Walking Daddy

Krrr… KAAA!!!

The zombies’ howling tickled my ears. It was rougher and more monstrous than usual. I spewed out hot steam as I held off the zombies pouring into Children’s Grand Park.

I knocked down a tree, wielding it like a cudgel to hold off the incoming zombies more effectively. As I swung my weapon about, the zombies that were rushing through the front entrance of the park were sent flying, like baseballs being hit out of a stadium.

“Hup!”

I took a deep breath and threw the tree I was holding toward the entrance. The zombies squeezing their way through were swept away like bowling pins.

KIAAA!!!

I caught sight of some mutants trying to make their way over the fences to the left.

I knew I had to prevent them from coming over. I forced my blood to circulate faster and tensed my limbs. My muscles grew bigger and stronger, increasing my strength further.

Crack!

I launched myself off the ground and flew toward the mutants.

I wasn’t afraid because I knew they were only stage-one mutants, and I’d wiped out three stage-one mutants in an instant before. On top of that, now that I had blue eyes, the stage-one mutants were no longer a match for me.

Smash!

I grabbed the mutant’s face in my hands, and its eyeballs seemed to grow whiter as it stared at me. I lifted my right thigh and stomped on its neck. With a crunch, its spine snapped and its Adam’s apple was pushed clean through its neck.

I tossed away the mutant’s corpse, feeling adrenaline rushing through my entire body.

As I slaughtered my way through the zombies, my inner zombie instincts tried to take over.

But I knew better than to let them take over me.

I was more than aware that I could become a threat to the survivors here if I lost control. Every time my zombie instincts kicked in, I reassessed the situation and grabbed a firm hold on my sanity.

All the survivors gathered around the campfire had their backs to the fountain and were holding weapons. They were prepared to attack if a zombie happened to get to them.

Do Han-Sol and his underlings were taking care of the zombies making their way through the forest, while Kim Hyeong-Jun and Mood-Swinger were guarding the back entrance like two sturdy gatekeepers.

‘This should be enough.’

It wasn’t difficult to deal with the zombies, thanks to the surrounding terrain. I was glad that I had convinced the others to make camp in an open area. All we had to do was kill whatever came running toward us.

“Let’s… Play…”

An eerie call sent chills down my spine. I turned around, but I couldn’t locate what had made the sound. I dropped into a crouch and started looking around.

My blue eyes flashed as I heightened my senses, and I finally laid eyes on a being that was making its way rapidly through the thick, lush forest.

‘A being?’

The being looked humanoid, but was smaller in size.

‘Is it a mutant?’

I narrowed my eyes, trying to follow the creature’s movements. As my eyes hunted for the creature, I issued orders to my underlings.

‘Mutant squad, block the front entrance of Children’s Grand Park. Don\'t let any of them get through!’

KIAAA!!!

All the mutants that were protecting the survivors headed toward the main entrance of the park. I continued my hunt through the lush forest, trying to chase down the mysterious mutant.

I finally laid eyes on the mutant. It seemed to notice that I had caught up, and abruptly stopped in its tracks. I quickly halted as well, and took a couple steps back.

I didn’t back off because I didn’t want to attack it.

My instincts were warning me of imminent danger. The ringing in my head was telling me to get away.

I could tell that this was a stage-two mutant, since it looked different than the other mutants. I had no clue what kind of abilities it had. I knew that a hasty attack would only backfire. I had to keep an eye on its movements and figure out what its desire was.

After a moment, the stage-two mutant slowly turned around.

“Let’s… Play… Da… ddy…”

It was a little boy.

It was about a meter tall, with a baby face, but its pale skin and abnormally big mouth were enough to give me the creeps.

It looked at me, giggling, then ran at me with its two arms wide open. Surprised, I kicked it, sending it flying toward a tree. It flew for a while before hitting the tree, and it howled in pain at the impact with the thick tree trunk. Its wailing was no different from the other mutants.

‘What in the world…?’

It wasn\'t threatening at all, neither in its defense nor its attack. In fact, all of its abilities seemed harmless.

