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A fruit with a person’s face embedded in it.

Those things, flying in from far away without hair or neck, emitted a disturbing sound while chuckling.

Yes.

They emitted it.

It wasn’t from a throat, nor a whispering breath laced with ominous energy, nor was it a message relayed in a form akin to telephony.

These things literally just spewed voices.

To put it another way, their structure was designed to create such grotesque sounds, much like a death whistle.

But even that sound alone was enough to send ordinary people into fits of panic, their legs shaking as they crumpled to the ground. A sight to behold, indeed…

“How grotesque they look.”

Sadly, for the fruits soaring through the air, there were no ‘ordinary people’ here.

I’m not just talking about the classifications of capable individuals or soldiers.

I meant those who might flee in fear, faint, or partake in what you might call a “loss of face” during this operation to confront the ghosts from both Korea and Japan. Those with an obsessive need to avoid any shameful acts or any loss of claims after vanquishing evil spirits.

Hence, everyone on the vessel looked on at the fruits with calm expressions.

The warriors wielded their swords, ready to slice the fruits at any moment, while shamans and onmyoji hurriedly worked to prevent any curses or poisons from the fruits that could cause secondary harm. The wizards, tense before the battle, were raising their powers or aiming their magical-engineering equipment at the fruits, preparing their spells.

“With the general swinging his sword, the seas part and the ground shakes; at that earth-shattering display of blade work, all the ghosts flee in terror. Oh, look, one loses its ankle, another its arm—what are these? Straw? Rags? They’re torn to bits, their forms almost unrecognizable—fleeing like a dog scurrying across the ground—!!”

“Under the shade of the mountain’s trees, the One proclaimed, ‘I am a god, a being you must worship! Behold, I part the fog, let the mountain herbs sprout from the ground, and have I not chased away the oni that drool to devour you?’ The villagers bowed their heads, filling baskets with rice, cooking it, and making alcohol from the maidens’ saliva to present to Him, content with the white rice and delicious sake…”

The first among them to step forward were the spiritual capable persons and the Shinto priest.

The previous tension between them seemed like an act, as they almost simultaneously began demonstrating their abilities.

Korean spiritual capable persons intercepted the flying fruits using the powers they borrowed from their spirits or their innate spiritual energy, while the Japanese priest used divine power to create a barrier.

[ Kii-hihihihi! Kiki! ]

Kaboom-!

[ Kii-ik! ]

Had the barrier worked?

Or were the fruits absurdly weak?

Despite their caution, they were utterly trivialized as the fruits were effortlessly blocked by the barrier.

Those caught in the nets and barriers were half-bursting, dropping into the sea or bouncing away, vanishing in a manner so absurdly easy.

A bizarre and eerie cry, from which they had emerged, ended in a most anticlimactic fashion.

Thus, those aboard began to let their guard down, unknowingly…

“Don’t let your guard down.”

As if peering into their hearts, the voice of a young man resonated through the ship.

“Everyone, be prepared. The real ones are coming.”

* * *

The fruits submerged in the sea settled to the bottom like stones.

These fruits ought to drift along, serving as bait for the birds, but those with faces like actual people sank straight down as though they were real human heads.

Then fish drawn by their curiosity would approach, ready to take a bite. Yet, startled by the grotesque laughter emanating from the smiling heads, they quickly flapped their fins and darted away, allowing the fruits to settle at the bottom before rolling towards a small mound.

Bubbling and frothing, the fruits moved around the mound before digging in, revealing what lay inside: bodies, corpses, corpses, corpses.

These were the corpses of those who died when there were people called North Koreans on this land.

Those imprisoned in political prison camps.

Families who fled North Korea, deemed to have undesirable thoughts, captured for daring to defy the party’s control, and showing a reactionary streak by listening to South Korean dramas and music.

Thus, they were locked away in political prison camps, dying from endless maltreatment and labor, or driven to the edge of death.

And they thought it a waste to even bury the bodies, regarding the cost of bullets to kill them as excessive, simply discarding them in the nearby sea, time and again.

These discarded bodies gathered together in the currents to form this mound.

A hill made entirely of human corpses.

Moreover, all kinds of debris piled up, slowing decay enough to retain some semblance of human shape.

For these fruits, there couldn’t be better materials.

Kek-kek-kek-kek!

And so the fruits laughed.

While laughing, they shoved themselves among the corpses, like forcing fruit into someone too feeble to move, pushing through to plant their curses within.

And thus, they ascended.

As they climbed, a sudden sound was heard.

“Everyone, be prepared. The real ones are coming.”

The real ones are coming.

The real ones.

R-really?

[ Are impostors coming? ]

[ How is that possible? ]

[ They sank so insignificantly into the sea, how can the real ones show up? ]

[ To call those who fell like withered fruits under the wind ‘real’ seems exaggerated, doesn’t it? ]

[ When a fruit falls, it just goes crunch and spills juice—what’s so grand about that to call them ‘real’? It’s baffling indeed; I can’t help but find it utterly ridiculous! ]

[ Oh boy, is there a way for the ‘real’ to even come? ]

[ Look at these emaciated hands; they can’t even swallow rice, so they’re as skinny as can be, with nothing but skin and bones sticking together, could this possibly be a living body or a corpse? Good lord, it’s hard to tell if it’s a lively corpse! ]

“The sea is bringing it up!”

“Wait! Don’t focus too much on the sea! It’s entrancing! Isn’t your body tilting toward the water right now?”

“It’s using the submerged bodies as its physical form! The physical force won’t be significant—!”

[ Oh no! The body is all soggy and falling apart; with no flesh or muscle left, how is this happening? Did it age so much? Or has it eaten nothing? I couldn’t even have a handful of corn… ]

Stretching out my hand, the waves rolling, oh dear, it tickles! It feels as though that hairy little creature is clinging to me, what an unpleasant sensation. But the palm fits nicely to grip the ship, so what can I do? Even if a bug bites, I won’t scratch it off, but must maintain my composure. Should I not?

One by one, my hands stretch out.

Oh dear, my head isn’t in one piece, I can’t even count properly, how can I know how many hands I have?

“Ah, ahhh! What the—!”

My hand stretches out, oh dear, I caught something.

Silently, like a snake, I used to mimic those sneaky critters very well, surviving even in the wars. So, moving silently and cautiously, right at the critical moment!

“Ku-ugh! What is this!”

Oh dear, I caught another one!

Having caught it, good luck getting away!

* * *

An arm rises.

Grotesque arms made of bloated corpses, fish, seaweed, and dirt intertwine.

They wriggled like creatures with dozens of tentacles, reeling up towards the ship, starting to snatch people and throw them overboard.

Into the land.

To the ground that holds the form of a tree demon.

 

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