Graveyard House (1)
His body had awakened, but his brain was still only half-asleep. His head felt heavy, like the morning after an overly long nap. Nathan caught only half of the explanation being given to him. Still, he clearly recognized the face of the elf who had fitted him with earplugs.
Leaving the patients behind in the disaster spewing from the broken chimney, Nathan staggered forward. Toward the curtain where the pink hair had peeked out.
“Cough—damn it—”
“Doctor! Where’s the doctor! My leg’s broken—I can’t even run!”
Beyond the tightly drawn fabric came the smell of oil. Blood, and the stench of burning flesh as well. Nathan lifted the curtain and stole a glance inside. Then he recoiled for the third time.
In the dim room, severed limbs and bones were mounted on the walls and shelves. Bloodstains dotted the concrete walls here and there. It looked like a slaughterhouse where people were torn apart and dismembered. Of course, if he had observed a little more carefully, he would have realized the silhouettes lined up were not parts of corpses but metal products. The scent of lubricant and paint had nothing to do with the grim dampness of a murder scene. Yet Nathan, worn down by nearly ten days of relentless battle, had no time to correct his misunderstanding.
Nathan peered into the room with eyes wide with horror.
“The bones replaced with alloy are some of the ribs, the clavicle, and up to the shoulder. I left the arms alone like you asked and did my best. Don’t let any more dogs chew on you, and if something goes wrong, come back. I’ll make you a new arm too.”
The tattoo-covered male elf undergoing the procedure gazed in admiration at his shoulder, now rebuilt in chrome. Cables and plates mimicking muscle contours meshed together smoothly.
“You won’t find parts this good even in the rich neighborhoods up top.”
“The parts are similar. It’s the design that’s different. Don’t go picking fights just because you’ve got a better body—”
“I keep telling you, you’re going to get yourself killed, Benny.”
Benny, who had been explaining precautions while reviewing a sketch, wiped away sweat and tossed her welding goggles aside.
“If it bothers you that much, you should’ve said so before I attached the shoulder. The patients coming after you aren’t even Eleim, are they?”
“It’s sincere advice. After running this clinic for over thirty years, you still haven’t learned a thing. If you keep playing the fool in this Graveyard Valley sewer, you’ll just get picked clean until only bones remain.”
“It’s been fifty years now. No one’s touched Graveyard House all this time. I’m confident I’ll stay safe from now on too.”
“Ever bet on arena fighters? At the Great Arena, there’s a truckload of fighters who come strutting in after an undefeated streak in some backwater arena, only to suffer their first loss and die screaming on the very same day. You think you’ll be any different, our pretty Benny? Why don’t you join our crew? We’ll take good care of you.”
“…That’s a forbidden word.”
“Benny’s pissed.”
“Looks like one of the rookies is getting it today.”
Whispers passed behind Nathan. Anxious, yet somehow tinged with anticipation. Patients who had been lying around like rags lifted their heads and their eyes gleamed. Nathan could only see Benny’s back, but even from that back he could feel a chill.
“Get this guy out of here. And bring in the next patient.”
Yet no one moved to help.
“Our organization’s still new, but we’ve got room for someone like you. Our boys are quick, bold, and sharp-eared. They brought back a scary story—want to hear it?”
“I’ve already got more than enough things to be scared of in my life.”
“Word is a Sapiens who escaped the arena fell into the slums. Killed two Eleim in the arena, horribly. Suspicious visitors have been stirring up the slums lately—probably because of that dangerous fellow.”
The thug leaned in and ran a hand over Benny’s hair. The intent to intimidate was obvious. His attitude was completely different from right after the surgery.
“Rumor has it he’s a terrifying guy who beat a six-hundred-kilogram chimera to death with nothing but scrap metal. If he didn’t die, he might end up here. Oh, if I hadn’t warned you, what would’ve happened to our Benny? You might’ve tried to pick up an arena butcher and raise him, only to get bitten. Just play doctor safely under us, yeah?”
Benny. Benny. The name sounded familiar. Nathan, who had been blankly listening to the thug’s words, decided to help even without knowing the full story. To his eyes, Benny looked like she was being threatened in a horrific slaughterhouse.
