Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Apocalypse #2
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Of course, the wall was hard.
"..."
It didn't ripple, and my hand didn't sink into it. The wall wasn't the weird one—that monster was.
Whatever the case, what I'd seen wasn't a hallucination.
I needed to run. Right now.
I spun around and bolted.
If I was going to escape, where to? How wide was the danger zone? I burst out of the alley onto the main street, where I saw crowds of people.
For a split second, I wondered if this was like that anomalous hospital where breaking the rules turned all the "real" people into monsters. I needed proof that wasn't the case. I ducked into a nearby convenience store and bought a bottle of water.
Ordinary service. Normal transaction.
Thank goodness. Seemed like everything was fine.
"What... nothing?"
The street was peaceful.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened.
It was weird to expect something to go down just ten minutes after the incident, but so far, nothing.
"No."
I couldn't wrap my head around it.
A anomaly had just happened smack in the middle of Seoul.
Some guy had slipped right into a wall.
What the hell was the Management Bureau doing?
Shouldn't they be jumping on something like this immediately?
Maybe it was a Management Bureau agent with wall-phasing powers from the start?
Who knows.
"..."
My original reason for coming here was to head to Daeseong Blessed Mother Hospital near Gangnam Station.
Should I still go?
But if I went and got caught in another anomaly and died, where would I respawn? Not back in that security booth, I hoped.
Thinking of the booth brought Dr. Kim Seonghan to mind.
Even after ending up in that horrific state, he'd tried to help me.
I had to repay the favor.
"Yeah. Let's go."
To Daeseong Blessed Mother Hospital.
I'd pass on the message, then flee to somewhere else. That was it. Focus on that for now.
I hailed a taxi right away and headed to Gangnam Station.
It was a massive hospital.
Scale-wise, it even looked bigger than Cheongak Mary Hospital.
The place was packed with people. A big hospital in a bustling neighborhood—naturally drew a huge crowd.
But what now? All I had was Dr. Kim Seonghan's ring. Who should I tell about it?
I took a number and waited.
"..."
Anxiety gnawed at me the whole time. That guy who went into the wall—what the hell was he? And if something did happen, what form would it take?
Maybe nothing would.
Anomalies might be commonplace in this world; people just didn't know, and the Management Bureau or whoever cleaned it up quietly. I'd dealt with four in just a few days myself.
I'd only learned about them after stumbling into this mess. Minor anomalies could pop up now and then.
Ding!
Lost in thought, my turn came.
"Name and date of birth, please."
"Uh, hold on. I'm here on a request from one of your doctors."
"Pardon?"
The nurse gave me a puzzled look. Yeah, not the usual thing to say at a hospital desk.
"It's from a Dr. Kim Seonghan. He said to come here and they'd know."
"Dr. Kim Seonghan? One moment. Let me check upstairs."
The nurse explained over the desk phone. She nodded, then stood.
"Sir, this way, please."
"Huh? Oh, sure."
I followed her into the elevator and up.
This felt eerily like that anomalous hospital... Nah, couldn't be. No connection, right?
Driving me crazy.
From now on, I'd probably suspect every hospital. What if this nurse in front of me turned around with her eyes and mouth sewn shut—
"Here we are."
I got off with her.
The door read "Director's Office."
Director's office? Now it really reminded me of that time. Creepy.
Anyway, we went in.
"Director, I brought the guest."
"Yes. Thank you. Please, have a seat wherever you're comfortable."
"Sure."
I sat on the sofa, and the hospital director sat across from me.
"You're here on Dr. Kim Seonghan's request?"
"Yes."
"When was this request?"
Suspicion laced his tone.
Made sense.
Circumstantially, Dr. Kim Seonghan would be listed as missing.
"It was just recently. He said you'd understand if I showed you this."
I showed him the ring first.
"This... Ah, oh!"
The director's eyes widened.
"Please, wait just a moment!"
He pulled out his phone in a hurry and left.
When he returned, he was visibly excited.
"Just a bit longer!"
"Wait, what's going on?"
"Have some coffee in the meantime!"
Whatever. I drank the coffee.
How much time passed?
Creak.
The door opened, and a man in a black suit walked in.
"Whoa!"
No fucking way!
Management Bureau?!
"Hello. You're the one who knows Dr. Kim Seonghan's whereabouts?"
I nearly leaped out of my skin, but the suited man's demeanor felt oddly normal, snapping me back.
Not Management Bureau—just some secretary type in a suit?
"Yeah. That's me."
"Madam is waiting. Would you come with me?"
"Madam?"
"Yes."
"..."
Dr. Kim Seonghan's wife?
The situation felt a little off, but if this guy was really Management Bureau, I couldn't run anyway. Didn't seem like it, though.
No signature sunglasses.
"Let's go."
I'd check it out.
I followed the suited man to the parking lot and rode in a sleek limousine for a short drive.
We arrived at a mansion.
Was there a place like this in central Seoul?
I followed him in, and the entrance alone was jaw-dropping. Straight out of a chaebol drama.
