Editor’s Survival Guide — Chapter 14
Chapter 14. Episode 3. The Hospital That Hunts Humans (5)
“Someone has to die before that monster stops. Isn’t that right?”
Black’s words were closer to confirmation than a question.
The bastard was needlessly clever.
Well, that must have been why he thought of stuffing people into the locker.
I had grown suspicious from the moment Orange boasted about making a fortune through it.
Orange did nothing but behave like an idiot, so he did not seem capable of devising such an idea.
Then who had supplied the brains?
There was no one but Black.
White was not part of Orange’s group, and Blue gave the impression of remaining apart from everyone else.
“Blue, you remember what Otter said at first, don’t you? That monster shuts down and starts again every forty minutes. But that wasn’t what actually happened. It did the first time, but the second time, it went berserk instead after about forty minutes.”
Sure enough, Black had quickly seen through the 「Moving Gun」 too.
But damn it, this was also my mistake.
I had failed to realize the convicts had already been here for so long.
“What else could the difference be? During the first forty minutes, Purple was shot and killed. During the second forty, no one died. And while the monster was suddenly going berserk, it stopped as soon as a few people died.”
Black was already certain.
All that remained was for him to choose a sacrifice.
“If you understand, come over here, Blue. We don’t have time.”
Ah. He had already finished choosing too.
Right. As the last person to join, I was the easiest target.
Black tried repeatedly to coax Blue, but for some reason, Blue did not budge.
Instead, Orange, who was beside them, shouted,
“Hyung! Kill that bitch instead of that one!”
At Orange’s interruption, Black squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them.
Orange failed to notice and heaved in his wheelchair.
“You know what she did to me! You heard my whole story!”
“Be quiet. This isn’t the time.”
“Why not? You said you’d get revenge for me! You said you’d do what I wanted this time!”
Orange shouted as he rammed his wheelchair forward.
Orange’s wheelchair struck Black’s leg.
Black endured it several times, then kicked the wheelchair away with all his strength.
Crash—!
The wheelchair overturned, sending Orange sprawling.
Lying facedown on the floor, Orange looked up at Black in shock.
Black responded carelessly.
“Listen for once. Can’t you see we’re busy?”
“What the hell? You said you would…… I did everything you told me to, Hyung…….”
“And I’ve been taking care of you in return.”
Even now, Black’s tone was fairly gentle.
It was a superficial courtesy made possible only by his utter lack of emotion.
Orange seemed to feel it too, because his expression grew even blanker.
That innocent face soon twisted hideously and disappeared into his heavy body.
I felt no sympathy for him, but it was a wretched sight nonetheless.
Assuming Orange had given up, Black turned toward us again.
But then Orange covered his face with both arms and spoke loudly.
“Hyung! When we picked who would get the injection, who did you vote for?”
His voice was strangely bright for someone speaking while curled up.
“White’s one vote was for me. There was one abstention besides that, and everyone else voted for me. That abstention was yours, wasn’t it, Hyung?”
“Who knows? I don’t remember.”
Black answered dismissively, as though the question annoyed him.
It was a lie without even the will to deceive the other person.
At his indifference, Orange snickered behind the arms covering his face.
“It hasn’t even been that long. How can you not remember……? That injection seriously—that thing hurt like fucking hell…… I didn’t want it, so I asked you to let me off, just once, just one ti-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-imek.”
Orange, who had been snickering, emitted a grotesque sound like a broken machine.
Every one of us recoiled and stared at him.
Orange’s back was rippling and bulging.
“Ti-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-khe-ge-gek.”
Orange’s voice fractured even more violently.
Black, who stood closest, backed away in apparent alarm.
Then something ripped through Orange’s back and surged out.
What spread like wings were human arms.
White and slender.
But so long that their elbows touched the ceiling.
Before we had time to react, the arms descended on Black and Red.
Bang—thuuump!
Black was flung into the wall.
Blue retreated before being caught in it, while Red was crushed beneath a giant fist.
After dealing with the members of his own group first, Orange’s arms flew toward White as well.
White abandoned her wheelchair and rolled away before they could crush her.
Boom—!
Then she drove her heel down onto the crown of Orange’s head.
When Orange took the blow, the pair of arms protruding from his back also flinched as though shocked.
In the meantime, White leaped to her feet and shouted,
“Ji-su, get Black!”
At White’s cry, Blue ran to Black.
White kicked a wheelchair in that direction, and Blue seated Black precisely in the chair as it arrived.
For some reason, that wheelchair was then handed off to me.
“Run, Otter!”
At White’s shout, I pushed it without understanding what was happening.
Black hung limp, apparently unconscious.
Bang! Bang, bang—!
As I caught Black to keep him from sliding out, gunshots erupted behind me.
Startled, I looked back and saw White and Blue firing handguns at Orange.
What the hell? Why did you change genres without me……?
Orange raised his body beneath the gigantic arms.
Ignoring the newly grown arms, White and Blue concentrated their fire on Orange himself.
Under the barrage, his head lolled as though it might fall off.
But Orange did not collapse.
Instead, every place struck by a bullet swelled and rippled, and long arms sprang up from those spots like bamboo shoots after rain.
Orange’s appearance grew even more grotesque.
Apparently deciding this would not work, White and Blue stopped shooting and turned away.
Then they sprinted after me and drew alongside.
Blue muttered in a deadpan voice,
“That doping effect is incredible.”
“Is this the time for jokes?”
“We’re out of time, so you take the gun, Sunbae.”
