Kim Hae-rin - Examination (4)
The call light came on.
"Kim Hae-rin, please return to Examination Room 1."
The moment my name came over the speaker, my spine straightened on its own, and the faux leather of the waiting-room seat peeled off my back with a faint sound.
The exam instructions in my hand had been fiddled with so much while I waited that the corners had frayed to ribbons.
I moved to get up, then glanced at Mom sitting a seat over, a water bottle balanced on her knees as she read a hospital pamphlet.
The instant I looked her way, her head came up.
The second her daughter glances over, she looks right back. Uncanny, that mom of mine.
"...Mom."
My voice came out smaller than I'd expected.
Mom rose from her seat.
"What is it?"
"They're probably going to go over my test results... come in with me."
Her eyebrow lifted slightly.
After I'd made such a fuss about her not following me, about waiting in the lobby, asking her in out of nowhere had to look strange.
I'd think it was strange too.
"Can I really come in?"
"I said come."
"All right."
Mom asked nothing more and stood at my side. I went ahead and opened the consultation room door.
Han Seo-yeon sat in the same position as before — the only change being the stack of test result sheets now added to her clipboard. My name and a row of test values glowed on the monitor, and beside them was a strange cross-section, like some kind of mana resonance image. The lower abdomen was highlighted in bright color.
Seeing the inside of my own body rendered in color like that was fascinating, and it also made me feel filthy.
Han Seo-yeon glanced once toward Mom.
"I will record that the guardian is accompanying you. Kim Hae-rin, do you consent?"
"Yes. I... consent."
"Very good. Please, both of you, sit."
Two chairs had been set out. Mom sat down quietly, and as I took the seat beside her I crossed my legs out of habit — until the denim pressed in somewhere it shouldn't, and I uncrossed them at once.
Han Seo-yeon turned the monitor slightly to face us.
"I will explain the results. To give you the conclusion first: there is no need for Kim Hae-rin to be hospitalized."
Mom's shoulders dropped a little.
Not being hospitalized was good news. Getting it over with in a single day beat being locked in a ward for days under a succubus nurse's surveillance.
Han Seo-yeon continued.
"The time since onset is long, but the mana storage capacity of the male organ and testicles is low. The fixation rate sits near the borderline, yet it remains within the range where magical discharge treatment is possible. In a case like this, there is no need to induce prolonged condensation through inpatient care."
"So... you treat her today, and it's over?" Mom asked.
A far more normal question than any of mine.
"Yes. We will proceed with outpatient physical therapy. After the patient takes a virility agent, a mana circuit stabilizer, and an ejaculation response aid, the assigned succubus nurse will induce multiple ejaculations through physical stimulation in the outpatient treatment room. The procedure is monitored by measuring the mana discharged in the semen, and once enough mana has drained, the male organ will regress."
Mom blinked.
Multiple ejaculations. A dedicated succubus nurse. Physical stimulation.
Did the doctor have any idea what it felt like to hear those words in front of my mother? It was a consultation, so of course she knew — and said it all anyway, in the same flat tone as a blood pressure reading. For no reason at all, I tapped my fingers against the armrest.
"Um... when you say multiple times, roughly how many are we talking?"
My voice came out calmer than I expected. I surprised myself.
Han Seo-yeon flipped a page on the results.
"The patient's storage capacity is on the low side, so the count will likely be lower than for a typical inpatient case. However, the long onset period means the residual mana may be highly adhesive, so no firm figure can be given based on ejaculation count alone. We will decide as we observe the state of the secretions during treatment."
So what's the actual conclusion?
It was such a doctor's answer that my insides burned.
"So, roughly — how many times?"
"At minimum, we anticipate three or more."
Mom didn't look my way.
Thank you.
If she had turned and looked me in the face, I would have burst right there in the chair.
"How long does the treatment take?" Mom asked.
"Usually a minimum of two hours, and up to four at the outside."
"Four hours?"
This time it was me who blurted it out.
