Magic on the Dead Chapter 17

Eden, who had been meeting his gaze, was the first to lower his head. After finishing rinsing his mouth, he tapped the disposable toothbrush he had used. Only then did Hajin spot another pink toothbrush stuck in an ivory-colored plastic cup behind the man’s broad shoulders.

“Chattering on and on since earlier…”

Eden pointedly placed the used disposable toothbrush next to Hajin’s.

“Is this your preference? Next time, shall I brush my teeth with Mr. Do Hajin’s?”

As he turned his body to ask, a flustered Hajin’s mouth fell open.

“I- If you had just answered my question earlier, I wouldn’t have misunderstood!”

“I don’t have a hobby of chatting while brushing my teeth.”

The man smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth. Hajin, who had been blankly tracing the dimple that formed next to his right cheek, let out a hollow breath.

Eden, with his laundry draped over his arm, walked past Hajin and opened the bathroom door. Click. Before the door closed, Hajin found himself calling out to him.

“Mr. Jung Taegeon, …are you perhaps of mixed race?”

A short silence followed. Eden, with his body halfway out of the bathroom, turned back and asked.

“What?”

He tilted his head as if he had misheard.

Ah, what did I just say. Hajin shook his head from side to side to erase the afterimage of the grotesque branch that had been hanging between the man’s legs.

“…Never mind. Please forget you heard it.”

Eden gave a short laugh, rummaged through his washed clothes, and pulled out a handkerchief. It was the one Hajin had given him from the storage room.

“I used this well. I washed it clean, so I’ll dry it and give it back to you.”

The bathroom door closed immediately. Hajin, whose eyelashes were fluttering like a broken baby doll’s, whipped his head around. His own reflection, flushed crimson from his face to his chest, was captured in the mirror.

🃏

Hajin sat on the floor, stroking the damp hair of Byul, who was nestled snugly in his lap. To his sides were Eden and Miso, and behind him, Jeffry and Park Chunbeom were perched on the bed. Everyone was staring with firmly shut mouths at the breaking news report playing on the TV.

【URGENT BREAKING NEWS】

DEFCON 1 Issued. Military Deployed and Strong Response Announced.

The news anchor in the studio had been repeating the same words for the past ten minutes.

—The Ministry of National Defense and the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters have raised the alert level from DEFCON 2 to DEFCON 1, effective 9:15 AM on the 28th, as the unprecedented riot situation has spread from the metropolitan area to the southern provinces.

—We ask that all citizens remain in safe locations as much as possible and follow the instructions of the Ministry of National Defense. We also request your cooperation in allowing children and the elderly to evacuate first.

—Next, we will provide guidance on the code of conduct issued by the Ministry of National Defense. Please keep a radio-capable device with you at all times, and after going out, thoroughly sanitize your hands…

“Is this it?”

Miso frowned, looking at the male anchor who was repeating the same words like a parrot. Sighs erupted from all around. It was a morning they had barely reached after struggling to survive through the night. Dark shadows were cast over everyone’s faces.

“Are they just lumping the fact that dead bodies are up and moving around into… a ‘riot’? Is that what I’m understanding?”

She hadn’t expected them to immediately reveal the detailed identity of the freaks, but no matter how she thought about it, the information itself was too flimsy and poor.

“I knew it when the disaster text alerts didn’t even come. They… they can’t control this.”

A small screen appeared next to the anchor. Red dots were scattered across a map of the Korean peninsula, which was cut off at the waist. As expected, the zombie situation seemed to be spreading nationwide. Miso grabbed her disheveled hair and closed her eyes.

“What’s DEFCON 1, Uncle?”

Byul, who had been fiddling with her hands on Hajin’s lap, turned her head toward Eden. Eden, who had been watching the screen with a serious expression, opened his mouth.

“Want me to be honest?”

“Ung.”

“Is it okay to use a curse word to express it?”

“That’s not okay.”

Eden, who was about to say, It means we’re fucked, rolled his tongue inside his cheek. While he was carefully choosing his words, Hajin spoke first.

“DEFCON is, um, a way of saying to be careful on a national level. Our country is in a state of truce, so it was originally at level 4, and level 1 is… you can think of it as a warning alert usually used in a wartime situation.”

Byul, who had been listening calmly to the explanation, rolled her big eyes.

“The TV said it’s level 1. So are we all going to die?”

At the pure and unfiltered question, he was momentarily at a loss for words. As Hajin hesitated and looked at Eden, Eden shot him a sneer.

“Who do you take after to be so good at saying such unlucky things…”

“Who do you think, I take after you, Uncle!”

Jungbyul pointed a finger at Eden, who still had a scornful smile on his face.

