Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Cheongak Mary Hospital # 4
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I ran like a madman until the bus terminal came into view.
I boarded the bus in a state of sheer terror.
I couldn't even bring myself to look out the window. I just kept my head bowed, praying for this nightmare to end.
Eventually, we arrived at the destination.
It was nighttime.
An incredibly dark night.
When I got off the bus, every single person in the terminal was staring at me. Every one of them had their eyes and mouths sewn shut.
Not a single exception.
All of them were like that, watching me.
"Hahaha!"
Laughter burst out of me.
It made no sense. Just because I messed up that stupid rulebook, the entire world turns into this? No way this could be real. I must be hallucinating.
"Ahahaha!"
I laughed as I ran. I had no idea where to go. Did I even have anywhere left to go?
Anywhere would do.
As long as no one was there.
"So please, just stop! Don't look at me, please!"
No matter where I went, people with sewn-shut eyes and mouths were watching me.
But that wasn't all... those windows!
Inside those windows!
Every window on any building had some massive-headed thing plastered right up against it, staring at me! Like it wanted me to rip out its stitches or something?!
I threw rocks and kicked until the windows shattered. Glass shards flew everywhere. And in every single piece, there was a monster staring back.
"Huaaaah!"
Please...!
Anyone.
If there's a normal person out there, answer me!
"Ah, right!"
I bolted for the subway station.
It was late at night.
Of course the shutters would be down.
They were, just as expected!
"Vampires! Vaaaampires!"
If this was hell...
I'd take vampires any day. At least those monsters would have normal eyes and mouths. No damn stitches!
[Rumble rumble.]
But inside the shutters...
"Shit!"
The station was packed floor to ceiling with countless people, all with sewn-shut eyes and mouths. They stared at me like chickens trapped in a coop.
I ran again.
Back to my studio apartment.
Only when I reached my room—reeking of rotten garlic and plastered with cross drawings—did I finally relax. Still in my clothes and shoes, I climbed onto the bed, pulled the blanket over my head, and shivered myself to sleep.
Hoping that when I woke up, everything would be back to normal.
Of course, it wasn't.
When I woke, the darkness hadn't lifted. Every window, every pane of glass, every monitor in the house had things with sewn-shut eyes and mouths staring at me.
"Mom! Dad!"
I ran again.
This time to my parents' house.
Desperate for one last glimpse of them.
But when I got there...
"..."
"..."
Mom and Dad greeted me, eyes and mouths sewn shut. They sat side by side on the sofa, staring blankly at me. Not a word.
"Mom! Dad! Please! Pleeaaase!"
I grabbed Dad's eyelids and lips, yanking. [Rip.] The stitches tore free. There was nothing behind the eyelids, no teeth in the mouth. Not even gums or tongue.
Mom just stared at me the whole time.
"Please...!"
I did the same to her, then fled.
"Ahaha!"
No options left.
"Let's die."
Just die.
Die and start over.
If I die and respawn, I'll wake up in my cross-covered studio again. Then I can skip this shitty job, do manual labor instead. Suspicious security gig? Never again.
Thinking that, I headed to the local apartments.
The ones I'd lived in before.
I took the elevator to the top floor, climbed one more flight of stairs, punched in the rooftop code, and opened the door.
"Let's die."
I climbed the railing.
Falling from here should do it.
[Clatter!]
Every visible window flew open. From the apartments to the villas in the distance, all of them. People with sewn-shut eyes and mouths stared out.
Like they were there to watch me fall.
"Shit!"
Gritting my teeth.
"Shiiiiit!"
I jumped with all my strength.
[Whoooosh!]
Like bungee jumping, maybe. My body plummeted, the ground rushing up. But I welcomed it. If my head smashes into that pavement, I can start over—
[Splat!]
My head exploded.
Brains splattered.
My body crushed.
Blood poured out, mangled guts scattered.
.
.
.
I was still alive.
I wouldn't die.
Consciousness wouldn't fade.
Even with my head shattered and body pulverized, only excruciating pain remained. No death.
[Swish.]
The sewn-shut people approached. They picked up my body. And started carrying me somewhere.
I didn't die.
.
.
.
I arrived at Cheongak Mary Hospital.
A sewn-shut doctor operated on me.
