episode_0003

“What on earth is this bolt from the blue…?”

When there’s no way to avoid it, instead of just coolly accepting it, one should strive to find a way to evade it by any means necessary. But Steve, that idiot, gives up without even trying. He’s addicted to giving up.

Cursing myself for climbing onto the metaphorical gallows, I reluctantly opened the door to the VVIP ward.

“Wow…”

What met my eyes was an interior so splendid, adorned with a VVIP plaque, that it made me forget the despair I was in, at least for a moment.

“This is truly on a different level compared to the emergency room lounge.”

In reality, within the emergency room, there is no such thing as a lounge. It’s just a dusty, rarely used storage room where people go in and faint for 10 or 20 minutes when they feel like they’re going to die, and that’s how it came to be called a lounge.

From that perspective, to someone like me who only knew the dirty, dusty storage room as a lounge, this ward was an incredibly luxurious place.

“Wow… How can you see the ocean from here? I’ve only heard rumors about a room like this.”

This room, designed for the convenience of patients, had everything a patient could need. From high-precision examination devices usually found in intensive care units to recovery potion-specific refrigerators and various leisure items for mental care. Apart from medical equipment, it was impossible to distinguish whether it was a luxury hotel or a hospital room.

“But the patients admitted to this room probably can’t use any of these things. Is it all just for show?”

While this perfect room had everything a patient could possibly need, it seemed that the patients using it were mere bystanders.

“Right, the plant patients… I should stop sightseeing and start checking things out.”

The keyword “patient” reminded me why I had been assigned here in the first place.

Alright, from today, my role has changed from a janitor in the emergency room to a caregiver responsible for taking care of these girls until they wake up, even at the Vatican. It’s called a caregiver, but it’s practically a graveyard keeper. Taking care of people who will never wake up.

They may have become plant people, but that doesn’t change the fact that these three were the world’s greatest heroes. What I mean is, their bodies are so robust that they can’t even be compared to an average person like me. Even if I grow old and die, I’ll probably die before those plant people, who are perfectly healthy.

This luxurious hospital room was nothing less than a prison where I would spend my whole life. For someone like me, who wanted to pay off debts, open a café, and leisurely brew coffee, it was truly hard to accept.

“Sigh… Alright. Let’s go see the faces of these plant people we have to watch over for life.”

Just because I don’t accept it doesn’t mean reality will change, so I let out a deep sigh, licked my lips, and firmly opened the door of the room with the most familiar name written on it among the three closed doors.

Click.

The door opened smoothly without a creak, and there I saw a woman lying on the bed, her beautiful white hair shining brightly in the sunlight. She is Mei Lina, known to the public as the light of humanity, the savior, and the saint, names that are more than fitting for her outstanding contributions and abilities. Compassionate and polite, she was the very embodiment of a saint who had come to this era.

“Ugh… Just looking at her face gives me serious PTSD.”

But to me, Mei Lina was just a bad-tempered, crazy lunatic. Not just bad, but a truly wicked villain who knew exactly how to torment people. So, even seeing her lying there, praised for her beauty as if it were a gift from the gods, only sent shivers down my spine.

In Mei Luina’s early awakening as a hero, she did not possess the perfect healing ability she has now. At that time, with her limited abilities, she was rushed to the emergency room due to poisoning from a rare toxin that was difficult to detoxify. While receiving treatment, she asked people who the youngest person in the room was.

She was once known as a likely candidate for the saint’s name, an extraordinary individual who would save the world and be bestowed with the saint’s name after centuries. No one knew why she was looking for the youngest person in the emergency room, but without much thought, the people in the emergency room directed her to me. Yes, it was when I was a second-year intern in the emergency room.

On a day when I was completely worn out, Mei Luina, with a bright smile, brought me to the room where she was being administered the antidote, and asked me a few things about myself. She asked my age, what I did here, and how I ended up working here, and for how long I would be working here. Well, they were things she could ask upon meeting someone for the first time.

Until I heard her questions, I had just thought of Mei Luina as a very nice person befitting the title of the most likely saint candidate. So, without any suspicion or wariness, I told her everything about my situation of being in debt and having about 8 years left to pay it off, and that if I quit this job, loan sharks would come after me. I even shared unnecessary information like that. Little did I know that those details would become the decisive key to removing the mask she was wearing.

