Walking Daddy

As I got up and looked around, I saw two of my scouts still looking toward Shelter Seoul Forest. I massaged my throbbing temples and headed straight to Shelter Seoul Forest. The wall that had fallen was thicker and higher than it used to be. I noticed purple zombies interspersed between the busy survivors. The survivors, who had been so antagonistic toward zombies, were now working side by side with zombies to repair the interior.

I walked along the wall to get to the main entrance, where I saw Kim Hyeong-Jun and Park Gi-Cheol.

“Huh? Hey! Over here!”

Park Gi-Cheol saw me first. I bowed slightly and went toward him. Park Gi-Cheol and Kim Hyeong-Jun came running toward me as well, and I quickly attracted the attention of the other survivors. Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at me straight in the eyes.

‘Did you have a good sleep?’

‘How many days has it been?’

‘About two days? If you were unconscious for two days, it probably means that all four of the heads were still effective.’

I let out a sigh of relief, accompanied by a slight smile. I looked at Kim Hyeong-Jun.

‘What happened to the enemy leader?’

‘We’re keeping an eye on him.’

‘Did you tell the enemy leader what happened to his daughter?’

‘I’m keeping it a secret for now, since we’re not certain that that’s the case.’

‘Good. Let’s go see him later, together with the group leader.’

I smiled slightly and didn’t hold back on complimenting Kim Hyeong-Jun. Kim Hyeong-Jun smiled as if I was stating the obvious, and nodded. After a moment, Park Gi-Cheol looked at me and asked, “I learned everything that happened between the two of you. So you formed an alliance with Hyeong-Jun?”

I nodded.

“Then I should introduce you to everyone. HAHAHA!”

Park Gi-Cheol laughed heartily as he tugged me by my arm. I wondered what he was enjoying so much.

I followed Park Gi-Cheol into the shelter and saw that everyone was staring at me. They all seemed vigilant, but the hate and resentment they’d shown toward me two days ago seemed absent. As I wondered what had happened over the past two days, Kim Hyeong-Jun walked over.

‘They’ll see you as someone on the same side now.’

‘What happened while I was gone?’

‘While you were unconscious, my underlings and I, you know, did some stuff.’

‘Did some stuff?’

‘We dug graves, carried bricks, and poured concrete to gain some trust from them.’

Kim Hyeong-Jun smiled widely as he communicated this with me. I chuckled and slapped Kim Hyeong-Jun on the back, acknowledging his good work.

After following Park Gi-Cheol for about five minutes, I saw an apartment complex in the distance. Apartment A on the right was being used as a hospital while Apartment B on the left was being used as a dormitory. I stopped by the hospital before heading toward the dormitory.

It was bustling inside. People who seemed to be nurses were flipping through documents and running all over the place.

The two men that were guarding the entrance pointed their guns at me.

“Who, who are you!”

“How’d you get in?”

I was stunned by the sudden difference in attitude compared to what I had seen outside. Park Gi-Cheol raised his voice and scolded the two guards.

“Lower your guns this instant!”

“Rescue, rescue leader?”

“How dare you point your guns at the person who saved everyone when you should be thanking him profusely instead?”

“Huh? Well… We’ve never seen this red-eyed one before.”

It seemed like they recognized Kim Hyeong-Jun but not me. At least they hadn’t opened fire right away after seeing a zombie with glowing red eyes. It seemed like everyone had gotten a lot more comfortable with having zombies around over the course of two days.

I gestured that it was no big deal, and Park Gi-Cheol clicked his tongue and lectured the guards.

“How many times do I have to tell you that there are two friendly zombie leaders? Didn’t that guard leader of yours tell you that?”

“Oh… We didn’t receive any information regarding their appearances. Our apologies.”

“Still, you need to know how to read the situation. Can’t you see that he\'s walking into the hospital with me?”

“Our apologies. This is our job, so…”

The guards didn’t know what to do. After all, they had probably been trained to open fire the moment they saw a zombie. I suppose I had to be satisfied by the fact that they hadn’t fired at me the moment I’d appeared.

Park Gi-Cheol looked at me.

“Why did you come to the hospital?”

I took out my notepad.

- I want to meet a doctor. And to see the facilities as well.

“It’s not the best. But then again, it would be strange to have a properly-run hospital in this day and age, right?”

