Chapter 724 – Room 302, The Cursed Chamber – ‘Brave New World’ (2)
—
– Kim Sanghyun
After getting a grasp of the basics, the first thought that popped into my head was to contact my teammates.
Even though the goal of the first attempt is to realize our wishes rather than solve any problems, I figured I needed at least a basic line of communication with them.
It was already established that Room 302 belongs to Seungyub.
I also uncovered the contact number I used in real life.
– Ring ding-ding!
– The number you have dialed is not in service. Please check the number and dial again.
“Ugh…”
Not in service, huh?
I was a bit flustered, but I shouldn’t be too surprised.
I realized this yesterday during the meeting; my memories before arriving at the hotel were quite hazy.
I probably misremembered my own phone number.
Well, there’s no way to contact anyone for now.
Let’s focus on my own situation for the time being.
I recalled the note I had hidden behind the recycling bag.
1. You are periodically having your memories erased.
2. Do not turn off the speakers. Do not listen to the angel’s voice.
3. 237 Aston Ave, Room 403
The position and handwriting of the note clearly indicated it was left by my past self.
Considering item number one – “you are periodically having your memories erased” – it seemed I left this note and then forgot my memories afterwards.
Let’s think about that first point.
Who, or what group, is erasing my memories?
The first candidate that comes to mind is naturally the Administration Bureau.
Aren’t they the rulers of the world, monitoring humanity while concealing all kinds of mysteries?
However, another thought struck me as odd.
Unlike before arriving at the hotel, now I actually know how the Administration Bureau operates, thanks to my agent colleagues.
Memory erasure is typically enforced on individuals exposed to calamity disasters momentarily.
In simpler terms, if their memories are erased once, they are sent back to their regular lives.
Saying that continuous measures are necessary implies ongoing exposure to calamity disasters.
But, for ordinary people continuously exposed to such disasters, the action taken isn’t memory erasure.
Most of the time, once someone degenerates to that point, they’re beyond recovery even if their memories are wiped.
Therefore, the response from the Administration Bureau would usually be deletion or euthanasia.
In summary, it’s pretty simple.
The situation where ordinary people face “continuous memory erasure” is almost nonexistent.
So then, who is subjected to these continuous memory erasures?
Those who repeatedly experience calamity disasters and are at significant risk of corruption, but whom they cannot so readily kill.
That would be their own staff or agents.
“…”
If the Administration Bureau is periodically erasing my memories, then there’s a good chance hidden cameras or recording devices are planted in this house.
While I didn’t see anything alarming on a casual glance, I can’t afford to relax as they are professionals in this field.
From now on, I must always assume someone is watching me.
Thinking this way, it was actually a relief that I failed to contact Seungyub just moments ago.
Had I succeeded, he would’ve drawn the Bureau’s suspicion as well.
Next, I pondered item number two.
The angel’s voice.
At first, I didn’t recognize it, but upon trying to focus on the note, I vaguely heard a strange sound.
… You want…
I instinctively realized it was a sound that ordinary humans would struggle to hear.
Just like my other teammates, I was also climbing the scale of ‘soul’ and beginning to hear and see things that are inaudible to regular folks.
I’ll admit; I felt a slight sense of accomplishment there.
However, irrespective of that achievement, it was a sound I should not indulge in further.
So, let’s crank up the volume.
– Dust in the wind ~
Fortunately, the overwhelming noise helped to drown it out.
Lastly, regarding item number three.
Should I head to 237 Aston Ave, Room 403?
It seems to be just a 10-minute drive from here…
I couldn’t think of any other options anyway.
*
… Desired…
Even after stepping outside, the voice did not disappear.
I briefly considered how to defend against it, but the answer was simple.
An unbearable amount of noise.
— Same old song ~ Just a drop of water in an endless sea
With earbuds in, I blasted the speakers in my car.
“I might just destroy my eardrums…”
I was genuinely worried about my hearing deteriorating.
