Chapter 17
“Y-You’re really the people who came to save us?”
“Yes. You called Lee Mincheol and asked for help over the phone, correct?”
“That’s right! I asked Mincheol to call the police. You’re police officers, right?”
The one in glasses, who was at least a little less shaken than the other, was answering the senior’s question.
Come to think of it, Senior, you can talk normally too.
“Yes, we’re police. So we’ll need you to cooperate with us.”
“Junior?”
“You heard the announcement, right? We don’t have much time.”
“What announcement?”
“Didn’t you hear it?”
[Once again, visiting hours at the hospital will end in one hour….]
The announcement was leaking in through the crack in the door, which hadn’t been fully closed.
What kind of damn hospital makes it so you can’t hear the announcements once you close the door to your room?
“You heard that, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sure you two over there heard it too, so we don’t have much time.”
I walked over to the friend trembling like he’d been sued, not the college student talking with the senior.
“If you keep trembling like that, we’ll have no choice but to leave you behind.”
The hospital did not permit patients to be discharged.
For starters, the nurses were already searching for the two of them with fire in their eyes.
Screaming
Running or moving quickly
Abnormal gait
Any behavior that could draw the staff’s attention
Even if the two of them didn’t even move their lips, they still couldn’t escape the three problems below.
That was why I had to restore the two of them to normal before we left.
At least until we got out of the hospital.
“If you don’t cooperate, we can’t take you outside.”
The moment I said I wouldn’t take him with me, the man’s trembling stopped.
He soon started taking deep breaths, trying his best to regain his composure.
“You’re doing well. Just do the exact opposite of what you do at your draft physical.”
If he was a college student, he’d understand what I meant.
“As long as I can just pretend I’m fine….”
His voice had become calm before I knew it.
“So as long as I just act normal, I can get out safely?”
“Of course.”
Fortunately, the two rescuees didn’t panic.
Even with their stress at 100, it wasn’t a breakdown—it was like a hero’s fighting spirit had burst forth.
One mountain down.
The problem was that I still had to cross one more mountain to reach the destination.
“Should we cover our faces?”
The two of them had already been classified as patients by Eternal Life General Hospital itself.
Even if we just put on a bold face and walked out, would the staff really fail to recognize us?
“That’s fine.”
The senior pulled something from inside her coat.
“Dolls?”
They were two wooden jointed mannequins used as pose references when drawing.
“Hngh!”
When the senior set the dolls on the floor, they slowly began to grow larger.
Before long, where the dolls had been, two people stood who looked exactly like the two male rescue targets.
The only difference was that their eyes lacked focus.
“If those guys get caught by the medical staff, let’s head to the lobby.”
“Is that your ability, Senior?”
“An entity.”
“An entity?”
“It’s a tool-type entity. Level 2, Mimicking Wooden Mannequin.”
Before entering the hospital, Employee B had said something.
‘You’ll stick with me again this time too, right? Hm? You retrieved that entity last time thanks to me, remember?’
Was he talking about this wooden mannequin?
That was somehow different from what he meant by sticking with me.
“Can you control them too?”
“Simple commands, yes.”
When the senior closed her eyes and concentrated, the dolls’ vacant eyes came into focus.
BOOM!
The two of them smashed through the ward room door and ran off at tremendous speed deeper into the ward.
The rescue targets couldn’t hide their bewilderment at the sight of the fakes running off with their arms flung up theatrically.
“No time to space out. Let’s go.”
“Yes, you two there, please follow us.”
Breaking through the ward room door should have been enough to draw the medical staff’s attention.
Thud—thud—
As proof, sounds that seemed to be the footsteps of the hospital public-service worker could be heard from outside.
The corridor we came back out into was clean.
The people in patient gowns who had been there earlier were nowhere to be seen either.
If I’d faced those things as someone who wasn’t a guardian, how would I have reacted?
I didn’t really want to imagine it.
Fortunately, getting out of the corridor wasn’t difficult.
Because the ward we were in was fairly close to the exit.
The two rescue targets also stayed calm without any surprises, and we were able to make it to the lobby without taking more than a few steps.
“You did it!”
“I knew I could trust you!”
“That’s the Gwanak Branch for you.”
Employees A, B, and C cheering as they saw us come out.
The three of them had their arms around each other’s shoulders, standing on one foot.
If a stranger saw them, they’d have thought they’d turned into entities.
“Now all we have to do is pay!”
“Pay?”
I quietly took out the response guidelines.
++++
.
.
.
7. Hospital Fees
To leave the hospital, you must go through discharge procedures.
