It's been four days since Young-Sik was infected and three days since he sent the messenger. Prince Kim Young-Sik worked tirelessly taking care of the inflicted villagers, with some healthy individuals as his only help. He barely slept, and the exhaustion took a toll on his body. His vision had already been blurry for some time and now he had developed bouts of headaches, at first he could tolerate them but this day was different. The headaches became excruciating to the point he could no longer focus.
The prince stepped out of the village hall for a while, seeing that all the patients were stable. He leaned against a wall as he staggered to walk "Fifty…I've lost fifty souls since we arrived here. Where did I go wrong?" He asked himself, "I should have found the cure by now, not become a patient myself," He thought to himself as he staggered towards the village gates to get some medicines for the villagers
Jin-Ri was passing by the village gates when she saw Young-Sik struggling to walk toward the camp "Your Highness? Are you alright? I'm coming to help you!" She shouted, the feeling of helplessness washing over her.
"No, stay right there, don't come near me" Young-Sik yelled back, he straightened his posture and walked like nothing was ailing him
"You are not alright, your eyes, their bloody red, you haven't had any sleep since you shut us out." Jin-Ri exclaimed "Please just let us help you"
"I said no…you stupid girl!" His angry words caught Jin-Ri by surprise "How many times do I have to tell you, I can't risk getting any of you sick" Young-Sik sighed, seeing that he hurt Jin-Ri's feelings by shouting at her, he calmed himself "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout at you, just please get me some Hawthorne and leave it by the gate"
Jin-Ri bowed to the prince and made her way to their supply cart to collect some medicine for the prince. After filling a wooden box with the needed medicines, she went back to the village gate, placed the box on the ground, and stepped away. Young-Sik smiled at Jin-Ri he bent over to get the medicine, but his right knee buckled forcing him to fall to one knee.
Jin-Ri rushed to her master's side and helped him up "What are you doing, you'll get inflicted as well you…you stupid girl" Young-Sik said, the surprise in his tone evident.
"Too late for that your Highness, I'm probably infected now as well. So you have no other choice but to let me help you" She explained defiantly as she helped Young-Sik to a nearby empty hut. She sat him down by the door of the hut "Stay here Your Highness, I will get you some water" Jin-Ri ran to the village well and got a bucket of water. By the time she got back, Young-Sik was already asleep leaning by the door frame.
Carefully lifting the prince's head, she laid him down with a pillow under his head "You were supposed to drink this, but I guess I'll just clean you with it" Jin-Ri pulled a white cloth from her pocket, soaked it in water, twisted it, shake off the excess and begins to dab Young-Sik on the face. She then took the prince's hands and wiped them clean. "Why do you have to do things by yourself? We're here to help the people…I'm here to help you" She whispered to the sleeping prince.
"Stay here my prince let me take care of them for a while" She was about to stand up when she felt a hand grab and pull her, and she fell on top of Young-Sik. Her eyes were wide with surprise at her face-to-face with the prince. Softly she whispered, "Do you want me to stay with you?" She heard the prince make a sound but she could not understand it. She leaned closer and turned her ears to listen carefully.
Instead of words what Jin-Ri heard was "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" The prince was softly snoring. Jin-Ri got up and dusted herself "Stay here my prince…rest even a little bit" She then made her way to the gates and picked up the medicine to distribute to the sick villagers
When Young-Sik opened his eyes, the sun was already at its zenith. He looked around and saw a basin of water, he washed his face and gargled, before going out of the hut. Outside he saw Jin-Ri coming from the village hall, he then remembered that she had gotten close to him and now the villagers, he hurried to meet her. "Are you okay? Are you sick?" He asked her, all the while turning her head left and right and opening her eyes to look for signs of the sickness
"I won't be okay if you keep this up…your Highness," She told Young-Sik, who immediately let go of her face
"How long have I been out? How long have you been tending to the villagers without your protective covers?" He asked the court maiden a mix of bewilderment and concern laced his voice
"Since yesterday, when you fell asleep. I thought since I was already inflicted, there was no need to wear them" she explained, wondering the need to ask the question since the prince did the same since he was inflicted.
