Memoirs of the Returnee - Chapter 63



Only Krnovel

＃Returner’s Notepad Episode 63

Magical space experience (3)

… … 30 minutes ago.

Elise and Solliet hunted monsters one after another. Since monsters appeared anywhere in the hotel, it was the easiest way to earn coins.

“There is a lot of variation.”

“I know.”

However, there was quite a bit of variation in the monsters they faced. Some monsters required a lot of effort to hunt, while others were easily defeated with a single punch.

Because of that, Elise is now feeling a little ominous.

Are these monsters really monsters?

[Acquired through battle: 20 Mana Coin]

The sentence displayed on the smart watch, ‘Acquired through combat,’ also bothers me.

If coins are simply obtained by catching monsters, shouldn’t they be acquired through ‘hunting’?

My guess is that the monster’s identity is probably… …

Other seniors.

Tudung-!

Elise picked out three or four meal kits from the vending machine.

“Shall we go now?”

However, there is no need to inform Soliet of your guess. To begin with, the entire College Board process is competitive.

“yes.”

The two returned to [Room 311] with the meal kit. Elise used her room’s intercom to call her desk and extend her check-out.

“… … “Are you sure you can’t sleep?”

Then he glanced at Soliet. As soon as she came in, she put a cigarette in her mouth.

“yes. The highest record is probably 62 hours.”

“My body won’t be able to handle it.”

“I have no intention of living for a long time, but… … . “I also feel strangely tired here.”

Soliet lit the candle and stirred it.

“It feels like something is weighing on my shoulders.”

“Because it’s a haunted hotel. “I heard you’ve been here a few times before?”

I haven’t encountered a ghost in person yet, but it’s obvious. It’s probably a function of the cold in the hallway.

“I was so young that my memories are vague, but the structure of the hotel itself is familiar. “That hotel didn’t end well either.”

When I was young.

Elise, who repeats those words, feels a bitter taste in her mouth.

Compared to when they were young, they are so different now.

“… … “Don’t you think of the old days when you’re like this?”

To relieve tension, I carefully recall the past. But Solliet refused, exhaling smoke from her cigarette.

“I don’t remember.”

“… … .”

Elise lay on the bed in silence.

Of course, she knows Solliet’s hurt. Javed and Felix. Those two people were Endex’s idols. When they were murdered, Elyse was just as shocked as Soliet… … .

Elise closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them.

Solliet was already sitting with her back turned. Elise caught her and made everyone quit.

No amount of comfort will comfort her now.

Probably forever.

“… … huh?”

Suddenly, Elise tilted her head.

Solliet’s back looked strange.

The face was too big and the shoulders were too broad.

It didn’t seem to be Soliette’s back.

“for a moment.”

No, not really.

It only resembled the red hair, but it was a completely different person’s back.

“what… … .”

Chicken meat rose on my lower back.

“who are you.”

At that moment, ‘it’ looked back.

Hair sticking to various places on the large face. Eyebrows as thick as a seagull. Two beaky eyes and a big mouth draw a bizarre smile——.

“… … “Huh!”

Elise screamed and stood up.

Again, it was on the bed.

“Uh, um. Are you okay?”

Soliet asked then. Elise looked at her with a startled look.

It was an ordinary soliette.

“ha… … .”

It was another nightmare.

“huh. are you okay. “It was another nightmare.”

“hmm. nightmare?”

Soliet asked back. Elise nodded her head.

“okay. “Maybe it would be better not to sleep like you.”

“ah. is it so. hmm. hmm.”

But why do you keep making noises?

“Hmmmm. It’s a nightmare. hmm.”

“… … “Hmm.”

It’s annoying for no reason. Elise glanced at Solliet slightly.

I looked a little closer.

Something was strange.

This time it was because of her eyes.

black eye.

Why is it black? Arcne’s symbols are definitely red eyes and a blue eye.

“Soliette, your eyes… … .”

“hmm. Why are you doing this? hmm. This is Solliet. hmm.”

“… … .”

Elise’s expression hardened.

The other person seemed to have noticed because of that reaction.