The only advantage I could see was its movement speed… But to me, a zombie with blue eyes, it was nothing.

I swallowed, keeping my eyes firmly fixed on it. The stage-two mutant cried for a while, but then its cries went through a strange, subtle change.

“Ha… Haha…. HAHA… HAHAHA!”

Its crying turned into laughter.

I took a step back, sensing something eerie about the creature.

The stage-two mutant slowly lifted its upper body and looked me straight in the eye.

“It’s… My… Turn…”

It opened its mouth and charged toward me. My eyes went wide, and I hurriedly twisted my upper body, barely avoiding its grasp.

Its speed had increased dramatically.

Steam spewed out of my mouth as I increased the strength in my legs. After boosting myself, I launched myself into a spinning kick.

The mutant was small and agile, able to change directions quickly. It leaped up into a tree to avoid my attack.

“Hehe…”

It began swinging through the trees like a monkey. I tried to follow it by leaping onto a tree as well.

Snap!

However, the branches were unable to take my weight, and snapped. As I fell to the ground, the stage-two mutant grinned at me.

“Shit!”

I got up and tried to resume my hunt, but the creature had vanished from my sight.

I wondered where it had disappeared to. It was impossible to track down a meter-tall boy in a pitch-black forest.

“Mood-Swinger!”

I heard Kim Hyeong-Jun cry out from my left. I looked left and saw the stage-two mutant holding onto Mood-Swinger’s head.

Mood-Swinger was wailing in pain.

The moment Kim Hyeong-Jun tried to detach the stage-two mutant from Mood-Swinger, Mood-Swinger’s eyes changed, and he flung a fist at Kim Hyeong-Jun.

Kim Hyeong-Jun gasped. Mood-Swinger’s unexpected attack sent him flying twenty meters away.

I watched Mood-Swinger’s movements—with the stage-two mutant still attached to it—with a dumbfounded expression. Mood-Swinger’s innocent, clear eyes had turned black, and so had the eyes of the stage-two mutant.

The stage-two mutant… It was mind controlling Mood-Swinger.

I knew that I had to contain Mood-Swinger immediately. I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if the giant zombie decided to run toward the survivors.

Steam spewed from my mouth as I raced toward Mood-Swinger. It saw me closing in, and swiftly flung an arm out.

I leaped off the ground and over Mood-Swinger, sending a kick toward the stage-two mutant that was on top of its head. The small creature quickly dodged behind Mood-Swinger’s head to avoid my attack.

Thud!

I mistakenly kicked Mood-Swinger right in the face. Mood-Swinger swayed side to side and fell on its back. However, it was quickly back on its feet, frowning.

I knew Mood-Swinger was strong, but I was surprised that it hadn’t died from that kick to the face.

I swallowed as Mood-Swinger got worked up.

“My… Turn!!!”

Mood-Swinger charged toward me, yelling out a phrase totally foreign to it. Mood-Swinger was basically a puppet, unable to exercise an ounce of free will.

I wasn’t sure if I had to kill Mood-Swinger.

I was more than confident that I could kill Mood-Swinger if I gave it my all, but losing it would be a big loss to us. I had to figure out a way to subdue Mood-Swinger somehow without killing it.

Shhh…

Steam spewed from my mouth as I concentrated on increasing the strength in my right arm. My muscles doubled in size, stretching and growing with even more power.

It wasn’t possible to enhance my entire body at once, but ever since I’d turned into a zombie with blue eyes, I became capable of strengthening parts of my body temporarily.

I concentrated all my might in my right arm and hurled a punch toward Mood-Swinger’s chest.

Mood-Swinger let out a thunderous howl and swung its right arm, thick as a baobab tree, toward me.

Crash!

Our fists collided with such force that it seemed to blow away the air around us, leaving us in a vacuum. The wave of air hammered into my chest, and I felt the shockwave from the collision make its way to my entire body.

A tingling sensation traveled up from the tips of my fingers all the way into my skull. My eyes lost focus for a moment, and my mind went blank.

