I Opened an Illegal Animal Hospital in Another World - Chapter 124

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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124

Chapter 25. How to Distinguish Between Dreams and Reality (2)

It wasn’t just Evelyn. Ron, Lili, Jake, the regulars from our hospital, and… even Renate.

When a person is too shocked, no thoughts come to mind at all.

I held my breath to quickly assess the situation. Evelyn, Ron, and Lili appeared to have no major injuries, though they wore restraints. However, Renate and Jake looked to be in dangerous condition at first glance. I wanted to treat them immediately, but Matthias was still present.

‘Is he trying to threaten me?’

I bit the inside of my cheek as I watched quietly.

“This is the woman.”

Matthias pointed to ‘Shana’ reflected in the circular window floating above his head.

“You’re all going to die because of this woman.”

“Don’t spout bullshit, you bastard!”

Evelyn shot back coldly. Even with her knees forced down and both hands bound behind her back, her fierce demeanor hadn’t softened in the slightest.

Ron held back Evelyn, who looked ready to pounce at any moment, and said:

“If you want something from Shana, you could just ask her directly. Why use such a troublesome method?”

Ron glanced at Renate. I secretly clenched my fists. Renate’s condition was truly pitiful.

“For you, killing us would be easy, of course… and achieving what you want doesn’t seem difficult either.”

“Well, killing would certainly not be difficult.”

“…”

“That’s exactly why I’ve set up several troublesome restrictions. It’s no fun if it’s too easy.”

“You’re doing all this just for fun?!”

Ah, so the game was too easy and he deliberately put it on hard mode.

“You should be grateful. Thanks to those restrictions, you’ve been able to live that much longer.”

“Ha.”

“And this woman was lucky too. If not for the restrictions, I would have torn her apart long ago.”

One of the mercenaries charged forward with a scream. Hey, don’t. Without realizing it, I blocked the child’s path. When the punch she threw was blocked, the child’s eyes widened in surprise, but soon she bared her teeth and growled.

“Are you in cahoots with that bastard too?!”

“…”

Do I look like it, you immature fool? I ignored her since opening my mouth would likely result in harsh words. Fortunately, another child properly restrained the one who was noisily making a fuss.

Matthias spoke.

“Quite loyal, aren’t you. Well, loyal puppies are rather cute.”

“Ugh!”

“Though I can’t understand how these loyal beasts could be so cute while gnawing away at their own lives to play around.”

Wait, hold on.

Wait! That shouldn’t be discovered!

However, the children didn’t seem surprised at all by Matthias’s words. Ron bit his lips grimly, and Evelyn squeezed her eyes shut.

Looking at the children’s faces stained with guilt, I realized.

We’re screwed.

It seems everything was discovered. And not just one or two things. Even if we survived this, it would still be a problem.

They all had faces that looked like they wanted to die. Whoever told them that secret probably didn’t mention that the cost of treating them was equivalent to taking a single puff of a cigarette.

What masters of language manipulation.

“Even if I don’t tear you apart myself, she’ll have to sacrifice her life to save you, so it’s killing two birds with one stone.”

Evelyn thrashed about fiercely. Her eyes became bloodshot and turned bright red, and grinding sounds leaked through her clenched teeth. It was fortunate that Ron was holding her back.

The more Evelyn suffered, the more pleased Matthias seemed, as a smile spread across his previously cold face.

His expressionless face seemed like a lie – he was genuinely enjoying this. This revealed what kind of things brought him pleasure.

The type who feels happiness watching others’ pain and despair.

There was no need to limit it to any particular race. But it was clear he was the type one should never associate with.

“Then I should create a situation where she’d want to fulfill my contractor’s demands even at the cost of her own life.”

“Perverted bastard.”

When I blurted that out, Matthias smiled broadly.

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Both Seth and Matthias shared the common trait of accepting curses and criticism as compliments. Though they seemed to have nothing else in common, they were indeed of the same kind. Trash can preferences, that is.

“When that woman opens her eyes, this entire underground prison will enter countdown mode. If you give too much time to decide, people tend to have unnecessary thoughts.”

How meticulous of him…

“Oh, don’t worry. That woman and Nathan are already outside this manor. Even if you all explode and die, that woman will be perfectly fine.”

“If Shana agrees to your demands, can we, can we live?!”

“Lili!”

Even when Evelyn sharply called her name, Lili paid no attention.

“Can Jake live?!”

In Lili’s arms was Jake, gasping for breath. I glanced at Matthias. That bastard needed to leave so I could treat Jake and Renate.