- That’s true, but there’s someone who isn’t doing well back at Shelter Hae-Young.

“So you want to see for yourself if you can trust this doctor? Hahaha! You sure are on top of everything.”

With a burst of laughter, Park Gi-Cheol guided me to where the doctor was.

There was a large resting area on one side of the first floor. There had been a sign in large letters, but most of the letters had fallen away. All the other letters except ‘N’ and ‘A’ were gone. As I entered, I saw numerous beds with patients lying in them, hooked up to IV drips. Their bodies were all bandaged up.

It felt like I’d been warped back in time. Here, the tragedy of two days ago was still fresh.

After a moment, a man in a yellowed lab coat walked up to Park Gi-Cheol and me. He was the man that had represented the medical staff. I remembered seeing him at the meeting.

The man looked at me and Kim Hyeong-Jun with a rather disgusted expression.

“Is there anything you wanted to say…?”

Park Gi-Cheol pointed his finger at me.

“This fellow wanted to see you.”

The doctor gave me a once-over, then smiled gently.

“I’m sorry, but there could be a risk of infection. Could you please wait outside?”

I understood why he looked at us the way he did. His cold attitude shouldn’t have been a surprise, since we’d entered the hospital wing with filthy clothes. I nodded and went outside without a word.

After waiting on a bench outside for a while, the man in the lab coat came out. He looked exhausted. He let out a sigh.

“Go ahead with what you wanted to say.”

I assumed he hadn’t slept for two days, since he was taking care of the patients. The dark circles he had under his eyes showed just how much effort he’d been putting in. I quickly took out my notepad, since I knew better than to take any more time than necessary. I wrote down Kang Eun-Jeong’s symptoms.

The doctor carefully read what I had written down. After a moment of contemplation, he let out a slight groan.

“I think it’s best if I see this patient face to face.”

- Are they serious symptoms?

“I’m not sure, but given the symptoms you’ve listed, it seems like tetanus.”

- Tetanus?

“She should have an infected wound on her. Did you check?”

- As far as I know, no.

I couldn’t help but feel startled. Wasn’t tetanus something that could be prevented with a vaccine? Well of course, after the world had turned into this mess, getting a tetanus shot sounded like a gift from heaven, but it hadn’t even been a year since the zombie incident.

Did that mean that Kang Eun-Jeong hadn’t gotten her tetanus shot before all of this happened?

My mind was in overdrive again. I shook the useless thoughts out of my head and followed up with a question.

- After we saw her symptoms, we got whatever medicine would fit her needs. It’s been over a month. Will she be okay?

The doctor’s eyes widened in surprise, but his surprise was quickly replaced by a frown.

“Over a month? Bring her here this instant.”

Park Gi-Cheol’s expression grew serious as well.

“Is it that serious?”

“Don’t take tetanus lightly. It’s a deadly disease with a mortality rate of fifty percent if not treated early on.”

“What? It’s that dangerous?”

“It’s not a localized infection. It damages your nervous system as well. It starts off with muscle spasms, paralysis, and fevers, but after that it leads to shortness of breath, then paralysis of the respiratory muscles and a heavy strain on the entire system. You can imagine what could happen next.”

“You, you die?”

The doctor nodded without saying a word. My jaw fell open. I was worried about Kang Eun-Jeong, but I was as worried for Kang Ji-Suk as well. I knew he would collapse if something were to happen to her.

I dashed toward the hospital entrance.

“Hey, where are you going!”

I heard Park Gi-Cheol’s voice calling from behind me, but I had no time to answer every question he had. I had to bring Kang Eun-Jeong over immediately.

The roar of the wind filled my eardrums and the surroundings sped past me in a blur. I ran back to the Shelter Hae-Young with all my might.

* * *

I got back to Shelter Hae-Young in just seven minutes.

After I’d absorbed Kim Hyeong-Seok’s desire, my physical abilities were at their peak even while the sun was up. I wasn’t affected by the rules of night and day anymore.

I leaped over the shelter’s fence and landed in the playground. Lee Jeong-Uk, who was feeding the hens, fell onto his bottom.

“Woah, geez. You surprised me.”

Lee Jeong-Uk brushed off the dust on his hands and looked at me. I quickly took out my notepad and wrote down a couple of words.

- Where’s Eun-Jeong?

“Eun-Jeong? Well, she’s in her room of course, in apartment 104.”

