A giant body.
Bound.
Armored straps holding what the straps could hold.
The jaw hanging.
Flesh still clinging to the structure of the face.
Barely.
Still alive in the way something is alive when it hasn't finished dying yet.
---
It was loaded into the armored truck.
The doors closing behind it.
Heavy.
Final.
---
Helicopters overhead.
Moving in formation.
The drone cameras capturing everything from above.
The trucks.
The convoy.
The city around it still broken at the edges.
Still standing in the middle.
---
Cut.
---
A desk.
A man behind it.
Gray suit.
Blue tie.
Small glasses.
A face that held the specific exhaustion of someone who had been delivering difficult information for a long time and had learned to deliver it anyway.
---
He looked into the camera.
---
"We're back."
His voice measured.
Practiced.
"For those of you joining us after the break."
A pause.
"As many of you know South Korea has been facing significant challenges."
---
He continued.
The camera on him steady.
---
"A growing portion of our population has been affected by a disease caused by contact with mana."
A breath.
"Classified by scientists and health professionals as the Mana Rot."
---
He didn't look away from the camera.
---
"Many have been affected. Riots began in several areas as fear spread. Families separated. People transported into unknown situations. The panic was understandable."
A pause.
"But I am here to tell you that things are beginning to look better for South Korea."
---
Behind him footage played.
The nine guilds.
Entering dungeons.
Coming out.
---
"Our nine great guilds have successfully entered these rogue dungeons and come out on top. The world looks to South Korea and China for understanding of what we are all now facing."
---
He set down one paper.
Picked up another.
---
"Later tonight the leader of the Red Phoenix Guild, Gun-woo, along with other guild leaders and officials from South Korea's defense governing board will be delivering a very important address to the nation."
A breath.
"I also have word that a large shipment of Anti-Rot medication has arrived from the United States of America."
---
He paused there.
Let that land.
---
"For those unfamiliar. Anti-Rot is effective only when administered in the early stages of Mana Rot."
His voice became more specific now.
More careful.
---
"When a normal human comes into contact with mana the radioactive energy immediately begins destabilizing healthy cells. Killing them from the inside out. Programming the body to destroy itself."
A pause.
"The skin becomes a light shade of violet first. Then darker. Moving toward deep purple. Then finally pitch black."
Another pause.
"This process happens while the victim is fully conscious."
---
He didn't soften that.
Just said it.
---
"Anti-Rot works by detecting cellular abnormality before the spread becomes too extensive. In early stages certain affected areas can be surgically removed or eliminated through the vaccine."
A breath.
"However once the spread reaches a critical threshold. Once the skin begins its final transition. The process becomes extremely difficult to stop."
He looked directly at the camera.
"Which is why early detection is everything."
---
A pause.
Longer than the others.
---
"Hope for our country and our way of life is real."
His voice steady.
Not performing hope.
Just reporting it.
"But it is divided between those who have found it early and those who have not."
---
He looked down briefly.
Then back up.
---
"United we stand."
A breath.
"Divided we are already losing."
---
He set the papers down.
---
"Don't forget. Tonight. A very important address from Red Phoenix Guild leader Gun-woo."
A pause.
"Stay with us."
---
The camera held on him a moment longer.
Then cut.
---
The city outside the studio window continued doing what it had been doing.
Moving through itself.
Heads down.
Pace steady.
The broken buildings still standing.
The sky still the color of something that hadn't decided yet.