By Zephyria 
“I’ve seen you trending on TikTok a lot. Wow… I feel like my heart’s about to explode right now. Am I right? Magician Do Ha-jin.”
Lee Chang-yeol, who had straightened his head before I knew it, placed his right hand on his thick chest and repeatedly exclaimed in admiration. Ha-jin, feeling awkward, gathered the cards he was holding and put them in his pocket. He never dreamed that he would meet someone who recognized him even in this situation.
“Ah, you saw the videos… Thank you.”
“Could you show me just one magic trick? That, that Arcane thing? That was the most amazing, how do you do it?”
Ha-jin furrowed his brow as if he was in trouble. It wasn’t surprising, as people who recognized him would often ask him to perform magic out of the blue, but given the situation, he couldn’t exactly start chatting and laughing.
As Ha-jin was about to refuse without hesitation, Lee Chang-yeol’s eyes sparkled. If he refused, would he make that dejected face again?
After a moment of contemplation, Ha-jin recalled a light Mental Magic technique that didn’t require much effort. Most audiences found the mind-reading magic the most amazing, and the satisfaction after watching it was also high. Jeffrey’s constant questioning about the secret of the arm-linking trick was proof enough.
“Think of a color in your head. Slowly, leisurely, within 5 seconds.”
“A color?”
Lee Chang-yeol followed Ha-jin’s quick steps, scattering his gaze into the air. Ha-jin counted down 5 seconds in a whisper. 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.”
Ha-jin and Lee Chang-yeol’s gazes met in the air. One, two, three…!
“Blue.”
“Blue.”
As the same answer came out at the same time, Lee Chang-yeol covered his mouth with the back of his hand in shock. Subduing his excitement, he went down the steep downhill road with Ha-jin, making a fuss.
“How did you know? How is this possible? I heard you were a wizard, not a magician, and it’s true. Crazy….”
Ha-jin turned to Lee Chang-yeol, who was as happy as a child with 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 why he couldn’t let go of the path of a magician, which he had wanted to give up so many times.
“Magician, can you guess other things besides colors? Please tell me how. Huh?”
“That’s a secret.”
Ha-jin patted Lee Chang-yeol’s shoulder roughly, as if telling him not to ask any more questions.
In fact, the principle of magic was simple. If you asked for a color without giving them time to think, they were more likely to think of red, but if you gave them enough time to think and then asked for a color, they would often answer blue.
In addition, people were also influenced by the color of the clothes they were wearing. It was highly likely that blue was imprinted in the brain of Lee Chang-yeol, who was wearing a blue mackerel-colored police uniform, without him even knowing it.
In that sense, Mental Magic was nothing more than an art in which human unconsciousness and statistics were fantastically combined.
Meanwhile, Eden, who had been silently following behind them, was unpleasantly staring at Ha-jin’s cheeks, which were bulging high. A kind of smile he had never seen before was blooming on his fair face. He was so dumbfounded that he let out a hollow laugh.
He should be sharpening his senses for threats that could come at any time, but instead, it was an unexpected fan meeting.
The quick-witted Ha-jin noticed Eden’s mocking sneer and turned his head.
“Jeong Tae-geon, would you like to try it too?”
Eden flatly rejected Ha-jin’s offer, as if slicing a radish with a sharp Short sword.
“No thanks. Take that childish trickery elsewhere.”
…What? Childish trickery? Last time it was sleight of hand, and this time it’s childish trickery?
Ha-jin’s smiling face quickly hardened like candle wax dropped into cold water.
He even cut his handkerchief in half to give it to him, but Eden was still trying to repay his kindness with spite.
Ha-jin quickly scanned the surrounding dangers once again, and only after realizing that it was a situation where he could argue without worry did he turn to Eden.
“I don’t appreciate you calling it a childish trick.”
As Ha-jin noticeably hardened his expression, Eden once again lifted up Jeong Byeol’s limp body in his arms.
“If it’s not trickery, then what is it?”
“It’s clearly different. Trickery harms people, but magic brings joy.”
Some people, like Eden, treated magicians as the same as swindlers, but in reality, there was no liar as honest as a magician. Because the person who boldly says they will deceive you is telling a clear truth, not a lie.
Ha-jin narrowed his eyes.
“Do you think the card magic I showed you last time was also trickery? You looked like you had seen magic.”
