CRAAACK!!
The tentacles rushing down the hallway crushed patients whole. Blood spread profusely, and the tentacles, distorted like harpoons, gnashed their teeth as they searched for their next prey.
The hospital lobby was cleared in an instant. The agents of the Management Bureau, who had been standing there in a daze, quickly came to their senses and ran to Bak Heesu.
“Are you alright?”
Yeoul said as she drew a long sword. Although she was speaking to Bak Heesu, her attention was entirely focused on Ian. Ian felt it too, but he chose not to react. Instead, he tapped the grimoire with his fingers, ready to respond at any moment.
Currently, the Watcher was following Ian’s will and not attacking fellow ‘humans.’
It was following orders for now because it was sating its hunger, but once the prey ran out and it still wasn’t full, it would ignore commands and thrash about to devour any living creature that moved. And its first target would certainly be Ian.
‘So if the Management Bureau agents turn hostile, I’ll change the order. Sacrificing a few more could buy me a little more time.’
There was no need to carry along those who were uncooperative and outright hostile.
The role-playing, whether as patient or guardian, was already over. From the moment they started destroying the hospital, cooperation was nothing but a thin veneer. He could discard it at any time, and if it was beneficial, he was willing to do so.
……
He wasn’t sure what Cecilia’s intentions were, but either way, Ian’s top priority was his own safety. He wasn’t so indecisive as to take on risks for those who weren’t particularly helpful.
Fortunately, the Management Bureau agents didn’t turn hostile toward Ian.
“……You’re a mage, correct?”
Yeoul asked after finishing her conversation with Bak Heesu.
Her voice was extremely calm, but the surroundings were anything but.
Even though they had swept away a wave of patients, the numbers were overwhelmingly vast. Even now, the tentacles moved madly, harvesting the heads or hearts of the patients pushing in. Blood rained down, and a disgusting stench filled the air.
The fact that she could speak so calmly despite that meant she, too, was a veteran accustomed to such situations.
Ian tucked the grimoire under his arm, loaded his revolver, and nodded toward the emergency exit.
“Let’s talk as we go. We’re heading to the underground parking lot.”
“……The parking lot, you say?”
When Yeoul furrowed her brows and asked, Bak Heesu answered.
“Management Bureau Spatial Mystic Response Protocol Article 151. If you see no way to escape, use physical means to go to the parking lot of the space, find a car, or commandeer a vehicle to break through the boundary of the space. You know that, don’t you?”
“I know, but…… isn’t that just something we use as a suicide substitute when there’s no other option?”
“That’s true. But we’ve got a mage and an inquisitor here. It’s doable.”
Including those who joined, there were eight in total. The group, now quite large, descended via the emergency stairs. Perhaps because the burning patients had been dealt with beforehand, all they had to face were nurses and patients. No doctors were in sight.
“But…… can we really trust him?”
Yeoul whispered into Bak Heesu’s ear. Bak Heesu shrugged and shot a legless corpse crawling up from below.
“First, we need to stick together until we escape. And those clusters of tentacles? All of them were summoned by that mage. If we provoke him for no reason, we’ll be pierced and killed too. So watch your actions and tone.”
“……Yes.”
As Yeoul answered, a tentacle shot past her ear. It precisely crushed the head of a nurse crawling up from below, scattering brain matter everywhere. Yeoul wiped the clear, sticky fluid that drenched her face and bowed her head toward Ian.
“……Thank you.”
Ian, instead of replying, spun the cylinder of his loaded revolver.
More people was a good thing. It meant more targets for the strangenesses. He should welcome anything that reduced the risk of death.
It was just a shame that the extra people were Management Bureau agents. If their faces had been hidden, it might have been different, but now with them so openly exposed, he couldn’t even guess at the consequences.
‘The community said they avoid it because it can lead to troublesome matters, but is that really all there is to it?’
He knew that there were mages who cooperated with the Management Bureau. Although they were a very small minority on the Korean Peninsula, there were a few. However, he wasn’t sure how they were treated or how the Bureau dealt with them.
-Deep-sea Angler: It’s not entirely bad.
As he watched the tentacle mass squirm, he recalled a comment he had read in the past.
Deep-sea Angler.
The most prominent mage cooperating with the Management Bureau, who had given him advice on the workshop.
-Deep-sea Angler: There are conditions. If you promise to mostly do what the Bureau says, the treatment is better than you’d think. It’s just bothersome, and the agents don’t really like mages, so you just have to watch your back. That’s all.
ㄴEarworm: Don’t lie. A friend of mine cooperated with the Bureau too, but he said he didn’t like the way they did things, so he quit everything and fled overseas.
