Chapter 12
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 12Anomalies (3)
March 10th, night.
An ambulance weaves through the city at night. It looks like a busy vehicle speeding to save an emergency patient, but suspiciously, it did not turn on its sirens. The ambulance, which had been speeding down the road in silence, parked smoothly toward the shoulder.
The driver and the paramedics are quiet. Exactly like mannequins, they remain motionless in their seated positions.
That isn't all. A bizarrely pure white appearance, as if their faces were powdered. Bizarrely large mouths rising up to their cheekbones forming scary smiles, and unhuman-like large eyes only staring straight ahead.
A little later, the back door opened. The two bizarre-looking paramedics. They get out of the vehicle and enter a nearby building.
About 10 minutes like that. The paramedics come out of the building carrying a woman on a transport stretcher. The woman with her eyes quietly closed, whether fainted or asleep. The door closed with the stretcher still loaded in the vehicle. The vehicle starts its engine. It turns the car around just like that and heads for the hospital.
I, who walked out of the alleyway, carefully watched the rear of the distancing vehicle.
'Not only did they intrude into someone else's house as they pleased, they even kidnap them.'
Is there such a bold and shameless kidnapping case in 21st-century South Korea? But to think the culprit is not a human like a human trafficker, but a type of anomaly.
'It's not exactly an anomaly, though.'
Rather than anomalies, they are sub-creatures of an anomaly. Neither humans nor souls, they are like fragments of an anomaly that fell off from it. Puppets that the anomaly commands and handles as it pleases.
'What are the conditions for the humans they kidnap?'
Based on what do they kidnap them? From their outward appearance, I couldn't discover any special conditions.
Have they received medical treatment at the hospital in the past? Or is there a record of mental problems? If not that either, is their physical condition one that requires medical treatment?
'There might not be any conditions.'
Without any conditions. They might have just been unluckily targeted. Whatever it is, it's not something I should pay much attention to right now.
'Let's chase them.'
I moved my body. A formidable speed beyond human perception. Running at almost the same speed as a vehicle, I chased after the ambulance in an instant.
The ambulance is in the middle of turning the corner and heading toward the hospital entrance. The vehicle, having crossed the speed bump, shoved its head into the hospital entrance just like that.
Gwoooo-
The dark energy spewing from the hospital embraces the ambulance. The vehicle disappeared not into the emergency room, but into the parking lot at the back of the hospital.
'Of course.'
Since it's a kidnapped person, not an emergency patient, there's no reason to go through the emergency room. They just have to go straight to the back and attempt their kidnapping goal, and that's it, isn't it. It was the moment I followed behind and was about to enter the hospital.
Gwoooooh-
The hospital's dark energy fluctuates. As if rejecting my approach, it's a violent reaction.
'Why are you acting like this between fellow anomalies? Are you scared of me?'
To think an anomaly is scared of an anomaly. I don't know who the anomaly in the hospital is, but it is definitely wary of my existence. However, it seems it doesn't have physical strength. It cannot block my approach.
'Let's share a friendly conversation with each other. I have a lot of things I want to ask.'
I moved not to the entrance lobby, but to the back parking lot. The back parking lot was blocked by shutters. Instead, only one shutter among the closed ones was wide open. Inside, the ambulance that just entered can be seen. The observing driver and the two paramedics lowering the stretcher. I approached the backs of them, who were moving quite busily.
"……." "……." "……."
The three paramedics did not utter a single word the entire time they moved. As if the concept of conversation itself didn't exist, they go down the basement stairs with their fixed expressions just like that.
Basements usually have convenience facilities or examination rooms. In some hospitals, the funeral hall is placed in the basement too. Though it seems there isn't one in this building.
'It's an unpleasant feeling.'
It's a good thing I'm not human. If I were human, the unpleasant and damp atmosphere might have polluted my mind. I would have experienced delirium, seen hallucinations, and eventually lost my mind.
'It's exactly like the maw of a monster.'
The underground passage is the throat. The unpleasant atmosphere is felt as bad breath. I entered further inside and discovered a door that looked like a morgue. The paramedics from earlier all went in here.
