By Zephyria 
Since Aberrations were wandering throughout the hallways, Yoo Jiha pressed himself tightly against the wall. The nurse whispered, lightly tugging at his T-shirt.
“Shouldn’t we try to act as naturally as possible?”
She was right. Jiha walked forward, almost brainwashing himself into believing he was just an ordinary visitor at a hospital. Only after he finally reached the landing at the end of the hallway could he let out the breath he had been holding. His shoulders were so stiff from tension that they actually hurt.
“Is everyone alright?”
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on. Fuck…”
There was no time to linger. After a brief exchange of check-ins and reassurance, they climbed the stairs. When the second floor finally came into view, the knight’s grim expression softened.
“It seems manageable if we follow the Procedure Manual closely.”
Knowing he was reliable eased the tension slightly. The group walked down the second-floor hallway, whispering in low voices. That would likely seem more natural.
After walking for some time, the hallway shook with a loud thump, and a massive shadow loomed over them.
「Whaaat is the purpoose of your visiit to this hospitaaal¿」
The owner of the voice—which grated on the ears as much as its appearance triggered an uncanny valley response—was an Aberration dressed in a nurse’s uniform.
The Procedure Manual, which stated that nurse entities wandered individually, had not been wrong. However, the explanation was simply incomplete.
‘It never said two monsters were stuck together…!’
Jiha wanted to let out a scream of frustration. The nurse entity was a single yet dual Aberration, two bodies fused together at the back. The Aberration attached to the opposite side flipped through a chart in its hand.
「No answeer. Was there anotheer patient who escapeed from the secoond flooor¿」
“I-I’m sorry…! I just started working today, so I’m late with my greetings. I was guiding these people, who came for a hospital visit, to their patient’s room.”
The nurse apologized flusteredly, her face pale. Suspicion flickered in the Aberration’s eyes, but as the conversation continued, it softened. Jiha couldn’t understand the professional jargon, but it seemed she handled it skillfully.
Having lowered its guard toward the rest of the group, the Aberration kindly stepped forward, offering to guide them. With a face mixed with apology for leaving and a sense of relief, the nurse gave the group a secret signal with her eyes and followed the Aberration.
The knight wiped away cold sweat.
“I’m glad at least one person managed to get away safely.”
“It would have been a disaster if she hadn’t lied and said we were visitors.”
Only Park Jun-yeol scowled openly.
“What the fuck. Some nurse just gets to slip away like that? Are we just supposed to stay behind and die?”
Before his grumbling could even finish, a white figure suddenly surged up from the floor. It wasn’t an Aberration commonly seen in hospitals, nor was it one that could be identified by clothing, like a nurse or a doctor.
Wearing a white overcoat, a bowler hat, and sporting a mustache, the creature—the most human-looking Aberration they had encountered so far—opened its mouth.
「Who are you.」
“W-we are… well…”
He needed to answer quickly, but the words wouldn’t come. If it wasn’t a doctor or a nurse, it must be a patient from somewhere, but there was no way to know which room it belonged to.
‘I thought they’d be wearing patient clothes with room numbers on them, what do I do?’
The response method differed for each patient. Which room was this Aberration from? The only thing certain was that it wasn’t Room 606, so then what? Was he supposed to burst into forced laughter? Prostrate himself in worship? Run?
Not only was Jiha’s mind a tangled mess of confusion, but Park Jun-yeol and the knight were also lost, their lips merely trembling. Displeasure began to cloud the Aberration’s face.
「What insolent wretches.」
It was at that moment.
〈It’s alright, Jiha. It’s alright. Do not worry.〉
Along with a strange voice that flowed in like a dream, his vision flickered in grey as if noise were occurring, and a heat surged forth as if it would burn his eyeballs.
The form of the Aberration in his sight wavered as if it were about to distort, and incoherent words began to line up above it.
[Worship■believe in Rana■■my you■seek■for I am the shepherd and I ■■■■true■■true the agony of the wor■■you■■■desire■■■offer■■■…]
If a warning siren for danger could be visualized, it would be the sight before him now; the letters knocked against his consciousness with an eerie, ominous energy.
