Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 269
Only Krnovel
Episode 269 – ???Ho, Room of the Curse – ‘????’ (7)
[±úÁü : Ttuenhem{ongjan*
Jiang: 126 zuori
Cheembeoldangkkang: Jyanengjjuoli-lamnyeorangdant
Pyeongtibyeonbegwon: X]
– Han Ga-in
In a space where a curtain of darkness had descended, making it impossible to see an inch in front of me, I strangely felt countless lives living and breathing in the shadows. The cries of insects tickling my ears, the melancholy noise of bats starting their day late at night. Sticky annelids that crawl on the soil throughout their lives, unable to distinguish between light and darkness.
I felt that even the beads of sweat flowing from my skin made sound. She could no longer deny it as her hearing and smell became more sensitive than ever in the darkness that made it impossible for her to see an inch in front of her.
I definitely feel like I’m turning into something other than human. Is it the aftermath of Advent? The power of the grimoire? I can not know. Now is not the time to worry about such things.
In extreme tension, I moved behind a nearby tree as carefully as possible. Suppress footsteps as much as possible. The reason I suppress the sound of my footsteps is not because I am afraid of being heard by someone, but because I am afraid that my footsteps will prevent me from hearing other sounds. Because I myself have already been caught by everything in this world a long time ago.
“Something is watching us.”
In the end, Jincheol couldn’t stand it anymore and broke the silence. He had no intention of hitting. I was feeling the same way, and I had already been caught anyway.
“Shall we go down the mountain first?”
“You came all the way here and got nothing? Let’s look a little further. “It’s such an amazing mountain range, but even if you run away, you have to see the monster’s face at least once before running away.”
Jincheol moved forward with an energetic attitude, as if he had summoned courage from deep within his heart.
— Squeak!
When I immediately turned my head in the direction of the noise I suddenly heard, I was left speechless after seeing an unexpected being.
“Hey, that’s it! It’s not a monster? No matter how you look at it-”
With a whooshing sound, the ‘robot’ aimed what looked like a ‘turret’ towards us!
“Bounce, bounce!”
— Boom! Bang bang!
I ran and ran again, putting every last bit of strength in my body into my legs!
From behind, I could hear a huge explosion, dust, the sound of trees exploding, and the noise of various creatures escaping. The moment something invisible flew through the air and hit the solid outer wall of the cave, what was once a cave instantly turned into a stone tomb.
Qetulik: What? It’s a team
Is this a chat window? How on earth –
“Come this way! “If you go outside the ‘boundary’, we won’t chase you!”
A familiar doctor’s voice is heard. When the frantic race was over, we were able to meet two more colleagues.
*
It may be surprising, but it was never easy or natural for us to meet like this. In a vast primitive world, the only thing given to us, scattered all over the place, is a tribe of primitive people.
Since we all have experience navigating the Chamber of Curse, we easily came to the conclusion that we had to go beyond the mountain range where strange songs or legends were told, but the mountain range was incredibly large. There are no designated hiking trails like in the 21st century, and people scattered all over the continent just moved toward distant mountain ranges. How can they meet?
It is normal for everyone to explore the mountain range from different locations. But my grandfather and the doctor were able to find us from afar.
“Because you brought the tribe. How many people is this? I think there are 5,000 people in total… . As these enormous numbers of people moved, clouds of dust rose up from afar. “I couldn’t believe it, so I moved all day to find you.”
“Huh, I didn’t even think that if you move with your tribe, the traces will be loud and easy to find from outside, but it seems to have had this effect.”
“The saying that a cow catches a mouse while backing up is exactly this situation. Anyway, welcome to the Hell Mountains!”
We had quite a long conversation at the foot of the mountain range, in a huge camp set up by primitive people to stay. We talked about what each of us had been through, what monsters we had fought, and what we had gone through before coming to the conclusion that we had to come to the mountains.
It’s surprising, but I feel like we’ve grown a lot. We were dropped in a primitive era and given a crazy mission to control a tribe and kill a monster, and all four of them did a great job! In some ways, Jincheol and I, who have magic books and superpowers, are comfortable. Even the grandfather, who had already heard of the story, was once again impressed by the part where Sang-hyeon, who did not have any superpowers suitable for combat, set up a ‘booby trap’ to kill the monster.
However, when the next story came out, there was silence in the hall. Jincheol spoke with a heavy expression.
“therefore… . “It seems like only the two of you came, leaving the tribesmen behind.”
“okay. What should I do? “I need to go to the mountain range, but the tribesmen want me to kill them rather than go there, so what can I do?”
I had no intention of discussing the matter with my grandfather or the doctor. Because that’s what I thought of from the beginning. What Jincheol said repeatedly was true.
Only Jincheol and I can bring the tribesmen to the mountain range by force. What was possible for an evil wizard stealing a human body or a primitive Hercules striking a monster with his fists was simply impossible for his grandfather or doctor.
Jincheol, who seemed to be thinking of various words while muttering something, ended up saying only one sentence.
“everyone… . I thought you would have realized this after going through the ordeal at the hotel. “What we do in the Chamber of Damnation is ultimately about protecting people.”
The doctor answered.
“I know. I plan to do that to solve this room. However, in order to solve the room, you must first escape several times and gather information. “This is unavoidable at the information gathering stage.”
