Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 526
Only Krnovel
EP.526 Episode 526 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Fourth Trial ‘The Fallen King’ (12)
Episode 526 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Fourth Trial ‘The Fallen King’ (12)
– Kim Min-ah
…
Consciousness slowly returns.
The first thing I felt when I woke up was shame.
I was planning to act like an agent of the Vatican, but I was immediately overpowered by the strange rumors spewed out by the parish priest, Hong Go-hak.
I knew he had some strange powers, but I was planning on testing him out in a shootout before I wrote about it… .
“Ugh!”
Ga-in is seen looking at me with worried eyes beyond my blurred vision.
Is the fight over already?
“are you okay?”
“… Yeah. What about Honggohak?”
“Already dead.”
When I looked in the direction he was pointing, I saw the corpse of an old man with his head blown off.
Judging from the details, it looked like she had committed suicide, which is not surprising considering Ga-in’s power to control people.
He got up and apologized.
“Sorry. I wanted to help, but it seems like all I’ve done so far is drive.”
“No, really. It was very helpful.”
“Empty words are indeed….”
— Crack, crack!
The moment I was about to ask with a bitter smile what the next plan was, I heard someone’s footsteps.
I immediately turned around and saw a small figure wearing a hood.
“Who are you!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. I know him.”
“what?”
“I asked who you were talking to earlier. It was him.”
Who killed the monsters around us on our way from the church to the park?
Gain said that she also knows that person well.
— Crack, crack!
A person who approaches us slowly.
Judging by the curves of her body at first glance, she is a woman.
It’s a bit odd to say this, but for a small body, the volume was amazing.
— Crack, crack!
I felt strangely uneasy.
According to Ga-in’s explanation, she seemed to be my former colleague, and my heart felt heavy with each step she took.
When she finally reached me and took off her hood… .
I realized that I had an inescapable fate.
“ah!”
All my enlightenment was contained in this one word.
Also, I found out a few days ago that Gain had lied to me!
Scenes that I had passed over with some suspicion at the time flash before my eyes like a panorama.
Ari cleverly avoided answering the question of whether my name was true.
You asked me to choose what to call you.
Finally, even the dirt and dust that was stuck on the bottom of the pants!
There were quite a few suspicious parts, so why did I get fooled?
It was because I was desperate.
I was so desperate to overcome the confusion of my imperfect identity that I ended up turning a blind eye to the parts that were suspicious.
Moreover, the ‘Kingdom of Dreams’ exhibited mysterious phenomena, and I was overwhelmed by the mystery as if I were an ordinary person.
Could it be that even the Kingdom of Dreams was a trick?
“Gain, you…!”
The young man answered with a rare expression of apology.
“I’m sorry. Well, I couldn’t help it. So-”
“There’s no need to apologize.”
Her voice is so calm and composed.
A soft hand slowly approaches and caresses my face.
I couldn’t move.
At that moment, I felt like a deer locking eyes with a tiger.
“Ah… . Huh… .”
I groan, unable to even think of resisting.
On the other hand, the being standing before me is a being that has been destined for great destiny since birth.
For the first time she spoke to me.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“Ugh… .”
“You said Min-ah, right? You’re not dying. You’re just going back to being one.”
“… one?”
“Yes. We were one from the beginning.”
Slowly and leisurely, Ari’s face approaches.
dissolution.
decomposition.
reunion.
A coin was tossed.
I woke up in the body of ‘Kim Ari’.
*
– Han Ga-in
—Thud!
The moment Minah’s body fell to the floor, I flinched without realizing it.
Because even though I knew that my body was now empty, I still felt like I had to apologize for something.
Ari laughed, perhaps because she found my flustered appearance funny.
“What’s wrong? I told you there was no need to apologize.”
“That’s what you think, Mina’s thoughts -”
“Now, Minah’s thoughts are my thoughts.”
“…”
“I told you briefly a few days ago, didn’t I? The real Kim Min-ah was practically dead when she accepted my fragment decades ago.”
“That’s what I said….”
It was a really short conversation, but I heard an explanation about Mina.
She is a being who obtained the fragments of Ari that were scattered throughout the world decades ago, either by chance or intentionally by the Vatican.
The fragment has now returned to Ari.
“Except for the fragments that are now irretrievable, you could say that they are practically the last fragments. They were unable to be recovered because they were forced to wander overseas to avoid the pursuit of the Vatican.”
While lost in thought, Ari gently bowed her head towards Honggohak’s body.
“… What are you doing?”
“My own tribute?”
“…”
“I heard what your clone said before he committed suicide. I think he has truly reached the realm of greatness.”
“…”
“Incomparable to magic… Wasn’t it a truly lofty spiritual state? Not quite Buddha, but perhaps Bodhisattva?”
