Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 434
Only Krnovel
EP.434 Episode 434 – Party Time (5) – Epilogue
Episode 434 – Party Time (5) – Epilogue
– Han Ga-in
As I stepped outside the Hanok, the cool air brushed my skin.
KD’s appearance, which could not be seen inside the dark country house, was also naturally revealed.
A man with a solid physique and a manly face.
The aura he gave off from his appearance subtly resembled that of his silent grandfather.
Of course, it’s just the atmosphere, it’s a different person.
“What do you want to say?”
Instead of answering, the man sighed softly and muttered.
“Your name is Han Ga-in, right?”
“yes.”
“It sounds like a girl’s name, doesn’t it?”
“… Then what does KD mean?”
“It’s nothing.”
“What is it?”
“My name is Kim Do-hyun. So I abbreviated it to KDH, but strangely, people called me without the last H.”
It was a really pathetic reason.
“It’s nothing special, right?”
“That’s true.”
“That’s how things are in this world. The background to things that seem plausible is often really not so good.”
“Couldn’t the opposite also be true?”
“That’s right. Sometimes, things that seem meaningless actually have a profound reason behind them.”
After those words, the surroundings became quiet for a moment.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about the aftermath of this.”
“yes?”
“Don’t worry about the curse on the jar and the property, I will take care of it so that nothing happens to your parents or relatives. Your younger brother will also forget about this incident.”
“…”
It’s natural since the management office is an organization that originally does this kind of work, and there’s no need for them to tell me this.
It seems like you brought me out alone, so I definitely have a special purpose… .
What is it that is taking so much time?
“If you have something to say, just say it.”
“…”
“If you don’t have any, I’ll go?”
“Isn’t it amazing?”
“yes?”
“You and the old man never explained anything to me, and yet I know everything that happened in this house.”
That was definitely something bizarre.
“That’s really interesting. How did you do it?”
“Kid. Have you heard of the Administration?”
“A little bit.”
“Have you ever heard this saying?”
“yes?”
“The top of the company doesn’t know the future. That’s really amazing.”
“…”
There is a being in the upper echelons of the administration who can see the future.
This is a story I heard from Ari before.
‘We just heard the revelation and came in.’
‘Let’s say there is a prophet.’
‘The beginning and the whole of the management bureau’
At the time, I thought I was a psychic who could literally see the future.
Now, after all these years, I think that what the Administration means by ‘prophecy’ is different from what we think prophecy means.
“… prophecy.”
“Isn’t it amazing? I can’t say I know everything about the Administration, but knowing the future is truly mystical -”
“Isn’t that the same as knowing the future? It’s almost the opposite.”
I looked at Kim Do-hyun as I felt the end approaching.
Kim Do-hyun also looked at me with a subtle expression.
“… You’re not an ordinary child after all. Do you think it’s okay to say something like that in front of the agents?”
“I don’t think it matters. What the old man said doesn’t seem like something that ordinary people can hear.”
prophecy.
This is one of the administration’s biggest secrets.
Ari told me only when she reached the point where she thought that if things continued this way, we would all die together from internal strife and be trapped in the hotel.
From the moment these words started coming out of Kim Do-hyun’s mouth, I had doubts.
“I’m sorry.”
“…”
— Kwaaak!
A rough, hard hand grips my neck tightly.
This guy had no intention of letting me live from the start!
“An order has come down from above for you.”
“Eww!”
“The reason is… I’m sorry. I don’t know. That’s just how our work is.”
I looked into Kim Do-hyun’s eyes through my blurred consciousness.
In his eyes, there was an unconcealable sense of regret and remorse.
“I’m really sorry. But.”
— Bam!
“Death is the end of an ordinary human being. But I think you have another chance.”
This was my last memory of the ‘family with bones’.
*
[User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 379
Current location: Underground, Art Gallery
Wise Man’s Advice: 3]
– Han Ga-in
“…”
I came to my senses again.
As soon as I woke up and checked the status window, another day had passed.
It was the 376th day in the morning when Sister Eunsol closed the upper floors for three days with her greedy hands.
“What time is it now? Is the upper floor open already?”
The white-haired girl, smiling brightly, answered the painter.
“The hotel time is morning. There are about 20 minutes left until 72 hours have passed.”
“okay….”
I looked around and there was no one there.
