Chapter 56
Chapter 56
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: The Black Death Spreads
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[Title: Ah lol Exploration Success]
Writer: Western Pioneer
(Various gold and silver treasures certification pics)
Who am I? The world's greatest treasure hunter.
Went way past Elrad to the far west, explored the old kingdoms lol.
Just arrived in Adrian, planning to sell the goods.
Gonna auction 'em at the capital market, so come check it out.
[Recommendations 9999+] [Disrecommendations 145]
- My hobby life's over!!!
- Damn, you went pretty far.
- Whoa, so many weird-ass things.
- Saw marks from kingdoms that planned to trade but got wiped out in the Great War.
ㄴ (Tears blurring my vision... con)
ㄴ (Howling cat con)
A few days ago, a post like that had gone up.
Treasure hunters, explorers, adventurers, whatever you call 'em.
They roamed the kingdoms destroyed in the Great War, collecting treasures.
Then they'd return to the Adrian Empire and auction off their hauls to make a living...
The problem was the next post from that gallery.
[Title: Uh fuck why is this happening to me]
Writer: Western Pioneer
(Groin lymph node swollen up pic)
Got some tumor-like shit in my groin;
Head's burning like a fireball, whole body's aching all over, wtf is this?
- Argh you fucking bastard!
- Don't zoom in fuck!
- Huh? You too? I've been feeling off lately.
- Didn't eat some weird fruit did ya? lol
ㄴ Looks like you ate the fire-fire fruit.
ㄴ Writer) Haha fuck I'm Torchman.
- Isn't this kinda dangerous?
ㄴ Nah, that's just treasure hunter life!
ㄴ You went on a long expedition, bound to catch a cold or some shit ㅇㅇ;
ㄴ Badge of honor ain't it?
True to this isekai where only the tough survived, they didn't whine over minor injuries.
And with that extreme close-up on the groin, I thought it was some new tactical nuke.
But that was just the precursor symptom.
The early signs of the Black Death, aka plague.
And the gallery became a perfect vector, spreading an even deadlier pneumonic plague across all of Adrian.
[Title: Rat skewer tastes great!]
(Rat skewer roast pic)
Want one?
[Recommendations 53] [Disrecommendations 42]
- Argh fuck!
- Quit slacking and get to work!
ㄴ ? Why's this a gross pic?
ㄴ Ah lol these guys are Kellierton folks.
ㄴ In Adrian it's a delicacy lol.
- Fr rats are GOAT.
ㄴ Got meat, easy to catch too.
ㄴ Sweep the sewers once and you bag dozens lol.
On top of that, Adrian ate rat meat.
When they couldn't buy from the market or got hungry, it'd be a snack.
Rats were everywhere in the city, and after the Great War, they became a solid food source.
No need to get bitten by plague fleas or breathe airborne Black Death.
They signed up for instant Black Death membership right then and there.
- Uh fuck I'm feeling sick.
- Head's so hot I can't move;
- Can't breathe, *cough cough*
- Maybe hit up a church prayer meeting? Might get better?
- It's God's punishment!
- Come to the church, let's repent together.
And for good measure, church gatherings too.
"They're asking for it."
The perfect setup for the Black Death to spread.
"All I know about Black Death is plague doctors."
[Shop]
[Category – Medicine / Antibiotics]
But the system knew the answer.
I dug up old internet memories and headed to the antibiotics tab in the shop.
Even if I didn't know details, I remembered penicillin wiped out diseases.
Figured searching antibiotics would pull something up.
[Gentamicin 100mL] - 8 points
[Ciprofloxacin 100mL] - 9 points
.
.
"What the hell?"
Never-heard-of names greeted me.
Gentamicin? Sounded like some RPG mage spell.
But luckily, the shop had a search function.
[Please enter the search term.]
[Searching for Black Death...]
[Results: Streptomycin, Gentamicin, Tetracycline... etc.]
[Dosage and instructions included with purchase.]
"Whoa, knew I could count on you."
Even if I didn't know, the system did.
The system is god, and I'm invincible.
*
Did as the system said, bought disposable syringes, antibiotics, the works.
From the blood the girl I'd picked up coughed up, it was pneumonic Black Death.
Anyway, it was dangerous.
So I grabbed a syringe and went back to the room...
"...Yeah, figured as much."
The pale, worn-out girl glanced at the syringe and shut her eyes.
Like she'd given up.
"It'll just sting a bit."
After the usual white lie from hospitals, I grabbed her arm.
"Eek!"
She flinched reflexively as the needle went in, but only for a sec.
Finished the antibiotic shot and pulled the needle out.
Reused the syringe? Nah, for future treatments.
Tossed it into the rift.
Then the girl slowly, very slowly, cracked her eyes open, checked her body, and tilted her head.
"You weren't gonna kill me?"
"What kinda creepy talk is that."
Do I look like a medieval doc who drills holes in heads if you're headachy?
Pressed her head down, and it sank into the bed like her hands clutching the blanket.
"Weird. Normal humans chase off or kill plague victims..."
Muttering softly, surprised by my actions, I got up.
I'd only treated one so far.
