Sohwa folded her fingers beneath her sleeve one by one.'One, two…'If it had been manufactured as she’d planned, the pill would dissolve and waft the smell of blood in the stomach. Drawn by the scent, the dokgo would swarm in, and the nausea would make him vomit the dokgo out.The first time she cut Hae-rak’s arm, she had seen the dokgo rush in at once.Sohwa estimated sixty counts for the dokgo spread to her toes to crawl their way to the stomach.She had blended the ingredients to induce vomiting at just that timing; if it worked as expected, the swarming dokgo would be cleanly retched out.All ten fingers folded, yet Hae-rak’s face was still calm.Silence deepened.The early evening din seeped faintly through the windows.It was when she had folded and unfolded her fingers thirty times.“Urk.”Hae-rak let out a low groan.“Why?”Sohwa reacted sharply.He pressed a hand to his chest and knit his brows.“Something’s wrong.”Still counting on her fingers, Sohwa watched his face with quick attention.“Tell me exactly how it’s wrong.”“I feel like I’m going to throw up.”“Already?”Startled, Sohwa narrowed the space between her brows.Hae-rak gagged, as if he had been holding it back.“Ugh—turn your head that way… What? Go over there.”When she moved closer, he paused his retching and reached out a hand, but she sat right beside him.Sohwa seized his jaw, pried his mouth open, and popped in a pill — the neutralizer from the fourth slot.“I miscalculated the timing. The reaction’s faster than I thought.”Hae-rak’s gaze dropped.He was looking at Sohwa’s hand, still at his lips.“No time to stare. Swallow.”He had barely swallowed when he asked,“…Then why are you holding a knife?”Clutching a throwing blade, Sohwa said,“The ones who died to dokgo had their hearts turned black. When the parasites decide to kill their host, it looks like they rush the heart.”“So why are you saying that while holding a knife.”“If your heart feels tight or anything feels off, tell me.”“…What?”Hae-rak wanted an explanation, but Sohwa didn’t give it, lest he lose his nerve.All of this existed only as projections in her head, not a verified method. Which meant it was bound to be dangerous.Sohwa was tense, but she tried not to show it.She considered that courtesy to the one entrusting her with his life.Unlike Sohwa, whose gaze was fixed on Hae-rak’s chest, Hae-rak was watching her eyes.The candleflame reflected there trembled without rest — unlike her motionless expression.Hae-rak felt his heart steady. Watching someone straining to save him, it was as if half his unease shifted over to her side.At the unfamiliar calm, he gave a dry laugh — and at the same time clutched his heart.“Urk, it’s weird again.”Sohwa tugged down the front of his robe. Like heat haze, black ripples shimmered across his skin.By the reddish candlelight, it was hard to be sure of his exact complexion. But the black veins showing under the skin were starkly clear.“Why’s a physician peeking so timidly?”Even while he grimaced, Hae-rak joked as he undressed himself, but Sohwa didn’t hear him.Her brows lifted.It was her first time seeing the dokgo’s movement so close.Black veins bulged out across his upper body. The black lines, tangled like spiderwebs, all led toward the middle of his torso.'Is this the path they’re taking?'The area around the stomach and heart was the darkest; the color faded toward the fingertips. It seemed the dokgo massed in the stomach were moving toward the heart.The dokgo gathered at the stomach had not torn the mucosa; after circling the area, they had turned their steps toward the heart.Sohwa realized the dokgo did not leave the blood vessels.'Do I need to break the stomach wall to draw blood?'She hadn’t wanted to wound an organ, but if nothing else worked, she might be forced to rupture the vessels.She still gripped the blade, yet hadn’t drawn blood.'Just a little more.'She wanted to learn more about their movement.There was no telling if such a chance would come again.If Hae-rak died, this would be her last opportunity to broaden her insight into the dokgo’s motion.Then Hae-rak groaned, as if in pain.Sohwa finally tightened her grip.Thup-thup.Cut deeper than she’d intended, the blood pattered down.At once, the wavering black tide froze, as if lying in wait — like raising their senses to judge what to attack.Sohwa hesitated. If she lured them to one place, a vein in an arm or leg might get blocked.She lifted her eyes to him and asked,“I’m going to draw blood at your fingertips and toes. If I lure them with the scent, the ones massed at your heart should spread out toward the ends.”“Whatever it is, do it fast. I feel like I’m dying.”His answer came in a low voice, tight with pain.Sohwa made small cuts on both his hands, then tore the cloth near his ankles and nicked the skin there to the length of a fingernail.As if it were a lie, the dokgo changed course.The pitch-black lines near his heart paled, while the faint lines spreading toward his arms and legs gradually darkened.What had gathered in one place now traveled four ways; dark as they grew, they were not as stark as when the center had been clogged.Soon, black fluid dripped from the punctures in his hands and feet.When the black veins around his heart vanished, Sohwa sealed the wounds, spreading a thick layer of clear salve over his arms and legs.The dokgo wailed as if reluctant, then soon gave up and retreated into stillness.At last, even the vessels in the limbs began to fade.