Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 578
Only Krnovel
EP.578 Episode 578 – A Trip Down Memory Lane (2)
Episode 578 – A Trip Down Memory Lane (2)
“User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: 114th day
You are currently: Searching… .
Wise Man’s Advice: 3″
– Han Ga-in
A trip down memory lane to strengthen friendships with colleagues and also check on my past.
The first one was Saetbyeol Elementary School, where I graduated, because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember anything before elementary school.
Of course, after going through the loop several times, the elementary school I graduated from is nowhere to be found.
What took its place was a rather shiny building, but from the outside it looked unremarkable.
… I thought it was normal until I sneaked in from the entrance and checked the status window.
“Again, the location is strange again.”
“Brother, doesn’t it seem like things change when you open the door and take a step?”
“Go in further?!”
“Do you know what’s inside?”
As we were loitering at the entrance, a security guard approached.
He opened his eyes wide when he saw Miro and Songi, but soon said what he had to say.
“Hey, don’t make a fuss! This isn’t a place to joke around.”
Two colleagues looking at me, asking what I was going to do.
“Advice: 3 -> 2”
‘Do I need to come in?’
“You don’t need to get involved in all the world’s problems.”
The answer I got was similar to what I thought.
If it were in the past, wouldn’t we have gone further into the maze and wandered around?
He might have made a fuss about revealing the secret of the building that was turning into another world.
“I’m sorry. I’ll have to go out.”
I don’t think like that anymore.
As the owl says, I don’t need to solve all the world’s problems.
Also, judging from the advice not to go in, it seems like you have no memories to recall.
“Miro, report to the management.”
“huh.”
This is enough.
“If I go in, won’t I remember you more?”
“It’s impossible. I don’t remember much about elementary school, and the school has disappeared. Let’s go to the next location.”
“Gain, isn’t it amazing?”
“what?”
“When the interior of a building is distorted, that’s what you call a chaos disaster, right?”
“yes.”
“Is it really that common for disasters to occur in a single lap around a neighborhood?”
Were chaos disasters always this common?
Ari has answered this question several times.
For the Management Agency, which has the entire Earth as its territory, it may seem common, but for each of the 8 billion people, a chaotic disaster is something they may experience once or twice in their lifetime.
therefore….
“Something so common now might be an ominous sign.”
“Wow! You sounded like a real prophet just now!”
*
Strangely enough, the middle school was exactly where I remembered it.
“Isn’t it because there is an obvious place in Seoul to build a school?”
That’s a reasonable opinion.
“Can I come in?”
“These days, there are many schools that prohibit outsiders from entering -”
“Cain! I have permission!”
I looked blankly ahead and saw a security guard waving his hand widely, gesturing for me to enter.
The answer comes when you see the hazy eyes and blurred expression, the look that makes anyone who looks at it like they are possessed.
“…”
“…”
Miro used his voice.
“Maze you… .”
“You wanted to go in, didn’t you?”
It was hard to criticize him when I saw his smiling face.
In fact, I’ve done similar or even worse things at Sunrise, so it’s weird to say anything to Miro.
“Let’s go out and take a look.”
I walked around the playground and sometimes sneaked into the school.
In the process, I learned that although the location was the same, the school name and even the internal structure were different.
It’s practically a different school.
At that moment, a young woman approached from a distance.
“Hey guys~! You guys, aren’t you students here? You can’t come in!”
schoolmaster?
At that time, Songi stepped forward.
“How can we – when there is security -”
“Teacher, I graduated from Saebit Middle School the year before last!”
“Huh? Oh, really?”
Even if it’s a school where outsiders are not allowed to enter, it’s understandable that it’d be difficult to be rude to graduates.
“Other people -”
“This guy is my friend, and this guy is….”
“Oh my! Boyfriend?”
At that moment, the three people simultaneously became silent and looked at each other.
I thought it would be like that since I once acted like Songi’s fiancé in room 206… .
Because Miro’s expression was obviously hardened.
“sure.”
Soon, the teacher disappeared, saying that he would let it slide this time, but not next time.
