Walking Daddy

Hwang Ji-Hye yelled as she put a bullet through yet another zombie’s head.

“You think unlocking a door is that easy?”

Park Gi-Cheol threw the hairpin he’d been using to the floor and started hammering at the doorknob with the stock of his rifle.

The two of them were trapped, unable to go up or down, and they were growing increasingly anxious.

To make matters worse, they were starting to run out of bullets.

Click— Click—

With her rifle now empty, Hwang Ji-Hye mounted a bayonet on her rifle and started bayonetting the zombies hanging onto the stairs in their eyes.

GAAA!!!

A zombie jumped on top of Hwang Ji-Hye.

Her eyes grew wide, and she swung her bayonet to intercept it. The blade pierced directly through its chest, causing it to squirm and struggle.

The zombie’s weight bore Hwang Ji-Hye to the ground. Its slimy, sticky saliva dripped onto her face.

“Group leader!”

Park Gi-Cheol, belatedly recognizing what was going on, ran to assist Hwang Ji-Hye.

He smashed the stock of his rifle into the zombie’s temple, and the creature swayed side to side before collapsing to the floor. Hwang Ji-Hye quickly propped herself up and stabbed the zombie in the eye with her hunting knife.

The zombie’s body jerked once, then stopped moving.

“Are you alright? You didn’t get bitten, did you?"

Hwang Ji-Hye shook her head to indicate that she was unharmed, and turned around.

Immediately, she realized something was wrong.

The zombies were no longer moving.

The zombies that were trying to leap across the broken stairs seemed to have instantly turned into plaster statues.

Hwang Ji-Hye shook her head vigorously and blinked multiple times, trying to make sense of the scene in front of her. Thinking that her mind was playing tricks on her, she examined the zombies over and over again. However, no matter how many times she looked, the zombies remained still as stone.

Park Gi-Cheol was no different. He was taken aback by the unbelievable situation. He couldn’t understand why these zombies that only knew slaughter had stopped moving.

Rattle—

The iron door leading out to the rooftop opened.

Hwang Ji-Hye and Park Gi-Cheol both turned toward the door at the same time, not knowing how’d they would react to another unexpected surprise.

Thankfully, it was Kim Hyeong-Jun looking for them. He snorted while looking at them.

"I knew you two were alive.”

Park Gi-Cheol’s eyes widened as he saw Kim Hyeong-Jun walk toward them.

“Hyeong… Hyeong-Jun?”

“Yes, ahjussi.”

“How are you speaking…”

As Park Gi-Cheol looked at him in puzzlement, Hwang Ji-Hye, who was next to him, spoke up.

“Let’s talk about that later. First and foremost, do you know why these zombies stopped moving all of a sudden?”

“I think the enemy leader got killed,” Kim Hyeong-Jun replied with a shrug.

Hwang Ji-Hye placed her hand on her forehead as if she had trouble understanding what was happening.

“If the enemy leader is down, does that mean Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok…”

“…killed one of the leaders.”

When Kim Hyeong-Jun finished her sentence for her in an affirmative tone, she let out a sigh and sat down on the floor.

Park Gi-Cheol swallowed to soothe his dry throat and croaked out a question.

“Does that mean the war is over now?”

“We can’t be sure at the moment. It’s possible that there are more enemy leaders.”

“More enemy leaders?”

“Yes, that’s what Hyun-Deok ahjussi told me.”

“There is a possibility that the enemy has more cadres.”

“Where is Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok?”

“We have to go look for him. Let’s get going. There’s a lot to take care of.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun gestured for them to get moving, and disappeared out onto the rooftop. Park Gi-Cheol helped Hwang Ji-Hye up and they followed Kim Hyeong-Jun.

A cool breeze welcomed the three of them as they stepped outside. Park Gi-Cheol took a deep breath and smiled gently.

The clean air felt like refreshing dew.

As the two of them followed Kim Hyeong-Jun to the other side of the rooftop, they saw the guard leader tied up with a length of rope.

Hwang Ji-Hye narrowed her eyes at the guard leader. Park Gi-Cheol ran to the guard leader and hurled a fist at them.

“You bastard! How dare you call yourself a human being! You’re no different from an animal!”

Park Gi-Cheol spat and gritted his teeth as the guard leader fell onto their side.

Hwang Ji-Hye calmed down Park Gi-Cheol and asked Kim Hyeong-Jun what had happened.

“I caught them as they were getting away with one of their men, their successor.”

“Then where’s this successor…”

Before Hwang Ji-Hye finished her sentence, Kim Hyeong-Jun pointed a finger at his lower belly. Hwang Ji-Hye hesitated at his gesture, then asked cautiously,

"You’re… You’re not saying you ate him?”

