Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 508
Only Krnovel
EP.508 Episode 508 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Third Trial ‘Miskatonic University’ (10)
Episode 508 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Third Trial ‘Miskatonic University’ (10)
It’s a story from a very long time ago.
This is a story from at least several thousand years ago, not 100 or 200 years ago.
A memory that few people remember anymore, and so may be more precious to some.
…
At some point, I was so deep in my memories that I couldn’t tell if I was ‘Ari’ or ‘Yumi’.
*
A deep forest with a refreshing breeze blowing, and warm sunlight seeping through the old trees.
A voice is heard breaking the silence in the peace.
“Yay! Yay!”
The sharp metal blade flashed! And in an instant, the tree split apart.
“Yay! Success! Wow, success! Yumi, I succeeded!”
“… great job.”
Seungyeop looked happy in front of the split tree.
Well, it’s not a bad development, but… .
The power of ‘Mugong’ that Seungyeop practices every day has many weaknesses when judged as a master of magic.
It takes 5 to 10 years of training to be of any significant power in a hotel-level fight, but it feels like the high point is low considering the long training period?
In the end, you have to practice until you die to become stronger and more agile, right?
So I spoke honestly.
“I think it’s a waste of time.”
Soon, the boy who had been smiling brightly made an awkward expression.
“You know now, right? We have been given a very long time. At least 3000 years or more until the next companion appears.”
“That’s incredible. I heard that the time spent by you and Ga-in in room 203 was hundreds of years. Yumi, you’re a witch, so it might be okay, but -”
“Mistake. Even by my standards, 3000 years is ridiculous. If you can endure that amount of time without any damage, you are not a human, but a transcendent being.”
“Oh, I see.”
“I’m planning on hibernating for a long time. So you don’t have to worry about that part, and let’s get back to the original story.”
The boy shook his head at the words, “original story.”
“Are you going to waste this much time fighting?”
“It’s not a fist fight, it’s a martial art. It’s what the absolute master, Master Lee Ja-seong, taught me -”
“Even so, it’s still primitive. You should learn magic from me while you’re learning it.”
“…”
“If you learn magic and manipulate your body, you can also gain explosive strength and agility. So -”
“Can you split the sky?”
“…”
“Can you split the sky and reveal the prisoner hiding behind the curtain?”
#205: The best swordsman in the world, Lee Ja-seong, who in some ways was more like the ‘main character’ than the hotel party.
It seems that the last sword he showed just before he died left a huge impact on Seungyeop’s mind.
“And, magic, magic!”
“What about magic?”
The boy who had been stammering suddenly blushed slightly.
“Yumi, you can write for me! In the future, um, continue to… .”
“…”
We never had that conversation again after that day.
It was because I didn’t have the confidence to persuade him, and I thought that Seungyeop’s words had some merit.
*
So, what you’re saying is that Seungyeop only learned martial arts and not magic.
*
Time passed like the wind.
I built the Temple of Horus for the distant future and became the new focal point of Egypt, which had lost its Pharaoh and was in chaos.
In the process, I learned something unexpected: I was more power-hungry than I thought.
It was surprisingly fun to build temples, be praised as a daughter of a god by the common people, and rule Egypt by making a reasonably smart but timid human being the Pharaoh.
Whose influence is this side of me?
The current me is a combination of the witch (Arima) in Room 107, the first gate room, and the saint (Aurelia) in Room 104.
Arima is said to have built a gloomy mansion and lived alone, so my lust for power was probably influenced by the saint who was the head of a social group.
At first, I was afraid that Seungyeop and I would get into some kind of power struggle.
I could tease him when there were only two of us left, but he had colleagues who were approaching the realm of the gods, so I was worried about the aftermath.
…
As time passed, I realized that the above worries were truly useless.
Because he was a million light years away from any desire for power.
Rather, he often felt sorry for leaving all the ‘annoying’ work, such as running the church or ruling Egypt, to me.
That’s when I first realized.
The fact that Seungyeop and I’s combination is surprisingly good.
*
It took you this long to realize this?
Yumi, this girl is secretly dull.
*
There was a separate real problem with Seungyeop.
He spent the first few years enjoying his martial arts training, but at one point he fell into extreme depression.
