Another day passed.
An abandoned apartment complex on the outskirts of Unjeong Station.
The commotion I stirred up there... no, isn’t it a bit much to say I stirred it up? In any case, the aftermath of that commotion moved northward unchanged.
There isn’t an ongoing fight.
“I saw it! I saw it! The Destroyer with four eyes! The Destroyer! It called down lightning and unleashed calamity!”
“I’m dying! It’s collapsing! It’s being destroyed! The Lord will purify our sins with that deep-blue lightning!”
“Ahh! The Lord is a god! The great god of destruction, the Destroyer reborn to bring ruin upon this world!”
Madmen charging down hospital corridors, shouting with ecstatic cheers. Ensnared by grotesque rapture, they thrash about with inhuman strength.
“Grab them! Hold them!!”
“They’re heading that way! Stop them!”
And the combat nurses of Paju Central Hospital moving to subdue them.
“Gyaaahk! The Destroyer has come! The Destroyer is near!”
“Destroyer! Destroyer! Save me!”
...But hadn’t these people been ranting about worms yesterday? Maybe because I wiped out all the worms, their object of terror shifted from worms to the Destroyer... that is, me.
“Where is this Destroyer supposed to be!”
One nurse shouted that.
They seized a madman with huge forearms, injected a sedative, then suddenly glanced around with vague unease.
‘They can’t find me.’
I’m not just dampening my presence—I activated [Invisibility].
Yet still, the madmen, with some transcendent sense (or sheer coincidence), pointed in my direction, fidgeted for a moment, then collapsed unconscious.
Why they’ve come to fear me—or why they obsess over me—I don’t know, but this state is quite manageable. After all, they’re still moving around healthily, right?
“This is fascinating. Despite so many surreal entities burrowing into their bodies, they remain alive and well. Truly intriguing.”
Something Iha Seo might say, but that wasn’t her voice. There are many deranged doctors at this hospital with similar levels of madness.
I thought so as I slowly approached the direction the voice came from.
Yesterday, I stopped the descent of the [Fear Eater].
Thanks to that, Bong Ilcheonpa secured one of Jeokdu’s strongholds, and I stole the sacred relic of the [Fear Eater] along with its magic power.
It was a battle where both sides gained favorable outcomes, though some suffered irreversible trauma and indelible scars.
“Screeeek-screeeek— screeeek-screeeek—”
The people once dominated by the worm-shaped creatures, the Hwalgok, now lie powerless—but the holes punched through their bodies and the worms inside them... even I can’t remove those immediately. I don’t have that capability.
So Yeom Geumja and I took them in and admitted them to Paju Central Hospital.
But this hospital doesn’t actually have a cure for them yet.
“You’re telling me they can’t be cured? Isn’t that the very reason this hospital exists?”
Yeom Geumja’s voice rang out from another room, followed by curses too obscene to repeat.
The room where Yeom Geumja stood must contain a doctor whose temperament is more composed than that madman.
He listened quietly to Yeom Geumja’s tirade and then replied.
“Uhm... but, you see—so much flesh has been eaten away. Their entire bodies are like... well, like sponges. Liver, lungs, muscles—and even their brains are riddled with holes.”
“What? Riddled with holes? Then how are they still alive?”
“Ah! That’s the interesting point of this case!”
Ah, so it was Iha Seo, not a composed doctor. Talking about dying patients as if it were amusing.
“Mm... it seems the worm friends are keeping them alive. It’s not impossible to remove them. Recently, we solved a similar case using high-frequency waves, you know. But—if we eliminate these worm friends, these patients would die? Um—probably?”
“You—!”
Yeom Geumja’s curses poured forth at Iha Seo and at Paju Central Hospital. Yes, please keep cursing, madam.
In this perilous Paju, there are very few institutions capable of caring for patients infected by surreal parasites or treating madmen driven mad by fear and obsession over the Destroyer.
Apart from Paju Central Hospital, there’s the Foreigners Administration, Heuristic, and Cure Biotech.
The Administration only “protects” foreigners, so it’s out of the question. Heuristic and Cure Biotech would certainly protect them... as research specimens.
‘Well, this hospital does weird things too.’
But only with uncontrollable surreal monsters. For anything that can improve through “treatment” or remains within the realm of humans, they don’t resort to such brutal measures.
Thus Yeom Geumja had no choice but to entrust his subordinates’ “treatment” to the hospital and leave.
“Hey, where the hell did that Destroyer brat go?”
Yeom Geumja’s dissatisfied words.
I still watched them unseen in the hospital corridor. Oddly unsettling, but I wasn’t eavesdropping—only they happened to begin speaking near where I stood.
“I wonder? Hm, hm. He wrote down a list of things to do today or tomorrow, then vanished. Hm. Ahem. But, thanks to him... things really were resolved, weren’t they?”
Ryu Jaegeun, escorting Yeom Geumja, replied so and squeezed his eyes shut, tensing his shoulders. Right, Yeom Geumja’s signature curses were about to fly...
