I Returned, and Now I See Strange Things-Chapter 3: Abandoned Hospital
The abandoned hospital was reflected in her pale violet eyes.
To the girl, it didn’t look ominous so much as dirty.
In fact, the park in front of her apartment was eerier than that place, and even more so was the place where the black stone-bound Death Knight Aslan resided.
Contrary to her personal impressions, the chat window was a mess, filled with over-the-top reactions and self-proclaimed experts. Several people had apparently crossed the line and, like the girl, lost the ability to type messages.
With a flat voice, the girl muttered,
“...Is this kind of thing supposed to be scary?”
[It has a nice spooky aesthetic.]
“...I guess that’s what it looks like to your eyes, huh?”
Had his aesthetic sense dulled after becoming a Death Knight? Then again, he did die and come back...
Nodding to herself at that unprompted reasoning, the girl refocused on her smartphone screen.
Hyesung’s nervous voice, which contrasted with his previously goofy tone, leaked from the phone. His face wasn’t on screen, but somehow, it felt like he was trembling.
“Why’s he so freaked out?”
[Well, isn’t that what makes it entertaining?]
“...If that’s acting, then it’s impressive.”
The girl nodded at the words of the red stone—the fire spirit Ignis—and kept her eyes on the screen, her expression flat. Or rather than flat, it was tinged with envy.
If someone gave her 200,000 won, she could go skipping and dancing through that place.
Why was the world so unfair?
Then, a bolt of lightning struck in her mind. This is it. Her violet eyes sparkled.
“What if I start streaming too, like him?”
[You, Master?]
[Don’t do it.]
Unlike Aslan, Ignis clearly didn’t approve of the idea. The reason quickly became clear.
[Even if you try, what was it—viewers? You’ll just end up in a giant fight with them and self-destruct.]
“...”
The girl shut her mouth before she could respond.
Even she could see how it would end. Her explosive temper had caused all kinds of trouble back in Entera, after all.
She had a certain level of self-awareness now.
Still, the irritation was unavoidable, so she hurled the red stone toward the sink. With a splash, a woman’s sharp voice rang out.
[This! This is why I said no!!!]
“I’m not doing it! I said I’m not!!”
...So damn annoying.
—Aaaaagh!!!
At that moment, Hyesung’s scream rang from the smartphone. If it was acting, it was Oscar-worthy; the terror in it was raw and vivid.
The girl felt the wall of natural talent. If that was the kind of acting required, she couldn’t do it.
“...Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.”
So that’s the level needed for 200,000 won.
With that thought, she continued watching the screen—and began to feel that something was off.
If it was just acting, it was too extreme. Considering it was a live broadcast, the camera was shaking way too violently. The chat confirmed it—complaints of dizziness flooded in.
It was wild, raw motion, with no regard for the viewer.
To the point people were sending money just to tell him to stop.
Is this... what they call a money-crazed freak?
Even so, Hyesung didn’t stop running.
Screaming like his throat would tear, Hyesung bolted through the building. After a while, the screaming stopped—but the screen remained a chaotic mess.
The dizzying spin of the camera occasionally showed glimpses of the hospital’s eerie interior.
A hallway of gray concrete. A shattered floor. An unreadable sign. Silver carts scattered all over. Crimson stains, likely dried paint—or blood. A barely-hanging door swinging loosely.
Through disinterested eyes, the girl watched—until a blurred silhouette caught her attention.
It was only for a moment, but she saw it clearly. The shape looked familiar.
That’s definitely the guy who was with that idiot earlier.
Apparently he’d been hiding off-camera for the stream... but why was he collapsed?
Seeing Hyesung running wild while his companion lay fallen, the girl sensed something had happened.
“Looks like they’re fucked.”
[P-please mind your language!]
Still staring at the screen, the girl climbed up the step stool and pulled out the salt container. As she began preparing to head out, a deep voice spoke near her ear.
[Are you planning to go there?]
“Yeah.”
[What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?]
“...It’d be one thing if I hadn’t seen it, but leaving it alone after seeing it just feels wrong, you know?”
[So the spirit of chivalry lives o—]
“Shut up. That’s not what this is!”
She twirled the black stone a few times and shoved it into her pocket. The red stone, still soaking in the sink, followed right after.
She carefully unlocked the worn-out latch and opened the creaking door. After tying her loose shoelaces and checking the lock, she muttered,
“...I’m just hoping to save them and get a little something in return.”
