Magic on the Dead Chapter 1

“Magician Do Hajin. Your first solo magic show is now just an hour away. Can you please share a few words on how you are feeling?”

The camera angle zoomed in on Do Hajin’s face. His gentle eyes, which contrasted with his sharp jawline, glanced this way. His red tongue anxiously licked his lower lip, which was dry from nervousness.

On the screen, Do Hajin looked as if he was about to faint at any moment.

“How are you feeling? You have to say something.”

“Please save me.”

“…Again.”

Manager Yoon Miso, who spoke in a stern voice, pushed the camcorder even closer, oblivious to Hajin’s inner turmoil.

“Do Hajin, you’re holding your first solo magic show in eight long years. Please give us a few words on how you feel, even if it’s brief.”

This time, his entire body filled the screen. Standing stiffly like a mannequin, Hajin was dressed in a sleek, perfectly fitting black suit and a black dress shirt. He looked down at the magic props cluttering his feet, then mischievously pulled up the corners of his mouth.

“Hmm… I can’t do this.”

“We’ll go again.”

“Look at this. Even my fingers have gone stiff.”

“Hey.”

Click! Yoon Miso finally snapped the camcorder’s screen shut, letting out a small burst of temper.

“I know you’re nervous, but please be serious. Considering our upcoming schedule, we don’t have much time for editing.”

Hajin’s eyebrows drooped as if he was being unfairly scolded by Miso’s nagging. He had been acting lighthearted the entire time to keep things from getting too serious, but the truth was, it was not about the vlog or anything else. Contrary to his playful responses, his condition was genuinely poor.

It had been eight years since he had walked the path of a magician. The historic moment when he would overcome his wretched stage fright and challenge his first solo show was less than an hour away.

The lines he had prepared kept evaporating from his mind, and the finger joints that had been limber just this morning had stiffened as if coated in melted wax. Pushed to the brink by extreme stress, he could not even control his breathing properly. A regret, sharp as an awl, pricked a corner of his heart for having planned such a needless event.

As if feeling suffocated, he undid a couple of buttons fastened up to his neck, and a silver brooch pinned to his chest swayed, emitting a brilliant light.

“Are you that nervous? Should we just film the vlog at the next performance?”

Watching the unresponsive Hajin, Miso let out a long sigh. She took out a calming pill she had prepared from her bag and offered it to Hajin. The magician’s fingertips trembled as he crouched down and unwrapped the spherical, gold-foiled pill.

Miso’s brow furrowed deeply as she studied Hajin’s face.

“Let me loosen up your fingers a bit. Give me your hand.”

“It’s oday.”

Mumbling with the calming pill in his mouth, Hajin fiddled with a deck of cards he had tucked into the inner pocket of his suit jacket. Inside the suit, now fully loaded, various props were settled in place. His senses were so heightened that the weight of each individual card, not even 2 grams, felt like a lead ingot.

From beyond the curtain, the bustling sounds of the magic troupe assistants, who had come to help, could be heard as they checked the stage.

Miso plopped down next to Hajin, who had finished chewing and swallowing the calming pill. Looking at him with pity, as he already seemed exhausted, she changed the subject.

“Is Junseok working today too? It’s your debut show, for all intents and purposes. It would be nice to have family by your side.”

“If he comes, I won’t be able to concentrate. I told him he’s dead if he shows up secretly.”

“Why would you go so far as to say he’s dead… If it were me, I would have been one hundred percent hurt.”

Contrary to Miso’s worries, Junseok had willingly accepted Hajin’s request not to come. He had even joked over the phone, as if his brother’s peculiarities were nothing new.

‘May Do Hajin’s magic show be a flop~’

Recalling his playful younger brother’s voice, Hajin let out a snort through his nose. As the curse to fail tickled his ears, his racing heartbeat began to find a semblance of calm, if only for a moment.

“Still, make sure to invite him to the next show. Junseok is the only family you have.”

“Okaay.”

He did not want to exploit his busy, part-time-working brother as a tranquilizer… but seeing his current state, it seemed he would have to bring him along to the next performance, no matter what it took. He also wanted to show him, just once, his own image standing on stage.

Hajin picked up a bottle of water rolling on the floor. As he moistened his dry mouth, the tight knot in his stomach began to loosen.

Just as he was starting to soothe his nerves, someone called for Hajin cautiously from behind the curtain.

“Hello, Magician-nim. I’m from the operations headquarters. May I briefly update you on the progress?”

Parting the curtain and stepping out, a young-faced man greeted Hajin and Miso with his hands politely clasped. A silver name tag that read ‘Trainee Kim Cheolhee’ was pinned to the chest of the man, who was wearing a generously fitted suit.

Hajin habitually observed the face, which looked to be around his younger brother’s age at most. A small, out-of-place heart-shaped piercing was on the man’s left ear, over which his long sideburns fell.

“Yes, hello.”

After receiving the slightly delayed greeting, Trainee Kim Cheolhee began to rapidly pour out the lines he had prepared.

“The on-site box office has just opened, and we plan to begin seating assistance 15 minutes before the show starts. Also, our team leader said that the sales location for the children’s magic kits should be adjusted to next to the box office instead of next to the entrance. Would that be alright? They said the entry flow is a bit awkward….”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

Although he answered as if it were no big deal, Hajin was not really absorbing the man’s words. Overcoming his wretched stage fright and fighting through a 110-minute running time with no intermission. That was currently Hajin’s sole and greatest concern.

“You can get the parking validation from me after the show.”

