Walking Daddy

Dead silence reigned on the dock.

No one dared to speak up.

One slip of the tongue would be enough to snap the tense atmosphere and plunge the dock into chaos.

Even the survivors from Gangnam could sense what was going on, and were being as tactful as they could.

Clomp, clomp, clomp.

At that moment, what sounded like the thundering of horse hooves began to grow more audible, as though approaching them.

Kim Hyeong-Jun and Lee Jeong-Uk, who had been glaring at each other unflinchingly, both turned to look at where the sound was coming from at once.

Hundreds—even thousands—of zombies were crowded at the entrance of Gwangjang-dong. After a moment, their howls reached the humans.

GRRR!!! KWAAA!!!

The zombies had made their way to Gwangjang-dong as the number of prey in other regions decreased.

Kim Hyeong-Jun's underlings were gathered at the dock, while Do Han-Sol’s underlings were stationed at the hotel. And since the guards were also gathered at the dock, no one was guarding the border of Gwangjang-dong.

Kim Hyeong-Jun gnashed his teeth and ran toward the zombies. Lee Jeong-Uk glanced up at the major, then shouted orders to the guards around him.

“Everyone, gather at the hotel! Go to the barricade at the main entrance!”

The guards made their way to the hotel at once. The survivors on the first deck of the cruise ship began to wail in fear.

They had come to Gangbuk to avoid zombies, but they now realized that it wasn’t safe either.

A captain, who was standing behind the major, swallowed and offered a suggestion.

“Sir, I think this is the time to disembark.”

“And why do you think that?”

“Isn’t it the perfect time to do so? This is our chance, since all the zombies by the docks have disappeared.”

“I don’t think so.”

The major let a small smile play across his face, and the captain gave him a look of confusion.

“Is it because of the zombies that are approaching? They’re only street zombies, sir.”

"I’m aware."

“So this is our chance to rush in and overpower the guards. We can take the survivors hostage…”

“Hold it.”

The major cut him off, and the captain pressed his lips tightly together. The major sighed, then continued to speak.

“I haven’t met the real leader yet.”

“Sir, didn’t you see them earlier? These guys are nothing but a ragtag bunch. Didn’t you just see with your own eyes that zombies and humans cannot coexist?”

“Have you considered how this ragtag bunch of people made it to this day?”

“...”

The captain stayed silent, unable to come up with a reason. The major wet his lips, then continued.

“I think the one who pointed his gun at me was the leader of the people. But he wasn’t the leader of the zombies.”

“But…”

"Don’t you get it, even after witnessing how strong blue-eyed zombies are?”

The major looked at the captain calmly. The captain smacked his lower lip and furrowed his brow. He recalled what had happened back in Gangnam—the chaos and devastation unfolding in front of their eyes.

The major sighed and continued to speak.

“The guy who got into a fight with the human leader also had blue eyes.”

“Pardon, sir?”

The captain’s eyes went wide and his mouth fell open. The captain hadn’t seen Kim Hyeong-Jun’s face, but only because he had been behind the major the entire time.

The major looked up at the blue sky and continued to speak in a gentle voice.

“The reason he couldn't attack the man even though he had blue eyes is probably because there’s another zombie stronger than him here. And that zombie… That one is probably close to the human leader.”

“Then what should we…”

“If we want to survive, the correct thing to do is to follow what the human leader said. From their point of view, we’re just wanderers with no place to go.”

“Do you think they’ll consider us that way, even after all the supplies we provided them?”

“Providing them with supplies and living together is a totally different matter. We’ve considered the people of Gangbuk as no different from zombies so far. Do you think they’ll accept us that easily?”

The major smiled a thin smile, and the captain’s head sagged, weighed down by a bitter expression. The major patted him on the shoulder.

“Officers don’t drop their heads.”

“I won’t let it happen again, sir.”

“If you drop your head, the heads of the soldiers behind you will drop as well. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

The major calmed himself, then shouted in a thunderous voice that could be heard by all the soldiers on board.

“Snipers, to position!!!”

“To position!!!”

