Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 195



Only Krnovel

Episode 195 – Party Time – Secret of the 2nd floor (4)

– Han Ga-in

After crouching for a moment with the body of a cat, probably ‘Coco’, the door opened and a boy who appeared to be in his early teens came in.

“Coco~! “I told you not to touch the things in my room too much!”

Is this this kid’s room? Looking at the condition of the room, it seems like a child from a very well-to-do family. It wasn’t to the point where some kind of chaebol appeared.

“You don’t even answer? “Eight!”

I was suddenly caught. No, what is he telling me to do with the cat? Should I at least make a sound?

— Kieeeng~!

It made a little strange noise, but I couldn’t help it. This is my first time possessing a cat, so I don’t know how to make a meow sound. The boy tilted his head for a moment, then warned him again not to do anything strange and left the room.

Are you stupid? Does your cat listen when you warn him? Seeing such a defenseless attitude made me angry without even realizing it! Do you think I have to show you the cat’s spicy taste to come to my senses? Should I just tear off all the wallpaper with both claws?

… Come to your senses. There’s no need to suddenly think like a real cat. More than that, as soon as I heard that kid’s voice, I felt like something deep inside my heart was turning black.

What if I steal that kid’s body? Wouldn’t that be another way to escape?

My heart is beating violently. Right now, I felt like ‘Escape’ was in my hands.

At the same time, I realized another fact. Originally, at the moment of possession, it was placed in one corner of the field of vision [57:39], and with this feeling, the notation that indicated the one-hour limit disappeared.

In the past, Ari guessed that the time limit that occurred when possessing using a grimoire was not a performance limit of the grimoire itself, but rather a ‘restriction imposed by the hotel’ that restricted easy escape through body swapping. There was also some basis for that speculation. The basis for this was that, unlike the ‘sacrifice’ power, which was completely edited, the ‘possession’ power had no traces of editing at the hotel.

Also, there is another basis that I realized while writing the grimoire. The format of notifications and the font used to display numbers are the style used in hotels for status windows, displays, and notifications. It is not the form that an unborn person who was left alone in the dark for eons would have thought of when creating the grimoire.

So, given the circumstances, I guessed that the time limit was added by the hotel, and my guess seems to have been correct. As soon as I left the snow globe and went outside the hotel, the time limit itself disappeared.

But can I really get out?

In the first place, why did the owl lead me to this place by giving unreasonable advice? Are you trying to tell me a new escape route?

I don’t think so. We don’t know what the sponsors’ goals are, but we can guess based on comments Eunsol’s sister’s sponsor made in the past or what the owl said. What they want is for us to make the most of the hotel, not for us to escape.

Why did you tell me how to get outside when you didn’t want me to?

Because the owl knows I won’t get out ‘like this’.

The desire to escape that burned deep in my heart fades away like a match going out. I can’t go out. I could never go out this way. Is it because taking the body of an innocent young boy is an evil act?

That is also true. However, there was another factor that was 10 times more impactful than this point.

I’m the only one who can go out this way. My colleagues who do not have a grimoire have no way to leave like me, and there is no point in going out blindly. How can you live outside as a human being smaller than an insect? The world would have no way of seeing us without a magnifying glass!

A few months ago, right before entering the gateway room, when Ari and my colleagues were confiding our feelings with each other, there was something Ari said.

The current party is not that great as individuals, but as a group they are very strong. It’s not just a feeling of being good or altruistic, but there is a strong side to ‘group think’.

It wasn’t until this moment that I felt those words again. I have come to accept that this applies not only to my colleagues, but also to myself.

How on earth do you get out?

If I escape alone like this, what about my colleagues? Will my colleagues, who will lose the grimoire, status window, and understanding of the scenario, be able to get through the second floor?

When I was sealed in the beginning of Room 201, ‘The Cube’, I remembered the ups and downs my companions went through. There’s no answer. Escaping alone is essentially the same as telling the rest of us to die.

In the past, Native Americans compared a person’s conscience to a triangle. Every time a person does something that goes against their conscience, the triangle rotates once, and its sharp angle hurts the heart. However, at some point, the corners of a triangle that rotates endlessly become dull… .

A little while ago, a triangle spun around in my mind. I decided to keep the triangle sharp.

*

When I returned to my original body, I realized that I was back inside a snow globe. Perhaps the colleagues who felt threatened by the appearance of cats and then humans seemed to have returned to the snow globe.

I weigh over 200kg wearing a protective suit, and Jincheol must have had a hard time carrying this heavy body back inside.

… Then, how will our weight be handled in the ‘outside world’? You never know.

As soon as I woke up and started moving, Ari came over to me.

“You’re back.”

“huh. “I haven’t found out much information yet, but I want to share as much as I can.”

“good job. And thank you.”

“…”

I was momentarily speechless. What on earth does this ‘good job, thank you’ mean? Does this mean that you did a good job by looking at those around you and are grateful? or not… .

Let’s stop thinking. Rather, it is time to talk more realistically.

“When I was possessed by the cat, I checked the clock in my room. If the time in the outside world is the same as the time in the hotel, it is now 10:40. “I think the circumstances are the same.”

