Chapter 53

Yuna’s mother was a small-bodied woman.

Considering her larger-than-average daughter Yuna and the tall Seonoel, who nearly reached 190 cm, it was hard not to be surprised.

Numerous diagnostic devices were attached to her body, indicating just how poor her condition was in various ways.

Still, the diagnostic magic could not be skipped.

“What are you trying to do?”

“Could you wake Yuna up? I need the bed.”

“Uh… okay. Yuna, can you get up for a moment?”

“Umm?”

Yuna was forcibly roused into a sitting position by her brother.

She hopped up into the space she had occupied and knelt down, taking a position that allowed her to look over the patient.

[2nd Circle Cast: Diagnosis]

It was merely a formal procedure in the guise of magic.

From basic information like blood pressure and pulse to analyzing the concentration of substances in the body, it was all to account for special considerations for future spells.

As expected, it was a moment to understand why the doctor had given her no hope, just as the medical devices showed.

The part I focused on most was, of course, the central nervous system.

The central nervous system contains a substance called “myelin” that wraps around nerve fibers, preventing signal leakage from brain nerves and amplifying signal transmission speeds by dozens of times.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that all human cognitive abilities are mediated through myelin.

This is also why athletes and professional gamers exhibit reaction times around 100 to 150 ms, as their myelin is significantly thicker than others’.

Both the 4th Circle’s “Defensive Posture” and the 6th Circle’s “Accelerated Thought” are spells that directly affect myelin, making them quite risky to cast.

Multiple sclerosis destroys the myelin surrounding the nerves in the central nervous system, and in her case, the brain fibers had thinned to the point of resembling naked wires.

As for her diagnostic results, the only issue was a minuscule amount of fentanyl remaining in her body.

It was quite a significant amount for what was supposed to be some drug patch, but thankfully it wouldn’t have a major influence on the spells I was about to cast.

“What are you going to do now?”

“No Name…? What are you talking about?”

No-eul and Yuna asked in turn.

“I’m just checking, but you don’t happen to carry a device for writing temporary runes, do you?”

“Of course not! That thing costs more than a car!”

“Got it.”

While my efficiency would drop, the magic I was about to cast was not reaction-based, so it didn’t matter.

“Could you close the door? Or lock it up completely. So no one else can come in.”

In moments like this, I was really glad to be in a private room.

With too many patients around, the shared rooms were full, and I had no choice but to take the most expensive single room available.

It was vital not to be disturbed while casting magic right now.

However, it would be unreasonable to chase both No-eul and Yuna away, so I could just tolerate two people in the room.

“I’m going to inscribe a semi-permanent compound-generating rune on the skin.”

“A semi-permanent rune? Where? On a person?”

“Yes, since medicine is expensive anyway. By inscribing the runes in the form of a tattoo, it allows for periodically encrypted mana to flow out and appropriately prescribe the substance tailored to the patient’s condition.”

No-eul grimaced at my words, filled with doubts.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“It means I have a way to heal your mother.”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes. If you thought this was some child’s play just because Yuna is your friend, I might really get angry.”

“I’m not joking or playing!”

“Then what is it!”

“Will you understand if I explain?”

No-eul’s bewildered expression was quite amusing.

Yuna was fidgeting beside me, trying desperately to stop me.

I knew.

I was still a young child, barely eight years old.

It would be absurd for a suddenly appearing kid to attempt what even the best doctors in Korea could not.

But couldn’t they see how great this body was, which was saved due to my mother’s sacrifice?

With every step taken on these short legs, it was uncomfortable.

It was troubling not being able to reach the high cupboards.

Any minor physical exertion left me wheezing for breath.

But it couldn’t be helped. This was the precious body my mother had risked her life to save, and I had no choice but to live on like this.

I briefly stepped down from the bed to face Seonoel.

Outside the window, the sunset was blinding. The warm sunlight was generously sharing the day’s last warmth.

There was more than a 70 cm height difference between him and me.

But I did not bend under his suspicious gaze and expressed my will.

“At first, I considered anthracycline drugs along with aminoanthraquinone and a synthetic form of interferon beta, but it seems that won’t be enough for your mother. Therefore, I’m also considering a monoclonal antibody therapy targeting CD20 to suppress the excessive action of B-cells. Is that explanation sufficient?”

So please, don’t interrupt me.

Honestly, if a towering figure like Seonoel stood in my way with all his might, there would be no way to go forward, but I hoped he would believe in me once.

“…”

Seonoel eventually stepped back.

I climbed back up to the makeshift bed, placing my fingers on Yuna’s mother’s arm to roughly determine the injection position.

Since all drugs would be administered intravenously, the precise location was not especially crucial.