Of course, I wasn't gonna go door-to-door myself, but ways to stop the Black Death? Plenty.
As I logged into the gallery to head out, I turned to her and asked.
"Oh yeah, what's your name?"
"Name? Don't got one..."
She racked her brains for a while, then said like she'd remembered.
"Lust?"
"?"
What the hell's this kid saying?
She'd been living with a hellish concept even top affinity hooks couldn't touch.
Thought about flicking her forehead, but she sensed it like a ghost and dove under the blanket.
I stared at her and said.
"How about Penny."
"Penny?"
"Just picking one since you don't have."
She blinked, then nodded slightly.
No special meaning.
Just that she was the first Black Death patient to get an antibiotic shot.
Penny, short for penicillin.
*
Black Death was such a nightmare in medieval times, it defined the era.
Luckily, I had the counter: antibiotics. But there was a problem.
"No doctors."
No one to administer the antibiotics.
Couldn't trust medieval docs either—they were basically mad scientists experimenting on human mysteries.
Distributing syringes willy-nilly on the market? Tough too.
"Do they even know their veins?"
Most probably didn't know their own anatomy.
Medicine was barbaric even a few centuries back.
Or so I thought.
- Veins? You mean the blood tubes?
- I know where the blood flows.
- Lol who'd be such a noob not to know?
ㄴ Judak*) Ah.
These were Great War survivors.
More people who'd seen corpses than not.
Masters of human anatomy.
Roughly knew where everything was and what.
Made things simple.
I whipped up a pinned announcement at the top of the gallery.
[Notice: Hiring part-timers]
Writer: Judak*
Education/experience irrelevant.
War vets preferred.
Bonus if you've seen lots of bodies.
Good eyesight required.
Job: Go house-to-house treating plague ㅇㅇ
- Fuck that's suicide.
- Investigating that disease? Nah;
- Even for Lord Judak, seems rough...
- Got living parents to care for, sorry.
But the response was meh.
Forgot to mention pay and meds.
Posted a revised notice.
[Notice: Hiring part-timers (Updated)]
Writer: Judak*
This is called Black Death, got cure ㅇㅇ
Part-timers get meds first.
Job's house-to-house treatments.
Market protection gear against infection for part-timers first too ㅇㅇ
Pay: 2,500 kyungdan per month.
(Negotiable ㅇㅇ)
- Fuck me up!!! Pick me!!!!
- 2,500 kyungdan??? Insane lololol
ㄴ Gotta do it right???
- Pls hire me, lifelong dream.
- I actually love Black Death.
- Parents pushed me to apply.
"Good."
Free meds first, plus 2,500? Irresistible.
Truth is, 2,500 kyungdan was about 2.5 million won in my past life.
Not bad pay.
But the job? Facing a brand-new plague as a plague doctor.
Not something to cheer wildly over.
- I scrape by on 500 a month? Pls hire me.
- I can work sleeping 5 hrs a day.
- I don't sleep at all.
- I'll die on the job.
- Wanna date Black Death.
But medieval standards differ.
500 kyungdan if lucky, or paid in food.
Labor surplus everywhere, folks begging for work.
2,500 in that world? Jackpot.
- So when's hiring?
- Interviews fuck!
- Why tease and not post the hiring?
- Judak hire me quick and work me like a dog!!!!
ㄴ Judak*) ; Wait, y'all not scared facing Black Death?
So I asked...
- Working for Judak means status up rite? Lol?
ㄴ Honorary job with fat pay lol.
- Judak you giving meds rite?
ㄴ Fr market items = 100% trust.
ㄴ No doubt, grab when new post drops.
ㄴ Judak certified cure? Guaranteed ㅇㅇ.
"Nope."
They trust me this much?
Maybe not me—modern medicine and goods.
I pondered, then started a new hiring post.
*
Adrian outskirts, slums.
Screams, wails, bloodstains everywhere.
Folks barricaded indoors, no one dared go out.
One house was the same.
"Fever won't break!"
"It's only getting hotter... how long we gotta watch like this?"
Anxious voices reached my ears.
Edmon swept his brow, sighing nonstop.
His son, back from outside, was coughing blood, burning with fever.
Straight-up Judak's description: Black Death, turns body black and kills.
"Fuck..."
Edmon wanted to do something.
Trade his life if needed, but reality said no.
Watching his son fade, he'd felt parched for two days straight.
"Edmon, the doctor?"
"Said he's running late. Too many patients..."
But he knew.
Doc wasn't coming.
Couldn't say it, just sat on the wooden chair, leg jittering.
Knock knock.
An impossible knock at the door.
Edmon's eyes flew wide, bolted to the entrance and flung it open.
Plague raging outside? No time to care.
In this mess, someone knocking door-to-door had to be...
"Good day, doc."
"Gallery doctor!"
"Yes. Heard there's a patient here."
Head taller than most men, built like a tank.
Calm as could be, no fear of plague.
"Ahh, thank you...!"
"Thank Judak, not us."
They were Judak's plague doctors, healers leaving cured in their wake.
The so-called gallery doctors had begun their work in earnest.