NOVEL NEXT Chapter 53
Yuna’s mother was a petite woman.
Considering Yuna, who was taller than her peers, and Seo No-eul, who was nearly 190 cm tall, it was hard to believe she was their mother.
A multitude of diagnostic equipment was connected to her body, revealing just how bad her condition was in various ways.
Still, there was no skipping the diagnostic magic.
“What are you planning to do?”
“Could you wake Yuna up for me? I need to use the bed.”
“Uh… Sure. Yuna, can you wake up for a second?”
“Uuummm?”
Yuna was forced to rise by her brother with a dazed mind.
She hopped onto the spot she had been occupying, kneeling to get a good look at the patient from above.
[2nd Circle Casting: Diagnosis]
It was merely a formal procedure of magic.
It started with basic information like blood pressure and pulse, then analyzed internal substance concentrations to keep special considerations in mind for subsequent magic use.
As expected, it was evident why the doctor had written her off, as her condition matched the figures displayed on the medical devices.
Naturally, the part I focused on analyzing was the central nervous system.
The central nervous system is enveloped by a substance called ‘myelin,’ which prevents signal leakage from the brain’s nerves and amplifies signal transmission speed many times over.
One could say that all human intellectual processes are made possible through myelin, making it a critically important substance.
Athletes and professional gamers exhibit a reaction speed of around 100 to 150 ms, thanks to their significantly thicker myelin compared to others.
Both the 4th Circle’s ‘Defensive Stance’ and the 6th Circle’s ‘Accelerated Thought’ are risky spells directly affecting myelin.
Multiple sclerosis destroys the myelin surrounding the nerves of the central nervous system, leaving her in a state where her brain fibers are so thin they resemble exposed wires.
To summarize her diagnosis, the only flaw was a minuscule amount of fentanyl left in her system.
While it was quite a significant quantity for someone who might have had a drug patch applied at a pharmacy, it wouldn’t impact the magic to be cast significantly—so I counted my blessings.
“What are you planning to do now?”
“NoName…? What are you doing?”
Both No-eul and Yuna asked in turn.
“I’m just checking, but you don’t happen to have an Inscriber for Light Transmutation Circles, do you?”
“Of course not! That costs more than a car!”
“Got it.”
The efficiency wasn’t ideal, but the magic I was about to cast wasn’t reactionary anyway, so that didn’t matter.
“Could you close the door over there? Or lock it even. Make sure no one can get in.”
I was grateful it was a single room at times like this.
There were so many patients that all the six-person, four-person, and two-person rooms were full, and I had no choice but to reluctantly take the most expensive single room.
Not being disturbed while casting magic was the utmost priority.
But I couldn’t chase No-eul and Yuna away either, so I had to endure having them here.
“From now on, I’ll be inscribing a semi-permanent compound generation transmutation circle on her skin.”
“A semi-permanent transmutation circle? Where? On a person?”
“Yes, since the cost of medication is high. If I tattoo the circle, it can regularly release encrypted mana that will adequately prescribe the right medications based on the patient’s condition.”
No-eul frowned, clearly baffled by what I was saying.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’m saying I have a way to heal your mother.”
“I’m not in the mood for jokes. If you thought I’d treat this like some childhood play, even if Yuna’s my friend, I’d be really angry.”
“I’m not joking or playing!”
“Then what is it?”
“Will you understand if I explain?”
No-eul’s blank expression was quite entertaining.
Yuna was fidgeting beside me, desperately trying to stop me.
I knew.
I looked like a little kid who hadn’t even turned eight yet.
First-class doctors in Korea couldn’t achieve what a suddenly appeared kid claimed. It was probably ridiculous to them.
But did they know how nice it was to be in this body?
With every little step I took, it was uncomfortable.
Not being able to reach the high cabinets was annoying.
Feeling breathless over the slightest exertion was bothersome.
But I had no choice; this was the precious body my mother sacrificed her life to save, so I just lived on like this.
I hopped down from the bed to face Seo No-eul.
Outside the window, the sunset was so bright it was blinding. The warm sunlight generously shared the last warmth of the day.
There was more than a 70 cm height difference between us.
Yet I didn’t falter under his suspicious gaze and expressed my will.
“Initially, I considered anthracycline drugs and aminoanthraquinone, along with a synthetic formula of interferon beta. But I believe this won’t be sufficient for your mother. So I’m also thinking of adding a monoclonal antibody treatment targeting CD20 to suppress B cells’ excessive activity. Is that explanation sufficient?”
So please don’t interrupt me.
Honestly, if this giant of 190 cm was dead set on stopping me, I would have no way out, but I hoped Seo No-eul would trust me this once.
“…”
Finally, Seo No-eul took a step back.
I climbed back onto the makeshift bed, resting my fingers on Yuna’s mother’s arm to decide on a rough drug administration point.
