Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 315
Only Krnovel
Episode 315 – Perfect Child (3)
[User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 136
Current Location: Tier 2, Snowfield
Sage Advice: 0]
– Han Ga-in
While my colleagues were spending their time together, I came up to the second floor because I was curious about what Ari was doing.
It seemed like Ari had already gone out into the snow globe. As she slowly made her way through the fluttering snow, she saw Ari walking through the snowy field in light clothing.
“Isn’t it cold in those clothes?”
“It’s bearable.”
With those words, she moved forward without a word, leaving footprints on the pure white ground.
10 minutes passed and another 10 minutes passed. The blizzard in the snow field had disappeared, but it was still not easy to go through the snow field. As beads of sweat rolled down the back of his nose, he asked Ari.
“Are you going in today?”
“well.”
“Wouldn’t tomorrow be better? “I’ll have more advice tomorrow, so why don’t you ask?”
Instead of answering my question, Ari turned to me with an unusual question.
“Do you love your parents?”
If you say ‘no’ here, aren’t you a fire attribute filial son?
“Sounds obvious… .”
“why?”
It was such an obvious story, but when I was asked the question, I was momentarily speechless. Of course, there are endless reasons. Because my parents are good people!
“You raised me, right? Not just in a material sense, but also in an emotional sense. “My parents are pretty good people.”
“My question is not what causes love to persist, but what causes love to be created.”
Are you curious about the cause that creates love, not the cause that maintains love? What are we talking about?
“You loved your parents for 20 years, and of course the reason you miss them even now when you come to the hotel is because they raised you well. “What do you think it would have been like if you were someone like Gaechaban?”
“I guess you didn’t miss it. If it went too far, for example, was there child abuse? “You might have wondered when your parents would die.”
“Go back to when you were a baby. You probably loved your parents even back then. “My parents probably thought it wouldn’t hurt to put you in their eyes.”
“That’s usually the case.”
“Why? Why do parents love their children? “Because she is someone who will support you when you get old?”
“… That’s too much. That kind of thing is a story that takes place decades after the child is born. Also, the chances of an adult child living well enough to support their parents are not high.”
“You’re right. How about the opposite? Isn’t it even more amazing? A child loves her parents as soon as she is born. “It’s not like his parents did him any favors.”
I think I finally understand what Ari is talking about. She says that the love between her parents and children is not rational when it is first created.
As a parent, you don’t even know what kind of child your just-born child is. Any calculation benefit is a long way off. As a child, how would you know what kind of parents you just met?
But why do they love from the moment they first meet?
If you really ask the question, there is no one who doesn’t know the answer. It’s a story without romance, so I just don’t bring it up.
“So, are you trying to say that the reason parents and children love each other is because of genes?”
Ari nodded slightly at my words.
“okay. They say that my parents treated me well, but cultural background and social pressure are secondary reasons. Or it is the driving force that maintains the love that has already occurred. The beginning of love is genes. “Don’t you think so?”
It’s not wrong.
To point out a separate, grandiose reason, even animals like rats, which are almost devoid of intelligence, cherish their children dearly and the children follow their parents. In the end, the beginning of love can be seen as genes.
Of course, I believe that human love is much higher than the love of such small things, but… . Even so, it is difficult to deny that genes play a significant role.
“Yes, to some extent. “But why are you suddenly saying this?”
Ari didn’t answer. Instead, his expression, which had seemed somewhat gloomy from earlier, slightly straightened.
Was there anything in the conversation just now that made you feel at ease? It seems like the type of conversation that would normally feel uncomfortable and unromantic.
“Eight!”
Suddenly Ari picked up a snowball and threw it at me!
“Ahh! “What is it?”
“Take it! Eagle Tan!”
I thought as I dodged the snowball that was flying at me at incredible speed without any time to react. This absurd side of Ari is just like Miro!
Not long after, colleagues at the hotel came out and started throwing snowballs together.
*
– Kim Ari
— Cheap!
“…”
— Slap!
“… Don’t you want to become friends with me?”
I looked closely at the Perot I had borrowed from Songi.
Apparently, according to Song, right before entering the mirror room, Pero behaved differently than usual… .
“Aren’t you just sleeping too much? yap!”
I threw the round plastic toy in the bathtub. As if Perrault’s laziness so far had been a trick, he showed off his fancy movements –
It wasn’t visible. The toy just hit her and she fell down with a squeak.
“…”
— Beep! Beep!
“At times like this, it’s really hard to believe that you are a mysterious creature that came out of a golden egg.”
I don’t think they have any intention of giving me any advance warning. Well, it’s a creature that always takes care of Songi.
It seems like he is secretly taking care of Seung-yeop in the Curse Room, but that’s as far as it goes. I guess you have no intention of taking care of me.
— Slap!
I got out of the bathtub, dried my hair and body, and put on some light clothes. I don’t think there’s any need to take any more time. Let’s go.
I hoped Ga-in would listen to the advice one more time and go, but I had a different opinion. This is because owls are not creatures that answer questions as they are.
He always gives a strangely twisted answer mixed with his own intentions. Does the owl want the maze to come back to life?
I don’t think so. You might think I’m increasing the variables for no reason. Therefore, no matter what question I asked, it seemed like the answer would be answered with a negative nuance.
