Chapter 20
Of course, the wall was solid.
"..."
It didn't even ripple, and my hand didn't go through the wall. The wall wasn't strange. That monster was.
Whatever it was, what I saw wasn't a hallucination.
I need to run right now.
I turned around at once and ran.
If I was going to flee, where should I go? How far did the danger zone extend? As I came out of the alley toward the main road, I saw a crowd of people.
I briefly considered the possibility that, like when I broke the rules at that cursed hospital, all the real people had been replaced by monsters or something. I needed proof that this thought wasn't true. So I went to a convenience store nearby and bought a bottle of water.
A normal response and an uneventful checkout.
Fortunately, there didn't seem to be a problem.
"Well... nothing?"
The streets were calm.
Nothing unusual happened.
It was strange to expect something to happen only ten minutes after the incident, but for now, nothing seemed wrong.
"No."
I really didn't get it.
A supernatural phenomenon had just occurred in the middle of Seoul.
Some guy had slipped right into a wall.
What on earth was the Administration Bureau doing?
Shouldn't they be figuring this out and catching it right away?
Could he have been an Administration Bureau agent with the ability to pass through walls in the first place?
I had no idea.
"..."
The reason I came here in the first place was to go to Daeseong St. Mary's Hospital near Gangnam Station.
Should I go?
But if I went there and got caught up in another supernatural incident and died, where would I regress to? Would I really wake up in that security booth again?
Thinking of the security booth brought Mr. Kim Sunghan to mind.
Even after ending up in that horrific state, he still tried to help me.
I had to repay his kindness.
"Right, let's go."
Let's go to Daeseong St. Mary's Hospital.
I just had to deliver what I was asked to deliver, then run away to another area. That would be enough. For now, that was all I needed to think about.
I immediately took a taxi and headed to Gangnam Station.
* * *
It was a huge hospital.
By size alone, it looked even bigger than Cheongak Mary Hospital.
There were a lot of people inside. As expected of a big hospital in a large district, it seemed to be very busy.
But what was I supposed to do here? All I had was Mr. Kim Sunghan's ring. Who was I supposed to show it to?
For now, I took a queue number and waited.
"..."
I couldn't shake my anxiety the whole time I waited. The person who went into the wall. What the hell was that bastard? And if something did happen, what form would it take?
Maybe nothing would happen at all.
Maybe people just didn't know, but supernatural phenomena were common as dirt in this world, and when something happened the Administration Bureau or whoever just handled it somehow. Hadn't I already run into four of them in just a few days?
Now that I'd stepped into this side of things, I'd learned that those small supernatural incidents might happen fairly often.
ㅡDing!
While I was thinking that, it became my turn.
"Please tell me your name and date of birth."
"Ah, one moment. I came here at the request of a doctor at this hospital."
"Pardon?"
The nurse stared at me strangely. It definitely wasn't normal to say something like that at a hospital counter.
"I'm here at the request of Mr. Kim Sunghan. He said if I came to this hospital and mentioned it, they'd know."
"Mr. Kim Sunghan? Just a moment. I'll ask upstairs."
The nurse reported the situation by landline. After talking for a while, she nodded and stood up.
"Um, please follow me this way."
"Huh? Okay."
I followed the nurse and took the elevator up.
Doing this made me think of that cursed hospital... no way, right? They weren't connected or anything, were they?
This is insane.
I felt like from now on, no matter what hospital I went to, I'd start having these ridiculous suspicions. If the nurse standing in front of me turned her head, would I see eyes and mouth sewn shut-
Please get off here.
I got off following the nurse.
The sign on the door of the place we arrived at read Director's Office.
No, just hearing 'director's office' really brought back that time and made me scared.
Anyway, I went in.
"Director, I've brought the guest."
"Yes. Good work. Please have a seat wherever you're comfortable."
"Yes."
After I sat on the sofa, the director came over and sat across from me.
"You came at Mr. Kim Sunghan's request?"
"Yes."
"When did you receive this request?"
I could sense suspicion in his tone.
It couldn't be helped.
Given the circumstances, Mr. Kim Sunghan would probably be missing.
"It was just a little while ago. He said you'd know if I showed you this."
I showed him the ring for now.
"This is... ah, ah!"
The director's eyes widened.
"Please wait a moment!"
The director hurriedly pulled out his cellphone and left.
When he came back, he looked excited.
"You just need to wait a little while!"
"No, what's going on?"
"Have some coffee while you're here!"
Well... I drank the coffee for now.
How much time had passed?
ㅡCreak.
The door opened, and a man in a black suit came in.
"Ah!"
What the fuck!
The Administration Bureau?!
"Good day. Are you the person who knows Mr. Kim Sunghan's whereabouts?"
I almost jumped like a startled cat, but the suited man's demeanor felt strangely ordinary, and that snapped me out of it.
Maybe he wasn't from the Administration Bureau, just some secretary in a suit?
"Yes, that's right."
"Madam is waiting for you. Would you be willing to come?"
"Madam?"
"Yes."
"..."
Was this Mr. Kim Sunghan's wife?
This situation felt a little strange, but if this man really was an Administration Bureau agent, I wouldn't be able to run anyway. But I didn't think he was an agent.
He was missing that signature pair of sunglasses.
"Let's go."
Let's go and see.
So I went to the parking lot with the suited man and rode in a luxurious limousine for a while.
Where we arrived was some kind of mansion.
Was there really a place like this in the middle of Seoul?
I followed him in, and I was honestly amazed from the entrance. It had exactly the sort of look you'd see in a chaebol drama.
"This way."
When I followed the man to the parlor,
there was an elegant woman of Arab descent sitting there.
"Is that him?"
"Yes."
The man left, and the Arab woman greeted me.
"Hello."