“okay?”

“Look back at the situation in which the advice was given. The owl felt quite urgent. Does this mean we have to do something before the second floor repairs are finished? I have to do it today. That means there is at most 1 hour and 20 minutes left.”

As always at the hotel, there isn’t much time right now. Tomorrow I won’t be able to come to this place anymore, so I have to find something today.

Tomorrow, we have to decide whether to use the sand ticket, for what purpose it will be used, and even who to resurrect if we are going to use it for resurrection, for example. In three days, it will already be time to re-enter the cursed room.

When I was told that something had to be done, my older brother nearby responded nervously.

“In that dangerous place?”

“yes. I kept thinking, why did our sponsor lead us to this place? “I probably don’t mean to boast that the hotel is such a mysterious place.”

My grandfather also expressed a similar opinion.

“There’s no way he sent us away just to show off again. I think he should go out again. By the way, I was wondering if that monster was really a cat? “When I heard the little boy’s voice, I thought it couldn’t be possible, but outside is just a family home, right?”

“It seems so. “The outside feels like a home somewhere on Earth.”

Ari muttered as if it was fun.

“In the past, it was built in the deep sea, but this time, the first floor was built in the sky, and the second floor was built in a snow globe? I wonder what the locational limitations of the hotel will be. Considering that the locations of the 1st and 2nd floors are different, the 3rd floor will be different as well, right? Where on earth is the third floor?”

“I’m curious.”

“Do you know anything? Maybe Cain formed on his fingernails.”

“…”

“I just tried it. Let’s go outside again. Shall we all go together?”

“no. This time I’ll go out alone. We’re too small compared to the outside world anyway. You absolutely have to borrow the body of a cat or a child to search for it. And if there are other people, it will be hard for me to keep track of them.”

Judging from the size, there is such a difference in weight class that even if a cat or child takes a deep breath in front of their colleagues, they will all fly somewhere. For the rest of us, it’s easier for me to just be inside the snow globe.

After reporting the situation to everyone, I went out into the outside world again.

*

It didn’t take long before they went outside the snow globe and snatched the cat’s body back. Poor Coco, through no fault of her own, got her head stuck by her child and she got so scared that she hid in the corner of her bookshelf, but was easy to find thanks to her characteristic bright eye glow.

Next, it is time to ‘borrow’ the child’s body.

— Jjieeik! Yikes!

“Minyoung! “Please go to your room!”

“Ugh it’s frustrating! “Coco, you’re tearing something up again!”

… Coco I’m going to get scolded again. sorry.

Not long after, the door burst open and the boy returned. I, who had been possessed by the cat, quickly moved behind the snow globe and returned to my original body the moment the boy approached to pull the cat out.

The moment the boy who approached me just came to his senses and picked up the scruff of the neck of the confused Coco, I borrowed his body.

I felt dizzy for a moment. Unlike when she entered the body of an unintelligent cat, ‘Kim Min-young’ is a human. As soon as I was possessed, rough information about what kind of person Kim Min-young was flooded my mind.

There was nothing special. I am in the 3rd grade of elementary school and currently on vacation. degree? I looked at the mirror for a moment and muttered.

“hmm. It feels weird because it feels like I’m talking to myself, but first of all, I’m sorry. I will use it safely and return it to you. Of course, you don’t know what happened. And Coco didn’t do anything wrong, so don’t scold her too much.”

Clearly, human vision is much better than that of cats. I first turned on the light in the dark room and sent Coco out of the room to prevent her from doing anything strange. What should I do now? First, I approached the snow globe.

“Was this the cause of the blizzard?”

The snow globe was a fairly expensive product, as it was as big as a human head and was connected to an electric cable. I looked at the buttons on the back as carefully as I could to keep the snow globe from shaking, and there were three modes to choose from.

“One is in power off, the other is in lamp mode, and the last one is in Christmas mode?”

The reason why the snowstorm continued on the second floor of the hotel was very simple. Simply because the snow globe was set to ‘Christmas mode’, the snow continued to blow with the power of electricity. I considered turning it off completely, but I thought it would make it too dark, so I switched to lamp mode, and the snowstorm stopped and the environment with the lights on was complete.

“This really solves the blizzard problem! Is there nothing more to do?”

I think the first task, ‘Stopping the blizzard’, has definitely been completed. But this alone is very disappointing. The fact that it was a blizzard wasn’t something I needed to worry about if the hotel ceiling was blocked tomorrow even if I didn’t stop it.

I looked around the room calmly. There are about 50 minutes left, so considering the time, I don’t think I need to go out of the room and do anything. There were Lego toys, mini cars, and game consoles that Minyoung liked all over the room. There were quite a few worksheets on the bookshelf.

“… Minyoung, 8 x 8 is not 88. I’m still confused about multiplication. okay. “All you have to do is be healthy.”

While looking through the Lego toys step by step, I finally discovered another unusual element.

‘A Mysterious Craftsman’

Surely the names aren’t the same by chance?

Found the first hidden NPC on the second floor. The fact that the NPC was Lego was unexpected.

See next episode