Walking Daddy

Kim Dae-Young and Heo Seong-Min looked at me with dumbfounded expressions. Their jaws were almost to the ground, with no sign of closing any time soon.

“Why do you look so surprised?”

"You… What are you?” Heo Seong-Min asked while sniffing.

I wasn’t sure how to answer his question.

“I’m a zombie, as you can see,” I shrugged and said nonchalantly.

“You’re a bit different… From the zombies I know. Are all the zombies from the mainland like you?”

I scratched my forehead.

“All you need to know is that the situation on the mainland isn’t that good,” I replied. “Now that this situation has been dealt with, can you guide me to where the rest of the survivors are?”

Kim Dae-Young and Heo Seong-Min were still staring at me with dumbfounded faces. I titled my head.

“Is there something on my face?” I asked in response to their expression. “Or do you still have questions about me? Shall I tell you the history of the Survivor Rally Organization?”

At my question, Heo Seong-Min waved his hand violently.

"Pardon? Oh no. Come this way.”

He led me to the rear exit of the rental car company. After a moment, Kim Dae-Young, who was next to him, cleared his throat and spoke up.

"If I may… You said you go by Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok, right?”

“Why are you being polite all of the sudden?”

“I should watch my manners when I’m addressing someone that I view as a hyung-nim. Of course I should be polite and respectful.”

“No, it’s awkward. Please speak like you did before.”

“No, no, hyung-nim. Haha!"

I frowned and looked at Kim Dae-Young. He was grinning widely as he scratched the back of his head. It seemed like he wanted something from me… I couldn’t help but wonder what he was hiding from me.

“Just go ahead and tell me what you want. Don\'t say something else later on.”

“Oh no, what could I possibly ask from you? I just wanted to welcome you to Jeju Island, that’s all.”

“...”

"When I feel comfortable, I’ll go back to how I was earlier.”

It seemed like watching me tearing the zombies apart had made him view me as a different person. He surely felt differently toward me now. I assumed he was behaving this way because he wanted something, but now it seemed like he was merely trying to flatter me, because I could help steer the Jeju Defense Unit toward a brighter future.

“This way!” called Heo Seong-Min from up ahead.

I smacked my lips and went over to him. He examined the surroundings carefully, then began to explain everything to me.

“If you head slightly north of Hancheon, you’ll end up at Yongyeon Valley. The 119 Safety Center is right next to it.”

“Is that the second line of defense?”

“Yes. And if you keep going north from there, you’ll reach a hotel.”

“Which is the third line of defense, I suppose?”

“It’s the third line of defense, and the Jeju Defense Unit hideout.”

At the word ‘hideout,’ I tilted my head and raised my eyebrows. I recalled them saying that they had a separate hideout. Heo Seong-Min seemed to notice the discrepancy, and offered a sheepish smile.

“To be honest, I couldn’t trust you one hundred percent earlier,” he said. “I didn\'t want you to know where our hideout was, at least.”

“So you’re saying that the situation has changed?”

"Of course. You saved us from the hounds, so now you’re on our side. No, in fact, the Survivor’s Rally Organization is on the same boat as us, the Jeju Defense Unit.”

These guys were extremely talented at buttering people up. I could clearly see their intentions, but there was no malice to it. So I smiled and headed for the second line of defense.

When Heo Seong-Min and Kim Dae-Young reached the edge of the second line of defense, the survivors that had been hiding there began to poke their heads out one by one. There were zombies that looked red to me as well, but they were all Kim Dae-Young’s underlings. I did a rough estimate of the number of red zombies.

“There aren’t as many as I expected,” I said to Kim Dae-Young. “What’s the maximum number of underlings you can have?”

“I can control up to eleven hundred underlings.”

“There are only about three hundred of them here. Where are the rest?”

“There’s another section to this second line of defense. If you go along the road to the right of the hotel, there’s an Emart. I have another three hundred there, and the rest are at the third line of defense.”

This meant that there were five hundred of them protecting the hotel. The way he had deployed his underlings wasn’t too bad, but I still felt that the survivors holding the first line of defense didn’t have enough support. They weren’t in the best condition.

There were about twenty people defending the second line of defense. This also meant that there would be around twenty people defending Emart. There was probably another part to the first line of defense, which meant that a total of sixty survivors were guards.

