Chapter 47
Ian, mindful that Cecilia still couldn't read Korean very well, read the text aloud for her, one character at a time.
[2. If you are not recognized as a patient, there is only one way out. As a guardian, bring a patient with you, meet with the doctor, and go through the discharge procedure.]
[3. To obtain guardian status, conditions are required. First, you must be a group of at least two people, and the two must act as a married couple or siblings. However, same-sex couples are not allowed. You will be dragged to the ward.]
[4. You must not use the hospital restroom. Don't bother being curious. I'll tell you one thing: the five members of my team who went in there were all beheaded and put on display.]
[5. The emergency exit is not an emergency exit. A patient whose whole body is on fire runs around like a madman, tracking down anyone who enters through the emergency exit and killing them. Do not enter.]
[6. We have encountered four doctors in total: the surgeon, the internist, the orthopedic surgeon, and the neurosurgeon. Each appears under different conditions, and the only conditions we've definitely confirmed are for the surgeon and the internist.]
[7. The surgeon appears when you suffer trauma at the level of a severe injury or worse. At that point, you are treated as a patient, and if you refuse, you will be abducted straight to the operating room. If you encounter the surgeon, please, kill yourself.]
[8. The internist appears when you eat anything in the hospital—for example, tap water or a convenience-store lunch box. Since you've developed a stomach disease, he'll say let's examine you right here, then cut open your abdomen and pull out all your organs. At that point, you don't need to kill yourself. You're dead either way.]
“……It only talks about dying.”
“That just means it's that difficult. Let's keep reading.”
[9. The food and water handed out by the nurses have been thoroughly checked, so it's fine to eat them. However, if you are a guardian and eat the food they give to patients, the one on tomorrow's tray will be you.]
[10. Then where do guardians get food? They don't. Endure it somehow.]
[11. There are no stairs in the hospital except for the emergency exit. Use the elevator. However, if you use it repeatedly, you will be moved somewhere unknown. Be sure to use the elevator, explore the floor you arrive at, and then use the elevator again.]
[12. Never use the information desk on the 3rd floor. You'll be seized on the spot and forcibly turned into a patient.]
[This is all the information we've gathered. I'm going to die soon. If you see the name Park Sang-cheol hanging on a bed, please pray for my soul. Since you must not speak to patients who are out of their minds, find a still-sane patient as a guardian and get out of here.]
[Long live the Bureau. For humanity. Do not fear noble sacrifice.]
The guide ended there. Ian let out a low groan and closed the booklet.
“The Bureau has already come and gone.”
Fortunately, it seemed they hadn't simply stood by and done nothing. But they hadn't succeeded in clearing it, either. They had only left behind a rulebook and hadn't accomplished anything beyond that.
That alone was enough. Ian committed the name Park Sang-cheol to memory and opened another booklet.
This time, it was a guidebook that hadn't been handled by anyone else, one that had originally been in the hospital. Cecilia leaned her head in close beside him.
“Ah, I can read this. It looks like Italian.”
“Maybe because it was written by a Mystery. Then let's each read it in our heads this time. I burned my throat too, so talking continuously is hard.”
“Yeah.”
Cecilia nodded. Ian took a cigarette from inside his coat and just twirled it idly without lighting it.
If only his throat hadn't been burning, he would have smoked one. What a pity.
He set the grimoire on his knee, spun the revolver's cylinder, and looked down at the booklet.
[Yohan General Hospital is a safe place for everyone!]
Bullshit jumped out from the very first page. Cecilia let out a dry laugh, and Ian's eyes turned cold.
[Our hospital carefully cares for and manages all patients. No patient will die, and our skilled doctors and nurses will stand by you and keep you alive forever. So please rest easy!]
[However, if you fail to observe the precautions below, even we cannot take responsibility for what happens to our patients. So we earnestly ask that you keep them in mind.]
[Patients must never leave their rooms without our medical staff's instructions.]
[Patients who require surgery cannot refuse it. If they do, we will have no choice but to resort to coercive measures, so please understand.]
[If patients fight each other, both sides will be restrained.]
[The psychiatric ward is off-limits to anyone other than personnel. Let's not go there, even out of curiosity.]
[The words of nurses and doctors are absolute. Do not go against them.]
[Discharge is possible only with a doctor's professional opinion. Or a guardian must come and persuade the doctor.]
[Do not skip meals. If the internist examines you and there is no food in your stomach, he will forcibly open you up and inject food into you.]
[No anesthetic is used in any surgery at this hospital. But there will be no pain, so please rest assured.]
[Guardians who come to this hospital must absolutely follow the doctor's instructions. No matter how much you hope for the patient's discharge, if the doctor judges it impossible, the discharge request will be denied.]
[There are no stairs in this hospital except for the emergency exit. Please use the elevator.]
That was it for the important rules. The rest were all minor things—don't run in the hallway, don't make a scene with the nurses or doctors, and so on. As long as you followed the common-sense rules anyone would keep in a hospital, there was no problem.
