Walking Daddy

“Well, I’ve heard that it is difficult just finding fishing boats, let alone airplanes, on Jeju Island these days,” he continued.

"Well… We’ll have to look around for them later. After the zombies are all cleaned up, we’ll be able to roam the entire island, so I’m sure we’ll easily find some. I can’t imagine that there isn’t a single boat on Jeju Island.”

“Okay, let me ask this, then. Why are you obsessed with seafood?”

“For nutrition, of course. Do you know how nutritious seafood is? We should think about the children who need nutrition right now. We should be feeding them blue-backed fish, sea cucumbers, sea squirts, sea anemones, whatever.”

Lee Jeong-Uk rubbed his chin as he considered this. Choi Da-Hye did have a point. The children had been eating ramyeon, spam, and canned food as meals. She was meticulous enough to consider what nutrients the children were getting through their food.

Men were not often used to calculating or understanding the amount of calories or nutrients that something had, since most men had the mindset that being full was all that mattered. This is exactly how Lee Jeong-Uk thought.

“Let’s talk about this when Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok gets back,” he said with a sigh. “It’s still dangerous to go around Jeju Island, and just like you said, it would be faster to get seafood.”

“Yes, I’m not in a hurry either. I just wanted to let everyone know this.”

Lee Jeong-Uk smiled faintly and nodded. Just then, Tommy called him from behind.

“Mr. Lee Jeong-Uk, Mr. Lee Jeong-Uk!”

When Lee Jeong-Uk turned around, Tommy took Lee Jeong-Uk by the hand and dragged him to the lobby of Hotel L.

“Where are we going?”

“It’s about the black creature. The black creature,” Tommy said, his eyes shining.

Lee Jeong-Uk shook his hand free. "What do you mean? How do you know about the black creature…?”

“I heard about it from Mr. Heo Seong-Min. There seems to be a black creature with blue eyes on Jeju Island, right? I also heard a few things from Lee Hyun-Deok a while back, so Alyosha and I put some thought into it.”

“Pardon?”

“The sample that we brought from Daegu might be lethal to the black creature.”

Lee Jeong-Uk’s eyes went wide when he heard what Tommy said, and quickly scanned the surroundings. Thankfully, there was no one around. Lee Jeong-Uk swallowed and looked at Tommy again.

“Where is Alyosha?”

“Follow me.”

He followed Tommy to the restaurant in Hotel L, where he saw Alyosha playing with yarn and paper.

“What is he doing?” he asked when he saw what Alyosha was doing.

“It’s a paperfuge.”

"Huh? A what?"

Lee Jeong-Uk tilted his head, and Tommy smirked.

“Don’t you know what a paperfuge is?”

“A paperfuge?”

“It is a centrifuge designed by Manu Prakash. He developed it for people suffering from malaria in Africa, where it’s difficult to get electricity.”

“Are you saying this is a centrifuge?” Lee Jeong-Uk asked as he looked at Alyosha, his eyebrows raised.

The Russian was concentrating on the straight piece of string in his hands, pulling it back and forth while maintaining the tension. Lee Jeong-Uk couldn’t help but wonder why he was so focused on this paperfuge. When Lee Jeong-Uk tried to catch Alyosha’s attention, Tommy quickly grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Don’t touch him. He has to concentrate.”

“On that?”

“See the circular piece of paper in the center of the thread?”

"Yes."

“If you look at the side of the paper, you can see a thin glass tube. Do you see it?”

Lee Jeong-Uk had a hard time seeing it because it was spinning so fast that it seemed invisible. However, Tommy didn’t care if Lee Jeong-Uk understood or saw what he was talking about. He just kept on talking.

The sample from Daegu is in that thing. What do you think will happen if the thread breaks, or it’s just slightly thrown off-balance?”

Lee Jeong-Uk swallowed when he heard his question. "I beg your pardon?"

He could feel his mouth getting dry. He knew that if the thread broke off or the thin glass tube attached to the paper broke… No one could predict what would happen next.

Now that he realized that they were doing something dangerous, Lee Jeong-Uk frowned.

“Why are you doing such a dangerous experiment here?” he asked. “Everyone here will die if you make even the slightest mistake!”

"Calm down. We’ve prepared a simple contingency plan.”

Tommy had collected a bunch of old clothes and wrapped them around everything nearby. In addition, there were layers of towels stacked under Alyosha’s feet, so that the samples would not break if they did detach from the thread or paper. Tommy wet his parched lips again.

