Walking Daddy

I knew that, if I were in the survivor’s shoes, I wouldn’t feel comfortable being carried by a zombie.

That was not the only reason I’d been holding off on employing such a method, though. It was also because of my underlings.

No matter how strong the chain of command between me and my underlings was, I couldn’t know what would happen if zombies and humans made physical contact.

Instincts were called instincts for a reason. And in the case of zombie instincts… It was one of indiscriminate destruction and violence.

I had never had an opportunity to test such a thing out, nor had any survivor agreed to try. Even Lee Jeong-Uk had been against my idea, saying that I was crazy.

When I asked him why, Lee Jeong-Uk explained his reasoning to me, which was based on his past memories.

- Back then… Your underlings glared at us like prey.

When I’d rescued Lee Jeong-Uk, Lee Jeong-Hyuk and Choi Da-Hye from the street zombies, I’d ordered my underlings to bring them to me. At that time, my underlings had carried the Lee brothers and Choi Da-Hye to the first floor of the apartment and left them there. Back then, I’d assumed that they’d made their way up to see me of their own accord, but that wasn’t the case.

- At that time… I thought your underlings would kill us if we didn’t go up. That’s why we went up.

Lee Jeong-Uk told me that that day sometimes would flash through his mind like a nightmare. Of course, it could have been because his hatred toward zombies was at its apex back then, but there was nothing wrong with being careful.

After that, I did not allow any contact whatsoever between the survivors and my underlings. There had been no reason to take risks just to observe a result.

But things were different now.

“I know you may feel reluctant to do so, but this is the only way right now.”

“But… Climbing onto a zombie…”

“If not, you’ll all die.”

“...”

I wasn’t exaggerating when I said that everyone would die.

I knew that if even one person in Gwangjang-dong died… I would turn into a black creature. I had already made up my mind that if anyone in this group refused to climb onto a zombie’s back, I would abandon them all and head back to Gwangjang-dong on my own.

I knew I had to think more rationally in situations like this. I was aware that I was forcing them to do something, but I had no other choice.

For me, So-Yeon would always be my number one priority.

The survivors made no further objections. I assumed that they were on board with my idea, so then, I gave orders to my underlings.

My underlings began to carry the survivors onto their backs as I had ordered them to do so. The survivors moaned and squeezed their eyes shut.

Grrr… KWAAA!!!

The underlings who were carrying the survivors began to act strangely, letting out throat-rending sounds. My underlings were drooling as they stared at the survivors’ arms, which were hanging on either side of their heads.

I looked at my underlings.

“Go straight to the hotel in Gwangjang-dong,” I ordered them. “Do not turn around; go straight to the hotel."

Grrr…

My underlings raced toward the hotel in Gwangjang-dong.

We made it through the lush forest and hills with the first, second, and fourth companies escorting us.

* * *

We raced through the forest for a while.

After going in a big loop around the foot of the mountain, I saw Gwangjang-dong unfold in front of my eyes.

The first thing that caught my eye was Mood-Swinger, overwhelming all the zombies around it. It was having a good time biting into, tearing apart, crushing, and throwing around countless zombies, reveling in its mass slaughter.

Behind it, I saw another zombie with blue eyes darting in between the street zombies.

It was Kim Hyeong-Jun.

I yelled as loud as I could, the veins in my neck popping out.

“Hyeong-Jun!!”

Kim Hyeong-Jun turned and seemed to hesitate, but then quickly focused on me. He had a big smile on his face.

I realized that the smile on his face… It wasn’t a smile to greet me. He had let his zombie instincts take over his body, relishing the slaughter.

I looked into his eyes.

'Hyeong-Jun… Are you sane?’

‘Why do people keep on asking if I’m sane or not? It’s getting annoying…’

His attitude surprised me.

I wondered if something had happened between him and the others while I was away. He seemed oddly sensitive.

Or were his zombie instincts inhibiting his rational mind?

Whatever the reason was, there was nothing to gain from making him even more worked up.

'What about the others?’

'At the hotel.'

'Will you be okay here alone?'

'Of course. Did you bring the survivors back?'

I pointed at my underlings. The survivors were still draped across their backs, trembling.

Kim Hyeong-Jun chuckled and gave me a small bow of acknowledgment, then went back to slaughtering the zombies. It seemed like he had a lot of pent-up stress within him.

