Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 382
Only Krnovel
EP.382 Episode 382 – Room 205, The Cursed Room – ‘Absolute Master’ (31) Fin
Episode 382 – Room 205, The Cursed Room – ‘Absolute Master’ (31) Fin
– Park Seung-yeop
I’m coming to my senses.
Soon, another memory of mine came back to me.
I looked up at the sky, startled by the shocking information.
The sky that the Master had split open with his incomprehensible sword strike was slowly closing.
Asha’s form was also only partially visible.
And Lee Ja-seong, my martial arts master.
His body was disintegrating like sand.
I ran like a madman, unable to close my mouth.
“Master! My body is -”
“… You’re awake.”
“Master, I’m sorry… I, I -”
“Did you see it?”
“yes?”
“You punk, you say you’re Master, Master, but you’ve never seen me before, have you? Did you see me split the sky?”
I looked up in confusion and looked at my master.
The eyes that turned blind in return for looking straight at Asha, and the extreme sense of emptiness that still cannot be hidden.
and –
A smile like that of a little boy.
A desire to brag to the disciples I have gathered in my later years.
I burst out laughing without realizing it.
“Yes, yes! I saw it!”
“Ha, haha! Hahaha! Who am I?”
“The best sword in the world!”
“No, disciple. Why do you need the word ‘sword’?”
“The best master in the world, Lee Ja-seong!”
“Ugh!”
“…Are you having fun?”
“of course.”
“I thought you would say that all this was meaningless. You spoke as if you had shaken off some worldly principles.”
“Seungyeop.”
“yes?”
“That is that, and this is this.”
At this moment, I really couldn’t help but laugh.
“Phew! No, aren’t your standards too arbitrary?”
“You punk, aren’t I originally a narrow-minded person?”
“That’s true.”
“What the heck! What, Aksha’s soul is well-trained?”
“yes.”
“You must practice every day even after you go out. The teachings I gave you, and the teachings that the demon Hwanma gave you. Don’t forget them both. Even though he is weaker than me in martial arts, he is good at teaching you.”
In the midst of all this, I burst out laughing again at the sight of him emphasizing that ‘even though that bastard Hwanma is weaker than me in martial arts’.
He had only shown a solemn appearance until then, but did the approaching death change him?
“…”
The conversation didn’t last long, but in that short time, less than half of Master’s body was left.
It was like a snowman slowly collapsing as it melted in the blazing sun.
Without realizing it, I took the ‘Soul Chest’ out of my arms.
Right now, I’m still alive –
“Stop it.”
“Master… .”
“I want to end it here.”
“…”
“I… have achieved my dream.”
“You achieved your dream?”
“Rather than living an ordinary life for a hundred years, I would rather live just one day and see the end of martial arts.”
“…”
“It cut through the sky. I thought it was a realm I could never reach even after cultivating for 100 years, no, 1,000 years… A miracle happened. The enlightenment I could never grasp, something hazy than a mist… came down to me.”
“…”
“That’s it. I put everything I had into that fleeting moment, so this moment is the real me. So.”
“Master.”
“Don’t make me a fake again.”
It was raining in the sky.
Raindrops swept away the remains of the old man, which scattered like sand, without a trace.
Songi, who had been silently observing the situation until now, hugged me lightly.
The world’s greatest swordsman, Lee Ja-seong, has died.
The next morning, the emperor gave the order to advance, and the remnants of the Baehwa Church were suppressed.
This is my last memory from room 205.
*
[User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 223
You are here: Restaurant of choice
Wise Man’s Advice: 3]
– Han Ga-in
Suddenly, I came to my senses in a flashing space.
A gorgeous chandelier on the ceiling, neat tables, and the appetizing aroma of food.
It’s a restaurant.
“Restaurant of choice? Is this the time of choice?”
I didn’t expect to wake up at the time of my choice, not even outside the hotel.
It seemed to be a role that explained the function of the ‘soul box’.
Looking back, something similar happened in the past.
The time of choice is a slightly different judgment than the room of curses.
Looking around, I saw Songi wearing a pretty white and pink one-piece dress and Seungyeop dressed neatly.
and….
Both of them looked at me with their mouths half open.