Though, even if my ears ripped off entirely, as long as I escape, the hotel would fix me up, so it wouldn’t really be a huge problem.
— Vroom!
After driving for about five minutes, I got caught at a signal, and typical thoughts flitted through my mind.
What kind of symptoms emerge when you hear the ‘angel’s voice’?
I was defending against it with unbearable noise, yet I couldn’t completely block out that angelic voice.
After all, what did it mean that I woke up with the sound of music playing?
That must mean I turned off the speakers while I slept.
Even now, a tiny voice continuously echoed in my ears, and I grasped the content of the message:
Do what you desire.
This phrase fragmented itself and kept playing in an incessant loop.
In short, despite my defensive measures, I was quite exposed to the chaos disaster of that ‘angel’s voice.’
I haven’t noticed any peculiar symptoms yet.
“…”
Am I already acting crazy while being unaware of it?
Out of pure reflex, I glanced at my reflection in the rearview mirror.
Looking back at me was a man in his early fifties, an Asian American.
I was wearing a regular button-up shirt and some fitting jeans.
My phone appeared to be an American brand, and my car seemed to be a well-known Japanese model—
Wait, could even this common sense be twisted somehow?
The Apple phone might be outdated by now.
The car I believed to be Japanese could secretly be a Chinese knockoff…
What about my appearance?
Could it be that my appearance is still youthful enough to be in my twenties?
Shouldn’t I be suited up when driving?
Or is it common sense to drive wearing only my underwear?
“No, no, there’s no way that’s right.”
In the midst of all that anxious internal banter…
— Tap!
Someone knocked on my car window.
Looking out, I saw a white man looking to be in his late thirties, and he didn’t look too pleased.
What’s going on now?
— Crunch!
“What’s going on?”
“Hey! What’s up with blasting music so loud? It’s deafening trying to follow you!”
Ah, so the music was too loud for him.
Well, it’s true I was being a nuisance, so I should apologize.
“My apologies. I’ll turn it down.”
But as I reached to adjust the volume, he reacted even more intensely.
“What? You little punk, ‘turn it down a bit’?!”
“…”
“Shut it! Just shut it!”
Honestly, it was loud even for my own ears, but did he really need to shout that much?
It’s not like I’ve been living above him and causing noise for three months or anything.
Just then, the signal changed.
“I’ve turned it down already. The light’s green now, so I’m gonna go. You aren’t planning to follow me or anything, right?”
With that, I shifted my attention back to the road, trying to start driving again.
Well, I was about to.
— Click!
?
That sound was—so familiar.
A proud symbol of freedom from my great nation, widely recognized worldwide.
The sound of a double-barrel shotgun being cocked!
“What the—”
Thankfully, my body reacted faster than my mouth.
— Thud!
“Ugh!”
My quick-hand managed to yank open the car door, causing him to stumble back from the sudden movement.
In that split second, I knocked the shotgun out of his hands and got on his back.
Before he could breathe out a sigh, I twisted his arm behind him, slamming my knee down on his back.
I had him completely subdued in less than a second.
Come on, this was stuff I could pull off even before coming to the hotel.
Still, comprehending the situation was a bit challenging.
So this guy was about to shoot me just for blaring my music too loud?
“Ugh! You—get off me! Let me go!”
“…”
It’s indeed true that annoyances can lead to dire situations quite often.
However, those instances typically stem from prolonged disputes with neighbors in the same building.
I’ve never heard of someone getting shot just for annoying someone with noise for two or three minutes on the same lane.
“Damn it! I told you to shut the noise! Are you deaf, man? You should get struck by lightning—”
He was cursing madly at me while I had him pinned down.
That too wasn’t too common.
As a former special forces operator, I could tell that regular folks get deflated pretty quickly once subdued like this.
It’s not just a saying that 90% of drunk folks calm down at the first sound of a police voice.
But look at this guy.
With a wild look in his eyes and shaking all over.
It seems he couldn’t regain control of his emotions at all.
First things first, let’s de-escalate this situation.
