Magic on the Dead Chapter 34

“I’ve seen you a lot on TikTok. Wow… I think my heart is going to explode right now. Am I right? Magician Do Hajin, sir.”

Lee Changyeol, who had turned his head back to the front at some point, placed his right hand on his thick chest and kept spewing exclamations. Feeling awkward, Hajin gathered the cards he was holding and put them back into his pocket. He had never dreamed that he would meet someone who recognized him even in a situation like this.

“Ah, you’ve seen my videos… Thank you.”

“Could you possibly show me just one magic trick? The, the what was it, ACAAN? That one was the most amazing, how do you do it?”

Hajin flickered his eyebrows, looking troubled. It wasn’t surprising, as people who recognized him would occasionally ask for a magic trick out of the blue, but given the situation, it wasn’t a time to be laughing and telling stories.

Lee Changyeol’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Hajin, who was about to refuse without a second thought. If he refused, would he go back to looking dejected like before?

After a moment of thought, Hajin recalled a simple mental magic trick that didn’t require much effort. Most spectators found magic that read their minds to be the most fascinating, and it was a trick that had a high satisfaction rate after the performance. He could tell just by looking at how Jeffrey relentlessly asked about the secret of the crossed arms.

“Think of a color in your head. Take your time, think slowly within five seconds.”

“A color?”

Lee Changyeol caught up to Hajin’s quick steps and let his gaze wander into the air. Hajin counted down from five as if whispering. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….

“You’ve thought of one, right? On the count of three, let’s shout out the answer at the same time.”

Hajin’s and Lee Changyeol’s gazes locked in mid-air. One, two, three…!

“Blue.”

“Blue.”

When the same answer came out simultaneously, Lee Changyeol was startled and covered his mouth with the back of his hand. Suppressing his bursting excitement, he chattered excitedly as he went down the steep downhill path with Hajin.

“How did you know? How is this possible? They said you’re a sorcerer, not a magician, and it’s true. This is crazy….”

Hajin looked back at Lee Changyeol, who was delighted like a child over a simple trick, and let out a pleasant laugh. There was no reward as sweet and addictive as seeing someone overjoyed by his magic. This was also the reason he couldn’t let go of the path of a magician, which he had wanted to give up countless times.

“Magician-nim, can you guess other things besides colors? Please tell me how. Please?”

“That’s a secret.”

Hajin patted Lee Changyeol’s shoulder roughly, as if to say, don’t ask anymore.

In truth, the principle of the magic was simple. If you ask for a color without giving them time to think, they are likely to think of red, and conversely, if you give them enough time to think and then ask for a color, they tend to answer with blue.

Furthermore, people are bound to be influenced by the color of the clothes they are wearing. It was highly likely that the color blue had been imprinted on the brain of Lee Changyeol, who was wearing a bluish-green police uniform, without him even realizing it.

In that sense, mental magic was nothing short of an art form that fantastically combined the human subconscious and statistics.

Meanwhile, Eden, who had been silently walking behind them, was staring unpleasantly at Hajin’s puffed-up cheekbones. A kind of smile he had never seen before was blooming on his fair face. He was so dumbfounded that a dry laugh escaped him.

A sudden fan meeting, when they should be on high alert with their senses sharpened for a threat that could strike from anywhere at any time.

The perceptive Hajin noticed Eden’s sneer filled with ridicule and turned his head.

“Would you like to try too, Mr. Jung Taegeon?”

Eden rejected Hajin’s offer as cleanly as if slicing a radish with a sharp longsword.

“No, thank you. Go do your childish tricks somewhere else.”

…What? Childish tricks? Last time he called it sleight of hand, and now it’s childish tricks?

Hajin’s smiling face hardened quickly, like candle wax dropped into cold water.

After all the trouble of cutting a handkerchief in half and giving it to him, Eden was still trying to repay his kindness with contempt.

Hajin once again quickly scanned the surrounding risk factors, and only after determining that the situation was safe enough for a quarrel did he turn back to Eden.

“I’m a little offended by you calling it childish tricks.”

As Hajin pointedly hardened his eyes, Eden adjusted his hold on the limp body of Jeong Byeol nestled in his arms.

“If it’s not a trick, then what is it?”

“They are clearly different. Tricks cause harm to people, and magic brings them joy.”

Some people, like Eden, treated magicians as if they were on the same level as con artists, but in reality, there was no liar as honest as a magician. Because someone who boldly tells you they are going to deceive you is speaking a clear truth, not a lie.

