Walking Daddy

“Sit down!”

I ignored the guard leader and took out my notepad to write. Once done, I tossed my notepad toward the group leader.

The group leader frowned in disapproval, but she had no choice but to pick up the notebook I’d tossed her. She started to read the sentences aloud.

“I took care of the black creature. I’m here to lend you a hand, because of your incompetence. Is this what all the fuss is about? I’ll give you two options. Either you go down the wrong path, or you join forces with me to save people. Your call.”

After the group leader read out what I had written, she carefully put down the notepad. The meeting room was dead silent.

They didn’t have much of a choice. My question was formulated with a clear and obvious answer to it. There was no better way to handle these people, who were acting based on their emotions and weren’t thinking rationally. My words seemed to state that we would form an alliance, but it was clear who would be in charge.

The guard leader pointed a finger at me, glaring furiously.

“Group leader! Don’t you remember how we made it this far? You think it makes sense for us to join forces with zombies? I hope you make a wise decision after thinking this through. A lot of people have their eyes on you.”

The guard leader, who was in his thirties at most, continued to prattle on.

I glared at him with my glowing red eyes. He looked back at me and swallowed hard. He was trying to maintain a cool demeanor, but his quivering eyes and trembling fingertips betrayed his nervousness.

After a moment, the group leader spoke.

“The reason why I asked you two to join the meeting…”

The group leader trailed off and slowly closed her eyes. Everyone in the room was waiting with bated breath. After a moment, she continued.

“...is to have a serious discussion about forming an alliance.”

“Group leader!”

As the guard leader cried out, Park Gi-Cheol, who had been sitting still, arched his eyebrows.

“Hey, aren’t you aware that your voice has been pretty loud? Don’t you know you’re in a meeting?”

“You just shut…”

“Everyone, stop!”

The group leader cut them off with a shout and a frown. The guard leader backed off, gritting his teeth.

Park Gi-Cheol leaned against the back of the chair and looked at the group leader, with his fingers interlocked. The group leader let out a sigh before she continued.

“The zombies that attacked Shelter Seoul Forest so far… Was there ever a time that there were more than two thousand of them?”

“...”

No one dared answer the group leader’s question. The group leader looked at the officers and asked,

“Was there a time that they brought mutants?”

“...”

“We have no clue how many enemies there are and no information regarding the mutants. The zombies are getting stronger and stronger by the day, even as we speak.”

“...”

“The guard leader is also right. According to Article Two, Clause One, we kill all zombies found within the shelter. But, tell me, why do we kill zombies the moment we discover them?”

“Well, that’s because they posed threats to the survivors…”

The guard leader offered the answer cautiously, and the group leader nodded and continued to speak.

“Did we create our shelter so that zombies can hunt us down?”

“No, Ma’am.”

“The people here, didn’t they build walls and arm themselves with guns and knives to protect their loved ones? Even though they are zombies, they are asking us to work with them to save people. Tell me, then, are they on our side or not?”

No one dared to answer the group leader’s question. Park Gi-Cheol, who had been keeping silent, answered her question.

“They’re on our side.”

All the officers stared at Park Gi-Cheol. But unlike earlier on, no one argued with him.

The group leader nodded slowly and looked me right in the eyes.

“Please help us if you can. I want to save everyone here. I want to create a shelter where people feel safe so that incidents like the one that happened today won\'t ever happen again.”

I nodded vigorously at her answer.

As she spoke, the guard leader looked back and forth between Kim Hyeong-Jun and me, her eyes glinting with eagerness.

“Please tell us about the world of zombies.”

* * *

The meeting went on for another hour.

I explained the Family, the dogs and the Survivor Rally Organization to them. Everyone in the meeting room was shocked and terrified at the same time. Once I was done explaining, the group leader interlaced her fingers and rested her chin on them. Her voice took on a puzzled tone.

“Then, are you saying that the enemy leader has information regarding the mutants?”

I nodded.

“Then I made a big mistake earlier. My sincere apologies.”

The group leader got up from her seat and bowed toward me. She seemed to deeply regret pointing a gun at me earlier. I accepted her apology with a slight nod. After a moment, she extended her right hand to me.

“My apologies for not introducing myself earlier. I’m the leader of Shelter Seoul Forest, also known as Silence, Hwang Ji-Hye.”

- I’m Lee Hyun-Deok.

The name of Shelter Seoul Forest was Silence.

Thinking about how the survivors here were forced to maintain their silence caused me deep sadness. Hwang Ji-Hye took a deep breath then asked,

“Regarding Shelter Hae-Young in Haengdang-dong, which you mentioned earlier. I’d like to speak with the leader there. Could you please pass on the word?”

- I’ll bring him with me next time.

I accepted her request, and she thanked me with a gentle smile. It seemed like the officers weren’t satisfied with how things were going, but they couldn’t go against their group leader.

Hwang Ji-Hye looked like a woman in her early forties. After the world had turned upside down, having makeup or decent skincare were both pipe dreams. Her laugh lines and the crow’s feet around her eyes showed how much stress she had been through.

Hwang Ji-Hye took her seat and spoke.

“With this, we’ll wrap up today’s meeting. Does anyone wish to bring up anything else?”

The other officers shook their heads and croaked out barely-audible nos. Kim Hyeong-Jun came up to me and caught my shirt.

I turned around. His expression was sorrowful.

‘Did you have to talk about Shelter Hae-Young? I feel bad now…’

‘About what?’

‘I mean… It seems like your family was exposed because of mine, ahjussi.’

‘There isn’t a distinction between your family or my family in this day and age. We have to combine forces. You just need to help if my family gets in trouble, you know?’

