Chapter 162

Gangjoo Fortress, Ningling Prefecture, Posan County.

Inspecting Officer Won-ryeong-yik visited this place suddenly with several soldiers.

It was an unprecedented event for the Inspecting Officer responsible for judiciary and civil service supervision across the entirety of Gangjoo Fortress to personally visit a county with a population of less than forty thousand.

But there was no other option.

Because Posan County was known to be the place where the largest number of zombies reportedly emerged.

The Inspecting Officer needed to confirm whether the unbelievable report was true or if all his subordinates had gone mad.

“Please, let it not be true.”

While drenched in cold sweat, the Inspecting Officer arrived at Posan County, hoping that what was reported was only exaggerated drunkenness.

“Huh?”

But the reality that unfolded before the Inspecting Officer’s eyes was more bizarre than what was reported.

It was not just bizarre but downright gruesome.

Thoroughly ruined humans lay all around, appropriately called zombies.

If they were merely lying around, it would have been a relief, but they displayed an array of grotesque postures.

He first noticed a young man standing in a stooped posture in front of a tavern.

With his knees bent, leaning awkwardly forward, he was standing only with the help of a cane. To be more precise, it seemed that he wasn’t really standing but struggling to hold himself upright.

And what was more unsettling than his posture was his lifeless expression.

His mouth was slightly agape, and his gaze, whether directed at him or at something invisible, was indeterminable. His breathing was unnaturally slow.

“Zsschua?”

The strange muttering was an added detail.

However, what despair him more was something else entirely.

“Inspecting Officer, this young man is also in bad shape, but—”

“At least he’s better than the others.”

“…Yes.”

“Still, he can at least walk and look at me, can’t he?”

The young man leaning on his cane was, relatively speaking, one of the better cases.

However, the Inspecting Officer noticed individuals worse off than him—creatures that barely resembled humans.

“Could it be that their backs are broken?”

“Mo, I don’t know.”

“If it’s not that, why are they standing in such poses…!”

There were many performing such contortions.

A young woman with a deeply hunched back, touching the ground with one hand.

A man bent over with an even more twisted posture, tilting his head down while casually holding his hands behind his back as though punished.

Their postures looked like someone had intentionally made them stand like that.

Despite how painful and uncomfortable it must have been, they continued to bend without straightening up.

Relentlessly, just like that.

To the point where even the ones silently lying on the ground seemed relatively better off.

At least they weren’t frozen in grotesque poses, unnaturally bending their backs, arms, and necks. Although, of course, even the sight of healthy young men collapsing in broad daylight was tragic enough.

There were more than thirty such youths rolling around on the streets. Naturally, this wasn’t all of them.

Inspector Won-ryeong-yik felt the rising sickness and the fluttering in his chest.

“Is this truly the reality?”

At his exclamation, a middle-aged man flinched and began checking the situation.

The local magistrate of this region.

The Inspector glared at the magistrate as though wanting to kill him.

“For how long have these people been wandering the streets?”

“Inspector大人, it happened suddenly, and I didn’t—”

“Are you trying to lie to me?! According to Inspector Yang-ik-hyun’s report, two days ago, when this region was inspected, there were already over twenty youths on the main road in this terrible state.”

“That… that…”

“You were aware of this situation beforehand, weren’t you?”

The magistrate hesitated without answering, fumbling about.

The gap between a high-ranked Inspector who could enter the morning court meetings even in the capital, Nanjing, and a mere local magistrate was vast.

“Why didn’t you report sooner?”

Yet, the magistrate remained silent.

Because of this, the Inspector was certain.

Certainly, the magistrate was hiding something. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have delayed the report.

The Inspector was determined to uncover the truth by exercising his authority.

But then, the magistrate hesitated and finally spoke.

“Sir, Inspector.”

“What?”

“I initially intended to report, but there was a reason I couldn’t. If you punish me, I will accept it willingly, but please allow me a moment to explain before I admit my crimes.”

“Explain.”

“In fact, notices have been posted.”

Notices?

This word made the Inspector’s expression stiffen.

There was no need for a detailed explanation.

The funeral for the previous Emperor was still ongoing in the capital, Nanjing.

The notices appearing at such a time—it was obvious what their contents would be.

It was most likely a blasphemous rumor connecting the grotesque scenes witnessed here to the death of the Emperor.

“Hmph. Already?”

The Inspector sighed as he felt faint.

Whose doing were these notices?

Perhaps disgruntled old scholars who repeatedly failed exams and teach at academies? Or organized groups spreading malicious rumors among the populace?

There was no need for detailed classification. Simply posting such notices constituted treason.

