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Terror wasn’t a foreign word to America.

Not for a long time.

Perhaps it all started when they began to realize their power and took on the role of the world’s police, leading to numerous attempts to shake them from the outside.

Spies sent from Europe, operations conducted in South America, communist attempts at state subversion, infiltration of spies, and persuasion…

America had always lived with the threat and danger from the outside.

America usually faced such threats with composure.

True to their celebrated ‘frontier spirit,’ they bravely charged forward, embodying their pioneering spirit in the process.

However, it was inevitable that their response would become dull during times of peace.

Like a sword left in the sheath becoming rusty from neglect, or a gun tucked away in a drawer developing issues after being forgotten, or like how one’s physical strength wanes and muscles weaken without exercise.

The same principle applied to their handling of terrorism.

“I came to travel.”

Their belief that they could thrive on their own.

The opinion of American citizens wishing for a halt to wasteful spending of money and national power under the guise of being the world’s police.

Such were the created closed borders.

Now, the once overwhelming external threats turned to mere negligence.

“Hmm. A Hawaiian shirt, huh…”

And the delusion of feeling ‘safe’ thanks to the high fences.

Thus, they easily allowed the external dangers to slip past.

It was because of their unwavering trust in the thoroughly constructed fences and surveillance equipment.

In a faith almost religious, they had fallen into a state of ennui with their inspections.

And so, warriors sent by Park Jinseong began to enter America one by one.

Of course, they hadn’t escaped notice entirely.

There were those who took pride in their jobs and worked particularly hard.

But even they could pass through easily if they presented something that looked like a talisman or a mysterious statue. “Ah, it’s a mystical Eastern artifact that holds such power,” they thought, rationalizing it with a sense of orientalism.

Three people managed to get through like that.

Perhaps this could be seen as a stroke of good luck.

They were able to enter America without being detected despite hiding plenty of evil spirits within.

But as the saying goes, long tails always get caught.

“…Hey, you’re strange.”

By the fourth, that luck came to an end.

A middle-aged man with adequate muscle and a protruding belly got snagged at the checkpoint.

“Something’s, something’s off…”

“What do you mean, it’s off? Everything’s clear on the X-ray and other devices…”

“Uh-huh. Wait a moment. I feel like I’ve sensed this before…?”

The employee, who appeared to be of Hispanic descent, stood the suspicious-looking man aside and began rifling through his memory. He was trying to recall where this uneasy, vaguely chilling feeling stemmed from.

“Ah. I remember now.”

And he could recall.

Fortuitously or perhaps unfortunately.

“When I was in high school, I felt this way when I did necromancy with a Ouija board.”

Yeah.

Unfortunately, the fourth person got caught.

Simply because of that timing at the checkpoint.

It truly was a bizarre coincidence.

The third had passed through without incident, yet it was the fourth who got snagged.

The employee who sensed the incongruity of the fourth warrior had Gypsy ancestry and inherited spiritual abilities, thus having his intuition raised.

Even his experience dabbling with necromancy back in school—what a close shave that could have been!

Indeed, a weird turn of fate it was.

However, the person sending the fourth warrior was prepared for such ‘quirky coincidences.’

Ah.

Truly, there was no luck here.

“Ugh. Crack. Crack-crack-crack.”

A situation that was clearly blown.

Once suspicion was aroused, the staff would surely lead him to a solitary room for thorough investigation.

In such a case, a detailed examination would naturally follow, but due to human rights issues, they might use equipment that was intentionally downscaled, rather than the precision tools they should have utilized.

If it came to that, discovery would be merely a matter of time.

Even if Park Jinseong had played the system, there would be no way to avoid detection once thorough checks were executed.

Thus, the warrior, or rather the spirits residing within the warrior, began to stir.

According to the triggers implanted by Park Jinseong.

It was in accordance with the trigger designed to activate when their identities were uncovered.

“Ugh. Crack-crack-crack!”

“What, what, what the hell!”

『 Abulaphia says, to open the door of the soul, one must untie the knots binding the soul. Look upon what was unseen through a different perspective and transcend the concepts beyond sensory perception to touch the knots. As you trace and loosen the intricately tangled knots, prepare to widen the horizon and unlock the door without a doorknob. 』

『 The intertwined knots are not singular but a mass of entanglements; each thread is complexly coiled. They neither cut nor stretch; their length remains unchanged, yet they are immortal and will inevitably disappear one day. They remain in their place, but their forms are liberated, and you cannot describe their shape with the sensations you have experienced throughout your life. Thus, detach from the mundane, combine and separate, and uncoil the knots, which are both one and many. 』

『 Leap and skip, and speak. 』

“Open!”

Oh, door of the soul, formed by the mystics’ imprint.

With a quiet mutter of those words.

The middle-aged man, whose chest felt like it was being torn apart, lifted his head.

Then, gazing at the ceiling, he tilted his mouth upward and opened wide.

As wide as to dislocate his jaw.

So wide that his mouth seemed to tear apart.

But was that all? No, he even raised his hand to his mouth and traced the line between his upper and lower lips with his fingers.

Then taking a breath, one, two.

Rrrrrrip!

What savagery to rip his own mouth open vertically!

Not stopping there, he curled his index finger like a hook to grasp the edges of his mouth.

Rrrrrrip!

Tearing horizontally, leaving his mouth in tatters, leaving his jaw completely displaced, what madness was this?

Ah.

It was an almost unbelievable and grotesque sight—even witnessing it made it hard to believe.

And so, the employee realized that something was wrong with the man before him, panic turning his face pale.

And this fright only grew with the man’s ensuing actions.

WAAAAH!

Things within the man’s body erupted like a fountain.

Not blood, not food waste, not stomach acid—something shot out like a fountain.

As if lying dormant within the man, waiting for this very moment, as if there were fireworks installed in his throat, it gushed forth.

A pale, murky substance.

Just looking at it elicited a sense of revulsion and goosebumps—a viscous mass that resembled either smoke or sticky liquid.

Neither plasma nor liquid nor flame, yet it soared.

Undulating and swaying, dropping to the ground like raindrops, merging and splitting to create a haunting, nauseating form.

The long, trailing smoke danced like tentacles.

The droplets falling were as disgusting as a monster’s drool.

What looked like flames flickered, taking on the visage of a person or monster.

Grotesqueness.

Terror.

Revulsion.

All these sensations intertwined, informing the employee of what had spewed forth from the man’s body.

“Ah, ah, an evil spirit-!”

WAAAAAAH!

Beep beep beep-!!!

In sheer terror, the employee shouted as he pressed the button.

The alarm signal rang throughout the airport.

The various alarms blared in different ways, echoing loudly, threatening to burst eardrums.

A sound so provocative that it could undoubtedly awaken even the soundest sleeper.

Thus, the alarm, most perfect for alerting people to the danger of ‘ensnaring spirits’ and evacuating them, blared.

BEEP BEEP BEEP-!!!

A sound so ear-piercing it seemed ready to tear through the very air.

A sound akin to the cries of birds, severe and sharp.

A sound so colossal it seemed possible for even those partly deaf to hear it clearly.

The sound.

The sound reverberated.

The sound set off by the parcel sent by Park Jinseong.

The arrow launched from Korea had finally been discovered by someone…

 

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