Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 544
Only Krnovel
EP.544 Episode 544 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Fourth Trial ‘The Fallen King’ (30) Fin
Episode 544 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Fourth Trial ‘The Fallen King’ (30) Fin
“User: Han?in(?hye)
Date: 1,872 days
Current location: Santa Monica Beach, California
Teaching: ∞”
– ?
Touched “Teaching: ∞!”
I couldn’t tell if it was a momentary whim or an instinct that arose during the twisting process.
The answer was unexpected.
“Shouldn’t we preserve the enlightenment we have worked so hard to obtain?”
“…”
“what’s the matter?”
The content of the teachings implies one important fact.
That I might not be able to take Serena’s enlightenment out of Room 207.
He answered simply, looking into Ari’s somewhat worried eyes.
“Do you have a pen?”
She took out her ‘familiar pen’ with a confident expression.
“Of course. This is your pen that I found in Korea two years ago. Should I give it to you?”
Just like the protective suit that was in an unexpected place, the ‘pen that can be used anywhere’ also seemed to be in an odd place.
“Okay. I guess I can just let the ‘winner’ do the annoying work.”
I think it was a little tantrum, a little rebellion.
This is enough.
— Bang!
*
“User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: 2,008,924th day
Current Location: Room 207, Gate Room – Fourth Trial ‘The Fallen King’
– Han Ga-in
Consciousness returns.
very….
It felt like I was having a long dream.
When I felt my mind awakening, the first thing I did was check my ‘body’ and ‘status window’.
Han Ga-in’s body, a perfect status window except that the ‘Advice’ section is empty.
“… You won.”
“Are you okay? What do you mean you won?”
Looking at Ari’s worried eyes, I was struck by it all over again.
Me, in the coin toss… .
I won.
In front of the wheelchair was the body of a girl who had committed suicide with a pistol.
“…”
It’s a little bitter.
But still, that girl would have been similar to me in the end.
“Ariya.”
“I’m listening.”
“I want to hear about what happened so far.”
“good.”
*
It’s something that’s been going on for several years anyway.
Since it wasn’t like anything would change if I stayed another day or so, I sorted out what had happened in the meantime.
After realizing the similarity between Room 207 and reality, Ari retrieves the treasure that had disappeared from Room 207.
The thermos flask that would normally contain Ari’s blood contained something ‘strange’.
“what’s this?”
“Talking about it here will only make things more complicated. It has no direct relation to solving Room 207. I’ll tell you when I get out there.”
A midnight maze that seeks to overcome the unstable existence that relies on time zones.
She also seems to have achieved her goal.
“… Miro, is it okay?”
“Hmm. Actually, I don’t really know why you guys look so anxious.”
As always, a pure maze of not quite understanding the situation.
The term midnight maze is not appropriate since it has become irrelevant to the time zone.
As Ari said, the expression ‘ghost maze’ would be correct.
She paid a heavy price.
I finished the work that my ‘double’ had left for me while listening to my colleagues’ stories.
Serena’s Enlightenment, adding unique uses for the Grimoire to the Book of Incarnation.
Can I use this power by adding a simple sentence?
It might have been impossible when I first got the Grimoire, but it seemed possible now.
If it doesn’t work, then there’s nothing I can do.
As the work was nearing completion, Ari asked cautiously.
“We analyzed your plan in our own way.”
“okay?”
207 is another possibility for reality.
A world where an eternal battle is waged against the relentless attacks of demons, monsters, and aliens – collectively known as Chaos Beings.
Aidy tried to solve this problem with a mirror, but her answer was a miserable failure.
“It couldn’t be solved with One More Chance. Perhaps, it was because Mukseong woke up too late.”
“What a pity.”
“So you caused a worldwide uproar. It was probably a process of erasing Aidia’s wrong answers. Is that right?”
Mostly correct.
My hidden purpose, ‘growth’, was omitted, but there’s no way my colleagues would know this.
Grandfather asked curiously.
“In the end, I erased most of the wrong answers. But, erasing the wrong answers doesn’t mean the answer will appear, right?”
Since I erased the wrong answer, it’s a blank page again.
Now that we’re back to square one, it’s time to write down ‘my answer’.
I told my colleagues my own answer.
“Eww! I was wondering what you were thinking!”
A dumbfounded grandfather.
“…”
Ari shows a subtle reaction.
“You don’t think it will work?”
At my question, the two looked at each other with complicated expressions.
Ari’s answer was simple.
“… I think it might work out surprisingly well. I don’t know if the hotel will approve though.”
Finally, Grandpa finished his day.
“Okay, let’s leave tomorrow. I’ll have to go back to the moon to write down your answers.”