Hajin narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Do you think the card magic I showed you last time was a trick too? You looked as if you’d seen actual magic.”

“…….”

“And magic is also my profession, so please show some respect. Since last time, you’ve been calling it sleight of hand, childish tricks… Do you know how insulting that is?”

Instead of listening intently, Eden was observing Hajin’s flushed face with interest. Hajin snapped at him one more time.

“How would you like it if I called you a black market arms dealer, Mr. Jung Taegeon?”

“Arms dealer is strictly correct. I’m not sure where the word black market came from, but that’s not a particularly insulting remark to me.”

At the answer that came back without hesitation, Hajin’s eyes, momentarily dumbfounded, grew even sharper.

‘He just can’t lose a single word, this emotionless, cold-blooded bastard….’

Hajin simply could not understand why, and always with Eden of all people, he ended up engaging in this kind of draining power struggle. Huffing and puffing, he whipped his head back to the front.

Eden watched Hajin’s reaction and curved his lips upwards, as if he found it ridiculous, or perhaps amusing. The dimple on his right cheek indented deeply.

Jeffrey, who was eavesdropping on their conversation from behind, tilted his head doubtfully as Eden’s dimple deepened.

‘What’s with that creepy smile.’

But when he blinked once, Eden’s lips were firm again, as if nothing had happened.

*

Just as the shade from the trees began to thin, an empty plaza was revealed. The exit was right in front of them. The group slowed down, stopped their chattering, and paid attention.

Chirp—Chir-chirp—Tweet—Tweet-tweet—!

The high, thin cry of a great tit grandly filled the silence of the park.

Unfitting for the clear bird song, a corpse with its brain eaten out was slumped over on a bench. At the gruesome sight teeming with maggots, Lee Changyeol, who was walking ahead, covered his nose with the back of his hand and turned his head away.

“Ugh!”

To avoid looking at the corpse, Hajin kept his head bowed low and pulled on Lee Changyeol’s shoulder. It meant to keep moving without stopping.

Unable to resist his curiosity, Park Chunbeom glanced at the corpse again and retched, vomiting stomach acid, while they soon arrived in front of the park exit.

“We’re here.”

The exit was adjacent to a road. Except for three vehicles that had crashed and come to a stop, the road was also quite clean.

The group exited with cautious steps and walked along the sidewalk. Before they had even walked a few steps, the Sangwon Medical Center that Lee Changyeol had mentioned came into view. They had to cross a wide parking lot, but there were more zombies than expected, shuffling around in patient gowns.

“What should we do? I don’t think we can handle it if they all rush us at once.”

Miso put a hand to her forehead as if things had become a headache. The group, which had stopped for a moment, stood behind a large, old tree and put their heads together.

“I think we need one person to be the bait.”

Hajin cautiously offered his opinion. At the word “bait,” Eden firmly shook his head.

“I will not tolerate gambling with lives.”

“It’s not a gamble, just a way to distract them for a moment. We’ll have to think of a method, but I could try…”

“Do you have two lives, Mr. Do Hajin?”

Eden gritted his teeth, his face turning cold. Feeling awkward at the stronger-than-expected opposition, Hajin scratched his philtrum for no reason. I mean, I’m the one who’s going to be the bait, so why is he making a bigger fuss….

“I don’t have two lives, but if there’s really no other way, we have to consider using bait.”

“I told you clearly that it’s not allowed.”

Eden turned his eyes away from Hajin as if it wasn’t even worth listening to anymore. Then, he even clenched his jaw tightly as if suppressing a sudden surge of anger.

What, what’s wrong with him? Hajin was puzzled by Eden’s sensitive reaction, then suddenly recalled the conversation they had on the motel rooftop that he had forgotten.

‘As long as we’ve decided to go together, from now on, Mr. Do Hajin’s life is my life, and my life is as good as Mr. Do Hajin’s life.’

When the resolute image of him from that time flashed through his mind, his mouth clamped shut like a clam. He had thought even back then that he probably wasn’t just saying it, but now that he was experiencing it firsthand, he found the temperature difference between Eden’s usual demeanor and that solemn conviction even harder to understand.

He normally shoots scathing remarks as if they were worse than strangers, yet he cherishes a comrade’s life as much as his own?

‘I think they used to call this sort of thing tsundere or something….’

Recalling the slang that had now faded into past glory, Hajin opened his mouth once again.

“Then, if we use something other than a person as bait, that would be okay, right?”

At his somewhat random remark, everyone turned to look at Hajin with puzzled faces. Hajin scratched his earlobe. For some reason, the back of his neck was gradually turning red.