Walking Daddy

Chapter 176

About thirty minutes later, I heard an announcement come on.

- Our landing has been temporarily delayed due to problems with the runway.

When I looked out the window, I saw a couple of planes circling Jeju Airport. I looked down at the ground and saw Kim Hyeong-Jun and Do Han-Sol fighting zombies on the runway. They looked like dots, but they were a vivid purple to me.

Kim Hyeong-Jun and Do Han-Sol had to deal with the zombies and remove their bodies from the runway. But the sun was setting. If they weren’t able to clear the runway in the next thirty minutes, we’d be left in a rather dangerous situation. In a world without any electricity, it would be pitch-black when night fell. That meant there’d be no lights on the runway, which would mean that the pilots would have to land using just their instincts and senses.

It was virtually impossible.

As I looked out the window nervously, Lee Jeong-Hyuk came up to me.

“So-Yeon’s father, do you think we’ll be okay?” he asked.

“There’s nothing else we can do but have faith and wait. What else can we do?”

“The sun will soon set, and there might be more zombies at night. Do you think we’ll be able to land safely?”

I didn’t know what to say. I was now doubting my decision to leave early. I couldn’t help but think that delaying the departure to the next day might’ve been the wiser decision. However, I’d grown impatient as I considered how the new strain of zombies in Daegu could’ve attacked the terminal overnight. The fact that I hadn’t been able to figure out what kind of threat the new zombies posed toward humans fueled that decision.

I sat down in an empty seat and closed my eyes. Lee Jeong-Hyuk realized that I didn’t have an answer to his unanswered questions. He went over to Choi Da-Hye instead and held her hands tightly. All the survivors on the aircraft seemed to be praying and holding each other's hands.

The best and only thing we could do right now was to wait and have faith in Kim Hyeong-Jun and Do Han-Sol. Believing in comrades who had been beside you through life-or-death situations was the right thing to do. After all, who else would you trust?

Ding–dong.

Soon, the fasten-seatbelt lights came on, and Choi Kang-Hyun's voice came across the intercom.

- It seems like all the zombies on the runway have been dealt with. Our plane will be landing in Jeju Airport last. Until then, please refrain from moving and keep your seatbelt on.

I took another look at the situation through the window. It seemed like Do Han-Sol’s underlings were defending the sides of the runway while Kim Hyeong-Jun’s underlings were blocking off the zombies at the terminal. I assumed that the two of them had noticed that we were running out of time.

It seemed like they planned to let the planes land first since we didn’t have too much fuel, and the sun was setting. I clenched my fists in excitement. I wanted to applaud them for their wise judgment.

Soon, the planes that had been circling around began to land on the runway one by one. It seemed like the planes were landing in the same order as they’d taken off from Daegu Airport. The wings of the descending aircraft seemed to flap while they were making their approach, suggesting that the wind was strong. The plane I was on also started to shake violently.

Moans and groans began to escape the survivors in the plane. I gripped the armrest with my hands and gritted my teeth. I looked outside the window and saw planes landing on the runway one by one. We were the only plane left. All we needed to do was to land safely.

Our aircraft stopped circling and began to descend slowly toward Jeju Island.

Rattle, rattle, rattle!!!

My eardrums were filled with the sounds of the plane shaking. The aircraft descended as if it was going to crash down any moment. We were descending against the headwind, and the winds that were being whipped up around the sea seemed very strong.

The plane deployed all its flaps and spoilers, and the whole aircraft and its wings began to shake as if they were going to fall apart. The wildly descending aircraft finally began to center toward the runway, and with a crushing impact, its wheels touched the ground.

Screech! Screech!!

The aircraft shook violently, leaving skid marks as it screeched down the runway.

Rattle, rattle, rattle!

My upper body was thrown about as though I had gotten into a car accident, and the force of the wind hitting the windows seemed almost strong enough to shatter them entirely. My entire body tensed up, and the veins in my neck threatened to burst. I was holding my breath before I realized it. It felt like all the air around me had momentarily been sucked away.

After we made contact with the ground, the aircraft bounced again. Only then did it start to stabilize and slow down again. The aircraft finally came to a halt, leaving long, dark skid marks on the runway. I didn’t need anyone to explain to me that this had been a hard landing.

