Among the bustling crowd, strangely attired figures stand scattered here and there.
[Predator of the Mountains] used tentacles, created by sharing his power, as a medium to possess phantoms into human bodies.
“Buzzzzzz....”
“Gugugugugu....”
They look as if they might retch up whatever is in their stomachs at any moment.
But where is the Gourmet Expedition, and why are they using something like that?
It’s a way to instantly create devotees to manifest one’s will, but if that method were so good, why would other abyssal entities go to such lengths to cultivate devotees?
“It’s a total waste of power—why do that? Do they have power to spare?”
I also experienced the same thing with Jang Hyundeok, but that was significant because Jang Hyundeok had the [Living Altar] trait that returns 1,200 from an investment of 100 power.
Doing that to a human without medium-related traits won’t unleash proper power due to recoil and resistance. Even if you pour in 100, you only get 10 to 30 efficiency.
Of course, if there were some other object or large-scale ritual to correct the influence, like the grimoire of the Hwanglim Church I encountered last time, it would be different...
“Has some absurd artifact or medium popped up somewhere I’m unaware of? There shouldn’t be such an event, though?”
Surely it isn’t some insane situation where, out of obsession with me, they’re pouring out all their energy?
Well, whatever.
“Waste your power as you please. I’m passing through.”
I concealed myself along a back alley unseen by the crowd and changed masks. A mask given to me by Seocheonseul. I donned the mask of Cheonggeum Daejang, which depicts the enraged goblin’s face, then took a pair of wooden chopsticks from my backpack and unwrapped them.
They were still unbroken chopsticks. I brought them to my lips and whispered as if to the chopsticks:
“If pulled apart left and right you’d become two, but now you’re one. Two joined side by side resemble a bipedal human. I will breathe life into you; you, expel that breath and walk like a human.”
Hoo—
I blew lightly into the chopsticks, then tossed them into the air. They frolicked midair, spun a few times, transformed into a human form, and landed on the ground.
“Ah, what did I just do?”
Of all possible methods, why on earth did I choose <create a doppelgänger in my likeness to lure them>?
The things Kim Sinhwa told me last night come to mind.
“This isn’t a matter I can just decide not to do with a simple ‘I’m really not going to do it.’”
After all, this is just an illusion that can only walk and repeat the designated words.
I said to the illusion created from the chopsticks:
“Hey, chopstick friend. If you’re free, will you do what I originally intended?”
“I am Kim Sinhwa.”
“Good. Well done.”
“I am Kim Sinhwa. I am Kim Sinhwa. I am Kim Sinhwa.”
The chopstick Kim Sinhwa repeats the same phrase as he trudges toward the hospital.
I immediately removed the mask and switched to another prepared mask. I wish I could swap via a hotkey. It’s cumbersome having to take it off and put it on.
I raised my hand and touched my face for a moment.
A different texture than usual. The soft, pliant feel of flesh. As I slowly moved my fingertips, I could feel the shape of my nose and lips.
“Hmm. It’s a bit awkward.”
It’s not my bare face. This is also a mask.
I used living flesh and magically created skin to form the shape of a face. In essence, it’s a [Human Skin Mask].
Thanks to the carefully added incantation, this mask naturally reproduces my expressions and facial movements.
“I could achieve a similar effect with illusion magic, but...”
I don’t know what form of attack I might face today, but wasting magic could lead to unexpected consequences.
In that disguised false appearance, I blend into the crowd and head toward the hospital.
Ahead, I see the false Kim Sinhwa striding forward.
Among all these people, a figure walking in such a bizarre mask is nothing short of...
“From an objective third party’s perspective, I really do look like a lunatic.”
Thankfully, this hospital has many bizarrely dressed folk no less strange than myself: troubleshooters carrying massive weapons, odd gear, and strange magical foci stand out.
And humans whose appearance is even more outlandish than those troubleshooters.
“Ki-Kim Sinhwaaa....”
Humans controlled by [Predator of the Mountains] approach the false Kim Sinhwa one by one, looking like mindless zombies.
“I am Kim Sinhwa. I am Kim Sinhwa. I am Kim Sinhwa.”
They approach the repeating false Kim Sinhwa, and the moment they grab him, they begin to retch, unable to hold back.
“Kruwaaahk, krweeaaek!!”
Hundreds of tentacles spew from the gaping mouth, writhing with a chirr-lick–chirr-lick as they coil around the false Kim Sinhwa, crushing him in one breath.
Crack—
The illusionary false Kim Sinhwa is squashed in his walking posture, reverting to his original form: wooden chopsticks.
“Aaaaargh! A monster! It’s a monster!”
“Kyaaaaaah!”
“What’s happening all of a sudden in front of the hospital!?”
Although troubleshooters were disproportionately present, the vast majority of the crowd were civilians, and they were plunged into chaos in an instant.
“Buzzzzzz!”
“Kim Sinhwaaaa!”
“Kim Sinhwa!!”
Those hapless minions sent by [Predator of the Mountains] were also thrown into confusion: having lost their target, they shout my name in unison and lunge at anyone, fanatics spitting tentacles from their mouths, rampaging indiscriminately.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Get away! You monster!”
“Don’t come any closer!”
Some troubleshooters had weapons, but even they were busy dodging. No solver is foolish enough to fight a battle that won’t pay a single coin.
Besides, this is Paju Central Hospital.
