Walking Daddy

"Well, of course we’ll deal with the black creature. If Hyun-Deok ahjussi and I move against it at the same time, we’re sure we can defeat it.”

"Are you sure?"

“Oh, yes. Of course.”

“I heard that its eyes were blue just a month ago. You don’t know if they’ve changed color or not, do you?”

Kim Hyeong-Jun grimaced at the onslaught of questions from Lee Jeong-Uk.

“The last black creature we ran across in Seoul had black eyes. Did we lose then?”

“...”

"You don’t need to worry,” said Kim Hyeong-Jun with a faint smile as he tried to calm Lee Jeong-Uk down.

The people from the Survivor Rally Organization thought that Kim Hyeong-Jun and Lee Hyun-Deok had taken care of the black creature they had encountered in Seoul. However, that wasn’t the truth. They didn’t know anything about the second officer of the Family and the countless dong leaders that the black creature had wiped out.

Even though Lee Jeong-Uk sensed something amiss, he didn’t follow up with any other questions, since there was nothing concrete to his suspicions.

“Ugh…”

At that moment, Do Han-Sol groaned from his bed as he awoke. Kim Hyeong-Jun quickly took the chance to get up and walked over to Do Han-Sol.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

Do Han-Sol looked around at everyone gathered in the lobby in surprise, then looked at Kim Hyeong-Jun.

"Huh? What’s this? Why is everyone here?”

Kim Hyeong-Jun smiled.

“Would it be sufficient to say that we’re promoting friendship between the Survivor Rally Organization and the Jeju Defense Unit? But aside from that, how are you feeling? Do you feel like anything’s wrong with your body?”

"Oh, yes. No, there isn’t anything wrong with my body.”

“What about your physical abilities?”

“I think they’ve improved.”

“Can you tell where your underlings are in your head?”

Do Han-Sol stared at the ceiling and spaced out for a moment. After a while, he spoke again.

“The brains I ate… They belonged to the Northwest Gang’s scouts… right?”

“I don’t know. Why?"

“All of my underlings seem to be in the northwest.”

It seemed like the four brains he had eaten were the brains of the Northwest Gang’s scouts. That meant that Jeong Jin-Young had eaten the brains of the Northwest Gang’s officers and the Northeast Gang’s scouts. That told Kim Hyeong-Jun that Jeong Jin-Young would be sleeping like the dead for at least the next three days.

Kim Hyeong-Jun nodded and called out to Lee Jeong-Uk, who was behind him.

“Mr. Lee Jeong-Uk! Han-Sol and I are heading outside for a bit.”

"At this time? Where are you going?”

“We’ll go figure out where his underlings are and do a little patrol of the area outside.”

“Are you sure that’s okay? So-Yeon’s dad told everyone to stay inside.”

"It should be okay. Besides, Hyun-Deok ahjussi should wake up soon as well.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun went outside with Do Han-Sol, smiling heartily. He knew that, if he’d stayed in the lobby any longer, he’d have had to talk some more about the black creature. As the two of them peered into the darkness, Kim Hyeong-Jun looked over at Do Han-Sol.

“You know where the Northwest Gang is located, right?”

“Yes, I can tell where my underlings are in my head. I think I just have to follow this road. Where are you planning to go, Mr. Kim Hyeong-Jun?”

“I have to go get my underlings as well. I ate the brain of one of the Northeast Gang officers.”

"Huh? When?”

"This morning."

Do Han-Sol’s eyes went wide as he ran his gaze over Kim Hyeong-Jun from top to bottom.

“But you’re up already?” he asked in amazement.

“Hey, you’re the one who woke up after just one day after eating four brains. That’s more amazing.”

“Well… They were just weaklings,” Do Han-Sol said with a sheepish smile.

Kim Hyeong-Jun returned the smile. “That’s still pretty impressive. Anyway, check on your underlings. See if there are any other movements around the region where the Northwest Gang was and then come back.”

“Got it. What do you want me to do afterward?”

“Come back to the hotel, of course… Oh, shoot! Wait a second.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun snapped his fingers as if he’d just remembered something he’d forgotten.

“How many underlings can you have now?”

"Let’s see… I think my limit is seventeen hundred.”

Back in Seoul, his control only extended to a thousand and fifty underlings. His control had increased to fifteen hundred after eating the brain of the boss of the Family, and now, with the brains of the four scouts, it had increased to seventeen hundred. He was going through tremendous growth in a short period of time.

