Can I Live Comfortably Even If the Genre Gets Flipped? 13

“The thought of feeding you frozen food or canned food is what broke my heart — who said anything about letting you starve, hm? Did you really trust hyung so little?”

“No, that’s not what I meant…….”

Who could have imagined this was a conversation happening after eating army stew inside a department store? I scrambled to offer Baek Hyunwoo one excuse after another, but he was already thoroughly offended — he pressed his lips together and wouldn’t even look at me.

“Hyuung.”

“…….”

“Hyung, I’m sorry. Okay? That’s not why I said it…… I just said it because I didn’t want you to have to work so hard.”

“…….”

“I don’t like going hungry either. You know that.”

“…….”

Oh, I’m in trouble.

I genuinely thought it was nothing, but Baek Hyunwoo seemed to have taken a real hit. Even when I quietly edged closer, he wouldn’t acknowledge me — just turned his head away sharply.

The funny thing, though, was that what he was stubbornly doing in the meantime, pretending to ignore me, was clearing the table and peeling fruit. And every single piece of apple he put out had been carved into a cute little rabbit shape, so all I could do was laugh.

I picked up a piece and ate it, and even after calling his name several more times, I got no answer in return. In the end, I was the one who lost. I raised both hands in a gesture of surrender and then lowered them again.

“Then make me short ribs tonight.”

“…….”

“Hmm? Slow-cooked until they’re really tender.”

What would anyone else have said if they’d heard that? Are you out of your mind? The world is falling apart with zombies everywhere and you’re asking for short ribs? Have you lost it? Something along those lines, probably.

But I couldn’t help it. If I didn’t act spoiled like this, I had a feeling Baek Hyunwoo would stay sulky for days and refuse to say a single word to me.

“You’ll make them, right?”

“……Fine.”

Only then did the furrow that had been deeply creasing his brow slowly smooth out. He kept stealing glances at me and pouting slightly — the attitude of someone with more to say who was barely holding it in. Now. I quickly let out a dramatically loud sigh, as if to invite him in.

“Ahh, my legs hurt.”

“……Your legs hurt?”

“Yeah, my calves are a little sore.”

“Probably from all the walking today.”

All the walking — hardly. We hadn’t even hit a thousand steps. Did Baek Hyunwoo realize I actually moved less these days than I did at home? I swallowed that thought and halfheartedly tapped my perfectly fine legs.

“Let me see.”

The moment I played up the complaint, Baek Hyunwoo looked at my legs with a serious expression. His large hands kneaded my calves and knees a few times, then before I knew it, they had traveled up to my thighs, pressing into the inner part as well.

I flinched — I hadn’t expected his hands to come that far — and reflexively pulled my legs back, then laughed awkwardly the moment my eyes met Baek Hyunwoo’s.

“Does it hurt here too?”

“……Oh, um. That part’s fine.”

“Just the calves?”

“It’s not that bad…… just a little?”

At that, Baek Hyunwoo let out a short sigh.

He didn’t ask anything further and carefully lifted my legs and laid them across his thighs. The hands wrapping around my calves were incredibly gentle, and it was obvious he was making an effort to adjust his strength so the way he worked out the tension in my muscles wouldn’t hurt.

“…….”

Anyone looking at him would see the face of someone genuinely worried — and yet every time Baek Hyunwoo’s hands made contact, something kept stirring in me that felt strangely like resistance. Every time his fingertips grazed my skin, my breath caught, and when our eyes met, the soles of my feet tickled. The urge kept rising to tell him I was actually fine, that I’d only been playing it up to cheer him out of his mood, and to pull my legs away.

I shouldn’t be feeling this…… Maybe I shouldn’t have pretended to be in pain.

That belated regret surfaced — but only for a moment.

“It would be best if you didn’t use your legs any more than necessary today.”

The face Baek Hyunwoo wore as he said that was unmistakably the face of someone satisfied with the situation. The corners of his mouth weren’t overtly curved up…… but how to describe it — it was the face of someone who had been waiting for exactly this moment.

I felt what had just been stirring in me dissolve completely, and let out a silent, resigned sigh.

Right. If anyone’s inconvenienced, it’s him, not me. He’s the one who wants this, so.

I was in the middle of accepting that and letting the tension ease out of my body —

Boom—!

Without warning, a tremendous sound shook the whole building. For a moment my body lurched forward and I nearly toppled over, but Baek Hyunwoo caught me by the waist and I managed to avoid making a fool of myself.

“Wh — what was that?”

I grabbed my oldest hyung’s forearm and asked in a rush. Was the building collapsing? No — that couldn’t be right. I curled in on myself, held my breath, and strained every nerve.