As I concluded, this is not a place where anyone needs to step up and fight.
“Coming through! Please move aside!”
“Please clear the way! We’re coming through!”
“Emergency! Emergency!”
Voices come from the hospital building. Stocky figures wearing navy uniforms designed for mobility—nurses—are rushing over.
“Hrah-chah!”
One of the nurses, carried by momentum, leaps into the air and swings the ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) baton in her hand.
Whack!
“Ah, patient? What’s your condition right now?”
“Grrrgggrk!”
“He’s non-communicative! His pupils are dilated, and there’s a foreign object in the mouth. Physical mutation estimated at level 4 or higher. Class 7 close encounter due to intrusion by an unreal entity! We’ll subdue him for emergency treatment!”
With that, indiscriminate beating begins. Tentacles writhe as they try to entangle, but other nurses who arrived join in.
“Subdue him!”
“Waaah!”
Batons, greatswords, tactical axes swing about. The atmosphere is grim enough that firearms could appear at any moment, but miraculously no guns are drawn.
In the end, the minions sent by [Predator of the Mountains] are subdued in an instant—wrapped in high-tensile bands—and transported to the hospital.
They’ll probably be ‘treated’ just like that.
Though it’s an utterly bizarre sight, people react as if accustomed.
“Ah, I haven’t seen nurses fight in a long time.”
“I saw it last time too. You know, that patient with human spontaneous combustion...”
Some of the nurses shout toward the crowd.
“Has anyone among you experienced fever, headache, dizziness, sensory disturbances, excessive tension, excessive anxiety, auditory hallucinations, or visual hallucinations due to the recent incident?”
“If so, please come this way!”
A few people approach the nurses, but I pass them by and continue walking into the hospital.
These are the combat nurses of Paju Central Hospital.
What on earth was [Predator of the Mountains] thinking to try and start a fight here?
This is Paju.
And Paju Central Hospital is the largest and most belligerent hospital in Paju. It has no choice, since the primary clientele they deal with are troubleshooters straddling the line between reality and the unreal.
Those who can smash another’s skull or wrench out a spine with a flick of the wrist. Those who can conjure massive infernos with a few muttered words. Those with high-performance tactical implants in their bodies, and so on.
To prevent rampages by such individuals and defend against attacks by surreal entities, this hospital’s staff composition is completely different from that of a typical hospital.
“Even ordinary patients who are not troubleshooters wouldn’t come this far.”
And it’s not just the combat capability that this hospital possesses.
The bizarre accidents and disasters that occur in Paju.
Therefore, in Paju, injuries and illnesses that ordinary hospitals can’t treat happen without end.
How do you treat a patient possessed by a ghost?
Or patients whose legs grow human faces, patients sprouting tentacles on their bodies, patients who suddenly breathe fire from their mouths, patients abducted and biologically modified by aliens, patients who read surreal grimoires and trigger magical disasters, patients who lose their souls and fall into eternal slumber?
Ordinary treatments don’t work on those patients.
For example... ugh, what is that?
“I guess I kept losing memories because of that.”
In the hospital lobby, a massive aquarium has been installed.
A lobby of extraordinary width, with the ceiling open up to the fifth floor. A giant cylindrical tank extending all the way to that ceiling.
It’s at least 20 meters tall and over 10 meters in diameter—an astonishing scale.
It’s more like an aquarium than just a tank.
And grotesque fish forms swim inside, emitting a bluish glow.
It’s because such an absurd structure is installed here that I haven’t been able to come to this hospital until now.
I still have no memory that something like this existed here.
“The aftermath of my amnesia still lingers.”
What else could I have forgotten?
I stared for a moment at the irritating giant aquarium.
I used to have ichthyophobia, but now I can look at it.
Gazing at the enormous tank placed in the center of the building and the fish swimming serenely, I feel an eerie sensation even setting aside ichthyophobia.
No, perhaps a bit of that fish phobia still lingers in me? It’s an unpleasant feeling.
“Why on earth is something like that placed here?”
The problem isn’t just the giant tank. The creatures swimming inside are bizarre forms not normally seen.
I can’t say they’re outright surreal monsters, but...
“But what are those?”
My memories of fish are spotty too. I haven’t completely forgotten, but there’s some loss. How am I supposed to recover those memories?
“Munyoeo (Munyoeo). Also called Bieo (Flying Fish). They’re surreal entities that have begun appearing in the West Sea and South Sea recently.”
Someone answered my question. I touched my fake face for a moment and turned my head.
“Oh, is that so? Munyoeo, you say?”
“Yes. They even appear in [Classic of Mountains and Seas]. What was it...? They look like carp but have bird wings, with blue-green patterns, and a white head.”
The fish swimming inside the tank matched her description.
They’re not forms so grotesque as to induce madness, but they’re fish with fin-like wings.
Of course, other various fish forms exist as well.
“I used to think they were records of flying fish, but after the [Great Collapse], Munyoeo began to be caught in the West Sea and South Sea.”
It’s someone I know. There’s no need to pretend to know yet. I played dumb and asked:
“But why are they breeding these fish in a hospital? For display?”
“No. For medical and research use—Munyoeo’s meat is sweet and fatty, and wow! It surprisingly has the power to cure photopathy!”
One of the reasons I didn’t head straight to the closed ward but detoured to the North Wing has just been resolved.
