Magic on the Dead Chapter 114

The group set off on the road again. As they got closer to Yongun City, it became increasingly difficult to avoid the zombies’ eyes.

If this were a game, it felt like the difficulty had jumped up by more than two levels at once. When they encountered a horde of zombies breaking through building windows and leaping down as if committing suicide, for the first time in a long while, his spine didn’t just feel a chill, but his knees buckled.

Neither the roads, nor the towns, nowhere was safe anymore.

Thud—!! Rumble—!! The zombies poured down from the sky like rain. The fallen freaks, with their lower bodies twisted and eyeballs burst, charged at the group in a bizarre fashion. At the horrific sight they encountered after a long time, everyone froze in place.

【What the fuck are all these bastards!!】

Starting with Jeffrey’s shout, the group ran, looking only ahead. It was obvious that getting crushed by a zombie jumping from a tall building would mean instant death. The child, held in Eden’s arms, screamed, and Hajin quickly followed Pie who was running ahead.

Nausea rose from the smell of ammonia gas and hydrogen sulfide emanating from the zombies. It felt as if his lungs, like balloons inflated to their limit, were about to pop! at any moment. His mouth was bone dry, and for the first time in a while, a metallic taste rose from his throat.

Sweat poured down his forehead from the blazing sun, making even his eyes sting. Hajin contorted his face in pain but kept running for his life.

‘No way, they’re too fast…!’

Most of the zombies that jumped from the buildings were in a considerable state of decay, yet their running speed and ferocity were terrifying. Their stamina far surpassed that of a newly turned zombie.

The zombies that had fallen miserably to the ground, as if they couldn’t miss the fresh prey that appeared before them, dragged their crushed pelvises and crawled on the ground like snakes.

Eden, while searching for a place to hide, continued to encourage the running group.

“Don’t look back and just keep running!”

No matter how hard they ran for their lives, the monsters were still within arm’s reach. The first zombies that jumped from the building couldn’t pick up speed because their bones were broken or one side of their heads had burst, but the other zombies that landed safely on top of them had relatively intact limbs, and thus charged at full speed.

“Kaaaargh—!”

“Gurgle, gack!”

His vision turned white in the relentless chase. It felt like every last drop of moisture in his body was escaping as sweat. Hajin ignored Eden’s command not to look back and turned his head without realizing it.

He saw about ten zombies and, behind them, more zombies crawling quickly on the ground. If there was a picture of hell, would it look like this? It was obvious that one misstep would make them zombie food in the blink of an eye.

“Kieeeek—!”

The zombie running at the forefront stretched out its rotten arm and clawed at the air. Even with one shoulder excessively bent, its speed and attack power were terrifying. Hajin quickly scanned the dried blood that stained the area under the zombie’s nose and its dangling flesh. At a glance, it looked as if a long time had passed since it had become a zombie.

‘No way. But it’s this fast?’

Judging from his experiences so far, this was a new type of zombie that was not in his data at all. Hajin turned to look ahead again with a confused face. Eden, who was running ahead, stretched out his hand as if he had been waiting and pointed to a reservoir sign far away.

Hajin’s face, understanding the signal, was tinged with despair.

“I can’t swim!!”

“Just jump in first! I’ll take care of the rest!”

The sensation in the soles of his feet, which had been emitting heat, faded, and when he reached a state of extremity where he could no longer feel out of breath, a sign for the reservoir’s perimeter trail appeared. The zombies, which should have been crushed and left behind at this distance, were still chasing the group quickly.

Soon, a reservoir resembling a lake with sparkling sun glitter revealed itself. On the opposite side, a curved mountain ridge was visible. The mountain, tinged with green, and the waves that embraced the sunlight. In contrast to the picturesque, beautiful scenery, despair colored Hajin’s face.

【The bags can’t get wet, so take them off and throw them first!】

Jeffrey forcefully threw the bag he was wearing onto a bench far away. The rest of the group, taking off their bags in turn, jumped into the reservoir with Pie without delay. Splash! The water swirled and surged. Hajin flailed in the water where weeds were floating.

“Heuk…!”

“Calm down and grab my shoulder, relax your body.”

While Eden grabbed and led Hajin, the zombies began to jump into the reservoir one by one.

“Gak! Kagak!”

“Guuuuuurgh!”