“Bodhisattva.”
At the last moment, ‘he’ showed a side that went beyond hatred towards me and even a desire to survive.
Ari continued speaking with her head bowed in an uncharacteristic manner, perhaps because she was so impressed by the sight.
“I can confidently say that even the ‘executors’ beyond the curtain would not have expected this.”
“performer?”
“The strange god beyond the mirror. I call it the ‘Performer.’”
The topic of conversation was a bit uncomfortable and we didn’t have time, so we moved on.
“I just realized a little while ago while recalling the memories I gained from Hong Go-hak’s body, that the sacred sun seems to be with Sophia. Didn’t you know? You said you were in constant contact with Sophia.”
“I didn’t know. I was busy running away from the Vatican, and….”
“and?”
“Sophia and I’s relationship wasn’t one where we revealed all our secrets.”
“…”
“That’s exactly how it could have been, but it got tangled up in the middle. I’ll explain it to you later.”
“If you find Sophia, you will also find the Holy Sun. As you said a few days ago -”
“I know where Sophia is. She’s in Korea. Let’s go right away.”
“okay.”
“It’s going to be dangerous from now on.”
I played many tricks on Minah, but it wasn’t a lie that her very existence was a trap.
The Vatican will soon realize that ‘Kim Min-ah’ has disappeared from the world.
Before that, we must retrieve the sacred sun.
“… Is this the progress the hotel has arranged?”
“what?”
“no.”
I’ve been organizing everything that’s happened so far in my head.
1. Retrieve the grimoire from the girl who accidentally obtained it at the hotel and establish a cooperative relationship with the Vatican agent within the school.
2. With the help of Vatican agents, confirm the existence of the ‘Kingdom of Dreams’ and retrieve it.
3. Contact Ari, who was hiding in the Dream Kingdom, and with her help, find the missing Pope Sophia.
4. Retrieve the Holy Sun from Pope Sophia.
There were a lot of noisy things going on here and there, but anyway, we almost got to number 4.
What happens next?
Just before departure, Ariga smiled brightly.
“You still can’t drive?”
“…”
“It’s funny. The great Gain the Horus who sees the future can’t drive a car -”
“Okay, let’s go.”
I felt a sense of shame and a little joy at the same time as I watched Ari naturally recall the memories of the fragments.
It turns out that Mina wasn’t lying when she said she wasn’t going to die.
— Boohoo!
*
Road conditions were still extremely turbulent.
Although the Papal army was sweeping away the monsters here and there, it seemed impossible to clear them out in a short period of time.
Fortunately or unfortunately, thanks to that, Ari and I were able to drive down the road without any major obstacles.
It wasn’t like the chaos seething everywhere would spare us, but Ari easily solved that problem.
— Crunch!
No, isn’t it really that great?
You can drive a car and slice an approaching monster with an isosceles polyhedron at the same time?
It seemed like my proficiency in isomorphic polyhedra had improved after staying in Room 207 for a long time.
— Swish!
As we left Seoul, we saw few monsters, and instead, wind and rain began to blow.
I felt like I had some free time, so I quickly asked a question.
“Ariya, can we talk now?”
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
“I have so many questions about the progress.”
“…”
“How is Sophia? Is she okay? She seems to be wearing the sacred sun.”
“…”
“And I want to hear what happened in the past trials.”
“Is there more?”
The last question arose while talking to Hong Go-hak.
“Yes. The Vatican has been covering the world with a curtain. What exactly does that mean?”
“…”
A brief silence.
I didn’t ask Ari because I thought she would need time to gather her thoughts.
“I can answer two of the three questions, and I’m not sure about the other one.”
“Really? Then, starting with what you know -”
“Before that.”
A firm voice.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but so do I. And I’ve been waiting for an answer for over 100 years. Can I ask you something first?”
“say it.”
“Gain. Why did you save Aidia?”
My first answer to this was simple.
“What are you talking about? What did I do to Aidia? Did I save her?”
“…”
It seemed like a question that needed some ‘background explanation’.
*
— Swish!
Amidst the pouring rain, Ari explained a few facts.
First, the Virgin Aedea, the head of the Holy See, has been living since ancient Egypt.
Second, Aidia has been the biggest problem in Room 207 for a long time. Seungyeop and Yumi, as well as Elena and Eunsol, and even Ari, have clashed with Aidia.
Third, according to Yumi’s memories, the person who saved Aidia was her past self.
“Can I hear the reason now? Really… I’ve been wondering for a long time.”
Why did my past self save Aidia and create this enormous butterfly effect?
This is a question that has plagued Ari for the past 120 years, and it is also a question that has plagued Yumi and Seungyeop for over 10 times that amount of time.
