Walking Daddy

“That idiot…”

As I watched the guard leader follow the group leader into the barracks, and hearing them say that Park Gi-Cheol would be held responsible for what he did today during a meeting, made me understand why Park Gi-Cheol would call the guard leader an idiot.

It seemed that the guard leader had forgotten what they were supposed to be doing. It was difficult to tell if the guard leader was actually a guard leader or just the group leader\'s personal assistant.

Park Gi-Cheol shook his head, then spoke up.

“Let’s get going. It’s this way.”

I followed Park Gi-Cheol to the storage room.

As we approached the Insect Garden in the center of Seoul Forest, I saw a couple of guards on duty. As soon as they saw me, their eyes went wide, and they immediately pointed their guns at me and Park Gi-Cheol.

“Stop, put your weapons away! It’s me, rescue leader Park Gi-Cheol!”

“Who… Who’s the person behind you? Wait, isn’t it a zombie?”

The Insect Garden was deep in the forest, and those here had no clue what had happened outside. Instead of answering, Park Gi-Cheol showed them the keys he’d obtained earlier.

“There’s no time to explain. Let us in.”

“We can’t let anyone in without the group leader’s orders…”

“The group leader’s in critical condition.”

“Come again?”

The guards exchanged wide-eyed looks. Park Gi-Cheol didn’t repeat himself, but barreled on,

“It’s the group leader’s orders. She gave orders to open the storage room under this man’s request.”

“But, that thing looks like a zombie, not a human being…”

“He’s our support!”

The guards looked at each other in confusion, not knowing whether to open the door or not. I took out my notepad and scribbled a message.

- We got permission from the group leader and guard leader. If you could step aside.

I shoved my notepad toward them, and the guards looked at me with their mouths open. The fact that I was writing clearly boggled their minds, especially since there was no way that I was anything else besides a zombie.

The guards were still hesitant and unconvinced. Park Gi-Cheol pointed a finger and yelled at the top of his lungs, “You’re not going to budge even when there are people dying outside at this very instant? How many times do I have to tell you that these are the guard leader’s orders?”

“We-we’re sorry.”

The guards finally made way for us. They put their guns down and stepped aside so that Park Gi-Cheol and I could get through.

I wondered if the guard leader had purposely not come with us. It seemed like the guard leader was certain that the guards wouldn’t open the doors for us.

The guard leader was putting the survivors in peril; leading them to death just to cling to the small and insignificant bit of power that he, as guard leader, possessed. The first person that had to be punished after this incident was settled was the guard leader.

Thud. Shoop, shoop.

The tightly-shut storage room door opened, and Park Gi-Cheol and I stepped inside.

My jaw dropped to the ground as I looked at what was in front of me. Boxes upon boxes of Molotov cocktails were stacked up on the left side of the storage room. On the right side, there were boxes of K2 rifles. Next to these were magazines full of ammunition. There were even boxes of grenades as well.

Even with this much stockpiled, the guard leader hadn’t bothered to provide the survivors with enough ammunition, or a single grenade.

My heart sank, and my expression fell.

Park Gi-Cheol cursed, his clenched fists trembling. He seemed to be feeling the same way.

“This fucking son of a bitch. The guard leader only gave out two magazines per person when there’s this much here? And what was the guard leader thinking, not using grenades? Is he planning to give them to charity or something?”

Park Gi-Cheol ground his teeth and ran toward the guards that were protecting the storage room. I couldn’t let Park Gi-Cheol let his emotions control his actions. No good could come from him turning on the guards outside.

I quickly followed Park Gi-Cheol out. I needn’t have worried, though. The words out of Park Gi-Cheol’s mouth were not what I’d expected.

“What are you all doing? Come in and help!”

The guards entered the storage room sheepishly, following Park Gi-Cheol’s orders. He slapped the guards on their backs and yelled at them to move faster.

The guards moved the boxes of Molotov cocktails to the second defense line. I secretly took a grenade from the box in front of me and stashed it in my pocket, just in case something unexpected happened.

As the boxes of Molotov cocktails were being stacked up at the second defense line, I wrote down some words on my notepad and showed Park Gi-Cheol.

- Make sure nothing comes over the walls.

“What? We’ll help out too.”

