After seeing the poor patient being dragged away, I gathered my focus and approached the only strange figure in the room. Alright, let’s try to see who this strange girl is, and more importantly, why no one around here seems to care or mind her doing whatever she wants.
“Hello!” I said to the girl with that same practiced happy tone, “What are you doing here playing all by yourself?”
I was a little hesitant to ask that; was Dr. Walter already supposed to know about this weird girl prior and what she was doing here? However, I couldn’t think of any other way to break the ice. I was getting more and more worried by the second as the strange kid looked up from her doll and stared unblinking into my eyes. Every nerve in my body screamed that she was extremely dangerous!
I felt a strange sensation in my brain then, as if something horrible was invading my mind and thoughts. It was distinctly different from what I experienced when Rogue gave me that sponsorship, but paradoxically similar.
“Warning, my Host,” Noe said, “Unit Noe detects extreme levels of mental corruption. Unit Noe is allocating maximum resources to impede this progress and requires the use of the Host’s Soul Title, can I continue?”
Yes.
“Acknowledged,” she answered, “Host’s Xollon Anatomy Stage 1 passive is sufficient for this task.”
The feeling immediately disappeared and my mind was clear again. God, I think I was starting to get used to dealing with things that could casually destroy the normal mind at a glance. I wasn’t sure that was a good thing and wondered how the other Aspirants could possibly survive without an awesome system helping them out. The answer was easy, the probably didn’t.
The girl broke off her stare and smiled at me, “You’re not like the others.”
Ah yes, the classic creepy ghost girl dialogue, I can work with that.
I sat down beside her and returned her smile, “Well that’s for certain, I’m Dr. Walter after all! And you’re not like the others either.”
“No,” she said simply.
I turned my attention to her doll, “And who’s that?”
By this point, our conversation was starting to attract the attention of everyone else in the cafeteria. We were the only people making any sort of noise, but strangely, everyone was also trying their best to avoid making it obvious that they were listening in. They would occasionally make a quick half-second glance over before quickly shifting their attention back onto something else.
“That’s Molly,” the creepy girl answered, “Say hi to Dr. Walter, Molly.”
The doll moved on its own, because of course it could do that, and turned my way. It gave me a little bow and a little twitch of the head. That meant… she was asking me how I was doing. Wait, Noe can translate doll gestures now?
“Correction, my Host,” she replied, “Unit Noe has always had the ability to translate the gestures of sentient beings.”
Oh, so I guess the doll’s just sentient. Nothing special here. Let’s just treat the thing with respect so it or the creepy ghost kid doesn’t murder me in my sleep. If there’s anything that I’ve learned from watching horror flicks, it's that freaking out or treating these things with fear and discomfort usually led to very horrible ends.
“Well hello Molly,” I greeted back and presented the thing with a finger to shake, “I’m doing well, thank you for asking. And how are doing this fine day?”
The doll shook the offered finger and then bobbed its head slightly, translating to something like happiness and curiosity. There was also a clear sign of hunger mixed in, but I didn’t want to know what it ate.
“Great to hear!” I exclaimed, choosing to ignore that last part of Noe’s translations, “We need more joy in this hospital!”
“You can understand Molly?” the girl’s eyes went wide, “No one else but mom can.”
“But of course I can understand her,” I answered with confidence, “I’m Dr. Walter, I can do anything! And what’s your name?”
“I’m Alice,” she said and gave me a clumsy curtsy, “It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Walter.”
By now more and more patients were listening in to the conversation. I could feel eyes darting back and forth taking cursory glances our way. I couldn’t blame them, here were two people blatantly ignoring every rule in the cafeteria, and nothing was happening. The glares got to the point where I couldn’t ignore them anymore.
That’s when Alice’s entire demeanor changed. She froze up, and the air around me started to drop. The air condensed around me and frost was starting to appear on the sleek floors. I didn’t feel cold, but I chalked that up to whatever Noe was doing to keep me from going coo-coo.
“Someone’s staring at me,” the girl said, “I don’t like being stared at.”