“……”
“And magic is clearly my job, so please respect it. From last time, sleight of hand, childish trickery… Do you know that those are very insulting remarks?”
Eden was not listening to his words, but rather observing Ha-jin’s reddened face with interest. Ha-jin snapped again.
“Would you like it if I called Jeong Tae-geon a Dark Arms Dealer?”
“Arms dealer is clearly the right word. I don’t know where the word ‘Dark’ came from, but it’s not a very insulting remark to me.”
At the answer that came back without hesitation, Ha-jin’s expression became even more sharp as he was momentarily dumbfounded.
‘Seriously, he never backs down, that emotionless, cold-blooded bastard….’
Ha-jin couldn’t understand why he was engaging in such a wasteful battle of nerves, especially with Eden every time. Huffing and puffing, he turned his head forward again.
Eden, seeing Ha-jin’s reaction, curved his lips upward as if he found it amusing or interesting. The dimple on his right cheek was indented inward.
Jeffrey, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation from behind, tilted his head suspiciously as Eden’s dimple deepened.
‘What is it, that disgusting smile.’
But with a blink of an eye, Eden’s lips were firm again, as if nothing had happened.
Just as the shade of the trees seemed to be decreasing, an empty plaza appeared. The exit was right in front of them. The group, slowing down, stopped their chatter and paid attention.
Beep—beep beep— Chirp—cheep cheep—!
The high-pitched, thin cry of the willow tit filled the park’s silence boisterously.
Inharmonious with the clear birdsong, a corpse with its brain eaten was lying face down on the bench. Lee Chang-yeol, who was moving forward, covered his nose with the back of his hand and turned his head.
“Ugh!”
Ha-jin grabbed Lee Chang-yeol’s shoulder, keeping his head down so as not to look at the corpse. It meant to keep going without stopping.
While Park Chun-beom, unable to resist his curiosity, glanced at the corpse again and vomited up stomach acid, they had already reached the park exit.
“We’re here.”
The exit was adjacent to the road. The road was quite clean, except for the three cars that had crashed and stopped.
The group cautiously stepped out of the exit and walked along the sidewalk. Before they had taken a few steps, Sangwon Medical Center, which Lee Chang-yeol had mentioned, came into view. They had to cross the wide parking lot, but there were more zombies wandering around in patient gowns than they had expected.
“What should we do? I don’t think we can handle it if they all rush at us.”
Mi-so rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache. The group, who had stopped for a moment, stood behind a large old tree and put their heads together.
“I think we need someone as bait.”
Ha-jin cautiously offered his opinion. At the word bait, Eden shook his head firmly.
“I won’t allow gambling with your life.”
“It’s not gambling, it’s just distracting them for a moment. I’ll have to think about the method, but I’ll try…”
“Do you have two lives, Do Ha-jin?”
Eden gritted his teeth with a cold expression. Ha-jin, feeling awkward at the stronger-than-expected opposition, scratched his innocent philtrum. No, I’m saying I’ll be the bait, why is he making such a fuss….
“I don’t have two lives, but if there’s no other way, I’ll have to consider being bait.”
“I clearly said no.”
Eden turned his eyes away from Ha-jin as if it wasn’t worth listening to anymore. Then, he even clenched his jaw tightly as if trying to hold back the sudden surge of anger.
What, why is he really like that? Ha-jin was puzzled by Eden’s sensitive reaction and suddenly recalled the conversation on the rooftop of the motel that he had forgotten.
‘Since we’ve decided to go together, Do Ha-jin’s life is now my life, and my life is no different from Do Ha-jin’s life.’
As that resolute image flashed through his mind, his mouth closed like a clam. He thought that he wasn’t just saying those words back then, but now that he was experiencing it, he couldn’t understand the temperature difference between Eden’s usual appearance and that solemn belief.
He ruthlessly shoots out harsh words as if they were worse than strangers, but he cherishes his companion’s life as much as his own?
‘I think they used to call this tsundere or something….’
Ha-jin, recalling a fad that had disappeared into the glory of the past, opened his mouth again.
“Then it’s okay if we use something other than a person as bait, right?”
At his somewhat unexpected remark, everyone turned to Ha-jin with puzzled faces. Ha-jin scratched his earlobe. For some reason, his neck was gradually turning red.