"This way."
Into the drawing room.
A poised Arab woman sat there.
"Is that him?"
"Yes."
The man left, and the Arab woman greeted me.
"Hello."
"Yes. Hello. Are you... Dr. Kim Seonghan's wife?"
"Yes. I am."
"Ah... I see. You're Arab?"
She nodded.
As I thought.
Dr. Kim Seonghan was real. I'd half-suspected he was a fabrication of that anomalous hospital.
But with a real wife here, he was clearly just another person caught in an anomaly, like me.
"Where is he?"
"..."
Tough question.
"His location... hard to say exactly. But he asked me to deliver this to Daeseong Blessed Mother Hospital. Said it would let you know he's alive."
I pulled out the ring.
Then.
"Ah, aaah...! S-Sob! Hic... Hic-sooob!"
The Arab woman burst into sobs.
Must be incredibly precious to her.
"Personally, Dr. Kim Seonghan helped me out big time. Glad I could deliver the ring and news that he's alive."
"Sob...! Thank you, truly!"
Mission accomplished.
Time to head out.
As I thought that, the Arab woman stood.
"One moment."
She stepped out briefly and returned with an ornate-looking box.
"Please take this."
"This?"
She wanted me to have it?
It screamed luxury—gold and jewels adorned the thing.
"No, I can't accept something so valuable... I was just delivering a message. Didn't do anything that warrants this. Dr. Kim helped me too. I can't take it."
"It's fine. Please. You've brought me something irreplaceable."
I refused, but she kept offering the box.
"Uh, alright... Thank you, then."
Satisfied smile on her face as I took it.
"What's inside?"
"Something very precious. Please use it well."
"..."
Opening it revealed a pendant made of black stone. Asked what it was—only got "very precious" in response.
Whatever.
I put on the necklace, said goodbye. Hesitated on the last bit, but decided to say it despite sounding weird.
"Uh, something strange might happen soon. Might be best to head somewhere far away. I recommend leaving Seoul."
"Pardon...? Oh, okay."
Weird advice, sure. But she nodded.
I headed straight out of the mansion.
"..."
Time to go somewhere else.
Still no incident. Was I overreacting? But I'd witnessed an anomaly—best to get far away.
Down to the main street, waiting for a taxi.
Maybe because time passed, the street was packed.
School and work letting out, probably. Hard to imagine an anomaly in a crowd like this.
If they happened often, civilians would know. Least, pre-vampire incident, I'd never heard of anomalies.
"Hey, here!"
A taxi pulled up.
I raised my hand to flag it—
Rumble!
Suddenly.
The world shook.
"Eeeeek!"
"W-What?!"
"Hey! Earthquake! It's an earthquake!"
Earthquake.
Rumble!
A powerful tremor from "somewhere" rocked my body. People stumbled, screaming or gawking.
Groooan!
Then the buildings shook.
The massive skyscrapers dotting Seoul.
Shuddering violently.
"Wh-What?!"
"Hey! That!"
And.
Groooan!
The building began collapsing.
No.
Not collapsing.
Boom!
Like an internal explosion, the outer walls burst outward like grenade shrapnel. Chunks of stone and rebar flew everywhere, sowing chaos.
"Aaaah!"
"Eeeeek!"
Dust clouds bloomed.
People injured, rolling on the ground.
Just as I thought the full collapse would cause mass casualties, I saw it.
The exploded building.
An unknown colossal form emerging from within.
"Wh-What is that...?"
"Hey! Hey! Hey! That thing!"
"Look at that! Look!"
Wrinkled, flesh-toned hide.
Long limbs.
Thick torso.
Twisted face.
.
Like breaking free from a building-shaped cocoon.
A grotesque giant stood there.
"Anomaly."
This was an anomaly.
"Eeeeeek!"
"Aaaah!"
"F-Fuck!"
The giant's appearance triggered mass panic.
"Fuck! It's Attack on Titan!"
Someone yelled midway.
Spot on.
A giant appearing out of nowhere—like Attack on Titan for real. People fled like the titans were invading straight from the show.
But.
Boom!
There was more than one giant.
Every building lining both sides of the main street exploded. Shells shedding, the structures vanished, revealing building-sized grotesque giants.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
No escape.
Seoul was a giant hatchery now. With countless buildings turning into giants, people ran cluelessly.
Boom!
Only to be trampled to death by the giants.
Squelch.
Bloodstains from crushed humans spread with each step.
And from those bloodstains, flowers bloomed. Like bamboo shoots surging up, pillars of flesh erupted, morphing into human-sized abomination matching the giants.
Crushed humans reborn as monsters.
They charged to attack the crowds.
"Eeeeeek!"
"Fuck! What is this?!"
"H-Honeyyy!"
I was already running.
No place without giants.
Just sprinting blindly in blind panic.
An alley for safety?
"Ah."
The world went dark.
And.
Crunch!
.
.
.
[You have died from being crushed.]
[Death Count: 7 → 8]
[Restarting.]