Chapter 104
Translator: uly
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Lycanthrope (7)
With Yi-hwa's suggestion, everyone except Il-han piled into the motel owner's SUV and Mr. Kim's taxi and headed out.
The destination was undoubtedly the house where Mi-hee and Da-hee lived.
Left alone, Il-han headed into the funeral home to keep watch over Seol-mi's vigil, as Na-rae had asked him to.
Standing in front of the table where he had been sitting before the commotion started, Il-han scratched his head.
"Huh? I swear I left the tablet PC right here."
'Did I leave it somewhere else?'
With that thought, Il-han looked around everywhere, but it was nowhere to be seen.
The tablet PC contained footage of the Dae-seong University Hospital incident, including the action scene where Kim Byung-su the reporter and Yi-hwa had just battled zombies.
On top of that, it had footage of the red-haired woman who seemed to be the culprit.
"Did I leave it outside by any chance?"
With no trace of the tablet PC anywhere in the vigil room, Il-han wondered if he'd left it outside.
If that tablet ended up in the hands of a civilian, it would cause a huge uproar.
That realization made his heart race.
"Gotta go check quick."
Thanks to the bespectacled man kicking him in the groin multiple times, walking was still painful, but Il-han shuffled out of the funeral home at a surprisingly brisk pace.
Outside, ambulances were packed in front of the emergency room on the first floor of the main hospital building a short distance away.
Paramedics and ER staff were transporting injured people on gurneys from the ambulances.
Lying on the gurneys were men in police special forces gear.
He could see the insignia of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's special forces unit.
"Huh? What's that?"
Shocked by the sight of special forces officers in the same blue uniforms being carried out of ambulances one after another and wheeled into the ER, Il-han quickened his steps.
"What happened? Fourteen ambulances, ten fire department rescue vehicles, one injured per vehicle—that's twenty-four total. Did a war break out or something? I've never seen or heard of twenty-four special forces guys in tactical gear getting injured like this..."
Il-han was still calculating useless details even as he ran.
"Come to think of it, even though they're on gurneys, none of them look dead. Is Se-kwon hyung in there too? At this rate, our precinct's special forces team will be out of commission. But why bring them here instead of the police hospital?"
Il-han hurried along, organizing his thoughts like an epic saga.
Se-kwon, his senior from three years ahead at the police academy, worked in the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's special forces unit.
Il-han was worried about his senior Se-kwon and curious about what had left the special forces in such a state.
"Hey, mister, get out of the way."
An ER staffer snapped at Il-han as he poked around between the ambulances.
"Ah, I'm not just some mister—I'm with the regional investigation squad. Police."
The ER staffer looked Il-han up and down and smirked.
"Yeah, sure. Police. There's already a ton of cops here..."
Il-han peered seriously between the ambulances and replied gravely.
"Yeah, there sure are a lot. So what's going on?"
The staffer looked him up and down again, barely suppressing a laugh as they answered.
"You're the guy who got hit there before, right? Lucky for these guys, it wasn't there like you—it was just their legs. They all came in with broken legs. Well, one just has a broken pinky toe. Heh heh. Oh, sorry, not laughing. Heh."
They insisted it wasn't laughter while laughing nonstop.
ER staff weren't supposed to laugh on duty, of course.
But since they were laughing, the situation didn't seem as dire as he'd feared, so Il-han relaxed a bit.
'Why do they keep looking me up and down and laughing?'
The staffer's gaze on his groin was uncomfortable.
Il-han moved away from the staffer and slipped between the ambulances.
"You!"
Spotting the bespectacled man howling in pain on a gurney, Il-han chased after him in surprise.
"Hey, specs! You're Manager Kim, right?"
As Il-han ran toward the bespectacled man, someone grabbed his arm.
"You? Il-han, right? Did that woman get you too and send you to the hospital?"
It was a familiar voice.
Il-han turned to see the man holding his arm: Special Forces Captain Ko Se-kwon.
"Yeah, Se-kwon hyung! You're safe. But that guy really is Manager Kim, right?"
Se-kwon shook his head at the question.
"That's not Manager Kim. That's Deputy Director Song. NIS Deputy Director Song Byung-ho. Y'know, the same Song Deputy Director who said he was in command during the Dae-seong University Hospital incident. Manager Kim is that guy."
Se-kwon pointed to a man in a black suit following the bespectacled man.
Only then did Il-han realize the bespectacled man had lied about his position too.
"That bastard—everything about him was a lie."
"What? He lied about his identity to you? He's a white agent, so he didn't need to lie. Weird. Anyway, what are you doing here?"
Fortunately, Se-kwon looked unharmed in all his limbs.
* * *
Back at Seol-mi's vigil with Se-kwon, Il-han searched every corner for the tablet PC, but it was nowhere to be found.
Giving up, they went back outside, and Se-kwon sat on a bench in front of the ER and asked,
"What are you looking for? And how do you know Deputy Director Song?"
