Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 556
Only Krnovel
EP.556 Episode 556 – Veteran Agent Kim Ari, The Secret of the Esper Ship 2 (1)
Episode 556 – Veteran Agent Kim Ari, The Secret of the Esper Ship 2 (1)
– Kim Ari
An abandoned hospital with an eerie atmosphere where it seems as if a groan could be heard from somewhere.
Most people would be terrified at the mere sight of a crumbling building, but there are no ‘average’ people in this place.
“The air is cool.”
“Haha, shall we go in? According to reports, there is a crazy doctor -”
— Squeak!
The personalities of the agents are all different, but the agent who came with us now, Kim Ji-ho, is quite talkative.
But there is a reason why I came with this guy.
— Support!
A dark hallway with poor electricity flow.
A foul stench, a mixture of blood and the smell of rotting corpses, assaults the nostrils.
— Clang!
I felt a bitter smile as I watched him sharpen his special weapon with a tense expression.
This is because the advance team has already inspected it once, so they have a rough idea of the strength of the chaos huddled in the abandoned hospital.
I don’t need this guy’s help.
I didn’t bring you here to ask for help in the first place. I just brought you here to hear about the news since I heard you were teaching Cha Jin-cheol this and that.
“I’ll be back shortly, so wait here.”
“Yes? Senior, acting alone is prohibited -”
— Boom! Boom!
As the ceiling was split open in an instant, a slight look of surprise appeared in Kim Ji-ho’s eyes.
“They said they got a miracle at the hotel!”
As agents, most of them would have heard at least some rumors about the hotel, so this guy’s reaction isn’t strange.
“Just stay still.”
What’s next? It’s all a bit crazy.
He gave rest to the deformed monsters that were created by twisting nurses and patients, and confronted a doctor possessed by a strange book.
“Huhhh…! As expected from the bureau’s lackeys, you’re quite skilled! Can you imagine? What I’ve seen in the back of the world -”
As I listened to the third-rate villain-like lines of the mad doctor, I took out the ‘living camera’ from my bosom.
“I saw darkness! I saw the fall of mankind, the original sin committed when all people left the primordial sea -”
“cheese.”
“what?”
— Click!
It’s not like I’ve been isolating chaos entities for a while now.
You can tell the level of this dirty guy just by looking at the atmosphere.
Just click the camera once and that’s it.
“Wow…! Senior, the charge was like a tank.”
“…”
“I thought you were under the spell of a doctor’s magic when you suddenly flew away, but you’re already finished!”
“It comes out.”
“yes?”
— Jiiing!
Soon, a photo popped out from the living camera.
It’s a picture of an old man trapped in a gray-white building that looks suffocating.
“Oh! This is that famous camera!”
“…”
“I heard the rumor. Can I draw it with a pen?”
“Try it.”
Kim Ji-ho took out a pen from inside his special suit from the Management Bureau and drew a line on the photo.
Soon, the line turned into a sharp awl and stabbed the old man inside.
Naturally, the old man’s expression also became terribly distorted.
“Whoa! Am I dead then?”
“No. Sealed beings don’t die.”
This chaos entity has killed over 50 people, as far as the Administration knows, so there is no need to pity it.
*
After finishing the work, I asked Agent Kim Ji-ho the main question I was really curious about.
“Kim Ji-ho, you’re a new agent who’s been here for a long time.”
“Aha~! You mean Agent Cha Jin-cheol?”
“I heard you were telling me about this and that.”
“Yes. Haha, that guy Jincheol, he’s big and absent-minded but he doesn’t know anything!”
“… okay?”
“As soon as you realized the regression, you bought a lottery ticket, and with that money, you bought coins, stocks, and real estate, and then you got caught? Haha! Did you think you were the only one experiencing the regression of time and space? How naive!”
“…”
“Well, isn’t that a good time! As you may remember, Senior, when you first realize you’ve regressed, that’s how it is for everyone!”
“…”
ah….
I didn’t know Kim Ji-ho because I rarely worked with him, but he had this kind of personality.
“Ha, I’m really jealous of that guy. Could he possibly have any idea of the weight of the giant that’s crouching on this star?”
“…”
“Because I have been living in a paradise of ignorance. I intend to show him the darkness of the world.”
I feel embarrassed listening to it, but can’t you feel it?
