Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 645
Only Krnovel
EP.645 Episode 645 – The First Wish (1)
Episode 645 – The First Wish (1)
“User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 1
Current Location: Tier 3, Lobby
Wise Man’s Advice: 0”
– Han Ga-in
— Arrived.
I woke up in front of the elevator, hearing a cheerful announcement.
The first thing I noticed was a change in the status window.
The date has been reset to day 1, and the current location is listed as Tier 3.
Tier 3!
Did you really get to the third floor?
The sense of accomplishment of finally reaching the third floor and the regret of being far from reality.
A sense of crisis that a new ordeal is about to begin, and anticipation for the many things that will happen in the future.
A wave of complex emotions surged through me, making my whole body tremble for a moment.
“…”
This is not the time.
At the end, you told me to help my comrades as soon as the owl wakes up, right?
Where are my colleagues?
I checked the location information of my colleagues in the status window.
“It just says they’re all on the 3rd floor.”
There is no information as to exactly where on the third floor it is located.
Maybe it’s left in the elevator?
— Ding!
Just in case, I checked inside the elevator again.
“… None. Hmm?”
Although my colleagues were not present, I noticed that the elevator dashboard had changed.
[Basement], [1st floor], [2nd floor]
Originally, these three buttons were visible, and when the connecting passage construction was completed, the [3rd floor: Heaven] button was created.
Another one has been added now.
[Connection passage: Summer]
Is it possible to return to reality via the elevator?
Ryan’s words that the ascender who left for the third floor never returned came to mind, but it’s not something to jump to conclusions easily.
First of all, the [Connection Channel: Summer] button was not lit.
It seems that certain conditions are required to press it.
As I was observing the situation, I felt a stirring movement next to me.
— Foodie!
“I’m glad you’re here with me.”
Pero flaps his wings and points somewhere with his beak, as if telling me to follow him.
After walking a few steps, I realized that the surrounding scenery was truly splendid.
Various decorations sparkling in gold and antique marble.
The ceiling was covered with beautifully shining chandeliers and was filled with mysterious paintings and patterns.
The sign on the wall stated that the third floor was divided into three sections.
? Observatory
? Rooms
? ??? – Under construction.
“Observatory? Under construction?”
What is this place for observation?
What do you mean by under construction?
This isn’t a problem that can be answered just by thinking about it, so let’s move on for now.
— Beep!
Finally, Pero shouted as if telling us not to be distracted by the surrounding scenery.
Soon, a human voice was heard.
“Ugh… .”
I ran quickly and saw my colleagues lying on the soft sofa.
As soon as I discovered it, I shook Songi and Ari right next to me, but there was no response.
I was wondering why this was happening, so I shook Elena and Seungyeop in succession, but it was the same.
My heart is beating and my body is warm, so why isn’t there a reaction?
Should I use the Grimoire to forcefully wake him up?
At that moment, the groaning sound I had heard earlier was heard again from the sofa across from me.
“Ugh…!”
“grandfather!”
I grabbed his shoulder and shook him gently, and soon my grandfather woke up.
“Oh! It’s you, Gain? The other guys – oh, they’re around.”
“It’s there, but it doesn’t wake up even when I shake it.”
“…”
When I didn’t get an answer, I looked at my grandfather and he was frowning and lost in thought.
“grandfather?”
“…”
“grandfather!”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was thinking about the scene I saw a little while ago….”
The scene you saw just a little while ago?
“Did you see something?”
“… I think I was dreaming.”
“dream?”
“Did you not see anything?”
“I saw a mysterious scene. Beyond space -”
I realized it while talking.
The ‘ascension process’ I saw was not a dream or an illusion.
Because the owl’s advice was heard and the number of advices actually used up.
The slight pain that still remains in the eyes, ears, nose, etc. is also evidence of this.
The dream my grandfather talks about is something else.
“- This doesn’t seem right. If it was a dream, I didn’t have it.”
“Hmm….”
At the moment I was thinking, I felt a presence behind me.
“Contestant Han Ga-in, contestant Kim Muk-seong. Congratulations on arriving on the 3rd floor.”
“… Manager.”
“Shouldn’t we wake up our comrades before we begin the real ordeal?”
Grandfather immediately asked back.
“Why don’t you wake up?”
“This is a consideration for you all.”
“Consideration for us?”
“This is a necessary procedure for moving forward.”
This time, I asked back.
“Is it really necessary for my colleagues to be asleep for future progress?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t I have a dream? What I saw didn’t seem to be related to a dream….”
What followed was unexpected.
“Contestant Han Ga-in, because you have already overcome it.”
“What is that -”
Immediately afterwards, with a “blink!” feeling, the manager disappeared without a trace.
The grandfather looked around with his eyes wide open, but the manager was nowhere to be seen.
“What is this?”
“… I guess the conversation just now was a final consideration.”
“That thing you just said?”
“I think my colleagues told me the reason why they fell into a deep sleep. They fell asleep to prepare for the future.”
“…”
“So, I guess I should tell you something about my grandfather who woke up and saw something different from me. What did you see?”
“… It’s a memory from a very long time ago. It’s about my son and grandson.”
From what I vaguely heard, my grandfather had lost his son and grandson to some sort of incident in the past.
That pain must have been eating away at the silent agent’s inner self like a plague for a long time.
In an instant, my grandfather began to sweat profusely.
“Are you okay?”
“It’s okay, it’s okay! It’s already… It’s already in the past.”
It didn’t look okay at all.
It seems like he’s recalling some pretty horrible memories, maybe seeing visions of his son and grandson screaming and dying?
By the way, the connection between my grandfather’s dream about the death of his family and the future course of events… .
Soon, my grandfather and I had the same thought at similar times.