Nathan flung the curtain aside and tried to rush in. Then he immediately stopped. He couldn’t bring himself to step on the shadows inside the operating room.
“Who the hell are you? Acting all bold coming in, then chickening out—”
The thug who had been sneering at Nathan realized he was staring at the ceiling. The man followed his gaze and looked up. A pitch-black figure with glowing red eyes was looking down at him. Directly above his head. Spider-like limbs grabbed the man’s neck and hauled him upward. The man vanished into the darkness of the ceiling, leaving only a shrill scream. It happened in an instant.
Benny, who had “sent off” her guest, sighed and tidied up the surgical tools. The moment she turned around, her eyes met Nathan’s frozen stare. Pink hair, pink eyes. For a moment, Nathan forgot to think. Such a beautiful face somehow looked worn down by fatigue.
Benny, who had risen while rubbing her dry eyes, immediately snapped at him.
“What are you doing here again? Didn’t I tell you to fix the chimney? Was Chi-gol missing his hook?”
Nathan took a step back. Benny sighed.
“Forget it. Go lie down like a proper patient. Some troublemaker showed up and I took it out on the wrong person. Ramkaf! Bring the next patient—!”
“So, anyone in urgent need of prosthetic limb replacement?”
When the skeleton swept his gaze across the beds, the patients smiled brightly.
“I can wait.”
“Me too.”
“Me too. There’s no one after me anyway, so take your time.”
Suppressed giggles came from all directions. Mocking laughter. It somehow resembled the jeering of arena spectators. Nathan, misreading the situation, tensed his body.
‘They’re just waiting to see when that monster will snatch me up.’
He had wanted to thank them, but perhaps he simply hadn’t had the luxury to act naive. This was a place where crossing the locals could get you killed at any moment. Nathan’s eyes quickly searched for an exit. Right beside him. Nathan ran. Strangely, his body felt light. Much healthier than a few days ago, his front kick smashed straight into the center of the iron door. The entrance burst open, hinges and threshold scattering into the street. Nathan dashed straight out into the road.
The patients who had been eagerly anticipating their conversation stared in shock as Nathan bolted like an arrow. Some even spat out the corn kernels they had been chewing. Damp, cold wind blew in through the broken door and swirled through the ward. Ramkaf, oblivious to the mood, chuckled.
“And so our director’s brief one-sided love has completely turned to dust. The end.”
Benny, who had been staring at the door Nathan had left through with clenched fists, declared in a dry tone, as if chewing sand.
“Just now, three of you. I’m going to collect treatment fees from you lot somehow, so keep that in mind. Ramkaf, I’ll deal with you later. And prosthetic procedures are done for today.”
The curtain slammed shut violently. The patients glanced at one another. An extremely uncomfortable silence settled over the ward. The patient in the bed by the entrance blinked. A pale blue wind swept across his face. A complaint no one would listen to, uttered while holding his breath for fear of drawing glares.
“…The door?”
The chill carried in the rain was anything but natural. Nathan’s mind, which had been halfway to the afterlife, snapped back into place. Having just escaped the warm ward, Nathan was bewildered. The only thing protecting him from the cold was a thin cloth garment fit only for critical patients. That, and the weather itself.
‘Why isn’t anyone chasing me?’
Nathan stopped running and looked back at the door he had destroyed. It felt as though more black monsters, or a group of assassins disguised as patients, would come pouring out at any moment. Yet what met Nathan’s suspicious gaze was—
“Augh, it’s freezing out here. Where you off to, hot-blooded friend? Got somewhere to go?”
Only a lizardian with a crocodile head and gentle eyes. Now that he looked closely, it didn’t resemble a chimera at all.
“If you’re leaving, I won’t stop you, but I’m worried water might get into your wounds.”
“…Why aren’t you tracking me?”
“This guy. How am I supposed to go catch you? I’d collapse if my body temperature dropped.”
When an icy raindrop touched his nose, the cold-blooded lizardian shrank his head back in disgust. The skeleton who had come out to check the situation chimed in.
