### Chapter 329 – Room 203, The Cursed Room – ‘A New Beginning’ (9)
—
– Miro
I felt dazed. My whole body was drained of energy, not even a single finger could move.
I hadn’t eaten for several days. I recalled the time when I first entered this room a few days ago.
The beginning of my journey was in Room 203, a nest filled with squirming flesh, a hatching ground for new beings.
Why did I have to start in such a horrific place? Who knows.
Anyway, the starting point was so hopeless that I had to choose companions based on whether they could “get me the hell out of here.”
The first choice was obviously Yu Songee. She could control the wasps in the hatchery to help get me out. She was the first person everyone thought of during the meeting.
The second was Cha Jinchul, who could simply tear down the walls of the hatchery with brute strength. If the wasps reacted aggressively, he could simply smash them.
Honestly, I wanted to borrow Kain’s time.
But Kain mentioned he wouldn’t be able to fly even if he got possessed by a wasp. He thought he wouldn’t be able to move his four wings properly, so I gave up on that.
The third choice had no alternatives—had to be Ahri. The fastest and easiest escape method confirmed was Ahri’s death.
Right after entering Room 203, I called for Songyee to get things rolling.
*
“Look! Isn’t this little one surprisingly cute?”
“Wow, it’s amazing that you can control such a creature.”
“Don’t think of it as a monster, but as cute! After all, aren’t honeybees actually quite adorable? Fluffy and round! This one kinda resembles a honeybee.”
“If you blow it up a million times, it wouldn’t be cute at all! Just get me out of here!”
“… Who taught you such a rude attitude? Is it in your blood?”
“Hurry up!”
*
Songyee, complaining, used the wasp to take me outside the hatchery. Up until that moment, I thought things were going smoothly.
The moment we poked our heads out of the hatchery, both Songyee and I froze.
*
“Ahhh!”
“Ughhh!”
“Creeek!”
“Hey, why are you screaming, Kong?”
“Me, Kong?”
“That’s your name—”
“Stop mumbling and save me! What the heck are these monsters?!”
“Mi—Miro, stay calm! You’re squirming too much, and it looks like Kong’s legs are about to fall off!”
“Ahhh!”
“Can’t you just stay still? You dense middle schooler! Don’t just look like Arirang, act like her too!”
*
Recalling that memory made me chuckle involuntarily.
It still cracks me up thinking about it. Why did the wasp that carried us scream too? Is that some sort of crowd mentality?
Outside the hatchery, there were at least five colossal monsters. The moment I stepped out, I thought I was done for and screamed.
However, strangely enough, the monsters just gazed at us with indifferent eyes, offering no reaction.
At first, I was touched by Songyee’s affinity being so overwhelming—
*
“So, Songyee, you’re really impressive!”
“Huh?”
“You charmed all these monsters? I wish I had a powerful blessing like yours…”
Songyee looked momentarily baffled.
“What blessing? Powerful? No way that’s true.”
“What?”
“Can’t you see? They’re like guards of this hatchery. If the wasps are workers, these are the security guards.”
“Oh….”
“Because I’m with Kong, they’re not attacking. I can’t charm that many monsters at once.”
“R-Right.”
“You need to sharpen your wits a bit more.”
Once she was screaming alongside me, but now she’s acting all high and mighty!
… But I have to let it slide since she’s helping me now.
“Look over there!”
“Huh?”
Songyee quickly directed the wasp, Kong, to change our course.
What I saw was a remarkably neat building, completely out of place compared to the grotesque monsters and the squirming flesh of the hatchery.
It looked like a clean laboratory, and as soon as I laid eyes on it, I recognized it. It was the place the ‘whale’ showed me at the end of my second attempt!
In front of the building was a security system, and when I inserted my hand inside, a prickly sensation rushed through my fingers followed by a mechanical voice.
「Identity confirmed. Captain Kim Ahri, welcome to the Southern Development Branch.」
And then three days passed, then five, then seven.
