### Chapter 262 – The Hotel Turned Hell, Entering Room ??? (1)
—
– Han Kain
In an instant, it felt as if my consciousness was suspended, then it returned with a jolt.
What just happened? Didn’t I just receive a notification?
“What just went down?”
Suddenly, I realized everything around us had gone dark. It was early dawn, but all the lights on the second floor we had turned on while coming up were now off.
“Huh? What’s going on? Is everyone alright? What—”
The voice of the bewildered doctor came wrapped in strange noises and the rough panting of a beast.
“Everyone duck!”
As Ari’s sharp cry pierced the air, my body had already bent down instinctively. A massive, whip-like object sliced through the air, followed by a dull thud.
— Wham!
“What’s that? A tail? Why is this thing so strong? No, my strength—”
Jinchul tried to grab the tail of the monster but ended up getting dragged away instead! But this was just the beginning.
“Eeeek!”
A woman in a bizarre outfit lunged at us with a piercing scream!
I didn’t know who she was, but one thing was clear: she was definitely not a teammate. Just as her head exploded with a gunshot, hundreds of tentacles sprang out from the spot where her head used to be, aiming right at us.
Ari jumped like a deer and swung her hands, unleashing a chilling wave that froze the pieces of flesh in mid-air.
“Ha ha ha! Participants, how about we kick off today’s special show? How about a ‘Live Dissection Show’?”
With a high-pitched voice, the space that had been dark suddenly lit up. A grotesque figure in clown attire was holding Seungyub in one hand, while sharp claws emerged from the glove on the other hand. I knew there was no time to hesitate now.
“Ah! Help me!”
“We’ll begin with the dissection of the insides—what the hell?! Are you okay?”
“…Kain hyung?”
“Go over there and protect my body.”
“Me? How am I supposed to—”
“I’ll take care of myself!”
Thank goodness, it seemed the grandfather had secured my body. In that case, there was no time to waste.
The moment I kicked off the ground, the monstrous clown’s immense strength almost sent me flying. The sharp claws that erupted from the glove tore through the jelly-like creature wrestling with the doctor.
— Stab!
A sharp needle burst out from its belly. To my shock, I realized that the clown’s body had no actual ‘flesh’ beneath that costume at all! This monster was not wearing a clown outfit; the outfit itself was the monster!
Grabbing the needle-like tentacle and pulling it forward, the jiggling flesh smacked into my back. I reached back and tore at it, causing the flesh to settle down.
But it seemed like that was the limit, as the clown outfit simply fell apart and scattered around.
“Hah!”
“Are you back?”
“Hyung, are you okay?”
“What about everyone else?”
“That’s what I wanna know! Check the status window!”
“…”
At that moment, I realized the text in the status window had turned into gibberish. What are these characters? Only an ‘X’ appeared in the count of advice. And the date—118?
“Day 118?”
“What are you talking about?”
Did a whole week really pass? Did we flip an hourglass or something?
Thinking along those lines helped me understand why the place was overflowing with monsters and why the status window was acting up. If seven days had passed, then our party time had definitely ended long ago.
Just a day without entering the cursed room would’ve released monsters into the hotel. Not to mention, under hotel standards, seven days meant that the first day was party time but without entering the cursed room for six days now.
“Ahhh!”
Songee’s sharp scream snapped me back. This was not a moment to sit around. The grandfather was already running toward the direction of the scream. Seungyub was trembling, only looking my way.
Think, think. Falling between monsters like this isn’t something many can withstand. What about Elena? Eunsol? Songee?
“Ughhh!”
A voice that shook the skies mixed with a pressure on my skin. Jinchul was summoning a star from another realm!
I quickly understood the intent behind that shout. Hyung was trying to draw ‘aggro’ to himself! But mixed in with that shout, I heard moans of pain. Could it be that Jinchul’s ‘courage’ was wavering too? If that’s the case, how can he use the stars normally?
[Sounds of gibberish, some confused words]
Ah, damn it! Even the conversation window is messed up! The blessings are all failing! Is this because we hadn’t entered the cursed room?
“Hyung, Kain hyung… what do we do?”
I’m thinking too. How the heck do we get through this? Just then, something landed on my head.
“Squeak!”
Ah, this must be it!
“Perro, you look after Seungyub and my body!”
With a loud noise from behind, the Grotesque appeared. At least I can count on that. I stood up and scanned for any other monster to snatch. Eunsol was sneaking under the table, avoiding the arm of a gigantic praying mantis.
After snatching the body of the mantis, I pointed to where the Grotesque was and assessed the situation. Eunsol and Seungyub were protected by it. Jinchul was struggling against an unbelievably huge scorpion and a spider that had more legs than I could count. The grandfather, Songee, and the doctor had grouped up to face a jiggling mass of flesh that was slithering at the empty entrance of the room.
Where did Ari and Elena go? Are they stuck together? It’s hard to be the only one with these double eyes!
And then—
“Watch out! Get away!”
