A Plagued Sea

A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-young

As a devastating earthquake strikes Korea’s eastern coast, bodyguard Muyoung makes the fateful decision to travel with her niece to the isolated seaside village of Haewon. Three years later, the village remains sealed off from the outside world, its residents afflicted by a mysterious plague that transforms the human body in terrifying ways.

Haunted by loss and tasked with enforcing the government’s quarantine, Muyoung has learned to survive among the infected. But when a bureaucrat arrives from Seoul, his presence begins to disturb the fragile order of the village and exposes unsettling truths about the plague and those affected by it.

Translated by Sophie Bowman, A Plagued Sea is an eerie Korean tale of cosmic and body horror exploring grief, isolation, transformation and what it means to remain human.