ㄴDeep-sea Angler: Well, that could happen. Everyone thinks differently. But for me, it was okay. Still is.
That mage never revealed what the Bureau demanded or what he received in return, but he often shared the impression that working with them wasn’t as bad as one might think. Of course, he didn’t defend the Bureau unconditionally. He often wrote posts or comments cursing them out.
The fact that he continued to cooperate meant there had to be a reason.
‘If the Bureau tries to contact me after this incident, I should at least hear them out.’
With that thought, Ian gripped the grimoire tightly. The blood pouring from the ceiling soaked his hair, but he only showed signs of displeasure, not outright irritation.
Fortunately, no blood splattered on the grimoire. Actually, it did, but it evaporated immediately. It seemed he didn’t have to worry about it getting dirty. Later, if it acted all high and mighty, he’d have to drench it in coffee or water.
“We’re here!”
While he was thinking, they arrived at the entrance of the parking lot. Bak Heesu quickly swept the surroundings before grabbing the doorknob and twisting it. When it didn’t budge, without hesitation, he blasted the handle apart with a shotgun.
BANG!!
With a boom, the shattered door swung open loosely. Bak Heesu reloaded the spent shell, and Yeoul drew her sword, stepping forward to lead. Cecilia stayed by Ian’s side as if to protect him.
“……”
Kim Yi-seo followed Yeoul and glanced sideways at Ian. Ian didn’t bother to meet her eyes, instead scanning the area.
The parking lot was fairly spacious. Lights on the ceiling flickered intermittently, scattering light everywhere, and beyond the exit, tentacles were writhing. Judging by the flooding blood, it seemed the Watcher was dealing with patients coming down the exit.
But he didn’t know how long the Watcher would last. Since it would be unsummoned once its stomach was full, it might be fine for now, but it wasn’t a great situation in the long run.
So it was right to escape quickly.
Ian averted his gaze from the tentacles and moved his steps, searching for parked cars in the wide lot.
However, the parking lot was as empty as it was vast. All there was were a few abandoned corpses, a musty smell, and the parking lot attendant.
“……There’s nothing here.”
Cecilia muttered beside Ian. At that moment when Ian inwardly agreed with her, the Management Bureau agents exchanged glances and immediately approached the parking lot attendant.
The grotesque-looking attendant, who had been leisurely watching a human flesh mukbang video, tilted his head at them.
“What business do you have……?”
“Where’s my car!”
Bak Heesu yelled abruptly. The attendant flinched in surprise, his eyes going wide. Vitreous fluid and blood streamed down from his mangled eyeballs.
“H-Huh? Sir, what on earth are you talking about……?”
“No, I definitely parked my car here! Where did it go, you son of a bitch!”
“A car…… I’ve been here all day, and I haven’t seen any other cars come in.”
The attendant said that, sounding troubled, then suddenly his voice turned chilling as he gripped a bone knife carved from ribs in his hand.
“Could it be…… you’re lying?”
A bleak atmosphere settled over the floor, riding the air. A killing intent so palpable that a single slip of the tongue would pierce the throat oozed out blatantly.
Unlike the patients whose intelligence had been excised, the attendant was a type of strangeness that could think reasonably. His martial power also seemed considerable.
But Bak Heesu didn’t so much as blink and continued snapping at him.
“Of course not, because it’s not a car I brought today! I was a patient at this hospital! But I’m trying to be discharged and my car is gone!”
“My car has also disappeared. How will you compensate for this?”
Yeoul chimed in beside him.
“Quickly, please tell us what we can do. If my car isn’t found, I will proceed with a lawsuit against the hospital.”
“……Ah, ah……! Just a moment……! I’ll look for it right away!”
The attendant began tapping the keyboard, sweat beading down his face. Ian stared at him with cold eyes, the cigarette in his mouth bobbing up and down.
It seemed like an escape method where they would pressure the attendant to forcibly summon a car. A unique route, both creative and making one wonder if it would work. But if it was written in the Bureau’s manual, its reliability must be high.
More than that, compared to the fuss about it being a near-suicidal method, it was almost anticlimactically simple. Not that it was a bad thing, but it wasn’t something to make such a racket overー
The moment he thought that.
THUD!
The world quaked once. Those standing in the parking lot staggered, and the Bureau agents broke out in a cold sweat, urging the attendant even more. Cecilia and Ian’s eyes widened at the sensation of something approaching from the upper floors of the hospital.
‘……Something.’
Something is coming.
Above the hospital. Outside the emergency staircase.
Something massive, suddenly appeared, is coming down to the parking lot.
CRAAAAASH!!