I nudged Kim Hyeong-Jun in the arm with a chuckle, and he scratched his head, a sheepish grin spreading across his face.

To be honest, I hadn’t brought up Shelter Hae-Young casually. I needed Silence’s hospital and weapons. I knew there was only so much I could do to keep Shelter Hae-Young safe just by relying on my underlings.

My people were adaptable and had quick minds, and so they needed proper weapons. It would be a big help if we could have access to Silence’s arsenal and medical facilities.

As I stepped outside the meeting room with Kim Hyeong-Jun, I heard a voice calling from behind me. I turned around to see Hwang Ji-Hye. She looked around cautiously.

“Can I have a minute?” she whispered.

“...?”

I titled my head in puzzlement, and before I realized it, Hwang Ji-Hye had grabbed my arm and dragged me along a narrow path. She took me to a secluded spot within the forest. Swallowing visibly, she said,

“Earlier on, you said the enemy leader’s daughter was here, right?”

I nodded.

“Is there any chance I can meet the enemy leader?”

As I titled my head, Hwang Ji-Hye bit her lower lip, and distress colored her features. After a moment, she took out a crumpled photo from an inside pocket. It was rather faded. Thoughtfully, I took out my notepad and wrote a question for her.

- Are you perhaps the enemy leader\'s daughter?

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”

“...”

I didn’t think it warranted such a cold response.

I smacked my lips out of embarrassment. After a moment, Hwang Ji-Hye spoke again, keeping her eyes locked on the family photo.

“The man in this photo… He kind of looks like the enemy leader. I’m not too sure, because I wasn’t able to see him up close, but I feel like I need to examine his face.”

I took the family photo from Hwang Ji-Hye and looked carefully at the man in the photo.

He was a man in an ordinary suit. His wife and daughter were on either side of him. The family in the photo wore the purest smiles. They’d clearly taken the photo to commemorate a special day.

As I studied the man, I realized that he did indeed bear similarities with the enemy leader. However, the photo was rather old, and so I couldn’t be sure. It was also hard for me to imagine how the enemy leader would’ve looked like when he was a human being, since I had only ever seen him with glowing red eyes and a big scar on his face.

I gave Hwang Ji-Hye back the photo and took out my notepad.

- The daughter in the picture looks like she’s in her mid-twenties. Where’s the woman in the photo right now?

Hwang Ji-Hye looked startled. I titled my head in confusion, and Hwang Ji-Hye’s expression grew sorrowful.

“Well the thing is… You can’t meet her anymore. In fact, no one can.”

“...?”

“She’s dead. She’s Soo-Hyun.”

I flinched reflexively.

‘Dead? Does that mean the enemy leader didn’t even know that his daughter was dead?’

It seemed like Hwang Ji-Hye knew the woman in the photo. I assumed that the two had known each other before she died.

Hwang Ji-Hye scratched her head.

“This is a photo of Soo-Hyun with her family when she was twenty-six. It’s already been eleven years. She held onto this old photo until the day she died.”

- How do you know each other?

“She was my friend. We went to college in the same year.”

I gasped after hearing the word ‘friend’. I had assumed Hwang Ji-Hye was in her early forties, but she was actually in her late thirties.

I felt momentarily sorry, but this wasn’t the time and place to think about that.

I quickly wrote down some words.

- I’ll lead you to the enemy leader.

“Great. But could you keep it a secret from everyone else? Since this is a personal matter.”

‘Does she have a reason why she can’t tell everyone else?’

However, I didn’t probe her for details since she said it was a personal issue. After a while, Kim Hyeong-Jun approached me and tapped me on the back.

‘What kind of conversation did you have? You seemed very serious, ahjussi,’

‘I think Hwang Ji-Hye might be related to the enemy leader somehow.’

‘What? Are you saying that she\'s the enemy leader’s daughter?’

I couldn’t believe that everyone reacted the same way. I chuckled at Kim Hyeong-Jun’s observation.

‘Seems like she and the enemy leader’s daughter knew each other. We’ll have to see if that’s true or not.’

‘Oh… silly me. Well then, I want to go too.’

‘Sure, whatever.’

‘Oh, ahjussi. Hold up.’

As I tried to walk over to the enemy leader, Kim Hyeong-Jun blocked my way.

‘The heads over there, don’t they belong to zombies with glowing red eyes?’

‘What heads? Oh… You’re right.’

Only then did I remember the four heads that I’d used for bait earlier on. I had totally forgotten about them, what with the enemy leader, mutants, and the Silence meeting. It’d already been well over three hours, so I assumed that their heads might’ve lost their effectiveness.

As I smacked my lips regretfully, Kim Hyeong-Jun beamed.

‘Help yourself. I told you that some of them last up to four hours.’

‘No, right now I have to get to the enemy leader…’

Kim Hyeong-Jun clicked his tongue.

‘You go help yourself while I take care of the situation. You don’t think I can do that for you after you saved my family, ahjussi? Or do you think I’m unreliable?’

Kim Hyeong-Jun frowned unnecessarily as he glared at me.

I snorted and nodded grudgingly. Only then did his smile return.

‘I’ll go tell the group leader that we should take a couple of days off. I’ll keep an eye on the enemy leader.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Of course, ahjussi.’

Kim Hyeong-Jun smirked and nudged me in the elbow.

He was right. It was foolish to let four heads go to waste.

The right thing to do right now was get ready to hibernate and let Kim Hyeong-Jun take care of the rest.

I took the four heads belonging to the enemy leaders and headed toward the building where my scouts were.