Chapter 54
Chapter 54
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 54. Morgue
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After stroking my arm a few times, Yoo Daon began stretching to loosen up her body.
"I really didn't think Jaeheon would come to rescue me."
"Really?"
"Wishing for something and having it come true are two different things."
A question arose on her face as she smiled while stretching.
"But how did you get here so fast?"
"Team Leader gave me a ride."
"If we make it back alive, we should at least have a team dinner."
"Sounds good."
Team Leader was hardly the type to turn down drinks.
Once she finished stretching, Yoo Daon stretched her arms out wide and looked at me.
"Shall we go?"
"Sure. What about the others?"
"I'm ready."
"Me too."
" ...?"
Yoo Daon looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Just go with it."
"Yes!"
Then she went back to loosening up without even a shred of interest.
"Should I take the lead?"
"You sure you're okay with that?"
"Of course!"
Yoo Daon beamed brightly and raised her arm high.
I watched her, looking happier than usual, then opened the door.
Fortunately, the path continued onward.
"We're running from here on out. You all know that, right?"
The three of them nodded at my words.
"Ready?"
As always, Yoo Daon took the front and got set,
Then the four of us started sprinting at once.
The hospital walls blurred past like a panorama.
Soon, sounds began echoing from behind.
-Skreeeech, skreech
-Thud! Thud!
Along with the sound of something dragging, a massive noise started rumbling from the rear.
Yoo Daon glanced back briefly and clicked her tongue.
"Damn, it's chasing us!"
What the hell?
I turned to look behind us, following her words.
"Madness."
It was a hulking human figure.
A giant swinging its arms wildly as it pursued us.
Soon, a transparent window appeared before my eyes.
[Name: Sunflower]
[Age: Manufactured 10 years ago]
[Trait: Superhuman Strength]
[Talent: Superhuman Strength]
[Background: Patient #1 at Gangseo University Hospital lost their sense of self after prolonged treatment and succeeded in obtaining a new body. However, whether this truly counts as a successful treatment is something only they themselves would know.]
[Weakness: Its soul is relatively weak. If you can attack the soul, you can defeat it easily.]
"Run!"
Soul attack? No one here can pull that off right now.
"Chaeyeon, buy us just a little time!"
Without even responding, Jang Chaeyeon spun around and thrust out her hand.
-Boom!
The floor shattered, and Jang Chaeyeon's body was pushed back by the recoil, but it only hesitated briefly before charging again.
"Song Arin!"
"Got it!"
This time, Song Arin turned and extended her hand.
A sharp pain stabbed my temple, and the thing staggered back a few steps before tumbling over.
But only for a moment—it got right back up and resumed the chase.
"It's not working!"
"When the hell are you going to be useful, Song Arin!"
"You trying to get left behind for real?! You forgetting everything I did for you?!"
As Song Arin bared her teeth and yelled,
-Thwack!
Yoo Daon's waist bent unnaturally, and she rolled across the floor.
"Daon!"
A massive rock was embedded in her waist.
Jang Chaeyeon quickly waved her hand to dislodge the rock, and Yoo Daon groaned as she got back up and started running again.
"I-I'm... fine! I'm alive!"
-Boom!
Jang Chaeyeon barely managed to swat away another flying boulder with a wave of her hand.
"Its strength is too much...!"
"Can you block it?"
"No!"
We sprinted down the hallway like maniacs.
Boulders crashed around us.
Jang Chaeyeon deflected them desperately, but she was running out of steam, nose bleeding as she barely managed to knock them aside.
And naturally, we were the ones whose stamina gave out first.
All four of us were gasping for breath, with Jang Chaeyeon predictably huffing and puffing the loudest.
The thudding footsteps grew closer.
At this rate, it'd catch us.
If only we could ride something and fly away—
Suddenly, memories of the Cube flashed in my mind.
"Chaeyeon!"
"Yeah!"
"Like when you broke through those monsters in the Cube!"
"Yeah!"
"Same as with Daon!"
"Got it!"
"Great! Huh? Wait?"
Jang Chaeyeon swiftly grabbed Yoo Daon's left arm as she nodded.
"Uh, Jaeheon? This is... right?"
Finally realizing what we were doing, Yoo Daon shrieked.
"For real?!"
"Sorry, Daon. Song Arin!"
"You crazy bastard!"
Song Arin, fully synced with my thoughts through assimilation, spat curses as she grabbed Yoo Daon's right arm. Finally, I clung to Yoo Daon's waist like a koala, and she let out a sharp "Eek!" as her body shuddered.
Jang Chaeyeon thrust her arm back, unleashing a massive shockwave that propelled us forward like cannonballs.
Insane acceleration hit us.
It felt like plummeting on a roller coaster.
The impact was so intense we couldn't even breathe as we soared through the air, and only then did the other three start screaming.
"Eeeeeek!"
"You absolute lunatic!"
"-!"
Amid the screams, the four of us flew through the air.
We rapidly pulled away from the monster at tremendous speed.
Before hitting the ground, Jang Chaeyeon quickly extended her hand to slow us down, and we all landed at once.
