Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 397
Only Krnovel
EP.397 Episode 397 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream (13)
Episode 397 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream (13)
– Kim Sang-hyun
Personally, I don’t like the administration.
Perhaps the expression “fear” would be more appropriate.
My colleagues from the management office who work with me every day might be upset if they knew these thoughts of mine, but there’s nothing I can do about it.
Because I still have trouble sleeping at night when I think about what happened at the deep sea hotel.
The administration is cruel and has no concept of humanity.
In the name of justice, he kills so many people that even the most evil of demons would be surprised.
Is that all?
Although he tries to hide it on the outside, he is full of a sense of superiority inside.
They do not regard outsiders as fellow human beings, and share important information only among themselves.
How can you like these people?
But I solemnly accept one fact.
They are also the guardians of the world.
A shield that protects everyone from the chaos that fills the entire star.
Therefore, their methods should also be respected.
*
“I will take care of Timothy today.”
“Shall I contact the butler?”
“Let’s do that.”
During my conversation with the police, Timothy looked at me with fear in his eyes for the first time.
Was it because I was afraid that I would have to stay out until my parents came?
“… mister.”
“Don’t worry. Mom is a very good cook.”
“…”
Even though she brought a little kid out of nowhere late at night, Mama wasn’t surprised.
“Oh my, oh my! Timothy, you’re nothing but bones!”
Mama Sherry smiled in response to my apology for the inconvenience.
If I get the chance, I definitely want to repay her kindness.
The next morning, I began examining the boy in earnest.
The thin skin and strangely sparkling eyes still had an eerie quality to them even when viewed during the day.
Does that mean they’re monsters and not human?
It was also ambiguous to say that.
I have a medical license and an incredible amount of treatment experience from the years I spent in Room 203.
According to my examination, the boy was still human.
“Sir, I want to play with my friends.”
“…”
“mister!”
“Speak.”
“When is Dad coming home?”
“Don’t worry, James has contacted you, so it won’t take too long. It will be this evening at the latest.”
I carefully examined his speaking attitude, actions, and intentions, but I still couldn’t find anything special.
“You still have no memory of the period of disappearance?”
“yes.”
The sight of rolling one’s eyes here and there and avoiding eye contact, the hair on the skin slightly raised and the muscles tense.
This statement is a lie.
It’s clear that you remember something.
Should I force myself to ask questions?
If it were the administration, they would have made this kid vomit out everything he knew, even if it meant twisting his neck.
I didn’t want to go that far.
I was confident that I could obtain information in a better way.
“Have you been living around Aster Lake all along?”
“Well, I don’t know!”
You lived around a lake.
“Someone took care of you. Someone like a grandmother? Or… a monster?”
“There was no such thing as a monster!”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t remember a little while ago?”
“…”
As expected of a child, he was so bad at lying that even after just 10 seconds of conversation, his words didn’t make sense.
“Someone was looking after you. Who was it? Tell me.”
“No, I don’t know.”
“Timothy, would you like to eat an orange?”
“yes?”
I lightly squeezed the orange that was on the table.
Soon, the orange began to crush in my hands, juice spurting everywhere.
“Hee, hee!”
He stood right in front of Timothy and looked down at him intently.
I have proper interrogation skills, a strong physique, and experience handling children.
It doesn’t take any great mind reading or supernatural powers to look into a child’s mind.
I had a long, ‘real’ conversation with Timothy.
The truth of the incident was quite shocking.
It was not easy to figure out how to solve this problem.
*
Around dinnertime, Timothy’s parents came to visit.
His father, Ryan, was a deacon at Riverville Church, and his mother, Betty, were an ordinary couple who ran a small coffee shop.
The two men were shocked to hear that their missing child had returned, and their mouths dropped open as soon as they entered Mama’s house and saw Timothy.
Timothy was pacing around his parents, feeling restless.
“Ryan, did you get the call?”
“Hey, Agent! I heard from James.”
“Do you know about your child’s condition? According to the examination results, it seems that he has porphyria or a similar rare and incurable disease of the skin. You should get examined at a university hospital.”
“… I know. My skin was getting worse and worse.”
While talking to James about Timothy’s illness, Betty asked with a sharp look on her face.
“Agent. Are you sure it’s really just your skin that’s sick?”
“What does it mean?”
“Eyes! Look at the eyes! What kind of person’s eyes are these?”
Timothy’s eyes had lost their black irises, and were replaced by something that emitted a milky glow.
Anyone who looked at it would see that the eyes were far from natural.
Instead of answering, I created sparks from my fingertips.
“Huh!”
“Betty, do you think I have less knowledge about this than you do?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Your eyes have only temporarily changed due to contact with the chaos disaster. It’s not a big deal, and they’ll return to normal within a year. In the meantime, you can wear contact lenses.”
“Okay, thanks for the advice.”
The couple still couldn’t hide their uneasy expressions.
It seemed like he was simply bowing to the authority of the agent, not truly accepting what I said.
After the two couples left with the children, Mama Sherry approached me.
“Johnny.”
“Go ahead.”