I waved my hand violently and wrote some more.

- You’ll just get in the way.

“...”

Park Gi-Cheol frowned after reading what I had written. I wondered if I was being too stern and decisive. I felt sorry for Park Gi-Cheol for my attitude, but at the moment, it was a fight between zombies. If the survivors joined in, the only thing they would be doing would be to hold me back.

Park Gi-Cheol, knowing this, remained silent. He let out a breath, then spoke again.

“We’ll reinforce our defense until you get back.”

I favored him with a slight nod and gave orders to my underlings.

‘Second company, fourth and fifth platoon, get over here and grab the Molotov cocktails.’

GRRR!!!

Second company had joined up with first company, and they were barely holding off the enemy attack. Fourth and fifth platoon came running to the second defense line after receiving my orders. Park Gi-Cheol yelled at a few of the survivors who tried to attack my underlings.

“Stop! The zombies painted in blue are not enemies!”

The survivors looked anxiously at my underlings that were standing in front of the second defense line after Park Gi-Cheol yelled at them.

There was no time to explain.

I handed the boxes of Molotov cocktails to my underlings and retrieved a blazing torch for myself before jumping down from the second defense line.

‘Follow me. Don’t drop the boxes.’

I led my underlings to the left side. As we reached the walls the mutants had come over, I noticed that my underlings in the first platoon were almost wiped out. I desperately helped my underlings to get rid of the red zombies, then gave orders to the underlings that were holding the boxes of Molotov cocktails.

‘Put down your boxes and go help the first platoon!’

As my underlings ran to assist their comrades, I took the torch and lit the Molotov cocktails, throwing them rapidly toward the red zombies that were behind us.

Clink! Crash!

I had to start a fire on the left-hand side and make it slowly spread on its own. Thanks to the wind blowing toward Han River and the cool fall weather, the leaves caught fire pretty easily.

I was planning to block their escape route and push them toward the Han River. It was impossible to fight them just by ordering my underlings to surround them. I knew we were severely outnumbered.

I was going to block off the paths to the north and east with flames and push them toward the Han River, eventually blocking off the south side as well.

The dry twigs began to crackle, and the fire quickly spread to other dried leaves. The small flames quickly grew in size.

I kept on throwing the Molotov cocktails. The wall of flame grew bigger and eventually blocked off the north side. The red zombies could no longer attack us from there. To avoid the flame, the red zombies now had less room to occupy, and the ones from the east side started crashing into other zombies.

I saw a glimmer of hope.

I doubled my efforts to make the flames bigger. The fight was slowly leaning in our favor.

My underlings overcame the numbers disadvantage and slowly made their way forward.

‘We got this.’

With a small spark of hope within me, I gave orders to my underlings.

‘Second company, fourth and fifth platoon, get behind me, and bring the boxes of Molotov cocktails.’

GRRR!!!

With their acknowledgment resounding in my mind, I moved over to the north side.

The flame spread over Seoul Forest Station Exits 2 and 3, past the movie theater and up to Gyeong-Il Elementary school. The red zombies kept moving further south to avoid the flames. They were pushed all the way down to Gangbyeonbuk-ro.

* * *

A man was standing on a rooftop in the midst of all the zombie cries.

The man had glowing red eyes, but the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth showed how old he was. He looked about to turn sixty, or perhaps even older than that. The man was looking at what was unfolding with a frown on his face.

Creak.

A woman came through the doorway that led to the rooftop. The man flinched when he saw the woman, but then he bowed.

“You’ve made it.”

“How’s the situation?”

“It’s not that good.”

“Ha! Really? Even with the Seongsu-dong leader personally leading the attack? That can’t be true, can it, Mr. Seongsu-dong leader?”

“...”

The dong leader stood there, unmoving. The woman stopped laughing and continued to speak.

“Are you saying Majang-dong wasn’t taken down by some nobody? That there’s a valid explanation for the fall of Majang-dong?”

“We shouldn’t underestimate our opponent.”

“So you’re telling me you can’t beat them?”

“...My apologies.”

The dong leader let his head drop, his face full of mixed emotions. The woman snorted and crossed her arms.

“You should know more than anyone what this battle means to you. Don’t you, Mr. Seongsu-dong leader?”

