### Chapter 157 – Room 201, The Cursed Room – ‘The Cube’ (6)
—
– Han Kain
“Alright, everyone! Let’s have a drink! Cheers~!”
…
I raised my glass of soda in a forced attempt to lift the mood, but very few people responded.
Eunsol did her best to go along with it, but there’s only so much she could do.
The teammates who returned from our first attempt in Room 201 came back in a groggy state.
Since each of us dropped out at different times, our reasons for being exhausted varied slightly, but in the end, it boiled down to a simple truth.
The enemy is too strong. Like, really, ridiculously strong.
Jinchul, after being taken down by a gorilla, seemed terrified even at the mere thought of it.
The girl who emerged from the mirror was also a laughably absurd concept.
She treated bullets like they were BBs, and my bracelet or ancient blood was only useful for buying time.
At this rate, even if we counted on our stellar talents, I wouldn’t bet on a solid outcome.
Listening to my teammates as they shared their tales, I ultimately reached a conclusion.
“It’s clearly different from the first floor. The specifications are much higher.”
Ahri nodded in agreement and replied, “Thinking back, the first floor seemed designed for us to clear it without any inheritance. It felt like it was built so that with some clever thinking, we could solve it with just blessings. But the second floor…”
“It’s designed under the assumption that we already have multiple inheritances.”
“Right. Of course, we’ve got multiple inheritances, boosted blessings, and treasures like protective suits, so it’s only natural that the enemy is ridiculously strong.”
The difficulty we all felt the moment we entered the second floor was staggering.
Naturally, another room came to mind that we could consider.
“It seems we can only access another room on the second floor after a ‘repair event’ has been completed, but there’s also Room 104. Shall we go ahead and tackle Hotel High School?”
Upon hearing my words, Ahri sighed.
“We can make some educated guesses now, can’t we? The identity of the ‘descent.’ The dangers of Room 104. The Owl already warned us. The descent is likely a power that ‘the Lord’ split or copied and inserted into you. That’s why even inheritances feel like toys compared to its surreal power.”
“So you’re saying it’s the ‘Lord’s’ fragment that makes it seem like I might betray everyone the moment I enter Room 104?”
“Think about it for yourself. If you did betray us, what would you do right away?”
Betraying my teammates and taking immediate action, the answer came to me quickly.
“Wouldn’t I just kill everyone?”
“Exactly. I’d rather fight the girl who came out of the mirror than take on the Son of Heaven.”
And just like that, the conversation came to a halt.
Everyone was picturing the potential of fighting the ‘Son of Heaven’s’ power to the extent that they treated Room 104 like a hazardous waste facility.
After some deliberation, I casually decided to use some advice.
“What do you all think about revisiting Room 104?”
[This question will consume all three uses. Would you like to ask?]
I was caught off guard and immediately backed down. It felt like a repeat of something that had happened in the previous gateway room.
Should we really just leave Room 104 as it is?
A vague thought crossed my mind.
The scenario my party was worried about—entering Room 104 and me descending to kill everyone within a second.
I believed such scenarios wouldn’t be to the hotel’s liking.
However, in the end, it was just my belief or speculation. The hotel was a place I couldn’t comprehend.
— Creak!
During our conversation, Songi stood up from the table carrying a plate with sandwiches.
She seemed to be trying to deliver food to Elena.
Naturally, the topic of Elena came up.
“Everyone seems half-gone, but Elena looks particularly bad. It’s to the point where she can’t even talk.”
Eunsol looked worried.
“It’s strange. Have we had too many horrific experiences in this hotel? If it were the outside world, just going through them once would leave someone with lifelong PTSD. Yet, the rest of us seem to cope just fine.”
“It feels like the hotel has managed our mental trauma along with our physical injuries.”
“Then why is Elena the only one in such bad shape this time?”
Hearing this piqued my curiosity. If everyone had the same messed-up state as Elena, I’d be in despair thinking the hotel wasn’t offering any treatment from the second floor onward, but the others seemed to be handling it decently well.
That’s exactly when my abilities came into play.
[Advice: 3 -> 2]
“Why isn’t Elena receiving treatment?”
[To spare you, treatment will be conducted tonight.]