“Why are you two like that? Oh, I died and you came out during the time of choice?”
“Go, Ga-in hyung!”
“Hey, it was like this before too, but I’m not worthy of inheriting. I guess it’s a role to explain about the soul’s fate.”
“Brother Gain is coming out here!”
Even though I explained it to them, they both just stared at each other with their mouths wide open.
“No, then wouldn’t Hwanma have done something really stupid?”
“Hwanma?”
From here, both of them started talking and told me the story of the latter half of issue 205.
After I died, it is said that Hwanma took over Izasung’s body and imitated Izasung in order to live.
Perhaps Song-i and Seung-yeop thought that he would not be spared.
So, he disguised himself as Seungyeop’s martial arts master, Lee Ja-seong, and tried to deceive Seungyeop, who couldn’t tell the difference between the two souls…
“You damn man, why didn’t you just come out and stop talking nonsense! Oppa Ga-in would have been waiting here and would have convinced us!”
I understand the situation, but that’s not it.
“no.”
“What the heck? Oppa? What’s wrong?”
“I had no intention of saving you.”
“…”
“How many people died at the hands of the Hwanma in the second attempt? Why let such an evil man live?”
“I bet you can control him….”
“That’s stupid! The magician may have been scared by the power of the book and kept quiet for the time being, but he’s too evil. What would he do if he showed his weakness? There’s no guarantee that I’ll always be alive.”
“…”
“You don’t necessarily have to put NPC 205 in the Soul Box. You can put NPCs from any room. Of course, it has to be a room that hasn’t been destroyed yet. There are 104, 206, and 207 left.”
“…”
“I have two candidates in mind. One of them might be possible -”
“Wow, seriously, hyung… .”
Seungyeop cut me off and covered his face with his hands.
“Hwan-ma trusted his brother until the moment he died. As if his brother had promised, as if nothing would have happened if only his brother had lived…”
“A friend who is more innocent than you think -”
Songi, as if she couldn’t stand it anymore, cut me off and opened her mouth.
“It was a lie from the beginning… . I even intended to contain someone else from the beginning… .”
“…”
“Hwanma, it’s a good thing you died in room 205. If I had known everything and come to the time of choice, I would have listened to my brother and shed tears of blood.”
“That guy really should be grateful to Master even after he dies. He passed away peacefully thanks to Master cutting off his attachment to him. If he had come out, he would have fainted from shock after hearing Ga-in hyung’s voice.”
Strangely, I feel like I’ve become a bad guy.
What’s wrong with fooling a madman who kills people as easily as breathing?
After a while, a piece of paper with a description of ‘Hongyeomcheolseon’ was served on the table along with food.
Songi, who read the explanation, gave a brief comment.
“The Hongyeom Iron Line isn’t bad either.”
“I thought it was a useless legacy since you only worked hard to kill Miro.”
“We were able to exclude our own troops from the judgment. We just didn’t know because we were Cho Won-hong’s enemies in the first place.”
“I remember. Elena, who first witnessed the power of the Red Flame Iron Line, said it. When using the Red Flame Iron Line, Jo Won-hong shouted, ‘I, Jo Won-hong, will not avoid it anymore.’”
“I always feel this way, but you have a good memory. Anyway, what you meant was, ‘You are also included in the judgment.’”
“If you don’t say that, you’re excluding users and allies.”
“In addition to the judgment function, it also has the power to summon flames.”
The function of judging ‘enemies’ who have committed evil deeds.
The power to create flames.
Not bad.
However, since there are two options, you have to compare them.
“I guess the soul is -”
“The soul’s side -”
Songi and I spoke at the same time.
Seungyeop, who was cutting the steak with scissors, also nodded.
“Ahem, everyone’s opinion is the same. The power to instantly kill an enemy? That’s good, but we still can’t choose who we want to target. The criteria for judging ‘sin’ is also ambiguous.”
“The target is almost random. And there’s no guarantee that the opponent is a criminal.”
“It’s not even a 100% killing power. Didn’t the demon resist with the soul box?”
“If they become enemies, there is a possibility of resistance.”
“The power to control fire, well… .”
“An ambiguous feeling.”
“I don’t think the hotel expected us to choose the soul ship from the beginning?”