“...”

“I’m saying there’s a limit to how many times I can let you off the hook. Next time, get the job done.”

The dong leader’s red eyes flared. He lifted his head and stared right into the woman’s eyes.

The dong leader had a murderous look on his face. The woman felt the murderous aura and frowned back at him.

“Those eyes… Are they supposed to mean something?”

“...”

“Are you trying to pick a fight with me?”

The woman glared back with her glowing red eyes. The dong leader unclenched his fists.

“As people get older, they sometimes suffer random spasms.”

“Are you saying those eyes were caused by a random spasm?”

“My apologies. It wasn’t intentional.”

The dong leader smiled slightly, and the woman looked him up and down with a dissatisfied expression. After a moment, the dong leader spoke up.

“I’m sure you didn’t come all the way here to talk about my promotion.”

“Hmm…”

The woman looked at the man doubtfully after hearing what he had said, examining his facial expressions. His gentle smile caused her to let down her guard, and she let out a sigh.

“You’re aware that the eighth officer position is vacant?”

“Yes, of course. Isn’t that the reason why the seventh officer came all the way here to meet someone like me?”

“It’s thanks to your research on mutants, which turned out to be successful. Thanks to that, we’re a step closer to realizing the Gangnam project.”

“I’m flattered.”

“The boss offered you the position of eighth officer in order to honor your contribution.”

“Thank you.”

“However, as you know, being an officer isn’t all that easy. There was a… let’s call it a proposal amongst the officers to check if you would be a good fit for the position of the eighth officer. Just a small test.”

The dong leader’s eyebrows twitched at the word ‘test’. Her words made him grit his teeth inside. After a moment, he took a deep breath and asked the seventh officer,

“When you say ‘test’, are you referring to a test related to the mutants’ combat abilities?”

“Ha!”

The seventh officer snorted as she looked at the dong leader, knowing how ridiculous and naive he sounded. She walked over to the dong leader and whispered into his ear.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know anything. Everyone knows how sly you are. And besides, I don’t trust you.”

The dong leader swallowed. The seventh officer smiled and went on, “Everyone wanted to put you to the test to see if you’re really one of us, or a spy.”

The dong leader smiled at the seventh leader’s little threat.

“I bet you proposed it, didn’t you?”

“HAHAHAHA! Is it because you’re sly? Do you think you’re pretty observant as well?”

“You suspect me way too much. Have I done anything to get on your nerves?”

“Hmm… Let’s see. I’m just bored, that’s all. You know what I mean?”

The dong leader’s eyebrows twitched. It was the most nonsensical reason he’d heard. But the dong leader didn’t dare let his agitation show. Instead, he steeled his expression further as he looked at her.

The seventh officer shrugged.

“If you can’t conquer Shelter Seoul Forest, I don’t know what to report to the boss. Should I say something along the lines of, ‘Test failed, Seongsu dong leader not qualified for the position of eighth officer?’”

“Is there a reason you’re treating me like this?”

“Like I said. I’m bored.”

“I know you’re not someone who would go through all this hassle just because you’re bored.”

The dong leader wrapped up his sentence with a gentle smile. The seventh officer looked at the dong leader, her expression clearly expressing what she was thinking: ‘Look at this sly son of a bitch…’

After a moment, the seventh officer smirked and nodded. She looked the dong leader right in the face.

“You know, I’m just curious."

“I’ll ease your curiosity for you, if it’s something I can answer. What are you curious about?”

“You see, dong leader… Even the strongest and sturdiest shelters fell after three or four attacks. But Shelter Seoul Forest hasn’t fallen even after five attacks.”

“...”

“Wouldn’t you say that it’s quite reasonable to think that there’s someone amongst us that’s looking after Shelter Seoul Forest? Or am I the crazy one?”

“I believe you’re worrying too much. Nothing like that can happen in Seongsu-dong under my control.”

“Right? And I know I can count on our dong leader if there was an insider. Right?”

The seventh officer pouted her lips and nodded. Her expression suddenly turned bloodthirsty and she glared at the dong leader. Her voice took on an eerie tone.

“But you know… Wouldn’t the whole paradigm change if that somebody that was looking after Shelter Seoul Forest was you, Mr. Seongsu-dong leader?”