Having relayed all the information, the trainee bowed his head politely in farewell. Just as he was about to head towards stage left, he hesitated for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“Um… Magician-nim. If it wouldn’t be too much of an imposition, could I possibly shake your hand? I’ve been a huge fan who subscribed to your channel back when you had 10,000 subscribers.”

“Pardon? Ah?”

A foolish gasp escaped from a flustered Hajin’s mouth. Although the number of subscribers to the YouTube channel he ran with Miso had surpassed 900,000, he had almost no experience meeting a fan in person, so Hajin could not hide his bewildered expression.

“Thank you. If it was at 10,000, that must have been about 6 years ago. That’s amazing.”

When he extended his hand, Trainee Kim Cheolhee clasped it eagerly, as if it were an honor. He went a step further, spewing admiration-filled praise.

“There are so many comments, you probably can’t read them all, can you? My username is Cheol-ppang. I used to use a lowercase ch before. I used to comment a lot back then, but I haven’t been able to lately… Anyway, you are much more handsome in person. You are seriously so good-looking.”

“Oh my, yes, thank you. Please be sure to spread the word online about how I look in person.”

Hajin, who had by now composed his expression, retorted smoothly. Yoon Miso, who had been watching the sudden fan meeting, turned her head to the side, trying hard to suppress the laughter that was about to burst out.

🃏

Do Hajin was a born storyteller. Appearing like a comet at the age of twenty-two, he made a name for himself with his novel techniques that combined card magic and mental magic.

Continuing his active career, he swept up various awards from famous international magic programs within a year of his debut and was one of the hottest rising stars of his time.

Had it not been for the stage fright that suddenly afflicted him, he might have become the most famous magician in Korea by now. Breaking through the wall of stage fright, which had come upon him like an accident, was not as easy as he had thought, and Hajin ultimately chose the path of a reclusive magician. He currently made a living as a coach for his YouTube channel and the magic troupe that bore his name.

Non-contact magician, aspiring actor, fake magician, the god of video editing…. The sharp ridicule and contempt aimed at him after he stepped down from the stage had not subsided for several years.

“Just you wait. This is only the beginning.”

But Yoon Miso, Do Hajin’s friend of ten years and manager, could say with confidence. That today would be the historic day he would repay all the past sorrows.

She clenched both her fists and watched Hajin conducting the rehearsal on stage. Seeing how he had recently handled magic volunteer work for the elderly and children without any trouble—even if the audience was barely ten people—she had no doubt that he would be able to pull off this small-theater magic show just fine.

“But why did Hajin-hyung develop stage fright? I’ve rarely seen him get nervous during magic, so honestly, I find it hard to believe.”

Jinwoo, an assistant who was standing with Miso in the middle seats of the seventh row, stealthily asked. Miso shrugged and replied.

“He says his face gets red whenever he’s on stage. He says he can’t really remember a specific trigger.”

“Really? He doesn’t seem to have a timid personality, does he? Although, of course, he does have a bit of a nerdy charm.”

“It might not have anything to do with personality, I guess.”

The assistant, nodding, suddenly remembered something and raised his phone to play a real-time trending video.

“But Manager-nim, have you seen this?”

Miso waved her hand without even glancing at it.

“If you have time to chat, go and check the carriage wheels one more time. You’re getting paid by the day, yet you’ve been brazenly slacking off since a while ago.”

“No, just take a look at this. You remember we saw an ambulance on our way to the small theater, right? I think it was probably because of this.”

Miso turned her head back. An ambulance? He must be talking about the one they encountered earlier while driving the van with the troupe members to the small theater. She remembered having to stop and wait for a while because not just one, but five of them, were lined up, squeezing their way into the narrow alley.

“Why. Was there some huge accident somewhere?”

“They say people were tearing at each other’s faces and it was complete chaos. It’s like they all did drugs as a group.”

“What? Tearing at what?”

Letting out a small gasp of shock, she snatched the assistant’s phone. The video playing on the small screen had already been running for a few seconds. A man’s ragged breathing echoed from the speaker.

—Hah, hah. Crazy. Is this being filmed? It’s not, right? What is this?

The man was urgently asking a passerby something. The screen shook constantly, enough to cause motion sickness. Obstacles on the asphalt, a brown brick wall, and power lines in the sky chaotically filled the screen, creating a sense of urgency.

The lens, which had last been pointing at the man’s dirtied sneakers, finally turned to face forward. There, about six people were entangled with one another, screaming sharp shrieks.

—KYAAAAAAAA—!

—KUEEEK!!

It was a roar closer to the cries of beasts than of humans. Although they were far away and the focus was blurry, it was obvious at a glance that their faces and bodies were not normal. A broken forearm bone protruded as if it would pierce the skin, and their movements were also bizarre. Moreover, there was something bright red smeared around their jaws….

One of the women, who had been making a racket while tangled up, whipped her head to the side. Her long black hair was a tangled mess, sticking out in all directions. The next moment, like a cursed satanic doll, her neck twisted 180 degrees. The face that should have been on her chest was instantly attached to her back.

Miso’s pupils, watching the screen, trembled violently. The area below the woman’s nose was completely stained crimson with blood.

—Sh, shit, don’t come here! Don’t come here!

The man in the video, who had been breathing heavily, finally turned and started to run. The screen showed the pavement, shaking violently. Shouts and screams erupted from all directions at once.

—Goddammit! Fuck!! Everyone run! Run!!

The video cut off around there. Miso, who had been staring with her mouth agape, blinked at the black screen. She quickly shifted her gaze to check the video’s title.

「Zombie Outbreak in Sangwon City?? I Barely Made It Out Alive. What the Hell are These Bastards??」