It had been a day since Amon took his party members to the hospital.
The four were admitted into separate single rooms.
It wasn’t out of courtesy for Amon being a premium customer, nor was it to rip off more money on purpose.
It was simply because, in the U.S., there was no concept of shared rooms.
Thanks to this, Amon, who was responsible for caregiving, had to shuttle between four rooms where his companions were admitted.
The first to recover was the blue-haired Hale.
Though losing an arm was a severe injury in this world as well, it wasn’t an emergency.
Once the bleeding was stopped and a mechanical arm was attached, that was it.
Since Hale had originally used a mechanical arm to wield a machine gun, there was no rejection.
Next to regain consciousness was Tori.
Since her eyes were already mechanical, she had no issues switching to a new mechanical eye.
With the two fully recovered in just one day, they were promptly discharged and helped Amon take care of the remaining party members.
***
On the second day of admission, unexpectedly, the yellow-haired Evan regained consciousness before the mage Paul.
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Seeing him get up healthily put the party members at ease.
“Hey, I had an awesome dream!”
The nonsense he spouted as soon as he woke up reassured everyone that he was fine.
However, Evan wasn’t completely recovered.
“Huh? I can’t feel anything below.”
The moment he said that, the expressions on his comrades’ faces stiffened, and they hurriedly called the doctor.
The doctor, with a stethoscope around his neck, walked into the room and began to examine Evan’s body.
And then, the diagnosis:
“Um… There’s a serious short circuit in a rather unfortunate location.”
“What does that mean, Doctor?”
“Well, I was planning to explain once he was more stable, but… Ah. Please listen carefully. Um… the patient won’t be able to use his lower body from now on.”
“What?! Doctor!! What are you saying! Oh no! This can’t be happening! I… I’m crippled!!”
As Evan began to panic, his party members’ faces grew more grave.
Paralysis of the lower body—it meant more than just the end of his adventurer’s life.
For the rest of his life, he wouldn’t be able to control his bowels or urinate on his own.
Evan more distressing was the fact that Evan could never naturally pass on his genes to future generations.
While artificial insemination was an option, finding a woman willing to be with a man paralyzed from the waist down would be difficult.
The party members could barely conceal their distress at Evan’s cry of despair.
“Aaaah!”
Evan’s screams filled the hospital room.
Yet, there was one person in the room who didn’t pity him.
“Patient, please calm down.”
It was the doctor.
Despite knowing Evan’s condition, the doctor could only advise him to stay calm.
Seeing this, Evan’s face flushed red as he shouted.
“How can I be calm!”
Tears welled up in his eyes.
But the doctor’s expression didn’t change.
Just as Evan was about to curse him as a psychopath, the doctor spoke again.
“You psy-“
“Patient, please calm down. If you keep getting agitated, the bleeding may start again, and then the reproductive organs we managed to save might die off too.”
“What does that mean?”
“Although most of the nerves in the lower body are dead, we managed to save the nerve bundle in the reproductive area.”
According to the doctor, the genital nerve was responsible for controlling the sphincter, urination, and sexual functions.
Evan’s face froze in shock.
“Wait… does this mean…?”
“It means you just can’t run. With rehabilitation therapy and leg implant surgery, you might even be able to walk slowly.”
“So, I’m… not completely… disabled?”
“Not yet, but if you keep getting excited, you might end up that way.”
Evan’s cries stopped.
He wiped the tears from his eyes and, in a surprisingly gentlemanly tone, expressed his gratitude to the doctor.
“Thank you, Doctor Kassa.”
The person before him was no ordinary doctor; he was a miracle worker.
The doctor pouted slightly and nodded confidently, knowing he was worth every penny.
Just before leaving the room, the doctor, with a playful tone, asked Evan:
“By the way, didn’t you want to say something to me? What was it again… You psy-cho?”
“—Let me make an acrostic poem with ‘Psycho.'”
Everyone in the room burst out laughing.
***
A week into the hospitalization, Paul still hadn’t regained consciousness.
His heart rate and blood pressure were stable, but he just couldn’t wake up.
Not only Tori, his lover, but the rest of the party waited outside his hospital room.
Everyone was endlessly praying for his return when—
“Uh… uhh…”
“Paul? Paul!”
A sound came from Paul, who hadn’t shown any response for a week.
Tori, more than anyone else in the group, quickly rushed to him.
As his comrades held him tightly, filling the hospital room with tears, Amon slowly made his way to the billing department to begin the discharge process.
Upon seeing the receipt, he froze on the spot.
“04…”
It was indeed a bill that would make anyone exclaim in Korean currency terms.
‘Oh my…’
He had anticipated that the cost of moving and saving four people wouldn’t be small, but facing it directly was overwhelming.
Paying wasn’t the issue.
