Walking Daddy

Thank goodness.

I wasn’t late.

I looked down at the first floor again, seeing the sixth officer lying there with his lower body crushed.

He was looking at me in utter confusion.

“No, there’s no way. How does he have those eyes…”

I clenched my fists, my blue eyes flashing.

I jumped down and landed in front of the sixth officer. His jaw fell open.

It seemed like he couldn’t believe what was in front of his eyes.

I looked straight into his eyes and asked, "Listen carefully. Where’s your boss?”

“What… what?”

“Where’s the boss of the Family?”

His eyes swam about as he tried to come up with a way to divert my attention.

I stepped on his chest and slowly applied more pressure.

"Answer me."

“God! Wait, hold on!”

“Wrong answer.”

“Fuck!”

Crack. Crack!

Now that his ribs were crushed, he began to breathe heavily while coughing continuously.

He vomited a mouthful of blood and looked at me with eyes full of fear.

This time, I placed my right foot on his neck.

“This is your last chance. Answer me.”

“I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you! Get your foot off of me!”

I slowly put more weight on my right foot, which was pressed against his neck. The sixth officer grabbed onto my leg with his hands and squirmed.

However, at his current level of strength, there was no way he could snap my leg or break free.

I frowned down at him.

“Stop thinking about trying to bullshit me and answer my question.”

“The boss is in Gangnam!”

“Where in Gangnam?”

“Yeouido! The boss entered Yeouido! Yeouido is the launching point of the Gangnam Operation!”

I furrowed my brow.

“All the bridges spanning the Han River and leading to Gangnam have collapsed. How did you guys get over?”

“Sogang Bridge! Sogang Bridge hasn’t collapsed! Sogang Bridge, which connects to Bamseom Island, is only partially destroyed!”

I applied more pressure with my right foot, causing the sixth officer to squirm even more. There was still something I didn’t understand.

“If that’s the case, you guys should have been focused only on Gangnam. Why did you attack Gwangjin-gu?”

“Seoul… Occupying Seoul… is the boss’s goal. Please get your foot off of me…!”

“And what are you trying to gain by occupying Seoul?”

“I don’t fucking know! The boss’s desire is probably that he wants to become the mayor of Seoul city or something!”

“Then why did you become part of the Family?”

“Because… Because I wanted to survive.”

The sixth officer looked at me, his eyes trembling.

As I took my right foot off of him, the sixth officer coughed and massaged his neck with his hands. I looked down at the sixth officer.

“Let me ask you one more question.”

“...”

“How did you know there was a shelter in Haengdang-dong?”

“I… I saw zombies running into the Seoul Forest and assumed that there would be a shelter here.”

“Did you tell your boss about this?”

“...”

The sixth officer averted his gaze and didn’t answer my question. I let out a deep breath.

“So these forces won’t be the end of it.”

"No, no! No one knows. No one knows that there’s a shelter here! There won’t be any more reinforcements!”

“If you’re going to lie, you should’ve done it properly.”

Using all the strength in my thigh, I kicked him squarely in the face.

His neck bones snapped in a weird way, and he collapsed helplessly.

He moved no more.

Everything was over.

The long battle has finally come to an end.

“So-Yeon’s father!”

Everyone who was on the ground floor of apartment 104 came rushing to me at once. They all swallowed as they glanced at the dead sixth officer, then asked me, “Is, is he dead?”

“Yes,” I answered in a low voice.

Choi Da-Hye gasped in surprise.

“So-yeon’s father, you… you can speak…”

“There’s a whole story behind it. I’ll tell you all about it once we get everything settled down.”

“Oh…”

Choi Da-Hye nodded and trailed off.

Lee Jeong-Uk yelled down at me from the fifth floor.

“So-Yeon’s dad! This fellow doesn’t seem to be doing so well!”

I leaped up to the fifth-floor balcony at once.

Kim Hyeong-Jun was struggling. His breathing was heavy. I furrowed my brow and examined him once over. HIs broken arms and crushed chest were not regenerating.

As I looked at him, I felt my heart sink.

I’d never felt so afraid.

The thought that I could lose Kim Hyeong-Jun made me extremely anxious.

"What the hell are you doing!” I yelled. “Regenerate already!”

Kim Hyeong-Jun smiled bitterly at me.

“I can’t seem to do so. It’s not working.”

“What do you mean? What’s the problem?”

“I think it’s my skull… I think it\'s broken.”

I quickly hoisted him onto my back as I listened to him talk.

He was still breathing.