No time to think. A wolf with a body height taller than a table pressed its head in, causing Seungyub to scream in panic. The Grotesque was desperately trying to fend off both the wolf rushing from the side and the man in black behind us.
“Get lost! Get lost!”
Seeing the wolf still wanting to bite the legs of my human body even after decapitating it sent me into a panic. I need to think. Wait, if only I had a moment to think calmly—
— Grroooowwwl!
A sinister sound began to fill the space.
Pale dust clouded the air as an indescribable ominous presence appeared. The sight captivated everyone, not just the humans but even the monsters, who stopped to stare at the being drifting in the air.
A moth had appeared.
Strange sounds I had never heard filled the surroundings. The monsters, thoroughly entranced, paused their attacks and started spinning around. At that moment, I also returned to my own body. As soon as I did, the first thing I saw was Eunsol trying to play the flute.
— Thud!
“Why are you trying to play the Flute of Rest now?”
“Uh? Uh? I think the moth is using some weird power—”
“The one who summoned the moth is Elena, right? If the moth is trying to stop the monsters with that power and you interrupt it with a flute, what’s gonna happen?”
“Ah. Ah.”
Seeing Eunsol’s expression made it clear that she was no longer in a rational state. Was it just her? Everyone else probably felt the same.
I need to snap back to reality.
…The pale dust emanating from the moth showed strange scales forming on Elena’s body, having inhaled the dust. And finally, my blasted eyes seemed to have cleared up.
As my vision restored and the pain subsided, my mind became clearer as well.
The current situation emerged as the dates inexplicably sped past, resulting in the hotel turning into a hellish nightmare. In short, we hadn’t entered the cursed room, which likely caused this mess. So…
“We need to enter the cursed room.”
“What?”
First, I needed to inform everyone via the chat window—
[Panting gibberish, nonsense convo]
Damn it!
No response. As it is, if we open the cursed room, everyone will be summoned inside, so that’s our only option. In the dark, I struggled to remember how we got to where the cursed room was located.
— Squeak!
“Damn it, even you should dance a little!”
This gooey little brat doesn’t have ears? All the other monsters are dancing to the moth’s song, but why block my path at this crucial moment?
The jelly blocking my way suddenly ballooned five times its size.
“W-What’s going on, sensei?!”
Just then, a pale flash struck the jelly from behind. Ari flew through the air with a flourish.
“Are you really thinking about making jokes now, Kain?”
“Jokes?”
“Now! Can you see the cursed room over there? Fly! Kain missile!”
As I swiftly zoomed toward the faraway door, I realized I wasn’t the only one who figured out why the hotel had gone to chaos! Ari must have experienced a similar situation before!
A different type of being, appearing like a giant bat, swept down. But it didn’t matter now. If the distance to the door was manageable, I could teleport right now!
— Bam!
I crashed into the door with a bang, frantically opening it with both hands. As the door gradually opened, I saw the hotel brightening up, while the monsters that had filled the area began to fade.
“What room is this?”
*
[±úÁü: 튄엥헴{옹쟌*
쟝갛: 118쭤 리
쳄벌댕깡: 뤗빌작, 빍À호 – 틹À» 렁 ‘ÇÁ·Î±×·¡¹Ö’
폐띠뵨베괭: X]
– Han Kain
When my consciousness returned, the first thing in my line of sight was a red-burning bonfire. My companions were nowhere to be found. Instead, there were a bunch of bare-skinned people around me, looking like primitive tribesmen. These naked people were all kneeling towards me.
“What the heck….”
As soon as a voice escaped my lips, the kneeling people all raised their heads and broke out into tears.
“Oh! The newcomer has awakened! The newcomer has awakened!”
“Newcomer?”
The status window still looked like a train wreck, and I couldn’t use any advice. Hoping to check the scenario, I found a collection of gibberish once again.
Just as I expected, a new notification appeared.
—
/Did you enjoy your extended unauthorized break?/
The staff of Hotel Pioneer shed tears over the poor behavior of participants. Of course, don’t get the wrong idea. Nobody blames you.
It’s all our fault. Our hotel, Pioneer, provided such poor content that the participants simply wasted their time, right?
Don’t worry! We’ll do our utmost to ensure you can enjoy yourselves more.
Rather than touching the heritage you’ve worked so hard to earn, we’ve decided to make the hotel a far more interesting place in entirely new ways.
Of course, since your heritage remains intact, those relying on their ‘heritage’ won’t see much difference, but for those who rely on ‘blessings,’ a rather more challenging ‘choice’ will await you.
# Unauthorized rest penalty: Blessings will not function normally until you escape or resolve the cursed room once./
—
Seeing the warning that blessings won’t work normally brought one very ominous thought to mind.
Right before entering the room, Elena had envisioned something dreadful and, in her panic, summoned the moth. Naturally, her thoughts must have scrambled during that process. If usually, the clarity of mind would have helped her recover …
Then what state would Elena be in without that clarity now? I stopped my thoughts there.
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