Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 427
Only Krnovel
EP.427 Episode 427 – A Family with a Backbone (3)
Episode 427 – A Family with a Backbone (3)
– Han Ga-in
A thick, strong thread tightens around my neck.
I couldn’t resist or do anything because I felt like I would lose consciousness the moment I let go of the strength in my hands.
“Ugh! Huh! Huh!”
When I opened my eyes in pain, there were my younger siblings crying in front of me.
“Ugh! What the, what the heck! Ugh!”
Min-seok, Min-ah, Su-ji, and Cheol-min – the younger siblings who had remained in the country house were all stuck to the wall, paralyzed with fear.
Some of the children had already wet their pants, and it seemed as if they had been oppressed in body and mind by an unknown entity in an instant.
“Ugh!”
Slowly, I turned my head little by little and looked straight ahead.
Who the hell! What kind of bastard is strangling my neck –
“…”
It’s a miracle.
She is my only sister.
The moment our eyes met, the child smiled brightly and said.
“Brother, do you love me?”
“Ugh!”
There was a name tag on my younger brother’s chest that said ‘Han Min-sang.’
What’s with the name tag?
And Han Min-sang? Not Han Hee-kang?
“Ugh!”
I was dragged away without mercy.
Not only is the strong thread choking my neck a problem, but the power of ‘that thing’ is just too strong!
As I passed two rooms in agony, a jar appeared before my eyes.
The lid of the jar was open.
“Please… Please… Minsang-ah… .”
A very tired and old voice.
He is my great-grandfather.
“Hahaha! Hyung, why are you like that all of a sudden?”
“Min Sang-ah… Please. That – that child is not guilty -”
“Because I am without sin?”
“Please, please with my body -”
“Kyahahahaha!”
‘It’ answered, smiling like a little girl.
“Brother, no matter what, isn’t your body a bit weak? What can you do with an old body? Do you think it has the same value as my body when I was young?”
“… Minsang-ah.”
“Don’t worry. I feel sorry for this kid too!”
It approached my great-grandfather, pulling my leash with one hand, and with the other hand, it took off the name tag that was also attached to my grandfather’s chest, which read ‘Han Jin-seong’.
The moment I took off the name tag, my great-grandfather fell down like a puppet whose strings had snapped.
“Hyung… Our beloved Jinseong hyung. How can I watch you die in vain? I can’t watch. I will give you eternal life.”
— Daughter!
The name tag went right into the open jar.
And then, ‘it’ that had taken my brother’s body looked at me.
“hi?”
“…”
“Is it hard? Is it hard to breathe? Is your whole body shaking and you can’t move?”
“…”
“Don’t worry. You’ll be comfortable soon!”
“…”
A name tag that has suddenly appeared on everyone’s chest.
I also had a piece of cloth with ‘Han Ga-in’ written on it.
It was probably ‘Han Min-sang’ who smiled brightly and took off the name tag from me who couldn’t even move a finger.
Consciousness becomes blurred.
At this moment, I was so scared.
It wasn’t that I didn’t know what would happen next, but rather that I had a vague sense of it and was so scared.
…
…
…
The first thing I felt was ‘heaviness’.
A pain, as if someone had placed a heavy lump of iron on me, weighed down my entire body.
The moment I wiggled my hands in despair, my bones rattled unpleasantly like old gears.
Even the simple act of opening my eyelids was difficult, and my lungs heaved laboredly with each breath.
I am Han Ga-in, a first year middle school student… .
Trapped in the body of a nearly ninety year old man.
This is the most painful prison in the world.
“Ahhhhhh!”
I couldn’t speak properly.
This was because the phlegm stuck in his throat was interfering with his speech.
How on earth did my great-grandfather move and speak like this?
When I opened my eyes in despair, I saw a boy smiling brightly in front of me.
‘grow.
It’s a monster that has taken over my body.
“Wow~! As expected, guys have nice bodies.”
“Krrrrr!”
