Chapter 45
The anomaly's head looked like an ant's. Beneath the enormous head was a human body, but because the head was so heavy, the body was dragged along the floor. The nurse's uniform it wore was already in tatters, and every time it moved, blood from the torn flesh soaked the floor.
A nurse who had crawled over it looked up at Cecilia and Ian, making a shh-shh rustling sound.
“Where are you going? I can press it for you.”
“...I'm a foreigner. I don't know Korean very well.”
Cecilia said in a clumsy accent. The nurse gave an awkward smile and scratched the corner of its mouth with a bloodstained hand.
“Ah... I see? Then I'll go up first by myself. If you're here to visit a patient, please get directions at the desk on the 3rd floor first.”
Leaving those words behind, the nurse boarded the elevator. With a thud, the elevator shuddered once, and the moment it pressed a floor button, the doors slammed shut and it shot upward.
2nd floor, 3rd floor. 4th floor. 5th floor......
Less than a second passed and the floor numbers changed rapidly. The moment Cecilia saw the number above the elevator change to 66 and stop, she let out a breath and led Ian toward the emergency exit. Ian obediently followed her while looking around.
The hospital's layout was very different from what she remembered. Operating rooms were crammed into the places where the blood-draw room and CT and MRI rooms used to be, and the positions, bends, and lengths of the corridors were all jumbled up like a maze.
‘It doesn't seem like the whole hospital has been contaminated. It's a different space to begin with.’
Though she'd only frequented this place as a child, the hospital's layout had always been simple, so she still remembered where everything was. Thanks to that, she could tell that the corridor they were walking now, the corner leading to the emergency room, and the location of the emergency exit were completely different.
If this were contamination, there was no overlap at all. So like an amusement park or a library, it was more accurate to say they'd been transferred to an entirely different world.
‘This is bad.’
For the first time in a very long while, cold sweat trickled down her spine.
Today, they hadn't really planned on encountering a Mystery or dealing with anything related to the arcane. Although she had joked just moments ago that she wanted to meet a spirit or two, she hadn't wanted to fall into a space like this.
“…….”
The halls, emergency room, blood-draw room, and operating rooms were crawling with people. In the blood-draw room, needle-tentacles hung from the ceiling as though they had hanged themselves, writhing with needles plunged into the hearts of dead corpses. The nurses handling urine tests had outright torn out the genitals and bladders, crushed the kidneys, and let the liquid drain into paper cups.
Just looking was enough to make her mind go numb. It didn't seem like they could get out relying only on Cecilia without using magic.
‘At this rate, is it even possible to get out?’
Outside the window.
Beyond the window, where the view should have shown the street, there was only a vast grassland. And in that grassland stood countless people in patient gowns, silently staring at the hospital.
Were they victims dragged into this space, or wardens meant to kill any humans who came out of the hospital?
Whatever they were, it was clear they weren't standing there out of good intentions. Ian clicked his tongue and gripped the bag strap with his hand.
Clunk!
After sprinting down the corridor, they reached the emergency exit. Cecilia glanced around, and after confirming that no one was there, she let out a sigh of relief. Then she looked up at Ian.
“Listen carefully. Right now we're, um... caught up in a Mystery? Ah, yes. We got caught up in a Mystery.”
She spoke awkwardly, while mixing in gestures in an effort to somehow get her meaning across.
“If we make one wrong move, we die. So follow my lead. Got it?”
“Are you used to this sort of thing?”
Ian asked with a slightly frightened look. His hand, hidden inside his coat, cocked the revolver's hammer.
Fortunately, Cecilia either didn't hear the click or pretended not to; she readjusted her dagger and nodded.
“A little. But this is my first time with a space-type one. The Mysteries we hunt are all individual-type. This is the Bureau's job.”
“The Bureau?”
“A government agency. The place that professionally handles this sort of thing. We're not really on friendly terms. They bring salvation through suppression and research; we purify through exclusion and slaughter. Understand?”
In simple terms, the Bureau's goal is to capture and suppress Mysteries, study them, and save humanity, while the Holy See's goal is to kill them all and purify the world without bothering with any of that.
Two institutions that both seek peace, yet by completely different paths. Beliefs that could cooperate enough, but would ultimately split apart in the end.
From Cecilia's explanation, it seemed the Holy See was aware that the Bureau existed, and they didn't seem to interfere with its work. If anything, calling it the Bureau's job meant they were at least not hostile.
Even so, not being close meant exactly that, and nothing more.
