Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 197
Only Krnovel
Episode 197 – Party Time – Growth, preparation for the next room (1)
‘From now on, keep in mind what I’m going to say and don’t miss a single word.’
When I heard the owl’s words, I felt a tension that took my breath away. I concentrated my whole mind.
“First, this incident exceeds the limits of wisdom. I can’t give you advice on the cursed room you’ll enter next. Punishment starts today. Second, which room the penalty is applied to is determined the moment you first enter. Choose your room carefully. third,”
…
After saying ‘third’, the owl became quiet. The owl’s beak ticked a few times in front of me, but no sound was heard. If it were a human, he would have guessed it by reading the shape of the lips, but even if he were a master lip-reader, he wouldn’t be able to read the movement of the beak.
When the owl became quiet, I looked around for a moment. A pure white room with nothing special. A little while ago, I was exhausted after a long search, so I entered room 105 in a daze and fell asleep, so I think it was probably a dream.
The owl’s expression changed. I could feel the meaning of that expression. This is ‘frustrating’. Some unknown force is blocking the owl’s communication. Perhaps the force that locked the owl in the cage decided that the third thing the owl was trying to say to me had crossed the line again?
Or, when a penalty was received, permission may have been given to convey the details of the penalty. Actually, the first two stories seem to be related to ‘what a penalty is and how it is applied.’
What was the third story?
— Tak!
Suddenly the sound came again.
“Third, I can feel your growth. “It would be nice to study again.”
Clap! At the end of those words, I heard an unknown sound and lost consciousness.
I repeated these three words endlessly until the moment I lost consciousness. It is necessary to study its meaning as soon as you wake up.
*
[User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 95
Current location: 1st floor, Room 105 – Rest Room
Sage advice: [X]
In the morning, as soon as I woke up, I checked the status window.
…
Sage Advice: There is an X in the place where the number is written. A sign I have never seen before. That’s probably a ‘penalty’.
Have other features disappeared as well? If the filter function or scenario understanding has disappeared, it is a really serious problem.
First of all, the status window itself was able to expand as I wanted and cover my surroundings. Under the circumstances, the filter function seems to be fine, but whether the mental defense function also works is something that needs to be confirmed a little more. There is currently no way to know whether scenario understanding will work.
On the second day of the new three-day break that began with the use of the rest ticket, the contents of the morning meeting were decided.
*
When it was time for breakfast, all the people we missed returned. The colleagues who had been intoxicated by the scented candle of rest still looked gaunt, but they seemed to have regained enough strength to smile and talk.
As if we were retelling a sagas, everyone was excited and focused as we told the story of how the four of us, Ari, Grandpa, and Jincheol, broke down the exterior wall of the second floor of the hotel, found a snow globe, and explored the world outside.
As the saga came to an end, Elena asked with concern.
“I’m curious because I heard that the entire second floor where we are is inside a snow globe. What if people outside dispose of or destroy the snow globe?”
Ari answered as if it was no big deal.
“well? I don’t know. Just think back on the hotel styles we have experienced so far. “At least it’s not the hotel’s style to end everything in a way that we inside can’t respond to at all.”
“Yes, of course.”
I also expressed some opinions.
“You may not know it, but I believe my connection with the outside world has now been permanently lost. “Jincheol already confirmed yesterday that we can no longer go to the outside world.”
“Just as we can’t get out, we won’t be able to influence the inside of the snow globe from the outside world?”
“I think so.”
My sister also opened her mouth.
“I think so too about that matter. There’s something else I’m curious about. So where are the ‘artisans’ and things like ‘shining dust’?”
“Perhaps after eating, we can go out to a place like the information desk? Maybe it’s on the second floor. “The repairs will be completed today.”
“is it? Let’s go out after eating. I’m looking forward to the second floor. Like my grandfather said, I had a hard time finding it, but I won’t take it off. By the way, as everyone knows, the issue we have to decide is very-”
“Wait! “I know what my sister is going to say, but there’s something I need to check before that.”
After quickly stopping my sister from changing the topic, I relayed what I had received from the owl last night and organized the owl’s three messages on the whiteboard in front of me without leaving out a single word.
*
First, this incident exceeded the limits of wisdom. I can’t give you advice on the cursed room you’ll enter next. Punishment starts today.
Second, which room the penalty is applied to is determined the moment you first enter. Choose your room carefully.
