Walking Daddy

"To be honest… I’m not sure how I would’ve turned out if I hadn’t been bitten by a zombie.”

“...?”

“This one time, Hyun-Deok ahjussi told me that he did nothing but stay in his house when he was a human, even though he would hear people screaming outside every now and then. Every time he heard something, he would just pretend that he hadn’t heard anything.”

“Well... That’s…”

Hwang Ji-Hye trailed off, suddenly lost in thought. No words came to her mind, either of consolation or admonishment.

Kim Hyeong-Jun continued to speak.

“But after turning into a zombie, I heard he no longer felt restricted from doing anything outside. From that point forward, he was able to come up with plans. He prioritized the safety of his daughter first, then started looking for other survivors that met his standards so that they could help his daughter grow emotionally stable.”

“Hmm… I guess whatever his intentions were, it was good news for the survivors.”

“But then he said that his attitude toward survivors changed.”

“What was his attitude?”

Hwang Ji-Hye tilted her head, and Kim Hyeong-Jun nodded.

“That in this crazy world, just clinging onto your sanity as a human being was impressive enough. That those people should be the ones deserving respect. And then he said that we weren’t the heroes.”

“Did Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok say that?”

"Yes. He added that we shouldn’t be boastful in front of others. That we’d look pathetic if we paraded around town on a high horse with this dead body of ours.”

After hearing about Lee Hyun-Deok, Hwang Ji-Hye gave a faint smile.

“He’s more down to earth and more assertive with his beliefs than he looks.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun chuckled softly.

“I think his beliefs sway from time to time, but he never gives in. He’s a great person who keeps on trying. I don’t know why… But for some reason, he makes me want to give it my all as well.”

Hwang Ji-Hye silently patted Kim Hyeong-Jun on the shoulder. Kim Hyeong-Jun chuckled and continued,

“If you were speaking to Hyun-Deok ahjussi right now, he would’ve hit you on the forearm already by now, saying that he’s embarrassed.”

“Well, he’s manly, then.”

“No, he’s just violent.”

As soon as Kim Hyeong-Jun finished his sentence, he looked around quickly and let out a sigh of relief. Clearly, he knew that he would’ve gotten slapped for that comment.

Hwang Ji-Hye burst into laughter at his exaggerated reaction.

Kim Hyeong-Jun took a deep breath and then got up.

"Alrighty then! Before I say more that would annoy ahjussi, I’ll get to work.”

“I’ll go check on the progress of the trap installation.”

“Trap?”

“There’s a limit to the effectiveness of just chucking grenades at zombies. I thought it’d be nice to have a couple of boxes lined up on the ground to use them to block the road.”

“That sounds nice.”

“That means we’ll have to commit a lot of our resources at once, though…”

“Well, they’ll all go to waste if you don’t use them anyway.”

When Kim Hyeong-Jun chuckled, Hwang Ji-Hye smiled heartily and nodded back. Then Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at the zombies on the street.

“Then those zombies over there…”

Kim Hyeong-Jun cut off suddenly, a look of hesitation on his face. After a moment, his eyes widened and he looked toward Shelter Seoul Forest.

Hwang Ji-Hye tilted her head at his sudden change.

"What\'s wrong?"

“The Family.”

"What about them?"

“It’s the Family.”

Hwang Ji-Hye looked around urgently as she listened to Kim Hyeong-Jun. However, she couldn’t see any zombies rushing toward their way with her naked eye. Hwang Ji-Hye looked at him doubtfully. Kim Hyeong-Jun’s red eyes flashed.

“It’s Seoul Forest.”

"What?"

“I’m heading out.”

“Wait, wait! What about Lee Hyun-Deok and Do Han-Sol?”

“There’s no time to wait!”

With that, Kim Hyeong-Jun crouched down and sprung off the ground, steam trailing from his mouth.

Crack!

The asphalt floor cracked as Kim Hyeong-Jun disappeared in a flash. Just like that, Hwang Ji-Hye lost track of him.

She stared blankly at the horizon for a moment, but quickly collected herself and took out the walkie-talkie hanging on her front pocket.

“Do you copy? Is anyone there?”

Chsuuhh… Chsuuhh…

After several bursts of static, someone replied to her.

- Yes, group leader.

“Stop making the trap and retrieve all the grenades.”

- Pardon?

“We don’t need the damn trap! Retrieve all the grenades right now!”

As Hwang Ji-Hye yelled into the walkie-talkie, she retrieved her hunting knife from the floor.

