Chapter 11
What the fuck is this.
I wondered if my eyes were playing tricks on me.
That doesn't make any sense, you bastard!
I jabbed a finger at the rulebook and denounced it fiercely. I'd never seen a rulebook like this in my life. It looked normal enough at first glance, but when you looked closely, there were contradictions all over the place!
No wonder this was such a fucked-up hospital; even the rulebook is fucked up!
I could feel fear turning into anger. Even if you're going to follow rules, the rules themselves have to make sense. What am I supposed to do with this?
ㅡRing-ring!
"Ah!"
I was grumbling to myself when the phone suddenly rang.
[2. Working hours change every day, and you will be informed through the landline in the security office. Working hours must be strictly observed.]
Is this it?
I had a feeling I'd be screwed if I didn't answer, so I picked up right away.
-Today's working hours are from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
ㅡClick.
The call ended immediately.
Was that even a human voice?
But six hours of work... I didn't have time to waste. I checked my phone and saw that my shift started in ten minutes.
"Do I really have to go back in there?"
I didn't have long to think. I immediately took the security uniform out of the locker and changed into it. I had no idea what would happen if I didn't wear it.
Then, as instructed, I took the name tag from the drawer and pinned it to the right side of my chest.
"Good. It's on."
From now on, I am Lee Seungcheol.
The rule about hiding my real name was perfectly reasonable. This wasn't a normal hospital. It felt like one of those horrifying, suspicious places where ghosts and the like appeared—something on the hidden side of the world.
If I went around using my real name in a place like this, I'd be dead meat. Honestly, even without this rulebook, I wouldn't have used my real name.
ㅡGulp.
I swallowed hard.
I read the rulebook until the very last second. There was a ton in it I couldn't understand, and plenty of contradictions, but for now I had no choice but to follow it as best I could. I needed to memorize it as quickly as possible.
It was time.
After putting the rulebook in the drawer, I left the security office and opened the hospital door.
"...!"
The moment I opened the door, I nearly screamed and forgot even the fourth rule. I had naturally assumed there wouldn't be anyone here.
There were a huge number of 'people.'
Nurses moved busily around, and patients in hospital gowns wandered about. I looked around, trying to calm my pounding heart.
They all looked like 'people.'
Like ordinary people you could see at any hospital.
But were they really people? If they were, how could so many suddenly appear when there had been no one here just ten minutes ago?
Unless they'd been hiding in a bathroom or a patient room somewhere and popped out the moment I left, going, Surprise~, and all that bullshit, it made no sense.
There was no way they were human.
"..."
As soon as I thought that, I noticed something strange. There were a lot of people in the hall, but I couldn't hear a sound. No one was talking.
It was fucking terrifying.
But if I froze up now, I didn't know what would happen to me. I had to move somehow.
All right... then let's start work according to the rulebook. It felt pretty ominous, but since everyone was standing still, somehow that made things seem a little safer. Still, the moment something went wrong, it could get weird.
My job was to go all the way up to the 9th floor, collect the black boxes in front of the patient rooms, and stack them in the storage room next to the 1st-floor desk.
There were no patient rooms or black boxes on the first floor. So should I go up to the second floor?
No.
I decided to check the storage room next to the desk first.
ㅡTap, tap, tap.
Slowly.
I walked over toward the desk as inconspicuously as possible. Two nurses were seated there. They both looked ordinary and were wearing nurse uniforms.
They seemed to be typing something.
ㅡClack-clack-clack.
When I glanced from the side, the screen was turned off...!
What the hell?
What are you even typing at?
I suppressed the creeping fear rising in me and turned my head away. The nurses didn't seem particularly interested in me.
That's how I reached the storage room.
ㅡCreeeak.
When I opened the door, I saw piles of black boxes.
My job was to collect these and stack them up.
What was inside those things?
[7. If you have checked the contents of a box, immediately answer the landline at the 1st-floor desk.]
There was a rule saying to answer the phone if you checked the contents. But there was no rule telling me to check the contents in the first place.
Then it would be right not to touch them unnecessarily... no, wait.
A phone?
[4-1. After beginning your shift, under no circumstances may you make or receive phone calls.]
There was definitely a rule here saying I couldn't make or receive calls...?
There was no time to get confused. The box-collection job had to be wrapped up in thirty minutes. Fortunately, there was a green cart inside the storage room.
ㅡRattle-rattle.
I pulled the cart out. Even this fucked-up ghost hospital had everything it needed. Keeping a cautious eye on things, I took the elevator up to the second floor.
The door slowly opened.
...Phew.
There was nothing unusual. I could only see a corridor stretching left and right. Apparently, this whole wing was a patient-room wing. There sure were a lot of inpatients.
Let's see.
I could see black boxes. There were five in total. They were about the size of ordinary parcel boxes, so I should be able to fit them all on the cart.