[I figured as much~]
Clutching the red stone, the girl hurried toward the abandoned hospital.
At that moment, the misunderstandings of the guy next door only deepened.
***
He had hidden his friends, yes—but this wasn’t part of the plan. He couldn’t call them now. That would be the same as confessing they’d faked it.
It all started with something minor.
A silver cart, filled with items of unknown origin, moved on its own. It had wheels, after all—wasn’t it possible it just rolled accidentally?
Hyesung, if anything, saw it as an opportunity.
“Whoa, that scared me. Did you see that just now, bros?”
Pleased by the chat’s positive reaction, Hyesung walked on, smug—until he began to hear a strange sound.
–Clatter!
Under the smartphone’s light, he turned around to see a pill bottle lying on the floor. It was the same brand as the ones in the cart.
Too strange to dismiss as coincidence.
In fact, it felt like it was ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) a little too much. Hooks started appearing in the chat window that had been mostly filled with overblown reactions.
“Shit. I told them to do it properly.”
Thinking it was some stunt his friends had set up ahead of time, Hyesung silently cursed them as he kept walking down the hallway.
–Crash!
“Holy shit!”
A perfectly intact window suddenly crashed down to the floor. Glass shards burst everywhere.
Hyesung’s heart started to race at the sight of the shattered pieces.
If he’d been just a little slower, that thing would have fallen right on his head.
...And that was clearly not part of the plan. They were only supposed to drop some stuff and play some weird sounds.
The inside of the abandoned hospital was unusually cold, but sweat trickled down Hyesung’s back.
His heart was pounding fiercely, pumping hot blood through his entire body, but his fingertips were ice-cold, gripped by fear. Those cold hands were soon damp with sweat.
Because of that, he dropped his smartphone. He picked it up again with a forced grin. For a moment, the stream showed his terrified face.
“So, uh... bros, is it okay if I head back now? S-something’s not right.”
He meant it.
Something was clearly wrong.
And in response to Hyesung’s plea to leave—
Came the sound of a woman laughing.
A strange, sobbing laughter echoed from the end of the hallway.
In that enclosed corridor, it reverberated ever so slightly, seeping right into Hyesung’s ears.
–Heeheeheehee... sniff.
“Y-you hear that, right? Yeah?”
Maybe it was his strong sense of duty as a streamer. He asked the question and looked at the chat—only for his face to turn pale.
No one had noticed anything strange.
“No, seriously, don’t you hear something weird over there?!”
He even got angry, pointing toward the end of the corridor.
And then, through a door that wasn’t fully closed—
He saw a hand.
A stark-white hand.
Its fingertips were stained a vivid red, as if declaring they had touched something sharp.
Hyesung moved on instinct. He didn’t have time for commentary.
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He let out a terrified scream and sprinted in the opposite direction from that strange thing.
–Tap! Tap!
There were no thoughts in his mind. His brain had frozen. One idea filled his head: this is dangerous. He never should’ve come here. Everything here was supposed to be a setup, a hoax.
Why? Why me?
He even forgot he was streaming. Panting hard, he ran like mad toward wherever the laughter wasn’t.
He thought he saw the face of a friend as he passed by.
His lungs burned.
As he ran in a daze, Hyesung suddenly realized the laughter had stopped—and he came to a halt, trying to catch his breath. His lungs, squeezed to their limit, felt like they were about to burst.
“Hah... hah...”
He decided to hide, for now.
He had no idea if it would work against a ghost or whatever that was, but all he could think was that he had to hide. He didn’t even know where he was anymore.
He couldn’t go back the way he came.
Because the place where that white hand had reached out—
Was the hallway he’d entered through.
At some point, the smartphone in his hand had vanished. Relying on the faint moonlight slipping in through a broken window, Hyesung barely managed to crawl under a desk and hold his breath.
But... would hiding like this really solve anything?
Could he wait it out until morning?
What happened to his friends?
Oh, the stream... his phone—where the hell did it go... should’ve brought a flashlight...
Damn it...
His teeth chattered so loudly it echoed. He bit down on his hand to stifle the sound. There was no way he could overcome this fear on his own.
–Creeeak.
The sound of a door opening.
For a moment, he felt like his heart had stopped.
And then, it pounded harder than ever.
–Thump. Thump.
Footsteps drew closer.
His pupils, previously dilated to capture light, shrank—blurring his vision. Pain shot up from the hand he was biting.
Now the footsteps were right next to him.