He didn’t seem to be fighting the zombies so much as taking his stress out on them.

I had no clue what was going on, but I knew I had to have a chat with him once the situation was taken care of.

Leaving him to it, I led my underlings and survivors along the path that led to the hotel. We continued to move along the foot of Achasan, and the Douglas Hotel appeared in the distance. I took a closer look and saw Do Han-Sol fighting.

The Walkerhill Hotel, where everyone else was staying, was behind the Douglas Hotel.

“Third company, drop off the survivors at the Walkerhill Hotel and report back,” I ordered. “Everyone else, go help Do Han-Sol right away.”

GRRR!!!

Just as my underlings were about to leave, I heard Kim Seok-Won’s voice.

“What should we do at the hotel?”

“Hide. And don’t come out until we’ve taken care of the zombies.”

“Huh? We want to…”

Before he could finish his sentence, my underlings had run off with him and the others to the hotel.

I understood that they wanted to help, but staying put and keeping still was the best way for them to help at the moment.

“AHHH!!!”

A scream cut through the air, coming from the Douglas Hotel. I whipped my head around, looking for the source of the scream, and saw Do Han-Sol’s right arm being torn off by the mutants.

With a flash of my blue eyes, I crashed into the mutants like a raging wave.

Smack!

A mutant’s hand was flying toward Do Han-Sol’s face. My fist landed first, right smack on the mutant’s face.

“Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok!!”

Without replying, I shoved Do Han-Sol back as hard as I could. My unexpected push sent him tumbling backward, and he rolled a couple of times. The mutants that had been surrounding him went momentarily blank.

They looked at their fellow mutant, its skull now shattered, and their heads began to twist in bizarre angles.

They had the capacity to learn. They must have noticed that the tables had turned. I had to deal with them before they learned enough to outsmart me.

Tshhh…

Hot steam gushed forth from my body as I forced my blood to circulate more quickly. I channeled strength into my arms, and my forearms became twice as thick. The steam began to wrap around my body. I was like an active volcano on the verge of erupting. Even the cold winter wind could not cool the heat from the steam that was coming off me.

My eyes fell on the mutant that was chewing on Do Han-Sol’s right arm.

“Oh no, you can’t have that for free.”

As I darted toward it, it hurriedly brought its arms up to guard its face.

The bones of a stage-one mutant were harder than most bricks. But as for me… My fists could shatter reinforced concrete with ease.

Crack!

My fist smashed into its arms, bending them like soft plastic, then burst past them and connected with the mutant’s skull. Its tough teeth shattered as its face caved in. The other five mutants that had been observing let out death cries and charged toward me all at once.

I crouched down, targeting their lower bodies. They managed to bend their bodies in bizarre ways and avoided my attacks. And at the same time, they swung their arms toward my head.

I grabbed onto one of the arms that was flying toward my head and swung the mutant around like a windmill. The stage-one mutant instantly transformed into a whip that I could swing around. Its long body and numerous flexible joints made it the perfect whip.

The mutant in my hands couldn’t resist the centrifugal force and began to flutter like a leaf being tossed about by wind and rain.

I advanced on the remaining mutants, twirling my whip about. They quickly dropped into a defensive posture. Since I could swing my whip faster than they could react, they had no choice but to take a defensive stance.

From their reactions, it seemed like they were planning on stretching out the fight until the joints on my mutant zombie whip broke. After all, they were able to learn and react according to the situation.

Fortunately, they weren’t all that smart. They’d figured out one thing, but did not consider the next step, as they should have done.

I threw my whip in the direction of Achasan and leaped in front of the mutants that were crouched in their defensive postures. All their attention had been on the whip, and they had forgotten about me.

Crack! Smack! Rip!

I shattered their skulls one by one, swinging my two enhanced arms like axes and crushing their bones like tofu.

I dealt with the mutants in an instant, and went to check on Do Han-Sol.

Do Han-Sol’s breathing was labored, and he was clearly in pain. I’d thought that it was just his right arm, but his abdomen was injured as well.

“Han-Sol, Han-Sol!”

He coughed out a mouthful of blood.

“It’s okay. I won’t die.”

He was asserting that he was all right even when he was clearly coughing out blood. Fortunately, he had no visible head wounds. He was also smiling as if his injuries weren’t a big deal, which led me to believe that he wasn’t in fatal danger.

