Walking Daddy

In front of the mutants, Kim Hyeong-Jun had his hand raised up high and was waving toward me.

“Did you get the stuff?”

“Yup. We have plenty now.”

As I pointed to the boxes on the cart, Kim Hyeong-Jun tilted his head.

“This much?” he asked.

“There’s something fishy about them… But I can’t quite explain it. I’ll go into the details later.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun pouted his lower lip and nodded.

As soon as I got the survivors and my underlings in formation, Kim Hyeong-Jun spoke up urgently, as though he’d just remembered something.

“Oh, ahjussi.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to check on my zombie prison and come back.”

“Right now?”

When I raised my eyebrows at him, Kim Hyeong-Jun’s expression grew uneasy.

“Did you check on yours, ahjussi?”

“My jailer zombies are taking care of it.”

I had assigned one hundred of my underlings to manage my zombie prison. I called those underlings jailer zombies.

Kim Hyeong-Jun cleared his throat and looked at me, then sucked on his lower lip.

“Umm… About Majang-dong.”

“What about Majang-dong?”

“Well, do you remember that I created a zombie prison there as well?”

“And…?”

I furrowed my brow at him. His head sagged, and his expression grew troubled.

I became speechless and put my right hand on my forehead. I was taking care of the zombie prison in Haengdang-dong, while Kim Hyeong-Jun was taking care of the one in Majang-dong. However, it seemed like Kim Hyeong-Jun had called in all of his underlings, including the ones that were taking care of the zombie prison, over to Gwangjang-dong.

That meant that the zombies in Majang-dong were currently not under guard.

I wet my dry lips and followed up with another question.

“When’s the last time you checked on the prison?”

“When Shelter Hae-Young was attacked… I called in all my underlings from Majang-dong back then. When I did that, I think I also called the ones at the zombie prison as well.”

“And you haven’t checked on it? Not even once since then?”

“My bad, ahjussi. I completely forgot about it until now.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun bit his lip, a troubled expression on his face. I gently massaged my temples and let out a sigh. I knew there was no point in blaming Kim Hyeong-Jun now. The battle in Gwangjin-gu had been an uninterrupted series of urgent and unexpected events, and Kim Hyeong-Jun had done his best by commanding his underlings to the best of his abilities. It seemed like he had called in his underlings at the zombie prison in the process.

The problem was that the zombies in the zombie prison weren’t just ordinary zombies. They were zombies that had the possibility of becoming mutants.

I let out another sigh.

“I’ll head back with Hwang Ji-Hye and the guards first. You go check on your zombie prison and come back right away.”

"Okay. What if there are mutants all over the place?”

“Don’t think about handling them by yourself. Don’t push yourself.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine. It’s not your fault.”

I smacked my lips and slapped Kim Hyeong-Jun lightly on the forearm. He didn’t grumble back as he would’ve normally, but lowered his head in apology.

I looked him straight in the eyes.

“Don’t feel guilty. Whatever happens, we can go through it together.”

“...”

“And don’t push yourself too far. And keep an eye on Mood-Swinger.”

“Okay.”

I lowered my head slightly and patted Kim Hyeong-Jun on the shoulder. Kim Hyeong-Jun took his leave, promising to be back in a bit, and headed toward Majang-dong with his mutants.

After he left, Hwang Ji-Hye came up to me with a question.

“A zombie prison? Could you elaborate?”

“We have zombie prisons in Haengdang-dong and Majang-dong where we manage zombies.”

“You created these prisons? Why would you do that? You could’ve just killed all of them…”

“We would be left with tens and thousands of dead zombie bodies if we killed them all. Have you thought about how we could handle those? Besides, when we created the prisons, it was in the middle of the summer.”

“...”

“And if we lose underlings during our fights, we needed a way to make more underlings. We need to maintain a supply of underlings.”

Hwang Ji-Hye bit her lower lip and stayed silent. She didn’t seem to have a response.

I slicked my hair back and tried to move on to another topic.

“How about we head back first? We can talk about the prisons again when Hyeong-Jun gets back.”

“All right…”

I gestured to everyone to move and led the way.

I tried to brush off the zombie prisons as not a big deal when I’d spoken about them to Hwang Ji-Hye, but in truth, my mind was more complicated than I wished it was.

