Walking Daddy

Zap. Zap!

A jolt ran from my fingertips and up through my entire body. The sudden sensation made my spine stiffen.

I couldn’t relax my body. I knew if I relaxed, this strange sensation would overwhelm me. I frowned and resisted it with all my physical strength.

The other zombie leader’s eyebrows twitched as though it had a cramp. It seemed to be feeling the same sensation as me. We both gritted our teeth as we tried to overpower each other, our hands still locked in a tight grip. We were like magnets. We couldn’t break free of each other.

Our staring contest continued. After a while, it released its grip and let go of my hand.

“Hah…”

It opened its mouth wide and gasped for air. As it opened its mouth, I noticed two rows of teeth, perfectly aligned. It had the same teeth as me.

* * *

I saw its sharp, jagged teeth glistening. They seemed sharp enough to bite through anything. The sight made me swallow reflexively. It wasn’t any ordinary fellow.

The zombie I had crossed paths with at the high school had three hundred underlings, but it still had human teeth. However, the creature in front of me had twice as many underlings and had the same teeth as me.

After a moment, I heard its voice.

‘I can’t believe I was right. I mean, I expected something like this, but I’m still surprised.’

It was uttering some gibberish I couldn’t understand. As I frowned at it, it chuckled.

‘You don\'t have to make a face like that. I’m not an enemy.’

‘And what makes you say that?’

‘You saved my family, didn’t you? I was waiting for you, hoping you’d return.’

‘Family? What family?’

Park Gi-Cheol’s face swam into my memory. At that instant, I recalled the name Park Gi-Cheol had mentioned.

‘Are you Kim Hyeong-Jun?’

Kim Hyeong-Jun nodded. He looked like he was in his late twenties or early thirties, but he exuded an inner strength and confidence that was much stronger than what I would expect from a person his age.

I cleared my throat slightly. ‘Where did the survivors in the supermarket go?’

‘I moved them to a safe shelter. There was a baby with them, so they couldn’t stay here anymore.’

I knew the baby he was talking about. The baby had begun to cry out of the blue, causing all the zombies nearby to gather like cockroaches.

But how could there be another shelter out of the blue? Was there even a shelter around here? According to the map of Seoul I had, there were no shelters around the area. The closest shelter was this supermarket. Even so, it was hard to tell if this place was a safe shelter, because the mark was wet.

Kim Hyeong-Jun massaged his stiff neck.

‘Ahjussi, are you staying in Haengdang-dong?’

‘That’s none of your business.’

‘There’s no need for such hostility. I can already tell we’re on the same side.’

I wondered where this fellow got that impression. He was talking as if he’d known me for a long time. As I frowned, Kim Hyeong-Jun shrugged and continued.

‘I’m guessing you don’t trust me. What should I do to gain your trust?’

‘Bring the survivors out here.’

‘I can’t bring them out here right now. There are rules at the shelter, and they have to follow them as well. Of course, if we get closer to the shelter, I can ask them to come out.’

I couldn’t tell if he wanted me to follow him to the shelter. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was safe to follow him. And besides, the whole thing might be a ruse to lure me into a trap.

The zombie I’d run into at the high school had been hunting people. How could I be sure that Kim Hyeong-Jun was different? I needed to see Park Gi-Cheol to know whether Kim Hyeong-Jun was telling the truth or not. I needed to see his reactions so that I could properly judge Kim Hyeong-Jun.

I looked Kim Hyeong-Jun straight in the eye.

‘Did you come here because you wanted to talk to me? Since you were waiting for me here, can I take that as a sign that you wanted to have a conversation with me?’

‘You’re right, ahjussi. Since you saved my family, I thought you’d be similar to me. And if you were actually similar, I thought you would come back here for my people. To take care of them, of course.’

‘Why, you want to recruit me or something?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, I already refused. I’m sure I told Park Gi-Cheol loud and clear.’

