A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 857 Chapter 854: Side Story - Anomalous Phenomena Management Bureau (3)
Previously on A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation...
Dududududu!
A rough crawling noise reverberates through the air.
"Run!!!"
"Doctor! Nurse! What the hell are you doing!? Protect us!!!"
If genres truly exist in the real world.
Right now, the atmosphere at Wonmi-dong Psychiatric Hospital has shifted dramatically by 180 degrees.
The anomalous phenomenon S-102, which normally abducts folks, transforms them into mental patients, erases their memories of the true world, and confines them eternally, has now become, in this instant...
...a defender shielding the patients against hordes of bizarre entities.
"Nurse!!! Erect the barricade!!! Fetch the shotgun!!!"
"Release the patient-subduing gas!!!"
"The barricade needs to be reinforced thicker!!! Ah, no!!! The defense line is breaking!!!"
If the real world possesses genres as well,
At this instant, 'Wonmi-dong Psychiatric Hospital' switches from a 'horror tale' into a full-blown 'war epic'.
"W-We can't hold them back. T-Those things..."
The bizarre entities that trap patients, inject them with drugs, and slowly wipe away their real-world recollections—those very hospital nurses.
Shivering uncontrollably, they collapse to the ground while staring at the 'navy' slithering in from behind the makeshift barricade of chairs, bookshelves, operating tables, and similar items.
"! We represent the glorious British Empire navy! Your country summons you—respond to the draft immediately!"
"Despite crafting such a splendid barricade, you dare claim ignorance that refusing naval enlistment equals desertion!"
"! Constructing a barricade with such vigor proves you'd excel as a sailor. Enlist in the glorious navy now!"
Jjeok, jjeojeojeojeok!
From beyond the barricade, sailors clad in 19th- and 20th-century British Empire naval attire advance with shining eyes, relentlessly dismantling the obstacle as they draw nearer to the nurses.
And at last,
"The, the barricade shatteeeers!!!"
Kwagwagwang!
"!!"
"We are the glorious British Empire navy. Heed the call to conscription!"
"Ye who takes the King's shilling. Serve the navy!"
"!!"
As the navy's lively shanty echoes around, the uniformed sailors seize patients, nurses, and doctors alike without mercy, pummeling them indiscriminately with clubs and fists, swiftly dressing them in British Empire naval garb, slipping a shilling into a beer mug, and shoving beer down their throats to convert them into additional navy recruits.
Thus, the British Empire navy swells once more.
This expanding navy spreads chaos throughout the psychiatric hospital like a rampant plague.
Not just patients, but nurses too succumb to sheer terror of the Press Gangs' conscription dread, yelling desperately at the doctors.
"We must escape outside!!!"
"Unlock the hospital doors immediately!"
"Otherwise, we're all doomed!"
The doctors, facing this unprecedented crisis for the first time, appear utterly panicked and stammer their words.
"Everyone, stay calm! This is merely a patient uprising. Deploy the subduing gas, and we'll contain them!"
Simultaneously, a faint pink gas hisses from the ceiling vents, descending upon the navy.
Hwiiiiii—
A gust sweeps through.
The flustered doctors scan their surroundings, noticing the gas dispersing into dozens of 'portraits' adorning the hallway walls.
"What sort of portraits are those...no, hold on, they're not actually portraits...?"
Anomalous Phenomenon, [Portrait of an Abandoned House].
Individuals who overnight in an abandoned house spot numerous portraits scattered inside during the night, yet upon morning awakening, they discover no portraits exist—only windows.
What lurks within the abandoned house aren't portraits, but observers peering at visitors from behind those windows.
This anomalous phenomenon was quelled by Kang Min-hee and subtly altered thereafter.
Originally limited to mere facial reflections in windows, it evolved to spawn as many windows as desired.
Hwiiiiii—
Consequently, the subduing gas released by the doctors gets instantly scattered by the anomalous entities now gaping blankly into the corridor, shoving open glass panes from the multiplied windows.
And in the immediate aftermath,
The very doctor who declared, "Once the subduing gas is sprayed, we can subdue them," falls into the clutches of the beer-guzzling Press Gang charging like feral beasts, endures a brutal beating, gets outfitted in naval uniform, and is force-fed beer.
Soon after, the doctor morphs into a robust navy sailor and belts out a merry sea shanty.
