Of All Places, It Had to Be Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine
"Senior Choi Yu-na."
"Yeah."
The moment I saw the comment from the gallery-verified user HospitalPark, I called out to her.
She was right in the middle of aiming the pain suppressant at her thigh.
"Could you skip that?"
I spat it out without any explanation first.
I figured my senior would at least hear me out…
"Yeah."
Choi Yu-na said it plainly and slipped the pain suppressant back into her pocket.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"I haven't even given you a reason yet."
"Any bad intentions?"
"No."
"Then it's fine."
Choi Yu-na trusted my words without the slightest suspicion. Whether that was cool or just extreme affection for her junior, I wasn't sure. I just hoped HospitalPark's advice would actually help her.
"Tsk."
"What?"
"Nothing. My mouth's dry."
The more I thought about it, the more it stung. I should have told her a little later. It was like saving a drowning man and then demanding his bundle of belongings. The user SurgerySurgerySurgery, who only commented after I'd already taken the pain suppressant, felt a bit cold for it. Humans really are this materialistic, huh.
"If you're all injected, get over here! We're going to lose daylight at this rate!"
An agent from the Chungnam Branch shouted for us from the hospital entrance.
I was from the Gwanak Branch, right? If I made it out of here, I needed to check exactly how many Bureau branches existed across the country.
In contrast to the thick fog outside, the hospital's exterior looked spotless. The usual cliché would have been a desolate, rundown abandoned hospital, yet this place felt newer than the one near my own home.
"Once we're in the lobby they'll hand out the response guidelines, so memorize them."
"Yes."
Among the trio—Agent A guarding the left, B acting as the leader in the center, and C guarding the right—C was the one who spoke. The whole A-B-C thing wasn't my idea; they decided it themselves. They claimed there was no benefit in using real names when entering place-type anomalies. That's why I was stuck with "Newbie" and my senior was "One-Co."
One-Co. I wondered what it meant.
'You'll stick with me this time too, right? Huh? We recovered the entity last time thanks to me.'
'No, even if he's a newbie we should still get insurance on the ability user…'
B's earlier words floated back to me, leaving a bad feeling in my gut.
Creak.
The hospital doors opened. The ABC agents entered first, followed by my senior and me.
"…It's cleaner inside than I expected."
"That statement has a purple taste to it."
The hospital lobby was surprisingly spacious and spotless. Unlike normal hospitals, however, there was no nurse at the information desk, no waiting guardians, and no patients in hospital gowns. It was completely empty.
"Take these."
"Thank you."
"Read only the front for now. Read the rest later. We don't have much time."
"Understood."
C approached and handed out two sheets of paper. Must be the response guidelines. I passed one to Choi Yu-na and began reading.
42nd Rotation Response Guidelines — Field Response Team Exclusive
Eternal Life General Hospital has been found to adapt the moment external response guidelines are made public, for reasons that remain unknown.
However, test results show that information shared inside the hospital does not trigger adaptation. Therefore, only personnel who have entered the hospital are to review this document.
Excluding the common lobby area, the hospital manifests a different ward every time. Check the department name written above each ward entrance.
*Based on the rescue requester’s call, the 42nd rotation is confirmed as the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine.
[Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine Guidelines]
1. Nurses
Upon entering the ward, two nurse entities will be present at the lobby information desk.
Nurses inspect and classify every person who enters the ward, then guide them according to their assigned identity.
Confirmed classifications to date: Patient, Guardian, Visitor.
Nurses display different attitudes based on the assigned role.
If a subject shows non-cooperative behavior toward hospital instructions, attempts to enter restricted areas, tries to discharge themselves, or forces contact with patients, the nurse will immediately summon an entity known as the Hospital Public Service Agent.
The Hospital Public Service Agent will then perform physical suppression and restraint on the subject.
2. Hospital Public Service Agent
The Hospital Public Service Agent is presumed to be a humanoid entity responsible for maintaining order inside the ward and subduing subjects.
Testimony describes it wearing purple clothing and possessing a physique so enormous it can hardly be considered human.
In some cases it has been observed twisting its body to emerge from realistically impassable spaces such as hospital room doorways, inside ceilings, or narrow gaps between corridors.
.
.
.
Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, of all places.
I'd come here right after getting the pain suppressant. Coincidence? I started to check the gallery but felt my senior’s eyes on me and stopped.
"Don't get too tense."
