### Chapter 160 – Room 201, The Cursed Room – ‘The Cube’ (9)
—
Second Attempt, Kim Ari
“Elizaveta, this mansion is the Hesbort Mansion.”
“Hm. So, are you saying that already a three-digit number of lives have been sacrificed here?”
“At this rate, it’ll be four digits by next year.”
“Isn’t that why we came to stop it? Let’s go in.”
— Clank!
“What’s that sound?”
“Elizaveta! The door is locked!”
“What do you mean? Contact headquarters!”
“What? What’s going on? The signal’s down!”
— Beeep! Beeeep!
The signal resonated in my head, snapping me back to reality.
Unlike the first attempt, my comrades weren’t flailing around.
Instead, the conversation tab began to blink.
Lee Eunsol: First mansion captured.
While Eunsol was capturing the first mansion for the subsequent ‘find the differences’ game, I held Elizaveta and stalled for time, pretending to be flustered by the sudden communication blackout.
Just as I expected, it didn’t take long for the chaos to begin.
“Ugh!”
“Oliver? What the hell is going on?”
“Look at this!”
As anticipated, vivid crimson letters appeared in the huge mirror hanging on the wall.
Go down.
Didn’t Han Kain suggest smashing the mirror showing those same words in the first mansion?
Perhaps there was an escape route behind that mirror too.
It was worth testing. After all, we had already prepared to fight the demon girl if things went south, and our strength was at its peak right now.
Kim Ari: Seungyub, to the side of the mirror. Prepare to escape.
Park Seungyub: Yes.
I aimed my gun at the mirror while observing Elizaveta.
She didn’t bat an eye. It was more as if she was impatiently wondering why I hadn’t shot yet.
When considering the response protocol of Administration Bureau agents, it’s completely normal to shoot and throw grenades at suspicious-looking locations.
They’re not horror movie protagonists; they don’t go in barehanded to a strange place. Guns and bombs work against over 90% of chaotic entities on Earth.
— Bang! Crash!
With a loud noise, the mirror shattered.
…
Only a plain wall lay behind the mirror. It seemed Kain’s prediction was off this time.
We couldn’t escape directly from the first room. The number of escape rooms was limited.
Since the first room had only one exit anyway, there was no need to ponder where to go next. We moved towards the underground passage.
—
We entered the second mansion.
If nothing changed, the monster of this mansion was hiding in the carpet.
Lee Eunsol: Carpet in the living room shape changed. Monster in this location.
Just like before, the monster in the second mansion was in the carpet.
Now, it was time to get serious.
Kim Muksung and Cha Jinchul quietly moved behind Elizaveta.
Not yet. There were a few facts to confirm. Elizaveta opened her mouth.
“Go check the living room.”
We moved as instructed, but kept our distance from the carpet, surveying the surroundings.
After a bit of time passed, Elizaveta, feeling impatient, opened her mouth again.
“Hey! Enough chatting, focus more on searching.”
“Uh, sorry, Team Leader.”
“Check the floor too.”
That was clearly a reference to the carpet. That was enough. I confirmed two facts.
First, Elizaveta indeed knows the monster’s location.
Second, she meant to eliminate Oliver without distinguishing him from us.
Cha Jinchul then ‘accidentally’ shoved Elizaveta towards the carpet.
Elizaveta startled, nearly fainting, quickly stood up and drew her gun!
But it was too late.
“Didn’t Grandma say? No shoes on the carpet!”
The monster that sprang from the carpet grabbed Elizaveta’s legs—
“Shut your mouth.”
Before it could do anything, Cha Jinchul gripped the monster’s nape and just yanked it out with brute strength.
The form of the monster dragged out from the carpet was fairly horrific.
Its upper body mimicked that of an old woman, but its lower half was just a mass of flesh sticking out haphazardly.
Cha Jinchul looked unimpressed, opened the monster’s mouth, and summoned a star to shove inside.
