Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 316
Only Krnovel
Episode 316 – Maze (1)
– Kim Ari
My vision became blurry. Tears, the first tears I had shed in a very long time, flowed down my cheeks.
I knew it. I guessed it.
My irrational obsession with mazes may not be a natural feeling. I’ve thought about this countless times.
I am a Bureau agent. Isn’t it even weirder that you can’t think of such a possibility after encountering so many incomprehensible beings and powers that touch human emotions?
but… . ‘It might be so’ and ‘Yes’ were quite different.
— Ugh!
With a strange tone, the mirrors in all directions began to display different images again. I guess it’s because my heart was shaken when I saw Miro’s Wish a little while ago.
Wiping away the flowing tears, I thought again of the conversation I had with Ga-in earlier.
What is the beginning of love? It’s genes.
Behaviors such as helping and caring among family members and social and cultural pressures that emphasize affection between parents and children are all mere forces that sustain the love that has already been created.
Yes. The Beginning of Love is the original program. Therefore, the love created by wishes and the love created by genes are not very different.
I believed so. I decided to believe it.
The good news is that my memories of the maze weren’t that bad. She wasn’t a good person, and she honestly wasn’t a good mother –
Because he was definitely someone who loved me.
Even at the last moment, the maze gave me a way to escape and let me escape.
Once again, the shaking mirror image faded and began to reflect a single image. As if waiting, a notification appeared.
“Would you like to make a wish? If you click ‘Yes’, your wish will come true.”
My hand touched the alarm in the air.
*
[User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 137
Current location: Tier 1, hallway
Sage Advice: 3]
– Han Ga-in
“To put it simply -”
“Haaam!”
“Don’t yawn!”
“Hey, it’s 4 in the morning… .”
I couldn’t stand it and woke up because my grandfather was popping up ‘personal notifications’. When he came out, his grandfather yawned and went back in, and there was Ari.
“So you’re saying you succeeded in making a wish to change Maze’s mind?”
“that’s right.”
“Good. “But why did you have to wake me up?”
Since the matter related to the maze is important, waking it up itself seems like that. The strange part is that ‘only I’ was called out.
“that is… . “It went a little differently than I first thought.”
“I’ll listen carefully this time, so tell me again.”
“okay. “The problem started with Miro’s ‘second wish’.”
“Second wish? “You said the first wish was the wish that created you, right?”
“that’s right. The problem is that on the day I was born, Miro made two wishes in the Hall of Mirrors, not just one.”
“Hmm… . Did you make the free wish of the first discoverer and the ticket-used wish in succession? Besides, how did you know that? “Did the Hall of Mirrors tell you?”
“I told you. “It’s true that they were empty one after another.”
“How about tickets? By the way, I must have had a ticket since I passed through the first floor. Did Miro get that?”
“… Miro could have gotten it, or he could have taken it away.”
After a moment of silence, I spoke again.
“I guess the outside world didn’t know about that. Since you were just born, you wouldn’t have known anything, and the person who made the wish would have had no way of knowing since they had regressed as infants. Okay, what’s wrong with that second wish?”
“Because of that wish, Miro lost his intelligence.”
This is an extension of the story Songi told before. It has been said before that since the hotel does not accept human intelligence in exchange, the loss of intelligence may itself be a result of wishful thinking.
There were some parts that were difficult to understand.
“Isn’t it strange? “You met the adult Miro when you finished Miro’s nightmare in the cold ice hell, right?”
“It did.”
“At that time, when Miro was explaining the Hall of Mirrors, he said, ‘I tried to achieve many goals there, but I lost everything in return.’”
Instead of answering, Ari half-opened her mouth for a moment.
“what’s the matter?”
“No, when did that happen and you even remember the sentence?”
“… Because it was such an impactful memory. Anyway, think about those words. No matter how you look at it, doesn’t that mean that the loss of intelligence was your intention?”
“that’s right. That wasn’t Miro’s intention. “It’s a matter of perspective.”
“A matter of perspective?”
“From the maze’s perspective, a major accident occurred, and from the Hall of Mirrors’ perspective, a wish came true. The second wish is… .”
Ari, who had been speaking up to that point, seemed to be choosing his expression for a moment.
“Do you want to solve my weaknesses?”
“The maze’s weakness?”
“Do you want to gain more strength?”
“hey! “What is your wish?”
“I want to express it in just one sentence, but it’s difficult. As you know, the Hall of Mirrors is not a place where words are heard. Miro himself said, ‘Please solve my own weaknesses.’”
“But what you actually wanted was different?”
“Rather than being different, it would be better to wish for a variety of things at the same time. Look at the situation again. “When Miro entered the mirror room, the party’s relationship was broken, right?”
“It did.”
“Miro thought that the breakdown of that relationship was partly due to his own problems.”
“… ‘little’?”
“It was already difficult to proceed further through the maze at that point, so I thought I would somehow secure a means of escape for one person, leave the hotel, and then go back in.”
“Even after escaping, you want to go back in… . “He is a great person in many ways.”
“The problem is this. “If Miro’s own problems are the cause of the party crashing, even if he goes back in, the party may crash again due to his own problems.”
“So you tried to fix your own problem? “I understand the reason for making a wish, but I don’t know how it is connected to the loss of intelligence.”
Suddenly, Ari burst into laughter.
“Gain, what do you think is the reason why Deep Sea’s hotel party was destroyed?”
“Didn’t the doctor tell you? Your mother’s… . My self-righteousness played a big role. “Because they tried to control people by brainwashing them.”
“How should we solve this?”
“Communicate through reasonable dialogue and improve the relationship between each other? This is the norm, right? “I’m embarrassed to say it with my own mouth, but just like us now.”
“There is another way.”
“what?”
