Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 654
Only Krnovel
EP.654 Episode 654 – Room 301, The Cursed Room – ‘The Origin of Species’ (1)
Episode 654 – Room 301, The Cursed Room – ‘The Origin of the Species’ (1)
“User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 2
Current Location: Room 301, The Cursed Room – ‘The Origin of Species’
Wise Man’s Advice: 1”
– Han Ga-in
.
..
…
I woke up in a fancy room.
There were other colleagues around me with bewildered expressions.
Jincheol hyung’s panicked voice.
“Have you already started? Do all 301s start at the same point?”
“…”
At that moment, I thought that ?Room 301? had already started and that this was where I was starting, but I was mistaken.
“I don’t think so yet.”
“Everyone, look at this!”
There was a small table in the middle of the room, and Ari was pointing at something on the table.
“There is a guest list.”
Admission list.
Because the words were clear, everyone understood them immediately.
Only those whose names are on that list will be admitted!
Grandfather nodded and said.
“I heard you can choose the number of people staying in the room starting from the 3rd floor, but this is what I’m hearing – Huh?”
“Why is that?”
“Look at this. Two people’s names are already written on it?”
As my grandfather had said, there were already two names written at the top of the list.
? Yoo Song-i
? Lee Eun-sol
For a moment, everyone’s eyes were entangled, and soon Eunsol said the thought that had occurred to many people.
“I expected it when I saw the room numbers at dawn. It seems like at least two people’s wishes are intertwined to form one scenario. The first room is… .”
The following words were received by Songi.
“I think my sister and I have intertwined wishes.”
“That’s right. This is unexpected. Was there a connection between our stories?”
“Hmm… The link between the youngest daughter of a conglomerate in crisis and a talking golden retriever?”
“I don’t know anymore when I hear it like that. Gain, did you happen to see a room title or something?”
“Yes. It’s ‘The Origin of Species.’”
The origin of species.
It is very famous as it is the name of a book written by Charles Darwin, the founder of the theory of evolution.
Of course, it was difficult to guess the scenario to this extent.
“The origin of the species? I’m starting to get more and more confused. Eight! Let’s stop talking about this ambiguous story and start thinking about who to put on the admission list.”
The question of who to put on the room list is the question of who gets into room 301.
Sang-Hyeon Hyung brought up a reasonable story.
“Depending on the situation, only those who absolutely need to go in should go in, rather than everyone going in unconditionally.”
“I think so. The manager also asked us to think about the appropriate number of people.”
“I think Gain-kun is essential, right? Both in terms of strength and the ability to figure out scenarios.”
“I see. Should I start with Ga-in?”
At the moment when my name was about to be written, I felt a sense of ominousness and waved my hand.
“I don’t think it’ll be that simple.”
“hmm?”
“If only a certain number of people are admitted, what will happen to the rest?”
“…”
“Just wait outside, play, and eat?”
Immediately everyone shook their heads.
No matter how much I think about it, a hotel isn’t that kind of place.
“I don’t think so.”
“Obviously, those who remain also have a role to play.”
“… I think I know what you mean.”
This situation is, so to speak, a problem of personnel distribution.
Dividing those who will go into room 301 and those who will perform other roles outside.
It would be awkward if I were to just go into room 301 thinking I was a useful resource.
Wouldn’t it be more useful outside?
“How do you classify it?”
Songi looked at me as if she had a headache.
“Brother, are you writing your last piece of advice now?”
I thought about Songi’s suggestion for a moment, but soon shook my head.
“No. In this situation, even if you give advice, you’ll only get wordy responses.”
“Huh? Oh, because the evidence is too insufficient?”
“yes.”
A story about the essence of wisdom told by an owl long ago.
‘Making the right choice in ignorance is not wisdom. Even the wise need a minimum amount of information to make wise decisions.’
In a situation where information is close to 0 like now, it is not wise to take good pictures, and there is a separate ability for this.
Naturally, my gaze turned to Seungyeop.
“Seungyeop, come here.”
“brother?”
— Ji-i-ik!
After tearing the blank paper at the bottom of the list, I divided it into eight pieces.
Here, I wrote down the names of eight colleagues, excluding Yoo Song-i and Lee Eun-sol, who have been confirmed to be admitted.
At this point, Seungyeop understood my actions, but he looked a little uneasy.
“Are you telling me to use my luck to choose a winner?”
