As I heard that explanation, I could barely dredge up from the fog of mory the information related to the munyoeo.
There was a fish with a madness-healing effect. But that effect...
‘Did it only trigger with a 1% chance in the ga system?’
And even then, it did nothing against madness beyond a certain threshold.
I also vaguely recalled that with dical traits, one could make a more potent dicine.
Having gathered my thoughts to that point, I offered her a polite smile and greeting.
“Is that so? Thank you for the clear explanation.”
“Oh, not at all—”
She laughed sheepishly and scratched her head. Glasses, a long mop of unkempt curly hair, a shabby tracksuit under a loosely worn doctor’s coat.
‘So this is Lee Haseo. Looks like she’s still employed here.’
Lee Haseo is one of the hospital’s doctors. She was one reason I detoured to the North Wing—I wanted to confirm whether she was still on staff.
‘Like most NPCs, she can provide quite useful services depending on the route.’
However, if certain events or probabilities unfold, she might be expelled from the hospital—and then beco a villain, unleashing surreal disasters.
‘Fortunately, I t her before she beca a villain.’
If I can build rapport with her, I’ll gain significant benefits—because she possesses the ability to heal diseases and wounds.
She can even cure ntal illnesses under certain conditions.
“......”
Well, she is a doctor, after all.
But this is the Cthulhu World. The normal is never normal and the impossible becos routine. Lee Haseo’s treatnts are fundantally different from any real-world dical service.
Still, today I’m not here to befriend Lee Haseo... I was about to make my exit when she stepped forward energetically and asked:
“But—how did you do that earlier?”
“Do what?”
“Psychic power? Magic? Sorcery? Illusion magic? It wasn’t just applied to a single person—it was visible to everyone, even those possessed by surreal entities reacted—”
Lee Haseo lood so close I could barely see anything but her face.
“Hmm~ I considered whether you’d released a hallucinogenic gas in the waiting area, but it didn’t seem like that—”
Her words trailed off as she pondered. I stepped back and replied:
“I’m not sure what you an.”
“Is that so? How odd—”
She folded her arms and swiveled her head restlessly. To have deduced true goblin-style illusion magic is no small feat.
‘Now’s my chance to slip away.’
Before she could co up with another thod, soone ca to my aid.
“Doctor! Doctor!”
A nurse ca running from a distance.
“The condition of the patient in Room 308 you saw earlier....”
The nurse glanced at in embarrassnt. The patient’s condition must have changed drastically.
“Oh—really? I was sure that the spiral energy emitted from the crystal would have a beneficial effect, but it’s not that easy.”
“P-Professor, please don’t say that—”
The nurse glanced at again, as if to say, “Please discuss that where others can’t hear.”
“I truly believed that passing the radiation through the crystal’s spiral structure to reforge it would exponentially boost regeneration—but it had no effect? What a pity.”
“No, it’s not that it had no effect...”
The nurse fidgeted. It seed not that there was zero effect, but rather that the effect was too strong or unexpected side effects occurred.
“Ah! I see—! Then let’s hurry and check!”
Lee Haseo’s eyes sparkled as she and the nurse ran off—then she paused and looked back at .
“Oh, you handso—um, solver?”
Who? ?
“You are indeed a solver.”
“Ah, I knew it! If anything strange enters your body or your limbs get severed, co see anyti. Just go to the reception—over there—and ask for Lee Haseo.”
The ‘over there’ she pointed to was simply the reception desk.
“All right.”
“Hehe, I’m really good at removing or inserting things into the body. Anyway, see you again—”
Lee Haseo is a singular presence even in this extraordinary hospital. Among those comfortable with surreal dical thods, she favors the most radical approaches—a mad doctor, indeed.
Judging by her tone, if left unchecked she’ll cause a major incident soon.
“Ah, doctor! Please—”
Pulled away by the nurse, Lee Haseo disappeared amid calls of “You were warned about this before!” and her giggly “Eheh, but you’re really handso—” trailing behind.
I touched my face for a mont.
‘Huh, I sculpted a bland appearance—’
Being told I’m handso is hardly a complint in my current situation. It only makes stand out—but no, that’s not it. It’s because I’ve already invested 20 points in Charisma.
Facial looks are not the priority. I let my hand drop and fumbled in my pocket.
I found sothing I hadn’t had before: a rigid rectangular object. The ID card of Lee Haseo, which I’d slipped away with during our conversation.
Thanks to Lee Haseo’s unexpected approach, I’d achieved most of my North Wing objectives.
‘It wouldn’t have to be hers, but this is the best option.’
Lee Haseo has a high security-clearance level. I can now infiltrate most areas without issue.
