The monstrosity’s head looked like an ant. Beneath its massive cranium was a human body, but because its head was too heavy, its frame was dragged along the floor. The nurse’s uniform draped over it was already tattered beyond recognition, and every time the thing moved, blood flowing from its torn flesh soaked the ground.
A nurse crawling over it rustled as she approached, looking up at Cecilia and Ian.
“Where are you going? I’ll press the button for you.”
“……I’m a foreigner. I don’t really know Korean.”
Cecilia spat out with clumsy pronunciation. The nurse smiled awkwardly and scratched the corner of her mouth with a blood-stained hand.
“Ah…… really? Then I’ll go up alone first. If you’re here to visit a patient, go to the third-floor desk for guidance first.”
With that, the nurse boarded the elevator. With a heavy thud, the elevator shook once, and the moment the thing pressed a floor button, the doors slammed shut violently and it began to ascend.
Second floor. Third floor. Fourth floor. Fifth floor…….
Not even a second had passed, yet the floor numbers changed rapidly. The instant the number above the elevator switched to 66 and stopped, Cecilia let out a ragged breath and pulled Ian toward the emergency exit. Ian followed her obediently, looking around.
The hospital’s structure was very different from what he remembered. Where blood collection rooms and CT and MRI scanning rooms should have been, operating rooms were packed in tightly, and the corridors’ positions, bends, and lengths were jumbled together like a labyrinth.
‘It doesn’t look like the entire hospital is contaminated. This was a different space from the start.’
He had only frequented it in childhood, but the hospital’s structure had been so simple that he still remembered where everything was. Thanks to that, he realized that the corridor he was currently walking down, the corner leading to the emergency room, and the emergency exit’s location were all completely different.
There were no overlapping areas to call this contamination. So, like a theme park or a library, it was correct to view this as having been transferred to an entirely different world.
‘This is bad.’
For the first time in a very long while, cold sweat ran down his spine.
Today, he had no intention of encountering monstrosities or resolving matters related to mysteries. Although he had joked about wanting to run into lesser ghosts just a moment ago, he had not wished to fall into a space like this.
“…….”
People wandered all throughout the corridors, emergency room, blood collection room, and inside the operating rooms. Needle-tipped tentacles inside the blood collection room squirmed, stuck into the hearts of corpses hanging by their necks from the ceiling. The nurses in charge of urine tests tore out genitals and bladders whole, then crushed kidneys and poured them into paper cups.
It was enough to make his mind reel just from watching. He didn’t think they could get out without using magic and relying solely on Cecilia.
‘Is it even possible to get out in the first place?’
Outside the window.
Beyond the window where the city streets should have been visible, all that could be seen was a vast grassland. And in that grassland, countless people in patient gowns stood perfectly still, staring at the hospital.
Were they victims dragged into this space, or wardens meant to kill any humans trying to leave the hospital?
Whatever they were, it was certain they weren’t standing there with good intentions. Ian clicked his tongue and grabbed his bag strap.
Bang!
They ran to the end of the corridor and reached the emergency exit. Cecilia glanced around, confirmed no one was there, and let out a sigh of relief. Then she looked up at Ian.
“Listen carefully. Right now, we’re uh…… um…… mystery? Ah, yes. We’ve been caught up in a mystery.”
She spoke awkwardly, mixing in gestures to somehow get her meaning across.
“If we mess up, we die. So follow my instructions. Okay?”
“Are you familiar with this kind of thing?”
Ian asked with a slightly frightened expression. The hand inside his coat pocket pulled back the hammer of his revolver.
Fortunately, Cecilia either didn’t hear the clicking sound or ignored it; she adjusted her grip on her dagger and nodded.
“A little. But this spatial type is a first for me. The mysteries we hunt are all individual types. This is the Administration Bureau’s role.”
“The Administration Bureau?”
“A government agency. They specialize in resolving these things. We’re not very close to them. They seek salvation through suppression and research; we purify through rejection and slaughter. Understand?”
Simply put, the Administration Bureau’s goal was to capture mysteries, suppress them, research them, and save humanity, while the Holy See aimed to purify the world by killing them all without such things.
Though both desired peace, they were two organizations with entirely different processes. Even if there was ample room for cooperation, their convictions would ultimately diverge at the end.
From what Cecilia was saying, it seemed the Holy See was aware of the Administration Bureau’s existence and did not interfere with their work. Rather, since she referred to it as the Administration Bureau’s role, they were not hostile for now.
But the fact that they weren’t close meant that was as far as it went.
