Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 106
Only Krnovel
Episode 106 – Party Time (8) – Confession
* 2nd night of party time
– Han Ga-in
When I regained consciousness, I woke up in a place that looked like a neat conference room. Ari’s clear voice was heard.
“The management target is ‘Dream Eater.’ According to records, it was discovered near London in 1924. It burrows into the host’s mind, stimulating trauma and eroding the mind and body. The preferred host characteristics are young, creative, and sensitive humans. In order to avoid interruption of the ‘meal’, it turns the host’s trauma into a physical entity and spreads it around. While those around them struggle with the materialized trauma, the Dream Eater eats away at the host’s body and mind to the point of devastation.”
…
“The highest priority is destruction. The method involves placing an agent with conditions that make it more desirable than the host to sleep near the host. Soon the Dream Eater leaves the host’s body and moves on to someone who looks more appetizing. Afterwards, we starve the Dream Eater inside the agent’s mind and dispose of the weakened Dream Eater once it leaves the agent’s body.”
“…”
“how was it? “Do you look a bit like an agent?”
“Is this like a Bureau-style briefing?”
“that’s right.
“So, you’re saying I chose someone who looks more ‘delicious’ than Seungyeop?”
“Actually, it doesn’t have to be you. Seungyeop was almost half dead anyway. From the perspective of Dream Eater, or rather Nightmare Butterfly, the meal is almost completely eaten. If anyone had let it sleep nearby, it would have moved. “I chose you simply because I had something to say.”
What to say. You can guess it. But, is there time for that? Seungyeop must be dying right now?
“Seungyeop, there’s no need to worry. Because the butterfly has already moved into your body. In fact, the fact that you and I are talking here is itself a butterfly processing process.”
“This is the process?”
“Do you see anything around?”
“There is no one else but you and me.”
“It’s difficult to explain because it’s a very technical story, but let me just say that your spirit and mine have been quarantined in this place by the power of old blood. The butterfly is still looking for us. “You are using up your energy every moment, and soon you will leave your body exhausted.”
“Old blood?”
“My information has changed in the status window, right?”
“okay.”
“Ah, this time has come.”
Ari sighed and came over and sat down next to me.
“So, you probably have a lot of questions, so ask.”
“What is your real blessing? It appeared as ‘???’.”
“Turn on the status window.”
[User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 34
Current location: Tier Basement, Climber’s Room
Sage advice: 1]
Ari waved his hand lightly.
[How does it look?
This is the power of my blessing.
The power to find out the hotel’s secrets and hide my secrets.
Blessing, it’s a ‘secret’.]
Honestly, I was surprised. The power to distort the status window so blatantly exists!
“secret?”
“okay.”
“There is such a strange blessing…” . Isn’t it strange that it is a blessing meant to deceive ‘wisdom’? “It’s not the cursed room, but the fact that it has the ability to deal with the participants -”
“The fact that you think that’s strange is what makes this party so great.”
“what?”
“The power of the blessing is greatly influenced by the participant. The reason your blessing has no power to keep other participants in check is because you have no intention of doing so in the first place. “If one of you had obtained the ‘secret’, you would not have had the ability to deceive ‘wisdom’.”
“…”
“Let me tell you a story from the past. The first party I ever experienced. Those people were objectively exceptional human resources. Half of them were Bureau agents, and half were former special forces, doctors, university professors, etc. They were people who were physically and mentally capable of being in the top 0.01% of humanity. “Would it have been possible to escape the hotel after gathering such outstanding people?”
“…”
“Two people died before we even got past the first floor, and progress on the second floor stopped altogether. I escaped through luck, but in the end, no one returned to Earth for a long time. They’re all dead. “What was the problem?”
“…”
“These people were talented people who stood out from a young age. I had a much stronger sense of competition and desire for achievement than an ordinary person. I’m not saying that some personality was trash. When they were on Earth, they were all good, law-abiding citizens and talented people who contributed greatly to society. However, in a hotel with no order and endless crises, a true nature that cannot be hidden is revealed. There’s no need to go into detail about what happened, right? “The two people who died on the first floor were all killed by the same party member.”