A short yet reassuring response came back.
“I used some advice and got an answer. They’ll be treating us tomorrow night because they’re being considerate.”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
… But something felt off. What do they mean by ‘considerate’?
While I was pondering, Eunsol started the next topic.
“Let’s each share whatever comes to mind! I’ll start with Elizaveta.”
As soon as the word ‘Elizaveta’ left her lips, the teammates reacted strongly.
“Let her in, and she’ll grab our guns and break all our limbs!”
Ahri’s passionate expression caught my attention, momentarily surprising me.
“We need to make sure we gather intel before she starts breaking limbs. First, let’s smash her fingers.”
Grandpa was quick to jump on the torture plan as well.
“We need to extract true information by any means and then toss her to the monsters.”
Even the normally nice Jinchul was bringing up grim topics.
I got the gist of the story since it had been shared already.
Apparently, Elizaveta had struck unexpectedly, throwing everyone into the clutches of an immensely powerful King Kong.
It seemed everyone had built up quite a vendetta against her.
Since it looked like we had to interrogate her to learn something, I had nothing to say.
Still, I couldn’t help but think how absurd it’d be for Elizaveta the next time she met us.
She hadn’t done anything yet, and suddenly she’s faced with a group of people filled with resentment towards her!
Eunsol cautiously added her opinion.
“I don’t think Oliver is a problem, right? After all, the first person who died because of Elizaveta’s coercive search was Oliver.”
The next topic everyone turned to was the most important topic: ‘escape.’
Songi, the first to figure out the escape route, began passionately explaining.
“The window! The window was the escape route. I realized it while fighting the monster girl. That girl observed us for a long time through the window.”
Even Seungyub, who usually just munches snacks silently during meetings, confidently chimed in.
“Ha! That’s right. But, uh, noona, you could have told us it was a window instead of almost causing us to misunderstand. We were all thinking there are no windows in the mansion, right? Wouldn’t it have been easier if you’d just called it a mirror?”
“Good point. At that moment, I didn’t think about it.”
Songi had identified the escape route, and after summarizing the route through Seungyub’s actual escape, she laid it all out.
“Is this the verified escape route? If we endure without moving from the mansion, then somewhere among the mirrors throughout the mansion, like the sink, TV, or closet, the word ‘Move!’ will pop up. Breaking the glass with that word will lead us outside.”
“Yup.”
“Yeah.”
Grandpa Mooksung chimed in too.
“Don’t forget the important part. Behind that glass is a freshly sprung devil, probably popped right out of hell.”
Eunsol tilted her head in curiosity.
“Would breaking the glass in the first mansion without moving still lead to the escape route?”
Seungyub was skeptical.
“If that were the case, ‘luck’ wouldn’t have kept us from moving until the seventh mansion, right? I see no point in breaking the glass without moving. The exit mansion is limited, and you must break the glass of that specific room for the escape route to show up.”
“It seems you have a point there, Seungyub. The escape route must be predetermined. So what would happen if we broke the window with ‘Move!’ in another mansion?”
A new topic had been brought up. It was hard to conclude definitely on this matter.
In some particular room, when breaking the mirror that displays ‘Move!’, a devil girl appears, and behind her, the escape route exists.
So what would breaking a mirror that says ‘Move!’ in another room connect to?
Talking about escape, naturally, led to discussions about ‘that girl.’
Songi murmured, almost fed up.
“Honestly, she was a real monster. Kain oppa wouldn’t even imagine it.”
Ahri eagerly agreed.
“If it were outside, that level of monster wouldn’t warrant sending agents. They’d immediately send in helicopters and fighter jets loaded with missiles.”
She must have truly been at a level needing almost military intervention.
“Do you think we could possibly win against it?”
While many had seen the monster, only Songi and Ahri had engaged in a meaningful fight with it. After a moment of contemplation, they answered.
“It doesn’t seem totally impossible. We were already at a disadvantage when we encountered that girl. Elena died because of the TV, Jinchul was taken out by the gorilla, and both Songi and I were already fatigued.”
“If we were all at full strength, we might stand a fighting chance! Even if her skin deflected bullets, I think Jinchul’s star could break through it. Plus, since she’s a humanoid enemy, Elena’s sense of justice would definitely activate!”