“Sorry~! The others were of different genders or too young. That was a bit uncomfortable. Your age seemed just right.”
“Damn… you… you punk!”
“Huh? Huh? Grandpa? What’s wrong? Does it hurt somewhere?”
I’m angry.
My whole body trembled as anger welled up deep in my heart.
“Please be patient. You’re old, and you know it’s dangerous to get too angry at your age, right?”
“…”
I was so mad.
At the same time, I was so scared that I felt like my breath was going to stop.
How do I get back into my body?
At that time, the name tag of ‘Han Min-sang’ attached to ‘Han Ga-in’s’ chest was seen.
Name tag! That’s the one that started this situation.
Is the name tag the soul and if I move it, the soul changes bodies?
Then, if I take off the ‘Han Ga-in’ name tag that is stuck on the chest of this old body and put it back on my body –
“I can see what you’re thinking~ I can see it. Are you thinking that you can just move the name tag again?”
“…”
“Ah, I understand. The adults are coming tomorrow, so should I order them?”
“you….”
“But what should I do?”
The being, now a ‘boy’, giggled and approached the open jar.
— Daughter!
The lid of the jar was closed.
The name tag disappeared into the darkness.
“It’s over now~! Ahahaha! Look at the eyes, eyes! Why, did you think you’d have a chance too?”
“…”
“You idiot! I got beat up by my brother, but do you think I’d get beat up by a kid like you? Oh, you’re not a kid anymore. Grandpa~! Live the rest of your life in comfort!”
Despair, fear, pain, dread.
I fell into an abyss of negative emotions that was too deep to express in words, and screamed and screamed so that no one could hear.
I would rather beg to be killed now than live the rest of my life as a ninety-year-old man.
Just when I was about to give up.
— Choaaaak!
The world turned into a black and white movie, and then split in two in an instant.
Black hair that flows.
Red eyes that shine like rubies.
Facial features so intricate that they are reminiscent of a living doll.
The moment I saw her, the dam that had been blocking one side of my head disappeared as if it were a lie.
smart.
He is my true colleague.
The moment ‘it’ opened its eyes wide in bewilderment at the unexpected change, Ari drew her hand without hesitation.
— Crunch!
‘It’s’ head – my head, to be exact – spun around in the air and fell to the ground.
With this my body is definitely dead –
“Eww!”
“…”
“What, what! Did you just kill my body? Then there’s no way to go back -”
“It seems like you haven’t completely come to your senses.”
“what?”
“At this point, it’s already a loss.”
“What is that -”
“I don’t have time to explain. You’ve already failed so many times. It seems like you can’t break it on your own… .”
“what?”
“It’s really strange. This is clearly a dramatization of an event that happened in reality. How on earth did middle school student Ga-in overcome this situation?”
I couldn’t understand even half of what Ari was saying.
Is it possible that I haven’t completely come to my senses like Ari said?
“There’s definitely something I haven’t figured out yet. I was thinking of leaving you alone to see it… .”
“…”
“It’s not easy to just sit back and watch. So….”
A beautiful girl came towards me with a small smile.
A gentle hand stroked the dying old man’s head.
The trembling mouth moved randomly.
“I… . I… .”
“…”
“Ah, I suddenly got old. Because of this, this strange monster, I turned into a, ha, old man -”
“It’s okay. I’m not that old.”
“uh?”
“How can a baby who is not even 100 years old by physical standards keep getting older?”
“…”
“Don’t worry, Gain. We’ll wake you up soon. Let’s dream together next time. If you fail, the next person will help you.”
— Crunch!
A frozen flash of light split the air.
This was my last memory.
*
…
…
…
— Shhhhh!
As a soft breeze caressed my cheek, I could hear the leaves rustling in the nearby bamboo forest.
For a moment, I smelled the tickling smell of the earth, and the little boy in front of me grabbed a wriggling bug with his hand –
“Eight!”
“Huh? Go, go away… .”
“Minseok, I told you not to touch the bugs.”
Cousins, or was it third cousins?
