Jason Weiser

He took a deep breath.

There were two notices on the gate in front of him.

The first was about the king's examination taking place today in the palace.

It had been the talk of the entire kingdom.

that an examination would take place in an off time without any notice was highly irregular, but, well,

Absolute monarchies are going to monarch absolutely.

And so the whole thing was organized as quickly as possible.

The other notice that he saw was a warning.

People were turning into oxen and to know the signs.

The symptoms were turning into an ox.

If someone you love came down with turning into an ox, they needed to isolate.

Probably in a barn because they were now an ox.

Given that the ox thing was mostly among the noble families, the young man in mourning clothes didn't seem to worry too much about it, weird though it was.

He wound his way through the streets of Seoul until he came to the palace.

A glut of scholars sat at the desks, and while no one ever looked happy at these things, their faces were particularly strained.

When a spot opened and the young man took it, he spread out his papers and looked at the topic for the essay.

And he smiled.

The prompt was just three sentences.

An old man weeps.

A mourner sings.