Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 620
Only Krnovel
EP.619 Episode 619 – The Stolen World (34)
Episode 619 – The Stolen World (34)
– Kim Ari
A rich plain filled with ripe golden waves.
This is the thought that came to my mind as soon as I boarded the Ark of Wisdom and saw the interior.
I knew that each ark had a different internal structure, but seeing it in person was quite amazing.
“Wow…! How beautiful! Ari, what do you think?”
“Similar.”
After Cain finished some negotiations with the previous Wisdom, I and Dojeong boarded the inside of the previous Wisdom, avoiding the stone slab.
If all goes according to plan, I plan to get off midway and check into the Delight Hotel.
Domination – Oswald muttered.
“It’s confusing.”
“…”
“In an instant, a flood of incomprehensible information poured in. When I came to my senses, I found myself dismantling the ark that I had thought was my salvation with my own hands.”
“It was a rational choice.”
“Yes. It was a decision reached after extremely logical consideration.”
Again, a quiet silence.
This silence did not last long.
“Do you really think your colleague can suppress the moon?”
“…”
“We have no ark. If we fail, there will be no next time.”
“That’s right.”
“Can we turn back time again?”
“well….”
In the worst case scenario, there is a possibility that it may have to be turned back again.
The price of the first reversal is to return from being a regressor to being a mortal.
What is the price of the second reversal?
Permanent death?
There is one ticket left from the 2nd floor breakthrough reward.
Even if Mukseong dies, he can still be saved by using a ticket.
…let’s avoid this ominous possibility if possible.
“It seems like it would be difficult twice. After all, there’s no way I could use the incredible miracle of turning back time in succession… .”
Soon, Oswald walked through the wheat field and motioned to me.
As I followed him, I suddenly remembered the day I was first promoted to the Silent One.
That day, I learned many truths about the world, including the existence of the moon.
Wasn’t it Oswald who took me down to the basement that time?
“ari.”
“hmm?”
“Do you remember what I said to you the first day I met you?”
“What are you talking about?”
A small white piece of paper popped out from Oswald’s arms.
“This is it. It was originally a photograph. It was like that until about 7 or 8 months ago.”
“…”
“Just as you came back, the photo turned into a blank sheet of paper.”
A story I told once in the past.
“There was originally a person in this photo. I don’t know who it was. I knew it before, but I’ve forgotten it now.”
“…”
“Do you know who the person in the photo is?”
“A traitor to humanity. A person you have killed countless times in a repeating loop.”
“That’s what I told you. I’m asking for information you know.”
Oswald, who was walking through the wheat field, slowly turned around and looked into my eyes.
“I have a thought. Aren’t we on the Ark of Wisdom now? If I get off here, I think I’ll forget everything about ‘Young Wisdom’s’ appearance and name.”
The moment has finally come.
Oswald finally realized that the traitor to humanity was Cain’s distant past.
Considering the time period in which the photo was altered, you would have guessed from the beginning that the traitor to humanity was ‘the man who came out of the hotel with me’.
I didn’t know exactly who it was among my colleagues, but I just found out today.
“after….”
I instinctively summoned an isomorphic polyhedron and met Oswald’s gaze.
Should I kill this guy here if I have to?
The gaze of dominance slowly turned towards the isomorphic polyhedron, but it seemed like it had no intention of fighting me.
“I told you a lie.”
“what?”
“I am not the one who killed the past researcher. His continuous extermination has been carried on for generations by one of the silent ones.”
‘researcher’
Gain’s first life and a living incarnation of a secret.
“I thought you’d react more if I told you I killed you.”
“so?”
“After the photo turned into meaningless paper, I searched through all the remaining materials. I thought I had to find the researcher and kill him again.”
“…”
“Thanks to you, I got a lot of information about him.”
Information about the researcher that Dominion found out.
“People who, with the exception of a very small number, treat most humans as tools.”
“Just an ordinary agent from the management bureau.”
“Faith, trust, belief. People who make fun of these words.”
“…”
“A person who has explored the secrets of the world more deeply than anyone else.”
“I have a lot of questions too.”
“A person who has gained the power to resist eternal destruction.”