He had enough savings to cover it by closing his eyes and swiping the card.
Anyway, Evan just by breathing, he earned $10,000 every month, so it wouldn’t impact his daily life.
However, paying this would mean that Amon had to sell his future.
If Amon or Sonia ever ended up in the hospital, they’d be on the express route to bankruptcy.
Even if it weren’t for hospitalization, just the lack of savings would create anxiety.
It wasn’t just that.
Amon would have to give up several months of progress.
No more upgrading his equipment or purchasing essence; all of it would be out of reach.
‘Damn it. Do I really have to pour my entire fortune into people I just met?’
Evan a good-hearted, principled person like Amon thought twice before swiping his card again.
‘This just doesn’t feel right… not right…’
Amon pressed his fingers between his brows, lost in thought.
The clerk at the billing department looked at him with a curious expression.
“Um… Sir? Do you have… the ability to pay?”
“I have the money. I just need to think for a moment, so give me a bit of time.”
Responding sharply without realizing, Amon continued to ponder.
Finally, he handed over his card and squeezed out his voice.
“Can I… pay in installments?”
“Yes, guardian. You can opt for full or half installment plans.”
“I’ll go with the half installment.”
“Thank you, guardian. Your installment plan has been confirmed, and you can complete the payment when the patient is discharged tomorrow.”
“…Okay.”
Frowning, Amon turned away from the billing department.
Filled with exhaustion, he trudged back to the party.
His mind was overflowing with curses and self-loathing.
‘Ah, you idiot. Just give everything away, why don’t you? You’re barely surviving, and you’re acting like a saint. Ugh, you fool!’
On his way back to the hospital room, he banged his head, clenched his fists, and even trembled in the elevator.
As he got closer to the room, he seriously considered turning back.
‘Maybe I should just tell them they’ll have to pay for themselves.’
But he didn’t.
At this point, he figured he might as well put on a show of generosity.
He took five minutes to compose his expression, kneading his cheeks to look indifferent.
Entering Paul’s hospital room, he spoke.
“Whew… Congratulations, Paul. I’ve spoken with the billing department, so you can just discharge tomorrow.”
“Oh…? The money?”
“I paid for it.”
“And did you call D4C to bring us here?”
“Yes. I paid for that too.”
“What… but…”
The atmosphere in the room grew heavier at Amon’s words.
The party members, feeling a pang of guilt, couldn’t lift their heads.
Even the normally jovial yellow-haired Evan refrained from joking, knowing the amount Amon had paid on their behalf.
With no trace of humor left, blue-haired Hale and lively Tori averted their gazes, unable to meet Amon’s eyes out of embarrassment.
In that silence, Paul furrowed his brows briefly before returning to his usual demeanor.
Then he spoke to Amon.
“Amon, I’m really sorry, but could you give us a moment alone to talk?”
Amon, already feeling uncomfortable with the room’s atmosphere, gratefully accepted Paul’s suggestion and stepped outside.
After pacing in front of the hospital room for about ten minutes, the door opened.
“We’re done talking. Come in.”
Amon re-entered the hospital room through the door that Tori held open for him.
As soon as he stepped inside, he noticed a purple orb in Paul’s hand.
Could it be… this atmosphere…
“Here, take it.”
Paul held out the essence.
Amon, speechless, couldn’t immediately reach out for it.
Seeing this, Tori gave him a gentle push on the back, and only then did Amon carefully take the essence.
“This is…”
“It’s a Unique-grade essence. It dropped from the mid-boss we defeated this time.”
“But… I…”
Amon stammered, unable to finish his sentence.
When they reached the boss room, he had been so out of it that he hadn’t even imagined the party might have obtained an essence.
A true gamer, his heart started pounding the moment the essence touched his hands.
“No, no, stay calm, you idiot. You don’t even know what this essence does yet.”
As he always emphasized, the essence’s grade was less important than its effect.
Even a legendary-grade essence was useless if its effect was something like <Hardening>.
But if a normal-grade essence had an effect like <First attack electrifies the enemy>, people would line up and pay extra for it.
What mattered was not firepower, but versatility.
So, until he confirmed the details of this Unique-grade essence in his hand—
“That one’s <Sky Step>.”
Amon’s eyes widened at the mage Paul’s analysis.
‘Sky Step?’
Amon’s jaw dropped.
The effect of Sky Step was simple.
[Allows you to step in mid-air.]
In other words, it was a double jump.
‘What the…’
Amon’s face turned to one of pure astonishment.
Though a double jump might sound like a trivial effect, its versatility was unparalleled.
It enabled access to unreachable areas, dodging unavoidable attacks, and even appearing in places where enemies least expected.
Sure, it had its downsides, like not being able to stay airborne like flying, and needing to touch the ground to recharge after each jump.
