The Director’s whole vibe changed instantly. She stopped chugging down those drinks of hers and stared at me hard, “How sure are you that you can do this, William?”

I thought about it for a second. With that many luck charges, I should be able to bullshit my way to success somehow if I had the other people do most of the hard work. If I just used luck charges during key procedures, giving directions and making random corrections as needed… yeah, I think it’s possible.

“Fairly confident if I have a full staff of your best surgeons and doctors at my command, plus I'll be busy for at least a full day, maybe longer,” I answered, “I’ll need a lot of raw materials, the best quality that you can get, and see the equipment that I’ll have access to.”

She continued to stare at me, but nodded after a short while, “You’ll get it. You’re the best Physician I know, Will, so maybe you can do what I couldn’t. I’ll show you what I’ve managed over the years, and you’ll have access to my personal lab and equipment. If you can do what I couldn’t… I’ll give-”

“No need to thank me that much,” I chuckled, I honestly didn’t want to be shackled to this hospital with random rewards, “If it’ll help fight the invaders, and make your kid happy, then it’s enough for me. I’m a doctor anyway, it’s my job.”

Unexpectedly, the Director put down her drink and gave me a sincere hug. I didn’t expect the warmth of the gesture from the woman who seemed to frighten everyone around me.

“Thank you, Will, I mean it,” she said and gave me a gentle peck on the cheek.

“Don’t thank me until I’m actually finished,” I added quickly, feeling a little more embarrassed than I thought I would be, “And you said something about showing me your work?”

She nodded and took out a set of keys before sitting up, “Here, take the keys to the basement, all the research and labs are down there. It’s too large to show you in one night but feel free to explore the space yourself tomorrow. I’ll just go over the main things now, and maybe both of us can tuck Alice in for the night when we’re done.”

“Cool,” I answered, putting the keys in my pocket - there was another request the Regressor needed finished without me having to do much of anything.

I’ll still have to inquire what the clear conditions were, but I wanted to help out with the Director’s side of things first. If we’re close to completing this Trial then I can always just withhold the keys for now. I hope Jae-Hyun doesn’t mind waiting an extra day or two while I make sure that I sort out the Director’s side of things.

I looked back at the cages and inquired, “What about those guys?”

Those weird orbs of hers glanced back at the terrified people locked up and she grinned, “I’ll have a nice little de-stressing session after I show you around. I certainly need it after all the shit the invaders gave me, and a little physical exercise was just what I needed. You can join me if you want, it’s always more fun with two.”

Yeah… no thanks. I declined as politely as I could, “Not tonight, love, I have to start planning for my creation. We’re not sure how long Alice’ll remain stable, so I can’t slack off right now.”

She giggled, her voice remarkably innocent, “It’s rare seeing you so fired up for once. You’re usually finding any excuse to not do work.”

“Well, it’s also not every day that my talents are actually put into practice,” I smiled back, “I don’t necessarily hate doing work, I just hate doing dredge work!”

The Director just shook her head and beckoned me to follow behind her. She took me to an unassuming locked door close to where the cafeteria was. I probably passed by this little metal door a few times today already and didn’t even realize it led to the basement. She unlocked the door and I followed her down the dingy staircase and into the basement proper.

I was expecting more of the horror dungeon aesthetic to continue to the basement but no. The stairs led down to a nice, brightly lit welcoming room. I even had to take off my dirty shoes and put on some slippers because the interior was nicely carpeted. Along every corridor were homely decorations and a few children’s toys were strewn on the floor.

“I swear I told her to clean up after herself,” the Director muttered as she picked up the discarded toys on the ground, “I apologize for the mess, Will, I’ve been so busy with those new patients and idiot interns that I hadn’t had the chance to come down here too often. I’ll have someone come down and clean the labs as well, they’re probably in disrepair ever since I moved most of my operations aboveground.”

We passed by Alice’s bedroom on the way to the labs, it was a standard-looking room for a girl her age. We didn’t stay there long as the child herself wasn’t there yet; I guess she was still out getting that cookie with Molly. The labs were deeper down and the Director had to input a code into an old-looking computer from the 80’s to get the place powered up again.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Maybe this was the reason why Jae-Hyun wanted the woman’s computer password. Everything he requested from me seemed to lead to this place, so there must be something here that’s important for the Trial’s completion. At least I had easy access to the whole facility when I needed to leave the Hospital once and for all, but I wouldn’t do that quite yet. I’m not so heartless as to leave a small child alone without at least trying to help her out first.

However, what the Regressor wanted specifically was beyond me. If it was something special, then it must look like all the other random assortment of stuff strewn about. The room itself looked spooky, it kind of reminded me of a mix of Dr. Frankenstein’s lab mixed with what you’d expect a stereotypical mad scientist’s workstation to look like. It was all odd electrical equipment, vaguely medical-looking tools, and a lot of random bits and pieces that looked like it would pose a lot of health and safety violations just having it around.