At the zombie prison in Majang-dong, there were hundreds of zombies that were not under the direct control of either me or Kim Hyeong-Jun. That’s why we needed to assign jailer zombies in order to keep apart any zombies that tried to fight each other.

It’s been a while since we had made the prisons, so I was more than certain that a mutant had been born in the Majang-dong zombie prison. Considering how Mood-Swinger had turned into a stage-three mutant in a matter of minutes, I couldn’t even imagine how chaotic Majang-dong was right now.

I prayed that the prison zombies hadn\'t made their way out of the prison.

And if there were any stage-two zombies… I hoped that none of them had run into a black creature.

* * *

On our way back, not a single zombie attacked us.

Maybe it was because I’d already dealt with a lot of zombies on our way to Seoul Forest earlier.

In contrast to the ominous atmosphere on Earth, the twinkling stars and moonlight shone brightly in the sky. The light made it easier for me to see.

When I arrived at the entrance to Gwangjang-dong, a jewelry store that I hadn’t seen before caught my attention. As I stared at it, Hwang Ji-Hye smiled and asked me a question.

“Are you thinking of a ring?”

“I think we need to find rings for them pretty soon.”

The people at the shelter were preparing a wedding for Lee Jeong-Hyuk and Choi Da-Hye. Ironically, the two of them had no clue that it was happening. The lounge on the sixteenth floor was being decorated to serve as the wedding hall, in preparation for the wedding day. A wedding was just around the corner, and the bride and groom were the only ones in the dark.

Hwang Ji-Hye looked around.

“It seems pretty quiet right now,” she said. “Shall we go inside and look at rings?”

I nodded.

It was rather large compared to an ordinary jewelry store. As I opened the glass doors, the motion kicked up a thick cloud of dust. I waved away the dust and went through the rings that were on display. The sparkling rings were still clean, thanks to their glass casings.

I looked over at Hwang Ji-Hye.

“What kind of rings do women like?”

“Hmm… Small and shiny ones?”

“Then… How about this one?"

When I pointed at one of the rings, Hwang Ji-Hye shook her head and commented on my choice.

“The gem is too big. Look for something smaller.”

“Smaller, huh…”

As I went over more rings, muttering to myself, Hwang Ji-Hye let out a squeal. I looked over at her urgently, thinking that a zombie had appeared out of nowhere.

However, in contrast to my prediction, Hwang Ji-Hye was staring at the rings on display, her eyes glittering.

I went over to her and asked her what was going on. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

“It’s those, those!”

When I looked at what she was pointing at, two rings caught my eye. I could tell right away that they were wedding rings. And it was rather obvious that they were diamond rings.

The rings were from a brand named John Paul Jewelry. I looked back at Hwang Ji-Hye, confused at her overreaction. She took a look at my face and snorted.

“How can you call yourself a married man when you don’t even know this brand?”

“I never heard of this brand before.”

“The rings made by this company are often used as wedding rings. They’re also not that expensive.”

I snuck a look at the price. The price tag had a lot more zeros than I expected. They weren’t affordable at all.

I was about to smack my lips when Hwang Ji-Hye drew her pistol from her side and aimed it toward the glass case. My eyes went wide and I caught her hand.

“What are you doing?”

“We have to break the glass to get the rings. How are we supposed to retrieve them when we don’t have the keys?”

“And shooting the glass is the answer to that?”

“Don’t you think a store of this size would use tempered glass? No? Or do you think they would use bulletproof glass?”

“Either way, no guns. Calm down.”

Her eyes were glued to the rings as she smacked her lips again. She’d cultivated the image of a strong female warrior until now, but I realized that she was also a woman inside.

I sighed and slammed my palm against the glass.

Thud—

I couldn\'t believe that they were actually using tempered glass. It was a lot harder than I thought. I wondered if it was still intact because I hadn’t hit it hard enough.

I could feel a strong desire to end this piece of glass once and for all.

I clenched my fist and hit the glass case as hard as I could. It shattered into pieces, showering the rings with shiny glass fragments.

“That’s what you get for making me go through this hassle twice,” I muttered to myself.

I snorted and plucked the rings out. The crystal-clear diamonds shimmered brightly as they caught the rays of moonlight shining down into the store. The gems weren’t too big, giving the rings a simple yet beautiful elegance.

