Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 506
Only Krnovel
EP.506 Episode 506 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Third Trial ‘Miskatonic University’ (8)
Episode 506 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Third Trial ‘Miskatonic University’ (8)
– Kim Ari
“Ugh!”
I used my strength to maintain my body balance as my ankles bent and my body tilted to the right.
— Pusheeee!
This time, my whole body tried to fall backwards, but Mukseong, who was next to me, stopped me.
“Are you okay? Don’t you make a lot of mistakes?”
“It’s been a while since I wrote. If you practice for a couple more hours, you’ll get used to it.”
“Well, I feel this every time, but wing boots are really tricky tools. They’re called communal tools, but in reality, no one but you can even use them to keep your body afloat.”
“Well, I think if you hold on to it and practice for about a month, other people will be able to use it too.”
I don’t know if I’ll have time for that though.
Anyway, I spent some time getting used to the controls of the wing boots again.
Sophia, who had been observing the scene with interest, opened her mouth.
“That’s amazing.”
“…”
“I saw the shoes themselves every time I went into the warehouse, but I didn’t know they were such a special shoe.”
“…”
“If even the Master couldn’t use it, why can’t you guys use it?”
How should I explain it?
Are shared items like wing boots and hazmat suits only for hotel parties?
Your teacher is like a 0.5 colleague who doesn’t have the ‘qualification to be a participant’, so you can’t use him?
Don’t be a crowd.
So I answered in silence, and Sophia didn’t bother to ask any further questions.
To change the subject and confirm the information, Mukseong reconfirmed a few things.
“So, Miss Sophia, your mother’s name is ‘Lee Eun-sol’?”
“huh.”
“You lost your mother to the Black Knight and your aunt, um, Valentina?”
“That’s right. He was an ordinary human being and passed away a long time ago.”
“I met the ‘Master’ while running away with Miss Valentina. Around the same time, your Master also took Lucas as a disciple.”
“That’s correct.”
Sophia seems to regard her meeting with her Master as a mysterious coincidence, but in my view, it is no coincidence at all.
It was known before even entering issue 207 that the second trial was set in ‘medieval Europe’ and was related to ‘witch hunts’.
Sophia’s ‘teacher’ must have been wandering around Europe for a long time, looking for Eunsol and Elena who would appear someday.
However, because it was a time when transportation was poor and there was no internet, they failed to find Eunsol and Elena in time.
“The Master was truly a mysterious person! Of course, if you look at it that way, my mother who could see the future and use Pero was also amazing….”
“…”
“The Master could change bodies and was skilled in various magics.”
“On the outside, only the Dean, that is, Lucas, is known. Why is that?”
“Lucas has always done extracurricular activities. I guess I just look a bit different.”
The reason the Dean became famous externally was because Lucas, an ‘adult male’, took charge of external activities.
It is understandable that it would not have been easy for Sophia, who appears to be a young girl, or Yumi, who changes bodies, to step forward.
“Going back to the topic of magic, Master’s specialty was dealing with ‘life’. Lucas and I also didn’t learn life magic properly.”
‘Life magic’ is a power we all know well.
Are you proficient in various magic?
This must be an ability acquired after enduring countless hours.
‘The power to change bodies’.
The only ones capable of such a thing are Yumi and Gain during the hotel party, and the latter hasn’t even started her ordeal yet.
So, Sophia and Lucas’ teacher is Yumi.
Thinking about it this way answered many of my questions, but some new ones also arose.
“Your teacher wasn’t with someone else?”
“Someone else… You kept asking questions about the ‘boy’, but there was none.”
By the time Yumi took in Sophia and Lucas, Seungyeop was no longer around.
Of course, considering the time gap between the trials, it wouldn’t be strange if he died of old age.
Considering Yumi’s nature as a kind of ‘mental parasite’, even if Seungyeop dies, she could still survive by endlessly copying and pasting his mind.
The process of Yumi being accepted as a colleague was like this in the first place.
“But, but!”
“however?”
The next moment, Sophia blushed slightly, ‘like a girl’.
“The Master sometimes spoke of a ‘lover’ from long ago.”
