Chapter 15
One week in.
There were a few times I nearly bit it, but I managed to handle things and survive somehow.
The lunch boxes were being refilled in the fridge, so survival itself wasn't much of a problem.
I don't know what principle the lunch boxes are generated by. And I also can't tell what ingredients they're made from. I ignored everything about such issues and focused only on acting according to the rulebook.
I don't really get surprised when bizarre things happen at the hospital anymore. A week may seem short, but it was enough time to get used to it.
Separately from that... being trapped in a place like this is gnawing away at my sanity.
Isn't the Administration Bureau's reinforcement unit coming? If they do, would I, as a guard, also be treated as part of the hospital and attacked?
What if a vampire came here? Would the vampire get its ass kicked? Or would it just take over this hospital by itself?
With nothing else to do, I end up thinking about crap like this.
...
I have to escape.
No matter what.
-Today's shift runs from 13:00 to 16:00.
"Okay."
Today's shift is short.
I changed into the familiar guard uniform and went into the hospital.
I began my duties by checking every abnormal phenomenon.
When I reached the 7th floor like that.
"Ah, aaah!"
I heard a human voice.
What?
"P-please! Please save me! Please!"
It's a person.
A frail-looking man, completely terrified and in tears, came toward me begging me to save him.
I almost answered on reflex, but I didn't panic and instead remembered the rules.
[8-2. If a patient appears asking for help and begging to be saved, persuade and support them to follow Rule 8. Using somewhat forceful measures is acceptable.]
Rule 8 was to put the patient into the black room at the end of each floor.
I have to follow the rules.
This is an abnormal phenomenon I've never seen before, but I'm absolutely not fooled. Let my guard down even once and I'll be done for. You're trying to scare me by pretending to be some person now?
There's no way I'm falling for it.
It's doing a pretty good job pretending to be human, but it's still just an abnormal phenomenon. Which means if I waste time, it's game over.
"What's wrong? Please calm down."
"Th-there! There are monsters over there! Hic, hic!"
"Calm down first. Here, this way."
"Huh? Ah, yes..."
I followed the rulebook and supported the patient with an arm around his shoulder as we moved. Then I went to the room at the end of the floor and opened the door.
"W-wait a second. In here... why is it so dark? Ah?!"
ㅡWhoosh.
I shoved the patient's back and pushed him into the room.
After that, all I had to do was close the door and lock it.
Handled.
-Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
As expected, pounding sounds came from inside. That's always what happens when you put a patient in there.
After that, I collected all the boxes and finished cleaning up the 8th floor. Then I went up to the 9th floor.
9th floor.
Dr. Kim Seong-han's office is here.
"..."
Every time I come to the 9th floor, I think the same thing.
If there's a way to escape this place, then Dr. Kim Seong-han is the only one who would know it.
So every time I pass by the office, I look forward to running into Dr. Kim Seong-han. Hoping he's there, I keep gently knocking on the office door.
There had been no response so far. Is he not inside? Or did he already meet his end at the hands of the hospital's monsters?
I have no way of knowing, but today too I lightly knocked on the office door.
Knock, knock.
I wonder if he's really there.
-Please come in.
What?
He is?!
It feels like my heart is about to burst. No. If I get shaken, I could make a mistake. I need to calm down and move while keeping as cool a head as possible. Even so, I can't help being excited... so I slowly reached for the doorknob and went inside.
"You are...?"
Dr. Kim Seong-han, his skin flayed away, stares straight at me.
"Hello, Doctor. I'm the guard. As you said, I followed the rulebook and survived just fine."
"I see... I'm relieved... I didn't think we'd meet again..."
"Doctor. Do you have time right now?"
"Not much. I have surgery scheduled for the next slot."
There wasn't time for a long conversation.
"Doctor. I want to get out of here. Isn't there any way?"
"..."
A brief silence.
"Follow the rulebook. That's the best way to increase your chances of surviving."
"But what about escaping? Am I supposed to wait forever until a replacement comes? Besides, I don't want to pass this horrible job off to someone else and run away."
"A replacement...? I don't know what you're talking about."
He doesn't know?
"Still, if you really want to escape."
No way!
"Is there a way?"
"There is no way out for guards."
"Ah."
"But if you're a patient, it's possible."
A patient?!
"Yes. If you become a patient of the hospital, there is a way to be discharged. But I wouldn't recommend it. It's more dangerous... and horrific."
"I don't care! Tell me!"
"..."
Silence again.
He really didn't seem keen on it.
It seemed like he didn't want me taking the risk.
Still, I'm going to escape.
"You've... already adapted. You should be able to survive as a guard. But if you insist on escaping... I'll tell you."
The doctor extended a scalpel toward me.
"What's this?"
"When your shift ends, use this to make a large wound on your body and come back into the hospital. The nurses will admit you immediately. Once you're admitted, please find the patient rulebook in the drawer of your room."
The rulebook?
"If you do that, you can be discharged. However... if there is no rulebook, there really is no way. You'll just be subjected to surgery."