“hmm. ha ha ha. hmm… … .”

Soliet, or rather ‘it’, opened its mouth wide.

“—hmm. Mmmmm. Mmm—— Mmmmmmmmm— Mmm——”

It laughed. Cracking his chin like a doll. Seeing such a bizarre appearance made Elise take a step back.

“Hmmmm. haha. hmm. Mmmmmmm. hmm. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha———”

Every time I smile, my face swells. A face that was already twice as big as my body, a face that seemed to touch the ceiling of the room, was laughing and running towards me.

————Mhahahahahahaha!

“… … !”

Elise opened her eyes again.

“Ha, ha, ha… … .”

This time it was dark everywhere. She caught her breath and turned on her light.

widely-

When the switch was turned on, the room was bathed in red light.

“Where is this again…” … Soliet?”

Soliet was sung.

There was no answer.

There was no pretense of popularity.

There was no one.

In other words, I’m alone.

“… … .”

For a moment, Elise’s breath caught. Her lungs felt shriveled. She quickly got up and opened the door to her guest room.

“… … !”

There was another room right across from it.

[No. 444]

“Well, what is it?”

She hurriedly looked down the hallway. Everything was bright red. The ceiling, walls, and floor seemed to be bleeding.

bang-!

“!”

The door behind me closed by itself.

[No. 444]

The door behind me was number 444.

“haha… … .”

Elise walked down the hallway panting. Clutching her chest, she knocked on the door.

“Door, please open the door…” … .”

Bang! Bang!

I knocked and looked at the room number.

[No. 444]

It was also room 444.

Elise took a step back in a panic that felt as if her senses were about to disappear. Something touched her back. There was another guest room.

[No. 444]

Again, I looked at another room.

[No. 444]

[No. 444]

[No. 444]

All rooms were number 444.

Elise collapsed in the hallway without realizing it.

My limbs lost their strength. Her lips turned blue and her face turned purple.

It’s a nightmare, it’s a nightmare.

This place, the whole place, everything must be a nightmare.

For sure… … It must be a nightmare.

My vision is blurry.

My fingers don’t move.

I can’t breathe.

As if sinking to the bottom of the sea, deep in the sea.

“ah… … .”

Elise slowly let go of her body.

A strange wave enveloped me.

I heard an auditory hallucination in my ear.

—You killed it. you killed it You killed it!

Moment by moment, terrible scenes flash before my eyes.

A person with seven pounds of blood. Guts spilling out. A person smiling in a bloody hell.

Yael.

and… … .

——Jeobbuk.

footprint.

The sound of someone approaching.

Others.

You are not alone.

I was no longer alone.

“──Haaa.”

Just that fact makes my breath exhale and my tight chest feel at ease.

Soon, she feels her body being lifted.

Is it a person?

Is it a ghost?

It doesn’t matter who it is.

Elise snuggled into his arms like a baby bird. He buried his face in her chest. I grabbed her collar tightly.

… … It was warm.

* * *

Guest room, [Room 444]

“Why is he so heavy?”

I put Elise down on the bed in random room 444.

It’s a lot heavier than it looks. Even if your body is thin and delicate, you are probably undergoing incredibly high-intensity physical training.

I’m going to have muscle pain tomorrow.

Anyway, the phenomenon of rooms disappearing or moving in this haunted hotel is probably a normal event.

Because it was included in the safety rules. Well, don’t be too surprised if the room changes or people around you disappear.

“… … .”

I quietly looked at Elise, who had almost fainted.

She almost died without any trauma due to post-traumatic stress disorder, but is now recovering quickly just by having someone by her side. The sound of breathing is very regular.

In this way, Elise is a genius monster full of talent as always, but she cannot overcome ‘PTSD’ for at least 12 years.

“hmm.”

I saw a smartwatch.

[15:55:27]

There are still 16 hours left for the regular assignment. Although I could stay with her for a few hours.

“We’re not that kind of relationship, are we?”

No matter how manipulative I am, I don’t want to create a situation where we both end up blushing by staying in our seats until we wake up. It seems like Elise’s physical condition has improved a lot right now.