I went straight toward apartment 104.

“Wait, what\'s going on!”

I heard Lee Jeong-Uk’s voice behind me. I felt bad for leaving him without a reply, but I had no time to answer his questions. If Kang Eun-Jeong really had tetanus, just like that doctor had said, she should’ve gotten treatment within two weeks. However, it had already been a month. That meant that the situation was dire.

I was the only one to blame.

There was nothing we could do at Shelter Hae-Young. We had no medical knowledge or medical facilities. However, the fact that I couldn’t do anything because of our given circumstances made me tremble with anger.

‘If I was just a little bit smarter. If only I was a bit better...’

As a leader, and as a representative, I should’ve had a better plan.

All I’d done was hope that she would get better with time, that she would overcome her illness by herself, that it was nothing more than a mere cold. That mindset had caused me to underestimate the danger to her life.

I couldn’t forgive my incompetence.

Living as a hypocrite. I knew I had already done so much of that while I’d been a human being. I wasn’t going to live this second life I’d been given in the same way.

As I entered the living room, Kang Eun-Jeong was drinking some water. Kang Ji-Suk and Han Seon-Hui were there with her. She was as pale as she could be, and sweating even though the weather wasn’t even warm. The dark circles under her eyes and her scrawny arms and legs made my heart ache.

Kang Eun-Jeong looked at me worriedly.

“Oh, So-Yeon’s father. Are you doing alright? I heard you just came back from Seoul Forest.”

She should’ve been worrying about herself. She was worrying about me, even though she was the one who needed treatment right now. With her small, weak voice, she had asked how I was doing. I felt so sorry that the tip of my nose stung.

I whipped out my notepad and wrote down a sentence.

- We have to get going right now.

“Huh?”

- You have to get proper treatment.

Kang Eun-Jeong was dumbfounded after reading my sentence.

I knew that a month of waiting was long enough. I didn’t want her to wait any longer. I slung Kang Eun-Jeong onto my back and headed toward the front door.

“So-Yeon’s father, So-Yeon’s father!”

“Where are you going, ahjussi?”

I heard Han Seon-Hui and Kang Ji-Suk’s voices behind me. If I could speak, I would’ve explained the situation, but I knew that I had to take care of my responsibilities immediately.

As I stepped outside, I saw Kim Hyeong-Jun gesturing wildly at Lee Jeong-Uk. Kim Hyeong-Jun beamed as he saw me.

‘Geez! I almost went nuts because I couldn’t communicate with him.’

‘Why’d you follow me?’

‘Why’d you disappear all of a sudden? You have to at least tell me what’s going on!’

‘I’ll explain later.’

I tried to go over the wall with Kang Eun-Jeong on my back, but Kim Hyeong-Jun noticed what I was trying to do and grabbed onto my shirt.

‘Take her guardian with you.’

‘I’m her guardian.’

‘Then what about the people behind you?’

I turned around to see Han Seon-Hui and Kang Ji-Suk looking at me nervously. I had no choice but to ask Kim Hyeong-Jun a favor.

‘The boy over there, can you carry him?’

‘You should have been like that from the beginning, ahjussi.’

Kim Hyeong-Jun chuckled and gestured for Kang Ji-Suk to get on his back. The boy hesitated for a moment, but eventually climbed onto Kim Hyeong-Jun’s back.

I took out my notepad from my pocket and wrote some words for Lee Jeong-Uk.

- I’m going to the hospital.

“Hospital? There’s a hospital?”

I gave him a slight nod and leapt over the wall. Kim Hyeong-Jun followed me, with Kang Ji-Suk on his back. We sprinted toward Shelter Seoul Forest like track athletes.

The wind was cold. I could feel Kang Eun-Jeong’s warmth as she clung tightly to me to avoid the cold, stinging wind. Her forehead was boiling.

I knew how much she’d been trying to act as if she was okay, that nothing was wrong, to not let others worry about her even though she had a fever this bad.

I felt that warm heart of hers. I was so sorry, yet thankful, proud, and in awe of her attitude. I couldn’t hold back my tears.

I bit my lower lip and thought to myself,

‘It’s alright. It’s going to be alright now.’

She probably couldn’t hear what I was thinking.

‘You don’t have to go through the pain by yourself anymore.’

I kept repeating this as we made our way toward Shelter Seoul Forest.