Chapter: 95
95 – Room 102, The Cursed Room – ‘Mansion of Fear’ Re (8)
The Fourth Attempt
– Lee Eunsol
How many hours has it been? We were just ringing the bell endlessly, waiting for the ‘Team Destroyers’ to come back after smashing the altar.
— Taang! Taang!
This really sounds terrible. I’ve heard many bells in my life, but this is the first time I’ve heard such a horrible one.
At first, I thought Kain just couldn’t ring the bell, but when it was my turn to ring it (we were taking turns), I realized it was the bell itself that was awful.
Of course, since it’s a bell designed to suppress evil powers, it doesn’t really need to sound beautiful.
Kain, who was sitting on the other side sipping coffee, raised his head.
“Eunsol-noona.”
“Yeah?”
“I know it’s a late thought, but what did the hint mean?”
Hint: [Forget the bias that you must go toward the ________.]
“Now that you mention it, we completely stopped thinking about the hint at some point.”
“I put some thought into it until the second attempt, but after re-entering, the scenario completely changed.
After that, everyone was so confused adapting to the new scenario that we didn’t even think about the hint.”
“What were the candidates we came up with again?”
“The first thing we thought of was the mansion. Then, Grandpa Mooksung and Ahri mentioned other examples like the cathedral, the basement, the lake, and the study.”
“Looking back, it’s definitely not the mansion. We had no choice but to go to the mansion. And the cathedral doesn’t seem right either.
We did gather quite a bit of information from those places. The lake was never a problem starting from the second attempt, nor was there much reason to go to the study.”
“Was it the ‘basement,’ maybe?”
“Forget the bias that you must go toward the basement. For sure, we did fall into the bias that we had to go to the basement after we found the grimoire there.
Even in the second attempt, when we couldn’t find anything after checking Lee Sehyun, everyone just went to the basement without second thoughts.”
“And we were forced to escape.”
“Now that I think about it, Ahri died immediately in the first attempt after heading to the basement. We’ve never ended well by going to the basement.
In the first attempt, it was an immediate death, and in the second attempt, we didn’t achieve anything and were forced to escape. In the third attempt, we didn’t even bother going to the basement and found considerable information instead.
We figured out that the bell could suppress possession and found out that there was a sanctum on the mountain behind the mansion related to the ritual of the evil god.”
As I chatted with Kain, the correct interpretation of the hint dawned on me.
[Forget the bias that you must go toward the basement.]
While we were nodding to each other, Seungyub, who had been listening nearby, spoke up with a puzzled look.
“But didn’t Jinchul-hyung, Ahri-noona, and Songee-noona go to smash the altar somewhere in the ‘basement’?”
“…”
“…”
“UAAAHHH!”
I was so startled I screamed!
“No way! Is this really over?!”
Kain also swore!
“No, no, no, no! What’s happening? Is this it?!”
“Noona, calm down! Let’s think! An altar in the basement… No matter how I think about it, isn’t destroying it just obvious? It’s literally called an altar!”
“Wait, wait!”
I retraced my conversation with Lee Sehyun.
*
“After that, I built an altar in the basement to offer back my wealth, which I regained thanks to him. I prayed regularly and diligently—and—”
“An altar?”
“It wasn’t anything grandiose. It was just—”
*
“Hah! Damn it! I got it!”
“W-what did you get, noona?”
“The Apostle never told Lee Sehyun to build the altar! He made it out of gratitude. Plus, he even said it wasn’t anything grandiose!”
“But the Apostle stressed the importance of security!”
*
“Huh? It’s a bit difficult to explain where exactly the altar is. The Apostle emphasized security so much, the path there is incredibly complicated—”
*
“He was just saying that in a world where the Vatican maintains power, to not get caught making a strange altar for an evil god!”
I was hit with the bleak revelation.
The altar in the basement was unrelated to the ritual of the evil god; it was a personal space created by Lee Sehyun for his faith! There was no need to go there.
In fact, going there wasn’t just unnecessary; it was a place we shouldn’t go to!
As Kain and I processed the hopeless realization, we were rendered speechless.
— KYAAAAAAAAAAK!
A scream echoed throughout the mansion.
Two hours earlier, Team Destroyers
– Kim Ahri
The path is unnecessarily complicated.
I realized what Lee Sehyun meant when he told Eunsol that it was ‘incredibly secure’.
How in the world did he build such chaotic spaces underground?
How much money had Lee Sehyun to throw around to create all this?
I stopped myself as I pondered that.
He was a businessman who had the help of an Apostle with the ability to possess others.
With that in mind, it wouldn’t be hard for him to earn an amount of money capable of astounding even Middle Eastern royalty.
Our starting point was the mansion.
There was a lever in the study that led down to the basement with the grimoire, but such bizarre contraptions weren’t limited to just the study.
We ended up in the bedroom where something was touched, causing the bed to slide away, revealing a staircase downward.
