Chapter 109: Twenty-Seventh Floor, Rotace’s Hospital (3)

[Escape Rotace’s Hospital. Time remaining: 7 hours 42 minutes.]

At the end of the hallway, we found a large staircase that confirmed we were on the third floor. Thankfully, we didn’t have a fourth floor to clear as the stairwell only went down.

Phew, just three levels to this grim hospital.

Since we had encountered a test subject on this floor, I assumed there would be another on the second, and I bet it would have the other half of the key.

Unlike the third floor, the second floor maintained a consistent, eerie darkness, amplifying the ominous atmosphere. Hospital equipment and tattered documents were grimly strewn across the floor like remnants of some terrible event.

As we reached halfway down the hallway, Ha Hee-Jeong muttered frustratedly, “Where the hell is the bathroom?”

She was keeping her nerves in check, but her expression made it clear she wanted to conquer this trial as fast as possible.

If anything, that only increased my desire to tease her. “Maybe we should split up? I’ll take the right side.”

Not dignifying my remark with a response, she glared at me as a betrayed look crossed her face. Shooting her hand out, she pinched my side.

Unfortunately, since our stats were matched, the pain was sharper than expected.

“

Ow!

Okay, okay!”

Finally, she released her grip but not without giving me a warning first. “I’m this close to beating you up, got it?”

Scanning both ends of the hallway, she nudged me on the back.

Getting the message, I turned and clutched my still-throbbing side while grumbling under my breath, “Fine. Let’s start with the right side.”

***

[Escape Rotace’s Hospital. Time remaining: 7 hours 36 minutes.]

Unfortunately, we didn’t find the bathroom down the right corridor. There were only a few storage rooms for medical supplies, which were mostly empty with nothing of real use.

We retraced our steps, and after a bit of searching, we finally located the bathroom on the left. It was a medium-sized, unisex bathroom that reeked of stale, musty air. A small sink stood directly in front of the entrance, with a urinal to the left and a few toilet stalls to the right.

“Where’s the bag?”

Broken tile fragments littered the floor, but we saw no sign of Recum’s bag. Just to be sure, we checked each stall, but still, we found nothing.

“Maybe the test subjects took it?”

“Possibly.”

I stopped to consider the situation. If this were a standard escape room on Earth, the bag would be hidden somewhere in the bathroom. Since we were in the tower, however, there was every chance the test subjects had taken it.

Wait, if I were Recum, then...

Since he had managed to hold onto his lockpick and journal, he would have had a moment to stash the bag before being captured. Plus, maybe he had assumed the test subjects would patrol the bathroom and had hidden it somewhere difficult to check.

There was really only one place that fit the bill: The water tank behind one of the toilets.

“Hee-Jeong, let’s check the toilet tanks.”

“The toilet tanks? Oh.”

“I can take the nearest one.”

Opening the closest tank, I found nothing except rusty water sloshing around.

One down, five to go.

The second and third stalls came up empty as well. Fearing the worst, I opened up the fourth lid.

I froze.

The hollow, ghostly eyes of a spectral blue face were gazing up at me from the interior of the tank.

“Aaagh!”

“Kieeek!”

Ha Hee-Jeong let out a scream, stumbling backward as the spirit shrieked and lunged toward us.

Simultaneously, more spirits phased through the bathroom walls and filled the air with their piercing, bone-chilling wails. Thin, clawed hands reached for me, but before I could even summon a single bolt of lightning, flames engulfed the ghosts.

A surge of searing heat hit my face as Ha Hee-Jeong grabbed my arm and yanked me back. Enshrouded in fire, the spirits twisted and writhed before dissolving into thin air above the bathroom stall.

Clink

.

A single key dropped to the bathroom floor.

Everything had occurred so quickly that I could only respond with, “Oh my gosh, that nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Wh-what just happened?”

By the looks of it, those ghosts must have been the test subjects guarding the second floor. We would never know for sure, though, as they vanished before a notification even had time to appear, probably due to their weakness to fire.