“…These crazy things follow orders this well?”Hae-rak spoke in a flat, incredulous tone.His breathing had evened out; much of the pain seemed to have subsided.Sohwa, too, seemed to unclench a measure, and said evenly,“I worried they’d get angry and try to kill their host, but seeing how they hustle after blood, I suppose they lack intelligence.”“Since when do bugs have intelligence. Of course they don’t.”Hae-rak gave a hollow laugh.He started to scratch his arm—and stopped.Catching that reaction, Sohwa pinched one eye and asked,“Itchy?”“A bit.”Sohwa laid her hand where he’d been about to touch. Just by resting her palm there, she felt a distinct vibration beneath the skin. The insects were rioting.She didn’t know how to soothe them, but she did know how to scatter a clump.Sohwa stroked the remaining patches on his body with her fingers, sliding them toward the clear skin.“Better?”“…I think so.”The answer was lukewarm, but with the slack in his voice, it seemed he wasn’t in pain.Having drawn off the clumped dokgo, Sohwa went behind him just in case. There were a few patches left on his back as well.Carefully, she set her hand on his back and spread the gathered dokgo outward.Hae-rak stayed quiet and still. The pain was certainly decreasing.But when she pressed the spot near his shoulder blade, he jerked hard — enough for the back muscles to carve out deep lines.“Sorry.”“…It’s fine.”He answered half a beat late.Setting her impatience aside, Sohwa calmly tidied the remnants of the dokgo.Taking care not to press into flesh, she only skimmed the skin with light strokes.A hush followed, so still that even breathing could not be heard.Then, out of nowhere, Hae-rak asked,“…Are you doing this on purpose?”“What?”At the puzzling question, Sohwa withdrew her hand and asked back.There were still a few places where the dokgo had bunched up, but Hae-rak picked up his long coat and shrugged it on.“Clumps like this will disperse on their own. You can stop.”While fastening his coat, Hae-rak knit his brows — because no answer came from behind him.With a nagging feeling, he turned his head. There stood Tang Sohwa, eyes narrowed.“You could have said so earlier…”Her voice was cold.His gaze dropped to her sleeve. The bright-colored cuff was soaked in blood. Looking closer, her fingers were scored with countless small cuts.It seemed she had kept cutting her own hand to lure the dokgo. About half had nearly closed, but the rest were still bleeding.Hae-rak parted his lips, then clicked his tongue.“Why do something so pointless.”Sohwa looked away and picked up the salve tin.As if she had no great complaint, she spread the remaining salve over her hands and said,“I’ll make the next medicine as soon as I return to Sichuan. It’ll probably take a month — come by Sichuan around then.”“Will anything be different next time?”His tone was full of distrust.It wasn’t an incomprehensible reaction, so Sohwa answered levelly,“I confirmed the route the dokgo take, and I learned your body’s reaction speed. Next time the effect will be better.”“Why do I hear that as ‘it might fail again’?”“Good ear. It might fail again.”Washing her hands in the water set by the bed, she said,“Even so, I don’t intend to give up until it’s complete.”Sohwa’s gaze slid to Hae-rak.With her eyes, she was asking.'Are you going to give up?'She knew how important this was to him — and asked anyway.In a word, it wasn’t a question.'It’s a call to get a grip.'Regrettably, he was the host housing the dokgo, so Hae-rak quietly straightened his clothes.All of a sudden, Sohwa stood and stepped down from the bed.Hae-rak squinted one eye, as if taken aback.“Where are you going?”“Back.”“Already?”“Ah, come to think of it, there’s one thing I need to buy.”“Right. You came all the way out to Wuhan; going straight back makes no sense.”“No need to go outside. I want to buy a hairpin here.”At that, Hae-rak let out a short laugh.“Jewelry’s on the first and second floors. Pick anything you like and just take it. No — let’s go down together.”When he, too, stepped off the bed to follow her, Sohwa shook her head.“No need to browse. I intend to buy the most expensive hairpin in this place — bring me that one.”“Oh? You’ve got money, then.”With a smirk, Hae-rak folded his arms.Like a thug shaking someone down on the street, he asked crookedly,“How much did you bring?”Sohwa took out her money and showed it: three nyang of silver and one nyang of gold.“You walked here just carrying that? Alone, with no guard?”When she nodded, Hae-rak sighed.“You are, in another sense… remarkable.”“Should I just ask them to bring it down?”Ignoring him, Sohwa asked. Hae-rak chuckled and shook his head.“With that, you can’t buy the most expensive hairpin in Baekgeumgak. It easily goes over two nyang of gold.”“…It’s that expensive?”“They gathered the rarest things in the Central Plains. Of course it is.”Sohwa’s expression turned awkward.It hadn’t occurred to her that she might be short on money.'So this is what they meant by not knowing the ways of the world…'She had resolved to splurge and gift Tang Min a fine hairpin, but it seemed she would have to give it up. She was about to ask Hae-rak to recommend something in the price of one nyang of silver.But when she lifted her head, he was smiling.A very unpleasant smile.“Say,”he whispered, curling his red lips,“I’ll hand you the most expensive hairpin in Baekgeumgak — won’t you come somewhere with me?”

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