“Perhaps your mother, I mean… .”
“I know what you’re thinking. Since I was born in such a place, it is worthy of stimulating many imaginations. no. My mother was an elite agent of the Management Bureau and a very powerful person. She would rather harm than suffer. And she didn’t ‘give birth’ to me.”
“You didn’t give birth? “What does that mean?”
“That’s one of the things I’m trying to figure out. When my mom was born, she already had difficulty communicating normally. Anyway, her first party was a mess. It was a terrible experience for me, but wouldn’t it have been a pretty unpleasant experience for the people who run this hotel? At least the goal of these hotel operators is not to bring in humans and kill them senselessly. You guys were chosen next. “It’s like a reversal of the pros and cons of the first party I experienced.”
“The pros and cons were reversed… .”
“If you look at it on an individual basis, honestly, it’s a lot off. There are just middle school students and high school girls, and Jincheol is similar. I’m sorry, but you’re just a graduate of a physical education college with no career path, right? “You’re just a freshman in college.”
“…”
“But everyone gets along very well. “If they knew that the conditions for obtaining a legacy depended on how much they contributed in the later stages, they might try to keep each other in check and defeat each other to take the legacy, but no one would think of that.”
“We were chosen because we were so good…? .”
“Simply being nice is not a strength. The important thing is, are you engaging in ‘groupthink’? This party is extremely strong in that regard. When he feels like he has to die and figure out something for the team, he doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice even middle school students, and an overwhelmingly strong person might try to grab the party with his fists, but he doesn’t do anything like that at all and gives the initiative to someone with better judgment. It’s a state. “I don’t think people like this are very common in the world.”
Ari’s evaluation of two parties. The strength of the party now. There was silence for a moment.
Let’s summarize what we heard. Ari’s blessing is a ‘secret’. It is the power to find out the hotel’s secrets and protect one’s own secrets. The reason why the ability to keep other participants in check is included is because of Ari’s experience. The first party Ari experienced was a hell party where they fought among themselves rather than against the hotel, and Ari came in with the idea of keeping the party members in check.
“What’s the next question?”
“I understand your blessing. So, what are all the superpowers you normally use? “Did the management bureau teach you this?”
“If the Bureau was an organization that could teach superpowers, Mukseong would have become Superman by now. That’s the power of legacy. “It’s the legacy I shared with my mother, the power of ‘old blood.’”
“Old blood?”
“I heard that you got it by killing some sort of vampire on the first floor. “She became someone who was called a ‘blood witch’ within the hotel.”
vampire.
From what I heard, many of the abilities that Ari had shown so far were similar to the abilities of commonly known vampires. Powers such as gliding in the sky, shaking the hearts of those who make eye contact, and using various trapping techniques through blood are the powers of vampires that we have seen in creative works somewhere.
“For that matter, I’ve been getting a lot of exposure to the sun, right?”
“That’s the great thing about the hotel. This means that you can gain only the power of a vampire and create a miraculous treasure without any restrictions. If the vampires found out, they’d be sick to their stomachs and die. Of course, compared to real vampires, there are weaknesses. “You can’t use someone else’s blood, only your own.”
… The word ‘real vampire’ catches my ear more than anything else. There are ‘real vampires’ in the world. I lived in a very confusing world, but I lived without knowing anything.
“Are there any more questions left? “I think I’ve said almost everything.”
“What is your purpose in coming back to the hotel?”
“I never lied about that. You already told me, right? Personally, it’s my mother’s resurrection. As an agent, it is about finding ‘the power to stabilize reality.’”
“As a daughter, I understand that it is the mother’s resurrection, but it is the ‘power to stabilize reality.’ “What does this mean?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t know. “We just came here after hearing the ‘revelation.’”
“timing?”
