Walking Daddy

Red blood trickled down from my forehead, interfering with my vision.

I couldn’t breathe properly because of my crushed lungs. My lower body was trembling constantly. My vision was blurry, and a constant high-pitched whine filled my eardrums. Gangbyeonbuk-ro, which was supposed to stretch out into the horizon in a straight line, seemed as though it was curving in all directions, constantly growing shorter, then longer. I could barely keep my eyes focused, and kept moving forward like someone possessed by a ghost.

At that moment, someone grabbed my collar.

I turned my head, and saw Kim Hyeong-Jun through heavy-lidded eyes. His left arm was missing. He had lost his right arm earlier, but now it was his left arm. I could tell he wasn’t in great shape. Dark, red blood was oozing out non-stop from the stump of his left arm, and his internal organs were spilling out from his torn sides.

“Ahjussi… Cha… Gaaa… Cha… Change!”

“Hey, wake up! Hey!”

We were taking turns holding off the black creature and distracting it as we ran along Gangbyeonbuk-ro. However, we hadn’t been able to do it for long. Our rhythm broke when we ran across five stage-one mutants from Yongsan-gu. I had to hold off the black creature while dealing with the stage-one mutants. To make things worse, we were accumulating physical damage, and our injuries were getting worse, which made us have to switch places even more frequently.

We made it to Mapo Bridge somehow, but Sogang Bridge in the distance felt like a mirage. We were so close. We only had a little more to go, but Kim Hyeong-Jun and I were already at our limits. We needed to buy time to regenerate our destroyed bodies.

"Ar, Ar!!! Ar… nold…!!!”

Mood-Swinger let out a scream from roughly one hundred and fifty meters away. I looked back, panting, and saw Mood-Swinger’s arm flying toward Han River.

We could not match the speed at which the black creature’s body regenerated. It didn’t matter how strong Mood-Swinger was; the odds would grow more and more in the black creature’s favor the more we dragged out the fight.

Kim Hyeong-Jun bit his lower lip and forced his blood to circulate more quickly. However, his blue eyes didn’t flash, and he fell to the ground while coughing out blood.

.

“Hyeong-Jun!”

Kim Hyeong-Jun coughed even more violently. His whole body shook as he vomited more blood.

I’d figured something out over the past six months. We couldn’t regenerate our bodies indefinitely. After we regenerated about ten to twenty times in a short span of time, our ability to regenerate gradually got weaker, and after a certain point, our bodies would no longer regenerate.

I wondered if it was because our blood evaporated when we accelerated our circulation. Steam no longer rose from our bodies, and our minds began to drift away from time to time.

Kim Hyeong-Jun’s entire body trembled. It seemed as though he couldn't get up anymore.

“Ahjussi… Go ahead.”

“Shut up and get up!”

“My body isn’t moving.”

“It’s not like mine’s working too!”

I grabbed his collar and forced him up. However, Kim Hyeong-Jun groaned in pain and collapsed to the ground. His lower limbs were entirely limp, like a jellyfish. It seemed like he couldn’t even take one more step.

But we had to get to Sogang Bridge somehow. We were in a sink-or-swim situation; our only chance of survival depended on us reaching Sogang Bridge.

As I dragged Kim Hyeong-Jun toward Sogang Bridge, I saw the black creature eyeing us from afar. Mood-Swinger was sprawled helplessly on the ground next to it. The black creature looked at me closely, then picked Mood-Swinger up. It hurled Mood-Swinger with all its might, sending the mutant flying one hundred and fifty meters to land right next to me.

THUD.

Mood-Swinger crashed to the ground, motionless.

“Mood-Swinger, Mood-Swinger!”

Even though I called his name desperately, he showed no sign of moving. Mood-Swinger was no longer saying ‘Arnold’ like a little child. It seemed like he was completely knocked out.

Mood-Swinger looked at my face with his sunken eyes and spoke in a dry, raspy voice.

"Losing… Gains.”

Mood-Swinger sounded so weak, compared to how he usually was. He’d normally flex his massive muscles and say ‘Arnold,’ but it seemed like he was too exhausted to do anything.

My mind went blank when I saw his reaction. I knew we were cornered, and I desperately wanted to get out of this situation somehow. But I couldn’t see a way out. Giving up was certainly not an option. At the same time, though, we couldn’t continue to fight.

We needed one last, Hail Mary attempt.