* * *

Grr… Grr…

Kim Hyeong-Jun whipped his head to the right, looking in the direction of the zombie calls, as he ran toward Seoul Forest. Red-colored zombies were flooding in like a tidal wave from Seongsuil-ro on the right.

If they were coming from Seongsuil-ro, they had to have crossed Jangan-gyo. He furrowed his brow and gave orders to his underlings.

‘Mood-Swinger and the other mutants, move to block Seongsuil-ro. The rest of you come to Seoul Forest!’

His underlings moved immediately and precisely to follow his orders.

However, it would take at least ten minutes for his underlings to travel from the zombie prison in Majang-dong to Seoul Forest. Until then, he had to stop the enemies by himself.

When he reached Seoul Forest, he saw that the red-colored zombies had breached the first line of defense, and were trying to get over the second line of defense.

Kim Hyeong-Jun began to increase the circulation of his blood, causing the veins in his temples to pop.

“Grrr…”

With his mouth spewing steam, Kim Hyeong-Jun’s red eyes flashed and he rushed forward like a raging wave.

Crack!!!

He grabbed the zombies that were trying to breach the second line of defense and smacked them against the wall.

GRRR!!!

As one, the zombies surrounding him let out their throat-rending cries and charged toward Kim Hyeong-Jun. He began to dispatch them in rapid succession.

“AHHH!! Help me!!!"

“AHHH!!!”

He could hear the wails of the inhabitants of Shelter Seoul Forest coming from behind the second line of defense. With the guards away, the first and second line of defense served little to no purpose.

Kim Hyeong-Jun crossed the second line of defense and tried to get a sense of the situation inside.

Some of the people who were on guard were fighting zombies with bamboo spears. They had thrown molotov cocktails to stop the zombies from advancing and were fighting with their dear lives to prevent them from getting to the third line of defense.

Kim Hyeong-Jun slashed a path through the zombies and rushed toward the survivors. He snapped the necks of the zombies that had been stabbed by bamboo spears and grabbed the ankles of the zombies that were trying to make it across the third line of defense, crushing them against the ground.

“Everyone, to the third line of defense!!!” yelled Kim Hyeong-Jun.

The remaining survivors gathered at the only entrance to the interior of the shelter. The narrow path grew congested as they tried to make their way through. Kim Hyeong-Jun bought time for them, snapping and crushing any zombies who approached.

After everyone had made it through the third line of defense, Kim Hyeong-Jun stood in front of the only entrance, his glowing red eyes flashing.

“You guys won’t be able to make it through.”

Hundreds of zombies rushed at Kim Hyeong-Jun at once.

* * *

The sixth officer, who was about to begin his attack from the northern end of Seongdong-gyo, stopped in his tracks when he saw red zombies running toward Seoul Forest.

After a moment, one of the decoys with him spoke up.

“Sixth officer, it seems like Shelter Seoul Forest is receiving support from another shelter nearby.”

“Those zombies… Are they coming from Majang-dong?”

"Yes sir."

“So they killed the dong leader of Majang-dong and made themselves a shelter there…?”

The sixth officer snorted and stashed both of his hands into his pockets. Clicking his tongue once, he looked at the decoy next to them.

“Is there a bridge to Seoul Forest in the direction that they’re running to?”

“Eungbong-gyo is there.”

“Interesting…”

The sixth officer smiled as if he found the whole situation fascinating.

"Did you know that, when you give zombies orders, they instinctively take the path they’re most used to?”

"Is that so, sir?"

“That’s why, when you give your underlings orders, you have to tell them exactly which path to take. Or else, they’ll just take the most familiar path to them.”

“Then does that mean those guys…”

“It means that they’ve been going back and forth across Eungbong-gyo.”

The sixth officer smacked his lips and smiled happily. Another decoy on the other side of him spoke up.

“But sixth officer, in order to cross Eungbong-gyo, they would’ve had to pass through Haengdang-dong. But we all know that Haengdang-dong…”

“A black creature lives there.”

“Then how…”

“Don’t you get it? It\'s making sense to me.”

The sixth officer lifted an eyebrow.

“I wondered who in the world killed the dong leader of Majang-dong… Now we know there’s a bastard out there who’s eaten a black creature’s brain.”

“Then the baits we sent to Haengdang-dong…”

“They were probably killed by that bastard. It’s more than possible that he grew stronger while eating their brains as well. What an amazing guy.”

The sixth officer couldn’t help but be amazed by this zombie who had eaten the black creature’s brain. He looked at the decoy next to him.