Then the two people started arguing.
“…Tell me a strange story.”
“what?”
“Wh-what kind of boyfriend is that! I could have just sent him back -”
“You’re using your voice again? Are you an idiot? Didn’t Ari tell you not to abuse your powers?”
“…”
Whether it was true or not, Miro could only hesitate and not answer.
Then Songi giggled and stroked Miro.
“Idiot~! By the way, oppa, is something on your mind? It’s been quiet since a while ago.”
“…”
This middle school is not the middle school I graduated from.
So I didn’t expect much… .
For the first time, I felt uncomfortable.
What is it? Something is coming to mind, but I can’t quite remember what.
“Advice: 2 -> 1”
‘A quick hint! I found the place, so tell me a little bit.’
“Are you the only one who went to school?”
“Am I the only one who went to school?”
“Brother?”
“…”
I remembered.
“Little brother.”
“yes?”
“I had a younger sister.”
“I know. What was your name? Han Hee-kang?”
“He was three years younger than me.”
“I think I heard that story too.”
“When I was in the third year of middle school, my younger brother was in the first year of middle school.”
“…”
Silent Songi.
Soon, Miro also noticed something strange.
“That’s weird. If there’s a three-year age difference, shouldn’t Ga-in be in middle school when her younger sibling is in elementary school?”
A contradiction in memory that is difficult to understand.
Am I remembering the past wrong?
After spending so much time in a hotel, it’s not surprising that your memories of the past have become hazy.
At that time, Songi said.
“Brother, the next place we went was high school, right?”
“that’s right.”
“Listening to you, oppa, I also remember something. Let’s change the location. Where in Jeollanam-do was it? The place where your great-grandfather lived.”
“…”
“Let’s start from there. I’ve got a clue, but if I go somewhere else, my memory will get hazy again.”
“okay.”
*
By the time evening time came and it was getting dark we had arrived at our destination.
In the past, this is the stage for the event ‘The Family with a Backbone’ where you meet the hotel’s painter.
“The country house is gone after all. Where should I go…?”
There was a green tea processing business on the site of the country house, and there was also a tea house nearby that seemed to be run by the business.
“The art gallery event by the stream is just like what I saw at ‘The Family with a Backbone’. Is it because it’s in a natural environment?”
“Do you remember anything?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“Ugh… Oppa, think about it quickly. It’s really cold here!”
“that’s right!”
It was really, really cold when I was by the stream on a winter night.
“Umm… What about you? I thought of you.”
“Oh, right? When you go back to the art museum to remember your brother, the starting point is always this stream, right? Do you remember?”
“yes.”
I vaguely remember that time.
It started out playing with my cousins by the stream.
“At that time, we went in one by one and helped my brother, right?”
“I know it was a nuisance, but.”
“That’s kind of sad. Everyone was trying to help!”
“… Let’s just say I made a mistake.”
It’s true that it was a nuisance!
“The people who went in played the roles of brother and sister, right?”
“That’s right.”
“But, you mean, no one got in on the first and last try? That’s when I saw my brother and sister who hadn’t changed into us.”
“okay?”
At that time, my colleagues did not intervene in the first and last attempts.
Was there anything strange from an outsider’s perspective?
“It’s similar to what you felt earlier. You said that your younger brother was three years younger than you, but the Hee-kang I saw was a complete child.”
“…”
“Your brother is in his first or second year of middle school? He’s 14 or 15 years old, so your younger brother, who’s three years younger, should be in his early teens too….”
“How old did you look?”
“If you hit it well, it’ll be six or seven years old.”
“…”
This time, the age difference between me and my brother is at least 6 years.
Miro couldn’t stand it anymore and asked.
“First it was three years apart, then two years apart, and now six years apart? So Ga-in had three younger siblings?”
“…”
At this point it became clear that there were inconsistencies in my memories of the past.
I felt the need to reveal one of my ‘secrets’ to you two.
“Song-i, Miro. Both of you, listen carefully. There’s something strange I learned at the art gallery event.”
