Chapter: 4
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 1
Current Location: Floor 1, Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 1]
Finally, after walking for about 10 minutes from the front desk in the opposite direction of the main entrance, we found the elevator.
“Oh, this feels a bit spooky. The notification said the elevator is broken; what if a ridiculous monster pops out because of that?”
“That’s a fair point. Kain, you’ve been sharp since earlier. Everyone, let’s pause for a moment. I’ll grab something useful,” said Jinchul.
Everyone knew that this man was responsible for about 90% of our group’s strength, so no one argued against him. Not long after, he returned with something… spectacular.
“Huh? Hyung, what on earth is that? A spear? Where did you even find that?” Seungyub asked, the youngest in the group.
“Oh, Seungyub, I spotted it while we were walking; it looked like some decorative pole for a flag. Strip the flag away, and bam, it’s a polearm.”
“Um… Jinchul-ssi, isn’t that heavy? Just by looking, it seems to weigh over 10 kg.”
“What’s with that ‘ssi’? Just call me hyung. And hey, didn’t I mention at lunch? I used to be no good at swinging stuff like this, but now I feel like I can. It’s probably thanks to that Blessing of Courage. Superman would be an exaggeration, but I think I’m about as strong as Captain America?”
“Oh, in that case, I’ll call you hyung. Either way, it’s reassuring. I’m sure even the toughest monsters would be shocked if hit with that.”
Captain America seems to fit him well. But given he’s Korean… maybe Captain Korea? A tiny thought crossed my mind: could it be that this guy is the real monster compared to the ones we’re facing?
With the team’s muscle now feeling more reliable, we confidently headed toward the elevator.
Clunk—
We opened the elevator door. Fortunately, there wasn’t anything monstrous inside; in fact, it was surprisingly neat. Upon checking the panel, it became clear what they meant by some functions being deactivated. The buttons for the 2nd and 3rd floors had no lights on them. Songee pressed them just in case, but as expected, nothing happened.
“So, we can’t go to the 2nd and 3rd floors yet? Should we try going down to the basement instead?”
“Let’s give it a shot! We need to check everything we can to see if there’s anything worthwhile. What could possibly go wrong with Captain America at our side?”
Eunsol-noona, sounding more confident than before, shouted out, and Jinchul-hyung just smiled awkwardly at her enthusiasm. But just as Songee was about to press the basement button—
[Going to the basement now is extremely dangerous.]
Grab!
I instinctively lunged forward and grabbed Songee’s arm. My reaction startled everyone. They all just stared at me, unsure how to respond, while Songee was shaking like a little rabbit.
“I’m sorry! But just now, an alert popped up. The alert for the ‘status screen’ I mentioned during lunch!”
“Are you talking about the one only you can see? The one that told you to go to Room 105?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“What did it say? I can guess a little—but….”
“It says going to the basement is incredibly dangerous right now.”
“Ugh, this damn hotel has risks around every corner,” Jinchul-hyung grumbled.
“Well then, let’s take that advice to heart. It mentioned Room 105, so we should trust it. And Kain? I think you can let go of her arm now. If you hold on any longer, Songee will actually faint.”
“Ah, I’m sorry! I got startled.”
“No, no, it’s all good…”
“Hey, Kain-hyung, how many of those ‘Sage’s Advice’ do you have left now?” Seungyub interjected.
[Sage’s Advice: 0]
“Looks like zero,” I replied.
“Zero? Oh, did it go down when it warned you not to open the main entrance?”
After a brief silence, Eunsol-noona, who often took the lead, spoke up.
“Then let’s call it a day for our exploration. Honestly… wandering around this dangerous place without Kain’s alerts feels way too risky.”
“Is there a way to refill those numbers?”
“Hyung, things like that usually replenish after a good sleep. It’s a foundational rule—mana and health get fully restored after a night at the inn.”
That sounded like a gamer’s rule of thumb, but truth be told, there weren’t many options. We all agreed it was too dangerous to keep exploring without Sage’s Advice, and eventually, we headed back to Room 105.
“So, when we go in, we just separate automatically, right? And then teleport back together for dinner?”
“Seems likely.”
“Alright then, let’s all enter and get some rest. We’ll reunite for dinner in about an hour. Let’s quickly freshen up, relax a bit, and call it a day. We’re pretty much done exploring for now… though I still have no idea what we should do next.”
“I frankly don’t think we need to worry about that right this second,” Eunsol-noona chimed in.
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t we all notice? Whether it’s a monster, a human, or a ghost, something is continuously ‘managing’ us here. We got our drinks delivered just right, and looking back, I’d bet the food followed suit. Something keeping track of us wouldn’t just let us do nothing. They’ll likely say something about being ‘valued guests’ and issue all sorts of commands.”
