“Commonly called the 'Yohan General Hospital.' It is a newly emerged spatial erosion-type anomaly. All recon agents and operatives deployed have gone missing. It’s safe to say they were practically devoured.”
The office of Team 3, Response Department of the Management Bureau.
With the team leader away on the museum operation, the most senior agent began the briefing.
“Five personnel in total have disappeared. Some have had their life signals severed, while others have not. Our mission is the rescue of those recon agents and operatives who have not disappeared.”
“A rescue mission, then. So there is no need to confront the anomalies inside the hospital?”
Gim Iseo asked. The agent nodded.
“There’s no reason to stir up trouble. This operation is not an extermination or resolution. It is not an investigation into the nature of the Mystery either. If you act out of needless heroism and do something rash, I won’t let it slide, so keep that in mind.”
The name badge reading ‘Yeoul’ on the agent’s chest glittered as it caught the overhead light. The team’s youngest member nodded toward her.
“Yes.”
“To start with, the hospital’s location is an abandoned hospital on the outskirts of Incheon. But this is a fixed location. There are also cases where someone is suddenly transferred to Yohan General Hospital from another ordinary hospital. Most civilian victims were trapped in the hospital through this method.”
“By ‘most,’ you mean the rest walked into the abandoned hospital directly?”
“Influencers do that. Hardly surprising.”
Yeoul shook her head and changed the PPT slide. The exterior of the abandoned hospital appeared.
It was an old building with an overall grayish hue. A cross was mounted on the hospital roof, and although no electricity was supplied, the emergency room lights were shining brightly. Beyond the windows, one could see the figures of patients, nurses, and even doctors.
However, their outer appearances were far from ordinary. Even though only their silhouettes were visible, an inexplicable revulsion could be felt.
A patient with tentacles like earthworms in place of a head. A nurse with a grotesquely enormous head. A doctor grabbing a patient’s body and tearing into their flesh….
No matter how or where one looked, it was not a normal hospital. The very fact that the elements comprising a hospital still existed was an obvious paranormal phenomenon.
“Based on observations so far, it has been confirmed that the general hospital houses surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, internists, and neurosurgeons. We do not know their characteristics or outer appearances yet, but you must be careful of the internist. The moment reports came in of encountering them, their life signals were severed.”
“…Hmm.”
“You will need to be careful of the other doctors as well. You probably should not provoke them needlessly.”
Click.
Yeoul changed the PPT slide once more.
The words “Emergency Room,” flickering red, filled the monitor.
“You must enter the hospital in civilian clothes. You cannot wear suits like ours, or any designated uniform.”
“Why is that?”
“If you wear a suit, the hospital recognizes us as security guards. Then we immediately become part of the hospital. Escape becomes impossible. That is what the first recon agents discovered.”
“….”
“That said, you cannot go dressed as nurses or doctors either. To move around ordinarily, you must wear civilian clothes and pretend to be guardians. Understood?”
At Yeoul’s question, Gim Iseo nodded.
“Understood.”
“Good. I will tell you the rest of the information while we move. Here, I have prepared copies of the rules discovered, so each of you take one and familiarize yourselves.”
Yeoul handed copies of the rulebook—painstakingly written by the recon agents—that she had printed out in advance to the members of Team 3. As she did, she said:
“Then change into civilian clothes and come out. And I will say this one last time: absolutely do not provoke the anomalies in the hospital.”
*
Cecilia devoured five whole chickens by herself. I An stared at her as though he were practically looking at a monster, overwhelmed by her stomach capacity. But Cecilia paid him no heed, chewing like a squirrel and stuffing her cheeks.
After finishing the meal with the orphanage children, the head priest, and the sisters.
I An and Cecilia walked side by side toward the general hospital where the hospitalized orphan was. It was still January, so the wind was cold and the temperature chilly.
Having experienced only relatively mild Italian winters compared to Korea, Cecilia sniffled and covered half her face with her scarf. Seeing this, I An casually asked:
“Cold?”
“Yes. Korea is too cold. I miss Rome.”
“The Vatican is in Rome?”
“Yes.”
Cecilia answered, wiggling her gloved hands.
“It is warm. Rome. It is too cold here.”
“Korea is rather cold. It is hot in the summer, though.”
“Ugh.”
“More importantly, you understand listening well despite your speaking. Did you study listening separately?”
“Ah, yes. One week. I received a crash course from a Sister who knows Korean. And I also learned more from her just now.”
Could she show this level of skill after only studying for a week and having conversations for just a few days?
She must have had a natural talent for languages. Since it was not very important, I An just nodded roughly and chose his next words.
‘I can’t ask openly about things related to the Mystery. If I do, they’ll catch on that I’m an insider.’
She was a nun of such devout faith that the Vatican had sent her directly. Could such a person really be unaware of the existence of Mystery?
There was no way. She must be in Korea for some definite reason.
He did not think that reason was truly to investigate churches. That was merely the outward pretext; the reality was probably entirely different.
He had almost no guess as to what her purpose was. If he had to speculate forcibly, perhaps it was handling a vampire noble who had entered Korea, something religious, or catching the fake cleric who had appeared in Busan.
They were literally just guesses, so there was no credibility to them. I An fiddled with the cigarette pack in his coat pocket, running calculations through his head.
