Chapter 48: The Abandoned Hospital of Gamaksan Mountain

Chapter 48: The Abandoned Hospital of Gamaksan Mountain

Hmm, you know dear.

Tudor leaned casually against the counter with a subtle smile on her face. Her long hair was cascading down in a glittering display.

Fixers usually tend to share a lot of information to increase their own value. The same goes for your information.

But?

But just like with the information beneath your mask, the personal details fixers prefer to keep private can be quite costly. And sometimes, people became targets for attacks just because they started digging into such matters.

I understand what shes implying. I could pay to have this matter looked into but I should be prepared for potential conflicts.

Well, Im not planning to make such a request right now. Actually, I came here to take on a request instead.

Hmm, good, good. There happens to be an interesting request that might just suit your taste Thirteen, could you cover for me here for a moment?

Perhaps because he was such a regular, Thirteen responded with a chuckle and a nod of understanding. However, it seemed he had no intention of taking on the barista role; instead, he simply leaned against one side of the counter and looked to be planning to either shoo away any customers or tell them to wait.

Tudor saw this and gave Thirteen a slight nod before gesturing for me to follow her into the office.

And theres a proposition for you.

What kind of proposition?

That.How about we discuss that privately inside, just between the two of us?

Tudor said with a wink.

As soon as we entered the office and sat down, Tudor began by addressing the settlement.

Despite having been through a whirlwind of adventures, including defeating the dancers in Tanhyeon with Jang Hyeon-deok, meeting the King in Yellow, and extracting the gold from the dancers, the last real quest I officially completed involved eliminating ghouls and a ghoul shaman in the basement of that apartment complex in Munsan.

As I mentioned before, Yeonam Construction is very satisfied. It seems the cleanup was very thorough, wasnt it?

I didnt do a sloppy job.

Right, and thats why there was a bonus.

A bonus?

Yes, a bonus. Just a moment.

Tudor paused momentarily and tapped away at her keyboard. The sight of a witch wearing a wide-brimmed cone hat conducting a bank transfer on a computer screen.It was funny no matter how many times I saw it.

There, transfer complete. Do you have a banking app on your smartphone? Or rather, are you familiar with the concept of applications?

I know them.

The image of a mage hidden behind such a mask and managing bank transactions on a smartphone is funny every time I see it.

Whether Tudor read my mind or it was merely a coincidence, I felt somewhat caught off guard. But I played along with Tudors joke while checking my smartphone.

One hundred and eighty million won.

Given that my account originally held exactly one hundred million won, it was eighty million won that had been deposited this time.

Thats quite generous. A bonus of thirty million won is indeed something to be thankful for.

You dont sound happy at all though.

No, Im happy. Money is always good.

Although I spent nearly a week bedridden, I worked one night and earned eighty million won.

It seemed I was beginning to become insensitive to the value of money.

My indifference was partly due to the cursed gems that were currently piled up in my room. They were difficult to dispose of, but if I could, they would be worth several times the amount of money currently in my bank account.

If a mage of your caliber was interested in money, you wouldnt be taking risky fixer jobs; youd be doing something else.

Well, I wont deny that.

What would it take to please you, I wonder?

Tudor said this as she took a half-reclined position on the desk while looking up at me. Though I sometimes forget, her beauty stat is a 20. Its considered transcendental. If it werent for my magic talent and some other traits that came with it, if I was still the ordinary twenty-something working from home Kim Shin-hwa from before coming to this world, I would have been completely frozen in my place and unable to utter a single word.

For me, the story you told me yesterday is enough. Its a request Im genuinely interested in.

Hmm, alright. Since were done talking about money, shall we move on to discussing the new job?

Haha, if it were just a simple eviction request, there would be many others besides you to handle it.

Yes, it had to be this way. The quest harbored several more pieces of hidden information.

When I nodded my head and showed interest, Tudor continued speaking with a proud expression on her face.

After taking on this request, I couldnt shake off this feeling So, before introducing it to you, I decided to dig a little deeper.

Seems theres some hidden information, then?

Exactly. The client provided overly detailed information about the psychics here. Ah, that information is attached towards the end of the document. Anyway, ahem. But for all that, all the people mentioned here were faces I didnt recognize.

Though I already knew all this content, the way she presented it made it engaging.

Hmm, unknown faces? And then?

Upon further investigation, it turned out that this place was never a hospital to begin with.

Tudor declared this shocking revelation as if announcing a major discovery. Thats right. This wasnt a hospital, but a research facility. A laboratory that was secretly conducting human experiments.

And in Paju, theres only one group famous for such deeds.

This is one of the secret research facilities under the auspices of Helistic.

Yes, them.

This hospital in Gamaksan was similar to the secret research facility where I had awakened.

The mutants and psychics occupying the hospital are actually test subjects who underwent unique procedures at that laboratory. That said, they are far from ordinary individuals.

When I signed a contract with Tudor, I made it clear that I would not engage in affairs involving ordinary people.

And just like Tudor said, these were neither ordinary citizens nor innocent victims. Most of Helistics test subjects were generally criminals or death row inmates much like Lee Chang-hyuk.

These were people who led such shitty lives that they voluntarily participated in the experiments for the opportunity to strengthen their bodies. Beating up such scoundrels was something I could do without hesitation.

Hmm, alright. Lets proceed.

[Quest accepted!

<Base Capture Quest: The Abandoned Hospital in Gamaksan>

Subdue all the psychics occupying the abandoned hospital and restore the facility to a safe condition.

Remaining Targets: 0/58

Reward: 750,000 XP + 180,000,000 Won

Failure Penalty: Death]

The quest details became clear. The mission would be complete once all 58 test subjects were subdued.

Subduing 58 test subjects It wasnt impossible, but it certainly wouldnt be easy. Although there were far fewer of them compared to ghouls, these people were not mindless creatures that charged forward. Moreover, among them were individuals as troublesome as the ghoul shaman.

But there was a compelling reason for me to undertake this quest.

If things went smoothly, this quest could potentially unravel some of the mysteries of this world that had been plaguing me. Even if that were not the case, there were items that could only be obtained from this place.

When I was about to get up with these thoughts in mind, Tudor held me back.

Dear, may I make a proposition before you leave?

A proposition? Oh, right, you said something like that earlier.

I had reserved the request especially for you, but someone showed interest in this mission before you arrived today.

And?

How about you two team up for this? I think youll like it.

Like it? Why would you think that?

Because the fixer Im about to introduce to you is this person.

Tudor handed me a photo.

This was a frontal photo of a fixer.

Bleached long hair, a bright red leather jacket, a small face whose age is hard to guess, and a huge zanbato sword that seemed like it came out of manhwa.

Thats Curtain Call.