Magic on the Dead Chapter 79

It was right after they had walked for four hours without a break since morning.

“Do you see Gwanghyeon Engineering over there? If we turn left from there, we’ll see NK Windows. From there, if we go straight, we’ll reach the Insan-Nogwang Expressway.”

Hajin whispered with his back pressed tightly against a wall. Eden, who was examining the direction he pointed, poured water into the bowl he had brought and placed it on the ground. As if it had been waiting, the military dog buried its nose in it and lapped up the water frantically.

Perhaps because of the recent rain, the humidity was quite high, and sweat dripped unpleasantly even when standing still. Eden, squinting his eyes at the sweltering weather, asked.

“When did you memorize the route? I remember that such detailed business names weren’t on the paper map.”

Having lost the map earlier and even the compass, it was a difficult situation to find their way. However, Hajin was heading toward their destination without hesitation, as if he had a map embedded in his eyes.

“I memorized it before we got out of Mr. Lee Changyeol’s car. There was a map on the navigation system, wasn’t there?”

At the casual reply, as if it were no big deal, Eden recalled the profile of Hajin adjusting the screen ratio of the navigation system for a long time.

Did he really memorize the entire route?

He thought he only had an excellent momentary memory, but it seemed even that was an underestimation. It was hard to find this level of memory even at Blue Works, where geniuses who were said to be the best of the best were gathered.

He, who had been watching Hajin quietly, let out a sigh mixed with admiration.

“I thought we’d get lost, but that was a needless worry. We got here quickly thanks to you, Mr. Do Hajin.”

“If you’re so grateful, could you please match your walking speed to mine? Like Jeffrey said, this isn’t walking, this is practically running.”

“Have you ever considered that your legs are just short?”

“Wow, my legs are quite long for my height, okay? It’s you, Mr. Jung Taegeon, who’s abnormally lanky. That’s ridiculous.”

Hajin gave a small reprimand as he glared resentfully at Eden’s face, where the right dimple had deepened.

The two diligently set off on their way again. On the streets, zombies in advanced stages of decay were crawling around, dragging their intestines that had spilled out from their abdomens. They weren’t threatening, but every time they encountered one, the military dog would try to bark loudly, “Woof woof!”, and they had to break a sweat calming it down.

Eden tried to train the dog with words and hand signals. The effects appeared immediately, not long after he started the repetitive training.

The military dog now, even when it spotted a zombie, would not bark but would reach a level where it only let out a low growl from its throat, “Grrr.” Not only that, but when a zombie was nearby, it would stop in its tracks, raise its tail stiffly, and bare its teeth. Thanks to the military dog’s signal, they were able to detect the presence of zombies one step ahead.

“Aww, you smart boy…!”

Hajin stroked the dog’s side as if he could die from its cuteness. Perhaps feeling good from the praise, the military dog ran with all its might to the other side of the road.

“Hey, hey, don’t waste your energy. We have to walk a lot, so you can’t get tired.”

Hajin gently rubbed the brown snout of the dog that had returned, panting again. It was a huge improvement compared to that morning when he was so awkward around the dog he didn’t know what to do.

Eden looked back at him, who had become friendly with the military dog in just one day, and shook his head as if he couldn’t be helped. The expressway was finally getting closer.

“Kkeu-eok…!”

“Kaaaak!”

Following the roars he heard, Eden lifted his chin and quickly scanned the surroundings. Three zombies that had climbed a transmission tower were stretching their necks down toward the ground as if they were about to jump at any moment.

One of them was making no sound and just stood quietly at the very top. Its opaque pupils, with no irises, were persistently following them.

Hajin, who happened to witness the same scene, shivered and lowered his voice.

“That zombie at the top. Why is it not crying and just staring at us?”

“…”

“…It just looks like a person, which gives me the creeps.”

“Ignore it and just walk while looking ahead.”

Eden forcefully turned Hajin’s head, who kept glancing back at the transmission tower.

The massive pillars of the expressway were right in front of them. As they reached their destination, the tension eased, and his shoulders ached with stiffness. The weight of the wrapping cloth on his back was considerable, so his walking speed gradually slowed down.

“Let’s rest for a moment.”

Eden suggested a break at a good time. They took shelter from the scorching sun in an opaque vinyl greenhouse. Hajin leaned his body behind some dusty farm equipment and fanned himself with his hand. The dog, also hot, was busy panting with its tongue hanging out.

Meanwhile, Eden rummaged through the greenhouse and found two pickaxes bent into a ‘ㄱ’ shape and a large amount of rope.

