The Supreme Judge's gavel fell, announcing the sentence of execution.
Yet he was neither sad nor angry about his fate.
From the very beginning, he had known that he was a dead man walking.
Humanity never truly understood what the Blood Curse was in the first place—
that plague which had swept across mankind in a single moment. Anyone diagnosed with the Blood Curse was already considered dead in the eyes of everyone.
It was a pandemic that threatened the very stability of humanity itself.
Those who carried the curse were on a path toward what was called Ferality—a simple process the cursed would undergo on their way to losing everything.
Their bodies…
Their minds…
Even their souls…
Until they ended as savage monstrosities that brought nothing but destruction and spilled blood.
Adam let out a slow breath and glanced at the lady seated beside him.
"Is this really the end?" he asked, his voice trembling as he clutched the Abad flower against his chest.
"Mmm… in fact…"
She raised her hand slightly before continuing,
"Not exactly."
Between her fingers was a crimson needle decorated with a small feather.
The needle—and the lady's hand along with it—began to dissolve.
A strange dizziness overwhelmed Adam. As darkness began to swallow his vision, he asked the lady, whose form was already losing shape before him.
She now looked like a creature made of black sludge.
"What… what did you do to me?" he asked with a heavy tongue.
His eyes closed, leaving the lady in the black funeral dress standing inside the testing chamber.
"Don't worry, Adam," she said softly.
"Everything will be alright."
"Everything is fine… everything will be alright…"
Adam repeated the words while sinking into the endless abyss, holding the Abad flower against his ribs.
After her words, he continued counting.
"Fifty-one… fifty-two…"
In the darkness he floated downward, slowly… gently.
Soft currents brushed against him from time to time.
The sensation was strangely comforting.
The black slowly turned gray…
And the gray slowly turned white…
Then his body touched a black ground.
It was identical to green grass in every way—except for the color.
He stood up and looked ahead.
Before him stretched a vast meadow of black grass.
On the horizon stood a massive tree. Beneath it, children held hands, forming a circle of twenty around the tree.
Adam approached them with unusual speed.
He had taken only a few steps…
Yet somehow crossed the entire distance.
"Woah… I crossed all that space already… how is that possible?"
He looked behind him in confusion.
When he turned forward again—
He found himself standing inside the circle.
The circle of children beneath the giant tree.
"No no no no no no no… no no no no no… hmhmhmhmhm…"
The children were humming loudly, their tone unsettling.
What made Adam's unease worse was the child standing beside him.
He looked like the others.
Short.
Loose clothing.
Holding a stuffed doll.
But his face…
Had no nose.
Only a single massive black eye in the center.
What is this… who are you?
Adam froze like a statue, sweat pouring down his face.
Then the child's face split horizontally beneath the giant eye.
Its mouth opened, revealing rows of shining blade-like teeth.
A long, split tongue slid out—like that of a snake.
Wh… what… what is wrong with this child…?
No… it's impossible that he's a normal child.
Did he turn into this because of the curse?
Adam stepped back several times as sweat dripped from his face.
He swallowed hard, trying to calm himself.
Then he remembered.
He closed his eyes and continued counting.
"Fifty-three… fifty-four… fifty-five… fifty-six… fifty-seven…"
Suddenly the monstrous child screamed.
The rest of the children screamed as well.
Their voices were like hundreds of crying infants mixed with the howls of demons rising from the depths of hell.
The screams tore the world apart.
This isn't real…
He tried to calm himself.
"Fifty-eight… fifty-nine… sixty…"
Since he entered the testing chamber—
No…
"Sixty-one… sixty-two… sixty-three…"
Since he turned nineteen…
Since he lost everyone dear to him…
"Sixty-four… sixty-five… sixty-six… sixty-seven…"
Since the day he let his little sister play in the rain…
Only to find her lifeless body later—because of his negligence.
"Sixty-eight… sixty-nine… seventy…"
Since he found himself an orphan sentenced to death the moment his eyes first saw daylight…
And the moment they witnessed the black thread of night.
At that moment he realized something.
He was nothing more than a corpse cursed with life.
And so he screamed as well—
In a hysterical, disturbing scene.
