### Chapter 212 – Room 104, Cursed Room – ‘Prestigious Hotel High School’ Re (6)
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– Lee Eunsol
As I listened to Pero Kain’s explanation, Grandpa took a moment to ponder before he began to summarize.
“I understand the purpose of the host after hearing you. For that purpose, in Room 104, it intentionally did not help Aurelia adequately, allowing you to lose, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then why did it even intervene?”
“Huh?”
“From what you said, Aurelia was about to lose to you all anyway, right? If the ‘Divine Sun’ hadn’t appeared, she would have been done for, and the room would have been resolved. We would have already gotten the Divine Sun and escaped.”
“…”
… Listening to this, I found it to be true.
If the host’s goal is to resolve the room, it didn’t need to send some holy relic, steal Kain’s body, or make such a fuss. Aurelia was on the verge of defeat! It could have just waited to achieve its goal.
As I thought about it more, another strange point came to mind. Why did it provide information about ‘Justice’ in the first place? Without that info, we could have taken down Aurelia much faster thanks to Elena’s justice.
“Listen to me both of you. I think you two were so shocked by the host’s overwhelming power that you missed a pretty obvious part. In Go (a board game), the moves that seem obvious to someone watching closely often aren’t visible to the one actually playing.”
“Did you come up with a brilliant idea?”
“I formulated a sort of hypothesis while listening to you. To avoid any frustration, I’ll get to the conclusion. I believe the host’s victory condition isn’t simply resolving the room but rather ‘acquiring Han Kain’s inheritance.'”
“I have to acquire the inheritance for the host’s purpose to be fulfilled?”
“Thinking this way makes many of your questions clear. Why did it intervene? If left alone, the inheritance would likely have been acquired by someone other than Kain. The fight against Aurelia was a collective effort from everyone on-site, right?”
“That’s right. Everyone had their contribution acknowledged. If it had been resolved in that situation, it would have been time to decide who among us would acquire the inheritance. I probably would have given it up. If I got it again, I’d just get sealed in the remaining rooms on the second floor.”
“So the host stepped in. After killing Aurelia, the only one left able to gain the inheritance would have to be Han Kain. After that, the remaining heretical factions in the Hotel High School would be dealt with to resolve the room.”
“Having given Aurelia the information about Justice makes sense in that context. If Elena activated Justice and defeated Aurelia one-on-one, the possibility that too much contribution would be acknowledged for Elena is significant.”
“Exactly. If the contribution difference is too great, Elena could immediately obtain the inheritance without a selection time. Therefore, Justice had to be sealed. I also believe there was a second purpose to this: the possibility that you might lose due to various factors in battle.”
At this point, I was starting to catch on.
“So the host was keeping in mind that we could lose since you never know with battles!”
“The host had a revelation to ensure that if you fought so poorly that you lost, Aurelia wouldn’t be able to kill you.”
After listening to Grandpa’s hypothesis, Pero Kain seemed to gain some insights.
“Is there a reason related to the host’s purpose that I must acquire the inheritance?”
“I believe that’s the case. What might the host intend to do after being set free in the form of an inheritance? It’s unknown, but to act independently, the host must control the owner of the inheritance. That’s probably the strategy behind your acquired descent.”
To summarize Grandpa’s hypothesis: for the host to win, not anyone else should acquire the inheritance—only Kain must acquire it!
The reasoning for this hypothesis is mainly threefold.
First, the duel with Aurelia was already heading towards our victory before the host intervened. If resolving the room was merely its goal, it could have just let things be.
Second, it delivered counter-information to Aurelia to prevent Elena from singlehandedly executing her and gaining overwhelming contribution—if Aurelia did win, she couldn’t just wipe us all out.
Third, the very presence of the descent signifies that Kain is somehow special to the host’s plan.
With that, Grandpa seemed a little exhausted and fell quiet. However, the atmosphere around us had considerably brightened compared to earlier. Hope was finally starting to show up. If resolving the room equates to the host’s victory, we were doomed. But if Kain acquiring the inheritance meant victory for the host, another person managing to get the inheritance could block the host’s triumph.
Recovering a little of his energy, Grandpa posed another question.
“I still have parts that don’t quite add up. Just why can that host intervene so freely? We’ve resolved many cursed rooms and encountered numerous prisoners, but we’ve never seen anyone like this one.”
“At least, I don’t think the host is stronger.”
“I agree with that. It’d be ridiculous to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of divine beings when measured against humans; if the host were powerful enough to disregard the hotel’s laws, it wouldn’t be trapped in Room 104.”
