Walking Daddy

Lee Jeong-Uk tiled his head, trying to figure out my drawing. “The leader of the elderly, and the leader of the young people?”

I nodded in approval. I then drew countless arrows to describe the ones who were trying to leave, the ones who were trying to stay, and their disagreement. Lee Jeong-Uk considered the arrows, then followed up with a question of his own. “They’re trying to leave? Only the younger people?”

I growled in the affirmative.

“Why would they want to leave? How about the rest of the people?”

I drew a large ‘X’ over the remaining people. Lee Jung-Uk’s face grew pale. “They’re dead?”

I growled in denial, shaking my head. He tilted his head once again and rephrased his question. “Did the younger people kill the elderly?”

I made a face, growling in denial again. I wrote down a few words to elaborate myself.

- Elderly, children, no strength. Younger people, nothing to lose.

Lee Jeong-Hyuk came to the rescue. “I think he’s trying to say that the younger people are going to leave the elderly and children behind because they aren’t really useful to them.”

I growled in approval, patting him on his shoulder to thank him for easing my frustration. I felt him jump at my sudden touch, but he quickly flashed a satisfied smile. The rest of the group came over to look at my drawings and words.

Choi Da-Hye broke the silence. “Wait a minute. Let’s make this clear before we move on. So you’re saying that the younger people are going to abandon the elderly? Is that why the leader of the elderly group is frowning?”

“Grr!”

“Then what’s the drawing on the next page about? The one where the leaders are arguing. Is it a quarrel between the ones that want to stay with the ones that want to leave?”

I was so glad that I almost howled. I felt like I’d aged at least ten years in the span of a few minutes. I was thankful that Lee Jeong-Hyuk had corrected the false assumptions, bringing the conversation back on track.

Lee Jeong-Uk sat still, quietly listening to what the rest were saying. After a while, he frowned in disapproval, then scratched at his sideburns and asked, “So the younger people are desperate to leave while the elderly want them to stay?”

“Grr!”

“Wait, this doesn’t seem right. There’s something more fundamental that doesn’t make sense. If the younger people had the power to leave, why would they stay and argue about it?”

I didn’t know how to answer his question. He was completely right. However, I didn’t know how to explain this. I wasn’t Picasso, so there was a limit to how much I could explain through my drawings. Besides, I also couldn’t think of the right words to explain this situation.

At that moment, Lee Jeong-Hyuk spoke. “I bet there’s some issue with food. They’re probably fighting because the younger people were trying to take all the food. Right?”

“No, I don’t think that’s the case. There’s nothing to lose, even if they left. The chances of them having a lot of food is slim to none. In the end, they just want to get rid of the people who aren’t of much help. After all, they could’ve just left with the food from the start.”

Lee Jeong-Uk had made a very succinct point. I wanted to give him a round of applause to acknowledge his sharp and analytical mind. He rubbed his chin, then snorted and continued with his hypothesis. “Huh, that leaves only one reason…”

His proclamation drew everyone’s attention. With all eyes on him, he smacked his lips and continued to speak.

“They can’t leave without feeling guilty. They want to leave, but at the same time, they don’t want to feel like they’re abandoning the people that would be left behind. It’s like they’re trying their best to justify their actions. Bunch of hypocrites, if you ask me.”

There were universal noises of approval as the rest of the group nodded, agreeing with Lee Jeong-Uk’s theory. He shrugged and continued, “It could be rationalization or justification. It seems like they already know they have no way of justifying what they want, so they’re just wasting time quarreling.”

I couldn’t help but nod at his theory. I recalled the argument I’d overheard between the principal and the woman. It now seemed to me as though the woman just wanted to get rid of the principal by making him join the search team. There would be no better justification for their actions than if the principal were to be killed.

They didn’t want to do the dirty work themselves, nor did they want to maintain the status quo. They were as selfish as they could be. I wondered if they knew that they were no longer acting like rational, intelligent beings.

As I stared at Lee Jeong-Uk, he smirked and said, “Hey, So-Yeon’s dad.”

I growled back in surprise. Previously, he’d called me the zombie leader, but now he was calling me So-Yeon’s dad. It had a ring to it.

“Do you know what’s going on?”

I didn’t reply. Noticing that I was avoiding his question. Lee Jeong-Uk sighed and walked toward the couch. He slumped into the couch and muttered, “It’s too late now.”

Moonlight shone into the living room, as though illuminating his thoughts. There wasn’t a single person present who didn’t catch what he meant. It was too late to persuade the younger people in the school to think ethically and morally anymore. It was pointless to give them a second chance, especially since the only thing they wanted right now was to get rid of the principal.

They were no different from children wishing for their parents to die. After a while, Lee Jeong-Uk asked me another question. “So-Yeon’s dad, there’s only one thing on your mind right?”

His question drew everyone’s attention to me. I nodded, my face full of mixed emotions. The one thing that was bothering me was the fate of the helpless children and the elderly.

It was only natural for the young and able-bodied individuals in the school to plot an escape. My mind was solely on the children and the elderly. They would die without knowing why. I knew that ignoring them would strip away the last bit of humanity I had. I couldn’t turn a blind eye to them. If I did, I would be nothing but a dead body, with no humanity left in me.