“Looking for a partner? Everyone else is out.”
“Yes? Why?”
“Do you remember when you entered the body of a ninety-year-old man? That’s when you kept stopping your dreams and things got messed up.”
“Yes, it was.”
“They kept interfering with each other, so they felt like a failure and left. They said that if they watched, they would feel pity and try to interfere again.”
“…”
Thanks to that, only I knew about the shocking final development.
I couldn’t tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
The artist asked with an expression of interest.
“how is it?”
“…”
“Wasn’t that a shocking development?”
“Did you want to show me this?”
I asked it reflexively, but it was an unnecessary question.
Because the expression on the painter’s face itself, saying that it was so funny that he was going crazy, was the answer.
“How do you feel about seeing a shocking memory from your childhood?”
“…”
“Aren’t you curious enough to go crazy? Did you really die back then? If you did, what are your memories of graduating from middle school and high school?”
“…”
“Or did you live? An agent of the Administration snapped your neck? And there was no one to save you? You lived?”
“…”
I was so lost in thought that I couldn’t answer.
Soon, the painter opened his mouth again.
“Hey~ It’s a bit disappointing. If you guys had found me earlier, the scene just now would have been quite shocking.”
“…”
“You’ve already been outside and know quite a bit about the secrets of the Administration. Can you guess what happened to you in the past?”
“…”
“Answer me, whatever it is. I seem like a weirdo when I’m the only one talking.”
“… When I first came to the hotel, I thought it was a place that had nothing to do with reality.”
“Oh? The hotel has nothing to do with reality?”
“Because the place I have to return to is the reality where my loved ones are waiting for me. I thought this place was a hell far removed from reality.”
“now?”
“I felt it from some point on. The various pieces of information and mysteries I learned at the hotel all point to the reality outside… .”
The artist chuckled, seeming to like my answer.
“Haha! That’s all I need to know. Just take one more step and you’ll know the biggest secret.”
“The biggest secret?”
As the white-haired girl waved her hand in the air, a glowing number, 7, appeared in the air.
“There’s not much left now. Once you get over the sixth big mountain, there’s seven. At the hotel, seven is the conclusion, the answer.”
“…”
“Just hold on a little longer.”
With those words, the painter lightly clapped his hands and shouted loudly.
“Everyone, come in! It’s all over now!”
Soon, the museum door opened and my colleagues outside came in, half asleep.
“Haaam! Gain-ah~ Did you solve it well?”
“Brother, how did you finally wake up?”
Miro yawns and Seungyeop looks curious.
“Didn’t you clearly say that you were just a middle school student outside? Are there any middle school students like this in the world?”
“I guess you forgot about Gain as well. It seems like the administration erased his memory.”
“I guess so. I lived quite noisily.”
My grandfather is bewildered because of my past that he didn’t know about, and my teacher adds a plausible interpretation.
“So, what’s the reward for finding you?”
“Since Gain mostly solved it, don’t you think it’s a personal compensation for Gain?”
Ari and Eunsol are already talking about compensation.
“Thank you for your hard work! But, how did you really solve it? Was it different from what I did?”
“Sister, if you think about it again, wasn’t it a bit much to tie a string around the kids’ necks?”
“Well, that’s true, but then there was another way -”
Elena and Songi wonder how it was solved.
“Drink some water. Oh, and have a sandwich too.”
Lastly, to Jincheol hyung, who remembered that I was suffering from thirst and hunger when I woke up from my dream.
As soon as my colleagues entered, the museum started to get noisy.
The painter and I never mentioned the last shocking memory of the nightmare again.
It’s almost as if this part was a promise to keep ‘Han Ga-in’ a secret.
“It went pretty smoothly. There were two key points: Great-Grandfather’s body could wield great power, and there was no limit to the number of times you could steal the name tag.”
When I briefly explained how I actually solved it, everyone started to be impressed.
“Oh~! It’s similar to what we expected from the outside!”
Judging from Jincheol’s reaction, it seems like his colleagues also came up with a similar method to have a leisurely conversation.
However, Ari had a somewhat different view.
“It was fun to hear. But, wasn’t the real middle school student Han Ga-in more passive than you said?”
“Passive way?”
“Anyway, what Han Jin-seong was trying to do was similar to what you did, right?”
As a result, yes.