“Let me just say there is a prophet. If you become an agent, I’ll see you someday. It is an entity that can be said to be the beginning and everything of the Management Bureau. “Do you have any more questions?”
“This isn’t that important… .”
“Just ask. “I will answer you now.”
“… How old are you? “Even now, your age keeps saying ???”
Didn’t answer.
…
After listening to Ari’s true blessing, rough past, legacy, purpose, etc. for a while, my head started hurting. Maybe he’s hiding something more at this very moment… .
I don’t think so. I just had a vague realization. Time passed as we sat in a daze, compiling each other’s thoughts.
“So what are you going to do?”
“What should I do?”
“I’m talking about whether you’re going to tell other people.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know. “I’ve been pretty tired lately, too.”
The atmosphere is tired of lying. Why did you start lying in the first place?
Looking back, I can guess. Since the first party he went through was terrible, he probably wanted to hide his abilities for now. To hide the inheritance, I hid the blessing, and to hide the blessing, I lied about my status window. While lying, he also hid his age and identity, and lies begat lies.
It’s no one else’s business.
Isn’t this exactly the problem I started having? Hiding the elevator, hiding the conditions of the advice, and lying about the content of the advice.
What should I do?
When I looked at the status window, I saw [Advice: 1] written on it. There’s one left. If you ask, the owl will probably give you its own answer. Now I can guess the answer. It seems he will tell you how to fool.
I won’t ask.
Since when did I rely so much on the words of an unknown bird? At first, I only asked questions about the progress of the Room of the Cursed, but gradually I started asking a variety of questions. Later, I started asking for advice on interpersonal relationships as well.
In the process of asking questions and seeking answers every day, the owl gradually seeped into me.
Let’s think about it ourselves. What is our party’s greatest strength?
That everyone can trust each other and cooperate.
I made a decision.
* Party time, morning of day 3
As soon as I came to my senses, I realized that the date had passed. Possession time, number of advices, etc. have been replenished. I must have moved during the day I was asleep, but I woke up on the sofa near the hotel refreshment table.
“Is everything resolved?”
“uh? Ga-in, you woke up. “Thank you for your hard work.”
The group of people who were chatting around came back. Dealing with butterflies was more boring than I thought. As soon as Ari and I fell asleep, dozens of blue butterflies came out of Seungyeop and moved to me. After about an hour, the butterflies slowly came out of my body.
As soon as I came out, my sister sprayed the insecticide she had ordered.
…
Ridiculously, despite being such supernatural beings, they were real ‘butterflies’. And the event ended and an unidentified item appeared.
“Is that the jewelry you wore on your head?”
“that’s right! suited?”
Honestly, an old-fashioned butterfly-shaped brooch like that would only be suitable for a grandmother.
“It suits you. Did he have any abilities?”
My sister brought the brooch in front of me and cracked it open. A small chrysalis was wriggling in the inner space.
“This?”
“Can’t you guess? Perhaps when this chrysalis hatches, the butterfly will emerge. Isn’t it like a butterfly flying to the person I want and gnawing at my body and mind? “It’s still a pupa, though.”
When I talked about a story that gnawed away at my mind and body, Seung-yeop came to mind.
“Is Seungyeop okay?”
My sister’s expression darkened.
“I put him to sleep in room 105. “I don’t know if there were any special injuries, but he was just talking nonsense because his body was worn out and he was mentally overworked.”
“The doctor will fix it. “It will come out fine by tomorrow.”
“I hope so. Ga-in, you are taking a little rest. I set a schedule while you were sleeping. “Ari said that from today onwards, she will tell me everything she knows about the gate room and the second floor.”
“Are you Ari?”
“huh. In an uncharacteristic way, he said he would come forward and explain? Even if you don’t, I was planning on asking.”
The gateway room. Second floor. Now, the biggest challenges remaining for us. It is time to analyze the ‘next stage’ in earnest.
Of course, before that, I decided to tell everyone my sincere story.
See next episode