The Empty Hospital

Mihang recoiled as if she'd been slapped.

"I'm sorry? What did you just...?"

"You heard me just fine. If Slave Number Two goes berserk, kill her."

Mihang stared at Han Mir in stunned disbelief. He had just told her to kill someone as if he were asking her to take out the trash. The hero she had known was a man who always stood for people — not someone who would so casually order a human being put down.

Just what had happened to him after she crossed over into this world?

"M-might I ask why, if that's all right?"

Han Mir glanced at her.

"She's a set of coordinates. A passageway."

"Pardon?"

"I don't know what kind of scheme they cooked up, but she's a medium that lets remnants of the Demon King's army — like you — cross over. She looks human on the outside, but what's inside is a completely different story. She's an otherworldly being, woven together from every kind of magic and sorcery you can imagine."

Mihang still looked lost.

"S-so you're saying that girl is the passageway I used to come to this world? I don't quite understand. To pull something like that off, you'd need all those bizarre magics and rituals you mentioned, Master — and the only one who could manage that would be the Demon King himself..."

She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes going wide.

"Don't tell me... she's from the same world as me?"

"That's right."

Han Mir had seen it. He understood why Park A-yeong kept drawing monsters to her. She wasn't an ordinary human. She was a being forged from the most extreme magic and sorcery he had ever encountered in the Other World — magic so potent it bordered on a curse. She was an artificially created test subject.

That was also why the spider Anomaly had appeared. It had been summoned from the Other World through Park A-yeong.

"They use her power to attract monsters as a way of opening the coordinates and unlocking the passageway. I've sealed it for now, but if that seal breaks, there's no telling how many more monsters will come pouring through. Anyway, remember what I told you."

"Y-yes..."

Mihang nodded and headed home, still looking dazed.

Meanwhile, Lee Si-a was in the bathroom with high-tech equipment spread out around her, watching the entire scene unfold. Thanks to the miniature camera and microphone she'd attached to Han Mir, she could hear and see everything.

Realizing that Han Mir was commanding an Anomaly — and grasping the truth of what Park A-yeong really was — she touched her lips with a trembling hand.

The school erupted into chaos. Park A-yeong had gone around openly declaring herself Han Mir's slave, and gossip exploded from every corner of campus. Han Mir was even hauled into the faculty office and grilled about what he'd done, but he remained unfazed, consistently maintaining that Park A-yeong was doing it of her own free will.

When Park A-yeong herself insisted the same thing — that she'd wanted this — the whole affair ended with nothing more than a warning not to cause a commotion on school grounds.

When the frantic school day finally came to an end, Han Mir packed his things at a leisurely pace. Lee Si-a watched him with uneasy eyes. The contradiction of a so-called hero who kept an Anomaly as a subordinate — and who had so casually ordered Park A-yeong killed if things went wrong — made him feel like a stranger.

She tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, so, uh. We grabbing fried chicken today?"

"No. I've got something to take care of."

He slung his bag over his shoulder, sounding thoroughly uninterested. Lee Si-a clapped her hands together and beamed.

"Ah! Got it. Actually, I've got stuff to do too. I really wanted to walk home with you, though — such a shame! Anyway, I'm busy, so I'll see you later!"

She blurted it all out in a rush and took off. Han Mir shrugged and went on his way without a second thought.

By the time she reached the school gates, Lee Si-a had already changed into her agent uniform and was waiting. She'd already reported the morning's incident to the Management Bureau. Their response: monitor whether Han Mir was using Anomalies to do anything dangerous.

On the surface, it didn't look all that different from her original assignment. But where her original mission had simply been to get close to Han Mir and assess how dangerous he was, this was a step up — close-quarters surveillance, complete with the cloaking function of her agent uniform.

Before long, Han Mir appeared. Lee Si-a watched him, her nerves on edge. He'd said he wasn't going straight home — that he had something to do. Her instincts were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠screaming that whatever it was, it wasn't ordinary.

