Real-Time Live Patch
The sound of frantic swearing echoed in my head. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck….”
It had been a full twenty-four hours since I’d been banned from the gallery.
Click. Click. Click.
The good news was that I still had enough mental bandwidth left to curse like this. The bad news was that time, already crawling at a snail’s pace, now felt completely frozen.
Five days and ten hours.
That was how long I still had to survive in this godforsaken Backrooms, yet the single most useful tool for my survival—the gallery—was off-limits. It was truly a tragedy worthy of tears.
“Son of a bitch…”
The problem was, from the head admin’s perspective, it was completely justified.
In just one day, threads about me had already filled five pages. Back when I was still a civilian, spamming a hundred hate images under the ID 108Yudong could barely hit five pages.
Click. Click. Click.
But as I scrolled through the threads, more than a few things felt off.
Let’s Learn About the Human Rights Waiver Admission.araboja
Author: PaidToGalleryGrind
Bureau bros, it’s your favorite Wallu~!
Today we’re diving into the super hot topic of Human Rights Waiver Admission!
There are many ways to join the Bureau. Most of you probably came in through the standard track after surviving an encounter with an entity or anomalous phenomenon.
Those with special abilities get scouted for field work. Insanely good office skills get you the admin scout track. Defectors from other organizations have their own conversion track, and so on!
You’ve probably heard of most of them, but a lot of Bureau bros have only seen the words “Human Rights Waiver Admission” without knowing what it actually is!
This track is for people whose normal lives in society have become impossible. We get their consent and drag them in to put them to work!
So what’s the difference from N-Grade Personnel? That’s the question, right?
The difference is simple~
They haven’t committed murder!
They also can’t have caused anyone’s death through the indirect consequences of their actions!
In other words, the newbie didn’t inflict damage severe enough to warrant death!
Instead of things like loan scams, voice phishing, drug dealing, or organ trafficking, they only ruined their own lives!
The Bureau solves their problems in exchange for them becoming something between a regular employee and N-Grade Personnel. That’s the Human Rights Waiver Admission track!
Now that you know, stop harassing the newbie who finally showed up after years!
How Did a Newbie After Years Turn Out to Be Human Rights Waiver Admission
Author: DadIsAMartialArtist
I’m so used to seeing the same old faces that when a new one finally showed up I was excited, but how the hell did it turn out to be Human Rights Waiver Admission?
Back when a new hire joined our department, he quit after three days. I wondered what happened and later found out it was this track.
But is there really a need to distinguish it from N-Grade? Looking at the newbie now, they’re working him like a dog anyway.
After joining, I could finally access the gallery that only employees could enter. A newbie after years of absence. In reality there were plenty of others in the same boat, yet the Human Rights Waiver Admission track was treated like a minority. I had to wonder if the Bureau these people were talking about was even the same organization I was in.
Click. Click. Click.
“Thoughts like that can wait until after I get out of here.”
I checked the Smiler captured in the photo and unplugged the charger. After running all day, I would charge my phone and rest for an hour or two. Thanks to the slow pace, this routine was possible. Even while being chased, I could still eat everything I needed and rest whenever I wanted.
Of course, sleeping in short bursts meant the fatigue never fully went away. Still, in a liminal space, this was practically a luxury. I just hoped it could last a whole week. And while I was at it, I wished the gallery ban would be lifted soon.
HeadAdmin Please Unban the Newbie
Author: TrappedAtHome
We’ve reached our limit. Just lift the ban already.
Stop blaming the bait, the newbie, or management.
We waited long enough for the newbie, and the newbie waited long enough for us.
When we were all grinding in the Bureau, survival was so hard we didn’t understand how important a newbie was.
So we made a promise that when gallery grinding, we would always give newbies special treatment.
(Omitted)
But what is this? A three-day ban? Are you serious?
If the newbie dies and stops posting, will you take responsibility?
Just. Lift. The. Ban. Don’t blame the bait. Handle it with your own power. We’re exhausted. Lift it right now.
Fortunately, the dopamine addicts were also hoping for my ban to be lifted. The head admin wasn’t completely inflexible. If things kept going like this…
Block has been lifted.
“Oh.”
It looked like the head admin had finally given in to the gallery members’ demands and lifted the ban.
“As expected, even though I’m not a streamer or VTuber, bait suppression works like this.”
My heart was bursting with dopamine. The moment I tried to enter the gallery to write a post—
Crunch.
“Huh?”
A sickening sound came from my left shoulder, like something being crushed.
My shoulder felt strangely cool. When I turned my head, I saw a jagged bite mark and a chunk of flesh torn away. In the empty air, the sound of chewing flesh continued as drops of blood fell plip, plip.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
The pain of living flesh being ripped apart hit me belatedly. An agony I had never felt in my entire life began spreading from my shoulder throughout my body.
“H-hiiiiiiik!”
The urge to collapse on the floor and writhe overwhelmed my mind.
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap!
But my body ignored the brain’s commands and, driven purely by instinct, began sprinting with everything it had.
Crash!
“Hrrk!”
I tripped while running in that awkward posture. My shoulder slammed into the floor, sending hellish pain through my entire body. Even then, I let out a grotesque groan, scrambled up like a four-legged beast, forced myself upright, and kept running somehow.
How long had I run?
When I finally came to my senses and looked back, a crooked, long trail of blood stretched behind me from my shoulder.
Clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick
I snapped photos obsessively—behind me, above, left, right, even the floor. And in the photo taken behind me…
At the end of the long blood trail, two Smilers were grinning. One of them had its teeth completely coated in blood and chunks of flesh.
