Magic on the Dead Chapter 108

Hajin’s bangs fluttered in the night wind. Eden silently captured the sight with his eyes before reaching a hand toward his chapped lips. Feeling the soft skin touching the corner of his mouth, Hajin let out a weak laugh.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Um, just because….”

“Just because?”

When he gently bit the finger that was tickling his dry lower lip, the finger mischievously slipped away and this time went toward his bangs. Feeling the warm touch tidying his messy hair, Hajin blurted out the words that had been orbiting his mind like a satellite.

“Because it feels like we are doomed from the start.”

At the brutally realistic sentiment, Eden also burst into a dry laugh. It was as if there were an invisible thread connecting their minds; even without exchanging direct expressions, it felt like the unspoken meaning between the omitted sentences could be fully read.

“Well. We will have to wait and see whether we are doomed or not.”

The hand that had been hovering over his face moved downward and, as if by habit, snatched his wrist. At the touch stroking his wrist, which was bumpy with scars, Hajin let out a trembling sigh. The Eden from that time, who had fiercely delved inside him to confirm his feelings, seemed to exist nowhere.

He lowered his head and whispered softly into Hajin’s ear.

“Because I believe in fate.”

A solid voice, as if it would never fall to any external wind, rang in his ears. Soon after, a soft sensation met his lips. Feeling Eden’s tongue gently part his lips and enter, Hajin tightly shut his quivering eyelids.

At the hot tongue exploring the inside of his mouth as if in search, the saliva that had pooled in his throat was swallowed with a gulp. He lightly sucked on Hajin’s dry, cracked lips. It felt as if all the peripheral nerves in his body were concentrated on his lips.

As his breathing gradually grew rougher, Hajin, who had been passively receiving the kiss, could finally not bear it and tightly grabbed his shoulders.

“Umm.”

However, the other person paid no mind and delved deeper into his mouth. Hajin’s hands, placed on his firm shoulders, turned white.

Whenever their lips parted for a moment to catch their breath, the two would, without fail, rush toward each other again as if on cue. They clung to each other, panting, as if the other’s breath were the only salvation in this goddamned world.

The countless agonies that had been swirling in his head were being futilely forgotten in the humid night wind and the moist kiss.

🃏

The tarp of ‘Hwajeong Hardware & Building Supplies,’ which had a sign decorated with yellow gothic letters on a blue background, swayed in the fiercely blowing wind.

The wind that had been blowing during the night was unusual, and eventually, a heavy downpour accompanied by lightning blocked the group’s path. It was a golden opportunity to advance while avoiding the eyes of zombies, but when it rained so hard that you could not see an inch ahead like today, they could not rashly continue the march.

Beside the two-lane road, which was sparsely dotted with sunken sinkholes, Hajin, who had taken shelter under the eaves of the hardware store, took off the windbreaker he was wearing and shook it out vigorously. The waterproof windbreaker spewed out the water it had failed to absorb with a pat-pat-pat.

“Uncle, you’re splashing water!”

“Oh, oh, sorry.”

At Byeol’s scolding, Hajin apologized soothingly and glanced to his side. Eden was likewise taking off the rainproof windbreaker he had been wearing. As if sensing the gaze, he looked back at Hajin. A meaningless, ticklish eye contact continued.

Miso bent her waist halfway and peered into the hardware store, whose shutter was halfway down.

“Should we go in for now to re-arm ourselves? The inside of the store looks fine.”

Jeffrey rolled the shutter the rest of the way up and, manipulating the lock hanging on the doorknob, opened the door with ease. The group gave their damp boots a final shake and entered the hardware store.

The store was much larger than the hardware store Eden and Hajin had stopped by once before. The windowless warehouse was divided into a total of four sections according to purpose.

There was no sign of people or zombies having swept through. There were so many useful weapons that it took quite a long time just to look around once briefly.

In the meantime, a tremendous amount of rain poured down, as if it would pierce through the store’s roof. Ratta-tat-tat—at the noise, which sounded as if a submachine gun was being fired, deep furrows formed on everyone’s brows.

“Unnie, unnie, this!”

Byeol, who was clinging to Miso’s leg like a koala, pointed her finger at a large utility saw. The saw, with its spiky, grotesquely sharp teeth, looked formidable at a single glance. A startled Miso surreptitiously lowered her slightly extended index finger and shook her head.

“Ssssh. Byeol, you don’t use things like that.”

