By Zephyria 
Eden laid out several thick broadleaf branches he had picked up along the way. He chose one with a straight grain and tightly wrapped rope around its middle. Veins popped on the back of his hand.
“What are you doing?”
Mi-so, shuffling over, squatted down.
“Making weapons. The axes we have are too old.”
“You know how to do this too? Oh, right, you said you were in the Special Forces.”
After splitting the top of the stick in half, Eden inserted a suitably sized stone. His hands moved decisively, tying the stone securely with rope above, below, and in the middle.
After making several stone hammers, he made mace-like clubs. This involved tying light stones lengthwise to thin branches.
“I was wondering why you had so much rope in your bag. You brought it to make weapons.”
Mi-so readily grabbed one of the clubs, looking pleased.
“Can I use this?”
“I made it for you to use, so go ahead.”
“Awesome.”
Eden quietly watched Mi-so, who was cheerfully examining the club. She seemed to be a friend indeed, with a subtly bright side that resembled Do Ha-jin quite a bit.
“Didn’t you have something to say?”
Eden asked casually as he organized the rope. Mi-so, who had been lightly swinging the club, brightened her eyes as if remembering.
“Whatever the case, I think we should move soon. We’ve been here for three days already.”
“……”
“The Korean monsoon season is surprisingly long. It’ll last at least a week. If you include the on-and-off rain, it might be even longer. If we just wait it out, we’ll just be wasting time.”
The cheerfulness from before was gone, and Yun Mi-so was back to complaining with a defeated look. In fact, not only her but the whole group had been gloomy for days, unable to see the sunlight.
“You said your parents are in Dragon Cloud City?”
“No. They’re at the edge of Hwajeong City. You can think of it as the entrance to Dragon Cloud City. I think Park Chun-beom’s parents live in that neighborhood too.”
After passing Jeongmang Mountain and Nokwang City, it was straight to Hwajeong City, and then Dragon Cloud City. There was still a long way to go, but if they moved diligently, they could reach Hwajeong City in less than a week. So Eden understood why Yun Mi-so and Park Chun-beom were urging him on.
“Unni!! Samchon!! The show’s about to start!”
Just then, Byeol ran towards Eden and Mi-so from afar. The child, who had been quiet for days due to exhaustion from the long escape, looked excited for the first time in a while.
“Ah, come quick!”
The two were caught off guard and dragged by Byeol’s hand to a spot near the entrance. Mi-so poked Park Chun-beom, who was already sitting, in the side and asked.
“What’s going on?”
“Ha-jin Hyung told us to come here because he’s going to do a magic show. It seems like he prepared it with Jeffrey and Byeol this time.”
“So that’s what they were up to, huddled together and whispering since the day before yesterday?”
“Haha. I guess so.”
Come to think of it, Do Ha-jin, Jeffrey, and Jeong Byeol were all wearing black T-shirts. They seemed to have put some thought into their outfits for the magic show. Eden chuckled, finding Do Ha-jin’s way of comforting the exhausted predictable yet admirable.
Jeffrey, standing to Ha-jin’s left, clapped his hands and puffed out his chest arrogantly. Then Jeong Byeol, standing to his right, clapped his hands cutely.
[Alright, is everyone ready?]
“Weady?!”
Ha-jin, looking pleased at the assistants he had placed on either side, gathered people’s attention with his opening signature, a finger snap. Snap!
“Hello. I am Do Ha-jin, the magician who will bring out your hidden romance and childlike wonder today. This is our special guest Jeffrey and Jeong Byeol. Give them a round of applause―!”
Clap clap clap! Mi-so, familiar with eliciting responses, livened up the atmosphere with cheers.
“Yay~ Jeffrey is ugly~ Jeong Byeol is cute~!”
Byeol giggled, looking happy.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey received Ha-jin’s phone, which had only 5% battery left. His focused fingertips trembled, as if he was preparing the music.
As soon as Ha-jin gave the signal, a solemn BGM began to play. It was the only music he had saved on his phone for a long time, intending to use it for a magic show that would open someday. A bright smile appeared on Mi-so’s face as she understood the meaning.
The main theme song of 『Mission: Impossible』 echoed inside the cave. The sound of the pouring rain and the suspenseful melody were quite harmonious.
Tan! Tan! Every time the beat rang out, cards sprang from Ha-jin’s fingertips one by one. After nonchalantly gathering and stacking the cards, he clapped, and this time the cards in his hand completely disappeared. Tan! As soon as he spread his palm, the cards reappeared.
Tan! The card in his right hand moved to his left, and the moved card somehow landed on Ha-jin’s lips. One card became two, and two cards became four.
Between the beats, in that gap of less than a second, Ha-jin constantly extinguished and regenerated cards, raising the atmosphere. It was a performance that captivated people’s souls and spirits with only hand skills, showmanship, and directing ability, rather than card magic using existing psychological warfare.
Jeong Byeol and Jeffrey, who were watching right next to him, were so surprised that their mouths were wide open. They couldn’t believe it even after seeing it up close.
