Chapter 53
Yuna's mother was a petite woman.
Considering that Yuna was taller than her peers and Seo Noeul stood nearly 190 centimeters tall, it was impossible not to find that unexpected.
Numerous diagnostic devices were inserted into her body, reporting in various ways just how poor her condition was.
Even so, I couldn't omit a diagnostic spell.
“What are you planning to do?”
“Could you wake Yuna up for me? I need to use the bed.”
“Uh... Sure. Yuna, could you get up for a moment?”
“Mmm?”
Yuna, still groggy, was forcibly helped to sit up by her brother.
I hopped onto the spot she had occupied, knelt down, and positioned myself so I could look down clearly at the patient.
[2nd-circle cast: Diagnosis]
It was merely a formal procedure.
It was meant to check basic information such as blood pressure and pulse, analyze the concentrations of substances in her body, and keep special considerations in mind for subsequent spellcasting.
As expected, the figures displayed on the medical equipment made it clear why the doctor had given up hope for her.
Naturally, the part I analyzed most closely was the central nervous system.
The central nervous system contained a substance called myelin that enveloped nerve fibers, preventing signal leakage from the brain's nerves and amplifying the speed of signal transmission dozens of times over.
It was so important that one could say all of humanity's intellectual abilities were carried out through myelin.
The reason athletes and professional gamers exhibited reaction times of around 100 to 150 milliseconds was that their myelin was distinctly thicker than other people's.
Both the fourth-circle “Defensive Stance” and the sixth-circle “Thought Acceleration” directly affected myelin, making them spells with considerable casting risks as well.
Multiple sclerosis destroyed the myelin surrounding the nerves of the central nervous system; her brain fibers had thinned to the point that they resembled wires stripped of their insulation.
To tell you the results of my diagnosis, the only flaw was that a trace amount of fentanyl remained in her body.
It was a fairly substantial amount for someone who had merely applied a narcotic patch from some pharmacy, but fortunately—or as fortunately as it could be—it wasn't enough to significantly affect the spells I would cast afterward.
“What are you going to do now?”
“Noname...? What are you doing?”
Noeul and Yuna asked in turn.
“I'm asking just in case, but you don't happen to have something like a portable alchemy-circle engraver, do you?”
“Of course not! That costs more than a car!”
“I see.”
It reduced efficiency, but the spell I was about to cast wasn't a reactive spell, so it didn't matter.
“Could you close that door? No, lock it completely. Don't let anyone in.”
It really was fortunate that this was a private room.
It seemed that the six-, four-, and two-bed rooms had all been full because there were so many patients, leaving them no choice but to take the most expensive private room.
When using magic now, avoiding interruption was more important than anything.
Still, kicking out Noeul and Yuna would defeat the purpose, so enduring the presence of two people was my burden to bear.
“I'm going to inscribe an alchemy circle that creates semi-permanent compounds on the skin.”
“A semi-permanent alchemy circle? Where? On a person?”
“Yes. Medication is expensive, after all. If I inscribe the alchemy circle as a tattoo, it will periodically administer the appropriate medication for the patient's condition whenever it is fed encrypted mana.”
Noeul deeply furrowed his brow, clearly questioning me.
“I don't understand what you're talking about.”
“I'm saying that I have a way to cure your mother.”
“I'm not in the mood for jokes. If you're thinking of playing house or something, I'd be furious even if you are Yuna's friend.”
“I told you, it's neither a joke nor playing house!”
“Then what is it?”
“Would you understand if I explained?”
Noeul's dumbfounded expression was quite a sight.
Beside him, Yuna fidgeted, making a halfhearted attempt to stop me.
I knew.
I still looked like the littlest of children, not even eight years old.
It was only natural that he would be dumbfounded when a little kid who had suddenly appeared claimed she could do what even Korea's finest doctors could not.
But did he think I enjoyed having a body like this?
It was inconvenient every time I walked on these short legs.
It was inconvenient not being able to reach the high cupboards.
It was inconvenient to get out of breath from even a little exertion.
But I couldn't help it. This was the precious body my mother had saved by sacrificing her own life, so all I could do was live in it as I was.
I climbed down from the bed for a moment and stood face-to-face with Seo Noeul.
Outside the window, the sun was setting, dazzlingly bright. The warm sunlight was generously sharing the last of the day's heat.
The difference in height between him and me alone was more than seventy centimeters.
But I didn't bend before his doubtful gaze and made my resolve clear.
“At first, I considered anthracycline drugs, aminoanthraquinone, and an interferon beta synthesis formula, but I don't think those will be enough for your mother. So I'm also considering adding monoclonal antibody therapy targeting CD20 to suppress excessive B-cell activity. Is that explanation sufficient?”
So stop getting in my way.
Honestly, if the 190-centimeter giant had planted himself in my way and stubbornly tried to stop me, there would truly have been nothing I could do, but I hoped Seo Noeul would trust me just once.
“...”
Seo Noeul eventually took a step back.
I climbed back onto the cot, placed a finger on Yuna's mother's arm, and determined the approximate site of administration.
Since all the medication would be administered intravenously, the exact location wasn't particularly important.
