The Unlucky Heroine Stays with the Fraudulent Protagonist (2)
The unlucky heroine had come to stay with the fraudulent protagonist. (2)
The emergency room that the supporting character arrived at was still bustling with people and maintained its cold atmosphere.
'It feels even worse than when I first got here?'
-It's because Mother isn't here.
-She is the symbol that created this place. Without the Saint personally showing herself, it's hard for people to feel reassured.
'Is that so? Anyway, knowing Sosia would arrive at the ER soon, the supporting character looked around without much thought.'
'There must have been dead people here too, right?'
-This is a place that treats people. I know modern medicine is incredibly advanced, but even the priests from the magic world we lived in couldn't always save the dying.
-Are you going to check?
'Yeah. Can't have vengeful spirits lingering around. The living won't notice, but the dead can influence things from places you can't see.'
-That makes sense. Even if the situation was hopeless, the deceased themselves wouldn't care about that.
Agreeing with Jack's words, Joyeon carefully took out the Book of the Dead from his inventory. He had planned to keep it ready beforehand, worried that using magic might make the book pop out conspicuously.
The Book of the Dead quietly opened and emitted a black light.
[Chapter of Death - Eye of Souls]
A red glow appeared in Joyeon's eyes. Though quite noticeable, most people in the ER were too busy with their own tasks to pay it any mind.
Joyeon carefully walked around the emergency room, thoroughly checking his surroundings.
'Nothing? It's clean. Is this really a hospital?'
After circling once, Joyeon was surprised that the ER was far cleaner than he had expected, having assumed at least one spirit would remain.
In the meantime, Sosia and the others entered the ER.
"Ah, welcome. Nurse So."
"Good work, Dr. Park. Go rest inside."
"I've only been here for 14 hours. I'll rest a bit later."
"I see. All right then. If anyone hasn't had a break, please tell them to go rest."
"Understood."
With Sosia's arrival, the atmosphere in the ER shifted noticeably. Those who had seen her the day before, as well as the mages who had newly arrived at the hospital in the past six hours, found their sharp gazes softening slightly upon seeing her for the first time.
After exchanging a few words with Ati and Tiasia, who had come with her, Sosia immediately began directing the medical staff and attending to the newcomers.
Ati and Tiasia walked straight toward Joyeon, who stood in the center of the ER.
"Did Mom say anything?"
"She didn't say much. She told us to go back upstairs and do odd jobs if there's nothing to do here."
"Hmm... We just ran out of things to do, actually..."
While Joyeon and Tiasia were talking, Ati stared intently at Joyeon's eyes.
"What? Is there a problem again?"
"Your eyes. What are those?"
"Huh? Eyes? Ah. Just one of my spells. Nothing special."
"Magic... I thought you were a modern human."
"Modern humans can use magic too. If they're lucky. Isn't that floating rock around you also magic?"
"It's not magic. It's something far more advanced... No, that's not what I meant to talk about. Where are you going now?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Why else? The Saint told me to stick with you. If there's nothing to do here, we should go do something else. You know how it is—if you're not a patient, you have to do some kind of work in the Neutral Saint's hospital."
"...What can you even do, then?"
"Me? I'm a patient for now. Can't you see?"
Ati spoke while rubbing her arm.
"Are you really not doing anything because of that?"
"What else can I do? Even if I want to work, just being near people causes them harm. And it's not like I'm doing nothing. I find things I can do alone. I even took care of some bugs that showed up at the hospital earlier."
"......"
-As expected, it was Lady Ati who dealt with House's offspring.
-To think she caught them all. She mentioned it was a higher-dimensional ability than magic. She seems to possess quite remarkable powers?
'Maybe so.'
"Let's head out for now. It doesn't look like there's anything you or I can do here anyway..."
As Joyeon glanced around once more before leaving the ER, his gaze stopped at a particular spot.
"...Master?"
"Why'd you stop mid-sentence?"
Despite Tiasia and Ati calling out to him, Joyeon didn't respond and began walking in the direction he was looking.
Feeling puzzled by his actions, Tiasia and Ati followed him.
In front of Joyeon stood a group of mages waiting for treatment. They felt uneasy and tense as Joyeon suddenly appeared and stared directly at them.
"W-what is it? Do you have something to say to us?"
A young woman from the group mustered the courage to speak to Joyeon first.
"Uh— that guy over there. Is he feeling unwell?"
Joyeon pointed at a man with a rather unpleasant expression, seemingly uninterested in the woman's words.
The woman looked displeased at being ignored. Paying no attention to her reaction, Joyeon focused solely on the man he had pointed to.
"I don't understand what you're suddenly saying. I don't have any particular ailments. What exactly are you looking at to say something like that?"
Though the man was also displeased by Joyeon's rude behavior and words, he answered the question clearly.
Joyeon tilted his head in confusion at the man's response.
Ati, who had come to his side, tugged at Joyeon's arm.
"Hey, what are you doing? Why are you suddenly picking a fight with someone you've never met?"
"Huh? A fight? What fight? You... can't see it, can you? It just looks a bit off to my eyes."
"What looks off?"
"I don't know either. That's why I'm asking."
In Joyeon's eyes, the Eye of Souls sensed something strange about the man's soul.
'Something's different from other people... Trembling? Intensity? Color? It feels slightly off somehow.'
Though Joyeon's eyes could distinguish between the living and the dead, they weren't detailed enough to differentiate the souls of the living. Yet even through these eyes, the man's soul appeared abnormal. If he had to describe it, it felt as though the soul of the living was mixing with that of the dead.
'No, it's not mixing—it's dying?'