As the beat quickened, Ha-jin shook his hand towards the floor, spewing out a large number of cards. Chwara rak― Everyone held their breath and watched the splendid finale. The BGM did not stop.
Ha-jin, who had finished the dazzling card show, signaled to Byeol with his eyes.
“Okay!”
Byeol took out a piece of paper from his overalls pocket with a tense expression. His small hand tore the end of the paper.
“Look. It’s completely torn, right? You checked, right?”
Soon, his small, clumsy hand covered the torn part. Wriggle wriggle. After moving the back of his hand a few times, the paper that had been neatly reattached was revealed.
“Tada!”
It was a basic trick of secretly reattaching the paper he had torn, leaving only the end.
“Hey~ I think I know this…”
Just then, Park Chun-beom, who was about to reveal the secret of the trick without any tact, had his mouth blocked by Mi-so. Get a clue? He laughed awkwardly, feeling the unspoken pressure.
“Give him a round of applause―!”
Ha-jin skillfully induced a response in time. Awkward applause erupted.
Soon the BGM stopped and silence fell. Next was Jeffrey’s performance. Jeffrey, nervous in the quiet atmosphere, swallowed hard. He stretched the rubber band back and forth with his rough hands, but his expression hardened as if something wasn’t going as planned.
At the uneasy hand movements, worry also settled on the faces of the audience. Eventually, the rubber band that had been fiercely flicked off hit Park Chun-beom’s forehead, smack―!
“Aagh!!”
“Oh, shit!! Sorry, my bro!”
“Pfft!”
Ha-jin, who had been watching calmly, eventually turned his head and burst out laughing.
Jeers poured out from everywhere. Mi-so was in an uproar, asking if he had taken her hair tie without permission, and Park Chun-beom rubbed his red forehead and scolded Jeffrey.
Eventually, Mi-so, who had become excited, also got up from her seat. As the saying goes, if a dog attends a village school for three years, it will recite poetry. After simply showcasing a few magic tricks she had learned by watching Ha-jin’s side, the atmosphere became even more cheerful.
In the midst of that perfect and heartwarming commotion was Eden. He slowly looked around.
It was a time when the despair and depression that occasionally came in the bleak reality were contagious to each other, and the stress that had accumulated little by little like stalactites had grown like a snowball, reaching the extreme of pessimism.
In a battlefield, it was a situation where soldiers who had lost their will to survive and were just waiting for the day they would die would have broken down one by one.
“Wow! Mi-so Unni’s magic is so good!”
[No, if I do it again, I can do better!]
“Ha-jin Hyung, teach me one too!”
But it was a strange thing. How could everyone laugh even in such a moment? Eden had never experienced such a situation anywhere.
His gaze naturally turned to Ha-jin’s fingertips.
The magic that once seemed ridiculous was doing something no one else could do. It made his nephew, who was consumed by depression, laugh, and gave everyone comfort and rest at a time like now, when the will to live was fading.
It was a talent that was fundamentally different from his, who took the lead in making weapons and killing people. Do Ha-jin was a person who saved people.
“Everyone. Now, I’ll finish by giving you a gift.”
Ha-jin, who had organized the noisy hall, presented the final trick. Peonies crushed by raindrops appeared one after another from behind Ha-jin’s ear, the top of his head, his left hand, and 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 receive the flower. Their fingertips brushed, and their eyes met.
At that moment, a sharp pain struck his chest as if something had been stabbed into it. An inexplicable, intense awe. His abnormally soaring heart rate began to heat up his body, and Eden’s expression hardened.
“……”
Before he could even contemplate that subtle inner change, Leo’s voice suddenly rang in his ears.
‘Eden, if it rains in the desert….’
If it rains….
Rain….
Ah, a low sigh escaped.
Ha-jin looked at Eden’s changing expression with a puzzled look.
“Jeong Tae-geon?”
“…It was rain.”
“Yes?”
“Damn it, rain was the weakness.”
Eden, who quickly got up from his seat, turned to the group and continued.
“Everyone, pack your bags. Let’s move in an hour.”
Everyone’s faces were filled with bewilderment at the sudden order to move.
[What is it? What’s going on all of a sudden?]
“Samchon, what’s wrong?”
“Jeong Tae-geon?”
May 27, when the zombie outbreak occurred. June 8, when they stayed at the rest stop, were all rainy days. And now, with the monsoon pouring down, the zombies had completely disappeared.
Eden turned his head towards Ha-jin, who was standing awkwardly.
“The moment the zombies disappeared.”
“……”
“It was always raining.”
Ha-jin opened his mouth halfway with a confused look. The sentences that came into his ears were not easily interpreted.
So, when the zombies disappear, it rains…?
He blinked his dense eyelashes slowly and reassembled the sentences with distorted causality.
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 opposite.
A low sigh escaped from Ha-jin’s mouth as well. As Jeong Tae-geon said, it was always raining at the moment the zombies disappeared.
“…Could it be…. Was rain… the weakness?”
Everyone became quiet at the question filled with bewilderment. Breaking through the silence, Eden answered as if mocking himself.
“Yes.”
“……”
“The answer was right in front of us, but we missed it like idiots.”