By now, NIS agents and local police from nearby stations were blocking journalists and civilians from entering the ER area.
Instead of answering, Il-han turned the question back on Se-kwon.
"What the hell happened? Why'd they all come in hopping around like birds with broken legs?"
Se-kwon scratched his head sheepishly.
"We've been taking out zombies under Deputy Director Song's command for a while now. Our team got pulled in because we had experience facing zombies at Dae-seong University Hospital. Probably to keep security tight."
Il-han asked in surprise,
"Zombie extermination? So you broke your legs exterminating zombies?"
"Nah, no incidents during the actual zombie hunts. It was like target practice. But this time, some woman got us, and that's how we ended up like this."
"A woman?"
"Yeah. She's something else. If she wanted to kill us, she could've snapped our necks easy, but she only broke our legs. And for Deputy Director Song, who was begging for his life, she just twisted his pinky toe. Real weird woman."
Il-han cocked his head and asked,
"But why bring them here instead of the police hospital?"
Se-kwon jerked his chin toward the ER.
"Song said the police hospital has Dae-seong University Hospital patients in quarantine, so come here. Probably to avoid agitating the patients?"
"..."
"Or maybe because it's close to NIS headquarters. Anyway, that's how it went."
After listening and thinking for a moment, Il-han clenched his teeth as realization dawned.
"That bespectacled Deputy Director Song picked this place because it's close to NIS and easy to seal off."
As he finished speaking and looked up, he saw a procession of black vans that looked like ops vehicles and military trucks packed with soldiers streaming in.
"They're gonna quarantine this place and turn it into a temporary camp."
As Il-han said, compared to the police hospital downtown, this Gangnam hospital—though in Gangnam, located in a quieter outskirts area—was easier to quarantine and set up a temp ops camp.
"This place is about to get locked down. Your team won't be able to run ops anymore, so they'll quarantine you here too. Including you, hyung. Maybe even the patients here..."
Some of the headlights from the convoy heading toward the main building swerved toward the funeral home.
Sure enough, soldiers and NIS agents were coming to quarantine the place.
Se-kwon's face darkened as he grasped the situation.
"Deputy Director Song, that bastard. Used us up and now wants to lock us away here."
The intense headlights from the vehicle convoy swept over the bench where Il-han and Se-kwon sat.
* * *
In the living room of Mi-hee and Da-hee's house, Baekho and Da-hee sat in a circle with Yi-hwa's group from the Gangnam hospital funeral home.
With so many people, they opted to sit on the floor instead of the sofa for the discussion.
Baekho sat next to Mi-hee and Da-hee, with Yi-hwa standing behind him.
Shrecken sat on all fours next to Na-rae, gnawing on LA ribs Da-hee had given him.
Dressed in Baekho's clothes, he looked no different from a human.
Byung-su sat next to Na-rae, and across from him sat Dong-su alone.
A magpie perched on Dong-su's shoulder, rolling its eyes warily at the people opposite.
The motel owner and taxi driver Mr. Kim had apparently left.
Mi-seon clutched the sealed sword tightly and huddled behind Yi-hwa, looking quite intimidated.
"Looks like you're Dong-su the won-gwi. Nice to meet ya. I was in a real pickle after losin' that sword, so thanks for findin' it."
The seasoned Baekho put on a folksy act to claim ownership of the sealed sword.
Yi-hwa beamed, clearly pleased with Baekho's words.
Looking at Mi-seon behind Yi-hwa, Dong-su said quietly,
"I don't care who it originally belonged to. I'm in a hurry right now, so let's settle this quick."
Yi-hwa smiled at Dong-su, who seemed ready to jump up and fight any second.
"Hey, Dong-su. Where are you in such a rush to go with this sword? It's full of evil energy—bad for spirits like you and me to be near it."
With that, Yi-hwa turned to the magpie on Dong-su's shoulder.
"Aim, you seem to know what this sword really is. Tell us straight—what the hell is this thing?"
The magpie pointed a wing at Mi-seon as it replied to Yi-hwa.
"That sword? Don't know who made it, but I know what it's made of. Why? You want it too, virgin ghost?"
Mi-seon, who had been holding the sealed sword, jumped up in surprise when the magpie pointed at her and spoke.
Yi-hwa turned, smiled reassuringly at the cowed Mi-seon, and soothed her.
"Dear, sit down. It's just a talking magpie. You got startled because a bird talked, huh? It's okay. I'll call it a rascal for you."
Calmed by Yi-hwa, Mi-seon sat back down hunched over.
The magpie chattered incredulously at Yi-hwa's words.
"Rascal? You'll call me rascal? What? Go on, call me rascal! Cheeky virgin ghost. Why do you talk down to everyone?"
Ignoring the magpie's protesting chatter, Yi-hwa said,
"Rascal magpie! How's that? Hahaha. Aim, you say I talk down to everyone, but you're no different. Enough with the manners. Tell us about this sword."
Da-hee giggled at the exchange between the magpie and Yi-hwa, then asked Dong-su,