Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Happiness Comprehensive Hospital — Horror Tale (5)
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A faceless doll clutching ticket number 136.
I hesitated for a moment but eventually moved.
Staying put and dithering here would lead nowhere.
‘This is just a simple position swap.’
Of course, it meant getting much farther from the front.
I pulled a ticket from the dispenser and headed straight to the seat next to the doll I’d had my eye on.
The doll didn’t budge, staring straight ahead.
Where its eyes, nose, and mouth should have been were only smudged pencil marks like stains, revealing no emotion or gaze.
It felt utterly lifeless, like a wax figure abandoned midway through mimicking a human.
The doll’s only movement came when its number was called over the intercom.
[Customer number 72, please proceed to window 11.]
Gulp—
I cautiously reached out.
Soon, the cold, stiff skin and the texture of paper brushed my fingertips.
I glanced at the doll.
No reaction yet.
I gently lifted the ticket from the doll’s hand.
Then, slowly, I slipped out the ticket.
And replaced it with my own number 10312, successfully completing the ‘position swap.’
Now, in my hand was ticket number 136.
‘Easier than I thought—’
Beeeeeeeep—
A ear-piercing alarm filled the reception area.
My mind went blank.
The train of thought I’d been following cut off abruptly.
The dolls around me remained perfectly still.
Just sitting there like phantoms, clutching their tickets.
Instead, a strange monster appeared.
A security guard in a black uniform.
What should have been its eyes was an empty void, and that hollow socket immediately locked onto where I sat.
As if it had already singled me out.
[Not Human]: …I don’t know anything about this.
[파천황]: Uh...
[Crazy Woman]: …Got caught on this one. Swish! Pow! Never heard of it? Amateur!
I had no time to check the chat window right now.
Thud… Thud…
Footsteps echoed through the lobby.
The guard closed the distance in an instant and swung its arm.
The dolls sitting in its path shattered miserably, scattering across the floor.
Fragments glittered under the fluorescent lights.
I twisted my body reflexively to avoid instant death, but the guard’s reaction speed was beyond any normal human.
Its reaching hand halted.
Grab!
My wrist was seized.
Soon, crushing pressure dug into my flesh, threatening to pulverize bone.
My fingertips went numb, a choking pressure building.
“Urk—!”
Dragged up by the guard’s arm, my feet dangled in the air.
Handling me like a mere object, it lifted me effortlessly.
And dragged me along.
Crash! Thud!
Dolls lined up on either side smashed apart, but the guard’s stride never faltered.
Moving in a straight line, its destination was obvious.
The hospital’s main entrance.
I struggled, but the grip on my wrist didn’t loosen at all.
From the vise-like hand piercing my flesh, I could hear my bones creaking faintly.
The automatic doors parted, and I was hurled outside.
Thud!
I rolled roughly across the ground. Breath caught in my throat, bile rising bitterly.
The automatic doors closed slowly.
Through the threshold, our eyes met.
Inside the closing doors.
The guard’s faceless expression twisted grotesquely.
No eyes, no mouth—yet I clearly saw it.
It was smiling.
Hiss—
The doors sealed shut, plunging the outside into silence.
Ahead lay the black forest.
Soon, something writhed beneath the earth.
Boom!
A massive arm burst through the ground, crawling up.
Rotting, putrid flesh, twisted joints, black liquid oozing between chunks of meat.
The arm groped through the air, slowly approaching the closed threshold.
***
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Returning to the last save point.]
[The most recent save point is AUTO SAVE 3.]
[Happiness Sharing Comprehensive Hospital Horror Tale]
[Death Type]: Absorption.
[Tip]: Improper behavior inside the hospital can easily result in expulsion.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
When I opened my eyes, I was back in the lobby.
All paths were blocked.
The tickets were already nearing ten thousand.
Just sitting and waiting meant my turn wouldn’t come until closing time.
Outside, arms like forest monsters awaited.
In the end, waiting led only to death.
My mind raced to the next plan, while my body naturally carried me out of the lobby.
The scenery shifted, revealing the hospital once more.
‘Change tactics.’
This time, I didn’t head straight to reception.
I stopped in the center of the hall.
Was this really the only way?
At first, thinking as a ‘patient,’ I’d fixated only on reception.
I looked around.
First to catch my eye was the restroom sign by the hallway.
‘Not here.’
I turned away, and on the wall hung an old patient information poster.
The smiling nurse and patient in the photo looked even more grotesque with only their mouths remaining, eyes and noses erased.
I shifted my gaze.
Deeper in the hallway, a wide door.