Kim Ji-ho himself is completely intoxicated with the so-called ‘pride of being an agent’!
It’s not strange.
Until recently, he had been living as an ordinary unemployed person, but somehow he returned after being chosen by fate.
Here, he was even summoned by a mysterious organization called the ‘Management Bureau’ and was given the opportunity to learn the secrets of the world.
It’s even stranger that there is no sense of being chosen.
Actually, it’s not necessarily a mistake, since he is indeed a ‘chosen human’.
“Jincheol, would that guy even have an idea? How many people the hospital director who was hiding in this sinister hospital has killed! Ha, I hope he doesn’t vomit when he smells blood!”
“…”
No matter how I look at it, this rookie seems to have only been through the loop 2 or 3 times.
The gaze is directed ‘down’ to ordinary people, so he is intoxicated by his own greatness.
As you repeat the loop and look ‘upwards’, there will come a day when you realize it.
Even the agents are just cogs in a slightly larger wheel, and there is something endless and unidentifiable above.
“Silence….”
“Senior?”
If I were to join the leadership of the Administration, would I be able to solve a long-standing question?
Can you stop the apocalypse, which the hotel warns will begin in earnest in a year?
“Haha, senior -”
“Why do you keep laughing for no reason?”
He seems like such a cheap villain.
Do you think this is cool?
“yes?”
“No. Keep talking.”
“Ahem, I’m saying this because it seems like you’re interested in new recruits, but Jincheol, you’re a big guy, but you’re really a total idiot.”
“…”
“I’m currently coaching you to train in simple martial arts. An agent is someone who can show courage even when firearms and magic tools are disabled! To become a hero, you have to prove that you are worthy of it -”
Oh, I can’t stand it anymore.
— Taaak!
“Ouch! Sir! Why all of a sudden -”
“shut up.”
I just hope that Cha Jin-cheol doesn’t only see ‘this side’ of the management office.
*
“User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: 24th day
Current location: 405 Hangang-daero, Yongsan-gu, Seoul (Seoul Station)
Wise Man’s Advice: 3”
– Han Ga-in
It’s already been 24 days.
What did the merchant say when he escaped?
They told me to just rest for the first six months and gather some information for the next six months.
Pure rest lasted only 6 months, but it already feels like 15% of it has passed.
After returning to reality, we tried to interfere in each other’s lives as little as possible.
This doesn’t mean we don’t know how each other is doing.
Some people have created a routine to live with their loved ones.
Some people wanted to delve further into the secrets of the world.
Someone didn’t write down their wish.
…
And the two of them created a strange amusement park and began to enjoy a life of wealth and honor.
One of them, Elena, sent me an invitation.
— Ding!
Another person who created an amusement park has appeared.
The coffee shop door opened and a girl with a refreshing smile came in.
Soon, a rumbling noise began to be heard all around.
If you look at Songi’s appearance now, it is easy to understand.
A charm that both men and women will admire!
“Gain oppa! It’s been a while!”
“Yeah. We’ve video chatted and sent messages many times, but is this the first time we’re meeting in person?”
“that’s right.”
“How have you been?”
“sure.”
While chatting about trivial things, we swallowed the words that were welling up under our chins.
… Songiya.
I’ll just ask in my mind.
therefore….
For some reason, I feel like I’ve grown a little taller.
Somehow the proportions have improved slightly.
Somehow, my facial features have become a bit more distinct.
Surely one of the empty wishes in the dream is a castle-
“Coolook!”
“Why are you like that?”
“no.”
-You’re using words like “hyung” so carelessly?
Immediate advice might be something like, ‘Bow down.’
Or, it could be, ‘Just get punched in the face’!
You have to endure it.
“What about Eunsol?”
“They said they’re joining separately. As you know, unlike us, my sister is a busy businesswoman.”
“Huh? Oppa, I’m really busy too.”
“There’s a difference between being busy playing and being busy working.”
“Kick! That’s true. By the way, do you know how much of a bother I was because of Gain oppa?”
“…”
“I went to the website listed on the invitation Elena sent me. I was choosing a room for my brother on the website, but suddenly, only my brother’s bookings kept getting canceled.”
It’s because of my wish.
Outside of the hotel party, people quickly forget memories or information about me.
When I made a wish, I wanted to be free from the interference of the administration.