“… That’s pretty amazing.”
“Besides this, there were a lot of negative records. There was no good content.”
Finally, he answered with a deep sigh.
“Ugh… So what? Are you trying to sow discord or something?”
“Did I seem that shallow?”
“then?”
“Sowing discord? I have no intention of doing something like that. It won’t work, and above all….”
“More than anything?”
“Isn’t it more likely that young wisdom will hit me in the back of the head than that I will hit young wisdom in the back of the head?”
Honestly, I admit this!
After a brief silence, Dominion muttered in a whisper.
“After living for a long time, I have developed an eye for people.”
“…”
“It’s not like it’s some kind of superpower. To borrow a popular expression these days, it’s probably big data.”
“so?”
“Youthful wisdom is not a wicked man.”
“uh?”
I was a little surprised by this story, as it was the opposite of the negative reviews about researchers I’ve heard so far.
“Of course, I guess. Young Wisdom wouldn’t have told me the whole truth.”
“…”
“There must be a lot to hide and some kind of hidden agenda.”
It’s a new thing, but Domination is also one of the silent ones who have supported the administration for a long time.
There is no one who is completely unaware of Ga-in’s tricks.
“It’s okay. At some point, I became convinced. It’s true that young Jihye has an ulterior motive, but it’s not an evil intention.”
“…”
“It feels like you’re drawing a path for everyone. That’s what I felt.”
“I’m glad you believe that.”
This is true.
“At the same time, I also felt uneasy.”
“Anxiety?”
“Youthful wisdom is not a bad thing, but what about researchers?”
Strange way of speaking.
Domination speaks of the researcher and the present Ga-in separately, even though the researcher knows that Ga-in is from her long past.
“ari.”
“…”
“ari.”
“I’m listening.”
“I don’t think the researcher has been replaced by young wisdom and disappeared without a trace.”
“What does it mean?”
“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling. However, my feeling is pretty accurate.”
“…”
“There’s something more to the researcher.”
“…”
“Don’t let your guard down until the very last moment. That’s what I wanted to say.”
With those words, the domination went away.
He’s got a lot of work to do now that he’s decided to dismantle the Ark and restore the Administration.
*
After being alone for about 30 minutes, another person appeared in front of me.
A white male in his early 50s.
The moment our eyes met, I intuitively knew that this was the true face of ancestral wisdom.
“We’ve arrived at Pioneer. If you go inside the hotel right away, you’ll be able to avoid the judgment of the stone tablet. After that, it’s up to you.”
Thanks to you, I arrived safely, so I guess I should at least say thank you?
“thank you.”
The wisdom of the ancestors looked out across the plains and said.
“I overheard your conversation with Dominion earlier.”
“Oh, isn’t it rude to eavesdrop on private conversations?”
“The content is not personal at all. Above all, this is my home.”
That’s right.
The next words were somewhat unexpected.
“Did you know? All the participants made a wish at the hotel.”
“Wish? I’m talking about the dream I wrote when I escaped from the second floor -”
“I’m not talking about when you escape from the second floor. I’m talking about empty wishes before everything starts.”
Not when escaping, but at the very beginning, an empty wish.
Was there something like that?
“We made a wish at the hotel, but we forgot that we had made a wish. It’s sad.”
Memories from long ago flashed through my mind.
The story heard by Ga-in, who solved the last movie at the hotel cinema.
The answer to the question of why the hotel has a third floor.
“I’ve had dreams for a few years now. They’re dreams about my past self, and back then I was endlessly pursuing goals that were so difficult to achieve.”
“I would do anything for my dream. No matter how difficult or painful it was. Even now, I don’t even know what that dream is.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I had a thought while listening to you and the story of domination. Think about it.”
Before entering the hotel, each participant had their own desires.
What did Gain wish for at the hotel?
Before that, let’s look at the premise again.
Is it Ga-in who made the wish? Or is it the researcher?
Does this distinction make sense?
“…”
What did I wish for?
If you think about it normally, it would be the revival of the labyrinth or the stability of the world, right?
Suddenly, this thought occurred to me.
Of course I made those wishes, but there was something else too.
