Magic on the Dead Chapter 14

What kind of madness was this, jumping into an inferno to save a man who had coldly refused my request, a man whose very survival was uncertain? How I wished I could be as cold as Jung Taegeon.

As I gasped for breath, the hospital, engulfed in black smoke, came into view again. And on the road surrounding it, a massive horde of….

For a moment, the strength drained from the sole of Hajin’s foot, which was pressing the accelerator. Even at a glance, a considerable number of zombies were rushing toward the hospital from far away. The explosion and the flashing flames seemed to have caught their attention all at once.

“Hey, Miso. This is not it.”

It was then, just as Hajin, who had abruptly changed his mind, was about to turn the wheel again.

“It’s Byul!!”

Miso shouted, hastily unbuckling her seatbelt. Startled, Hajin stared straight ahead. Sure enough, familiar figures were dashing out from the building that was on the verge of collapse.

“They got out over there!”

Miso, sitting in the seat by the door, waved her hand at Hajin.

“Do Hajin, I’m going to open the door now, so pull up to the right lane!!”

There was no time to rationally assess the situation and think. Hajin did as Miso said and swerved sharply. Miso, who had first lowered the window, shouted outside.

“Get in here—!! Get in this car!!”

Jeffry, who had been panicking, spotted Miso and his eyes widened. He hugged Byul and started running toward the car with Park Chun-beom.

The moment Miso opened the door in perfect timing, a zombie with one arm torn off suddenly thrust its face in.

“Aargh! You bastard, get lost!!”

“Keok!”

Behind the zombie that was knocked back by a kick to the jaw from Miso, the rest of the group came into view. Hajin slowed down.

Miso quickly moved back. Jeffry, holding Byul, jumped inside the open door, followed by a tear-streaked Park Chun-beom who boarded the vehicle.

“The door! The door!!”

Someone shouted. The stiff, wide-open sliding door slammed shut with a KUREUNG! sound. It was a moment where life and death had been separated by a single second. Ragged gasps filled the cramped space.

“Huu-eong, Uncle Taegeon…!!”

Starting with Byul’s cry, Jeffry burst out with curses.

“Fuck—!! Shit!”

Hajin looked around, flustered. Even as he frantically turned the steering wheel, he couldn’t see Jung Taegeon. Don’t tell me he’s dead? The man’s face, wiping his blood-stained cheek with those sharp eyes, wandered through his mind. For some reason, he couldn’t believe it.

Miso calmly soothed the wailing group and patted Hajin’s shoulder.

“Hajin, let’s go back. We really have to go now.”

The zombie horde was gradually closing in on the building and the car. Hajin, chewing on his lip, turned his head. At the same time, someone shot out from the entrance of the black hospital building as if thrown.

Spotting Eden in his peripheral vision, Hajin’s eyes flew open. Before he could even open his mouth to say anything, Park Chun-beom, who had been sobbing and panting, pressed himself against the window and shouted.

“D-Director Jeong is out!”

Hajin quickly put his foot on the brake pedal. In the distance, he could see the man emerging, clutching the area around his ribs. Covered in blood and barely walking, his condition was terrible.

‘Crazy. He wasn’t bitten, was he?’

While Hajin circled in place, not knowing what to do, a scowling Eden lifted his head. They weren’t close enough for it, but it felt as if their eyes met.

“Uncle! Hu-eong—!”

The child, pressed against the window with Park Chun-beom, cried out. Oh, to hell with it. Hajin wrenched the steering wheel. Just then, two zombies were lunging at the man.

“Everyone buckle up and sit down!”

There was no time to weigh the options. Hajin left the road and rolled the tires onto the sidewalk. A collision was imminent. The moment everyone scrambled to find their seats, KUUUNG!! A heavy crash slammed into the front windshield. The two zombies that were sent flying were run over by the front tires at the same time.

Hajin hurriedly unbuckled his belt. Leaning over to the passenger side, he reached out and opened the door.

“Mr. Jung Taegeon, over here!!”

Eden threw himself into the open door as if flying. A blast of hot air rushed in. The moment he landed, an old zombie in a patient gown clung to the passenger door.

“Kyageugeugak!”

Hajin, who had quickly returned to the driver’s seat, changed gears. As the vehicle shot backward without hesitation, the clinging zombie was thrown off with a sound like a pig being slaughtered.

Eden hooked his right arm through the seatbelt and leaned out to grab the open door. Hajin changed gears and put his foot back on the accelerator. THUD! The passenger door slammed shut.

