Magic on the Dead Chapter 5

“KYAAAAAAK—!!!!”

Kim Cheolhee, who had become a zombie, was ramming the carriage with even greater force than before, as if he was getting irritated that things were not going his way.

Crack, craaack. The side of the carriage, made of cheap acrylic panels, began to shake. It was obvious that it would break at this rate. But there was no escape route to be seen anywhere. It was because the carriage’s entrance had been made on only one side to save on production costs.

“Heeup…. I should have… listened… sheesh….”

The problem was that he had dismissed Miso’s words when she had suggested adding more functions to the carriage for a more dramatic effect.

Hajin fought back the unseemly tears that were about to burst forth and hugged the teddy bear tightly, using it as a shield. A single tear clung to the corner of his eye, which was peeking out from behind the doll. It was a physiological phenomenon brought on by extreme fear.

Hajin surrendered his entire body to the shaking carriage and closed his eyes. The grotesque screams of people sounded distant, like an auditory hallucination.

Has the world ended? And of all days… today?

If the magic show under his name were to fail, Hajin had thought it would all be due to his own lack of ability. Having his tricks exposed, his props breaking, and the audience booing were all things that could happen at any time.

But the end of the world had nothing to do with a magician’s qualifications. The first solo magic show he had longed for and prepared for so long had come to a futile end before it even properly began. If he could have his way, he felt like screaming at the top of his lungs, asking what on earth he had done wrong.

“KAAAAAK—!”

The carriage shook violently, KUNG!

“Hu-oh!! Fuck, pleeease….”

But what was important right now was not the success or failure of his magic show. Whatever happened, he wanted to live. It was unfair, but he had to live… somehow live and again….

WHAM! Another strong impact struck the carriage. Perhaps the carriage had finally tipped over, as his body flipped over with a cracking sound. Hajin, who had let go of the doll, flailed his arms. His back hit the floor hard. It hurt so much that he could not even make a sound.

At the same time, he felt an unexpectedly strong force grab him tightly by the collar. Hajin’s body was roughly dragged up into the air. As his neck was squeezed, his breath was naturally cut off.

“Get a grip.”

At that moment, a deep, low-pitched voice shook his eardrums. Hajin, who opened his eyes in surprise, found his vision filled with a strange man covered in blood. The man was tilting his head, thoroughly scanning Hajin’s frozen face.

After checking the color of Hajin’s pupils, the man finally straightened his bent upper body.

“Keut…! Who…!”

Hajin, flustered, tightly gripped the wrist of the man who was holding his collar. An immense force pulled Hajin’s body out of the carriage.

“You’re the show host, so you guide….”

The man, who had stopped mid-sentence, spotted a zombie rushing from a diagonal direction and halted his steps. He pushed Hajin behind him and forcefully shoved the stick he was holding in his left hand into the zombie’s mouth.

Kim Cheolhee, no, the zombie, rolled its milky-white eyes back and slumped to the floor. The man stomped on the zombie’s chest with his foot to hold it in place so he could pull out the stick he had shoved into its mouth. Hajin’s face was colored with horror at the man’s clean, efficient actions.

The stick in his hand was the brown magic wand that Hajin had dropped earlier. It seemed he had intentionally broken the end, as the wand was sharply cut. Blood dripped from the end of the stick.

Hajin blinked his dazed eyes and stared at the man’s broad back. A part of the white dress shirt he was wearing was soaked in bright red blood.

The man who turned around reached his hand out to Hajin. Then, he naturally pulled Hajin’s collar closer and quietly barked at him.

“A place to hide inside.”

“Ye, eh?”

“A secret passage, or at the very least, a warehouse. There must be one, mustn’t there.”

Ah. Only then did Hajin understand the man’s intention and nod his head frantically.

“There, there is! There’s a warehouse, a basement warehouse, the one our team was assigned…!”

“Direction of travel?”

“The stairs on the stage left side… le, left. In that direction right now!”

“Good.”

The man ran toward the stage left side, fending off the approaching zombies without difficulty. Hajin had to move his feet as if he were being dragged along almost by force. The destination was a corner covered by a red velvet curtain. It was when Hajin was once again aghast, watching the man run fearlessly.

“Heok.”

As the curtain was drawn, an unexpected scene unfolded. There, a pile of less than ten corpses was stacked on top of each other like a sandwich. A nauseating smell of blood filled the air.

Could it be that he… killed all these monsters? While Hajin’s pupils fluttered like a light flag, his collar was yanked again.

