Eternal Life General Hospital
The message my senior sent me… does this even make sense?
Why is it the Backrooms, then the lottery, and now this? They’re throwing me straight from a Level 2 into a Level 3 entity? Should I just pop the euthanasia pills I brought back from the Backrooms and call it quits?
Eternal Life General Hospital
Rank: Level 3
Classification: Place-type
Eternal Life General Hospital is a place-type entity that intermittently manifests in the vicinity of ██ City, Gyeonggi Province.
It takes the appearance of a provincial general hospital built between the 1980s and 2000s, and the name “Eternal Life General Hospital” can be found on the building’s exterior walls and throughout internal documents.
The entity does not exist in a fixed location like ordinary spaces; it is believed to appear alongside a fog phenomenon when certain conditions are met.
According to survivor testimony, it initially feels like a normal medical facility, but anomalous phenomena begin to occur as time passes.
Unlike other place-type entities, radio reception from the outside is possible inside Eternal Life General Hospital.
Survivors have been observed using electronic devices such as cell phones, tablets, and laptops to send distress signals. When personnel who receive these signals arrive at the scene carrying the corresponding device, repeated reports confirm that the hospital’s entrance or portions of its interior structure manifest.
The Bureau presumes this to be an anomalous phenomenon related to visitation and a lure tactic to secure new patients.
(This material can only be viewed on-site due to information contamination risk.)
Immediately seal any unregistered medical facilities discovered
Censor the keyword “Eternal Life General Hospital” online
When a distress signal is detected, dispatch the Field Response Team
Restrict the use of electronic devices in areas where fog appears
From the looks of the reactions, I can at least tell that the place I’m heading to tomorrow is a complete shitshow. A thirty percent survival rate, and that includes people who are still breathing inside the hospital as test subjects? Why the hell are they even counting that as survival?
While I was seriously considering writing a will, a message from Choi Yu-na arrived.
Manager Kwak Choon-bong told me to empty my stomach if I was heading to a site. This is confusing.
Still, knowing that someone I know is coming along eased my mind a little. If I were going in alone or with complete strangers, I probably would’ve been a lot more anxious.
That thought reminded me of a post I’d seen on the gallery while I was resting.
It was clearly his own experience, judging by the post and the comments. Not that it changed anything.
The Bureau really is an absurd place.
Just how many entities are active out there in the world? And what exactly is the Bureau doing while hiding all of it?
Now that I’m on the side that manages and conceals them, the more I learn, the greater my fear of the entities grows. Come to think of it, I’m a victim of an entity myself.
The current environment was simply too much for someone who had only been employed for ten days.
My eyes suddenly landed on the euthanasia pills I’d brought back from the Backrooms. If I had to keep living while being consumed by fear, maybe that would be the easier choice.
Just as my thoughts were spiraling into the usual negative direction, my terminal buzzed.
A laid-back text from my senior.
“We’re not actually going on a picnic.”
For some reason, every member of the Field Response Team I’d seen so far had an oddly relaxed attitude. Team Leader Lee Mi-na was like that, and so was Senior Choi Yu-na. Or maybe only the people who could stay relaxed were the ones who survived.
The weak text instantly drained the tension from my body, and drowsiness hit me like a wave. I felt like I hadn’t prepared myself mentally enough, but I decided to just go with the flow. It was better to be a well-rested young man than someone who stayed up all night and went to the site exhausted.
The next day, at dawn.
I skipped breakfast to match the unusually early alarm and boarded the train.
“The cafeteria is an entity too. Doesn’t the Bureau have some special transport?”
“You wanna lose an arm?”
“Now that I think about it, they do count travel time to the site as overtime, right?”
After two transfers, my senior and I arrived at a beach in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province. Since summer hadn’t arrived yet, the sea was quiet. Still, a few people were scattered across the sand, enjoying the ambiguous weather between spring and summer.
“So why exactly are we at the beach right now?”
“Because this is where the hospital appeared.”
“It’s not even peak season.”
“During peak season we come for different cases.”
“The report said it appears near Gyeonggi Province, didn’t it?”
