Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Yeongwol General Hospital
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“Do the gallery folks and you live in the same world?”
That sense of dissonance I'd felt ever since getting trapped in this room.
It was the feeling that we lived in different 'eras' altogether.
For example, I came from the 21st century, so I knew modern memes.
But some of the gallery posts felt outdated.
Title: Aigoo... Tch... These days' kids... Don't even respect their elders anymore...?
Title: Life is long, but a day is short.
Some gallery users posted things that seemed behind the times.
Even accounting for them just being 'old folks,' the vibes were completely detached from the modern world.
And the most extreme one was this.
Title: 2155/1/22 Record for Viewing
Target of Record:
Everyday spaces, objects with traces of use, seats left by passersby,
And those unremarkable moments that went unrecorded.
(A frozen landscape of all things and people at a standstill)
(A scene ready to shatter at the slightest touch)
Viewer Advisory:
This record is not for sentimentality.
Nostalgia, emotional projection, idealization—these are merely the viewer's reactions, not the record's intent.
Interpretation is left to each era.
Storage Status:
Original preserved. No edit history.
No scheduled deletion.
— next_human 2155/1/22 Record Complete
Anyone could see that was from the future, right?
No matter how twisted the timeline was, I was sure we weren't from the same era.
“Hmm, that's a 'rabbit hole' phenomenon.”
“Rabbit hole?”
“You've heard of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, right?”
“Yeah, of course. It's one of the fairy tales that fascinated me the most.”
“...It's also one of the strange tales.”
“Huh? What'd you just say?”
“Nothing! Anyway, to continue...”
The protagonist of the fairy tale, 'Alice,' falls down a rabbit hole into Wonderland—a place utterly different from the outside world.
“The timelines are all different too. If they were the same, the soldiers would be fully armed with modern weapons by now, right?”
“...I'm a liberal arts guy, so I don't get it, but I'll try to understand with my heart.”
“Anyway, think of 'strange tales' as 'variables' themselves. They twist existing fates, timelines, dimensions, stories, and so on.”
“So the future, present, and past are all mixed up?”
“Correct! A very clear answer!”
“Holy shit...!!”
I'd thought it was just ordinary strange tales.
But according to her, there were even strange tales from the future?
Imagining strange tales in a world with handmade railguns and hyper-advanced AIs was beyond me.
The best I can guess is something like an AI rebellion. But could I even stop that? Hell no, 100% impossible.
Those guys treat nukes like grenades.
Me, a regular human, suppressing a rebellion against them? What a load of bullshit.
“If a related strange tale pops up later, we absolutely can't go.”
“Agreed. Unless you've got an EMP that can neutralize all machines, going in naked is just idiotic. Super stupid.”
“Puhahaha! Yeah, we definitely can't go.”
We laughed and chatted away for a full 36 hours.
Even with a house now, we still needed sleep, but we'd exchanged common knowledge all through the night.
Naturally, the talk turned to how to spend our remaining points.
“Better to spend all the points than save them, right?”
“That seems smarter. I barely escaped myself, and I don't wanna die, so better to have some safety nets than go in empty-handed.”
“Honest, aren't you?”
“I just hate beating around the bush.”
We had 12P left.
Now we had to allocate this precious asset wisely.
Alone, it'd be all-in on one thing, but now...
We had a reliable party member who even chased away the loneliness.
[Physical Enhancement (Minor)/(Moderate)/(Major) - 3/10/100P]
[Apply to Sub-Character (Shin Yu-na)?]
[Accepted.]
I cleanly used 3 points on Yu-na.
A hospital was more about 'physical' threats than 'mental' ones, so bodily enhancement was essential.
Now 9 points left.
After narrowing it down, we decided against 'weapons' or 'abilities'—better to escape ignorance with 'knowledge.'
Observation - 5P
Observe all things from an objective viewpoint.
Convert entities in your line of sight into data and display summarized results.
One of the abilities we chose.
It sounded ordinary, but...
“In all strange tales, abilities that grant 'information' are the most important. Most people are powerless, but with a sound mind, they can deduce the rules from tiny environmental clues.”
Shin Yu-na strongly recommended it.
Nothing else caught my eye anyway, so I bought it without hesitation.
Ding—!
With a cheerful alert,
Name: Lee Ji-han
Age: 23
Entered Strange Tale: None
Abilities (2):
→ [Observation (Level 1)]
→ [Minor Mental Resistance]
→ [Minor Physical Resistance]
Items (1):
→ [Wooden Bat (Level 1)]
Strange Tale List (1):
→ [School Strange Tale (Level 1) - Cleared]
The usual status screen from regression stories appeared—typically given early on.
Throwing someone raw into a strange tale without this from the start just seemed even crueler.
And the messy list was now neatly organized.
I turned my gaze to the bat.
Item: Wooden Bat (Enhanced)
Rarity: Level 1 (Warning)
Description: An ordinary wooden bat enhanced by its owner 'Lee Ji-han.' After one enhancement, it now has the strength to break most blades.
Additional Effects: 'Toughness,' 'Sturdiness'
As expected, [Observation] worked on items too.
With descriptions and effects, if I found useful stuff in strange tales, I could pick it up and use it right away.
Deeming it useful,
I spent the last 3 points on a 'hint' for [Yeongwol General Hospital].
There might be rules like in [School Strange Tale], but if they were hidden like last time, we'd be screwed anyway.
What I wanted was advice on 'what I need to be most careful of.'
With my resurrection cheat, 'danger' felt foreign, but what if they kept reviving and torturing me in one spot?
If there were means to suppress death like in the White Room?
I was sure I could escape eventually, but not in my right mind.
The advice on the scroll I bought:
Act with resurrection mechanics in mind.
If you've been a wild colt relying on brute strength until now,
This time, blindly trust your knowledge—then doubt and distrust it.
I thought I'd used my brain a bit.
But the almighty one saw me as a horny colt, apparently.
Still, 'consider the mechanics' meant...
Paraphrased: think about how to die more reliably.
“Know any easy ways to kill yourself?”
“No clue here.”
“Yeah, figured.”
“Right?”
“Fuck.”
With zero medical knowledge, biting my tongue was all I could think of.
Like in wuxia novels, hiding poison in my teeth was an option, but...
Where the hell do I get poison?
The house was just a house—no magic pouch spitting out whatever I wanted.
Whatever, I'd think about that later.
1~5F: General wards. Mostly patients with minor injuries like bruises, scrapes, common illnesses—'non-lethal' test subjects.
6~10F: Intensive care. Wards for continuous 'monitoring' and 'experimentation' on patients unresolved below.
11~15F: Special wards. Managed directly by the 'Director,' owner of this strange tale. Where test subjects from lower floors end up.
I'm on 3F, room 314, so please, PLEASE come save me T_T
Basic info on the hospital I'd posted in the comments.
According to her, it was info gathered from patients experimented on during years trapped here.
Rules fixed for centuries, so unlikely to change.
There were also non-gallery 'humans,' so be careful if possible, she said.
“If they get in the way, kill 'em.”
“You think so too?”
“Obviously? Even if they're human, kill anyone who interferes. Gallery folks have helped each other before, but these guys? Nah.”
“Same wavelength.”
It felt like our common sense was drifting,
But in a mad space, going mad myself might be better.
We deeply discussed our action plan until the 48-hour mark.