‘You did. But now you’re back here, aren’t you? Doesn’t that mean you were still thinking about the people here?’

This guy was good at mind games. If he’d been considering attacking me, he would’ve done so the moment I got close to the supermarket. Since he’d brought his underlings after I made it inside, he’d probably been observing me from afar. He was a meticulous fellow.

I hadn’t seen any red creatures on my way to the supermarket. Since I hadn’t been able to detect him, it made sense that he’d completely erased his presence and had been hiding, waiting for me.

Not only did he know the characteristics of zombies, but he knew the characteristics of the creatures with glowing red eyes as well.

I wondered why he’d been hiding. Did he want to test me? Did he want to see if I was going to bring my army of underlings with me, or if I’d actually come to talk with the survivors?

I smacked my lips.

‘Some attitude you have, bringing an army with you when you want to talk. Are you sure you’re not looking for a fight instead?’

‘This was the bare minimum. I knew that I’d be in trouble if you were one of the gang members, ahjussi. I was thinking about killing you if you were one of them.’

‘Gang members?’

The moment Kim Hyeong-Jun mentioned gang members, my memory flashed back to the zombie at the high school.

- ‘The next time you see my gang, run for your goddamn life. The other ones aren’t gentlemen like me. You got it?’

I thought it had been bluffing, but I guess there really was a gang. And they were after survivors. That meant that the gang was a group that was hunting humans.

I licked my lower lip and posed a question to Kim Hyeong-Jun.

‘How much do you know about this gang?’

‘Are you part of them, ahjussi?’

Kim Hyeong-Jun clenched his fists, and the blue veins on his arms bulged. I frowned.

‘No, but I did kill one of them.’

‘What? You killed one of them?’

‘Why? You got a problem with that?’

As I glared at Kim Hyeong-Jun with my head tilted slightly, he unclenched his fists and heaved a sigh of relief, followed by a chuckle.

‘I knew it. We’re on the same side after all.’

‘...?’

‘I’ll tell you what I do. I save survivors. But that’s not the only thing I do. I also hunt down gang members.’

‘Tell me everything you know about them. Don’t even think about discussing anything else before then.’

‘Ha! You’ve got an attitude issue, ahjussi.’

‘I’m glad you figured that out.’

I put on an arrogant look, and Kim Hyeong-Jun smacked his lips while scratching his head.

‘Alright then, let’s sit down. It’s going to be a long conversation.’

‘Take care of your underlings behind you if you want to talk.’

‘Why, are you scared?’

‘Before I kill all of them.’

‘Oh geez, you’re short-tempered too?’

Kim Hyeong-Jun snorted and waved toward his hundreds of red underlings. Immediately, they melded into the surrounding buildings. They were almost perfectly hidden, as if they’d never been there.

From their movements, I could tell that Kim Hyeong-Jun was superior to me. His underlings moved with more agility than my own. This meant he was above me in the food chain.

I sat down and locked eyes with him. He rubbed his chin.

‘Hmm, where should I start? First, how much do you know about this gang?’

‘You have to look into each other’s eyes when communicating, and you’re free to attack if someone breaks this rule.’

‘Right. And you know that they eat humans?’

I nodded without saying a word. Kim Hyeong-Jun nodded back.

‘So basically, Gangbuk is their territory. It became theirs after the zombie virus spread.’

‘I only saw one of their members once in Haengdang-dong. Are there only a few of them?’

‘No. It’s because Haengdang-dong belongs to the black creatures. That’s why they don’t come.’

‘The black creatures?’

My mind drifted to the map that I’d obtained after the confrontation at the high school. There was a big ‘X’ on top of Haengdang-dong. Now I was certain that the ‘X’ marked the black creature’s territory.

Kim Hyeong-Jun tilted his head.

‘Ahjussi, haven\'t you seen the black creatures while you’re in Haengdang-dong? Their entire bodies are black, and they only have mouths.’

‘I’ve seen one.’

‘Where?’

