Chapter 99: Dragon Palace Hospital (5)

5. Additional Variables

The reasons these variables occur are believed to include destruction of facilities and a decrease in causality within the ghost story, though not every cause has been identified with certainty.

The resulting variables can broadly be divided into the following categories.

5―1) Failed Specimens Running Amok

5―2) The Dragon King Approaches

Su-myeon looked at the rabbit monsters—or rather, the failed specimens—sitting upright without moving a muscle.

Under normal circumstances, they did not go out of their way to threaten others.

Though the fact that most of them happened to be dressed as nurses was deeply unsettling.

Su-myeon carefully grabbed the hems of Cheshire’s and Ju-hee’s clothes and slowly backed toward the door.

As quietly as possible.

Taking care not to provoke them, the three slipped out and even closed the door behind them.

Just in case, Su-myeon hooked the nearby IV stand through the door handle so it would not open easily.

“.......”

A brief silence followed.

When the failed specimens showed no particular reaction and the area remained quiet, Ju-hee let out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, it seemed they had no intention of following them.

Su-myeon relaxed as well.

3―4) Failed Rabbit Specimens

Failed specimens created when the Shadowless Lamp Jellyfish attempted to make something but ultimately failed.

Most appear to have lost their sensory organs and do not respond to ordinary external stimuli.

Even if touched, most will simply ignore it, but in the event that they run amok, they will attack in a swarm, so caution is advised.

No conditions known to trigger such an outbreak have been clearly confirmed aside from those listed in section 5.

In theory, there was no need to be this careful.

But there was always the possibility of an exception.

If they accidentally triggered something they had yet to discover, it would be a serious problem.

As they moved farther away from that operating room and headed toward the next one, Su-myeon said,

“For now, I don’t think we did anything in particular to provoke them, and the survivor we’re looking for wasn’t there either, so let’s move on.”

The three continued checking operating rooms after that, but aside from picking up a few useful supplies, they found nothing of particular value.

When they returned to the elevator yet again, the three sighed as it once more stopped after going up exactly one floor.

Then, as if that were not enough, even the elevator lights suddenly went out.

They stepped out of the now-dark little compartment and sighed again as they stared at the elevator, which had gone completely dead.

Click― Click, click―

No matter how many times they pressed the buttons, the elevator would not light up.

“What’s wrong with this thing now....”

If the elevator was unusable, taking the emergency stairs here would also be difficult.

Just as they had already seen on the floor below.

The moment they opened the door, there would be a Shadowless Lamp Jellyfish directly in front of them.

At Ju-hee’s troubled voice, Su-myeon turned and looked deeper inside the floor.

Apparently, getting upstairs would not be easy this time either.

And the clue to getting out was probably somewhere in here.

[B1]

Only one floor remained before they reached ground level.

And this floor contained what Su-myeon thought was the most likely place for a missing person to be.

[On-Call Room]

Of all the places they had passed so far, wasn’t this the most likely place for Jae-hak to be?

In the game Su-myeon had played, there had even been simple food there and plenty of space to rest.

“.......”

With a faint hope, Su-myeon cautiously opened the door.

Someone was lying inside.

A white coat stained so deeply reddish-brown that it was impossible to guess how long it had gone without being washed.

Even the blue scrubs beneath it, which should once have been clean, were filthy.

His hair had gone unkempt for so long that it was hopelessly tangled, and his face was gaunt.

A man lay curled awkwardly on the sofa, asleep with a pained expression.

“.......”

No.

Was he even human?

Watching the man breathe regularly, Su-myeon checked his identity once again through his left eye.

Whether he looked with his left eye or his right, he appeared exactly the same.

Just an ordinary person.

If anything, an extremely filthy one.

Could this perhaps be Young-cheol’s friend, Yoon Jae-hak?

While Su-myeon and Ju-hee remained cautious, Cheshire suddenly reached out.

“Hey.”

He simply grabbed the man’s shoulder and woke him.

“Aaaagh!”

The man jolted awake and began screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Aagh! No! Stop! Leave me alone! Leave me alone!”

Screaming, he desperately slapped Cheshire’s hand away from him.

It was obviously the behavior of someone who had suffered severe trauma and shock, so Su-myeon pulled Cheshire back slightly.

“Wait, calm down. Are you Yoon Jae-hak?”

“Ugh.... Uh.......”

The man, who had been thrashing his arms and legs as though having a seizure, froze at Su-myeon’s words.

Only then did he finally open the eyes he had been squeezing shut.

He looked around at the three people standing before him, then spoke in a somewhat calmer voice.

“H-How... do you know me.... Who are......?”

He still looked confused, but Su-myeon did not miss the opportunity and took out what he had brought with him.

If this really was Yoon Jae-hak, that would be incredibly fortunate.

Of course, rescuing any survivor would have been fortunate no matter who they were.

But inevitably, Su-myeon was a little happier at the thought that he might be Young-cheol’s friend.

“You know someone named Kim Young-cheol, don’t you?”

Su-myeon handed him a photograph of Young-cheol and the short letter Young-cheol had written.

Most people who had survived inside ghost stories for a long time had managed to do so through their own methods.

Convincing someone like that to abandon the rules that had kept them alive and leave usually required a lengthy explanation.

“.......”

But Jae-hak was Young-cheol’s close friend.

If they gave him information about Young-cheol, it would be much easier to move his heart.

Just as Su-myeon expected, the moment the man saw the photograph and letter, he immediately began sobbing like a child.

For someone who had endured such a horrific place alone for so long, learning that there was still a friend outside waiting for him must have been an enormous comfort.