Everlasting love.

I knew the meaning behind diamonds, and I couldn’t think of a better jewel for their wedding. I looked over at Hwang Ji-Hye, and saw that her sparkling eyes were still glued to the rings on display. I smiled when I saw her expression.

“You should pick out a ring for yourself as well,” she said.

“Oh…? Hmm… Can I?”

I smirked at her.

“It’s on me.”

Hwang Ji-Hye burst into laughter and went through the rings on display. After a moment, she seemed to find one that was to her liking, and reached deep into the display case. The ring she chose had a transparent sky-colored gem embedded in it. I tilted my head, not recognizing the gemstone.

“What kind of gem is that?” I asked.

“It’s aquamarine.”

“Aquamarine?”

“It’s the birthstone for March. It represents eternal youth and happiness.”

I chuckled at her explanation, and she raised her eyebrows at me.

“What’s up with the laugh? I think you’re making fun of me.”

“No, it’s just that eternal youth…”

I didn’t bother to finish my sentence, still full of disbelief. Hwang Ji-Hye snorted and slapped my forearm. I smiled awkwardly and scratched my sideburns.

A gentle smile spread across her face.

“Aquamarine has other meanings as well.”

“What meanings?”

“Hope and health.”

I took a closer look at the aquamarine gem.

“Hope huh…”

It surely was a beautiful gem. For some reason, I couldn’t help but smile. Hwang Ji-Hye slipped the ring onto her finger and held her hand out to check out how it looked on her.

“It kind of feels like we’re thieves.”

“It’s quite the experience for sure.”

We smiled gently and stared at the aquamarine crystal for a while. Hwang Ji-Hye took a deep breath and broke the silence.

“So, since it seems like we have everything we need, shall we get going?”

“Sure.”

When I looked her in the eyes, I caught a glimpse of nostalgia in them, although it disappeared almost instantly. I wondered if the boyfriend she’d lost had crossed her mind.

The aquamarine gemstone that she’d picked out… Perhaps it had another meaning to her.

As I left the jewelry shop, I took another quick look around the room, covered in layers of thick dust. I couldn’t help thinking about just how useless these valuables were in this forsaken world. We were living in an era where a bowl of ramyeon was more precious than a diamond ring.

Our time in the jewelry store had been a nostalgic trip back into the past world that had forever been lost to us. We made our way back to the shelter in Gwangjang-dong.

* * *

When we passed through the iron gates and entered Gwangjang-dong, all the leaders who had been waiting for our return came out to meet us, despite the late hour.

Their jaws fell open as they saw the supplies piled onto the cart we had brought. Lee Jeong-Uk came up to me and asked about Kim Hyeong-Jun’s whereabouts.

“He went to Majang-dong for a bit. There was something he needed to check on.”

“Was it okay to let him go alone?”

“He said he’d be back after doing some reconnaissance.”

Lee Jeong-Uk nodded slowly, and didn’t ask any further questions.

He knew about the zombie prisons in Haengdang-dong and Majang-dong. His intuition and awareness seemed to clue him in on what was going on.

I glanced at the leaders to make sure no one noticed, then secretly grabbed Lee Jeong-Uk\'s hand. He was taken aback by my sudden gesture, but his eyes widened the moment he felt the object that I was trying to hand him.

Lee Jeong-Uk looked at the two diamond rings on his palm, then looked at me.

“Where’d you get these?”

“We passed by a jewelry store on the way.”

“I was just thinking that everything would be set if we just had rings…”

Lee Jeong-Uk smiled happily and patted my back.

"You know, I’m always thankful for what you do.”

“For what? It’s nothing.”

I chuckled and patted Lee Jeong-Uk on the shoulder. His shoulders felt icy cold. It seemed like the leaders, including Lee Jeong-Uk, had been waiting outside in the cold weather for us.

Lee Jeong-Uk looked around at the leaders around him, then spoke.

“Everyone, let’s go inside and have a further chat. It’s very cold outside.”

"All right!"

All the leaders had noses that were red from the cold.

Even though my body was cold, I could feel the warmth emanating from these leaders.

The way they carried themselves moved me. I promised myself that I would not forget the effort that everyone had put in to make it thus far. And in order to make up for what they’d done so far, I was going to do better.