Anyway, when Min-seok tried to stop himself from swallowing the bug, this time Min-ah behind him started a fuss.
“Eww!”
“Why, why are you crying?”
“Ahhhh! Aaaaarakkaraak!”
“Please, make some human noise!”
He fell down on the dirt floor by himself and his knees started bleeding, causing a fuss.
As I was roughly wiping it off with a cloth, I suddenly heard a joyful voice next to me.
“It’s a mess, it’s a mess!”
My heart skipped a beat as soon as I heard it.
A radish? A fish? That’s not the sound of a baby going into the water alone!
I was startled and checked behind me, and saw that Cheol-min had entered the valley without even rolling up his pants.
It’s not a particularly dangerous place because it’s shallow and the current is weak, but children this age can have accidents even on the bed.
“Oh! Are you really not listening to me? I told you to stay still!”
Seriously, that’s why kids –
“That’s why kids are no good.”
?
“I really hate wasting time in places like this.”
As I turned around, my younger sister, Ari, looked back at me with a slightly annoyed expression.
Didn’t you just whimper and say your legs hurt a little while ago?
“Cain.”
“what?”
Suddenly speaking informally?
No, even cold water has its ups and downs, so how can you be the younger brother to your older brother?
“Yay!”
I was about to say something, but Ari suddenly moved and hit the little cousins hard on the head.
“Oh, oh! Oh, Ariya?”
“Eww!”
“If you cry in front of me one more time, I’ll pull out your teeth?”
“… Hehe!”
Ari made her four younger cousins cry in the same way and then subdued them with her gaze.
“…”
Looking at this magnificent sight, somehow it felt like speaking informally wasn’t a big deal.
“Gain, let’s go back.”
“Well, I still have to call him oppa… And I have relatives at home -”
“Don’t worry about it and go back. I don’t want to waste energy in a strange place, so now!”
My brother was strangely energetic today.
*
As soon as I returned to the country house, I heard a loud voice.
“Jeong-ho, you! You never set foot in your grandfather’s house -”
“What’s different about my uncle? Anyone who sees him would think he’s a great filial son!”
“Why does this kid talk like this? Minseung has made a mess of his children’s farming!”
“Hey~! Brother, take good care of that little brat!”
“This son of a bitch -”
“No, my brother and I came from the same boat, so if I’m a bastard, what about you -”
— Crazy!
Ari chuckled as she awkwardly took her younger siblings back to the mountain behind the car.
“Oh, bread!”
“…”
“Oh, this is a bit difficult. But still, oh-bang!”
Why does this sound so strange?
“Why, why?”
“Go to the parking lot right now.”
As Ari spoke, he found a sharp piece of iron on the floor and ground it on a stone to make it even sharper.
“At this point, I can’t use blood… so I guess I’ll need something like this.”
Can’t use blood? Something like that?
“Hey, a parking lot all of a sudden? And what’s that piece of metal?”
“Oh, bread!”
“Ah! Let’s go, let’s go!”
Strangely, every time I heard this, I felt like vomiting, not joking.
*
The parking lot to the right of the country house was full of cars driven by my parents and other relatives, and there were quite a few foreign cars that looked nice.
“Ariya, why did you suddenly ask me to come to the parking lot? What do you want to see – Hey! Are you crazy!”
Eww!
Before I could even catch my breath, Ari ran out like lightning and started puncturing my tires with a piece of metal!
The moment I hurriedly ran over to grab my sister, Ari slightly turned her body and pushed me away.
I didn’t do anything particularly special, but before I knew it, my body was rolling around on the dirt floor.
Did my brother learn Muay Thai without me knowing?
“No! Muay Thai aside, what are you doing all of a sudden! If you do all these things like that -”
Unlike me who was lost in thought, Ari’s expression was extremely calm.
“Hmm… Even if I wreck the car, will I be able to get the adults out? I’ll have to check.”
“What, what are you checking?”
“Cain, let’s go.”
“What are you checking!”
“oppa”
I ended up covering my ears.