“huh.”
“…Brother, as you know, Cheonun has an incredibly long cooldown.”
“I know. It’s usually more than ten days. Sometimes it can be close to a month.”
“Can I use it now?”
If you use Cheonun now, you can’t actually use it inside the curse room.
I agree with Seungyeop’s anxiety about this, but no matter how I think about it, now is the most important moment.
“I think now is the most important time. Does anyone else have a different opinion?”
Everyone nodded as if they agreed with my opinion.
At that moment, a question suddenly occurred to me.
“Should I write down Pero’s name too?”
As if it had been waiting, the parrot on Songi’s shoulder let out a ‘beep!’ sound.
Songi shook her head and tapped Pero.
“In a hotel, isn’t Pero considered a tool? If you have to write Pero down on the guest list, you have to write down the protective suit and wing boots too. That’s weird – Ouch! Ouch! Don’t bite! Don’t bite!”
“…”
“I didn’t call you a tool! The hotel’s judgment – ??stop asking!”
While Songi and Pero were wrestling, Seungyeop said to them.
“Okay, now close your eyes and pull.”
“So, how many should I pick?”
Ari spoke up from behind.
“Do whatever you want with that!”
Grandfather also added a word.
“Don’t think about it and just pull it out wherever your hand goes!”
As always, Seungyeop approached the table with his eyes closed and an expression of uncertainty.
“…”
Instead of pulling it out right away, it stops for a moment.
It seems that he himself is struggling with the question, ‘Is this right?’
“Ugh… I don’t know!”
“Okay, just pull it out.”
“yes.”
When Seungyeop reached out his hand, it waved in the air.
“Oh? I’ll do it again.”
— Bam!
Next, my hand hit the table.
Since I had my eyes closed a long time ago, I don’t feel like I know exactly where the wad of paper is.
The moment Seungyeop frowned slightly and tried to reach out again!
“stop!”
Several people’s thunderous voices erupted simultaneously.
The gazes of several people crossing each other for a moment.
Everyone had similar thoughts and knew that they had similar thoughts.
The lucky choice has already been made.
Seungyeop’s act of forcibly trying to hold the paper only distorts the lucky choice.
“Huh? I got the paper position mixed up -”
“No, that’s enough, come down!”
The boy came down with a bewildered expression, as if he still did not understand the situation.
On the other hand, Eunsol had a very complicated expression on her face.
“Don’t take anyone with you for the first attempt, just Songi and I?”
“Let’s do that.”
“… I thought I should at least take Jincheol with me.”
“Sister, are you talking about me?”
“I think there should be at least one person who can do the hard work. Also, I sometimes think that Jincheol and I have a pretty good skill combination.”
“Uh… . That’s true.”
Eun-sol Lee lacks physical strength, and Jin-cheol Cha is vulnerable to mental attacks.
Sure, the combination of the two abilities is plausible, but it’s no longer meaningful.
Because the lucky choice was ‘no one chooses’.
Finally, Eunsol and Songi stood in front of the admission list with anxious expressions.
“Can I just say it? You two are going in together?”
“Maybe… I’ll be watching you at the hotel anyway.”
Slightly trembling eyes.
A look of extreme anxiety.
Eunsol, who was looking at Songi’s expression, smiled brightly.
As if the older person wanted to show off.
“Okay, fighting! Doesn’t the hotel think the two of us are enough? Don’t be scared.”
“… Sister, please stop shaking my hand.”
“Ahh… I guess this is a bit too much for me to handle. Hmm, Song-i. If you find it hard to trust me, trust the ticket.”
One of the rewards for solving Room 207, 2nd floor gateway room – Ticket of Wishes.
It can be used in the Hall of Mirrors to grant wishes or obtain abandoned legacies.
But, the most important use of it is resurrection.
Unlike the 1st and 2nd floors, it is certain that the cursed room on the 3rd floor does not have power turned on all at once.
Maybe someone will die and someone will live.
So we agreed to keep the tickets as a last resort, unless something special comes up.
“Tickets! That, that’s believable.”
“I don’t believe it?”
“No, that’s not it -”
“Come in. Come in!”
The moment Eun-sol declared, “I’m going in,” a mysterious halo of light enveloped the surroundings, and then Eun-sol and Song-i disappeared.
Two people entered room 301.
and….
— Kookung!
A giant door appeared in the air that had never existed before.
