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As the skin of the ailing people began to turn black, their reactions changed drastically.

“Skin turning black? Is it the liver? A liver problem?”

“How can so many people have liver issues all at once? This is some kind of illness, right?!”

“Black Death! It’s the Black Death, isn’t it?!”

The change in skin color was a signal that a serious crisis had erupted. And the fact that it was black only intensified the alarm.

Even a reddish hue, a sickly pale, or lifeless white would be cause for alarm—but black?

Is it even possible for living skin to turn black?

Naturally, the frontline units were panicking and transporting the afflicted to hospitals. They realized they had transcended the stage of merely relying on prescriptions and medics.

…But there were a few places engaging in wildly irrational behavior.

“It’s all because they’re weak. Just gargle with some red medicine and sweat it out.”

“When it comes to these times, the best remedy is cow urine. Luckily, we just got a donation of canned cow urine drink; that’ll do the trick.”

“Hold on. In times like this, a potion is the best! If we eat a potion with a little mercury, we’ll be cured in no time.”

“People’s skin can turn black. If they get too much sunlight, they get sunburned. So what’s everyone fussing about just because it’s turning black?”

This was a response that utterly defied common sense.

These bizarre methods had crossed the boundary from folk remedies to the realm of folk beliefs.

And they didn’t just stop at saying such things—they actually acted on them.

Doing crazy things, like forcing the sick to run outside, insisting that they needed to sweat, and bathing them in scalding hot water, threatening their skin. Feeding people drinks made from cow urine that had no medicinal properties and completely subjecting them to a potion containing mercury, which had sent countless Chinese emperors to their graves.

Naturally, these methods had no effect on their ailments.

Due to these ridiculous folk remedies, their conditions worsened. Their bodies blackened and swelled, their bellies bulged out as if they had endured a famine. Even when they managed to get food, they suffered from stomach pains, and the relentless diarrhea followed by an unbearable stench was their constant companion.

Famine.

This was the grim result of famine pressing down upon them.

And those who underwent such nonsensical folk remedies met their miserable demise.

From sepsis.

And those transported to the hospital… at least showed better conditions.

Being a frontline hospital specializing in trauma, they couldn’t treat the source of the disease, but they could keep life support at least. They carefully managed the soldiers brought in to ensure they did not suffer from sepsis, like those who had died in several units, as they waited for a pathologist to arrive and identify the mysterious illness tormenting the patients.

Yeah.

Time was wasted.

They had no intention of providing proper treatment or investigation.

This was behavior that could hardly be categorized as hospital activity, and it seemed downright irresponsible at first glance.

But the hospital had its reasons.

“There exists a possibility of biochemical terrorism by the enemy.”

The relationship between China and India was deteriorating rapidly.

Especially as China’s national power grew stronger, the more it tried to extend itself outward, further souring the relationship.

Imagining a relationship that had worsened after mere decades of warfare, one could only imagine the levels of dysfunction.

China and India had grown increasingly at odds, not merely at the level of friction but had become potential adversaries.

If one side’s power visibly weakened, they might find any justification to attack, akin to Israel’s ‘preemptive war’.

The current situation was one of balance between the powers of India and China.

A state of peace had been achieved due to uncertainty about victory, and expectations of significant losses on either side.

Thus, until now, India and China had been playing it cool.

In border conflicts, they forbade firearms and even made a spectacle of forcing physical confrontations using iron pipes or bare hands.

But… what about a disease?

What if a disease could deliver massive damage while obscuring accountability?

“There are virus research facilities in China. There exists the possibility they may have been deployed for experimentation at the front lines.”

“India’s environment is unclean. Hence, it is sufficient for a new disease to flourish, and they might have tested it to inflict damage on China.”

Both China and India could easily conceive of such possibilities.

Thus, instead of transferring the patients from the frontline, they chose to isolate them, opting for observation over active treatment. They aimed to keep them just clinging to life.

A cruel maneuver.

Evident symptoms of severe diarrhea, skin discoloration, noticeably reduced weight, swelling, malnutrition, and the episodic stomach pains indicating internal issues were all present.

A multitude of illnesses could be recalled from these symptoms, and even though the trauma hospital had sufficient methods to attempt treatment… nonetheless, they were isolated like experimental rats.

So they could not collect proper data, they said.

Thus, both China and India operated as if they had scripted this tragedy, treating the patients like mere consumables.

‘How can one feel the preciousness of abundance? Gold is prized precisely because of its rarity, while a rock by the roadside can be disregarded. Preciousness means rarity, and disdain is for the commonplace; this is the logic of desire, isn’t it?’

And among those consumables, the parasites began to thrive.

The Leishmania, touched by Park Jinseong’s hand, spread throughout the human body with a vengeance, and finally formed a singular terminal.

Constructed from the accumulation of parasites.

Just as cells gather to form a part of the body, the parasites replaced the role of cells to create a singular terminal. It was starting to generate a bizarre lump within the internal organs, resembling an alien egg.

It had a shape quite similar to what is commonly referred to as a teratoma.

However, the difference was that unlike a typical teratoma formed based on DNA, something external intervened in creating it. An energy that promotes mutations and distorts…

Yeah.

For example, something like a curse.

“The nobility of a throne is given only because it is the sole among heaven and earth, and the nobility of a jewel arises from its rarity beyond mere stone. When confronted with a storehouse full of rice, how can one be angered by a rat gnawing a single grain? When viewing treasures filling a vault, how could a beggar cling to a worthless coin? Rarity and commonness are established by nature; thus, humans are not exempt from this principle.”