I closed my eyes and fell back on my last resort.

‘Everyone except for the fourth squad, get over here. Right now!’

There was no point in saving my underlings for the war with the Family when I was about to die now. Since we were already past Mapo Bridge, I figured that the survivors would be safe. Besides, Do Han-Sol was at the shelter as well. However, I still left the fourth squad behind just in case anything unexpected happened.

All I had left to do… was to buy time until my underlings reached us.

I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. I was going to give it my all, even if it was going to cost me my life. Just as the saying went, those who seek death shall live, and those who seek life…

Thud! 𝚋𝚎𝚍𝚗𝚘𝚟ｅｌ．𝚌ｏ𝚖

‘Huh…?’

Just as I was trying to steel myself for battle again, I was hit in the face. Light flashed before my eyes, and I felt as though I was floating. The world flickered as though someone were rapidly flipping through a stack of polaroid photos. The fleeting moment felt like an eternity, and I felt a strange sense of warmth. I felt like a ship floating through space, but the feeling of comfort didn’t last long. I couldn’t resist the pull of gravity dragging me down.

I crashed to the ground and felt the cold, cold asphalt through my fingertips. My vision swam out of focus, and I lost my ability to judge distances. Through the foggy haze, I saw the black creature in front of me.

The black creature had closed the distance in a blink of an eye, and had punched me in the face without the slightest hesitation. My mind was telling me to get up, but my body wouldn’t listen. I felt like I’d sunk neck-deep into a swamp. The harder I tried, the further I was sucked down into the abyss.

The black creature reached for my throat. Its fingers wrapped tightly around my neck, and it lifted me into midair. The moment my legs left the ground, my entire body went limp like a wet towel.

I didn’t even have the strength to lash out against my impending death. I had already punched the black creature’s face several times in my mind, but in reality, my arms were hopelessly motionless.

I wondered if it knew that its hunt was over. The black creature wasn't grinning anymore. It merely considered me with a face devoid of emotion. It was looking at me as if I was just a piece of meat.

‘Fuck…’’

I couldn't help but laugh, feeling the futility of life.

‘What is life…’

Even though I had tried my best to endure and survive up to this point, I was pitifully weak when faced with a being with absolute power.

Its black eyes were fixed on me. Its gaze focused on my face, and it slowly began to open its mouth. I couldn’t help but wonder if the survivors of Gwangjang-dong would be able to survive if I left a monster like that alive. And if the survivors’ safety wasn’t assured, that meant So-Yeon’s safety wasn’t guaranteed as well.

'So-Yeon…’

I frowned and pictured So-Yeon in my mind. At that moment, I suddenly remembered the time when So-Yeon had finally opened her heart to me after all those days staying locked away inside the bedroom. The moment she had called me daddy again after I had turned into a zombie with glowing red eyes flashed through my mind. I remembered exactly how I’d felt back then.

It felt like just yesterday when she opened up to me. Just thinking about that moment made my eyes well up with tears.

I bit my lower lip and opened my eyes.

I couldn’t give up like this. Even though we were all destined to die at the end, if this creature wanted to take my life away, it was going to have to try as hard as I had tried to make a life for myself all this while.

I wasn’t willing to give in that easily.

The black creature smirked at the sudden change in my eyes, as though it found the whole situation hilarious. Its head flew forward as it launched its wide-open jaws toward my head.

I desperately pulled my left arm up and shoved my forearm into its mouth.

“Try laughing now, you son of a bitch.”

Without the slightest hesitation, my right arm flew toward it. I wasn’t trying to cause physical damage to its body. Instead, I was going for its eyes.

KWAAA!!!

The black creature screamed and slammed me to the ground. My shoulder blades hit the asphalt, and both the ground and my shoulders broke on impact. The black creature became a whirlwind of chaos once it lost its sight. It wailed and screamed and kicked out randomly.

I quickly rolled over to Kim Hyeong-Jun.

“Hyeong-Jun…! Hyeong-Jun!” I said, coughing.

“Ahjussi.”

"Wake up. We have to move right now!”

“I don’t think I can…”

Kim Hyeong-Jun’s eyes were fixed on the night sky, as if he was counting the stars. On second thought, though, I wasn’t sure if he was actually looking at the night sky. His eyes were unfocused; he was just staring blankly upward. He was so exhausted that all he could do was look up. Mood-Swinger was in the same boat. The two of them couldn’t move at all.

