Ean, considerate of Cecilia, who still couldn't read Hangul well, read the words aloud one by one.
[2. If you are not recognized as a patient, there is only one way out. You must accompany one patient as a guardian, consult with a doctor, and proceed with the discharge process.]
[3. There are conditions to obtaining guardian status. First, you must be a group of at least two people, and the two must act as a married couple or as siblings. However, homosexuality is not allowed. You will be dragged to the ward.]
[4. Do not use the bathrooms in this hospital. Do not be curious. Just know this: five of my team members who entered were hanged on the spot.]
[5. The emergency exit is not an emergency exit. A patient whose entire body is burning runs around like mad, tracking and killing anyone who enters the emergency exit. Do not go in.]
[6. We encountered a total of four doctors: a surgeon, an internal medicine doctor, an orthopedic surgeon, and a neurosurgeon. Each has different conditions for revealing themselves; we have only confirmed the conditions for the surgeon and the internal medicine doctor.]
[7. The surgeon appears when you sustain trauma at the level of serious injury or worse. You will be treated as a patient then; if you refuse, you will be kidnapped and taken straight to the operating room. If you encounter the surgeon, please kill yourself.]
[8. The internal medicine doctor appears when you eat any food in the hospital, such as tap water or convenience store lunchboxes. They will say you have developed a stomach illness and must be examined right there, then cut open your stomach and pull out all your organs. There is no need to kill yourself then. You will die anyway.]
“……It's nothing but talk about dying.”
“That must mean it's that difficult. Let's keep reading.”
[9. Food and water handed over by nurses have undergone thorough verification, so it is fine to eat them. However, if you eat the food they gave to the patients while in guardian status, that guardian will be on the food tray the next day.]
[10. Then where do guardians get food? You don't. Endure somehow.]
[11. Except for the emergency exit, there are no stairs in this hospital. Use the elevator. But if you use it consecutively, you will move to an unknown place. Be sure to use the elevator, explore that floor, and then use the elevator again.]
[12. Never use the information desk on the 3rd floor. You will be caught on the spot and forcibly made into a patient.]
[These are all the pieces of information we found. I will die soon. If the name Park Sang-cheol is hanging on a hospital bed, please pray for his soul. Since you must not speak to patients who have lost their minds, I hope you find a sane patient while in guardian status and escape this place.]
[Glory to the Administration. For humanity. Do not fear noble sacrifice.]
The guide ended there. Ean let out a low groan and closed the booklet.
“The Administration already came and went.”
Thankfully, it seemed they hadn't done nothing. But they hadn't succeeded in clearing it either. They had only left behind a single rulebook, unable to achieve anything more.
Even so, that alone had been plenty. Ean memorized the name Park Sang-cheol internally and opened another booklet.
This time, it was a guide originally from the hospital, not one that had passed through another's hands. Cecilia subtly leaned her head over beside him.
“Ah, I can read this one. It looks like Italian.”
“It must be because a Mystery wrote it. Then let's each read silently this time. I suffered a burn on my throat too, so it's hard to keep talking.”
“Okay.”
Cecilia nodded. Ean took a cigarette from inside his coat and flicked it between his fingers without lighting it.
If only his throat weren't burning, he would have smoked one. A shame.
He set the grimoire on his knee, spinning the revolver's cylinder as he looked down at the booklet.
[Yohan General Hospital is a safe place for everyone!]
Nonsense jumped out from the very first page. Cecilia burst into a hollow laugh, and Ean's eyes hardened coldly.
[Our hospital carefully cares for and manages all patients. No one will die, and capable doctors and nurses will maintain your lives forever by your side. So please rest assured!]
[However, if you fail to follow the precautions below, we cannot take responsibility for the patients' well-being. Therefore, we earnestly ask that you familiarize yourselves with them.]
[Patients must never leave their hospital rooms without the instructions of our medical staff.]
[Patients requiring surgery cannot refuse the operation. If you refuse, we will have to attempt coercive measures, so your understanding is requested.]
[If patients fight amongst themselves, both parties will be restrained.]
[The psychiatric ward is inaccessible except to authorized personnel. Let us not go there even out of curiosity.]
[The words of nurses and doctors are absolute. Do not defy them.]
[Discharge is only possible with a doctor's professional opinion. Alternatively, a guardian must come and persuade the doctor.]
[Do not skip meals. If the internal medicine doctor diagnoses that there is no food in your stomach, we will forcibly perform an abdominal incision to inject food.]
[This hospital does not use anesthetic for any surgeries. However, there is no pain, so you may rest assured.]
[Guardians visiting this hospital must absolutely follow the doctor's words. No matter how much you hope for the patient's discharge, if the doctor deems it impossible, the discharge request will be denied.]
[Except for the emergency exit, there are no stairs in this hospital. Please use the elevator.]
That was the end of the important rules. The rest were all trivial things. Don't run in the hallways, don't cause trouble for nurses or doctors, etc. As long as you followed common sense in the hospital, there would be no problem.