“Excuse me.”
— Snap!
A light chokehold put him to sleep for a moment, and I hopped back into my car.
“…”
Sitting back in the car, a stark realization hit me.
Isn’t this a situation where a crazed driver was about to kill someone just for the sake of noise and ended up restrained instead?
It was quite a noisy affair, and yet no one bothered to step in.
As if that’s a typical part of regular life.
I couldn’t help but wonder if my great nation had fallen to the level of civil war-torn Africa without me noticing.
…
I think I vaguely understood what kind of chaos disaster that ‘angel’s voice’ brings.
“… Time to move.”
About seven minutes later, I arrived at 237 Aston Ave.
On the surface, it appeared just like any normal house.
I pressed the doorbell.
— Ding dong!
When I received no response and was about to ring it a second time, I remembered that earlier incident and halted my hand.
“…”
Does anyone really come out with a shotgun just because I rang twice?
No, hold on, I can’t let my guard down. In this world, that’s very much a possibility.
So, I quietly adjusted my position to be ready by the side of the door.
— Ding dong! Ding dong!
“…”
Just as I was contemplating whether to force the door open,
“Johnny! Is that you?”
*
– Park Seungyub
– Seungyub!
“…”
– Seungyub! It’s time to go to school!
“… Ah.”
Hearing my mom’s voice brought me back to reality.
After that, the usual, ordinary morning began.
Shower, get nagged about rushing my face wash time to five seconds flat, changing clothes and getting scolded about my uniform looking sloppy.
Stifling a yawn while my mom lectured me about gaming all night long—
“… What! Something is off in my life!”
How can I be getting yelled at every minute?
Is this some kinda calamity disaster?
“Uh, Mom! This situation is surely some malevolent—”
“Oh dear! Were you really gaming again last night? Ugh, let’s go; we’ll be late.”
“I mean—”
“Get moving already!”
Mom was rushing me too much to give her a retort.
Glancing at the clock, it was already dangerously close to being late.
“Did you pack all your books?”
“Yes?”
“‘Yes’ what? Don’t you dare pull a fast one; if you forget your Korean History book, I swear I won’t let you sneak home during lunch again! Got it?”
“… Yes.”
“And—”
“Okay, I’m really going now!”
If I got nagged any longer, I’d lose all dignity.
What if my teammates were watching this whole fiasco from above?
*
Once I got a bit further from home, my pace slowed down again.
Mom was worried about me being late, but…
Honestly, who cares if I’m late?
What can a teacher teach me?
Ha! It should be the other way around—I should be teaching these clueless teachers!
Late? What of it? What?! Am I gonna get hit? Think they can put me in my place?
Ha! I’m the grandmaster, Izaseong—
“Wait, this isn’t it!”
Yikes!
Thinking back, I’m supposed to act like a middle schooler Park Seungyub and not like the world’s grandmaster, right?
Haven’t I heard that to realize my first wish, I should relive my past life?
“… Or not? Does it even matter?”
As I thought it over more, another thought hit me.
I used to be late all the time back in middle school.
After all, I was up every night battling in the glorious Summoner’s Rift; there was no way I woke up on time!
“Ah, this is it!”
My mind finally eased.
Let’s stick to the way things were.
Let’s live life as I did.
So, I decided to stroll slowly while pulling out my phone to check out some League of Legends stats first.
“Hmm… What? The patch version is different from what I remember? Oh, Lax is in a higher tier now, what the—Yasuo’s tier is just… no way?”
While I was immersed in the latest trend of the game, an idea I had forgotten bloomed back to mind.
What about the doctor that came in with me? Should I look him up?
While most of my colleagues weren’t especially well-known, the doctor was something else.
An ex-special forces operative turned doctor and astronaut!
No way someone like that would be commonplace, even in America!
A quick search revealed tons of info.
“Whoa! This doctor’s famous! His name is Johnny Kim, age 37, second-generation immigrant who has achieved groundbreaking success and inspired the Korean community…”
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.