No...
Was this even surgery?
Just my head and torso left, laid alone on the bed.
Couldn't die.
Wouldn't die.
Trapped in a limbless body, stored in the hospital.
Then, an unknowable span of time passed.
[Creak.]
Nurses moved me. I was laid on the operating table again, and doctors used scalpels and saws to peel off all my skin.
Covered in blood, I was wheeled back to the room.
Time passed, and skin grew back.
The doctor repeated the skinning eternally.
I...
Couldn't die.
Just endlessly... repeating Status Window in my mind.
.
.
.
[$^$^$%^$#^^&#]
[$%@@%&#$%]
[@%$^&$&@$*]
.
.
.
.
.
.
[#%#$^&@#% : 0 -> 171,125]
.
.
.
[Restarting...]
I opened my eyes to the fog-shrouded parking lot.
I stood in the guard post, wanting to look out the window.
In that instant, far off, someone running vanished into the fog. Seeing it jogged my memory.
Coming for the hospital security job, only for the previous guard to spout nonsense and flee.
"Oh."
That thought reminded me: this was Cheongak Mary Hospital.
I'd come back.
"..."
But not to my studio from the day I barely escaped the vampire... back to the guard post?
"Status Window."
[● Status Window]
Name: Kim Geunhong
Age: 24
.
.
.
Loop: 2
Death Count: 7
[● Collected Endings]
Confirmed.
I suffered in that mad world, then regressed here.
[Huff.]
It felt suffocating. Everything seemed hollow. How long had I spent in that insane place? Trapped in the hospital, unable to die, donating skin endlessly.
But thinking about it now, it all felt like a fading dream.
Distant.
The pain...
As the pain receded, thoughts of reality surfaced.
"Again."
If I just stay here...
"It'll happen again! No! I can't let that!"
Never again!
Survival instinct blared like an alarm. My heart pounded, adrenaline surging wildly. Senses sharpened to the extreme, willpower overflowing—like a primal struggle for life. Just like when I, legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing, prepared for holy war!
How did I return? That question didn't matter now. What mattered was I was back, and staying put meant repeating the horror.
"Rulebook!"
First, memorize the rulebook. Last loop, failing to do so properly led to that hellish suffering.
[Flutter!]
"Damn it!"
But reading it again, it wasn't proper. Guessing and hoping worked too high-risk. My predecessor who just fled seemed to manage, but no guarantee for me.
"Need another way."
I'd memorize it, but that wasn't fundamental. To survive intact, I needed something else.
"What? What is there?"
Anxious.
Insanely anxious.
Time was short. Enter the hospital like this, and no turning back. Had to think of something now!
"Phone...!"
Pulled out my phone.
Out of signal, same as before.
How to use it?
[Whoosh!]
I kicked off the ground and dashed out of the guard post.
Running into the fog wasn't smart, but that's not what I was doing.
[Splat!]
A wall of fog.
Stopped right there.
"Work!"
Body stayed out, just my hand—holding the phone—pushed through. An eerie chill hit. The screen glowed faintly visible.
"Internet, internet...! Ah!"
It worked!
Connected!
"Yes! Yes!"
Signal shaky, but it held! No need to cross the fog! Just stick the hand through!
Screen blurry from fog, but readable. I started searching immediately.
[Management Bureau. Management Bureau agents. Black-suited men identities. Memory erasure drug. Vampires.]
Every keyword related to the Management Bureau...!
If I'm right, those crazy Bureau bastards will track my searches and come here. They show up? Will they leave this hospital alone?
No way!
If they're really an organization purging these monster fucks for humanity, they'll handle this shithole Cheongak Mary Hospital!
So come on, clean this up!
"Please come!!!"
After frenzied searching, I didn't return to the post. Instead, I found an unlocked car in the lot and hid inside.
I hadn't entered the hospital yet. This was still the ultra-early stage.
Enter hospital, take desk phone call, meet skinned guy upstairs, flee, change to uniform, re-enter—that's when early stage ends.
Hadn't started duty yet, so maybe I could stall.
"Please...! Come, Management Bureau!"
Curled up praying, how much time passed?
[Screeech!]
Black vans tore through the fog, barreling in!
I cheered inwardly!
This is Monster Call, you fucks!