He didn’t know what the relationship with the Cartel, the Clock Tower, or the remaining organizations was like, but that wasn’t important right now. Escape came first.
“I understand. More importantly, how do we get out of here? If we stay still…… I don’t think it will end well.”
“……Spatial types have many different escape methods. For now, the best thing is to stay faithful to your role.”
Cecilia spoke, frowning at the smell of gunpowder wafting from somewhere.
“It’s a kind of opera, or musical. Securing a safe role is the top priority.”
The smell of burning was drawing closer. Ian opened his mouth to answer Cecilia, but then frowned at a suddenly wafting, nauseating stench.
The smell was coming from above. When he unconsciously raised his head, he saw something rapidly descending from up there.
“Aaaaaaaack!!!!”
It was a human. A burning human, its entire body aflame, repeating burns, necrosis, and regeneration.
The thing screamed and threw its lolling head toward Ian and Cecilia.
“……!”
Its speed was tremendous. The head shot through the air, tearing through the wind, and fell vertically, aimed precisely at Ian’s face.
It was too late to dodge. Ian had no choice but to stretch his empty hand into the air to use magic.
At that moment, Cecilia struck the head away with her gloved hand.
Kraa-BOOM!!!
The head exploded, setting off a small blast. Acrid smoke billowed up, and the disgusting stench of burning flesh filled the air.
Ian coughed repeatedly at the hot smoke entering his lungs, staring at Cecilia with one eye as she stood before him as if to protect him.
The arm she had used to bat the head away was crushed beyond recognition. Blood dripped heavily onto the floor, and embers flared from her burned face and shoulder.
“……Kuhuk, keuk…….”
Cecilia spat out a breath, picked up the dagger that had fallen to the floor, and threw it. The burning human coming down the stairs crumpled as the dagger embedded itself in its knee.
“Aaaaaaaack!!!! It hurts, it hurts!!!! Mom!! Dad!!! My knee is shattered! My skin is burning!!!!”
The headless thing screamed through its throat. Ignoring it, Ian approached Cecilia, who had torn off her burning clothes.
“Miss Cecilia……!”
“I’m fine! Let’s get out!”
She left the emergency stairwell without even retrieving her dagger. Ian immediately followed her.
The two stepped back into the corridor near the first-floor emergency room. Ian tried to check her condition at once, but slowly raised his head at the overwhelming gazes pouring in from all directions. Cecilia also broke into a cold sweat as she stared at the beings standing before them.
“…….”
“…….”
The patients who had been sitting on benches, blankly staring into space, all turned their heads toward Cecilia. Grotesquely shaped nurses were thrusting their faces toward the emergency room entrance, thudding footsteps echoed from beyond the corner, and a deafening noise, as if dozens of people were moving in perfect unison, came from the ceiling.
“Burns.”
“Missing an arm.”
The moment the thudding footsteps drew closer, the seated patients opened their mouths.
“A patient.”
“A patient.”
The corners of their mouths tore straight back.
“Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.” “Patient.”
“Fuck.”
Ian propped up Cecilia’s body at the shiver running down his spine. Cecilia stared blankly at them, then soon turned to Ian and smiled brightly.
“I hurt.”
“……What?”
“I need treatment. Treatment, treatment, treatment! Aaaaack!! The surgeon is coming! The doctor is coming! Surgery, surgery!!!”
She convulsed in Ian’s arms.
She had lost her mind. Quite apart from her weak mental strength, she seemed to have triggered this insane space.
Perhaps that trigger was getting injured and entering a state where anyone could clearly see she was a patient.
If left alone, she too would become a patient like them. He couldn’t let that happen.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Ian summoned his grimoire and gripped it like a blunt weapon.
“Don’t kill! There’s still much knowledge to extract……!”
[Hummed!]
The Abyssal Chronicle in his hand responded as if it understood. Ian immediately swung the grimoire and smacked Cecilia on the crown of her head.
Smack!
With a crisp sound, her skull was crushed. Her eyeballs, which had been shaking with madness, shot upward in an instant, and her convulsing body went limp.
Normally, the moment another person touched an Outer God’s grimoire, the touched part would explode, but if the owner permitted it or the grimoire adjusted on its own dimensional level, it could end without detonating. It was his first time trying it, but fortunately, it worked.
But there was no time to wallow in sentiment. Ian immediately laid Cecilia down against the wall as if tossing her aside, and pulled out his revolver at the approaching footsteps.
“…….”
Soon, a doctor wearing a gown revealed himself from around the corner.