Walking Daddy

“How much of the perfume do we have left?”

“We’re almost out.”

"Ha… I guess we can’t use perfume to hide our smell anymore.”

“All the more reason why we should go back to the shelter! You know that zombies are even more active at night.”

“That’s what I mean! How do you think the two of us will make it back? Think before you speak, alright?”

As the man raised his voice, the woman teared up.

“Then what?! I don’t want to die like this!"

"Ha…”

The man let out a sigh and gently massaged his temples, then slightly opened his bleary eyes.

“Soo-Hyun, I know you’re very scared right now, but you have to listen to me. We can’t go back right now.”

“...”

“The rest of the food team has probably gotten back by now. Han-Sol must’ve noticed that we’re missing.”

“And what if Han-Sol notices? How would Han-Sol know to come here and find us?”

“... Everyone with us was killed. Han-Sol will be able to track us down by following the dead bodies.”

I was able to get a rough idea of their overall situation after listening to their conversation. The two belonged to the food team of some shelter, and it seemed like their group had been attacked by zombies on their way to get food. The rest of the people in their group were killed, but these two were able to escape and end up here.

I rubbed my chin and thought for a moment.

'They might be useful. I’ll keep them alive.’

I believed the next step toward survival would be sharing whatever information we had with each other, but I knew better than to jump in front of them right now. It was obvious that they would start attacking me before I even had the chance to write down anything in my notepad. People who were agitated were hardly reasonable or logical.

I started to explore whether there was another way to approach them.

‘How can I talk to them peacefully so that nobody gets hurt?’

KA!!! KAAA!!!

Just then, a cry rang out, piercing my eardrums and causing my head to ring.

I looked at where the cry was coming from, and my eyes landed on a zombie that looked red standing on a rooftop about three hundred meters away. It had noticed the two survivors and was sending out a signal.

I felt cold sweat trickle down my forehead.

They’d been caught.

They’d been caught by one of the Hwayang-dong leader’s scouts.

The two started panicking after hearing the zombie’s cry.

“What… what is that?”

"It’s… it’s a zombie!"

“No, that’s not what I meant! Why in the world is it howling like that!?”

I watched the two of them with a furrowed brow. I should’ve known that they would get caught the moment they raised their voices at each other. I hadn’t paid as much attention as I should've to the surroundings, as I was absolutely focused on their conversation.

Stomp!

I heard footsteps right next to me. As I quickly turned my head, I saw Kim Hyeong-Jun looking at me.

‘What’s going on, ahjussi?’

‘There are survivors here.’

‘What?’

As I pointed toward the survivors, Kim Hyeong-Jun furrowed his brow.

‘So the two of them got caught, huh?'

‘I should’ve known it would happen when they raised their voices… I let my guard down.’

‘Stupid bastards. Let’s get into hiding. They’re none of our business.'

Kim Hyeong-Jun tried to walk away from them immediately. When I grabbed a hold of his shirt, he looked at me in confusion.

‘Ahjussi, are you going to put our people at risk for these useless bums?’

‘The two of them said that they came from a shelter.’

‘What…?’

‘There must be another shelter nearby.’

Kim Hyeong-Jun seemed to hesitate after I mentioned the shelter. He sighed.

'Shelter, huh? Where is it?'

'I don't know either. But I do know that there’s no harm in keeping those two alive.’

‘Saving those two when we don’t even know what kind of zombie the Hwayang-dong leader is? No way, ahjussi. Have you forgotten that we didn’t bring many underlings with us?’

Thud, thud, thud.

The sound of rumbling footsteps came from the direction of the Konkuk University entrance. Both Kim Hyeong-Jun and I immediately looked in that direction.

There were about seven hundred zombies making their way toward us through Achasan-ro.

The enemy could mobilize seven hundred zombies that were ready to fight. If they had one to two hundred underlings posted as scouts or performing other duties, that meant the enemy leader probably had a limit of controlling nine hundred underlings.

As I looked at the enemy forces calmly, Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at me.

‘Is that all they have?’

‘I told you we’re in a green area.’

‘But still, the enemy’s too weak. They’re too weak. It feels like a trap.’

'There's the enemy leader over there.'

I pointed at the zombie with glowing red eyes amongst the zombies.

Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at the enemy leader silently, then smacked his lips.

'It’d be stupid to back away even after seeing the enemy leader right?’