"A day? And for me, being without protective coverings for three to four days only means one thing: you won't get sick by coming into contact with or breathing the same air as sick people." Young-Sik pondered with both a sense of relief and confusion. "Come to think of it, I never shown any symptoms similar to the sick villagers, the symptoms I had were from lack of sleep. If that's the case, how did they get sick?"
"Your Highness, are you okay? You were mumbling" Jin-Ri asked the prince worried that the prince might still be sick
"Did you show any symptoms similar to the villagers, by my observation, it takes around one day for an inflicted person to show symptoms" He asked Jin-Ri eagerly waiting for her answer as it may prove to be a crucial piece of evidence
She shook her head "So far none your Highness, I feel fine, to be honest" She shrugged her shoulders to show the prince she was okay and not feeling sick at all.
Before the prince could ask his next question, they were interrupted by a court maiden calling out to his court maiden "Jin-Ri…come quick, two court maidens are showing signs of being sick"
The two looked at each other before running to their camp. Inside one of the tents, Young-Sik saw two court maidens sweating from fever, their skins were all dried, their lips cracked and their eyes sunken. He also observed three soldiers heaving and continuously vomiting. The other court maidens and soldiers were all keeping their distance from the inflicted.
"I'll go get some water" Jin-Ri volunteered, she picked up two buckets and hurried towards the village well on the other side of town.
"We're out of water?" Young-Sik asked Captain Gi
"Yes your Highness, just yesterday around mid-day," he said answering the prince's inquiry
The others were in awe when Young-Sik approached one of the sick court maidens without wearing his protective coverings and performed a physical examination "When did you start to feel sick? When did you have any exposure to the sick villagers" Young-Sik asked one of the court maidens trying to determine what they did or who they had been in contact with
"Around last night Your Highness…but we never came close to the village hall or any of the sick villagers, We stayed close to the village walls when we gathered water from the well" The court maiden explained, her eyes laced with fear
A suspicion grew in Young-Sik's mind, he asked his most crucial question "When did you get sick was it after or before you drank the water?" He eagerly waited for the court maiden
"After Your Highness" The court maiden answered, it was the answer that Young-Sik was hoping for.
"But we drank from the same well, why are we not sick?" A soldier asked nervously, thinking that at any time he might get sick.
"Yes, but not entirely" Captain Gi chimed in "While we did drink from the same well, I distinctly remembered that Ms. Hong boiled the water that we drank" he added hoping it would be a piece of vital information.
"Why did Jin-Ri boil the water?" Young-Sik asked curiously
"It wasn't on purpose Your Highness, She was boiling a large pot of water to cook bone soup, but she set it aside when somebody called for help from the village hall. When it cooled down, that's what most of us drank, save for these five who drank directly from the well" Captain Gi explained
Young-Sik stood quiet for a while, trying to connect the final pieces of the puzzle. "If we don't get sick from contact with a sick person and it's not the food…then the only common thing is…" Young-Sik then remembered that on the day they met Physician Kang drank water directly from the well and he got sick the next day "It's the water…the water is the source of the sickness. Think about it, the only common thing that every sick person did was drink from the well. Those of you who didn't get sick consumed well water after it was boiled. Boiling somehow neutralizes the sickness"
"Where is Jin-Ri?" Young-Sik asked when he started to wonder why she was not talking
"She said she was going to get some water…from the well" A court maiden answered. Young-Sik's instinct told him to run after Jin-Ri. He dashed out of their camp towards the village well.
Jin-Ri trudged toward the well, each step heavy with the weight of the sweltering sun. "What makes today so unbearably hot?" she pondered, the oppressive humidity wrapping around her like a shroud, leaving her parched. As she reached the well, she seized the rope, lowering the bucket into the shadowy depths. The splash echoed eerily as she filled one container, then dropped and pulled the bucket up again to fill another. "I never imagined that gathering water could drain me so completely… I could really use a drink," she whispered to herself. With trembling hands, she dipped her wooden cup into the refreshing water, longing for the coolness to wash over her.