“Order your underlings to attack Seoul Forest, while you go straight to Yeouido.”

“Pardon, sir?”

“Go and tell the boss that the zombie behind all of this killed the black creature in Haengdang-dong.”

“Yes, sir! Got it.”

With that, one of the decoys ran toward Yeouido. The sixth officer gave orders to the remaining decoys.

“You two, cross Seongdong-gyo right now. Annihilate Seoul Forest.”

Then the remaining decoys looked at each other hesitantly. One of them spoke up cautiously.

“Sixth officer… Do you happen to have another plan in mind?”

“I need to go to Haengdang-dong.”

“Right now?”

“Why? You don’t think you’ll win without me?”

“No. Not at all, sir.”

The decoy smiled nervously and made a placating gesture. The sixth officer frowned and spoke up.

“Then get going already, and don’t let yourselves be tracked down.”

“Yes, yes!”

With that, the two decoys bowed deeply at the waist and headed straight for Seongdong-gyo.

* * *

The flood of zombies coming over from Jangan-gyo began to diminish. Mood-Swinger and the mutants were doing exactly what they were ordered to do.

With Kim Hyeong-Jun now certain that victory was on their side, he headed to the first line of defense to deal with the remaining zombies.

GRRR!!! GRRR!!!

The moment he arrived at the first line of defense, he heard more zombie cries from close by. A horde of zombies had crossed Seongdong-gyo and were running through Wangsimni-ro toward Seoul Forest. There were at least two thousand of them.

“You guys really don’t give me any time to take a break.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun sighed and clenched his fists. As the zombies closed in, though, he saw his own underlings running across Eungbong-gyo from the west.

Kim Hyeong-Jun sighed in relief and gave them their orders.

‘Crush all the enemies in Wangsimni-ro!’

All of his underlings that were rushing toward Seoul Forest turned and started advancing on Wangsimni-ro.

First platoon, second platoon, and third platoon… His underlings continued to cross over Eungbong-gyo. Soon enough, all of his underlings—except for the hundred he had left at the zombie prison—were in Wangsimni-ro.

Even though he had suffered heavy casualties in the previous battle, he still had a thousand underlings under him.

Kim Hyeong-Jun took a deep breath and braced his lower body.

“Gaaa…”

Steam spewed out of his mouth, and his rapidly-circulating blood heightened his five senses, awakening the zombie instinct within him that enjoyed killing.

Kim Hyeong-Jun rushed toward the enemy, his glowing red eyes flashing.

He kicked the zombie in front of him in the chest, its ribs caving in with a sickening crunch. The zombie vomited dark red blood and collapsed to the ground.

The impact sent a thrill through his entire body. The killing left him in a euphoric state, stimulating his senses further.

Kim Hyeong-Jun started sweeping through the swathe of enemies, relying solely on his instincts. It was nothing less than a massacre.

Soon, he noticed zombies with glowing red eyes. Kim Hyeong-Jun rushed toward them instantly like a fierce and vengeful wind.

The enemy leaders’ eyes went wide, and they looked around for a place to escape from the onrushing Kim Hyeong-Jun. They hesitated slightly, and by that time, Kim Hyeong-Jun was already upon them, shredding through all the zombies in his way like a frenzied hound.

"Jesus!"

The enemy leader on the right sighed as if it knew what was about to come next.

Without the slightest hesitation, Kim Hyeong-Jun grabbed the enemy leader’s head and slammed it down to the ground.

These decoys commanded about six to seven hundred underlings. To them, Kim Hyeong-Jun’s power was overwhelming.

As the first enemy leader went down, froth coming out its mouth, the other enemy leader desperately turned around and began to flee back to Seongdong-gyo.

Kim Hyeong-Jun sprung from the ground in a flash.

The moment their eyes met, Kim Hyeong-Jun smirked.

‘Die.’

He stabbed his right arm into the enemy leader’s chest, red blood streaming down his hand and arm.

Kim Hyeong-Jun flexed his muscular arms and let out a triumphant roar.

The enemy leader’s flesh was torn apart, and its organs started to spill out.

Even though Kim Hyeong-Jun had taken out two enemy leaders at once, his madness showed no signs of calming. Instead, he was searching for a stronger enemy, an enemy so strong that facing it could make his heart beat again.

At that moment, he got a signal from one of his underlings.

- Enemy detected.

Thankfully, his rational mind returned the moment he got the signal.

But the signal… It was coming from a scout that he had long forgotten about.

It was the scout in Haengdang-dong.