.

‘Make up your mind. Are we going to save those two or not?’

'Honestly, I think I can take care of the enemy leader on my own.’

‘Ha! Where’d the scaredy cat Kim Hyeong-Jun from earlier go?'

'Who said anything about being scared?’

Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at me as though I’d said something ridiculous and quickly jumped down to the street below. I snorted and followed him.

With the two of us blocking the main road, the seven hundred zombies that were running in our direction stopped in their tracks. After a moment, the zombie with glowing red eyes walked out from the crowd. The enemy leader looked at me and Kim Hyeong-Jin with a sour face.

“Who the heck are you guys?”

'Damn, even you can speak?'

I chuckled as I offered the enemy leader a provocation.

The enemy leader seemed taken aback by my unexpected reaction, but then furrowed their brow.

“Hey, it seems you’re misunderstanding something. Are you just letting your mouth run without knowing what this place is?’

‘Hwayang-dong.’

Realizing that I knew exactly where we were, the enemy leader continued in a boastful tone, “So you’re attacking me even though you know I’m the dong leader of Hwayang-dong?”

I looked at Kim Hyeong-Jun after listening to the enemy leader.

'It’s confessing that it’s the dong leader right off the bat, Hyeong-Jun.’

'Well, ahjussi, this just makes things a whole lot easier.’

'Then there's no possibility that these are decoys, or that there are reinforcements coming.'

'Can I kill it?’

‘Let’s keep it alive for just a little bit. You know, just in case it lets slip some information.’

I shrugged at the enemy leader’s boastful and arrogant attitude.

‘You’re the dong leader of Hwayang-dong?'

"Ha! You idiots. I’ll accept your apology if you get down on your knees at once.”

“...”

“What? Are you too scared to even say anything now? It seems like you guys also found prey as well, but unfortunately, since you met me, you’re gonna have to hand them over to me this time. The thing is, I’m not a big fan of zombies with glowing red eyes.”

The enemy leader was performing a monologue while aiming pathetic threats at us.

I scratched my head at this absurdity.

'I think you’re the one with the misunderstanding… I’m doing this because I know you’re the dong leader of Hwayang-dong.'

“…Do you want to die?"

‘Boo-hoo. Why should I be scared of you?'

I snorted and looked at the enemy leader. With clenched fists, the enemy leader walked toward me.

It got right in my face, standing with its weight on one foot as if it was some bad-ass gangster.

“What group are you part of?”

'I’m not sure if you’re aware of the Survivor Rally Organization.’

“Survivor what?”

The enemy leader tried to act cool, picking at its ears. Then the enemy leader titled its head and glared at me, looking like an absolute scumbag.

I smirked and offered up a warning.

'Remember this, big pal. The Survivor Rally Organization is going to replace the Family in the future.’

“This son of a bitch, how dare you talk shit about our Family…”

'You know what? Nevermind. You won’t even have to remember that.”

“...”

‘’Cause you’re going to die here.’

“You bastard!”

The enemy leader’s eyes flashed, sending a punch flying at my face.

I turned my head to easily avoid the incoming fist and then kicked my opponent in the stomach with my right foot, putting all my strength behind it. The enemy leader’s spine snapped like a twig.

The enemy leader collapsed helplessly to the floor and looked at Kim Hyeong-Jun, its face a mask of confusion.

“Huh? HUH???”

It made stupid and incomprehensible noises as it tried to get off the ground, as though it had momentarily lost its mind.

With its spine snapped, its lower body wasn’t functioning properly. I could tell that the enemy was confused by this strange feeling, one they had never felt in their lifetime.

As I walked in front of the enemy leader, it looked at me like a deer in the headlights. I wondered if it had just started to feel fear.

“Hey, hey, hey! Wait, wait… wait a minute!”

'Wait? Have you ever seen a thief stop when they’re told to stop?'

My eyes flashed and I clenched my fists. With one blow, I broke his skull.

Kim Hyeong-Jun scratched his cheeks as he watched the enemy leader’s pathetic demise. It must have seemed utterly absurd to him.

'How did a guy like this become a dong leader?'

‘I told you. We’re the ones that got stronger.’

'I think the baits you took care of in Seoul Forest were stronger than this.”