*
“…”
This place is safe.
The terrifying monsters outside were gnashing their teeth through the transparent door, but that was all. They knew well not to even touch the building.
This place had no monster attacks, and it was neither cold nor hot. Plus, there were comfortable-looking beds, complete with a modern bathroom that didn’t belong in a primitive age.
If not for one glaring issue, it would be a perfect spot.
“My stomach… is hungry.”
This building had no food. I could drink from the bathroom, but there wasn’t even a crumb of snack to be found.
Every night, weary from hunger, I fell asleep, contemplating if it would be better to just call Ahri and ask her to kill me.
Honestly, getting out of this predicament wouldn’t be so bad either. I’d already gathered too much information!
This place was established by humanity who arrived on this planet 1,800 years ago for pioneering.
Unlike their fallen descendants, the esteemed space travelers moved the main power source of their spaceship, the ‘core’, to this location for planetary colonization.
Moreover, there were also miserable records of why they perished. If I ever managed to step outside, there would be so much to tell.
So wouldn’t it be alright to wrap things up here?
…
I endured and held on.
This was already my third cycle. If I got out and came back in, it’d be the fourth, basically my last chance. After the fifth cycle?
Honestly, I think by then, everyone will just give up on Room 203. It’s not the only room around here, after all.
“Understand my situation now? Speaking is painfully hard…”
“I get it.”
Ahri sat down next to me, wearing a complex expression, and handed me a thermos.
“… Isn’t this Ahri’s blood?”
“Yup. Surprisingly, blood has its own calorie count. Plus, my blood is a miraculous elixir with various effects.”
I don’t know if it’s really an elixir, but drinking Ahri’s blood did replenish my strength.
“Thanks.”
“It’s just a temporary fix. There’s a limit to this.”
After hearing about my situation, Ahri glanced at the monsters waiting outside the building and said, “So who did you borrow time from?”
“Yu Songee, Cha Jinchul, and you.”
“What about Han Kain?”
“Not this time. As you know—”
“Oh, I remember. You figured he wouldn’t be useful in the hatchery. What a shame. He’d have been the most helpful right now.”
“Kain?”
“Should we summon Cha Jinchul and break through? No, the numbers are too high; that’s impossible.”
“…”
“Didn’t Songyee summon him once from the hatchery?”
“Yeah.”
“How much time do we have left from Songyee?”
“About 40 minutes. The building is near the hatchery, so Songyee didn’t use up much of her time.”
“Should we trust her affinity and venture out?”
Perhaps it was because I had just drunk Ahri’s blood; I felt a little more energetic and chimed in.
“Can’t we summon Cha Jinchul to take out a couple of them, and then call for Songyee after?”
Ahri shook her head and explained the properties of affinity.
“The affinity just makes the chaos beings feel a significant affection for Songyee; it’s not mental domination or brainwashing. In a state where there’s a command from a stronger entity or intense hostility, even affinity has its limits.”
“After the clash, the monsters would ignore Songyee’s affinity out of anger?”
“That’s highly likely. Besides, Cha Jinchul won’t be able to slay all of those monsters, so it’s better not to summon him.”
In the end, it seemed I had to pray that summoning Songyee’s power would allow us to hold off the monsters’ attacks as we made our escape.
I looked at Ahri, worry painted across her face, and asked one last time.
“… How about summoning the past Miro?”
Ahri’s expression darkened significantly.
It didn’t seem like a good time to use my last resort. Right now, it was only about ‘my crisis’—most of my allies should be perfectly fine.
They should be, right?
*
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 683,623
Current Location: Floor 2, Room 203 – The Cursed Room ‘A New Beginning’
Sage’s Advice: 3]
– Han Kain
“… Let’s get going now.”
Cha Jinchul’s expression was grim as he buried Songyee’s body in a pit.
Certainly, since it’s the Cursed Room, we’ll meet again outside, but…
Even so, death is death. I can’t just accept it with a peaceful heart.