She turned to face one of the Aspirants. This man tried to turn his head away but it was like he simply couldn’t. His muscles were straining, trying uselessly to move away, but nothing he tried worked. Alice just watched him before gesturing for her doll to do something.
The patient’s eyes went wide as he saw the Molly doll inch ever so slowly toward him. Its tiny porcelain legs moved excruciatingly slow. I saw the man’s eyes watch the whole scene in dread as it crawled up his legs, then onto his chest, before finally stopping just inches from his face.
It then… well, let’s just say that the doll’s hunger was satiated after that.
Molly finished her meal and quickly ran back to Alice’s side, every gesture it showed radiated contentment… and something else. Then the doll looked into my eyes. Something made my mind collapse upon itself. It was like a distant memory was just out of reach… What was it that I was forgetting?
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“Warning,” Noe said, “Unit Noe is initiating Emergency Protocols. Extreme countermeasures are activated to ensure the Host’s continued mental well-being. I am using my authority to further integrate into Host Walter to do so. Please be advised that prolonged exposure to mental contamination will lead to unknown consequences.”
Uh, got it, Noe. I answered absent-mindedly.
Primary Soul Title: It That Sleeps at the Edge of Dusk (??? Rank)
Progress to Awakening: 11.58%
My mind cleared again as I saw the small doll sit down beside us.
“Thank you, Molly,” Alice said, her old cheer returning, “I hate it when people stare at me.”
“But I’m staring at you?” I asked quizzically, “You don’t seem to mind.”
“That’s because you’re nice,” she answered, “And Molly likes you. You must be the doctor mom always talks about.”
Speaking of Molly, I noticed that the doll had a bit of some kind of sauce on her smooth cheeks, so I took out one of my napkins and helped wipe it off. Guess she’s a messy eater… although for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was that she ate. The doll allowed me to get the last of the mess of her before I put her back on the ground next to Alice.
“I apologize, Dr. Walter,” Molly said, “I was too hungry and made a mess.”
“Just take it slow next time,” I answered with a smile, “A lady should eat with grace; it’s not good if you rush like that.”
“Exactly!” Alice added, “I always tell her to eat slower, but she never listens to me. But you should listen to Dr. Walter; he’s an adult, he knows best.”
Molly looked at me for a second, then back at Alice, before saying, “Alright, I’ll do as he says, but it’s because he is a doctor. The other adults don’t like us, Alice, but Dr. Walter is fine.”
Alice lit up with excitement and hugged her doll, “Yay, thank you, uncle Walter! See, Molly, you’ll be a proper lady in no time.”
The small kid turned to me again, “Sorry, I meant to say Dr. Walter. The grown-ups told me to call people proper-like.”
I chuckled, “Well, I’m also a grown-up, and I say that calling me Uncle Walter is fine.”
Her smile returned, “You’re different than the others. Most of them are no fun.”
“That’s because I’m Walter, I’m special like you.”
The girl nodded happily, “Would you like to play with us? We can make Molly new clothes since she got her old ones dirty!”
She pointed at a pile of strangely wet pink cloth near one of the tables the patients used. I didn’t remember seeing that there before, but then again, I’m in a strange hospital, who’s to say that random stuff couldn’t just appear out of nowhere?
“I am not dressing up again,” Molly mumbled, “And it’s still wet.”
Alice glanced at the fabric and frowned. The stuff seemed to levitate before all of the moisture around it exploded outwards, covering some of the unlucky patients around in the disgusting floor-liquid. One of the poor sods let out a half-muffled scream as tears ran down her face. It seemed like an overreaction on my end, it was just a little bit of mop-water, but either way, she was taken away promptly by security.
I shrugged.
She was never going to last for long if all it took for her to disobey a rule was getting wet. The Trials weren’t meant for the weak. Speaking of Trials, I had almost forgotten why I had decided to talk with Alice in the first place. I still needed to gather as much information about my situation as possible, and maybe this weird girl could be the key. She’s also obviously unique to this Trial, so maybe she also represented the chance to get some of those hidden rewards that I never managed to acquire prior.
The cloth pieces floated towards the three of us and fell on the floor.
“There,” Alice said with a little smirk, “Now it’s not wet!”
