Magic on the Dead Chapter 131

Drip… Drip…. Hajin felt a drop of water fall from the tip of his chin and swallowed hard. After staring for a while at the glass door Eden had pushed open, he turned his stiff neck and gazed at his own reflection in the mirror.

His long, soaking wet hair hanging limp, his gauntly thin cheeks, and the nape of his neck, flushed red as if he had been drinking alcohol, came into view one by one.

While he desperately pressed down on his tightly closed thighs to control his arousal below, Pie was busy happily splashing and playing in the water.

“Pie, stop playing and come here. Hyung will wash you.”

Not having the confidence to show his already aroused body to Eden, nor the confidence to properly face him after leaving a scratch on his cheek, Hajin ultimately decided to buy a little more time using Pie as an excuse.

‘Perhaps being hit is your preference?’

Eden’s warning to follow him out echoed in his ears.

Even while lathering up Pie’s body, which smelled faintly of water, his gaze remained fixed on the glass door. When he saw a dark silhouette pass beyond the door, his throat felt inexplicably dry. Hajin took a mouthful from the gushing stream of water, desperately trying to quench his burning thirst.

“Why did you take so long to come out?”

With a towel placed on his wet hair, Eden was sitting on the wooden bench in front of the locker room, wearing only a pair of shorts. Hajin deliberately averted his gaze from him as he took his clothes out of his locker and got dressed.

“Did you not hear what I said earlier?”

Eden followed up with another question, but Hajin pretended not to know for the time being.

“What did you say?”

“I said I would hit you according to your preference. Take your clothes off again.”

At the heated command, Hajin momentarily lost his composure and stumbled while putting his leg into his shorts. If Pie, who was soaking wet and wagging his tail beside him, hadn’t supported his lower body, he would have surely fallen over long ago.

After barely regaining his balance, he lifted his reddened face and retorted.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Then are you saying you would rather just take a punch?”

“Yes. If you could just hit me once like a man….”

“That seems even more perverted.”

Eden made a face of disgust, treating Hajin like someone with an unusual sexual desire. He puffed out his cheek by rolling his tongue, then narrowed his eyes sharply.

“Well, anyway, I will do it my way. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t forgive you, so I’ll have to punish you properly.”

Though he spoke in a harsh tone, an undeniable hint of laughter was laced in his words.

Hajin pretended not to hear and straightened his clothes before kneeling in front of Pie. As he quickly dried the puppy’s fur with a towel, he felt a hot gaze on the back of his head.

“I will give you options.”

At the offer, whose meaning he could not deduce, he couldn’t hold back his curiosity and peeked at Eden with a sidelong glance.

“Number 1. Cut your hair first.”

For a moment, he thought he had misheard and tilted his head.

“Number 2. Have sex first.”

“…Pardon?”

“Personally, I’d like to recommend number 1. Since I plan to go all the way to penetration today, Mr. Do Hajin might get very tired.”

The sudden mention of cutting his hair and his nonchalant manner of announcing penetrative sex both felt completely unreal.

“Wh-Why are you suddenly cutting my hair?”

“You’re going to see Mr. Do Hajin’s younger brother, so you should go looking pretty.”

After saying that, Eden raised his sturdy, naked form and strode over to the mirror on the vanity. Then, he picked up the silver scissors he had found beforehand while Hajin was dawdling.

“Believe it or not, I was an unofficial barber, so you can trust me.”

He looked utterly suspicious as he hooked the handle of the sharp scissors on his index finger, twirled them around, and smiled handsomely. Hajin stared blankly at Eden’s smooth, cleanly shaven face before being snapped back to reality by Pie’s affectionate act of licking his cheek.

Eden tapped the corner of the rusty iron chair in front of the mirror and gestured with his chin as if to say, ‘come here’. Wiping the saliva from his cheek with the back of his hand, Hajin slowly got up.

“Sit here.”

Hajin awkwardly settled his hips onto the chair he was presented with. Their eyes met in the mirror. It seemed he had been casting a doubtful look without realizing it, because Eden pressed his index finger firmly against his narrowed brow.

“Ah.”

“Stop frowning. No matter how terrible my skills are, it’ll be much better than your current hair.”

“…Are you really a former barber? Do they have something like that in Delta Force?”

“It wasn’t an official title, but when we were out in the field for months, even the officers entrusted their hair to my hands.”

