Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 635
Only Krnovel
EP.635 Episode 635 – The Oldest Wish (16) Fin
Episode 635 – The Oldest Wish (16)
“User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 234
You are currently: Searching… .
Wise Man’s Advice: 0”
– Han Ga-in
“You are my final trial!”
Aleph, the one who shows unwavering, resolute will.
Feeling the sharp gaze of the other person, I thought about what the crack was that made ‘me’ into ‘us’.
The biggest crack would be Ari lying dying on the floor of the ruined sanctuary.
To put it more simply, my views on my colleagues divided me and Aleph.
The more we understand the secrets of hotels and the world, the more we feel a sense of infinite emptiness.
What is existence, and what is the difference between human and non-human?
Think of the beings we call NPCs and do not hesitate to harm when we feel the need to.
The body, the mind, and even the soul are not much different from those of humans.
Why not human?
Because the time it can last is short?
So, are people with incurable diseases not human?
I know, too.
All these concerns are secondary and the real reasons are different.
You should think of them as NPCs, and be able to harm them as needed to solve the curse room.
I just believed it because I needed to.
…
Body, mind, and soul – we are gradually moving away from people.
If there is one last shred of conscience or humanity left to us, wouldn’t it be our comrades?
I remember Songi saying that we are the only real family in the world.
Maybe, deep down, I think so too.
It wasn’t just us.
Cheonlian, who asked to save Ryan.
In a moment of weakness, the old wisdom seeks out an unidentified former colleague.
When the thought crossed his mind, Aleph smiled bitterly.
“I am still caught up in vain thoughts.”
“…”
“You are the last test left for me. You are a weakness that I have not been able to overcome, and evidence of my humble origins.”
I muttered, feeling something close to sadness.
“It wasn’t me who couldn’t overcome weakness, it was you. You were the great sinner who literally ruined the world because you couldn’t overcome fear.”
An indescribable fear.
That’s where it all started.
When I first glimpsed my memories from my days as a researcher, I didn’t know what this fear was.
I know now.
“… fear is not fear if you can overcome it. You are pointing out a problem I am already overcoming.”
I know Aleph, and Aleph knows me better than anyone in the world.
That is why, instead of denying the existence of fear, Aleph argued that it was already being overcome.
“Let’s see the end!”
— Saaaah…!
*
The clash of powers has begun in earnest!
What does it mean that a ‘status window’ appeared for both me and Aleph?
It means that in the hotel’s eyes, none of us are fake.
The two legacies, the Book of the Sacred Sun and the Book of the Avatar, also gave the same verdict.
They floated in the center of the scene where the conflict was taking place, each revealing their own presence, without leaning towards anyone.
The phenomenon experienced once in room 207 has reappeared.
I will divide the power of the legacy equally in half, so decide who will win.
The winner takes it all.
It really felt like the hotel I always stayed at, so I couldn’t help but laugh.
There were also some unfair things, like the crown.
Since the crown was not an inheritance in the first place, there was no reason to follow the hotel’s decision, and the hotel did not confiscate the crown.
I don’t know if the crown has intelligence, but if it does, it might say something like this.
‘The causality that got me was created by Aleph.’
‘You are an illusion created by the second sentence of the Grimoire, and nothing more than the spirit of Aleph.’
—Whoosh!
As soon as the collision occurred, I was pushed back like crazy.
It’s a similar situation to the one I had in Room 207.
The tools and principles they use are similar, but the differences in other areas are just too great!
In the past, brain power was the issue, but now the presence or absence of a crown is the issue.
To put it in childish terms, the level and skills are similar, but the opponent has infinite magic power.
This is because Aleph is constantly consuming the infinite souls that the moon has swallowed as a source of power.
What was it like before?
Aha, the other side realized that they were fakes touched by the performer’s hands and committed suicide!
That kind of ending is impossible this time.
Aleph is not fake, and he knows it.
As such, even though it was a fight that was overwhelmingly unfavorable to me, the outcome wasn’t decided in an instant.
Because the essence of what is happening now is not a question of ‘who is stronger’.
In the first place, Aleph and I are not different people at all.
A tree that grew from the same root and split for some reason.
To summarize what’s going on right now, it’s a noisy process of me persuading another me!
That is why Aleph cried out to me with a sense of urgency.
“Look at this!”
The sanctuary is once again in chaos due to my conflict with Aleph.
Seungyeop and Miro, who had already passed out, were caught up in the aftermath of the collision and were bumped into here and there, but Seungyeop already had a broken arm.
Of course, it wouldn’t have been strange if Ari, who was dying on the floor, had stopped breathing at any moment.