'Why is it so messy inside here?'
There is something a lot of. A whole lot. Due to the hospital's dark energy, detection is difficult. I cannot see the inside.
Click.
The moment I opened the door and entered, a harsh chemical smell that made my head dizzy paralyzed my sense of smell. And the chilling scene that unfolded.
A wide room. Movable iron slabs lined up to the end of the wall at regular intervals. Naked men and women placed on top of the iron slabs. Whether they fainted or died, all of them are merely lying on the iron slabs in neat postures without a single movement.
'Are you telling me all these many people are missing persons?'
There can't be this many missing persons in a single city. If there were, the police would have issued a full mobilization and launched a massive investigation. It is certain they have been nibbling away and kidnapping people nationwide.
Clatter.
A bumping sound. Further inside the room, the paramedics from earlier look at me. They look at me with stiff faces, but a will to fight wasn't seen in any of them.
They are terrified. It's an atmosphere where they instinctively realized I am a dangerous entity.
'Let's talk a bit.'
I conveyed that opinion with a hand gesture. I don't know if they understood, but they subtly move backward.
'If you don't, I will consume you.'
It was before I could fully convey my opinion. One of the three paramedics runs backward. I, who had already grasped the situation, conveyed my will to burn him.
Fwoooosh-
"Kkeu-aaaaaaak!"
A terrible scream let out as he was engulfed in fire without even being able to take a few steps. Then, I scattered the flame on my head in all directions. The space of blue flames spread across the entire room avoiding the iron slabs besieged the remaining paramedics, unable to move from their spots.
"Uwaaak! Kkeu-aaaaaaak!"
One flustered paramedic stepped back wrong and was swallowed by the flames exactly the same way. The sole remaining paramedic made a dynamic angry face, exactly like a manufactured face.
'I wish at least you wouldn't do anything reckless.'
I thought so, but it seems he had no intention of cooperating. The remaining paramedic walked into the flames without holding any lingering attachment to life. Only that one had no scream. He merely became a lump of charcoal in an instant and collapsed.
'Even though you're just a puppet with no self-consciousness.'
For a creature created by an anomaly, it's a truly tear-jerking sense of duty.
Swooooosh-
As I sucked in the flames, I consumed the paramedics who had become lumps of charcoal as well. Fascinatingly, these didn't taste like the sewer, but had the pungent taste and dizzying scent of chemicals. It doesn't mean it was delicious. It means it was a completely different, worst kind of taste.
'The people are⋯⋯.'
I checked a nearby person. I checked their pulse and saw if they were breathing, then felt relieved.
'They're alive.'
It seems they injected drugs to make them faint. Among them, there were also people who hadn't fainted. People who were already coldly dead.
'This person is quite old.'
The proportion of old people among the dead is on the high side. It's insufficient as evidence, but by my feeling, they look like originally admitted patients rather than kidnapped people.
'So you don't even spare the hospital patients.'
In the midst of that, a questionable point. A common mark was discovered on most of the dead people.
A surgical scar coming straight down the center of the chest and splitting at the ribs and stomach. It's skillfully sutured now, but the scar is unusual. I placed my hand on the stomach and checked.
'The internal organs are there. But they melted or shrank.'
Perhaps chemicals were used, the internal organs are not in a normal state. This was dissected and used for experiments.
'Crazy bastard.'
A space to store people who are dead or scheduled to die. That is exactly what this basement is. I slipped outside, found the emergency exit stairs, and went up.
I don't know who the anomaly is, but looking at the bastard's actions, he's not a guy who makes normal thinking judgments. He's dangerous. Extremely. It's at a level where I should drop the conversation and immediately burn him as soon as we meet.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound of someone hurriedly climbing the stairs is heard from the upper floor. A doctor? A man wearing a coat is detected.
'It's not strange for a doctor to be in a hospital, right.'
It was the moment I continued climbing the stairs.
Gwoooo-
The hospital spews dark energy. As if swallowing them, some of the people inside the hospital are covered by the energy. In the midst of that, only I am quiet. Looking closely, it's trying to spit only me out without eating me.