Since the medications would all be administered intravenously, the exact spot wasn’t too important.
However, like I did when showing Kim, I needed to use a workaround since there were no Inscribers or mediums.
“Could you grab a knife? No, wait, just the scissors on that desk.”
Yuna, who was nearby, rushed over and handed me a pair of small office scissors.
The tips were slightly blunt, so if I didn’t do it right the first time, it could hurt.
I held the scissors firmly in my palm, ensuring the overlapping blades wouldn’t wobble.
And without the slightest hesitation, I swung it diagonally.
SWISH!
“Hey! Are you insane?!”
“Na-me…!!!!”
Crimson blood gushed from my left wrist.
To save every drop of blood, I coated my mouth with aura and gulped down some blood.
It wasn’t like I hit an artery, and blood would stop flowing soon anyway.
I had to inscribe the circle as quickly as possible.
I dipped my finger in the blood and began to draw a grand circle with the flourish of a sophisticated artist.
Though it was called a grand circle, it was barely the size of my palm.
After all, it was a formula inscribed on my arm; it wasn’t easy to adjust the size of a mid-level magic circle on the fly.
Blood is an excellent medium for mana transmittance. However, it loses its properties due to contact with air due to the nature of hemoglobin, so speed was of the essence.
Next, I needed to modify each compound formula I would use as a treatment to fit the diagnostic conditions.
The compounds had quite large molecular formulas.
Since I was stacking them up using mana rather than deriving them chemically, it was necessary to replace all forms of interferon beta—C74 H115 N19 O25 and its further derivatives C908 H1406 N246 O252 S7 – C908 H1406 N246 O252 S5—using omega-type three-dimensional runes.
I stacked each molecule according to the order one by one.
“Sigh”
I felt a warmth in my head, so I took a deep breath but couldn’t stop my hands.
It felt like my brain was on fire, a sensation I hadn’t felt in a long time.
I meant to draw a circle, but due to space constraints, I started to invade the outer bounds repeatedly, and as a result, the magic circle ended up sprawling the entire length of my arm.
I hoped I recorded everything correctly and injected mana.
A sensation washed over me as though my very soul was being drained out.
Yet, I precariously avoided reaching the point of unconsciousness.
If I passed out here, all would be for nothing, so I gripped the bed railing and activated the magic circle.
The bizarrely patterned magic circle glowed in the light of dusk.
The muddy mana transformed entirely into pure mana, breathing life into the magic circle.
Only one casting word remained.
Devices alerting to any anomalies in the patient’s condition blared their alarms without fail.
Some were beeping beep beep beep, others made a whirring sound whirr whirr.
Red and blue sirens were going wild.
“What’s happening? What’s wrong?”
“No.”
I answered confidently.
Finally, I had a free hand.
My palm was nearly cramping.
I ruffled Yuna’s red hair and whispered in her ear.
“Your birthday is tomorrow, right? It’s a bit early, but this is a birthday gift. Happy birthday, Yuna.”
With those words, my consciousness faded away.
[5th Circle Casting: Akashic Records]
*
BANG BANG BANG!
“Is the guardian in? The door is locked; please open it quickly!”
Despite the nurses’ urgent knocks, Seo No-eul couldn’t step forward.
It’s said that when a person experiences something utterly unreasonable, their body freezes up—that was exactly his situation.
“Brother! Na-me’s wrist won’t stop bleeding…! What should we do?!”
Blood splattered everywhere on the white bedsheet.
Finally snapping to his senses due to Yuna’s scream, Seo No-eul opened the door.
“You can’t just lock doors recklessly in a hospital… AHHHHHHH!”
Seeing the state of the room, the young nurse dropped all the syringes and medications she had been holding in shock.
They all looked expensive, but there wasn’t time to think about that.
Helping Yuna’s friend was the priority.
“The girl is seriously injured! Her wrist… and she’s showing symptoms of mana exhaustion…”
“Excuse me? Mana exhaustion?”
“Regardless, get any doctor here! And do something about the bleeding wrist!”
“Y-Yes!”
The sirens soon quieted, but nurses soon flooded the narrow room.
Even in such unexpected situations, the veteran nurses completed first aid skillfully.
On the other hand, the head nurse was the first to notice an unusual change while examining the causes of the alarms.
“Doctor Park, did you administer Vincristine or Cytarabine to the patient?”
“Me…? No, I haven’t done anything…”
“Then why is the white blood cell count like this? More importantly…”
The figures indicating the progression of multiple sclerosis were retreating at an astonishing rate.
From 80% to 79%, and then down to 78%.
If the machine wasn’t malfunctioning, this was impossible.
“This… this means she’s getting better, right, doctor? I can at least understand the readings…”
Seo No-eul pointed at the shortening bars with tears in his eyes.
“No, there must be a malfunction with the device.”
The head nurse answered decisively.
As a medical professional, she couldn’t give false hope to the guardian.