“Gain, I think the vision I saw… was related to the first wish.”
“I think the same.”
The theme of the 3rd floor, learned through the 3rd floor manager and the wisdom of the previous generations.
1. Think back to your first wish.
2. Post-apocalyptic world.
“It seems like everyone is seeing a vision related to their first wish.”
“So you didn’t see anything.”
“…”
“Because I already achieved my first wish.”
“It’s closer to putting something down than achieving it.”
“Then let’s say we overcame it. Even the manager said so.”
I overcame my first wish.
The other colleagues are not there yet.
“I understand why Grandpa was the first to wake up.”
“Because I’m better off than you. I knew what my wish was, and I made it come true.”
“My grandfather also got an unidentified notification window once.”
A notification that appeared as soon as Grandpa used One More Chance.
“Participant Kim Muk-seong. With this, all your desires have been fulfilled. However, there is still one step left until ascension.”
“The word ‘first wish’.”
“okay.”
“Do you remember when we first heard the word wish?”
“The manager on the third floor -”
“It happened before.”
“Ah, didn’t the wise old man tell you?”
“Before that.”
“Hey, Inma! Are you bragging about your good memory?”
Oops!
I find myself using this style of speaking again without realizing it.
“Ahem! Before we came to the hotel, we had an empty wish. The first time I heard this concept was at the hotel cinema.”
“I can’t quite remember.”
“What I mean is, this concept is very important in hotels. Maybe… .”
“perhaps?”
“It could be a concept related to the fundamental nature of the participant.”
“…”
“So, Grandpa.”
At this point, my grandfather seemed to understand what I was trying to say.
“You said a little while ago, that you realized what your wish was and achieved it. Can you tell me?”
“… Yeah. It’s not that difficult.”
“…”
“It’s nothing special. I lived hiding the fact that I was an agent, met a lovely woman, got married, and had children.”
“Was your spouse a civilian?”
“Yes. My son was the same. A regressor is a being with a high level of soul, but of course, the characteristics of the soul cannot be shared between parents and children.”
“I guess so.”
“…so I had to hide a lot.”
“For example, the fact that your grandfather is an agent?”
“Yes. I pretended to be an employee of a company established by the Management Bureau. I hid my job, I hid the fact that I was a regressor, I hid the secrets of the world…”
“…”
“When I came to my senses, I realized that there was a huge wall between me and my family. A wall that blocked true communication.”
A wall that blocks true communication.
“It got further and further away. At some point, I gave up. It seems like it was a mistake for a regressor to marry a normal person. So… .”
“so?”
“…I didn’t even know what happened to my grandson.”
“yes?”
“It was dark under the lamp… Living apart and losing contact, I couldn’t even imagine what kind of strange things were happening to my grandson!”
Suddenly, my grandfather’s voice rose slightly.
As I recall the painful past, the despair I felt back then seems to have come flooding back.
I carefully grabbed my grandfather’s wrist, and soon he smiled bitterly.
“I’m sorry. It’s something that happened a long time ago, but I’m still doing this. It seems my training is lacking.”
“Some pains don’t go away easily, even after 1,000 years.”
“Anyway, that’s in the past.”
“…”
The most important part is omitted.
What on earth is this strange thing that happened to my grandson?
“Thanks to you, I now have a wish.”
“Is this your first wish?”
“Maybe. I don’t remember the moment I made a wish at the hotel, but I think I made a wish that I usually had.”
“That makes sense. What was your wish?”
“…I hoped my family would be reunited.”
“…”
“If a miracle happened and I could see my family again, I would want to tear down the wall between me and my family. And…”
“…”
“I just wanted to live a happy life once.”
Just once?
“I’m done with life. I… . At some point, I started to think of it as a prison from which I couldn’t escape.”
“…”
“Haha! You said it so beautifully, but it wasn’t that simple. The moment you lose the fate of the regressor is incredibly painful.”
“He wanted to escape the fate of a regressor, but the moment he actually did, he was scared and in pain.”
“Yeah. I wanted to go back too. Sounds stupid, doesn’t it?”
“That’s not possible. That’s just how people’s hearts are.”
Grandfather longed for the end of the family’s revival and return.
With the power of ‘dreams’, he brought his family back to reality, and in exchange for One More Chance, he lost the power of regression, so all his wishes came true.
That’s why the notification “All your wishes have come true” popped up.
Suddenly, this thought occurred to me.
Did Grandpa really get ‘all’ of his wishes?
If that were the case, I think I would have woken up right away without even dreaming.
There is something left.
All of the explicit wishes have been granted, but there are still regrets that even the grandfather himself has not been able to recall.
So he woke up earlier than his colleagues, but later than me.
“I think I have a rough idea of ??what the situation is.”
“okay?”
“It seems like the cursed room on the third floor is related to each person’s wish.”
“…”
“But, as you know, Grandfather, many of my colleagues -”
“I don’t even know what my wish is. I find the very concept of a first wish unfamiliar.”
“- That’s why you’re dreaming now. The hotel is saying this. Even if your wish comes true, at least realize what you were praying for.”
“Then I can proceed to the third floor?”
“maybe.”
“How do I get the other guys to wake up? Should I just wait?”
“No, I don’t think so. I told him to help his comrades as soon as he woke up.”
“What do you want me to do? Should I write a book of grimoires?”
“no.”
The Grimoire is not a tool for mental recovery.
Also, it is strange that there is a procedure that is only possible if you have a specific individual’s legacy.
It’s not a specific heritage, it’s a specific tool.
It’s something that anyone else can use, not just me.
— Flutter!
“Kingdom of Dreams!”
“Let’s take a look at the dream state.”
It didn’t seem like it would take that long.