“And this… We prepared this for the worst-case scenario.”

Tommy showed him the revolver that he carried on his belt. It was the revolver that belonged to Kim Min-Jeong in Daegu. There were two bullets in it. Tommy pressed his lips into a thin line.

“Research is life itself for us researchers,” he said. “We gave up everything we had and immersed ourselves in research, going from lab to lab all over the world. I’ve been prepared to give up my life a long time ago.”

Lee Jeong-Uk grimaced silently. After a moment, he asked another question.

“Anyway, that paper—what was it? Oh—paperfuge. What does that have to do with the black creature?”

“Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok told me, back in the Brain Research Institute in Daegu, that the black creatures were beings whose desires had been destroyed.”

"Uh, yes.”

“I’d like to approach that rather absurd theory in a scientific way. As you may know, viruses become powerful when they feed on serotonin. But a black creature doesn’t secrete any serotonin.”

Lee Jeong-Uk scratched his sideburns and nodded. Tommy scrutinized Lee Jeong-Uk to judge whether he roughly understood what he was saying, then continued to speak.

“Well then, how do you think the black creature stays alive? How do you think it sustains itself?”

“I believe that has to do… with a mutation of the virus. Perhaps a mutation that makes it possible to stay alive without serotonin?”

"Exactly. What kind of virus do you think is in that sample?”

“A virus… that’s been overdosed with serotonin?”

“Yes, yes. With this in mind, what do you think will happen if we inject this sample into the black creature?”

Lee Jeong-Uk scratched his head and sighed, then he smacked his lips. “The virus would go after the other virus… They’d end up fighting each other, no?”

“Two viruses with the same properties but different behaviors will begin to fight over a single body. What sort of changes do you think will occur within the black creature’s body?”

“That, I don’t know.”

“And that’s exactly what Alyosha is looking into.”

Lee Jeong-Uk looked at Alyosha and swallowed. He was concentrating on paperfuge so intensely that he seemed to be on the brink of becoming cross-eyed. Lee Jeong-Uk looked at Alyosha more closely and noticed that he was holding his breath while delicately adjusting the thin piece of string so that it wouldn’t break.

After a while, he stopped the paperfuge and began to carefully observe the sample in the glass tube. Alyosha called Tommy over to him, and the two of them started conversing in Russian. Lee Jeong-Uk sat on the floor and waited for the two of them to finish their discussion. After Tommy listened to Alyosha explain his findings, he nodded and looked over at Lee Jeong-Uk.

“Lee Jeong-Uk, do you happen to have a sample of the black creature?”

“Does it seem like I would have such a thing?”

"Hmm… I’m not too sure what kind of state the black creature is in, but you said that its skin turned black, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, this is all just hypothetical, but I believe that the virus that isn’t consuming serotonin is probably consuming other skin tissues in order to continue to survive within the black creature.”

Lee Jeong-Uk quietly crossed his arms and pressed his lips together. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure of what Tommy was talking about, but his simplified explanations helped. Tommy noted Lee Jeong-Uk’s silence, and continued with his explanation.

“The viruses in the sample are still exhibiting aggressive traits. If we can inject that sample into the black creature… The black creature’s body will reject it, causing a reaction.”

“What do you think will happen then?”

“Death or paralysis would be normal, but if the virus in this sample gets consumed… The black creature might grow even stronger.”

"Hmm… I’m no expert on this, but how is this different from using AIDS to treat leukemia?”

“Scientists in England actually conducted experiments with regard to that. Even if the world rejects us, it’s our job to experiment.”

Lee Jeong-Uk nodded, his expression growing serious. He got to his feet and looked at Tommy.

“First of all, thank you for the information. But… Is it really necessary to do experiments with that sample here?”

“If you feel uncomfortable, we’ll stop. We also have no intention of disobeying you, the leader.”

Lee Jeong-Uk forced a smile.

“I would appreciate it if you could do that. Despite what I think about it, I don’t think I can allow you to carry out an experiment that poses a threat to the survivors here.”

Tommy nodded. It seemed like he understood to a certain extent where Lee Jeong-Uk was coming from. Lee Jeong-Uk sighed and stared blankly at the ceiling and prayed for Lee Hyun-Deok’s swift return.

* * *

Once I could no longer feel the black creature\'s presence, I carefully removed the comforter and crawled out from under the bed. When I looked out the window, I noticed that the black creature was long gone. I checked every window in every direction and tiptoed my way out the building.

