Chapter 104
Anxiety keeps me from getting a word out. But I immediately remembered that this was something from the previous loop. Right. Whatever happened because of the surgery, that was a story from the previous loop.
Could it carry over into this loop too... or not? If I put it that way, my status window, points, and items were all inherited.
I feel as if an unknown terror is descending upon me.
I swallowed and asked.
"Then, Teacher. What happens to someone who undergoes the surgery?"
"..."
A brief silence.
Then, Teacher Kim Seonghan's pupils went unfocused.
"Ah...
I
am not completely certain either..."
"Teacher?"
"
I
undergo surgery
before,
I put on my peeled
skin.
If I
put on
my skin,
I
lose
my
personality
and become
the hospital
director
."
As if possessed by something, he began speaking while looking up into empty space.
"Even
though
I have lost my personality,
knowledge
is
gradually
being passed
on to me...
This must be
proof
that I am
being completely assimilated...
The surgery
itself
is only
a blur
to me...
but
I can tell
that the patients
who are treated
become the chosen
ones..."
Chosen...?
"Who exactly is doing the choosing?"
Forbidden knowledge, unknown terror.
I asked Teacher Kim Seonghan, who had begun muttering like a complete madman, and he replied while still staring into empty space.
"Some unknown
entity
.. Ah... It would be impossible for humans to recognize that
entity
..."
Some unknown entity!
An anomaly powerful enough to create a hospital like this...!
"Teacher. Why does that entity treat humans? Why did it create something like this strange hospital?"
I instinctively judged that this would be extremely important knowledge. I suppressed the fear creeping up inside me and demanded an answer.
"That is.
Teacher's movements stopped abruptly.
"Perhaps it is salvation."
"Salvation?!"
Salvation? What on earth did he mean by that!
"It wants to save humanity... That is why it performs the surgeries."
"Do you mean salvation in the sense of serving humanity by healing the wounded?"
"No. That is not it."
Teacher's gaze turned toward me.
His two eyes were already empty.
A flayed being stared at me through eye sockets where only darkness remained. I felt as if I were being sucked into those sockets.
Could I... as the price for seeking forbidden knowledge, fall into those pitch-black holes like an abyss?
"It treats humans in order to learn about humanity. To save humans, it must first learn about humans,
mustn't
it?"
It seeks to learn about humanity in order to save humanity.
At a glance, it sounded reasonable, but I sensed an indescribable grotesqueness here. Did it mean that, in order to save humans, it would heal their bodies while analyzing their structure?
"
I
think of this as a kind
of
data
collection... Ah, yes, of course... At last, that
entity
has finally interpreted humanity;
whenever I imagine
how it will carry out salvation,
I
feel as though
I am plunged into a distant terror."
"..."
"It will never be
nor
m
al
salvation. Even though I think we must stop it,
I
still have no power to do anything."
Even Teacher Kim Seonghan was overwhelmed by the unknown terror. That overwhelming feeling reached me as well.
If even he could not find a way, what could I do?
Was there truly no way except to struggle helplessly in the unknown?
"But
if
it were you... you might be able to find
that method,
perhaps..."
"H-how? Why would I be able to figure it out?"
ㅡRrrr!
For an instant, Teacher Kim Seonghan's head began shaking violently. He stared at me, moving it frantically as if the footage were being fast-forwarded!
I couldn't even scream at the grotesque sight.
"I can sometimes feel a connection to that mighty being! Somewhere down there! I can feel its will from deep underground! Ha, haha! Hahaha!"
"T-Teacher...!"
"Ah, I can see it even now! I can see it! I can see the infinite underworld! Yes, that's it! It was there!"
The teacher, who had been shaking his head manically and spouting nonsense, suddenly stood up. Then he strode over to the bookshelf beside him and pulled out a book.
At the same time, the teacher's seizure-like behavior stopped. He returned to normal as if nothing had happened and held the book out to me.
"I'll give you this."
"What... is this?"
A space beset by terror and madness.
There, I somehow kept my sanity and looked at the book. It was a bizarre book densely covered in very strange symbols on its cover.
"It's a book I found in this hospital."
What kind of book was it?
"I sometimes see visions of that underworld. The writing I saw in that bizarre space was identical to the writing in this book."
Were the symbols on the cover actually writing?
Writing from that bizarre underworld?
"I think this will be a clue. Please take it. I can no longer leave this place. You must do it."
"...Understood."
I accepted the book.
At that moment.
ㅡDing.
[You have obtained the item 'Hospital Director's Grimoire.']
An item?!
What the...!
And a grimoire, at that.
"With that, you should be able to leave this hospital without any trouble."
