A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 856 Chapter 853: Side Story - Anomalous Phenomena Management Bureau (2)

Chapter 856 Chapter 853: Side Story - Anomalous Phenomena Management Bureau (2)

—ID S-102.

The anomalous event, often referred to as 'Wonmi-dong Psychiatric Hospital'.

The suspected core is a derelict mental hospital in Wonmi-dong, abandoned for over four decades.

Currently, the structure appears neglected from the exterior.

Even venturing indoors reveals no obvious irregularities, yet disappearances persist within a 50 km vicinity.

Strong likelihood exists that this anomaly migrated from another nation.

For witness testimonies and foreign records, check the provided link.

<Link Address>

Documentation on Wonmi-dong Psychiatric Hospital.

In particular, the exchange between Missing Person Miss A and Bureau Agent B. See the link for full details.

<Link Address>

Here's a concise overview of the incidents involving Miss A and Agent B.

[Miss A had just started as a grad student. Unable to tolerate the professor's harassment, she wandered near the deserted structure while chatting on the phone with a friend. She vented with lines like, 'Grad school life has driven me insane. That professor is nuts. I'll take him down,' and similar outbursts.

[A few days on, Miss A stopped showing up at grad school. Her friend, labmates, seniors, juniors, and the professor grew suspicious, searched her home to no avail, and reported her missing via her parents. Police then passed it to the Bureau.

[Agent B, overseeing the zone, attempted various contacts and finally reached Miss A via a special app from the Bureau Director.

[Miss A stated she'd been kidnapped and hauled to an unknown psych ward. Claimed certain individuals dragged her there, locking her up under the guise of 'therapy'. Luckily, she smuggled her phone in and picked up Agent B's signal.

[Three days post-contact, Miss A kept normal behavior while messaging Agent B. She described the hospital interior, pleaded for release, but the 'entities' dismissed it as delusion and brushed it off. Plenty of others inside seemed similarly trapped, and long-term 'patients' appeared profoundly deranged.

[Roughly six days after contact, the hospital initiated 'treatment' on Miss A. Exact methods unknown, but they force-fed her mystery drugs, then applied brutal psych and physical tactics to shatter her resistance. Post-drugging, her state turned bizarre.

[About nine days later, Miss A faked swallowing meds by hiding them, regaining some sanity. Side effects sparked wild thoughts and aggression, leading her to plot and execute an escape. She mapped the layout over days, sparked a fire as distraction, slipped out the rear during chaos. Then she phoned Agent B. Yet, fleeing opposite the hospital yielded no end; somehow, straight runs looped her back to the front gate. Soon after, presumed recaptured by hospital 'staff' for harsher 'care'.

[Fifteen days since Miss A's contact.

[Miss A initiated contact, now seemingly aligned with the hospital's 'doctors'. Her psyche fully broken, she rejected this realm as real, labeled the world, Agent B, everything as 'delusions,' vowed eventual cure from the hospital's 'beings.' Then silence.

[No further word from Miss A. Agent B probed hospital protocols, uncovering it snatches anyone within 50 km uttering mental health complaints like 'I think I've gone mad.'

[Vowing to rescue Miss A and others, Agent B geared up with arms and gear, triggered the condition personally, and infiltrated the psych hospital.

[Yet, Agent B remains unreachable, and the anomaly shows no shift.

[S-102's capture range expands weekly by small margins. No extermination, sealing, or rescue methods in sight, so the committee seeks Director's ruling.]

—Anomalous Phenomenon Management Bureau Committee Head Park Dang-mu.

"S identification? What a troublesome case."

Kang Min-hee tuts while scrolling through the anomaly dossier on her tablet.

The faxed files detail the phenomenon's stats, class, and data. She scans the Bureau-exclusive portal via QR code, then sips coffee in the limo en route.

Anomalous Phenomenon Management Bureau classifies threats by ID numbers and letter grades based on peril and powers.

ID numbers merely catalog them, while letters gauge threat levels.

Bureau's five grades:

H: minimal threat but tricky to handle.

G: harms agents.

S: agents struggle for countermeasures.

SS: evacuate and alert Director upon encounter.

J: beyond even Director's current power.

'J-ranks need my main body's might to contain, but Sword Spear's presence alone pulverizes them. No sweat there... Lately, G to S pests nag me.'

Sword Spear may idle, yet her Earth-bound main body blankets the universe, silently deterring otherworldly transcendents.

Kang Min-hee admires Ji Hwa for that.

True, Ji Hwa curbs the real horrors via aura, but oblivious vermin fall to Kang Min-hee's personal sweeps.

"Wish the Bureau snagged usable talent... Anyone bearing [wisdom]?"

She sighs deeply, pulling up before the cursed Wonmi-dong Psychiatric Hospital.