The place where they stopped was in front of a black iron box that had been prepared for a teleportation magic trick. As the grip on his collar was released, Hajin coughed out the breath he had been holding.

He touched his reddened, swollen neck and looked around. In the small space enclosed by the curtain, there were the man, the pile of corpses, and two magic boxes.

“We’ll clear the way, so get a grip and guide us to the warehouse location properly.”

We? What does that mean? Are there more in his group?

Hajin’s gaze, which had been blankly staring at the man’s disheveled bangs, eventually moved downward. KUNG! KUNG! A loud noise was coming from inside the rectangular box, which could barely fit two adults.

The man undid the butterfly-shaped metal latch without difficulty. From inside the box that swung open, a child and a man wearing glasses popped out like springs.

“Heo-eong, unc-cle….”

The little girl spread her arms, on the verge of tears. The man, holding the child in his arms, opened the door of another magic box placed next to it. Then, this time, a foreigner with curly brown hair popped out from inside the box.

Hajin remembered the foreigner’s face without difficulty. It was that audience member from row A, seat 23, who had been looking around with a flustered expression, arms crossed.

The people, as if by agreement, all kept their mouths shut and breathed out through their noses. The grating howls of the zombies continued from outside the narrowly enclosed space of the velvet curtain. As they checked each other’s faces and exchanged glances, a scream for help erupted from somewhere.

“Uncle….”

“Shh.”

Eden, who soothed the crying child, beckoned to Jeffrey, Park Chunbeom, and Hajin with a hand signal. Hajin approached him, rubbing his left chest as if to calm his painfully pounding heart.

“Is the warehouse door open? For sure.”

Eden whispered softly. Hajin nodded and wiped his forehead, where sweat was pouring down like rain, with the back of his hand.

“Yes. It’s a shared warehouse, so we left it open. It shouldn’t… have been closed.”

“A way to get out of the building itself from there.”

Hajin did not even notice that the man he was meeting for the first time had been speaking to him in a mix of formal and informal language since earlier. His vision was still hazy, as if he were dreaming.

“There is. Follow the straight hallway, and wh, when you go, there’s an emergency staircase on the right. If you go up there, it’s the back door right away.”

Eden nodded and turned to the others to summarize the situation.

“First, let’s make the warehouse our destination.”

“Excuse me, Director Jeong?”

Park Chunbeom, who had been listening silently, raised his hand.

“In, in that case, how about we go straight outside?”

He asked, pushing up his glasses, one lens of which was shattered.

“I don’t think the outside will be any better.”

Eden took out the phone from his pocket and checked the messages again. There, a series of messages from Hugo had come in.

Hugo: Eden, I’m coordinating the exact time and location to send the transport plane.

Hugo: Call me as soon as you see this.

Hugo: Why is there no contact, you’re making me anxious? Stay somewhere safe for now.

Eden, who skimmed the additional messages with his eyes, placed the child in Hajin’s arms. Hajin, who received the child unexpectedly, blinked his eyes.

“Don’t drop the kid, hold onto her.”

The man ordered calmly, like a trained machine.

“I’ll take the lead, so Jeffrey, you take the rear. Assistant Manager Park, you stick next to this person and watch the situation.”

Hajin, who noticed the man’s plan, urgently looked around. Magic props that could be used as weapons began to pop into his head unexpectedly. The fake blade and the real blade he had brought to show a simple cutting magic trick, and the hammer he had used to secure the carriage wheels, should be somewhere around here.

“Wa, wait a moment.”

Hajin knelt down, placing the quietly crying child on the floor. He squinted his eyes in the dark and fumbled his hand along the fluorescent tape marked on the floor.

‘Here it is.’

When he pulled up the small protruding iron handle, the floor door opened. A space barely large enough for a child to enter was revealed. It was filled with magic props sorted according to their use.

He quickly took out the props that could be used as weapons. A blade with a rather sharp edge, a hammer that was not too heavy, and ropes came out one after another. The men, who had followed his lead, each picked up a weapon. Hajin, after a moment of hesitation, stood in front of Eden with a thick magic rope.

“What is this?”

“So you don’t get bitten. I’ll just wrap it around your arms, your arms.”

Before the man’s permission was even given, Hajin grabbed his wrist with trembling hands. It was a rope intended for an escape trick, so the fibers were quite soft. At this rate, his skin would not get chafed. Hajin, who had quickly twisted and wrapped the rope around the man’s forearms, cut the rope with a sharp blade.

Then, as if they had been waiting, Jeffrey and Park Chunbeom scurried over to Hajin’s side. Hajin silently tied the ropes, biting his trembling lips.