A Mother's Resolve for Her Wounded Daughter Park A-young [The Human Trash Who Sold His Daughter] [2]

Huh????

Geum Tae-yang had been searching everywhere for Park A-young when his eyes suddenly snapped wide open.

Thud...! Thud...! Thud...!

He had sensed a presence trudging steadily toward the spot where he stood.

It's A-young!!!!

It was Park A-young.

But what the hell is all that blood???????

The Park A-young walking toward him was drenched head to toe in dark crimson blood. She kept her gaze fixed vaguely on the ground, eyes unfocused, as she took one slow step after another.

"A-young!!!!!!"

—Dadadadadadadadada!!!

The moment he confirmed her condition, Geum Tae-yang sprinted straight for her.

Swoosh...!

Thud...! Thud...! Thud...!

Hearing his voice, Park A-young slowly lifted her head in his direction.

"Hey!! Why the hell did you just take off like that!! And this blood!! Are you okay???"

Thump! Grab!

Tae-yang, who had rushed over in a panic, seized both of her shoulders.

"Where are you hurt??? Doesn't look like a zombie bite, so what the hell got you covered in this much blood, A-young????"

He whipped his head left and right, scanning her from head to toe while scolding her with raw worry in his voice. After a thorough check he realized she was absolutely soaked in blood—yet not a single wound marked her body.

"Tae-yang...?"

Park A-young, who had been staring at him with empty eyes, finally parted her lips in a quiet murmur.

"What, you recognize me now? What were you even thinking about? See something you weren't supposed to?"

Even then Tae-yang tossed out a half-hearted joke. Of course he could tell she had recognized him. But something about her—he couldn't pin it down exactly—looked like she had taken a deep wound to the heart. Soft, gentle comfort had never been his strong suit, so he tried to change the mood with a completely random crack.

Smirk...!

Whether that clumsy attempt worked or not, the corner of Park A-young's mouth—still ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blank and distant—twitched upward just a fraction.

"I... awakened..."

The words that left her lips next were the simple fact that she had become an Awakened.

"What? You awakened? For real??? Then this is zombie blood???"

Tae-yang's eyes went round as saucers.

"Yeah. After Dad completely abandoned me, I killed a zombie and awakened..."

Trickle... trickle... trickle...!

Standing before him looking utterly wretched, Park A-young's eyes overflowed with tears.

The conversation between Park Do-chul and Do Min-chul played from the file. Park A-young simply listened to both voices in silence.

Do Min-chul's mind control only worked on human garbage. Park Do-chul insisted his own daughter Park A-young would fall under it just fine. That only made Do Min-chul more uncomfortable; he clicked his tongue in open reluctance.

By tossing his own daughter Park A-young to Do Min-chul as bait, Park Do-chul was aiming for Kim Min-jung. Her mental state would completely shatter. And once that happened, even an Awakened like Geum Tae-yang would have no way left to fight back.

"......"

The first time Park A-young heard her father's voice on the call with Do Min-chul, her face had been pure shock. When he ordered a terror attack on the bunker where she and her mother Kim Min-jung were living, and then slandered his only daughter as a trash personality, her expression nearly crumbled. But after the final order—to kidnap her—her face returned to its usual flat calm. Yet beneath that calm, a deep, unmistakable sorrow had soaked through. And it was also the face of someone who had made a decision.

It was the look of someone about to do something drastic. Park A-young stepped outside the bunker, opened the front gate and the outer gate, and walked out.

I thought I'd already thrown away every last scrap of attachment to Dad... but in the end... I was still hoping for his attention all along...

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

After she changed her personality, Park A-young had felt freer than ever around her father Park Do-chul. She no longer felt chained by blood; she treated him openly as the complete piece-of-shit human garbage he was. She had been certain she would never again be hurt by him the way she had as a little kid. But the moment she heard the filth pouring from Park Do-chul's mouth during that call with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Do Min-chul, she felt her emotions thrash violently.

Her true feelings toward Park Do-chul were not the indifference she had wanted. She had only armored herself in a haughty surface and pretended she was no longer being jerked around. Deep down, Park A-young still hoped that her blood father loved her at least a little, that someday there might be a chance for them to forgive each other. That hope was exactly why she was collapsing so completely now.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Park A-young wandered for quite a while. But just as Geum Tae-yang had thought, the area had already been cleared of zombies, so she was not immediately exposed to danger.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr...!"

Then, in one alley, she spotted a lone male zombie shambling around.

"—Kueeeeeeeeeeeek!!!"

—Dadadadadadadadada!!!

The moment it registered her presence, the thing charged with its maw wide open like a beast.

—Kwaaaak!!

The zombie came flying at her in a frenzy. Park A-young simply watched it with a blank face. In her hand she gripped a large ice pick.

Awakening required a deep psychological trigger. Park A-young knew it instinctively. Completely abandoned by her father Park Do-chul, every last scrap of hope gone—she felt that trigger had been perfectly fulfilled. That was why she had been drawn outside to hunt zombies.

"—Kieeeeeeeeeeeet!!!"

The zombie closed right in front of her.

—Thump!!!

Park A-young seized it by the collar.

—Puuuuuuuuuuuuuk!!!

Then she drove the ice pick cleanly into its temple.

"Kiet...! Kuet...! Kieet...!"