“It’s still in pieces,” Molly answered with a sigh, “But I know you’ll fix that as well.”
Alice nodded and did something to make the broken fabric reassemble. Whatever use the strange material had before it was broken didn’t quite make sense to me. It wasn’t a solid geometric shape like you’d think a blanket or mat would be, but it kind of resembled a starfish, with one of its five limbs looking like a stub. There were some holes in the fabric, which looked like someone chewed on it, but I didn’t expect random pieces of cloth to be complete in any case. Well, it was certainly large enough to use if it was just to make some doll clothes.
Another Aspirant puked then and was promptly taken away like the last one.
I was starting to get annoyed at the constant interruptions and was wondering why these idiots couldn’t follow such simple instructions. It was like they just all wanted to go to punishment. I can understand seeing a creepy ghost girl using telekinesis could be terrifying, but for them to throw up from seeing that? There were way worse sights in this hospital, you’d think the least surprising thing here would be the ghost kid having psychic powers. I’d be more surprised if she didn’t have them!
Alice produced scissors from somewhere and handed me one; she was using safety scissors herself, while Molly got a tiny toy pair. I hadn’t agreed to play, but I guess that’s a forethought now. I just went with the flow and tried my best. It was also a good opportunity to ask Alice some questions while her mood was good and she was distracted. I wouldn’t want to know what telekinesis could do against someone she didn’t like.
“Say, Alice,” I said as I tried to make a little dress for Molly, “How come you’re all alone in the cafeteria?”
“It’s because mom gets mad at me if I get in the way of the workers,” she answered, “She said to play in the cafeteria because no one’s moving here. It’s nice a quiet as well, and me and Molly get snacks sometimes.”
I guess that made sense, there wasn’t a lot of free space for a kid to sit down and relax without getting in the way of others.
“So you’re here all day?” I asked, “That can’t be very fun.”
She shook her head, “No, I go on walks with Molly. Molly protects me so it’s safe. It’s fun playing hide and seek with some of the sick people, but they’re not very good at hiding.”
Molly sighed, “They’re really not, Dr. Walter, they don’t even last 2 minutes when we’re trying to find them. And no one’s having a good day if Alice gets upset.”
“I’ll bet!” I answered, “But I’m sure it’s because Alice is so good at finding people.”
I mean, how could they hide when they’re trapped by so many rules and regulations? One of Jae-Hyun’s tasks was to find a key to get out of the patients' ward, so they probably couldn’t even move freely.
“The other doctors are no fun either,” she muttered, “They don’t like playing with me. Mom said she’s making me a new friend, but all the ones she made before were no good. I’m still glad you're nice, uncle Walter, and Mom likes you too.”
I’m getting a sneaking suspicion about who her mom is… but there was another piece of information that was more useful to me right now. If she’s free to walk around unimpeded, then this might be a good opportunity for me to go to places that I normally wouldn’t be able to without a good excuse.
I didn’t want to take any risks of my disguise failing, and I couldn’t think of any reason why a famous physician would be going around the hospital poking his nose into departments that didn’t concern him. I originally planned to get some of Jae-Hyun’s requests done sneakily at night, but why risk the danger when I had this opportunity? If I just told everyone that I was supervising Alice on her walks…
“Say,” I said casually, “Do you normally walk around the whole hospital?”
“Yeah, and sometimes outside as well,” Alice replied. She had gotten some glue sticks a while ago and was sticking little cut-out flowers on the dress she was making, “Mom said it’s important that I exercise, so I walk lots. But it’s lonely with just me and Molly.”
Good, here was the chance I was hoping for.
“Well,” I said with a smile, “I’ll be glad to go on walks with you. I’m special as well, so I don’t have a lot of work like the other doctors.”
She looked up at me, “Really?”
I nodded, “Yup! You and Molly can show me all the cool spots you’ve found!”
She looked at her doll expectantly, as if she was checking in with Molly for permission to go with me.
“The madam trusts Dr. Walter,” Molly said after a while, “So he’s safe. You can trust him too, Alice.”
“Awesome!” the girl exclaimed, “Let’s go after we finish making Molly’s dress!”