Walking Daddy

Some of the elders were soothing the children that were crying, while others were praying. When Lee Jeong-Uk and Do Han-Sol entered the terminal, everyone’s attention fell on them. Tommy, who had been sitting in the corner, rushed over to Lee Jeong-Uk.

“What happened? Is everything over?”

“Where are the samples?” asked Lee Jeong-Uk urgently.

Tommy gestured to him to follow and headed for the tool cabinet in the passenger terminal. He opened the tool cabinet to reveal a briefcase inside. Tommy punched in the code for the lock and showed him the samples inside. Lee Jeong-Uk checked the status of the samples and turned to Do Han-Sol.

“Is So-Yeon’s dad and Kim Hyeong-Jun okay?” he asked him.

“...”

Instead of answering, Do Han-Sol held out his right hand. Tommy gave him one of the samples.

Lee Jeong-Uk fixed his eyes on Do Han-Sol. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“I’ll leave my underlings here. Evacuate to Jeju Airport once the situation in Port Jeju is resolved.”

“What do you mean, go to Jeju Airport?” asked Lee Jeong-Uk, looking confused.

Do Han-Sol looked out the window, a bitter expression on his face. He realized that the world was turning darker; dusk was falling in front of his eyes. It was as if the world was informing them of their fate. Do Han-Sol kept staring into the darkness as he let out a small sigh.

“If we don’t come back within the next four hours, you have to leave Jeju Island,” he said.

“What…?” Lee Jeong-Uk repeated, his eyes going wide.

“It doesn’t matter if you return to Seoul or Daegu,” replied Do Han-Sol calmly. “The decision is yours.”

“What are you saying? Did So-Yeon’s dad and Kim Hyeong-Jun fall?”

“Not yet. But we’re not in the best situation, and there’s not much we can do.”

Lee Jeong-Uk didn\'t bother to ask any more questions. He knew that using the samples they had was their last resort. And the fact that Do Han-Sol came all the way back to get the samples… It meant that Lee Hyun-Deok and Kim Hyeong-Jun were cornered by the black creature.

Do Han-Sol held Lee Jeong-Uk’s arm and broke the silence.

“Do you understand what I just said?”

Lee Jeong-Uk remained still, and Do Han-Sol had no choice but to leave the passenger terminal feeling bitter. When he returned to the front of the second line of defense, he noticed that his underlings had taken care of most of the zombies in Port Jeju.

‘First platoon, second platoon, follow me. The rest of you, protect the survivors.’

GRRR!!!

His underlings, who were beyond the second line of defense, let out their throat-rending noises at once, showing that they understood what they had to do. With that, Do Han-Sol made his way back to where the black creature was.

As he dashed back through the forest, he couldn’t help but feel nervous. He had already lost his connection to his six stage-one mutants already. It was obvious that the black creature had already taken down all six of his underlings. However, that also meant that Lee Hyun-Deok and Kim Hyeong-Jun had used their lives to buy themselves time to regenerate their damaged body parts.

\'I hope the two of them are still alive. They have to be.’

Do Han-Sol picked up the pace, his red eyes flashing.

* * *

"Catch it!” I shouted to Kim Hyeong-Jun, just as the black creature was about to lose balance.

Kim Hyeong-Jun charged toward the black creature like a raging wave, his blue eyes flashing. Our fight continued in the pitch-black darkness, devoid of even the slightest bit of moonlight.

Kim Hyeong-Jun quickly choked the black creature and knocked it to the ground by stepping on its other leg. But the black creature wasn’t going to wait around for Kim Hyeong-Jun to finish it off. It opened its jaws wide and bit off Kim Hyeong-Jun’s left arm while twisting its right arm around to pull at his hair.

The head was one of the places where we still felt pain, so Kim Hyeong-Jun’s face couldn’t help but twist as the creature continued to pull, and he eventually let go of the black creature. The black creature twisted its upper body almost parallel to the ground. Then it launched itself up from the ground using its left arm, its jaws yawning wide as it went for Kim Hyeong-Jun’s face. Kim Hyeong-Jun desperately raised his right arm and grabbed its face.

