Chapter 659 – Room 301, The Cursed Room – ‘Origin of Species’ (6)
—
– Kim Ahri
A notification popped up for everyone in the observation deck.
「You have failed to resolve the situation. Therefore, ‘The Post-Apocalyptic World’ is commencing!」
I didn’t want to believe it, but clearly, we were more than just ghostly bystanders in this situation!
“Ah! What the heck is going on?”
“What do you mean?!”
While panic spread among the team, I focused and sorted through the information we had.
Let’s start with what Songee and Eunsol found out.
They hadn’t lasted long, so they didn’t grasp the entire scenario of Room 301, but they still snagged some vital details.
First, the identity of the talking animals: those are souls of humans trapped in animal bodies.
So, what’s happening to the humans whose souls escaped?
According to Songee, an unidentified intelligent entity now occupies those bodies.
In brief, a monster hijacked a human body, and for some unknown reason, that human’s soul got shoved into an animal’s body.
They call this whole process “transference.”
Second up, the Bureau cannot be trusted.
The target Songee found was crystal clear: no way the Bureau would intervene. And right after Eunsol reported, she met a bad ending.
Thirdly, Eunsol’s father, Chairman Lee Seok-hwan, knows more than he lets on.
“…”
Is that all we figured out?
Just then, I caught sight of the notification looming above, throwing me into a new dilemma.
‘The Post-Apocalyptic World’
I already got the keyword before we even arrived on Floor 3.
I just never expected it to play out like this!
What in the world does that mean?
So, Eunsol and Songee failed, and now we’re stepping into a world post-bad ending?
It’s all too sudden to get my head around it!
Just then, Kain suddenly shouted, “Everyone, close your eyes!”
Is this some vision or a warning?
At that moment, I found myself looking toward Miro.
Miro, who usually acts like a little kid, seemed sharp this time, and my worry was unfounded.
Instead of closing her eyes, I imagined her giggling and whispering, “Kain, why’d you do that?” and then maybe fainting!
…
Fortunately, Miro wasn’t messing up and had her eyes firmly shut.
I was the one who failed.
In that moment when I turned to check on her, I finally understood why Kain asked everyone to close their eyes.
An endless, void-white space loomed around us.
A pale line stretched across the center.
Everything.
“… Ah.”
Warm liquid streamed down my cheeks.
The next moment, darkness overwhelmed me.
—
I jolted awake, feeling like my eyes were being stabbed by needles. Opening them hurt even more, but at least I could see something blurry.
Then, a gentle hand touched my head.
“Ahri! Are you okay?”
“Miro?”
“Yeah! Everyone was shocked when you got hurt right after we started!”
“…”
“What happened? Kain said you saw something you couldn’t handle and got hurt, right?”
“… Miro.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s your fault.”
“What?!”
“If it weren’t for you, nothing would have happened.”
“Uh, what does that even mean?”
“Just kidding.”
“Come on! Knock it off with the weird jokes.”
As I sipped some water that Miro handed me, I got the gist of the situation.
“How long was I out?”
“About two hours.”
“Not too long, thank goodness. What about the others?”
“They all woke up in the same place. They’re wandering around outside now, figuring things out.”
“Where are we?”
“In a human sanctuary?”
“… What?”
What do you mean by a ‘sanctuary’?
With my eyes now wide open in confusion, Miro shivered and whispered, “The doctor says it’s like a human concentration camp.”
“… A human concentration camp.”
Those horrifying words came to mind.
“It’s a small area made up of a few apartment complexes and parks, and they say it’s safe here.”
This was about as far as Miro understood.
Seems like to learn more, we needed to find the others outside.
“Miro, let’s head out. I still can’t see clearly, so help me out.”
“Sure!”
—
Once outside, I spotted Kim Sanghyun deep in thought.
“You’re awake? How’s your vision?”
“Doctor! Ahri still can’t see well!”
“Oh no! Tell me how many fingers I’m holding up.”
“Eight.”
“What the—”
“Just messing with you! I can see my hands, so spill the beans already!”
Sanghyun chuckled at my joke, his first response confirming my sanity.
“Simply put, it seems like creatures from another dimension have taken over Earth.”
“What a fantastic start!”
“They’re the monsters stealing human bodies. And…”
“And?”
“Don’t freak out. The conquest of Earth is already over.”
“So, that’s why it’s ‘The Post-Apocalyptic World’?”
“Most likely.”
We were no longer in a time of invasion by these otherworldly monsters.
The conquest of the Earth had concluded ages ago—hence the “Post-Apocalyptic World”!
“Then, what is this place? A sanctuary for humanity or something?”
“I’m not sure if our histories of South Korea align, but—”
“No need for a preamble.”
“A place for the descendants of collaborators with the ‘Great Race’ to live.”
In that moment, I was taken aback.
“What?!”
“It’s from a report about the locals here. Those who cooperated with the ‘Great Race’ long ago and their descendants get to live in this sanctuary after the apocalypse.”
“… So the world has already ended and time has passed quite a bit?”
“About thirty years or so. Not entirely sure.”
So, to recap.
Mysterious monsters invaded in droves, stealing humanity’s bodies, taking over the globe.