Now is the time to tell you the answer.
“First of all, I have no memory of the time when Miro summoned me. As you know, the summoned entity and the main body do not share memories.”
“No way! So you don’t know the answer either? How could this happen -”
Looking at Ari’s dizzying expression, I felt like she might get into a car accident, so I quickly calmed her down.
“No. I know. I guess. The summoning time is only an hour anyway. It’s not enough time for my current personality to change significantly.”
“…”
— Squeak!
“Eww!”
The car stopped.
Ari turned around and looked at me.
As if he wanted to listen with all his mind to this important answer.
Her expression as she sought answers was so earnest that my heart became heavy.
“Before I entered Room 207, there was a possibility that I was most afraid of.”
“…”
“The stage was already ruined before my turn even started. I realized this while going through the Room of Curses.”
“…”
“The world is more easily destroyed than I thought. Perhaps, the world I have lived in so perfectly may have been achieved through extremely low probability.”
“yes.”
“So I gave a note to Sang-Hyeon. The note said, ‘Please respect the historical flow that we know.’”
“You saw that the reality you remember was a kind of correct answer.”
“Because you were fine up until that point. I was asking you to follow the correct answer if possible.”
“I understand.”
“If we consider a world that will be fine until the 21st century, there are elements that are absolutely necessary for the correct answer.”
“…”
“The organization that deals with chaos behind the scenes of human history. It’s the Administration Bureau. So -”
“I guessed that part. Yumi also seemed to understand at some point.”
What Ari and Yumi had guessed.
“I’ve known for a long time, watching the world. Aidia is definitely the enemy of the hotel party. But she’s not the enemy of humanity.”
Aidia is the enemy of hotel parties.
This does not mean that she is an enemy of humanity.
“In fact, Aidia was the greatest defender of humanity. She was against us not because of any grudge from the ancient Egyptian era, but because she believed that we were a threat as the ‘guardians of humanity’.”
“…”
“It was sometimes amazing. In a way, Aidia was truly worthy of the word ‘Virgin Mary.’ Unlike me, she had an incomprehensible love for humanity.”
A word got stuck in my throat.
“Unlike you?”
“At some point, I thought to myself, is this why you saved Aidia? Because you thought she was a being that could sustain humanity for thousands of years?”
Ari and Yumi realized why their past selves saved Aidia.
The answer is because Aidia was a suitable being as the founder of the Administration Bureau.
One answer creates new questions.
“When I think about it this way, another incomprehensible question arises.”
“…ask.”
“Why did it have to be Aidia? After the second party, it’s too late to start, so I’ll say no. Miro is mentally immature, so I’ll say no. Yumi wasn’t supposed to be there?”
Based on the first party criteria, Yumi is also a being that can enjoy eternal life.
Therefore, the doubts that Ari of the present and Yumi of the past have are valid.
Why should Aidia be the progenitor of the Administration?
Why can’t Yumi or Miro or Seungyeop, who have matured over time, do it?
“We could have killed Aidia many times.”
“…”
“Yumi had her chance, and so did I. I could have killed Aidia… but I gave up every time.”
The companions gave up on killing Aidia even though they could have done so many times.
Because I didn’t know ‘why’ I chose Aidia.
What if the being that sees the future chose Aidia, but they killed her at will and ruined the scenario?
I couldn’t handle this possibility, so I had to let Aidy go and suffer every time.
“I even thought this sometimes. In a way, Aidia is your apostle, your angel.”
“Apostles, angels… .”
“You know what? Adia is half thinking the same thing. ‘Your god chose me, so why are you trying to kill me?’ That’s what Adia said to Yumi.”
At some point, I felt an unmistakable resentment in Ari’s voice.
I’d be lying if I said I had no resentment, after suffering for over 120 years because of my choices.
“Ariya.”
“Now tell me the answer.”
“Aidia is probably not human.”
“Isn’t that obvious? For hundreds or thousands of years already -”
“I’m not saying she’s not human now. Thousands of years ago, during the ancient Egyptian party. Aedia wasn’t human from the moment she was born.”
“What does that matter -”
And Ari shut her mouth.
Because she is also a smart colleague, she understood the true meaning of my answer.
My past self chose Adia because she was not human from the moment she was born.
Because it matched the ‘one and only right answer’ that I knew.
Ari whispered, as if she had lost her mind.
“The first ancestor of the Management Bureau wasn’t human either. You knew that.”
Long ago, before entering room 207.
I learned one shocking thing from a girl who was trapped in her infantile ego.
The ranch where cows live cannot be protected by the cows themselves.
Even the ranch where people live cannot be protected by people themselves.