The important thing was the doctor's judgment.
‘Even if we find a sane patient, if the doctor rules discharge impossible, we ultimately can't get out.’
It was truly an absurd place. Ean clicked his tongue and handed the booklet to Cecilia. She, who had been reading slower than Ean, took the booklet, read a bit more, and then looked back at him.
“What are we going to do?”
“First, we have to look around the hospital rooms. Finding a sane patient is the priority. No matter how important the doctor's judgment is, we can't do anything without a patient.”
Cecilia nodded.
“Here, it says the hospital rooms are from the 6th floor to the 66th floor. Do we have to go to all of them?”
“Until we find a sane patient.”
Ean rolled his shoulders and opened the grimoire.
“Let's prepare a bit before that.”
Without waiting for Cecilia's answer, he took off his coat and spread it out neatly on the cold floor.
Squish…….
He borrowed Cecilia's dagger and pricked his finger slightly, drawing a magic circle on the inside of the coat. Since the surgeon only appeared when you sustained trauma at the level of serious injury or worse, this much was no problem.
He completed the magic circle and roughly wiped the blood on his clothes.
Then he took a ghost's spirit body from his bag, placed it on top of the magic circle, and incanted a spell.
“O agent of God. Ward off the evil of corrupted things and preach God's will. You are a companion from another world, a messenger, an eye, a sword, and a shield.”
Ssss.
The sphere melted and seeped into the magic circle. The blood-red magic circle turned black for a moment, then soon disappeared without a trace.
“……Did it fail?”
“No, it succeeded.”
The magic circle disappearing might seem like a failure at first glance, but the magic had activated properly.
It was defensive magic—if an impact above a certain threshold came from outside, the coat would momentarily transform like water to absorb and disperse the shock.
It was single-use, and since it relied on absorption and dispersion rather than nullification, it wouldn't demonstrate perfect, absolute defense. But this much was enough. It had been worth staying up all night studying the magic in the grimoires.
Ean put the coat back on and looked at Cecilia.
“I can do it on your clothes too, if you want.”
“……It's fine. Receiving a mage's magic is scary.”
She said with a displeased expression. Ean didn't press her and simply shrugged.
“Let's go.”
“Okay.”
He moved with a revolver in one hand and a grimoire in the other.
Cecilia took the lead with a pistol and dagger. The two passed through the empty lobby and corridor and arrived in front of the elevator where they had first set foot in this space.
According to the guide left by the Administration agent, it was fine to use the elevator. However, moving floors consecutively was impossible. You had to explore the floor you arrived at and then move again.
It was a bothersome rule, but not particularly difficult. Cecilia looked back at Ean, nodded, and pressed the elevator call button.
Kugugugu!!
With the sound of something rapidly descending beyond the elevator doors, the numbers above the elevator changed quickly.
About five seconds later, the number 66 changed to 1, and the elevator doors clattered open.
This time, it was an elevator without hands attached to the ceiling. Cecilia first stuck her head through the door to confirm it was safe, then gestured to Ean.
“Nothing here.”
“Hoo……”
Flicking his cigarette, Ean followed her into the elevator. Every time he exhaled, his throat stung, and the pain seemed to be growing worse. He would probably have to go to a hospital right away after escaping.
“*Cough, cough*…… Let's start from the 6th floor.”
“Okay.”
Cecilia firmly pressed the button marked 6. The doors closed with a bang. And before even a second passed, they arrived at the 6th floor.
The doors didn't open. It seemed to be a structure that only opened from the inside.
Ean tossed the cigarette he'd been holding between his lips out of habit roughly onto the floor and stroked his throat with his hand. Cecilia watched him and asked cautiously.
“……Does it hurt?”
“A little. I can still endure it. We have to be careful not to be recognized as a patient.”
“……If your throat hurts……”
“There's no ENT department, so if one appears, it'll probably be the internal medicine doctor. The moment we're found out, they'll try to tear out my throat. We have to act as normal as possible to be safe.”
“……Sorry. I should have protected you better.”
Cecilia muttered in a gloomy voice. Ean looked down at her for a moment and let out a bitter smile.
“It's fine. I'm actually grateful. If it weren't for you, my head would have exploded right there.”
“……Then, I'm glad.”
Cecilia answered in a small voice, then hardened her gaze coldly and gripped her dagger in a reverse hold. She looked back at Ean.
“Shall I open the door?”
“Yes.”
At the same time as Ean's answer, Cecilia pressed the elevator's open button.
Ziiing.
The tightly closed steel doors parted to either side.
The sight before them.
“……It's an ordinary hallway.”
A corridor lined with typical hospital inpatient rooms greeted the two. A beeping noise echoed from somewhere, and thick smells of disinfectant and blood wafted through the air.
Ean stroked his burning throat and opened his mouth.
“Let's just quickly search and go up.”
“Okay.”
There was no need to linger on the 6th floor for long. There were still 60 floors above them.
Time was not on their side.