The vertically slit pupils were still following me. Was that a dig at me to get out of the shop quickly because I smelled? I washed this morning. Since the trip I've been getting drenched in blood and filth every other day, so I've been washing far more often than I used to.

"It doesn't seem entirely pleasant."

"What?"

"If there's nothing more to buy, let's go back, Staff Kang."

What are you talking about, I only got clothes? And not even what I wanted, but an incredibly conspicuous yellow dress.

But the doctor, who seemed vaguely in a bad mood, was on my mind, and the street, which smelled more and more of blood the deeper we went, was frightening. Still, going back with no information at all felt too wasteful.

"Just there! Just let me look at that one place and then we'll go back!"

At that moment, a shabby accessory shop at the bend in the road caught my eye. The sign read Wicked Human, with the word "human" right there in the name. Maybe I could learn something!

***

"Welcome~ this is Wicked Human."

"Oh...!"

I know it's rude to point at someone you've just met, but my hand went up on its own. It was because the person who had greeted me was a human. I wanted to run over and talk to them right away, but since they could also be a monster in human form, I calmed my racing heart.

"What a shabby shop."

"I, is it? It looks affordable and nice to me. Actually, I need a hair tie. I'll pick one quickly."

The aesthetic was shabby, like a corner of an underground shopping arcade. But for that very reason it felt more familiar and comfortable. The doctor furrowed his brow slightly and stopped near the entrance without moving. To me it was far better than the places decorated with blood and organs.

"Could you help me find something?"

"Yes. What can I help you with?"

"I'm looking for a scrunchie."

"Scrunchies are over at that display."

"I'm looking for a fuller, bigger scrunchie. Like, the kind that, you know, Eunyoung wore."

I couldn't just outright ask, are you a person? Where are you from? Where are you living now? I felt oddly conscious of the doctor's gaze. So the method I chose was to drop the name of a famous idol that any Korean would know.

"ma'am. The idol who was famous around when I arrived was Peach. Eunyoung... I don't know who that is."

My hand, which had been consciously pretending to browse scrunchies, stopped. I slowly turned my head and met eyes that looked tired even while smiling.

This shop's owner is definitely a person.

Just one who came here much earlier than me. Peach was an idol who had briefly been popular in the past, a star who became a top idol in an instant with a charm as fresh as their name suggested.

But because they had suddenly retired and gotten married at a young age during their peak, the backlash had been severe, and lately they were barely mentioned, living the life of an ordinary private citizen.

It had been at least ten years ago.

"Will you take this one? I'll ring you up."

A yellow scrunchie dropped from my trembling hands. The owner picked it up as if nothing had happened and finished the transaction. I was still in shock and hadn't even taken out my money yet.

"It's nice to see a conscious human customer after so long. This is a gift from me."

"E, excuse me. Just a moment."

"Go on. Your owner is waiting, isn't he? A necklace... I used to wear something like that too, back in the day. If you live here long enough, the monsters come to know you even without a necklace, so it gets easier."

Why that expression? An expression like looking at something pitiable. An expression like watching someone do something pointless. Even so, perhaps taking pity on me standing there frozen, the owner drew out time by pretending to wrap things up.

"Are you originally a person who lives in this world?"

"Every 'human' in this place just ended up coming in from somewhere by mistake."

"Then why don't you go back?"

Please. Please. Even though I already had a feeling, I was scared of a negative answer coming from the clerk's mouth. At that moment, with the jingle of the door, a monster with its eyes closed came in.

"Give up."

"What do you mean by that...!"

"I was lucky, and you seem to be too. Actually, we're a bit short-handed here, which is a shame. Take care."

It had a human-like appearance, but looked to be at least three meters tall and never opened its closed eyes. Even so, I could feel that it was looking precisely at me and the clerk, and a chill ran down my spine.

"That's enough work for today. Close up."

"Shall I? That's fine by me."

The clerk greeted the enormous monster with familiarity and smiled. I stumbled backward as if being pushed and was caught by the doctor, who had been waiting.

"Let's go back, Staff Kang."

For a moment it seemed like my eyes met the clerk's, but that was all. I returned to the hospital.

***

"......"

My head is foggy. What am I doing? One moment it feels utterly comfortable, and the next it's agonizing and uncomfortable, as if insects are gnawing through my entire body.

