Chapter 565 – The World I Can’t Remember (4)
—
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 38
Current Location: Reynolds Research Institute
Sage’s Advice: 3
—
– Han Kain
The conversation with Arthur after that wasn’t very productive.
Maybe it was because of that creepy coffee that shattered even the bare minimum of trust?
No, the coffee’s just the symptom; the lack of trust existed right from the start.
“Hey, Kain, how old are you?”
“It’s hard to say because of the time spent in the hotel.”
What a useless small talk.
“Arthur, the Administration Bureau seems completely clueless about you guys. What’s up with that?”
“Probably my father erased the data about this place. I don’t really know.”
And there you have it. More meaningless questions and dodgy answers; we were both just avoiding the crucial stuff.
“…”
But not all was lost. We at least figured out what each of us was most curious about.
I was itching to know about the other participants and the purpose of this research facility, while the other party was keen on uncovering the identities of the treasures we got to stop the ‘Light of Annihilation’ and information about our party.
“Phew… How about we take a break and clear our heads for a bit?”
“Sounds good.”
*
Strolling through the luxurious yet menacingly secure mansion made me ponder.
At some point, our talk lost productivity, and above all, trusting him became an increasingly tricky endeavor.
For instance, he brazenly revealed his family, a potential weakness.
Plus, he dropped the bomb about escaping from the entrance of the second floor like it was no big deal.
On the surface, it appeared foolish—but that made it even fishier.
“…”
Opening up so easily about weaknesses… Could it be those were red herrings meant to catch me off guard?
What if he’s actually indifferent to his family or something?
“Grandpa.”
“Hmm?”
“Shall we just head out?”
“Feels like we’re wasting time, but… Hmm, how do we even get out…”
“Hmm.”
Should I just hijack his body with the grimoire and squeeze some info out of him? He’s bound to know how to get out.
Just then, Grandpa, who had been silently pondering next to me, leaned in to whisper.
“I think we don’t need to wait much longer.”
“…”
“Let’s overpower Arthur and get the info. You’re more than capable, right?”
“…”
“What’s with the hesitation? Being overly careful won’t help.”
That makes sense. Arthur wouldn’t be able to resist the grimoire’s power.
Besides, I’m not exactly one to shy away from a showdown.
I’ve got various insurances, like Grandpa’s One More Chance and Ahri’s rescue.
So, this feels like the right moment to take action.
“…”
I wasn’t keen on it though.
Moreover, I vaguely understood that this ‘reluctance’ stemmed from an insight.
While another participant somewhere in this world may share ‘Wisdom’ with me, the intuition I felt now transcended mere logic.
“Hey! Don’t go over there! We’ve got a scary person here, you know?”
The sudden shout from Grandpa caught me off guard.
Curious, I turned to see Arthur’s son, who had briefly appeared earlier.
What was his name again? Joshua?
He looked much younger than Seungyub but already had the charm of a pretty boy.
Considering Arthur’s not-so-mighty looks, it seems Olivia’s genes worked wonders here.
“Stop bothering Dad!”
“…”
“…”
That was such a kid-like statement, it rendered both me and Grandpa speechless.
Honestly, I didn’t think I was such an evil person in the grand scheme of humanity, but acting like a villain in front of a little kid felt uncool.
By the way, this foreign kid speaks Korean really well!
“Uh, um. You speak Korean really well, huh?”
I awkwardly praised him.
“Shut up! You’re an idiot!”
“…”
His reaction was just too childish to respond to.
Anyway, a white kid speaking perfect Korean is kinda strange—
“Wait, hold up!”
Now that I think about it, Arthur and his family are all your typical white folks.
It’s already pretty rare to find someone speaking Korean, and even if they learned it, they usually struggle with pronunciation.
“What’s with that?”
Their pronunciation and grammar were spot on; I’d believe them if they said they were born and raised here.
Weird, right?
At least asking him how he got so good at Korean would’ve been a normal response.
Why hadn’t I thought this was peculiar?
“…”
Ironically, it’s all thanks to the experiences piled up in the hotel.
Places where Korean shouldn’t even be audible, that hotel made sure language would flow even with alien chaos.
I got so used to that hospitality, that I mistook it for reality when I got back!
“Grandpa, this place, the world we can’t remember is…”
“Figured something out?”
The hotel allows communication as long as the learned languages are different.
While I felt like Arthur and his family spoke Korean fluently, in reality, they probably thought I was speaking some foreign tongue like English.
“It’s just like the hotel.”
When I recognized the common denominator between the world we can’t remember and the hotel, a lightning bolt of realization hit me.
“What?”
Just as I reached out, Joshua started choking himself!
“You knew this, didn’t you? That’s why you called me an idiot!”
“Gah!”
“Oi! Kain! What’s suddenly wrong with you—”
All those baffling actions from Arthur suddenly made sense!
Why did he expose what could be a weakness like his family in front of us?
And why did he openly declare that he managed to escape from the entrance of the second floor?
Was he trying to act weak to catch me off guard?
Even so, that’s going a bit too far, right?
The simple answer to all those questions is staring me in the face.
He can afford to reveal his weaknesses because…
This place, the world we can’t remember, is a ‘pseudo-hotel’ recreated through mirrors and the technology of the Administration Bureau!