Even though the enemy was strong, it was ultimately humanoid. Given that the enemy was an evil human, Elena could exhibit even stronger combat power than Jinchul.
Because of that point, a strange confidence started to blossom within all of us.
As we were deep in conversation, an unusual sound I hadn’t heard in a while came from somewhere.
— Squee! Squee!
Sounding like it was wondering why I’d forgotten about it for so long.
Poco, with a disgruntled air, flipped some plates around before perching on Songi’s shoulder.
Ahri asked curiously, “Where on earth has he been?”
Songi seemed puzzled as well.
“I’ve been trying to read Poco’s thoughts for a while, but it’s really tough since he seems like a 3-year-old child. All I got was that he’s been in a very frustrating white place.”
“A very frustrating white place….”
Listening to her, I started to piece it together.
“Could it be he was stuck in a test tube like me?”
“So where are you now?”
I had no words to say—I didn’t really know either.
‘Release the seal.’
Currently, we hadn’t made any progress on that front either.
Jinchul, looking a bit frustrated, asked.
“Can’t you use ‘Descent’ before the ‘seal notice’ pops up, or possibly possess the body of another researcher to escape?”
“The grimoire was off-limits. I’m pretty sure ‘Descent’ is impossible too.”
“Try using advice to confirm.”
Since I still had two attempts left, it might be worth checking.
[Advice: 2 -> 1]
“Can I escape through Descent?”
[Look towards the moon with a crooked heart.]
This guy is at it again, chuckling at the response.
“What does that even mean? Look towards the moon with a crooked heart? Is that some idiom?”
Just then, Grandpa Mooksung interjected, swaggering with confidence.
“Hah! That’s why you shouldn’t deal with ignorant brats. Seriously, the youth these days aren’t properly educated in Hanja.”
“Oi! I get your bragging, but what does it mean?”
“When you point at the moon with your finger, only the finger gets noticed and not the moon. It’s a phrase critiquing the folly of fixating on a single part while ignoring the essence.”
Ignoring the essence and obsessively focusing on one part.
Hearing that, I immediately understood what the advice meant.
In fact, it felt like it reconfirmed suspicions I had before using the advice.
“What’s the original purpose of the seal? Isn’t it targeting parties overly reliant on specific members or powers? But judging from its advice to act ‘before the notification pops up,’ or ‘to break through with a stronger force via descent,’ indicates that it’s foolishness to only focus on a single aspect and disregard the essence. That’s the sort of meaning behind that advice.”
“Your owl sure knows how to say it. It’s like he’s purposely making things complicated.”
A brief silence filled the table afterward.
Eunsol swiftly redirected the discussion back to the topic everyone was most interested in: escape.
“Now, everyone! Let’s focus on escaping. Once we secure that escape, we can ram into it three or four more times until we break through.”
“We’ve confirmed the escape method, right? Relying on luck as we move around, we’ll eventually stumble upon a mansion that screams ‘Here!’ An escape route will show up somewhere through the blink of an eye, and we jump through the mirror hiding the demon behind it. That’s the escape plan.”
“That seems correct. However, the biggest issue is that demon.”
Grandpa Mooksung grumbled.
“Guarding the escape route is a demon? What sort of doorman is that? It looks like we’ll have to face it for sure.”
“Given the circumstances, isn’t that girl the opponent? We’ll have to defeat her at some point. While everyone else fights her, what about Seungyub or Eunsol sneaking away?”
It seemed wise to have those with combat strength attempt to deal with the demon while those with less fighting power focusing on making the escape.
Eunsol nodded and emphasized one point.
“Don’t forget about Elizaveta’s resurrection. The moment we see her face, we won’t be able to forget.”
I extended my condolences to Elizaveta, who wouldn’t even realize what was happening, as she’d face a group of people who harbored resentment against her after not knowing her identity!
Thus concluded the dinner meeting on the first day after our first attempt. Tomorrow morning, we agreed to reconvene and discuss our detailed plans.
Now, let’s go check on Elena.
I recalled the response I received earlier from the advice I wrote for her.
[Considering you, treatment will take place tonight.]
Even upon reflection, this answer still seemed oddly off.
—
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.