"Senior, you packed a lunchbox so you're probably fine, but this is my first real mission."
"Even if the department's different, those three are hospital veterans."
"Right! This is already our fifth time, isn't it?"
"No matter what, the hospital is in the palm of our hands, right?"
"They're not the aces of the Chungnam Branch for nothing, you know?"
The ABC agents answered with boundless confidence. Surviving four times was no small feat. Their bragging felt completely justified.
"So have you been to the anesthesiology department before?"
"Nope? First time."
"How different could it be?"
"A hospital's a hospital."
Did you really need to be that optimistic to survive in the Field Response Team?
The ABC agents took the lead and opened the door to the Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine ward.
[What brings you here?]
The gloomy voice came from the information desk the instant we stepped inside. Two mannequins dressed in nurse uniforms. Their heads had already turned toward us.
"We're guardians. We're here to visit a patient."
[We will verify. Please sit and wait for a moment.]
Agent A spoke to them naturally. Veterans really were on another level.
"It'll take about thirty minutes, so do your final checks in the meantime."
Following B's instructions, I moved to a slightly secluded spot and opened the gallery.
Spot on. Too spot on.
A creeping feeling told me this wouldn't end with just a dislocated shoulder. That was when it happened.
"What are you looking at?"
"Huh?"
Choi Yu-na had popped out behind me again. Had she seen the gallery?
"Why are you tapping the screen when nothing's on it?"
"Ah, this is…"
My senior tilted her head. My device clearly showed the gallery interface, yet…
Could it be that this Bureau Gallery was invisible to other people?
If so…
"It's my routine."
"Routine?"
"You know how athletes have pre-game rituals? I need to play on my phone between tasks or my concentration drops."
Like only eating the curry your wife makes before a match, or always placing two water bottles label-forward in front of your chair. It was the only excuse I could come up with for tapping an empty screen.
"I see."
Luckily Choi Yu-na accepted it without question.
"Do you have a personal routine, senior?"
"Karaoke."
"Karaoke?"
A completely unexpected word left her mouth.
"After the mission… let's go together."
"Senior, that's a death flag."
Choi Yu-na tilted her head once more. I left her like that and focused on the gallery again. If no one else could see it, I needed to gather every bit of information I could right now.
[Newbie Who Hates Typing, Read This]
Author: SurgerySurgerySurgery
Don't ask questions. Drink every liquid you can right now and expel every drop of water you can in the bathroom. And pray you can endure the pain well.
I warned you.
Fifteen minutes remained. Less free time than I thought.
"Um, seniors from Chungnam?"
"What?"
"Can I use the water dispenser in the lobby?"
"Yeah, it's still fine for now."
I walked over to the dispenser and drank without stopping. After downing the tenth paper cup my body began rejecting the water, but I fought back the nausea and kept forcing it down.
"Seong-bin?"
Choi Yu-na noticed my strange behavior and approached, but I ignored her and continued drinking. I couldn't even imagine what would happen if I ignored warnings from people who were already dead.
My bladder started sending signals. I ran toward the ABC seniors.
"Would it be all right if I use the bathroom?"
"Yeah, that's still okay."
"Nervous? Makes sense for a newbie."
"Just don't piss yourself later, haha."
After receiving confirmation it was safe, I sprinted to the bathroom and emptied every drop. Even while urinating I kept forcing down more water from the paper cup.
"Hah…"
Two minutes left.
A crisis like this before we'd even properly entered the hospital. This really wasn't easy.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm perfectly fine."
The moment I stepped out of the bathroom my senior came running.
"It was a necessary step."
"I don't get it."
"Honestly, neither do I."
Being treated like a weirdo was better than suffering the consequences for not listening.
[Identity verification complete.]
The two minutes must have passed.
[Identity verification results.]
The nurse mannequin pointed a finger at my senior.
[One guardian.]
Next it pointed at me.
[One patient with drug overuse.]
And then the ABC agents.
[Three critical patients with drug overuse.]
"What?"
"This has never happened before?"
"Hey, look over there!"
C pointed. At the entrance leading to the patient rooms. A massive purple-clad lump of fat was squeezing its body through the doorway, slowly oozing out.
So that was the Hospital Public Service Agent.
[Patients excluding the guardian will immediately begin treatment.]
The Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine had classified the four of us who received the pain suppressant—including me—as patients. In other words, we had become the exact prey Eternal Life General Hospital desired.