Hell’s Handbook - Chapter 318
Chapter 318 Hospital Of Horrors
Su Jin’s peaceful life continued until it was time for him to enter a new Challenge. Besides the first Challenge, he had always gone through Challenges with someone else. From having Kano Mai in the Challenge at the Temple of the Origin of Heaven until now, he had gone through each of these Challenges with a teammate. He never thought he would have to go through a Challenge alone again.
As with the start of every Challenge, Su Jin was engulfed in darkness as the terrifying voice of the clown echoed in his ears. It was still just as horrifying as before.
“Darkness has come upon the clean and white hospital. The hospital is filled with the murmurs of patients. One can possibly treat an illness, but how can one save the soul? Can the one seeking help… save themselves?”
A bright white light appeared before him. He saw a figure swaying in front of him as the voice in his ears continued to describe the Challenge.
“Level B Single Person Challenge, Hospital of Horrors! Your main quest is to escape the hospital! During the Challenge, the owner will not be able to use any skills or equipment!”
The figure in front of Su Jin continued to sway left and right. He sighed inwardly when he heard the last sentence. The Handbook was deliberately increasing the difficulty of the Challenges and kept using all sorts of methods to handicap him. But then again, he knew that he had been blacklisted a long time ago.
Since he knew that this Challenge was called the Hospital of Horrors, he figured that he was going to wake up on a hospital bed and he would be surrounded by doctors and nurses.
He tried to move his body, but he couldn’t move at all, as though the body didn’t belong to him. He couldn’t even move one finger.
“What’s… what’s going on?” A bright light flashed before him and he lost consciousness.
By the time he regained consciousness, he could see clearly. Just as he had guessed, he was in a patient ward and there were two other patients to his left and right.
Because the Handbook had said this was a single-person Challenge, Su Jin understood that these other people were all NPCs in the Challenge. Such single-person Challenges were actually very well known among owners.
It meant that only one owner was involved in this Challenge and every other human was just an NPC. Such Challenges were usually more difficult than usual because he wouldn’t have any interaction or help from other owners. And in many instances, the Challenge was not only a test of one’s ability, but also one’s mental resilience.
“Hey, bro! You want one of these? This is my favorite bun! My wife makes them herself and they’re delicious!” On Su Jin’s left was a man covered entirely in bandages. When he noticed how Su Jin was staring strangely at him, he laughed and said, “I was very unlucky! I got drenched in boiling water and I’m undergoing skin grafting now!”
“Gosh, bro, you’re amazing,” Su Jin couldn’t help but gape. Doing a full-body skin graft sounded way too difficult to be true, and this man was still able to eat so merrily despite his condition. He didn’t seem like someone who was badly injured at all. But Su Jin took note of him more because he felt that this might have something to do with the Challenge.
“Don’t mind me then.” Su Jin reached his hand toward the man in bandages and the man gave him a bun without holding back.
Su Jin did not eat the bun immediately. Firstly, he wasn’t sure if the food was problematic or not, and secondly, he wasn’t hungry yet. He didn’t know how long this Challenge was going to take, so it was best to store up things like food.
Now that he had some food, his instinct was to find water next. There were several hot water flasks on the bedside table of the patient on the right, but the patient had covered themselves entirely with the blanket.
“Bro, can I get some water from you?” Su Jin asked the patient on the right, but the patient did not respond.
“Don’t bother wasting your breath. He’s not in a good mood and just hides himself under the blanket all day. I heard he’s been here for nearly half a year and hasn’t been allowed to be discharged yet,” said the man in bandages in an annoyed voice. He clearly didn’t like the patient under the blanket.
“Maybe his issue is more complicated? It would make sense for him to stay here longer.” Su Jin needed information the most right now, so since the man in bandages was willing to talk to him, he was happy to converse with him. He wanted to try and get more useful information out of this man.
The man in bandages made a face and glanced at the patient on the right before saying, “The recovery rate at this hospital is miraculously high. I’ve almost never heard of anyone who can’t get discharged in more than a week. I’m going to stay here for just one more night and I can remove these bandages and be discharged. You’ve been here for five days already, so I suppose you’re almost all healed up, right?”
Su Jin just smiled and nodded. “Yup. I’m just staying longer to make sure my condition is really stable before leaving.”
“That’s good. But you really don’t have to be so worried, this hospital’s pretty reliable,” said the man in bandages with a merry laugh.