I don't know what their relationship is like with the Cartel, the Clock Tower, or the other groups, but that wasn't important right now. Escape came first.
“I understand. More importantly, how do we get out of here? If we just stand still... I don't think it'll end well.”
“...Space-type Mysteries have all sorts of ways to escape. For now, the best thing is to stick to your role.”
Cecilia said, frowning at the smell of burning drifting in from somewhere.
“It's a kind of opera, or maybe a musical. The priority is to secure the safest role possible.”
The smell of burning was getting closer and closer. Ian opened his mouth to answer Cecilia, then frowned at the sudden foul stench that wafted in.
The smell was coming from above. As he unconsciously lifted his head, something rapidly descending from overhead came into view.
“Aaaaaaagh!!!!”
It was a human. A burning human whose entire body was on fire, repeatedly cycling through burns, necrosis, and regeneration.
With a scream, it hurled its dangling head toward Ian and Cecilia.
“……!”
It was incredibly fast. The head shot through the air, slicing the wind apart, and dropped straight down, aiming precisely for Ian's face.
It was too late to dodge. Ian could only stretch his empty hand out into the air to use magic.
At that moment, Cecilia knocked the head away with her gloved hand.
KWAAAANG!!!
The head exploded, causing a small blast. Acrid smoke billowed up, and the revolting stench of burning flesh filled the air.
Ian kept coughing as the hot smoke invaded his lungs, and looked at Cecilia, who stood protectively in front of him.
The arm she'd used to knock the head away was crushed beyond recognition. Blood dripped onto the floor in heavy drops, and embers flickered from her burned face and shoulder.
“...Huk, khup...”
Cecilia exhaled, picked up the dagger that had fallen to the floor, and threw it. The burning man coming down the stairs was sent sprawling as the dagger sank into his knee.
“Aaaaaaagh!!!! It hurts, it hurts!!!! Mom!! Dad!!! My knee's broken! My skin is on fire!!!!”
The headless thing shrieked from its throat. Ian ignored it and moved toward Cecilia, who had thrown the burning clothes away.
“Cecilia!”
“I'm fine! Get out!”
Without even retrieving her dagger, she ran out of the emergency stairwell. Ian followed her immediately.
The two of them stepped back into the corridor near the first-floor emergency room. Ian was about to check on her condition at once when he slowly lifted his head at the overwhelming gazes pouring in from all directions. Cecilia, too, was sweating coldly as she stared at the beings standing before them.
“…….”
“…….”
The patients who had originally been sitting on the benches and staring blankly into space had all turned their heads toward Cecilia. At the emergency room entrance, bizarre-looking nurses were peering in, while from around the corner came thudding footsteps, and from the ceiling there was a racket as though dozens of people were moving in perfect unison.
“Burns.”
“No arm.”
The moment the thudding footsteps drew near, the seated patients opened their mouths.
“Patient.”
“Patient.”
The corners of their mouths split wide into grotesque grins.
“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”“Patient.”
“Fuck.”
A chill ran down Ian's spine, and he immediately supported Cecilia and helped her to her feet. Cecilia stared blankly at them, then soon turned to Ian and smiled happily.
“It hurts.”
“...What?”
“I need treatment. Treatment, treatment, treatment! Aaaagh!! The surgeon's coming! The doctor is coming! Surgery, surgery!!!”
She convulsed in Ian's arms.
Her mind had snapped. Apart from her already weak mental fortitude, it seemed she'd triggered the mechanism of this crazed space.
That trigger was probably being injured and entering a state that anyone could clearly see was that of a patient.
If they left her alone, she'd turn into one of those patients too. He couldn't let that happen.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ian summoned his grimoire and gripped it again as though it were a weapon.
“You can't kill her! There’s still plenty of knowledge to squeeze out of her...!”
[Vwooom!]
The Deep-Sea Logbook in his hand responded as if it understood. Ian immediately swung the grimoire and smashed Cecilia on the crown of the head.
Smack!
With a crisp crack, her skull broke apart. The eyes that had been trembling with madness shot upward in an instant, and the convulsing body went limp.
Normally, the instant anyone else touched a foreign god's grimoire, the part that made contact would explode, but if the owner allowed it like this or if the grimoire itself regulated it, it could end without blowing up. It was his first time doing something like this, but fortunately it worked.
But there was no time to savor it. Ian immediately set Cecilia down against the wall as if tossing her aside, and drew his revolver as the footsteps drew closer and closer.
“…….”
Soon, a doctor in a white coat appeared around the corner.