A dirt-covered pickaxe was held out in front of Hajin, who was wiping the sweat from his face.

“Throw away the kitchen knife you’re holding. The blade dulls or breaks easily, so it’s not very good.”

“Thanks.”

Hajin, who had received the new weapon, suddenly widened his eyes as if he had just remembered something.

“Come to think of it, we need to name him!”

“Do you have anything in mind?”

“Umm….”

His hum grew longer. They couldn’t keep calling him ‘Hey’ or ‘Military Dog’ forever, so they had to give him a name, but a suitable one didn’t come to mind. After thinking for a while, he poked Eden’s arm with his index finger and suggested.

“How about Ace of Spades? Or Five of Spades…?”

Eden, who was stuffing the rope into the wrapping cloth, was at a loss for words when the unexpected card name popped out. Hajin, undeterred, added an explanation.

“There’s a really famous mentalist named Banachek. He once conducted an experiment where he asked 80,000 people to ‘think of a card right now’. The Ace of Spades was one of the cards that came up the most. Doesn’t that mean it’s familiar and appealing?”

Eden, who had been listening quietly, held back a sigh that was about to burst out and asked.

“…I don’t quite understand, but what does the Ace of Spades you’re talking about have to do with him?”

“I’m saying he’s also familiar and instantly appealing, like the Ace of Spades.”

“…”

“Ah, and the Five of Spades doesn’t have any special meaning. It’s just my favorite card. The number 5 feels stable, and the spade shape is pretty.”

Hajin continued to chatter in an excited voice, like a happy child.

“It’s making me hesitate. Should we just go with Five of Spades? Hmm, the name is too long, so how about Pie for short?”

Pie, of all things. It was an abbreviation that didn’t bring the Five of Spades to mind at all, and it was a name that felt somewhat absurd. However, seeing Do Hajin, who was more excited than usual, he couldn’t bring himself to say that he should scrap that name.

‘Does he like it that much?’

Even though he had spent his whole life doing magic, Hajin wasn’t tired of it at all, and whenever a topic related to magic came up, he would get so excited that he couldn’t control the number of words he spoke.

Eden, letting out a sigh, petted the belly of the military dog lying on the ground. The innocent dog’s eyes sparkled like glass beads.

Hajin, taking the silence as agreement, called out the Doberman’s new name in delight.

“Hey punk, your name is Pie from now on. Got it?”

🃏

Two days passed. During that time, the two had made their way toward their destination resourcefully, finding lodging and food in a flat-tired SUV, a container under a bridge, and a gas station attached to a rest stop.

They would arrive in Hwajeong City tomorrow. If they held out for about ten more days like this, they would be at the entrance to Yongun City, and they would be able to reunite with the party they missed.

Fortunately, there had been no unfortunate incidents of dizzying zombie hordes swarming them since passing Misan Ranch. At this rate, he felt like the day he would meet his brother Junseok would come soon, and his heart kept fluttering. He was also maintaining a much friendlier relationship with Eden, who was prickly about everything.

Hajin moved his feet, which were covered in blisters.

Everything was going smoothly.

That is to say, it was going strangely smoothly.

Just as the excessive peace was beginning to make him feel uneasy, his steps came to a sudden halt.

“Grrr….”

Pie growled at the strangers they had suddenly encountered. In the distance, a small group of survivors had planted themselves in the middle of the road, watching Hajin and Eden walk toward them.

It had already been four weeks since the zombie outbreak, and unless one was holed up in a sealed space, encountering survivors on the road was a rare event.

The men standing there were tall and had considerable builds. The way they held scythes or long rods was anything but ordinary.

Hajin whispered in an anxious voice.

“Are those people?”

“That’s right, people.”

The reply that came back was rather indifferent. Hajin, whose wariness had heightened considerably since the Misan Ranch incident, glared at the unidentified individuals with a grimy face.

“Aren’t you going to go?”

Eden looked back at Hajin, who was frozen like a stone statue, and asked.

“…I have a bad feeling about this.”

However, even if he felt anxious, there was no way to detour. The bridge of the expressway they were on was too high to jump off of, and it was dangerous to turn back because the sun was setting. To make matters worse, they hadn’t spotted any vehicles on the road for the past hour.

It was truly a situation of being between a rock and a hard place. Hajin touched his forehead as if he had made a mistake. According to the original plan, he was going to spend the night in the industrial complex that would appear right after passing the main road….

While they were stopped, unable to move forward rashly, inky darkness was descending upon the asphalt road.