Chapter 94: Crossed Paths (4)

[Shinui Hospital Nurse Night-Shift Rules]

These rules were written for the safety of night-shift workers and the smooth operation of the ward. Be sure to familiarize yourself with them before beginning your shift, and external disclosure is strictly prohibited.

1. Before the night shift change, be sure to accurately record the number of patients in each room and any unusual conditions in the handover log.

2. Nighttime medication must be administered at the designated time and in the correct dosage after confirming the patient’s identity (name, registration number).

3. If a patient call bell rings, proceed to the corresponding room without delay, determine what is needed, and take appropriate action.

4. As an exception, if a call comes from Room 666, do not respond and switch the receiver to silent mode. Never answer it or hang up. There is no Room 666 in this hospital.

5. In the event of an emergency such as cardiac arrest, immediately announce a Code Blue and secure cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment.

6. Narcotics and psychotropic medications such as sleeping pills and painkillers must be stored in a safe with a double-locking mechanism, and the quantities must be checked at every shift change.

7. The corridor lighting in the ward must be maintained at an appropriate level, and under no circumstances should the entire corridor be left dark. If, due to unavoidable circumstances, all corridor lights have been turned off, immediately use the stairs and go up to the lobby.

8. Immediately after taking over the shift, check the power status and operation of the major medical devices and monitoring equipment within the ward.

9. If a patient is seen crawling on all fours through the corridor, do not react excessively and behave as you normally would. If the patient appears to be in a state of extreme agitation, close your eyes, sit down where you are, and wait until it has completely passed.

10. Refrain from using personal electronic devices inside the station while on duty, and strictly observe proper hand hygiene before and after contact with patients.

The people who had read through the rules exchanged glances.

This was way too typical, wasn’t it?

Su-myeon had also realized exactly what kind of ghost story had taken root here.

However, there were rules that were obviously strange no matter who looked at them, so Su-myeon asked again.

“Have you never thought that Rules 4 and 9 were strange?”

At Su-myeon’s question, the nurses exchanged glances as well.

They all seemed to think it was nothing particularly serious.

“They are strange. But sometimes hospitals just have things like that.”

“In the case of Rule 4, maybe it’s something like a bug in the computer system where entering a specific value causes the server to go down?”

“Right. If fixing something like that costs too much money, sometimes they just make the users put up with the inconvenience.”

“And in the case of Rule 9, it could be something like a long-term patient from the psychiatric ward who was admitted after making a huge donation.”

They said that Rule 4 was actually the sort of thing they encountered from time to time, but no one had ever experienced anything related to Rule 9.

Some of them simply assumed it was an old rule that had never been revised.

“You just... accept explanations like that...?”

Ju-hee asked again with an expression that said she could not understand it.

They were hardly normal rules, but the nurses merely shrugged.

“I don’t even know how long they’ve been around. They were just... already here when our head nurse first started working here, so they’re really old rules.”

“When I first saw them, I did think some of the contents were a little creepy. But I never paid much attention to them.”

“We’re too busy for that.”

Even during this short conversation, the nurses repeatedly stopped talking to check documents before continuing.

Now that Su-myeon had completely figured out the identity of the ghost story rooted here, he decided to wrap up the conversation.

“What time does the night shift begin?”

“After the evening shift change. From 11 p.m. until 7 a.m. the next morning.”

“Then we’ll come back during tonight’s night shift. Please let tonight’s team know in advance as well.”

At Su-myeon’s words, the nurses simply nodded as though that was fine.

An official notice had already come down from higher up telling them to cooperate with whatever the investigation team requested, so the nurses had no particular reason to pry into why.

They were curious, but they were not idle enough for that.

Leaving the busy nurses behind, the group took the elevator down this time.

Just as the shaman had suspected, there was definitely a ghost story here.

“Do you know what kind of ghost story it is?”

At Ju-hee’s question, Su-myeon nodded.

“I’ve seen those exact same rules before. Once we get back to the office, I’ll organize the material and tell you the additional rules.”

“...Then is there a good chance my friend is there too?”

When Young-cheol asked cautiously, Su-myeon thought for a moment.

There was no way to be certain.

“It would make sense to assume he fell into a ghost story that was nearby.”

Su-myeon had deliberately left the possibility open, but Young-cheol’s expression still became slightly agitated.

Seeing his face, Su-myeon added as they stepped out of the elevator.

“I’m telling you this just in case, but you can’t come into the ghost story with us.”

Young-cheol’s expression turned complicated at Su-myeon’s words.

“But if we’re going to find my friend, having me there would.......”

“If you aren’t outside, Doctor, the people going in won’t be able to feel at ease.”

For now, it was best to keep Young-cheol somewhere safe if possible.

Besides, the team entering White Night Land would also be going in at midnight tonight.

Since there was no telling which side might end up with injured people, he needed to remain at the office.

“Haa.... If that’s how it’s going to be, they should at least expand the medical team. Every time, it’s only the field teams they send straight into the jaws of death....”

Apparently, Young-cheol felt uncomfortable being the only one safely staying behind when they were all in the same boat.

Su-myeon, on the other hand, thought it was only natural, since even in games it was common sense to keep the healer all the way in the rear.

“Don’t forget that I’m alive because you saved me in the first place.”

Young-cheol added, looking Su-myeon straight in the eye.

That did not really sound like something a doctor should be saying in a hospital lobby....

It was a little burdensome, but it was also true, so Su-myeon scratched the back of his head and answered.

“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen this time either.”

“When has there ever been a time when nothing happened? What are you talking about?”

“Ah, considering the situations we’ve been through, everyone coming back alive counts as nothing happening.”