'I'm upset if you blatantly pass me over, you see.'
I ignored the energy pushing me away and squeezed my body into that gap. The same hospital, but a completely different space. The bizarre world created by the hospital anomaly.
'You were hiding here.'
The empty space inside the hospital that couldn't be detected. That place was exactly here.
The place where the anomaly is hiding. Not only that, but there are some humans still alive inside this world. While continuing to climb the stairs, I stopped abruptly near the 6th floor. The doctor who was going up earlier is trapped inside this hallway.
'……?'
I opened the 6th-floor door, entered, and walked down the ward hallway. A pitch-black hallway. Only a single shallow light bulb is left dangling on at the ward doors, and the only bright place is the nurses' station in the center. Not only the doctor, but another anomaly creature is there. As I approached, a nurse with the exact same appearance as the paramedics approached first.
"You must not come here! Because you are a danger to the patients, get out right now!"
Spouting shameless words for anomaly bastards who trap and kill those patients. Under the judgment that there was no need to listen further, I immediately burned it.
Fwoooosh-
"Kyaaaaaak!"
The collapsing lump of charcoal. Likewise, I swallowed it up with a Swoosh-.
Click-clack.
While walking, I looked at the doctor standing awkwardly toward the station and watching. A dirty beard from not shaving. Sunken areas around the eyes. Overall shabby, but the doctor's coat alone is neat.
'He's not a doctor?'
Looking again, he's a fake doctor. The person looks too haggard to be a doctor.
'I'd appreciate it if he didn't wander around busily and just stayed put.'
But looking at his truly stubborn impression, he's not a person to wait quietly anywhere. He didn't quite suit being brought along as a conversation partner. Let's just ignore him.
I left the man as he was and passed by. It was while I was heading towards the opposite side of the hallway.
'……Hmm?'
The outside of the hospital. Something is creating a crack in this world. It's still a small crack, but traces of the outside world could be felt through the crack.
There are many people in the dead of night. They are attempting something.
He is checking the computer monitor at the station with dead eyes. It was because of a small hope that his wife's name might be on the patient list. However, as he looked at the patient list, he stroked his increasingly pale face.
"Fuck…, fuck, fuck. All the missing people are here."
Because he was a former journalist, he had memorized a few names of missing people while searching for his wife. All those names were recorded on that list. Nausea rises, and he can't calm down due to the shock. He holds his forehead and rubs his mouth with his hand, but a sour taste was felt as if gastric juices would rise up right now.
"It was right. Fuck, the urban legend was right."
Wasn't it a kids' urban legend? Of course, he infiltrated the hospital believing in the urban legend, but once he found out the speculation was actually true, doubt sets in belatedly. This world is not the world he knows. That alone scrambles Park Jong-seo's mind. The massive shock upon realizing that the common sense of the world he knew was actually fake.
"I don't have time to be doing this."
His wife. He has to find his wife's name. His wife's name is 'Lee Ye-eun'. Looking for the three characters of Lee Ye-eun's name, he chased the lists of all the wards one by one with his eyes.
There, a questionable term is seen. Next to the names listed on the ward list. Additional phrases were written for each specific person.
"I get 'scheduled for surgery'. But what is 'scheduled for incineration'?"
Incineration? Are they perhaps talking about incineration as in burning? Burning?
"Bur…ning?"
Park Jong-seo, who felt dizzy as if blood drained from him, began to scan the list much more passionately than before. After a long while doing that.
"E-excuse me." "Uwaak!" "Ugyaak!" "Uwak!"
At the suddenly heard voice, he ended up falling flat on his back. The two young men who were in front of the desk also fell flat exactly the same way. Park Jong-seo, who jumped up, checked that the two young men didn't have powdered faces and bizarre features, and felt greatly relieved. Even though annoyance flared up after feeling relieved.
"You fucking bastards! Who are you guys!" "Wh-why are you swearing?" "You scared me! At least make some footsteps!" "W-we didn't make any in case there was another weird nurse……."