The zombies that encountered the water could not move forward and sank as they were. Even the zombies that had been crawling quickly on the ground like spiders, dragging their broken lower bodies, lost their minds and tumbled into the water. Nearly thirty freaks were all drowned in the beautiful reservoir.

Hajin, held by Eden, staggered and then smiled bitterly upon discovering Pie swimming the dog paddle leisurely in the reservoir. Byeol, who had gotten out first with Jeffrey, giggled as she looked at the terrified Hajin.

“Uncle Hajini, are you stupid? You can just use magic to swim! What a dummy!”

Hajin, with no energy to reply, just shook his head and crawled out like a drowned rat. He dusted off his wet shirt, which was covered in twigs and insect carcasses, and belatedly gagged.

Far away, the reservoir where the zombies had fallen was still calm. Only a few gas-filled corpses belatedly floated to the surface.

Jeffrey grumbled, frowning as if his wound, which had touched the water, was stinging.

【Those bastards, they used to hide when it rained, so I guess water was their weakness. Fuck… what the hell is all this out of nowhere.】

“Ugh, I know, right.”

Hajin, who had swallowed his nausea a few more times from the fishy smell of water vibrating all over his body, swept his wet hair back. Fwoosh—! Pie also shook out its short fur, which had become wet like seaweed stems.

“Let’s go find our bags.”

The group, in a battered state, trudged on again. They desperately needed a shower, but no suitable place to enjoy such a luxury appeared as the sun set. In the end, drying their clothes thoroughly in the sun and sunbathing was the best they could do.

The remaining drinking water was used to disinfect Jeffrey’s wound, so that night, they had to battle a thirst that felt like their throats were on fire.

🃏

Only one day left until Yongun City.

Because their travel was somewhat delayed by the fight with the zombies, even the food they had been barely surviving on was depleted, and all they had to wet their throats all day was a spoiled sports drink obtained by breaking a vending machine. The exhausted group resolved to sleep in a peaceful place for today, at least.

“There’s an apartment complex over there, should we check it out? It seems a bit dangerous since it’s a large complex though….”

Hajin muttered tiredly, staring blankly at the sunset-dyed sky.

The apartments, which had been famous for their high prices, all had their top floors blackened and looked grotesque. The group stopped in their tracks and observed the apartment complex, which was thickly shrouded in the smell of death.

Before, they would have knocked on the door without hesitation, even if it meant taking a risk, but considering the zombies that had become particularly ferocious lately, entering a large complex was no different from a life-or-death gamble. After much deliberation, the group eventually gave up and set off on the road again.

It was when they hid in the bushes to avoid the zombies stationed on the road. Hajin, wiping the sweat from his forehead, turned to look at the group behind him as if he had remembered something.

“When I checked the navigation, there was a shop called ‘Rest’ around here. I don’t know if it’s a bar or a cafe, but anyway, I don’t think it would be a bad idea to check it out.”

It was a particularly memorable shop because it was located alone in a quiet area where the only surrounding commercial district was a factory complex.

“Then does that mean I don’t have to sleep on the street today?”

Byeol, her grimy hair tied sloppily into one, asked, scratching her dirty cheek. Hajin smiled awkwardly as if he couldn’t promise, but at the child’s desperate gaze, he reluctantly nodded his head.

“Yeah, probably. Let’s try going there today.”

Jeffrey and Eden, who agreed with Hajin’s opinion, also got up. With Pie’s sensitive presence as their guide, the group headed toward the unidentified shop, avoiding the zombies’ eyes.

The shop ‘Rest’ was not the cafe or bar they had expected, but an independent bookstore with the concept of a traditional Korean house book cafe. A forest continued behind it, and a large fir tree stood beside it.

Eden looked inside the wide-open main gate. A tiled-roof house, which one might see in a traditional Korean village, had been extended in a square shape around a central courtyard.

“Pie.”

Pie, whose name was called, bravely crossed the gate. The group followed and entered inside. Pie wagged its tail and wandered around for a while before suddenly settling down in a corner. Whine…. A mournful cry was heard. It was a signal that there was a corpse, not a zombie.

Jeffrey, understanding the signal, skillfully picked up Byeol and went outside. Eden and Hajin opened the paper-paneled sliding door that Pie’s gaze was pointing to.

The first thing they saw were four corpses, laid out neatly on a pure white mattress.