Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 503
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EP.503 Episode 503 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Third Trial ‘Miskatonic University’ (5)
Episode 503 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Third Trial ‘Miskatonic University’ (5)
– Kim Muk-seong
There’s a thought that I’ve been having a lot these days.
What is youth?
Some people might emphasize differences in life expectancy and wealth, but these days, I feel the most important difference deeply.
Youth is a life where you can eat meat until your stomach bursts without worrying about whether you can digest it.
It also means a life where you can sip on beer and wine without having to think about what the doctor recommended last month!
What? If you like meat and alcohol when you’re young, you’ll have a hard time when you get older?
What does it matter?
My health is the hotel’s concern, not mine!
“Here, add another beer.”
As I looked around while enjoying the soft bubbles, I saw a bustling atmosphere filled with young students.
There were quite a few people who didn’t know their own drinking capacity because they were young, and their faces were already as red as persimmons.
It is now 1897, a time when it is rare for students or professors to be female.
However, there are exceptions everywhere, and the Miskatonic University Department of Occult Studies is a prime example.
Could it be because the Hotel Party, which is no different from the future, was involved in the Department of Occult Studies or its predecessors?
It is the law of the world that bees gather where there are flowers.
Since the Department of Mystery has a lot of female students, there were a lot of students from other departments who came here with the goal of getting into it.
Even in the Department of Mystery, there was no particular tendency to block students from other departments.
Perhaps, they thought that this kind of natural interaction between men and women would be beneficial to their expansion of power.
“…”
I clearly told Ari that I was going to the party to gather information, but it didn’t seem to have any significant results.
From what I’ve found out, it seems like Miskatonic University students are doing their best for the future of the New World?
Every time I turned my gaze, I saw men and women in dark places, working day and night to increase the birth rate in the New World.
By the way, if a werewolf and a yeti mate, what species will the offspring be?
For the sake of future children, we need to make this clear!
Wolf Yeti?
“Hey~! I had a hard time finding you, but you’re here!”
“…”
“Hey, your name was, uh, Mukseong?”
Students who cling to you and pretend to be friendly.
If possible, I would talk to them just to gather information, but these guys’ goals were so obvious that I sighed.
“That, that, that is -”
“Where is Ari?”
“You’re a quick-witted friend! Why didn’t the noble vampire nobleman come to the party? Our family, um, has traditionally interacted with the bloody nobles of Europe -”
“There are many students around you who are not part of the Department of Mystery. Is it okay for you to say that?”
“Haha, you’re all drunk and you think the Mystery Department is a gathering of weirdos, so you don’t care? Just don’t transform.”
“…”
“By the way, where is Miss Ari?”
You damn fool!
I’ve been asked a million times today just where Ari is!
And what kind of family is that?
If your father had seen your pitiful state, he would have written a letter telling you to come back and cut off your allowance right away.
“… Did you say your name was Karl?”
“that’s right!”
“Speaking of the party today, is there any special event or something? Something other than just eating, drinking, and dancing?”
“Huh? A special event… It’s an opening party, so eating, drinking, and dancing are all part of it, right?”
“…”
That’s true.
The kids’ party was all about eating, drinking, and dancing.
At that moment, complaints began to be heard from behind.
“Oh, what is it!”
“Hey! Be careful!”
“Violin? Did you sing at the student council?”
People carrying violin cases began to enter the party.
The movements were quite rough, and some students complained about bumping into each other, but the performers didn’t seem to care.
“Huh? What is it?”
The idiot who had been looking for Ari until just a moment ago looked confused.
“Why is that?”
“Uh, uh… .”
“What is it?”
“I’m a member of the student council, right? I’ve never invited a musician before.”
Has the student council ever invited a musician?
Then who –
“this!”
“Huh? Huh? Why all of a sudden – where are you going?”
Judge quickly, act secretly!
Without a moment’s hesitation, he hid in the blind spot of the light.
Fortunately, thanks to Miskatonic University’s consideration for increasing the birth rate in the New World, there were plenty of dark, gloomy places for me to hide.
“Oh my! Whoa!”
