Chapter 58 – The King of Curses
"Already started, huh?"
Shinsuke Zen'in hung up the phone, then calmly returned to slurping his ramen. Not a trace of urgency.
With Megumi's strength, plus that hot-blooded jock of a kid, they should be able to muddle through this mess.
He finished his noodles at a leisurely pace. Only after the sky had gone completely dark did he finally stretch and stroll toward the school where the incident had broken out.
Meanwhile—
Megumi Fushiguro and Yuji Itadori were locked in a desperate fight against a curse.
"Yuji! Get them out of here!" Megumi shouted from the open-air corridor. "Curses can only be exorcised with cursed energy! A normal person can't fight one!"
Yuji, however, was darting and weaving with freakish agility, his fists and feet hammering at the grade 2 curse. He was fast, strong, and reckless—but still just a human.
Face grim, Yuji barked back: "If I run now, I'll regret it forever. My grandpa told me—I have to save people!"
His words were cut short as the curse caught him in its jaws, wrenching from his grip the sealed special-grade object.
The grotesque finger arced into the air. Both Yuji and the curse's hungry maw turned toward it.
Pinned in the monster's grasp, Yuji did the only thing he could: he lunged forward and bit down on the finger himself.
"Wha—"
Megumi's eyes went wide.
The curse screeched. Yuji clamped his jaw tight, the decayed digit dangling between his teeth. The sight was absurd—boy and curse locked in a grotesque tug-of-war.
"Eat it?!" Megumi's voice cracked. "That thing grants curses more power—"
But Yuji had already drawn his own conclusion.
"If eating it gives them power… then maybe it'll work for me, too."
And before Megumi could stop him—
Crunch.
Yuji swallowed Sukuna's finger.
"NO!"
Megumi's heart dropped. That was a special grade cursed object—a remnant of the King of Curses himself, Ryomen Sukuna. To a human, it should be nothing less than pure poison. Yuji should be dead already.
Instead—
BOOM.
Power exploded through Yuji's body. Black markings seared across his skin, nails sharpening into talons. With a single slash of his hand, the curse before him was shredded into bloody chunks, purple ichor raining down the corridor.
Yuji receded—Sukuna emerged.
"Fufufu… Hahahahahaha!"
The laughter was manic, inhuman. Extra eyes opened beneath his own, glimmering with cruel intelligence. He tore away Yuji's shirt, revealing a body tattooed in living, writhing markings.
"Ahh… fresh air after all these centuries! Disgusting—filthy curses. Where are the humans? Where are the women?!"
Megumi's stomach sank. "The worst-case scenario… it's happened. Sukuna has incarnated inside him."
At that moment, another voice drawled from the rooftop scaffolding.
"…So this is the great King of Curses? Doesn't seem all that bright to me."
Shinsuke Zen'in crouched lazily above, watching the scene unfold, lips twitching in faint amusement. "Guess being sealed away that long scrambled his brain."
"Uncle!" Megumi called out in relief. He had been ready to gamble his life, but with Shinsuke here, the burden finally eased.
Then—
SLAP.
Yuji suddenly smacked himself across the face. His own voice came tumbling out, bewildered:
"Hey! Who the hell are you, and why are you trying to steal my body?!"
"…Impossible."
Sukuna's eyes widened in disbelief. The brat still had his own consciousness? But before he could resist, control of the body was yanked back into Yuji's hands.
"Megumi, there's… something inside me now," Yuji muttered. Then he blinked at Shinsuke. "Uh… and who's this guy?"
"This is my uncle," Megumi said tersely. "A teacher at Jujutsu High." Then he turned to Shinsuke, voice tight. "Uncle, what do we do with him?"
By the usual rules, Yuji Itadori should already be dead—or exorcised on the spot. To let Sukuna roam free inside a human body was madness.
Shinsuke eyed Yuji, his voice even.
"Kid, can you guarantee you won't let that thing inside you take control?"
Yuji scratched his head, thinking it over. "…Pretty sure I can."
"Good enough." Shinsuke nodded. "You've got two days. Handle your business, then report to Jujutsu High."
His gaze flicked to Megumi.
"You stick with him. Don't let him out of your sight—not for a single second—until he's standing at the school gates."
"…Huh? Me?!" Megumi sputtered.
Megumi's cheek twitched slightly.
He was supposed to keep watch over this guy—a walking time bomb who could turn into a special-grade curse at any moment?
His uncle was seriously overestimating him.
"That's right, you," Shinsuke said evenly. "From today on, he'll be your classmate. Of course, he could also become your enemy one day. But for now, he's your classmate."
"I'm counting on you. Your uncle's had a long day—time for me to get some rest. You take this kid back."
And with that, Shinsuke Zen'in vanished without a sound.
As for letting Yuji release Sukuna to "play," he considered it utterly unnecessary.
Knowing Yuji could still control his own body was all the proof he needed.
And honestly, a Sukuna with only one finger wasn't nearly enough to pique his interest—
Besides, killing it wouldn't even grant him any experience points.
After Shinsuke left, Megumi and Yuji stood staring at each other, both silent.
"…Let's go. Once you've finished your business, you're coming with me to Jujutsu High."
Megumi sighed inwardly. He had no choice but to yield to his uncle's orders.
During his time at the school, he'd heard plenty of rumors about the man: defying the higher-ups, being labeled one of the "two great troublemakers," the infamous "Curse Slayer."
Not exactly the kind of reputation that screamed "reliable."
"Uh… Megumi?" Yuji scratched his head. "What even is this Jujutsu High place? Do I really have to go there?"
The day had been absurd enough already; questions were stacking up faster than he could process them.
"Jujutsu High is a school that trains sorcerers," Megumi explained curtly. "You swallowed a special-grade cursed object. I don't know how you're still conscious, but you've gained the power to exorcise curses because of it.
"At Jujutsu High, you can actually learn to control that power.
But whether you survive…" He trailed off, expression darkening. "…That's another question. From what I've heard, the old men in the higher-ups see someone like you as a kill-on-sight."
The "King of Curses" wasn't a joke.
There was no way the higher-ups would allow something so dangerous to roam unchecked.
"So what—you're saying I have to die?" Yuji pointed at himself, eyes wide.
His grandfather's dying words echoed in his mind:
Don't die like some nobody, fading away without meaning. Die in a way that matters, with people remembering you.