“Why do you have to cover my eyes when you’re applying the medicine?”
It took You Li a very, very long time before he finally reacted, his response arriving with obvious sluggishness.
The clown’s excuse was so flimsy that it wouldn’t even fool a child.
“So that my precious won’t be scared.”
You Li began pondering the logic behind those words once again. The more he thought about them, the sleepier he became.
“…Can I go to sleep now?”
“It’s done.”
This voice also came from somewhere above him but its position seemed to be slightly different.
Almost instinctively, You Li reached up, intending to tug at the necktie that had been covering his eyes.
Before his fingers could grasp it, however, the person in front of him caught hold of his wrist, stopping the movement.
“The medicine has been applied. Go to sleep.”
You Li lifted his other hand, wanting to pull at it instead but that hand was gently restrained by the person behind him.
At some point, the leg that had been held in place was also lowered back down.
The doctor said, “Be good.”
The clown said, “Be obedient.”
Those were two sentences spoken one after the other.
Yet the two voices overlapped in an eerily uncanny way.
You Li kept his hand raised for quite a while, his fingers resting lightly against the necktie covering his eyes. His head seemed to tilt ever so slightly to one side, a trace of confusion surfacing on his face.
After what felt like a very, very long time, he finally lowered his hand in a dazed manner, his voice soft and quiet.
“…Okay…”
Before the final note of his reply had even faded away, his eyes had already closed. Leaning against the person’s embrace, his breathing gradually evened out as he drifted peacefully into sleep.
As the number of days he spent taking his medication steadily increased, You Li’s emotions gradually became calmer and more stable. The amount of time he spent feeling drowsy also lessened little by little.
However, because he simply did not want to practice walking, he often pretended to be asleep.
Most of the time, he kept his eyes closed, lying quietly on the hospital bed while letting his mind drift into complete emptiness.
Whenever the clown called his name, he would pretend not to hear it. The clown usually had to call him several times before he would slowly open his eyes. Even then, he refused to move or say a single word, merely looking up at the other person with a pair of pitiful, pleading eyes.
Whenever he was asked why he did not want to continue his rehabilitation, one moment he would complain that walking was far too exhausting and the next he would insist that falling over would hurt.
If he was forced to continue, the moment anyone spoke to him even a little sternly, tears would immediately begin gathering in his eyes. It could truly be said that he would burst into tears at the slightest disagreement.
And even his crying was not the simple kind.
He would crawl into the other person’s arms all on his own, hugging them tightly as he cried, pressing his damp eyelashes and the tip of his wet nose against the clown’s cold mask.
There was simply nothing anyone could do with him.
Watching the painfully slow progress of his rehabilitation, the doctor’s expression turned greener by the day and even the tone of his voice grew increasingly cold enough to freeze the air.
The clown had no choice but to harden his attitude. Only then did he finally manage to increase You Li’s daily walking rehabilitation to a full hour.
Although, without mentioning the fact that during that entire hour You Li might not even manage to take one hundred steps, little by little, he began to spend more and more time gazing outside the door of the hospital room.
His mental confusion was gradually improving.
“I want to go outside.”
You Li suddenly spoke up today, murmuring to himself in a dazed, absent minded voice.
“…I want to go outside. I don’t want to stay here anymore.”
Unexpectedly, the clown did not refuse.
Psychological rehabilitation was even more important than the rehabilitation of his legs.
“You can go outside,” the clown said, leaving no room for negotiation, as though he had completely steeled his heart. “But you’ll have to walk on your own, my precious. If you can’t walk back, then crawl back.”
You Li looked at him.
“Hug.”
The clown replied coldly, “No.”
You Li silently spread both of his arms open.
Three seconds later.
Resigned to his fate, the clown walked over and bent down in front of him.
“Five minutes. The countdown starts now.”
In the end, he carried You Li around the hospital for nearly thirty minutes.
You Li paid no attention whatsoever to the people around him or to anything happening nearby.
He simply remained quiet, his eyes wide open as he looked outside, as though he had never seen any of it before.
The fresh air.
The unfamiliar scenery.
It was as though they were pouring something entirely new into the hollow space inside his heart.
Little by little, they were filling it.
Only after that was he finally set back down, placed in a corridor that was spotless and immaculately clean.
But why here?
Hadn’t every corridor they had passed through just now also been spotless and immaculately clean?
It wasn’t as though only this one was clean.
You Li couldn’t understand it.
Supporting himself against the wall, he stood steadily on his feet. After several days had passed, he was finally able to stand firmly and even walk forward normally for a few steps. Although he still instinctively resisted doing so, there was no longer any major problem.
He earnestly took two careful steps forward.
Then he stopped.
He no longer wanted to walk.