I took out an ax from my belt.

“… … “For you too, it’s better than being alone.”

It crushed Elise’s smart watch.

Tdddeudeudeudeuk—!

The transparent blade broke the magic stone inside the watch.

At that moment, Elise was repatriated early.

It may be the worst performance in Elysee history, but it had to be sent anyway, sooner or later.

I came out of the room.

[HOLENTS HOTEL]

The Hollenz Hotel is engraved on the wall of the 4th floor hallway. Blood flows from those alphabets.

I know about this artificial magic space that was reconstructed based on a real event. It was a tragedy that occurred quite a long time ago, and because it happened in a foreign country, most people in Edsilla did not know about it, but it later became quite famous.

First of all——the original name of this hotel was [Cadillac Casino Hotel].

The root of all evil was a general manager named ‘Moss’.

One day, 10 years ago, he released hallucinogenic gas throughout the hotel through an air purification device. The guests were consumed by it without realizing it, and came to see all living things in the hotel as monsters.

The hotel turned into hell in an instant. The guests trembled in fear, killing each other, and dying with bitter resentment.

However, even though they died, they did not die completely. It became a place full of fear and hatred.

The general manager did not even leave the spirits alone.

No, the spirit itself was the goal.

It condensed countless vengeful spirits into one refined core.

It’s the ‘magic core’.

The motive for the crime, which was later revealed, was the decline of the casino and the resulting debt.

The investment cost was enormous, but no money was made due to lax management or something.

“… … “There are a lot.”

I walked around the 4th floor and looked around the area. There were ghosts everywhere.

This is evidence that the ‘Cadillac Hotel incident’ above is still ongoing.

The general manager was caught by the Magic Tower while trying to traffick the Magic Core.

The magic core was collected and should have been ‘liberated’, but as you can see from the tail here, the magic tower was not that just.

If it is a magical core made from human souls, and even if it is a magical core that melted thousands of people, it would have tremendous potential and value.

In fact, this magical core becomes the core of a famous theme park called ‘Shelton Park’ five years later. Earning astronomical amounts of money by receiving astronomical investments from various large families, including Libra.

Right now, the HOLENTS hotel is an anagram of SHELTON.

“really… … “I do it in a variety of ways.”

In my opinion, Magic Tower is such a bastard.

In their words, they advocate magical progress and generational education, but on the inside, they are cruel, ruthless, and money-crazed monsters.

The ghosts here are proof of that.

They are still bound by the ‘Demon Core’.

After being experimented on without being liberated for a long time, it will be reduced to Shelton Park’s artificial intelligence.

Of course, I don’t know yet whether they have memories of their time as living beings or whether they retain their reason.

The fact that they are ‘trapped’ is certain.

At the border between life and death, unable to live or die, as a potential means of making money.

“Isn’t it okay to do this?”

I muttered quietly. Just then someone came up to me. It was a man with a half-broken face who had been following me all this time.

“Isn’t that right?”

He looked at me with eyes full of desire. Of course he doesn’t have eyes, but whatever.

I have to release it.

It is not because of a weak sense of justice. I might not be a good enough person to do something like that in the first place.

However, I just don’t want to see a future where these damn bastards are making money through things like ‘Shelton Park’.

“instead. You have to cooperate. “Not just you, but all the ghosts here.”

I flicked a casino chip at the male ghost. He took it in his hand. He nodded slightly at his chin, which was still fine.

“good. then.”

Before I can carry out my plan, I must first remain here alone.

Simply put, you have to be first.

Of course, you can do it without being alone, but if you try to liberate the demonic core, not only can the rest of the living become mentally ill, but I also have some things I want to monopolize.

Whirling – I took out the ax from my belt and held it in one hand.

“Let’s go destroy this hotel desk first.”

I stuck the ax in the floor of the fourth floor.

Quaz, that is——!

It felt squishy, ​​as if someone’s skin had been cut, and blood rushed out.

Sigh-! Sigh-!

Nevertheless, I kept hitting the ax.

Until the bottom of this fourth floor is revealed.