Walking Daddy

But killing Mood-Swinger was a completely different story. If he hesitated at the last minute… That moment of hesitation would cost him his own life instead.

I stayed by Kim Hyeong-Jun’s side in order to prevent this from happening.

Kim Hyeong-Jun sighed.

“No matter how important Mood-Swinger is… My family comes first.”

“...”

“If I lose my command over it because of this… I’m going to fight solely for my family.”

I let out a breath after hearing his answer.

Crack, crack, crack.

Soon, the huge egg in front of us began to wiggle. The surface of the egg started to crack open, accompanied by the unpleasant sound of bones being crushed.

We both got up, clenching our fists, as if we both knew that we had to be prepared for what might happen next.

Kim Hyeong-Jun wet his parched lips.

“Did you see it move?”

“Get ready.”

I swallowed anxiously.

Since Mood-Swinger had eaten the black creature’s brain, I knew it would be a much stronger being than before.

When we both had eaten a black creature’s brain, we were knocked out for a week. But Mood-Swinger was already entering the final stages of mutation in a matter of minutes.

Mood-Swinger may have grown beyond our ability to handle it.

Crack!

A copper-colored arm burst through the eggshell. The giant zombie had lost its previous tree-trunk thick arms. The arm that burst through the shell was very human in form.

Of course, while it seemed normal compared to how they were before, it was still miles away from being considered skinny. This arm was thicker than most women’s thighs. It was as thick as an obsessive gym rat’s, one who chugged protein shakes and lived to work out.

Mood-Swinger\'s arm was shining with a copper hue. I always used to see it as purple, but no matter how hard I looked at it now, it had no hint of purple.

I frowned and asked Kim Hyeong-Jun.

“What color do you see it as?”

“Copper..."

“Do you see any green?”

"Not yet."

His Adam’s Apple twitched violently. I could tell he was nervous.

I took deep breaths and began to increase my circulation.

Tshhh—

My blue eyes flashed as steam began to pour out of me. At the same time, my pupils constricted. I prepared for battle as I waited for Mood-Swinger to emerge.

Crack. Crack. Tear!

The hard shell finally cracked open, and Mood-Swinger, copper in color, appeared in front of us.

Mood-Swinger, who used to be about three meters tall, had shrunk down to about two meters. It was probably most apt to describe it now as a tall bodybuilder.

Mood-Swinger checked out its body and smiled as though in awe of its transformation. Kim Hyeong-Jun called out to it nervously.

“Mood-Swinger.”

“...”

“Do you understand me? Mood-Swinger!”

“Ar… no… ld…”

Kim Hyeong-Jun seemed to hesitate after hearing Mood-Swinger’s voice. Mood-Swinger had always talked about losing gains, but now it was uttering something else.

I looked at Kim Hyeong-Jun.

“What’s ‘Arnold’?”

“I thought it was trying to say almonds, no? I mean, you eat a lot of nuts when you work out.”

“You gotta be kidding me right now.”

“No, I’m dead serious.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun furrowed his brow and looked at Mood-Swinger again. Mood-Swinger admired its body for a long time, then slowly raised its head. My jaw dropped to the ground.

I looked at Kim Hyeong-Jun in surprise, and I saw that his mouth had fallen open as well.

“Ah, ahjussi. That face… Isn’t it him?" he stammered.

"You gotta be kidding me right now.”

I looked at Mood-Swinger with shock on my face. I finally realized what Mood-Swinger meant when it said ‘Arnold’ earlier.

One of the movies I enjoyed watching was ‘The Terminator.’

And right at that moment, the main character of the movie was standing in front of me.

Kim Hyeong-Jun wore a bewildered expression as he took turns looking at me and Mood-Swinger. When he next spoke, his tone was impatient.

"What should we do? Shall we attack first?”

“Does it still only look copper to you?”

“There isn’t a hint of green.”

“Try giving it orders. You never know, right?”

Kim Hyeong-Jun rubbed his eyes with his left hand and looked at Mood-Swinger. He then spoke in a low voice.

“Mood-Swinger, can you hear me?”

"Ar… no… ld.. Sch…”

Mood-Swinger smirked as it muttered the same words over and over. Its smile sent chills down my spine.

I wondered how much its physical abilities had improved. Although it was smaller than it used to be, it was easy to tell how much it had grown just by looking at its tough, shiny skin and taut muscles.

