Magic on the Dead Chapter 59

Eden laid out several thick hardwood branches he had collected on the move. He picked up one of the straight-grained sticks and tightly wrapped a rope around its middle section. The veins on the back of his hand bulged.

“What are you doing?”

Miso, who had trudged over, squatted down on her knees.

“I’m making weapons. The axes we have are too old.”

“You know how to do this too? Ah, right, you said you were former special forces.”

After splitting the top of the stick in half, Eden inserted a moderately sized stone into the gap. He skillfully tied the rope around the stone, above, below, and in the middle.

After making a few stone hammers, he made a mace-type club. It was a method of tying a light stone lengthwise to a thin branch.

“I was wondering why there was so much rope in the bag, you packed it to make weapons.”

Miso, as if she liked it, quickly took one of the clubs.

“Can I use this?”

“I made it to be used, so go ahead.”

“Yes!”

Eden stared blankly at Miso, who was cheerfully examining the club. It seemed like friends were friends, as her subtly cheerful side was quite similar to Do Hajin’s.

“Didn’t you have something to say.”

Eden asked suggestively as he tidied up the rope. Miso, who had been lightly swinging the club, had her eyes light up as if she’d just remembered something.

“Whatever it is, I think we should start moving soon. We’ve been here for three days already.”

“……”

“The rainy season in Korea is surprisingly long. It’ll last at least a week. It might be even longer if you count the on-and-off rain. I feel like if we wait until then, we’ll just be wasting time.”

Gone was her earlier cheerfulness, and Yoon Miso grumbled again with a defeated look on her face. In truth, it wasn’t just her; the entire group had been gloomy for days from not seeing the sun.

“Did you say your parents are in Yongun City?”

“No. They’re at the edge of Hwajeong City. You can think of it as the entrance to Yongun City. I know that Mr. Park Chunbeom’s parents are in that neighborhood too.”

After crossing Mount Jeongmang and passing through Nogwang City, it was immediately Hwajeong City, and then Yongun City. They still had a long way to go, but if they moved diligently, it would take less than a week to get to Hwajeong City. So Eden understood Yoon Miso’s and Park Chunbeom’s urging.

“Unnie!! Uncle!! The show is about to start!”

Just then, from a distance, Byeol ran toward Eden and Miso. The child, who had been quiet for days, exhausted from the long escape, had a rare look of excitement on her face.

“Ah, huwwy up!”

The two were dragged by Byeol’s hand and settled down near the entrance. Miso poked the side of Park Chunbeom, who was already sitting, and asked.

“What are we doing?”

“Mr. Hajin said he’d show us a magic show and to come here. I think he prepared it with Jeffrey and Byeol this time.”

“They’ve been huddled together whispering for the past couple of days, so it was for this?”

“Haha. I guess so.”

Upon closer inspection, Do Hajin, Jeffrey, and Jeong Byeol had all changed into black t-shirts. It was clear they had paid attention to their attire for the magic show. Eden let out a bland laugh because Do Hajin’s way of comforting the weary, while obvious, was also commendable.

Jeffrey, standing to Hajin’s left, clapped his hands, clap, clap, and puffed out his chest arrogantly. Then Jeong Byeol, standing to his right, also clapped her hands cutely, clap, clap.

【Alright, is everyone ready?】

“Awe you weady?!”

Hajin, who was looking fondly at the assistants he had placed on either side of him, drew everyone’s attention with his opening signature, a finger snap. Snap!

“Hello, everyone. I am the magician, Do Hajin, who will bring out your hidden romance and childlike innocence today. And these are our special guests, Jeffrey and Jeong Byeol. A round of applause, please—!”

Clap, clap, clap! Miso, who was used to hyping up the crowd, lifted the mood with cheers.

“Wow~ Jeffrey is ugly~ Jeong Byeol is cute~!”

Byeol giggled as if she was having fun.

In the meantime, Jeffrey took Hajin’s phone, which had only 5% battery left. His focused fingertips trembled as if he had prepared music.

When Hajin gave the signal, a majestic BGM finally began to play. It was the only music he had saved on his phone for a long time to use in a magic show he would one day hold. Miso, who understood the meaning, had a bright smile on her face.

The main theme of ///Mission: Impossible/// echoed through the cave. The loud sound of the pouring rain and the suspenseful melody created a rather nice harmony.

Dun! Dun! With each beat, cards shot up one by one from Hajin’s fingertips. He smugly gathered the cards, stacked them, and when he clapped his hands, the cards in his hand completely disappeared this time. Dun! No sooner had he opened his palm than a card popped out again.

Dun! The card in his right hand moved to his left, and the moved card somehow landed on Hajin’s lips. One card became two, and two cards became four.

Between the beats, in a gap of less than a second, Hajin continuously made cards disappear and reappear, building up the atmosphere. It wasn’t a card trick using psychological warfare, but a performance that captivated people’s hearts and souls solely through sleight of hand, showmanship, and directorial skill.

Jeong Byeol and Jeffrey, who were watching right beside him, were so surprised their mouths fell wide open. It was because it was unbelievable even seeing it up close.

As the tempo of the beat quickened, Hajin shook his hand toward the floor, spewing out a large number of cards. Shwarrrak— Everyone held their breath and watched the spectacular finale. The BGM didn’t stop.