To think that the cold-blooded Eden would personally cut someone else’s hair. Hajin wore an expression as surprised as when he had heard that Eden liked the comedy genre. When he couldn’t easily shake his look of disbelief, Eden shrugged his shoulders as if to say he would show him directly.

Long fingers lightly swept across his warm nape.

“Mr. Do Hajin has a pretty neckline, so I think it would be better to cut the back short.”

The phrase “unofficial barber” didn’t seem to be an empty boast, as his form holding the scissors was anything but ordinary. Eden gave a short kiss on the crown of Hajin’s head and began to move his hands in earnest.

Snip, snip…. As the steady sound continued, his tense shoulders gradually relaxed. Only after confirming that his hair was being trimmed much more neatly than expected could Hajin let go of his tension, even if just a little.

The way he gently untangled the hair with a thin tail comb and thinned it out was surprisingly delicate. He couldn’t take his eyes off Eden’s focused face in the old mirror. Watching his lover seriously engaged in hairdressing made the tip of his nose tingle for no reason.

His gaze, which had been wandering over Eden’s face for a while, eventually moved to his sturdy forearms. Although he had clearly lost some weight compared to when they first met, Eden’s body still boasted a formidable frame and muscular build.

It was a physique that was simply admirable in a situation where he couldn’t even get proper protein.

‘This isn’t a dream, right?’

Hajin raised his gaze again to the scratch near Eden’s mouth. Having been looking for an opportunity for a while, he decided to offer a blush-inducing confession as a form of apology before it was too late.

“Mr. Jung Taegeon. I missed you too.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Eden’s head shot up with a flick.

“Suddenly?”

Their gazes clashed in the old, grimy mirror. Feeling awkward at the more indifferent-than-expected reaction, Hajin awkwardly raised the corners of his mouth.

“You were upset earlier, Mr. Jung Taegeon. You asked if I couldn’t have at least said I missed you, even if it was just empty words.”

“Aha.”

Seeming to think it was a forced compliment, Eden just shrugged his shoulders once and said nothing more. Spurred on by that nonchalant response, Hajin, who had looked away, once again cried out to him.

“I’m telling you, I really missed you?”

“I understand.”

“I’m serious.”

“Don’t move. You’ll get hurt.”

“…But it’s true.”

“I get it. I missed you too.”

Watching him smile affectionately as if placating a child, Hajin let out a hot breath. Only after he had repeatedly made confessions like a whining child several more times did Eden accept his heartfelt apology.

Snip, snip…. Every time strands of hair fell softly to the floor, Pie would press his nose to the ground and sniff. Staring blankly at the sight, Hajin savored the moment a neat finger brushed against his scalp and gently caressed his hair, and carefully asked.

“By the way, was Byeol okay? I feel like he must have been very anxious not being able to go with you, Mr. Jung Taegeon.”

“There were no signs of anxiety at all. If anything, he just nagged me to follow Mr. Do Hajin.”

“No way.”

“He’s my blood, so I know him well. Jung Byeol is a little bit crazy too.”

Eden held the hand with the tail comb near his temple and twirled his finger. At that mischievous gesture, Hajin frowned.

‘As if he could be crazier than you, who followed me all the way into this hellfire.’

Barely swallowing the rest of his thought, he sternly scolded Eden.

“Isn’t calling a baby ‘crazy’ a bit too much?”

“That’s me putting it mildly.”

Eden retorted without a smile. Even if he said it a hundred times, Do Hajin would never be able to imagine it. When watching Jung Byeol, he would sometimes get goosebumps as he was reminded of his own childhood self.

Recalling his nephew’s eyes, which shone brightly yet seemed slightly unhinged, Eden resumed the snipping he had paused. He asked lightly, like a skilled barber addressing a regular customer.

“Is this length okay?”

Hajin looked at his much neater reflection in the mirror and nodded his head vigorously. Eden picked up the dry towel he had thrown on the vanity and gently brushed the hair off his nape and face.

“If I had clippers, I could have trimmed the back even more cleanly, but I just trimmed the length as best as I could.”

“Thank you.”

While Hajin dried Pie’s body with the towel again, Eden stood in front of the mirror and trimmed his own hair. Each time the scissors snipped, Hajin’s gaze naturally rested on the handsome face that was handsomely revealed.

After finishing, Eden picked up a bottle of lotion. After examining the ingredients with meticulous care, he walked toward the break room and said.

“Well then, number 1 is finished, so let’s move on to number 2.”