### Chapter 507 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Third Trial ‘Miskatonic University’ (9)
—
– Kim Ari
In the vague darkness of the strange underground cave, an unpleasant smell tickled my nostrils.
It was the scent created by the damp environment and decaying flesh.
“Just a little bit more.”
Sophia slowly advanced, illuminating the way with a strangely shaped flashlight—definitely not a product of modern science—revealing increasingly horrifying sights.
Under the light, massive, gooey masses of flesh started to glisten.
These flesh masses writhed endlessly, filling the entire cave walls, as if we had landed on an alien planet.
“Yikes!”
Mooksung grimaced, folding and unfolding his fingers to show the number ‘203’ from an angle only I could see.
It was definitely Room 203, strikingly similar to the hatching scenery we saw at the new beginning.
— Wiggle!
“Ugh~!”
Suddenly, a tentacle shot up from the floor, climbing up Mooksung’s leg.
Unlike me, floating in the air with my wing boots, and Sophia, who skillfully dodged around, Mooksung was a novice without the ability to fly, and he got grabbed by the tentacle.
Soon, Sophia emitted a strange light from her fingertips and pushed the tentacle away.
“Be careful. Every step in the master’s realm is filled with danger.”
“Sophia, can’t we just contact the master to clean this mess up?”
“That would’ve been possible if he were himself.”
“…”
The realization sunk in that we had to pass through this hatching-like area to return.
An overwhelming urge to turn back surged, but I had too much information to gather from Yumi, so retreat wasn’t an option.
The air grew heavier, filled with the disgusting sounds of mucus squirming around us.
“Why on Earth does Yumi—uh, the master—live in such a bizarre place? Why not just build a mansion with all the wealth accumulated over the years?”
In response to Mooksung’s complaint, Sophia surprisingly answered earnestly.
“Lucas and I wondered the same thing. Even when the ‘nest defense system’ wasn’t so erratic, this place was still pretty horrific.”
“Is there a reason for it?”
“There was. The master didn’t explain, but I figured it out over time.”
The reason why Yumi made this ‘nest’ so grotesque? I was curious.
“The master slept for a long time.”
“Ah?”
“This cave is essentially a massive hibernation system.”
“Hibernation?”
“A place for the master to sleep for decades or even centuries. These unpleasant flesh masses are used to repel intruders, but they primarily serve to provide nutrients and eliminate waste.”
“…”
“Do you know the most surprising part? While sleeping in this cave, aging even stops. Isn’t that fascinating?”
“That’s impressive.”
This was a place where one could hibernate for decades or even centuries without stepping outside.
I completely understood why Yumi would create such a site.
Even if humans obtained immortality, it’s impossible to maintain sanity for thousands of years!
Thus, it seems Yumi, or perhaps Seungyub, built this facility for their hibernation.
It had likely been used multiple times throughout history.
No matter how special Yumi was, she couldn’t have endured 3000 or 4000 years while fully conscious.
Maybe Seungyub also utilized this facility on numerous occasions.
“… You’ve been through a lot.”
I nodded, glancing over at Mooksung.
Interestingly, Mooksung appeared to have a similar thought, looking at me.
In the hotel’s view, ‘One More Chance’ was an item meant to save the world.
What Kain confirmed during the dinner party about the fourth trial was akin to real-world dangers.
As if to say we needed to preview the dangers we’d face outside!
Mooksung conveyed it through his eyes.
“Could it be that in the end, I have to go in there?”
I replied with my gaze.
“Well?”
…
Classic eye-to-eye conversation, right?
Sometimes, when communicating solely through eye contact, we end up having completely different interpretations later.
In the heart of the cave, in front of the place where Yumi dwelled—or was ‘trapped’—Sophia stopped.
“Do you remember I mentioned, 180 years ago, that the master collapsed?”
“Yeah.”
180 years ago, Fortuna, who grew stronger with every awakening, finally defeated Yumi and inflicted a fatal wound.
“So then, who made the master like this?”
“Hmm? It must have been Fortuna, right?”
“This part wasn’t explained clearly. Nope.”
So, even though Yumi was defeated by Fortuna, it was not Fortuna who put her in this state?
“The master may have lost, but Fortuna also sustained a serious injury and retreated.”
“Then who crushed your master?”
Sophia’s expression, gazing silently at Yumi’s residence, looked gloomy.
“It was the Virgin.”
“What?”
“Virgin Aidia. Ever heard of her?”
“Not a clue.”
Naturally, when referring to a Virgin in the real Catholic Church, it’s always Mary—the name Aidia rings no bells.
“You could say that. She’s a figure hidden in the shadows, known by only a select few within the Vatican.”
“Alright, Sophia. What kind of being is Virgin Aidia?”
“The actual head of the Vatican. A dictator.”
So Virgin Aidia was the real leader of the Vatican, a secretive figure without a public identity.
In the days when things were normal, she stood in stark opposition to Yumi, who was subtly manipulating Lucas from the shadows.
Mooksung continued his line of questioning.
“What about the Pope?”
“Just a figurehead. If an immortal creature takes on the role of an everlasting Pope, it would be too bizarre for regular folks, right? They just periodically present a puppet.”
“… Unbelievable.”
While Mooksung was baffled, I wasn’t all that shocked.
The Vatican in Room 207 resembles the Administration Bureau in reality, right?
There must be entities similar to The Silent within the upper echelons of the Administration Bureau.
“After Fortuna left, the master focused on hiding and regaining strength for a while. Then one day, the Virgin Aidia visited directly…”
Sophia’s voice, understated and filled with unmaskable fear, plunged us into silence.