When you add the phenomenon of agents and staff who infiltrated the past and lost their memories to this ‘world that can’t be remembered’—
Arthur can rewind time within this domain!
“Spill it out.”
“It’s too late! This idiot—”
As if it was waiting for me to acknowledge it, a sound resonated throughout the mansion—
— Rumble!
It sounded all too familiar. I’d heard similar noises countless times in the hotel before.
A sneer crept onto my face.
How many times had I fallen for Arthur’s craftiness already?
Three times? Four times?
It might have been more!
In the past, I probably wouldn’t have caught on to Arthur’s tricks until the very last moment.
Only after the loops began did I realize the anomaly and scribble hasty phrases about ‘my memory is manipulated, and to be suspicious’!
But not this time.
From the moment of realization to now, my right hand hasn’t stopped moving the pen for even one second.
“Joshua, I’ll admit it. I’ve been a bit foolish. But from now on, things are going to be different.”
—
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 38
Current Location: Reynolds Research Institute
Sage’s Advice: 3
—
– Han Kain
I woke up on a soft bed.
As soon as I regained consciousness, I saw a ton of writing in the status window that made my head spin.
“…”
It was a record left by me before I lost my memories.
Understanding the situation didn’t take long at all.
I could roughly guess what I needed to do from now on.
However, one final record seemed a bit off.
—
“Unnecessary conversations. Escaped immediately.
+ Do NOT possess Arthur (Insight)”
—
Continuing a battle of wits with someone who can rewind time would only serve to hurt me.
So I understood the advice to stop talking and escape.
But…
“Don’t possess him? That’s the conclusion from insight?”
This part was confusing.
But who else would believe me if I didn’t believe in myself?
*
Stepping outside, I spotted Grandpa sitting in the vintage mansion, sipping tea.
He must’ve woken before me.
“Oh, you’re up?”
“Do you remember anything?”
“I met the lord of the mansion.”
“Eh?”
“What? Remember? What memory are you even talking about?”
Grandpa’s memories seem completely wiped clean.
Not having a status window like mine leads to that kind of predicament.
I simply engaged in casual conversation as I waited for Arthur to show up.
And soon, an uninvited guest appeared over the railing.
“You’re both awake, huh?”
A white man looking to be in his mid-30s stood there.
Pretty much the same height as me, around the mid-170s region, he showed off some nice muscles peeking through his clothes.
As for other physical traits—
“Aren’t you being a bit obvious about sizing me up?”
Realizing the truth, I found it to be quite ridiculous.
He has no means to resist my grimoire yet puts himself out there like this?
He probably guessed our purpose is to gather info.
I decided to respond by glancing at Grandpa.
“What’s wrong?”
According to records, the likelihood of surveillance devices being everywhere is high, and there may be a chance that the conversation window’s being eavesdropped too.
Therefore, I had no way to share my plans with Grandpa.
But did I really need to go into all that?
We communicate well enough without saying a word, right?
“Let’s overpower him.”
— Flutter!
I summoned the grimoire and suppressed Arthur’s entire being with the power of my incarnation.
Grandpa also, without a second of hesitation, drew his pistol and aimed it squarely at Arthur’s head.
“What’s happening?”
It was oddly reassuring to see Grandpa pulling the gun before asking questions.
“This guy can rewind time in the mansion.”
“What!?”
One explanation was more than sufficient.
“I think we oughta leave at this point. But first, let’s extract some information. Kain, you should possess him—”
“Apparently, we’re not allowed to possess him.”
“What?”
“There seems to be a trick to it.”
“…”
After considering for a moment, Grandpa spoke in a grim manner.
“In that case, we’ll have to hear how to get out of here directly from him.”
“… You’ve done some torturing before, right?”
“Why would I not be able to do it?”
There’s no need to delve into details about what followed.
Let’s just say it ended with blood and guts flying, and Olivia fainting from watching.
Arthur didn’t hold up as long as I expected.
I didn’t want to laugh at him. I probably wouldn’t endure much longer in a similar situation myself.
Right before we made our escape, I asked the wheezing man, “Just one question: what was it that your father aimed to achieve with the mirror? Was it a recreation of the hotel?”
“…”
His eyes spoke volumes as an answer.
—
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 38
Current Location: Taebaek City, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province
Sage’s Advice: 3
—
– Han Kain
“Wow… So it really has only been a full day.”
“Considering that, you look incredibly worn out.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
Not a bad outcome.
I picked up some information about the participants in reality and a bizarre tidbit about the Bureau trying to recreate the hotel in the past.
Taking into account the little intel on the third floor, I’d say it was a valuable use of time.
However, something felt slightly off.
“What was the reason behind it?”
“What?”
“The initial memory manipulation. The Owl once told us to just go with the flow.”
“Hmm… If we hadn’t gone along with it, wouldn’t he have just kicked us out?”
What if we hadn’t played along initially, and Arthur had kicked us out instead?
That sounds plausible.
“Okay, so where do we head next?”
“To Hotel Delight.”
“Really?”
Just in case, I might listen to my sister’s flute one more time, and then wrap things up regarding this matter.
“I still don’t get it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why shouldn’t we possess Arthur’s body?”
“Well, he’s probably a mental escapee, so he must have some mental safeguards.”
“Hmm.”
I’ll pull out the advice.
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