The remaining doctors, witnessing this horror, panic completely and flee alongside the patients.
"I-I'll unlock the hospital door, so everyone bolt!"
"Which, which door do you mean?"
"F-First, the back door—"
"Not the back door! It's sealed by the [Slit-Mouthed Woman] with her scissors!"
"Then head for the front door!"
Doctors, nurses, and patients dash frantically from the ever-multiplying British Empire navy sailors pursuing them wildly.
And just as they arrive at the hospital's main entrance.
"Uh, uhh...uhhhhhh!!!"
A patient gestures toward the front gate and screams.
"Hey! What's that elongated figure lurking before the front gate!?"
Popopopo...
A towering woman, appearing several meters in height, looms outside the front gate, emitting a popopopo noise.
With the British Empire navy sealing off their rear and the Eight-Chi Ghost barring the front, escape is cut off.
The doctors, once abductors who ensnared ordinary people into the psychiatric hospital, now find themselves penned like chickens in a coop alongside the patients.
"Doctors, you filthy bastaaaards!!! You swore no ghosts exist!!! Does that look human to you!!??"
Ultimately,
In this dire predicament, the drug-hazed minds of patients, dosed by the hospital's 'medication,' suddenly clear amid the Eight-Chi Ghost and navy onslaught.
The doctors, shoving nurses ahead in their trapped state to confront the Eight-Chi Ghost somehow, spot a patient gripping the [Monkey Paw] and pleading fervently.
"M-Monkey's Paw, grant us escape from this nightmarish hell...!"
As the patient wishes, the Monkey's Paw twitches, manifesting an alternative exit bypassing the Eight-Chi Ghost-blocked entrance.
Upon witnessing this, the doctors and nurses gape in shock, wrest the Monkey's Paw from the patient, rush to the fresh portal, and voice their desire.
"Monkey's Paw! Ensure that dreadful navy vanishes from our sight immediately!"
In response to the doctors' plea, the Monkey's Paw stirs and inscribes words into the void.
The words read, 'It is fulfilled'.
Instantly, the pursuing navy fades from direct view, allowing the doctors a momentary breath of relief.
Smack, smack, smack!
From the now-invisible space, blows strike the patients.
Immediately after, patients turn translucent as if cloaked by something unseen, followed by cheerful singing emerging from the empty air.
The Monkey's Paw, interpreting the wish 'Make it so we can't see them right in front of our eyes,' had rendered the navy 'invisible navy'.
Eventually, every patient in the psychiatric hospital falls prey to the invisible navy, leaving behind merely the 'doctor-like anomalies' and 'nurse-like anomalies' that formerly lured ordinary people inside.
And finally, even after fleeing the hospital, they continue their desperate flight.
While running, they repeatedly beseech the Monkey's Paw with hopes, yet it perverts each wish into calamity, steadily decimating the doctors and nurses.
And ultimately,
Only the anomalous entity acting as director of Wonmi-dong Psychiatric Hospital survives.
Clutching the Monkey's Paw, the anomaly flees the invisible navy, only to loop back endlessly.
Yet the destination after bursting through the front gate and sprinting without end is...
The hospital's rear gate.
"Ah, ahh...ahhhhh..."
The director anomaly quakes in terror, knees buckling, as the back gate swings wide, unleashing bare-chested burly sailors.
"! Welcome to voluntary enlistment. Henceforth, this structure transforms into a 'naval fortress' for the British Empire navy. Proceed for your initiation rite!"
"U, uaa...aaaaaa..."
And thus,
The horrific anomaly masquerading as rational, hauling blameless civilians into the psychiatric hospital, and via drugs, mental, and physical coercion, branding them 'patients' within its walls.
The vile anomaly that stripped away their original reality.
The final remnant of 'Wonmi-dong Psychiatric Hospital's' doctors.
The director abandons all sanity and beseeches the Monkey's Paw.
"Please, save me! O God! Anyone at all!"
And then,
The Monkey's Paw's finger stirs, etching words into thin air.
'It is fulfilled.'
Kururung...
The pocket dimension housing 'Wonmi-dong Psychiatric Hospital'.
Its sky rends apart, and [wisdom] from a distant otherworld descends.
It hails from the supreme king among great ghosts.
A Judge of the Underworld weeping azure tears.
Direct disciple of the Underworld God.