‘A construction site, not too far from here.’

At that moment, I saw Kim Hyeong-Jun hesitate. There was no reason to tell him about the apartment where my people and I were staying. There was no way of telling if he would attack the apartment with his army. That was why I mentioned the construction site where I killed the black creature instead.

Kim Heyong-Jun’s tone changed, as though he wasn’t sure how to react to what I’d just said.

‘The black creature at the construction site. Did you kill it?’

‘You don’t believe me?’

‘He’s my brother.’

I was taken aback. How could the black creature have been his brother? What was he saying?

I took out the ID photo I had in my pocket and showed it to Kim Hyeong-Jun.

‘The man in this photo. Is he your brother? His name is Kim Hyeong-Seok.’

‘He is. This was when he was still a human.’

‘Park Gi-Cheol told me that Kim Hyeong-Seok also had glowing red eyes. But you’re saying he was the black creature. Which one is correct?’

‘Ahjussi, where do you think the black creatures come from?’

‘What are you trying to say?’

‘They don’t just come out of nowhere. The black creatures, they’re just zombies like us.’

My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe what Kim Hyeong-Jun was saying.

How could the black creature be a zombie as well? Did that mean that I could possibly turn into a black creature as well? I couldn’t fathom myself turning into that sort of monster.

I swallowed hard, then looked Kim Hyeong-Jun straight in the eye.

‘Alright, tell me more. I want more details.’

‘I was curious as to where you got that kind of power. You ate my brother’s brain, didn’t you?’

‘What?’

‘When we shook hands earlier. Didn’t you feel a jolt go through your body, along with a headache?’

‘Yeah…’

‘Zombies with glowing red eyes gain a lot of abilities that they channel through their palms. They can recruit underlings when they push zombies with them, and just by grabbing onto each other’s hands like we did earlier, we can tell who’s stronger.’

‘Then what was the tingling pain we experienced?’

‘It means we’re similar, strength-wise.’

‘...’

‘There’s another ability, but I\'ll tell you about that later. Right now, let’s talk about my brother.’

He was glaring at me like a ferocious lynx. I swallowed reflexively.

‘I, I…’

I ended up stuttering. Kim Hyeong-Jun was face-to-face with the being that killed his brother. It would have been perfectly natural if he hated me for what I’d done. I wiped off the sweat beading on my upper lip.

‘I’m not sure how your brother was when he was alive, but when I saw him, he was nothing more than a monster.’

‘A monster, huh…’

He nodded, his expression rather uncertain. He used his hands to cover his face.

‘There is one thing I’m certain about.’

His face was full of mixed emotions. I couldn’t tell what he was feeling or thinking about. In fact, I couldn’t figure out anything. He sighed deeply.

‘The black creatures were all people to begin with. They died after being bitten by zombies, and just happened to turn into zombies with glowing red eyes like us. And the ones with glowing red eyes? They are the ones who have the capacity to turn into black creatures.’

‘Did you say ‘have the capacity’?’

‘Ordinary zombies don’t turn into black ones. Only the ones with red glowing eyes like us can turn into a black one.’

I didn’t know what to say. My mind went blank.

Clearly, that meant that I could turn into one too. I could end up becoming a being that tore humans apart with my mouth and ate their brains.

I needed to know why Kim Hyeong-Jun was telling me all this. In his mind, I was the one who killed his brother, and even ate his brain. To him, I was nothing but a disgusting abomination. Strangely enough, though, he was still trying to have a conversation with me, as if he had let go of everything in the past.

Was it because I wasn’t putting myself down? Because I was being aggressive? Or did he have some other plan that he wasn’t telling me about?

I couldn’t figure out his intentions. The best I could do right now was keep my mind free of any stupid or meaningless thoughts and just go with the flow. I had to go along with whatever Kim Hyeong-Jun was going to say.

He sighed, and stayed quiet for a moment. After that, he began to tell me about the creatures with glowing red eyes, and the black creatures.