A new job

"Huh? What does that mean?" Vanessa looked somewhat bewildered.

What did this have to do with the hospital's funding?

"Donating your body is essentially like giving you a loan and collecting it after you die. If money gets tight, wouldn't your creditor want to collect a little sooner?" Randall said unhurriedly as he ate his apple.

Vanessa froze, then turned an incredulous gaze on Norman.

"Ahem, the hospital would never do that!" Norman protested loudly, but a little guiltily averted his eyes.

"If money gets especially tight, they might collect some interest first." Randall poked Vanessa's ribs with a short, thick finger. "For example, picking a few usable things out of this cavity to sell before you've had time to breathe your last."

"Or they could sell your corpse to a brothel for a couple of days of quick money before sending it to a medical school for dissection."

"Th-that can't be possible, can it?"

"Why not? You might be in greater demand dead than alive."

A whole person was worth less than their parts; a living person was worth less than a corpse. Vanessa felt as though her entire worldview was about to collapse.

Silence fell over the ward, broken only by the sound of Randall chewing his apple.

Norman swallowed and ventured cautiously, "Then, what do you think..."

Randall stood up. "What does it have to do with me? Talk to her yourself. I'm leaving."

He picked up the bag from the bedside, then, after a moment's thought, took out another apple and set it on the table. Then he squeezed straight through the doorway and left without looking back.

Norman and Vanessa exchanged a glance, both feeling somewhat awkward.

"Um... Mr. Norman, could you please not send my corpse to a brothel?"

Norman sighed, tossed the contract in his hand aside, and looked Vanessa up and down.

"Another porter at the hospital went mad recently. How strong are you? Can you move goods in sacks weighing around a hundred pounds each?"

"No problem! Mr. Norman, I've got plenty of strength!" Vanessa answered at once.

Looking at her slight frame, Norman could not help curling his lip, but said nothing.

"Thirty-five Leos a week. Come to work at five every afternoon. A late-night meal is provided." Norman paused. "Don't expect to get your wages. They'll go toward your medical bills. Hmm... I can leave you ten Leos at most. Any other questions?"

"No!"

"Then why aren't you getting the hell out of bed?" Norman looked thoroughly displeased. "What, do you want to stay in the hospital for a whole week?"

"All right, all right..."

Vanessa did not mind Doctor Norman's nasty tone in the slightest. She rolled over and climbed out of bed with some difficulty, only then noticing that she was not wearing her original clothes, but a hospital gown-her clothes had been thrown away.

After helping the nurse tidy up the bed, Vanessa was taken to the hospital's rear courtyard, to a place that looked like a warehouse.

Doctor Norman stepped forward and knocked on the door, driving away a barking stray dog with curses and kicks. A little window in the sheet-metal door flipped open, and an eye peered out. A moment later, the door opened a crack.

Inside stood an old man with a deeply wrinkled face. His eyes were whitish all over, like dead fish floating on the water.

Norman went up and said something to him in a low voice. The old man's cloudy gaze settled on Vanessa, and he shook his head with a frown. Norman had no choice but to keep explaining.

They talked for a long time, until Vanessa was beginning to worry, before the old man finally nodded slowly.

Doctor Norman let out a long breath, patted Vanessa on the shoulder, and left as though fleeing.

The old man stared at her for a while, then opened the door wider and stepped aside.

Vanessa hesitated, then cautiously stepped inside.

"You'll be responsible for moving goods."

The old man pointed into the room.

Vanessa looked inside. It seemed to be a storeroom. An entire wall in the inner room was covered in rows of handles. On closer inspection, they were numerous rectangular compartments, structures like drawers, roughly two feet wide and a foot high. A pungent smell filled the room.

Vanessa had smelled this before. The medical school at her university had always smelled like this. Supposedly, it came from a special chemical solution used to preserve corpses.

So inside those drawers were...

Vanessa swallowed.

"The rule here is to keep your mouth shut. Just do what you're told. The more you know, the sooner you go mad. Understand?"

Vanessa nodded hastily, then asked in a small voice, "C-can I ask a question?"

The old man stared fixedly at her, then broke into a grin.

He had seen far too many young people like this. No matter how he warned them, they never listened.

He had only just told her to keep her mouth shut, and now she was already asking questions.

It was not a bad thing, though. Perhaps there would be another sack of goods in a few days.

"Go ahead."

"Um... where do I get the late-night meal? C-could I have some now?" Vanessa asked, somewhat embarrassed. "I haven't eaten for three days. I'm worried I won't be able to move the goods..."

The old man's eyebrows rose, and for the first time, his expression grew a little odd as he looked at her.

"Perhaps she'll last a few more days," he muttered.

Vanessa rubbed her belly, unable to keep from smiling at the feeling of fullness.

How long had it been since she had eaten her fill? Ten days? Twenty?

Ever since losing her job, her memories had begun to blur, as though she had been subjected to a transformation spell from a fairy tale, living as some kind of beast rather than a human.

It sounded a little strange, but without a job or a place to live, one did not really count as human in this city.

Even with her dual degrees in history and archaeology, she was still a beast.

And now, miraculously, she had become human again, not because of her efforts, but because she owed money.

There was something inexplicably absurd about it.

She felt the pocket of her hospital gown. Inside was a little pouch of coins she had already counted many times. Director Randall had brought it for her: exactly twenty Leos.

In her other pocket was an apple, bright red and appetizing just to look at. Even though Vanessa had eaten a little too much, she could not help swallowing.

After a moment's hesitation, she set the apple aside.

In the past, it would have been nothing more than an ordinary piece of fruit, but now she could not quite bear to eat it.

"Mr. Razi, I've finished eating. Is there anything you need me to do?" Vanessa called loudly.

Lachi was the old man's name. He was the caretaker of the hospital warehouse and had a little room of his own, while Vanessa was a porter working under him.

"No! Your shift doesn't start until five! Stop bothering me!"

Vanessa's working hours ran from five until the following morning. To be honest, she did not quite understand why the goods had to be moved in the middle of the night, but at a time like this, simply having a job was something to thank heaven for. She could not afford to worry about much else.

"Can I live here?"

"Yes. Pick any of those drawers in the wall to sleep in."

"The drawers in the wall..." Vanessa turned to look at the densely packed handles and could not help swallowing.