Joyeon's instincts told him he couldn't just leave the man alone. However, the man himself was simply worrying about his slightly injured companion without a second thought.
'...Now that I've spoken to him, leaving him be might cause trouble later.'
Ignoring the man and his group, who continued to watch him warily, Joyeon approached Sosia, who was busy giving orders to the medical staff.
"Nurse Kim, bring the blood pressure monitor. Nurse Park, prepare the IV for patient 115. Dr. Lee, once you've sent your patient upstairs, please examine patients 157 and 163."
"Mom."
"I'm busy right now. Let's talk later."
"I need to talk now. Please examine that man over there."
"Did he ask you to? There's an order to these things. Tell him to wait until his number is called."
"It's urgent. Please do him first."
"......"
Unable to comprehend Joyeon's unreasonable request, Sosia frowned and glanced at the man her son had pointed to. No matter how she looked at him, he appeared to be an ordinary person with not even a scratch, let alone someone waiting in line.
"Is there a reason?"
"It's a bit hard to explain. But there is one."
"...Dr. Choi!!"
At Sosia's call, a middle-aged doctor came running over in a hurry.
"You called, Nurse So?"
"I'm sorry to call you when you should be resting. Could you examine just one patient before you go?"
"Of course. Is it an urgent case?"
"...Yes. It's urgent."
Pointing to the man Joyeon had indicated, Sosia made the request to Dr. Choi before returning to her tasks. Upon seeing the man he was supposed to examine, Dr. Choi was momentarily taken aback by how healthy the man looked outwardly. However, since it was Sosia's request, he said nothing and walked toward him.
When Joyeon approached again with the doctor in tow, the man and his group looked confused, unsure of what was happening.
"Hello. Are you a mage?"
"Y-yes... Has our turn come?"
"Yes. Well... something like that."
Thinking the doctor meant his companion's turn had come, the man tried to guide him forward.
"No, not that person. It's you. I was asked to check on your condition."
"What? I don't have any injuries. I came here to get treatment for my colleague."
"Let's check anyway."
Dr. Choi, unsure of what else to say, simply stated he would proceed and began the examination. Though initially flustered, the man complied since the doctor was taking the time to check him.
"Master? Is there something wrong with that man?"
"I don't know. There's something, but I can't tell what the problem is."
Since what Joyeon saw through his eyes wasn't a friendly notification window, that was all he could say.
'I think there was something written in the final pages of the Book of the Dead, something left for the successor...'
As Joyeon worried that he might have caused unnecessary trouble due to the unexpectedly long examination, Dr. Choi spoke up.
"Hmm? What's this wheezing sound when you breathe?"
Dr. Choi had found something unusual.
"Ah, it's been like that for a long time. About a year ago... I was worried at first and went to the temple, but they said there was no problem."
"So you didn't receive any treatment at the temple?"
"N-no. The healing magic at the temple is quite expensive... Since there didn't seem to be any issue, I didn't get it."
"This is definitely something that needs checking. There could be a problem with your bronchi or lungs. Given how much time has passed, we can't know when something might happen."
Dr. Choi's expression wasn't good. His face, usually set in a serious look to avoid worrying patients, had hardened noticeably.
Dr. Choi asked a nearby nurse to bring over a mobile bed.
"D-doctor? Is it really that dangerous?"
"We need to run tests to confirm. For now, please lie down on this bed..."
"Lara."
Joyeon quietly tugged at Tiasia's arm as he watched the situation unfold.
"Yes, what is it, Master?"
"He's dying. Catch him."
"What?"
In Joyeon's eyes, the man's soul had almost completely transformed from that of the living to that of the dead.
"Urgh...?"
As the man tried to lie down on the bed using his own strength, he suddenly showed abnormal symptoms and began to collapse. Seeing this, Tiasia rushed over and caught him before he hit the ground.
"E-emergency! Code Blue!"
"M-Master! What do we do now..."
"Get him on the bed first!"
The situation had suddenly turned critical. The man's life hung in the balance. Yet the medical staff's response was swift. Already accustomed to such situations, they calmed the man's companions, called for doctors specializing in the affected organs, and simultaneously performed CPR.
Fortunately, because they had been prepared, the man's heart soon started beating again. Without delay, the staff moved him to the examination room for a detailed checkup.
Once things had somewhat settled, Ati, who had been quietly standing nearby, asked Joyeon,
"How did you know?"
"How? I could just see it with my eyes. The souls of the living and the dead look different, and his were mixed together. More severely than anyone else here."
"So you can see people whose lives are in danger?"
"I guess so? But it was pretty heavily mixed, so I noticed. Everyone else looks pretty similar."
"So you can see it with those eyes of yours, Joyeon?"
Before they knew it, Sosia had approached Joyeon and Ati.
Unable to deny it, Joyeon nodded.
"I see. That's quite a useful ability. From now on, check the ER for people like that. You don't have to do anything else. Ati, stay with him."
"Excuse me? But it's not something you can distinguish so easily. Even now, I can't really tell the difference between patients and healthy people with my eyes."
"If you can't feel the difference, then keep trying until you can."
"No... Something like that can't be achieved through effort..."
"Have you tried? I have."
"......"
At Sosia's question, Joyeon was at a loss for words. He understood what she meant to some extent.
"Joyeon, in the three months since this world changed, I've learned one thing. This world is like a very honest game. If you hone and polish something, it becomes your power. Just like how I learn and use various skills, don't waste your magic—train it constantly. I'm sure your eyes will eventually be able to see much more."
Unable to say anything in response to Sosia's perfectly reasonable words, Joyeon simply nodded.
Finishing her talk, Sosia returned to her duties, while Joyeon, Ati, and Tiasia settled into a corner of the ER.