Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Doctor, Hired
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Elf.
A fantastic staple from fantasy settings, and these days a regular guest star in novels and comics.
'Never thought this genre would have them too.'
Just their appearance here felt profoundly out of place in my genre.
I didn't know the details, but considering she claimed to hail from the Great Forest, she probably wasn't some offshoot of illusions or schizophrenia.
"No way we're getting fantasy strange tales now too, right? Like a tale about a 500-year-old immortal hermit, or a virgin wizard over a century old..."
"Nah, they wouldn't mess with us that bad."
"With SF, historical, horror, and now fantasy all mixed in, can you really say that?"
"Well..."
Layer upon layer of mountains ahead.
My vision went pitch black.
No, not figuratively—actually pitch black!
"It's not just me, right?"
"It's dark for me too."
"Even I appear that way."
Damn it.
Was blaming everything on schizophrenia itself a symptom? Or had the third floor always been like this?
Unlike the second floor, every room on the third was plunged into total darkness.
In that primal space where life itself instinctively felt fear.
Blink.
Blink.
The only lit spot was a single room labeled [Rehabilitation Room]. No idea how we were supposed to find Jeong Byeong-ham in a place like this.
The third floor is originally a place where all the lights are off.
Fuck, I've wanted to say this about Jeong Byeong-ham for a while, but if you're gonna send us to a shithole like this, at least give advance warning out of courtesy...
I had no choice because I was getting surgery! And it's true that as long as there's revival, we can escape eventually!!
You... fucking... asshole!!!!!
I was truly lost now.
Probably faster to just meet up and talk.
"[Room 314], right?"
"Yes. Considering the writing begging to be spared from the start, it's probably not a lie."
"What the hell are you even talking about..."
"Hey, Kanpe wench, shut your mouth and keep watch around us. Don't know what 'four directions vigilance' means?"
"...Understood..."
"Don't climb, wench."
What was this, a deja vu hotspot?
The nurse had acted like this before too. Whatever, she'd figure it out.
Clunk!
Clunk!
We tried random doors amid the shrouded rooms, but they wouldn't budge—like they'd been glued shut.
"Why does it feel like we have to go in there?"
"Exactly."
"I concur as well."
Like a Venus flytrap wafting sweet scent, the [Rehabilitation Room] kept its lights glaring every time we tugged a door.
Even stairs to the next floor led only down.
"Tch, no helping it in this situation."
"Right?"
"You're going in there? Reckless. Even as a noble, your build screams untrained, feeble strength..."
"Don't climb, wench."
"........."
After jabbing the aspiring Kanpe again.
I slowly pushed open the door to the [Rehabilitation Room] alone.
"Oh, fuck..."
The sight that unfolded was none other than.
"Shiiiit—————!!!!!!"
"Ack, ack, ack, ack, ack."
"ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
"■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□!!!!!!!!"
A grand racial unity where every species shrieked as their joints snapped in real time.
A place worlds away from modern rehabilitation.
"Patient 322: Complaining of limb joint pain for weeks. Proceeding with rehab by removing all joints."
"Patient 303: Complaining of abnormalities in all five arms. Proceeding with rehab by removing all arms except the two normal right arms."
"Patient 333: Complaining of sensory loss everywhere except the head. Proceeding with rehab by removing everything except the head."
Overseeing this room: one doctor.
Given the [Lee Myeong-ho] on his chest, he was surely Earth-influenced rather than some alien entity.
Yet his impassive face as he committed these atrocities...
'Either a monster, or a lunatic bold enough to perform such surgeries.'
Spot-on judgment, clean retreat.
Thud!
Thud!
Sudden tinnitus ringing in my ears.
No clue why a debuff hit now of all times.
'From past experience, surviving this and going back would just burden them. Better to reset clean, clean, clean, clean???'
"........."
"........."
Lee Ji-han slumped like every signal in his body had shut down.
He slowly approached the mid-surgery doctor, innocent expression on.
"I want to become a doctor who performs this rehab too."
Uttering the utterly mad words no sane person would dream of.
Top 3 craziest things he'd never say.
Reliving final regrets.
His mind sank into the darkness etched by some unknown bastard.
Left alone.
No, Shin Yu-na left with the elf.
Drawing on decades trapped in the [School Strange Tale], she stayed by the stairs for quick escape, waiting for Lee Ji-han.
Of course.
"Is Sejong Lee Ji-han, your so-called master, truly a noble? A noble using such crude speech from the start is odd."
"Our Duke is from the northern nobility, so he cares not for class barriers—a noble soul. Never one for status, his natural speech leans more commoner."
"Even so, that condescending tone toward an elf is unjust. Slavery's been gone over a century. You think that's normal?"
"Ask no more. I'm one of the retainers he saved. Keep insulting my master, and I have nothing to say."
The elf's relentless counterarguments were ironclad, tough to parry one by one.
Maybe because unlike her, this was a fresh trap in the 'strange tale' phenomenon?
Still carried water from the original world.
'Once she fully drinks the strange tale water, her common sense will flip too. Though unlike us normies, they wield that bizarre 'magic' power.'
Floating auras of light in thin air.
Automatically shattering language barriers.
Hurling slashes of wind.
Even accounting for that, she had the body to escape something basic like her [School Strange Tale] with just rules.
A theory Lee Ji-han would never entertain.
As the one correcting his slightly skewed common sense, she was piecing it together via chats with trusted gallers.
I've thought since the Management Bureau's rooted in countless worlds, a fantasy world with 'elves' must exist too... but facing one for real? That's confirmation.
Been thinking the same. Considering even individuals who could casually massacre hundreds of normal humans get trapped...
Strange tales root into every world—a miracle—and even the bureau hides it. Some gallers must know but stay mum.
What about the leaders? Honestly thought the main and sub knew for sure.
Probably knew. From their claims so far, definitely human-side... but Jeong Byeong's not. Or he's broken enough to ignore small considerations.
Yeah, got it. I'll tell 'him' too, so classify the gallers for me.
Leave it to me.
Back when she first joined the gall.
Not everyone said it, but the chaos was so bad it was dubbed the [Pro-Strange Faction Uprising].
That many gallers proved human-side via chat logs.
Now escaped: the investigator [Bloating Life] from the team, sole source of [Management Bureau] info.
His blueprint let them purge most betrayers early.
'Oppa entering during stagnation feels more 'inevitable' than coincidence. Stagnation means betrayers lurking.'
At least months.
At most years.
Gather gallers she's certain are human-side.
As she steeled her resolve.
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
Creeeak...!
The hitherto-still [Rehabilitation Room] door slowly swung open.
Out strolled Lee Ji-han, surgical scrubs and all, leisurely.
"??????????"
"??????????"
The two, clueless to the situation.
Chill!
Instinctive threat surged—they bolted to the second floor without looking back.
Lee Ji-han, watching them go.
"Patients?"
Just grinned hideously at them.
No trace of his former sharp wit in those pupils.
Only curiosity and a horrific urge to experiment remained.