“yes?”
“You only saved me.”
At those words, Song-i and Seung-yeop were surprised and exclaimed, “Ah.”
“That’s right. It would have been natural for Elena to take on the role of explaining the Hongyeomcheolseon, but she just replaced it with this piece of paper.”
“Yes. As I mentioned earlier, I will explain the soul box’s functions in detail.”
The Soul Box can hold one soul at a time and has two uses.
First, it contains the user’s own soul.
In this case, the user gains very powerful immortality.
Even if the body is destroyed, it does not die, and it does not disappear unless there is a transcendent power that renders the soul itself incapacitated.
but.
“Perhaps, apart from immortality, if I lose my body, I will lose my ‘qualification as a participant’.”
“Are you helping us in a ghostly state? A legacy or a blessing?”
“You’ll have to try it to find out.”
Second, containing the souls of others.
That is, it can contain NPCs inside the cursed room.
The demon wanted to escape the room of curses through this method.
and.
“It could also be used to persuade other NPCs.”
“… One person comes to mind from room 104. Could it be used in room 206 as well?”
“It doesn’t have to be a curse room NPC.”
“The soul of a fellow human being?”
“That might be possible, but….”
I was reminded of a completely different ‘being’.
Something that is now a disembodied phantom or something less than that.
“I guess I’ll have to go outside and try this part out.”
Songi asked an important question.
“Does the soul box itself have the ability to take over a human body? Like a fantasy.”
“It’s a bit ambiguous.”
“Huh? Vaguely?”
“It’s very weak compared to the grimoires that specialize in body-snatching. It’s like the power of an evil spirit from a horror movie possessing a person?”
“… How much is that?”
“It might be difficult for an ordinary person, but a trained person can overcome it.”
“Isn’t the magic just that bad?”
“That’s possible because he was strengthened by a separate power called ‘Divorce Magic’.”
Seungyeop, who had been listening carefully, said.
“According to what my brother said, there is a high probability that the entity contained in the soul box will help us in a non-material ghost-like state.”
“yes.”
“I need to find a being that can exert power even in that state.”
“Good point. In fact, I was against saving Lee Ja-seong because of that part. I don’t think he’d be able to fight without a body.”
“…”
Seungyeop made a somewhat bitter expression at my words.
I guess you thought of Lee Ja-seong as a ‘real teacher’ more than I thought.
A look that some of my colleagues often see as overly absorbed in ‘work inside the room’.
I don’t think it’s a desirable attitude, but I think we need to be considerate.
Let’s stop talking about interest rates.
If Seungyeop’s attitude is like this, then it’s fortunate that Lee Ja-seong chose death in room 205.
Because the ‘two candidates’ I came up with are more suitable for putting in a box than Hwanma or Lee Ja-seong.
Of course, I didn’t say those words out loud this time.
As the conversation was coming to an end, Songi and I turned our gazes toward Seungyeop.
Seungyeop muttered softly as if he felt sorry for something.
“To be honest, I didn’t really do much in this room….”
Songi and I spoke at the same time.
“so do i.”
“me too.”
Ultimately, the core of issue 205 was how the Empire would destroy the Baehwa Church.
We must consider the contribution of the Imperial side’s colleagues who defeated Jo Won-hong in two consecutive turns to be significant.
Kim Muk-seong, Kim Sang-hyeon, Lee Eun-sol, and Cha Jin-cheol.
These four people have a large stake.
However, there were no survivors among them.
Songi muttered cautiously.
“I think about this sometimes….”
“What is it?”
“If things weren’t going well between us, the atmosphere would have been tense whenever something like this happened.”
“…”
“A little bit of that, in a dynastic country.”
“Suddenly a dynasty?”
“The throne is given based on birth order, not ability. If we don’t do that… .”
“Every time a king dies, there will be a war to prove his worth.”
“It seems like the conflict has decreased because we each received one inheritance in order, I guess.”
It seemed like a random analogy, but it also seemed to fit somewhere.
“Then is the next in line grandpa? Of course, he has to be alive until the end.”
“If we think about up to No. 104, there are two remaining legacies. No. 104 and No. 206.”
“…”
“One person might get two.”
This concludes issue #205.