The lobby information desk at Eternal Life General Hospital also doubles as the billing office, so there’s no need to look for the billing office separately.
However, the hospital fees demanded by Eternal Life General Hospital cannot be paid in ordinary money.
The hospital demands the following as payment.
Blood
Body parts
Human beings
Animals
According to confirmed cases, the hospital seems to prefer things of biological value over things of monetary value.
Also, if payment is refused or an attempt is made to substitute another item, the nurse immediately calls the hospital public-service worker.
After that, the target is forcibly subdued, and an attempt is made to collect the amount the hospital demands.
To date, cases where someone has returned safely after the hospital public-service worker began forced collection are extremely rare.
The obligation to pay hospital fees basically applies only to people classified as patients.
Those classified as guardians or visitors are usually not charged separately.
Hospital fees are presumed to vary depending on the patient’s length of stay and treatment history.
For simple examinations and minor treatment, it generally demands an amount of blood that won’t endanger life.
The longer the stay, the greater the significance and quantity of the body parts required.
In some cases, records show that arms, legs, organs, and the like have been demanded.
Decisions regarding payment of the rescue targets’ hospital fees are left to the field response team leader’s discretion.
++++
These days, a hospital that doesn’t even accept cards or bank transfers.
How are they supposed to run things when they’re that behind the times?
That’s what I wanted to say.
“The ones classified as patients were me and Seniors A, B, and C, right?”
“And the rescue targets too.”
“I’ll go ask.”
As I headed to the information desk, a nurse mannequin lifted its head and looked at me.
“We’re trying to settle the bill; could you tell us the amount?”
[You mean everyone in the lobby?]
“Yes.”
[Please wait a moment.]
The nurse bent its joints in a bizarre way, rummaged through documents covered in unreadable writing, then looked at me.
[For the four of you, including the patient, the fee is 500 ml of blood per person.]
Maybe because we’d only had a consultation.
The price for me and the A-B-C trio wasn’t all that high.
If we’d been admitted, it would’ve been a different story.
The problem was the discharge fee for the two rescue targets.
The discussion would hinge on how much that came out to….
[That’s all.]
“Is that so?”
[The patients you’re looking for were found a little while ago and are currently undergoing surgery.]
So the wooden mannequins were caught, huh.
[Visiting isn’t allowed today, so please come again another time.]
It looked like the transformed wooden mannequins were even doing a proper job of playing patients.
Once we were out of the hospital, I’d have to ask the senior about that entity.
“Thank you. To pay, should we go to a blood-draw room or something?”
[It will be collected automatically when you leave the hospital.]
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“How’s that?”
“It should be fine. They say the payment is covered by automatic blood donation.”
I had no intention of mentioning the prescription at all.
There was no way a place that dispenses medicine prescribed here could be normal.
[Lastly, the director has a separate message for the guardian.]
After cracking its joints a few times, the nurse looked at the senior.
[The director said to tell you, ‘The same trick won’t work twice.’]
“Got it.”
The senior nodded and stepped back from the desk.
“Then there shouldn’t be any problem with us leaving now, right?”
[No problem. We’ll be looking forward to your next visit.]
I’d rather never come back.
I swallowed the words that had risen to my throat and helped support Employee ABC as we headed out of the hospital.
When we opened the door and stepped out, the beach from the beginning came into view.
When I looked back, the hospital had vanished without leaving even a trace that it had ever been there.
“We made it back safely... huh?”
“Aaaah!”
With sudden dizziness, I toppled forward.
The ABC trio supporting me also fell with me, making it look like four sturdy men had face-planted in the sand.
“Ptooey!”
I turned my head and spat out the sand that had gotten in my mouth.
I wanted to brush the sand off my face too, but I had no strength.
Maybe I should just lie here until the dizziness goes away.
“Want me to brush it off?”
“Yes.”
“Just a moment.”
Click.
Senior Choi Yuna taking a selfie with me in the background.
“Why are you taking a picture?”
“A proof-of-life message for the team leader, and a keepsake.”
“Couldn’t I at least be left looking a little better?”
Apparently, the two rescued men had tried to get touchy-feely, gotten caught by the hospital, and exchanged a kiss of relief or something.
There was also the minor matter of ace ABC from the Chungnam Branch hobbling home from work on one foot.
Anyway, at Level 3, we saved two people from Eternal Life General Hospital without anyone dying.
That’s what matters.
Since Choi Yuna said she’d explain the iffy parts later, there was nothing left to feel uneasy about.
Then that really was the end.
[The field travel expenses have been deposited.]
Long live the Bureau!