Su Jin nodded slightly. He had gotten quite a bit of information from the man in bandages. Most patients in this hospital were discharged within seven days, and he had been here for five already. In other words, he only had two more days in the hospital, so he had to get out of here within the next 48 hours.
Su Jin got out of bed. He didn’t notice anything wrong with himself and wasn’t even suffering from flu or cough. Perhaps the Handbook hadn’t gone that far in setting the stage.
He walked around the ward twice. This was a three-bed ward, so it was now fully occupied. He walked to the corridor and saw that it was very busy. The doctors and nurses kept going in and out of the wards.
He continued walking down the corridor for a while and discovered something very strange. The glass pane of the main door to each ward was covered by a white linen cloth, so it was impossible to look inside.
He walked to one ward and took hold of the linen cloth, intending to pull it up and take a look inside. But before he could do that, a large hand caught hold of his, which startled Su Jin.
“You’re Su Jin from ward seven. Why are you walking about outside instead of staying in your ward?” The doctor was a blond Caucasian man with a wooden clipboard in hand. A stack of patient case files were clipped to the clipboard.
“Oh, I was bored in my ward, so I thought I’d take a walk.” Su Jin smiled and glanced at the name tag pinned to the doctor’s coat. His expression did not flinch as he said, “Dr. Thomas, my illness… is going to be alright, right?”
“Don’t worry, it’s a small problem. You’re putting too much stress on yourself. Just go back and rest, and you’ll be fine.” Dr. Thomas seemed very easygoing.
Su Jin paused to think, then asked, “What about the other two patients in my ward? Their case looks more serious than mine.”
“They’re fine too, they just need to rest.” Dr. Thomas patted Su Jin’s shoulder and said, “You’d better go back to your bed to reset. There are many people walking up and down here, so if you wander about like that, you’ll get in the way of the doctors and nurses.”
Su Jin just played along and went back to his ward. As he sat down on his bed, he began thinking about all the things that were strange about this hospital. The strangest part was how there were only doctors and nurses walking up and down the corridor all the time, but no patients at all.
Every ward’s door was covered with a linen cloth, and his ward was the only one without such a cloth. It was as if the three of them were the only patients in the hospital.
He then asked the man in bandages, “Bro, I’m a bit hungry. Do you know where the cafeteria is?”
“The cafeteria? I think it’s in the west of the hospital. I don’t go there because my wife sends me food all the time.” The man in bandages seemed very in love with his wife.
“Got it, thanks!” Su Jin proceeded to lay on his bed and did not move. From the looks of it, the hospital wasn’t dangerous for the time being. The real danger was probably going to occur after 48 hours if he couldn’t leave the hospital by then. He would probably just die here.
For the rest of the day, Su Jin just lay lazily on his bed. The man in bandages was very chatty and he would just tell Su Jin everything he knew without Su Jin prompting him.
Su Jin was already starving by lunchtime. Just when he was considering whether he should eat the bun the man in bandages gave him, a nurse finally came in with lunch.
The nurse had no expression on her face as she threw the meal onto the table attached to Su Jin’s bed, then walked away without any change in expression. Su Jin couldn’t help but say to the man in bandages, “The nurse’s attitude is terrible.”
“Yeah, and the food here is terrible too. I don’t eat it, anyway.” The man in bandages shook his head and didn’t even look inside the bento box. Just then, there was a clattering sound as the patient on Su Jin’s right pulled the entire bento box under the blanket.
The man in bandages seemed used to it and just shrugged at Su Jin. Su Jin just laughed as well, then proceeded to open his box. But he immediately closed it again, because the box contained a dead rat that had been smashed beyond recognition.
“Bro, I don’t think your description is accurate! This stuff… this stuff isn’t just terrible, it’s not fit for human consumption!” Su Jin said to the man in bandages.
The man in bandages leaned over curiously and motioned to Su Jin to open the box. Su Jin opened the box and the man in bandages nearly vomited when he saw what was inside.
“Oh my god… Bro, did you offend the nurses here or something? Is this a prank?” said the man in bandages in an exaggerated manner.
“You mean the food here isn’t normally like that?” asked Su Jin as he tapped his nose.
The man in bandages glared at him. “Of course not! This is clearly not meant for humans to eat!”
Su Jin left the box on his table and didn’t eat anything. It was fine for an ordinary person to skip a few meals anyway. He would rather wait to see what was served for dinner.
“If you’re not eating that, you can eat mine! My wife sends plenty of food anyway.” The man in bandages gave Su Jin some and Su Jin accepted it. The first few bites were pretty tasty, but immediately after that, his body froze and he fainted.
