Chapter 16
My breath caught.
A suffocating fear surged through me, as if the pressure inside my body had shot up and every fluid and gas in me were about to be blasted out, and I shuddered.
Kim Seonghan—did Teacher Kim Seonghan trick me? No. That can't be. He'd warned me there might not be a rulebook, and I was the one who chose, wasn't I? There's no way the teacher would trick me... No! Maybe the teacher is part of the hospital staff, and from the very beginning he used the nonexistent rulebook as bait to trick me into becoming a patient!
I was already panicking.
Cold sweat poured down me, and my body twisted. My eyes were so wide they felt like they would pop out, and a grotesque urge surged up in me to crush my own head right this instant.
I was already doing it. I pressed both hands against the sides of my face and trembled.
Stop.
Once the pain reached a certain point, I came to my senses. Now wasn't the time for this fucked-up bullshit. I just had to search more thoroughly.
ㅡcreak.
I searched the other patients' drawers too, opening all of them as I looked for the rulebook. But it didn't appear. I checked everywhere that might have held a rulebook, not just the drawers, but nothing turned up.
During that time, the other two patients in the same room said nothing. They just lay back against their beds, wordlessly watching me.
Those stitched-shut eyes were expressionless, but it felt like they were mocking me.
There really isn't one.
I was utterly at a loss.
I felt a deep, crushing despair.
There really was no rulebook?
Did that mean I had no choice but to go through 'surgery' like this? Did I really have to endure pain for another uncountable stretch of time in that hellish place?
I couldn't accept that.
I desperately thought it over, and soon came up with one idea.
A ward.
It was a ward.
Maybe there just wasn't one in the ward I was admitted to, and there could be one somewhere else.
That's it!
That's right!
It had to be!
Then I just had to go look in another ward!
But how?
Sure, there are plenty of wards on one floor, but getting there in the first place is... no, what the fuck am I even hesitating for!
I've got guard experience!
I already know how to do it!
ㅡthump-thump!
Once I got that far, I was completely freed from the overwhelming fear and pressure. That's right. I hadn't been dropped here with no information. I'd already mastered all sorts of rules while working as a guard.
Sneaking into the next ward and finding the rulebook was nothing.
After taking a deep breath, I prepared to leave. The guard rulebook is already in my head. No matter what happens, I can handle it.
Let's just go to the next ward and find the rulebook.
Having made up my mind, I opened the ward door and stepped out.
ㅡwhoosh!
A sidelong glance.
A window far off at the edge of my vision came into view. The scene outside the window was completely insane. Of course, I pretended not to see it and paid it absolutely no mind.
There were mannequins standing in the hallway.
I ignored them too.
Mannequins are absolutely the kind of thing you must never touch.
Likewise, I could see a black box placed in front of the ward. I'm not a guard, so I can't touch it.
I ignored it.
So I went up to the ward next to mine. The nameplate said Ward 505. Looks like it's on the fifth floor.
I went inside without hesitation.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Sure enough, the patients with their eyes and mouths sewn shut were leaning back on their beds, staring at me. It seems the scenery inside every ward is the same.
ㅡthud.
I searched the drawers.
I couldn't find anything.
"..."
I can find it in another ward.
I cautiously left the ward.
And just as I was about to go into another ward.
ㅡcreak.
An all-too-familiar sound reached my ears.
The sound of the elevator doors opening.
I instantly turned around.
The front end of a cart came into view.
The cart was coming out.
All sorts of thoughts flashed through my mind.
Could he be a guard? Had the guard already been replaced? There's no way...! How long has it been since I had surgery, and they're already sending out a guard! But what happens if that bastard sees me?
Of course, these thoughts flashed through my mind in an instant, before they were even shaped into language, and my brain finished the most important calculation.
The probability that I'd run to the ward in this state, open the door, and get inside safely.
0%.
He'd spot me before that.
Right after that, I hurled myself forward.
[8-1. If a patient is stuck to a wall while bleeding from the mouth, do not make contact and ignore them.]
I pressed myself flat against the wall, bit down hard on the inside of my cheek until it bled, and smeared the blood on the wall as I spat it out.
ㅡcreak.
The guard approached, dragging the cart.
That was improvisation, plain and simple. Before the bastard had fully stepped out of the elevator, I'd stuck myself to the wall.
If that guard was the kind of being who followed the rulebook, he wouldn't touch me while I was stuck to the wall.
I put on as convincing a performance as I could, just like I'd seen. As if I were trying to become one with the wall, I groaned and rubbed my body and face against it, letting blood-tinged saliva stream down.
Please, just go away...!
ㅡcreak.
The guard passed me by!
Did my act work?
I could see the guard's back as he collected the black boxes. He went all the way to the end, gathered every box, and passed me by again on the way back.
I heard the elevator doors open and someone get on. Soon the elevator moved, and silence settled in.
"..."
He really went up, right?
He isn't going to turn back and be waiting for me, is he? A terrifying delusion. But I need to act carefully here. I stayed stuck to the wall for a while, then carefully turned my head the other way as if I were still rubbing my cheek.