Jae-hak clutched the photograph and letter for a long time, lost in thought, before finally asking,

“That bastard Young-cheol... is he doing well?”

“Dr. Young-cheol is working with us now.”

Working with them?

Seeing that Jae-hak’s expression clearly demanded more explanation, Ju-hee continued.

She explained who they were and just how desperately Young-cheol had wanted to rescue him.

Everything.

“He always wanted to save you, Mr. Jae-hak. And now we’ve come here to get you out.”

When Ju-hee added that, Jae-hak, who had nearly been choking on his sobs, scrubbed his face roughly with his sleeve.

He was moved by his friend’s loyalty, and the possibility that he could finally leave gave him hope.

But....

“The elevator going up has stopped, and there’s some bizarre monster on the stairs....”

He already knew certain things about this place, so hesitation remained.

Over the course of more than a year, he had met several other survivors.

There had been a few nurses and patients who had been swept into this place before him, and for a short time they had relied on one another and survived together....

“They all... every single one of them, that horrible lamp monster.......”

They must have been turned into “failed specimens.”

If Jae-hak had witnessed all of that, Su-myeon could understand the overwhelming fear he carried.

A human body being torn apart right before his eyes.

Especially the face.

How many people in the world could watch a person’s face being ripped apart like paper and still summon the courage to move forward?

If they had simply died instantly, perhaps someone could have forced themselves to act through sheer madness.

But the humans torn apart like that did not even die.

They became failed specimens and were laid out side by side in the room next door.

“For now, come with us. I know why the elevator stopped.”

A brief spark of hope appeared in Jae-hak’s expression at Su-myeon’s words.

The problem was that the solution was neither simple nor easy.

“......There’s an area drawing too much power.”

No matter how difficult it was, if they wanted to get out, their only option was to try.

***

Now a group of four, they carefully made their way down the corridor and deeper inside.

Beside the on-call room was another room labeled Special Management Room.

It appeared to be the final room, and even its entrance was covered with countless machines tangled together in masses of cables.

“...D-Do we really.... Do we really have to go in there...?”

Jae-hak asked, unable to hide his fear as his entire body trembled violently like a leaf.

From beyond the door, which could not even close because of the cables running through it, came the breathing and heartbeat of something enormous.

“......It’s in there, isn’t it?”

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

They drew their weapons again, and Su-myeon carefully opened the door.

Hundreds of IV tubes and electrical cables.

Every single one led toward one thing.

Something whose entire body was connected to every imaginable form of life-support equipment, including an oxygen respirator.

A gigantic mass of flesh that could hardly be called human, like a patient who had fused with the hospital building itself.

The master of this ghost story, endlessly rotting while receiving transplants of fresh organs stolen from various monsters.

'The Dragon King....'

Despite his title as the king of dragons, he looked like nothing more than a completely crushed mass of slime.

His body was so lumpy and shapeless that Su-myeon could not help wondering whether he even had bones.

While they watched the Dragon King warily.

Su-myeon and Cheshire carefully approached it.

Blood vessels, IV tubes, and cables were tangled together everywhere, but most of them ultimately led to a huge machine beside the Dragon King.

The machine had a red button that unmistakably looked like a power switch, along with a lever that had to be pulled downward.

'At the same time.'

Su-myeon placed his hand on the button and silently emphasized the words to Cheshire once again with the shape of his mouth.

Cheshire nodded.

Then Cheshire grabbed the lever.

Su-myeon and Cheshire watched one another carefully.

And moved at the same time.

Just as expected, the life-support system shut down and the cacophony of machinery stopped all at once.

Thunk―

A moment later, the sound of some enormous machine starting up echoed through the building.

Su-myeon was certain it was the elevator beginning to operate again.

Then all they had to do now was get back as quickly as possible....

“......Su-myeon?”

At Cheshire’s sudden call, Su-myeon turned his head.

At some point, not only had the mechanical noise filling the room stopped.

The Dragon King’s breathing and heartbeat had stopped as well.

That much had been within Su-myeon’s expectations.

But....

“.......”

His gaze met the Dragon King’s wide-open eyes.

Su-myeon had not even realized there were eyes there.

They were disgustingly huge.

And horribly clear.

Caught off guard by the unexpected eye contact, Su-myeon hurriedly said,

“Let’s go. Now!”

According to Su-myeon’s calculations, they should originally have had a little more time.

When the life-support system suddenly shut down, the Dragon King would normally lose consciousness and remain unconscious for a while.

There should also have been rare items nearby, things like the Dragon King’s Elixir, and Su-myeon had only been thinking about grabbing them quickly before leaving.

“Run to the elevator!”

Su-myeon shoved Jae-hak forward and hurried out of the Special Management Room.

The Dragon King, whose body had been little more than a single mass, began twisting violently as though having a seizure.

The blood vessels tangled around it like cables tore loose, and fountains of black-red blood sprayed in every direction.

And that was not the end of it.

Under the tremendous force, bundles of blood vessels that had grown across the walls like vines were ripped away in masses, bringing the wall down with them.

Boom!

“Damn it!”

Fortunately, the group had just made it out of the Special Management Room, so no one was injured.

But the problem was that the wall had been “destroyed.”

Damage to the facilities inevitably brought consequences.

“No...!”

They had moved as quickly as they could, but the failed specimens were one step faster.

Behind them was the Dragon King.

And in front of them were dozens of failed specimens that had smashed through the door.

“Aah... Aaaagh! No.... No, I don’t want to die like this. I don’t want to die!”

On top of that, Jae-hak’s condition began deteriorating the moment he saw the failed specimens.

They were surrounded by monsters from both directions.

There was no other way.

Only one option came to Su-myeon’s mind.