In less than three seconds, the monster transformed into a writhing mass of dirt, metal, and flesh.
“Hey, Team Leader, be careful.”
“Cha Jinchul! I have something to say! Shoving me like that—”
“If I hadn’t done that, you’d be on the ground, dragged by the monster, wouldn’t you want to thank me?”
“… I do appreciate that part. But still, pay a bit more attention to your actions.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Now, we need to subdue the most dangerous entity.”
“What—”
— Clank!
With that, Cha Jinchul immediately grabbed Elizaveta with both hands.
Kim Muksung sprinted in, stripped her of her helmet and armor, and Eunsol tied her to a chair with strong rope.
Naturally, someone wasn’t idle during all this.
“What is everyone doing? What the hell is going on?”
Oliver rushed in, horrified, but Songi restrained him with a flick of her hand.
Second attempt. We had subdued both NPCs.
—
Once things settled, Songi approached.
“Ari, what should we do about Oliver?”
“Well? He doesn’t seem to be on Elizaveta’s side. He even tried to serve him up as monster food just like us. I’m not sure if we can trust him though.”
The party members gathered around Elizaveta, who had been restrained, murmured amongst themselves.
Before entering the Cube, they seemed to be ready to torture Elizaveta, but not everyone can pull off something so crude.
It wasn’t even necessary in the first place.
“Hold tight. We need to maintain eye contact for some time.”
“Got it, holding tight.”
While holding Elizaveta’s gaze for about three minutes, I tried to plant the strongest suggestion I could manage.
“Okay! Ready to answer honestly?”
“…”
“First question. How do we safely get to the Research Institute?”
“What do you mean?”
“In the room with the TV, beyond the display space. How do we get there safely?”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
I briefly turned my head to check with Elena.
Elena immediately drew an O. Indicating she was being truthful.
Elizaveta wasn’t lying in defiance of my suggestion.
“Let’s change the question. One of my comrades is trapped somewhere. The surroundings are all white, and there are people in white clothes walking around. Know anything about that?”
“Are you talking about headquarters?”
“Good. Let’s swap it to the term you like: the ‘headquarters’ over the TV, right?”
“That’s right.”
“How do we get there safely?”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Are you saying there’s some danger?”
Her response indicated she was confused about what she was being asked, even feeling frustrated herself. The conversation was going off track.
Songi’s voice broke in, sounding exasperated.
“Why not just have her tell everything she knows about the Cube?”
Muksung stopped her, aware of suggestions.
“Questions like that will lead to a chaotic mess of answers. We need specific questions.”
“Everyone else, just be quiet. Elizaveta, explain how to get to headquarters through the TV.”
“Put on earplugs, turn on the TV, and while keeping your eyes closed, go straight for about 200M, and you’ll reach Isolation Facility 13 – 4 in headquarters.”
… That answer felt a bit off?
My comrades began buzzing with excitement over the surprisingly easy solution.
Jinchul was the first to speak.
“Wait, just closing my eyes was all it took?”
Songi followed with a chuckle.
“Wow, that’s so easy? I thought we needed some brilliant creative solution or something!”
Elena looked incredulous.
“For something that could drive you insane just by looking at it, all we had to do was close our eyes?”
Seungyub was delighted amid all this.
“Earplugs! Isn’t that similar to my idea? It’s the same principle, isn’t it? You’re not hearing the TV sound!”
Muksung sighed while praising him.
“Right. Well done. But still, it seems strange… how could just closing your eyes work against such a transcendent entity?”
Elena appeared confused.
“I agree with Grandpa, but there’s no deception in Elizaveta’s words.”
—
It felt strange. There was a sense of discomfort in that answer.
In Elizaveta’s recent reply, there was an important fact she herself wasn’t even aware of.
However, there wasn’t any time to think freely about that discomfort.
“Sister! Demon girl! Ask what she is!”
