Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 430
Only Krnovel
EP.430 Episode 430 – A Family with a Backbone (6)
Episode 430 – A Family with a Backbone (6)
– Han Ga-in
Elena acted as if she was possessed by Han Min-sang, who was trapped in a jar.
My great-grandfather soon had a mental breakdown and began apologizing like a man out of his mind.
Anyone can see that this is not normal.
Eventually, the employees, including Attorney Park, who had been helping the household for a long time, took my great-grandfather to the bedroom.
Of course, Elena and I had already found out quite a bit of information before that.
*
“Let’s organize the information we found out. First, the ‘Name Tag Game’.”
“Is it a game?”
“I’ve seen similar things a lot on variety shows.”
“…”
“Of course, in entertainment, taking away the name tag doesn’t mean the soul leaves the body.”
The jar that the ancestors brought from Japan brought wealth to the family, but it did not come for free.
Because one soul was trapped in a jar and asked to suffer in a frozen hell.
In fact, it is no different from a treasure that is obtained through human sacrifice.
The name tag game is the process of determining the sacrificial lamb.
“The rules are so simple, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Still, I felt the need to organize it, so I scribbled on it with a writing instrument that was lying around.
1. The name tag stealing game begins with the jar being opened.
As soon as you start, the surroundings become a kind of closed space, and you cannot enter or leave at will.
2. The people around them become the participants, and the sacrificial lamb inside the jar becomes the drinker.
3. The game ends when the tagger steals the name tag of one of the participants and puts it in the jar.
The contained entity becomes the next sacrificial lamb.
“According to Han Jin-seong, this game happened once about 75 years ago.”
“…”
“At that time, the scapegoat, the one trapped in the jar, was said to be a boy who could not speak Korean. He was probably Japanese.”
It means that the damn jar has been hurting people for a very long time.
“Han Jin-seong and his family, as well as Ga-in’s ancestors, obviously couldn’t respond appropriately. They probably didn’t know the rules of the game at that point. They probably didn’t even know what the name tags meant in the first place.”
Han Jin-seong himself did not understand the rules of the game at all at that time.
It was much later that we understood the rules well enough to explain them to us.
I think he probably figured it out by comparing his own memories with the information he got from Japan while working at the management office.
“It is said that at that time, the sorcerer trapped the soul of Han Jin-seong’s younger brother, Han Min-sang, in a jar and escaped while possessing Han Min-sang’s body. Han Jin-seong also says that he does not know what happened after that.”
“…Considering his age, he might already be dead.”
“It’s funny – no, it’s not funny because it’s tragic –”
“are you okay.”
“Ahem! The important thing is that Han Jin-seong’s testimony and what Ga-in said about Han Min-sang’s experience are very different.”
“…”
According to his great-grandfather, his younger brother stood in the way of the thief to protect his family in a horror worse than a nightmare.
He remembered this incident as a tragic sacrifice in which his younger brother sacrificed himself to save his family.
On the other hand, Han Min-sang, who came out of the jar, said this.
‘Do you think that’s worth the same as my body was when I was a child?’
‘I feel bad for this kid too!’
‘My dear Jinseong, how can I watch you die in vain?’
‘I got beat up by my brother, but do you think I’d get beat up by a kid like you?’
I didn’t quite understand it at the time, but looking back now,
It is clear that Han Jin-seong has trapped himself and locked him in a jar.
In fact, Han Min-sang did not hide his resentful attitude and pushed Han Jin-seong’s soul into the jar.
Elena tilted her head and asked.
“Is one of them lying?”
“…”
I had this thought.
“I think neither of them understood reality accurately.”
“yes?”
Han Jin-seong believes that his younger brother sacrificed himself for his family and that this was truly the ultimate love.
Han Min-sang thinks that his brother has set a trap for him and pushed him into a hellish jar.
When viewed from a distance, both memories have something strange about them.
First, Han Jin-seong’s memory makes no sense.
At the time the incident occurred, Han Min-sang was only in his early teens.
A young boy is suddenly caught in a situation where he is being chased by a ghost and is deliberately caught for the sake of his family?
I’m not at an age where I should be feeling this kind of responsibility, and more than anything, I don’t know the purpose of the ghost that came out of the jar.
“Everyone probably ran away in fear because a monster came out of the jar. Then, Han Min-sang was captured. It wasn’t some heroic sacrifice, he was simply captured because he was young and weak.”
“…”
“However, this must have been a nightmare for my grandfather for the rest of his life. Could it be that he created the fantasy of his brother’s sacrifice in his head to escape the guilt of abandoning his brother and running away?”
“That makes sense. Then what about Han Min-sang’s memories?”
Second, in a similar context to the above, Han Min-sang’s claim that Han Jin-seong locked himself in a jar is also strange.
“Of course he was wrong. At the time, my grandfather didn’t know the rules of the ‘Name Tag Game’, so he couldn’t have known that if he locked his little brother in a jar, he would survive.”
Again, it was a long time before my grandfather understood the rules of the game.
Elena nodded with a somewhat bitter expression.
“They were both young boys, so they probably ran away together. The younger one, who was a little weaker, was caught, and the older one survived, paralyzed with fear.”