Since they had told me that there were a total of eighty survivors in the Jeju Defense Unit, the remaining twenty survivors in the hotel were probably responsible for taking care of everything else, such as tasks related to food, clothing, and shelter.

I quietly rubbed my chin and called Heo Seong-Min over. He came over with a smile on his face.

“Did you have something to say?”

“Mr. Heo Seong-Min, could we take a look at the hotel first?”

"Pardon? I’ll briefly go over the second line of defense.”

“I don’t have time.”

“Oh, then follow me.”

I had to take a look at their hideout first because I had to get back to the airport before the four heads lost their potency.

As we moved north along the main road, a large hotel came into view at the end of the road. The ocean blocked off the north and west sides, and there were many single-story buildings along the south and east sides, making it easy to spot enemy movements.

"Sweetie! Honey!”

Heo Seong-Min called out to his wife as soon as he entered the hotel lobby.

‘He’s already married?’

He looked to be in his early thirties at most, but it seemed like he was already married. Four women hiding behind the counter poked their heads out. They were carrying pistols, and had the look of heroines.

"Oppa?"

When they saw Heo Seong-Min, one of the four women ran out with a smile on her face. Heo Seong-Min and his wife hugged each other in an overtly public show of affection. I cleared my throat and looked away, and Heo Seong-Min looked embarrassed.

“Honey, can you gather everyone in the hotel?” he said.

“Everybody here?”

“Yes, we’ve got some very strong support joining us today. I wanted to introduce everyone to him.”

She nodded vigorously and ran to the people at the counter. After she exchanged a couple of words with them, they scattered to find the others in the hotel. After they left, I chuckled and asked Heo Seong-Min a question.

“Are you married?”

“Yes, two months ago.”

His answer surprised me.

“Two months ago? Then… Did you get married after the zombie apocalypse?”

Heo Seong-Min offered a hearty smile.

“No matter how the world is, the living must live. No matter how miserable the world may be, I believe that an individual\'s happiness is still important.”

“...”

“We didn’t get to have a grand ceremony, but I’m still happy.”

Happy, huh. I wondered how many people could say that they were happy in this upside-down world. His expression told me that he was speaking honestly, from the bottom of his heart. Despite the harsh reality, I could see his strong will to survive in this world.

After a while, the people in the hotel streamed in one by one and started gathering in the lobby. Most of them were children and women. Most of the men and a couple of women were on guard duty, while the rest took care of the things necessary for daily life.

Unlike the Survivor Rally Organization, the majority of them were younger adults. Also, unlike the Survivor Rally Organization, where there were unspoken rules, it felt like the Jeju Defense Unit operated with much more freedom. Everyone was trying their best to help each other out.

It might’ve been because they had a small number of people, but to me, it seemed like they somehow managed to gather people that one couldn’t really find elsewhere in this day and age. It made a kind of sense since it had already been six months. Someone who had lost their sense of humanity would have become prey to the zombies early on, or kicked out of whatever groups they might have been in.

Heo Seong-Min sniffed and asked a question.

“The Survivor Rally Organization… What kind of group is it?”

“It’s a group that you’ll blend in perfectly with.”

“What do you mean by that…”

“It’s a group where people live like people. It’s a group that aims to create a world like that,” I replied with a small smile.

Kim Dae-Young and Heo Seong-Min shared a look. After some hesitation, they asked me, “Can we… Can we also be part of that group?”

“I’m more than willing to allow that, after seeing everyone here. I know it must’ve not been easy for you to lead me to your hideout. Thank you for considering my unreasonable request.”

"Then…”

I nodded vigorously. "Let\'s move forward together. Until the day Jeju Island becomes peaceful.”

Heo Seong-Min clenched his fists and bit his lip. I looked over at Kim Dae-Young, who was next to him.

“Kim Dae-Young. You said you can control eleven hundred underlings, right?”

"Yes!”

“I want to form an alliance with you.”

"Pardon? What do you mean by that…?”

"This isn’t an alliance between the Survivor Rally Organization and the Jeju Defense Unit. It’s an alliance between us zombies.”

