Emergency Quest (Finale)

"...What did you just say?"

Time stopped.

I slowly lifted my head.

I'm fucked.

A siren screamed through my skull. This wasn't even in the same universe as getting chewed out by Nam Seunghyun from Internal Medicine. That had just been being dismissed. This was insubordination — dropping a double-barreled curse straight at a senior's treatment.

My brain shrieked, clawing for a way out. I couldn't exactly say, I lost it because of a System window, could I?

An excuse. An excuse. I needed an excuse. The most plausible, divinely inspired excuse I could possibly conjure.

In a single second I ran tens of thousands of simulations, then wrung out the last answer my survival instinct could produce.

I slammed my own head.

Choi Soo-min and the nurses around us stared, eyes gone wide at the sudden outburst.

"That was directed at my own stupid self, Doctor!"

"I nearly delayed the diagnosis because I couldn't even take a proper history — the most basic history-taking there is! I was so pathetic, so fucking worthless for missing something that elementary, I ended up cursing myself! I deserve to get hit!"

It was a performance that scraped my soul raw — a deranged little act of beating my own skull, paired with an excuse that sounded almost logical and yet was somehow completely unhinged.

My senior looked down at me in silence. I could feel the gears ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠grinding behind her eyes. Is this kid actually insane, or is he putting on a show?

A few seconds of silence stretched out. Then a deep sigh finally escaped her.

"Haa."

The ice in her expression thawed.

"That's enough. Raise your head."

I slowly straightened up.

"The triage nurse was supposed to catch that originally. She just missed it because we were slammed. It's not your fault, so don't beat yourself up. And — have you been pushing yourself too hard lately?"

I was alive.

The tension drained out of my whole body, and my legs started to shake.

"No, ma'am! I'm fine!"

"Whatever. You made the diagnosis, so you explain it to the patient and the family."

With that, she turned back to the monitor. I bowed quickly and headed for the patient.

Bed B-17.

The patient wore a dazed look, still reeling from the sudden flurry of treatment.

"I know that must have been alarming. We've found the exact cause of your pain."

His eyes flickered with unease.

"Have I come down with some kind of serious disease?"

"It's not a major illness. You've come down with a very rare form of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠food poisoning. Have you ever heard of ciguatera?"

"Cigua-what now?"

"Simply put, you've been poisoned by a toxin found in tropical ocean fish. It's so rare we almost never see it in Korea — you just had a bit of bad luck. The toxin confuses the nerves, which is why cold things feel hot. That's where those strange symptoms came from."

"Heh. So what happens to me now?"

"Fortunately we found the cause quickly, so treatment's already underway. The IV fluids going into you right now will help flush the toxin out. There's something like a painkiller in there too, so you should start feeling better soon."

"If I hadn't come to the hospital I'd have just thought it was a stomachache and suffered through it — could've been a real disaster. Thank you, really."

After walking him through a few more precautions, I headed back to the station.

I felt the strength drain out of my entire body. Quietly, I opened the System window.

Cut in half. But still 500 points.

I opened the shop list and checked the Possession skill one more time.

4,400 to go.

I still had a long way to go.

Once the ciguatera commotion died down, the patient in B-17 stabilized and was processed for admission to the ward.

The ER snapped back to its usual self in no time. A drunk raising hell, the wail of a child who'd fallen and split their head open, the telephone that never stopped ringing. I tore through another three or four patients in a blur, and before I knew it, midnight was closing in.

I was sitting at the station, trying to catch my breath, when Choi Soo-min came over and tapped my shoulder.

"Hyun-jae, good work. Go to the on-call room and get some sleep."

"I'm fine. I'll rest after I finish charting."

I put on my best sturdy face and sat back down in front of the EMR.

The screen was packed with the patient list.

My fingers felt heavy on the keys.

God, I'm tired…

Physical exhaustion and mental exhaustion hit me all at once. I let go of the mouse for a moment and leaned back against the chair.

What was the penalty for Possession again… severe whole-body muscle pain. Just how bad would it actually be? And what kind of person did this Gallery even appear to? How was I supposed to farm LP efficiently?

In the end, I couldn't win against my curiosity. I logged into the Dead Medical Scholars Gallery again.

Maybe I'll lurk a few more posts.

I was curious what these ghosts talked about in their spare time.

I tapped the Popular Posts tab and read the title of the thread sitting at the very top — the one with the most comments.

It was a fairly interesting case.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy typically presents in postmenopausal women. Seeing it in a young man, with ECG findings identical to a myocardial infarction, was genuinely rare. Whoever used this ID had clearly been a doctor with no shortage of pride while he was alive.

Still intrigued, I scrolled down through the comments.

Of course. From the very first comments, it was nothing but sniping ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and scorn. Communities were the same whether you were alive or dead. The moment someone bragged, someone even greater always showed up to rule over them.

And sure enough, the final boss made his entrance in the very next comment.

Goosebumps rose on my skin.

A coronary artery dissection in a pregnant woman. Just imagining it made my palms sweat. The heart could rupture. The fetus was at risk. A worst-case scenario on every axis. And he'd operated and saved her? Just what kind of heights had this God of the Scalpel reached as a surgeon while he was alive?

He was the first name on my Possession list. Did such a list even exist? I just made it. There seemed to be quite a few people in this Gallery I needed to keep a special eye on. If I didn't write something down, I had a feeling a disaster was coming — an emergency where I had the points and still couldn't use Possession properly when it counted.

I kept lurking, and among those comments, one stood out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with a completely different texture.

"…"

For a moment, I had nothing to say.

The first two ghosts had been bragging about the rarest cases they'd ever treated. That much was clear. But this lunatic ghost going by Guy Hit by a Truck was explaining how he'd left this world, high-fived the grim reaper, and strolled down the road to the afterlife.

Come on, you people. Grow up already. What's the point of still being like this after you're dead?

Haa…

These bastards were still talking this kind of shit even after they'd died.