Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Happiness General Hospital Horror (6)
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Cold sweat trickled down my jawline to the nape of my neck.
‘…Did she catch me?’
The nurse’s hollow eye sockets pierced right through me.
Soon, her mouth split open wide to the sides.
“…Emergency patient detected. Registering on chart. Patient, await transport.”
A mechanical echo.
The nurse’s hand clamped coldly around my wrist.
My vision shook in an instant, and when I came to, my body was already on a bed.
Forced down flat.
All I could see above was a stark white ceiling.
Memories from the previous loop surfaced—dying here from a burst blood vessel and massive hemorrhaging.
Clunk—.
The bed wheels slid smoothly away.
Beside me, the sound of a chart flipping open, followed by the scratch of a pen on paper.
“Breathing, irregular. Blood flow, elevated. Diagnosis pending. Precise examination required.”
The calm recording voice only sharpened my nerves.
A moment later, the nurse turned and said,
“…I’ll fetch a nerve stabilizer.”
She set the chart down, and her footsteps receded.
Once the door-closing sound faded, the emergency room plunged into silence.
I slowly turned my head.
In the dim, pale light, the patients lying on beds around me didn’t stir.
Their sheet-covered torsos looked like cold, rigid furniture, and their empty eye sockets swayed oddly.
The nurse wouldn’t take long to return.
‘I have to go now.’
I slipped off the bed and hid my body between the spaces where the patients lay.
The only exit was the door the nurse had used.
The stench of blood and disinfectant stabbed at my nose, and unswallowed vomit surged up my throat.
But I couldn’t even exhale a single breath recklessly.
Because footsteps were approaching.
Thud... thud...
‘…She’s here.’
Clunk—
The door opened, and pale light flowed in.
I could see the nurse’s footsteps halt right in front of the bed I’d been on.
Soon, a mechanical female voice sliced through the air.
“……Paa—tientientien, where are youuuu.”
The nurse’s footsteps prowled between the beds, drawing closer.
Far off, the tip of a white shoe glinted in the light.
At this rate, she’d spot me.
I quickly scanned my surroundings.
Doll-like bodies covered in white sheets lay haphazardly on the beds.
Carts and boxes stood like tombstones.
My eyes caught a small gap beneath one cart.
The moment I saw it, my body moved on reflex.
I crept silently into the narrow space, forcing myself in.
My heart pounded wildly against the floor, and my veins throbbed like they’d burst by my ear.
My breathing and the nurse’s footsteps synced up, echoing as if right beside me.
Thump… thump…
Under the fluorescent lights, her white nurse uniform brushed between the beds, closing the distance bit by bit.
The footsteps stopped.
Right in front.
Time itself seemed to freeze, my body rigid.
Soon, the nurse’s head tilted slowly downward.
“…Paa—tient?”
On the opposite side of the cart, her empty sockets loomed over the empty air.
I stayed frozen.
Close enough to touch if I reached out.
An eternity passed in that instant.
Slowly, the nurse’s lowered head lifted back up.
Then her footsteps resumed.
Fading gradually toward the hallway.
I wriggled carefully out of the narrow gap.
But the old cart couldn’t hold, emitting a ominous metallic scrape—creak.
My breath caught.
My body, half-emerged, froze like ice.
Please… please…
I held my breath and strained my ears.
Nothing.
‘But… was it always this quiet?’
The footsteps had cut off at some point.
A chill raced up my spine.
“…Paa—tient?”
The mechanical tone stretched long, filling the air.
My hair stood on end.
—She found me.
It hit me like certainty.
I gritted my teeth, abandoned the pointless hiding spot, shoved the cart aside, and bolted upright to run.
Almost simultaneously, the nurse’s footsteps thundered like bombardment in pursuit.
Rough breathing grazed my nape.
One lagging step, and she’d grab me.
‘…Fuck.’
‘Fuck!!!’
Blood-and-iron-scented air crushed my lungs.
The sticky shoe sole from earlier clung to the floor, hindering my sprint, but I couldn’t stop.
Racing down the narrow corridor, I instinctively grabbed the door handle at the corner the moment I spotted it.
Racing that monster was suicide.
Clunk—
The door swung open, revealing a cramped exam room-like space.
I had no time for further thought.
I shoved a cabinet to make noise and crammed myself inside.
Clunk—
As I shut the door, the rusty hinges let out a faint screech.
In the suffocating silence, that sound rang deafeningly in my ears.
***
Huff—huff—.
Ragged breaths burst out.
My eyes, driven by survival instinct, quickly swept the room I’d entered.