This path was definitely different from the route leading to the grimoire from the study.
Despite being underground, the air was pleasant, and it wasn’t dark either.
There were quite a few security measures requiring Lee Sehyun’s fingerprints or iris to get through.
The atmosphere was far more ‘modern’ compared to the path going to the grimoire.
Thinking back, Lee Sehyun didn’t even know about the existence of the grimoire.
It seemed that the path from the study to the grimoire and the path from the bedroom to the altar were used by different people.
The path to the grimoire was likely used primarily by the Apostle borrowing Lee Siwoo’s body.
So, did that mean the path to the altar was mainly for Lee Sehyun?
I was lost in thought when it was time to refresh the hypnosis.
“Hang on a moment. Everyone stop.”
The group halted, and I stepped up to Lee Sehyun and performed the hypnosis through the Ancient Blood again.
It felt somewhat unusual.
My hypnosis isn’t powerful enough to completely erase one’s identity. It’s designed merely to shift the consciousness elsewhere.
Therefore, I expected Lee Sehyun to rebel or resist at some point, but…
Miraculously, he adhered to our commands like a puppet.
He was so obedient, even Songee showed some wariness about my hypnosis.
Honestly, this was impressive! I didn’t expect it to be this strong!
In any case, after walking nearly 40 minutes, we finally reached the altar.
Jinchul looked around and spoke up.
“Well, this seems like a place for meditation.”
“Just a moment. Let me take a closer look.”
I was the only one here with knowledge of evil powers, so I began examining everything closely. There was a moth-like sculpture and a cushion that seemed made for kneeling.
Besides that, there were other paintings and sculptures to check out.
…
“Ahri. Are you getting anything from this?”
I had no clue. This was a little embarrassing.
No matter how much I looked, everything seemed like ordinary items made by average people.
Given that the moth sculpture resembled one Jinchul mentioned he saw before dying in the third attempt, we must have come to the right location, but…
Strange.
They looked like typical carvings or paintings created through hearsay.
I felt no trace of any supernatural power emanating from any of them.
In some respects, evil rituals resembled modern science.
To achieve something grand, great preparations were necessary.
To birth an evil god was, after all, a monumental task that required extensive setups.
Caught in disarray, Jinchul stepped closer.
“Looks like you’re not sure, huh? Let’s just go with the Star. I don’t know what we should break, but if it’s the Star, it can smash anything!”
“I agree. It did twist the wings of a demon god; surely equipment created by mortals can’t withstand the Star.”
“So, you and Songee should step back.”
…
In the end, Songee and I took Lee Sehyun and distanced ourselves from Jinchul.
Ah. Something feels off. I had the nagging feeling I had missed something crucial.
After receiving mental protection from Songee, Jinchul stayed behind in the altar room while summoning the Star, immediately followed by a sensation prickling my skin.
The sheer destructive power radiating from this distance sent chills down my spine.
Isn’t the Hotel out of control for casually tossing around working treasures like this? Please think about our situation as the Administration team trying to protect Earth!
If Jinchul manages to escape the Hotel, he will single-handedly possess powers comparable to a tactical nuclear weapon.
Just how do we plan on managing that?
…
Let’s refrain from such thoughts. For now, I’m just another contestant in this Hotel.
As an ominous wave began to shake the basement, Lee Sehyun took several backward steps as if gripped by an instinctual fear. Then, all of a sudden, he darted off.
???
What’s happening!?
I was so surprised I charged after him. Realizing something was amiss, Songee also followed suit, startled.
“Too late!”
Lee Sehyun’s voice boomed with glee as he touched something on the wall.
— Uuunng!
A spine-chilling noise started resonating throughout the basement.
It wasn’t some demonic or divine power—it was modern science!
Had there been a secret passage? Lee Sehyun vanished, and then metallic sounds echoed from all directions.
No! This is just too much!
How much money did that little jerk Lee Sehyun have to create such a crazy underground hideout!?
Feeling like I would lose my mind, I turned my sights and found Jinchul, who had also burst out of the altar room upon sensing the disturbance, looking at me in confusion.
Songee approached Jinchul with a resolved expression.
I realized I needed to make a decision as well.
Given our physical abilities and the powers of the Inheritance, only one person in our group stood a chance to leave alive from this place.
Fortunately, it didn’t feel like the worst-case scenario.
Based on knowledge gleaned from my training as an agent, I found comfort in knowing that killing anyone anywhere didn’t automatically designate them as a suitable sacrifice for supernatural rituals.
Since ancient days, people had gone through elaborate rites to offer sacrifices to gods, and there were reasons for such complexity.
In a ‘place like this,’ if it were an Apostle and not a security measure that claimed us, neither Songee nor my souls would serve as sacrifices.
That meant even if I perished here, the ‘cocoon’ wouldn’t be summoned immediately.
All I could do now was hope the team left at the mansion would somehow mend this mess.
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