Magic on the Dead Chapter 41

Realizing the situation belatedly, Hajin hurriedly pulled his body back.

“You could have just asked for it with words, why are you pulling at a person’s pants!”

Before he knew it, Eden was holding a portable radio, warm from Hajin’s body heat.

“Because I felt like it.”

At the absurd answer, a look of bewilderment flashed across Hajin’s face.

‘Is this bastard now… doing this on purpose?’

His gaze naturally shifted to Eden’s grotesque branch. As if he could not believe he was checking whether the man had an erection, Hajin slapped his own cheeks with both palms.

【What is it? What are you trying to check?】

Despite Jeffrey’s question, Eden simply looked at Hajin, who was making a fuss, and let out a small snort of laughter. As if he was so incredibly incensed, Do Hajin was busy fanning himself with his hand, muttering repeatedly like a senile old man.

【I stole a radio. I was thinking maybe there might be a command center we could connect to. Well, seeing as the police station was also a mess, it is not very hopeful, though.】

Eden, who had rolled down the driver’s side window, rested his arm on it. His gaze was careful as he examined the radio model from different angles.

The device in his hand was an industrial-safety TETRA radio, once a favorite of the Blueworx company. It was a model with excellent dustproof and waterproof functions and high battery efficiency, and it was not difficult to operate.

Slam! Eden flung the driver’s door open without hesitation and stepped out. Hajin and Jeffrey also followed him out of the car. Chunbeom, Miso, and Byeol poked their curious faces out from between the open rear passenger door.

Except for a few ownerless vehicles parked blankly, the road was quite deserted. It was a strange silence, as if all the noise in the world had evaporated.

When he pressed the radio’s power button, a light came on. The battery displayed on the screen was about two-thirds full, but since it would be useless beyond a line-of-sight range of 5km, this was their only chance.

【Are there any new messages?】

【It is password-protected, so I cannot check.】

【Okay. Let’s try cycling through the channels.】

In case of any unforeseen danger, Hajin was watching the situation intently, holding his hand axe up high. Eden pressed the push-to-talk button and brought his lips close to the bottom of the radio.

Beep—!

“Sangwon district. This is vehicle number 3.”

Beep—!

The other end of the radio was silent. Eden pressed the button once more and stated his affiliation.

“Sangwon district. This is vehicle number 3. Police officer Lee Changyeol from the Jungbu Police Station. Please respond.”

A surprised Hajin furrowed his brows and looked at Eden. It seemed he was the only one surprised by the suddenly mentioned name; Jeffrey, who was standing close by, and the others in the vehicle all had calm faces. Hajin swallowed the bitter aftertaste.

“Police officer Lee Changyeol from the Sangwon Jungbu Police Station. Please respond.”

Eden patiently cycled through the channels, repeating the same words. Over his shoulder, the sky was being colored by the light of twilight.

Hajin turned his body towards the vast rice paddies of unknown purpose. As if it had nothing to do with the world that had turned into a muddy mire, the minium (黃丹) colored sky still wore an indifferent and noble face.

【Looks like they are all really dead…?】

Looking at the unresponsive radio, Jeffrey clicked his tongue and scratched his fluffy brown hair. Eden, who had hoped to get some meaningful information, also wore a displeased expression as he rolled the useless radio in his hand.

“Let’s stop here for today. The sun is starting to set, so moving any further will be difficult. Everyone is tired, too.”

When Eden suggested a rest to the group who had poked their heads out of the car, a look of relief appeared on everyone’s faces, as if they had been secretly hoping for it.

Smashing zombie heads, running away, escaping from flames, and even getting the car out of the police station…. Without needing to describe it at length, it had been a sufficiently eventful day. Not only was their stamina depleted, but the emotional toll was also beyond words.

“Mr. Do Hajin, you have worked hard too. Let’s move and get some rest.”

A light pat landed on the back of Hajin, who was watching the setting sun.

“You too, Mr. Jung Taegeon.”

When Hajin responded unenthusiastically, Eden gave a light shrug and pulled the driver’s door open.

🃏

After searching for a suitable place, the car stopped on the shoulder of a secluded outer road. By the time they had smashed the heads of a few zombies roaming nearby, the sky had already turned a dark indigo color. The plan to build a fire and heat up solid soup to eat before it got dark ended up failing.

