Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 143
Only Krnovel
Episode 143 – No. 107, The Gateway Room – ‘Perfect Life’ (34) Fin
– Elena
I was frantically led by Ga-in’s hand and crossed the burning theater.
I looked around in fear. There were people everywhere screaming and running away.
Why on earth did this happen? Why today?
While running while suppressing my boiling anger, I suddenly realized something.
Where are we going now?
Of course, you didn’t have to go out the theater entrance and go out onto the street, right?
The place Ga-in dragged me to was an alley connected to the back entrance of the theater.
“excuse me… . “Gain?”
“huh?”
“Where am I? “Wouldn’t it be better to go towards the street?”
“what? I guess I ran away and ended up in a bit of a strange place. But since we can’t go back to the theater, shouldn’t we go further this way?”
understood. Ga-in must have been running wild because he was scared.
However, I felt a little uneasy because I didn’t normally go to the alley and it was an area with poor security.
— Ttogak.
It’s still early evening. There was a faint trace of sunlight, so it wasn’t completely dark.
— Ttogak.
I couldn’t even watch the performance until the end, and then I got caught in a fire out of nowhere and had to run away! Aren’t you so unlucky?
— Ttogak.
“Elena.”
“huh?”
“Are you happy?”
“That question again? Aren’t you stupid? “I ran away because the theater was on fire.”
“It’s a shame.”
“… But it’s not that bad now.”
“okay? However, I think Elena’s shoe size doesn’t fit. “The shoes are loud.”
“huh? “My shoes are custom-made, so that doesn’t happen -”
I got goosebumps for a moment and turned back.
At the end of the alley. I saw a person in strange clothing standing with his back to the setting sun.
Suddenly, a shiny blade protruded from the person’s hand.
“What the hell!”
Before I could finish speaking, Ga-in grabbed my hand and started running again!
what? what? What on earth is happening today?!
I ran and ran like crazy. Where on earth are we going? I have no idea.
I just followed Ga-in, who held my hand and led me.
Ga-in didn’t seem to know much about the geography of this place? oh my god? Is there anyone who can help?
— Ting!
Again something sharp flew in and passed us.
The hem of Ga-in’s clothes was slightly torn, and blood was bleeding from his body.
At that moment, an expletive came out of Ga-in’s mouth.
“Ugh! “Are you really crazy to hit it from this distance?”
“Cain! are you okay?”
“Let’s run fast. “Faster!”
— Boom!
Suddenly, the thread hidden on the floor became taut and knocked me over!
“Ahh!”
As I was about to stand up in shock, a sharp blade grazed me.
In an instant, red blood flowed from my legs and thighs. Burning pain and suffocating fear overtook me.
Strangely enough, Ga-in avoided the thread and immediately tore his clothes to cover my wound.
Ga-in muttered with a somewhat depressed expression.
“Sorry… .”
What on earth are you sorry about? Because you can’t protect me? Don’t you think it’s too much like a prince’s disease?
…
it’s hard. It’s really, really hard. weird. Today should have been a happy day… .
A fire breaks out in the theater, a crazy person wearing a robe and throwing knives chases you in the alley, and thanks to this, you run around so frantically that a sweet taste comes out of your mouth, so much so that you feel like you can’t breathe.
In the end, I couldn’t move any more, so I leaned against the wall.
Is the other person tired too? The person who was chasing us disappeared somewhere and was no longer seen.
“Heh… Hehe… . are you okay? “I don’t know what’s going on today.”
“I’m okay. “I’m more worried about Ari.”
“What are you talking about? Ari came to the theater too?”
“Ah, there you are. Actually, I saw it earlier too.”
“You saw it earlier?”
“huh. “The police, summoned by some high-ranking person, suddenly came out and took Ari away.”
“to? High person? What are you talking about?”
Ga-in just smiled and continued talking.
“I’m almost to school. “You just need to walk a little further.”
“school? “Is this the road to school?”
“huh. “They say it’s an alley so students don’t use it often.”
We walked slowly down the road in silence.
Before we knew it, the sun had set and a slanted crescent moon hung in the night sky.
A noise is heard. Very loud and violent noise.
The screams of countless people tickled my ears.
I couldn’t take any more steps. I didn’t want to see what was going on at school.
