Chapter: 645 – The First Wish (1)
—
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 1
Current Location: Third Floor, Lobby
Sage’s Advice: 0
—
– Han Kain
— We’ve arrived.
I woke up right in front of the elevator, greeted by a cheerful announcement.
The first thing I noticed was a change in my status window.
The date had reset to Day 1, and my current location was recorded as the Third Floor.
The Third Floor!
I’ve really made it to the Third Floor!
A mix of achievement at reaching the Third Floor and a tinge of longing for reality washed over me.
From now on, a new trial begins, raising feelings of crisis and anticipation for what’s to come.
A flood of complex emotions struck me, causing my whole body to tremble for a moment.
“…”
This isn’t the time to get sentimental.
The Owl had told me to wake my comrades as soon as I came to.
Where are my companions?
I checked the status window for their location info.
“They’re all just showing as on the Third Floor.”
It didn’t specify exactly where on the Third Floor they were.
Maybe they’re still stuck in the elevator?
— Ding!
I thought to check the elevator interior again just in case.
“… Nope. Huh?”
There were no comrades around, but I did notice a change in the elevator panel.
Originally, it showed three buttons: 〚Basement〛, 〚1st Floor〛, 〚2nd Floor〛—but now, with the connection bridge complete, 〚3rd Floor: Heaven〛 had appeared.
And now, another button had been added.
〚Connection Bridge: Summer〛
Could it be that I can return to reality through the elevator?
I recalled Ryan’s words about the Ascendants not coming back, but I couldn’t jump to conclusions just yet.
Most importantly, the 〚Connection Bridge: Summer〛 button wasn’t lit up.
It seemed like a specific condition was required to press it.
While I was surveying the situation, I felt some twitching movement beside me.
— Flap!
“Glad at least you’re here.”
Pero flapped its wings and pointed its beak somewhere, signaling me to follow.
After a few steps, I realized the surrounding scenery was indeed incredibly extravagant.
There were golden decorations shining everywhere and vintage marble everywhere I looked.
A beautifully glowing chandelier dangled from the ceiling, adorned with mysterious paintings and patterns.
A sign on the wall indicated that the Third Floor consisted of three zones.
⇦ Observatory
⇧ Guest Rooms
⇨ ??? – Under Construction.
“Observatory? Under Construction?”
What in the world is being observed? And what’s this about ‘under construction’?
It’s not something I can answer just by thinking, so let’s move on.
— Beep!
Suddenly, Pero squawked as if to remind me not to let myself get distracted by the scenery.
Soon after, I heard the sound of people.
“Ugh….”
I quickly dashed over to see my comrades sprawled on soft sofas.
I immediately shook Songi and Ahri beside me, but there was no response.
Puzzled, I shook Elena and Seungyub but got the same result.
Their hearts were beating, and their bodies were warm, but why were they unresponsive?
Should I write in the Grimoire to wake them forcibly?
At that moment, I heard the groaning sound from a sofa on the other side.
“Ugh…!”
“Grandpa!”
I grabbed his shoulder and gave him a gentle shake; he woke up immediately.
“Whoa! Kain, is that you? Where are the others—oh, they’re around.”
“They’re here, but they don’t seem to wake up no matter how much I shake them.”
“…”
Not getting any reply, I glanced at Grandpa, who looked deep in thought with a frown.
“Grandpa?”
“…”
“Grandpa!”
“Ah, sorry. I was just thinking about the scene I saw not too long ago….”
The scene he saw just moments before?
“Did you see something?”
“… I think it was a dream.”
“A dream?”
“Didn’t you see anything?”
“I saw something mysterious. Beyond the cosmos—”
I suddenly realized. The ‘ascension process’ I experienced wasn’t a dream or a hallucination.
I had heard the Owl’s advice, and I had used up a count of my advice.
The faint pain lingering in my eyes, ears, and nose was proof of it, too.
Grandpa’s dream was something else entirely.
“— It seems it was something entirely different. I didn’t dream.”
“Hmm…”
In that pondering moment, I felt a presence behind me.
“Congratulations, Participants Han Kain and Kim Mooksung. You have arrived on the Third Floor.”
“… Manager.”
“Before we start the trials in earnest, don’t you think you ought to wake your comrades?”
Grandpa quizzically asked immediately.
“Why aren’t they waking up?”
“It’s for your benefit.”
“For our benefit?”
“It’s a necessary procedure for what’s to come.”
This time I asked back, “You mean their sleeping is necessary for what’s to come?”
“Indeed.”
“Then why didn’t I dream? What I saw seems unrelated to a dream….”
What came next was unexpected.
“You, Han Kain, have already overcome it.”
“What do you mean—”
Right after, I felt a flicker, and the Manager vanished without a trace.
Grandpa’s eyes went wide as he looked around, but the Manager was nowhere to be found.
“What is this?”
“… I guess that last conversation was their final consideration.”
“That last statement?”
“It seems they explained why our comrades are in a deep sleep. It’s for the progression going forward.”
“…”
“So now, Grandpa, unlike me, perhaps you should share what you saw while waking up. What did you see?”
“… It’s an old memory. About my son and grandson.”
From what I vaguely heard, Grandpa said he lost his son and grandson due to some incident.
That pain must have gnawed at Mooksung agent’s insides like a plague over the years.
He suddenly started to sweat as if recalling something awful.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, really! It’s just…. That was a long time ago.”
He did not look fine at all.
Was he haunted by horrific memories, perhaps seeing images of his son and grandson in pain, screaming as they died?
And about Grandpa dreaming of family tragedies and its relevance to moving forward…
Soon, Grandpa and I were struck by the same thought at the same time.
“Kain, it seems that the vision I just had… is related to the First Wish.”
“Same thought here.”
