Chapter 34

How a Regressor Conquers the Tower of Urban Legends

Chapter 34

<Listen carefully.>

"You're the only person I can talk to anyway."

"!!!!"

The mascot stared at me as though deeply shocked.

I met its gaze and quickly corrected myself.

"...You're the only person I can actually communicate with using language."

Only then did the mascot look away again.

<Good. Anyway.>

The voice cleared its throat and continued.

<From this point onward, things will become quite dangerous.>

"I know."

<Be careful. If you die, you'll return to the elevator, so try your best not to die.>

"..."

Yeah.

I knew that very well.

<Then I'll hang up. The path is straight, so finding the exit from this corridor shouldn't be difficult.>

"Understood."

A low chuckle came through the phone.

<Good. Now take a careful look around you.>

"...Because I need to understand it?"

<No. Like I said before, you need to think. Your greatest strength isn't courage or anything else. It's your ability to think.>

"..."

<Think first, then choose the proper action. That's all you need to do.>

"Understood."

Was that really it?

I was starting to wonder whether this phone was some kind of scam when the voice suddenly continued.

<When you reach the corridor, look for eyes, a nose, and a mouth.>

"What?"

<If you search the place where the eyes, noses, and mouths are kept, you'll find an eyeball that looks a little strange. Take it. Then that thing will let you pass.>

"...What?"

<Give the eyeball to it.>

"No, I mean..."

<Sorry, but just listen. I don't have much time left.>

"..."

<Do not touch the water. The water in that place is different from the water you know.>

"Understood."

<In fact, avoid becoming involved with anything related to water as much as possible.>

"..."

<Lastly...>

"Yes?"

<Focus on the story.>

"The story?"

What was that supposed to mean?

<Then, good luck.>

The call ended.

What the hell was this guy talking about?

I stared at the disconnected phone for a moment before looking ahead again.

"...Remaining regressions."

[Remaining Regressions: ??]

The translucent window appeared before me.

It seemed my checkpoint updated the moment I entered an elevator.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain what had happened.

Thanks to that, I'd already died several times.

"I'll need to be more careful when getting into elevators from now on."

If I carelessly entered the wrong one again, I had no idea how many times I'd be forced to die.

Maybe because my head had been crushed too many times, my temples were throbbing.

I pressed them with my fingers and opened the notebook to distract myself from the pain.

[150. Only those who have encountered the absolute worst possible situation should read what follows. If you safely escaped through the elevator, there is no need to continue reading.]

I should leave notes only for people who might end up entering the offstage area like me.

Just in case.

I carefully recorded everything I'd learned about the offstage area and the advice I'd received from the phone.

Then I looked ahead again.

The corridor was strangely quiet.

I moved forward carefully while checking my surroundings.

The mascot walked beside me, constantly looking around as though protecting me.

"You don't see anything, right?"

"!"

"Good."

If there was nothing visible, that was a relief.

But...

"..."

My chest was gradually becoming tight.

Stay alert.

Anything could happen here.

A hospital corridor without a single light turned on.

The caller had told me to pay attention to the story.

What kind of story was he talking about?

"Hup..."

I took a deep breath and continued forward.

Before long, an enormous lobby appeared.

It looked like the lobby of an ordinary hospital.

Dim lights flickered overhead.

The entire place was in complete disarray, as though countless people had fled all at once.

"Looks like there was a war here or something."

"!"

"Otherwise, there's no way everyone would've disappeared this suddenly..."

I didn't even have time to finish the joke.

I could only blink stupidly at the scene outside the windows.

There was no sunlight.

But there wasn't a nighttime cityscape or pitch-black darkness either.

The world outside was submerged in water.

"...That's underwater, right?"

"...!"

The mascot slowly nodded, looking just as stunned as I was.

"..."

I stared outside.

There wasn't a single fish.

No sign of any living creature.

Just water.

"...This feels less like the hospital sank into the ocean and more like we're trapped inside some enormous aquarium."

I muttered and looked around.

For now, let's search.

The caller wouldn't have told me to focus on the story for no reason.

I was just about to begin searching when...

"!!!"

"Already?"

The mascot came back carrying a bundle of papers and held them out to me.

"Where did you even find these?"

"!!!!!"

"Yes, yes. I knew I could count on you. Good job."

"!"

The mascot nodded happily.

I began reading.

"...New Medical Staff Manual..."

It looked like a nurse's manual that had been soaked in water and then dried.

The ink had spread badly across the pages.

"These people at the hospital are seriously obsessed with manuals, aren't they?"

Was there some reason they insisted on writing everything down like this?

Still, it was helping me.

I slowly began reading.

[New Medical Staff Manual]

[If you have received this manual, you were most likely born into a prestigious family or possess exceptional abilities. Under the current circumstances, you likely believed this place to be the safest option.]

[You were not mistaken. Jeina Tree Hospital is currently the safest place in existence.]

[However, in order to work as medical staff at this hospital, you must memorize and follow the rules listed below.]

[1. The people brought here are different from you. They are clearly patients, and we have a duty to treat them. However, you require absolutely no medical knowledge.]