First to catch my gaze: a single girl sitting on the bed.
An ordinary little girl.
A name tag was visible.
[Kim Boram]
The only face in this hospital that was intact.
Eyes, small nose, bloodless lips.
Unlike the other patients, she had actual features.
I stared at her face, frozen.
Her gaze fixed straight ahead without a blink, oddly lifelike.
[Pa Cheonhwang]: Don’t touch that.
[Not Human]: It’s fake. No contents. Just an illusion.
[Crazy Woman]: Not human, empty shell. Nothing inside the body.
The chat exploded upward.
The doll before me looked so human, yet the veterans chorused the same warning.
Fake.
“…Good.”
I exhaled the breath caught in my throat.
Better empty than not.
If she were truly alive, another victim trapped in this hospital, I probably couldn’t have left this room.
I hurriedly pressed my back to the wall.
My heart still thrashed violently.
Thump… thump…
Soon, footsteps crossed the hallway.
Fortunately, she hadn’t noticed the door handle.
“…Paa—tientients, where are you hidingggg.”
The mechanical voice brushed right past the threshold.
I stayed plastered to the wall until the footsteps fully receded.
Then silence fell.
The tension finally drained from my body.
I looked around the room.
“…This is a dead end.”
I couldn’t stay long.
I’d barely escaped just now, but getting caught in this tiny space left no escape.
No windows, walls on all sides.
Only one passage: the door I’d come through.
Certainty flashed in my mind like lightning.
Stay too long here, and I die.
No good hiding spots either.
Just the one bed with the girl on it.
I cautiously turned the handle and cracked the door open.
It creaked, and cold hallway air seeped in.
I strained my ears.
“…Paa—tientientients, where are youuuu.”
The mechanical voice echoed faintly from afar.
I hoped it kept going away.
But.
The nurse’s footsteps, which had been receding, turned back this way.
No time.
I quietly shut the door and dove under the chair opposite.
Conveniently, a cart blocked the view from her side.
Thud… thud…
The footsteps neared.
My heart tore with every instant.
One step, another.
Soon, close enough to touch my back.
Creak—
The door to the room where I’d hidden swung open.
“Paa—tient?”
I stifled my breath.
Sounds of the nurse entering the room.
I seized the gap.
Bracing the floor, I hurled myself back into the passage she’d just come from.
My shoe sole slipped momentarily, scraping metal-like—screech.
I ignored it and sprinted full tilt.
As I burst from the room, I glimpsed the end of the direction where the nurse had vanished.
Behind the emergency room.
White light clearly spilled out.
‘…A gamble.’
Soon, a door appeared far ahead in my vision.
Beyond its small window, a narrow corridor stretched.
At its end stood a white wall, lined with exam room doors.
[Exam Room 1] [Exam Room 2] [Exam Room 3] … [Exam Room 7]
The panels above each door flickered irregularly.
Some numbers blurred in the glare, but others remained sharp.
As if signaling this was the ‘next zone.’
“…Paa—tientientients, whewhewere are youuuu.”
A door slammed open forcefully.
Soon, the nurse’s voice echoed down the corridor again.
But different from before.
This time, unmistakably closing in on my side.
And at...
An impossible speed.
Tadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadak!!!
I tore down the corridor.
The footsteps behind grew fiercer, pressing in.
The mechanical voice echoed in the tight space, squeezing my heart.
—Stoooop right thereeeee—!!
The shout tore at my eardrums.
My spine froze.
I didn’t look back.
I pushed my legs harder and kicked the door handle ahead with all my force.
Clunk—. Bang!.
Rusty hinges screamed as the door flew open.
Blinding light poured in.
Inside stood rows of dolls awaiting treatment.
White patient gowns, utterly still.
Faceless heads all facing the same direction.
‘…If my guess is right.’
These anomalies each had roles tied to their attire.
And those roles kept them to fixed zones.
The entrance guard anomaly ignored my commotion (position shift).
Instead, a new guard appeared to intervene.
Meaning entities with assigned roles can’t stray from their zones.
‘…Just a hypothesis for now, though.’
Paa—tientsssaaa!!!
A shriek near-monstrous crushed my ears from behind again.
Hoo—.
“…Let’s go.”
With a short breath, I stepped inside and slammed the door shut.
Creak—thud!!!
The sound reverberated off the walls.
The noise that had filled the corridor vanished.
Thud… thud…
Even those small footsteps faded.
Panting raggedly, I slumped against the door.
I looked up.
On the ceiling.
A small sign blinked faintly in the pale light, standing alone.
[General Clinic Wing]
I had now—entered it.