Kim Hyeong-Jun’s tone grew confused, as though he wasn’t sure what to do.

“Why do you think Mood-Swinger turned into that person? Do you think there’s a reason?”

I wet my dry lips after hearing his question. I racked my brains, going over everything I knew, and finally remembered what the dong leader of Seongsu-dong had said.

- That\'s what they want. Another new drama. All they do is kill and eat humans and zombies in order to continue living their dreams.

Mood-Swinger was a mutant that loved muscles. If Mood-Swinger’s idol was Arnold Schwarzenegger… Perhaps it had achieved its final goal by eating the black creature’s brain.[1]

Mood-Swinger was no longer a dreamer, but a being that had made its dream come true. I assumed that it had transformed into the idol it had always dreamed of.

Taken aback at this absurd situation, my voice took on a rather awestruck tone.

“This guy, its dreams came true.”

“Huh?”

“Do you remember what we discussed during our mutation experiments?”

“What do you mean?”

“The dramas, movies, personality traits, or preferences? Doesn’t something come to mind?”

“Are you saying that Mood-Swinger liked movies that Arnold Schwarzenegger was in?”

“Exactly.”

I burst out laughing at the absurd situation, and Kim Hyeong-Jun frowned.

“So what, are you saying that that’s the most important thing right now? Mood-Swinger won’t listen to me!”

“Let’s just let it be for now. If you look at things from its perspective, it finally made its dream come true. I’m sure it’ll want to enjoy this moment.”

“Aren’t you being too naive? What if it starts attacking us?”

"I mean, it’s not as if we can run away anyway. I don’t know how I’d feel about leaving Mood-Swinger like this, and we don’t have the guts to attack it first. I think the only option we have is to wait to see if you reestablish control over it.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun frowned and clicked his tongue vigorously. He knew that there was nothing else we could do but wait.

After our conversation, we patiently waited for Mood-Swinger.

During our wait, we noticed Mood-Swinger adopting various poses, as if it was participating in a bodybuilding competition. As we stared at it blankly, it slowly walked toward me and Kim Hyeong-Jun.

We prepared ourselves by circulating our blood more quickly and getting into a defensive stance. Mood-Swinger stopped in front of Kim Hyeong-Jun and began to speak slowly.

"Did… I… do… a… good… job?”

Kim Hyeong-Jun flinched after hearing its words. He looked at me once then spoke up.

“Oh, of course. Mood-Swinger was the best out of everyone.”

"Do… you… think… I’ll… be… first… place?”

Kim Hyeong-Jun seemed taken aback by its question. He nodded continuously as though trying to curry favor with it. I assisted Kim Hyeong-Jun by piling on my own compliments.

“I think Mood-Swinger is good enough to win the grand prize at the Arnold Classic! Aren’t I right, Hyeong-Jun?”

“Yeah, yeah! Of course, Mood-Swinger is definitely one of the favorites to win the Arnold Classic.”

I deliberately talked about a bodybuilding competition named after Arnold Schwarzenegger, knowing how much Mood-Swinger liked him. We continuously flattered it with compliments, trying to get on its good side.

Kim Hyeong-Jun punctuated his words with a gentle smile, and Mood-Swinger smiled like a little child and scratched his head. Despite the change in its appearance, it still had the intelligence level of a three-year-old boy.

Soon, a purple mist began to spread outward from its heart. The mist wrapped around Mood-Swinger\'s entire body, and finally, Mood-Swinger’s copper body returned to its original color.

The chain of command had been reestablished.

Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at me with wide-open eyes.

“It’s back! It’s back, ahjussi! Mood-Swinger’s back!”

“It looks green to you now?”

"Yup. How about you?”

“Same. It looks purple to me.”

We let out a sigh of relief and sat back down on the floor.

What a relief.

I was glad that Mood-Swinger was back, but I was even more glad that we hadn’t had to fight the stronger version of Mood-Swinger.

After a moment, Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at me.

“Ahjussi, should we test out Mood-Swinger’s physical abilities?”

“Let’s do that later. Han-Sol should be waiting for us.”

“Oh, you’re right.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun nodded and gathered his underlings behind him.

I also gathered the underlings I’d sent out to secure our surroundings. With that, we both headed for Gwangjang-dong.

As we walked toward the apartment complex, I turned to Kim Hyeong-Jun.

“By the way, where did you get your grenade from?”

“Hwang Ji-Hye gave me some.”

"When?"