The next day, we set off for the moon again for the conclusion.
*
The moon, a land filled with gray-white rocks.
I tried things I couldn’t do before because I didn’t have the time.
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
One light step.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of space, no sound can be heard.
— Support!
Instead, communication via helmet is possible.
“Isn’t that a great leap forward?”
“…”
“That means that the fact that humans are walking on the moon is a triumph of civilization, or something like that. But you came flying wearing the sacred sun.”
“…”
“It has nothing to do with science. Your steps are just a small step of a single person and a sorrow of humanity.”
“Ari, you… .”
“Why? Refute it!”
“It’s absurd that you even know this. You come from a world without a moon.”
“Ouch!”
Ouch, what the heck!
I have a rough idea of what kind of organization the Management Bureau is, and I think we’ll be able to confirm it in reality once the second floor is finished… .
No matter what, this woman is so careless when she’s with me now!
I sighed and raised my head, and the ‘mirror’ on top of the lunar base revealed its magnificent appearance.
“It’s almost recovered.”
It was broken into pieces during the process of splitting me, but it seems to have been restored over the course of five years.
Since Yumi and Ari were split in the first place, it was certain that there would be a way to restore the mirror even after the ‘split’.
“Let’s go in.”
*
The moment we set foot on the lunar base, the same thing happened as before.
A rainbow of colorful lights blocked my vision, and I was left alone.
“…”
I wasn’t surprised because I thought this could happen again.
Just like before, we continued on the endless path leading underground.
The end of the hallway.
The door where Aidyia awaits.
— Squeak!
*
The first greeting after a long time was simple.
“How have you been?”
“So-so.”
There was no more Virgin Mary flashing lights or anything like before.
She just leans against the gray wall with a tired and weary look on her face.
A body that is thinner than before and a hollow expression.
I feel like something has broken my heart.
“I thought you would interrupt me, but you didn’t.”
“disturbance?”
“You were watching what was happening on the ground.”
“Ah, so you ruined my paradise. Did you think you would listen if I told you not to?”
A somewhat prickly tone.
Aidia didn’t interfere with my ‘erasing mistakes’.
It means that she herself accepted it.
The fact that he had made a terrible mistake.
“I didn’t break it. I just turned it on for the first time.”
“What would change if you turned it back on? It would just be the start of another endless fight!”
Aidya says.
What’s the point of ‘going back to a blank slate’?
Therefore, I have to say ‘the answer to be written on a blank sheet of paper’.
“… ah.”
I felt an indescribably strong intuition.
For a moment, it seemed like the eyes of the whole world were focused on me.
It felt like the whole world was listening to me, rather than a one-on-one conversation between Aidia and me.
Of course, the hotel is watching me, and even ‘Yaldabaoth’ beyond the mirror is watching me.
Is it just my imagination?
“Advice: 3”
I don’t think so.
Advice that came back only at the last moment.
I was thinking about asking the owl a question for the first and last time, but I stopped myself.
Because my answers are meaningful when I decide for myself without anyone’s interference.
“Aidya. I have seen the world’s many possibilities in areas you cannot imagine.”
I saw it at the hotel.
“There were civilizations among them that were much more advanced than the world you and I have experienced.”
Aidyah answers with a laugh.
“Have you ever seen any science fiction civilization?”
“That’s correct.”
The possibility of 203 leaving Earth and building an interstellar civilization.
The possibility of No. 206 creating ‘Unbreakable Reason’, the power to temporarily suppress evil spirits.
“… If civilization develops to that extent, will it be free from chaos?”
The hope of the Virgin Mary with infinite love for humanity.
“No. Even when it got that far, weird things kept happening.”
“then -”
“But it was completely different now. Even monsters that could collapse the sky with a single flip of their body, monsters that would be called ‘gods’ in modern times, could be brought to the negotiating table.”
Prisoner #203, Adravita, participated in the colonization of the planet in response to a pact with humanity that had established an interstellar civilization.
“…”
The silent Virgin.
“Aidia, as you said, this world will suffer from an endless battle with demons… but that does not mean our defeat.”
Soon, she took on a cynical expression.
“Haha, Horus! Since you said you ‘saw it’, I won’t deny it. Let’s say there’s a glorious future where we leave Earth and build an interstellar civilization. What are the odds?”
Probability… .
I don’t know either.
In my view, this ‘probability’ is a question that even the owl, the source of insight, cannot answer.
However, it seems like it would be very low.
In the first place, there were many scenarios collected from hotels that were destroyed in the 21st century or earlier, let alone SF.
The Virgin Mary spoke again, as if lamenting, as if she had gotten an answer from me while I was silent.