Choi Kang-Hyun’s voice came over the internal speakers.

- Our aircraft has safely landed at Jeju Airport. Please rest easy.

I couldn’t believe how good it felt to hear Choi Kang-Hyun’s calm voice. Although he had always been a blunt fellow, all I wanted to do right then was to give him a big hug.

Once he finished his announcement, the survivors on board immediately gave him a round of applause. Everyone was cheering at the fact that they had made it out alive. As the cheering continued, I got up and headed to the control room.

I saw Choi Kang-Hyun covered in cold sweat and breathing deeply. Although he had made the announcement calmly, it was no surprise that this hard landing had taken a toll on him.

“Mr. Choi Kang-Hyun, are you okay?”

“Oh, Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok.”

His face was pale. He hadn’t considered hard landing to be a big issue, but it seemed like the bad weather had caused him much anxiety while executing the maneuver. I patted him on the shoulder.

"Thank you for all you’ve done.”

He then collected himself as much as he could and offered a small, gentle smile.

“I’ll leave the rest to you, Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok.”

I gave him a sharp nod and turned to the airline staff behind me.

“Could you open the door?” I asked them.

“Pardon?”

“I have to clean up the zombies outside.”

“Ah, yes!”

The airline staff opened the hatch, and I ordered all of my stage-one mutants to disembark. I gave Ji-Eun separate instructions from the ones I gave my stage-one mutants.

“Ji-Eun, protect the survivors.”

Ji-Eun nodded without saying a word. I jumped off the plane and immediately took off toward Do Han-Sol. The sky had grown much darker than last I’d seen, and I realized that we wouldn't have managed to land on the runway if it had been just a little later.

“Han-Sol, where’s Hyeong-Jun?”

“He’s at the terminal, holding back the zombies. There are a lot more zombies than we expected.”

“Any mutants?”

“We haven’t seen any mutants with our own eyes yet. Not even any black creatures. Did every plane land?”

I nodded.

“Clear out the zombies near the runway,” I instructed him, “and tell the survivors to wait. Make sure they don’t get off the planes.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll go help Hyeong-Jun clear the zombies in the terminal. If you see any zombies approaching any of the planes, don’t think twice. Just kill them right away.”

“Got it. Take care, Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok.”

With that, we went to take care of our respective responsibilities. When I arrived at the passenger terminal, I saw Kim Hyeong-Jun’s underlings blocking the entrance to the terminal from the runway, but I didn’t see Kim Hyeong-Jun anywhere.

Bang!!!

The sound of something being smashed came from inside the terminal. I could tell that Kim Hyeong-Jun was causing a scene inside. I ordered my stage-one mutants to continue to defend the entrance with his underlings, then made my way through the zombies and entered the terminal.

After passing through the entrance and moving past the gate, I came across Mood-Swinger slaughtering zombies. But I still couldn’t locate Kim Hyeong-Jun.

GRRR!!!

My eyes flashed as I turned to the left, where the zombie cries were coming from. All the zombies seemed to fall back at once. The zombies here were ordinary zombies, like the ones I was used to seeing in Seoul. I crushed their heads and continued my quest to find Kim Hyeong-Jun. However, even after looking around the entire terminal, I still did not manage to find him.

'Did he go outside?'

That wouldn’t have made any sense, because there were still zombies inside. There was no reason for him to go outside when he hadn't even taken care of all the zombies inside.

I couldn’t possibly think of where he could’ve disappeared to.

Shatter!!

At that moment, two blobs came rolling in through the pane of broken glass. As soon as the two blobs flew into the terminal, they continued to engage in hand-to-hand combat. It was Kim Hyeong-Jun and an unidentified zombie. However, this unidentified zombie… It looked red to me.

It seemed Kim Hyeong-Jun had found it first and had been chasing it down. Just as Kim Hyeong-Jun was about to punch the zombie in the face, it fell on the floor and yelled in desperation,

"Wait!! Let’s talk this out!”

The moment Kim Hyeong-Jun heard the zombie speak, he flinched. He knew immediately that the zombie in front of him had eaten a human brain. Kim Hyeong-Jun’s brow furrowed as he ground his teeth. He seemed ready to crush this zombie’s skull at any moment.

