### Chapter 339 – Room 203, The Cursed Room – ‘A New Beginning’ (19) Fin
—
– Lee Eunsol
—
In an instant, a beam of light sliced through the air, filling my vision with brightness.
I couldn’t help but think, as I beheld the overwhelming heat wave threatening to scorch the entire world, “No way, right?”
It wouldn’t be the case that after waking up, we all get vaporized in this explosion and fail, right? Nah, that won’t happen!
Just then, I heard someone’s voice.
“At least your ending won’t be that empty.”
When I felt a ray of light shining down from the sky, everything that made me—body, mind, and soul—ascended toward the infinitely high heavens.
So high, so high that I couldn’t tell if this place was the sky or the universe.
And there before me was Adravita.
“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah….”
That irreverent presence filled my sight.
An existence that no human could endure weighed down on my soul, sparking an impulse to pluck out my eyeballs!
Suddenly, a notification popped up.
[You have obtained ‘The Eye of the Beholder Who Observes All From the Zenith!’]
Thanks to that, I snapped back to reality.
“It would have been better for me to go crazy instead. Now I’ve got to poke my eyeballs out in broad daylight…”
I jabbed at my eye.
“Ughh!”
Once again!
“Ughh!”
Again!
“Eek!”
“What exactly are you doing?”
“… Poking my eyeballs out.”
“Why?”
“Because I have to.”
In the next moment, some tentacle came flying at me and jabbed my eye hard.
Just like an egg popping out of a glass jar, my eyeball squished out and disappeared somewhere.
“…”
Suddenly, I had a thought.
What was the condition for obtaining that ‘Eye of the Beholder Who Observes All From the Zenith’ again?
Wasn’t it that I would have to be in outer space or some super high sky after the main scenario started?
But right now, I hadn’t gotten to space through my own power; Adravita had just suddenly brought me here.
Did the hotel really anticipate that a prisoner would pull such a stunt and create such conditions? If not…
“What exactly are you thinking so hard about?”
“Maybe… the hotel intended for us to escape this planet on a spaceship? If we were following that route, naturally I would have plucked out my eyeballs too.”
“What possible reason is there for you to have to poke your own eyes out?”
Escaping the planet on a spaceship.
I thought it was just a trap for prisoners, but could that actually have been a real solution?
Who knows? This is why the cursed room is always tricky. There isn’t just one answer.
“Since you’ve been speaking coherently since earlier, I guess 203 is coming to a resolution, right? So, why did you call me here?”
“… What have you done to me?”
“I didn’t do anything. The flute doesn’t have any aggressive power. It might just be a force to reverse twisted hearts.”
I wasn’t sure. Like the other legacy holders, I didn’t truly understand or utilize the principles of the legacy.
“I recalled an old memory.”
“…”
“It was a very… old memory.”
“…”
“Have you ever built a sandcastle? Worked tirelessly all day to build a castle only for the tide to gently wash it away and turn your efforts to foam?”
“Anyone who’s lived has experienced that. It’s common for projects you invested months into to turn into a mountain of debt just by closing your eyes and reopening them.”
“Have you ever experienced an 1800-year-old castle disappearing?”
“Never.”
“It was emptiness. Neither anger nor sadness, just emptiness. I thought I had done my best to build a decent castle.”
“…”
“How can I protect my castle? After pondering, I began employing various means.”
“…”
“Yet they didn’t work. The children living in the sandcastle might see the beach kids as gods, but in the face of crashing waves, a child remains powerless.”
“So this time, you used really harsh measures?”
“Even so, it ended in failure.”
As the end of Room 203 approached, what the demon, Adravita, felt wasn’t anger towards us or sorrow for a crumbling world.
He felt emptiness once more. The relentless waves had destroyed the sandcastle.
“Thanks to this, I realized something amusing.”
Did he discover something even amid this emptiness?
“My original purpose was to beautifully build the sandcastle.”
“Was it to help humanity on this planet start anew?”
“I found myself obsessively clinging to maintaining the castle.”
It’s a common story.
Why? It’s a plotline often seen in dramas.
You work hard to earn money for your loved one, become dedicated to work to make that money, and then realize you’ve lost your love because you failed to look back at the one you cherish.
Perhaps similar things happen to gods.
With those words, Adravita began to soar into the distant skies.
At that moment, the space around began to collapse slowly.
—
/You have succeeded!
The ancient world devoid of any trace of civilization, filled with savagery and ignorance!
Who would have guessed that the most primitive world was, in fact, the seed planted by the most advanced civilization?
What is visible isn’t all that exists.
This is what we always try to inform the participants.
Gathering information in unknown lands and reaching conclusions through rational deduction.
But what if even that information has been falsified?
The conclusions are doomed to go awry.
You might think that sounds a bit morally questionable, right?
There was a bit of an incident in this room.
It seems the behavior of the ‘guest’ who stayed in the room was somewhat excessive.
Indeed, this has certainly crossed a line.
Regardless of rewards, I promise you this:
In the next room you enter, such things will not occur again.
Also, congratulations! The newly born young civilization has been liberated from the demon god’s tyranny!
We also promise additional rewards for the happy ending!
.
.
.
Ultimate resolution among comrades! Congratulations! The ultimate resolver has appeared, and all members will safely return!
The time for choices will soon begin!
—
This is slightly different from usual.
I noticed phrases like “There was a bit of an incident in this room.” and “The behavior of the guest who stayed in the room was somewhat excessive.”
Furthermore, I noticed the promise that “Such things will not occur in the next room you enter.”
It seems necessary to discuss various things with my comrades.
*
– Kim Ahri
—
— Clang! Clang! Whooooooo!
When I regained my senses, I found myself on an unidentified train.