“I’ll ask, so just be quiet. Elizaveta, after passing through this mansion multiple times, you’ll come across a mirror that connects to the outside, right?”
“Correct.”
“Behind that mirror, there’s a tremendously strong entity, yes?”
“Are you referring to Lady Beatrix?”
“Beatrix? What kind of being is she?”
“…”
“What kind of being is she?”
“You have quite the skill, don’t you? Is it powerful hypnosis?”
At that moment, the suggestion suddenly broke!
Without any premonition, it simply snapped, leaving me in a state of shock, while Elizaveta’s whole body became opaque and twisted grotesquely.
— Grrrl!
As if her skin were made of piano keys, it shuddered in a repulsive manner. Elizaveta then momentarily unleashed considerable power, tearing apart the bindings and escaping our grasp.
Cha Jinchul dashed in to grab her immediately.
The next moment, a tongue the size of a human forearm shot out from Elizaveta’s mouth like a frog, flying towards the wall where the clock hung in the mansion.
“What? She’s not attacking us, and suddenly she’s going for the wall—”
— Crash!
The wall collided with her tongue, crumbling. Hidden behind the destroyed wall was an unknown button.
The moment we saw that, everyone’s faces turned pale.
Something’s off! At that point, I decided to abandon my plans to interrogate Elizaveta.
“Cha Jinchul! Kill her!”
Jinchul immediately snapped her neck with both hands, and perhaps feeling it was still insufficient, he temporarily summoned a star and turned her grotesque form into a rock.
— Crash! Boom!
The entire mansion shook. Something horrific was about to happen.
“Everyone, come this way!”
Seungyub’s frantic voice made us rush towards the back door.
Ah, looks like we’re moving according to Seungyub’s whims again.
There was nothing we could do. Let’s just pray it’s not another dead-end room.
Just before closing the back door, I saw some absurd entity crashing through the wall.
No desire to confirm anything, I shut the rear door and dashed toward the next mansion.
—
— Kim Ari
“Gasp, gasp, gasp. Is everyone alright?”
Everyone was taking deep breaths, but it seemed like there wasn’t much wrong.
Ugh! That’s disappointing. I still had so many questions to ask!
It’s hard to fathom. I knew about the invisibility ability, but transforming into a monster?
That power wasn’t used when fighting us back in the first attempt.
And now, the power to break the hypnosis! What the heck is going on?
In the meantime, Oliver, free from Songi’s grip, was gasping beside us.
All eyes naturally turned to him.
“What, what’s going on? I’m not a spy!”
Elena nodded, and Muksung calmly replied after confirming it.
“We think the same. Elizaveta tried to harm you too.”
“I had no idea earlier. I never imagined that Elizaveta was a spy or a betrayer. How did you all know? And what’s all this about the TV and headquarters?”
It was hard to answer. Our side had far too many people, and Muksung just brushed it off.
“Do you think I should explain all that to you over three or four days? Just give a detailed explanation once we’re outside. More importantly, do you have anything to say?”
Oliver, trembling before us, particularly fearful of Cha Jinchul, began to speak.
“About what I can say… the only word I caught from your conversation with Elizaveta was ‘Beatrix.’”
!!!
No way! Did he catch the most important word? I rushed over.
“What? Leave out no details about Beatrix!”
Cha Jinchul gave a friendly smile, placing a hand on Oliver’s shoulder. There were still horrid chunks of the grandma monster stuck to his hand.
“You might not want to think anything weird. I’m saying this for your sake.”
Oliver quaked and pathetically began to answer.
“Beatrix, or more precisely, Chaos Entity 1283, is its official designation, ‘Ominous Imagination.’ She was the greatest achievement of the Arizona branch led by Chief Researcher Han Kain a long time ago. If the Administration Bureau could fully control her abilities, she would be the ultimate weapon able to protect the world. Therefore, Beatrix’s rampage and the disappearance of Chief Researcher Han Kain were both tremendous tragedies…”
—
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