"Wait. A rulebook?"
Come to think of it, that's strange.
What exactly is this rulebook?
"Who exactly distributes these rulebooks?"
"The guard rulebook was originally there, and I can also print out a fresh copy for you. But I don't really know who puts out the patient rulebook or how. From what I can tell, it seems like some organization called the Administration Bureau places them, but I'm not sure."
"Pardon?"
The Administration Bureau puts out patient rulebooks to help people get discharged?
Those bastards would do something like that?
What the hell...
"We don't have much time left now. Please choose wisely. If you're trapped in a room without a patient rulebook, death is the only outcome."
"Understood."
"...And."
The doctor rose from his seat.
"Patients and guards are different. Please make sure not to come into contact with the guards."
"Understood."
"A-and if you really do manage to escape. Take this."
"What's this?"
When I took it, it turned out to be a ring.
It must be something very precious.
"Please go to Daeseong St. Mary's Hospital and deliver it. Just tell them that I am alive."
"I've got it. I will definitely deliver it."
I remembered the name clearly.
No matter what happens, I'll deliver it.
"Hurry and go. We don't have time."
"Thank you, doctor."
"Please make the wound as large as possible. To the point of being fatal. I sincerely hope you survive."
I left the office immediately.
The scalpel in my pocket feels cold.
* * *
After the shift ended.
I went over what had happened today.
There is a way to escape. It's to be admitted as a regular patient and then be discharged normally.
If I use this scalpel to make a large wound on my body, I can be admitted right away. After that, if I find the patient rulebook and follow it, I should be able to be discharged.
However, it will likely be harder than the guard rules, and in the worst case, there might not be a rulebook at all.
If I fail, I'll be subjected to 'surgery.'
"H-heeek."
Just thinking about surgery sends fear surging up inside me. I know what that surgery is. I can't go through that again.
Still.
"Let's do it."
I'm getting out of here.
Once I was ready, I picked up the scalpel. He said I needed to make the wound as large as possible. I've died a few times, and I've even died by ripping my own guts out, so I could call myself something of a death specialist, but...
This was my first time self-harming while completely sober.
"This is fucking scary...!"
My heart feels like it's going to explode.
I have to slash my body hard with this scalpel.
Enough to make blood pour out so I can be urgently admitted.
"Fuck! Pain is only for a moment! Let's go!"
Biting down on the cloth.
Clamping my eyes shut.
I drew the scalpel straight from my left chest to my right flank—
"Hic, hiiiiiiiip!!!!"
My flesh split open with a rip as blood spilled out. The heat and the sharp pain made my whole body shudder, and a scream was about to burst out. Kim Geun-hong, the ultimate shrieking lifeform, is right here. But I was used to this kind of pain. I'd been through it several times with vampires.
Yeah, right—this fucking hurts so much I feel like I'm going crazy!
"Hiiip! Hiiiiiip!"
No time to hesitate!
I immediately put back on my original clothes and went out of the guardroom.
The blood seeping out quickly soaked my shirt.
The moment I opened the hospital door.
ㅡWhoosh!
Every pair of eyes inside turned toward me.
I...
Did I make the right choice? Maybe Dr. Kim Seong-han was just another member of the hospital pretending to be human, and he was deceiving me like this. I did hear him say strange things about a replacement and the Administration Bureau.
The nurses sprinted toward me. The ones running normally. The ones who had slithered out of every gap and swollen up, crawling on all fours along the walls and ceiling as they approached.
I sank to the floor while looking at all those grotesque nurses.
"We will begin the emergency admission procedure."
ㅡJab!
The last thing I saw was one of the nurses sticking a syringe into my neck.
I closed my eyes.
* * *
When I opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling. Two seconds later, I came to, and I looked around to grasp the situation.
A hospital room.
No matter how I look at it, it's a hospital room!
"...!"
Did I succeed in being admitted?!
When I loosened my patient gown, I saw that my wound had been perfectly stitched shut. From my left chest to my right flank. It was neatly sewn up with black thread, like the eyes and mouths of the hospital monsters had been stitched closed.
There's no pain.
It looks like the nurses anesthetized me and stitched me up properly before admitting me.
I've cleared the first hurdle. I got admitted somehow, so next I just need to find the rulebook and do exactly as it says. But now that those bastards at the Administration Bureau supposedly placed the rulebook, I can't help being suspicious. Did those idiots really have the capability to do that? No way they're doing it to actually save people, right? Them, who pull people's brains out?
That's not something to think about right now.
But he said I'd be screwed if there wasn't a rulebook.
Let's look for it first.
There's no way there isn't one, right?
But then.
"..."
"..."
I wasn't alone in the hospital room.
Four beds.
It was a four-person room, and two patients with their eyes and mouths sewn shut were leaning against their beds, silently staring at me.
For fuck's sake.
If I don't find the rulebook right now, this is going to go badly.
Let's see, he said the rulebook would be in the drawer, right?
So I opened every drawer, but...
"It's not here?"
There is no rulebook.