Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 683
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EP.683 Episode 683 – Room 301, The Cursed Room – ‘The Origin of Species’ (27)
Episode 683 – Room 301, The Cursed Room – ‘The Origin of the Species’ (27)
– Kim Ari
Around lunchtime, four colleagues gathered in a quiet place – my and Mukseong’s house in room 301.
As soon as they faced each other, Jincheol spoke carefully to Mukseong.
“That… agent.”
“Why is that?”
“The chat window status is, um, a little bit…”
“Why? The lag is too bad?”
“… It’s just a little annoying.”
The chat window state isn’t so bad that it’s unusable right now.
Just like Jincheol said, it’s a little uncomfortable.
What is concerning is not the inconvenience of the chat window, but the fact that ‘there is a problem with the blessing’ itself.
This also raises concerns about what might have happened to Mukseong.
“Are you okay?”
“Then. What seems to be the problem?”
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
One More Chance, What is the Price of Reversal?
In the gate room, it was about 30 years of aging.
In reality, it was a loss of qualification for a regressor.
In the room of curses…
“Hey, hey! Since we’re all busy people, let’s talk about work.”
Yeah, Silence is right. Let’s stop here.
This isn’t a problem that we can find an answer to by just thinking about it among ourselves.
“Grandpa, isn’t it a problem that you’re not really busy?”
“Haha! Elena is right.”
If everything had gone as planned, it wouldn’t have been easy to gather like this in broad daylight.
I was planning to help Songi, Elena was planning to protect Eunsol, and Mukseong and Jincheol were planning to keep an eye on Songi’s parents.
The plan changed and the story became meaningless.
Plan B is for Eunsol and Songi to repeat their past lives and realize their first wish.
The idea itself sounds good, but there’s just one problem.
“Didn’t something pop up for us?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Honestly, it’s kind of like that.”
“Umm… I don’t know what to do.”
Eunsol is reluctant to approach, and Songi is telling her not to help since she will do it alone.
Because of that, the roles of me, Elena, Mukseong, and Jincheol became subtle.
Anyway, since we’ve gathered here, we should share the information we’ve each collected.
I told everyone the story about Songi.
As I finished speaking, Jincheol said with a worried expression.
“Did Songi report to the management office a little while ago?”
“huh.”
“Then what happens? Will the aliens come and kill Songi?”
“maybe…”
“Are you really not going to just sit back and watch?”
The answer was silent.
“We should just leave it alone. Wasn’t this the plan from the beginning that could have been dangerous?”
“that…”
“The goal of the plan is to realize the wish even if it means taking risks. Even if Songi dies at the hands of aliens, it is right to leave her alone.”
“What if I ask for help?”
“Then you should help me. It’s only a five-minute walk anyway. If you run or Ari flies, it won’t even take a minute.”
Basically, I don’t interfere whether Songi dies or not, but if Songi asks for help, then I will help.
To this extent, the story about Songi has been summarized.
The topic of conversation naturally shifted to Eunsol.
“The Shanghai project that Executive Director Eun-sol Lee was working on at Daeyang Group ended in failure. So, Executive Director Eun-sol took a break from the front lines to rest and reflect on the great stress she was under.”
This is what is known externally.
“The justification itself is plausible. It is actually quite common for people to step down from their jobs and reflect on their actions when a business fails.”
Elena took out her phone and showed me the messenger.
“Do you see this?”
Since Elena’s role was to help Eunsol from the beginning, she was in contact with Eunsol through messenger until yesterday.
“Soon, the three of us, including my sister, will be going on a trip to Seoraksan Mountain. I wonder if we’re already hiking by now?”
Mukseong asked back, as if he found it ridiculous.
“Travel? Three people? With who?”
“I heard she’s going with her mother and second oldest brother.”
“Even if your mother is like that, what about your second older brother?”
“My sister said that she had a huge fight with her second oldest brother at work. So my mother suggested that the three of them go on a short domestic trip to reconcile with each other…”
After a moment of silence, Mukseong muttered.
“… Something is strange about the situation.”
Elena answered immediately.
“No matter what anyone says, this is a cursed room. The end is approaching, and the act of traveling itself is a bit strange. Even if my sister is obsessed with the role of Executive Director Eun-sol…”
“That’s right! There must be aliens all around, but doesn’t Eunsol’s behavior seem a bit too absent-minded?”
Jincheol said with a puzzled expression.
“Is that so weird? Well, I mean, given the nature of Plan B, it would be normal for it not to act like a participant in the first place.”
“that…”
“If you consider that the actions were not those of the participant, Lee Eun-sol, but of Lee Eun-sol, the third daughter of Chairman Lee Seok-hwan and an executive director of Daeyang Group, there doesn’t seem to be anything strange about it.”