"Yes. Hello. Are you perhaps Mr. Kim Sunghan's wife?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Ah... I see. Are you of Arab descent?"
She nodded.
I knew it.
Mr. Kim Sunghan really did exist. In truth, I'd been a little suspicious. I thought he might be some fictional person created by that cursed hospital.
But seeing that even his wife existed, it was clear Mr. Kim Sunghan was someone who had been caught up in a supernatural phenomenon like me.
"Where is he?"
"..."
It was a little hard to answer that question.
"His whereabouts... are honestly hard to explain. But I was asked to deliver this to Daeseong St. Mary's Hospital. He said to tell you he was alive."
I immediately took out the ring.
Then.
"Ah, aaah...! Huhk! Huuuuuhk!"
The Arab woman started sobbing.
It must have been a very precious ring.
"I personally received a great deal of help from Mr. Kim Sunghan. I'm glad I was able to deliver his ring and even let you know that he's alive."
"Huhk...! Thank you, truly!"
I had finished what I came for.
I should go back now.
Just as I was thinking that, the Arab woman stood up.
"Please wait."
Then she stepped out for a moment and returned carrying what looked like a luxurious box.
"Please accept this."
"What's this?"
Wait, you want me to take this?
It was obviously an extremely expensive-looking box.
A precious item adorned with gold and jewels.
"No, something this valuable... I just came because I was asked to. I didn't do anything worthy of receiving such a treasure. Mr. Kim Sunghan helped me too. I can't accept something like this."
"It's fine. Please accept it. You brought something very precious to me."
I turned it down, but she kept offering the box.
"Yes, well... then I'll gratefully accept it."
When I took the box, a satisfied smile spread across the woman's face.
"What's in it?"
"There's something very precious inside. I hope you'll make good use of it."
"..."
When I opened the box, I found a pendant made of black stone. Even when I asked what it was, all I got was that it was something very precious.
Well, whatever.
I put on the necklace and said my goodbyes. I debated whether to mention this at the end, and even though it might sound strange, I decided to say it anyway.
"Um, I feel like something strange might happen. It might be better for you to go somewhere far away. I recommend leaving Seoul."
"Huh...? Yes."
It was a strange thing to say. Still, she nodded anyway.
I immediately went out of the mansion.
"..."
Then I should head somewhere else now.
It didn't look like anything had happened yet. So maybe I was worrying for nothing, but after witnessing a supernatural phenomenon, the safest thing was just to get far away.
I went down to the main road and waited to catch a taxi.
Maybe because some time had passed?
There were a lot of people on the main road.
It was probably around the time school got out and everything. It was hard to imagine a supernatural phenomenon breaking out on a main road this crowded.
Common sense said if things like that happened often, ordinary people wouldn't be unaware of them. At least as far as I knew, before the vampire incident I'd never even heard of supernatural phenomena.
"Oh, here."
A taxi happened to be coming up.
The moment I reached out to flag it down,
ㅡRumble!
Suddenly.
The world shook.
"Kyaaah!"
"W-what is this!"
"Hey! It's an earthquake! Earthquake!"
Earthquake.
ㅡRumble!
A powerful shock wave strong enough to shake my body surged from somewhere. People stumbled, screamed, or stared in disbelief.
ㅡRumble!
And then the buildings shook.
The huge buildings standing in Seoul.
They were literally shaking.
"Uh, wh-what?!"
"Hey! That!"
And then.
ㅡRumble!
The building began to collapse.
No.
This wasn't collapsing.
ㅡBoom!
As if it had exploded from within, the outer wall of the building blasted outward like grenade shrapnel. Stones and rebar swept everywhere, causing chaos.
"Aaaah!"
"Kyaaah!"
Dust billowed up.
People were hurt and rolling on the ground.
Just as I was thinking that if the building kept collapsing like this there would be many casualties, I saw it.
The exploded building.
Inside it, an unknown colossal being emerged.
"W-what is that...?"
"Hey! Hey! Hey! That!"
"Look at that! Look!"
Wrinkled flesh-colored skin.
Long limbs.
A thick torso.
A twisted face.
.
As if it had broken out of the cocoon that was the building.
A grotesque giant stood there.
"Supernatural phenomenon."
This was a supernatural phenomenon.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Aaaah!"
"F, fuuuuuck!"
When the giant appeared, mass panic broke out.
"Shit! It's Attack on Titan!"
Someone shouted in the middle of it.
And they were right.
A giant suddenly appearing—there was no avoiding the Attack on Titan comparison. People were fleeing as if the titans had actually invaded from Attack on Titan.
But then.
ㅡBoom!
It wasn't just one or two giants.
All the buildings lined up on both sides of the road exploded. Then, as if their shells were peeling away, the buildings vanished and grotesque giants the size of buildings inside them emerged.
ㅡBoom!
ㅡBoom!
ㅡBoom!
There was nowhere to run.
Seoul was already practically a hatchery for giants. Countless buildings had turned into giants, and people ran without knowing where they were supposed to flee.
ㅡCrash!
They were trampled by the giants and died.
ㅡCrack.
With every step, bloodstains that had once been people multiplied.
And from those bloodstains, flowers bloomed. As if bamboo shoots were growing at an absurd rate, pillars of flesh shot up and turned into human-sized monsters with the same appearance as those giants.
The people crushed underfoot were reborn as monsters.
They charged forward to attack the people.
"Kyaaah!"
"Shit! What is this!"
"H-Honey!"
I was already running.
There was nowhere without giants.
I could only run and run, panicked out of my mind.
Could I survive if I went into an alley?
"Ah."
In an instant, the world went dark.
And then.
ㅡCrunch!
.
.
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[You were crushed to death.]
[Death count: 7 -> 8]
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[Restarting.]