On the news, absurd guidance on courses of action continued to flow. A sudden wave of fatigue washed over them. In case another urgent bulletin came in, they couldn’t carelessly change the channel or turn it off. Hajin picked up the remote and turned the TV volume down as low as it would go.

The motel room was once again enveloped in silence. Grrrrowl. Breaking the silence, the sound of a stomach rumbling came from somewhere. Miso turned her head to find the culprit. Jeffry scratched his face, looking embarrassed, and chuckled sheepishly.

“Stomach, hurt.”

“You’re in pain? Where does it hurt? Shouldn’t you go to the bathroom right away… Ah! Or do you perhaps mean you’re hungry? Jeffry, are you hungry?”

As Miso asked worriedly, the back of Jeffry’s neck turned bright red. Eden, who was watching, tapped Hajin on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry, but could you share some food?”

It was something he had braced himself for, having brought them this far. Of course, he hadn’t at all expected this situation where Eden would be wearing the youngest assistant’s clothes.

Hajin glared fiercely at Eden, who had taken and worn clothes that clearly had an owner, without even asking for his permission.

“Of course I can share, but I’ll have to think about it for Mr. Jung Taegeon.”

“Why.”

“Just because I’m annoyed.”

At Hajin’s remark, Park Chunbeom, Jeffry, and Miso’s eyes all widened in surprise. Jung Taegeon himself, the person in question, just shrugged as if it were nothing.

“I’ll pay you back for your friend’s clothes later.”

Thanks to Eden thoughtlessly grabbing from the youngest assistant’s luggage, Hajin had just had a heated argument with him. If Eden had asked politely, he would have of course given him his own clothes without hesitation, but rummaging through someone else’s belongings was, no matter how he thought about it, an act that was out of line.

“Yes. Wash them clean and pay me back.”

Hajin found himself being sarcastic. No, perhaps he was pouring out his feelings of despair onto Eden. It was because Eden’s actions, which seemed to confirm that the assistants would not be returning to the motel, made him think of many things.

Annoyingly, the black round-neck t-shirt of the rather large-bodied assistant fit Eden’s physique perfectly.

Miso nudged Hajin in the side and whispered.

“Hey, why have you been bickering with that guy since earlier?”

Instead of answering, Hajin handed Jungbyul over to Miso and got up from his seat. He trudged over to the box and took out a bag of potato chips and two chocolate bars.

“For now, let’s make do with this for today’s brunch.”

🃏

Keeeeok… Krrrrreung….

3 PM. Park Chunbeom and Jeffry were fast asleep, snoring combatively. Miso and Jungbyul, who hadn’t slept properly due to the commotion of the previous night, had also returned to the next room to rest.

The room was completely dark due to the blackout curtains being drawn to avoid the zombies’ eyes. Only a small, warm-white light above the TV faintly illuminated the room.

Hajin leaned his back against the door connecting to the next room and fiddled with his fingers. The 52 cards in his hand moved ceaselessly, arranging themselves into a fan shape. He was engrossed in meticulously deconstructing the cards, as if lost in his own world.

Eden sat alone on the single bed, watching Hajin. Watching Hajin’s hands move under the light naturally reminded him of him standing on stage yesterday afternoon. The Do Hajin from then, who had been trembling severely, and the Do Hajin of now looked like completely different people.

His hands moved within a defined space as if performing mime, his thumb and index finger sticking together and separating like clay. Hajin’s hand movements were as precise as if he were sculpting each movement of the cards. Eden watched the endlessly breaking and reborn cards with a distant gaze. A static yet flamboyant spread continued.

Hajin, who had been warming up his hands, spread the cards on the magic pad and recited their order with his plump lips.

Eden counted the seconds. 1 second, 2 seconds… 13 seconds… 21 seconds. Hajin lifted his head in exactly 23 seconds.

Has he memorized them all?

“Mr. Jung Taegeon.”

It was an impossibly short amount of time for that.

“Your next destination, are you still thinking about it?”

Instead of answering, Eden stared intently at the order of the cards Hajin had spread out. Nine of hearts and ace of spades, seven of clubs… There was no way he could have memorized all 52 cards, with their various suits and numbers, in that short moment.

Hajin called out again to Eden, who was blankly staring at his cards.

“Mr. Jung Taegeon?”

Only then did Eden lift his chin and nod his head perfunctorily.

“Yes. I’m still thinking.”

Hajin’s eyes narrowed for a moment. As if trying to determine the truth, Hajin let out a strange nasal sound, hmmm, and turned his gaze to the floor.

He swept his hand across the thickly cushioned magic pad and gathered the cards in one go. A mark was left on the velvet pad where his short nails had scraped it.

Eden, who was watching, tossed out a blunt remark.

“Are you bored right now?”

Hajin flipped the cards over and placed them on the floor, then looked up with an incredulous expression and asked back.

“…What did you say?”