“A bet should be fair. He can live.”

“Can you promise that?”

I suddenly interjected. Matthias looked at me.

“Yes, I promise. If that woman provides treatment, this underground prison won’t explode.”

“…Fine.”

The knife handle was mine.

Lili felt relieved, and Evelyn looked like she wanted to strangle me.

Objectively speaking, to Evelyn who didn’t know my true identity, I would appear as someone who showed up with Matthias, sacrificed my body to protect him while flattering him… and was scheming about how to survive.

I didn’t mind the other misunderstandings, but I really disliked being misunderstood as a flatterer.

“But the woman who treated Nathan will die.”

“…”

“In the first place, you’re in this situation because that woman cherished and loved you as much as her own life. You became endangered because that woman loved you for no reason. Pointlessly.”

I felt a bit sick at Matthias’s words as he hummed as if delighted. He was completely enjoying this.

“You’d better pray. For that woman to die.”

Lili’s lips trembled violently. Her pale complexion and rapid, shallow breathing made it seem like she might die at any moment.

“That way your man will live.”

What terrible taste.

He made her reflect on what she had said, then deliberately assigned exaggerated meanings point by point. Self-hatred easily leads to leaps of logic, and eventually lies become truth.

Just because something seemed to make sense at first glance didn’t mean it was all true.

Matthias smiled brightly and pointed at the screen.

“It’ll be interesting to watch what choice that woman makes. Well then.”

Matthias disappeared. And as if sucked into the screen, he appeared inside it.

Go eat my middle finger, you bastard. I’m still here, you know? Even if you try to wake me, I won’t get up, you know?

I still had the choice of time and the knife handle.

I had already made up my mind.

‘Should I say this is thanks to Seth?’

Thanks to Seth making me into ‘Sena’ and throwing me here, I was at least able to buy time and save Maria. Just being able to save Maria was meaningful.

Jake was Lili’s benefactor. To save Jake, she had to wish for my death – this was a trap they had set up, deliberately putting her through such a test.

Whichever choice she made would make her feel like trash… Yet there was no real choice. All Lili could do was either wish for my death or just watch helplessly as Jake died. Either way, Lili herself would feel like garbage.

‘Fucking piece of trash…’

Lili wasn’t bad.

Rather, Evelyn was the strange one. Being excessively blind wasn’t positive at all.

“Lili, you traitor! Shana saved you! You were able to live thanks to Shana, yet now you’re blinded by a man and want to betray Shana?!”

“What do you know! It was Jake who saved me!”

“Then what about Shana! Is it okay if Shana dies?!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, it was you people who killed Shana!”

Ah, how did things turn out like this…

“Shana’s power comes at the cost of her life. You people deliberately took dangerous requests to earn more money and recklessly used her body, gnawing away at that life!”

That’s not true.

If I had to compare, it was more like a bad friend who taught you to smoke… Of course it was bad, but it was trivial compared to what I gained.

“We wouldn’t have done it if we had known! You and we are different!”

“Different how? In the first place, being trapped here is all because of Shana, ugh!”

There was a slapping sound. Jake had lightly slapped Lili’s cheek. Even the mercenary girl who had been cornering Lili looked quite surprised.

“Lili. Let’s calm down.”

“…”

“You don’t mean that…”

“Ugh…”

Jake was truly magnanimous.

I had originally been in full support of Lili and Jake’s romance, but from today onwards, I decided to cheer them on even more.

“This is really fucking awful.”

It was Renate who broke the brief silence. Actually, he said something much cruder, but I filtered it out myself.

“To think that I was the one who made that child’s life get gnawed away.”

“…”

“It was because I dragged her in. That kid should never have gotten involved with us in the first place.”

I wanted to throw my arms around Renate’s neck right away.

“Renate? Are you okay?”

“…Even if I’m not okay, I have to be.”

Renate spat out bloody phlegm. Ugh, disgusting… I realized he had acted quite gentlemanly in front of me. Looking at him now, he was just as rough as the other mercenaries. What a pretentious act…

Right after Matthias disappeared, I had been healing Jake and Renate’s wounds first through the floor, along with the injured children, when I noticed Evelyn keeping silent.

Evelyn, who had been glaring at Matthias as if she wanted to kill him, had been staring only at the screen ever since he disappeared. I was always worried about this blind friend of mine.

Evelyn, who had been watching me on the screen without even blinking, bit her lips and lowered her head.

“…I’m going to die…”

“…”

“If Lady Shana has to risk her life because of me, I’d rather just die…”

Her glistening eyes were sincere.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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