The reason it still has a lifeline is because of the tenacity of the ‘old blood’, but even the power of heritage has its limits.
“…”
Are you referring to a colleague who is in danger and trying to threaten me?
That’s not it.
Aleph thinks I am an inner weakness, a weakness of the mind.
What’s the point of threatening yourself?
“What do you see?”
Aleph’s questions and my answers.
“It looks like my colleagues are going to die soon.”
“and?”
“I can see the sadness boiling inside your heart.”
Aleph whispered, not hiding his sorrow.
“I understand that you care for your comrades. I understand that you were torn from me because you could not overcome that pain.”
“…”
“But, this is a process that ‘we’ must overcome, it’s just weakness. We must not have any weaknesses!”
Me – or, Aleph’s voice, as if persuading himself.
I love my colleagues, but I am convinced that I must erase anything that could be a weakness in order to move forward on a noble path.
“You know? You know better than anyone else. Earthly relationships are so futile. You – think back to the memories of what we believed to be our family!”
The facts discovered at the end of the ‘memory trip’ with Songi and Miro.
I was a regressor even before I came to the hotel.
There were also many parents and siblings, and of course they were different people each time.
Those who considered their ‘true family’ were nothing more than a composite memory of at least a few thousand ‘families’.
Like Sang-Hyeon and Mama, I also mixed up the memories of my repetitive life and mistakenly thought it was just one life.
That is why Aleph says:
“You are a slice of my life, a tiny piece of the path I have walked, a fleeting dream.”
Worldly relationships are like an extremely vain dream, and ‘Han Ga-in’ is just a part of that dream.
“It is time to wake up from this dream.”
— Multi-faceted!
One step, another step.
Aleph approaches with a big smile.
It is a dignified appearance, as if he has finally overcome the final ordeal brought about by fate.
I felt the intense longing he had for me.
The desire to escape from a miserable fate and evolve into something great.
Because I felt that sentiment, I said it with a hint of regret.
“When I point at the moon, you only look at my finger.”
For the first time, Aleph tilted his head as if he found it strange.
“I thought I was hallucinating, but it wasn’t you who said that?”
The first crack that separated me and him appeared before Ari woke me up bleeding.
Aleph’s minor but irreparable mistake – or limitation.
The following words came out naturally.
“You dreamed so much of Nirvana and wanted to become great… .”
“what -”
“You have no idea what that path means.”
I looked into those eyes filled with confusion and thought.
About the hotel, and further, the purpose of the ‘Buddha’.
“Aleph, do you know what the purpose of the hotel is?”
“…”
“You didn’t know before, and you probably didn’t care. Now, you have a vague idea, right?”
A mysterious experience in Jeju Island.
Someone – presumably an ascendant from the past – spoke to me.
There are people in the world who want to create heaven.
He created a million hells to create heaven.
It is an incredibly mysterious and unforgettable memory.
Of course, Aleph knows too.
“…creating heaven.”
“He who sheds tears for the three thousand worlds aims for the salvation of all beings. No one knows what this means or how to achieve it.”
“Why are you suddenly telling me this story -”
The look of wanting to stop the conversation.
But there is already a tremble in Aleph’s voice.
Because he is not a fool, he must have guessed what I was going to say.
So this conversation didn’t end there either.
“Aleph, what were you thinking about just now?”
A thought flashed through both of their minds.
*
As the first sentence, I was able to rob everyone’s body.
As a second sentence, I even overcame the uniqueness of the mind.
What about the third sentence then?
Having surpassed the limits of both body and mind, the final destination is the predation of the soul!
*
“You take away my body, and swallow my soul beyond the limits of my mind? You just steal everything!”
“…”
“How can there be any theft on the path pursued by the one who saves the three thousand worlds?”
How could someone who wants to realize heaven use the principles of a thief?
Aleph countered:
“That’s nonsense! The power to harm others is widespread in the hotel! Even Eunsol’s ‘Hand of Greed’ has the ability to harm others -”
“It is only an intermediate hell. According to the Buddha, hell is a process on the way to heaven, and is part of the great process of the six paths of reincarnation.”
Think of the million hells born for the final heaven.
If this is the principle of Buddha, the principle of the hotel, then the so-called ‘lower-level power’ can be just as evil.
Because it’s just a process to get to heaven.
but.
“If what you and I have achieved is something truly close to the ultimate….”
“…”
“We must show at least a glimpse of heaven.”
If it is a high-level power, if it is a power that has approached the destination that the Buddha pursues… .
There must be at least some trace of heaven.
“At least that road can’t be a robbery.”
One step, Aleph took a step back.