“Hmph, who’s complaining? I was just curious.”
Huh? Why such a softened response?
Yeom Geumja glanced toward the patients for a moment, then continued in a mutter.
“Those psycho doctors said they couldn’t cure them, but that Destroyer fellow...”
“Sis, you think the same, right?”
“That’s right. At first I thought he was just a terrifying monster... but now... how shall I put it?”
Yeom Geumja walked slowly down the corridor as he spoke. Ryu Jaegeun followed, responding in agreement.
“Don’t you feel like he could accomplish anything?”
“Yeah... since the Great Collapse I’ve seen plenty of monsters, but never one like him. No matter the cost...”
They’re getting farther away now, so I can barely hear Yeom Geumja’s last words.
“In any case! What damn task needs to be done next?”
“Oh, yes. Hm, ahem. Sis, but it might be better to discuss it properly in the car.”
Yeom Geumja and Ryu Jaegeun left the corridor where the wards are and disappeared.
From now on, those two have a lot of work to do. Some tasks are difficult, but Ryu Jaegeun will assist well.
[Yeom Geumja: Steadfast Ally]
[Bong Ilcheonpa: Steadfast Ally]
Yeom Geumja and Bong Ilcheonpa have maintained good relations, but after this worm incident, they became steadfast allies.
Unless they do something overtly to lower favor, they will act entirely on my behalf.
Unjeong New Town is Paju’s busiest district, surrounded by extensive entertainment districts that serve as income sources for organized crime.
The abandoned apartment complex where the worm incident occurred...
Though it barely clings to the edge of Unjeong New Town, now that Yeom Geumja holds it, he has the foundation to reach into the entertainment interests in Unjeong.
‘If Yeom Geumja hadn’t overdone it, things would’ve gone perfectly.’
But the cost for gaining that was devastating loss of manpower. The patients currently hospitalized at Paju Central Hospital represent 20% of Yeom Geumja’s available forces.
Including those incapacitated by various injuries, over half of his human resources have been consumed. Even if they never return... by underworld unwritten law, Yeom Geumja must continue paying for their treatment and convalescence.
A painful loss in many respects.
The hospital said they’re untreatable, but if they could recover— not only Yeom Geumja but I would reap great benefits.
‘Anyway, for future developments, it’s better to have many sacrificial lambs available.’
Wait, I think some strange noise just crept into my thoughts.
I retraced my thought.
‘It’s better to have many people to help.’
Yeah, that was it.
The doctors at Paju Central Hospital, after a brief discussion, designated the problem occurring in Bong Ilcheonpa’s newly admitted patients as IPE-4587, [Parasitic Worm].
In the center of the conference table sat a glass case containing several of the Hwalgok— the parasitic worms— writhing inside.
The senior doctor presiding over the meeting knocked on the glass lid several times, deliberating, then said,
“Very well, this case will be handled by Section Chief Iha Seo.”
“Yahoo! Thank you~”
Iha Seo, delighted to take on an interesting case. A few doctors watching looked envious. Does this hospital really hire only psychopaths?
“But, Section Chief.”
The senior doctor asked Iha Seo.
“Yee–es?”
“Are there any treatment methods you’re considering?”
“Uhm... I think we need more tests, but I’d like to try u–sing Crystal Spiral Energy—”
The moment Iha Seo uttered “Crystal,” the expressions of the assembled doctors darkened.
Her suggestion was cut off before she could finish.
“That’s enough! I knew it. You’re still clinging to that bizarre Crystal Spiral Energy apparatus?”
“But we had significant results last time?”
“Results?”
Another doctor interjected.
“The most recent ‘result’ was the patient claiming he could see the dark side of the moon and then jumping from the fourth floor.”
At that, yet ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) another doctor chipped in.
“And before that, IPE-1789 [Sleeping Mage] awoke and escaped, but it’s unclear if that was due to the spiral energy.”
IPE-1789 [Sleeping Mage] is what Paju Central Hospital calls me.
“See, Section Chief? I’ve told you before, that crystal madman ray is forbidden.”
“Ugh– butt—”
“Regardless, it’s off-limits! Now, this meeting is adjourned!”
The doctors filed out.
Left alone in the conference room, Iha Seo muttered, “Then what treatment should I use?” as she stared at the worms in the glass case.
Her eyes gleamed wickedly through her long, curling hair.
“Hmm— but you’re really cute, aren’t you?”
As if beholding something beautiful and beloved, Iha Seo, enraptured, donned latex gloves, opened the lid of the glass case, and picked up the last surviving Hwalgok— fat and repulsive after gorging on its kin’s fluids.
She held the dreadful creature aloft, spun it around, then slowly opened her mouth.
And very, very slowly brought it toward her lips.
Saliva pooled in her mouth; her tongue extended as if to greet it.
I know what Iha Seo is thinking. She intends to eat that monster.