I stopped without realizing it. If you go all the way left from here, you’ll reach the house –
— Tak.
“Gain?”
“I guess something happened to school.”
“I hear a strange sound. “Shouldn’t we go somewhere safe?”
“There are teachers at school, right? “It will be safe to go to school.”
With those words, Ga-in held my hand again and led me to school.
Were you always this proactive? Today’s Ga-in is really strange.
*
It’s almost over. Melancholy began to appear on Elena’s expression.
Although it was a plan made with the utmost care, there were many moments of crisis.
Even though we ruined Elena’s dream by hiding our identities in our own way, there were endless variables.
Hunters suddenly appeared in the theater and Perrault had to run away in a hurry.
The police suddenly came out of the alley and arrested Ari, who was wearing a robe.
The departure of Ari, the best ‘arson expert’ among us, is a pretty big blow.
If it weren’t for Ari, who was suspicious of whether he had specialized in arson-fighting skills from the management bureau, it wouldn’t have been easy for three kids to burn down buildings one after another.
But it’s okay. Anyway, this whole process is just a build-up.
In the end, I will deliver the final blow.
*
Arrived at school.
The flames rising from the entire school were so huge that I was just staring at them in fascination.
There is a loud noise everywhere, so loud that it pierces your ears.
The heat is so hot that you can feel it on your skin.
The smoke is so strong that it gives you a headache.
Why is it like this today? I just wanted to have a happy day.
Have fun at school with your loved ones, and watch performances at the theater with people you like!
I just hoped that there would be a happy day that would repeat itself forever.
While I was lost, Ga-in asked another strange question.
“Elena.”
“huh?”
“Are you happy?”
“… Are you kidding me? “I’m starting to get a little angry now.”
“Sorry. I’m sorry in many ways. But it will be over soon.”
It’s over? What on earth is this story about ending? And what do you mean by sorry?
It’s difficult to understand. Ga-in moved in front of me, as if he had made up his mind.
What on earth are you trying to do?
— Piyooooo!
A huge shock wave that shakes the heavens and earth.
With a roar so loud that you could literally feel your skin shaking, the wall collapsed and a monster bird appeared.
The moment when I panic in front of an overwhelming sense of coercion –
Ga-in pushed me and stepped forward.
Ga-in calmly looked at the bird.
The bird strangely tilted its head and looked directly at Ga-in.
“Go, Cain, run! “Run away!”
*
The end of the plan has come. He gestured to the grotesque.
Didn’t this guy usually hate me so much?
When the opportunity to properly repay such a topic came, Perot hesitated.
My heart becomes weak at needlessly important moments.
He looked straight into Perot’s eyes and gestured again.
In the end, Pero also made a decision.
A huge foot with claws the size of a child’s fist moved roughly and kicked me in the stomach.
…
ah.
iced coffee.
Aaaaaaaaaaa!
The pain of lightning striking my entire body paralyzed me.
I looked at Elena, trembling, in truly horrifying shock.
Elena came towards me as if she was crawling, crying endlessly.
When I saw her crying, I smiled bitterly without realizing it.
At one point I thought, why not end this whole puppet show with Elena’s death?
But it’s meaningless. She delved deeper into her dreams than anyone else and gained more omnipotent power than anyone else.
Even if I die, I will escape to another dream with just a different subject.
Therefore, we had to bring ‘inevitable sadness’ to her.
On this stage, a girl who gained almost omnipotent power had to experience a tragedy that even that omnipotent power could never reverse.
“Cain! Cain! Just hold on, hold on just a little longer. “The doctors will be here soon.”
I guess so. Even in this situation, Elena would be able to call a doctor from somewhere and save me from these injuries.
So, I suddenly made a click that even the power of a girl who became a god could not undo.
/Do you want to escape? (Y/N)/
Y
Slowly my body becomes blurry.
Elena, who felt me disappear, said her final goodbye to the mesmerized sight.
“Elena, I’m sorry today. Let’s go out and see.”
Consciousness becomes blurred.
*
– Elena
Gain slowly disappeared.
Slowly Perot disappeared.
Ari and Songi, who were probably somewhere, also disappeared.
…
A floating spirit slowly emerges.
I stood up my motionless body and looked around.