“When you were knocked out after taking care of the seventh officer. When I told her that I had to go to Shelter Hae-Young.”

I never thought the grenade would come in so handily. We were able to take care of the black creature thanks to the grenade Hwang Ji-Hye had given Kim Hyeong-Jun. If it hadn\'t been for the grenade, we would have still been fighting the black creature.

Kim Hyeong-Jun looked back at Mood-Swinger, who was following us, and raised a question.

“You don’t think my control over it will disappear, do you?”

"I mean, it\'s never happened before.”

“I’m just worried because it ate a black creature’s brain. If it ever develops a desire of its own… Some strange things might happen, you know.”

“I think the best we can do is to keep an eye on it. There’s nothing else we can do.”

We conversed on our entire journey to the apartment complex in Gwangjang-dong, and arrived at our destination before we knew it. However, we didn’t see any sign of the survivors.

Kim Hyeong-Jun looked around.

“Did Do Han-Sol say that he would wait here?”

“I’m pretty sure I told him to come to this apartment complex.”

“But there’s nothing but dead bodies here. All of them are bald, so I’m assuming they’re all dogs. Did you happen to do this, ahjussi?”

I nodded and looked around. I didn’t sense the presence of any humans. I was confident that I had told Do Han-Sol to wait at the apartment complex, yet he and the survivors were nowhere to be seen.

Kim Hyeong-Jun scratched his forehead.

“What if they went straight to the hotel?”

“What?”

“I think you said that we were going to the hotel when we first set off.”

My jaw fell open. Perhaps he hadn’t heard me clearly when I’d said to head to the apartment complex. I sighed and rushed to the hotel.

I headed straight to the hotel without even thinking about giving orders to my underlings. I was praying that nothing had happened to them.

When I got to the entrance of the hotel, I saw a mass of footprints on the ground. They were scattered all over the place, and I could tell instantly that something had happened there.

I hurriedly opened the glass door and went inside.

What I saw next… I was greeted by the sight of rows and rows of survivors in front of me.

“So-Yeon, So-Yeon!”

I squeezed my way through the survivors, desperately searching for So-Yeon.

“So-Yeon’s father!”

I heard Han Seon-Hui’s voice. I turned and saw Han Seon-Hui holding So-Yeon in her arms. I hurriedly headed over to her and looked over So-Yeon first. Her eyes were shut and she was sound asleep, as if exhausted from the long journey.

I looked at Han Seon-Hui.

“So-Yeon… Is So-Yeon hurt anywhere?”

“She’s okay, she just seems very tired.”

"Thank goodness…!”

I thanked the lord and looked down at So-Yeon. Her soft cheeks were covered in dust. I saw tear marks tracing their way through the dust on her face, as though she had cried at some point. And judging by her bruised knees and palms, it seemed like she had fallen down on her way here.

Han Seon-Hui smiled softly.

"Don’t worry. She’s fine.”

I took a deep breath and placed my hand on my forehead. When it finally sunk in that So-Yeon was okay, I teared up before I knew it.

Kim Hyeong-Jun came through the crowd.

“What about the survivors? Is everyone okay?” he asked.

Han Seon-Hui looked around at the survivors.

“Yes, but some were injured… Fortunately, none of them are in a critical state.”

I took a deep breath and calmed my raging heart, then looked at Han Seon-Hui.

“What about Do Han-Sol? Where are Han-Sol, Jeong-Uk, Hwang Ji-Hye, and the other leaders?”

“They’re scouting the upper floors. Just in case there might be some dogs left.”

“Did you say that the leaders went as well?”

"Yes. Everyone wanted to scout the upper floors with the leaders. So many of them were so eager to help out that I had a tough time stopping them all. It’s just the leaders and Han-Sol upstairs.”

After hearing her explanation, I turned to Kim Hyeong-Jun.

“Hyeong-Jun, can you check the first floor again? There might be some dogs hiding away, so you have to really check every nook and cranny. Scout around outside after you’re done.”

"Okay. What are you going to do, ahjussi?”

“I’m going to help the people upstairs.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun nodded and headed out. He checked every storage room, bathroom, and basically any possible place where a person could hide.

I headed toward the emergency exit leading to the second floor.

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger is an Austrian/American actor and former governor of the state of California, United States that is known for his role in the Terminator series. Prior to his acting career, he was a professional bodybuilder known for his intense focus and workout routines. ☜