Lowering his head as though he were staring at something, he remained rooted to the spot in a daze, quietly gazing at the completely empty floor beneath him.
The clown bent down slightly, looking at him.
“Why are you just standing there without moving?”
You Li answered, “I’m tired. I’m thirsty. I want some water.”
Already well accustomed to coaxing him, the clown said gently, “We haven’t finished walking yet. My precious, can you wait until we’re done before drinking?”
The rims of You Li’s eyes slowly began to redden.
Stubbornly, he repeated, “I want water.”
A moment passed.
“What would you like to drink? How about some milk?”
“Apple juice. Cold.”
The clown removed his own white lab coat and draped it over You Li’s shoulders.
The oversized coat almost swallowed the young man whole, its hem hanging all the way down beside the legs of his hospital pants, nearly reaching his ankles.
It was as though he had placed an exclusive mark upon him.
One glance was enough for anyone to know exactly who he belonged to.
As though, in this way, no blind fool would dare approach him.
“Don’t move. Stay here obediently and wait for me to come back so we can continue walking. You’re not allowed to take off my coat either. Keep it on properly. Otherwise, it’ll be dangerous.”
The clown deliberately explained it in a way that better suited You Li’s current way of thinking.
“If it’s dangerous, you’ll get hurt. If you don’t want to get hurt, then do exactly as I say.”
“Do you want some bread?”
“Yes.”
“And I want some biscuits too.”
“Alright. Wait here.”
The clown moved with astonishing speed.
One second, his figure was still standing in the middle of the corridor.
The next second, he had eerily appeared at the far end of it, as though he had teleported.
A journey that would normally take half an hour back and forth could probably be finished by him in less than three minutes.
Of those three minutes, two were spent squeezing fresh apple juice for You Li.
It had to be cold.
It even had to have ice cubes added.
Otherwise…
He would cry.
You Li watched his almost teleport like speed for a while. After blinking slowly in his usual sluggish manner, he remained standing exactly where he was without moving an inch.
Lowering his head just as before, he quietly stared at the floor and obediently waited for the clown to return.
Inside his mind, he spoke to the thing residing there.
“I’ve already sent him away.”
The system instructed him.
“Walk toward the corridor we passed just now. Go straight ahead, then turn right and meet up with the others.”
You Li asked, “Who are the others?”
He continued softly, “I can’t move. I’ve already promised him.”
The system replied, “Are you listening to me, or are you listening to him?”
You Li thought about it for quite some time.
He could no longer think clearly. His mind instinctively shut away everything that felt negative or dangerous.
Yet his intuition quietly guided him, prompting him to support himself against the wall and slowly walk straight ahead.
You Li did not walk quickly.
Fortunately, the corridor was very short.
Before long, he reached the corner.
Beyond the corner, people were constantly coming and going.
Some were dressed in the same hospital clothes as he was.
Others wore pink uniforms.
The moment they noticed him, every pair of eyes turned toward him but after seeing the white lab coat draped over his body, they unwillingly withdrew their gazes once more.
“Among those patients and nurses, there are two people standing at the very front. They’re players just like you. Do you see them?”
“…I see them. Players…”
“Can you remember anything?”
“…Let me think.”
Chen Shuang had already spent nearly eight days hiding and avoiding everyone.
According to the dungeon’s distorted flow of time, today happened to be the ninth day since she had been injured.
At night, she hid inside the recreation room that You Li had told her about, quietly tending to her injuries.
During the daytime, she carefully avoided everyone while searching for clues.
Strangely enough, however…
The clown had disappeared.
It was almost as though the boss had simply decided to skip work for no reason at all.
In an instant, the dungeon’s level of danger plummeted dramatically.
As long as the patients and nurses failed to spot the players, they would not launch any attacks.
All she had to do was avoid making any noise and stay out of sight of those NPCs.
As long as she managed that, there was virtually no danger at all.
Even the twin tailed girl who had left that day was progressing through the dungeon at exactly the same pace as she was.
However, Chen Shuang failed to uncover any new clues.
She believed that the twin tailed girl had reached the same dead end.
Other than the clown, the doctor who had disappeared right from the beginning had also never shown himself again. It was as though he had vanished into thin air somewhere within the second floor.
As for the remaining doctors in the hospital, every single one of them was nothing more than an ordinary NPC with blood red eyes.
The only person who seemed capable of issuing a discharge certificate was You Li’s attending physician.
Neither of them could find any other way to return to the hospital in its original, normal state.
Except for those final words spoken by the middle aged woman before she died,
Take the medicine and you’ll be able to return to the normal world.
But it was obvious that both Chen Shuang and the twin tailed girl remained only half convinced.
Aside from that one exceptional case involving the special player, every single patient the doctor had treated had died without exception.