Perhaps sensing the fun atmosphere, Miro’s eyes had already sparkled.
“The last time I tried, I was… killed by an agent.”
After a moment of silence, both of them opened their eyes wide.
“Huh?”
“Wh, what are you talking about? Oh, why is an agent suddenly appearing in your grandfather’s story?”
“…”
A character who appeared in the last attempt that his colleagues did not see.
Agent KD, Kim Do-hyun.
He is not a figure associated with the country house where the ‘family with bones’ took place, but rather a member of the management office.
He is the one who appears at the end like a deus ex machina and solves all the problems in one go, and he is the one who killed me when I was young.
“Gain oppa, isn’t that memory really strange? If you died when you were 14, what are your memories of going to high school, taking the college entrance exam, and entering university?”
“If Ga-in had died back then, how did she come to the hotel?”
Songi and Miro’s reactions are intense.
That would be the case, because this contradiction in memory is not something that can be passed over as ‘I was confused’ like my younger brother’s age.
“…there is one answer to this.”
I remember KD’s last words.
‘Death is the end of an ordinary human being. But it seems like you have another chance.’
A thought I had vaguely since then.
“answer?”
A contradiction that seems incomprehensible at first glance, can be immediately resolved by adding one more assumption.
“I was a regressor before I even entered the hotel.”
The ‘past’ I remember was not one life.
*
Late at night.
The three of them sat around a round table in a shabby motel room nearby that they had reserved in advance.
Songi and I have been looking at the maze for a while now.
“…”
“Hey, stop looking at me!”
The problem of contradictory memories was solved by establishing the hypothesis of a ‘regressor’ before I even entered the hotel.
However, there is still not enough information to go further.
This is because in the first place, there is more we do not know about the ‘regression phenomenon of reality’ than we do know.
There is only one other person besides Ari who can answer this question.
“Miro, try harder. I came here believing only in you.”
“Lies! You came here believing in the ghost, ghost story maze, not me!”
“Two people are one.”
Of course, Grandpa is an agent too, but he would know the maze of the deep sea hotel better than Grandpa.
It was good up to this point, but actually summoning the ghost story maze was harder than I thought.
“Say the conditions for summoning the Ghost Story Maze again.”
“Hey, there’s a stuffed elephant next to my pillow in my room?”
“okay.”
“Was it last week? I was sleeping and looking at my nose and elephant doll, and all of a sudden, it seemed to come to life! I screamed in surprise -”
To put it simply, he said that he was startled by a doll while sleeping at night, and then a ghost maze appeared.
So, I’m guessing that when mazes get scary, ghost story mazes come out.
Songi got annoyed when she heard that.
“Ah, it’s so frustrating. But why isn’t it coming out now?”
“…”
“I’ve been showing you a bunch of scary illusions since a while ago!”
“… It’s not scary because it’s an illusion.”
That makes sense.
Even if I were in Miro, I don’t think I would have been scared by Songi showing me illusions next to me.
Is the maze easier if left alone?
You say you get startled just by looking at an elephant doll at night?
“Songiya, come out for a moment.”
He said it as soon as he came out.
“How about leaving Miro alone and going far away together?”
“But Oppa, even so, Miro knows that we won’t abandon her.”
“…”
It’s getting late, so it’s time for my last piece of advice for today.
Anyway, it’ll be cold again when dawn comes.
“Advice: 1 -> 0”
‘I’m trying to summon the Ghost Story Maze to ask for advice, but it’s hard to summon. Is there an easy way?’
“You don’t necessarily have to be terrified. The key is to create a ‘situation that would lead to a ghost story.’ The actor is prepared.”
“… isn’t fear the key?”
A few horror movie cliches came to mind.
“Okay, okay! Let’s sleep now and think about tomorrow.”
“Okay, okay. Miro, let’s go to sleep now.”
*
– Maze
— Rustle!
“…”
I felt a strange presence.
“Ugh… .”
When I rubbed my eyes and raised my head, I saw that the bed next to me was empty.
“Songiya?”
Where did Songi go?