Chapter 16
Before I'd even recovered from the shock of becoming a married man, my senior and I stood before the ward doors.
“Are you really okay going in there just the two of you?”
B, worried about Choi Yuna and me. Such kindhearted people.
“Is there another way?”
“I can't argue with that.”
But as my senior said, just because things weren't going well didn't mean there was some clever way out.
There was probably this kind of background behind why my senior thought so highly of me.
If anything was wrong with those people, it was that they were nuisance complainants.
Staff ABC's knee, hastily given emergency first aid, caught my eye.
Breaking a perfectly good knee and then coming in for an exam.
As expected of a nuisance complainant, they probably don't even realize what they've done wrong to us.
“Shall we at least look over the response guidelines before we go?”
“Might as well.”
++++
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.
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6. Ward
The Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine ward has features that set it apart from the other wards.
In this ward, all confirmed patients are found lying on beds inside patient rooms.
The patients appear to be sedated or physically restrained and unable to move on their own.
So far, there have been no confirmed cases in which an individual found in the hallway wearing a hospital gown was the rescue target.
If the rescue target is confirmed to be a patient lying on a bed in a room, the on-site response team must not attempt a rescue and must withdraw immediately.
The same applies if a staff member is classified as a patient and left in a room.
Everyone who had been lying in the patient rooms went on to die within ■■ days after leaving the hospital, after showing symptoms of ■■■ and ■■.
There has not been a single exception so far.
This guideline was established based on losses incurred during rescue attempts.
When moving as a guardian or visitor, no cases have been reported so far in which entities roaming the hallway posed a direct threat.
However, the following actions are strictly prohibited when removing a rescue target from a patient room.
Screaming
Running or moving quickly
Abnormal gait
Any behavior that could draw the attention of the medical staff
If any of the above behaviors occur, repeated reports say nurses or hospital public-service workers rush over immediately once they detect signs of abnormality.
Before attempting a rescue, the on-site response team must thoroughly explain the current situation and behavioral guidelines to the target.
If discovery makes it impossible to secure an escape route through the room entrance, do not attempt to escape through the patient-room window.
There has not been a single case so far of anyone who attempted to escape through a patient-room window returning.
++++
“That’s brutal.”
“This is surprisingly okay.”
“This?”
“Because there's no problem or trap from the outset.”
“Ah, so that's what you mean?”
“High-level entities aren't this easy to deal with.”
“I’d rather not experience that firsthand.”
[I'm married, handing out wedding invitations]
Author : 갤질참쉽죠
My senior was the only guardian, and when the nurse asked what our relationship was, I immediately put down 'husband.'
As expected, if you say family, they let you through.
(roughly recounting how I got hauled away)
[Photo of the response guidelines]
By the way, we're about to head into the ward to look for the rescue target, so any pro tips for checking things midway?
[Comments]
으아들이대 : Why are you the only one with a girl Why are you the only one with a girl Why are you the only one with a girl Why are you the only one with a girl Why are you the only one with a girl Why are you the only one with a girl (1-hour ban)
ㄴ개체박이 : Mod, kick the nuisance out.
ㄴ관리를관리 : I'm giving you a one-hour ban so you can cool off.
아빠는무림인 : Did you finally lose it?
ㄴ사냥개 : Go read the consultation-room story. Even just going straight in on the scene puts you in the top 10 percent.
암술수술수술 : Good thing this is anesthesiology and pain medicine. If it were internal medicine, I wouldn't have noticed even if my guts had been picked clean.
ㄴ돈받고갤질하기 : For real....
A guardian, not a visitor.
There probably wouldn't be any major variables, but it never hurt to prepare a few times.
“Routine again?”
“Yeah.”
“You look like a smartphone addict.”
“That's too harsh.”
We tossed jokes back and forth to keep the silence from creeping in, but now it was time to go in.
Creeeak.
Some of my senses had gone dull after being trapped in the Backrooms for a week.
The eerie feeling that comes from familiar scenery being twisted ever so slightly.
The smell of disinfectant lingering in my nose, and the spotless hallway.
People in hospital gowns walking the hall under bright lights.
If I hadn't known that they all kept blank expressions and never opened their mouths or blinked, I probably would have believed it was the university hospital near my house.
I glanced over my shoulder.
In the lobby, a single old light flickered, barely managing to do its job.
Why did the lobby, which looked closer to normal, feel more reassuring than the ward?