Did these friends see that nurse too? They must have managed to escape safely. Park Jong-seo, who calmed down little by little, realized that he was extremely impatient right now. He couldn't help being impatient, but he felt he should calm down anyway, so he wiped the sweat from his forehead and apologized calmly.
"I'm sorry. I'm out of my mind right now too." "I-it's okay. But what are you doing?" "Me?"
Park Jong-seo, who briefly checked the monitor, examined the two young men. It's their first meeting, but they look familiar. They look like faces he saw passing by somewhere. Although he doesn't remember.
"I have someone to find." "I-I see." "Are you guys admitted patients?" "No." "N-no! We are patients."
As soon as he said no, the other friend hurriedly corrected him saying they are patients. And then the two of them bicker quietly. Why are you lying? We shouldn't trust him yet. Park Jong-seo, who watched with a dumbfounded gaze, remembered where he saw the two. They were among the people entering the hospital when it was bright today.
"I know everything even if you lie. How did you get in here?"
The two people, who exchanged troubled glances, soon let out sighs of resignation and confessed.
"We are members of an occult group. People who go seeking urban legends or spirits to take photos." "There's such a thing? First time hearing about it." "It's because the scale is small. Th-the website is a bit big, though."
The two, who spoke while scratching their noses as if embarrassed, continued speaking.
"So we heard the rumor that there's an urban legend in this hospital, came to at least take spirit photos, and ended up like this." "…You have a similar reason to me." "Really? Ah! You said you're looking for someone, right? Are you perhaps… family of a missing person?" "Right. Do you know someone named Lee Ye-eun?"
Not knowing her, the two young men shook their heads at the same time. Park Jong-seo let out a heavy sigh and introduced himself.
"My name is Park Jong-seo. I'm a journalist, but I'm just a person who infiltrated to find my missing wife and got trapped in an anomaly." "I'm Kim Hyun-soo, and he's Kim Jong-hyun. Even though we're members of an occult group, we're just college students. We just know a bit about urban legends." "I see."
Park Jong-seo, who was answering half-heartedly, opened his eyes wide. Found it! Room 602. Lee Ye-eun. The problem is that the phrase 'scheduled for surgery' is written next to Lee Ye-eun's name.
"What the fuck is scheduled for surgery!"
He breathed heavily while hitting the computer monitor with his fist, but still, finding it is better than nothing. Conveniently, the ward room is also on the same floor.
Park Jong-seo, who dashed out of the station, ran towards Room 602. Because it was at the end of the hallway, he was worried he might return to the station like earlier, but fortunately, he was able to reach the ward room.
Room 602. He took a deep breath and opened the door.
Creeeak.
Moonlight shines down on the window. Each bed in the ward room is hidden by curtains. Only the bed touched by the moonlight showed faint internal shadows.
"……."
A person's shadow is seen on the bed illuminated by the moonlight. Sitting on the bed without sleeping in the dead of night, whether it's an illusion or not, the shape of the head seems to be looking at him.
"E-excuse me. I have something I'd like to ask. Do you happen to know Lee Ye-eun? She's my wife admitted to this ward."
There is no answer. Motionless. It was the moment he swallowed dry saliva and grabbed the curtain of that bed.
"N-no!"
Kim Hyun-soo, who suddenly ran over, urgently pulled Park Jong-seo's arm and stopped him. Park Jong-seo, who was violently startled, raised his fist as if to hit him, but calmed down and shook off Kim Hyun-soo.
"You punk… that's dangerous!" "A-according to the hospital urban legend, the people in the beds are all dead people." "What?" "They are dead people, so you shouldn't touch them."
Kim Jong-hyun, who came belatedly, also turns deathly pale while looking around the ward room. Kim Hyun-soo spoke firmly with stiff eyes.
"If you touch them wrong… you'll become a patient too." "Then what about my wife?" "Your wife is……." "Fuck! Then are you saying Ye-eun is dead!"
Park Jong-seo, who shoved Hyun-soo, stood in front of his wife's bed according to the information on the computer monitor. A curtain was drawn there too, but Park Jong-seo opened it without hesitation, as if ripping it off.
There is nothing. An empty bed, as if she vacated the spot. What is this? According to the list, it's definitely here.
