Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 132
Only Krnovel
Episode 132 – No. 107, Gate Room – ‘The Secret of the Esper’ (23)
[User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 46
Current location: Tier 1, Room 107 (Gateway Room)
Sage advice: 1]
– Han Ga-in
— Boom!
The door shook with a loud noise, as if it were being struck with a hammer.
Ari’s urgent voice was heard.
“Pero! “Can you use that cry from earlier?”
Song Yi, who naturally became Perot’s spokesperson, responded.
“I can’t do it now, just wait another 10 minutes -”
— Kwasik!
Before he could finish his words, something that looked like a sharp awl broke the glass at the top of the captain’s cabin door.
“What is this again!”
— Bang!
Ari immediately shot the hand holding the awl, but the fight had just begun.
After drinking heavily, he brought something like an oxygen tank from somewhere and started pounding on the door. It is clear that the door will soon not be able to hold up and will break through!
I had no choice but to look behind me.
“Harrison! “You don’t expect us to stop all of those people on our own, do you?”
“Is that possible? “I’m preparing a move of my own, so just hold on for a moment.”
As he said, Harrison was also seen working hard, fiddling with the device board and engraving something on the wall.
A thought came to mind when I saw the window of the captain’s cabin door being broken with an awl from the other side.
“Both of you, give me all the capsaicin.”
Each member of our group took all the spray they had.
— Chi-ik! Chi-ik!
“Ugh! Tsk, tsk! “What is this?”
“Is it mustard gas? Is it red? “Where did you get something like this?”
I diligently sprayed the spray over the glass window of the door whose hinges were starting to fail.
Rather than targeting anyone, I just fired like crazy at the entire space across from the door, and the surroundings became quiet for a moment.
— Bang! bang!
“Ahh!”
“Oppa Gain! Was it right?”
“No, I just passed by.”
The sailors kept their distance and began shooting toward the glass window.
In the end, I couldn’t get close to the window, so I widened my distance.
Again, a loud noise rang out as the door was struck with an object resembling an oxygen tank, and eventually the hinges of the door were torn off.
The moment the door was torn apart, a confusing noise that seemed to tickle one’s ears was heard from behind, and something rose from the floor and blocked the door again. Did Harrison do something?
A disgusting lump of flesh that looked like a mixture of opaque tentacles and flesh blocked the door.
I could see at least dozens of people on the other side with sinister looks in their eyes.
Unlike when there is a door, we can check on each other.
A murderous voice was heard, filled with tension and war.
“You bastard! I’ll peel the skin off your face alive! “Don’t think that a piece of flesh like this can last long!”
As I was wondering if I should respond and swear, the grotesque from behind suddenly jumped out and opened its beak!
I was very surprised that Perrault tried to cry out without any prior signal.
I immediately enlarged the filter and covered my ears at the same time.
The enemies who had experienced Perot’s howl earlier were all so shocked that they covered their ears and fell down.
…
…
…
???
what?
Pero just opened his beak.
…
“No, that new bastard is cheating!”
and! Pero, you’re smart! Are you just bluffing?
After a moment of admiration, a man wearing an angled beret appeared from the enemy lines holding a cane.
As he touched the wall with his cane and muttered something, the lump of flesh blocking the door began to slowly melt.
Is that the guy Harrison talked about who ‘traveled around with Harrison for decades and learned some of his evil secrets’?
Ari, who was watching, immediately fired his gun, but the flesh that protected us from the opponent’s gun also blocked our gun, so there was no way to stop it.
The moment when more than half of the flesh finally melts and a hole opens –
The grotesque once again placed its beak near the hole.
A laughing sound was heard from beyond the hole.
“Do you think you’ll be fooled again? Are you ready to be fried?”
— Piyooooo!
This time it was real.
Since many of the enemies had already drawn and held their pistols, the effect was more intense than before.
— Bang! bang! bang!
In an instant, there seemed to be a series of gunshots coming from beyond the wall, followed by the loud sounds of people fighting among themselves.
Around that time, I heard voices from behind.
“It’s almost over! It held up well. “If we hold on just a little longer, we can tie them all up at once.”
Has Harrison finished preparing for the evil magic he has been preparing for so long?
To check the situation, he moved near Harrison and handed over the gun to Ari.
— Bang!
“ah! This dog is really! ”
“Captain Harrison, why are you swearing?”
“You got a bullet stuck in your fucking head and you don’t curse?”
“How can you curse when there is a bullet in your head? “It’s abnormal for you to move your mouth even though your head has exploded, you crazy person!”
Meanwhile, Harrison’s torn head began to stick again.
“Song! “Tell Pero to swallow this piece of flesh!”
“Hey hey hey! for a moment! Just wait! “No, you crazy bastards, we decided to fight after finishing off all the bastards outside the door!”
Ari’s urgent voice was heard.
“Han Ga-in! Just leave it alone for now! As the effect of howling wears off, I’m slowly coming to my senses. Harrison! “Do you have a sense of preparation?”
“If this crazy bastard hadn’t shot me in the head, it would be over now.”
It was ridiculous to hear my excuses, but I guess I should give it time.
“Oh, okay, I won’t disturb you anymore, so hurry up.”
While we were having this frantic conversation among ourselves, we heard a sound of ridicule outside the door.
“Well, I can’t help but admire Captain Harrison’s leadership. How can you hold hands with these guys like ghosts? “Once you experience a rebellion, the people who rebel are the ones who are the problem, but don’t you think that if everyone you meet stabs you in the back, it’s your problem?”
“Stephenson! “Can’t you shut up?”
I also opened my mouth.