“The surviving brother rationalized that his brother had made a touching sacrifice, while the younger brother was trapped in a place of suffering, delusional that his brother had set him up. This is my conclusion.”
As soon as we finished cleaning up, both Elena and I looked gloomy.
Even if it was something that a complete stranger had experienced, it would be heartbreaking, but when I thought about the suffering my great-grandfather and his younger brother had gone through, tears welled up in my eyes without me knowing.
Then Elena tapped my shoulder with her hand.
When I raised my head, I saw Elena, who had grown younger to the age of around 10, to play the role of my younger sister.
Elena as a child, very different from now.
It was so pretty and cute.
As I looked, all thoughts about my great-grandfather and such flew out of my mind.
“are you okay?”
“…”
“Mr. Cain?”
“Okay, let’s plan a strategy first! Old times are old times, and if we solve this dream well, we’ll be able to get something from the painter!”
*
Late at night, looking up at the crescent moon in the sky, I have one last thought.
How can I become the winner of the ‘Name Tag Game’?
We also considered preventing the game from occurring in the first place.
I knew that it would be bad if I carelessly destroyed the jar, but I didn’t necessarily have to destroy it.
How about reporting it to the authorities?
The administration of this world has a smaller presence than the ‘administration’ that Ari knows, but they too will intervene in supernatural incidents.
There is an easier way.
Just Elena and I can leave the Hanok and stay out for a day or two.
There will be chaos inside the Hanok, but nothing will happen to us.
After much deliberation, I gave up on this direction.
This is my ‘most horrible memory’, so it is clear that preventing it from happening would be completely different from actual history.
So it seemed like the artist wouldn’t accept it as a normal ending.
So, you have to play the game and win.
— Shhh! Boom!
The door of the Hanok closes noisily with the sound of the wind blowing.
Elena, who was leaning against the wall, opened her emerald eyes and I immediately got up.
A name tag appeared on the chest. [Han Ga-in].
Now is the beginning.
*
—Whoooooooo!
The moment the strange crying took over the Hanok, all the children who had been awake at Elena’s and my instructions began to show signs of fear.
I said a few things to the kids, but just looking at their expressions I could tell it wouldn’t be of any help.
It’s okay.
We didn’t really plan our operations based on these guys.
— CLANG!
A sudden gust of wind began to blow and the entire mansion began to rattle.
Just a moment ago, the moonlight was softly illuminating the interior of the Hanok, but in an instant, the entire Daecheongmaru, rooms, and maze-like hallways were darkened.
An unknown force divided the inside and outside of the Hanok into two.
— Squeak! Squeak!
The sound of doors opening could be heard here and there in the Hanok.
Han Min-sang emerges from the jar and looks for the children.
Elena and I put all the children in one room.
“Guys… Where are you?”
A voice like sharp fingernails scratching a blackboard.
The moment they heard it, the children were so scared that they couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Ugh, euaaaang!”
I didn’t necessarily make him quiet.
There are not infinite rooms in a Hanok, so ghosts will eventually come to this room.
Instead, I listened to the thin paper-covered walls and thought.
What kind of state is Han Min-sang in, just coming out of the jar and before he takes over someone’s body?
Even though I sprayed water all around in advance, I couldn’t hear any splashing sound at all.
At least it doesn’t look like he’s walking.
“Are you here?”
— Squeak! Squeak!
Judging from the door opening, it seems that some physical force can be exerted even before the body is taken.
and….
— Squeak!
Finally, the door to the room where all the children in Hanok were hiding opened.
“Hahaha! Here it is!”
Han Min-sang appeared in the form of swirling, whitish smoke.
His incorporeal form at first glance resembled a human being, but overall it moved erratically like irregular fog or smoke.
The face was particularly unusual: the eyes were black as dead stars that had lost their light, and cold smoke escaped whenever the mouth was opened.
Naturally, children who encountered such fear screamed without being able to maintain their rationality.
“Gyaaaah!”
“Eww!”
“Hey, save me!”
Han Min-sang laughed and stretched out his hands, probably because the frightened children were quite funny.
The boy at the very front, Minseok, became the first target of the ice rink.
“You’ll be fine!”
Soon, the name tag [Han Min-seok] that was stuck on Min-seok’s chest fell to the ground and a name tag [Han Min-sang] was stuck in its place.
“Whew… How long has it been since this happened!”
Was it the deep regret he felt from being trapped in a jar for decades or more?
Han Min-sang, who took over the child’s body, could not hide his joy.
“No, no! There was a better body. Come on… . Guys. Is there a girl among you named ‘Han Ga-in’? Where is she – what is she? What is she? This thread is –”
When Han Min-sang, who had taken over Min-seok’s body, realized the existence of the ‘thread wrapped around his neck’, Elena and I no longer felt the need to endure.
— Kwaaak!
“Kkwaap!”
I think while looking at Han Min-sang screaming.
It was he who showed me that I could manipulate people with just a single thread.
That’s why Elena and I tied strings around the necks of all the children in advance.
To strangle the ghost as soon as it takes over your body!