"Huh, she's not here? It definitely said here?" "Excuse me, Jong-seo-ssi?" "What?" "What did it say on the list by any chance?"
On the list? It said Lee Ye-eun. But there was another phrase too.
"Scheduled for… surgery." "Then there's a high probability she isn't dead yet."
At those words, a sigh of relief poured out from Park Jong-seo. He doesn't know what this friend knows to have such confidence, but someone telling him this brings him relief.
"Although I'm worried because she's scheduled for surgery……." "Where should we go?" "I-if she's scheduled for surgery, wouldn't it be the operating room?"
Operating room. If his memory is correct, he remembers it being on the 4th floor. Let's go down. We only need to go down 2 floors.
"Understood. It's on the 4th floor side, so I should go. Thank you, guys. It's dangerous for you now, so get out of here." "W-we can't go out."
Jong-hyun says with an absentminded voice. Park Jong-seo, who misheard it as them refusing to go out, scolded the two young men like an adult.
"This is not the situation to be interested in the occult or whatever. The situation is serious, so hurry up and leave." "No. We are trapped in this hospital right now, so we can't leave." "What does that mean?"
Jong-hyun pointed towards the window. Park Jong-seo, casting a questioning glance, followed the hand gesture and approached the window. The hospital's main gate is visible. No, beyond the main gate cannot be seen.
"……Huh?"
Outside the main gate. A pitch-black void like a collapsed cliff was there. The bottom of the void cliff, unseeable by the eye. A faint red light dimly rises up.
"Fuck… what is this?"
Everything is gone. In a world where only the void remains, only the hospital towers alone.
"What… what is going on… this is……."
As if it were a living creature, something is flying around in the sky outside the hospital. A very large and long body. But because it's pitch-black, its true identity cannot be known.
"Heo-eok… Heo-eok, heo-eok."
The shock of reality being denied. Trapped in an unidentified world. And due to the overwhelming bizarre world, his mind breaks down. The moment he felt faint as if panic was setting in.
Smack.
Kim Hyun-soo slapped his cheek, and he came to his senses.
"Please calm down. There is a way out."
Park Jong-seo, who had been looking as if he had lost his mind, shook his head and barely shook off the negative thoughts.
"R-right. I'm sorry. Wh-what is the method?" "According to urban legends, there is a path returning to the original world. We have to find that." "Where is that?" "I-I don't really know that. Alternatively, there are cracks created when something enters here from the outside, you know? We can pass through there to get out."
A crack created when entering from the outside? As a journalist, a working adult busy writing articles and making a living day by day, this is a difficult concept for Park Jong-seo. He frowned due to the headache, but understanding it is a matter for later. Right now, no matter what it is, he has to trust him.
"That crack is?" "It only appears when someone enters from the outside, so right now…. We have to either wait or find the path." "Who would enter here from the outside?" "Usually the Bureau of Management is described in urban legends, but… since there's no Bureau of Management right now, I don't really know."
What's the Bureau of Management now? Phew, occult otakus. They only talk about things they know. Jong-hyun, who had been watching, softly cut in.
"There's also a crack created when an outside anomaly enters, right?" "There's that too, but where is there an outside anomaly here?" "Then there's really no way. Where are we supposed to find the exit door." "Haa. Right." "You guys. You said outside anomaly?"
Judging from the context of the conversation, an anomaly seems to refer to non-human things like the powdered nurse. Then the blue flame man he encountered earlier comes to mind. No matter how you look at it, that looked like an outsider completely unsuited to the nurse, didn't it.
"Is it that thing from earlier?" "Huh? Jong-seo-ssi! Did you happen to see another anomaly?" "I didn't fully understand the anomaly you guys are talking about, but I did see a guy who looked a bit different."
The two young men anticipating. Park Jong-seo placed both hands on his head with an expression doubting if this was really right.
"It was a man whose head was a blue flame. He came earlier and…… Hey, what's wrong with you? Hey! Kim Hyun-soo!"
Kim Hyun-soo having a seizure while foaming at the mouth. Thanks to that, the situation has become complicated.