[Director, arrived...]

"Got it. Hold position."

Leaving her subjugated anomaly chauffeur, Kang Min-hee exits the limo, clamps a pipe between lips, ignites it.

"Puff..."

Blue-glowing smoke billows as she nears waiting agents.

She targets the hanbok-clad woman amid black-suited shades-wearers.

"Status update, Chairman?"

"P-please speak casually. This humble servant can't adjust to the Director's respect."

"Cut it. I'm merely mortal now. Report first."

"Y-yes... So far, 36 additional vanishings, abduction zone expanded another 41 km."

"Still trying seals or quarantines?"

"Affirmative. Deployed anomaly-sealing gear, but zero effect."

"Hmph..."

Pipe in one hand, she passes files to the 'Chairman.'

"I'll handle suppression. Post-entry, sever hospital perimeter from outer space. Treat interior like 'Director's Office'—agents face away, ignore all rear noises. Turning means six-month lockdown minimum."

"Understood, I'll enforce it. Anything else?"

"Hmm... Recovery might get rough on badly off victims, resetting them harshly. Worst case, six-month isolation. Note it."

"Yes, got it. Return safe, Great One..."

"Er..."

Kang Min-hee blushes faintly, waves dismissively.

"...I repeat, just human. No overkill politeness. Off I go."

After Chairman nod, she strolls into hospital maw, mutters:

"Feels like my head's cracking."

Instantly, a twisted realm engulfs her.

***

"Hmph."

Suddenly,

Her garb shifts to patient scrubs.

Phone and bag remain clutched; pipe stays put in mouth.

Only attire altered.

Plus surroundings, and acrid med scent assaulting nostrils.

"Patient, smoking's banned indoors."

A doctor-garbed entity confronts Kang Min-hee.

Face indistinct.

Yet no unease; later, recalled as 'featureless human.'

"Patient, time for treatment here. We ignore your prior life's details. Rest assured, cure awaits, erasing your illness-born illusions. Obey, or 'nurses' come..."

"Hmph..."

Kang Min-hee removes pipe, peeks rearward.

Brawny nurses loom, ready to pin any twitch. Their visages blur too.

"Haaa..."

Smoke expels toward 'doctor entity.'

"Question, Doc?"

"Reasonable ones, yes."

"Treating delusions... ever wonder from patients' visions, 'ghosts real?' or 'afterlife exists'?"

"Patient, no ghosts here. Afterlife tales? Brain's dying hallucinations. All delusion or madness—you must..."

"Yeah, yeah, you're certain none exist? Insist on my cure? Alright, one session. Hold this while, Doc."

Final puff, smoke out, pipe proffered to doctor-thing.

"My room? Crave patient mingling during therapy. Trust your cure. Lead on."

Her compliance prompts doctor and nurses to confer whispers, then escort to ward.

Soon as they verify her calm repose, they dissolve away. Kang Min-hee surveys room smirking.

She fishes from sleeve, extracting items.

"No ghosts? Hah..."

Split body limits her to mortal tier, but core transcends.

Thus, her stature quells myriad threats.

"Emerge, [Eight-Chi Ghost]. [Slit-Mouthed Woman]. [Portrait of the Abandoned House]. [Monkey Hand]. [Press Man]."

Splat splat splat splat, splat splat!

Subdued horrors tumble from sleeve with wet plops.

Kang Min-hee grabs immobile hand-anomaly, cracks door, shoves into adjacent room, commands rest:

"Unleashed briefly—wreak havoc freely."

[Kyaaagh!]

[Kkiyeeeek!]

"Human speech or punishment. Respond..."

[Forgive us, Teacher. Long confinement frayed control. Mercy, please.]

"Fine. Frolic wildly."

Command drops; mobile specters bolt like predators, ravaging hospital uniquely.

Eight-Chi Ghost window-exits, popopopo-strides, elongated form paraded.

Popopopo echoes externally soon.

Slit-Mouthed Woman stalks solo nurses, mask-reddened face.

Ripping shrieks follow internally.

Abandoned House Portrait slinks to director's quarters silently; thence, director-proxy's slip of alarm.

Press Man punches strolling patient.

Instantly, "Such seafarer build—shirking Royal Navy enlistment equals desertion!?" Patient morphs to Briton sailor, devoured; ranks swell into Imperial Navy, Press Ganging rampant.

"Haaa..."

Fresh tobacco lit, she peers through bars.

"Popopopo..."

"How's my look?"

"Nurse!? This portrait?!"

"Uniform sighted—despair! Great Empire sailors!"

Savoring mayhem's melody, tobacco clouds drift.

"Expert healers? I'll flood you with patients—cure 'em proper."

Autumn wanes coldly into late season.

Late fall arrives.