“Ahri, come here.”
Kim Sanghyun was already seated and had a small booklet in his hands.
“What’s happening right now? Is it time for choices?”
“Yes.”
“I just targeted the core with the final flash. An incredible explosion occurred, and the contaminated land was gone in an instant. And—”
“We got swept away together in the shockwave. Perhaps during that process, you lost consciousness. Unfortunately, with only the two of us here, it seems Eunsol and Seungyub might have perished in that explosion.”
“That’s true.”
“If you lost consciousness, you probably didn’t see any notifications related to the resolution, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s go out and talk. There were some significant details written there.”
Significant details.
I shook my head lightly. As he said, we should go out and discuss things.
“Hurry up and choose. Then let’s get out of here.”
“…”
“I have some sense of decency too. It wouldn’t feel right to claim the legacy of this room for myself.”
“That’s not a simple matter.”
“Don’t tell me you’re trying to pass the legacy to me? I’d gladly accept it if you gave it to me—”
“Read this first.”
“That’s a peculiar title. Two choices, huh?”
Kim Sanghyun handed me the small catalog he had been reading. Had he woken up before me and already figured something out?
According to the booklet, we had to make two choices during this time.
The first choice, as usual, was to select a legacy.
“Final Flash, I expected this, but the second one is unexpected. Unknown Cell?”
“Now you should know what it is, right?”
“Is it the power Adravita bestowed upon you?”
“Yes, it’s the power given to me, and it transformed the beasts of the continent into monsters.”
I recalled the power Sanghyun had wielded.
The substantial enhancement of physical abilities was first to come to mind, strong enough to overwhelm my movements boosted by ancient blood.
Also, considering how he pulled bone blades from all parts of his body, it seemed he had the ability to cause mutations in his physique.
If I had to select one, I would undoubtedly choose the Final Flash.
I was curious how strong I would become with a dual reinforcement of ancient blood and unknown cells, but in the end, it’d just be a fast and strong body.
No matter how much I enhance a protein-based body, there’s a limit. The evidence was that every time I loaded a Final Flash, Kim Sanghyun was too busy rolling on the ground using the unknown cells.
However, it seemed Sanghyun would choose the unknown cell.
Since it felt like he had lived as a primitive tribe chief for centuries in Room 203, that fighting style and the unknown cell synergized.
Also, his expertise as a “doctor” would help in the body mutation.
Actually, apart from that synergy, the most crucial reason was something else entirely.
“Congrats, Sanghyun! You’ve achieved immortality!”
“…”
The unknown cell grants the owner an immortal life.
For most humans, that alone would be enough to make it worthwhile to choose over any other legacy.
Instead of responding, Sanghyun turned the page of the catalog.
“Now let’s look at the second choice.”
The content of the second choice was as follows:
“Memory and Forgetting, which will you choose?”
“This part doesn’t seem like something I can have a say in.”
“…”
— Clang! Clang!
In the silence, the train continued to travel endlessly across the plains.
The outside scenery resembled the African savanna, but there were no people around. This didn’t seem like Room 203.
“Why did they give us these choices? Don’t hotels typically also heal mental trauma?”
“…”
“Upon thinking about it, I think I understand. When mental damage exceeds a certain level, appropriate healing involves forgetting.”
“In the Administration Bureau, it’s the same. When faced with horrific memories, forgetting is the best cure. Remember how Elena lost all her memory a day after going crazy in Room 201?”
“However, right now, I have far too many memories that I need to erase. And…”
“And?”
Instead of answering, Sanghyun lightly rubbed his fingers together, prompting sparks to erupt from his fingertips.
“… What the hell is that?”
“Do you know how hard it is to start a fire in primitive times? You couldn’t even imagine it. One day, I just realized that I could set fire with a flick of my finger.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. It was a bizarre but distinctive talent, yet I wondered if it was actually useful since it seemed unnecessary when you had a lighter.
“I get what you’re trying to say. After spending hundreds of years in Room 203, you’ve developed various skills and are worried you’ll lose them if you forget?”
“I doubt I’d completely lose them. It’s hard to explain, but I just know. Powers obtained through blessings and diligent efforts can still be used even if memories are forgotten. However…”
“However?”
“I would forget the processes by which I acquired those abilities and the memories of when I used them.”
I began to piece together the situation.
Even if Sanghyun chose to forget, the mysterious abilities gained in Room 203 wouldn’t vanish.
But alas, he would lose the memories of using those abilities, which would result in diminished proficiency.
“From the perspective of strength, it seems I need to retain the memories.”
I held back the rest of my thoughts. We all understood this already.
After spending 300 years building a family, leaving descendants, and establishing a small kingdom, would that person be able to return to the hotel while remembering it all?
So I could only keep my mouth shut. Ultimately, it was a decision for the individual to make.
— Creak!
At that moment, the train came to a brief halt.
…
Another person boarded the train.
He wouldn’t have the right to interfere with the “first choice.”
Since he had already lost his participant status at the moment of resolution.
However…
He had the right to interfere in the “second choice.”
“…”
He was a human. No, a bird. Or maybe something that was neither.
He seemed to have forgotten how to speak human language after being silent for so long.
I pondered as I watched this young man fidgeting with his human body, looking utterly confused.
If he could use a grimoire, why was he trapped in a bird’s body? Couldn’t he borrow the body of a primitive person?
Was there a reason he had to be trapped?
If he had truly lived as a bird for 300 years, what state would he be in now?
The train grew a bit chilly.
—
Thank you for your support. I promise to repay you with sincere updates.
Finally, the long saga of Room 203 comes to a close. Thank you.
Also, I apologize once again for the delays in the latter part of Room 203.
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