Kim Hyeong-Jun quietly rubbed his chin.

‘The Northwest scouts… Each one of them had six to seven hundred underlings. Does this mean there must be at least two thousand four hundred zombies at their headquarters?”

Since Do Han-Sol only had two hundred underlings before eating the four brains, he must have regained all of his underlings at once. The remaining nine hundred zombies who didn\'t become his underlings would have turned into street zombies by now.

The remaining nine hundred underlings... They’d lost their chain of command, and had probably turned into street zombies because of the limit to the number of zombies that Do Han-Sol could control… which meant that all of them were ready to mutate into stage-one mutants.

The moment he got to this conclusion, Kim Hyeong-Jun gasped and touched his forehead with his right hand. Do Han-Sol, who had observed his sudden gasp after a period of contemplation, tilted his head.

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“I have to go too.”

"Pardon? I can head there on my own.”

“It’s not that. Let’s just go!” said Kim Hyeong-Jun with a note of urgency.

Do Han-Sol nodded unwillingly and headed off to the Northwest Gang’s location. Kim Hyeong-Jun furrowed his brow and clicked his tongue vigorously. It had belatedly occurred to him that Do Han-Sol’s return to consciousness meant that the zombies that had been standing still would have begun to move again. Among them were nine hundred that were ready to mutate into stage-one mutants.

The moment they ate each other and left the enemy base… There’d be mutants all over Jeju Island. Kim Hyeong-Jun couldn’t believe that it hadn’t occurred to him earlier. He blamed himself for not thinking the situation through as they made their way toward the Northwest Gang’s base.

They got to the base as quickly as they could, without stopping along the way. As they reached it, they heard zombies’ cries coming from the EMart.

Kim Hyeong-Jun felt a weight in his chest.

It seemed like the zombies that were ready to mutate had already begun to fight. Kim Hyeong-Jun pointed to the front entrance of the Northwest Gang’s base.

“Go through the front door!” he shouted to Do Han-Sol.

"Got it!”

Steam rose from Do Han-Sol’s body as he charged toward the front door. He ran in, red eyes flashing. The inside situation had already descended into total chaos. His green-colored underlings were fighting tooth and nail against the zombies that had already mutated. There were several zombies that had morphed into spheres as well.

Kim Hyeong-Jun entered through the back door and started mercilessly attacking the zombies that weren’t Do Han-Sol’s. When he saw Kim Hyeong-Jun go on the offensive, Do Han-Sol quickly snapped back to his senses and gave orders to his underlings as he rushed toward the other zombies.

‘Kill all the zombies here! We can\'t let a single one of them mutate.’

GRRR!!!

His underlings let out their throat-rending noises at once, and started fighting the zombies with all they had. As Do Han-Sol moved through the first floor, Kim Hyeong-Jun locked the back door and headed straight to the second floor. The situation on the second floor was no different from that of the first floor; it was full of zombies all tangled up together, engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Kim Hyeobg-Jun saw three spheres that were already wriggling. His blue eyes flashed as he ran toward the spheres. He quickly destroyed the stage-one mutants before they had the chance to emerge.

KIAAA!!!

At that moment, he heard a mutant cry from above.

\'There’s more mutants? And there’s a third floor?’

When he’d tackled the base earlier on, he’d only wiped out the first and second floors. He hadn’t checked the third floor. Now that he thought about it, it made sense, since they had gathered all of their forces in this place.

Kim Hyeong-Jun made a beeline for the third floor. The stage-one mutants were gorging themselves on the zombies that weren’t moving. These zombies seemed to be the underlings belonging to the Northwest Gang officer and his lieutenants. In other words, they were zombies that were soon to be Jeong Jin-Young’s underlings.

Kim Hyeong-Jun channeled strength into his arms and rushed toward the mutants. The stage-one mutants belatedly noticed his approach, and their dozens of eyes rolled about in their sockets as they rushed toward him.

Fortunately, these mutants didn’t have any combat experience yet. And since they didn’t have any data on combat, they had no fear toward beings with blue eyes. Kim Hyeong-Jun knew he had to get rid of them before they began to learn.

Pow!!

Kim Hyeong-Jun punched a mutant with his strengthened right arm, and its head exploded instantly, as if an artillery shell had landed on its face. The other stage-one mutants quickly transitioned into a defensive stance, curling up by pulling their heads toward their chests.

