Magic on the Dead Chapter 28

“Block the door!!”

“Stop letting people in!!!”

“Everyone, lower your voices, or we’ll attract those zombie bastards!”

The first thing visible was the inside of a warehouse with boxes scattered around, followed by the sight of the mart beyond a torn-off door.

Through the ripped-off door, people shouting frantically and toppled daily necessity shelves appeared as if framed in a picture.

“Holy… shit…”

A low curse escaped Jeffrey’s lips.

This place was another hell on earth. People, as if possessed, were shoving each other recklessly, competitively stuffing items into their carts.

Momentarily flustered, Hajin quickly assessed the situation and turned to call the rest of the group. Waving vigorously toward the open field, the hidden group emerged.

This time, Eden took the lead and ran forward.

“Any problems?”

Hajin gestured with his chin toward the inside, as if to say check for yourself. Eden surveyed the mart filled with curses and screams, biting his lower lip as if realizing a mistake.

To make matters worse, shouts seemed to leak outside, as a few zombies began gathering toward the parking lot entrance.

“I’ll close the door.”

Miso, the last to rush in, pushed the group into the warehouse and slammed the door shut.

Thud! As the door closed, the people bustling inside the mart turned toward the warehouse in unison. Their hostile glares at the uninvited guests were formidable.

“Grab it, hurry up and grab it! Don’t pay attention to them, just grab it quick!”

A man roughly pushed his wife, causing a commotion. Hajin instinctively gripped his blood-stained pliers tightly in his fist.

After observing the situation, Eden stepped out of the warehouse. The group, entering the mart, couldn’t close their mouths at the more dire situation than expected.

Though not a large-scale mart, it was a mid-sized brand market with considerable floor space, but more than half of the many shelves were empty, in complete disarray.

At least twenty people were rampaging through the mart. They dragged carts, frantically sweeping water and food supplies into them. Fortunately, no zombies were in sight.

“What should we do? Should we split up to quickly find our assigned items?”

As Hajin asked, looking at the group, Park Chunbum pushed up his glasses with an anxious expression.

“Some of them are carrying kitchen knives. Isn’t that too dangerous? Maybe we should stick together…”

After some thought, Eden suggested moving in groups of three instead of pairs. Naturally, based on their order, Eden, Hajin, and Byeol formed one group, while Park Chunbum, Jeffrey, and Miso formed another.

“First, find bags to carry. If you find necessary items, don’t get greedy—just return here immediately. In dangerous situations, don’t hesitate to call your name and the nearest aisle number. If that’s not possible, kill if you have to.”

Hajin, listening intently in a tense state, widened his eyes at Eden’s words about killing without hesitation.

“Kill what? People?”

“Anything.”

…He’s joking, right… Hajin gave an awkward laugh and hugged Byeol.

At that moment, a man wielding a sashimi knife as long as his forearm quickly approached the group. A bald man with a flushed face, as if drunk, shouted loudly.

“Hey, you lot! I’m sure we locked the warehouse door, so how’d you get in!!”

Startled, Byeol tightly hugged Hajin’s neck, burying her face deeply. Hajin cautiously stepped back from the man threateningly swinging the knife.

Miso raised her eyebrows sharply, as if incredulous, while Jeffrey and Park Chunbum stared at the approaching man with hardened expressions.

“Are you the owner of this market?”

Eden stepped forward, addressing the unidentified bald man.

“What?!”

“I asked if you’re the owner here.”

“Fuck, what does that matter! Goddamn it, I locked the door, but these fucking vermin keep sneaking in one by one…”

The bald man stomped the floor in frustration.

Eden briefly scanned the man’s appearance. Judging by his polished look, he likely seized the mart early on and, instead of returning to his original home, was playing some petty king here.

Murmurs came from somewhere in the distance.

“Ugh, here we go again. Someone stop him.”

“By the way, where’s that police officer?”

“Don’t meddle, just leave it. We might get targeted if we interfere.”

As if this wasn’t the first time, middle-aged women huddled together shook their heads in dismay. Unfazed by the reactions, the bald man waved the sashimi knife in the air.

“Anyway, there’s nothing for you to take here, so get lost! Or hand over something useful if you’ve got it. Everyone here paid me something to get in, so don’t feel wronged. Hey, you! What’s in that bag?”

Eden, staring askance at the perpetually agitated man, quickly deduced the situation.

With people flooding the mart, food and necessities were running out, so in his impatience, he was likely extorting a toll with some absurd claim. Such farce was common even on battlefields.