The gateway train that left for the future, and the self left behind in the distant past.
At least 3000 years until the next companion arrives.
Seungyeop, who belatedly realized the overwhelming weight of time, gradually found it difficult to endure.
Sometimes he would study martial arts for a month like a madman, and other times he would risk his life to kill wild beasts at the request of the people of Memphis.
I don’t care if I die.
Or, I just want to fight moderately and die.
It was a time when I felt anxious and uneasy.
I was worried that if I went any further, Seungyeop would say something like, “Yumi, kill me.”
Well, if you ask me to kill you, there’s no reason I wouldn’t kill you.
Anyway, my existence within room 207 is possible regardless of the soul’s fate.
However, I couldn’t know how the demigods who would arrive in the future would perceive my act of killing Seungyeop.
Fortunately, the ‘hibernation nest’ was completed before it got to that point.
*
Yumi kills Seungyeop?
In this situation, isn’t it a kind of euthanasia?
I don’t think we would have had a problem with it either… .
I think he’s more afraid of us than we thought.
*
The motif of the early hibernation nest is ‘winter sleep’.
As you look into this memory, do you know that humans can also hibernate?
Of course, this does not mean that they can survive with their body temperature dropping to 5 degrees Celsius or with their respiratory rate reduced to less than 5% per minute, as some animals specialized in hibernation do.
However, it is possible for humans to become almost motionless and slow down their metabolism to a great extent, like a bear, and the early hibernation nests took advantage of this phenomenon.
At first, it was impossible to sleep for hundreds of years at a time, and at most it lasted only a year or two.
This alone was a great comfort to Seungyeop.
“Wow! Yumi, can you believe it’s already been 82 years?”
“…”
“Roughly speaking, um, if you round it up, 100 years will pass. If you hold out like this 30 times, Eunsol and Elena will arrive!”
“That’s fortunate.”
“thank you!”
“…”
“If it weren’t for you, I probably would have… committed suicide.”
Seungyeop has been acting somewhat dependent on me for some time now, but it wasn’t a bad thing.
This is because, while it is possible to survive within the Gate Room without a Soul Box, a Soul Box is needed to go ‘outside’.
Therefore, a friendly relationship with Seungyeop, the owner of the soul box, is essential for my survival.
“It’s okay. You know you’ll have to stay awake for the next three months or so, right? I’ve prepared something for you to do during that time.”
“Haha! Alright, so there’s something the disciple of the world’s greatest master has to do?”
“… okay.”
“You’re so expressionless. I was just joking.”
“okay.”
Everything has an end.
My lust for power, which seemed like it would last forever, also had an end.
I felt empty and tired.
As time went by, not only did his affection for the kingdom crumble into nothingness, but even his greed for power began to cool.
From some point on, I stopped getting too involved in the power struggles going on in Memphis.
From some point on, the operation of the Horus Cult was also left to its successors.
At some point, Egypt began to slip out of my hands.
*
A memory from a day about 400 years after the start of the trials.
Snow fell from the sky, turning all of Memphis white.
Koreans in the distant future might wonder what’s so great about snow that comes every winter, but in Egypt, snow falls maybe once every 100 years.
Because of this, the nobles of Memphis made a fuss in the temple of Horus, saying that something ominous must have happened, and the priests were busy trying to reassure the people.
I sighed for a moment at the foolishness of seeking God for something as trivial as weather phenomena, but then a piece of intelligence came in during that gap.
“…”
“Your Majesty! Everything I say is true! Quanate-”
“I see. I must inform those who do not know their duty of the reality.”
“Great Horus!”
Pharaoh is preparing to purge me.
It was funny how foolish people were not able to grasp the subject.
Even if I had taken action now, I could have replaced the Pharaoh at any time, but I wanted to see him just once.
Yeah, how much have you prepared for the human topic?
Have you prepared about 1,000 guards?
No, no.
There’s no way that an ambitious human being who wants to purge the High Priest of Horus, who boasts of immortality, would be that kind of person.
Maybe I got some weird chaos stuff from somewhere.
It’s been a long time since I’ve looked forward to it.
Towards evening, Seungyeop woke up after 32 years.
*
“Yay! Yay!”
