Chapter 331
Chapter 331
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 331
Chapter Title: Killing Two Birds with One Stone
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Wow!? Kim Shin-hwa? You're saying Kim Shin-hwa really showed up?"
To her close friends, she's called more often by her nickname 'Gafu' than her real name. Gafureum the reporter pushes up her thin half-rim glasses and draws in a sharp breath.
A ragged breath mixed with shock, joy, and a sigh.
Hoo—
And an exhale.
The voice of the man she'd been talking to starts to tremble rapidly.
"Y-Yeah. It was Kim Shin-hwa....... That's right! What I saw was definitely Kim Shin-hwa! No doubt about it! Yeah, Kim Shin-hwa! The public enemy who plunged Busan into disaster! And that destruction demon who brought ruin and chaos to Paju! That wicked sorcerer, servant of the abyss! I saw him with my own two eyes!"
As he speaks, the man points to his own eyes.
Two eyes, he says, but all Gafureum can see is the man's right eye.
His left eye is wrapped in thick bandages, after all.
'Huh?'
Gafureum flinches in surprise.
Did she see wrong?
The bandages covering the man's left eye—or rather, the spot where his eye should be—seem to have wriggled strangely.
A blatantly abnormal sign.
Safety protocols for interviewing survivors of surreal incidents flash through her mind......
"Haa—hoo—"
'But Kim Shin-hwa showed up again! How can I hold back?'
It hasn't even been a month since [that incident] in Busan Gijang County.
And now, again!?
Kim Shin-hwa has appeared once more!
Right in the middle of the case she's investigating! Kim Shin-hwa!
This is fate! She's destined to uncover the truth about Kim Shin-hwa! This has to be a sign from the heavens! That tarot card lady even said she could reveal Kim Shin-hwa's secrets, right?
Man, that lady was spot on.
"Haa—hoo—"
Gafureum lets out ragged breaths and asks again.
"So! Do you remember what Kim Shin-hwa said?"
"Haa—hoo—"
The man starts breathing like Gafureum.
"Mushroom."
"Huh? Mushroom?"
"Mushroom. That's what he said. Mushroom."
Gafureum peers suspiciously into the man's face.
Wr wriggle—
The man's left eye twitches again.
Despite the indescribable unease from that creepy spasm, Gafureum presses on without stopping.
"That! Kim Shin-hwa said 'mushroom,' right? Did he say anything else besides 'mushroom'?"
"I told you, he said mushroom. Mushroom. Definitely mushroom. Kim Shin-hwa is Kim Shin-hwa, and mushroom is mushroom. Mushroom for sure."
The massive mushroom outbreak in Ilsan.
This man she's interviewing is a survivor of that mushroom incident and the most mentally stable patient Gafureum can access.
Right now, the vibe feels off, but just a moment ago, he seemed pretty normal. He even greeted her and spoke relatively logically. Why the sudden change?
"Hey, miss reporter."
"Ah, yes. Yes."
"Mushrooms are real. Mushrooms are still growing inside me. Look—"
The patient giggles—hee hee hee—and raises his hand to unwrap the bandages covering his eye.
"Mushrooms! And Kim Shin-hwa exists! Kim Shin-hwa is everywhere! He's scattering spores from another world in every place! The fungi from beyond are taking root in this world's reality! We will all become part of Kim Shin-hwa!"
"Step back!"
A nurse suddenly bursts in and shoves Gafureum.
Crash!
Incredible strength! Gafureum flies nearly 10 meters in one go.
'Whoa, that nurse is an ability user, huh?'
More precisely, she's one of Paju Central Hospital's famous combat nurses.
Thud!
Ugh, that hurts!
A massive impact at the back of her head. Spiderweb-like stars burst before her eyes. Her vision blacks out rapidly.
Just before passing out—Gafureum catches sight of the bandaged patient.
Huge mushrooms pushing out the patient's eyeball.
Shraa la la!
Gray mycelium growing tangled with his hair.
"Gya aaah!"
The patient thrashes about in a grotesquely horrific state.
"Grab him!"
Combat nurses swarm to subdue the patient.
'Ah, that can't be real. I'll wake up from this dream after a nap.'
With that thought, Gafureum loses consciousness.
* * *
"Braaains~"
Her signature drawn-out speech.
"Hmm~ No problems at aaall~"
Lee Ha-seo smacks her lips in disappointment while peering at the scan.
"I've heard that before. Everything else is really fine, right?"
"Yeeah....... But you should quit smoking~"
A sigh.
"Besides that."
Surprisingly, Jang Hyun-deok's brain is perfectly fine.
"The hole is so clean. No damage to the surrounding areas, like it was drilled with a welder. Treatment's going well too~"
The hole in Jang Hyun-deok's head pierced only the skin and skull cleanly, leaving the brain and other vital structures untouched.
'Or maybe it got damaged once and was forcibly regenerated.'
I think that as I reply.
"Guess we don't need to worry about surreal aftereffects right now."
Lee Ha-seo seems lost in thought, staring off blankly without responding. I reach toward her eyes and say,
"......Doctor, is that right?"
"Huh? Oh? Heeeng—yep~ Just a weird hole, nothing more."
Her attitude is sloppy, but it's good news.
If Lee Ha-seo isn't interested, it means no worries in the [super-medical] or [super-scientific] sense.
The hole is already sealed anyway.
Now it's just outpatient follow-ups to monitor prognosis. The explanation we're hearing today is just the results from a checkup a few days ago.
"I'll explain everything properly when the patient comes in~"
Jang Hyun-deok is resting at the Starving Manor.