Kim Dae-Young tilted his head, looking confused. It seemed like he had no clue about forming alliances, since he mentioned earlier that he’d never teamed up with any other zombies so far. I chuckled and held out my right hand.

Then Kim Dae-Young hesitated and gulped. He was probably afraid of the paralyzing feeling he had felt earlier on at the airport, when I had touched his forehead with my right hand. His expression soured as he seemed to recall that experience.

"You… You want me to hold your hand right now?” he asked.

“This is the most important thing.”

"Oh…”

Despite his words, he kept on hesitating. Deep down, I wanted him to find the courage to put his traumatic experience in the past so that we could form an alliance. This was a necessary step to confirm the beliefs that we each held, that we were zombies that lived for humans.

I looked him right in the eyes.

“Just think of one thing,” I said. “That you’ll fight for humanity, no matter what. That you’ll do whatever it takes for the sake of human happiness and peace.”

Kim Dae-Young took a couple of deep breaths, savoring the cool, chilly air, then held my right hand.

* * *

After arriving at Nohyeong Ogeori, Kim Hyeong-Jun stared at the Emart with his blue eyes. He saw red glowing figures moving hastily inside. It seemed like the zombie from earlier hadn’t been lying when they said that the Emart was their main base.

Kim Hyeong-Jun took a look around the surrounding area and gave orders to his underlings.

“Stage-one mutant, wait in the first floor of the building opposite where we are. Mood-Swinger, wait on the first floor of the building across from the Emart.”

“Kiii…”

When Kim Hyeong-Jun\'s underlings tried to answer with their throat-rending noises, he hurriedly shushed them.

“No one answer. Keep quiet.”

His underlings nodded and moved to their respective positions. Kim Hyeong-Jun stealthily blended in with the darkness. He moved forward like a shadow, and reached the front entrance of the Emart without incident.

“What’s everyone doing? Keep moving! You’re not moving fast enough!” yelled someone from within.

Kim Hyeong-Jun crouched down and listened in to what was going on inside.

“Hyung-nim, five died. That’s not a small number. Shouldn\'t we be more careful and coordinate with the Northeast Gang?”

“You want to join hands with those scums from the Northeast? Are you nuts?”

“Well, I don’t think we have a choice. It’s only me, hyung-nim, and that dude over there for the Northwest Gang. All five of our scouts are dead. How do you plan on fighting?”

“Fuck… It’s only been a day since we celebrated the fact that we had one more scout than the Northeast bastards. How in the world could we lose all five of them in one day?”

Kim Hyeong-Jun tilted his head as he listened to their conversation. The Northeast Gang, the Northwest Gang… They sounded like the names of gangster organizations. There was nothing complicated. In fact, the naming was rather straightforward.

The Northeast Gang was located in the northeast, and the Northwest Gang was located in the northwest. This also made it possible that the Southwest Gang and Southeast Gang existed. But Kim Hyeong-Jun wasn’t sure if they had come up with these names while considering Jeju City as the center of the island itself.

If they were talking about the island as a whole, that meant that the southwest and southeast gangs were located in Seogwipo-si. One thing was certain; even though they were all on the same side, each region seemed to be jockeying against each other for power.

And the scouts that they mentioned seemed to be the five zombies that Kim Hyeong-Jun had taken care of earlier at Jeju Airport.

\'Since I killed the five scouts of the Northwest Gang, does that mean the Northeast Gang has four scouts?\'

Kim Hyeong-Jun raised his eyebrows, momentarily lost in thought.

Bang!

A sudden crash came from within the Emart, and the boss of the Northwest Gang, unable to contain his anger any further, yelled at the top of his lungs, “Then what do you want us to do?! Are we going to let the Northeast bastards take Jeju City away from us? I want all the bastards at Jeju Airport gone this instant!”

“What if the guys at Jeju Airport are stronger than us? Even though they were scouts, five of them died at the same time! We can’t overlook that!”

Kim Hyeong-Jun carefully raised his head and looked inside the Emart. There were hundreds, possibly thousands of zombies in red, with a bunch of others standing there with blank faces, having lost their commanders.

At the top of the flight of stairs, which spanned two floors, stood the red-eyed man who had raised his voice, and two other red-eyed individuals stood in front of him, seemingly at a loss as to what to do.