
Muyoung struggled in shock at Seokjae’s outlandish action, but—
“Shhh.”
“Mmph!”
Without removing his lips from the forehead, Seokjae mumbled “Be quiet” while covering Muyoung’s mouth with one hand and using the other to hold the back of his neck, completely immobilizing his head. And then…
Gulp.
The sound of Seokjae’s Adam’s apple moving up and down cut through the space between them.
‘He, he drank, he drank it! He drank it!’
Muyoung trembled like he was having a seizure, nearly fainting at the fact that Seokjae had consumed his blood, abandoning even the thought of escape.
Seokjae embraced Muyoung and gently stroked his bare back, trying to calm him down. Throughout all this, he didn’t remove his lips from the wound.
‘If things go as planned, I might even be able to put it in. Even if not, at least I could die after kissing him.’
Seokjae secretly smiled with satisfaction that he could die without regrets. It was such a bright smile that if the usual Muyoung had seen it, he would have inwardly groaned that it was blindingly radiant.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
