Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Intern
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"Huff... huff...!"
Unlike before, Lee Ji-han was now wearing medical attire instead of patient clothes.
That alone made it easy to tell he wasn't in a normal state—he'd been tainted by a strangeness, or was in some equally dangerous condition.
And behind him, a doctor slowly stepping forward.
'At least he's not looking at my brother with hostility. If anything, he seems proud? Either way, this isn't normal.'
How had things ended up like this?
Was it a mistake to let him go to the [Rehabilitation Room] alone?
Confusion reigned.
What on earth had happened inside to change him like that?
Unlike her worst fears that he might take his own life, Lee Ji-han in his medical garb radiated an air of utter refreshment.
"Crude. Crude. Crude. Crude. So crude. How can you smile like that when you were born human? I hate it. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it. I hate you!"
"Right now, I actually feel refreshed. If my head was covered in sticky mucus before, now it's like my brain's been rinsed with sparkling water?"
"Doctor! Doctor! Doctor! Doctor! I have a question!"
The relatively sane demeanor from before was completely gone.
All that remained in the current Lee Ji-han was madness.
Sprinkling smiles as he turned to the doctor behind him with a question.
The doctor nodded, accepting it graciously.
"There seem to be so many patients in the world who need rehabilitation. Little kids thrashing about without even realizing they're incomplete. Children. Beasts that deserve to be chewed up and spat out."
"So how should we 'rehabilitate' those kids?"
A question that could never have come from his mouth.
Yet the doctor pondered it sincerely.
How long did he muse, hand on his chin?
"Intern, it's not a surgery I can teach you yet. But having seen your ex.cell.ent will, even this professor will respect your resolve."
A string of words that made no sense whatsoever.
Then, forcing open the door to [Room 301], he dragged out what looked like an alien.
"I have seen it, I tell you. Among the countless hungry ghosts drifting through the heavens, this one is a rotten ghost beyond redemption."
"Isn't it the doctor's role to show even a ghost like this a better path?"
Crack—!
Snap—!
With the doctor's touch.
The terrified patient from Room 301 didn't just bend unnaturally—
he was reshaped into what was deemed the most 'ideal' form under judgment.
I declare it boldly.
Even if the world meets its end.
The end of one born as a doctor shall be glorious.
Yes, I was just an ordinary doctor at first, but now I understand.
Even if born lowly, can we call the process lowly?
Thus, we present new directions to our patients.
It truly feels beneficial and righteous.
Beautiful. So beautiful!
The patient who had fallen beneath the spouting nonsense of the doctor.
His mind had long since collapsed.
"■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!!!!!!!!"
Letting out incomprehensible screeches as he lunged forward.
The two seemed to find it beautiful, even smiling contentedly.
But then.
"La Ela."
The elf's ambush from behind, watching with bared fangs.
Shhrrk—!
Blades made of wind.
Blades forged from otherworldly magic shot straight at the beast.
Splat!
Reduced to a handful of minced meat like in a blender.
Even though the patient was beyond recovery after rehabilitation, the grotesque sight of his body being shredded was utterly repulsive.
But the most terrifying thing was none other than.
The patient—my patient!
No matter how much of a failure, he's still my patient.
Even with your paltry power, do you have the right to touch my patient?
No, I declare you do not.
You ghostly wench from one of countless dimensions.
Do your kind even have emotions?
The hospital director whispered endlessly to me.
To immediately eliminate any trash threatening patients.
You are trash.
Trash not even worth using for experiments!
The doctor's face flushed red with rage as he ranted.
If previous strangenesses were at least capable of 'conversation,' this one was the type that didn't even attempt dialogue.
The doctor's scalpel swung at all existence as inferior.
A mere act embodying 'swinging.'
Yet.
Slice—!
One of the elf's long ears, several meters away, was severed.
"!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Even as it happened to her, she wore a baffled expression.
That alone confirmed the doctor's existence surpassed the elf's power.
Just as she thought ending her own life might be better.
"Rehab, rehab, rehab, rehab—are they the kind that can be treated with rehab too?"
"Of course, intern. There's no patient in the world beyond treatment. They're just immature trash who haven't realized it yet. Can I entrust them to you?"
"...! If you entrust them to me, I'll do my absolute best!!"
The scalpel only doctors carried was placed in Lee Ji-han's hand.
Then, drawing another, the doctor entered the [Rehabilitation Room].
And in stark contrast, Lee Ji-han approached with a curse-ridden expression.
"Pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, sloth, humility, charity, kindness, patience, chastity, temperance, diligence!"
"How do you even live with emotions like that? If you can't handle even one properly, wouldn't it be better to..."
The scalpel lowered steadily.
An act performed by an ordinary person who knew nothing of surgery until recently.
But.
"...just castrate them entirely?"
With his declaration, the elf's remaining ear was mercilessly sliced off.
The elf's mental state shattered, her ears—symbols of elven pride—severed.
"Dodge—!"
Even amid it, Shin Yu-na yanked the elf back, evading the blade.
Unlike the past filled with deep trust and faith, now she regarded him as an 'enemy' with cold indifference.
'How am I supposed to beat that?'
No way to flee, no way to fight, nothing at all.
Her only remaining option was her own enhanced body.
Layer upon layer of mountains.
Impregnable fortress.
Thick fog at five ri.
As death closed in beside her.
A single word slipped unconsciously from Shin Yu-na's lips.
"But aren't you greedy too?"
It was something only Shin Yu-na, who had spent days with Lee Ji-han, could say. Objectively and intuitively, he was a man suited to the word 'greed.'
Even now, she sensed his desire to climb higher.
"...?"
Lee Ji-han, questioned about himself, couldn't respond.
Unlike his prior calm expression, his face twisted grotesquely.
"Surgery!!!!!!!! Surgery!!!!!!! Surgerysurgerysurgerysurgery!!!!!!!!!!!"
"It hurts! It hurts!! Doctor!! My head hurts!!"
Loathing his own contradictory words.
He stabbed at his ear with the scalpel and bolted into the firmly shut [Rehabilitation Room].
"Did he snap?"
"He snapped, right?"
The two, safe but incredulous.
No strength left for role-play or anything else. All they wanted was to hole up somewhere safe and sleep.
The elf reattached her severed ears herself.
To the weary-faced elf, Shin Yu-na said,
"For now, His Grace the Duke doesn't seem normal, so let's head back to the ward and plan our next move."
"...Understood. My room is 210, so if he comes to his senses later, we can regroup... Huh?"
They thought they'd descended to the second floor.
But even after going down, the scenery still read [3F].
An endless loop of stairs.
Why did the misfortune keep piling up even in this situation?
Amid the bewilderment, seasoned Yu-na's eyes showed not fear, but a will to comprehend.
The hospital's rulebook, updating in real time.
Compared to the elf beside her with only one life, she had chances to respawn, so she wielded her pen and added a rule.
Rule 1.2. If the light is on in the [Rehabilitation Room], escape via stairs is impossible. Use an active method to escape from that spot.
The act of writing rules herself.
It held the same meaning as defining this world's rules.
A method directly mentioned by the [Management Bureau]—violate it, and one's soul collapses, right?
'Since we're fine, this must be the correct rule.'
With this, she'd filled in two of the original blank rules.
Yet no clues to escape—in fact, the worst scenario of Lee Ji-han brainwashed by strangeness, as she saw it.
"Ugh... World Tree... Ilaina... Haspu..."
And the elf beside her, convulsing.
For a moment, she thought tossing her down might let them descend.
'Looks like I've been influenced by my brother too.'
With that, she smoothly descended and walked the third-floor corridor.