Taking the medicine he prescribed carried far too much risk.
The middle aged woman was already dead.
Now, only three players remained.
There was no one left who could verify whether what she had said was true.
As a result, Chen Shuang had been forced into a corner. She and the twin tailed girl had exchanged information several times and had begun acting together.
Pressing herself against the corner of the corridor, Chen Shuang looked up.
The very next second, she saw a young man suddenly appear at the far end of the hallway.
A white lab coat, clearly far too large for his frame, was draped over his body as he slowly made his way forward while supporting himself against the wall.
What was truly strange, however, was that the patients and nurses, who should have reacted to every player with those terrifying blood red eyes, completely ignored You Li’s existence.
The twin tailed girl remained hidden beside Chen Shuang, her expression filled with bewilderment.
“Why is he fine? He’s even wearing the doctor’s white coat. Did he meet the doctor? What did he do?”
Naturally, Chen Shuang had no intention of analyzing every single move You Li made together with her.
Her brows knitted tightly together.
“I don’t know.”
Their minds had remained under relentless pressure for far too long.
Over the past several days, they had barely eaten properly, hardly slept and spent every waking moment hiding from one place to another, constantly fearing that either an NPC or the boss would discover and kill them.
Neither of them looked well anymore.
The twin tailed girl, having had no idea that the recreation room could be used as a hiding place during the night, had even gone without sleep for three days and three nights.
Even during the following days, she still did not dare allow herself proper rest.
Her bloodshot eyes remained fixed unwaveringly on You Li.
“Could it be… the medicine?”
“Could that medicine really work?”
Her eyes, streaked with countless red veins, never blinked.
“We can’t find any other way to clear this dungeon. This is the only clue we’ve got.”
She suddenly turned toward Chen Shuang.
“Are you going to take it?”
Chen Shuang replied coldly,
“I won’t.”
“And don’t even think about forcing me.”
Without making a sound, she drew out one of her items, immediately assuming a guarded stance.
The twin tailed girl stared at her for several long moments before reluctantly looking away.
The desperate longing for release that had been buried inside her heart was suddenly stirred into a frenzy.
She pulled out a bottle of pills.
Without the slightest warning, she tilted the entire bottle upward and frantically poured every single pill into her mouth, swallowing them all in huge gulps.
When she opened her eyes again,
The world, which had been gloomy, icy cold and soaked in the stench of blood, suddenly began to shift.
The light and shadows flickered several times, like a scene in a film whose frames had gone wrong.
It was as though that cold, pale white light was slowly fading away.
Under the influence of the medicine, the entire world gradually returned to normal.
The chill disappeared.
The bloody atmosphere dissolved.
Everything transformed into an almost dreamlike illusion of warmth and beauty.
Chen Shuang had originally intended to remind her that the middle aged woman had died because of her and that the words she uttered just before her death were most likely a trap.
Besides, in the boss’s eyes, You Li occupied an extraordinarily special position.
He could never be used as an example for anyone else.
But it was already too late.
The twin tailed girl had already rushed out.
“Doctor! Where’s the doctor? I want the doctor to issue my discharge certificate! I’ve already recovered!”
One of the nurses immediately turned to look at her.
After a brief pause, she smiled warmly as she spoke.
“Please wait a moment. The doctor won’t be here quite so soon. In the meantime, could this patient please fill out her personal information on this discharge form? Once the doctor has examined you and confirmed that you’ve fully recovered, we’ll arrange your discharge immediately.”
There was not the slightest trace left of the blood red eyed state she had displayed only moments ago.
The smile on the twin tailed girl’s face grew wider and wider as she watched the nurse approach, carrying the discharge form in her hands.
“I’m getting discharged… I’m really getting discharged?”
“So clearing the dungeon was this simple all along.”
“If I’d known…”
“If I’d known, I would’ve taken the medicine much earlier.”
She burst into loud laughter.
“It’s only a beginner dungeon.”
Her laughter echoed so loudly through the corridor that even You Li, who was standing in the middle of it, couldn’t help turning to look.
He was still talking to the thing inside his mind.
“I can’t remember…”
“But they look so familiar.”
“I know the person standing beside her.”
“Her name is… is Chen, “
“I’m finally getting out, “
“Run, !!!”
“Run!!!”
Chen Shuang suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Run, !”
“Run!”
“What she’s holding isn’t a discharge form, it’s, “
All three voices stopped abruptly at the same instant.
You Li’s words were cut off halfway through.
He blinked blankly.
Something suddenly exploded before his eyes.
Blood.
A vast spray of blood burst through the air.
He saw the nurse stop in front of the twin tailed girl, still holding the discharge form.
Then,
Thud.
Everything before You Li’s eyes suddenly darkened.