The theme of the Third Floor, learned from the Floor Manager and the previous Wisdom, was beginning to become clear.
1. Recollect the First Wish.
2. The post-apocalyptic world.
“It seems everyone is witnessing visions related to the First Wish.”
“Which means you saw nothing because—”
“…”
“Because you’ve already fulfilled your First Wish.”
“Rather than fulfilled, it might be more accurate to say I’ve let go of it.”
“Then let’s say you’ve overcome it. The Manager phrased it that way.”
I not only overcame the First Wish, but others hadn’t done so yet.
“That’s why I see why you woke up first, Grandpa.”
“Compared to you, it’s mainly because I already had my wish fulfilled. I knew what it was and had achieved it.”
“Didn’t you get a mysterious notification once?”
The notification that popped right after Grandpa used his One More Chance ability.
“Participant Kim Mooksung. All your cravings have now been fulfilled. However, one step remains to ascend.”
“‘First Wish’ mentioned therein.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you remember when we first heard the word wish?”
“The Third Floor Manager—”
“Before that.”
“Ah, the previous Wisdom mentioned it?”
“Before that.”
“Hey, don’t tell me you’re bragging about your good memory!”
Oops! I did it again—slipped into banter mode.
“Ahem! Before we came to the hotel, we first heard the concept of an empty wish in the hotel cinema.”
“I’m vaguely remembering that.”
“What I’m saying is this concept is crucial in the hotel. Perhaps….”
“Perhaps?”
“It might be tied to the fundamental essence of the participants.”
“…”
“So, Grandpa.”
At this point, I could tell Grandpa understood what I was hinting at.
“You mentioned earlier you realized what your wish was, and you fulfilled it. Can you share what it was?”
“… Sure. It’s nothing hard to explain.”
“…”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I was hiding my identity as an agent, then I met a lovely lady, got married, and had kids.”
“Was your partner an ordinary person?”
“Yep. My son was the same. A reincarnator is simply a high-level being, but naturally, the characteristics of the soul can’t be shared between parent and child.”
“That makes sense.”
“… So I had to hide so much.”
“Like the fact that you’re an agent?”
“Exactly. I pretended to just be an employee of a company founded by the Administration Bureau. I concealed my job, the fact I’m a reincarnator, the secrets of this world…”
“…”
“And before I knew it, a huge wall built itself between me and my family. A wall that blocked true communication.”
A wall obstructing genuine communication.
“I drifted further away. At one moment, I almost gave up. Perhaps marrying a reincarnator to an ordinary person was a mistake. So….”
“So?”
“… to my grandson, I didn’t even realize anything was happening.”
“Excuse me?”
“Things were darkening right under my nose… I’m saying, to live apart and lose contact, I had no clue what grotesque events were taking place with my grandson!”
Suddenly, Grandpa’s voice started to rise.
Revisiting his painful past must have flooded back the despair he experienced at that time.
I carefully grasped his arm, and soon he forced a bitter smile.
“Sorry. It’s just… I shouldn’t be reacting this way over something that happened so long ago. My training must be lacking.”
“Some pains outlast a thousand years and won’t easily fade.”
“Anyway, that’s in the past now.”
“…”
The most crucial part was being omitted.
What grotesque event befell Grandpa’s grandson?
“Thanks to all of this, I arrived at a desperate wish.”
“The first wish, you mean?”
“Probably. I don’t actually remember the moment I wished upon something in the hotel, but I wouldn’t have wished for anything other than my usual desire.”
“That’s valid. What wish did you make?”
“… I wished for my family to come back.”
“…”
“I prayed for a miracle so I could see my family one more time, and when that happened, I wanted to break down the wall between me and them. And….”
“…”
“I just wanted to live happily, just this once.”
Just this once?
“I’ve had enough of any more life. I’ve considered reincarnation as a prison I can’t escape.”
“…”
“Haha! It sounds all poetic, but it wasn’t all that simple. The moment I lost the fate of a reincarnator was excruciating.”
“You wished to escape your reincarnator fate, yet when given the chance, it was pain and fear?”
“Exactly. It was tempting to return. Silly, right?”
“Not at all. The human heart is filled with such contradictions.”
Grandpa desired the resurrection of his family and the ending to his reincarnation.
He resurrected his family to reality through the power of ‘Dreams,’ and by losing the power of reincarnation in the One More Chance trade, he achieved both wishes.
That’s why he got the notification saying, “All your cravings are fulfilled.”
Suddenly, an idea popped into my head.
Had Grandpa truly fulfilled all his wishes?
If so, he probably wouldn’t have dreamed or woken up right away like I did.
He must have been left with something.
He had explicitly fulfilled all his wishes, but remnants of some unvoiced desire must have lingered.
That’s why he woke earlier than everyone else but later than me.
“I think I have a rough idea of the situation.”
“Really?”
“It seems the Curse Room on the Third Floor is somehow linked to everyone’s wishes.”
“…”
“However, as you’re aware, many among our comrades do not—”
“Know what their wish is. The very concept of the First Wish feels foreign to them.”
“— And that’s why they’re dreaming right now. The hotel seems to be saying this. Forget about fulfilling wishes first; realize what you actually wished for.”
“Then to proceed on the Third Floor?”
“Probably.”
“What about the others? How do we wake them up? Just wait?”
“Probably not. The Owl instructed us to wake our comrades once they’re gone.”
“What do you suggest? Are you saying I should use the Grimoire or something?”
“Not at all.”
The Grimoire isn’t some mind-recovery tool.
It’s strange that such a process requires a specific individual’s legacy.
It’s not a specific legacy but a specific tool.
It’s an item anyone else could use.
— Flap!
“Kingdom of Dreams!”
“Let’s check the dream state.”
It didn’t seem like it would take long.
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