“Shall we go?”
I somehow shook off the sticky reluctance clinging to my ankles and entered the ward.
Remember: there are no patients in the hallway of the Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine ward.
It was obvious there wouldn't even be a rescue target.
The rescue targets were two 20-year-old men.
They'd said they were here for a university MT and got caught up in this mess, hadn't they?
I had their faces memorized, so if I saw them, I could take them out.
I moved deeper inside, avoiding the things wandering the hallway as much as possible.
“What do you think?”
My senior suddenly spoke.
Maybe my senior figured that small talk wouldn't draw the medical staff's attention.
“Hmm….”
As I hummed a response and looked around, nobody was paying us any mind.
Usually, the cliché is that the moment you open your mouth, everyone turns to look this way.
“I’m still not sure. Should we go a little deeper in?”
“I think so too.”
Well, if even the nurses couldn't find them, they wouldn't be somewhere obvious.
“Should we go check the patient rooms?”
“For now. Places like the nurses' station carry risks.”
“Understood.”
I answered while dodging a foreigner coming toward us with an IV stand.
So they really did kidnap people without discriminating by age, sex, or even race.
We'd start the search from the innermost patient rooms.
Because in a dungeon, you don't keep your loot near the entrance.
That said, they probably wouldn't put it at the very end either.
After being tense nonstop, I strangely felt like I wasn't tense at all.
Had my frontal lobe been anesthetized or something?
“But is it okay to just go into any room when we don't know where the patient is?”
“It's fine.”
My senior opened the room door and said.
There was only a record of them entering the hospital, and they didn't even know where they were.
The room was a six-bed room.
Except that every bed was curtained off.
To find the rescue targets, we had to open each curtain one by one and check.
I pulled back the curtain on the first bed.
On the bed lay a man in a perfectly straight posture—no, stiff as a board.
Rigid like a doll at attention.
Could he have been paralyzed by the drugs?
“…!”
When our eyes met, the man's pupils rolled around wildly as if in a fit.
Regrettably, the only freedom he seemed to have been granted was rolling his eyes.
Only his pupils were alive, thrashing madly in an expressionless face.
I could tell, without him saying a word, what that desperate look was trying to say.
“I'm sorry.”
I couldn't bring him out with me.
Even if that man didn't have long to live, he'd still want to get out of here.
I wasn't nearly capable enough to put the staff accompanying me, or the two waiting for rescue, in danger.
I whispered in a small voice so only he could hear.
“…I can't take you out of here.”
When I put my hand in my pocket, I felt the euthanasia drug I'd brought.
If I put this in his mouth, at least he could pass away peacefully.
But I couldn't do that.
I took my hand out of my pocket, checked under the bed, and then reluctantly pulled the curtain back into place.
The moment that man's breathing stopped, it would draw the medical staff's attention.
“Not there?”
“…No.”
“Then let's go to the next room. I've already checked the others.”
Choi Yuna took my hand and dragged me out of the room.
Then, at the next room, she flat-out stopped me from going in.
“Keep watch.”
“All of a sudden?”
“I just remembered. If the medical staff see what happens inside the room, I don't think they'd let even a guardian get away with it.”
Was this her way of being considerate?
“If things go wrong, I'll cough.”
“Just speak louder. You might end up as a patient if you start coughing.”
“Understood.”
Choi Yuna went into the room and closed the door.
And then, before five minutes had even passed, she came back out.
“That was fast.”
“The room isn't that big.”
“I see.”
While I kept watch, I checked the gallery every so often.
No noteworthy tips had been posted yet.
To be specific, it was just things like response guidelines or experiences from other wards—the sort of things that could cause trouble if applied here instead.
If something's worse than doing nothing, there's no need to test it.
Not long after my senior went into room 13.
[The hospital visiting hour will end in 1 hour. Visitors and guardians, please leave the ward within the allotted time. We appreciate your cooperation.]
An announcement marking the one-hour countdown echoed through the ward.
From the wording 'leave the ward,' it seemed like we had to leave the lobby within an hour, not the hospital.
My senior had probably heard it too.
“…Senior?”
Choi Yuna, who usually came out in five minutes, still hadn't come out even after ten minutes.
Thinking that something unexpected might have happened in the room, I opened the door.
And what appeared before my eyes was.
My senior, looking at two men who were slumped on the floor and trembling violently.
“I found them.”
The rescue targets were safe. At least for now.