“What was I supposed to do when he pointed a gun in my face?”

“...”

Hwang Ji-Hye smacked her lips and stopped. She knew Kim Hyeong-Jun had a sound reason to do what he did.

She brushed her bangs away from her forehead and looked down at the guard leader.

“Why\'d you do that earlier?”

“Do… Do what?”

“What? I’m asking why you closed the door to the rooftop earlier.”

The guard leader trembled, and tried to avoid answering Hwang Ji-Hye’s question. She clicked her tongue and looked at Kim Hyeong-Jun, but managed to calm herself down and continued, “You will no longer be the guard leader from now on. You will also be banned from entering Shelter Silence. I’ll leave you to them.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun shook his hand and stashed his hands in his pockets. To the guard leader, her words were no different from a death sentence.

The guard leader’s eyes widened.

“Group leader! You can’t do this to me! Don’t you know how long we’ve known each other? Is this really what you want to do to me?”

“...”

“We went through thick and thin together! We were at death’s door! Don’t you remember? You surely can’t do this to me! Please?”

“At death’s door my ass.”

“You damn bitch! Do you think you’re almighty or something? Do you think you’re going to get your…”

Hwang Ji-Hye lashed a foot out, catching the guard leader in the groin and cutting off his tirade. The guard leader gasped and started rolling on the floor.

Hwang Ji-Hye asked the remaining guards around them,

“We’ll take a vote. Those who think we should forgive the guard leader’s wrongdoings and accept them back to the shelter, raise your hands.”

Just as she expected, no one raised their hand.

Hwang Ji-Hye glared at the guard leader, who was rolling on the floor.

“Well, it seems like this is the end for you. No one has faith in you.”

“Hey, hey! Group leader! Hwang Ji-Hye!!!”

Hwang Ji-Hye headed to the opposite side of the rooftop without looking back even once. Even though she’d spoken harshly to the guard leader, it was easy enough to see that she wasn’t fully uncomfortable with what she’d just said.

Park Gi-Cheol read her mind and tapped Kim Hyeong-Jun on the shoulder.

“She’ll need some support, don’t you think?”

“You go ahead, ahjussi.”

When Kim Hyeong-Jun nodded, Park Gi-Cheol went off after Hwang Ji-Hye, his mind full of worry, trying to come up with a way to console her.

Kim Hyeong-Jun crouched in front of the guard leader.

“Now… How should I take care of you?”

“Hey, hey. I didn’t close the door on purpose… I swear!”

“So it’s okay to kill people if it wasn’t on purpose?”

“I didn’t kill anyone!”

“Standing aside and doing nothing is just as bad.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun chuckled.

"Don\'t worry. I’m not going to kill you.”

“You aren’t? Really?”

"Of course. Even shit like you can still have a use, you know?”

“Wait, what?”

The guard leader looked around, confusion in their eyes.

At that moment, a large shadow passed over the rooftop. A man was flying toward them.

Bang!

The man landed on the rooftop, cratering the ground beneath him and throwing up the smell of musty cement.

Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at the man’s face and grinned at the guard leader.

“Talk to him, not me.”

* * *

I looked at Kim Hyeong-Jun’s eyes.

‘What happened to the other members of the Family?’

“Do Han-Sol took care of one, and I took care of the other.”

I recalled the two enemy leaders who’d been looking around cluelessly before the seventh officer accosted me.

Judging by the fact that the surrounding zombies weren’t moving, it seemed like they had lost their connection to the two leaders.

I nodded, but suddenly realized something wasn’t quite right.

‘But hey… You’re… You’re talking out loud right now…?’

“Oh yeah, something happened in between.”

‘Elaborate.’

Kim Hyeong-Jun filled me in on the incidents that had happened while I was gone, and my brow began to furrow. After I listened to everything, I let out a deep breath, then looked over at the guard leader, who was all tied up.

The guard leader looked at the other guards and shouted, “Are you guys really just going to watch? They’re zombies! Do you think it makes sense to join forces with zombies? Wake the fuck up, you bastards!”

The guards looked back at the guard leader with blank expressions. A few spat on the floor while swearing.

Looking at them, I took another deep breath, then looked at Kim Hyeong-Jun.

‘So you have the guard leader tied up like this so that I can eat them?’

"I mean, I’ve caused you some nuisance, so consider this as a gift from me.”

I chuckled and shook my head.

Kim Hyeong-Jun sure was a funny fellow.

I picked the guard leader up and went over to the next building, which was empty.

I had to eat a brain that belonged to someone who was alive. And I didn’t want to show the survivors what I was about to do. I thought this was the least I could do for the survivors that were risking their lives to defend this place.

After I confirmed that there was no one around, I threw the guard leader to the ground. The guard leader moaned in pain and immediately began begging for their life.