‘Lovers’?
Seungyeop, you were so desperate for Yumi that you finally got your wish?
Even if Yumi can remember it even after hundreds or thousands of years, it seems like she’d be pretty creepy if she somehow escaped the gate room.
“Foot!”
“Is that lover the boy you’re looking for? I wonder. Who is he?”
“don’t mind.”
It’s something to think about after you leave.
As I was mentally organizing the story I had heard from Sophia for several hours, this time Sophia asked me a question.
“I have something to ask you too.”
“…”
“Who are you? Who are you that your mother foresaw that you would appear hundreds of years later, and that your master has been waiting for you?”
Mukseong and I both shut our mouths tightly at the same time.
There is no way to explain it without telling you about the ‘hotel’, because I just couldn’t tell you about the hotel.
While she was pondering how to overcome this predicament, Sophia told a strange story.
“Yeah, I know, actually. I have a rough idea.”
Guess what?
No, how on earth do you even guess?
“I combined the information my Master had leaked over the years with my memories of my mother, and the answer came to me. I had a long conversation with Lucas on this topic, and we came to the same conclusion.”
“The conclusion.”
“You are the true priests of Horus, aren’t you?”
“…?”
For a moment, I panicked and almost fell out of my wing boots.
Mukseong, who was drinking coffee, looked at Sophia with his mouth half open.
Who are we priests?
Horus? Wasn’t Horus Cain?
Am I a priest from today?
“…”
After thinking about it carefully, I understood why Sophia had come to this conclusion.
Horus, who could see the future.
Eunsol and Yumi, who ‘seemed’ like they could see the future.
The appearance of me and Silence, which they fatefully predicted.
The series of events cannot even be described by the word magic.
Even Sophia and Lucas, who have reached the level of supreme wizards, cannot see the future.
Of course, Eunsol and Yumi have never seen the future before, and Gain didn’t see the future with magic either!
Since it can’t be explained by magic, there is only one possible explanation: God.
“…”
Just like Mukseong had done earlier, I also subtly changed the topic of conversation.
“Your teacher was also a priest or follower of Horus, wasn’t he?”
“Similar yet different.”
“Can you elaborate a little more?”
Sophia paused for a moment to recall her old memories, then answered.
“In terms of continuously spreading the Horus faith, I would say he was a priest or a believer. He even preached in front of the laity, like a Christian priest or a Protestant pastor these days.”
“…”
“However, he looked different in front of me and Lucas.”
He acted like a priest in front of laymen who knew nothing.
In front of the more trustworthy Sophia and Lucas?
“… You say it like a habit. I don’t know what you’re thinking. Horus is such an incomprehensible being.”
“…”
On this point alone, both Mukseong and I nodded our heads in agreement.
It wasn’t like this before, but after gaining insight, Cain really didn’t seem like a human being.
It’s much more so now than when we brainwashed thousands with the power of heritage and shot heat rays with a single wave of the hand.
“It didn’t seem like he thought of me as a god. He spoke to me as if he had actually met me.”
Because I’ve actually met him before.
“And… I used to resent it.”
Huh?
“You resented me?”
“Horus said he ruined everything.”
“…Tell me more.”
“He muttered that the seeds sown by Horus had horribly distorted the ‘Gate’.”
It was confusing.
Thousands of years ago, in ancient Egypt, what on earth did Cain do that made Yumi resent him for thousands of years?
“Lucas learned ‘Wrath of Horus’ from his Master.”
“…”
“So, don’t say that you’re a priest of Horus in front of Lucas. I’m sure Lucas can guess, but I’m telling you not to provoke him. He won’t be as friendly to you as I am.”
After a long period of silence, Mukseong emptied his teacup and asked one last time.
“Miss Sophia, I won’t say more as your feelings towards Horus seem complicated. However, I’m sure you can guess that we are your ‘Master’ and colleagues.”
“I guess so.”
“Can I see him?”
“Master….”
“I heard he’s still alive. But he doesn’t seem to be normal.”
“Huh? Did I tell you that?”
“… You hinted at it a little while ago when you were talking about the teacher.”