The goal was achieved, but life became quite uncomfortable as a result.
For example, if I sign up for a specific site under my name and order something, my order keeps getting cancelled.
To the average person, it might look like a purchase history of someone who doesn’t exist, or, in other words, a computer error?
I’m not sure about the exact verdict.
“Thanks to you, it’s fun. Have you ever met Eunsol’s secretary, Seungah?”
“yes.”
“He gets surprised every time I go into Eunsol’s office. He always forgets about me.”
“I heard from my sister. My brother is so absorbed in teasing his secretary that he teleports in every time.”
“…”
“Are you a middle school student? You’re not Seungyeop.”
“…”
I felt secretly bad when I heard that I was childish from Songi, not someone else.
If you think about it, Songi is the one who used her dreams to live a life like a cartoon character, right?
“Songiya, do you see this thing next to you?”
Songi nodded when I pointed to the cages placed on the chair.
“I’ve been wondering for a while now. Is that the box with the fero in it?”
— Beep!
Pero’s cries, as if he had been waiting for them.
Soon, Songi put her hand into the cage with a happy expression.
“Oh my, oh my! How cute~! Do I still have to live in a cage? Because if I’m exposed to the outside, I’ll be attacked by laser turrets?”
“No. It’s okay now that I’ve put on the awareness bracelet.”
“Huh? But why are you locked in a cage?”
“Just. I just don’t want to bother taking it out.”
“…”
— Beep!
It’s not even a dog, and carrying a parrot on your shoulder is just too eye-catching.
Songi, who had a slightly embarrassed expression, pointed to the next cage this time.
“What is this?”
“A gift for Elena.”
“Oh! You have that kind of sense, oppa? Oh! Don’t you have anything to give me?”
“…”
ah.
I didn’t think that far.
Songi, who sensed something intuitively after seeing my expression, rebuked me.
“Wow…! This is really too much.”
“…”
“So, what are you going to give Elena? Let’s go see it~!”
“Hey, hey! Don’t touch me.”
“Why, is it expensive? Even a ring – ugh!”
“…”
“Crazy! Crazy! This Han Ga-in kid is really crazy, crazy! Crazy, crazy -”
“Hey, be quiet! I see you around!”
“Who gives something like this as a gift? You don’t need to give it to me either!”
He quickly calmed down the shocked Songi.
“No, no. It’s not what you think!”
“What the heck! A horrible animal corpse – ugh!”
Song covered her mouth because she thought the cafe owner would call the police if she said anything more.
“It was just bad luck.”
“yes?”
“You said you recently started working as an exorcist, right? You got it by chance during that process. Just a little while ago, it was just a dead manifestation of the overlapping possibilities that you were ‘observing’.”
“…What on earth are you talking about?”
“I guess I’ll have to put it back in a nested state.”
— Clang!
Songi looks at me with an increasingly bizarre expression.
“When I started doing exorcist-like work, all kinds of horrible things gathered.”
“…”
“That must mean that this world is very twisted. When the hotel’s promised rest is over, something unusual will happen, so Songi, you should be nervous too.”
“…”
“Let’s get going. It’s almost time for the KTX.”
*
At around 3pm, Songi and I arrived at Busan Port.
A very large cruise ship was already anchored at the port.
A super luxurious cruise ship created by Elena, a Russian heiress who enjoys a glamorous life all year round!
This cruise ship is famous not only for its own splendor but also for the splendid beauty of its owner.
“Ugh~! This is my first time on a cruise?”
“I tried it.”
“I?”
“Did you forget the room at the gate on the first floor?”
The fourth trial, the secret of the Esper ship.
Of course I remember.
“… What kind of cruise is that? It’s more like a nightmare come true.”
Songi smiled brightly and reached out, pointing to the name written on the cruise ship.
“Esper Ho”
“It’s the same.”
“…”
“I think it’s Elena’s prank. Only we can tell.”
The name itself felt a bit off-putting to me.
and….
“Hey, Oppa? It’s almost boarding time.”
“…”
“Brother Gain?”
After returning to reality, the somewhat blurred power, ‘Insight’, showed an ominous image.
“Elena… Why did you name the ship so ominously?”
“The gift you prepared is the most ominous thing in the world. When you carry around something like this, the ominousness of the world gathers around you.”