This is the [wisdom] of a shadowy, icy, ebony ghost sovereign.
Piiiii...
As that entity's [wisdom] alights upon the realm,
All noise ceases.
All substances and existences upholding the anomalous psychiatric hospital shatter under the strain.
The director sustaining the hospital crumbles, dragging doctors and nurses down with it.
And at the terminus, the doctor who uttered the gravest wish to the Monkey's Paw embraces doom, plunged into utter insanity.
Kugugugung!
The subsequent instant,
Finally, the realm of anomaly S-102 disintegrates.
'Wonmi-dong Psychiatric Hospital' meets its dismantling.
"Huuu..."
Kang Min-hee sluggishly opens her eyes and snaps her fingers, summoning her pipe back.
She has returned to the real world.
Kang Min-hee lounges in the director's chair of the derelict hospital, with a petite journal brimming with inscriptions before her.
It resembles a patient condition log, saturated with profound fixation.
"So, you're the core of S-102?"
Scattered around S-102 are a 'monkey's hand', 'navy hat', 'red mask', 'high-heeled shoes', and a 'small key'.
Each serves as the essence of anomalies like Monkey's Paw, Press Man, Slit-Mouthed Woman, Eight-Chi Ghost, and 'Portrait of an Abandoned House'.
Kang Min-hee slips the key, shoes, and mask into her sleeve, pauses to gaze at the 'navy hat' and 'monkey's hand', then securely nestles them against her chest.
The Portrait of an Abandoned House, Eight-Chi Ghost, and Slit-Mouthed Woman prove serviceable yet lack formidable power as anomalies, allowing her easy management.
However, Press Man and Monkey's Paw bear ratings between SS and J somewhere.
Moreover, these instinct-driven powerhouses, devoid of rational thought, could have ravaged Earth repeatedly or supplanted the planet entirely with British Empire navy without her personal intervention. World-ending horrors.
Such are the Monkey's Paw and Press Man.
"How did abominations like these crash onto Earth...?"
She fixates particularly on the Monkey's Paw.
The Monkey's Paw compels wish-makers toward 'the direst conclusion'.
Yet, in proximity to a divine being like Kang Min-hee, it deems her 'the ultimate omen,' directing any wisher to their personal nadir—often unveiling truths about her true form.
Convenient for Kang Min-hee's purposes, yet for lesser beings, it's a cataclysmic terror capable of obliterating not just Earth but the solar system.
"An artifact rivaling Immortal Treasures by Mount Sumeru metrics, plummeting to Earth... What manner of origin world do you hail from?"
Kang Min-hee queries the Monkey's Paw, receiving no reply.
Shrugging, she seals the Monkey's Paw tightly and tucks it away in her bosom.
"Now... time to determine your fate."
She toys with the notebook—the authentic form of Wonmi-dong Psychiatric Hospital, chronicling patient deeds—and ponders.
"You're quite potent, so my avatar alone can't repatriate you to your home realm. Main body power is required, but a pact with allies bars casual use of it. The afterimage you glimpsed complies since the Monkey's Paw invoked it, but regardless, instant return proves tricky. Merely sealing you in containment would ignite your anomaly urges, sparking havoc anew. Correct?"
The notebook remains silent.
Kang Min-hee lowers her pipe's flame toward the notebook's base, prompting it to quiver alive-like in evasion.
"Shall I incinerate you outright, or would you prefer staffing our Anomalous Phenomenon Management Bureau's ward, venting strength suitably, aiding our efforts in symbiotic exchange?"
To Kang Min-hee's query, the notebook thrashes to dodge the pipe fumes and flips open.
Pararak—
A lone sentence graces the revealed page.
[I will help.]
"Excellent. I approve. Regain your vigor, then reside at the Anomalous Phenomenon Management Bureau, performing legitimate treatment duties."
Pallak—
[Yes, thank you for mercy.]
"Splendid. Missing individuals linger in your inner pocket dimension, yes? Infused with my wisdom, that space and captives are far from normal... Simply repatriate them to the Bureau coordinates I provide. First off..."
Thus, Kang Min-hee quells this anomalous phenomenon, acquiring a fresh anomaly while liberating all vanished souls.
"Brr, chilly. Tonight, french fries... and beer it is."
Kang Min-hee secures the notebook in her bosom and departs the forsaken hospital.