However, lacking a rune-writing device or mediating tool, I would need to employ tricky tactics, just as I had demonstrated to Manager Kim before.

“Could you give me scissors from that desk, please?”

Yuna dashed over and handed me a small pair of craft scissors.

The tips were slightly blunt, so if I didn’t do it right the first time, it might hurt.

I gripped it tightly by aligning the overlapping sharp parts with my palm to ensure they didn’t wobble.

And without a hint of hesitation, I swung it diagonally.

Schwack!

“Hey! Are you crazy?!”

“No Name…!!!!”

Blood gushed from my left wrist.

In an effort to conserve every drop that dripped down, I coated my mouth with Aura and held the blood in my mouth.

I hadn’t pierced an artery, and besides, the bleeding would stop soon anyway.

I had to write the rune as quickly as possible.

Dipping my finger in the blood, the performance of a flamboyant artist began, drawing an enormous circle.

Though it was called a circle, it was no bigger than the span of my hand.

Since I was inscribing a formula on the arm, it was difficult to expand or contract the size of the magic circle for this mid-level spell.

Blood serves as an excellent conductive medium for mana. However, in contact with air, it loses its high conductivity due to the properties of hemoglobin, so speed was of the essence.

Next, I modified each compound formula to fit the diagnostic state for recording.

The compounds all had large molecular formulas.

Since the method wasn’t derived from chemical refinement but instead layered from the molecular level using mana, it required replacing the biosynthetic form of interferon beta, C74 H115 N19 O25, and further replacing the compounds C908 H1406 N246 O252 S7 – C908 H1406 N246 O252 S5 with omega-type three-dimensional runes.

I stacked each molecule in order one by one.

“Hah.”

Feeling a heat in my head, I took a moment to take deep breaths, but I couldn’t afford to let my hands rest.

That sensation of my brain warming up was unfamiliar.

I intended to draw a circle, but due to lack of space, I kept crossing the boundary of the circle until the magic circle spread across my entire arm.

I hoped I had recorded everything correctly and infused the mana.

A sensation akin to my soul pulling away from me washed over me.

But it barely approached the brink of exhaustion.

Losing consciousness here would render all my efforts futile, so I held onto the bed railing and activated the magic circle.

The bizarrely patterned magic circle became infused with sunset hues.

The murky mana was completely replaced with purified mana, enlivening the magic circle.

Now, I was only left with one casting word.

The diagnostic devices indicating the patient’s condition set off alarms without exception.

Some beeped, some whined.

The red and blue sirens were all in chaos.

“What’s happening? What’s wrong?”

“No.”

I confidently answered.

Finally, my hands were free.

My palms almost cramped up.

I stroked Yuna’s red hair and whispered in her ear.

“Your birthday is tomorrow, right? It might be a bit early, but this is a birthday gift. Happy birthday, Yuna.”

With those words, my consciousness darkened.

[5th Circle Cast: Akashic Record]

* * *

Bang bang bang!

“Guardian? Is the guardian inside? The door is locked; please open this quickly!”

Seonoel could not move an inch in the face of the nurses’ urgent calls responding to the emergency signal.

When a person faces something so absurd, their body freezes, and that was precisely his situation.

“Brother! The blood on Name’s wrist won’t stop…! What do we do!”

Blood was splattered everywhere on the white bed sheets.

Seonoel, finally coming to his senses after hearing Yuna’s scream, opened the door first.

“In the hospital, you’re not supposed to lock the doors… Aaaah!”

The young nurse, shocked by the sight inside the hospital room, dropped all the syringes and medications she had been holding.

They were clearly quite expensive items, but there was no time to worry about that.

Helping Yuna’s friend was the priority.

“The kid is seriously injured! His wrist… and he’s showing symptoms of mana depletion…”

“What? Mana depletion?”

“Anyway, bring any doctor! And hurry up and do something about the bleeding from his wrist!”

“Okay, yes…!”

The sirens soon quieted down, but the following flow of nurses filled the narrow room.

Despite the unforeseen circumstances, veteran nurses adeptly completed emergency care.

Meanwhile, the head nurse examining the cause of the alarm sensed something strange first.

“Park, did you administer vincristine or cytarabine to the patient?”

“Me? No, I haven’t given anything…”

“Then why is the white blood cell count like this? More importantly…”

The values indicating the progression of multiple sclerosis were retreating at a miraculous speed.

From 80% to 79%, then again to 78%.

If it wasn’t a malfunctioning machine, this was impossible.

“This… this means he’s healing, right, doctor? I can understand at least that much…”

Seonoel pointed to the shortening bar graph, tears welling in his eyes.

“No. It must be a device error.”

The head nurse answered firmly.

As a medical professional, she could not give false hope to a guardian.