Precautions of a Snakepit - Chapter 79
‘What’s going on here?’
Two of the five members had suddenly fallen into a three-way argument over whether Won had said something s*xual, or whether Top Dog had gotten a boner over something non-s*xual because of his weird fetishes.
‘I was waiting for the latter to win.’
As Won watched in bewilderment, a woman, presumably the oldest of the Romance Corps, stepped forward.
For convenience, Won referred to her as the “makjang drama” enthusiast.
“Guys, what’s the point of fighting amongst yourselves? Let’s just chew, tear, taste, and enjoy the rice cake like we always do, yeah?”
“Anyway, we’re young and energetic, so we’re not going to fight over anything. You shouldn’t be picky like me so like everything. A rebellious man is just as delicious as a shy man. A virgin man is just as delicious as a promiscuous man. Any type of man is perfect. If you keep acting so picky, won’t you eventually starve?”
‘Lo-pan’ girl came to the aid of the makjang drama enthusiast. The 10,000-novel romance reader who was talking to Won in the hallway earlier has joined in.
“I see. You have to try out new types that you don’t like, and then you realize, ‘Oh, this is surprisingly delicious,’ and gradually evolve into an omnivore so that you can have a richer meal.”
“Forget it, I’m only going to eat what I like, even if it means starving to death,” one of the ladies responded.
The young, BL-lover of the Romance Corps chimed in, “Me neither. I’d rather review a work that’s a snipe at my taste for the thousandth time and eat bone broth. I’m the kind of person who eats food once and keeps eating it. I listen to a song once and I keep listening to it, and I’ll never get tired of it.”
“Oh, you do seem to know something.”
“We can easily talk about this stuff.”
The two who were unable to find common ground earlier all of a sudden were in agreement. Won’s head was filled with questions.
‘Why? Why was it like that? Weren’t they so desperate just a moment ago?’
The makjang drama enthusiast, the 10,000 romance novel reader, and the Lo-pan mainstay shook their heads in disbelief as they exchanged glances with each other.
“No matter how you look at it, they’re a match.”
“Yeah.”
“If one of them was a guy, I’d be squirming with disgust. What a waste.”
The romance novel reader glared at the wonder. Won’s skin crawled at the sight of her eyes looking like a predator eyeing its prey. It was the first time she had ever felt this way about a patient.
Her comment sparked the Lo-pan lady to react.
“So, who is the head of the family? It’s about reversing the roles these days, right?”
“Well, it doesn’t matter who is in charge but I hope there’s a birthing secret or something. I’ve had low levels of makjang lately.”
The makjang drama enthusiast licked her lips like she was thirsty.
‘No, why are they bringing this up again?’
Won couldn’t keep up with them. Many of the terms they were casually throwing around were unfamiliar.
‘Maybe it’s some kind of industry jargon.’
No wonder Won couldn’t understand them. Won decided to give up trying. There is only one way to deal with the unknown.
Unconditionally avoid.
She can dodge or catch a volleyball coming at her, but there is nothing she can do about a bouncy ball when she’s unaware of its direction.
She quietly dodges the Romance Corps and makes her way out of the main hall. She wasn’t fleeing because of the madness in their eyes; it was a tactical retreat.
‘I don’t think Ms. Yang will come out anyway.’
Won took a seat in the main hall in case she showed up. If she was in her right mind, she would come to meet Won. If she didn’t show up, she was either out of her mind or…
‘Either she’s sane or completely demotivated.’
Maybe she’s had enough after Dr. Hudson’s death and will let it all go. Maybe things are better now, no matter what. It’s surprisingly easy to break down in the face of overwhelming setbacks.
‘Well, there’s really no way to crack the safe now.’
That’s pretty much what Won concluded, but she still had to have a little hope in her. She gave it one last shot, but she shouldn’t depend on it.
‘I should have figured out the truth about Dr. Hudson ahead of time and cracked the code, but my timing was off.’
By one day.
Just one day.
If Top Dog had told her the secret just one day sooner…
She would have known.
