Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 587
Only Krnovel
EP.587 Episode 587 – The Stolen World (2)
Episode 587 – The Stolen World (2)
“User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: 181st day
Current location: Delight Hotel, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul
Wise Man’s Advice: 2”
– Han Ga-in
The Administration is building an ark to avert the apocalypse, but we, as well as our colleagues’ families, are left without a place to sit.
So, some of his colleagues started to get agitated when they heard Ryan Reynolds’ suggestion to forcefully get the seats.
For someone like me who didn’t save my family or someone like Songi who takes reality lightly, it’s not a big temptation.
But what about Sang-Hyeon Hyung or Grandpa Muk-Seong?
Could two people easily abandon their ordinary family?
The answer is out there.
If the two people had been people who considered the family they had dreamed of as a worthless fantasy, they would not have made a fuss about sending their family to America.
“What do you think?”
A voice urging an answer with a playful expression.
I assure you that this wicked old man is not the kind of man who would be swayed by ‘the likes of’ a mortal family.
There must be another purpose behind the attack on the ark.
Sang-Hyeon muttered in a slightly trembling voice.
“We can negotiate with the administration. Right now, they don’t care because they don’t know we’re hotel escapees -”
Ryan cut his brother off with a snicker.
“If you negotiate, don’t you think that your family will be held hostage by the Administration? Do you trust the Administration completely? If so, why did you hide your participation until now?”
To say that you hid your participation means that you distrust the administration.
My brother’s eyes trembled at the suggestion that he was thinking of leaving his family’s life or death at the mercy of the management office on such a topic.
I felt the need to break the flow because the opponent had subtly taken the initiative.
“Grandpa, brother. You don’t have to worry about either of them. You know that, right?”
— Hwarurur!
As he smiled brightly and summoned the sun, both of their eyes grew wide.
The nature of the sacred sun is also a kind of ark, and the companions also know this much.
“Just put your soul into it.”
“Ha~! Gain, you’ve forgotten what your legacy is! That’s right! If you just protect your soul, the next loop’s management bureau can make you a body!”
Grandpa glared at Ryan again with an air of arrogance.
Instead of getting angry or excited, Ryan looked purely amazed.
“That’s amazing.”
“…”
“So, you’re saying that the fireball is a tool that holds the soul?”
“…”
“When you fight me, do you burn your soul to gain strength?”
As a result of emphasizing the sacred sun to reassure his two colleagues, Ryan also came to understand some of the principles of the sun.
At times like these, it was awkward that the other person was also the master of communication.
Because we were beings who could spy on Grandfather’s chat window, it was impossible for us to have a secret conversation.
“Great! But even so, we still need to work together. Friend, some of your colleagues were taken to the Ark, right?”
“okay.”
“Have you ever wondered why you were taken? The hotel participants could survive the loop without the ark, so why did you put them on the ark?”
“…”
That’s a valid point.
Since Eunsol, Seungyeop, Miro, and Jincheol are all hotel participants, they can endure the loop without relying on the ark.
But why did you give up your precious place in the ark?
“So that we can wake up at the same time.”
“ah?”
“The awakening times of agents after the loop are farther apart than you might imagine. There are even theories that there is a gap of over 1,000 years between the earliest and latest? I have never experienced that myself.”
“…”
“Let’s say they only carried ordinary people who lack the ability to fight and respond to chaos entities. They woke up in 800 AD as a group, but there were no agents who ‘coincidentally’ woken up around the same time, that is, no guardians?”
I understand.
You only put ordinary people on the ark and sent them to the next loop, but when you woke up, there were only demons around and no agents?
It’s a simple story about a few powerful regressors who were brought on board to avoid such a disaster.
Also, not all regressors are strong.
Because in Jincheol’s eyes, the fighting power of the ordinary agent who was Jincheol’s shooter was nothing more than that of a ‘weakling who would die with one hard hit.’
Therefore, hotel participants are suitable for the role of guardian.
“…”
In this context, for example, Eunsol’s fighting power may be subtle, but wouldn’t the management think that she had hidden powers since she was a hotel participant?
“Young friend, I think you understand enough, so let me ask you this. Can you guarantee that your awakening point in the next loop will be similar to that of your comrades?”
“Hmm….”
I know what you mean.
So, what I’m saying is, if I wake up in the Middle Ages and Sang-Hyeon and Grandpa Muk-Seong wake up in the modern era, wouldn’t it be difficult for them to meet their families?
Sang-Hyeon frowned.
“Gain, I believe that even if I’m not around, you’ll take good care of Jinsol and Baram. So, you don’t have to worry about what that guy says anymore.”
