### Chapter 232 – Room 202, Cursed Room – ‘Mermaid Princess’ (10)
—
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)]
Date: Day 101
Current Location: 2nd Floor, Room 202 – Cursed Room ‘Mermaid Princess’
Sage’s Advice: 1
— Han Kain
The rain came pouring down. An incredibly salty downpour, heavy with the scent of the sea, streamed from the sky without end. At the same time, Elena and Rilinganor began to moan endlessly.
“What the heck is going on?”
The doctor, with a frantic expression, didn’t answer but observed Elena’s and Rilinganor’s bodies.
“Scales!”
“What?”
“Both of them are experiencing some strange mutation. Their once fine skin is turning completely into scales! And that’s not all. There’s something weird happening with their teeth—”
“Ughh.”
Elena began to slowly murmur out loud.
“We… should not get hit by this rain.”
With that, Elena fainted again.
Everyone felt the unusual nature of the rain. But even though we rushed to the limousine getting drenched, nothing happened to us. Was it only affecting Elena and Rilinganor? Could this be some odd curse targeting the merfolk?
“Hyung! Let’s take off first. Keep the two of them in the limousine for now.”
Before he could finish speaking, the limousine hurriedly sped off down the slippery road. Next to me, Ahri said quietly.
“We can’t keep them in the car forever.”
“…”
“Especially Elena. Now that she’s awakened, she must have a role to play. We need to get her to the harbor.”
“Let’s suit Elena up in protective gear. It’s waterproof, so it’ll block out the rain perfectly.”
“Sounds good.”
Seungyub nervously chimed in.
“What about Rilinganor?”
No one answered. There was only one protective suit.
— Creeeek! Bang!
Suddenly, something human-like burst out in the middle of the road! The limousine swerved sharply, but we couldn’t avoid the collision.
“What was that crazy dude—”
“Jinchul! Just drive!”
I didn’t care whether that thing was a person or a monster; we had no time to ponder.
“What on earth was that? Did you see what it was?”
“I saw it. So just drive!”
My sister’s expression was bleak. It didn’t take us long to grasp the meaning behind it.
*
In the dark night, amidst the pouring rain, I felt thankful that it was nighttime inside the limousine. At least I didn’t have to witness the talking fish strewn across the ground suffering firsthand!
The first life was conceived in the ocean. Humanity’s ancestors, if traced back endlessly, would eventually lead to marine creatures. And now, the rain from the sky began reversing the history of the stars.
Screams. Screams. Screams.
The entire world overflowed with the suffering of the merfolk. Limbs turning into fins while the lungs of those on land morphed into gills! The merfolk caught outside sang lamentations as they returned to the primitive form their ancestors took in ancient times.
At this late hour, with the road barely visible, the chaos erupted with merfolk shrieking and running amok, making driving a nightmare. Jinchul expertly maneuvered the limousine, swerving to avoid the merfolk, but there was only so much he could do.
What added to our confusion was Elena. The poor girl, wrecked by potent drugs, fluctuated between consciousness, sharing bits of information along the way.
“Lee Sooho. He was my lover, they say. Although I don’t really know who he is. He always wanted to share the suffering I dealt with. He was saddened by why I had to live tormented by nightmares that he couldn’t understand.”
…
“One day, Lee Sooho discovered an ancient secret of the merfolk. Where on earth did he hear that? That’s still a mystery. It’s a secret only the daughters of the sea god know.”
…
“The daughters of the sea god connect with the memories of their ancestors, recording what they’ve seen from those memories. Long ago, according to the records left by a daughter of the sea god who first made contact with those memories, the first merfolk were actually human.”
…
“The story that a merfolk gained a human form from the mercy of the sea god 800 years ago is a complete lie. The truth is, the first merfolk were poor fishermen.”
…
“Every day, working over 12 hours in the sea, they never had a single meal to fill their stomachs. Then one fateful day, salvation found them. But what sort of salvation? I don’t know. Anyway, these fishermen came across some indescribable entity in the dark depths of the sea.”
…
“The god of the sea adopted those fishermen, birthing the first generation of merfolk. Lee Sooho discovered this fact. That is, ‘humans can become merfolk’!”
…
“He begged me every day. He wanted to become a merfolk too. He wanted to become the sea god’s son. Didn’t you have a way?”
…
“Sadly, there was indeed a way. In the end, I accepted his request. Maybe I wouldn’t be able to resist his pleas.”
…
“Ah… that might just be an excuse. Perhaps I wished for Lee Sooho to empathize with my suffering. One day, as a daughter of the sea god, I bestowed the blessing of the ocean on Lee Sooho to transform him into a merfolk.”
…
“As a newly-born merfolk, Lee Sooho began to have nightmares just like us. At first, we were both happy—the wish had come true. But… something strange began to occur.”