-Thud!
"Eek!"
"Argh!"
" ...!"
I'm gonna die.
I quickly released my grip on Yoo Daon's waist and looked back.
We'd somehow reached the end of the hallway.
No more footsteps.
We sighed in relief, and I checked on Yoo Daon.
"You okay?"
" ...You didn't come to rescue me just to do this, right...?"
"If we hadn't come to rescue you, we wouldn't even have this to do."
"At least say something nice..."
Yoo Daon shot me a glare and stood up.
"Just a crack in my arm. It's healed already."
"Sorry."
" ...Whatever. You must have a plan, Jaeheon, so it was the right call."
Jang Chaeyeon spoke flatly to Yoo Daon, who was pouting with puffed cheeks.
"But moving four at once would've gotten us all hurt."
"I got hurt too...!"
"You heal fast."
"Jaeheon! She's bullying me!"
"Can you two please stop fighting?"
This conversation felt way too familiar.
I shook off the stray thought and looked ahead.
Jellyfish still floated in the air, emitting an eerie glow.
I pulled out the manual from my pocket and opened it.
[Employee Manual]
[3-1. The morgue has the lowest survival rate. But don't lose hope yet. If your judgment and abilities are sharp, you can make it out.]
[3-2. There are even more things to watch out for in the morgue. Beware the jellyfish floating in the air. Next, what you must beware of are the 'corpses.']
[3-3. True to their name, corpses refer to people who died without adapting to various treatments, or bodies from which jellyfish have detached from the head.]
[Corpses can be dealt with easily. If you have fire, feel free to use it now.]
[However, what you must be most wary of are not the corpses, but the doctors. Be extra careful if you've brought a patient with you. All the doctors will hunt for you and the patient, and if caught, agonies beyond your imagination await.]
Things must be in total chaos.
We didn't just steal a patient—we hid and kidnapped one.
[3-4. The Management Bureau has identified only one exit from the morgue. Miss it, and you'll have to find another on your own—nobody has ever succeeded in doing so, so don't forget that.]
[No matter where you are now, there's a morgue one floor directly below. Find an empty freezer compartment in that morgue, climb in, and close the door to escape.]
" ...Living long enough to have to crawl into a morgue freezer alive."
Song Arin, who had been quietly reading the manual beside me, sighed bitterly.
"I think I know this way."
"You do, Daon?"
"Of course. I'm a local here."
Yoo Daon cracked a grim joke and took the lead.
She walked through the area without hesitation.
As if she knew every path, she turned corners with slow but confident steps, guiding us.
"The morgue is a weird place."
"Weird how?"
"It's like a dumping ground of sorts."
Yoo Daon continued as we walked.
"But it's also where the most doctors gather."
"That's bad."
"Exactly."
Yoo Daon nodded and stopped.
"That's a corpse."
She pointed ahead matter-of-factly.
Headless people stood there as if dead.
A transparent window appeared right before my eyes.
[Name: Stem]
[Age: Generated one day ago]
[Trait: None]
[Talent: None]
[Background: After the flower blooms and flies away, the stem left on the ground merely sways in the wind, rootless.]
[Weakness: Aim for the heart.]
They looked no different from regular people.
Just without heads.
"They can't hear or see. So they're not that dangerous. I only died a few times fighting them back then... We can pass easily now."
Yoo Daon spoke in her usual calm tone and turned to walk away.
"Fighting here would make too much noise... Let's take another path."
Then she strode forward again.
Thanks to her, we soon reached a rusty door.
" ...Here."
Yoo Daon stopped in front of it, her voice glad.
-Creeeak...
She opened the door with a loud groan, revealing a dark stairwell landing.
We followed her down slowly.
About halfway down, Yoo Daon stopped.
" ...Hold up."
She stood ahead, her voice thick with tension.
-Thump, thump, thump...
Something bouncing echoed from below.
Color drained from Yoo Daon's face.
"Everyone, go back up! Hurry!"
She shouted urgently, and at the same time,
-Boom!
Something burst, and objects rained down from above.
"Watch out."
Jang Chaeyeon swung her hand wide, scattering the falling objects into the wind where they vanished.
-Sizzle...
The airborne bits hit the walls and melted them with a hiss.
" ...Acid?"
Before I could even wonder,
-Thump, thump, thump...
The sound drew closer.
Soon, someone appeared on the stairwell.
" ...Found you, our little cutie?"
It was a woman's beautiful voice.
The difference being,
-Thump, thump, thump...
She had no head.
More precisely, she was bouncing her own head along the floor like a basketball.
Her bouncing head turned its gaze toward the four of us.
At the same time, info popped up before my eyes.
[Name: Neurology]
[Age: 29 years old]
[Trait: Acidic]
[Talent: Neurosurgery]
[Background: She loved her sister so much that, to revive her dead sister, she tried transplanting her own head onto her. No one knows the outcome of the surgery.]
[Weakness: Burst the head.]
-Thump, thump, thump...
Her head bounced as she grinned brightly.
"Four patients!"
Her gaze fixed on me.
"And one of them has suuuch pretty eyes!"
She smirked.