With a “Whew!” sound, a snowball flew towards me and hit my shoulder.
“…”
“Yay!”
This time it’s the thigh.
“No, Yumi. Isn’t that too boring?”
“… How old are you now?”
“Ugh! Hey, when I look in the mirror, I still look like I’m 17.”
“That’s the power of the hibernation nest. Your real age.”
“… What’s important is an unwavering, childish heart.”
I burst out laughing.
A little while ago, we were discussing the purge of the Pharaoh and the extermination of his blood relatives in the dark room, right?
No matter how long he had been hibernating, there was a boy over 400 years old who was obsessed with snowball fights.
What can I say, the genre was different beyond just the atmosphere.
It felt like we suddenly went from an alternate history, political thriller to a comedy.
I have such a headache, but this person is still living so comfortably.
I felt a subtle mixture of irritation and jealousy.
“I received a report from the priests yesterday.”
“Huh? If it’s about Egypt -”
“Listen. You need to listen sometimes too.”
“huh.”
Pharaoh is trying to purge me.
According to what we have learned through intelligence and other means, the Pharaoh does not have a separate chaos entity, and he seems to be working with 1,800 guards.
It can be suppressed without difficulty, and the Pharaoh and all his blood relatives are killed to make an example of him –
“Stop, stop.”
“The important part hasn’t even started?”
“Yumi, I’ve always heard it, so I’ll tell you today.”
“… say it.”
The boy holding the snowball moved to a position overlooking Memphis and extended his hand, pointing toward the capital.
“Don’t get caught up in the tempo of those people too much.”
“what?”
“I felt it every time I woke up from hibernation. Yumi, the people around you change every time. Yesterday, you were a young girl, but after one hibernation, you turned into a sixty-year-old woman.”
“…”
“It was so fast. It was just a sleep for me, but it was a lifetime for them. So, what I mean is… .”
“…”
“Egypt, Memphis, the church, these things are a bit vain. They will all disappear as soon as you wake up anyway…”
“… No need to get too immersed?”
“Are you going to live forever in Memphis politics? Purging every pharaoh who doesn’t listen to you for 3,000 years? Can you stand it?”
“…”
“Can’t you just leave it alone? I’ve done enough… .”
I realized it for the first time.
Just as I have changed over the 400 years, this boy has also changed a lot.
He was no longer the boy of the past, pointing his finger at the capital of Great Egypt from the mountain and calling it ‘vanity’.
“I’ve been thinking this for a while now. Egypt, no, the whole world seems fake.”
“…”
“It’s like a sand castle that disappears after you take a deep breath. It’s all fake, empty, and meaningless.”
“…”
“Only one thing matters.”
“What is that?”
Could it be because I feel this subtle emotion and feel a little more defenseless than usual?
His next words were a fatal blow.
“It’s you, Yumi.”
“ah?”
“It seems like you’re the only real person in the world. It’s just that everything else is sand and foam, and you’re the only real person.”
I was surprised.
It wasn’t the first time he’d made a playful confession over the years, but there was something a little different about his words this time.
Perhaps it is because the listener’s mind has changed more than the speaker’s.
“Uh, uh, uh -”
“What do you think?”
Before I could even answer, my soul cried.
It’s true.
This stage, this entire world, is nothing but a vain model garden, and there are only two true beings.
In eternity, only the two of us, unchanging, were the true beings.
So in some ways, what’s happening in Egypt might be a good thing.
— Phew!
“…”
Once again, Seungyeop took advantage of the moment of carelessness and threw his eyes at me.
This time, I didn’t want to endure it either.
“Eight!”
“Huh? Ouch! Pa, your arm suddenly got bigger! Yumi-”
“Take this! Snow uppercut!”
“Hey, this is foul play!”
“The world’s greatest master disciple can’t avoid this?”
Final blow! I thought as I threw a snow uppercut.
It’s time to slowly retire from the position of the High Priest.
Egypt originally belonged to the Pharaoh, so wouldn’t it be okay to return it to the Pharaoh?
After making some watchmen, it might be okay to hibernate with Seungyeop.
…
Again, a long time has passed.
One day, the seeds sown by Horus returned to Egypt.
“Hello? Daughter of Horus, we’re old friends, right?”