Third, I can feel your growth. It would be nice to study again.
*
After a moment of silence in the hall, Ari carefully expressed his opinion.
“The meaning of the first word is just as it seems. Regarding the second floor search, the owl told us something before we found out, right? “Maybe that was the problem.”
“that’s right. Perhaps there was a penalty because we gave advice about something we didn’t ask for or knew about. The words in the last sentence seem clear. There’s already a number X next to the advice. “I guess this means that I can’t give advice today and tomorrow, and that advice will also be blocked in the next room I enter, right?”
My sister, who was listening, sighed.
“Isn’t the penalty too excessive? The advice function is actually more than half of your blessings. “Not being able to use it during rest days isn’t that big of a deal, but being blocked in the cursed room you enter next is a fatal blow.”
The old man, who had been staring at the whiteboard for a long time, expressed his opinion.
“I have a feeling this advice will only be blocked on the first attempt at the next cursed room?”
“I think so too. “If I had, I would have said, ‘First attempt.’”
“It means that one cursed room must be awakened without your advice, and this is where the second message comes out.”
The meaning of the first message is that you will not be able to receive any help from my advice on this rest day or in the room of curses you will enter next. So does that mean my advice is blocked in ‘some’ cursed chamber? The answer to this is the second message.
This is decided the moment you first enter the next cursed room.
In other words, if you enter room 202 once, it is immediately determined that ‘you cannot receive advice in room 202.’ Even if you later escape and proceed to room 203, no penalty is applied in room 203.
Ari, who understood what was said so far, answered.
“Be sure to consider this when deciding which room to go into next. Actually, I think we already have the answer. “Isn’t it room 104?”
“to? What are you talking about?”
He briefly explained it to Songi, who did not understand what Ari said.
“You can’t benefit from my advice in the next room, right? “I feel uneasy about challenging the rooms on the second floor that I don’t know anything about.”
“ah! So should I go into room 104 like my brother and Ari said? If you think about it, room 104 also has a hint. ‘Klitschko is the way to beat your father’, right?”
Ari answered.
“Did you still remember that? I also have a good memory. You’re right. We’ll have to talk about it again later, but I think I should go to room 104. It’s a bit awkward to go into a room on the second floor that you don’t know without any advice. Actually, I also came up with a trick.”
I immediately guessed what the trick was.
“Is it possible that the trick is to stop by room 104 once and, if there is no answer, somehow escape and then proceed to the room on the second floor?”
“huh. There’s also an escape button to escape when you don’t feel like it. After somehow escaping, Room 104 can’t even write any advice, so just forget about it. I told you this many times, right? “There is no need to solve every room.”
Ari has been treating room 104 as a ‘ruined room’ for a long time. In some sense, Advent seemed to be thinking that the price of gaining a power that surpasses even the Legacy would be a room that could not be resolved normally. The penalty introduced recently also ruins one of the cursed rooms so that advice cannot be used.
After thinking about it up to this point, I understood what Ari’s ‘true thoughts’ were and why he was suddenly actively insisting on re-entering room 104, which he had been reluctant to go to.
Let’s push the advice penalty into room 104, which is a ruined room anyway, so let’s cram the ruined elements into one room and give up!
… There are still rest days left, so let’s think about it a little more. At least it is not an unfounded judgment.
The grandfather, who had been quiet, opened his mouth.
“I can feel your growth. It would be nice to study again. What on earth does this sound like? “This isn’t a good place to study.”
“I will explain in detail the circumstances in which these words came out. When the owl tried to say something, some kind of force made it impossible to hear what it said. “After that the owl was quiet for a moment and then suddenly said that and the conversation ended.”
My sister muttered as if it was fun.
“It’s said that something was said ‘turned around’.”
Silence fell around for a moment. His grandfather opened his mouth again.
“Let’s split it up. ‘I can feel your growth.’ “It’s a compliment, but I don’t think I said this just to give you another compliment.”
“Yes. In the first place, I already gave simple compliments in front of him… .”
“What kind of growth does it look like? Actually, I have a vague feeling about it.”
“yes?”
When I looked up to see what he was saying, I saw Ari, who had heard what my grandfather said, with an expression on his face that made him realize something.
“Gain, have you ever heard the term ‘soul level’?”
“yes?”
Ari muttered softly.
“‘Studying’ is something you do by reading books. “Take out the grimoire.”
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