novelraw Chapter 53 : Chungnam National University Hospital (1)
Chapter 53 : Chungnam National University Hospital (1)
Chapter 53: Chungnam National University Hospital (1)
Great Misfortune: Every 24 hours, you must fight a stronger opponent who holds the rank of at least February.
If he gave up here, it would take several more hours just to reach another field guardian’s area.
The clash with the mad Saintess was troublesome enough, but losing stats was several times more terrifying.
So—
That was the conclusion he came to.
When Yohan flatly rejected the Saintess’s request, the surrounding air changed instantly.
“Is… is he insane…?”
“That man—has he lost his mind?”
“Don’t tell me, he doesn’t even know who the Saintess is? Well, she’s been active mainly in Europe, so maybe…”
The gathered Hunters inhaled sharply.
On the other hand—
“Kuhaha! Now that’s fiery. Lagertha, didn’t I tell you? He carries a warrior’s flame in his chest.”
“Indeed, brother, you were right. Even our warriors usually try to avoid that bunch.”
Lodbrok and Lagertha looked intrigued as they readied for battle.
“……”
Vivian, on the other hand, looked rather indifferent.
“Kyaaaak!”
Park Juhui’s face turned pale as she collapsed on the spot.
Just now, she had practically begged for death herself.
“How sad. I explained so much, and pleaded this sincerely… Do you really have to go there? Even though this hospital harbors an exceptionally strong darkness?”
The Saintess’s expression turned sorrowful.
Tears welled in her eyes.
“How dare you…!”
“To make the Saintess shed tears…”
The paladins beside her drew their weapons.
Golden mist spread, and dazzling holy power began to take shape to annihilate the enemy.
At this rate, a clash was inevitable.
“I have no desire to stand in the way of the Saintess’s noble will. But the reason I must act this way… is because of the Fortune Cookie.”
Yohan spoke again.
“The Fortune Cookie… Don’t tell me, did you draw something special from it?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
[Great Fortune (大吉): Four Apostles have settled in this area, and they worship a single Darkness. The one who draws this fortune shall be guided toward the most righteous path to oppose them.]
[‘Instinct’ has been granted, allowing optimal strategy.]
Somehow, Great Misfortune had turned into Great Fortune.
The Coronation Crown of Louis XV obtained from the Louvre Museum—
It granted the ability Royal Decree, which allowed one to forge official documents.
Of course, it couldn’t change the true effect of the fortune itself, but it was more than enough to alter how it appeared on the surface.
“This is…”
The Saintess’s pupils trembled slightly as she read the contents.
Apostles and Darkness.
Those words overlapped exactly with the revelation she had received from the Vatican.
“So from the moment you drew that Fortune Cookie, the so-called instinct activated?”
“I just felt… that I absolutely had to come here. My senses became… sharper, you could say.”
“I see. Then indeed, you’re qualified to go to this place as well.”
Phew.
That settled nicely—
“But, to confirm whether your intention is truly pure… may I examine just two of your companions?”
Once more, golden light seeped into the Saintess’s eyes.
She was about to use her trait, [Insight into the Heart], which could distinguish good from evil.
There was no way to refuse.
If he did, all the trust he’d just built would shatter instantly.
‘It’s a bit worrying that she specified two people instead of just me…’
After a brief moment of thought, Yohan nodded.
The Saintess stepped closer, right up to Yohan’s face.
Then, gently cupping his cheeks with both hands—
A warm sensation.
Eyes so beautiful they seemed to draw him in.
Crack.
He thought he heard someone grinding their teeth behind him, but… probably just his imagination.
[The Saintess activates ‘Insight into the Heart’!]
After staring into Yohan’s eyes for a while, the Saintess lifted the skill.
She looked—relieved? No, rather displeased, as though the result wasn’t to her liking.
“Is it done?”
“Yes. You truly hold a pure desire to defeat the Darkness. It’s fine. There’s always… the next one.”
The Saintess murmured quietly.
At least that hurdle was cleared.
But the next one—was the real problem.
Her gaze turned toward Vivian.
Anyone could see that Viking warrior, fiddling with her axe, looked nothing but suspicious…
But the Saintess had already made up her mind.
Thus, two smiling madwomen faced each other.
Gulp.
Yohan swallowed dryly.
It wouldn’t be surprising if, in the next moment, the place turned into a sea of blood.
[The Saintess activates ‘Insight into the Heart’!]
Vivian’s alignment was pure evil.
A witch who drained vitality could never receive a verdict of good under that skill.