“Get up right now!!” I yelled as I grabbed onto his collar.

As I tugged on his shirt, the black creature stopped screaming and went completely still. It began to look around.

‘Did its eyes finish regenerating?’

Fortunately, they hadn’t. It still wasn’t able to see, but it was changing its strategy. It seemed like it was trying to focus on its hearing and sense of smell.

I held my breath as I watched the black creature. I knew I would probably die if it managed to land another punch on me.

‘Please, please, please.’

Rumble, rumble, rumble…

Just then, the ground slowly began to shake. I looked toward where the sound was coming from, and saw a bunch of purple zombies running toward us.

GRRR!!!

I finally realized why the black creature had stopped screaming and was now looking around. Kim Hyeong-Jun had called his underlings to him even while on the verge of unconsciousness. His underlings, who had been holding off the northern end of Sogang Bridge, had come to offer support.

‘Wait. Then what about the gang members they were holding off…?’

I squinted toward Sogang Bridge, and saw a red wave rushing in behind the purple-colored one. Kim Hyeong-Jun’s underlings had drawn the Family’s forces as well.

I knew we had to hide ourselves before they got here. We were exhausted, and we wouldn’t be able to survive even for a second if this place was plunged into complete mayhem.

I grabbed Kim Hyeong-Jun by his collar and dragged him to the side of the road with all my remaining strength.

Forty meters, thirty meters, twenty meters, and finally ten meters.

KWAAA!!!

GRRR!!!

The purple zombies surrounded the black creature in an instant like a herd of angry buffalos. Before I knew it, the Family’s forces, the black creature, and Kim Hyeong-Jun’s underlings were all tangled up. Gangbyeonbuk-ro had been plunged into complete chaos in the blink of an eye, and it was impossible to tell friend and foe apart.

I hadn’t been able to get off Gangbyeonbuk-ro on time, so I hurriedly covered Kim Hyeong-Jun's upper body with my own instead. My ribs broke as the zombies stampede washed over me.

I coughed painfully and vomited blood, but didn’t shift my body. In fact, I couldn't change my position.

I knew that if I shifted, Kim Hyeong-Jun would be trampled to death by the zombies.

The zombies mercilessly kicked the back of my head, pelvis, sides, back, and shoulders, breaking more bones.

"Losing… Gains!"

Mood-Swinger came over to us and covered my body. Even though he was missing an arm, he was able to block the zombies’ kicks. I looked down at Kim Hyeong-Jun, who was having trouble breathing.

“Don’t push yourself ahjussi… You’re going to… die.”

It seemed like he knew that I was shielding him, and had ordered Mood-Swinger to shield both of us in turn. I looked down with a pained expression.

“Hey! Are you okay?” I yelled. “You’re okay, right? Tell me you are! Answer me!”

“I can’t…. see in front… of me… ahjussi.”

“What about your body? Huh? You still can’t regenerate?”

“Ahjussi you can’t either… Why are you nag…”

“Hey! That’s because you’re about to die!”

“Haha….”

Even in the midst of this chaos, Kim Hyeong-Jun wore a smile on his face. Dark red blood was oozing out from his sad-looking smile. I furrowed my brow as I looked back and forth between Mood-Swinger and Kim Hyeong-Jun.

I couldn't tell how much longer the two of them could hold on like this.

I knew there was a limit to what Mood-Swinger could do because he wasn’t in good shape. As for Kim Hyeong-Jun… He couldn’t even move his fingers. To make matters worse, my condition was no different. I was having difficulty controlling my body as well.

I knew we would be doomed if the gang boss or any of the dong leaders figured out where we were. My initial plan of creating havoc had been successful, but getting trampled like this wasn’t part of the plan.

Kim Hyeong-Jun was quickly losing his underlings, since they had to deal with the black creature in front of them and the Family’s forces behind them. A thought struck me, and I realized that there was only one way to get out of this mess.

I had to rely on my underlings, whom I had called in a few minutes ago.

KIAAA!!!

Just as the thought crossed my mind, my thirty-four stage-one mutants and stage-two mutant—Ji-Eun—swept toward us like an onrushing wave. I looked at my underlings and gave them orders through my mind.

'Here! Save Hyeong-Jun and Mood-Swinger first!’

KIAAA!!!

The first-stage mutants changed direction in unison and ran to the side of Gangbyeonbuk-ro, where I was.