Not a Disaster, but an Opportunity
"I'm not screwed. This is the greatest opportunity of my life."
I chuckled, staring at the blue interface floating in the air—the Deceased Medical Scientists Gallery. A laugh burst out of me like a madman. The clamor of these dead doctors could be my ultimate textbook and weapon. Dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of spirits from every medical field imaginable. I could now access their lifetime of accumulated knowledge and experience in real-time through an online community.
I calmed my trembling, excited thoughts and began to examine the gallery interface in more detail. The board list, the write button, the search bar... everything you'd expect was there. But then, my eyes locked onto a tiny icon in the top right corner of the screen. Looking closer, it was a faintly glowing shopping cart.
A shop...?
Why was I only seeing this now? Or was it not there before?
With a mix of confusion and curiosity, I willed myself to click the shopping cart icon.
Instantly, the drab blue gallery screen transitioned smoothly, and a completely new interface unfolded before my eyes.
Reward for first successful rare disease diagnosis! 100 LP has been credited.
"Holy crap..."
There was even a reward system. Swallowing hard, I slowly scrolled through the shop's item list.
A special drink that makes you forget all fatigue for 3 hours. Also highly effective for hangovers.
Keeps your brain in peak condition for 6 hours. Perfect for writing papers or performing complex surgeries.
Grants perfect, photographic memory of everything seen and heard in the past 24 hours. Use it to find missed clues.
"Whoa..."
My jaw dropped. Every single one of these items was like rain during a drought for someone in my position. Especially that fatigue recovery drink.
However, I stopped myself from hitting the buy button and scrolled down further. I had a gut feeling that there would be something even more incredible.
And my intuition was spot on.
Near the very bottom of the list, I found an item radiating an overwhelming aura that couldn't even be compared to the others.
Price: 5,000 LP
Description: For 30 minutes, a designated gallery user can possess your body, or float in the air beside you to guide you in real-time.
Penalty: After using the skill, you will suffer from severe, whole-body muscle pain for 12 hours.
"..."
I held my breath. I rubbed my eyes and looked again.
Possession.
Possession? The kind of possession I was thinking of?
My mind went blank. The price tag of 5,000 LP didn't even register. A dead doctor entering my body for thirty minutes? Just imagining it gave me goosebumps. It was, quite literally, a cheat skill.
...or float in the air beside you to guide you in real-time.
If direct possession felt too burdensome, it meant I could receive ghostly tutoring instead. I could have an invisible master right beside me, guiding me step-by-step.
Of course, the penalty was dreadful.
Severe, whole-body muscle pain.
But if twelve hours of agony meant I could borrow the hands of a medical god for thirty minutes, it was an incredibly lucrative deal.
The problem was the price. 5,000 LP.
I had barely received 100 LP for resolving the VEXAS case. I tried to calm my racing heart and cling to my remaining thread of rationality.
Let's stay calm. First, let's verify.
This shop, this LP system. Was I really the only one who could see it? Or was it shared by all the spirits in this gallery?
I cautiously opened the gallery's write window.
After a brief moment of deliberation, I typed out a single sentence.
The moment I willed the post to submit, comment notifications began to go off like crazy in less than a second.
The comment section instantly devolved into absolute chaos. But amidst the madness, I obtained a single, clear answer.
There is no such thing.
No one else could see it. Not a single soul knew of the shop's existence.
...So it only appears to me.
I realized the rules of this crazy world once again.
The Deceased Medical Scientists Gallery was a discussion forum for everyone. But the Shop and LP were privileges granted solely to me—the only survivor in this world, the living player.
"Alright, then how do I earn 5,000 points?"
I jumped out of bed and stretched. The fatigue weighing down my shoulders seemed to lift slightly, replaced by a sense of accomplishment and excitement.
What should I do now? Should I run down to the ER immediately and look for a patient who's hard to diagnose? Or should I spend 50 LP first to chug a fatigue recovery drink?
Right then.
A bright red warning window popped up in my field of vision as I stared into empty space.
Save the patient's life and prove your qualifications!
Quest: Hidden Shadow
Objective: Find the neglected patient and save their life.