[2. No definite solution has yet been discovered for the series of phenomena currently occurring outside the hospital. This hospital is presently working to discover such a solution.]

[3. In order to solve this problem, there are certain things you must abandon.]

[4. Do not pity them. Do not feel sorry for them. What you witness will undoubtedly be painful and difficult to endure, but considering what is happening outside, preserving such humanity may itself become a greater problem.]

[5. Never allow sympathy to make you forget what happened outside.]

[6. Examine all new arrivals and separate those who respond from those who do not.]

[7. Send those who respond to the Isolation Building.]

[8. Send those who do not respond to the Treatment Building.]

[9. If your conscience becomes unbearable or the work causes you excessive distress, consult a doctor. Appropriate treatment will be provided. This procedure cannot be reversed, so please think carefully before requesting it.]

[10. Necessary equipment and keys are stored in the medical supply room. Take what you require.]

"..."

Something was strange.

"Doesn't this seem strange to you?"

"?"

The mascot tilted its head.

I met its gaze and continued.

"I think there's a story here."

"...?"

Maybe the places I'd passed through before had been like this too.

But this place definitely had a story.

More precisely, it had a background.

A city submerged underwater.

People gradually changing.

A hospital created to either treat or isolate those people.

And even the medical staff manual repeatedly warned them never to feel sympathy.

It constantly made me imagine what had happened here.

A city submerged underwater?

What was this, Atlantis?

At least, nothing like this existed in any history I remembered.

Sure, rivers flooded after heavy summer rains every year.

But I'd never heard of the entire world being submerged.

What exactly was this building trying to show me?

Was it simply showing me places that could theoretically exist in reality?

Or was the building selecting these places according to some particular standard and...

If not...

"..."

No.

Enough.

For now, that was only a theory.

Let's focus on what I needed to do.

"Let's go."

A theory was only a theory.

Holding the manual, I looked around and quickly found the medical supply room.

The door was slightly open.

A strong fishy smell came from inside.

"...I'm opening it."

"!"

I met the mascot's gaze as it took a ready stance.

Then I pushed the door open.

Creeeak.

The fishy smell became much stronger.

I carefully stepped inside.

"...I expected something like this, but still..."

For a moment, I was speechless.

Human facial features were hanging all over the room.

More precisely...

Eyes.

Noses.

Mouths.

Those three things had been arranged separately.

I stared at the eyes, noses, and mouths hanging from the walls.

Facial features hanging on walls instead of being attached to faces.

It was beyond bizarre.

It was grotesque.

"..."

I suppressed the nausea rising in my throat and kept looking.

"So this is where everyone left their eyes, noses, and mouths."

No wonder all the medical staff had been faceless ever since we arrived.

"Looks like they left them here."

"!"

The mascot nodded.

But why would they deliberately remove their eyes, noses, and mouths?

I had no idea.

Still, I knew exactly what I needed to do.

"Help me find a strange-looking eyeball."

"?"

"The phone told me to."

"..."

The mascot stared at me with obvious displeasure before looking away.

"...!"

Still, it nodded and began searching through the eyes, noses, and mouths.

"..."

But how exactly was I supposed to identify a strange eyeball?

I didn't even know what qualified as strange.

While looking around...

"...That was easier than expected."

One eyeball was rolling around in circles.

Unlike all the other facial features, it simply kept spinning by itself.

But how was I supposed to pick it up?

Just grab it with my bare hands?

Fortunately, the mascot solved that problem immediately.

"!!"

"Ah. Thanks."

The mascot waved one hand as though telling me not to worry about it and examined the eyeball it had picked up.

Let's see.

According to the caller, when something asked for an eye, all I had to do was give it this.

Finally, he'd provided some genuinely useful information.

"Maybe I shouldn't have bought that two-ornament item after all. He really made me agonize over the choice."

"!!!!!!"

"...You agree?"

"!"

The mascot nodded furiously.

I stared at it for a moment before turning away.

Sometimes, the mascot seemed to hate the caller far more than there was any obvious reason to.

Maybe there was something I didn't know.

Anyway...

"Let's go."

We had the eyeball.

There was nothing else for us to do here.

And I definitely didn't want to keep staring at detached human facial features.

I started walking again.

The mascot followed while carrying the eyeball in one hand and the Mannequin's Hand in the other.

The world outside remained completely submerged.

There wasn't a single sign of life.

I organized my thoughts while walking through the dark corridor.

Let's summarize.

The path back was blocked.

And I couldn't afford to die.

If I died, I'd return to the monster that had repeatedly killed me right in front of the elevator.

I'd managed to escape earlier through sheer luck.

I wasn't foolish enough to believe the same method would work again.

It would be nice if my checkpoint updated somewhere around here.

While I was thinking that...

Footsteps echoed through the corridor.

"..."

The mascot immediately moved in front of me protectively.

I prepared to retreat.

Then I remembered what the caller had said.

"Wait."

I reached out and stopped the mascot.

Then I looked forward.

Something emerged from the darkness.

A figure wearing a white coat.

"..."

I tightened my grip around the eyeball.

"Let's go."

If we had to pass it, then we would pass it.