That is to say, I had no idea what anything here did, but it was very complex looking, which was what I needed for the Absolute Luck Skill to work. Thankfully I could peek at the equipment’s information with my title skill, so I wasn’t going in completely blind.

Noe, how likely do you think I’ll succeed in this?

“Reasonably, my Host,” she answered quickly, “As long as the task is the most beneficial to you, then I shall endeavor to create the best possible outcome for you, and with 1057 Luck Charges available, along with my complete Gamma upgrade, the task is more than doable.”

Thanks, that’s good to know.

“I can work with this,” I said after circling the room for the second time, “Anything else to note?”

The Director nodded, “Give me a second.”

That suffocating feeling came back as a dark abyss opened up near the ground she was standing on. She reached into that gaping void and pulled something out; it looked like an incomplete, lifeless body. The Director gently placed it on one of the surgical tables and gazed at the corpse fondly.

“This is the culmination of my research,” she said bitterly, “An incomplete husk…”

I looked at the failed creation as well, my Arbiter skill was still active so I could see the description of the body.

Abigail’s Lament (A- Rank)

Description: The culmination of years of effort in developing a friend for her daughter; her research and relentless research were all for naught for the results always end in failure. This represents the death of hope for the young Director Abigail.

So the Director’s first name’s Abigail, but I’ve yet to see anyone use that name. Was it another taboo subject to avoid? Best to be safe and just refer to her as the Director for now.

“No, this is perfect,” I added as I approached the corpse, “Making a friend for Alice from scratch will take way too long, this will accelerate the procedure dramatically if I use it as a base. Two days, Director, give me two days to prepare and I can guarantee that I can do it.”

And if I couldn’t, then I’ll make sure to clear the Trial and get out as quickly as I could, but I really didn’t want to do so. But having a way out of a bad situation was never something bad, especially when I was making wild promises that I couldn’t be certain that I could keep. I wanted to make the Director a long-term ally to fight against the Overseer, so I still had to be careful about how I act.

Abigail nodded, “I’ll have everything set up by then. The one good thing about the invader’s interference is that we’ll never run out of raw materials. With so many new patients there’s going to be no shortage of spare parts either, especially since they all seem so incapable of following basic instructions.”

The Director placed the body she took out into a weird glass tube-like structure and submerged it in a liquid.

“Some of the equipment here’s old, so feel free to take some time to familiarize yourself with my setup. I’ll have my best staff ready for you in two days, they’ll be instructed to follow your every command. Do you need me there as well?”

I shook my head, “No, it’ll take too long, and you’re still the Director, I don’t think you can afford to be away from your position for so long, especially if I’m draining the hospital of even more resources.”

“True… I just wish we had more doctors and nurses, but recruitment’s lower than ever,” she shook her head and laughed bitterly, “But why would they want to work here? We can’t even predict how the invaders will interfere with our operations next.”

“Hey, enough of that, just let me do my magic and we’ll be back on track.”

She smiled at me, “Thank you Will, I really mean it this time. Sometimes it feels like you’re holding this entire hospital together.”

I gave her a smile of my own back, “I am the illustrious Dr. Walter after all; I have some plans to fight back versus the invaders myself as well, but I’ll let you know what I have in mind once we’re done with Alice’s things.”

“Speaking of my daughter,” the Director added, “Do you want to see her off for the night? She just came back and she’s taken quite the liking to you, or do you need a little more here?”

“I’m good here for today,” I answered, “Let’s put Alice to bed, I have a few things I have to plan for, but that can wait.”

“Thanks,” she smiled, “I mean it.”

I chuckled, “You’ve said that a few times already, I’m just doing what I should be doing.”

She gave me a tight hug, which I returned in kind. The woman seemed like she was way too overworked, and genuinely had the best interest of the Hospital and its staff in mind, plus she was going way above and beyond as a parent as well. Despite what the others said about her, the Director honestly didn’t seem all that scary in my eyes. Then again, rumors do then to exaggerate the subject matter.

“It’s because I really mean it, Will,” she answered, “I’ve been trying to keep this hospital running for so long but there’s only so many more rules I can implement. I don’t think I could keep on going for much longer if I was alone.”

Oh yeah, this is definitely someone way too overworked; she almost reminded me of Q, since both of them were being screwed over royally by the Overseer. I had to find a way to help her out, not only because I was starting to feel bad for her, but also because she’d probably be a major thorn in that piece of shit Overseer’s side as well if she was as powerful as I think.

Either way, I had to come up with a proper plan by the end of the day, before I met up with the Regressor. I’m not sure how well he’d take me helping out the crazy hospital people, but I can maybe work out a happy medium if I choose to omit some of the more problematic pieces of information. Let’s hope for the best.