Magic on the Dead Chapter 126

【Chunbeom told me. That there would be a radio prototype on the 5th floor. That’s the Tune we were looking for. With that radio, we can contact each other anytime.】

Jeffrey, who had finished his explanation nonchalantly, held out a torn piece of paper.

【I wrote down the number, so take this too. It’s called a radio, but you can just think of it as being similar to a phone. What are you doing? My arm’s going to fall off. Hurry up and take it.】

Hajin, with a bewildered look, extended his palm, but then thought, whoops, and stuck his hand inside his shirt. Wrapping his hand with the fabric, he reached out his arm just like that, stretching the hem of his T-shirt.

Jeffrey, who was watching, frowned menacingly.

【The card is clean, you know. Just in case, I only slept with it inside my underwear last night!】

【It still feels gross.】

【Hah…! Coming from the guy who was so happy to fondle Eden’s penis.】

【Was that just sexual harassment?】

【Fine. I lose, I lose.】

As if he couldn’t be helped, he personally tucked the card and paper into Hajin’s pocket and urged him earnestly.

【Absolutely do not lose it. I’ll be waiting for your call no matter when it is, so make sure you survive and contact me again.】

Hajin, who had been holding out his hand while stretching his shirt, awkwardly lowered his arm. Funnily enough, it felt like tears were about to burst out only now.

【Thank you for thinking of me.】

【…Yeah. Take care of yourself, and make sure you find your brother.】

【Yes.】

Hajin hurriedly turned his body and walked toward the exit to hide his unseemly, contorted face. A man who had been dozing off, leaning against the fence, seemed to have been awakened by the small commotion and was now standing guard at the back gate in a stiff posture.

“Please open the gate.”

The soldier undid the locked latch at Hajin’s request and gave him a warning.

“It will be difficult to come back in if your identity cannot be guaranteed.”

The stiffly spoken words felt just like a death sentence, and Hajin tasted a bitter flavor in his mouth.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

It was the moment he bowed his head and stepped out of the back gate.

【Do Hajin!】

His arm was grabbed again by a firm force. When he turned around, there was Jeffrey, chewing on his lips as if he were about to cry at any moment.

【…I’m sorry. For sending you off alone.】

“……”

【I’ll take good care of Eden, so don’t worry.】

Jeffrey’s Adam’s apple bobbed. Hajin, who watched him in silence, spread his arms and pulled him into a tight hug. As soon as he started patting his back, a sob burst out.

Feeling his shoulder grow damp, Hajin stared at the back door of the hangar in the distance. Jeffrey’s weeping continued for quite a long time. When it showed no sign of stopping, Hajin, after a moment of thought, was the first to pull away from the hug.

【Jeffrey.】

【Hic… Uh, yeah?】

【I’ll tell you what you were curious about, so stop crying.】

Jeffrey sniffled, his nose red. A look of puzzlement filled his bloodshot eyes. Hajin playfully tapped his arm, as if telling him to remember.

【You kept bugging me because you were curious about the magic trick. I told you I’d tell you when it was time for us to part.】

He was talking about the magic trick performed on Jeffrey, who had been sitting in the audience on the day of the magic show.

A belated gasp escaped from Jeffrey, who had been blinking blankly for a while. Ah….

‘ Hajin! You didn’t tell me the secret again. When are you gonna tell me about the arm-linking trick? ’

‘ I’ll really tell you that next time. ’

‘ When is next time? ’

‘ Hmm… When you and I part ways? ’

His face, which had been slowly recalling the past memories, crumpled again as if he were about to burst into tears. At the unexpected reaction, Hajin said, “Huh,” and grabbed his thick arm in a fluster.

【Why, what’s wrong? You said you wanted me to tell you the secret.】

【I don’t want it.】

【What?】

【You said you’d tell me when we part! We’re going to meet again, so there’s no need to tell me now!】

Jeffrey, who used to pester Hajin relentlessly, now recoiled in horror when Hajin actually tried to reveal the secret of the magic trick.

“Hah….”

In the end, Hajin reluctantly nodded his head. In any case, he had stopped crying, so was that a good thing?

【Alright. Anyway… thank you, Jeffrey.】

This time, Jeffrey pulled Hajin’s body into a firm hug. Even as the long farewell continued, Hajin’s gaze remained fixed on the back door of the hangar the entire time.

Until a whitish light seeped into the indigo-blue sky, and until he left the maintenance depot and the fence was no longer in sight, Eden never showed himself.

As if to trace the face he had engraved on his fingertips, Hajin slid his index finger back and forth on his thigh. He felt a little ridiculous and pathetic for constantly looking back, just in case.

🃏

Hajin chewed on a chocolate bar, crunch, crunch, while leaning his back against an old tree. The long chocolate bar was a snack that had been carefully hidden deep inside his backpack, within a bundle of ropes. He couldn’t tell when or who put it there, but he vaguely guessed it might have been Eden’s doing.