Even now, two years later, it feels as vivid as yesterday. That crazy mask-wearing woman brought me into her private room and closed the door, and said, “Phew… Alright, you pass. Your will to live despite your life being completely ruined, and the hope that things will get better, I like it all. You’re called Stay, right? From today, I appoint you as my emotional trash can. Nice to meet you, expert in ruining lives. Hehehe.”

Just imagining it gives me goosebumps all over my body—the scene where the crazy mask-wearing woman removes her mask and declares that she will use me as her emotional trash can.

From the day Mei Luina moved from the emergency room to the hospital room until the day of her discharge, I had to play the role of her emotional trash can almost every hour… No, practically every hour.

Refusal? That’s unimaginable.

The gap between a top-tier saint candidate and an F-grade lackey on the brink of being crushed by debt was as vast as the difference between heaven and earth.

“If it’s so hard to pretend to be nice, why not just stop pretending? Why buy and suffer losses yourself, then bitch at me?”

Just imagining those events from several years ago made me furious. Well, it’s not just something from a few years back. Even after gaining perfect healing abilities, to the point where she didn’t need to be brought to the emergency room anymore, she would still come to me if she felt bored or had pent-up emotions and unleash her anger.

What a real pain.

The reason she took off her mask only with me and vented was simply because I was the lowest person she knew. She probably thought no one would believe her even if she revealed her true nature. When I heard that, I couldn’t help but feel really pissed off.

“Well, at least now I don’t have to play the emotional trash can anymore. Thank goodness for that.”

Recalling the days I spent with the past Mei Luina, not sweet but rather just plain bitter, lying quietly on the bed without any movement, gave me a strange feeling. The Mei Luina I knew worked herself to death, ordered a slice of cake from her regular bakery for someone who could barely afford cup ramen for a meal, then complained about its taste after eating it, and even brought someone who couldn’t eat properly and caused endless trouble… What a crazy woman.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you this quiet.”

The current Mei Luina was, well, how should I put it? Like a doll.

Actually, it wouldn’t be wrong to call her a doll since she didn’t move on her own. To see the noisy Mei Luina showing such a quiet side… It feels odd, somewhat empty.

“Of course, I don’t particularly miss it.”

Yeah, as if there’s anything to miss. Being used as an emotional dumpster by that mask-wearing girl ranks in the top 3 of the shittiest moments I’ve experienced in the emergency room.

Thinking like that, I suddenly realized something strange while considering that being a plant-human now is better than before. Uttering such blasphemous thoughts would surely lead to being stoned, enchanted, or stabbed to death.

“Huh? What’s that? Who left it like this?”

The gauge measuring Mei Luina’s mental state was ambiguously attached to her finger.

Did it come loose when she was moved to this hospital room? It should have been properly secured.

As the one responsible for managing her as a plant-human, any slight abnormality in her condition puts her life in jeopardy. Therefore, I quickly unfolded the seemingly loose gauge and took hold of Mei Luina’s slender finger to properly attach the gauge.

At that moment.

=====

[Name: Mei Luina]

[Alias: Light of Humanity, Savior, Saintess]

[Gender: Female]

[Age: 22]

[Rank: S-Class]

[Abilities: Sacrifice (Legendary), Miracle Healing (Legendary), Revival Light (Legendary), Holy Creation (Legendary) ….]

Possessing multiple abilities, information is restricted until the user requests confirmation.

[Current Status: Mana Scarce. Plant-Human. Extreme Loneliness. Depression. Despair. Regret.]

! The subject is trapped in a state anomaly called “Eternal Prison.”

Eternal Prison: A curse where the body and soul connection is severed, with the complete depletion of mana and sealing of all channels, leaving the soul trapped in an eternal prison.

! It cannot be undone voluntarily.

! Eternal Prison Feature – Equivalent Exchange: The method to undo the curse becomes permanently imprinted on the subject’s body according to the nature of the Eternal Prison.

[Treatment Method: Infusion of Vital Energy]

! The higher the subject’s physical and mental arousal, the more effective the treatment becomes.

Upon the user’s request, the imprint rises above the subject’s body.

! The curse can only be undone by infusing vital energy into the imprint.

=====

Mei Luina’s status window, which shouldn’t be visible, appeared above her retina.

“What, what is this…”

Status window acquired, the first time seeing someone else’s status window.

As I was still surprised by this unfamiliar status window, a notification appeared on my retina for the first time with a ringing sound.

[You can listen to the inner thoughts of the target. Will you listen? Y/N]