The existence that even Yumi, whom he revered all her life, couldn’t withstand.
Virgin Aidia.
“What happened next?”
“I don’t know. The master told us to leave. Aidia didn’t stop us either.”
Mooksung nodded.
“It was a mutually beneficial situation. Yumi likely wanted to avoid a scenario where Sophia and Lucas died, while Aidia likely wished to avoid being ambushed by you and Lucas.”
“I think so too. By the way, you guys call her ‘Yumi’ so easily. The master hated it when others called her by that name.”
“…”
She disliked being called Yumi by others…
It’s not uncommon for those close to someone to only permit intimate names, but our ‘Yumi’ never bore such tendencies.
It’s a subtle difference, but it clearly indicates that Yumi has changed a lot over time.
“Later, for reasons unknown, the master shattered into thousands of pieces.”
I heard that story yesterday.
“The pieces filled with the master’s memories are literally scattered across the entire world.”
“…”
“The pieces quickly burrowed into surrounding people, leading to an overwhelming number of madmen manifesting across the world, each possessing fragments of the master.”
“…”
“For over a century, Lucas wandered the globe, collecting the master’s fragments. After gathering about ten, they succeeded in restoring ‘that’.”
“Succeeded, but?”
“Now, well, you can say the rest have all but vanished. They’ve been wandering for over a century, right? The remaining pieces probably perished as their owners aged and died.”
“… You’ve had a tough time.”
“Thanks.”
Sophia’s calm voice held pain that words can barely describe.
The horror of her lifelong master’s demise and the efforts and frustrations of her disciples to recover.
I felt a hint of that sorrow.
“How could such a bizarre thing even happen?”
By what means did Virgin Aidia topple Yumi?
“Good question. I’ve been wondering about that for the past 180 years. I’m sorry, Ari, but I still don’t know the answer.”
Sophia didn’t know either.
In other words, we had to discover the answer ourselves.
“Let’s go in. Master! Can you hear me?”
*
The sight of an old comrade after so long cast a gloomy spell on both me and Mooksung.
Originally, Yumi took on the appearance of a teenage girl who resembled Aurelia in Room 104, but now, she looked like something else entirely.
That shouldn’t be shocking at this point.
According to Sophia, Yumi often changed her body.
The issue was that, whether from twisting her body alone in the cave or not, no matter how you looked at it, she appeared more like a grotesque spider-human hybrid than a person.
“You’ve become even stranger than before. Don’t freak out! The master may look like this now, but she used to be very dignified and wise—”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Just calm down for now.”
Only a moment ago, she was making crazy noises when she suddenly became quiet, absorbing the nutrients offered by the tentacles like a child.
She twisted her head around as if excitedly looking at me and Mooksung, then whimpered like a little kid when glancing at Sophia.
No matter how you sliced it, it was pure chaos, and there’s no nicer way to put it.
For a moment, Mooksung and I made horrified expressions, then glanced at Sophia, who looked hopeless, and we fell silent.
Come to think of it, Yumi had spent exponentially more time in Room 207 than the time she spent with us, right?
The feelings that Sophia and Lucas harbored for Yumi ran deeper than ours.
Once I reached that thought, my melancholy deepened.
Despite saying the master was alive, Sophia called Yumi’s pieces ‘that’.
Having endured over a century trying to piece together Yumi’s recovery, did Lucas still hold him in the same respect while screaming, “That idiot searching for Horus until his dying breath?”
“Ugh… It’s a tragedy. A true tragedy…”
Mooksung sighed, and Sophia replied nonchalantly.
“I’m fine, so go on in. Weren’t you here to accomplish something?”
“… Sophia, I’m sorry, but could you head outside?”
“Why? Do you want to talk alone?”
“…”
“Alright. I’ll step out.”
After Sophia left, I started speaking with Mooksung.
“Ari, it’s obvious that a normal conversation isn’t possible here.”
“I see it too.”
“You might need to dive into Yumi’s psyche and extract something.”
“….”
That being was a forced existence created by Sophia and Lucas mashing together the pieces of Yumi after more than a hundred were shattered.
I had no idea how many pieces remained, but given that it was likely less than 10% of the original, reviving such a broken being seemed impossible.
However, extracting memories was a different matter.
Using the power of ancient blood, I could penetrate someone’s mind.
I’d once delved into Kain’s psyche and even into the mind of Miro.
“What’s the verdict?”
“Getting into the mind of that degree of madness is quite risky.”
“Hmm, you could get caught up in it?”
“Exactly. Remember that time? After escaping Room 201, Kain almost lost it while invading Eleanor’s mind after witnessing the eyes of the 0th Dimension.”
“… I remember. Kain nearly went crazy.”
“There’s another issue.”
“What’s that?”
“It’ll likely take a long time to extract meaningful information. With that level of madness, it’s a given that information will be scattered aimlessly.”
“…”
I added on while Mooksung sighed.
“Even so, I have to do it. I should ask Sophia to help suppress that… uh, Yumi’s remnants with power. And….”
“And what?”
“If anything happens, wake me up immediately.”
“Got it.”
Slowly, I descended into the chaotic madness left behind by Yumi’s pieces.
Soon, fragments of broken memories unfurled before me like a panorama.
*
The first thing I noticed was a ‘mirror’.
It was something that held a prominent place in all of Yumi’s memories; her thoughts about mirrors were as follows.
“The root cause of all problems in the world and also the answer.”
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