Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 90
Only Krnovel
Episode 90 – Room 102, Room of the Curse – ‘Mansion of Horror’ Re (3)
[User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 28
Current location: Tier 1, hallway
Sage Advice: 3]
– Han Ga-in
As I walked to the table, I pondered three questions.
1. Why didn’t lie detection work on Lee Se-hyun?
2. Why did Lee Se-hyeon suddenly commit suicide?
3. Why was it reported that Lee Se-hyun committed suicide?
Sage advice shown in the status window. I guess I have to write it.
When you don’t know anything, you can’t give a normal answer, but now you’re in a situation where you’ve gathered information, but you can’t put it all together.
I really need advice.
I calmly thought about the questions. Advice appeared.
[Avoid the prejudice that ‘Lee Se-hyeon’ is an opponent.]
All questions were answered in that one sentence.
As soon as I got to the table, I announced that I had written some advice and started explaining.
*
“We misunderstood one thing from the beginning. We confirmed in the first attempt that the ‘Adversary’ has the ability to possess, right?
“Even though we knew this, we fell into the illusion that our opponent was Lee Se-hyeon.”
Only then did my older sister realize something and let out an exclamation.
“Lee Se-hyun was also possessed?”
“That’s right. The real culprit, the person possessed by the power of the grimoire, is different.
When he needs it, he can steal Lee Se-hyun’s body. If you think like that, all your questions will be answered.
First, how it resisted lie detection.
It’s too easy. Because the ‘real Lee Se-hyun’ who spoke to us in the first place really knows nothing. Since I said I didn’t know, I didn’t get caught in the lie detection test.
Second, the reason why Lee Se-hyeon committed suicide underground.
His answer was correct. What did the real culprit who possessed Lee Se-hyun say in the basement?
‘Killing you will only lead to the Vatican sending more troops.’
The criminal gave up when he was caught by us. Even if they kill us, more troops will come and subdue us, so we decided to just hide and plan for later.
As a criminal, Se-Hyeon Lee is just a doll. His true identity was not revealed. He used Lee Se-hyeon as a discard card and hid.
Third, the reason for the escape.
As we have already seen, escape is recognized as ‘relief from the current crisis’.
Since the criminal used Lee Se-hyun as a throwaway card and hid, peace will come for quite some time. The criminal may be hiding for 10 years or more.
Or you could plot somewhere else entirely. Either way, we are out of the ‘current crisis’ and an escape is on the horizon.
“Do you all understand?”
All my colleagues started to worry. Soon the questions started.
The first question was surprisingly from Seungyeop.
“brother. So who is the real culprit? Could it be someone from the village?”
“As long as the criminal can move between people’s bodies at will, their identity cannot be determined based on their ‘current body.’ “Whether it’s Lee Se-hyeon or someone else in the village, the culprit is just a doll.”
Eunsol’s sister added a little.
“I know what you mean, but even so, isn’t there such a thing as a ‘first body’? If the adversary were a person, he would not have had the ability to possess from birth.”
“That is also true, but I don’t think we can judge it based on the information we have found out now.”
Jincheol asked a question from a slightly different perspective.
“As for why he committed suicide, is there a possibility that he committed suicide to increase the number of attempts? The moment I escaped, that was what I was most worried about. In effect, the second attempt was forced to end.”
That’s what I thought for a moment too. Ari immediately refuted.
“I think this is something that cannot happen. The penalty for the ‘fifth attempt’ is for the adversary to vaguely realize the true nature of the hotel. If you turn it over, you never notice it before.”
Jincheol asked back.
“Even if the adversary doesn’t realize it himself, can’t the prisoner tell him?”
By then, I was able to answer as well.
“If the prisoner could tell the adversaries the true nature of the hotel, wouldn’t the adversaries commit suicide every time the room starts and force us to escape? “If you commit suicide and get to the fifth time, you will have an advantage.”
“Hmm. understood. “Definitely, it seems like such a trick has been prevented.”
As I was talking, I also had a question.
“The adversary appears to be able to move freely through the human body. It seems like you are an immortal being even if your body dies, so how can you kill it?
In the end, you have to kill that guy to find a solution and get your inheritance.”
I asked everyone a question, but my eyes were actually focused on Ari and Grandpa Mukseong.
Wouldn’t an expert know a lot about these supernatural things?