“Don’t die.”
“Yes.”
After exchanging those few words with White, Blue peeled away to the side.
White continued running beside me, matching my pace.
Watching how easily she ran, I shouted as though coughing up blood.
“Who the hell are you people!?”
“Didn’t you already figure it out?”
“I would need to know something before I could figure anything out……!”
“I’m Baek Sa-ra of Exploration Team 1 at the Special Management Bureau. Blue is Han Ji-su from the same team.”
I had expected as much of White.
But I truly hadn’t known Blue was also from the Bureau!
“But why are you here, Otter? You went home last week.”
“You know me?”
“Of course. You’re Seo Do-un of ‘Pay It Back to Anyone Later.’”
“Ghk……!”
What kind of grotesque epithet was that?!
The mortifying name startled me into biting my tongue.
“Are you all right?”
When I grimaced in pain, White looked at me innocently.
Forcing myself to nod, I recalled White’s earlier actions.
When I tripped the alarm, White had appeared last.
At first, I had thought it was because her leg was impaired, but that wasn’t it.
White had recognized me and arrived late because she was writing the “Special Advice!” on the order sheet.
That also explained the Bureau bastards’ strong-arm tactics.
The reason they had told the convicts nothing about the 「Moving Gun」.
It was because of White and Blue.
With Bureau personnel infiltrating the group, there was no danger of everyone being wiped out.
And keeping them ignorant of the danger made them easier to push around.
They truly were devils with impeccable consistency.
In any case, I could understand everything up to this point.
But there was still one thing I didn’t know.
Why hadn’t that bastard Cha Si-eon told me Bureau personnel were in here……?
White—Baek Sa-ra—seemed puzzled by the same thing and asked me instead.
“You spoke with Team Leader Cha Si-eon, didn’t you? His team didn’t tell you we were here?”
“They did not!”
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“He always does that.”
He did this regularly?
That was simply the kind of person he was?
And you let something like this pass!?
Rage surged as high as my throat.
But I forced it down and asked something more important.
“Where are we going right now?”
“To the 「Moving Gun」.”
“What?”
“We’re going to make it kill Black before it goes berserk.”
Baek Sa-ra answered with perfect clarity.
When I looked at her in shock, she added with smiling eyes,
“That’s why we’ve been following the gun from the beginning.”
Ah. I had agonized for nothing.
Someone beside me had been preparing from the start to offer up a sacrifice.
As I stared at her speechlessly, Baek Sa-ra glanced at her wristwatch.
Then she sighed and murmured,
“Oh dear.”
“What is it?”
“I think it’s about time for the 「Moving Gun」 to fire a high-powered round.”
Thump—!
The moment Baek Sa-ra finished speaking, a vibration struck.
It was one I had already felt several times.
It seemed the 「Moving Gun」 had fired something again.
But since we could not tell what it had fired at or from where, we stopped for the moment.
Several seconds passed.
From far away, I heard Blue—Han Ji-su—shout.
“Get down!”
I understood the command, but there was no time to obey.
No, it had been the wrong judgment to begin with.
Boom! Boom! Krrr-crash—!
The floor split apart amid the sound of something exploding.
The fissure raced beneath my feet in an instant.
When I staggered, Baek Sa-ra grabbed my shoulder.
But her hand slipped easily from the otter printed on my T-shirt.
What I felt immediately afterward was the loss of gravity.
And perfectly empty air.
Thuuump, thud—crash—!
Chunks of concrete plummeted, followed by crumpled reinforcing bars.
I was thrown down with them, and thick clouds of dust billowed up.
But for some reason, it didn’t hurt much.
Instead, ringing battered my eardrums, and the world danced in duplicate.
There was something underneath me.
A crumpled wheelchair and a crumpled Black.
“Otter!”
Baek Sa-ra skillfully descended beside me.
Then, before checking me, she felt for the pulse of Black, who lay crushed beneath my back.
After examining him, Baek Sa-ra clicked her tongue sharply.
At the sound, I became convinced Black was dead.
“Otter, can you hear my voice? Are you sleepy? Don’t fall asleep—keep your eyes open!”
Baek Sa-ra spoke while repeatedly slapping my cheek.
I wanted to answer, but my voice wouldn’t come out properly.
So I frowned and turned my head, and relief appeared on Baek Sa-ra’s face.
Then she pressed something into my hand.
A cold, heavy combination of metal and plastic.
It was a handgun.
I couldn’t understand why.
I didn’t know how to fire anything like a handgun.
Besides, my vision was spinning. What good would giving me such a thing do?
But Baek Sa-ra showed me no consideration. She handed off the gun and rose.
Then, looking down at me, she murmured as if to herself,
“I would prefer to keep you alive if possible, Otter, but honestly, I can’t promise anything.”
After reciting those incomprehensible words, Baek Sa-ra lowered the zipper of her work clothes.
Zzzip—
The loose top slid down, revealing a close-fitting stab-resistant vest.
When she tore away the thick face covering as well, only a black mask remained, and her hair spilled free.
Baek Sa-ra swept her long brown hair up in a single motion.
Then she began drawing something from either side of her waist.
Large black blades emerged from the trousers of Baek Sa-ra’s work clothes.
They were machetes with supple curves like fish.
Baek Sa-ra spun the two machetes in her hands and leaped down from the wreckage.
I followed her with unfocused eyes.
Something stood where she was headed.
A monster—neither organic matter nor inorganic weapon—with an arm made of guns hanging at its side.
It was the 「Moving Gun」.