As I looked at the guard leader’s face, covered in tears and snot, the shred of humanity left within me suffered a deep blow.

I looked at the guard leader with pity in my eyes. The guard leader quickly realized that my conviction was wavering, and tried to take advantage of it.

“Hey, you don’t want to do this either, do you? You’re a person, after all. Do you know how wrong it is to kill another person? I do. If you give me a minute, I’ll tell you all about it.”

I frowned and slapped the guard leader on the cheek.

The guard leader cried out in pain and collapsed on the floor, blinking at me in surprise and looking back at me with a bewildered expression.

It was indeed heartbreaking for me to lose some of my humanity. I would have to deny myself and trap myself in an endless abyss of despair. However, after all that had come to pass, I had formed another clear belief, a creed of sorts.

Just like at the end of a tunnel, I saw a ray of hope in the pitch-black darkness.

My creed was this: to save humans that were actually human.

I wasn’t going to go against this belief of mine until the day I closed my eyes.

And anyone who went against my belief, whether that someone was a human or zombie, would not be spared.

Without hesitation, I bit off the guard\'s head.

* * *

When I returned to the rooftop again, Kim Hyeong-Jun spoke up while looking at the blood stains around my mouth.

"How did it taste?"

“Knock it off.”

My tone was cold, and Kim Hyeong-Jun clicked his tongue as if I was being a party-pooper.

There were no red zombies around. All the other zombies were still as stone, as if they were robots that had run out of juice.

Despite this, I knew better than to let my guard down, because the dong leader of Gunja-dong hadn’t shown up yet. I knew we had to strengthen our lookouts until the Family’s reinforcements showed up.

Soon after, Hwang Ji-Hye and Park Gi-Cheol returned to the rooftop. It seemed like they’d managed to calm themselves down after having faced such a tense situation.

Hwang Ji-Hye asked for an explanation of what had happened, and I answered as much as I could. I told her about how I’d taken care of the dong leader of Guui-dong and the seventh officer.

After Hwang Ji-Hye heard what I had to say, she said, "Then… You’re saying that their attack isn’t over yet, right?”

“I’m not sure, but that’s most likely.”

“Do you have an estimate of how long it’ll take? For the reinforcements to show up.”

"Well, that all hinges on how fast they get through Gunja-dong.”

Hwang Ji-Hye’s expression grew confused, and she seemed lost in thought for a moment. Finally, she looked me in the eye.

“So, Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok… Is this your actual voice?”

“…Yes.”

“It’s nice to hear it. Your voice.”

I gave a slight nod. She was subtly implying that she understood that I’d eaten a human brain. And that she would be acknowledging me as a person and not a zombie anymore.

Shelter Silence, which had been extremely hostile toward zombies, had finally let me in.

I looked back at the zombies around us.

"I think it\'s better if we clean these up first."

“The zombies?”

“It\'s dangerous to leave so many zombies out like this. They’ll turn into ordinary street zombies and roam the streets again after a day.”

“Then should we kill them right now?”

"No. We have to eat the enemy leader’s brain, which will let us recruit more underlings. I think it’s best to move the remaining ones to the zombie prison of ours.”

Hwang Ji-Hye nodded, her lips tightly closed. It seemed like she was going to go along with whatever I put forward, since she knew she didn’t have a say in the affairs of zombies.

I watched the sun setting, then spoke to Kim Hyeong-Jun.

“I think it’s best if we eat them as soon as possible. There’s no point in postponing it.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun shook his head.

“Nope, I’m not going to eat anything.”

His reply was unexpected. I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Give my part to Do Han-Sol.”

“Why?”

“The vanguard of the Family’s forces were wiped out. The Family lost contact with them, and the reinforcements would notice this soon. I bet the attack will begin either this evening at the earliest, or tomorrow at the latest. What if we are both still sleeping then?”

“...”

“At least one of us has to be ready.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun smiled widely and slapped my forearm.

I looked at Kim Hyeong-Jun with a mixture of gratitude and apology. Kim Hyeong-Jun frowned and continued.

“Oh no, don’t look at me like that. After all, I’m a married man.”

“I swear I’m going to hit you someday.”

“Try me. I dare you.”

I burst out laughing at Kim Hyeong-Jun’s latest attempt to get on my nerves. I smiled lightly, and Kim Hyeong-Jun smiled back.

“You go ahead and eat. I’ll go and get Do Han-Sol.”

"Thanks."

“But don’t wake up too late, you know?”

“I’ll try.”

I looked at my mutants, who were on the first floor of the building.

\'Carry the corpses and follow me.\'

My mutants followed me, carrying the heads of the seventh officer and the dong leader of Guui-dong.