“Me? This is really top secret… Did I make a mistake?”
Sophia tilted her head in confusion.
In the past, Lucas, who was running wild, had this conversation with Sophia.
““Master, that damned Master! Sophia, do you still respect that fool who only searched for Horus until the moment of his death?”
“Lucas, the Master is not dead yet -”
If we interpret it, Yumi is alive, but she doesn’t seem normal.
However, this information was obtained before turning back time, so Sophia may be confused.
Because I already know something you never told me.
Mukseong made a slight mistake, but fortunately Sophia didn’t press him further.
“That’s right. The Master is in a very ‘strange’ state.”
“Strange condition? I want to hear a more detailed explanation.”
Sophia looked confused for a moment.
It feels like you’re having a hard time explaining something you don’t quite understand.
“Debris. Pieces. Crumbs.”
“what?”
Debris, pieces, crumbs.
There were some strange words that made me wonder if they could be used on people.
Soon, Sophia started asking us questions instead.
“Ariya, I’m going to call people plates.”
“Are you making a metaphor?”
“The plate is broken.”
“…”
“The plate shattered into hundreds and thousands of pieces, scattered all over the world.”
“…”
“If Lucas and I somehow managed to salvage some of those pieces and put them together, can we call that person the original person?”
In that moment, several thoughts crossed my mind.
Yumi was torn into hundreds of pieces and scattered across the world?
What kind of force can make a person do that?
Unlike me who was flustered, Mukseong answered relatively calmly.
“Miss Sophia. Could I meet you sometime, whether it be the remains or pieces of the Master?”
“…Okay. I’ll guide you. The Master will have been waiting for you too.”
**
New York Port, the terminus of the Atlantic shipping route to the New World.
— Booooooo!
With a loud horn, the huge steamer, the Pathfinder, began to enter the harbor.
The ship’s captain, Edgar Hoover, had his crew deliver the good news to the passengers that their long voyage was finally over.
Of course, as is always the case in this world, not all passengers are the same.
How could the people who barely managed to get a third-class seat with the money they had scraped together and the gentlemen sitting in first-class, smoking luxurious cigars, be ‘fellow passengers’?
Also, among special passengers, there are bound to be ‘even more special passengers’.
What if it were a delegation of priests sent directly from the Vatican?
Even the captain, who had difficulty getting up because of his thick belly, could not help but move.
“Haha, priests! Welcome to the New World!”
“Captain, thank you for your kind consideration. Can I disembark soon?”
“Of course, once we get through some paperwork.”
Edgar smiled faintly and lifted the curtains of the first-class window.
Soon, the majestic skyscrapers of New York came into view across the Hudson River.
Even the snobbish European gentlemen would bow their pride in front of those skyscrapers!
For the captain, this was a necessary step to awaken his love for his great country and to make him proud to be an American.
“… How is it?”
Unfortunately, instead of responding as Edgar had hoped, the priesthood simply displayed the same emotionless attitude they had displayed throughout the voyage.
“Captain, thank you for your hard work. Now~! Everyone, pack your bags and -”
“for a moment.”
A low, quiet voice.
But, a voice that grabs everyone’s attention.
The young man, who had made all the priests sit down with just one word, ‘Wait a minute,’ leaned back on the luxurious wooden chair with a somewhat dazed expression.
Soon, an older priest approached cautiously.
“Are you okay? Did you receive any ‘revelation’ or something -”
“No. I just, I was just thinking about this and that for a moment. Just for 30 minutes.”
“Understood, Captain! Can I disembark in 30 minutes?”
“Oh, of course.”
This isn’t the first time this has happened.
Yet, the sight before his eyes was truly difficult to understand for the sensible American, Edgar Hoover.
Why are the high-ranking Vatican priests bowing down to an Asian youth who looks to be in his late teens?
Just before the priests disembarked, the captain summoned up his courage for the first time.
“Over there, priest!”
“Hmm? Do you have anything to say?”
“Excuse me – may I ask that person’s name?”
“…”
“Oh, no. I don’t know the topic -”
“Fortuna.”
“yes?”
“Take care. Thank you for your kind consideration during the long voyage.”