The soldiers shouted their acknowledgment and pointed their guns out of the windows of the cruise ship. The major looked at the captain next to him.

“Stand fast.”

“Stand fast!!”

In contrast to the entrance to Gwangjang-dong, which was filled with the roaring of zombies, the cruise ship was dead silent.

Tension was building up on board.

* * *

“Mood-Swinger, attack the front!”

"Ar…no…ld…!!!"

.

Mood-Swinger began to enlarge its muscles, and hot steam spewed from its body.

Crack!

It charged up Achasan-ro, sending pieces of asphalt flying. Kim Hyeong-Jun arranged his underlings in lines that spanned left and right to prevent the street zombies from getting close. Although his forces were superior in terms of strength, he could not overlook the approaching zombies’ numbers.

There weren’t thousands of them.

There were at least ten thousand of them running toward him.

It felt as if all the zombies in Gangbuk were making their way to Gwangjang-dong.

His underlings were in good physical shape, but he knew they would get pushed back in an instant if their bodies were destroyed.

KIAAA!!!

Kim Hyeong-Jun heard wild mutants howling. They were mutants within the incoming zombie wave.

Kim Hyeong-Jun’s blue eyes flashed, and hot steam rose from his body. His blood began to circulate more quickly, and the zombie instinct that he had been suppressing all along slowly began to emerge. And since he’d had to respond to this crisis without resolving his disagreement with Lee Jeong-Uk, his madness was at its peak.

Kim Hyeong-Jun leaped into the air, darting straight for the crowd of mutants.

When Kim Hyeong-Jun—who had been right in front of the mutants just a second ago—disappeared from their sight, the mutants rolled their multitude of eyeballs to track him down.

Screech!

Even before the stage-one mutant had the chance to locate Kim Hyeong-Jun, his right arm had already punched through its chest and grabbed a hold of its heart.

With a grunt, Kim Hyeong-Jun slammed the mutant’s upper body to the ground. Its neck snapped, and he crushed its skull without the slightest hesitation.

Kim Hyeong-Jun’s eyes narrowed, making deep furrows in his brow. Kim Hyeong-Jun took his anger out on the mutants, launching a torrent of attacks.

He was madness itself, and he was bringing a massacre with him.

* * *

Do Han-Sol sensed fear running through his body as he saw the zombies make their way down from Achasan.

The street zombies have never climbed over the mountains before. But now… There were an impossible number of them racing down through the forest.

Do Han-Sol summoned his underlings that had been at the hotel to the foot of Achasan. Since Kim Hyeong-Jun was taking care of the entrance of Gwangjang-dong, he lined his underlings up along the foot of Achasan.

GRRR!!!

Finally, when the street zombies got close enough, Do Han-Sol raced toward them with a flash of his red eyes. He fought desperately against the endless wave of zombies, breaking their faces, crushing and stomping on them.

The zombie attack felt different this time, perhaps because he was now on the low ground, compared to before, when they engaged the zombie hordes on flat ground. He gritted his teeth as he fought off the pressure that was trying to overwhelm him.

KIAAA!!!

Just when he thought that things couldn’t get any worse, he caught sight of a stage-one mutant approaching swiftly, using its long arms to swing through the trees. He realized that there were multiple mutants approaching, and his face turned pale.

There were three, four… No. Seven stage-one mutants were making their way toward him.

Back in Children’s Grand Park, facing off against five stage-one mutants had been enough to spark the fear of death in him. He knew better than anyone that handling seven mutants on his own was beyond his abilities.

“Fuck…”

Do Han-Sol cursed under his breath and tried to channel strength in his relentlessly trembling limbs. As the grim reaper-like zombies closed in, a woman's face crossed his mind.

Choi Soo-Hyun.

He was secretly in love with Choi Soo-Hyun.

From the days when he was still a human being, and until now, even though his heart no longer beating, his love for Choi Soo-Hyun had not wavered. She was the reason he’d been able to endure the tough days at work.

- Good morning, how’s your day so far?

Her ordinary greeting had breathed life into each and every day.

Even after the world turned upside down and he experienced his own death, his love for her hadn’t changed.