— Ting!
A clear sound rings out. Finally, the long-awaited moment has arrived.
*
– Kim Ari
It is a space full of light. There were flashing mirrors everywhere, on the floor, walls, and ceiling as far as the eye could see.
While looking around, I felt a sense of discomfort. Mirrors do not create light, but reflect it. For a mirror to flash, there must be a separate light source that produces light, but there is no such thing in this space.
This is a new story. This isn’t something special in a hotel.
After a while, the notification I had already heard appeared.
“Congratulations to contestant Ari Kim. You have discovered the hotel’s hidden secret, the ‘Room of Mirrors’!”
“You know that Songi made the discovery. But the text is the same. “Isn’t that a lack of sincerity?”
I tried jokingly, but the hotel ignored what I said and told the rest of the story. It’s a story we’ve all heard so well. Wishes require a ticket, but the first time is free.
I slowly moved in front of the huge mirror in front. The closer I got, the more colorful things began to appear in the mirrors on all sides.
One mirror showed a powerful sword filled with vicious evil energy.
One mirror showed a mysterious throne bathed in cosmic starlight.
A mirror awakened the power hidden in old blood and showed me being reborn as a transcendent person.
One mirror showed a maze with an ‘intelligent’ smile.
“…”
I knelt down and put my hands together.
I gathered my mind to one point, seeking help from an almighty being somewhere in the hotel, a great person whose identity even the management bureau could not identify.
Memories from long ago come to mind. The time I spent with Miro in a hotel, a hotel from a long time ago, passed by.
Miro complained that he didn’t want to eat, and Miro was so happy that someone else was sealed in the cursed room that he went wild and almost ruined the room. Miro tried to half-kill her protesting colleague by pressing him down with force.
… I don’t have many good memories?
Ahem! As I thought about it a little more, good memories came to mind.
The girl who put food in my mouth after saying she ate something delicious, the girl who held me to sleep on the sofa when she said she didn’t want to sleep alone at night, and the Miro who blasted away a co-worker who threatened me with a single finger.
All these memories came back to me as vividly as if it had happened yesterday.
It’s amazing. Humans are by nature creatures of forgetfulness, so how can events from decades ago be so vivid?
Many of my memories after escape are blurry, even though it happened much later in chronological order. The branch manager of the management bureau who first hired me, and the other agents I called my seniors at the time… . I can’t even remember my face anymore.
I made up my mind. Just as a drop of water falls on a quiet lake and the waves created by it fill the lake, the waves caused by one wish filled my entire heart.
one by one.
The various impulses that humans have no choice but to have fade away. One wish, stronger than anything else, swallowed up all other wishes.
The treasured sword, the throne, and the mirrors that reflected the reborn me lost their light one by one.
Finally, I desperately hoped for the moment when all that remained was a mirror reflecting the mysteriously smiling maze.
I hope that my mother, who has suffered for a long time, can be given another chance. Before her resurrection, I hope that her spirit will once again be filled with honesty.
The mirror shook and gave off an unknown light. Are your wishes coming true?
“Some of the wishes contain elements that cannot be fulfilled! Would you like to check?”
“Is there anything that can’t be achieved? What happened suddenly-”
Before I could answer, the mirror suddenly started playing an unknown video. This video… .
This is a video about a maze.
*
…
…
…
I get it. In the mirror room, I learned why some of my wishes were diagnosed as unachievable and what the ‘direction to achieving them’ was.
A conversation I had with Songi a while ago flashed through my head. Why did Miro lose his intelligence? The price you pay for making a wish in the Hall of Mirrors?
Songi said that couldn’t be possible. The only compensation the Hall of Mirrors accepts is tickets, and it does not accept human intelligence or anything else. Therefore, the reason Miro lost his intelligence… .
Because Miro himself wanted it.
“are you okay. “Because I knew the other direction.”
The Hall of Mirrors also revealed other possibilities for solving this problem. therefore –
— Ting!
A clear sound was heard again. The mirror showed a different image that I had never imagined.
…the moment I was born.
I see a beautiful girl.
A girl who looked exactly like my twin but had mysteriously flowing silver hair was quietly kneeling and praying in the mirror room.
“I pray to the ruler of the hotel who sits on the great throne.
I want to get the perfect colleague.
A child who can overcome the hardships of the hotel. A child born with special powers and an extraordinary destiny.
A child who does not give in to fear even when an evil god wields endless power, and is able to unravel the tangled threads of trials in an instant.
A child who is rational and not afraid of sacrifice, but who can protect the cause of humanity in the larger scheme of things.
And there is a top condition that precedes all of this. That child must love me and not betray me.
Even if the sky falls and the earth splits, even if eons pass and all memories are scattered like a fleeting dream –
I hope you keep your undying love for me.
“Give me the perfect child.”
When I turned away from the brightly smiling girl in the mirror, I realized that hot water was forming in my eyes and my vision was blurring.
Yes, I vaguely expected it. I thought it was strange for a long time.
How can only the memories and feelings about the maze remain so unchanged?
Even though all my memories and emotions have been worn away with the passage of time… .
Only one memory and emotion remained forever unchanged.
I was the perfect child of the maze. My genes are a maze of wishes.