Floor 27: Roteis's Hospital (2)

Ha Heijeong was right. I'd dropped one of the lockpicks.

It happened because the position was so awkward—my hands wedged between the bars of the chained door, trying to force the pick in my right hand steady, I'd lost my grip on the one in the other.

But Ha Heijeong recovered her composure almost immediately and spoke in a calm voice. "...It's fine, I can just use magic to pick it up. And if we really can't open it, we can smash the door down with the crowbar. All we have to do is fight and beat the test subjects."

She'd probably assumed I was panicking.

There was no need for that. I had a solution anyway.

"Actually, no need."

"Hm?"

"I've got the Shadow Monarch skill, remember?"

A shadow arm sprouted from behind my back and scooped up the fallen pick. I held the lock with the shadow arm while adjusting the picks with both hands—and suddenly everything was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠much easier. Should've done this from the start. My stupid competitive streak was the problem. That disaster with the lockpicks at the escape room café years ago had left me wanting to do it properly this time. The only real issue had been the cramped position.

"God, you scared me. I thought we were gonna have to break the door down!"

"Why? The test subjects aren't that strong, are they? We just beat them if they come."

"This is a horror-themed floor, so..."

"Ah, right, I guess so."

I trailed off. Ha Heijeong was a tremendous coward. Ghost stories and horror in particular—she had zero immunity. We once went to see a horror movie together and she walked out halfway through. She nearly fainted, if I remember right...

Ha Heijeong seemed to remember those days too, because a silence stretched between us.

Click. And at the end of that silence, the sound of the lock disengaging came through crystal clear.

"Shall we head out?"

"...Yeah."

I eased the door open, but it was terribly rusted. Creeeeak— a skin-crawling shriek of metal rolled down the gloomy corridor.

The hallway was in total darkness. There wasn't even a faintly glowing mana stone to be had. A hospital ward lined the corridor, and only the pale light seeping through the barred windows offered the occasional dim patch of visibility. First things first—I needed to let my eyes adjust to the dark.

I was moving carefully when Ha Heijeong seized my left arm. I turned my head, and she glanced away, embarrassed.

"...We move together."

"Got it."

Thud—! Then, from the far end of the corridor, came the sound of something falling. I felt the grip on my forearm tighten with sudden, desperate force.

"Wh-what was that?"

"Shh."

I hushed the flustered ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ha Heijeong and pulled her behind my back, my gaze locked on the end of the corridor—but the darkness swallowed everything. A moment of stillness.

Tap. Tap. Ttudduk.

Something was rolling toward us, fast, from the far end of that hallway. Between the faint patches of light from the barred windows, something like a bead was skipping across the corridor. With my limited stats, I couldn't make out what it was.

What the hell? Had one of the test subjects knocked something loose?

I pulled Ha Heijeong by the hand and pressed our backs against the wall. We were in the dark too, so the test subject shouldn't be able to see us.

Ttudduk—

The red bead drew closer. And then I realized what it was. An eyeball.

"Hhk...!"

Ha Heijeong gasped, swallowing a small scream. The eyeball stopped right in front of the room we'd been locked in. Frozen in place, its pupil rolled around, peering at the room. Thankfully, I'd closed the door on our way out, so it couldn't see inside.

The problem was that the pupil couldn't turn back on its own—which meant the test subject was coming this way. There was another path behind us, but if we moved, we'd inevitably pass through one of the pools of light along the corridor.

"Guess we have no choice but to fight it?"

"Kami... dō...?"

Ha Heijeong was squeezing my forearm so hard the pain was starting to register. I laid my hand over hers.

Even after the regression, some things never change. She's a beast in a fight, but horror atmosphere? Still zero immunity. It made me think, all over again—yeah, that's the Ha Heijeong I know.

And then, from the far end of the corridor, came the sound of heavy, sluggish footsteps. The test subject was approaching.

Shadow Veil won't work here... but Lightning Flash might.

With the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fight imminent, my mind raced. There was only one way to find out, so I activated Lightning Flash right away—and time didn't slow. Figures. That was what I'd expected. If I could keep Lightning Flash running, we could walk right out of here without a hitch.

The only attacks I could manage with my skills were direct strikes using lightning and shadow. Not that it mattered much—skills were never my main weapon to begin with.

I gripped the base of the crowbar hard. It felt a little awkward in my hand—nothing like the double-bladed axe I always used.

Just smash it, right?

An old game came to mind. There was a protagonist who beat down aliens with one of these... Gordon, wasn't it?

In the middle of that thought, a long groan issued from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a split throat and echoed down the corridor.

"Ghhhrraaaahh..."

Between the faint patches of light, the test subject finally came into view.

A little over two meters tall, with a hulking, brutish frame. What stood out most was this: the two eyes that should have occupied its face simply weren't there. Instead, dozens of eyes studded its grayish-white skin, dozens of pupils rolling in relentless, ceaseless motion.

It was grotesque.

If it makes noise, other test subjects could come swarming in.

I had to kill it as fast as possible. Hiding in the dark like this made it the perfect setup for an ambush. I pried Ha Heijeong's hand off my arm and stepped carefully forward. About five meters remaining.

I planned to crush its skull in a single blow.

As the distance closed, a notification window popped up.

"Ghhhrraaaahh..."