Eunsol wiped her tear-filled eyes and looked somewhat regretful.
“That monstrous one just flew away. What are we going to do?”
“Good that it flew off. I was worried the creature would try to kill us after losing its tamer Songyee.”
“Maybe it’s grown fond of us?”
“Since it was riding on us all, who cares? Anyway, we’ve almost made it.”
Jinchul approached me, asking, “How many kilometers exactly do we have left to the maze?”
“Not visible anymore.”
“Ah…”
I couldn’t tell anymore. The status display showed the maze’s location like this.
[Kim Miro: Deceased]
Thanks to that, when I woke up this morning, I realized why Songyee was silently dead like Sleeping Beauty.
For some reason, it seemed Miro summoned her for help but failed.
“No problem. I bet if we follow that, we’ll find something.”
Sitting on top of the grotesque creature, Eunsol said casually, her gaze fixed ahead.
“Do you see anything?”
“… I can see a giant shape. And there are some squirming things?”
“Squirming things?”
“Let’s figure it out as we go along.”
After about an hour of traveling, Eunsol suddenly stepped off the grotesque and halted all of us with a serious face.
“The giant shape I mentioned earlier—it’s a building.”
Jinchul reacted in disbelief.
“A building? Is it just a pile of stones from the Stone Age?”
“No, it’s clearly a modern building.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It was probably built by the space civilization that established the mountain range.”
“Let’s go.”
“Wait a minute—there are loads of monsters nearby.”
“Is it like that creature?”
“Probably. One, two, three… uh oh…”
“…?”
“Five? Six? Seven?”
“That’s horrifying.”
Seven monsters are scary enough even if we faced them one-on-one?
It won’t be easy. We have three people on our side, but since Eunsol isn’t a combatant, it means Jinchul and I have to take on seven by ourselves.
“This looks tough.”
For a moment, the three of us huddled together, but no bright ideas were coming to mind. Seeing so many monsters in the spot where Miro was before she died gave me a clue as to how she had fallen.
[Advice: 3 -> 2]
‘Is there a way to break through the monsters and reach the building?’
[Wait. The way will soon be opened.]
“Huh?”
“What? What did it say?”
“It said to wait.”
The Owl’s “soon” was really soon—it took less than 10 minutes for Eunsol’s gaze to whirl around, her face turning serious.
“Let’s move.”
“Uh, noona?”
“I understand what it means by a way opening.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s just go.”
Eunsol strangely didn’t explain why a way would open.
All we knew was her expression was stony, indicating something unusual was happening.
Shockingly, there were no creatures that blocked our path until we reached the building and passed through the security check.
Instead, inside the building, there were guests who had arrived before us.
“Ahri! You’re here! That sink over there is good for washing up, and you can enter by putting your hand into that machine at the entrance over there.”
The sight of Elena, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, was even more beautiful than usual, eliciting a smile from me without even realizing it.
As usual, Eunsol, who lightly hugged Elena with a bright smile, suddenly wore a worried expression and asked, “Are you… alright?”
“Huh?”
“Should I play the flute for you?”
“…”
“I’ll just play it.”
“I’ll bring Seungyub upstairs.”
In the midst of an odd atmosphere, Jinchul, unable to bear it any longer, asked me, “Why has noona been acting like that? What’s with the flute all of a sudden?”
I couldn’t answer because I was just as curious, but one ominous thought crossed my mind.
It seems that Elena and Seungyub, who arrived before us, had lured the monsters that were near the facility.
What kind of tricks did they pull, and what did Eunsol see?
*
By evening, we finally grasped the tragedy that had unfolded in Room 203 eighteen hundred years ago.
This building, the ‘Southern Development Branch’, had quite a lot of records left behind.
“… So, the reason the AI was trying to kill the crew was all for this?”
At Jinchul’s words, everyone nodded.
I promise to continue the series diligently!
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