‘Now, the next task is—’
The North Wing isn’t just the giant aquarium.
As a place offering surreal dical services, the patients waiting for treatnt here are truly outlandish.
A massive horned man, a four-ard woman, a solver clutching a nacing weapon from anxiety, a sorcerer with a strange shadow cast across his face by a curse, and so on.
Scenes you wouldn’t see even in the back alleys of Geumchon-dong, where criminals, solvers, eccentrics, and other races converge.
‘It’s like Vasiliisa during its heyday.’
Even a short woman I recognized, wielding a thick magical blade that must stand nearly two ters tall—Curtain Call.
‘Well, Seotin’s illness makes sense, but why is Curtain Call here?’
In addition to her blade, she carried an enormous bundle—oh, that’s a person.
“All done? Get well soon and co back.”
Curtain Call tossed her injured charge into the hospital lobby with a curt gesture.
“Ugh—Kolli, please....”
“Ugh—what on earth am I supposed to do?”
“If it’s soone I beat up, I’d leave them to their fate, but I guess he’s a colleague of Tudor’s?”
I spotted other familiar faces, but no one recognized with my altered appearance.
Amid this assembly of distinctive figures, my gaze was drawn to a group...
“......”
They wore monk-like attire, scattered here and there in the lobby, muttering bizarre nonsense.
“...All beings decay by themselves, all beings suffer by themselves, all beings are tornted by themselves, all beings shed their blood by themselves, all beings fall into corruption by themselves, all beings seek death by themselves. Thus all phenona inevitably end in emptiness. In accordance with the teachings of गजशिरः बुद्धः, I shall decay by myself, suffer by myself, be tornted by myself—”
They were not the only ones babbling madness, but their words carried special power.
[System: ‘Banquet Sacrifice’ trait is activated.]
This was a prayer offered to an abyssal entity.
A few onlookers showed discomfort, but in a place packed with so many weird costus and mutterings, that level of strangeness barely registered.
Am I the only one who noticed the problem?
‘Why does the Elephant-Head Buddha suddenly appear?’
Like the Hwanglim Church, these monks are impostors—they do not worship Buddha, but rather गजशिरः बुद्धः, the Elephant-Head Buddha. Problem is, that is an alias of the Predator of the Mountains, a powerful avatar.
“Wait—thinking back...”
The ones subdued by the nurses earlier were created by a sorcery seldom used by the Gourt Expedition or the Elephant-Head sect. It’s the style favored by the race called Māra nighara, worshippers of the Predator of the Mountains’ other alias, the Silent Waiter.
“Damn, could it be they mobilized all the avatars just to get ?”
Even avatars vary in rituals and temperants—they often dislike each other. And yet they’ve united solely to capture ?
[System: ‘Banquet Sacrifice’ trait is activated.]
Ah... So that’s why they charged the hospital entrance so bluntly.
It’s no re speculation—they intend to wage all-out war.
I noticed larvae of strange forms oozing from cracks and hidden corners of the hospital walls.
They look like maggot shapes but are far too large—so over a hand’s length already.
Likely remnants of the Gourt Expedition are waiting sowhere too.
At least three, possibly four... Fortunately, the Predator of the Mountains doesn’t have many avatar bodies—at most five.
All its forces will converge to capture .
‘But is it really to capture ?’
Might they be causing this chaos to prevent from contacting other Banquet Sacrifices?
To be honest, I'd have doubted that eting another sacrifice would yield any solution... but now I’m compelled to et them.
‘It’s about ti they arrived...’
I hadn’t expected this exact scenario, but I suspected trouble would erupt.
Yet I have no desire to waste my power tussling with them.
There are plenty here to fight in my stead.
Moreover...
[System: Enhanced Vigilance activated.]
They’re here. They’ve arrived.
[Fading Identity]
[Phantom Step]
[Shadow Veil]
I cast several stealth spells simultaneously and slipped into a corner of the lobby.
Suddenly, the hospital’s main doors flew open, and an enormous number of n in black suits poured in with military precision.
“What... what is this?”
The patients—solvers—madn—cultists—other races—who had been murmuring in the hospital all backed away and stared at the unexpected guests.
“U-uhhh!”
Those who recognized the newcors scread.
“I-it’s the Managent Bureau!”
“What?! The Managent Bureau?!”
Leading the charge into the hospital as if to seal it off, a woman strode forward.
A super-official who seems more suited to be a maniacal killer than a bureaucrat.
She lifted a large gaphone to her mouth and announced:
“A-a-listen up! The man nad Kim Sinhwa is inside this building!”
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