However—
[The Fortune Cookie ‘Moderate Fortune’ nullifies the target’s trait!]
[One of three uses has been consumed.]
Thankfully, he had prepared for this possibility.
“…That’s rather unexpected.”
“Hm? What part, I wonder?”
At the Saintess’s murmur, Vivian’s lips curved slightly.
“There’s a different scent about you. My intuition rarely fails me, which makes this all the stranger.”
“I’m merely a wanderer following Yohan, nothing more, nothing less.”
“May I confirm that right here and now?”
“If that’s what you wish… then I suppose I must.”
Two smiles slowly encroached upon each other’s domain.
Honestly—he’d rather just fight the boss instead.
This situation felt a hundred times more suffocating than before.
Just then—
“Saintess, we’ve already delayed too long.”
One of the Paladins stopped her.
“Ah, you’re right. It’s already getting dark.”
Dark-attribute monsters grew stronger as midnight approached.
They had to enter the hospital before it was too late.
“Then, I’ll see you inside. May you become a believer who gathers abundant grains until the dawn arrives.”
Leaving that farewell, the Saintess’s expression brightened once more, just like when he first met her.
“Phew. I-It’s over, right?”
“Haah. Thank goodness. Nothing happened.”
The onlookers all sighed in relief.
Just not having to witness another round of torture and execution was already a blessing.
“Hey, shouldn’t we get going too?”
Lodbrok scratched at his palm, itching to swing his axe.
“Before that, we still need to find our sixth and final member.”
The problem was that everyone around them looked ready to bolt, making recruitment anything but easy.
“Hm. Don’t worry about that. While you lot were playing eye-tag with the Saintess, I caught—no, found—someone.”
“No, wait! I’m not a Hunter, I’m just a porter! My main job is hauling loads or mining Magic Stones!”
The man shouted frantically, but Yohan had already approved him in his mind.
After all, there was no one else around.
“What’s your name?”
“Go Hanil.”
“Go Hwan?”
“Not Hwan—Han! Like one, two, three!”
Hmm.
Only one Hwan, huh.
Since Pack Bedro, it’d been a while since he’d heard such a shocking name.
He almost felt pity for what must’ve been a thorny life path.
Still, the man’s job wasn’t half bad.
Porters were often those secretly powerful figures hiding their strength in this world.
He probably had at least one S-rank skill he could pull out in an emergency.
…Or maybe not.
“Well, now that things are like this, let’s trust and rely on each other. It’s dangerous in there, but I can guarantee a fifty percent survival rate!”
“W-what?! Doesn’t that mean half of us die?!”
“Probability is just probability. Isn’t that right, Lodbrok?”
“Khahaha! Well said! Numbers are meaningless—if I’m not the one dying, that’s a hundred percent survival for me!”
“You crazy bastards!”
[Party has been formed. (6/6 members)]
[You will now receive additional benefits for the Episode.]
Good.
Now everything was ready.
＊＊＊
They entered not through the front gate but through the underground parking lot.
“Hm. Why here instead of the main entrance?”
Lodbrok asked, as was only natural.
“It’s just a feeling I got after drawing my Fortune Cookie.”
That was the excuse—but in truth, the main entrance wasn’t the ideal route for this dungeon.
Unless you had a fifty-person raid team, entering through the underground parking lot was far safer for smaller parties.
Yohan scanned the parked cars.
Not that one. Not that one either.
After a few minutes of searching—
Found it.
His gaze fixed on a luxurious white Genesis G80.
Three massive claw marks slashed across the side, as if made by a beast.
Bang!
He smashed the right side mirror first.
Then tugged the passenger door handle three times—once, 1.5 seconds later, and 3.2 seconds after that.
Click!
The car door opened, revealing a card key and an oddly shaped car key on the seat.
“When we go inside, monsters will come out. Don’t fight or make noise—just stay still. Their hearing is sharp, but their vision is relatively poor, so they won’t detect us for a few seconds.”
This hospital had a unique gimmick: during a party’s first hunt, the monster they killed would drop the best possible item.
Even if it wasn’t an Apostle-level foe, they’d need to hunt at least a January-rank monster to make it worthwhile.
So they had to avoid the small fry as much as possible.
Everyone nodded at Yohan’s words.
They reached the white door at the far end of the parking lot, and he scanned the card key.
Beep!
With a cheerful tone, the door slowly opened.
“Gasp!”
“Hic!”
Go Hanil inhaled sharply, while Park Juhui hiccupped.