Feeling skeptical, I checked the report saved on my terminal. The content had changed slightly.
Eternal Life General Hospital is a place-type entity that intermittently manifests in the vicinity of ██ City, Gyeonggi Province.
It has recently been observed appearing in other regions as well.
Real-time updates? What the hell.
Well, if they tell me to do it, I have to do it.
I followed Choi Yu-na and soon spotted a container building.
Seosan Beach Water Safety Measures Committee
Creak.
Senior entered the container.
“Two members from the Gwanak Branch Field Response Team present.”
“Whoa! It’s Choi Yu-na! Looks like we’re in luck this time?”
Inside the container were three men in suits.
“Hello, I’m…”
“Hey, hey. You’re the newbie, right? We can do names later.”
What is this guy’s deal? Treating me like I just joined some sleazy running crew?
The man who seemed to be the leader approached us familiarly, apparently knowing my senior.
“You’re sticking with me again this time, right? Huh? Thanks to me we secured an entity last time too.”
Rubbing his hands together and speaking in a nasal voice, he didn’t seem like an ordinary person. Maybe that level of social skill is what it takes to say someone’s good at handling people.
“No. Today it’s this one.”
Choi Yu-na shook her head and pointed at me.
The three men’s gazes immediately turned my way.
“Does that kid have any abilities?”
The man on the right asked.
“No.”
“Then why?”
“He’s a junior from our department.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
He looked dumbfounded at my senior’s curt answers.
“No matter how new he is, you should at least have an ability user as insurance…”
“Ability use is at our own discretion unless ordered by higher-ups.”
“Hmm…”
It seemed like the ability Choi Yu-na possessed was far more impressive than I’d thought.
“Fine, fine. If the Gwanak Branch is sending a newbie, the department we’re entering this time must be an easy one.”
But the three quickly lost interest in me and started whispering among themselves.
DadIsAMartialArtist… if even guys like them are better, just how much trauma has he been through?
“Since all five members are here, I’ll give a quick briefing and then we’ll enter.”
The man who had approached Choi Yu-na first began the briefing.
There wasn’t much to it. After making contact with the cell phone that sent the distress signal, we would enter the hospital in ten minutes. Our job was to rescue the survivors and get out.
The manual that only on-site personnel could see would be available once we entered the hospital. He told us to get the pain suppressant injection beforehand.
Because it would be inconvenient if we had to feel pain while our limbs were being cut off.
Once the explanation was over, the three went out for a smoke, leaving only me and Choi Yu-na in the container. Ten minutes wasn’t enough time to chat properly and I had nothing else to do, so I left a post on the gallery.
“What are you doing?”
The moment I tried to check the comments, Choi Yu-na suddenly popped up behind me.
“Nothing much, just browsing the internet for a bit.”
“I see.”
Quite a few comment notifications had arrived, but I couldn’t exactly browse the gallery in front of other people.
“Let’s enter.”
The three, who had finished smoking, called us from outside the container.
Surprisingly, the area that had been a clear sea just moments ago was now completely shrouded in thick fog that made it impossible to see even an inch ahead.
And right in front of us stood a massive building. The sign read Eternal Life General Hospital.
“Inject the pain suppressants!”
The supposed leader said, then immediately stabbed the syringe into his thigh without hesitation.
“Here. Yours too.”
The man who had been guarding the right side approached and handed us the same injections.
“You first.”
“What about you, Senior?”
“I want to see if you do it properly.”
Under Choi Yu-na’s supervision, I sat in a chair and injected the pain suppressant into my thigh. Unlike the shots I’d gotten at the dentist, I didn’t feel any numbness at all.
“Is this thing actually working? I don’t feel anything.”
“Look at your feet.”
“Huh?”
When I looked down, I saw that Choi Yu-na had both her feet planted on top of mine.
“Yeah, it definitely works.”
I felt like I’d lost my balance a little, but how was she standing so steadily? My head was already spinning.
Buzz.
My terminal rang at the worst possible moment. Someone must have seen my post late and finally left a comment.
I didn’t open the gallery. I just pulled down the notification bar to check the content.
Wow, that is genuinely useful information.