“After all, what’s the point of you destroying my paradise? The world has returned to its original state, and we have lost hope. Are you going to just accept your fate? Give up on change, and pray to the heavens -”
“There has to be a change.”
What is the answer to number 207?
“what -”
“Change is necessary. If we continue like this, interstellar civilization will not even make it past the 21st century, let alone the 21st century, and everything will collapse.”
Therefore, something better than what is available is needed.
“We need people.”
“yes?”
“A person who can endure the eternal battle to prevent destruction.”
“…”
“A person who still has a sense of belonging to humanity and humanity.”
“…”
“But half of them are on the path to shedding their shells, and are able to understand chaos.”
One step.
One more step.
I think as I walk to the center of the hall where the top is open and light comes in.
Something Ari said a long time ago when explaining about the Administration Bureau.
The idea that if the world is a complex machine, humans are just cogs in it.
All gears can be replaced as required.
Sometimes even the ‘biggest cog’ needs to be replaced.
“What are you talking about -”
At first, the Virgin Mary did not understand what I was saying, but soon her eyes widened.
“Aidya. The world needs change. One person needs to change.”
“…”
“You must change into me.”
A quiet silence.
Aidy didn’t look particularly angry or sad.
Just lean against the wall like at first and bow your head.
Finally she asked a question.
“What makes you better than me?”
The sacred sun.
The Book of Incarnation.
Insight.
I don’t want to explain these things in detail.
“personality?”
“I don’t think you have a very good personality.”
“That’s right. I feel this way these days, but I don’t reflect on things very well.”
“Is that an advantage?”
“I’m right in almost every situation. So there’s no need to reflect.”
“Well, that’s the kind of thing a dictator would say.”
“There is an important difference between a dictator and me.”
“What is it?”
“I know I am right.”
The Virgin Mary smiled brightly for the first time.
“Haha! Hahaha!”
“…”
“Try it. You do it for me. That would be fine too.”
— Thud!
The word ‘prayer’ was heard along with the sound of kneeling.
“I will pray to you first and last.”
“…”
“May the meaning of what you have said before me today not be broken even after a thousand years – no, even after ten thousand years.”
— Break!
Immediately afterwards, an eerie cracking sound pierces your ears.
The Guardian who has supported humanity for thousands of years has acknowledged his ‘replacement’ and passed away.
After a while, I stood in the center of the hall and looked outside.
Outside the lunar base, space is filled with darkness.
A pale blue dot shining beyond.
The model garden that I will be maintaining from now on.
“This is my answer.”
At the last moment, I had some doubts.
I thought ‘Yaldabaoth’ would intervene in some way around the middle, didn’t I?
[Advice: 3 -> 0]
[He has already achieved his goal, so he won’t care anymore. Just wait for the ending.]
“…”
It’s been a long time since I’ve heard advice like this.
‘Yaldabaoth has already achieved his purpose.’
It was just a vague statement, but I thought I vaguely knew what it meant.
Because his essence was not that of a ‘false creator’ as Dean Lucas believed.
Didn’t Ari say that?
The essence of the being beyond the mirror is ‘the practitioner’!
The duty of a practitioner is to pursue the Buddha, not the end of the lower world or salvation.
—Whoosh!
“congratulations!
You have passed the final ordeal prepared in the gateway room!
How was your journey, spanning thousands of years?
You may be confused by how the progress of previous trials can affect subsequent trials.
Participants in the Cursed Room often run wild when they feel like they’re being manipulated.
You probably think that it doesn’t matter since if you escape you’ll have to start over from the beginning, right?
Correcting your bad habits is also one of the purposes of No. 207!
The never-ending fight against the devil.
Countless human sacrifices over eons.
In the end, even the great Virgin Mary gave in and resorted to the unknown object called a mirror.
Are you determined to uphold the world in place of such a Virgin Mary?
To become a dictator sitting on the throne of the administration.
Interesting answer.
Some people saw this as an inadequate answer, as there was no proof as to how anything would be better if you replaced the Virgin Mary.
Some people thought that since you are indeed superior to the Virgin Mary, they could acknowledge your direction.
Since the latter opinion was stronger, I grant it passage.
But, I want to ask you one important question.
Did you consider Room 207 a ‘mock test’ before going out into the real world?
Contestant Han Ga-in, did you give this answer only to solve question 207?
Or do you think you would give the same answer in real life?
I want you to think about it for yourself.
Congratulations again!」
Finally, the entire universe of 207 began to collapse!
“Ha, now – ”
The final moment.
Even the boundary between the material universe where humans live and the lofty upper world collapsed, and the figure of a ‘practitioner’ came into view.
He was facing a ‘ghost maze’.
“uh?”
This was my last memory of room 207.