A long shadow appeared behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Adam…"
The voice came from behind him.
He turned his head.
Two glowing white eyes stared at him—like those of a cat.
The figure spoke again with a hoarse, muffled voice.
"Wake up, Adam!"
Adam jolted violently out of the nightmare.
Sweat covered his entire body.
His chest rose and fell as he struggled to breathe.
His hand tightly gripped the Abad flower.
It was the only anchor tying him to his past… and his identity.
Was it a dream…?
He tried to remember the count.
Was the sheep number seventy-one… or seventy-two?
No… it wasn't a dream.
It was a disgusting nightmare.
"Good morning."
A young woman in a white dress leaned toward him.
Adam looked at her in confusion.
She wore a small cap with a short red cross on it.
He realized she was a nurse.
"Where am I now? And who are you?" he asked while she measured his body temperature.
She straightened and looked at the thermometer.
"I'm Luha. Your temperature is still in a good range…"
She smiled faintly.
"For now, at least."
"What do you mean by for now?"
She looked at him and replied with a soft, silky voice.
"The first symptom of transformation is an increase in body temperature."
"When a human's temperature—especially the blood—rises from 37 degrees to 50… and beyond fifty…"
"That is when the first stage of the descent into the abyss begins."
Then she smiled.
"But don't worry. You haven't exceeded thirty-nine degrees yet. So you're in good health…"
"For now."
"Right… for now."
He smiled bitterly before asking,
"When will it happen?"
"What do you mean?" Luha asked, confused.
"My execution," he replied.
"I'm infected with the Blood Curse. And everyone infected with it is executed."
"Hmm… about that…"
"Don't worry about it. You should rest now."
She gently laid him back on the wooden bed.
"But—"
"Rest," she snapped through clenched teeth.
"And don't leave this place. Understood?"
"Alright… alright."
Adam realized he had no choice but to obey.
He rested his head on the soft pillow.
A thin golden ray brushed his eye.
He turned his head and saw the sun struggling to rise again from the bloody arms of dawn.
He closed his eyes and murmured,
"Where was I…?"
"Ah, right…"
"Seventy-three…"
---
"It is time."
Luha said in her sweet voice with a warm smile like golden strands of sunlight.
Adam woke up from sleep, the signs of exhaustion clearly visible on his face. Nightmares never stopped chasing him every night. Whenever his eyes drifted into sleep, he would find himself trapped in the worst nightmare imaginable. Because of that, he slept in a strange way—never allowing himself to truly fall asleep. He merely closed his eyes for brief moments, and the moment he felt himself slipping deeper into sleep, he forced them open again.
Dark circles had begun forming beneath his eyes because of it.
He stood up and put on his shirt, then sighed.
"Finally… my moment has come."
He had always believed that moment would arrive eventually. Death was the only salvation from his terrifying nightmares.
He walked toward the exit of his room, but before leaving, he stopped and looked back at the bed.
That icy flower gleamed within his blue eyes.
He turned back and reached for it.
"I brought this for you, my dear."
He placed it carefully inside the pocket of his white shirt and left the room quickly.
"Why the hurry, Mr. Adam?" Luha asked.
"I don't want to keep them waiting," he replied.
Finally… the time has come.
The time for our reunion.
He stepped into the corridor beside Luha.
They walked through the sugar-colored tiled hallway. It was rather long, until they finally reached a black door with blue letters written on it:
"Laboratory."
Luha reached into the chest pocket of her uniform and pulled out a black jagged key.
Its darkness resembled extinguished coal—completely dull and without shine.
She inserted it smoothly into the keyhole and turned it to the left.
The sound of gears clicked several times as the door's mechanisms unlocked.
She pushed the door with her body, but it barely moved.
After considerable effort, she managed to push it open just enough for a single person to barely squeeze through.
"Follow me, Adam."
She slipped through the narrow dark gap.
Adam stared at the door nervously for a moment.
From inside the darkness, Luha's voice echoed:
"There's no time, Adam. Come in quickly."
Adam clenched his fingers and slowly stepped into the darkness.
Inside the darkness—as its name suggested—vision was completely absent.
The only light came from the thin ray shining through the half-open door.