Every time he took a bite of the chocolate bar, the image of his back as he secretly stole items from the military personnel came to mind, and a goofy smile spread across his lips.

What a sight, not crying but chuckling.

“Have I finally gone crazy….”

Each time the melted chocolate wet his tongue, his temples throbbed with a sharp pain. Gradually stopping his laughter, Hajin mumbled the last piece of the snack. He fiddled with the silver brooch in his pocket for mental and physical stability, then stared intently at Chunbeom’s face on the card ID.

“Our Mr. Chunbeom’s photo turned out great. You would’ve been so much prettier if you had smiled a little more brightly.”

His habit of talking to himself had increased quite a bit in the last few days. Mumbling like an old man, Hajin crumpled the empty chocolate bar wrapper with a crinkle. The dirt ground he was sitting on was damp, but he couldn’t muster the courage to get up again.

From somewhere, the faint howling of a zombie could be heard. Separate from fear, his eyes kept closing from exhaustion.

Today was already the third day since he had left the maintenance depot. The closer he got to his destination, the more zombies swarmed all around, and there wasn’t a single survivor to be found.

With his eyes closed, Hajin fumbled through his memories of the past few days.

On the first day of traveling alone, he had to climb a tedious mountain path to avoid survivors who tried to brazenly steal his belongings. As it turned out, he had faithfully followed Eden’s advice to stick to the forest trails.

When the day grew dark, he curled up in a rest area on the mountainside and got some much-needed sleep. But the next day at dawn, the moment he lifted his eyelids early due to a gaze he felt from somewhere.

‘ …Aaaahhh! ’

Hajin came face to face with a pair of cloudy eyes. The feeling of encountering a strange old man who was staring down at him like a ghost….

As he shrieked like he was about to faint, the old man, telling him he was being loud, picked up an axe that had fallen at his feet. He hastily blocked the attack with his bag and quickly fled the scene. After that, he wasted time hiding like a sunfish whenever he saw even a strand of human hair.

His loud boasts about having to go meet his brother quickly seemed hollow, as Hajin was unable to pick up his pace.

On the second day, he rolled down a hill, causing his calf to bleed. It was a natural course of events that Eden’s gentle touch, which had tended to his wounds, came to mind. He thought about using that as an excuse to shed some tears, but he only got angry at his pathetic self.

“Ugh, I’m so tired….”

A frantic first day, a second, and now the third day, today. Hajin was rubbing his arms, which were throbbing with muscle aches. Even though he was passing through a small hill that was embarrassing to even call a mountain, his legs felt as heavy as lead.

He was completely exhausted in both body and mind before he even arrived at Neverland. To the point where he would sometimes completely forget what he was doing here.

Only after the zombies’ cries grew progressively closer did Hajin slowly get up from his spot.

How long had he walked? It was the moment he stopped in place, bothered by the waterproof bandage on his calf that had half peeled off.

A faint voice came from somewhere.

Mooom… moo…mmy….

His startled body froze on the spot. It was the first sign of human presence he had felt since encountering the crazy old man.

He quickly hid behind a tree and surveyed the area, but all he could see were the green trees rising up, a squirrel darting between them, and pinecones scattered on the ground.

‘ Who is it? ’

Listening intently to the sound, his head slowly turned backward. As he peeked his face out from behind the tree, something immediately caught his eye.

A child?

Perhaps as tall as Byeol. A little girl with long hair was standing in the middle of the forest path without a hint of fear, crying out for her mother.

Mommy…. mo…mmy….

Hajin quickly scanned the appearance of the child, whose head was bowed low. Her crimson shorts and T-shirt with a teddy bear character were filthy with something that could have been either blood or vomit.

A child, abandoned and left to wander alone in this harsh city. Byeol, who used to come into his arms like an angel, came to mind. The area around his ribs ached as if a wind had blown into his hollow chest.

If left alone, she would surely become a target for crazy people or food for zombies. Having encountered a lost child, it was his duty as an adult to at least move her to a safe place.

Without a second thought, Hajin immediately turned and ran towards the child. Even seeing him run towards her, the child did not flee but stood there as if nailed to the spot.

There were less than five steps left. The child’s deeply bowed head slowly lifted up.

“……”

Suddenly, a strange sensation—whether it was déjà vu or a sense of wrongness, he couldn’t tell—ran down his spine. Hajin gasped and stopped in his tracks. Scrape—a cloud of fine dust rose from under his feet which had come to an abrupt halt, and dead leaves wrapped around his ankles.

The wind, crying like a sob, filled the silence.

“…Little girl…?”

Hajin muttered as if he couldn’t believe it.

The distinct trace of dried blood under her nose, pupils clouded over as if shrouded in dawn’s mist, fingers with exposed cartilage, and an ankle twisted back at an extreme angle.

This was clearly….

“Mo… mmy….”