Gnash! Gnash! Gnash! Gnash!

Its sharp teeth ground violently as Kim Hyeong-Jun maintained his grip.

Ssss–

Once my severed lower body regenerated, I dropped to all fours and charged toward the black creature like a bullet fired from a muzzle. Just as I was about to kick it in the stomach, it noticed my presence and scuttled aside like a cockroach.

Bang!

The black creature just barely avoided my attack. As it tried to regroup, Kim Hyeong-Jun took the chance to create some distance between himself and the creature. I glanced back at him.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

“How about you, ahjussi?”

"Don\'t worry about me. Do you think you can regenerate?"

Kim Hyeong-Jun couldn’t keep a frown off his face.

“I think this is going to be the last time I can,” he replied.

Steam gushed from his left arm, and it reformed into its usual shape. He moved next to me.

“How about you, ahjussi? How many more times can you regenerate?”

"Just once."

“Where are we with Han-Sol’s underlings? Are all of them dead?”

“The one that died earlier was the last one.”

“Oh, shoot. Even Mood-Swinger’s knocked out.”

I looked over to where the large rock had fallen. Mood Swinger was flat on the ground, missing both of his arms. Ji-Eun was limping her way over to us. I turned to look at where the black creature was, and it let out a frenzied, rage-filled scream into the pitch-black darkness. I could tell that the speed of its regeneration was also slowing down. I wanted to believe that it had reached its limit.

Kim Hyeong-Jun glared at it.

“That fucking bastard. It’s about time it dies,” he muttered to himself.

“I think it’s almost there.”

“How many times do you think it can continue to regenerate?”

“Given its hesitation, I’m guessing less than ten times.”

The black creature, which used to attack us recklessly when it didn’t have to worry about the number of times it could regenerate itself, was now wary of us. Since it had the ability to learn, I assumed that it was assessing its physical limits along with ours.

Back when Kim Hyeong-Jun and I had fought another black creature in Gangbyeonbuk-ro, we had no information about them, so we had no choice but to go for an all-out attack. Because of that, we were put at a disadvantage, as our limbs were torn off and we suffered multiple attacks to our vulnerable stomachs.

This time, we’d come up with a thorough plan to make up for our mistakes, but the traps we had set up in the second area had been destroyed, and we had no choice but to go on an all-out offensive again. Thankfully, due to the sacrifices of the stage-one mutants and the trap that we’d set up in the first area, we were on par with this black creature.

I wet my parched lips.

“When I run toward the black creature, cover my flank,” I said.

"What nonsense are you talking about? You already know that the two of us running at it isn’t enough.”

“Well, you did say that you can’t regenerate anymore. If you fall, it’s only a matter of time before I fall as well. And you know that we can’t rely on Mood-Swinger or Ji-Eun to help us right now.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun flashed a disapproving expression as he clicked his tongue vigorously. It seemed like he was going to go with my plan, since he couldn’t think of another plan.

“Oh, ahjussi. Just one thing: be careful with your arms and legs. If they break, or something gets chopped off, there’s no going back.”

KWAAA!!!

Just as I was about to nod, the black creature roared and dashed toward us. I clenched my fists and accelerated my blood flow yet again. My pupils constricted as I channeled strength into my arms.

“Go for the legs,” I said to Kim Hyeong-Jun.

Kim Hyeong-Jun gave me a sharp nod, strengthened the muscles in his lower body, and took a couple steps back. The moment he stepped back, the black creature came straight for my face, swinging its fist. I ducked immediately, but it seemed to have expected this, and brought its knee up to crush my face.

The catch was that I had also anticipated its movements. Having gone up against its ridiculous physical abilities tens, even hundreds of thousands of times, I knew what to do. Instead of protecting my face, I backpedaled. The black creature twisted its upper body and waist, using the momentum it had gained from the attempted knee to my face to swing its leg around in a kick aimed at my temple.