As expected, answers began to come out of the silent old man’s mouth.
“I’ve dealt with many ghost-like entities that transcend the physical body. “There are so many different types, but in the end, it’s a question of how to prevent possession.”
“How do you usually stop it?”
“It’s different every time. Sometimes the source of magical power is destroyed, and other times, the possession is temporarily blocked and then killed using separate means. “There are times when you have to do it all.”
Destroy the source of magical power or kill it while preventing possession.
“Speaking of the source of power, it must be the devil in the basement of the mansion, right? Can you handle the devil himself? Also, is there a way to prevent possession?”
“At this point, I’m not even sure. However, I don’t think we’ll be the ones dealing with the devil. We didn’t even meet the prisoner in Room 101, and wasn’t the swallower in Room 103 an ally?
Looking at the trends so far, there is no need to fight the prisoner. Isn’t there perhaps a link connecting the devil and his adversary? It could be a grimoire, a contract, an altar, etc. I think the answer is to destroy that thing.
I have no idea how to prevent possession. In the first place, don’t you have any idea about the scope and limitations of his possession ability? To put it to the extreme, if you can possess every human being in the world at any time, it is impossible to stop it.”
As we talked, my thoughts began to come together step by step.
After a long time, Ari concluded the meeting.
“In the next attempt, we will focus on two major goals.
First, find out the real identity of your opponent.
Second, find out how to suppress his possessing abilities in terms of how to kill him.”
I also announced one caveat.
“Let’s not be hasty in messing with Lee Se-hyeon before we find out how to prevent possession. The result of touching it was a forced escape on the second attempt. “Adversaries are more cautious than you think.”
The next day, we entered room 102 again.
* Third attempt
[User: Han Ga-in (Jihye)
Date: Day 29
Current Location: Tier 1, Room 102 (Chamber of Curse – Mansion of Horror)
Sage Advice: 3]
– Han Ga-in
After re-entering Room 102, we made some changes to our plan. The act of provoking Lee Se-hyeon by holding out in the mansion could, if you are careful, provoke the ‘culprit behind it’ and lead to a forced escape.
Therefore, as soon as they arrived in the village, they went to the mansion and exchanged a brief greeting with Lee Se-hyeon, and then everyone left the mansion, leaving only Shindo Eunsol, who played the role of Lee Se-hyeon’s younger brother, and Priest Jincheol just in case.
Ultimately, the place where the ‘missing children case’, which is the core axis of the current scenario, takes place is the village.
We might need to investigate the village some more. First, everyone headed to the cathedral.
…
“Are you really saying that there is absolutely no information gathered about the disappearance?”
“sorry. Cardinal. “I thought it would be resolved quickly if I just reported it to the police.”
“Did you think that the Vatican putting you here just meant that you should dial 112 if anything happens!”
—chin!
“S-sorry.”
…Why on earth is that cardinal bothering Father Amon?
20 minutes after we started talking, we all figured it out.
The priest, who was probably a distant past version of the suspicious butler seen during the ‘first attempt’, was really an ordinary person.
The information he knew about the disappearance case was no different from that of the average person in the village, and his eyes widened when he mentioned things like magic books and demons.
If he were really an ‘ordinary priest,’ I think it would be unfair to be scolded by the cardinal like this.
What can an ordinary priest do when a disappearance occurs? I should report it to the police.
But Cardinal Mukseong seemed to have more to say.
“Didn’t you hear when I was appointed here? This cathedral was never built for no reason! “Wouldn’t there be some old data?”
‘Old material’
When I spoke about it accurately, the priest seemed to remember something.
The priest entered the cathedral. By the way, did the cardinal think of something?
“Cardinal Silence. “Did you think of something?”
“no. “If I had that information, I would have told you about it a long time ago.”
“yes? “Didn’t you say, ‘The cathedral was not built for no reason, there will be old materials there’?”
“I just overlooked it. Think about it with common sense. Isn’t it strange that there is a decent cathedral in a place with such a low population density?
Come to think of it, isn’t the Vatican in this world actually a similar group to our ‘Administrative Bureau’? “I got a feel for it because I thought of it like a management bureau.”
“What if you say you have a feeling?”
“I’ll take a closer look at the situation and then tell you.”
About 10 minutes later, a priest appeared inside the church holding a bunch of files.
The cardinal who saw this said something.