However, without an alchemy-circle engraver or a medium, I needed a workaround this time as well, just as I had when I showed Manager Kim.
“A knife—no, please hand me the scissors on that desk.”
Yuna, who was nearby, scampered over and handed me a small pair of stationery scissors.
The tips were somewhat blunt, so it might hurt if I didn't do it properly in one go.
Rather than putting my fingers through the handles, I gripped the scissors tightly along my palm lines so the neatly overlapping blades wouldn't shake.
Then I swung them diagonally without the slightest hesitation.
Sshk
“Hey! Are you crazy?!”
“Name...!!!!”
Dark-red blood gushed from my left wrist.
To save even a single drop of the blood running down in droplets, I coated my mouth with aura and held the blood in it.
I hadn't pierced an artery, and the bleeding would stop soon anyway.
I had to finish inscribing the entire alchemy circle as quickly as possible.
I dipped my index finger in blood, and a flamboyant hand movement began, drawing a great circle like an artist in his element.
It was called a great circle, but it was less than a handspan across.
Since it was an equation being inscribed on my arm, even a mid-level spell like this couldn't have its magic circle enlarged or reduced at will.
Blood was an excellent alchemical medium for mana conduction. However, upon contact with air, it likewise lost its high-conductivity property due to the nature of hemoglobin, so speed was of the essence.
Next, I altered and recorded the formulas for each compound to be used as a treatment according to the diagnostic results.
Compound formulas were all large.
Since I was using a layering method that built molecules up from mana rather than deriving them through chemical purification, I had to convert every last bit of interferon beta—C74 H115 N19 O25, and furthermore the biosynthetic form of interferon beta, C908 H1406 N246 O252 S7 - C908 H1406 N246 O252 S5—into omega-type three-dimensional runes.
I stacked each molecule one after another in the proper order.
“Haa.”
My head felt hot, and I took a few deep breaths, but I couldn't let my hand rest.
It had been a long time since I'd felt as though my brain itself were being heated.
I'd intended to draw a circle, but there wasn't enough room, and as I kept encroaching on the circle's perimeter, the resulting magic circle ended up stretching lengthwise across my entire arm.
Hoping I'd recorded everything correctly, I infused it with mana.
A feeling of powerlessness swept over me, as if my very soul were being pulled out whole.
But I narrowly avoided reaching the point of exhaustion.
If I lost consciousness here, all of this would be for nothing, so I gripped the bedrail and activated the magic circle.
The magic circle's bizarre patterns were bathed in the colors of the sunset.
Murky mana was entirely replaced by refined mana, breathing life into the magic circle.
Only a single incantation remained before the spell was complete.
Every device alerting us to abnormalities in the patient's condition began blaring alarms.
Some went beep beep beep, while others went whirr whirr.
The red and blue warning lights went absolutely wild.
“What's going on? What went wrong?”
“Nothing.”
I answered confidently.
Finally, I had a free hand.
My palm had almost cramped up.
I stroked Yuna's red hair and whispered in her ear.
“Your birthday is tomorrow, right? It's a little early, but this is your birthday present. Happy birthday, Yuna.”
With those words, my consciousness cut out.
[5th-circle cast: Akashic Records]
* * *
Bang bang bang
“Are you the patient's guardian? Are you in there? The door's locked, so please open it quickly!”
Despite the nurses who had come after hearing the emergency alarm urging him on, Seo Noeul couldn't move a single step.
They say that when people experience something utterly incomprehensible, their bodies freeze; that was exactly his situation.
“Brother! The bleeding from Name's wrist won't stop...! What do we do?”
Blood was splattered all over the white bedsheets.
Seo Noeul barely came to his senses at Yuna's scream and opened the door at once.
“You mustn't lock doors in a hospital... Aaaaaaaah!”
The young nurse was so shocked by the scene inside the hospital room that she dropped all the syringes and medications she was carrying.
They clearly looked quite expensive, but there was no time to worry about them.
Helping Yuna's friend came first.
“The child is seriously hurt! Their wrist, and... they're also showing symptoms of mana exhaustion...”
“Wha—? Mana exhaustion?”
“Anyway, bring any doctor you can find! And quickly do something about the bleeding from their wrist first!”
“Ah, yes, yes...!”
The sirens soon died down, but the nurses who filed in behind them filled the cramped room.
Even in this sudden emergency, the veteran nurses expertly completed first aid.
Elsewhere, the head nurse examining the cause of the alarm was the first to notice the strange change.
“Nurse Park, did you administer vincristine or cytarabine to the patient?”
“M-me? No, I didn't do anything...”
“Then why are her white blood cell levels like this? No, more importantly...”
The figure indicating the progression of her multiple sclerosis was retreating at a miraculous speed.
From 80% to 79%, and then once more to 78%.
Unless the machine had malfunctioned, it was impossible.
“This... this means she's getting better, right? I can understand a bar graph, at least...”
Seo Noeul pointed to the shortening bar and shed tears.
“No. It must be a device error.”
The head nurse answered firmly.
As a medical professional, she couldn't bring herself to give the patient's guardian false hope.