"Wait. Even without receiving treatment?"
"Yes. Surely you don't want treatment?"
The moment the teacher said that.
.
.
.
[Kim Seonghan offers you treatment.]
[Will you accept?]
[YES / NO]
A choice I had experienced once before was presented.
"...!"
This can appear?
Was treatment really important enough to bring up a choice? This was the same choice that had appeared when the Vampire Angel Geuhanak offered to make me his believer...!
I was overwhelmed by utter confusion.
Cheongak Mary Hospital was a place I had already experienced. I had never imagined I would find myself in such a bizarre situation in a place whose escape route I knew completely.
What I knew was only a tiny part of the truth; something far greater was actually hidden here.
[YES / NO]
I stared at the choice.
There had to be a reason it had been presented. The status window must have judged this to be a very important branch.
I thought quickly.
Based on my experience from the previous loop, there hadn't been any particular problem. I had received the hospital's healing myself, and afterward I hadn't sensed anything strange at all.
But now, I knew the truth.
If I received treatment, I would become one of the chosen...
Didn't that mean I would fall under the influence of the unknown being that had created this hospital?
There was no way that could be good!
[NO]
"Treatment is unnecessary."
I rejected the offer.
"Yes. Then please... uncover what this hospital is about. That is all I ask."
"I can't promise."
"It doesn't matter. Ah, and..."
The teacher held out a ring I recognized.
"Please deliver this to my wife. I beg you."
"Yes. I will."
If I handed this over, I could receive the Black Stone.
As far as I was concerned, farming Black Stones was the most essential thing I could do. The Black Stone was a holy relic powerful enough to repel even the Vampire Angel. It would be best to stop by the hospital every loop and farm the medicine and Black Stone at the same time.
"But, Teacher. How do I get back?"
"You have already obtained guest status from the hospital director. That strange book is proof. You should be able to leave whenever you wish."
You can escape this way, too?
There were truly many different routes.
"Does that mean I can come and go freely?"
"I don't recommend it... As you know, anything can happen in this hospital. Imagine coming back to find that the hospital director has been replaced."
You never knew what might happen.
"Understood. Then I'll head back. Ah, before that, Teacher. I'd like to receive some of the hospital's medicine. Is that all right?"
Honestly, this was essential.
Without this medicine, I couldn't defeat the Descendant of the Singing Star. If that happened, it would be game over no matter what the fuck I did. If my regression point got tangled up, I might only be able to fix things by advancing to the next loop.
Could it be that I had to become a patient again to receive the medicine?
"Since you're currently the hospital director's guest, that's possible."
Having said that, Teacher Kim Seonghan made a phone call. He called to tell a nurse to bring the medicine.
While I waited, someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
ㅡClick-clack.
A familiar nurse entered.
She was holding a bottle of medicine.
"Take it."
"...Thank you."
ㅡDing.
[You have obtained the item 'Cheongak Mary Hospital's Medicine.']
So this counted as an item, too.
"Goodbye."
And so I left the office carrying the grimoire and bottle of medicine. Things had gone well. I had escaped safely without undergoing surgery, and even farmed the medicine.
More than anything, it was a relief to be able to breathe again after leaving that space steeped in terror and madness.
Although the terror had been diluted somewhat by Department Head Lee Dohyeong cutting everything to pieces, thinking about the overwhelming feeling and unknown terror I experienced while talking with Teacher Kim Seonghan again made me feel as if my phobia were returning.
But.
"..."
The nurse had come all the way up to the office...
I ended up taking the elevator with her.
"..."
A terrifying silence.
I remembered this nurse repeatedly calling my name.
Please.
Let nothing happen.
I'm the hospital director's guest, so I'll be okay, right?
The elevator was taking way too long...!
"Mr. Lee Seungcheol."
I almost jumped at the voice, but this time she had called me by my alias, not my real name.
I should respond to this, right?
"Yes."
"Go on a date with me."
What the fuck was that supposed to mean!
"No."
"..."
When I answered reflexively, the nurse turned her head away again.
A date? What the fuck was she talking about...?
Could she have asked me out because I was the hospital director's guest?
Anyway.
The elevator arrived on the first floor.
Nurses and patients were walking around.
I could just leave like this, right?
Just as I was thinking that and extending my foot.
"Are you leaving?"
The nurse at the desk asked.
"Yes."
When I answered that.
"Goodbye."
"Take care."
"Farewell."
"Have a safe trip."
"Goodbye, then."
"Until next time."
Everyone on the first floor greeted me.
"..."
I gave a slight nod and walked out of the hospital.
With that, I returned to reality.
I had escaped the hospital.