From somewhere not too far away, a sharp scream tore through the air. It was so mangled I couldn’t tell whether it had come from a person, a zombie, or something else entirely. I bit down on my lip and whispered into Baek Hyunwoo’s ear:

“……Did something collapse?”

“We’d have to go look.”

I saw his eyes narrow, and tightened my grip on the arm I was holding. Afraid he’d go by himself and leave me behind, I said quickly — “I’m coming with you” — and Baek Hyunwoo answered by lifting me up.

Boom.

The floor shuddered once more. The impact was much weaker than before, but at the same time it was getting closer.

“Put your arms around my neck.”

“Mm-hm.”

Even Baek Hyunwoo — who always acted with strange ease, saying it was probably nothing — didn’t look good. His face had gone rigid, and it seemed like either tension or something like irritation coiling beneath the surface.

The moment I registered that, my anxiety spiked, and before I knew it I was practically clinging to him, arms locked around his neck. My breathing kept breaking apart, I could feel my muscles going stiff — and still I couldn’t calm down. It felt like if I let go of him right now, something truly irreversible would happen.

“……I recognize this smell from somewhere.”

In the middle of all this, Baek Hyunwoo said something I didn’t understand. A smell? I instinctively sniffed the air, but all I could detect was the lingering scent of the army stew we’d eaten earlier.

I wanted to ask him what he was smelling — but Baek Hyunwoo was already opening the door and stepping outside, faster than I could get the words out. The steps he was taking, unhesitating and long, carried a strange edge of irritation. From the look of him, he had the energy of someone going to track down a man who had cheated him out of money — and absurdly, something about that loosened my anxiety a little.

Shreek! Hack! Kraaahk!

As we moved further in, the wailing of the zombies was louder than the thunderous rumbling shaking the ground. I’d never seen so many zombies reacting so loudly — not since the first day — and I couldn’t help but instinctively curl in on myself.

“Hyung, don’t you think we should just leave?”

“Let’s just take a look, and if it seems off, we’ll go.”

“It already seems off…….”

He must have heard me muttering, but Baek Hyunwoo paid no attention. As if my words weren’t even reaching him, his pace kept quickening, and the rhythm of it had a strange roughness to it — less like someone in a hurry and more like someone barely keeping their irritation in check.

I quietly closed my mouth and tightened my arms around his neck a little more. When I glanced up at his face, it wore an expression I only ever got to see when I had done something genuinely terrible — and I couldn’t help but feel on edge.

The further inside we went, the louder and clearer the commotion became. In the central hall of the department store — a wide open space surrounded on all sides by railings and escalators stacked floor upon floor — zombies were tangled together in chaos. A massive sculpture that had once stood at the center had toppled over, and someone was standing on top of it.

“Is that a person?”

The words slipped out in a near-whisper — and the moment they dissolved into the air, the woman standing on the sculpture moved lightly.

It was quite a drop from that height, and yet she didn’t hesitate, didn’t even wobble. She moved as if hopping across stepping stones, unhurried and light-footed, and even had the composure to tuck her hair back into place as she went.

The soft brown hair fell behind her ear, and her face came into clear view. Slightly downturned eyes, lips curved in a gentle arc, a sweet impression reminiscent of a puppy……

And her neat white dress paired with a thick pink cardigan was so fresh and out of place in these surroundings that she looked as if she had simply stepped out for a leisurely stroll. The overall impression was delicate and lovely in equal measure. She was a breathtaking beauty.

And I knew who she was. Even though it was the first time I’d ever seen her face, I recognized her instinctively — I couldn’t not. Of course. There was only one person whose existence alone made it feel like sunshine was pouring down and flowers were blooming just at the sight of her.

It’s the female lead!

That’s right — Moon Seyoung, the female lead of Those Brothers’ First Love! In the original work, Baek Hyunwoo had said that if you were to take the word “lovely” and make it into a person, it would be Moon Seyoung exactly — and now I understood why he’d said that.

Whether she sensed our presence, she looked up, and her gaze met mine. The moment those pretty acorn-shaped eyes filled with nothing but me, heat flooded through me and my heart started hammering — thud, thud, thud. Unable to bear the embarrassment, I pulled Baek Hyunwoo closer and held on tighter, but my eyes refused to leave her.

I understood now why the brothers in the original had put their lives on the line for her. In fact, the original’s Baek Sihyeon — who hadn’t fallen for her — struck me as the more remarkable one. How could anyone look at someone like her and simply think, she suits my hyungs well, and move on?

Moon Seyoung smiled brightly and waved, and my mind began to ring like a bell. Nothing existed but her. The artificial light pouring down from above, the gentle breeze and scattering petals — all of it felt as though it had been created for her alone.