What mattered was the doctor's judgment.
‘Even if you find a perfectly normal patient, if the doctor says discharge is impossible, you still can't get out, can you.’
What an absurd place this was. Ian clicked his tongue and handed the booklet to Cecilia. Since she read more slowly than he did, she took it, read a little more, and then looked back at him.
“What are you going to do?”
“For now, we need to search the patient rooms. Finding a normal patient comes first. Even if the doctor's judgment matters, you can't do anything without a patient.”
Cecilia nodded.
“It says the patient rooms are from the 6th floor to the 66th floor. Do we have to go through all of them?”
“Until we find a normal patient.”
Ian rolled his shoulders and opened the grimoire.
“Before that, let's make some preparations.”
He ignored Cecilia's answer, took off his coat, and spread it carefully on the cold floor.
Press......
Borrowing Cecilia's dagger, he drew a little blood from his finger and drew a magic circle on the inside of the coat. Since the surgeon only appeared when you suffered trauma at the level of a severe injury or worse, this much was no problem.
He finished the magic circle and roughly wiped the blood off on his clothes.
Then he placed one of the ghost spirits he'd brought in his bag onto the magic circle and began to chant.
“O emissary of God. Ward off the evil of the wicked and proclaim the will of God. You are a companion from another world, a messenger, an eye, a sword, and a shield.”
Tzzzzzt.
The sphere melted into the magic circle. The blood-red circle turned black for an instant, then vanished without a trace.
“……Did it fail?”
“No. It succeeded.”
The magic circle disappearing might have looked like a failure at first glance, but the spell had definitely activated.
It was a defensive spell that, when struck from outside with more than a certain amount of force, would momentarily turn the coat like water and absorb and disperse the impact.
It was single-use, and because it absorbed and dispersed rather than nullified, it wouldn't provide true absolute defense, but this was enough. Staying up all night studying the grimoires' magic had been worth it.
Ian put the coat back on and looked at Cecilia.
“If you want, I can do it for your clothes too.”
“......I'm fine. I'm scared of having a mage's magic put on me.”
She said it with a reluctant expression. Ian didn't force it on her and simply shrugged.
“Let's go.”
“Yeah.”
With the revolver in one hand and the grimoire in the other, he moved off.
Cecilia took the lead with her pistol and dagger in hand. The two of them crossed the empty lobby and hallway and arrived at the elevator where they had first entered this space.
According to the notice left by the Bureau agent, the elevator could be used. However, consecutive floor changes were impossible. They absolutely had to explore the floor they arrived on and then move again.
It was a troublesome rule, but not particularly difficult. Cecilia turned back toward Ian, nodded, and pressed the elevator call button.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!!
Along with the sound of something rushing rapidly downward beyond the elevator doors, the number on top of the elevator changed quickly.
In what felt like about five seconds, the number 66 changed to 1, and the elevator door rattled open.
This time, it was an elevator with no hands hanging from the ceiling. Cecilia first poked her head out past the elevator doorway to make sure it was safe, then gestured to Ian.
“There's nothing.”
“Phew......”
Ian twirled the cigarette idly and stepped into the elevator after her. Every time he exhaled, his throat stung, and the pain seemed to be getting worse and worse. It looked like he'd have to go straight to the hospital once they escaped.
“Cough, cough...... Let's start with the 6th floor.”
“Yeah.”
Cecilia pressed the button marked 6 firmly. Then the door slammed shut with a bang. And in less than a second, they arrived on the 6th floor.
The door didn't open. It seemed to be a structure that only opened from the inside.
Ian casually tossed the cigarette he had been holding between his lips onto the floor and rubbed his throat with his hand. Cecilia watched him and asked carefully.
“......Does it hurt?”
“A little. I can still manage. We should be careful not to be recognized as patients.”
“......If your throat hurts......”
“Since there isn't an ENT department, if one does appear, it'll probably be the internist. The moment they spot you, they'll try to rip out your throat. It's safest to act like nothing's wrong.”
“......Sorry. I should've protected you better.”
Cecilia muttered gloomily. Ian looked down at her for a moment, then let out a wry smile.
“It's fine. I'm actually grateful. If it hadn't been for you, my head would have blown apart right there.”
“......Then that's a relief.”
Cecilia replied in a small voice, then hardened her expression again and gripped her dagger in a reverse grip. Then she looked back at Ian.
“Open it?”
“Yeah.”
At Ian's answer, Cecilia pressed the elevator's open button.
Ziiing.
The tightly shut iron doors parted to either side.
And what came into view was...
“......Just a normal hallway.”
A corridor lined with the usual hospital patient rooms greeted the two of them. Beeping noises echoed from somewhere, and the strong smells of disinfectant and blood hung in the air.
Ian rubbed his stinging throat and spoke.
“Let's search quickly and head up.”
“Yeah.”
There was no need to stay on the 6th floor for long. There were still sixty floors above them.
Time wasn't on their side.