Nothing there!
The guard is gone!
A violent rush of pleasure surged through me, and overwhelming dopamine devoured my brain. I lived by following the rules. I fooled that bastard and survived.
At this moment, I'd surpassed Mr. Kim Byung-man, the survival master—the boss with two lives...!
Of course, the pleasure didn't last long.
Because this was a hospital, after all.
The guard I'd just seen was named Lee Seungcheol.
"..."
I went into the ward I had been aiming for.
When I opened the drawer, a stack of papers came out.
It's the rulebook.
Overwhelming joy.
My hands are trembling.
Thankful to have obtained a way to survive, I returned to my original ward.
* * *
---Patient Rulebook---
0. If you found this rulebook, you have hope. Your life is precious. Never give up.
1. This is a ward in Cheongak Mary Hospital. You are trapped, and if you want to live, do not question anything about this place and follow the rulebook.
2. You are in danger of dying, or of being subjected to something even more horrifying than death. If you make any sudden move or break the rules, the medical staff will operate on you. That is never a normal surgery.
3. You are hospitalized here as a patient. Before being admitted, you must have suffered a serious injury in some way. That injury is currently being treated, but you can move around normally inside the hospital. Calm down as soon as possible.
4. Unless you are carrying out Rule 6, do not leave the ward carelessly. A guard will often appear, and he will take you to a horrible place. Begging him to save you is not recommended.
ㄴ 4-1. If you run into a guard, return to the ward immediately. In a low-probability case, nothing will happen.
ㄴ 4-2. In a low-probability case, a nurse may appear. If you encounter a nurse outside the ward, there is no confirmed way to survive. Act on your own and find a way to survive.
ㄴ 4-3. Ignore everything that happens outside the corridor windows. It is nothing but an illusion. If you react to the illusion, you die.
ㄴ 4-4. Do not come into contact with wandering patients.
ㄴ 4-5. No matter what happens, do not scream.
ㄴ 4-6. Unless you have officially been discharged, never leave the hospital.
5. You are a patient. Nurses will regularly come into the ward. Even if they offer you something horrific, do not flinch. It is medicine, so eat it all without showing any reaction.
ㄴ 5-1. You must prove that you can properly and faithfully take your medicine. If you refuse it, the hospital will not discharge you.
6. If an empty black box appears in the ward, you must fill it, close it, and place it in front of the ward door. The contents to put in it are as follows.
ㄴ 6-1. Head and torso, with the limbs severed off (they must stay attached).
ㄴ 6-2. There must be no organs inside the torso.
ㄴ 6-3. Use the other patients in the same ward. Their bodies are limp. You can do it with your bare hands. You must undo the stitches sewn over their eyes and mouths and put them in the box.
ㄴ 6-4. If there are no patients in the same ward, use the patients in another ward.
ㄴ 6-5. If there are no patients anywhere, find some by any means necessary.
ㄴ 6-6. If you fail to do this, you will be the one placed inside the box.
7. Patients are not provided with food. The only things you can eat are as follows.
ㄴ 7-1. The limbs left over after carrying out Rule 6.
ㄴ 7-2. The organs left over after carrying out Rule 6.
ㄴ 7-3. The blood left over after carrying out Rule 6.
ㄴ 7-4. The bones left over after carrying out Rule 6.
8. You must stay healthy. You are a patient receiving treatment, and if your condition worsens, the hospital will carry out a treatment other than medication. There are no recorded cases of surviving that other treatment.
ㄴ 8-1. If you ended up starving because you failed to carry out Rule 7, carry out Rule 7 before the nurse comes in.
ㄴ 8-2. If you can't, do not let them find out that you were starving.
9. If you faithfully take your medicine and stay in good health, discharge counseling will begin within 459 days at the latest. The doctor who will counsel you is not human, and he is the most dangerous being in this hospital. To be discharged, you must persuade him.
ㄴ 9-1. During discharge counseling, ask in detail how you should take your medicine after discharge. Time, whether you ate, if you missed a meal, if you missed a dose. If you were injured and unable to take your medicine for a long time, if your medicine is confiscated when you go abroad, and so on—ask about every imaginable situation.
ㄴ 9-2. Through this, you must prove that even after discharge you will live your daily life faithfully taking your medicine and fully heal your body.
ㄴ 9-3. If you cannot prove it, you will not be discharged.
10. If discharge is granted, take the prescription and go to the pharmacy. You can ask a nurse at the first-floor desk where the pharmacy is. If you receive the prescribed medicine, congratulations. You have been formally discharged. Carry the medicine carefully and leave the hospital.
11. Once you are outside the hospital, never look back. Pick up the business card lying in front of you. It has the Administration Bureau's contact information on it. The Administration Bureau will do everything it can to help you return safely to normal life.
ㄴ 11-1. If necessary, you may receive a memory-erasure procedure. Horrible memories are no help in living life. Forget everything and return to everyday life.
ㄴ 11-2. The prescribed medicine must be submitted to the Administration Bureau.
ㄴ 11-3. After that, go to a private hospital and finish treating your injuries.
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