“Have you ever read these?”
The priest didn’t answer, but I could tell the answer just by looking at his expression. I think today is the first time I’ve even touched it.
It feels like you have to look at a complex document for a long time.
The Cardinal instructed Sister Yusongi and Sister Elena to look around the village, and then began looking through the documents together with me.
*
Has it been about 2 hours? We looked at a lot of data with the cardinal.
—widely!
“As expected, as expected.”
“What do you mean?”
“To put it simply, this cathedral is like a ‘management bureau branch’ that has not been properly managed for a long time.”
“Please explain further. “I don’t know as much about the ‘Administrative Bureau’ as I do the ‘Vatican’ of this worldview.”
“It’s a simple story. When this cathedral was built, there was a very threatening supernatural phenomenon in this area.
So, a branch was set up, and at the time, competent people would have been deployed.
But suddenly those phenomena disappeared and became quiet for decades.”
“Has what happened to us on the ‘Second Attempt’ happened?”
“It would be similar. Perhaps the ‘real culprit’ at that time would have a long lifespan thanks to his ability to possess, so he just decided to wait for several decades.
“Just like now, waiting for the system prepared by humans to be neutralized over the decades.”
“Anyway, according to these documents, there are a lot of quite unusual circumstances, so how did they end up appointing a completely ordinary bride like this?”
Suddenly the cardinal became quiet.
After a while, he began to explain in the tone of a civil servant making excuses to the general public.
“From an ordinary person’s perspective, it would be such a big deal to think of them as demons or monsters, but in fact, from the perspective of the organization that manages the entire Earth, to exaggerate, these guys are all over the place.
Right now, try dealing with a monster toad that massacred 2,000 people yesterday, or a cult that wants to move an entire city to another world.
It’s getting difficult to focus on the ‘little guys’ who have been hiding for decades and are causing people to disappear one by one.
As a result, this branch is not managed well, so ordinary people like that are in charge.”
… The toad that massacred 2,000 people yesterday? A cult that wants to move an entire city to another world?
Is the example too specific?
What kind of world was I living in?
Enough of the small talk, the content of the gathered materials was simple.
Materials collected about Prisoner No. 102, ‘The Demon of the Underground’.
As we gathered together the scattered materials, a myth emerged.
It is said that somewhere in the universe there was a transcendent being called the ‘Nebula Dragon’.
That transcendent being died while pregnant with a child. The reason why he died was not written down.
If it had been a normal mother and fetus, both would have died at that point.
However, just as the mother was a divine being, the fetus is already a divine being.
Even though the mother died, the fetus did not die.
It is said that he cursed his fate of never being born, and spread a curse full of malice on the world.
“Could this unborn one be the ‘demon of the underworld’ that Ari saw?”
“I guess so.”
“They say the place where the devil is sealed is like the intestines of a larger creature… . It turns out that it wasn’t that he was sealed, but that he was never born. “It was the mother’s stomach rather than the intestines of a living creature.”
“I guess it looks roughly the same.”
“That’s true. “Is there a way to use this information?”
“You never know. “I’m more interested in what comes next.”
The story about the origin of the devil was not as long as I thought.
Decades ago, the people who collected this information probably thought it was a myth-like story that was too far away.
Much more material was available discussing disappearances from 60 years ago.
“This isn’t the first time a disappearance has occurred.”
“okay. “It appears that the ‘real culprit’ is not from this era.”
“Could it be someone from 60 years ago?”
“Considering the nature of the ability, there is nothing strange about it even if it is from 160 years ago. In fact, by that point, you’re no longer human.”
“It’s getting more and more troublesome. “I still don’t know my true identity, and I don’t know the limits of my ability to possess.”
“Still, it’s not without results.”
“Did you find something?”
The cardinal suddenly stood up and looked toward the mansion through the window.
“subtitle. Do you remember the mountain behind the mansion?”
“… The place where I grabbed the Cardinal.”
“It looks like there’s something on the mountain behind that.”
*
—widely!
I found all the information I needed to know about the cathedral.
Just before leaving, I habitually opened the status window to check Seungyeop and Ari’s status.
[Colleague location information (*)
Park Seung-yeop: Dead
Kim Ari: Death]
—Soak!
I was so shocked that I sat down on the spot!
“What? subtitle? “What again?”
See next episode