“If you could overpower all of your colleagues with a snap of your fingers, how many people would risk their lives to rebel against Miro in that situation?”
“…”
“Miro thought that his biggest problem was ‘a blessing that cannot be used freely.’”
I think I know what you mean. Because leadership is not necessarily created through communication.
Rather, the preferred method of famous monarchs throughout human history and modern dictators is control through overwhelming power.
Slowly, I began to vaguely understand the full picture of what happened that day.
The mirror room is a place where the numerous impulses in the participants’ hearts are simultaneously recognized. Miro must have thought as he looked back at his party crashing at the hotel in the deep sea.
Since the cause lies with you, there is no point in coming back after escaping. What is my problem?
My blessing, ‘justice’, is truly powerful, but it has many conditions and is difficult. There are many weaknesses in blessings, so even though I have obtained the legacy of vengeance, there are gaps in my strength.
What if I could use blessings however I want? What if I could ignore the conditions of blessing and wield the unimaginable power of justice at will?
No one will be able to stand against me.
“Was it like this?”
“… maybe.”
“In the end, we had opposite views on Ari’s mother. Because she lost her intellect, she was not at the mercy of her justice. “They lost their intelligence because they wanted to manipulate justice as they please.”
“You probably didn’t know that you would lose your intellect as a result. “She vaguely thought it would be nice to be able to wield her blessings however she wanted, but that would require infantile regression.”
The biggest question about the maze: why did it lose its intelligence was answered. Miro hoped that his weakness would disappear, and he attributed that weakness to a blessing that he could not use at will.
The Mirror Room put Maze in a state where he could use blessings at will.
“Now you know why Miro’s loss of intelligence is the result of his own wish. This is where the problem arises. “I didn’t know before I made the wish, but there was one limitation in the mirror room.”
“Restrictions?”
“You can’t change someone else’s wish with a wish.”
“ah!”
“So it was impossible to return Miro’s mind to an ‘adult state.’”
“Well, then what should I do? You’re not planning on saving her as a child, are you? Of course, even if we revive the current maze, we will not be able to wield justice, but -”
“Listen. It is impossible to turn it into an ‘adult state’. “There are three types of mazes that the hotel knows about.”
One is the infantile regression maze, which is nothing short of a disaster. The other is a formidably dangerous adult maze.
The last one is… .
“no way? A middle school student’s maze in the cold ice hell?”
“That’s it. Reviving that self was no problem. Perhaps the hall of mirrors might recognize individual selves as separate beings… . “It may be a judgment that a separate entity from the wish-making Miro will inhabit Miro’s body.”
As my mouth was half-open, Ari slightly lowered his head.
“When the maze wakes up, it will recognize you other than me. “Help me adapt.”
This is how the early morning conversation ended.
*
The next morning, Ari gathered everyone together and briefly explained the situation.
The reason why Miro’s spirit was broken, the limitations of the mirror room where wishes cannot be used to fulfill the wishes of others, and even the circumstances in which the spirit of middle school student Miro had to be awakened in order to bypass this.
At first, the colleagues were confused as to what this meant and asked Ari one question after another. By the time everyone understood the situation, some people had unexpected reactions.
“I’m glad.”
These were Eunsol’s older sister’s words. She turned her head to see something, and surprisingly, the doctor was nodding along with her.
Jincheol asked in confusion.
“Thank goodness? “Isn’t this a very embarrassing situation?”
“It’s embarrassing, but isn’t it very fortunate? “Look at the situation.”
With those words, my sister wrote three words on the whiteboard as she always did.
‘Maze of Insanity’
‘Adult Maze’
‘Middle School Maze’
“Now, choose one of these three. “Who is the scariest?”
“…”
“…”
“The Insanity Maze made even Ari think, ‘This is a little… .’ Because I did it, it’s not even worth mentioning. How about an adult maze? “Isn’t that person scary in a different way?”
At the same time, several people nodded in succession.
“Yes.”
“Honestly, I was really scared. Since she was Ari’s mother, there was nothing I could do about it. You never know what crazy tricks they might pull! “It’s obvious that he’s a person with a lot of tricks.”
“Cough!”
“I’m sorry Ari! But, I heard you already restored the third maze anyway?”
“huh… .”
“The middle school maze is the best. Ga-in said he was cute and kind-hearted?”
“what… . Except that he uses his superpowers like breathing. “It wasn’t evil or anything.”
“It won’t be a big threat to us right now.”
A flute appeared in my sister’s hand. Seeing his confident expression made me feel relieved.
“ruler! Then go now!”
The glowing paper flew across the table and into Ari’s hands. While Ari was flinching, his sister spoke firmly.
“What are we going to do by taking more time on this? You were going to wake me up someday anyway, right? “I have recovered my intelligence, so there is no need to delay any longer.”
Ari, holding the ticket, stood up in an unusually awkward manner and slowly bowed his head to everyone. It wasn’t until she left her table that everyone realized.
Now the 10th colleague, probably the last one you will meet at the hotel, wakes up.
*
– maze
…
…
…
I had a strange dream.
It was a long, very long dream. I went to school and had fun with my friends every day.
At the end… .
There was always Santa. A being dressed in blood-red clothes and piling up mountains of corpses.
That existence was the end of me and the beginning of an eternal nightmare.
I had fun with my friends every day, died together, and forgot everything. Only for a split second between death and life did she vaguely come to her senses. Every time she thought,
This is my destiny. How did I fall into this incomprehensible hell?
Then one day, for the first time, the content of the dream changed.
A friend who was uncannily similar to me, lovely to look at, and a boy hiding a mysterious secret appeared. and… . and… .
Now, I woke up in a hazy haze.
“… What’s this?”
“Choose your second destiny.”
There was a table in front of me with various pieces on it.