“Hmm, Jincheol, what you said is not wrong. Ari, what do you think?”
My thoughts are similar to Jincheol’s, but slightly different.
“It’s basically similar to what Jincheol thought. From the beginning, the participants have abandoned their identities and are proceeding without any sense of crisis. Not being aware of the race of Iss is not a mindless act, but a method acting with soul. It’s good. But…”
I looked around at my colleagues and asked a question.
“I don’t know much about this, so I’m asking, but is it common for children in their thirties who have taken on important roles at conglomerates to go on a ‘reconciliation trip’ with their mothers?”
For a moment, the surroundings became quiet.
“Eunsol and Oppa aren’t just college students. They’re both high-ranking executives at large companies. But what kind of reconciliation trip was it? Arranged by their mother? What do you think?”
Soon, the sad confessions of my colleagues followed.
“I don’t know. I only remember running away from the dictator with my family.”
“I don’t have any siblings and I’ve never worked at a normal company…”
“Hey, hey, I even forgot what my parents looked like.”
They all have less common sense than I, who was born in a hotel.
After taking a deep breath, I said what I really wanted to say.
“Ugh… Anyway, here’s what I’m saying. Logically, if you look at Eunsol’s actions one by one, they don’t make sense. But if you look at them all together, there’s something strange about them.”
“Hmm… Ari, if that’s what you think.”
“So you told Songi not to contact Eunsol?”
“That’s right. There’s something strange about Eunsol right now. It feels like an invisible giant hand is playing around on the board!”
At those words, Mukseong made a worried expression.
“Eunsol was originally supposed to protect us with the Flute of Peace. If she is being manipulated by the Iss race, it will be a big problem.”
“On the one hand, I also think this. Wasn’t this exactly the situation I was in before I came to the hotel?”
“What does that mean?”
“Being played around by the Iss race was Eunsol’s original state, so what that means is that we have to wait and see what happens now. That’s Plan B.”
When this kind of story came up, Mukseong brought up a rather creepy story.
“Hey~! This may be a bit new, but isn’t Plan B a possible strategy since it’s a hotel?”
“what?”
“Think about it! This is reality and we’re part of the management bureau? No matter how things turn out, Eunsol is definitely subject to punishment.”
“…”
It’s a story that’s funny if you say it’s true, but it feels cheap if you say it’s a joke.
In an instant, the surrounding atmosphere became tense.
Soon, Mukseong, sensing the cold atmosphere around him, added as if making an excuse.
“I, I mean, I’m talking about the management-style handling of affairs. Did you show a weak point like Eun-sol just now when dealing with aliens who are toying with your mind? Even if you drive out the Iss race, you must unconditionally dispose of Eun-sol afterwards. Why -”
“Because it’s already corrupted.”
“… That’s right. So, even if there is a risk of corruption like Plan B, it is difficult to come up with a plan to obtain information in reality. Regardless of success or failure, the agents or employees who are deployed are subject to punishment.”
“It’s a possible plan because it’s a hotel.”
“It’s a possible plan because it’s a hotel.
This is Room 301, the Cursed Room – ‘The Origin of Species’.
One of the rooms inside Hotel Pioneer.
Even if Eunsol is ‘corrupted’ by the Iss race, it’s okay.
Because if we can somehow escape from Room 301, all our problems will be solved.
No matter how much Eunsol mutates, becomes corrupted, twisted, or contaminated…
The hotel will revert any negative changes that occurred in Room 301 to nothing.
*
– Lee Eun-sol
A sudden mountain climbing began in the morning.
“Whew…”
While I was just sighing, there was a voice next to me that was constantly grumbling.
“It’s because of you.”
“…”
“Ah! It’s because of you, Eunsol Lee!”
My brother has been complaining for a while now that he was dragged to a place like this because of me.
The situation itself is childish and absurd.
I’m dumbfounded, but wouldn’t my colleagues be dumbfounded too?
Let’s look at them one by one.
First, it’s funny that two grown adults in their thirties fight at work, but it’s even funnier that they go on a reconciliation trip after fighting.
Second, as soon as we arrived at Seoraksan, Jinwook oppa started complaining to me for two hours. His elementary school-like attitude was funny.
Third, I had guessed this childish trend, but there was no way to stop it. Why? Because my mom told me to go on a trip.
“Why on earth would you go hiking with such an idiot?”
“…Because my mother told me to go on a trip.”
Yeah, that’s how my family was originally.
If you look from the outside, you’ll think, “Wow! Chairman Lee Seok-hwan, one of the leading entrepreneurs in Korea! He has incredible charisma!” But…
In the home, mother is the law.
Is this an absurd plan for two executives, each of whom is a managing director at a large corporation, to take a vacation and go on a trip?
If my brother and I had planned a trip and told our father, he would have said we were out of our minds.