“In ancient times, one pierced the eyes and used those fours, placing the people (民) under the guidance of the noble. How can those with pierced eyes be considered anything other than cattle, under the dominion of the noble? Thus, it is not surprising for beings that resemble cattle to be consumed like cattle, nor for those wielding swords and spears to be effortlessly shattered like their weapons. This is merely a natural consequence of not opposing heaven; it is only natural karma.”

“It is said that those wielding swords should know that they can be pierced through by their own swords, and those brandishing spears must be aware they can be impaled by their spears. The principle of life follows this logic; thus, is there anything peculiar about it? Therefore, how could death possess great meaning, or how could there be a grander principle behind it?”

A curse.

Not just any ordinary curse.

It was a curse cultivated by a shaman, crossing the waters.

A centipede imbued with a curse born from a simple shrine.

Salt employed in a ritual of magic.

Crafted through intermediaries that were difficult to come by.

Utilizing salt, they forged causality through warriors, contrasted with the purity of salt and the cursed malevolence harbored by the centipede. They even used the bloodguilt the warriors accumulated naturally to perform magic.

How could such a spell be taken lightly?

Amongst the indifference of the masses, the egg of the curse gradually grew.

And then.

“Ugh.”

“That’s so…”

“AAAAHH!”

With a spasm, the curse ultimately erupted forth.

“AAAHHH! AAAAAHH! UWEH-EHHK!”

“GWEEEEEH!”

The hospital patients began sputtering blood from their mouths.

As if their intestines had turned to mush, chunks of organs were mixed everywhere, and their blood indicated an unhealthy condition, turning black. Despite being unable to eat properly, they emitted a strong stench, akin to having consumed rotting matter.

“Blood? Blood?!”

“Cough! Cough!”

The nurse and the doctor were horrified by the scene, but it was already too late.

The spell, having spread throughout the entirety of the internal organs via Leishmania, had already been completed.

“There exists a singular truth: it is the odor that carries disease.”

“Just as pleasant scents grant strength to humans, foul odors convey disease. Look! Flowers draw bees and butterflies, yet that stinking rotten meat is swarming with flies and maggots. There is a mass performed for the king of dirty and vile things occurring there; how could that not be entirely opposite to the church? Flies and maggots, all those filthy and horrific insects are there. They pray, yearning to spread disease.”

“Prayers amid foulness. Evil desiring the foulness to spread wider. Foul odors spread and infect, blocking them is the way to purify the world. Therefore, believers should maintain their cleanliness and keep their distance from the unclean.”

Foulness has a magical significance.

Often meaning ‘corruption’, ‘something to keep away from’, or ‘warning’, depending on the religion, it can refer to both the vector and the very cause of disease. Moreover, in Shinto, the folk religion of Japan where Park Jinseong created this spell, it closely aligns with the concepts of defilement and taboo.

Filth is defilement, and when accumulation of defilements occurs, disasters and anomalies inevitably arise.

And now, at this place, the spell solidified, and calamity struck.

“Ugh!”

Puddles of bloody vomit on the ground.

The stench choking the air.

People writhed in agony.

Scratching their necks, clutching their swollen bellies, they cried out in agony about their insides. Their intestines twisted wildly, unleashing ceaseless diarrhea, while blood tears streamed from their eyes and noses. Blood pouring from mucous membranes mixed with regurgitated bile, bursting forth, while blood choked and filled their lungs, inflicting immense suffering.

“….”

“….”

Then, as if suddenly covered in silence.

The faces of the writhing sufferers turned expressionless. They lifted their blank faces, devoid of emotion, locking eyes with those who gazed at them in horror.

As if looking at mannequins, their expressionless faces starkly contrasted with the blood tears streaming from their eyes as evidence of suffering.

The sight was eerily unsettling, stimulating the uncanny valley effect among the onlookers, leaving them in stunned silence.

“Ah…”

Then, as if breaking that silence, the patients opened their mouths and melted away.

As if turning to black ash, almost as if their bodies were made of powder, they completely dissolved.

Like ice cream left on baking asphalt under the summer sun, they crumbled down into stinking black blood…

“….”

“….”

It was a surreal scene.

Something you’d expect only in a nightmare…

Thus, both the doctor and the nurse froze in shock and terror.

Hoping what they just witnessed wasn’t reality, even though the stench assaulted their nostrils—it was undeniable. They stood petrified, like statues, bearing witness to what had once been human.

Puddles of foul black powder and blood…

All over the floor…

Puddles…?

“Uh?”

Something was changing with what should have been ‘human’ pooling on the floor.

It appeared as though it was boiling, bubbles rising rapidly, blending the black powder and blood into a kneaded mixture…

The stench worsened, and the mixture began to swell more and more.

No, is it right to even call it a mixture?

“Egg…?”

What was being mixed from what was once human and the poured rotten blood had become an egg.

What carried only a stench that could numb the nose was now imbued with a sense of foreboding…

Splat.

Splat.

“Uh… uh?”

“There’s a crack forming?!”

And then from the egg, ‘something’ was about to emerge.

Panic gripped the people.

“Run!-”

Those who sensed an unimaginable entity was to emerge turned and fled…

Splat-splat-splat-!

Boom-!

And as their instincts predicted, the egg shattered.

Aaaahhhhh-!

What emerged from the egg was mist.

Mist crafted from the black soup of humanity.

Tiny, like grains of sand, it coalesced with wings.

Misty bugs.

 

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