But even with these limitations, it was highly versatile.
In fact, it was even better than flying.
Flight essences could be detected, but there was no way to detect a double jump.
If he were to rank essences in a tier list, this would be 0-tier.
It was essential.
In fact, if you had to choose between a normal-grade double jump and a legendary-grade essence in a PvP setting, people would choose the double jump without a second thought.
And this essence was of Hero-grade.
“Holy…”
Amon couldn’t help but mutter a curse.
And no wonder.
Sky Step, as its grade increased, reduced its cooldown and increased the number of steps possible.
At the normal grade, double jumps could be performed every 10 seconds; at the abnormal grade, every 5 seconds.
From the rare grade onward, a double jump would recharge as long as one touched the ground.
And at the Hero grade…
‘Triple jump…!’
Amon’s hands shook.
If he were to put this essence up for auction, the starting bid would be at least five times the amount he had just spent.
That’s how valuable this essence was.
‘My benevolence coin just skyrocketed!!!’
Now he understood why people got hooked on skyrocketing coins.
The dopamine from this was beyond any entertainment.
“Dear lord…!!”
Unable to contain his excitement, Amon spoke aloud, and everyone in the room burst into laughter.
“Are you still calling on the goddess in a situation like this?!”
“Alright, alright, I’ll go to the temple and make a donation later.”
“Goodness, I can’t handle this guy.”
It was only then that Amon realized his moment of greed.
Once the essence was in his hands, he’d lost his composure and let his desire show too plainly.
“No… I mean…”
“It’s fine. It’s yours now. We’re all planning to retire from adventuring anyway.”
“…What?”
“On the surface, we look fine, but after this incident and the replacements in our bodies, our implant tolerance is reaching its limit. If we continue adventuring, we’re likely to develop implant-induced schizophrenia.”
“Oh…”
Implant-induced schizophrenia.
Hearing this, Amon couldn’t say anything further.
Each person had a limit to the procedures their body could handle, based on their mental resilience.
Exceeding that limit caused gradual deterioration until they eventually went insane.
The crazed gorilla Amon encountered in the past was a prime example.
According to Paul, each party member had reached their implant tolerance limit as they continued to replace more parts with machines.
One more step, and they’d end up as crazed gorillas.
Although this tolerance limit could only be guessed at, this party seemed to have their ways.
“Can you feel it?”
“It’s a matter of meditation, contemplation, and experience.”
In other words, it was hard to explain since it relied on intuition.
Amon’s gaze moved back and forth between the essence and Paul.
Part of him wanted to tell them to use it as a retirement fund.
But the thought of giving back the triple jump was almost unbearable.
Reading Amon’s thoughts from his expression, Paul gave him a gentle push.
“Anyway, we plan to retire and supply gear to mercenaries. If you really feel bad, use that essence and promote our products.”
Amon finally decided to accept Paul’s generosity.
“Thank you.”
He immediately used the essence.
As he crushed it, the purple light particles were absorbed directly into his body, specifically his feet.
It was supposed to be absorbed by his equipment, but it went straight into his body.
‘What the?’
Yet, a detailed manual on the triple jump activated in his mind as if everything was fine.
Unaware of Amon’s confusion, the party members congratulated him, thinking the essence had been absorbed into his socks.
“Make sure you become a legend!”
At Evan’s cheer, Amon snapped back to reality.
Having the essence absorbed into his body was probably better than using it on equipment, after all.
Thinking that a good thing was still good, Amon let go of his worries about it.
Then, a thought suddenly popped into his mind.
“Right. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Where to?”
“I’m going to get pizza.”
“Oh… okay…”
The party members let Amon go without question as he left the room.
***
On his way to get pizza, Amon made a quick stop at the billing department.
“Welcome back, guardian! How can we assist you?”
“About my payment, the one I set up for installment earlier. Can I change the payment method?”
“Yes, since it hasn’t been processed yet, you can adjust it however you like.”
“Then I’d like to pay it all at once.”
This time, he handed over his card gladly.
‘Who cared about the cost when he had just obtained a 0-tier essence?’
Smiling from ear to ear, Amon watched as the staff processed the payment in a single installment.
The staff gave him a puzzled look.
“Did you win the lottery or something?”
‘It wasn’t too far off the mark.’
She thought so as she processed the large payment with Amon’s card.
Evan with the massive amount deducted, Amon continued smiling cheerfully.
Taking back his card, he turned and asked before leaving.
“Oh, by the way, is it okay to eat pizza in the patient’s room?”
“In your room, yes, it’s allowed.”
“Thank you very much.”
With that, Amon headed straight to the pizza place.
About an hour later, Amon returned to the hospital room with a tower of pizzas.
“Party time!”
The unexpected pizza party continued until the day they were discharged.