The rebound had knocked me back. Mood-Swinger fell to its knees, its fist crippled.

Mood-Swinger was able to deal damage to me, but I was still superior in terms of strength.

I quickly regained balance by planting my right foot on the ground, then charged toward Mood-Swinger, gritting my teeth.

The stage-two mutant that was on top of Mood-Swinger’s head was wide-eyed with surprise. It quickly moved down to attach itself lower on Mood-Swinger’s body. Mood-Swinger swung its left arm out without even knowing where I was.

Mood-Swinger was clearly the stage-two mutant’s marionette.

I ducked down and got close to Mood-Swinger, sending a fist flying towards its chest.

Mood-Swinger vomited a mouthful of blood. It swayed side to side for a moment, but then quickly turned around and started running away.

Shoosh—

The moment I tried to block its way, something tore through the air on my right, flying past me in a rush of wind. It left a brillant, blue trail as it went straight past me. I immediately halted in surprise.

The being shot past me and planted a foot right smack in the middle of Mood-Swinger.

Thud!!!

With the sound of a brick wall coming down, Mood-Swinger’s spine shattered. The being was no other than Kim Hyeong-Jun.

Kim Hyeong-Jun glared at Mood-Swinger with a furrowed brow, spewing steam from his mouth. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Can’t you recognize your own father?”

He seemed emotionally outraged at what had just happened.

The stage-two mutant tried its best to control Mood-Swinger, but Mood-Swinger’s back was shattered, and it could do nothing but wail in agony.

I didn’t let the opportunity pass by and charged toward the stage-two mutant, my blue eyes flashing.

I hammered a knee into its face, shattering its skull. Only then did Mood-Swinger’s trembling body droop to the ground like a wet towel. The black color flowed out of its eyes, and its eyes returned to their usual innocent state. I removed the corpse of the stage-two mutant from its head as Kim Hyeong-Jun examined Mood-Swinger’s condition.

“Losing… Gains…”

I assumed that it was no longer being mind controlled, since it was talking about losing gains with its exhausted voice.

Kim Hyeong-Jun massaged his temples and let out a sigh of relief. I tossed the stage-two mutant’s head into the forest.

“You okay?” I asked Kim Hyeong-Jun.

“I thought we were going to lose Mood-Swinger.”

“Try giving orders to Mood-Swinger. We have to see if you still control it.”

“Mood-Swinger, raise your left arm.”

Following Kim Hyeong-Jun’s orders, it raised its left arm about ten centimeters off the ground, trembling with effort. Kim Hyeong-Jun put his head in his hands. He couldn’t take the sight of Mood-Swinger in such a weak and helpless state. I grinned at his reaction.

“Why would someone who cared about Mood-Swinger so much come flying in and break its back?”

“Well, Mood-Swinger isn’t the easiest to take down as an opponent.”

“You have a point. But all of this… I was honestly surprised. I didn’t even imagine that you would attack Mood-Swinger.”

“Mood-Swinger is important, but the survivors are even more important.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun clicked his tongue vigorously and spat on the floor. I slapped him lightly on his forearm.

“You should feed it now. It’s going to lose gains if you don’t.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun sighed and looked at the path leading to the back entrance. His first-stage mutants were holding back the zombies. He ran over and brought some zombies back, and pushed their heads into Mood-Swinger’s mouth. The big zombie wailed in pain but still ate the zombies’ heads.

As I watched Mood-Swinger eating quietly, I sucked my lower lip and said, “Hyeong-Jun.”

"Hmm?"

“Have you seen… zombies controlling other zombies?”

“Are you talking about us?”

“No. The one that just mind-controlled Mood-Swinger.”

“...”

Kim Hyeong-Jun seemed lost in thought. His expression suggested that he found the previous incident rather disturbing.

“AHHH!!”

"Watch out!!!"

Screaming erupted from where the survivors were.

I looked in the direction of the screams and saw a stage-one mutant charging toward the survivors.