The corners of the zombie’s lips slowly tore, and a grotesque voice flowed from the opening. It was a voice like a nail scratching a chalkboard. One by one, insects quickly stuck to the child’s wide-open eyeballs like dots.

“…!”

Hajin froze solid.

It was a feeling that could not be described by the words ‘it gives me the creeps.’ Contrary to her sorrowful cries for her mother, there was no change in expression on the child’s half-melted face.

“You….”

A shock rivaling the one from when he first witnessed a zombie rapidly consumed his reason. This feeling, as if his mind was shattering into pieces and ultimately even his soul was being torn to shreds….

Before he could even reassemble his thoughts, the zombie bared its teeth and charged, as if it had been waiting.

“Kiiieeeek—!”

Hajin instinctively rolled his body to avoid the pouncing zombie. He quickly fumbled in the pocket of his backpack, which had fallen from his shoulder, and his fingertips caught on the stone axe made with a rope.

“Gack! Gaaack!”

The zombie, slammed onto the ground, thrashed its broken legs and reached out its arms. Its sharp claws brushed the tip of Hajin’s foot and scraped the ground. Goosebumps quickly ran down the back of his neck at the desperate movements of it crawling on the ground towards him.

Mo…mmy!

It was definitely an auditory hallucination. Hajin, in a panic, swung his hand widely.

Mommy! Mommy! Mommy…!

The stone axe, raised high, struck the zombie directly on the crown of its head. Thwack…!

“Kiik…!”

Thud! Thwack! He knelt on the ground and smashed down on the zombie’s head until its fragile skull was completely crushed. Sticky blood splattered everywhere, and the zombie’s hair clumped together like rice cakes.

“Gasp… haah….”

The zombie’s body, which had been wriggling like a worm, soon went limp. Hajin, who had belatedly come to his senses, dropped the weapon he had been clutching so tightly it hurt, as if throwing it away.

Bright red blood was smeared all over his face, neck, and the back of his hands.

“Ugh…!”

The metallic smell of blood made him gag, retch. He raised his trembling hands and roughly wiped the blood from around his eyes. Through his red-smeared vision, he could see the zombie, dead with its head smashed into the ground.

“Haaah… ha….”

It definitely spoke.

With its mouth torn wide, it had cried out for its mother, and it had stood perfectly still in that spot until he approached.

Was it a hallucination? Or have I finally gone mad?

He wished it was all a terrible nightmare, but the nauseating stench of death clinging to the lining of his nose and the sickening smell of blood were undoubtedly real sensations.

Thump-thump-thump— Thump-thump-thump—

Just then, a familiar noise came from above his head. Hajin, who was staring blankly at the ground, suddenly shot his eyes wide open. At the same time, he could feel the blood circulating through his veins all over his body.

Hajin slowly lifted his head towards the sky, as if bewitched.

A helicopter was flying across the air. A long tail, four fiercely rotating propellers, and a dark green exterior painted like spots. It was definitely the last transport aircraft from Blue Works that he had seen at the maintenance depot.

Thump-thump-thump—The noise that had been loudly ringing in his ears grew distant, and even after the helicopter’s tail was no longer visible, Hajin remained kneeling on the spot, motionless.

His shoulders grew stiff from tilting his head back so far. Just as his twisted ankle began to ache and a tingling electric current shot up his leg, Hajin’s lips slowly parted.

“Jung Taegeon….”

He had left. The moment he recognized that fact, a soundless laugh escaped his lips. The memory of the battle that had just occurred evaporated as if it were a lie, and his mind began to fill entirely with Eden’s face.

Hajin covered his blood-streaked face with his hands and took a deep breath. A sense of relief, along with a warm feeling, spread across his chest.

He got out safely.

Despite the laughter, his vision blurred and his eyes grew hot, as if seared by fire.

It was a tear he never shed, not when he was rolling down the hill, not when he was sleeping alone on the cold ground, not when his mouth was so dry that he retched.

He was the one who had wished for him to escape this hellish land and go to a safe place, so he didn’t want to do something as pathetic as feeling helpless now in a life without Jung Taegeon.

‘ Mr. Do Hajin, you will be able to endure just fine on your own without me. ’

Hajin desperately tried to compose his throat, which was tightening painfully as if being squeezed. His ears were ringing with the sound of his rapidly beating heart and ragged breathing. A ringing filled his head, and his vision was completely dark.

Because of that, he failed to notice that someone was approaching him.

“…Tsk.”

Between his trembling breaths, the sound of a tongue clicking slowly mixed in.

“Mr. Do Hajin.”

It was strange. A voice that shouldn’t be heard echoed in his ears like a hallucination, and the tips of shoes that shouldn’t be visible came into his view. The hands covering his face fell, and his damp gaze, which had been directed at the ground, lifted up.

When their eyes met, he gave a mischievous smile as if he had been waiting.

“Why did you stop crying?”

Eden, who was firmly stepping on the zombie’s back, asked with his head tilted to one side.