Instead, the energy bars Hajin had packed and Jeffrey’s beef jerky were chosen for dinner. Even though it was not filling, they were high-calorie products, so they were enough to help their tired bodies recover.

The group gathered in a circle in a pavilion in the middle of the rice paddies and even finished a simple wash-up with bottled water.

From somewhere, the mournful cry of an ownerless puppy could be heard. Hajin turned his head in the direction of the sound, scanning the surroundings. For some reason, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end and a chill ran through his body.

A night in a fringe city where even the traffic lights had lost their light, a night where light had completely vanished. It was the first time since his military days that he was camping out after the day had completely ended.

“But what if we get eaten by zombies while sleeping on the road like this? Or is that not it? We do not get eaten, we become zombies, right?”

Byeol, who was sitting on Eden’s lap and fiddling with her hands, whispered.

“If you get eaten completely, you die. If you only get a little bit eaten, you will become a zombie.”

“But I do not want to become a zombie….”

“If you do not want to become a zombie, then listen well. Do not cause any trouble.”

“You should be the one to listen well, uncle!”

“This will not do. I guess I will have to throw Jeong Byeol to the zombies as food tomorrow.”

Far from offering warm words of empathy and comfort, Eden was consistently busy picking fights or playing pranks on Byeol. Hajin pulled down the corners of his mouth as if to say that just listening to it was making him sick of it.

The people, who had been chattering away as their tension eased, began to lie down one by one with tired faces. It was quite a dangerous place to sleep since it was open on all sides, but there was no other choice. Byeol had already fallen asleep in Miso’s arms, and Jeffrey and Park Chunbeom had also conked out with their heads on their backpacks.

Eden, who had volunteered for the night watch, sat at the edge of the pavilion. Hajin also tried to get some sleep, but the accumulated fatigue paradoxically kept him awake. The time was just past 9:30 at night.

“Are Byeol’s parents in America?”

Eden turned his head at the voice that came suddenly. Hajin, sitting blankly at a diagonal from him, was looking his way.

“Are you not sleeping?”

“I am tired, but I cannot fall asleep. I will take the night watch, so you should get some sleep.”

“I am fine.”

“It is just that I do not think I have ever seen you sleep, Mr. Jung Taegeon.”

“I am not a man of steel; I will die too if I do not sleep. I have been sleeping just fine on my own.”

Even when he shows concern, he just has to be like that…. Shaking his head slightly, Hajin was about to pull his knees up and rest his head on them.

“Byeol’s parents are in America right now.”

A belated answer came back. Hajin’s head lifted again.

“Then did you bring only Byeol to Korea?”

“The little one was complaining about being homesick, so I brought her over for a little while.”

At Eden’s words, Hajin could finally understand the child’s usual behavior that he had found a little strange. Things like how she did not seem particularly worried about her parents’ well-being, and how she had expressed that she’missed’ his magic.

“Do you think America is okay?”

“If they succeeded in their initial defense, the situation probably is not as bad as in Korea.”

He added that they would have likely dropped bombs on the cities and blown everything away, whether it was zombies or people. Hajin nodded with a bitter expression.

Soon after, an unexpected mutter escaped from Eden’s mouth.

“I am regretting it. I should not have brought Jeong Byeol here.”

Hajin was flustered. It was because, for a moment, he had felt a sense of human compassion seeing him express regret. It seemed that even the overly rational Eden, while knowing it was not his fault, could not ignore his beloved niece’s suffering.

A hesitating Hajin turned his gaze to the sleeping Byeol’s face. Her brow was deeply furrowed, as if she were having a nightmare.

Instead of carelessly offering words of comfort, Hajin said the best thing he could.

“While we are together, I will help as much as I possibly can. So that Byeol can take more good memories with her than bad ones.”

At that, a playful voice lightly retorted.

“Even so, I do not think there is any’good memory’ that can overcome zombie trauma.”

“Have you forgotten? I am a magician.”

It was a rather cheerful answer. Eden, who was supporting his chin with his thumb and stroking the corner of his mouth with his index finger, let out a faint smile.