The day she showed him the sign, she remembered him glancing at it, even though it was dark and he could barely make out the words.
“Sweetie, this is…”
He was trying to say something at the time. She didn’t get the chance to hear it because she heard the beeping noises right after and went back to her room.
‘He already knew…’
He already knew, so why not…
‘No, he didn’t.’
Won was about to blame him, then she changed her mind. She was to blame him for her own ignorance. She saw the same sign and didn’t notice anything. It was her fault.
She focused on the contents, assuming that the items she didn’t understand must mean something. Indeed, the “shrouded area” in item 5 was a hint to the secret hidden in the religious room. But that’s not all: there’s also a message hidden in the mix of meaningless sentences.
It’s embarrassingly simple and clumsy for cryptogram, but that’s to be expected since the creators weren’t professionals. In fact, it’s probably intentional. If it’s too complicated, no one will notice. In the hope that at least one more person would understand, she risked getting caught by the hospital…
It’s time for Won to stop thinking about how Ms. Yang feels. Won blames Top Dog for not telling her sooner, but she blames herself for not recognizing the simplicity.
All of it has already happened.
It’s time to search for remaining clues.
Won rubbed her lips with her fingers, lost in thought.
‘Dr. Hudson tried to say something before he died.’
Though all that came out of his mouth was the cooing of the pigeon that had earned him his nickname, she still thought back to what she heard about him.
“Yes. He is the sickest patient in the hospital. Sometimes he has a seizure like that and makes a sound like a pigeon cooing, so we call him Grandpa Gugu. They say they used the wrong medicine to treat him, or something went wrong and his brain got messed up. He can’t even talk to people.”
Dr. Hudson doesn’t always make pigeon-cooing noises. He does it in his “seizures.”
Normally, Dr. Hudson has a low-key presence. Won was sorry to use it to describe a living being but was just a walking dead man.
He occasionally mumbles unintelligible things to himself, but they don’t seem to have any meaning. It’s just a disorganized, uncommunicative list of phonemes. It’s as if he can’t speak human languages.
‘Is what I thought was his last testament just a meaningless seizure?’
No, it wasn’t. Dr. Hudson’s eyes, as Won saw in his last moments, were clear and strong. He spoke with a dying effort as if he had to say this one thing, and his voice was like a candle burning its last flame. It wasn’t a meaningless seizure.
Occasionally, a person lying in a hospital bed, wandering in a trance, will become lucid as they approach death. It’s a phenomenon often compared to a flashback.
One explanation is that the brain releases an overabundance of endorphins, adrenaline, and other substances just before death, while another is that the brain’s electrolyte levels change as the body shuts down, creating a temporary environment that inadvertently activates the brain.
In any case, she assumed that Dr. Hudson had a momentary lapse of sanity. There are two possibilities.
One, Dr. Hudson tried to say something, but the brain damage completely disrupted the mechanism that converts thoughts into sound, so the only thing he can produce is an involuntary scream that sounds like a pigeon cooing.
Second, the lucid Dr. Hudson was capable of making other sounds, but he intentionally emitted something that sounded like a pigeon cooing, so it’s possible that he was making a diversionary will to draw attention to the scene and the CCTV.
‘Pigeons?’
Is there something associated with pigeons somewhere in the hospital? Did he leave some kind of clue there?
‘Or maybe…?’
Time passed while Won pondered.
After pretending to take the pills that were handed out after dinner, as she always did, and letting them disappear without a trace in the shower, Won returned to her room and fell into bed.
Today was the third day since she’d been called to see Dr. Madison.
“Only a few more days. It’s soon.”
This day falls into the category of “a few days” that Dr. Madison forewarned about. Turning to face away from the CCTV, Won was skeptical.
‘I didn’t think it would happen today.’
She was strangely clear-headed, like the night before a storm. A premonition of sleepiness, even when nothing was happening.
She was in a state of unexplained ar*usal, killing time.
She heard a noise in the hallway, like something slick slithering down the hallway and a snake flicking its tongue.
The fateful night had come.
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