Once mother made the decision, no one, including father, said anything.
“Hey, you’re going to run to your mom and tell her because I said a few words?”
“… I never told my mom about what happened with my brother.”
“Don’t lie. Then how did you know and how did you make up?”
“I know.”
“Oh really! Are you that upset because I said a few words?”
“…”
“Hey, why are you making me the bad guy? When I made a mistake before, you too -”
“Can’t you just shut up?”
If you just look at the conversation, no one would think that it was two executives from a large corporation talking.
You’ll probably think of us as immature siblings who don’t know how to live up to our age.
The funny thing is, I’m kind of enjoying this situation.
It felt like my brother and I had both returned to our teenage years.
“You, have you gotten a lot more physically fit than before?”
“…”
“I think you must have been panting near the entrance, right?”
“It wasn’t like that originally.”
I am a hotel participant by name.
Wouldn’t it be a shame to collapse from exhaustion after hiking for a couple of hours?
Meanwhile, my brother, tired of grumbling, started chatting about this and that.
For example, let’s say your laptop recently broke down.
“You know that laptop I use? It’s been having problems lately. Suddenly windows start crashing, and black grid lines start popping up on the screen.”
“why?”
“I don’t know. A virus? Malware? There are probably a lot of things that could be the cause.”
Like many men, my brother is also very interested in IT gadgets.
So I said it a little bit boastfully.
“Eunsol, do you know what the most universal solution is when a computer problem occurs?”
“Call the secretary.”
“…Not that.”
“Everything would be resolved if I called the secretary.”
“Oh really! Sometimes when I see you, I really can’t communicate with you!”
“You’re bothering me. Just tell me, I’ll listen.”
My brother continued speaking, shaking his head.
“It’s system restore.”
“System Restore?”
“Let’s take the flu as an example. If you have a sore throat, it’s not just your Adam’s apple that’s the problem. Do you know that much?”
“That would be true. Even if the pain is limited to a small area, the infection itself would have spread throughout the bronchial tubes.”
“Computers are similar. The visible symptoms are just a few broken windows, but the actual problem is often much more extensive. It’s the result of hundreds or thousands of pieces of code being twisted and twisted again.”
“Hmm…”
“Even this isn’t necessarily caused by a virus or malware. Problems tend to accumulate over time during normal use.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“When your computer has a problem, it’s really hard to figure out exactly where the problem is. And when you fix just that part, the problem starts somewhere else. That’s why in many cases, a convenient and universal solution is ‘system restore.’”
“…”
“Returning the computer to a time when it was in good working order. Technology has improved recently. It is possible to restore only the OS, various drivers, and programs while preserving data such as photos, videos, and documents.”
Just because there’s a problem at A doesn’t mean it’s only A that has a problem.
In many cases, large and small cracks occurred over a much wider area and the result was simply A.
Therefore, the most universal solution is system restore.
Turning back the computer’s time to a time when it was fine, without asking any questions.
Recently, technology has advanced to the point where it is possible to restore only programs while preserving data such as documents, photos, and videos.
“…Computers and people are very similar in some ways.”
“However, unlike computers, humans do not have a system restore function.”
“Is that really true?”
“what?”
“no.”
Thoughts about hotels.
As we progress through the Room of Curses, we encounter numerous problems both physically and mentally.
The hotel’s response to this is similar to that of the person managing the computer.
‘Data’ – that is, the memories created in the cursed room are preserved, but the rest are ‘restored’ to the time of entering the cursed room.
System Restore is a versatile and excellent response to both computer management and human management.
At that moment, when I was nodding with a little interest, my brother brought up the next story.
“However, system restore also has its weaknesses.”
“weakness?”
“There are also many malicious programs, such as viruses, that exploit this weakness.”
There is a weakness in the response of turning back time and restoring it to a normal period?
“What is that?”
“You really don’t know much about computers. This is common sense.”
“…Stop showing off.”
Jinwook shrugged his shoulders and explained.
“Let’s say the restore point is December 1st. Around the end of December, you were using your computer and noticed a problem, so you changed it back to December 1st. Then, all the problems that occurred during December will disappear. Do you understand?”
“okay.”
“Then what about the problems that occurred before December?”
“…”
“The malware was installed in advance of the restore point. Not in December, but in October or September, no, in January.”
“…”
“This will be difficult to resolve even with system restore.”
If a malicious program was installed before the restore point, it will be difficult to resolve the issue even with a restore.
Subject of restoration – From the perspective of the system administrator, the ‘infected state’ itself was the original state.
“… That’s a creepy story. What should I do in that case?”
“That’s it -”
At that very moment.
“Eunsol, Jinwook. Should we take a break here?”
From the front, the voice of my mother smiling brightly was heard.