“That makes sense. Plus, we’re honestly out of other options.”
“Exactly. And just in case, I want everyone to know this: whether today or any other day, there will be times you might not want to eat. On those occasions, even if you’re not hungry, let’s make an effort to show up in the dining room and check in with each other. In such a strange place, we need to regularly verify each other’s survival.”
Meal times. Thinking back on it, this location really hampers communication. The only space we could trust was Room 105; apart from our three meal times, we wouldn’t have any other way to meet. In the real world, if you needed to talk, you’d just hit up a chat app, but our phones have been unresponsive for ages.
We really needed to meet up periodically.
“I’d like to propose something too. Once we enter Room 105, there’s no way for us to connect. Our phones don’t work, and we can’t see each other outside of mealtimes. But I think we should share info even outside of meals, and as Noonim said, confirm each other’s existence. So, what if we all stepped outside our rooms every hour until we sleep? Let’s say today, we have meals from 7 to 8:30; aside from that, let’s go out at 6, 9, 10, and 11 to check for any issues or see if there’s anything we need to address.”
Unexpectedly, it was Songee and Elena who reacted first.
“I think that’s a brilliant idea! Honestly, being alone in the hotel before meal time was really… incredibly scary. Even a quick check-in to see each other would be reassuring.”
“I agree too. In a weird place like this, who needs privacy? We need to stick together, whether we like it or not.”
Everyone naturally nodded in agreement with the proposal, and soon we set two simple rules.
Verify each other’s existence, even outside mealtime.
Gather in front of Room 105 every hour on the dot to check in.
After establishing these living principles, we all headed to our own rooms through one entrance.
*
Just like when I left in the morning, I was welcomed back into an outrageously huge, fancy bedroom that even the average chaebol would find difficult to live in. Living alone in a mansion like this with food so delicious that it’s almost an experience; isn’t this paradise on earth?
I tried to convince myself, but it didn’t work well. I mean, who’d expect man-eating monkeys or dire dangers in paradise?
What on earth did I do to deserve being trapped in this ambiguous hell…?
Confusion, fear, worry, and anticipation for adventure? In the swirl of these turbulent emotions, I caught a glimpse of my status screen flickering. But wasn’t Sage’s Advice already at 0? Looking closer, I realized it wasn’t Sage’s Advice but something else.
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 1
Current Location: Floor 1, Room 105 (Room of Rest)
Teammate Information (*)
Sage’s Advice: 0]
With a strong thought of open! directed at the flashing section, it burst open, inundating my sight with a massive amount of text. Ah, I realized it could lead to chaos in a hurry if I accidentally pressed it during an emergency.
But now that I think about it, there hadn’t been any flashing alerts when we were exploring outside. It seemed like these features only activated in safe spots.
What was revealed was an ultra-condensed profile of everyone.
1. Han Kain (20) – Wisdom. Freshman at K University
2. Cha Jinchul (31) – Courage. Former professional boxer
3. Yu Songee (17) – Affinity. Raises numerous animals
4. Elena Ivanova (23) – Justice. Daughter of a diplomatic exile. Aspiring actress
5. Park Seungyub (14) – Fortune. A tempestuous adolescent boy
6. Lee Eunsol (32) – Wealth. The third daughter of the chairman of Daeyang Group
Ah. This felt like a translation of my impressions of my teammates into concrete facts. I suddenly comprehended the essence of ‘Wisdom’s Blessing’: it transformed my vague thoughts into concrete truths and warned me of unknown dangers.
[You’ve grasped a little about your Blessing!]
As if waiting for the moment, a notification confirmed my understanding. The information about my teammates generally made sense; I thought, That fits! But seriously?
Jinchul-hyung, who’d been getting all those lofty titles like Terminator and Captain America, was truly a former professional boxer.
Songee, who had blurted out in surprise earlier, surely adored animals. Miss Elena wanting to be an actress felt perfectly natural; if I looked that good, I would’ve had the same dreams.
As for Seungyub, it was evident that boys at that age are often caught up in upheaval.
However, Eunsol-noona surprised me. Daeyang Group is a well-known conglomerate in Korea—who doesn’t know it? Being the third daughter of such a family, she must be unimaginably wealthy beyond what I’d expected.
At the same time… I wondered what significance it held. What does it matter if you’re a chaebol or a commoner when monsters are lurking in a hotel? The most relevant asset here seemed to be having a former boxer on our team. So I thought I’d better get closer to Jinchul-hyung as I drifted off into blankness.
Ah, I must remember to set an alarm.
Fortunately, aside from getting chided a bit for being slightly late for meal time, the long day came to a close without any major incidents.
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