I'm here to see Lee Ha-seo for other business today. The Jang Hyun-deok stuff was just incidental.
"But nothing interesting at all. Hmm."
Lee Ha-seo pouts her lips.
'Same as what I found, in the end.'
I already did magical scans before any medical or super-medical treatment at the hospital.
My conclusion matched hers.
"Nyaang~ Just watch out for infection~"
"Got it."
* * *
Jang Hyun-deok's head is healing well.
I was worried about surreal aftereffects, but it doesn't seem serious enough to fret over.
But is it really all fine?
In this world, anything can happen.
I don't know the enemies' goals—so I don't know how far to guard or what to watch for.
Either way, it's irritating.
[They will help you leave this world with peace of mind.]
That message from last time.
It basically means this:
'You've made some friends now, so it's hard to just bail, right? We'll kill them all so you can go easy.'
Are they insane?
It doesn't matter how I actually feel about those people.
Anyway, now they're going after people connected to me.
"After this, another doctor will handle it~"
By Paju Central Hospital policy, Lee Ha-seo can't touch regular patients.
It's a restriction on most doctors dealing with [super-medicine], [mystic medicine], or [magic medicine].
"Spiral cosmic energy could heal it right up~"
"......Let's try normal treatment methods first, no spiral energy."
Just as most fixers are crazy, doctors treating surreal diseases and magical wounds are mostly unhinged.
"Shin-hwa-nim, Shin-hwa-nim. But by any chance......"
* * *
Gafureum, waking up after a while, gets a harsh scolding from the burly combat nurses.
"We told you not to stimulate him!"
"Ugh....... Sorry."
"No more visits! Please leave!"
Really, reporters are such...... she grumbles as she exits the ward.
"Sigh. Guess I'm banned from the hospital for a while....... Damn you, Kim Shin-hwa."
Mesmerizing me like that. Kim Shin-hwa, you evil devil bastard.
Muttering to herself—Gafureum walks the halls of Paju Central Hospital when she suddenly realizes a problem.
"Huh? Where am I?"
An unfamiliar, quiet corridor.
The clean, monotonous hallway feels chilly—and eerily ominous.
"Haa—hoo—"
Her breathing quickens involuntarily.
Feeling anxious, Gafureum pulls a small aroma pipe from her bag and puts it in her mouth.
A short stick of soft plastic etched with beautiful spiderweb patterns.
"Sip......."
Bought from that skilled tarot card shop. Cheap, fragrant—tuberose scent, was it?
"Hoo—"
Her mind calms.
'Is it okay to keep going this way?'
She was in the west wing full of patient rooms earlier. Her destination is the north wing with the main entrance......
A sign she barely spots.
[South Wing – Research Building]
"Uwaang. I went the wrong way!"
Gafureum clutches her head and stomps her feet.
"Ugh—where do I go now?"
The south wing probably has an exit, but the parking lot is near the north wing.
"Eeeeng—annoying."
Shoulders slumped, she walks randomly—then hears a strange sound.
"Shin-hwa-nim, Shin-hwa-nim. But by any chance......"
"Eek?!"
Gafureum startles and hunches down.
'Shin-hwa-nim? Did she just say Shin-hwa-nim? Kim Shin-hwa?'
Wearing chunky horn-rimmed emergency glasses instead of her broken ones from the earlier chaos—
Gafureum heads toward the voice, which sounds like Lee Ha-seo's.
Coming from a room labeled [Lee Ha-seo].
* * *
"Is this maybe Human Mutilation~?"
"......?"
Human? Like, human what?
"What?"
At my question, Lee Ha-seo tugs shyly at her long, bushy curly hair and squirms.
"Yeees—y'know~? Kidnapping humans for experiments—drilling holes in heads~"
Lee Ha-seo thinks I'm an alien from Andromeda. Well, she's right that it was some extraterrestrial being who did it.
"Unfortunately, I didn't drill it."
"Eeeee~? I see~ Sigh, disappointing......."
"Anyway, that's settled. I'd like you to redo my blood test."
We did one before, but that was prior to my blood turning into magic crystals.
Need a fresh one.
"Aaah—?! Really? Your blood, by me?"
Lee Ha-seo covers her mouth in ecstatic delight. Her face looks like a shy girl who just got asked on a date.
"I'm saying test it, not drink it. You get what I mean, right?"
"Aaah—of course. You mean draw that ruby-red fluid flowing under your beautiful skin and examine every secret inside~ Haak—hup....... Hee hee, hee hee hee......."
"Uh......"
At that moment—
The ward outside signals a humanoid intelligent lifeform approaching.
'Finally caught one? Alright, who is it?'
The outer ward has an apathy spell. Normal folks can't approach.
I extend mana to check the prowler outside.
Kiiing—
[Clairvoyance]
Instead of sight, mana reveals the outside scene.
Short stature, short hair, pumpkin-like big round hat, horn-rimmed glasses.
A cheerful-looking woman who naturally inspires friendliness.
'That face......'
My 30 Intelligence stat pulls her info from memory.
Gafureum?
Reporter for [Fixer Daily], the paper for fixers nationwide. Traits include......
'Ah, so she's been poking around with [Amazing Discovery] and [Serendipitous Luck]? Wait, she has some weird enchantment too?'
Asking Lee Ha-seo for the blood draw was incidental too.
I'm here today to catch that reporter, Gafureum.
What, what's going on all of a sudden?
To explain Gafureum......
It involves the incidents around me lately and the idiotic stunt that idiot Jang Hyun-deok pulled like the fool he is.
It's not a long story.