—Trembletrembletrembletrembletremble...!

That single strike pierced the zombie's brain. Its body locked up and began to shudder violently all over.

—Sssuuuuk!!

Swoosh...!

—Thud!!

When Park A-young yanked the ice pick free from the temple and released the collar, the zombie toppled backward.

—Thump!!!

But her rage was still nowhere near spent. She climbed on top of the finished zombie.

—Puuuuuuuuuk!!! Puuuuk!! Puk!! Puk!! Puuuuuuuuuk!!

"Fuck!! Fuck Park Do-chul!! You son of a bitch!! Die!! Just fucking die!!!"

She screamed the name of the bastard she wanted to tear apart and kept slamming the ice pick into the zombie's skull over and over.

—Pshshshshshshsh!! Pshshsh!! Pshshshshshshsh!!!

"How can a father!!! How can a father do that!!!"

Dark crimson blood sprayed up like a fountain and painted Park A-young's entire body bright red. Those black-red streams of blood dyed her eyes even deeper with fury, sorrow, and madness.

And right before those eyes, an awakening notification window appeared.

"Yu-mi, take these too. You said there are still elementary school kids in the lower grades, right? In times like these those kids absolutely need multivitamins."

"Tae-yang already grabbed some from the nearby pharmacies, but I think your side needs them more than we do."

Kim Min-jung carefully packed various food items for Jo Yu-mi. Jo Yu-mi had been out on a picnic with her juniors from Gwangmyeong Hope Shelter and the children there when the apocalypse hit. After that she had barely survived the chaos of zombies and human trash. Eventually her group managed to settle inside a warehouse on the outskirts of that area. The warehouse had a small refrigerator and a generator, but realistically running the generator just to use the fridge was impossible. When Kim Min-jung heard that, she handed over mostly canned goods and dried foods.

"Auntie, thank you so much. I don't even know how I'll ever repay this kindness. The kids are going to love this."

Jo Yu-mi stored the food Kim Min-jung gave her into her Inventory. When she accepted the multivitamins Min-jung had prepared out of concern for the children's health, she fidgeted with a face full of guilt. After roughly a month of living through the apocalypse, she knew exactly what it meant to freely share this much material.

"Oh, Yu-mi... you're the one who helped find our A-young... I want to give you so much more than this, but with the situation the way it is I just can't..."

Pat...! Pat...! Pat...!

Kim Min-jung gently stroked both of Jo Yu-mi's hands as they held the multivitamins.

"And Auntie was so happy the moment I met you again. It feels like the little effort I put in back then has bloomed into such a beautiful flower."

Today's first meeting between Geum Tae-yang and Jo Yu-mi had been a crisis—two Awakened colliding head-on. But the connection Kim Min-jung had forged in the past turned it into a positive outcome. So to Min-jung, Jo Yu-mi, who had grown up so well, was simply precious.

"You heading out, Jo Yu-mi?"

Geum Tae-yang came out to the front door to see Jo Yu-mi off as she prepared to return to the survival camp. He had only taken a quick shower, so he was wearing training pants and a sleeveless undershirt.

"Yeah, gotta go. I absolutely need to be at the camp by evening for security reasons."

Swoosh...!

Jo Yu-mi finished putting on her shoes and looked at Geum Tae-yang as she spoke.

Oh damn...

In that instant her eyes went slightly round.

That fucking bastard is so goddamn sexy...

Geum Tae-yang's body was still fully pumped from the mission he had just finished. On top of that, he had only roughly towel-dried after the shower, so a light sheen of moisture still clung to his skin. That hyper-emphasized alpha-male physique left twenty-one-year-old, hormone-raging, masturbation-addict Jo Yu-mi reeling from a sudden rush of lust.

With that body... that huge cock... doing that to pretty Auntie Min-jung... Hnnnnngh...!

And she was the woman who had watched Geum Tae-yang and Kim Min-jung's power sex live. The impact of that was beyond imagination.

"Don't just contact us when you need something—call even if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you're bored. We're friends now."

Geum Tae-yang felt like he had gained a pretty easygoing, reliable friend. That was why he had come out barefoot to see her off.

"Hey Geum Tae-yang, take one photo with me."

Jo Yu-mi suddenly made an unexpected request.

"Huh? A photo? Why?"

Tae-yang's eyes went wide.

"I need proof so the kids will believe my explanation better."

She had her own reasons. Whenever she returned to camp she usually explained the loot she had acquired to her comrades. But today's events had been so spectacular that she felt she needed more detailed evidence than usual.

"Okay! Let's take a photo!"

Tae-yang immediately stepped beside Jo Yu-mi and struck a pose.

"Alright, I'm taking it."

"Yeah. Shoot."

—Click!!

Jo Yu-mi snapped a photo of herself with Geum Tae-yang on her phone.

Heheh...! Acquisition successful...

In that moment a meaningful smile curved her lips.

"......"

After seeing Jo Yu-mi off, Kim Min-jung stood silently staring at Park A-young's slightly open door.

Who does A-young need most right now...

She was wrestling with how to comfort her daughter Park A-young, who had collapsed under the weight of a wounded heart.

Of course... the one A-young likes... Tae-yang, right...?

Kim Min-jung already knew perfectly well who her wounded daughter needed.