Are you saying that I will take care of Jinseol and Baramyang on my own?
“Same thing. Don’t listen to that damned thing -”
Aren’t you both trusting me too much?
— Mate!
After lightly clapping his hands to quiet everyone, he answered Ryan.
“Let’s cooperate.”
“Short talk – huh? Cooperation?”
“Do you hate it?”
“Oh, no, that’s not it… .”
Ryan, on the other hand, is embarrassed.
I guess he knew I would reject him based on the mood of his colleagues.
“What are the conditions? We attack the ark together? We don’t attack each other until the attack is over? Is that okay?”
“… That’s right.”
“Wouldn’t it be hard to trust each other if we just talk?”
“That’s it -”
“Patrick will come tomorrow and hand me something like the Book of Oath?”
“… Have you learned mind reading by any chance?”
“The world is so obvious, why are you using poison? Let’s do that. Since we’re both busy, please bring the book of oath as quickly as possible.”
“…”
Ryan, who had been trying to seduce us a little while ago, was now giving us a suspicious look, which wasn’t a bad thing.
As long as the opponent has the wrong pulse, doubt will only make him slower and duller.
“Okay, tomorrow morning -”
Ryan, who had been nodding his head with doubt, suddenly tilted his head.
“…”
“…”
A strange silence.
It seems like even Ryan, let alone us, can’t keep up with the situation.
“What is it?”
Ryan answered, still unable to hide his embarrassment.
“… Excuse me. The negotiations have been settled, and Patrick will be here tomorrow morning with the Book of Covenants. And, um, I have something to tell you.”
Do you suddenly have something to say?
Grandpa Mukseong asked, seeming interested.
“Hey, did you happen to get some ‘wisdom from that side’?”
“…”
“Oh? Really? I’m curious about this? What did you say?”
Ryan muttered as if he had been given an ‘unpleasant but irresistible order’.
“He wants to ask. Is there any ‘justice’ among you?”
Suddenly justice?
“‘Protect justice. If justice dies, unmanageable variables will arise.’”
“What does this mean?”
Ryan answered with a more sincere expression than ever.
“If you understand, let me know. I’m curious too.”
*
After Ryan left, my grandfather immediately looked at me.
“You… why did you hold that guy’s hand?”
An atmosphere that makes other people curious too.
“I thought that when you’re not sure what the right answer is, you should first eliminate the wrong answers.”
When you are confused about which way to go, start by clearing away the wrong path.
“There are serious flaws with the Authority’s plan to build an ark. It is fundamentally a stopgap measure.”
“A stopgap measure?”
I continued speaking calmly, looking at my colleagues.
“Eventually, destruction happens. The Administration decides that they cannot prevent the apocalypse, so they simply gather their remaining forces and flee.”
The root of all problems is ultimately the demon of the moon or the light that calls for doomsday.
The Administration chose to evacuate because they could not stop the cause of the apocalypse.
“Think of it like a room of curses. Since you can’t solve it, you just keep escaping over and over again, right?”
Only then did my colleagues begin to nod their heads as they understood what I was saying.
“Question here! Are there infinite opportunities for escape?”
“…”
“Ryan said, ‘Civilizations have declined several times because of failed attempts to build the ark.’ I see that as a kind of ‘count reduction.’”
Songi whispered as if it was terrible.
“If we fail to build the ark a few more times, we’ll still be in the Stone Age by the time we reach the 21st century?”
“That could be true. If that happens, we will never be able to stop the demons of the moon or the light that will bring about the end. Rather than stopping it, we will just keep getting annihilated without even knowing what is happening.”
What remains at the end may be an eternal primitive age.
Isn’t this one of the bad endings in reality?
I think there will be a worse ending.
There are probably more hellish bad endings that we don’t even know exist now.
I put as much force into my voice as I could and looked straight into my colleague’s eyes.
“Let’s be clear about our objective. Escape on the Ark? That’s the goal of the Administration or Ryan-related forces.”
“Our goal is….”
“It’s not about escaping, it’s about solving. The demons of the moon, the light that calls for the end. We have to stop them.”
The administration fell into a cycle of repeated escapes.
To get them out of the swamp, we need to attack the ark.
The strength that Ryan’s forces have built up in this work will be of significant help.
Therefore, I saw that temporary cooperation with the Ryan forces was valid.
After the persuasion, Elena muttered cautiously.
“The last thing Ryan said was….”
“Words from an unknown wisdom delivered through Ryan?”
‘Protect justice. If justice dies, unmanageable variables will arise.’