I knew better than anyone to give it space when it made such big moves. Since the force would be stronger at its toe compared to its thigh, I leaped off the ground and closed the distance with the black creature. I used my left arm to block its thigh and landed a punch on its jaw. It twisted its neck in an impossible way to avoid my attack, but it quickly lost its balance and wobbled from side to side.

Kim Hyeong-Jun took notice and dashed toward the black creature, closing in on its lower body in a flash. Before it even had the chance to place its left foot on the ground, Kim Hyeong-Jun tackled its right leg. Even in the process of falling down, though, the black creature sent its fist flying toward his skull.

"Ahjussi!" cried out to me, his eyes wide open.

I knew what I had to do even before he called me. I bit off the black creature’s right arm and rained punches on its face. The back of its head began to sink into the ground, and its face began to cave inward. I punched it in the face continuously, trying to turn it into mush.

I was biting down on its right arm so hard that I sliced clean through it, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

\'I can kill it, I can kill it, I can kill it!’

My eyes grew wider as I continued to hammer its face with my fists, until my arms felt like they were about to fall off.

Crack.

Blood began to spout out like a fountain from where my left wrist was. I assumed that my left hand was covered with its blood, but it was actually the other way around. I realized that my left hand was no longer there. My fist, which was supposed to be connected to my wrist, was nowhere to be seen, and red blood was gushing out from the stump. As I tried to comprehend what was going on, the black creature used its left hand to choke me and pressed deeply against my vocal cords.

“Gaaa!”

"Ahjussi!"

Kim Hyeong-Jun quickly grabbed its left arm to aid me. Once he let go of the creature’s lower body, though, it realized that nothing was holding it down anymore, and it started to struggle. Kim Hyeong-Jun chewed off its left arm with his sharpened teeth, then yanked me away by the collar, dumping us both on our bottoms.

“Ahjussi, are you okay?” he asked, his voice full of urgent desperation.

“Gaa!”

I gasped, unable to say anything. The black creature had pierced my throat with its thumb, so I could only make hissing sounds. I hurriedly regenerated my body, stopping the bleeding from my neck. Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at me worriedly, trying to assess how I was doing.

“Is your neck okay? Did it snap? How about your bones?”

I coughed and nodded. He seemed shaken by the fact that my neck had been attacked, since he knew that the neck was a particularly vulnerable spot that could determine life or death.

Ssss–

Soon after, hot steam began to rise from the black creature’s upper body. Its severed arms regenerated, and its face, which was an unrecognizable mess, slowly reformed. Despite hitting it continuously, its skull hadn’t broken. I knew it would’ve died if we were on asphalt ground, but the relatively soft dirt here had helped it survive. It sure was one lucky bastard.

Kim Hyeong-Jun stood in front of me and stared straight at the black creature. The moment it recovered, it tried to dash toward Kim Hyeong-Jun, but then it seemed to hesitate at the sound of footsteps coming from its left.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

GRRR!!!

It was Do Han-Sol\'s underlings making their way over. The black creature looked back and forth between Kim Hyeong-Jun and Do Han-Sol. It frowned and channeled strength to the muscles of its entire body.

I knew that it wasn’t trying to put up a fight, though. The murderous intent that it had been exuding earlier was long gone. It was strengthening its body in order to get away.

“Don’t let it get away!” I yelled as loudly as I could, once my vocal cords were regenerated.

Kim Hyeong-Jun rushed toward the black creature, his blue eyes flashing. It leaped, but it didn’t even manage to make it one meter into the air. Kim Hyeong-Jun had caught it right before it could make a full jump. Kim Hyeong-Jun’s eyes bulged as he slammed the black creature to the ground.

KWAAA!!!

The black creature let out a wail. It had started out as a predator, but it was now the prey. The tables had turned in our favor. As it approached the limits of its regenerative abilities, it seemed to attack emotionally rather than rationally. I could tell that it was nervous and that it wanted to get out of the situation it was in as soon as possible. It clearly wasn’t thinking straight.

Which meant that this would be our chance to take it down.