"...doctor..."

Am I standing right now? Sitting? It sounds like someone is speaking. Ah. I can feel sensation. My throat is being pressed. It doesn't hurt.

"Ugh."

The force squeezing tighter and tighter feels threatening yet delicate. A large, lukewarm hand stole my breath and a suppressed cough burst out. Along with the distress, my reason began to return.

"Cough, gasp, cough!"

"Staff Kang."

The pressure on my throat disappeared at the same moment my vision came back like a light switching on, and my trembling legs buckled. The moment I came to my senses I thought I might get a concussion, but before I collapsed to the floor I was caught in someone's arms.

It was the doctor.

"Huh...? doctor."

"Tell me the most recent memory you have."

"What? What, huh? When did I put on my uniform? Is this a dream?"

I was sure I'd gone out on my day off. And I met a person. And after that I came back and... came back and... what? Did I fall asleep from the shock?

"It's currently work hours, so it's correct that you're wearing your uniform."

"What? What does that mean?"

A dream where I'm going to work, is this a nightmare? Half my day off is still left, why am I in work hours? I denied reality and reflexively clung to the doctor's arm. He flinched at my touch and looked at my hand with an unreadable expression. He didn't remove it.

"You haven't lost too many memories. Our outing was yesterday."

"What do you mean, lost?"

"If things stay like this it could interfere with the afternoon shift, so I'll have to use the lunch break. Come this way, Staff Kang."

I don't know what's about to happen. I feel like I only just came out of Wicked Human. But regardless of how the situation came to be, I nearly boiled over in anger at the mention of using my precious lunch break, precious as blood to any working person.

But I held my tongue when I followed the doctor through a door I'd only thought was a storage room and saw the monster inside. The monster was pinned in place by countless scalpels.

"I, I did wrong. Please forgive me! I didn't do it on purpose!"

A monster wearing something like a goat mask made of wood and straw was wailing. The countless limbs pierced by scalpels... no, not limbs, it had arms all over its body. Countless arms writhed, dripping black liquid.

"Forgive me! Forgive me! Forgive me!"

"Ugh."

I stepped back at the sight of the monster, whose body consisted of nothing but a goat-mask-like head and hands, repeating only the plea for forgiveness like a broken record, but the doctor behind me kept me from retreating further.

"Isn't that a patient? Is it alright to leave them like that?"

"It's a patient who caused harm to the hospital. I tried to handle it myself, but I couldn't tell which memories belonged to Staff Kang. Find them and take them back."

Find what and take it back? How am I supposed to do something like that?

"Just a moment. What was this patient here for?"

I resisted the force pushing me forward to stand in front of the memory monster. I need to know something before I can act. The monster was still doing nothing but repeating its plea for forgiveness.

"Apparently it came in with an upset stomach from eating too many memories. I opened its stomach and sorted through half of it, yet it still stole Staff Kang's memories, so the problem isn't the upset stomach but the gluttony."

The doctor gave an unusually long explanation. The mention of opening its stomach and sorting through it made me feel more puzzled than frightened. That monster has nothing but a face and hands?

"Now. Over here."

The puzzlement didn't last long. The doctor wasn't pushing me toward the side where the monster was hanging, but toward a pouch beside it. A rough-textured sack like a burlap bag was torn open and gaping. That's the stomach.

"I thought Staff Kang's energy was distinctive enough to find right away, but the moment you were separated from me, the golden light disappeared."

"golden light? Ugh, why does this feel like this?"

"It's the color your emotions and senses give off. Since nothing I receive as payment can replace it, hurry and find your memories and get back to work under me."

I thought he was explaining things at unusual length and actually helping, but it turned out to be a push to get my head straight and get back to work quickly. But since it didn't seem like he'd help with every small thing, I had no choice but to rummage through the monster's open stomach myself.

"Ugh, ugh, blech. I, I did wrong! I did wrong! Isaidididwrongimgoingtochewyouupandswallowyo—"

"Eek."

I didn't realize the sensation was still connected since I was at a distance. Red eyes blazed from inside the goat mask. When I panicked and rummaged more through the marbles filling the stomach, it screamed in pain again. This makes it look like I'm the one tormenting it.

"No, of course not. This... ugh. What kind of memory is this?"