“So, in real history, wouldn’t it have been Han Jin-seong who had regained his body, not you, who reported it to the management office and called the agents?”
It’s a convincing hypothesis.
Of course, I’ve already solved it and seen everything there is to see, so it’s good anyway.
After concluding the story about the ‘family with a strong backbone’, we all approached the painter.
“Okay…! The fourth hidden NPC in the hotel, what kind of being is the painter!”
“…”
“A secret existence that appeared along with the opening of the second floor of the hotel. However, thanks to the vulgar tastes of the hotel party, I found it very late!”
Eunsol was dumbfounded at the comment that her taste was shallow.
“This kid is secretly talking nonsense.”
“Drumroll, drumroll, drumroll!”
“…”
“The reward is this! It’s a portrait of Han Ga-in!”
“…”
This is a black and white drawing I drew before.
While everyone was tilting their heads wondering what this was, Ari asked.
“What is this? Does it have any special powers? If you tear the picture, Ga-in will die?”
What kind of compensation is that?
It’s a curse on me!
“No? This is just a picture.”
“…”
A heavy silence fell on the room.
“Why are you all reacting like this? Are you making fun of a painting by the hotel’s best artist? No, did you think there was some kind of magic in a painting?”
“…”
“You guys, what kind of magic do you expect when you look at the Mona Lisa? Painting is originally -”
“5 seconds.”
“uh?”
“4 seconds.”
“Participant Kim Ari, why all of a sudden -”
“2 seconds.”
Ariga, who had risen slightly into the air, breathed flames with her wing boots.
I could sense a firm intention to destroy the art gallery if they kept nagging at me any longer.
“1 second.”
“Ahhh! These guys are really boring!”
The artist eventually grumbled, reached behind his back, took out an unidentifiable painting and showed it to me.
Everyone’s attention was focused on the second picture, ‘The Real Reward’.
“Is this a door?”
“The background is purple. Is this a room?”
“The floor feels like dirt….”
It’s a room with a painted plain wooden door.
If it was a legacy, you would have known how to use it the moment you got it, but since it wasn’t a legacy, it didn’t have any of those convenient features.
“Painter, what is this? How do I use it?”
The painter had regained his mischievous smile, but Ari frowned slightly at the sight of that smile.
“What a fun tool!”
“yes?”
“Well written!”
“So how to use it -”
“It’s a shame, it’s something I cherished!”
“Hey! I asked you to tell me how to use it -”
Instead of answering, the artist waved both hands and said goodbye.
“Hello! Hope to see you again sometime!”
— Boom!
“…”
The colleagues all looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions.
Just a moment ago, the artist used his strange power to chase us out of the art gallery without saying a word about the painting!
Songi belatedly got annoyed.
— Boom! Boom!
“Hey! Open the door! Open it now!”
The art gallery door didn’t budge, as if someone had locked it tightly.
“No… . What kind of hotel is this without any people? Song-ya, get out of the way. If I use a star piece in this art gallery -”
“Stop it. If you force your way in, the painter or whatever will disappear somewhere.”
After Grandfather stopped Jincheol from summoning the star, we were in silence for a moment.
Soon, after three days, a notification from the hotel popped up.
“Special Event: The first and second floors have been completely renovated. The upper floors are now available for use.”
As always, this was a very timely reminder.
*
As soon as I returned to the first floor, Eunsol spoke with a tired expression.
“Let’s all get some rest first. Ga-in must be tired, but we also had a hard time watching the rural life of a middle school student without being able to rest properly for several days.”
“Yeah.”
“Gain, what day is it today?”
“It’s been 379 days.”
“It’s been 375 days since Party Time started… Oh my! Today is the last day?”
Everyone looked twice as tired at those words.
I’m sure we had a lot of party time, but I don’t really remember getting any proper rest.
“Let’s just relax until lunchtime. We’ll talk about Room 206 then…”
With those words, everyone returned to room 105, their tired bodies dragged along.
I took the two paintings the artist gave me, my black and white portrait and the painting of the door, as if they were both a given.
I didn’t know how to manage it, so I just hung it next to my bed and went to sleep.
…
…
…
— Swish!
A strange noise.
An unpleasant gaze.
A strange feeling like someone is watching me.
perhaps.
I turned my tired body around to look at the painting, just in case.
“…Oh, shit.”
Yes, that’s what a hotel is like.