The reason Do Han-Sol had been able to find his way to Shelter Silence when he’d lost contact with Hwang Deok-Rok and Choi Soo-Hyun was because he’d remembered Choi Soo-Hyun's scent.

The perfume that the two of them had been using was the one that Choi Soo-Hyun used often. He had tracked her scent to reach Seoul Forest.

Even though his body was already dead, his feelings for Choi Soo-Hyun were still steadfast. Whenever he thought about her, he missed her so dearly that he would begin to tremble.

He even missed her when she was in front of him.

The desire that had allowed him to resurrect as a zombie with red eyes… It was to save Choi Soo-Hyun.

He had no intentions to pursue a serious relationship now, as he was well aware that he was a zombie. But he wanted to protect her so that she would be able to keep smiling. He wanted to keep her safe until someone worthy of her appeared, even if others pointed fingers at him and told him that whatever he was doing was a waste of time.

This was his desire. And he knew that if he couldn’t hold the zombies off here, her life could be in peril.

Do Han-Sol clenched his fists and once again, reminding himself of what he was fighting for. He would fight for Choi Soo-Hyun until the day he died.

“GRRR!!!”

Do Han-Sol let out a roar, his red eyes flashing.

His bloody battle with the seven stage-one mutants began.

* * *

I was trapped, surrounded by zombies.

I could get to Guui-dong if I went forward a bit further, and if I took a diagonal route, I could get to Gwangjang-dong. However, I was trapped because of the sudden zombie wave that had been triggered at the border dividing Junggok-dong and Guui-dong.

Zombies were running through the streets, and more were making their way down from the foot of Achasan, blocking my advance.

Zombies were swarming around me from all directions, messing up my mind.

‘If the zombies are coming down from Achasan… Gwangjang-dong is going to be in danger too.’

I couldn’t keep my anxiety down. I had to get going to Gwangjang-dong, but dealing with all these zombies would only waste my time.

- Enemy detected.

Just when I thought that things couldn’t get any worse, I received a signal from my mutants. As they say, when it rains, it pours.

Before I left Sinnae-dong, I’d ordered my mutants to defend the hotel. If the mutants were sending me a signal, it meant that the zombies had reached the hotel.

I had to make a decision. Staying here did absolutely nothing. I had to take the shortest route back.

“Let’s head into the mountains.”

"Pardon? The mountains?”

Kim Seok-Won’s eyes had gone wide.

There was no time to waste. I informed the survivors that we had to go through the mountains.

“We have to go across the mountain to enter Gwangjang-dong.”

The streets were full of zombies. It would be safer for the survivors to move through the mountains anyway. There seemed to be a handful of zombies littering Achasan, but not that many compared to the number of zombies on the streets.

‘First company, second platoon, intercept the zombies heading to Achasan. Third platoon, protect the survivors. Fourth platoon, take care of the zombies coming down from Achasan.’

GRRR!!!

As one, they let out their throat-rending cries and moved into their respective positions. Finally, I gave orders to my mutants.

‘Take care of the zombies around the hotel. Mutant leader, protect the survivors from inside the hotel.’

Junggok-dong and Gwangjang-dong were less than four kilometers apart. Since the maximum distance I could get signals was five kilometers, it didn’t take long for my mutants to send a reply. ｂｅ𝚍𝚗𝚘ｖｅ𝚕．ｃ𝚘𝚖

I took the lead, checking on the survivors every now and then. Grotesque, eerie throat-rending howls echoed within the lush forest.

The heavy rains had turned the mountain paths almost into swampland, and the cold, howling wind did the survivors no favors. Many had stayed up all night, and they were at the limits of their stamina.

I was extremely reluctant to have to resort to this, but I couldn’t afford any more time.

“Everyone stop!!”

All the survivors stopped when they heard my voice. I addressed the third company of underlings that was escorting the survivors.

“I’m going to call some of you out. Step forward when I do.”

After examining my underlings, I chose forty of them that looked the most normal. Once done, I gave them orders.

“Each one of you will carry a survivor on your back until we get back.”

The survivors turned pale with fear.