After a moment, Do Han-Sol pushed himself up and looked at the zombies coming down from Achasan.

I wondered if he was still trying to fight the zombies in his current state.

I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down again. I knew I was being slightly violent, which was perhaps not the best thing, but it was the only thing I could think of, since I knew that he wouldn’t listen to me otherwise.

Do Han-Sol looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Don’t even think about moving until your body regenerates.”

“I can still fight.”

“You’ve done your part. I can't let you overexert yourself. Wait for your body to regenerate.”

I needed to buy him time while he regenerated in a safe place.

Do Han-Sol hadn’t eaten a black creature’s brain, and so his ability to regenerate was significantly lower than mine or Kim Hyeong-Jun’s.

After I ordered my underlings to block off the zombies that were coming down from Achasan, I grabbed Do Han-Sol by his collar and dragged him to the entrance of the hotel. I had no other choice, since it was best not to have physical contact with him.

As we approached the entrance, I saw the guards manning the steel barricade.

“So-Yeon’s dad!”

Lee Jeong-Uk’s eyes were wide with surprise as he called out to me. He seemed to piece together what was going on as he saw me dragging Do Han-Sol.

The tightly-closed barricade opened, and I laid Do Han-Sol down inside our shelter. All the leaders who were there came to check on Do Han-Sol's condition.

“Don’t let him do anything until he regenerates,” I said to them.

Lee Jeong-Uk looked at me worriedly.

"Is he okay? Will he make it?”

I nodded.

“He’ll be okay as long as he doesn’t push himself. So keep an eye on him.”

“Got it…” 𝙗𝒆𝒅𝒏𝙤𝒗𝒆𝙡．𝙤𝒓𝙜

Just as I was about to head back to Achasan, I saw something unfamiliar at the docks of Gwangjang-dong.

“Jeong-Uk…”

"Huh?"

“What are those?”

I frowned as I stared at the three cruise ships. Lee Jeong-Uk’s expression soured.

“Survivors, from Gangnam.”

“I know that, but why are they here?”

It hadn’t even been a week since we’d received the supplies from them. They probably hadn’t come all this way to give us supplies, or start a war with us. That left only one reason.

‘They gave up on Gangnam?’

I was confused. I thought their fight against the Family was going well.

Lee Jeong-Uk smacked his lips and told me what had happened while I was gone.

Long story short, the survivors of Gangnam had lost the war against the Family. They had been lying about holding the Family off, and the supplies they had given us were basically bribes so that they could stay with us.

The absurd situation left me speechless.

I gently massaged my temples to clear my head.

I looked at Lee Jeong-Uk.

“Why aren’t they disembarking?” I asked.

“I told them not to. I wanted to speak with you instead of making a decision on my own.”

“...”

It seemed like Lee Jeong-Uk also sensed something fishy about the situation.

The sudden zombie attack should have given them the opportunity to disembark, but the survivors of Gangnam still seemed to be following Lee Jeong-Uk’s request.

I couldn’t figure out what they were really up to. Or perhaps… Perhaps they really wanted to get along with us.

I saw dozens of guns sticking out from the windows of the cruise ships, all pointed toward Gwangjang-dong. If they were aiming for my family, I would kill them all in a heartbeat.

I couldn't help but feel nervous. Since they weren’t attacking us right away, I assumed that they were waiting to see what was going to happen.

I clicked my tongue, then spoke up.

“Guard, keep an eye on the cruise ships. Leave the zombies to me and Hyeong-Jun.”

“Oh, by the way.”

“What.”

Lee Jeong-Uk wet his parched lips and hesitated.

“Umm… About Kim Hyeong-Jun...”

He trailed off, and his expression grew bitter.

“Never mind. I’ll tell you about it after we get through this.”

“Okay…”

He wasn’t usually the sort of person to leave things hanging. I couldn’t tell why he was acting this way.

At that moment, I remembered the way Kim Hyeong-Jun had been when I’d seen him at the entrance to Gwangjang-dong.

It seemed like there had been some conflict between Lee Jeong-Uk and Kim Hyeong-Jun. I felt uneasy leaving something like that unresolved, but at the moment, taking care of the zombies was the priority.

I pushed aside my uneasiness and headed toward Achasan.