Understandable—
Anyone seeing the Blade Spider and Corpse Nurse for the first time would react the same way.
“Kkigigigik… kihihit!”
Its upper body resembled a thin human, but its lower half was that of a spider.
It carried long exoskeletal limbs shaped like spears—
That was the Blade Spider.
No matter how many times he saw it, it was terrifying.
The creature itself looked straight out of a horror movie.
Beside it stood a female-shaped monster, holding a rusted 1.5-meter pair of scissors.
Pale skin, and blood dripping from its mouth.
Grk grk grrk.
The scraping of the scissors across the floor pierced their eardrums.
Not yet.
Not yet.
1….
Now!
Yohan quickly pressed the button on the car key.
Beep-beep-beep!
Honk! Honk! Honk!
Cars blared their horns in unison, their headlights flashing bright.
“Kieeeek!”
“Keeeeeh!”
The monsters, drawn by the blinding light and thunderous noise, began to charge madly toward the cars.
Kwang!
Kwakwakwang!
They flipped vehicles over, climbed on top of them, slashing and biting everything in sight.
Anyone caught in that frenzy would have their flesh and bones torn apart in seconds.
“Now!”
Taking advantage of that moment, Yohan dashed inside the building.
Thud!
The door closed again—timed perfectly with the moment all the monsters had swarmed out.
“Were you an employee here? You seem to know everything about this place… even the cars.”
“Amazing. Even among porters, I’ve rarely seen someone this precise with their timing.”
“Khahaha! Shame we didn’t get to fight, but there’ll be plenty of chances ahead!”
“Indeed. An interesting warrior, he is.”
The mood around them shifted completely.
In a raid, where proving one’s worth was essential, everyone naturally began following Yohan’s lead.
[Activating Bloodline Spell ‘Lesser Vampire Bat’!]
“Kyuu!”
“Kkyut!”
Three bats flitted off in different directions to begin scouting.
While Yohan already had the map memorized, he still needed to analyze each monster’s movement patterns through reconnaissance.
Next was—
‘It says we need to burn the doll in the morgue.’
To reach the Apostle’s graveyard, they needed a kind of sacrifice.
The problem was, the monsters guarding the doll were powerful, and the morgue was located in the opposite direction from where the Apostle awaited.
In other words—it was time to play his trump card.
Wasn’t this exactly why he brought Vivian along?
Yohan handed her a note with instructions written on it.
“You’ll have to do this alone. I’m sorry if it feels like I’m asking too much.”
“It’s fine. Following your little games, Yohan, has been such a delight… Truly, every day feels so wonderfully fulfilling lately.”
Vivian’s drowsy eyes trembled slightly.
Hmm. Well, at least she took it positively.
Though… she seemed to be getting stranger by the day.
After Vivian left to search for the doll, the others resumed exploring the hospital.
“The visibility is terrible.”
Park Juhui narrowed her eyes to peer ahead.
Only a few meters of view—
Beyond that lay pure darkness.
The one to step forward was the muscular Viking warrior.
“Stand back! I can handle this!”
Lodbrok grabbed Go Hanil by the waist and lifted him high into the air.
“Let there be light!”
“W-What are you doing!?”
Go Hanil flailed helplessly midair, clueless as to what was happening.
“Strange. Back in my tribe, doing this usually made things brighter. Why isn’t it working?”
“Brother, that only worked on bald warriors. This man still has plenty of hair.”
“My apologies. I forgot.”
“If you understand, then put me down already! I’m getting dizzy!”
Lodbrok, ever straightforward, immediately grabbed Go Hanil by the hair instead.
Everyone’s eyes widened in disbelief—
But “surely not” always became reality in times like this.
Riiip!
“Gyaaaaaah!”
Hair tore out from the roots—and then Go Hanil’s bald head began to absorb the faint ambient light around them.
“Let there be light!”
Oh. It actually glowed.
Flash! Flash!
He looked like a glowing Easter egg.
“Aaah…”
Tears streamed down Go Hanil’s cheeks.
Now, he had lost not only below—but above as well.
＊＊＊
At the same time—
Rustle. Rustle.
“Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How beautifully you shine.”
As Vivian walked slowly through the darkness—
“West…”
She suddenly stopped mid-step.
The humming ceased abruptly.
It wasn’t because a monster appeared.
“Oh my. This is quite unexpected. What brings a member of the Grand Witches’ Assembly here?”
A blonde girl in a black hood stood before Vivian.
Arabella Rosewood.
The Witch of the Golden Ring from the Grand Witches’ Assembly was staring straight at her.