Su-myeon waved a hand and spoke curtly out of sheer embarrassment.

While the two of them were having that conversation, Sa-rin asked Ju-hee a question.

“So are you going into that ‘ghost story’ tonight?”

“Ah, yes. I think so.”

“Is it... very dangerous?”

Ju-hee hesitated for a moment before answering Sa-rin’s question.

That hesitation was as good as an affirmative, and Sa-rin thought for a moment.

“What time do you think you’ll leave?”

“We’ll probably leave the office around ten.”

It was still the middle of the day, so they would first organize the rules as thoroughly as possible.

Then, after everyone managed to get at least a little sleep, they would head out.

“Okay. I’ll stop by again before then.”

“Ah, about that.”

“I know. I can’t go in.”

As expected of a shaman.

As though she already knew what Ju-hee was about to say, Sa-rin answered before her and hurried away.

They had no idea why she said she would come back again, though.

“Let’s all head back to the office.”

At Su-myeon’s words, Young-cheol and Ju-hee also left the hospital.

***

“.......”

Su-myeon was dreaming.

The moment he realized that, he let out a deep breath.

Bubbles filled his vision as they rose with a gurgling motion.

'Is this a lucid dream....'

Immediately after returning from the hospital, every employee had pitched in to organize the rules of the ghost story Su-myeon had identified.

After leaving the cross-checking and judgment to the support team, he had finally managed to secure a precious little bit of time to get some sleep.

And of all things, it had to be a lucid dream.

The thought that he would still be tired even after waking up filled him with despair.

“.......”

With that thought, Su-myeon looked around more carefully.

His surroundings looked like very deep underwater, but it was not completely pitch-black.

Just like an underwater filming scene from a drama, a single beam of blue light streamed down from above.

By contrast, when he looked downward, the water stretched endlessly into a depth so dark and distant that it sent a chill through him.

The fact that he could breathe was the strangest thing of all.

And although he seemed to be quite deep underwater, even when he stretched out his hand, he felt no more pressure than he would in a shallow swimming pool.

'Should I go up?'

Out of habit, Su-myeon decided that the direction the light was coming from must be up, when something fluttered past the edge of his vision.

A jellyfish?

He followed the translucent something with his eyes, and the object came into clearer view.

'......Clothes...?'

A light, flowing piece of fabric with long, trailing sleeves.

Unlike the white end, the translucent cloth gradually became stained red, and Su-myeon followed it with his eyes.

A red jeogori and the elaborate layers of a hanbok skirt came into view.

It felt as though they were slowly wrapping around him while circling his body.

Who the hell was this....

Feeling a slight chill and an eerie coldness, Su-myeon slowly shifted his gaze.

A neatly tied ribbon. A nape that looked blue beneath the water’s light. And then....

“......!”

Two eyes, blackened with rot and hollowed out.

Bubbles burst noisily from Su-myeon’s mouth in shock.

The flesh, swollen after being submerged in water for a long time, had gone beyond merely turning white and was beginning to slough apart.

Looking again, it had not simply appeared blue because of the water.

It was literally a bloodless drowned corpse.

The mere sight of such a thing in front of him was horrifying, but he could not even retreat.

Its clothes had already wrapped themselves around Su-myeon.

To escape, he would have to reach out and push the fabric away with his own hands.

But he absolutely did not want to touch it directly.

He had no idea what he was supposed to do.

The thing’s head, which had been floating as though surrendered to the current, moved.

It was not simply being swayed by the water. There was no way he had imagined it.

“.......”

When it stared at Su-myeon through its hollow eyes, his body froze as though it had turned to ice.

Its tightly closed jaw slowly began to open.

Help me!

***

“Gasp!”

Su-myeon shot upright, drenched in cold sweat.

Before he could even properly sit up and catch his breath, something sharp and stinging struck him across the face.

“What the—ugh....”

PTOO! PTOO!

Su-myeon furiously wiped around his mouth at the salty taste he felt on his tongue.

“Are you okay?”

Standing right in front of him was Sa-rin, relentlessly throwing salt at him.

Having tasted it, there was no way he could mistake what it was.

“Stop! Stop! What are you doing all of a sudden?!”

“Seriously, where did you go and pick up such bad energy? You were perfectly fine earlier. This is ominous.”

He had no idea what exactly she thought was wrong.

Su-myeon sighed at Sa-rin’s behavior as she actually circled around him, continuing to scatter salt.

“First, what time is it? And why did you come back here?”

Seeing Su-myeon speaking while being pelted with salt, Ju-hee answered with an expression caught between whether she should laugh or not.

“It’s almost ten now. I think we should start getting ready to leave, and Ms. Sa-rin came to give us talismans.”

“Just in case.”

Only then did Sa-rin stop throwing salt and hand Su-myeon a yellow talisman folded down to about the size of a fingernail.

Su-myeon looked at the talisman, which had been folded so many times that the paper felt stiff, then shoved it into his pocket.

Since she really had sensed the ghost story.

Apparently there was some kind of connection between it and the spiritual realm as well, so there was no harm in accepting it.

“Anyway, thank you. What about Cheshire? Is he awake?”

Su-myeon stood up from the sofa while brushing the salt off his entire body.

A drawn-out voice answered his question.

“Nooo....”

It was a denial, but the person who had answered was Cheshire himself.

Seeing him yawn repeatedly and make it painfully obvious how sleepy he was, Su-myeon asked again.

“If you really don’t want to go, we can still switch someone else in right now.”

“Nooo.... I’m just saying I’m sleepy.”

Why do you have to be so uptight about everything?

Cheshire’s attitude did not exactly inspire confidence, but Su-myeon had a reason he needed to bring him along.