Time Limit: 00:59:58
Success Reward: 1,000 LP, [Hidden Trait Unlocked]
Failure Penalty: None
"...?"
A quest?
Save a life? What the hell is that supposed to mean?
I didn't even have time to digest the contents of the quest window before I bolted from my seat.
A one-hour time limit. Though there was no penalty for failure, the rewards—1,000 LP and a 'Hidden Trait Unlocked'—dangled tantalizingly before my eyes.
I kicked open the duty room door in a panic and sprinted toward the ER.
A dying patient. Right now, where?
If it was the ER, it had to be the critical care zone. I ran like a madman, heading straight for Zone A, the severe patient monitoring area.
But all that met my eyes were neatly arranged empty beds and silent monitors.
It was empty.
"Damn it!"
Then was it the Resuscitation Room? The place where cardiac arrest patients were rushed. I immediately pivoted and headed toward the Resuscitation Area.
Through the glass doors, Resuscitation Rooms 1 through 6 were all completely empty.
The isolation room?
Clinging to a final shred of hope, I ran toward the isolation area. I peered through the thick glass window of the isolation room, but no, this place was empty too.
"What the hell is going on?"
I was completely out of breath. In this massive emergency medical center, I had checked every single place where a dying patient could possibly be.
But there was no one. Nobody was here.
Was the system glitching? Or was the patient somewhere else I didn't know about?
Clutching my chaotic head, I approached the central nursing station.
The nurses were busy looking at monitors or walking around with papers in hand. But they didn't look panicked. It was just their usual, everyday busyness.
I scanned the station, trying to grasp the situation.
In the middle of the station, Choi Sumin, a third-year emergency medicine resident known as the 'Angel of the ER', was calmly receiving a handoff. Beside her, Park Se-yeong, an EM fellow, was staring at a stack of charts with a deep scowl.
A perfectly normal scene.
And then, my heart dropped at the sight of the man standing behind them.
Oh, crap. Why is the Department Chair here of all times?
Professor Park Ung.
The guardian of the conference room and a living disaster himself. Why on earth had he descended upon the middle of the ER at this hour?
Please don't look at me. Please.
I am an invisible man. I am air.
The very moment I offered up a desperate prayer in my mind, his head slowly turned in my direction.
Ah, damn it. We made eye contact.
Park Ung stared at me with a tilted head for a moment, then pointed a finger at me as if remembering something.
"Oh! Right, right. Are you... Dr. Han?"
Damn it. If you can't avoid it, enjoy it? No, if you can't avoid it, crawl.
I moved my body with a speed that was almost a spinal reflex.
"YES!!!! DEPARTMENT CHAIR!!!!!!!!!! I AM INDEED HAN!! HYEON!! JAE!!"
I bowed at a ninety-degree angle, my response practically a roar.
Whatever, I'll just flatter my way out of this crisis.
Whether the Department Chair was satisfied with my thunderous reply or just found it absurd, he cleared his throat and spoke.
"Haha, yes. I received a call from Rheumatology earlier. They were singing your praises, saying our Dr. Han studies so hard."
No, I just cheated off the gallery, was not something I could say, so I activated the only survival skill a first-year resident had mastered.
I squeezed out the voice of a passionate, deeply moved rookie burning with a desire to learn.
"YES!!!! THAT IS CORRECT!!!!!!! I BELIEVE IT IS A DOCTOR'S ABSOLUTE DUTY TO ACQUIRE THE LATEST MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE DAY AND NIGHT FOR THE SAKE OF THE PATIENTS!!!!"
My flattery, pulled from the very depths of my soul, sliced through the cold air of the ER.
I could see Chief Resident Choi Sumin's shoulders trembling violently, and Fellow Park Se-yeong buried her face in her charts.
They're laughing right now, aren't they?
The Department Chair stared at me blankly with wide eyes, then couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into a booming laugh.
"Hahaha! What spirit, hohoho!"
His heavy hand thudded against my shoulder.
I kept my head bowed, waiting for this jovial storm to pass.
But where on earth did the emergency quest trigger?
My mind was entirely consumed by that single thought.
Where was the patient?