Chapter: 105
### 105 – Party Time (7) – Understanding the Scenario
—
Second Evening of Party Time
– Han Kain
Just when Ahri was about to share something important with me, the hotel lit up with flashing lights, and eerie growls began to echo around us.
Ahri, who was about to speak, looked at me with a surprised expression.
“I don’t know what’s happening, but let’s move for now!”
“Duck!”
Just as I turned around—
—whoosh!
Something flew at me as I heard Ahri’s warning, and I immediately bent my waist.
What the heck is this?
I could see a colossal figure I couldn’t identify. It stood around 2 meters tall and had boxing gloves on both hands, drooling and babbling weird sounds.
“Kids these days lack resilience. What’s the big deal about breaking a few arms and legs? Come learn boxing from me! Learn boxing!”
I could hear Ahri making some noise as if she was going to say something from behind, but honestly, there was no need for that.
In a split second, I took control of its body.
…
Something seems off, though.
There’s not a single ‘memory’ in my head.
All I have is that line about kids these days.
How can something like this be human?
I roughly smashed its legs and returned to my original body.
“Did I just possess that guy and injure myself to come back?”
“Yeah, what the heck was that?”
“No clue. Let’s just regroup with the others.”
As we moved toward Room 105, we came across Eunsol, who had rushed out half-dressed.
“Are you guys okay?!”
“We’re fine. What about everyone else?”
“Let’s head to the basement. I think everyone went down there to hang out.”
The three of us went down together. As soon as we arrived, our companions—Elena, Songee, Mooksung, and Jinchul—appeared.
I was greeted by the sight of over ten crazy boxing athletes sprawled out, all dealt with by me earlier.
“Is everyone alright?”
Honestly, even while asking, I didn’t feel worried at all.
How could a bunch of crazy strong boxers possibly threaten us?
“Of course we’re okay. But where are these guys even coming from? It’s like they’re sprouting from the ground—no matter how many we take down, they just keep showing up!”
Unlike me, my companions were well aware of the situation through the displays in the basement.
“A surprise event requested by the participants? A nightmare? Who actually requested this?”
Even Grandpa Mooksung looked bewildered.
“That’s what I’m saying! I have no idea who asked for this.”
Suddenly, Eunsol, who had her head down, spoke up.
“Um… it might have been me.”
Requested? No, it might have been me?
When I heard the whole story, I couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.
I asked for a decent weapon for the ‘Hands of Greed,’ and this is what I got?
Surprisingly, Jinchul responded positively.
“Don’t worry, sis. These guys don’t seem to be anything special anyway, so if we can take down a few of them and get a decent weapon, it’s really a win-win. Well done.”
“R-Right?”
“Are you okay, sis!”
“Everything’s good, but where’s Seungyub right now?”
“Uh? Wait—”
“Kain! Check the location info for Seungyub!”
…
“Kain?”
While sounds of chaos filled the air around us, I was a bit startled.
My status window lit up with ‘Understanding the Scenario.’
So it turns out this isn’t only usable in the Curse Room!
Even in the hotel when weird events are happening, I can access a ‘Scenario.’
The moment I pressed it, a long text obscured my view.
/Scenario: Hotel Event – Nightmare
On a peaceful night at the hotel, where everyone was smiling and enjoying themselves, a boy tormented by an impossible love climbs a mountain alone to gather courage and encounters a mystical butterfly…
Next content can be checked in the mountain area underground.
Just as I was frantically reading, someone tapped my shoulder.
“Eh?”
“What’s up? I thought you turned weird too. What popped up in the status window?”
“Oh, the ‘Understanding the Scenario’ just activated.”
I relayed the information to everyone.
“Wait, if it’s a boy, is it about Seungyub? Gathering courage? Climbing a mountain alone? I have no idea what this even means, but we need to head to the underground hiking area!”
Amid all the confusion, we all moved towards the hotel basement, “Hiking.”
Ahri’s face turned pale when she heard my explanation.
Before I could even point anything out, Songee already sensed something.
“Ahri. Do you have any guesses?”
“… I made a joke yesterday about how Seungyub was being overly clingy.”
“A joke?”
“I said I didn’t like timid, cowardly kids~”
At that, Grandpa Mooksung gasped in admiration.
“Wow! So after hearing you, did Seungyub go to climb a mountain at night to build some courage?”
“…”
“Let’s just go to the mountain. It looks like Kain’s ‘Understanding the Scenario’ will reveal more once we enter the ‘Hiking Room.’”
*
We all moved toward the ‘Hiking Room.’
Maybe it was because it was night in the hotel?
The inside of the ‘Hiking Room’ was pitch black, and nothing was visible.
Jinchul turned on the flashlight we brought, and I checked the ‘Scenario’ again.
/Scenario: Hotel Event – Nightmare
The identity of the mystical butterfly is the ‘Nightmare Butterfly.’
The boy who met the butterfly faced the nightmares hidden deep within his heart and eventually fell into a trauma he couldn’t bear.
Before long, the boy’s nightmare began to spread into the world.
In a moment of crisis, his comrades, who were with him, arrived at the mountain to rescue him.
Next content can be checked on the mountainside.
“We just have to reach the mountainside!”
“What the heck’s going on at night?”
Despite the chaos, I didn’t feel too bad.
I was starting to get the hang of what ‘Understanding the Scenario’ was about.
It seems like it’s supposed to guide us on who the threats in the room are and where we need to go to solve the issues.