After finishing the dazzling card show, Hajin signaled to Byeol with his eyes.

“Eung!”

Byeol, with a tense face, took a piece of paper from her overalls pocket. Her small hand tore the end of the paper, rrrip.

“Wook. It’s compwetewy town, wight? Did you check?”

Then, her small, clumsy hand covered the torn part. Wiggle, wiggle. Her hand moved a few times, and then the neatly reattached paper was revealed.

“Ta-da!”

It was the most basic of basic tricks, secretly reattaching a piece of paper that had been torn, leaving only the end intact.

“Ehey~ I think I know this one…”

Just then, Park Chunbeom’s mouth, who was about to cluelessly reveal the secret of the trick, was covered by Miso, thwack. Get a clue, will you? Under unspoken pressure, he laughed sheepishly.

“A round of applause, please—!”

At the right time, Hajin skillfully prompted a response. Clumsy applause erupted.

The BGM immediately cut off, and the surroundings became quiet. Next was Jeffrey’s performance. Jeffrey, nervous in the quieted atmosphere, swallowed hard. His clumsy hands stretched a rubber band here and there, but his expression hardened as if something wasn’t going as planned.

Just as the audience’s faces began to show concern at his anxious hand movements, the rubber band finally snapped back forcefully and struck Park Chunbeom’s forehead—thwack!

“Aack!!”

“Oh, shit!! Sorry, my bro!”

“Pfft!”

Hajin, who had been watching calmly, finally turned his head and burst out laughing.

Jeers poured out from all over. Miso cried out, asking if he had taken her hair tie without permission, and Park Chunbeom chided Jeffrey while rubbing his reddened forehead.

In the end, Miso, who had gotten excited, also stood up. As the saying goes, even a dog at a village school recites poetry after three years. As she briefly showed off a few magic tricks she had learned by watching Hajin all this time, the atmosphere became even more cheerful.

Eden was in the middle of that perfect, affectionate commotion. He slowly looked around.

It was a time when the despair and depression that occasionally visited them in their desolate reality were spreading to one another, and the stress that had accumulated bit by bit like stalactites had snowballed, pushing their pessimism to the extreme.

If this were a battlefield, it would have been a situation where one or two soldiers who had lost the will to live and were just waiting for their day to die would have emerged.

“Wow! Miso unnie is so good at magic!”

【No, if I do it again, I can do better!】

“Mr. Hajin, please teach me one too!”

But it was a strange thing. How could everyone be laughing even at a moment like this? Eden had never experienced a situation like this anywhere.

His gaze naturally turned to Hajin’s fingertips.

The magic that had once seemed just laughable was accomplishing something no one else could. It made his depression-ridden niece laugh, and at a time like this when the will to live was fading, it brought comfort and rest to everyone.

It was a talent that was fundamentally different from his own, which was to take the lead in making weapons and killing people. Do Hajin was a person who saved people.

“Everyone. I’ll finish up by giving you one gift.”

Hajin, who had settled the noisy room, presented his final trick. The tree peony, crushed by the raindrops, appeared in turn from behind Hajin’s ear, on top of his head, in his left hand, and from his back pocket. The flowers were handed out to the audience one by one.

Finally, he stood in front of Eden and held out a flower. Eden reached out to take the flower. Their fingertips brushed, and their eyes met.

In that moment, a sharp pain shot through his chest, as if something had been stabbed into it. An inexplicable, intense sense of wonder. An abnormally soaring heart rate began to heat up his body temperature, and Eden’s expression hardened.

“……”

Before he could even ponder that subtle inner change, Leo’s voice suddenly rang in his ears.

‘Eden, when it rains in the desert….’

When it rains….

Rain….

Ah, a low exclamation escaped him.

Hajin looked questioningly at Eden’s rapidly changing expression.

“Mr. Jung Taegeon?”

“…It was the rain.”

“Excuse me?”

“Dammit, the rain was their weakness.”

Eden, who had quickly stood up, turned to the group and continued.

“Everyone pack your things. Let’s move in an hour.”

A look of bewilderment spread across everyone’s faces at the sudden order to move.

【What? What’s going on all of a sudden?】

“Uncle, what’s wwong?”

“Mr. Jung Taegeon?”

May 27th, when the zombie outbreak began. June 8th, when they stayed at the rest stop, were all rainy days. And now, as the rainy season poured down, the zombies had completely vanished.

Eden turned his head toward Hajin, who was standing awkwardly.

“The moments when the zombies disappeared.”

“……”

“It was always raining.”

Hajin’s mouth fell half-open with a confused look. The sentences that entered his ears were not easily interpreted.

So, when the zombies disappear, it rains…?

He slowly blinked his dense eyelashes, reassembling the sentence whose cause and effect were skewed.

Zombies and rain.

Rain and zombies.

When the zombies disappear, it rains.

No, that’s not it….

‘When it rains, the zombies disappear.’

It’s the other way around.

A low exclamation escaped Hajin’s lips as well. As Jung Taegeon had said, it had always been raining at the moments when the zombies disappeared.

“…No way…. The rain… was their weakness?”

At the bewildered question, everyone fell silent for a moment. Breaking the silence, Eden answered as if with a sneer.

“That’s right.”

“……”

“The answer was staring us in the face, but we missed it like idiots.”