A somewhat personal wish.
Not a wish for the world or the maze, but something for ‘myself’.
I think there was a moment that I myself had forgotten.
*
— Kwarrung!
This is what I heard as soon as I entered the first floor of Delight Hotel.
At least hundreds of concrete blocks are flying at incredible speeds!
As I watched the shocking scene of the Delight Hotel being rebuilt in real time right before my eyes, all the complicated thoughts that had been causing me a headache blew away in an instant.
I heard a rough explanation from Gain, but does this really make sense?
— Crazy!
As I was rolling around in shock from the tremendous vibration that felt like thunder, I heard a rough voice.
“Come to the elevator!”
After running frantically to the first floor of Pioneer, I sat down at the tea table and looked around blankly.
Cha Jin-cheol and Park Seung-yeop arrived at the hotel before me.
Because, unlike me, he didn’t waste time avoiding the stone tablets and boarding the Ark of Wisdom.
“Anyone else?”
“I heard the Australians have already boarded the plane. They’ll arrive tomorrow.”
“What about Eunsol?”
“I went out for a moment after receiving a call from Sophia.”
Sophia?
I wonder how you survived without dying.
“Ari noona, when is Gain hyung coming?”
“Yeah. I thought you were coming with me, Ari.”
“Gain negotiated with the previous Jihye, but then went somewhere else. I heard….”
“I heard?”
“It looks like you’re going to meet Patrick and sign some kind of contract in the ‘Book of Covenants’. Right, Seungyeop.”
“yes?”
“Gain said you used Awakening before turning back time?”
“Oh, really?”
“Are you still there?”
“yes.”
The number of awakenings has been restored by turning back time.
This is fortunate.
…
The next morning, my colleagues in Australia returned one after another.
When I met eyes with Mukseong, who smiled and asked, “How have you been?” I couldn’t open my mouth at all.
Could you explain this strange sensation to someone else?
The feeling that the person himself has become smaller.
Feeling out of focus in the world.
A feeling of fundamental lowering that cannot be compared to things like physique.
Mortal fate has returned to Mukseong once again.
For a moment, he was speechless and hesitated, then Mukseong smiled brightly.
As if he was telling me not to worry because nothing was wrong with him.
“Ari Inma! What are you doing standing there like a stone statue? I’m hungry. Let’s eat hotel food for the first time in a while!”
The meaning behind the wink that accompanies those words is clear.
Don’t talk nonsense to other people.
I think he probably just glossed over it to his colleagues as simple aging.
I’m sure you said it could be easily resolved with help from the administration.
You can’t fool someone forever.
As the inspiration of my colleagues becomes sharper, I will realize the change in silence as time goes by.
But that day doesn’t necessarily have to be today.
*
Towards evening, Gain, who had finally finished all the negotiations, returned.
— Mate!
“Now, this is the deal I made with the looters.”
Everyone just stares at the whiteboard with their mouths shut.
To exaggerate a bit, it’s like a negotiation that would hand over the Earth to plunderers!
What are you bragging about?
If you weren’t Cain, I would have chained you up right away and demanded that you betray humanity ‘again’!
Eventually, Eunsol couldn’t stand it anymore and asked, “Is it really true that we had such a crazy negotiation?”
— Crackle!
The moment Ga-in smiled and drew a black line on the whiteboard, I laughed inside.
Yeah yeah, Gain!
I know you’re smart and can see the big picture, but did you really have to say it in such a heartbreaking way?
Isn’t that too much showmanship?
If we continue like this, aren’t we betraying humanity?
“…”
Let’s calm down.
Whenever I see Gain, the words ‘traitor to humanity’ keep coming to mind.
Because I heard some scary words from the ruler and the wisdom of the past.
Gain, standing in front of the whiteboard, explained the real plan for a long time.
“Well, how about hearing the real plan?”
The first question that Seungyeop asked, who had been listening with his mouth half open, was one that represented the questions we all had.
“So… the moon has to eat all the plunderers?”
“okay.”
“How could that be beneficial to the looters!”
“Pain is only temporary.”
It was a strange plan.
But in a way, it was truly a happy ending for everyone.