“They definitely weren’t there before.”
I had been taking pictures of my surroundings constantly. When the hell had they gotten so close?
Was there missing information in the explanation WhiteHacker gave me?
Dizziness washed over me from the sudden absurdity piled on top of an already unreasonable space. Or maybe I had simply lost too much blood.
Clickclickclickclickclickclick
Without stopping, I pulled a spare shirt from my bag, tore it, and wrapped it around my shoulder.
“Uuuuuurgh!”
It was better than before, but the pain was still unbearable. I nearly passed out for a second, but I somehow managed first aid. Of course, that didn’t mean my condition suddenly improved or the situation got any better.
My head was spinning. Nausea kept rising in my throat. If I had been unlucky enough to get bitten on the leg instead of the shoulder… The pain from the torn shoulder surged up my spine again.
“Haa… haa…”
The impulse to swallow the euthanasia pills in my bag, which were multiplying at an alarming rate, grew stronger. But that would be too unfair. If I was going to do it, I would have done it already.
Slap!
I smacked both cheeks with my palms and barely pulled myself together. In times like this, you had to be shameless to survive. They say even if a tiger drags you away, if you keep your wits about you, you can live. Though a hunter would probably still die if bitten by a Smiler.
Forcing down my twisting mind, I wrote a post in the gallery.
Thanks for Lifting the Ban
Author: GalleryGrindingIsSoEasy
[Image of a blood-covered swordsman saying “Nothing happened!”]
[Photo of shoulder wrapped in blood-soaked clothes]
[Photo of two Smilers]
I’m fine, I’m doing well.
But time really wasn’t passing.
I was taking a photo every three minutes to check for safe zones, you know?
Suddenly one of them appeared out of nowhere and took a bite out of my shoulder.
There was definitely no such gimmick in what I read.
Still, since I’m alive, let’s have a drink.
Clickclickclickclickclickclickclick
While obsessively scanning my surroundings and checking the comments, WhiteHacker’s new post went up.
Why the Newbie Got His Shoulder Ripped Off
Author: WhiteHacker
[Video currently encoding]
While the newbie was banned and the Human Rights Waiver bait was rolling, a new video was uploaded to that channel.
The content says that if you survive a full day in Backrooms Level 0, a second Smiler appears.
The problem is that it doesn’t appear from far away—it spawns extremely close.
In the video, the protagonist is taking pictures with a camera when it suddenly appears right in front of him. He almost gets bitten and barely escapes.
The newbie didn’t know about it and ended up like that.
The bait burned too well and the post got buried, but even if he had known, he probably couldn’t have responded in time.
The video protagonist uses two really good cameras, and that’s what saved him.
Of all the channels that could affect this Backrooms, a new video just had to drop today. There was no worse possible timing.
“First video three days ago, new one today. At this rate, in three more days…”
Cold sweat ran down my back.
If things continued like this, an absurd twist would hit right on the final day when I couldn’t prepare for it.
Clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick
While dodging two Smilers, I was supposed to constantly watch for new videos? Impossible.
No matter how much I cut my sleep and stared at the gallery, there was no way to prepare for absurdity that changed in real time.
Then what the hell was I supposed to do?
The only method was to have someone overtake the view count of the channel currently uploading videos.
There was no way something like that could suddenly—
“It’s possible.”
Clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick
A brilliant idea flashed through my mind. At the same time, I began typing a new post in the gallery.
After school at an elementary school somewhere in Seoul.
“Hey hey hey, Park Yu-chan, look at this!”
“What is it?”
Yoon Hee-sang was calling out to Park Yu-chan, who had a sacred mission to hurry home and play Blocklocks.
“A new Backrooms video dropped!”
“Oh, that American one? We watched it together already.”
“Not that one! Did you see the new one that went up last night?”
“No?”
Hearing the indifferent reply, Yoon Hee-sang walked over holding his smartphone.
“This one, this one! You have to watch it and leave a comment right now!”
“Why?”
“Just watch it and you’ll see. Hurry, at 3x speed!”
“Okay.”
The video began by showing Level 0 of the Backrooms. The background was so familiar now that it was starting to get boring.
But Yu-chan’s boredom instantly flipped to shock the moment he heard the voice in the video.
[It has been one day since I got trapped in the Backrooms.]
Instead of the usual incomprehensible English that defined Backrooms videos, Korean was coming out. The subtitles on the video, however, were in English.
The screen then shifted from the Backrooms scenery to a bloodied shoulder.
[Damn it, they said there would be nothing on Level 0.]
[I am recording the situation by filming in real time.]
[But I know the people watching this won’t believe me.]
[So please, anyone, share this video and leave a comment. I will answer every question I can.]
[Oh no. They’re coming. I’ll check the comments tomorrow morning. See you later!]
The short video ended there.
In the description, there were instructions on how to prove you had shared the video, along with a promise to answer fifty questions in the next upload.
“Did you comment?”
“Of course.”
“Did you share it too?”
“Yeah.”
After listening to his best friend, Yu-chan immediately took out his own smartphone and shared the link everywhere the video instructed. Then he took a screenshot, sent it, and left a comment.
(Does drinking almond water really prevent death?)
He didn’t forget to like his own comment. That would increase his chances of being selected.
He had to hurry home. He needed to use his mom’s, dad’s, and older brother’s NewTube accounts to ask questions too.
“Park Yu-chan!”
“What?”
Yoon Hee-sang called out to him as he tried to rush home. His expression was unusually serious, as if he had made a big decision.
“Like my comment too.”