"You said outpatient. And it takes four hours?"
"'Outpatient' and 'quick' are not the same thing. It means no hospitalization — treatment and discharge home on the same day."
Oh. I see. So I'm the ignorant one again, am I?
Han Seo-yeon went on without a flicker of expression.
"Fatigue can be severe immediately after treatment, so we recommend guardian accompaniment or a taxi for the trip home. As the guardian is present today, the return home should present no problem."
Mom nodded.
"I just call when it's wrapping up, then?"
"Yes. However, the treatment area restricts guardian entry. A waiting notice will be sent through the administration office's contact, or the patient may reach you directly."
Guardian access to the treatment area — restricted.
My breath loosened a little at that. The worst-case route, Mom watching me receive treatment, was now blocked off. As it should be. Any hospital that allowed that would be a genuinely insane institution.
Han Seo-yeon drew out the questionnaire. The same one I'd filled out earlier.
A chill ran through my chest.
Why is she pulling that out again? Please — just not that part.
The tip of her pen stopped on a particular item.
"We have also reviewed your dedicated nurse preference."
The moment Mom looked up, I was cursing inside.
Seriously? In front of my mother?
"No nurse of the 'mesugaki' type matching the patient's preference is currently on staff."
Mom turned to me slowly.
"Mesu...gaki?"
She even mangled the pronunciation.
"What is that, Hae-rin?"
Just kill me now.
"It's just... internet slang."
"What does it mean? If it's something the treatment needs, Mom should know too."
"No, it's not something the treatment needs—"
"Kim Hae-rin." Han Seo-yeon cut in.
"It is a reference item for dedicated nurse assignment. There is no need to explain the details to your guardian."
Thank you. For the first time ever, I was genuinely grateful to Han Seo-yeon.
But she didn't stop there.
"However, the sexual preference type the patient recorded must be reconciled with what is actually feasible in treatment."
And there goes my gratitude.
Mom's mouth closed at the words sexual preference. Her eyes flicked across me once, then returned to Han Seo-yeon. Mom was an adult. She had the art of burying the things she didn't want to know.
Han Seo-yeon pulled up the staff roster on the monitor. Names scrolled past — Althea Bess, Mora Silvae, Eun-ha, a handful of others.
"Among the nurses currently available for outpatient treatment, the assignment closest to the patient's questionnaire is Nurse Mora Silvae."
Mora Silvae. Somehow even the name sounded dry. Less a mesugaki than — how to put it — a mage straight out of an RPG.
Han Seo-yeon gave a brief summary.
"Nurse Mora is quick to modulate stimulation intensity and efficient at managing extended outpatient discharge sessions. However, she is not personnel who provides the theatrical provocation or the character-type roleplay the patient is anticipating."
"Then she's not a mesugaki, is she."
The words were out before I could think. Mom drew a small breath beside me, and Han Seo-yeon's red eyes locked onto me.
"This hospital is not a pleasure house tailored to your tastes."
Ouch. That one landed.
"Dedicated nurse preference is reference data used to improve treatment efficiency. Even where the patient has recorded a particular fantasy, medical resources and treatment safety take precedence."
"I know that."
I answered like someone who did.
"Then we will proceed. Today's outpatient physical therapy is assigned to Nurse Mora Silvae."
Han Seo-yeon signed the chart electronically, and on the monitor the assignment field beside my name updated.
[Outpatient Discharge Treatment — Assigned: Mora Silvae]
Mom asked, carefully.
"Doctor, will she be able to go about her daily life right after the treatment?"
"Rest at home is recommended for today. Light daily activity is possible from tomorrow. However, given the long onset period, clitoral hypersensitivity or lower abdominal pain may persist for several days after the regression. The prescribed medication will manage it."
Mom nodded along, jotting something into the notes app on her phone.
My mother, taking notes on my treatment. Virility agents. Ejaculations. Clitoral hypersensitivity. The whole situation was so absurd that I couldn't even laugh.