“…”
As if telling the rest of us to come here.
“Let’s go. It looks like we have to do something over there.”
“okay.”
Beyond the door was a familiar space.
“An observatory?”
“Isn’t this an observatory?”
— Clank!
A loud noise, as if the door were locking.
Jincheol ran to the entrance of the observatory with a look of surprise, but as expected, the door did not open.
“It’s locked?”
At this point, I have a rough idea of ??the structure.
“I guess I have a rough idea of ??how things work on the third floor. Only those whose names are on the admission list can enter, and the rest are in the observatory.”
“Is it impossible to leave the observatory while proceeding through the Room of Curses?”
“Yes, that’s right. So there’s a bedroom, a bathroom, a toilet, a table where food is served, everything.”
A sound that sounds as if it had been waiting.
— Wheeing…!
Sang-Hyeon Hyung looked at the telescope in the center of the observatory with a meaningful expression.
“Doesn’t this sound like the sound of adjusting focus?”
“… That’s right.”
When the sound stopped, I slowly approached the telescope.
This time there was no crisis alert to stop observation attempts.
*
– Yoo Song-i
A soft bed.
I woke up with a ‘thud! thud!’ feeling.
“…”
I glanced down and saw the incredibly cute Happy.
“… Good morning, happy.”
– Woof!
It looks just like fluffy cotton candy.
The moment when I unconsciously reached out and tried to hug Happy.
‘I’m scared, I’m in pain, I’m in pain. Get me out of here.’
“Eww!”
I unconsciously pushed Happy away as I remembered the eerie hallucination.
– Huh?
Happy looked at me with a puzzled look, and seeing him like that made me feel a little sorry.
“… sorry.”
Yoo Song-i, in times like this, stay calm!
I took a deep breath and looked around.
The location is Seocho Blue Damian Apartment, Building 8, Room 203. It’s the house I’ve lived in since I was young.
My appearance is similar to usual.
In your first wish-related dream, you were a young child, about 6 or 7 years old?
So I was worried that I would be helpless even in the room of curses, but fortunately that wasn’t the case.
Next, I hugged the puppy and focused my mind.
“Happy, stay quiet.”
– Woof! Woof!
Happy flailed his body as if he was frustrated, but that was it.
I couldn’t really hear any voices or anything.
“… I’m sorry, but I really need to check with you.”
I put my finger into the struggling Maltese’s mouth.
If Happy could speak, wouldn’t he say, ‘This bitch has finally gone crazy!’?
Happy kept his mouth shut instead of speaking.
“Ouch! Ouch! Open your mouth!”
It hurts like hell, but this is for sure.
The fact that ‘telepathy’, which allows one to read the minds of the chaos entities, does not work.
The fact that Happy bit my finger without hesitation.
Affinity is not working.
In other words, Happy is ‘still’ an ordinary dog.
Just then, a familiar sound was heard outside.
“Songiya~! What’s wrong?”
“…”
“If you wake up, take a shower and come out and eat breakfast!”
“… mom.”
I went into the bathroom and took a quick shower, feeling a complex emotion that was hard to express.
The sadness I felt as soon as I heard my mother’s voice became stronger the moment the warm water from the shower flowed down from my neck to my waist.
“ah.”
Because my reflection in the mirror seemed a little ‘lacking’ in something.
Does the dream’s effect not extend inside the cursed room?
“…I should stop thinking useless thoughts.”
*
– I’ll break it all!
As soon as I washed up and came out into the living room, I heard the beast’s voice.
Fortunately, it wasn’t an unusual phenomenon related to the scenario.
Because Pero often says things that only I can hear.
Pero was locked in a cage with a group of ordinary – and in Pero’s opinion extremely retarded – parrots who, if seen making a sound, would transform into grotesques and destroy their cages within a minute.
Will it be okay?
They only say that.
Ferro is smart, so he can tolerate the brief moment of frustration.
– If you don’t open it right now, I’ll destroy it all!
Is this okay?
At that moment, a voice was heard from behind.
“Song-ya, I told you to come eat after you wash up, so what are you doing in front of the birdcage?”
The moment I turned around and met my mother’s gaze at those words.
“…”
I’m out of my mind.
Because I just knew the moment our eyes met.
This person, this woman….
“… It’s true.”
“what?”
“Oh, you’re really my mom!”
“Oh my, this one too. So there are fake ones too?”