Mutants that had a lot of experience would’ve chosen to run away after seeing his blue eyes, but since they had no clue as to how strong he was, they chose to continue the fight. Kim Hyeong-Jun slaughtered the other mutants rapidly before the remaining ones began running away.

Even though their bones were stronger compared to those of regular zombies, breaking their bones was nothing more than breaking a couple of pine boards to Kim Hyeong-Jun, who had blue eyes. He kept on going until he was down to the last one. The last mutant finally realized that it stood no chance and ran toward the window.

Grasp!

Kim Hyeong-Jun quickly grabbed its neck from behind, hauling its body back inside and throwing it to the floor.

KIAAA!!!

It let out a scream as its dozens of eyes rolled about in their sockets.

Crack!

Kim Hyeong-Jun stomped on its face without the slightest hesitation. Once he was done taking care of the third floor, he checked the fourth and fifth floors. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief. Now that he finally had the chance to do so, he sat down, panting.

Up until this moment, he had only focused on the Hounds and the black creature, and he had almost forgotten about the existence of mutants. He heard someone calling his name from the escalator.

“Mr. Kim Hyeong-Jun, Mr. Kim Hyeong-Jun!”

He made his way over and saw Do Han-Sol walking up, drenched in zombie blood.

“Are you done with the first floor?”

“Yes. Did you clean up all the other floors?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think we should leave the zombies here like this. The same thing will happen when Mr. Jeong Jin-Young wakes up.”

"Then… Should we build a zombie camp, like we did in Seoul?”

Kim Hyeong-Jun nodded as he blew his nose. He used his clothes to wipe away the zombie blood on his face as he continued to speak.

“How many underlings do you have right now?”

“I’ve reached my limit; I have seventeen hundred underlings.”

“Okay, so the rest of the zombies that aren’t moving are the ones that were under the control of the Northwest Gang officer and his lieutenants, right?”

“That’s right.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun looked around and then back at Do Han-Sol.

“Since this is a hypermarket, there has to be something like rope somewhere. Find some and tie up all the zombies here. We’ll clean up again once Mr. Jeong Jin-Young wakes up.”

“Got it.”

Do Han-Sol went through the hypermarket to look for rope so that he could tie the zombies up, just as Kim Hyeong-Jun had told him. In the meantime, Kim Hyeong-Jun sat on the stairs and organized his thoughts.

When Jeong Jin-Young was in Daegu, he didn\'t have a single underling with him. It was only natural because he didn\'t even know that he could recruit them. The number of underlings he could initially control was two hundred. Ever since he had come to Jeju Island, though, he had eaten eight brains, which meant that he’d be able to control six hundred underlings when he woke up.

He would be able to control over five hundred underlings, which meant that he would grow a set of sharp teeth, and most importantly, be able to form an alliance with the rest of them. The only thing left to consider were the remaining zombies that would no longer be under anyone’s control.

The remaining zombies at this hypermarket used to be underlings of the Northwest Gang’s officer and his lieutenants. Then the remaining five brains…

Kim Hyeong-Jun stood.

“The guys in front of the rental car company,” he muttered to himself.

When Jeong Jin-Young woke up, there’d be thousands of zombies without any chain of command. It was dawning upon him just how important it would be to set up a zombie camp and get the zombies inside. He knew that they still had about two days before Jeong Jin-Young regained consciousness, but he also knew that the unexpected could always happen.

When he came to a conclusion, he started combing the hypermarket with Do Han-Sol. They quickly found the rope they were looking for, and the two of them hurriedly tied up the zombies by their waists and arms. Once they were finished, Do Han-Sol looked over at Kim Hyeong-Jun.

“Where would be a good place to set up a camp?” he asked Kim Hyeong-Jun.

“Apartments are the easiest places to manage. Did you happen to see any apartments nearby?”

“No. The area seems to be dominated by single-storey buildings, since the airport is nearby.”

“Then I guess there’s only one place we can use as a camp.”

“Where?”

Kim Hyeong-Jun smiled as he checked the ropes.

“What do you mean, ‘where’? The notorious kid’s prison. A school. Where else?”

After making sure that the zombies were tightly tied up, Kim Hyeong-Jun took a deep breath.

“I saw a place on the way here,” he said. “Let\'s head there for now.”

"Got it."

With that, the two of them led the zombies to the nearby school.