‘W-what is this?’
He was already overwhelmed, and now that strange text appeared, he felt as if he were losing his mind. Was this an anomaly of the Aberrant Realm itself? He looked around in panic, but neither Park Jun-yeol nor the knight seemed to be reading something in the air like he was.
Meanwhile, the Aberration’s expression grew even worse. Jiha racked his brain desperately. He had to grab onto something now. If he stayed like this, he would die. He didn’t know what those letters were, but since they appeared over the Aberration, he judged they were related. If so, what that content pointed to was… a savior complex!
Reflexively, Jiha dropped to his knees and prostrated himself on the floor.
“I believe! I believe! I w-worship you!”
Then, he urgently signaled to Park Jun-yeol and the knight, who couldn’t keep up with the situation. He repeatedly mouthed ‘Room 101! Room 101!’, and they too belatedly dropped and prostrated themselves.
Only then did the Aberration’s face soften, but it still seemed insufficient. His repertoire of worship quickly ran dry.
As his eyes darted around in bewilderment, he caught sight of the hem of the overcoat the Aberration was wearing. The attire gave off a vibe of the Enlightenment period or the Japanese colonial era. And there was a famous cult during the Japanese colonial era…!
“Baek-baek… Ah! Baek-baek-baek-ui-ui-ui-jeok-jeok-jeok-gam-eung-gam-eung-ha-si-op-sung-sung!”
The Aberration finally let out a loud, boisterous laugh.
「It is not the incantation offered to me, but the intent is admirable. Continue to serve me and strive forward.」
Satisfied, the Aberration melted into the floor and vanished. Long after the Aberration’s presence had disappeared, Jiha collapsed flat on the floor, and the knight patted his back while letting out a sigh of relief.
“Student, you are truly amazing! What was that strange incantation earlier?”
“It’s a cult called Baek-baek-gyo… I learned about it in a major class.”
“Ah, Baek-baek-gyo? I remember seeing it in a movie a long time ago. More importantly, how did you know it was Room 101? I had no idea.”
“Didn’t any strange letters appear to you?”
“Letters?”
The knight looked bewildered, and Park Jun-yeol seemed to be the same. Jiha blinked in confusion. Come to think of it, the letters had disappeared. What was it, did he have a hallucination…?
Regardless, it was a fact that it had been a great help. Whether it was a hallucination or something else, he decided to worry about it after getting out. For now, escaping these monsters was the priority.
“Stop acting all high and mighty just because you got lucky once and move it.”
Unlike the knight, who kept thanking him for saving them, Park Jun-yeol disliked the situation where Jiha was receiving attention. As Park Jun-yeol strode ahead, the knight whispered secretly.
“Are you two originally acquainted?”
“He’s a Sunbae from school.”
At the knight’s look of sympathy, Jiha brushed it off with an ambiguous smile. He was a Sunbae he had avoided anyway. He was a man who had fled to the military after receiving a restraining order from the police for stalking a student in the same department. Despite returning to school only after the victim had graduated, he was now hitting on the Hubaes, so his reputation remained the worst. Still, he only had to endure one more semester. He would be enlisting next year.
A bitter smile escaped. Only a few hours ago, enlisting had been his biggest worry, and it didn’t feel real that he was now standing at a crossroads of life and death.
Jiha lightly tapped his cheeks to shake off the gloomy mood. For now, let’s just think about escaping safely. He hadn’t met the team that went to the opposite stairs—perhaps their paths had crossed—but he hoped they were doing alright.
Paying close attention, he reached the third floor. He encountered two nurse entities along the way, but he bowed politely as per the Procedure Manual, and the Aberrations generously passed by the somewhat clumsy visitors. If he just kept doing as he had been, he felt he could escape.
Before long, the opposite stairs became visible to the naked eye. Just as a sense of relief washed over him for successfully passing the third floor, a window of a hallway connected to a patient’s room suddenly shattered with a crash, and a piercing laugh erupted. An Aberration had appeared.
「I smell alcohoool¿ Alcoooool¡ Alcohol¡ Alcohol-alcohol¡」