Ha Hee-Jeong was still holding on to me, trying to control her breathing. “

Phew.

Those were probably this floor’s test subjects.

Hiccup.

Well, they are gone now.”

I gave her a reassuring pat on the back, though I had to admit I was just as shaken. Opening a tank and staring unexpectedly into the face of a ghost wasn’t something you could brush off easily. My heart was still pounding.

***

[Escape Rotace’s Hospital. Time remaining: 7 hours 32 minutes.]

We had managed to defeat the freakish test subjects, though Recum’s bag was nowhere to be found. Most likely, the journal mentioned it just to guide us here.

The bag didn’t matter now. With both pieces of the key in hand, all we had to do was head to the first floor, unlock the main door, and get out of this place.

On our way down the steps, we found the first floor blanketed in a thick, mist-like fog. The air had a metallic tang, and the mist wrapped around everything, shrouding it in an eerie haze.

A reception window sat off to one side of the stairs, while a mysterious room filled with light lay on the other. The light spilling from the crack in the door was the brightest we had seen in this dark, foreboding hospital.

Remembering Recum’s warning about the light, I murmured softly, “The doctor’s probably in there, right?”

Instead of replying, Ha Hee-Jeong pinched my nose shut and gestured to the mist, signaling me to hold my breath. She seemed wary of the fog around us, likely thinking it was a paralysis-inducing gas or something similar.

Not that it matters since my Poison Resistance is high-level.

Just as I started to reassure her, I remembered my skill levels were capped at five and quickly held my breath instead.

Lips pressed firmly together, Ha Hee-Jeong gestured silently toward the main door. I nodded slightly and moved forward, each step measured and cautious. We couldn’t risk drawing the doctor’s attention, so every movement had to be precise until we were safely outside.

Despite the door being relatively close, our slow, calculated pace stretched the distance unbearably. Holding my breath the entire way wasn’t an option, so I took shallow breaths, drawing in just enough air to keep moving.

At last, we reached the imposing iron door, its thick bolt secured by a padlock at the center. I carefully used the combined key to release the padlock, and it looked like we would be able to just slide the bolt to escape. The real issue, however, lay in what came next.

No matter how cautiously I move it, it will make noise.

The doctor hadn’t reacted to the noise we had made upstairs, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t react on this floor. We had to act fast, however, as Ha Hee-Jeong’s face had turned red from holding her breath.

Speaking would be faster than signaling, so I whispered urgently, “This is going to make noise. The moment it opens, we run.”

Ha Hee-Jeong nodded firmly, and I forced the bolt to the side with a sharp thrust.

Clang!

A metallic clash reverberated loudly as I pushed open the main door. Through the widening gap, I caught sight of what lay outside: a spooky garden with an atmosphere similar to a cemetery’s.

Suddenly, a light blazed to life behind us.

It was blinding. Preparing to dash, I cast a glance back. The once dim and ominous hospital was now fully illuminated, every door and window shining with light as if the building itself had awakened. The door to the side of the lobby, which was previously mostly shut, now stood open.

Though the intense light blurred any details, I could just make out a golden orb inside the room. As I focused, a shadow shifted in front of the doorway.

“

Heh-heh-heh

... Where do you think you’re going?” The mad doctor’s unsettling voice rang out, and he stepped fully into view.

His wild, white hair jutted out, reminiscent of Finstein’s. Unlike a human, though, he bore distorted, elongated arms that measured over four meters long, with a massive eye floating some thirty centimeters in front of his face.

The sight stirred both revulsion and dread within me. Beside me, I heard Ha Hee-Jeong sharply inhale.

“Run!” I shouted before launching myself forward.

As we burst outside, the portal came into view at the far end of the garden, a mere one hundred meters away. Even with our current physical restrictions, we could reach it in under eight seconds.