Even though he wasn’t regenerating right now, he might have been able to do so after taking a rest.

For zombies with glowing red eyes, the only way to rest was to consume an enemy leader’s brain.

I approached the sixth officer’s corpse on the first floor, carrying Kim Hyeong-Jun on my back. Without the slightest hesitation, I tore off the sixth officer’s head and shattered his skull.

When I pulled out his brain, everyone around me frowned. I looked around at them and said, “Everyone… if you don’t mind giving us a moment.”

There was some grimacing, but they all headed back to apartment 104.

I laid Kim Hyeong-Jun on my lap and shoved the sixth officer’s brain into his mouth.

After he ate the sixth officer’s brain, he smiled and spoke up.

“Hahah… I never thought I’d ever rest my head on my guy’s lap.”

“You’d better wake up. If you sleep forever like this…”

“Well, that’s not really up to me, is it?”

He slowly closed his eyes, as if the fatigue had kicked in right away.

I bit my lower lip and said, “You better not die. I’m going to drag you up out of your grave if you do.”

“Ahjussi, stick to one thing, please, whether that’s cheering me on or cursing me…”

“I’ll see you when you wake up.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun’s eyes fluttered and closed, as if he couldn’t fight off the drowsiness tugging at him.

I released a bitter sigh. Someone came over and put a hand on my shoulder.

When I turned around, I saw Lee Jeong-Uk standing behind me.

Lee Jeong-Uk smacked his lips and looked away. He then patted my shoulders a couple of times and went back into apartment 104.

Kim Hyeong-Jun\'s skull was cracked. His neck was twisted awkwardly, and his chest was caved in. Both of his arms were broken. He looked worn out and his body wasn’t regenerating on its own.

Even though he had eaten an enemy leader’s brain, it was difficult to say if he was dead or alive.

I prayed over and over again that he would make it through alive.

I no longer cared about the way he got on my nerves, or how many lame jokes he tried to pull on me. My only wish was that he would wake up and ask me, with that cheesy face of his, if I had been worried about him all along.

* * *

Hwang Ji-Hye and Do Han-Sol handled all the remaining zombies left in Seoul forest.

Kim Hyeong-Jun\'s mutants, along with Mood-Swinger, took care of the zombies that had made their way across Jayang-gyo, and Mood-Swinger and Do Han-Sol came together to defeat the dong leader of Junggok-dong.

I gave the brain of the dong leader of Junggok-dong to Do Han-Sol.

I assumed that everyone would rejoice at the end of the long battle, but the survivors weren’t all that happy.

Their focus was on survival, rather than winning a war.

For the survivors, there was no greater relief than surviving.

Some of the survivors couldn’t shake off their anxiety, knowing that this peace was only temporary. They knew that it could disappear at any second.

Those who had adapted to this damned world… They were slowly forgetting the feeling of happiness. Or maybe they were getting tired of all their friends dying.

I explained to everyone at Shelter Hae-Young what had happened over the past few days, and everyone seemed to understand why I had done the things I did.

No one asked in detail about the reason why I was able to speak.

They all seemed to trust me, and accepted me for who I was.

The more I thought about it… I was grateful to be surrounded by such people.

Now that the situation had settled down, at least temporarily, I invited the leaders of Shelter Silence and Shelter Barrier to Shelter Hae-Young for an emergency meeting.

With the sun about to set, the leaders of the three shelters gathered in the meeting room in Shelter Hae-Young.

I sat at the head of the table. I looked around at the shelter leaders, then began the proceedings.

“Let’s begin the meeting.”

* * *

We started off the meeting with a small icebreaker, with the leader of each shelter giving a small introduction about their own shelter.

Everyone seemed to know about Shelter Silence, but not many had a clear idea about Shelter Hae-Young or Shelter Barrier.

Hwang Deok-Rok and Choi Soo-Hyun, the two representing Shelter Barrier, seemed slightly uncomfortable at first, but then soon loosened up and were able to speak more freely.

The Lee brothers represented Shelter Hae-Young and gave the others a brief rundown of our history.

After everyone had developed a basic understanding of each shelter, I got straight to the point.

“Each of us is different, but I think we all have the same goal. A shelter for humans, am I right?”

Everyone seemed to be in agreement.

I took a quick breath and continued, "I believe… We should join together as one.”

“Join together?”

“That’s right.”

What I was proposing was rather abrupt and out of the blue. Hwang Ji-Hye seemed especially troubled, and Lee Jeong-Uk was no different. He wet his lips several times, then exclaimed, “How could you come up with such a proposal without discussing it with us beforehand?”