“…No one knows the Buddha’s will! Even the prisoners don’t know it, so how can you speak as if you know everything?”
Common agnosticism.
But it makes sense.
“That’s right. As you said, all the stories about Buddha are my speculations and delusions. If that’s the case, let’s change the subject from Buddha to ‘Lord.’”
“what?”
“Lord of No. 104! A great being who has reached the third stage of the soul fusion. A being who has reached the pinnacle of the path you have longed for. You do not intend to deny this, do you?”
“…”
“What kind of being was the Lord? Do you think he looks similar to us now?”
Note 104.
A third stage soul ensemble and an incomprehensible prisoner who has swallowed up nearly infinite souls.
The very concept of self was different from that of humans.
If you take away a part of yourself, you consider that part as yourself.
When something similar to oneself is born, one considers that to be oneself as well.
Incomprehensible thoughts and principles.
Why this was possible.
— Saaaa!
The landscape of the sanctuary began to change.
Because I am stronger than Aleph? No.
Because Aleph is also convinced by my words.
Whether he wanted it or not, our hearts were slowly coming together as one point – for a moment, we truly touched a distant realm.
A giant whirlpool.
The one singularity that attracts the world itself!
I looked out at the distant scenery and whispered to Aleph.
This is a story about ‘weakness’, which is a realization I vaguely gained a long time ago, and which Aleph also knew deep down but tried to escape.
“Why did the Demon King of Room 206 act like a god?”
“…”
“Why does God act like God?”
People don’t protect ants, so why did the Demon King care about his followers?
It’s not a calculation.
It’s not a deal.
Just as ants can’t help humans, human gods were of no use to the Demon King.
“Because we can’t tell the difference. Because the difference has no meaning.”
“…”
“Why do we distinguish between what is me and what is not me? Because there is a boundary between them.”
The boundary that separates the self and the non-self.
“Once you cross that line, there is no more typing.”
To the truly great there is no other.
All things are either me or something that is becoming a part of me.
It’s the difference between being a little closer to the singularity and a little further away.
— Gooooooo…!
From the singular point that attracts all things, the distant sound of the Holy Heaven is heard.
Some people worship these things as ‘gods’ or ‘great beings’.
There is no you and me.
There is no self or non-self.
Even the distinction between body, mind, and soul is worthless.
Desire, of course, and even thought and will are but temporary illusions.
“Do you understand now?”
“…”
“Swallow my body with the first sentence? My heart with the second sentence? My soul with the third sentence?”
“…”
“That’s not it. What I really mean is -”
The first answer that came back to Aleph.
“The disappearance of boundaries.”
“…”
“There is no boundary between you and my body. There is no boundary in the mind or outside the mind. Therefore… .”
“Know that you are the only one under heaven.”
“Know that you are the only one under heaven.”
There is only one singularity in the world.
When I vaguely realized this principle in room 206, I thought:
The true God is a phenomenon.
It is movement. It is gravity. It is the providence of the universe.
If this is greatness, then perhaps it is not what I desire!
“You know what I know. You already knew what I’m showing you now, right?”
“…”
“It’s not that I didn’t know. It’s that I didn’t want to know. I’ve been longing to become a great person for eons, but the reality of a great person that I vaguely understood at the hotel was so different from what you imagined.”
“…”
“That’s why I turned my head. This is your weakness.”
He repeated what Aleph had said at first.
“Go beyond your weakness. And accept it. I am not a part of your life, nor an empty dream.”
“… Then what?”
“I am your goal. I am your ideal. I am what you wanted to become. Therefore, I am your singularity.”
Soon, I smiled broadly and whispered to my ‘past obsession’.
“Aleph.”
“…”
“Do you still want to be ‘that kind of thing’?”
I heard someone’s heart break.
I heard the sound of my oldest dream fading away.
“Haha! We finally see eye to eye.”
The last words must have been a soliloquy.
— Bam!
A small, untitled note that fell out of nowhere.
The last trace, the last fear, of someone who is now gone.
“…”
Long ago, there was a senior researcher who was full of sincerity towards humanity.
He obtained incomprehensible knowledge through a mystical process.
This is why the first civilization had to build an ark!
A fear that the weak human mind cannot bear.
A desperate providence that renders worthless all the glory that mankind has accumulated.
This fear was the beginning of it all.
…
When I first glimpsed my memories from my days as a researcher, I didn’t know what this fear was.
I know this now without even having to open this notebook.
“Ari, Ariya! Are you okay?”
“Ugh…!”
“Let’s get out of here first!”
“Haa… What’s that note on the floor? Huh? Why are you burning it?”
“…”
“Cain?”
“Let’s go. Our Lady can help with first aid.”