When I exited the building, I saw a bunch of zombies that were not under any chain of command staring up into the empty sky. The black creature had taken care of the enemy leader, but not his underlings. It seemed like the black creature had spared the underlings since it had filled its stomach up with their boss.

I contemplated on whether I had to kill all the zombies here, or just be on my way. I knew that mutants would begin to appear if I just left them like this. Another thought occurred to me then. If the black creature had left the zombies at the bases of the Southwest and Southeast Gangs like this… I couldn’t fathom just how many mutants would begin to appear.

However, I knew I didn’t have the time to clean up all these zombies. I was in the black creature’s territory, and I had to get back to Jeju City before the smell of the perfume wore off. The black creature would surely come back for me if I delayed any further because of these zombies, since that would only weaken my scent—or stench, from the creature’s perspective.

‘Let’s think about the mutants later.’

The most important thing was that I had seen that its eyes were black. With a sigh, I took the western coastal road back to Jeju City. This time, instead of doing what I’d done on the way over, I stashed the map that I had brought with me deep inside my pocket and headed straight for Jeju City.

* * *

The sun was about to set over the western sky horizon when I saw Jeju Airport shimmering in the distance. Only after seeing this did I let out a sigh of relief and shorten my stride. I had heightened all my senses just in case the black creature followed me, but I didn\'t have the courage to look back, so I looked straight ahead as I ran for my life.

Now, though, I found the strength to have a look around. I didn’t see the black creature. Instead, I saw Kim Hyeong-Jun beating up some zombies in the distance. As I plodded toward him, Kim Hyeong-Jun felt my presence and looked back.

"Ahjussi!"

Kim Hyeong-Jun came over with a big smile on his face. I collapsed to the ground as the worry that I’d been holding onto all this while drained out of me. The ringing inside my head slowly began to go away. Kim Hyeong-Jun examined me once over, then quickly covered his nose and frowned.

“Did you spill the perfume? What the heck is this smell?”

“We need to inform everyone.”

"Huh? About what?”

“We need to tell everyone to be ready. The black creature… It has black eyes.”

When he heard me confirm the color of the creature’s eyes, his mouth fell open. He placed his right hand on his forehead, and his expression grew worried.

“Are you sure?”

“I saw them for sure. I almost died.”

“Did you make it alive because of the perfume? It might help to put some perfume on when we fight the black creature.”

“No, the perfume is only good for numbing its sense of smell. No matter how much perfume we spray, the moment it locks its gaze with ours, it’ll consider us as enemies.”

I told Kim Hyeong-Jun about my terrifying encounter in Seogwipo City, and he trembled and rubbed his arms as if he had goosebumps.

“Ahjussi… You know, you\'re not the person to tell me not to push myself.”

“I encountered it in a totally unexpected place. The leaders of the Hounds have already been wiped out and only the underlings with no chain of command remain.”

"So you\'re saying there\'s a risk of them becoming mutants?”

“I should’ve taken care of them, but I just couldn\'t. I was scared that the black creature might come after me again once the smell of the perfume wore off.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun scratched his head and sighed, his expression growing complicated.

“Geez, what a pain in the butt. Do you think the black creature will come to Jeju City? No, that’s not the right question. When do you think it will get here?”

“It’ll probably come here once it figures out that there aren’t any more red-eyed zombies in Seogwipo. It’ll probably realize it once it’s dealt with all the zombies there. Wouldn’t you think so?”

“What should we do about the mutants?”

I let out a deep sigh.

“Some of them will be killed by the black creature, and some of them will survive and make their way here. Everything is up in the air. Nothing is certain.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun bit his lower lip as worry momentarily clouded his face. Then he scratched his temples.

“Let’s go back to the hotel for now,” he said. “I think it’d be better to head back and discuss this with the leaders.”

“Let’s discuss this with the leaders, and when things are organized, let’s recruit more underlings.”

“Haven’t you hit your limit, ahjussi? Twenty-three hundred underlings?”

“I have to make mutants. There’s no way normal zombies can stop the black creature.”

Kim Hyeong-Jun nodded vigorously and took off toward Hotel L before me. I got up, took a deep breath, and followed him.

We were done gathering information. We were heading toward the final fight to ensure the safety of the Survivor Rally organization. The war that would mark the end, and signal the beginning of everything we had hoped from the start, was just around the corner.