As I made my way back from the school, the principal’s plea lingered in my mind. He wasn’t there to keep himself alive. He wanted everyone to stay together, despite knowing what the younger ones wanted. He wanted to save everyone. When he realized that wasn’t an option, he’d cried his heart out and begged the rest of them to be on the same page as him.

Unfortunately, no one was willing to get on board. From the moment they’d decided that they wanted the principal gone, it was only a matter of time before the younger faction made their move to escape.

Lee Jeong-Uk took a close look at my face, his head swaying from side to side in disapproval.

“I can’t tell if you’re a good person, or just dull-witted.”

I made a face.

‘Me, dull-witted?’

People’s lives were on the line. Did I have to call him out for not being able to come to such an easy decision?

Lee Jeong-Uk let out a sigh and continued, “I’m no different. I can’t stop thinking about the people there.”

I stared at him, not saying a word. He was calling himself dull-witted as well. I realized that he and I might have more in common than I’d previously thought. After a while, he got up with a grunt and finished his thought. “Alright then, I have faith in you. Don’t let me down.”

‘Faith, huh?’

I wasn’t sure if he was telling me not to betray his trust, or if he wanted me to never let go of my attitude of caring for others. I couldn’t help but smirk. He probably meant both. I’d been put off by his attitude at first, but the more I got to know him, the more I realized that he and I got along pretty well. He scratched his neck and followed up with a question. “So what’s the plan?”

I tightened my grip on the pen on the table.

* * *

When evening came around the next day, I brought Lee Jeong-Uk to the high school. Thirty of my underlings escorted him. We were making our move at night for one simple reason. I wanted to raid the school when my underlings were in peak physical condition.

If the survivors had paid attention to what was happening, they should have been aware of how threatening the zombies were after sunset. I call it a raid, but the thirty underlings I was taking with me were mere extras.

We were going to make a show of threatening the survivors. I assumed they would not fight back, since they didn’t seem to possess any proper weapons, and they lacked the will to defend the school. Once we appeared and held the numerical advantage, the younger ones would flee. At that moment, Lee Jung-Uk would approach the elderly and children trapped in the classrooms.

After taking over the school, Lee Jung-Uk would assess the survivors. This was the plan we’d come up with the night before. I had also drilled into my underlings over and over again that they were never to, under any circumstances, bite any of the survivors in the school.

Moving around at night with Lee Jeong-Uk was more dangerous than I’d anticipated. Plastering his body with zombie blood wasn’t enough to conceal his sweet human smell. Every time he breathed, his smell permeated throughout the streets like the aroma of mouth-watering ramen.

The zombies, with their senses heightened, were constantly attracted to him. Every time unfriendly zombies made an appearance, I had to line up my underlings and yell at the approaching zombies, ‘Move, get lost! Come closer if you want to die.’

I turned away as many zombies as I could in this manner.

I did not want to suffer any headaches before we executed our plan. It would be a total disaster if I lost my mind. However, I had no choice but to turn the zombies who possessed sight into my underlings. I could do something about the ones who only possessed the ability to hear or those who relied on their sense of smell, but I didn’t know what surprises the ones who could see would bring.

If the ones with vision began to call out, matters would quickly spiral beyond my control. As we encountered more and more zombies, our pace slowed. Even though we were so close, we had to stop multiple times because of the severity of my headaches.

I recruited eight new underlings along the way. All eight of them had the ability to see. I hadn’t seen them during the day, but now they were making the occasional appearance.

‘Man, let’s get it together.’

I took a couple of deep breaths, checking to see if Lee Jeong-Uk was falling behind. It was quite a sight to behold, watching him moving while being escorted by my underlings. His bitter expression made me chuckle. It felt rather nice; it was like getting back at him for all the jokes he’d made at my expense.

After moving for fifty minutes, all the while paying close attention to our surroundings, we finally glimpsed the wall surrounding the school. It had taken us longer than usual. I looked at Lee Jeong-Uk while pointing at the school wall. He nodded, swallowing visibly. He was no longer smiling. He was mentally preparing himself for what was to come.

My attitude changed too, as I carefully made my way toward the wall. I had to stay hidden from the guards to ensure that our plan didn’t fail. I bit my lip, taking each step with caution.

Splash.

The unexpected sound halted me in my tracks. My legs froze and my hair stood on end. I crouched down immediately, and ordered my underlings to sit. Lee Jeong-Uk followed me surreptitiously, looking at me with a nervous expression. I opened my eyes as wide as I could, scanning the area, including any possible blind spots.

‘Where is this sound coming from? It sounds too familiar.’’

An uneasy feeling welled up from within me, and I could feel the cool summer breeze caress my skin. With chills running up my spine, I continued to look around, straining my bloodshot eyes.

Splash, splash.

I heard it again.

Sticky footsteps, as though whatever it was had wet feet. The unpleasant noise ground into my eardrums. After a moment, a forgotten memory drifted into my mind. I froze as though I had seen a ghost.

Alarm bells were ringing through my mind. The sound filled me, as well as the feeling as though all the water was draining out of my body. This was a feeling I had completely forgotten about after becoming a zombie. This feeling, which I thought I would never have to experience again, engulfed me once again.

Death.

The fear of death blared through my mind like a siren.