Letting out its strange cry, the test subject turned its body in front of the room we'd been locked in. It pressed its head against the tiny gap in the barred window, then—apparently only now realizing it had no eyes on its head—it shook its head. Then it raised a hand and slipped it through the bars. The eyes studding its palm peered into the room.

Now.

I moved two quick steps and twisted my hips, using the torque to bring the crowbar whistling down. The target: the test subject's skull. With no telling where its weakness lay, the head was priority one.

The moment I stepped into the pale light spilling between the bars, every eye on the test subject's body snapped toward me. It whirled around—fast for such a hulking thing, but I was faster.

The crowbar slammed into the side of its head. BAM—! The impact drove its skull against the iron door, and a torrent of lightning surged down the crowbar after it.

"Kieeeek!"

Damn it. I'd crushed its skull with a crowbar and pumped it full of lightning, and it was still alive. Was it because the Essence of Lightning's level had dropped?

Glowing from the discharge, the test subject swung its arm in a wild arc. I ducked my upper body out of the way just in time. WHUMP— the massive arm ripped through empty air.

At this rate, I'd be better off yanking the crowbar free and setting up the next strike. But even when I pulled hard with my right arm, it wouldn't come loose. I couldn't tell whether the muscle had clenched around it or the bent part of the crowbar was lodged too deep in its skull.

The next attack came at my waist. Dodging would mean throwing my body backward, so I had no choice but to let go of the crowbar and take a step back.

"Suhyeok!"

A gout of flame bored into the gap. Fire engulfed the test subject's whole body, but it didn't seem to do much damage. That formidable magic resistance, presumably.

Crackle, crack-crack-crack—! Something popped inside the flames. As the fire gradually died down, I realized the sound had been the thing's pupils bursting, one after another, in the blaze.

Good. Even so, it's lost its eyes now...

A fist flying at my head cut the thought short. I yanked my torso back in a hurry. The heavy fist grazed the tip of my nose—and with no time to even breathe, the next punch came driving straight in.

Still leaning back, I twisted frantically and hit the floor in a roll. Ha Heijeong's magic slammed into the test subject's torso, but it didn't so much as flinch.

How the hell does it know where I am?

All of its eyes had burned away. Which meant it was sensing me by feel, by presence, and... that made no sense. If it could do that, then letting my first attack land would've been absurd.

But the test subject closed the distance in long strides, as if determined to give me no time to think.

Focus on right now.

I had no weapon. Even if I got a scalpel from Ha Heijeong, I doubted it would do much against this thing.

My first real fistfight, though... I called up the memory of the boxing I'd learned back on Earth, controlling the distance with my footwork. I weaved left under an incoming punch, shifted my upper body right, and rode the recoil into a straight that buried itself in the test subject's jaw.

"Khraagh!"

But with no sign it had registered the hit, it bent its right leg to kick me away. I dodged quickly to the right and snatched up the crowbar. I twisted it, trying to pry it free, but it wouldn't budge.

"Khraagh!"

With the crowbar apparently hurting it, the test subject threw a tantrum, and I had no choice but to back away again.

Hitting its head did nothing, and its physical and magic resistance were both absurd. The notification had told me to find the weakness—but I had no idea what it was. At first I'd thought it was the eyes, yet even with every eye burned away, the thing was still going strong.

And then something from earlier slammed into the front of my mind.

Wait—no. Not all of its eyes burned.

The eyeball that had come rolling down the corridor at the very beginning. That one was still around.

I turned my head, and there it was: a single pupil, in that gloomy corridor, staring straight at me. That pupil had to be the weakness. I was sure of it.

"Heijeong, in the corridor—!"

"What?"

I was mid-shout when the thought struck me: faster if I moved myself. I dove into a roll, dodging the punch, and closed the distance to the eyeball in the same motion. Then I crushed the tiny pupil flat under my palm.

Splat! The sensation of the eyeball bursting beneath my hand was vivid—sticky fluid oozing out between my fingers.

"Khek...?"

And at the same instant, the test subject collapsed to the floor. THUD— its massive frame sent a small tremor through the ground.

Presumably each floor had its own assigned test subject, and thankfully, none of the others came swarming in over the racket we'd just made. Maybe that was why it felt less like a real crisis and more like actually being inside a horror game. Was this what you'd call clearing Stage 1?

"Ugh, I thought the eyeball was the weakness, but I forgot about the one that came rolling in at the start."

"Happens. I forgot about it too. Honestly, that thing was so hideous to look at that all my attention went right to it."

I wiped the test subject's fluid off my palm onto my patient gown, then pulled the key hanging around its neck. Unfortunately, the key was only half a key. Judging by the joint at the broken edge, it was meant to be combined with the other half.

As I worked the crowbar out of the test subject's skull, Ha Heijeong averted her eyes from the corpse, looking revolted.

"You fought just fine a second ago—what's the problem now?"

"That's different from this. You know I hate this stuff."

"And here I thought climbing to the top of the Tower might've changed you a little."

Even after the regression, Ha Heijeong was still Ha Heijeong. But she didn't answer that. Her expression was pensive, distant. Was she thinking about the old days?

The mood had turned heavy out of nowhere, so I deliberately changed the subject.

"Alright, let's go find the second-floor bathroom."

We'd be able to find the other half of the key on the second floor. But there was something I had to do first.

Figuring out which floor we were actually on—that was the urgent priority.