Steam rose from my body as I put myself in between Kim Hyeong-Jun and the unidentified red zombie, pushing the former aside in the process. Kim Hyeong-Jun rolled out of the way and quickly got himself back up.

“What are you doing, ahjussi?!” he yelled.

"Calm down."

“That bastard ate a person!’

“What about us?” I replied, keeping my expression neutral.

In response, Kim Hyeong-Jun made a disapproving face and clicked his tongue vigorously, then took out his anger on the zombies around him. When I looked at the red zombie lying on the floor, I saw him glaring at me with red eyes. Judging by the fact that his body wasn’t letting out any steam, though, it seemed like he had no intention of attacking me.

If this zombie had any hostile intent, it would have resisted or acted out in desperation when I pushed Kim Hyeong-Jun aside.

"What are you?” I asked, frowning.

The zombie turned his head and spat out a mouthful of blood.

“What are you?” he responded, throwing my question back at me.

“Answer my question if you don't want to die."

“Where are you from?”

“Wrong answer.”

Without the slightest hesitation, I pressed my open palm against the zombie’s forehead.

“Ouch!”

His body began to tremble violently, and he tried to grab my right arm to stop himself from shaking. Judging by the fact that I felt some tingling pain as if I was receiving a static shock, I could tell that this zombie could command around one thousand underlings.

He let out an agonizing scream.

“Okay, I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

When I slowly removed my hand from his forehead, he coughed and spoke up.

“It’s only natural to be curious when an airplane arrives, given the era we’re living in! I just came to see who these people were.”

“What good does that do for you? Were you trying to sneak up on us?”

"A surprise attack? Have you ever seen anyone trying to execute an ambush without bringing their troops?”

This zombie had a point. He could control about one thousand underlings, but he was here all alone. I grabbed his collar.

“What’s your name?” I demanded.

“You want to know my name in this situation?”

I decided that I would cut off his limbs since he wasn’t cooperating, and ripped his limbs off.

“You crazy bastard…!” he yelled, his eyes going wide.

“Answer the question. What’s your name?”

“Kim Dae-Young…”

Of course, there was another reason why I had torn off his limbs. This was, in fact, the main reason why I did so. I wanted to know Kim Dae-Young’s regenerative abilities, and see whether he’d eaten a black creature’s brain or not. Judging by the fact that his damaged body did not regenerate after waiting for a while, it seemed like he had not eaten a black creature’s brain.

I wiped the blood from my face and questioned him again.

“Why were you spying on us?”

“Because I wanted to know what kind of madman would come this far.”

“What do you mean?”

“...”

Kim Dae-Young remained silent. I wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic, or if he was literally saying that we were crazy for coming all the way here. If he was being sarcastic, that meant that he had come here to spy on whoever had come to this dangerous place, and if he was being straightforward with his words, it meant that he was wary of us and had decided to attack us.

“Where are your underlings?”

“Why do you want to know?”

He still wasn’t cooperating. I wondered where his arrogance, his useless confidence, was coming from.

I sighed. “If you don’t want to talk, then don’t,” I said. “But did you know that if you die, your control over your underlings will be severed as well?”

“What?”

“If you have other people with you, they probably know that you came to Jeju Airport.”

“What are you trying to say, you bastard?”

Kim Dae-Young’s tone was harsh, but his eyes were trembling. I raised my eyebrows.

“If you die, the chain of command that you have over your underlings will disappear,” I said. “Then your people will come here on their own. Meaning, there’s no reason for us to keep you alive.”

“Hey, wait.”

"Too late."

My fist was mere inches away from Kim Dae-Young’s face when he closed his eyes and yelled, “People are going to get hurt!”

My fist brushed the tip of Kim Dae-Young's nose and stopped. If he’d waited just a tenth of a second more, his skull would have been turned to mush.

“Elaborate,” I said with a frown. “People?”

“I, I…”

Kim Dae-Young trailed off hesitantly. Before long, however, he looked me in the eyes again.

“Who’s on the plane? People? Zombies?” he asked me.

“You don’t get to say anything. I don’t have to answer.”

Kim Dae-Young smirked.

“I knew it. Humans, huh? I bet I’m right; if you're looking for prey, there’d be no reason for you to come to Jeju Island.”

Despite his arrogant expression, his trembling eyes were having trouble focusing, giving away the nervousness he was feeling inside.