Han Seo-yeon squared a few documents and held them out.
"Take this guide to the outpatient physical therapy reception desk on the second floor. The medication pre-treatment will be administered first, and then you will be escorted to the treatment room."
I took the papers. Stiff, official print marched across the page.
[Outpatient Discharge Treatment
Consent & Pre-Treatment Guide]
Han Seo-yeon spoke one last time.
"Kim Hae-rin."
"Yes."
"If today's treatment succeeds, permanent fixation and amputation surgery can both be avoided. Cooperate fully with the nurse's instructions."
"I'll... cooperate."
"And you will follow the pre-treatment cleansing instructions without fail."
The face from before — the one that had worn a mask — surfaced in my memory.
"...Yes."
"A word for the guardian as well: if the patient cannot be reached during treatment, that is normal. Once it concludes, we will contact you according to staff guidance."
"Yes. Thank you. We're in your care."
Mom rose from her chair and bowed at the waist. She was so formal about it that I was the one who ended up embarrassed. I gave a vague nod and walked out of the consultation room.
The door had barely shut before I pulled in a breath. The air of the wide hospital lobby filled my nose, and free of the cramped room and the doctor's pressure, I finally felt like I might survive.
Mom fell into step beside me.
"Hae-rin."
"If you're about to ask what mesugaki means, I'm not telling you."
"That's fine, I'll just look it up when I get home."
"Don't you dare look it up!"
My voice came out too loud. A few gazes in the lobby swung our way, and I dropped it immediately.
"Please don't look it up. It'll wreck your phone's algorithm."
"Fine, fine. I won't."
Will she really, though? Mom was exactly the type to search any word she didn't know. Please, just this once, let her hold it in. A timeline where "mesugaki meaning" sat in my mother's search history was too cruel to contemplate.
I held up the guide papers for her to see.
"The outpatient treatment's going to take a while, so just go home, Mom."
Mom checked the lobby clock.
"Two to four hours, you said?"
"Yeah. There's nothing for you to do here anyway. You can't even get into the treatment area."
"Call me when it's done and we'll take a taxi home together."
"I can get home by myself."
Mom ignored my grumbling.
"Suit yourself, come back on your own then. I've got plans with the neighborhood ladies this afternoon anyway. You're coming home for dinner, right? I'll have something ready."
She reached over and flicked a speck of dust off my hair, and I flinched away on reflex.
"Ah — stop that."
"You could at least comb your hair before coming to a hospital."
"I did comb it!"
Mom's eyes narrowed.
"Don't snap at the nurses the way you snap at me. Take the treatment properly."
"When have I ever snapped at you?"
"You're doing it right now, and back in that room you went on about 'meju-gaki' or whatever it was, insisting it wasn't."
Mom hitched her bag strap up her shoulder and glanced toward the lobby exit.
"I'll kill some time at a café nearby, then head off to my thing. Call me when it's over."
"Yeah."
"And don't run off just because you're scared."
Instead of answering, I waved the papers at her. Mom studied my face for a moment, her lips parting as if to say something more — then closing again.
"All right. Go get it done well."
If she keeps this up, I'm actually going to tear up. God, Mom, you can't go sweet on me at a moment like this.
Mom walked toward the automatic doors. I headed the other way, toward the elevators.
The doors slid open, and I stepped in and pressed 2.
Just before they closed, a succubus nurse crossed the first-floor lobby. A short, two-toned bob — black on the surface, a flash of blue underneath. A smartphone in her hand, thumb hammering busily at the screen. White spandex nurse pants traced the line of her legs exactly, and her tail jutted up through the opening in the back of them.
That was her — the phone-glued nurse I'd seen in the lobby earlier.
No way. My dedicated nurse? It can't be.
The doors closed. Please let it not be her.
Even if she wasn't a mesugaki, surely she wouldn't be someone who played mobile games while attending patients. Going by that work ethic, patient-facing care was clearly not her department.
As the elevator climbed, the inside of my jeans began to throb again.