“Seems there’s been some misunderstanding. It’s understandable if it’s your first visit to Graveyard House. I lose count of how many patients try to escape every year by saying they’re going to the bathroom.”
Bony knuckles rapped against the wall. In the flickering neon sign that looked ready to die, elegant lettering was visible.
“But look here. Treatment fees are always on credit. No exceptions. Feeling reassured now, young man? The same rule applies equally to every patient without discrimination. So come back. If I don’t bring you back, Benny might beat me to death! Damn it, save me—!”
Nathan didn’t believe it. If this slum was the hell he had heard about, the probability of such a place existing seemed lower than world peace arriving.
“It’s not because of the medical bills. I just ran away because I didn’t want to be eaten alive.”
The two staff members stared at each other. Eventually the skeleton’s mouth gaped wide as he smacked his own forehead.
“You said you fought monsters in the arena. You must’ve been terrified seeing that thug get taken away earlier.”
The crocodile head sighed regretfully, like a kind auntie.
“Oh dear, our mascot caused another misunderstanding again. If we say we’re just disciplining family, we’re only trying to scare them a little by taking them away.”
“She throws a fit saying the hospital will go under, so I still don’t get along with Sweetie…”
“That’s because you don’t watch your mouth, Ramkaf.”
Mascot? Sweetie? Nathan stared blankly at the two bickering figures.
“Sweetie? Who?”
Nathan naturally assumed it referred to the pink-haired woman. He couldn’t imagine anyone else being called cute. But the answer that came back was dizzying. The name of that pitch-black monster was—
“Sweetie?”
“I didn’t understand at first either. But you should see how the guy acts cute normally. And how diligently he helps when caring for patients.”
Chimera is Pretty Boy, troll is Dandy. The charity clinic at its peak in the slums is Graveyard House; the monster that crawls out from the shadows when the hospital is in danger is Sweetie. Nathan felt his vision grow distant. Suddenly, the fairy tale he had heard from Aspen came to mind. The story of a girl rich in imagination facing hardship in the world she had built. Perhaps all these absurd trials were something similar. Created by Nathan’s impoverished imagination, which had known nothing but fighting his entire life…
Ptui. A violent sneeze. Nathan clutched his tingling nose. It felt as though a blood vessel might have burst. The price of underestimating the weather. The cold of the rainwater seeping into his bones spoke. If he didn’t warm himself by a fire immediately, it would give him a cold.
“…It’s not a dream.”
“We’re not going to eat you, so at least have a meal before you go. There are people who want to see you.”
Ramkaf laughed good-naturedly, but Nathan remained full of distrust.
“Who?”
The patients had every right to question Nathan. No matter how out of it he was, what was the meaning of breaking the door on such a cold day? If there hadn’t been a stove, sneezes would have echoed throughout the hospital. But Nathan erased that complaint by repairing the door he had broken. A trick of pounding the dented side with his hand to straighten the iron door. No one had the courage to lecture such a person. The main door, fitted without hinges, blocked the wind for now but could no longer be opened or closed. The patients decided to be content with the fact that the back door remained.
In the end, they agreed to have lunch together, but Nathan did not let go of his suspicion. Patients here and there kept glancing at Nathan. Nathan, with a fierce expression as if treating them as potential enemies. The unfortunate fellow patients of Nathan felt their already poor appetites plummet further. Yet it was the same for Nathan. The irresistible aroma of soup simmered from potatoes and vegetables. It was a proper meal he hadn’t encountered in a long time. His stomach churned at the smell of food. It was throwing a tantrum, demanding he settle the debt of all those days of fasting. But Nathan couldn’t bring himself to lift his spoon in peace.
“Thank you so much for saving us.”
“What do you eat to be so strong, mister?”
The words of those over ten years old were at least bearable.
“…Yeah, yeah.”
But the speech of children younger than that carried a dizzying quality, like the devil’s temptation. He had no idea how to respond to that unique language world only their age group possessed.
“What are you, mister? And what are you doing?”
“Did you eat? Oh, you’re eating?”
Nathan was surrounded by children of all races he had rescued. And that fact was terrifying beyond belief.