“Yes, whatever it is, it is definitely a foul creature that could spread curses through contact.” After examining the gashes on Samantha’s forearm, Tae Kuo reached a similar conclusion as Gyuu Park: “And - though a curse, it’s not anything immediately damaging, as far as I can tell. It’s not consuming your energy, vitality, and as far as I can tell it’s not affecting your mind, yet - ”

“But - it’s bound to be doing SOMETHING, I mean, what’s the point of a curse anyway?” Sue shook her head: “And - can you remove it?”

“That’s the thing, we don’t understand it, so it’s gonna take at least a bit of time and effort.” Tae Kuo sighed with a heavy frown on his face: “It’s definitely not as easy as we’d like. And in the worst case scenario, trying to resolve it or remove it could lead to more unwanted changes.”

“... but it’s definitely time we did not have.” Gyuu Park sighed.

“Well, then, aren’t we in a pickle.” Tae Kuo shook his head: “We should go to Kshiti Temple.”

“Can’t, they don’t live here, it could take weeks for them to see us.” Gyuu Park shook his head as well.

“But - this is a curse. Wouldn’t they treat this with some urgency?” Brian asked.

“We can try - maybe even today.” Gyuu Park sighed: “I will need to draft a letter of introduction to them. It might not help but we’ve gotta try. You know how they are with outsiders, and - if they find out you’re actually transplants… So, don’t talk about this unless you have to.”

“I think they’ll still help.” Tae Kuo looked at the Teiths, then sighed: “I’ll sign the letter with you. I know about the agreement, but this is about a curse of unknown effect, left by a clearly malicious entity. I think they’d want to take a look. If not, I’ll try to request the audience of an elder.”

“Why? Why wouldn’t the temple help us?” Kevin looked at both Gyuu Park and Tae Kuo, then fixed his eyes on Gloria.

“It’s complicated. But the simple answer is, the temples were attacked by the people in the other districts, and so the temples swore to never aid anyone that still lives in the other districts.” Gloria sighed: “But - ”

“What if they have been living in our district?” Luoshan Zi asked.

Gloria immediately turned to her boss: “Luoshan, you don’t need to…”

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“Yeah, no - I want to help. Because this is a concern to me as well.” Luoshan Zi smiled and shrugged: “I cannot really help you forge your records - not alone, and not to an unreasonable extent anyways, but I know people who could, so…”

“Thank you! ” Brian and Samantha immediately stood up and bowed to Luoshan Zi: “Thank you very much!”

“Don’t mention it. ” Luoshan Zi chuckled: “Any friend of Gloria’s is a friend of mine.”

“But - in the meantime, let’s first find a place for our friends to stay, fortify the place up as much as possible. Then go and see if we can seek help from a temples and maybe the community watch and patrol team.” Sue sighed, then raised her hand.

“Sounds like a plan.” Gyuu Park stood up, but was immediately struck by a sudden wave of dizziness and had to hold the back of the chair he was sitting in for support. He shook it off, then finished his tea: “Let’s go. I’ll get started with the letter.”

Luoshan Zi closed down her shop early and led the way to the place she mentioned the Teiths could rent.

It was a small but cozy looking apartment on the 5th floor of a relatively new apartment building. The entire community was half gated - meaning that it was surrounded by a metal fence and had a metal gate with a security guard stand, but it did not look like it could stop anyone determined from coming in.

The door of the apartment was made of red wood with some simple evil-repelling symbols etched on it. Above it dangled a knot made with red threads and three copper coins. On each side of the door, there was one small table, serving as a mini altar for a wooden effigy. The one on the left was a man with a clean shaven face wielding a giant curved sword, and the one on the right was a man with a long beard wielding a spear.

From the balcony, one could actually see the Kshiti Temple from a distance - it seemed that though the giant incense burners in it were still smoking, there were not many people going in and out of the temple.

“I - I think this is good already.” Samantha looked around, let out a sigh of relief then hugged Luoshan Zi from the side: “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“Yeah, don’t mention it. Just - just be safe.” Luoshan Zi shook her head: “And - I think I have some evil repelling talismans stashed here, I’ll go find it. But uh - I am not privy to the paranormal stuff like Gloria and her friends, so the quality might not be as good.”

“I can help take a look while we’re at it.” Sue raised her hand: “I am no expert, but I do know a thing or two - you know, if everyone is busy - I wanna help too.”

“Sue’s knowledgeable.” “She does.” Tae Kuo and Gloria said at the same time.

“Do you have a pen and some paper?” Gyuu Park tried looking in a drawer, but then he immediately raised his hand, holding a ball-point-pen and a piece of letter paper. “Nevermind.”

“The temple looked really empty.” Brian came into the living room from the balcony: “Is today some kind of special occasion?”

“I actually don’t know.” Tae Kuo looked to Gyuu Park, who was writing the letter on the side.

“I - don’t ask me, I don’t know either.” Gyuu Park sounded like he wanted to spit: “I may be a clergyman, but there’s a club out there and it’s hard to get in.”

“Yeah, but it might not be good news for us.” Tae Kuo sighed.

“Sorry, we’re not open today.” Tae Kuo’s worries came true, as when they came to the front gate of the Kshiti Temple, two young men dressed in ritualistic clothing stopped them from going in.

“Can we - can we at least talk to one of the elders?” Gloria asked: “Or - or send a message in? Please, it’s very important.”

“Yes, and I have an official letter of introduction.” Gyuu Park handed an envelope, containing his handwritten letter and with his and Tae Kuo’s signature on it.

“I’m sorry, but none of the elders are in today.” One of the young men shook his head: “And we’ve been instructed to not take any messages or deliveries of any kind. If you want, you should be here early the day after tomorrow. Because our clergymen and elders won’t be here tomorrow either.”

“... shit.” Gyuu Park cursed with lowered voice.

Gloria’s phone rang, it was Sue, in a terrible rush: “Gloria! Come back! The curse on Samantha’s arm just got worse!”