“What is this kid?”
Of course, there were passengers here who dreamed of love that transcended race!
“Hey, hey! You’re Inma! A junior? You Asian guy doesn’t know your place -”
“Miss, this guy has two wives back home.”
“What, what did you say?”
“This crazy kid -”
“There are three of you. This is my fist of justice for you, young lady.”
When I hit the gaping mouth of the fool with a hook, he fell down immediately, and the female student ran away in surprise.
“…”
I searched the party venue in the darkness.
Soon, the band of thugs who had infiltrated the students began to wink at each other –
— Clang!
— Tadadang!
In an instant, he pulled out an automatic weapon and started shooting everywhere!
“You crazy kids!”
What the hell, are these Vatican guys?
But even so, you’re saying that you’re going to leave your car in the middle of the university?
Even from the perspective of an agent of the management agency, this is a bit too much!
We’ve done crazy things like this – sometimes.
— Tada dang! Bang!
“Whoa!”
“Ugh, ugh -”
“Grrrr!”
In an instant, countless students’ heads explode and their limbs fly off.
Quite a few students were left trembling with their mouths wide open, and then slaughtered like sheep.
Maybe, until the moment of his death, he thought that this whole situation was a hallucination he had seen while drunk.
“Ugh!”
The moment you clench your fist and bite your teeth, a round, hard object appears in your hand.
The power to solve all current situations – ‘One More Chance’!
“…”
I resisted the urge to flip a coin right away.
Not yet, not yet the time.
One More Chance is not a heritage that can be used without risk, like Song-i’s bracelet or Eun-sol’s flute!
Since the hotel itself is talking about the ‘price of the reverse river’, it is highly likely that there will be a limit to the number of times you can visit.
I wait until the last moment, when a lead bullet is lodged in my stomach and I feel like I’m going to gasp for breath!
— Dadaak!
I tried everything I could, including hiding behind trees as shields and diving into ponds.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I was able to endure it somehow because the slaughter-crazed fanatics of the Vatican were not targeting me alone.
After holding out for what felt like 100 years, but in reality only lasting about 4 or 5 minutes, something strange finally happened.
—Whoosh!
From the sky – a human figure struck down like lightning.
He appeared with thunder, and was a being far beyond the limits of man.
He is old.
He’s the one who warned Ari and me a few days ago not to touch the stuffed animal.
Also, he was the dean.
“The maggots came crawling in when the owner was away!”
As the thunderous voice echoed, lightning began to strike in all directions.
The soldiers who had just been slaughtering students like they were hunting wild boars were reduced to ashes three or four at a time at the dean’s gesture.
“Take aim! Alpha Team, shoot the head!”
“Gamma, gamma! The gun isn’t working! An invisible wall – eww!”
The Vatican’s soldiers, although trained and elite, faced the enemy without fear, but they were like foxes before a tiger.
How can human infantry stop a special chaos entity that blocks bullets with an opaque barrier but fires lightning?
Soon, the man who appeared to be the leader of the Vatican’s special forces was captured by the Dean.
“You punk…! I will show you the limit of the suffering that humans can endure!”
“Ha, haha! You idiot wizard, nothing will change even if you do that!”
“…”
“Look around, look! All these hideous college devils are splattering their entrails on the floor! Isn’t it beautiful?”
At this moment, the Dean’s expression was something that could not be expressed in any of the clumsy words made by humans.
“You guys… what the heck… .”
“Why, do you have something to say?”
“Do you realize that most of the students at Miskatonic University are people who have nothing to do with our fight?”
“Huh… Did you establish a university because you believed in that? If you hide among the civilians of the New World, uh, we might not be able to do anything rashly?”
“…”
The dialogue between the Papal soldier and the Dean contained a great deal of information.
Why did the powers that be, including the president, establish the university?
Simply to train young chaos beings and mystics?
As the Dean says, the ‘School of Mystery’ is only a part of the entire Miskatonic University.
Simply put, ordinary students majoring in economics, politics, administration, law, etc. are pure civilians who know nothing about vampires or werewolves.