I decided to start by collecting from Room 201. If I just went on like this and then headed back down, it should be fine. With that, I picked up the black box in front of Room 201.
ㅡSlosh.
Huh.
What is it...?
What's inside it? It seems like there's some liquid in there. No—more precisely, it feels like there's something inside about half the size of the box, and the liquid fills about half the box.
It didn't smell particularly bad. I felt an irrational urge to check inside the box.
I mustn't open it.
I loaded it onto the cart right away.
Phew.
Just as I set the box down and stood up to look across the way.
Huh?!
T-there!
There was something insane at the window at the end of that corridor!
Something with its eyes and mouth sewn shut, and a head about five times bigger than a normal human's, was pressed right up against the outside of the window, staring at me!
ㅡGasp!
The instant I realized I'd screamed, I clapped a hand over my mouth.
What the hell was that? What was that thing outside the window?
A monster with its eyes and mouth sewn shut was staring at me...!
My heart pounded rapidly, and fear spread all the way to my toes. In that instant, I realized I'd broken one of the rules.
[4. After beginning your shift, never scream.]
What happens if I do?
Unpleasant possibilities filled my entire head. I felt like screaming again.
No. I didn't have time for this. I quickly walked and loaded every box onto the cart. I didn't even want to look at the thing outside the window.
ㅡThunk!
The elevator had somehow gone up to the 5th floor. I jabbed the button irritably and waited for it to come down. I was so on edge that one second felt like an hour.
ㅡBzzz...
As soon as it arrived, I got on immediately and went down to the first floor.
And then, the moment the door opened.
I had no choice but to cover my mouth again.
...
...
...
All the patients and nurses were looking at me.
Every last one of them.
With blank expressions.
They were all staring at me.
Cold sweat ran down my back, and I could feel my back and armpits turning damp. Could this be because I'd screamed?
No, something was wrong from the start.
According to the rulebook, I wasn't supposed to skip the box-collection job. It was contradictory—if one part says to do it and another says not to, there's nothing I can do.
No way...!
Was that strange thing at the window there because I'd actually carried out the box-collection job? And because I'd screamed, the 'people' here all started staring at me?
ㅡThump-thump!
I had no idea what I should do. Under their stares, I slowly moved toward the storage room.
Everyone was staring at me.
Without saying a word.
I wanted to run.
What would happen if I ran away like this? Would something horrible happen to me? If I died that way, would I wake up in my room again?
ㅡSwoosh.
Keeping an eye on them, I stacked the black boxes in the storage room. For now, it didn't seem like the people were following me into the storage room.
ㅡWaaaaail!
The emergency bell rang the moment I stacked the last box.
[All security guards, please report to the director's office.]
A summons...?
Didn't it say to ignore this?
No, fuck. I didn't even have enough time to memorize the whole rulebook! I've read it all, but I can't remember it properly!
Ignore it for now!
"You there, Guard Kim Geunhong!"
"Yes?"
When I turned around, a man in a security uniform was calling to me.
"Hurry up and go to the director's office!"
An ordinary-looking man.
His name tag said Lee Seungcheol.
Lee Seungcheol?
This should be my name tag, though.
"Ah."
At some point, my real name had been written on my name tag.
Not Lee Seungcheol, but Kim Geunhong.
I don't think I ever changed it.
"Go on."
...!
The guard's face changed.
Just like the monster I saw outside the window earlier.
With its eyes and mouth sewn shut.
"Come on."
"Come on."
"Come on."
The patients and nurses were coming in.
Their faces were sewn shut too.
"Ah, ahahaha! Hahahahaha!"
Laughter spilled out of my mouth. Then every light in the hospital went out. I laughed in the darkness, and when the lights came back on, I was standing in front of a room marked 'Director's Office.'
I opened the door and went inside.
...
A doctor was sitting there.
A doctor whose eyes and mouth were sewn shut.
Suddenly, I realized my face was insanely itchy. It itched like bugs were crawling over it, so much that I couldn't stand it, and I ended up scratching it hard and over and over with my nails.
A sharp smell of blood wafted out.
As soon as I smelled blood, I was reminded of the unbearable pain from when I was being killed by vampires...
I snapped back to my senses.
"H, huhhhaaaah?!"
This hospital was already insane! It didn't look normal anymore! Those walls! The ceiling! The floor! Everything was sewn shut!
"Hraaaagh!"
I ran while screaming. I kicked the door open, bolted through the emergency exit, and frantically ran down the stairs.
And just like that, I arrived back on the first floor.
On that first floor, packed with those whose eyes and mouths were sewn shut!
"Hngh, hnnngh!"
Tears streamed down from sheer terror. I had no idea what to do. I just kept running and running.
I fled out of the hospital and sprinted toward the fog ahead.