Burning schools, burning theaters, countless lives lost.
Even though it was a stage created by my dreams, everyone really did a brilliant job.
I could already see the doctors I had ‘summoned’ running towards me.
There is no meaning. Because the person the doctors were going to treat had already gone out.
iced coffee… .
Now, I no longer want to remain in this dream.
Because this world, where all my beloved colleagues had disappeared, was no longer ‘perfect’.
A hologram appeared before my eyes.
The world collapsed with one click.
*
[User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 72
Current location: Tier 1, Room 107 (Gateway Room)
Sage Advice: 3]
– Han Ga-in
I came to my senses as the status window blinked before my eyes.
no! How long has it been since this?
I couldn’t be happier when I saw the return status window!
A huge number of days have passed.
Surely it wasn’t 47 or 48 days until the fourth ordeal?
I spent over 3 weeks on the last trial alone.
I looked around belatedly. A strangely white space.
There were four people in the room.
And then it became absurd.
Was this what ‘Perfect Life’ was all about?
What kind of super magic was created by some kind of hotel?
It wasn’t.
What if we share a piece of the great power of creation with mortals?
It wasn’t.
The reality of Perfect Life was much more obvious and trivial than that.
There was a hole in the back of our neck like you often see in movies. There was a cable plugged into the hole.
— Pick!
Another person stood up, untangling the cable.
Ari looked around with a bewildered expression and then reacted in despair.
“It was just virtual reality. “I thought I had created a real world again.”
“The hole where the cable was pulled out will be removed when we get out of here, right?”
“If I don’t get rid of it, I’ll just have to use that hole to charge my phone from now on.”
“…”
Songi and Elena also began to wriggle on the other side.
Seeing that, Ari felt a little uneasy.
“I think we were a little harsh on Elena at the end. “You won’t be angry, right?”
“If you get angry, let’s just listen.”
We rested in a daze, leaning against the wall.
Not long after, Songi and Elena also woke up and came to us.
Instead of getting angry, Elena apologized.
“sorry… . “I got greedy in the end and ended up making everyone suffer.”
“No, no! It’s not Elena’s fault. “I wanted to stay too.”
“Let’s apologize every time for something like this and stop doing such tacky things. “We will make countless mistakes in this hotel anyway, and we will need help from someone else.”
I actually thought I was in a situation where I should apologize, but it was also difficult to apologize, so I just ended up laughing awkwardly.
After going through the final ordeal, it was so awkward to look at Elena’s face. Neither she nor Elena could look straight at me.
It seemed like it would take some time before we could talk naturally again.
While waiting for a moment, a holographic window appeared in the air.
/congratulations!
You have passed all five trials prepared by the Gate Room.
This is truly the hero we have been waiting for! The beginning of a great journey!
How can you not be amazed by this!
The first trial, ‘Doppelganger Train’, wanted to see if you could survive alone without anyone’s help.
The second trial, ‘Witch’s Forest’, wanted to see if you could make a cool-headed decision in front of an injured colleague.
The third trial, ‘Jekyll and Hyde Game’, wanted to test your quickness and judgment.
The fourth trial, ‘Secret of the Esper’, wanted to see if you could find the secret hidden inside the ship and respond correctly.
The fifth trial, ‘Perfect Life’, wanted to check whether you had the mindset to overcome false illusions and face harsh reality.
Of course, the people here have proven all of their abilities.
The gateway room will end soon./
I only realized this after seeing the long notification window.
finished.
This long, long journey of the Gate Room has finally come to an end.
I just lay on the floor like a crazy person and laughed endlessly.
The other people who were shocked to see me soon lay down nearby and started laughing along with me.
1st floor, room 107. The gateway room.
Finally finished!
The space is slowly collapsing.
I thought of faces I had missed for a long time.
Jincheol, Grandpa Mukseong, Seungyeop, and Eunsol.
I have a lot to say when I get out there.
Just before the space disappeared, a final notification appeared.
/Those who have overcome ordeals need compensation.
You will receive one ticket, one set of clothes and one opportunity. I hope this will be of great help for the rest of your journey.
Additionally, it would be natural for special rewards to be given to those who have made the greatest contribution in the Gateway Room./
I felt a tingling sensation in my shoulder.
See next episode