I think it would be better to cut it at this point. The war of nerves caused by the performance is not good.
“Hmm, hmmm. ruler! At this point, let’s talk about the mountains. “Right now, as the doctor said, we are in the process of finally resolving the problem.”
“Yeah, that’s right. I said something for no reason. What are those monsters in the mountains? No, isn’t it a ‘robot’ and not a monster in the first place?”
As soon as the story about the robot encountered in the mountains came up, the atmosphere changed and everyone began to speak eagerly. Grandpa answered right away.
“It’s a robot! It’s definitely true. Since primitive people have no relevant knowledge, they think robots are just monsters. “The countless eyes that primitive people were talking about were cameras attached to robots, and the power that called thunder was referring to autocannons.”
“It is now 100% clear that this place is unusual. “If you want to cross the mountain range, you have to break through that robot.”
With my words, everyone became quiet. Jincheol said with a somewhat gloomy expression.
“a moment ago… . Did you see that robot firing a cannon? Didn’t the tree explode just by brushing against it? If we get hit by something like that, there will be no trace of us. “It’s even more surprising that he escaped alive in the first place.”
“It’s not that we ran away, but I think the robot fired a ‘warning shot’ of sorts. “It wasn’t that far away, but all the shells missed us.”
If it were a robot equipped with truly advanced AI, there was no way it would miss from that distance. He fired a warning shot and missed it on purpose.
“Warning shot? “Is this something you survived by relying on the mercy of robots?”
The doctor gave his opinion.
“The robots in the mountains have some kind of behavior pattern. For example, robots never leave the boundaries of mountain ranges. In fact, if such beings go out of the mountains and start rampaging, not even primitive people or monsters will be able to stop the robots.”
“Don’t leave the mountains… . “Gain and I definitely crossed a certain line, so he backed away like a knife.”
It’s good not to leave the mountain range, but it doesn’t really mean much in a situation where we have to go inside the mountain range. Is there some other ‘pattern’? A thought suddenly occurred to me.
“It’s hard to call this a pattern, but it seemed like they were observing us first before firing ‘warning shots.’ “As soon as I entered the vicinity of the mountain range, I felt a strong gaze from the outside.”
Jincheol nodded, probably thinking the same thing. At that time, the doctor tapped his knee.
“Huh! A good idea occurred to me. Didn’t you, Ga-in and Jin-cheol, go to great lengths to bring all the tribesmen? Is there a need to let them play? Finally, the appropriate thing to do is -”
My breath stopped. This was an idea that popped into my head and then put it away, but the doctor also came up with that idea!
“Let’s restrain ourselves!”
“… yes?”
“I had similar thoughts for a moment, but it is still difficult to cross the line too far. Because we have to go outside someday. If possible, innocent sacrifices -”
“Hey, I’m sorry, but what on earth were you thinking, Gain?”
“… Didn’t you mean to force the tribesmen to charge into the mountains? “Let’s break through on our own while the robots kill the tribesmen?”
Not only the doctor but also the grandfather next to me opened their mouths.
“What kind of Stalin are you! It’s not like putting in a punishment unit! “Are we a self-defense force?”
“Gain, not at all. In the first place, no matter how excellent the leadership skills of Ga-in and Jin-cheol are, if you do something like that, the primitive people will rebel. There is no need to increase the fight.”
“Then what are you thinking?”
“What about the so-called ‘round round’ operation?”
The idea the doctor came up with sounded simple yet plausible.
Robots do not go outside the boundaries of the mountain range, and once they enter the mountain range, the robots begin to observe. Then, if they think they have crossed a certain line, they fire a warning shot and chase them away. In other words, even if you enter a mountain range, you won’t die immediately!
So, what if we spread out the entire tribe of over 5,000 people near the border of the mountain range and let them move in and out of the border?
Won’t robots be scattered in all directions to individually monitor and guard thousands of people? After dispersing the robots, the hotel party can gather together and break through a point where the defense is relatively weak and climb up!
“How is it?”
The grandfather nodded and answered.
“It’s a good idea, but it takes two steps. First, the tribesmen are afraid to even look at the mountain range, so it won’t be easy to tell them to move near the border. We need to make them understand that it is safe as long as they wander around the border. Also, in a world without communication devices, training would be needed to make thousands of people behave in an orderly manner.”
“This is a problem that can be solved if you take the time. Of course, we may have a ‘time limit’.”
“Second, this is more serious. Let’s say we succeed in dispersing the robots. Let’s say there is only one path along our path. Are you confident you can win one?”
Once again, silence fell in the hall.
Sometimes, hotel parties secretly feel vulnerable to ‘simple physical force.’ I can do something about supernatural monsters or evil spirits with a grimoire, but when I encounter an artificial intelligence robot that ignorantly fires a 30mm cannon, there is nothing I can do about it.
In the end, Jincheol sorted out the situation.
“We need someone else.”
“…”
“We need someone with the ability to take down at least a couple of robots that fire autocannons. Now, my blessings have weakened and it’s impossible for me… .”
The doctor answered somewhat gloomily.
“Something capable of that might be approaching us right now.”
*
The next day, a huge cloud of dust started coming in from several kilometers away. At first, people who were happy because they thought it was the addition of a new colleague soon lost their expressions.
The ‘Legion’ was flying through the sky and approaching.