A sign reading ‘Consultation Room.’
But guarding it were several of those black-uniformed dolls I’d seen earlier.
They stood silently, admitting only patients holding documents.
Only dolls that had received papers from reception passed through into the consultation room.
‘As expected… Have to follow proper procedure to enter.’
I turned away.
Not here either.
..Not here.
....Here, too?
That’s when my eyes landed on a small notice by the reception desk.
A single sheet of paper pinned to a worn bulletin board.
I stopped searching and approached the notice.
[Consultation Reception – If your symptoms qualify as an emergency, immediate treatment is available.]
My realization was swift.
The hospital wasn’t just for ‘regular consultations.’
There was one place inside where you could skip the wait and get treated right away.
***
I moved forward.
Past reception, I stood before the glass door marked in red.
[Emergency Room]
The automatic doors slid open, spilling out air from within.
Cold.
Not just chill air, but a damp, murky frigidity like from a moldy basement.
Soon, a nose-stinging stench assaulted me.
Blood, chemicals, rotting meat intertwined, making even breathing feel labored.
The interior was brightly lit.
Under the lights, patients lay in rows on beds.
All eyes closed, motionless—but none showed any signs of life.
No rising chests, veins around their necks stagnant and frozen.
I averted my gaze and pressed on.
A nurse approached.
Without her uniform, I wouldn’t have guessed she was one.
“Patient. What brings you here?”
A normal woman’s voice rang out.
But I didn’t let my guard down.
The doll-like face wasn’t much different from the others I’d encountered.
Only.
Its mouth torn grotesquely wide and its height easily over two meters instilled sharp wariness.
‘Back out now, and it’s over. …Stay calm.’
If this monster stuck to its ‘role,’ it wouldn’t ignore my actions.
I slowly extended my hand.
My only injury was my wrist.
Before me was a monster mimicking a nurse.
Would it grasp my wrist, or bite it off? No one knew.
My heart pounded faster, every nerve focused on my fingertips.
With the resolve of mounting the scaffold, I pushed my hand further.
Soon, the nurse seized my wrist.
Cold, sticky touch.
Like an old rubber glove clinging, an unpleasant shiver ran down my spine.
The monster examined something briefly, then tilted its head.
“…This isn’t an emergency patient.”
Its voice cracked grotesquely.
My body, gripped tight, couldn’t move.
The surroundings shook as the nurse roughly shoved me onto a bed.
Its torn lips twisted, a bizarre laugh leaking out.
“…Hee hee hee—”
The moment my back hit the cold sheet, something gleaming appeared in her hand.
A thick, long syringe.
“?! Wait—!”
Before I could finish, the sharp needle plunged mercilessly into my arm.
Cold, viscous liquid forced into my veins.
Suddenly, my vision flashed, head throbbing.
My nostrils burned hot, warm liquid dripping down.
Instinctively, I touched under my nose.
My fingertips came away with warm, sticky fluid.
“Blood…?”
Instantly, the nurse’s grin widened.
Words seeped from between twisted lips.
“…Emergency patient confirmed.”
With those words, darkness swallowed my vision.
***
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Returning to the last save point.]
[The most recent save point is AUTO SAVE 3.]
[Happiness Sharing Comprehensive Hospital Horror Tale]
[Death Type]: Hemorrhage.
[Tip]: The emergency room is only for patients who need it.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I opened my eyes to the lobby again.
Fluorescent lights beat down harshly, silence filling the space.
Catching my breath, I recalled the scene.
The nurse’s words.
Not an emergency.
I gripped my wrist and muttered lowly.
“…Only emergency patients… for the emergency room.”
I headed to a corner of the lobby.
A trace still lingered there, unabsorbed.
A red stain on the floor.
I stood still for a moment, bowing my head in silent tribute.
Then.
I dropped the clothes I was holding onto the floor.
When no eyes were on me, I picked them up casually and entered the restroom.
I rubbed the stain onto the clothes.
Rubbing it into the collar and chest, red marks spread vividly, as if burst from my own body.
‘Emergency patient.’
I whispered to myself.
If the nurse saw now, it would surely look the part.
I added no unnecessary theatrics.
The beings wandering here didn’t express emotions anyway.
Feigning impassivity, I headed back to the emergency room.
Hiss—
The glass doors opened, cold air rushing in.
Soon, they sealed fully, unfamiliar silence enveloping me.
Under the fluorescent lights, the nurse already stood before me.
This time was different from before.
She stared at me blankly.
Cold sweat trickled down.
‘Did I get it wrong?’
**