She worried he might notice her, but he didn't seem to register her cloaked presence at all, too busy heading wherever he was going.

Just what is he planning?

An uneasy feeling settled over her. Last night's events kept circling through her mind, making it hard to focus.

Then Han Mir stopped short and whipped his head around — right in her direction. Lee Si-a dove behind a utility pole on reflex, trying to calm her hammering heart as she peeked out at him. He was still staring at the pole she was hiding behind. Had he spotted her?

"Meow~"

She looked up toward the sound. A cute little all-black cat was stretching its body out in a long, luxurious yawn. Han Mir snorted a quiet laugh and started walking again.

"Whew."

Realizing he'd been looking at the cat and not at her, Lee Si-a let out a sigh of relief.

She threw herself back into tailing him. He took a bus, then transferred to the subway, making a proper journey of it. At last, he stepped into a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠building that appeared to be his destination.

"What? It's a hospital?"

Lee Si-a tilted her head. His body — the same one that punched Anomalies into submission — didn't look like it had a single thing wrong with it. Then again, maybe it was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mental issue. This was a large, well-known university hospital with departments for just about everything, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so it was entirely possible.

And if it was a mental problem, that was a headache all its own. The worst-case scenario the Management Bureau had in mind for Han Mir was him going berserk.

They still couldn't accurately measure the upper limit of his power. He'd dispatched a C-rank with ease, and he'd subdued the spider Anomaly that had just been classified as B-rank. Looking at that, his strength might well reach as far as an A-rank Anomaly.

An A-rank was a threat capable of wiping out an entire city. If someone with that kind of power went on a rampage, the damage would be catastrophic — the kind you couldn't recover from.

Hoping against hope that he was just sick somewhere, Lee Si-a stepped into the hospital.

"Huh?"

She stared blankly at the hospital lobby. The interior was every bit as clean as a hospital should be — the floors practically gleamed. But she couldn't hide her bewilderment. It wasn't the excessive cleanliness that threw her.

There was nobody here.

This was a university hospital that should have been packed with people, yet there wasn't a single soul in the lobby. It was silent as a grave, as if everyone had simply vanished. She felt like the last person left alive in a world that had already ended.

Then a sound shattered the dead silence.

A red light flooded the screen of her wristwatch. Lee Si-a realized instantly that she had fallen into an Anomalous Event.

An Anomalous Event unfolding the moment she followed Han Mir here. She wondered if it might be connected to him, but she wasn't in a position to dwell on that right now.

She took a steadying breath and surveyed her surroundings. There was no Anomaly threatening her, but the deathly silence sent a chill crawling up her spine. Looking again, it was like a hospital in the dead of night — not a sliver of light came through the windows, and the atmosphere was dark and oppressive.

The lights were working, but their glow felt somehow weaker than it should. She pulled on the entrance doors, but of course they were sealed shut.

She'd scrambled to prepare for tailing Han Mir, so her equipment was far from ideal — the worst possible situation. And unlike last time, when she'd been with Han Mir, she was alone. Which meant she had to get through this on her own.

Her heart hammered violently, and she could feel the blood racing through her body. She checked the equipment and supplies she had on hand, then started moving — slowly.

Click. Click. Click.

Her footsteps echoed through the silent lobby, sounding for all the world like someone following her from behind. Fighting off the unpleasant sensation, Lee Si-a headed for the reception counter first. The computer on the counter gave off a faint glow, but she couldn't even make out what was on the monitor.

Lee Si-a kept jotting down notable observations in her notebook as she went.

"Mmph, mmph, mmph!!!"

A faint moan reached her ears. Lee Si-a scanned her surroundings for anyone else, then turned her gaze toward the second-floor corridor accessible via the escalator — and her whole body flinched.

She saw it.

A nurse, wrapped head to toe in bandages like a mummy, dragging a man whose eyes and mouth had been sewn shut with a needle.