His entire field of vision dimmed.
Only the blood, violently erupting from the smooth cross section where the body had been severed, remained a blinding, vivid crimson.
His eyes widened.
His entire body froze where he stood.
Clink!
It sounded as though a glass jar had shattered.
Those emotions,
The screams.
The terror.
The feelings that had been restrained.
The feelings that had been soothed.
In a single instant, all of them broke free.
They smashed through the barrier created by the medicine.
Together with the head that rolled toward his feet with a soft, tumbling sound,
Gulu… gulu…
They surged violently through every part of You Li’s body.
That severed head still had its mouth open.
Its shrill laughter continued without stopping.
“Dis… discharged…”
Then,
It stopped abruptly.
Silence.
Absolute, suffocating silence.
It all seemed to last for only an instant.
Or perhaps no more than the blink of an eye.
In a daze, You Li slowly closed his eyes.
When he opened them again,
Every trace of the blood soaked scene before him had vanished.
The twin tailed girl was standing there perfectly alive.
Her head rested securely upon her neck, exactly where it belonged.
She was signing the discharge form in the nurse’s hands.
When she finished, she revealed a perfectly practiced smile.
“Thank you, Nurse. I’ll return to my hospital room and wait for my family to come and pick me up after I’m discharged.”
It was as though everything that had happened just now had been nothing more than an illusion.
Yet You Li couldn’t understand it.
Why was that player whose name he had almost remembered still staring fixedly at the ground near his feet?
Her expression was filled with both unbearable pity and painful sorrow.
In the end, clutching one of her arms, she staggered away in haste, leaving before anyone else had the chance to react.
You Li thought that he would collapse onto the ground.
That he would break out in a cold sweat.
That his face would turn deathly pale as he covered his mouth, dry heaving uncontrollably while desperately gasping for air, trying with all his strength to draw breath into his lungs.
But none of that happened.
None of it.
Not a single one of those overwhelming, collapsing emotions manifested into any physical symptom.
He merely stood there, stiff and motionless.
Then, little by little, he turned around and slowly walked back to where he had been standing before.
He waited quietly for the clown to return.
The apple juice was ice cold.
When it was placed into You Li’s hands, he accepted it with an utterly blank expression.
Cradling the cup in both hands, he stared at the surface of the juice for a very, very long time before finally lifting it toward his lips.
Just as he was about to take a drink,
The clown suddenly bent down in front of him.
The grinning mask abruptly drew near in a single instant, so close that only the thinnest layer of air remained between that pale, icy mask and You Li’s face.
The mask was clearly smiling.
Yet the tone beneath it was extraordinarily unreadable.
His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, his voice low, cold and unhurried, carrying an indescribable meaning.
He asked only a single question.
“Why did you suddenly stop asking me to hold you?”
✦ ✧ ✦
Nycreth
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
Offer one coffee to the translator and receive absolutely no magical powers whatsoever. ✧
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · I have amnesia (1)Chapter 2 · I have amnesia (2)Chapter 3 · I have amnesia (3)Chapter 4 · I have amnesia (4)Chapter 5 · I have amnesia (5)Chapter 6 · I have amnesia (6)Chapter 7 · I have amnesia (7)Chapter 8 · I have amnesia (8)Chapter 9 · I have amnesia (9)Chapter 10 · I have amnesia (10)Chapter 11 · I have amnesia (11)Chapter 12 · I have amnesia (12)Chapter 13 · I have amnesia (14)Chapter 14 · I have amnesia (14)Chapter 15 · I have amnesia (15)Chapter 16 · I have amnesia (16)Chapter 17 · I have amnesia (17)Chapter 18 · I have amnesia (18)Chapter 19 · I have amnesia (19)Chapter 20 · I have amnesia (20)Chapter 21 · I have amnesia (21)Chapter 22 · I have amnesia (22)Chapter 23 · I have amnesia (23)Chapter 24 · I have amnesia (24)Chapter 25 · I have amnesia (25)Chapter 26 · I have amnesia (26)Chapter 27 · I have amnesia (27)Chapter 28 · I have amnesia (28)Chapter 29 · Desert Highway (1)Chapter 30 · Desert Highway (2)Chapter 31 · Desert Highway (3)Chapter 32 · Desert Highway (4)Chapter 33 · Desert Highway (5)Chapter 34 · Desert Highway (6)Chapter 35 · Desert Highway (7)Chapter 36 · Desert Highway (8)Chapter 37 · Desert Highway (9)Chapter 38 · Desert Highway (10)Chapter 39 · Desert Highway (11)Chapter 40 · Desert Highway (12)Chapter 41 · Desert Highway (13)Chapter 42 · Desert Highway (14)Chapter 43 · Desert Highway (15)