The surviving humans now serve the monsters they call the ‘Great Race.’
Some traitors among the humans aided the invaders during the process.
Thanks to that, they were given rights to live in the sanctuary after the apocalypse, without losing their bodies.
The rest of humanity outside? Trapped in their sad fates, feeling the pinch of loss.
“From what we observed in the observation deck, Eunsol’s father—”
“Chairman of Daeyang, Lee Seok-hwan, right?”
“That guy knew about the transference phenomenon. He even seemed familiar with the monsters.”
“Probably a traitor from the human side.”
“…”
When Eunsol hears all this after we escape, it may hit her hard.
“Oh! There’s Kain!”
Miro waved her arms frantically, and when Kain looked over, he seemed a bit startled.
Kain was directing some people, and they were groveling before him, with their bodies pressed flat against the ground.
“What the heck is that? Did I miss a sermon while I was out?”
Sanghyun chuckled softly, “No time for that. It’s just a little trick.”
“A trick?”
“People in the sanctuary fear the Great Race and call them ‘lord.’ They can’t distinguish them by appearance.”
Of course; the monsters steal human bodies, so they must look just like us!
“So, their power itself serves as their ID.”
“Oh!”
Now I get it.
The ability to steal and control human bodies is the credentials of these Great Race beings, and Kain wields a similar power.
In other words, regular humans can’t tell Kain apart from the Great Race!
“So Kain is currently pretending to be from the Great Race?”
“Right! Oh, now he’s coming over here.”
—
At this point, I finally pieced together the one question that had nagged me throughout our time at the observation deck.
Why didn’t fate give Eunsol and Songee an ally like Kain?
I’m sure that even if no one else got it, having just Kain with them would’ve changed everything!
His combat skills are top-notch, but his understanding of scenarios is the best among us!
Now I knew the reason why.
“… He’s useful over there, but even more so for us.”
“What did you say?”
“Oh! Wouldn’t having Kain two or three times over be great?”
“D-Don’t say embarrassing things!”
“Embarrassing? Miro, don’t let your imagination wander!”
—
Kain nodded towards me, looking relieved, before calling back the nearby comrades.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have much new intel.”
“Oh no!”
“Huh…”
They responded with disappointment.
Kain nodded, sharing the sentiment, and continued, “The average folks in the sanctuary don’t know much. The Great Race rules the world, and they think they rely on their grace to survive each day.”
“… Sounds awfully like slavery.”
Kain reacted slightly differently to my comment.
“Slavery? If it were slavery, they’d be worked like dogs. More or less, they’re just locked in a sanctuary the size of half of Seoul, told not to come out, and provided just enough food to avoid starving. That’s about it.”
“So, what does that mean?”
“Closer to a human prison or a human zoo.”
“…”
Either option isn’t exactly a win-win.
Elena cautiously asked, “How’s the understanding of the scenario, Kain?”
“I came here precisely for that. While wandering, that understanding kicked in.”
“What do you mean?”
Kain looked off into the distance as if reading invisible text.
“The understanding of the scenario is… ‘Origin of Species.’ Ah! The disaster has befallen us. Humanity has lost and the time of glory is over. The Earth’s rulers are no longer human.”
Surely, this can’t be the entirety of it, right?
“But in the depths of despair, there might still be a flicker of hope!”
“Of course! And then?”
“And then there’s nothing more. This is it.”
“What’s this flicker of hope about?”
“No clue. We have to find out ourselves.”
“…”
After a moment of silence, Kain murmured cautiously.
“I think the cursed Room 301 splits the groups into a ‘resolution team’ and an ‘escape team.’”
Resolution team and escape team.
“Those who signed in and entered first, in this case, would be Eunsol Unnie and Songee, in the resolution team. If they solve the problems in Room 301, then that’s their ticket to resolution.”
The ones who sign in and enter first constitute the resolution team.
If they resolve the issues, it’s game over for that round, and they get their rewards.
“If the resolution team fails, then it’s the escape team’s turn. The escape team starts at the point of the apocalypse. So—”
“Resolving it becomes impossible.”
“Exactly. Resolution is unattainable. The golden timing has slipped, and the tides have already turned.”
“…”
“If we find the flicker of hope, maybe something will happen. That’s probably the escape condition for Floor 3, isn’t it?”
In floors 1 and 2, escaping meant a temporary delay of the apocalypse or leaving that location, right?
Floor 3 seems to carry a slightly different meaning.
Since we’re entering at a point after the apocalypse, delaying it just wouldn’t apply. The whole world has already crumbled, so what’s the point of running away?
Flicker of hope, that’ll be the keyword for escaping from Floor 3!
When everyone reached this understanding, a moment of silence hung in the air.
Just then, Kain suddenly looked at me and asked, “Ahri.”
“Yeah?”
“There is one additional piece of information I gathered from the sanctuary’s survivors.”
“Ah?”
“But I don’t quite know what it means. Thought maybe you would.”
“Spill it.”
What he said next was a term I had never heard before.
“… Great race of Yith.”
“What?”
“The Great Race of Yith. Do you know what that is?”
—
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