As soon as those words came out, Songi smiled slightly.
“It’s a little funny. You’re saying that you’re being ordered by your superiors to say and do things that you don’t even understand? Ryan, that guy just shows off, isn’t that proof that he’s nothing special?”
On the other hand, Sang-Hyeon Hyung smiled bitterly.
“Rather than finding it funny, didn’t you feel a sense of awkwardness?”
“A sense of awkwardness?”
“Don’t we often do similar things?”
Soon, everyone was staring at me with an expression like they had been hit in the back of the head.
I smiled awkwardly and changed the subject.
“Elena, does what Ryan said make you think of anything?”
“yes.”
At the moment when everyone was tilting their heads, Elena brought up an unexpected story.
“I didn’t know because I didn’t have a chance to use my strength properly until now, but earlier -”
“a moment ago?”
“When his colleagues were raptured, he tried to use self-defense.”
Self-defense.
The third power of justice that Elena has acquired is the power to greatly ease the conditions for activating a blessing when the enemy attacks first.
Even so, did you try to use it in a situation like the Rapture where you don’t even know what the enemy is?
“It failed to activate because it was too ambiguous. I thought I should force it, but Miro stopped me.”
“Is that so?”
“This is the second time, so I was sure… But I wasn’t sure because it was so brief on the Esper.”
An attitude of trailing off.
I don’t think he’s sure about it either.
“… The blessing seems to have been greatly weakened?”
“ah?”
The blessings of justice have been weakened.
Previously, it was used mainly as an auxiliary power, such as lie detection or clarity index, and it seems that it was not certain because the battle on the Esper ship ended in one blow.
I realized this belatedly when I tried to use it properly this time through self-defense.
“That means….”
“I think there are other definitions besides mine.”
Sang-Hyeon sighed.
“You must be affiliated with the Administration. That’s why I said that Elena must not die. Otherwise, I would have to struggle with complete justice!”
“this!”
A time when everyone is wary of ‘another participant of justice belonging to the Management Bureau’.
I had a slightly different question.
How on earth did the wisdom of our ancestors know that there was justice among us?
Did you indirectly know that the definition of ancestors had weakened?
*
Late at night after the meeting.
As I was sitting on my chair, deep in thought, I felt a presence.
— Squeak!
“Elena?”
“…”
She entered the room without saying a word and closed the door tightly.
“…Elena?”
Then he looked at me cautiously.
“Mr. Cain.”
“yes.”
“I used lie detection while talking to Ryan earlier.”
“Was there a lie?”
“At first, it was like you said you loved your family.”
Ryan’s claim that he needed a place on the ark to save his family was also a lie.
“I thought so. How could a guy like that have any love for his family? He must have some other purpose, targeting the ark.”
I wasn’t surprised because I expected this much.
Elena hadn’t come here just to say this either.
“and….”
I had a vague feeling about what Elena was trying to say.
“Mr. Gain lied too.”
“…”
“In the meantime, I was trying to persuade my grandfather and the doctor. I told them not to be swayed by Ryan’s words, because the sacred sun can protect the two families.”
“…”
“You’re lying, right?”
“yes.”
“…Can’t you save him?”
“…”
A heritage endowed with all sorts of abilities, like the divine sun, is difficult for anyone other than its owner to fully understand what it can and cannot do.
Even the owner is sometimes confused, as some things that were not possible in the past may now be possible due to the nature of the heritage that is affected by the user’s skill level.
After putting someone else’s soul into the sacred sun, can the soul be released and brought back to life after the loop?
In the latter half of issue 206, I know the answer, having flown through space to avoid the Demon King and vomited out countless souls.
It’s impossible.
The state when swallowing and the state when spitting out are completely different, and the latter is not normal.
To put the souls of the divine sun into flesh, to put it bluntly, means nothing more than producing monsters.
reason?
I don’t know either.
I just know that it’s impossible.
…
So I’m curious.
Clearly, the ‘Lord’ said that the divine sun was also an ark.
Given the circumstances, I thought that the identity of the ark was something similar to the one created in World 104… .
Why can the Ark of the Management Bureau do things that the Sacred Sun cannot do, even though they are the same Ark?
“Elena, I’m sorry.”
“Oh, no! That’s what my colleagues told me not to be shaken by. It’s a good, uh, white lie… .”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
Suddenly, this thought occurred to me.
Is it true that the Ark of the Management Bureau can do what the Holy Sun cannot?
Isn’t the ark itself a huge fraud?
I don’t know anything yet.
However, this hypothesis is also one of the implicit reasons why I am convinced that the Administration’s choice is wrong.