Adam noticed unusual movements within the dark.
His mind began imagining things.
Rats running back and forth…
Scorpions sneaking behind him to inject their poison into his veins…
Spiders weaving webs waiting for him to step into them…
Dozens of possibilities swirled inside his head.
Then he looked toward the column of light.
Luha stood there, her copper hair glowing faintly as she leaned against an old wooden railing.
"Hey, Luha!" he called.
At that moment, the gears that had opened the door earlier began turning again.
The beam of light grew thinner… and thinner…
Until it vanished completely.
A few moments passed in total darkness.
Then—
The scratching sound of a matchstick.
Shiiik… Shiiik… Shiiik…
Fwoooosh.
The match ignited.
Luha's face appeared in the flickering flame.
"This will do the job," she said.
She placed the burning match into an old kerosene lantern, illuminating the area around them.
"Sure," Adam muttered as he followed her down the stairs.
This time he didn't feel surprised by their length.
He had grown used to strange things in this place.
The staircase was spiral-shaped, descending into a seemingly bottomless abyss.
The walls were made of damp stone covered with slippery green moss.
Each step was individually embedded into the wall like protruding ledges, with a wooden railing fixed along the edge.
Luha walked with confidence and steady steps.
Adam, on the other hand, struggled to descend due to the awkward and dangerous structure of the staircase.
"Which idiot designed these stairs?" he complained angrily.
The entire exhausting descent just to reach an execution platform wasn't exactly motivating.
"Endure it a little longer," Luha said calmly.
"It will take some time to reach the bottom."
Not pleasant words for Adam.
After a while, the walls around them suddenly disappeared.
Adam reached his hand outward.
His hand sank into an incomprehensible darkness.
He pulled it back in alarm.
"Where did the wall go?!"
Luha glanced at him.
"So it disappeared already… That means we're almost there."
"Don't worry about what's happening around you. Just make sure to hold the railing tightly while we descend."
That was when they saw them.
Lamps.
Countless lamps floating in every direction.
They were descending along with them.
Adam noticed they spiraled downward just like their staircase.
Are those… stairs too?!
He tried to focus on one of the lamps nearby, but before he could ask, Luha spoke.
"They're heading to the same destination."
"All those stairways are connected to every monastery and church of Horn Blood."
"Horn Blood? What is Horn Blood?" Adam asked.
"You'll know when we reach the bottom," Luha replied.
"You still haven't told me what awaits us down there."
She turned to look at him.
"Your inevitable fate."
A black mist began slowly swallowing them.
It resembled smoke in shape and movement… yet it was completely black.
What the hell is this… what's happening now?
Luha stepped forward into the mist without hesitation.
"Just follow me. Don't worry."
Oh no… I'm definitely not following you.
Adam tried turning back to climb the stairs.
But the steps behind him were gone.
Beyond his feet… there was nothing.
The mist touched his legs, sending waves of freezing cold through his body.
He tried to escape, but there was nowhere left to run.
"No! No! No!"
He kicked and punched the air, shouting at the top of his lungs.
But the kicks were useless.
The punches meaningless.
And no one was there to hear him scream.
Just like that—
He vanished.
Just as Luha had vanished before him.
---
A massive crowd filled a gigantic hall beneath a ceiling of jagged stone spikes. Those spikes dripped water from time to time, and occasionally, along with the drops of water, swarms of bats fluttered across the cavern.
"We're in a cave."
Adam walked steadily after emerging from the black vortex that had swallowed him and delivered him here. Everyone around him was like him—people afflicted with the curse. They wore open white patient shirts with numbered bands tied around their wrists.
Adam's number was 66.
"Alright," Luha said with a faint smile as she turned toward him and gestured ahead.
"This is as far as I can accompany you. But remember—have faith that what comes next will be better."
Adam responded with sarcasm.
"Better? By better you mean worse, right?"
"In my opinion, nothing is worse than death… but thanks for the encouraging words."
He waved goodbye as she began to leave.
She stopped near a bronze door marked with the symbol (Y).
Then she turned back toward him and called out:
"You're wrong."
"Huh?" Adam looked at her.
She raised her finger toward him, her expression suddenly sharp.