…
The Dean thought that if he mixed the students with the mass of ordinary people, the Vatican would at least maintain a minimum level of good!
Even if you sent an assassin, did you think they would pinpoint the professors and students of the Department of Occult Studies?
You may not have been familiar with the term ‘personal automation’ in the first place.
“Kuhahaha… You monster who just grew old in vain! Listen to me.”
“…”
“Have you ever seen moldy bread?”
“…”
“How did you do that? You just cut out the moldy part of the bread and eat the rest? Haha! No way! Fuck! Is that one loaf of bread? How many loaves of bread do you have to do that?”
“…”
“And, uh, are you sure that the parts of a moldy loaf of bread that look fine are actually fine? Of course, fuck, you should burn them all -!”
I was out of breath.
Because I found myself feeling that what the Vatican soldier said was ‘logically sound’.
The vast and boundless world, with a population of 8 billion people growing without rest even at this moment.
The power of the Administration is immense, but the Earth is huge and its population is large.
When a chaos disaster occurs, you want to check each and every human in the area to see if they’ve become corrupted or not?
The population of one palm-sized district in South Korea is 300,000 or 400,000?
Besides, can we be sure that the civilians of the city where the devil worshippers crouch are ‘really’ innocent?
Must be killed.
It’s not because we’re cruel and vicious.
Not because we consider the weight of 100,000 lives insignificant – but to prevent the spread of the plague to 10 million Seoul citizens, 52 million Koreans, and 8 billion people in the world!
“…”
The next moment, my eyes saw a university with blood flowing like a river.
Students rolling around on the floor with holes all over their bodies.
Most of them probably don’t even know what the dean does.
I also saw the Dean expressing emotions that went beyond anger and sadness, and were closer to emptiness.
I came to one clear realization.
Regardless of whether the logic of the Vatican or the logic of the administrative office is right or wrong… .
The one being affected will never be able to accept it!
“Yes, if you really want to cross the line in the name of helping people, then I have no choice but to cross the line too!”
— Phagec!
I feel an indescribable pressure from the Dean.
Are you going to use something like the number of the spleen?
What on earth are you trying to do –
At that moment, a sharp voice was heard from the air.
“Lucas!”
The girl who came down from the sky had gorgeous blonde hair that couldn’t be hidden even in the dark.
I recognized him right away because of his striking appearance.
Isn’t that Emily who’s been clinging to Ari since yesterday?
“Lucas, please calm down! Are you going to forget the Master’s teachings? Yaldabaoth is not what you think he is -”
“Sophia.”
Sophia? Not Emily?
“Sophia, I have thought about it enough. Also, I know very well what kind of being Yaldabaoth is.”
“Lucas! Master -”
“Master! That damned Master! Sophia, do you still respect that fool who only looked for Horus until the moment of his death?”
“… Lucas. The Master is not dead yet -”
“I do not believe in the Master, nor in Horus, nor in anything!”
I had to concentrate all my mind to not miss a single word of the information that was pouring in without a break.
Emily’s real name is Sophia.
The dean’s name is Lucas, and he is Sophia’s brother-in-law.
Their master sought Horus until the moment of his death.
Horus was Cain?
If so, then the existence of the Master is most likely a hotel party –
—Whoosh!
Once again, lightning struck.
“Whoa!”
As if she hadn’t expected the Dean to attack, Sophia screamed and fell.
“Look! This is the one and only answer I have found! Ahhh… .”
An incomprehensible magical power twisted the entire area, and strange spells began to pour out from the Dean’s mouth.
“For truly great men there is no distinction between beginning and end, for the true Creator will rise up and reform the world of lies… Please, become our salvation. If not, then become the end of all suffering.”
Finally, when the alien gate, shining like dusk, began to emit an ominous light.
When I felt a distant presence beyond that, I was afraid to even dare to look into its eyes… .
I knew that now was the time to ‘start over’.
— Ting!
The golden coin made a full turn.
…
At the last moment, I wondered about two things.
First, can Ari keep her memories in the return of One More Chance?
Second, what is the price of the reverse course that the hotel warned about?
— Kookung!