As we pinned it to the ground, Do Han-Sol\'s underlings leaped onto its upper body, smothering it. The creature, outraged, tore them to pieces. Do Han-Sol was hiding among his underlings, trying to inject the sample he was holding into the black creature’s back. However, even while it was being bitten by Do Han-Sol’s underlings, the black creature sensed his murderous intent and quickly twisted its body to grab his arm.

At the same time, it opened its jaws wide, going for his face. Do Han-Sol’s eyes went wide and he quickly avoided the attack, allowing the black creature to tear off his shoulder blades in an instant. His arm was neatly sliced off as well, like a slab of meat sliced up at a butcher shop. Do Han-Sol ignored the blood gushing out from the stump of his right arm like a fountain and shouted at Kim Hyeong-Jun instead.

“Grab the sample!! It can\'t break!!”

Kim Hyeong-Jun leaped toward the sample with his eyes wide open.

Grasp!

He barely managed to grab Do Han-Sol\'s flying arm, and retrieved the sample out of it. At the same time, he plunged the needle toward the black creature\'s neck. Just as it tried to avoid the needle, five sharpened fingers pierced through its chest.

"My child…”

Red blood was gushing from Ji-Eun’s mouth, but she was nowhere near death. In fact, she was glaring at the black creature with eyes full of murderous intent. Even with half of her body malfunctioning, Ji-Eun had followed my orders to kill the black creature. Kim Hyeong-Jun didn’t let the opportunity slip away, and jabbed the needle into the black creature\'s neck.

KWAAA!!!

The black creature trembled and let out a death cry. Both of its arms waved about wildly as it continued to struggle. The underlings that had glued themselves onto the black creature were sent flying left and right, while Ji-Eun took a blow right to the face and rolled a couple of meters across the ground.

Kim Hyeong-Jun raised his arms to defend himself against its kicks, but the creature was cornered, and its kicks were packed with desperate strength. Both of Kim Hyeong-Jun’s arms were crushed, and he stumbled once before falling to the ground.

Kw… Kwa! Kwaaa! KWAAA!!!

The blood vessels all throughout the black creature’s body began to bulge. It dropped to its knees, scratching at its neck with its hands and screaming continuously. The sounds it made became hoarse and irregular as if it had trouble breathing.

I wondered if it was confused by what was going on. It trembled nonstop, like a leaf in the wind. It seemed unable to understand what was going on in its body, or how it was reacting to being stabbed. Two viruses with different properties were fighting each other inside its body, which eventually paralyzed its movements. I knew that we had to finish it off the moment that it stopped struggling.

I got up and channeled all my strength on my right arm. My right arm bulged as if it was about to burst, and hot steam gushed from it.

“Go to hell, where you belong.”

My eyes bulged and I gnashed my teeth as I punched the black creature in the face.

Crack!!!

Its face caved in and it fell to the ground. With the sample inside it, its bones had softened as if it was suffering from osteoporosis, and its previous iron-like defenses were nowhere to be seen. Instead of stopping, I decided to hit the black creature in the face nonstop until its skull was smashed to pieces.

Smack! Pow! Whack! Squish!

I finally managed to crush its brain. As soon as I felt the cerebral fluid coating my fingers, I collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. As I slowly collected myself, I looked around, licking my dry lips. Kim Hyeong-Jun and Do Han-Sol were staring straight at the black creature, which was finally immobile.

They seemed to be focused on it completely; in fact, it seemed like they were so focused that they had forgotten about the blood leaking out of their own bodies. I could tell that they were nervous, unsure whether it was truly dead, afraid that it could start moving again any second.

But I knew that it wasn’t coming back. I had destroyed its brain with my very own hands. Unless it was some manner of god, there was no way it was going to move again. A strange stillness came over the black creature, which had now turned into a cold corpse. No one dared to move or be the first to speak. There was no celebration, no roars of joy, nor any tears of elation.

Nothing but silence floating around, reminding us of the death that awaited all living things. In that moment, we were all keenly attuned to the silence of death.

After being immersed in that silence for a long time, I finally realized it.

This bloody, devastating war was over.