"You should reconsider the idea that nothing is worse than death."
Her words were filled with strange emotions—something between sorrow and anger. But it wasn't the kind of anger that burned wildly; it was the quiet rage of someone who had accepted a painful reality.
As she stepped into the black mist beyond the bronze door, she finished her sentence.
"Something far worse than death… is losing your humanity."
She disappeared.
For the first time in his life, Adam said goodbye to someone—and they didn't die.
Her words carved deeply into his soul.
For a brief moment, inside his broken and hollow self, a tiny spark of hope appeared.
But Adam had already learned how to extinguish such sparks.
He returned once more to being empty—
empty of hope…
empty of ambition…
empty of dreams.
"Well… we finally made it."
He touched the pocket of his shirt, feeling the Abad flower inside.
He smiled faintly, took a deep breath, and exhaled as he stepped toward the crowd.
He didn't want his family waiting too long on the other side.
Within the crowd, Adam heard many people asking each other questions—about their ages, their social status, and their life stories.
He found it ridiculous.
Talking about personal details with strangers you had known for only a few minutes.
But then again… they were all dead anyway.
It was only a matter of time.
At the center of the gathering stood a large platform.
Six figures stood upon it.
The sixth stepped forward holding something resembling a microphone—though here it was simply a reinforced device used to amplify the voice, not an electrical invention.
He slowly approached the edge of the stage and began to speak.
"Ladies… gentlemen… and bearers of the curse."
"Welcome to the Execution Session."
The murmuring crowd fell silent for a moment.
Adam looked at the man with a mocking expression.
"So this idiot is the executioner responsible for killing us?"
"Shut your mouth, you stupid peasant."
The response came from behind his shoulder.
Adam glanced sideways.
The man was about the same height as him, and judging quickly, probably the same age.
Adam had always been good at quick observation—a skill his dear sister had once pointed out.
The main difference between them was the boy's pale blond hair.
Adam despised that kind of color.
He gave him a look of disgust before turning his gaze back to the stage.
He decided not to reply.
There was nothing to gain from arguing.
Instead, he focused on the speaker standing above them.
The man had long white hair that flowed down his back.
His eyes were olive-colored, with a strange and unmistakable gleam in them.
Are those even human eyes…?
"This is the 120th batch since the founding of the Church of Horn Blood," the man declared.
"You now stand at a historical turning point in your lives."
"And as I always say to every group of the cursed…"
"To be… or not to be."
"That is the question."
"The question you must ask yourselves."
"I am the supervisor of this year's 120th Execution Circle."
"I am Elder William."
"Alongside me stand two other saints and three of the finest members of the Church of Horn Blood."
The Church was well known for dealing with deadly monsters and supernatural phenomena.
And of course—
The curse itself.
But the question now was…
"What does he mean by Batch 120?" Adam asked.
The blond boy heard him and answered arrogantly.
"Of course a lowborn peasant like you wouldn't know something so important."
"It refers to the 120th Crimson Batch since the creation of the Church of Horn Blood."
"Every year, those infected with the curse are gathered… and given a chance to change their inevitable fate."
"A chance to become Crimson Hunters."
Adam had heard of the Crimson Hunters before.
They were legendary slayers who butchered gigantic monsters and ghouls without hesitation.
They were humanity's first—and last—line of defense against these horrors.
They, along with several other unknown factions.
Any hunter called Crimson belonged to the Church of Horn Blood.
But Adam had never imagined…
That Crimson Hunters were originally people cursed like him.
Some in the crowd didn't seem surprised at all.
Others, like Adam, were visibly shocked.
His thoughts began racing.
Maybe… just maybe…
I might live.
I might escape death.
That explained why Luha avoided talking about his execution earlier.
Because perhaps—
There was no such thing as an execution after all.
But then another thought appeared in his mind.
Did he truly want to live?
Only moments ago he had been ready to cross to the other side.
But now…
Adam looked back toward Elder William, who raised his voice loudly.
There was excitement—almost pleasure—in his tone as he declared the beginning.
"And now… you miserable men and women of cursed fate…"
"It is time for you to face your destiny."
"Inside…"
"The Execution Circle."