“Captain, let’s quickly prepare some magic while we’re having an argument.”
“Prepare to be fried alive!”
“You must fry the upper body and grill the lower body.”
I couldn’t come to my senses for a moment because I heard curses coming from both front and back at the same time, saying that they were going to turn me into half grilled, half fried person.
Even in the midst of this chaos, each person’s preparations were progressing steadily.
On the other side, the passengers and crew who came to their senses late began to melt the flesh blocking the door with some kind of power, and in the back, Harrison was holding his shaking head and preparing a magic spell for a reversal.
Meanwhile, Ari approached me.
“Stick towards Harrison and don’t fall away.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“It’s just a feeling, so do as I tell you.”
Although he was puzzled, he carried Elena, who had not yet woken up, and walked closer to Harrison.
Pero and Songi also moved as if they had heard the instructions.
At that moment, Harrison’s bouncing head turned towards us.
“You’re quite perceptive, aren’t you?”
—Uuuuuuuung!
A vibration spreads throughout the entire ship.
“Aaaahhh!”
A wail that seemed to fill the world was heard from outside the captain’s cabin.
Earlier, when we escaped from the party, Harrison used some kind of force to keep the crew and passengers attached to the ship.
Is it a reinforced version of that power? Rather than just clinging to the ship, the crew and passengers began to blend in with it.
Electric wires, concrete, and steel plates protruding from the ship covered their bodies in an ugly way, and conversely, their flesh seeped into the ship. Even though they were in a terrible state, they could not die and only moaned.
A person becomes a ship, and a ship becomes a person. It was difficult to fathom with my limited knowledge what kind of force was creating such a terrible shape.
The vibration covered the entire outside of the captain’s cabin, and soon entered the captain’s cabin and began to vibrate right where we were standing earlier!
The vibration did not reach only the area where Harrison was located.
I was so dumbfounded that I immediately hit Harrison’s head again.
— Bang!
“Did you plan on making us look like that too?”
Harrison responded as if he was dumbfounded.
“Do you think it’s unfair that I exploded my head twice?”
I was momentarily speechless. Turned her head and looked at her Ari.
“How do you know?”
“Just a feeling. I don’t know what kind of magic they are preparing, but it seemed like they would wipe us out as well. But at least I will use it so that I am not affected.”
— Kwasik!
The returning Grotesque crushed Harrison’s trembling flesh with a single slash of his beak in anger.
… I don’t think this will be the end.
As if it was natural, voices were heard throughout the ship.
“It’s already late! I have already achieved union with the 120,000-ton Esper. The body made of protein is like clay. “I threw off my weak body of clay and gained a body of steel.”
[Sage Advice: 1 -> 0]
[Run to the side right now!]
—Phew!
Before I could react, my body flew through the air and hit the wall of the captain’s cabin.
What is that strange thing again?
It feels like I have muscles in my stomach. A huge muscle made of countless pieces of flesh lifted the iron plate on the floor of the captain’s cabin and threw me roughly.
Is that something similar to the union of ships and people that Harrison dreamed of?
…
By the way, advice, you bastard, here we go again.
Read the future in advance and tell me about 10 seconds in advance.
What are you telling me to do if I tell you about 0.3 seconds in advance?
I also thought it was a bit strange.
Sometimes, a warning is given and enough time is given to deal with it, but other times, the warning is given right before a crisis hits, so it is meaningless.
There certainly seems to be some secret to this difference.
I hit the wall so hard I couldn’t move.
A similar feeling to when I was hit by a tongue sticking out from the bottom of a swimming pool.
The pain was so severe that my entire body’s senses became blurred and my thoughts became clearer.
If it’s this much of a shock, I think I’ll lose consciousness soon.
I grabbed hold of my fading mind and thought about the ‘contract clock’.
What is the meaning of the numbers indicated by the hands of the clock?
The first hypothesis I came up with was the number of time regressions.
However, according to the captain, the Esper was already sinking when the contract was first made with the devil.
At that time, time would have already been turned back once, so if the standard for the hands was the number of times time went back, the clock hands should have been 1 from the beginning, not 0.
Another hypothesis was the number of sacrifices made.
But this is not it either. It is strange that the number of needles is zero, as the Esper must have already sacrificed countless people during the 40 years it wandered the seas.
It is said that a preliminary sacrifice was already offered on the first night of the now-vanished past, so it cannot be 0.
Of course, strictly speaking, this stage is ‘a space created as we entered,’ so it may only be counting after we enter.
However, no matter how you think about it, neither of the above two hypotheses can explain the fact that the needle moved to 2 when the party was ruined.
At that time, time did not turn back and sacrifices were not offered.
As I was weeding out these different hypotheses one by one, one hypothesis came to mind.
‘Number of breaches of contract’.
The contents of the contract between the Esper and Markas that have been revealed so far are that the Esper will provide a banquet and sacrifice, and Markas will give immortality.
The moment the first needle turned, we entered the moment of the ritual where my grandfather was being offered.
I don’t know exactly what happened then, but it is highly likely that Elena’s consciousness was shattered.
Because the sacrifice could not be offered normally, the needle moved one notch.
This is the situation before when the second needle turned. Through his cries, Perrault transformed the party hall into a space of madness.
Since the party did not proceed normally, the needle moved another notch.
There is now one space left until number 3.
… Based on all these speculations and the information we received from Harrison, the plan we came up with was Plan Z.
Now my consciousness is slowly fading.
I looked towards Ari and thought.
Plan Z, you’ll be good to me, right? Ari, I will just trust you and take a good rest.
See next episode