“Actually, I had a hypothesis as well. Do you remember the advice I received from the Owl about Room 104?”
“Didn’t it involve some sorta board game?”
“It was something like, ‘The wisest among them lays the board so everyone can benefit.'”
I remembered it now.
“I didn’t quite understand the meaning of that advice for quite a while. But now I think I get it. The key to interpreting that advice holds three questions. First, who is the wisest? Second, who are the ones benefiting? Third, what profits are they gaining?”
“The wise one must refer to the host, right? It must be that guy who’s playing tricks in Room 104.”
“The Owl always packs multiple meanings into one word. I initially thought it was about malice, but it’s likely that the hotel imposed restrictions on him too. Here in the hotel, ‘wisdom’ represents the Owl itself. I go further and think this expression refers to the patrons as a whole. In other words, the host and the patrons are playing the game.”
“So then who are the ones benefiting?”
“Unfortunately, the heretics who died yesterday or Aurelia, who was nearly killed by the host, wouldn’t be the beneficiaries. Sadly, those NPCs inside the cursed room have no say at the negotiation table. In this grand game unfolding in the hotel, there are three parties: prisoners, participants, and patrons.”
Having reached this point, I finally understood what Kain was trying to convey.
“What you mean is that the participants and the patrons are indeed aiming to resolve the room, while the prisoners resist. However, the host has devised a plan to resolve the room for their own ends. This goal aligns with the patrons’ purposes as well.”
“Therefore, the various tricks the host employs are likely overlooked by the patrons. In fact, one such trick, the descent, has already become an enormous boon for us. The grimoire I received from it would have otherwise been impossible to obtain.”
Grandpa chuckled sarcastically.
“If I throw in some more, perhaps from the patrons’ perspective, the issues of the ‘Divine Sun’ or the descent’s side effects leading to Kain’s mind blending with the host may not seem like a big deal at all.”
“…”
“They’re not ones who care for human matters. Just look at Elena, who is currently collapsed on the couch. If they had any concern over mental health, they wouldn’t have birthed an ‘ominous concept’ like the inheritance. There’s also the issue of ‘The Star Fragment of the Other World.'”
“From the patrons’ view, how do you think this meeting looks to them?”
“It might appear as a pitiful concern. Worrying over something trivial like ‘human purity’ and choosing a hard path over an easy one. But as an administration bureau agent, Kain, you should not think like a patron. So I’ll put my life on the line to thwart the host’s plan for you.”
In simple terms:
The host devised a plan to escape the hotel through the descent and inheritance, and in the course of that plan, the cursed room gets resolved. Furthermore, the descent serves as a significant strength for the participants in the hotel. Hence, since the host’s plan also benefits the patrons, he can act freely with their tacit approval.
Is this the truth? Kain himself couldn’t even be completely sure of this hypothesis, so it’s an ambiguous matter. There have been many instances where our guesses turned out wrong in this hotel. But now wasn’t the time to overthink it.
Grandpa collected everyone’s thoughts.
“Alright! I think we’ve got a grip on the situation. We can’t afford to be lost in thought endlessly.”
“Our goal is set. Someone other than me must acquire the inheritance.”
“That’s right. To achieve that, we see the tasks at hand. It’s just a matter of finding Aurelia and taking her down, right?”
“Grandpa, let’s take some time to think about that while we move.”
“Eunsol, do you have other ideas?”
“Yes. I heard from Kain that Aurelia seemed to realize the host wanted to kill her and was immensely shocked.”
“Well, of course, being in a position akin to a saint, finding out the god she served meant her harm would be surprising.”
“Now she might have lost her faith. Can we still call her the ‘Adversary’?”
“Listening to you reminds me of something the chief researcher told me once. ‘Prisoners, adversaries, and such are concepts we’ve casually constructed for convenience; the hotel itself doesn’t hold such notions.'”
“The scenario is fluid, so we can’t simply judge based on old information. Furthermore….”
“Hints.”
“Exactly, hints. ‘Something like a daughter is key for the father.’ I still don’t understand this meaning, but I suspect the first letter refers to a daughter in some way. That hint must be about how to deal with the father, aka, the host. Conveniently, that daughter felt considerable betrayal against her father and ran away. Could this be mere coincidence?”
“Let’s search for Aurelia. It feels like that’s where we should start.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. When Pero Kain nodded in the body of the Cockatoo, it was so cute it momentarily made me chuckle.
As we stepped out of the hideout and into the outside, I thought to myself. Where could Aurelia be right now?
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