“No, not me, you use it!”

“Huh?”

“Take that one, and, um, take this one too!”

Byeol pointed to the tools scattered here and there and made a fuss.

“No, Byeol. Unnie doesn’t need this many…”

Just then, Jeffrey grabbed Miso’s shoulder and pulled her toward him.

“Miso, this.”

“Huh?”

While Miso, who had caught the spanner in confusion, was looking at Jeffrey with eyes full of questions, this time a pair of red work gloves were stuck into her pocket.

“Hand, ouchie ouchie. Ok?”

As if he remembered the time she had scraped her palm while swinging a weapon, he was busy putting spare work gloves into Miso’s bag as well. As if that was not enough, he randomly stuffed in things like a tape measure or a utility knife, for which it was unclear what they were even for.

As the backpack on her shoulder grew heavier and heavier, she let out a laugh as if she could not be helped.

“Jeffrey, my shoulder is going to fall off at this rate…”

“No, Yoon Miso. I think this will be better than that.”

Hajin, who must have come over to her side at some point, turned Miso’s body the other way, took the heavy monkey wrench from her arms, and handed her a claw hammer instead. It was not a simple hammer, but a weapon with one side split like a crowbar, making it useful for killing zombies in various ways.

Hajin rummaged through Miso’s half-open backpack and muttered.

“Ah, what is this. It’s full of completely useless things. Let’s take stuff like this out and put in a mini toolbox instead.”

“Um…?”

The backpack on her shoulder began to be dismantled by Hajin’s deft hands. As he took out the miscellaneous items and placed them back on the floor, Jeffrey, who was watching, urgently stopped Hajin’s hands.

【What are you doing? Put it back in!】

“Unnie, unnie. What about this one? Isn’t it pretty because it’s pink?”

The three, standing close to Miso like cicadas stuck to an old tree, competitively pushed tools into her arms and bag.

Gosh, this is so distracting…! Miso, who was fed up, looked eagerly at Eden standing opposite her. When she signaled with her eyes as if asking to be saved, he, who had been silently watching the situation, walked straight toward Miso.

However, contrary to her expectations, Eden pushed his way into the gap between the three and stuffed a bundle of fluorescent-colored climbing rope into Miso’s bag.

“If you’re going to take things, take this too. Don’t forget you learned how to make weapons with rope, take it out and use it when you need it.”

“Gosh, I’m going crazy. It really won’t fit in the bag anymore… Hey, everyone? It’s hot, so could you… back off a bit?”

Before long, the group members had clustered together as one body, with Miso at the center. Just then, with perfect timing, Pie, who had been shaking off the remaining water from his body with a shudder, ran over and leaped into the gap. Unable to bear the weight, Miso finally collapsed onto the spot with a plop.

As she landed on her butt, Byeol fell into her arms with a thump as if she had been waiting. The moment she hastily put the claw hammer she was holding on the floor, this time Jeffrey wrapped both Byeol and Miso in his broad embrace at once. Hajin also rushed in, as if he could not lose.

“Gosh, everyone. Let me breathe…!”

Miso’s face was a mixture of laughing and crying as she almost lay flat on her back on the floor. Huddled tightly under the bodies stacked on top of each other like hamburger patties, she finally burst into laughter, ha ha. Jeffrey, who was stuck in the middle, playfully squeezed the bodies in his arms tightly.

“I’m going to pop, uncle!!”

Byeol, who threw a tantrum, turned her head and grabbed a handful of Jeffrey’s hair.

【Byeol? Uncle’s hair, hair. Ouchie ouchie.】

Woof! Wo-woof! Pie, who could not dare to squeeze into the gap, circled around them, wagging his tail excitedly.

“Gosh, you all are really something else. Everyone, please get up…! Mr. Jung Taegeon, don’t just stand there watching, get these people off me…!”

Miso once again requested help from Eden. He, who had been standing a step away watching the boisterous hug, walked over with a thud, thud. Hajin, who was lying on top of Jeffrey, turned his head to look at him approaching.

The moment their eyes met, a familiar body heat suddenly touched his back. While he was blinking his eyelids in surprise, Jeffrey’s sigh followed.

【This bastard is still satisfying his selfish desires in the middle of all this.】

Eden, who was hugging Hajin’s back tightly, retorted shamelessly.

【Mind your own business.】

Miso, who grasped the situation belatedly, let out a hollow laugh and a groaning sigh.