Without this, we would have been wandering aimlessly underground, not knowing who the enemy was or where to go!
If we had this from the start, we could have easily breezed through rooms like the Common Sense Renovating Media.
I was beginning to realize the sheer power of the ‘Powerful Empowerment’ that the Owl had boasted about.
Not long after we began our ascent, trouble began to brew.
Monsters started emerging from the darkness, charging at us.
We began to prepare for battle as a group.
With Mooksung, Jinchul, myself, Ahri, and Songee all ready for action, we attacked the monsters using our skills while Elena and Eunsol supported us from within our formation.
To be honest, we really do seem strong now.
The monsters looked like something straight out of a horror movie, yet we felt no real danger.
Jinchul dove right into the midst of the monsters, thrashing around like a wolf, while Songee just waved her hand doing her magical thing.
As for me, I was possessing a big snake-like monster and wrecking havoc.
Even Ahri and Grandpa Mooksung fought well.
With our combined efforts, aren’t we practically legendary heroes at this point?
However, the monsters just kept coming endlessly.
Each one was no threat to us anymore, but curiously, they just kept popping up no matter how many we took down.
At this rate, if I kept getting possessed in a place like this, I would run out of time and have to return to my body.
My remaining possession time was down to about 20 minutes.
While the day would reset, we still had a solid 2 hours until the start of Day 3.
The chat window activated.
Mooksung: Attention! This isn’t right. There’s no end to this!
Ahri: The scenario title is “Nightmare.” It said the boy is trapped in a nightmare. These monsters might be from Seungyub’s nightmare.
Eunsol: So, do we need to find Seungyub and wake him up?
Jinchul: I’ll use my star to charge ahead and try to clear a path.
In the end, Jinchul dashed ahead using the stars.
We waited a moment before starting to spread out.
As Songee, looking exhausted, sank to the ground beside me, Peppo flew over to her, nuzzling her face with its beak.
So cute, right?
“In the midst of monsters pouring out, is Peppo okay? I was worried it would freak out and start flying around, but it seems calm.”
“Peppo is really smart, so it’s okay!”
“Smart enough to be fine?”
“Peppo can instinctively sense the strength of those around. Based on its judgment, these mountain monsters are inferior to our party. So it won’t feel scared at all.”
Since I guess Peppo was conveying its thoughts? Songee’s tone sounded a bit off.
I recalled there was a time not long ago when she got scared—when she was alone and when Jinchul had hit her.
The latter was obviously a scary situation, so I just had to be careful of the former.
Drawing closer in curiosity, I reached towards Songee.
—Bweeek!
In an instant, Peppo let out a shriek and dove right into Songee’s clothes.
“Ah! Stay over there, big brother!”
“…”
Why is it that Peppo dislikes me so much?
… Come to think of it, I have given it too many reasons to dislike me.
On the first day of Party Time, after Eunsol came up with the idea of a ‘parachute,’ I pondered the thought of possessing Peppo to fly outside the hotel.
After that, I had possessed Peppo about three more times to ‘practice flying.’
I learned the hard way that even if a human’s mind goes into a bird’s body, flying is incredibly challenging.
Peppo lost a tuft of feathers just for me to realize that.
Since then, every time it saw me, it would scream and run away.
While I was standing awkwardly, Ahri gave me a nudge.
“Knock it off. That’s a rare, precious creature that just laid a golden egg, and you’re going to give it baldness.”
That should be enough, right?
About 2 or 3 minutes had passed since Jinchul activated the star and dashed off.
We resumed our journey.
Clearly, with Jinchul attracting the monsters’ attention and sweeping them away with the stars, the area around us was cluttered with twisted monster remains, and the path had become secure.
We arrived at the mountainside and checked the status window again.
/Scenario: Hotel Event – Nightmare
The comrades discovered the boy who had fallen into an unawakening nightmare. In the nightmare, the boy slowly dies! Will his comrades be able to save him and defeat the ‘Nightmare Butterfly’?
Found it?
Looks like Jinchul, who went ahead, found Seungyub.
This feels like the last bit of the story. The instructions on where to go have vanished, and it’s clear what our new ‘goal’ is.
We need to wake Seungyub and catch the monster called the ‘Nightmare Butterfly.’
Turning my gaze, I moved toward where my teammates gathered.
Jinchul had laid Seungyub on a soft spot, wrapped in clothing.
“Is Seungyub okay? The ‘Understanding the Scenario’ said he’s dying?”
“Come see for yourself. He definitely doesn’t look good.”
As I got closer, I heard faint breaths.
Seungyub had always been a slender kid, but now he looked like some malnourished boy straight out of an African documentary.
His body appeared to be nothing but bones.
While everyone was distressed, there were two who showed no sign of panic.
“I know this monster. Is it called ‘Nightmare Butterfly’ here in the hotel?”
“You’ve seen it before?”
“It exists on Earth too. The Management Bureau refers to it as a ‘Dream Eater,’ and it’s definitely a similar type. They’re quite common, especially in Western countries like Europe.”
… It exists on Earth too? And it’s common in Europe?
What kind of place did I live in?
I guess it doesn’t matter now that I know its identity; we’ll have to deal with it.
Grandpa Mooksung gave Ahri a knowing glance. Ahri seemed to hesitate for a moment before approaching me.
“Drink this.”
“Do I really have to drink your blood again? What should I—”
“It’s urgent, so I’ll explain as you go in. Just drink it now.”
She forced it down my throat.
… In an instant, I felt my consciousness drifting away, and my body began to collapse.
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