“I came to this conclusion over the course of this battle. I’m confident that there’s absolutely no advantage for any of us if we remain split up.”

I offered my reply calmly, and the others all exchanged silent looks.

After a moment, Lee Jeong-Hyuk raised his right hand and spoke up.

“So-Yeon’s father, if I may?”

“Of course, go ahead.”

“Do you have an area in mind?”

“I actually do have a safe area in mind.”

I offered my answer immediately, and all eyes turned to focus on me.

I spread out the map of Seoul that I had previously obtained in front of me and pointed to a specific area on the map.

Hwang Ji-Hye was the first to speak.

“Grand Walkerhill Seoul.”

I nodded.

“I was thinking of turning Grand Walkerhill Seoul, located in Gwangjang-dong, into a shelter.”

Hwang Ji-Hye rubbed her chin gently. It didn’t take her long to step in.

“The area is geographically advantageous. It’s impossible to enter via the north or west because of the presence of Achasan[1], and the Han River blocks off access from the east. We’ll be safe as long as we defend the road leading in from the southwest.”

The white-haired elder spoke up in support of Hwang Ji-Hye.

“If we take advantage of the ridge along Achasan, we can cultivate plants on a much larger scale.”

With that, the discussion began in earnest, focusing on the advantages of Gwangjang-dong.

It was more than possible to renovate the basement of the hotel so that the technicians had a place to themselves, and the hotel suites could be used as hospital wards. Not only that, but the defensive line to the southwest was narrow, which would make it easier to defend. The wide view from above would make it easy to detect enemy movements. The hotel was also large enough of a space to accommodate everyone.

After I listened to all the leaders, I spoke up.

“I think it’d be best to head over as soon as possible, since we cannot rule out the possibility of another attack by the Family.”

"But wait. There’s a problem.”

Hwang Ji-Hye cut me off, and everyone in the meeting room turned to look at her.

When I gestured to her to speak, Hwang Ji-Hye hesitated for a moment, biting her lower lip.

I stared at her lips, hoping that she wouldn’t bring up what I was thinking. Eventually, though, I heard exactly what I’d been expecting.

“There are survivors in Gangnam.”

“Huh?”

“In Gangnam?”

"What do you mean?"

Questions and rebuttals flew left and right. I calmed everyone down and gestured to Hwang Ji-Hye to explain more.

Hwang Ji-Hye sighed and continued talking.

“The weapons our shelter was supplied with…. They were supplied by the people in Gangnam.”

Kim Beom-Jin, the head of Shelter Silence\'s medical team, seemed utterly bewildered.

"And you’ve been hiding that from us all along?" he asked.

Hwang Ji-Hye grimaced, then continued, “The survivors of Gangnam weren’t willing to accept us. The most they were willing to do was to supply us with goods. Nothing more, nothing less. My apologies for keeping this a secret… But I knew that this would only heap more uncertainty on top of what we are already facing.”

“Then how are the people of Gangnam managing to survive? Are there no zombies in Gangnam?”

Kim Beom-Jin was needling Hwang Ji-Hye for details. The shelter leader shook her head.

“There are zombies in Gangnam as well. However, the humans seem to be operating more safely than over here in Gangbuk. That\'s why they aren’t willing to bring us in. Because they’re afraid we could tear their perfect system apart.”

No one seemed to doubt Hwang Ji-Hye’s answer. The expressions of those in the room grew complicated. Some gnashed their teeth, and others calmed themselves down in their own way.

I tried to change the atmosphere in the room by bringing everyone back to the original topic.

“Ms. Hwang Ji-Hye, what was the problem that you were about to bring up?”

“This battle has left us low on supplies. It’ll be difficult for us to resupply if we move to Gwangjang-dong.”

“What if we’re able to come back here when necessary? We can form a supply team and prepare a route in advance. That should solve this problem.”

“If we were off by one day, our supplies would be completely cut off. Moreover, there’s no guarantee that there won’t be another attack by the Family. The risk is too high. “

“Well, there’s me, Hyeong-Jun, and Han-Sol. We can cover the supply team. Besides, I think we should be more concerned about what’s going on on the other side.”

“The other side?”

“There’s no guarantee that Gangnam is safe anymore.”

I interlaced my fingers together. Hwang Ji-Hye tilted her head at me.

“What do you mean?”

“The boss of the Family has entered Yeouido via Sogang Bridge.”

1. The suffix -san means mountain in Korean. ☜