A high-pitched ringing— Piiii— sounded in his ears. Hajin held his breath for a moment. The inside of his ears felt clogged. Even so, he swerved the wheel to avoid the charging horde of zombies, pressed down on the accelerator, and didn’t let his gaze stray for even a second.

Crying,

Cursing,

Shouting,

Relief,

Ragged breaths….

If they had been a minute, no, a second later, they might have been helplessly swallowed by the zombie horde and sent to the afterlife. Hajin ignored all the noise that was numbing his ears and let out the breath he had been holding. The car had been handled so roughly that it seemed a smell of burning rubber was rising from somewhere.

“Huu-eoooong! Unnncle! Why did you take so long!!”

【Fuck, Eden, you son of a bitch! Were you trying to get yourself killed?! Huh?】

“Everyone? It’s okay, it’s okay, everyone calm down. We’re lucky to be alive, right? Okay?”

“Thank you, hic…! If it weren’t for you, Miso, and the magician, we would have been completely trapped….”

The noise was incessant. Hajin, letting out a ragged breath, glanced to his side. As if he couldn’t even hear the curses being hurled at him, Eden had his head bowed, clutching his forehead. He seemed to be in a state of panic, yet at the same time, it looked like he was cunningly turning something over in his head.

Because of the huge commotion, a swarm of zombies was now rushing like bees toward the direction they had intended to escape. In the end, Hajin turned onto a new road, not the one they came from. The cracked and blood-splattered windshield made it difficult to see.

“This is driving me crazy.”

Long-distance driving was out of the question. They had to hide somewhere safe first. The only place that came to mind right now was the three-star motel where he and Miso’s crew had stayed.

What am I going to do with these people?

“Excuse me.”

Hajin called out to the man. There was no reply. The man’s neck and earlobes were splattered with blood. Fortunately, it didn’t look like he had been bitten or sustained any major wounds.

“Excuse me, Mr. Jung Taegeon.”

“…….”

“Are you okay?”

Still, he gave no response.

On impulse, Hajin reached out and grabbed a fistful of Eden’s collar. Then, he pulled the man’s damp clothes toward him.

Flinch. At the sudden grab, Eden’s bowed head slowly lifted. Through the sodden fabric, their warm body heat met.

As if he had been waiting, Hajin whispered.

“Get a grip.”

Eden’s eyes, now meeting his, twitched faintly. Hajin, having thrown back the very first words the man had said to him, gave a wicked smile. A strange sense of satisfaction welled up.

“…yo.”

At the belatedly added polite suffix, Eden’s brows finally furrowed in a deep frown.

🃏

The battered van had been wandering the cluttered roads for 30 minutes. The motel wasn’t far, but the path to it was the problem. Wide open doors, smashed trunks, ten-car pile-ups, vehicles parked sideways with skid marks….

This was already the tenth time he had changed direction thanks to an obstacle appearing whenever he tried to pick up speed. Confronting the faces of the charging corpses head-on was also an enormous ordeal.

Hajin was completely drained. The back of his neck, stiff with tension, ached. All he wanted was to get to a safe place, collapse, and lie down. Even so, an English listening test was constantly playing in his ear.

【You’re usually so smart and quick to assess situations, so why did you do that back there, huh? Eden, you could have really died if you made a mistake. You know that?】

【Just be quiet. I’m trying to sort out my thoughts.】

【You heartless bastard, can’t you see I’m worried about you right now?】

【I get it, so just knock it off.】

【Knock it off? Knock it off?】

“My head is ringing, you psycho.”

【Say it in English, you son of a bitch!】

Eden didn’t answer. Psycho, bastard, unlucky son of a bitch. After spitting out every curse imaginable in English, Jeffry clutched his forehead and shook his head.

From the conversation, Hajin could roughly guess the situation. Eden must have acted alone right before their escape, putting them in a dangerous situation.

Eden, pressing the bridge of his nose with a weary look, finally spoke.

“Where are we going right now? It feels like we’re just going around in circles.”

Took you long enough to ask. Hajin shot him a sidelong glance and changed direction again.

“Yes, yes. No need for thanks.”

Eden’s head, which had been facing forward, tilted to the side. After a moment of silence, he lowered his voice.

“Let’s talk slowly later.”

Hajin didn’t reply, just shrugged his shoulders. What’s so hard about that one phrase, “Thank you for saving me,” that he had to change the subject? Yesterday he had no problem saying thanks and sorry.

Just then, Hajin barely avoided a zombie crawling on the ground and let out a long sigh. Pooooh— Turning off the un-updated navigation, Hajin, after countless detours, finally entered a familiar alleyway.