The bald man, boasting a threatening build, thrust the sashimi knife toward Hajin. Hugging Byeol tighter, Hajin shook his head.

“There’s nothing.”

“Nothing, my ass! That thing on your shoulder, kid! It looks heavy as hell!”

Every sentence ended with a curse. As the man’s voice grew louder, so did the murmurs of those grabbing items.

Faced with a blade that seemed ready to stab at any moment, Hajin, holding Byeol, shrank back while debating whether to open the bag.

Since the bag only contained ropes, showing it while wrapping the man’s body with them didn’t seem like a bad idea. Having wrapped people’s bodies thousands of times for magic practice, he was confident in tying the man up.

But what about that sashimi knife?

While Hajin rapidly ran simulations in his head, a sharp sigh from Eden came from close by. Completely ignoring the bald man, Eden gestured to indicate directions.

“Let’s split up as assigned.”

Miso, as if waiting for the cue, grabbed Jeffrey and Park Chunbum’s shoulders.

“Huh, what? Who said you could move! Hey! You fearless bitch. You, the one with the ponytail. Stop right there!”

Who’s he calling a bitch? Hajin’s temper finally flared. But before he could act on his anger, Miso swiftly stepped forward and swung her messenger bag.

Clang!!

It happened in an instant. The bald man’s sashimi knife clattered to the floor.

As the knife skidded far away, a middle-aged man frantically grabbing frozen food fell on his backside in shock.

“Hey, Baldy. What did you just say?”

A low, menacing voice flowed from Miso’s lips. Hajin’s jaw dropped, sensing disaster. Meanwhile, Byeol, held in his arms, quickly slipped out and stood beside Eden.

Furious at losing his knife to an unexpected blow, the bald man raged wildly.

“You crazy bitch, you wanna die—ugh!”

Miso thrust her fist forward, landing a clean hit on his Adam’s apple. Unable to even squeak, the bald man clutched his throat and collapsed sideways with a thud. As he flailed on the floor, he muttered curses faintly.

“Ugh, I’ll kill you, you tiny bitch…”

Miso, approaching from behind, kicked the back of his neck like a soccer ball. She precisely targeted the vital spot at the base of his skull.

“Guh!”

It was a critical area that could be fatal if struck, but she swung her hands and feet without hesitation. The hulking man, unable to even beg for mercy, foamed at the mouth and collapsed on the floor.

Still not satisfied, Miso climbed onto the man.

“Did you shove a rag in your mouth, you bastard? Want me to crush your temple or burst your balls? Huh?”

Raising her clenched fist again, she struck the center of his forehead. Thwack!

The sound of a watermelon splitting made Hajin urgently grab Miso’s shoulder, realizing things had gone too far. At this rate, she might actually kill him. No, looking at the collapsed man’s state, he might already be dead.

He couldn’t let his friend become a murderer. Killing a zombie was one thing, but killing a living person was an entirely different matter.

Jeffrey and Park Chunbum’s mouths gaped open in shock. They seemed unable to believe Miso had taken down a man twice their size in less than a minute.

Even Eden, usually expressionless, raised the corner of his lips, as if finding the unexpected situation amusing. Only Hajin was frantically trying to stop Miso.

“Miso? Miso, if you keep this up, you might really kill him…”

“I think this bastard’s worse than a zombie. Doesn’t that mean it’s okay to kill him?”

“No, I mean, you’re not wrong, but killing a living person is murder…!”

“Ugh… you always stop me at the critical moment. So anticlimactic.”

Miso, reluctantly shaking off her hands, stood up. She then picked up her discarded messenger bag and slung it over her shoulder. Meanwhile, Hajin pulled out a rope and tightly bound the man’s body to prevent any trouble if he woke up.

The gathered crowd murmured among themselves, pointing at the collapsed man.

Eden nodded, seemingly satisfied with the neatly resolved situation without his intervention.

“Let’s split up now. Jungbyeol, come here.”

Jungbyeol, standing nearby, flashed wide eyes and gave Miso a double thumbs-up.

“Can’t I stay with Miso unnie? She’s super strong!”

Hajin, finishing tying the bald man’s limbs, quickly approached Eden’s side.

“Byeol, let’s stick with your uncles.”

Hajin grinned, and Byeol shrugged as if she had no choice.

“If I stick with uncle… Hajin uncle, are you gonna marry me?”

“Huh?”

Caught off guard by the unexpected remark, Hajin tilted his head. Instinctively, he glanced at Eden, but he merely walked steadily toward their destination without any reaction.