‘Seoul Forest was like an advancement test for the dong leader of Seongsu-dong. Only the areas that are marked red will be a challenge for us. In fact, the areas marked in red might not even be that challenging for us anymore. I don’t think we’ll face any worthwhile enemies unless the officers of the Family come after us.'

I calmly wiped the blood staining my right hand on my clothes. Kim Hyeong-Jun smacked his lips.

‘Well, there goes another one for me.’

‘Wait, do you want to eat their brain?’

'It’s fine. You should eat it since you took care of it, ahjussi.’

Kim Hyeong-Jun stashed his hands into his pant pockets and looked at the seven hundred zombies in front of him.

After a moment, he looked back at me as if a question had popped into his mind.

‘Ahjussi, do you know what happens to these guys?'

'What about them.'

‘The total amount of underlings you can have. Aren’t you already at your maximum?'

Only then did I understand what Kim Hyeong-Jun was talking about.

At that point, I could control a maximum of one thousand and seven hundred underlings, and I had already recruited the maximum number of underlings from the zombie prison. I would only be able to recruit fifty additional underlings if I ate the enemy leader’s brain here,

However, the enemy leader had more than seven hundred underlings. I wondered how many of them would come under my control when I ate the enemy leader’s brain.

As I thought about this, Kim Hyeong-Jun smiled.

‘What are you so worried about, ahjussi? Just go for it.'

'What if something goes wrong with my body?'

‘Well… Yeah, you have a point…'

Kim Hyeong-Jun scratched his head, his expression growing confused.

So far, I had never faced a situation like this. After every hard-fought battle, I’d grown stronger by eating the enemy leader’s brain. This was the first time I had overcome one this easily, so I wasn’t exactly sure how to view this situation.

Kim Hyeong-Jun sighed and spoke.

‘Let’s take care of the survivors first. Besides, these guys… They’ll probably stay like this until tomorrow anyway.’

'How do you know that?'

‘The first time I killed a zombie with glowing red eyes, I left its zombies as they were because I didn’t feel like eating a brain.’

‘And then?’

‘The next day, they all turned into street zombies again. Their physical abilities also decreased as well.’

I was lost in thought for a moment after hearing about Kim Hyeong-Jun’s experience.

I knew that brains could last between an hour and thirty minutes and up to four hours. On the other hand, the command instinct that the leaderless underlings were under seemed to last for a whole day.

I wondered what the reason behind this was. It seemed only right that this command instinct should disappear when the brain’s efficacy wore off.

As I stood there, deep in thought, Kim Hyeong-Jun wandered in front of me.

‘Hello, ahjussi? Can you hear me?'

‘You’re distracting me. What?'

I furrowed my brow, and Kim Hyeong-Jun mirrored my expression.

‘Let’s get the survivors to the shelter already! The sun’s about to go down. Are you just going to stay here and think all day?’

‘...Okay.’

I sighed and cleared away the useless thoughts in my head. I took a deep breath to relieve the tightness that I felt, then walked with Kim Hyeong-Jun toward the place I’d last seen the mysterious survivors. 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝐧𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.𝗼𝗿𝐠

As we reached the place where I’d first seen them, I saw them still holding onto their iron pipes. The two of them were whispering as they looked at the motionless scout on the rooftop.

“Hey, why do you think it stopped all of a sudden?”

“How am I supposed to know? It just started doing that out of the blue.”

“Isn’t that the signal that calls a zombie wave?”

“The cry was different. If it was a zombie wave signal… The cry would sound more like a resonance. But the sound it made earlier wasn’t like that at all.”

“You never know. If it actually was for a zombie wave...”

“Then what? Should we wait here until the zombies come?”

The two of them argued nervously, their bodies stiff. In fact, they were so nervous that they didn’t even notice me and Kim Hyeong-Jun walking toward them.

The man shook his head and spoke to the woman next to him.

“Let’s hide for now. Staying here won't do us any good.”

“Where exactly should we go?”

"Just follow me. Let’s go back the way we came…”

The man took the woman's hand and turned around. At last, our eyes met unintentionally.

The man’s eyes widened and with a whimper, he instantly collapsed to the floor, his eyes rolling to the back of his head in shock.

He… fainted… when he saw my face.

The woman next to him stood as still as a statue, unable to look away.

I scratched my head in embarrassment and showed the woman the sentences I had written on my notepad.

- I’m part of Shelter Hae-Young and Shelter Silence. If I could have your cooperation for a moment, please.