“I overheard you and Timothy talking yesterday.”
“…”
“Can I leave the child to that dog and the two years?”
I flinched for a moment at the harsh curse coming from Mama’s sad expression.
“Did you know how to say something like that?”
“Johnny, I think I know what you’re thinking.”
“…”
“You are an agent of the Administration….”
Mama didn’t hide her gloomy expression.
*
After that, I spent time near Timothy’s house every evening for three days.
Fortunately, there was a coffee shop nearby and plenty of parking, so no one was suspicious.
“This kid is our kid? That can’t be!”
“mom….”
“Don’t call me Mom! Who the hell are you?”
“Betty, could you lower your voice?”
“Ryan, can you say that after looking at this kid’s eyes?”
“Well, the agent says it’s not okay!”
“Agents are always right? Come and see for yourself!”
A loud voice so loud that people walking down the street looked over to see what was going on.
That night, as expected, things happened.
— Rooooo!
Timothy went out of the house singing a mystical song.
It seemed as if the parents had already fallen asleep by some force.
Soon, I stood in front of the boy.
“… mister.”
“Timothy.”
“You will keep your promise, right?”
“okay.”
A happy expression appeared on the boy’s face.
“Okay! Then, take me to ‘Mom.’”
*
In the West, there is a legend called the Changeling.
It refers to a child that a fairy kidnaps and leaves behind in place of a human child. It is said that children left behind by fairies are always disabled or physically weak.
As is often the case with such legends, rather than determining whether they are true or not, we should focus on ‘why this belief arose’.
One of the leading interpretations has a rather gruesome content.
Caring for a child who is ill is extremely distressing for many parents.
It is natural that during this process, some people wanted to escape from their obligation to support their children, even if it meant abandoning them.
Changeling was a good excuse.
That it is not my child, but a child left behind by an evil fairy, so I can abandon it.
…
The truth of the incident that I learned a few days ago while talking to Timothy reminded me of this changeling legend.
Unlike the eyes, which had mutated in the chaos disaster, the child’s skin was the result of porphyria, a genetic disease.
The disease causes serious symptoms such as low blood pressure, anemia, frequent vomiting, and muscle weakness.
That’s not all.
Porphyria patients must avoid ultraviolet rays at all costs because their skin becomes extremely weak, and they must live their entire lives avoiding the sun.
There is even a saying that people with this disease are vampires, which is why the urban legend came into being.
The illness devastated not only the boy’s mind but also that of his parents.
At some point, despair over the illness turned into hatred for her son.
The couple wanted to get away from Timothy, who was terminally ill.
Timothy wished he had parents who could truly love him.
A miracle happened.
Timothy’s true ‘fairy parents’ have appeared.
A few days ago, I made a promise to the boy while talking to him.
If your human parents don’t accept you, I will take you back to the fairies.
“Sir, did you hear it outside?”
“…”
“Those two people hate me. They certainly aren’t my parents.”
“…”
“I miss my mom….”
“Okay, I’ll take you there.”
*
We arrived at Aster Lake late at night.
— Rooooo!
Timothy sang a mysterious song, his eyes and body emitting strange lights.
Maybe he’s calling ‘Mom’.
A whirlpool formed in the lake and a fairy appeared.
I don’t know what it looked like to Timothy, but to my eyes it wasn’t a very beautiful creature.
After all, what was important to that boy was not his appearance but ‘does he truly love me?’
Indeed, the presence of this brother made a squeaking sound as he gently hugged his adopted son in his heart.
“Mom… Mom… I missed you… .”
— Roo-o…!
A boy who was born human but was abandoned by his parents due to a congenital illness.
Timothy was once again in the arms of parents who could love him.
*
In some cases, humans can be the source of evil.
In some cases, the chaotic entity may be a good side or a victim.
How should we deal with this problem?
The administration came to the clear conclusion that it had “no worries.”
The distinction between good and evil, or who is the victim and who is the perpetrator, are trivial issues to them.
The standard is always one: the survival of humanity.
…
When I first met Timothy, he was wandering around downtown Austin late at night.
When caught and asked why, the boy answered simply.
‘I was looking for a friend.’
The boy was looking for a friend.
He wanted to take children of the same age as himself to ‘Mom’.
The cold truth that could not be hidden froze my heart.
*
Timothy heard my footsteps and turned to look at me.
“Mister? Mister! Can you see my mother?”
“…”
“Thank you! I really appreciate it! Mom, that old man brought me back here.”
The ‘fairy’ looked at me, letting out a strange cry.
Did you ever feel an instinctive sense of crisis?
It’s already too late.
— Clang!
“Oh, sir?”
“Get out of here.”
I didn’t lie to Timothy.
Because, as promised, I took the boy who had been abandoned by his parents again to the fairy waiting at the lake.
However, I did not specifically mention what would happen later.
Just as ‘that thing’ tried to lure a human child using Timothy as bait.
I used Timothy as bait to make it appear in front of me.
— Bang!
“THIS IS AMERICA!”
My great country always speaks with a double-barreled shotgun.