…
“He started sharing ancient memories that no daughter of the sea god had ever accessed. Memories that were not part of any records I had seen. Memories from 300, 400 years back, even clear memories from 800 years ago when the first merfolk was born. He even transcended that, reaching thousands of years back into primordial memories.”
Elena didn’t awaken before we reached the harbor. As I absorbed her explanations, one unsettling thought nagged at me.
Who exactly was speaking to us now? Was it the ‘Hotel Elena’ we knew? Or was it the daughter of the sea god instead? Did she really claim not to know who Lee Sooho was just a moment ago?
Everyone’s minds were tangled. They were all busy mulling over what they heard from Elena.
Lee Sooho discovered through some means that the original merfolk were human. He realized there was a way for a human to become one, leading him to ask Elena, who was both a daughter of the sea god and his lover.
The real problem came next. After transforming into a merfolk, Lee Sooho started receiving ancestral memories, but those memories were older than those taken in by the daughters of the sea god.
What were those memories from when the first merfolk was born 800 years ago?
What sort of memories could exist before the first merfolk even came into being? Did something predate the merfolk? What did he see to plunge the entire island into madness?
Though I understood much, there remained vast information voids. Where should I seek the missing details? If the knowledge held by the daughters of the sea god wasn’t enough… there was only one being that could potentially know the secrets of the merfolk.
That would be Serenade, the chosen saint of the deep.
But we needed to get to the harbor. Therefore, I resolved to somehow get Serenade’s cooperation in the next turn.
“Almost to the harbor now. According to the navigation, we have about 4 minutes left.”
With my brother’s words, tension began to rise within the limousine. Ahri cautiously woke Elena up.
“Can you move?”
“… Yes. Should I keep wearing the protective suit?”
“You can’t step outside a single inch without it. You have to wear it.”
*
The humidity was staggering. The outrageous moisture level hit me so hard I could taste the salt just by opening my mouth. Even after taking a few steps, I could feel dampness gathering on my skin.
The harbor’s landscape could only be described with the term ‘unnatural world.’ The incomprehensible force behind the heavy downpour didn’t need to fall upon the harbor.
The harbor had turned into a squelchy mess, so mingled with the sea and land that it hardly felt like solid ground.
Who were those merfolk, those fish? Were they workers at the harbor? At this hour? Who knew? Everywhere I looked, fish the size of humans flopped around.
One silver lining was that those fish lost their vocal cords could no longer scream loudly.
In the midst of this confusion, the scenario updated. Fortunately, the content wasn’t extensive, so it didn’t take long to read.
/Scenario: Cursed Room – ‘Mermaid Princess’
Kadarudakh awakens. The return to primordial times has begun. Let’s look for an escape route.
“Is that it? Are we just supposed to get ready to run? If that’s all, can’t you at least give us a hint about the escape route!”
My irritation didn’t trigger the status window to feed me an escape plan. Instead, a haunting wail echoed throughout the harbor. At the same time, I finally understood what ‘returning to primordial times’ meant.
The land was collapsing.
The sturdy support that upright beings relied on crumbled like a sandcastle. After reaching the harbor, my panicked companions began to run as the ground started to give way.
I was no different. I climbed onto the car, then the truck, clung to a streetlight, and finally scrambled up onto a warehouse roof.
It’s collapsing. It’s collapsing. The land is decomposing, returning to the sea, while the sea envelops the world.
So, did salvation come for the merfolk transforming into fish? Didn’t the sea covering the land seem more welcoming than their suffering on land?
But I recognized that was a very shortsighted thought. Now that the sea covered the land, the creatures of the sea claimed the land as their territory.
The deep, blue sea, where darkness lurked unseen, swelled with those descendants of the sea awaiting their turn, moving as if to suck up the weak newly transformed merfolk into their maw.
A tragedy unfolded before my eyes. In all this chaos, what on earth were we supposed to do?
Why had we even come to the harbor? It was Elena, who had realized the most about the secrets of the room, who led us here. So why did she guide us to the harbor?
— Duuuuuuuhhhh!
A heavy wailing reverberated throughout the harbor. The ground barely holding itself together collapsed in a flash. The companions struggling precariously on top of buildings and cars were abruptly swept away into the sea.
And finally – with the moon at its back, the god of the ocean rose up.
The time has come. The time of the great cycle has arrived.
[Advice: 1 -> 0]
[Reach your right arm out as far as possible.]
Riding the wave of bewilderment, as I extended my arm as the advice instructed, I caught onto a heavy object. The object was swiftly engulfed by the deluge pouring from all directions. Only after floating for a while did I realize what it was.
It was the protective suit.
If the protective suit was here, what happened to Elena, who was wearing it?
Elena: Kain, can you hear me?
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