I glanced over my shoulder to check on the doctor. He was gaining on us, but it didn’t seem like he would catch us before we crossed the portal’s threshold.

This seems surprisingly easy.

Despite our stat and skill limitations, the challenge felt less than insurmountable. Although the system had deemed the doctor invincible, he didn’t seem capable of catching us if we kept moving.

This trial felt more like an immersive haunted house attraction than a true ordeal.

Even if this is one of those easy floors, there’s definitely gotta be something more to it. Rotace’s Hospital, Rotace’s Prison, hmm...

With only forty meters left to the portal, I contemplated what the golden orb in the doctor’s room was. There could be something valuable there.

“Hee-Jeong! Keep running!”

“What?”

Ignoring her bewildered expression, I turned back toward the hospital.

She shouted after me, sounding both shocked and exasperated, “Hey!”

The doctor loomed close, his grotesque arm whipping through the air. The limb swung in from a sharp angle, leaving me little room to dodge. Seeing an opportunity, I leaned back before dropping low.

Sliding on the damp grass, I felt the doctor’s arm whoosh just above me.

“You little rat!”

I rose swiftly and pivoted to the right before slipping past him. Leaping over his reaching left hand, I dashed back toward the hospital.

The doctor spun around, shouting desperately, “Where do you think you’re going?”

His outburst confirmed my suspicions that there was indeed something crucial in that room. If not, he would have chased Ha Hee-Jeong instead of me.

“――――!” Ha Hee-Jeong shouted from behind, and a surge of fiery wind roared forward, buying me a few precious seconds.

The doctor erupted in flames but soon emerged from the inferno, his appearance even more horrific.

It was too late, however. I had already widened the gap.

“You thief!”

The doctor’s room was just ahead.

My breaths came hard and fast, the foul stench from the first floor’s fog searing into my lungs. I didn’t slow down, though. Entering the room, I grabbed the golden orb without hesitation.

And then, just like that, the entire scene dissolved into dust, much like when I had defeated the Skill Thief Gremlin on the eighth floor.

As the scenery’s remnants scattered, I looked down to find a tiny fairy struggling in my grasp.

[Mischievous Rotace]

- A newly born fairy.

- Delights in causing others suffering through illusions.

So this all has been an illusion.

It all suddenly made sense. The meticulously staged horror setting had felt strangely easy. The real objective hadn’t been to escape; we needed to capture this elusive creature.

I understood why no one had found this hidden mission during Ha Hee-Jeong’s previous life. Who would charge at a supposedly undefeatable foe? Most climbers would have assumed it was a straightforward trial and moved on.

The fairy screeched and thrashed in my grip.

“Eek! Eek!”

It flailed its tiny wings, struggling to escape, but I had no intention of letting it go.

Finally speaking, it complained loudly, “Damn it! How did you figure it out?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe your illusion was just a bit sloppy?”

“

Eek!

Liar! My illusions are flawless!”

The scenery shifted around us, morphing into a serene forest. Ha Hee-Jeong hadn’t yet crossed the portal so she walked over to me. Her expression was a mix of frustration and indignation.

“This little thing was the one messing with us?”

“Little? I’m a mighty fairy, you fool!”

Noticing the notification hovering above it, Ha Hee-Jeong sighed as she realized the fairy’s true nature.

“Rotace... so that’s what it was.”

She turned to me with a gaze full of amazement and mild exasperation. “Seriously, though. Are you insane? How did you even figure it out?”

Watching her marvel at my actions, I could only offer a sheepish grin. Unfortunately, despite capturing the fairy, the trial hadn’t ended.

Do I need to... kill it?

As the thought crossed my mind, Ha Hee-Jeong motioned for me to continue. “You saw through the illusion, so let’s get our reward and set it free.”

***

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has dispelled Mischievous Rotace’s illusion, completing the hidden mission ‘The Game Ends Here.’ All stats increased by 2.」

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has gained a new skill. Illusion Resistance is now lvl 1.」