‘I also have to hide that I’m involved with Mystery while digging up Vatican information… This is tough. It would actually be easier to act if some Mystery-related incident occurred on the way there.’
Because the East had a developed culture of public cemeteries, Korea had more low-level ghosts than one might expect. That was why I An hoped a low-level ghost, drawn to the aura of a mage, would reveal itself.
But until they reached the hospital, the low-level ghosts did not show so much as a single strand of hair.
They were the type to never appear when needed and only swarm when unneeded. Sighing inwardly, I An told Cecilia to go in first.
“I will have a cigarette before coming in. Please go in first, take a number, and wait.”
“Ah, yes.”
Cecilia bowed her head and trotted into the hospital. I An went to the hospital’s smoking area, skillfully put a cigarette in his mouth, and lit it.
Inside the smoking area, several middle-aged people sat smoking. I An also sat in an appropriately empty seat, looked through the transparent window, and exhaled smoke.
“Huu….”
Beyond the window, the hospital’s name was visible.
Marigold General Hospital.
It was a hospital he had frequented since childhood. He remembered that although the building was somewhat old, the facilities were not that bad. The doctors were all Catholics, so they had been kind.
That was why the nun had frequently sent the children here.
I An flicked off the cigarette ash and took out his phone to check the child’s information given by the nun.
The name was Gim Soyeon. Ten years old. The reason for hospitalization was treatment for fractures and aftereffects from a traffic accident. Room 306.
There were no other particular circumstances. I An stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray, sprayed himself with the deodorizer placed at the front of the smoking area, and entered the hospital.
Cecilia, who had already taken a number and was waiting for her turn, sat in her chair, tapping her feet. To build rapport with her, I An bought drinks from the convenience store inside the hospital and sat beside her.
“I bought some hot chocolate. Drink it. It will be warm.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Cecilia bowed her head, took the hot chocolate, and sipped. I An downed his americano beside her.
With a ding-dong sound, the numbers at the information desk continued to change. Each time, the number of people sitting in the hospital hall gradually decreased, and soon it was Cecilia’s turn. She sprang up from her seat and walked to the information desk. I An followed.
“Hello. How may I help you?”
“Ah… that? Visit? Hos… visit?”
“We have come to visit a child named Gim Soyeon. We are from the same orphanage.”
I An spoke on behalf of Cecilia, who was muttering awkwardly. The receptionist nodded, checked this and that, and then opened her mouth with a smile.
“The child Gim Soyeon is in room 306 right now. It seems you have come to hear the doctor’s progress report. If you wait there, the doctor will come soon.”
“I see. Thank you.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
I An and Cecilia bowed to the receptionist and stood in front of the elevator. She was still slowly nursing her hot chocolate. It seemed she could not handle hot things well.
‘She must have a cat’s tongue.’
I An did not think much of it and waited for the elevator to come down.
That was the moment. Suddenly, the floor number displayed on the elevator began to change like crazy.
“…!”
From the 1st floor to the rooftop. Then from the basement to the 5th floor.
In the blink of an eye, the elevator went through all sorts of floors, and its red light swung wildly. The speed at which it changed was strangely fast for a simple malfunction. Moreover, from beyond the firmly closed elevator doors came the sound of something moving rapidly.
“…Hmm.”
Cecilia’s expression changed the instant she sensed the abnormality. She drank a few more gulps of the hot chocolate she was holding and threw it into a nearby trash can. Something that leaped out from inside the trash can grabbed and crushed the empty cup that had gone in precisely.
“…Cazzo.”
Seeing that, she spat a curse in Italian and took out the long cross she had kept in her coat pocket. I An also pretended to be flustered on the outside while adjusting his bag.
At that moment, with a ding, the elevator doors opened.
Though there was no one inside the elevator, human arms were hanging limply down from the ceiling.
Sharp teeth were densely embedded in the palms at the ends of the arms. They stretched their palms toward the two people standing outside the elevator and opened their clenched maws wide.
“Yo.”
“Han.”
“Jong.”
“Hap.”
“Byeong.”
“Won.”
“E.”
“Eo.”
“Seo.”
“O,”
“Se.”
“Yo.”
Crunch!!
The hands that had spat out different words suddenly began to rip into and devour each other’s flesh.
The smell of blood spread from inside the elevator, which had turned into a bloodbath in an instant. Cecilia grabbed I An’s wrist tightly and spoke with a serious face:
“Follow me. Do not let go of me. I will protect you.”
“…You, Sister?”
I An asked with the most vacant expression he could manage. Cecilia nodded, pulling the long section of the cross with her hand.
The cross she held was a dagger. The scabbard depicting the lower body of Jesus rolled across the floor, and she held the bladed dagger in reverse grip while grabbing I An’s hand.
“I am strong. Explanation later.”
“Ah, no, but what is that? A hidden camera or something?”
“No, real situation. We are in big trouble. First, run—”
“Oh my.”
The moment she was about to continue, something poked its head out from the hallway behind her.
It was a bug’s head as large as a person. Their reflections shone in its bright red eyeballs, and the sharp hook-shaped hairs lining its maw quivered with a scraping sound.
“Everyone, the elevator is here. You should get on.”
Chunks of blood and organs fell from the thing’s gaping maw.