This case might result in the extermination of all the local gentry here.

“In fact, I was personally trying to find the person who posted the notices. Since I judged that hastily informing you or the Chief Magistrate might lead to innocent people being harmed, I acted on my own. Please extend your mercy.”

This explanation sounded reasonable.

The magistrate likely tried to handle the matter himself to avoid devastating the county if the higher-ups were alarmed prematurely.

Although a wrong decision, it was understandable, given the sensitive period.

And there was a bigger problem.

This wasn’t just an issue confined to Posan County.

There were already reportedly four counties and prefectures where similar cases of youths walking with their joints twisted had appeared. And in one region, several corpses with unusually bent waists had been discovered.

It was possible similar incidents were happening in other areas, even outside Gangjoo Fortress.

If the same seditious notices had been circulating in other cities, this wasn’t something the Inspector could handle on his own.

Of course, a proper investigation of the magistrate’s misconduct was necessary. He couldn’t forget securing the offending notices posted here.

“Let’s move. We need to assess the entire city and inform the court!”

The Inspector, who had left some subordinates behind, was about to leave quickly when his eyes fell upon something.

“Hahwah, Zzzhoo, Umma.”

These grotesque contortions performed by those zombie-like figures.

Though reluctant to call them zombies, no other term seemed apt.

The cause of why their joints were twisted, or why they wore such strange expressions, remained unknown, but the assumption of an illness was plausible.

A very severe and horrifying disease.

A phenomenon that was incomprehensible and therefore terrifying.

…

…

Immediately after the Inspector left with the survey team.

At a place called “Magoon,” the elders of Posan County gathered.

They were greeted by a young man.

A scruffy-looking student, vigorously scratching his arms, who had joined the local distribution network a week prior.

It was Mo Kyeong-chung, a former opium addict turned opiate distributor.

He was not only the one who duped the Inspector with a fabricated notice but also the one behind the rumor that the recent phenomena were caused by the sins of the Regent Crown Prince—now Emperor.

Of course, this was not a scheme devised solely by Mo Kyeong-chung.

“The Inspector seemed to believe it. Things went as we anticipated.”

Although with the cooperation of the local nobles, including the magistrate.

“But this will eventually be exposed. And the cause isn’t the Emperor’s sins but… the drugs.”

“Of course it won’t be exposed! They’re not stupid, you know.”

“Why are you mad at me? I’m just following orders.”

“You’re the one selling drugs! Even to my daughter!”

“I’m not selling them willingly. They’ve threatened to report me if I don’t.”

The elders of Posan County looked on despairingly at Mo Kyeong-chung’s feeble excuses.

Actually, Mo Kyeong-chung was not voluntarily selling the drugs.

Substituting for a busy superior selling narcotics in other areas, he was forced to sell drugs. Furthermore, the seditious notices were also a matter of duress.

‘Cursed bastards.’

Mo Kyeong-chung deeply regretted the drug peddler—now called a supplier—who had originally started selling drugs in Posan County.

But there was no point in regretting, considering that even the supplier claimed their actions were not voluntary.

Above him was another supplier—who was an in-law of one of the princes and a retainer, or so he claimed—but even this higher-up mentioned receiving orders from someone else.

Everyone in the hierarchy, except for the unknown top figure, seemed like mere puppets.

Both Mo Kyeong-chung and the suppliers were mere minions.

‘How did it come to this?’

He originally intended to use the drugs merely as a means of relaxation.

But the situation had escalated quickly, and now he awaited further dangerous instructions.

‘I’m a creature worse than a beast.’

While Mo Kyeong-chung’s dangling arms heard the murmurs of the elders around him.

“It’s okay. Other towns are the same, right?”

“Exactly. There’s Bong-un County, where the drugs are reportedly spreading among courtesans. It’s a bigger area than ours, so the Inspector will probably focus there.”

“Let’s not call it a blessing. Look at the young people. …Ah.”

The elders, with worried expressions, consoled each other.

Mo Kyeong-chung sighed and lowered his head.

However, his moment of contemplation was brief.

“Kyung-chung, Kyung-chung.”

A friend appeared, walking on twisted legs, swaying precariously. Although his head was bowed, his yearning for drugs was palpable.

Mo Kyeong-chung handed him a piece of fentanyl-imbued paper. His friend preferred sucking it inside his cheek rather than smoking.

“Thank you, thank you.”

And after giving it, Mo Kyeong-chung himself swallowed a methadone pill and a cocaine tablet.

A seller who’s also an addict. A buyer who’s also an addict.

A miserable reality, but by now, Mo Kyeong-chung no longer felt any shame.

---