Chapter: 100
100th Episode – Party Time (2) – Hatching, Book of Incarnation
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 32
Current Location: Floor 1, Room 105 – Rest Room
Advisor’s Advice: 3]
– Han Kain
— BEChapter: BEChapter: BEChapter:
“UAAAHHH!”
“Hey! Bring something! Anything!”
“What do you mean anything? Does anyone know what this thing eats?”
“Songee! Don’t you know anything? Do we just give it milk?”
“I’ve never raised a baby bird either.”
Chaos erupted!
After a short nap, by the time dinner rolled around, Room 105 was already in total pandemonium.
Out of the hatched egg, something I never could have imagined, like a baby parrot, popped out.
What the heck were we supposed to do when there’s no animal caretaker around and suddenly this creature appears?
In the midst of the chaos, the parrot began squawking like a maniac.
A bird born from the Hotel’s golden egg! It definitely couldn’t be an average bird.
We couldn’t just let it die because we didn’t know how to raise baby birds!
“Please, just tell me all the ways to raise a baby bird!”
I asked anxiously. What if an answer came back like, “Raise it with all your heart”? That would be a disaster!
“Please, give me something useful!”
To my surprise, the advice that came back was unexpectedly kind and detailed.
…What the heck? This feels like the ‘kind advice’ I’d received when I first acquired my descent.
Is the owl being nice because the bird is one of its kind?
I quickly shared the advice’s content.
Everyone rushed to grab boiled eggs from the dining table to make baby food, while others stripped off their clothes to wrap around the bird. Honestly, chaos reigned.
“Songee!”
“Yes?”
“How long are birds babies for? We have to enter the Cursed Room in a few days.”
“I don’t know. But based on what Kain-oppa got told, it says ‘the infancy won’t last long,’ right? It should be different from regular birds. I doubt the Hotel is making us raise a baby bird for a whole month!”
She had a point. I just hoped she was correct.
After what felt like an hour of mayhem, the room finally started to calm down.
“Now we have to take care of baby animals too? I hope the next time doesn’t involve raising human babies!” Jinchul-hyung muttered with a blank expression.
Eunsol-noona, maintaining her cool amidst the mess, managed to say anything rational.
“If things go downhill, just ask for advice again. This extraordinary creature from the golden egg cannot just die on a whim.”
“We’re sure it’s extraordinary, but what kind of abilities does it even have?”
“Who knows. At the very least, we probably have to survive the baby stage.”
Throughout this chaos, the baby bird kept squawking every ten minutes for food, and we found ourselves deliriously feeding it while trying to keep it alive with all our might.
Thanks to “Affinity,” the baby bird naturally cozied up to Songee, leading her to take charge of feeding it.
Only once the bird finally went to sleep did everyone else breathe a sigh of relief.
“It’s exhausting, for real.”
“…”
“Yeah…”
As we sat there dazed and confused, Ahri spoke up.
“Use the advice again to check if there are any precautions we need to be aware of.”
“We already asked! It said to feed it well and keep it warm.”
“That’s just standard for normal birds! There’s no way this bird is normal, so let’s ask something specific like, ‘Is there anything we should especially watch out for?’ or something.”
I was a bit worried again. Just like before, it was asking for advice about “something we had no clue about.”
How likely was it we’d get a useful answer? Not very, but we had to try.
“Please, tell me the specific precautions for this bird!”
BEChapter: BEChapter:
I was momentarily left speechless.
What’s with that name? “Grotesque Parrot”?
What kind of horrifying name is that?
What could possibly happen if we left it alone at night?
I relayed the advice back, and Songee casually responded like it was nothing.
“I’ll keep it with me at night.”
“But you said you’ve never raised a baby bird. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’ve raised kittens and puppies! It can’t be that different!”
Who knows if it’s similar? But with only Songee having experience raising any pets, we had no other choice left.
As the commotion subsided, my thoughts started to organize again.
“Everyone may be tired, but we have plenty of things to do during this Party Time. We need to visit the Sanctum of Blessings, check the Book of Incarnation, consider our blessings, and decide on our next room. Plus, if we find time, I’d like to chat about my descent.”
As I brought up the descent, I glanced at those from the Administration.
“So we can’t just be looking after this bird. We need to get our tasks done swiftly. How about we head to the Sanctum first for enhancements?”
Ahri then pitched in with another idea.
“If we go to the Sanctum, a few of us will sleep for the whole day due to enhancements, right? If something goes wrong with the bird during that time, it could be a hassle for the remaining people. Let’s postpone the Sanctum and focus on the bird for now. I think you should concentrate on researching your inheritance first.”
Clearly, I was the busiest person during this Party Time.
I had to handle the inheritance’s practice, enhance my blessings, and contemplate the descent!
Even Grandpa Mooksung supported this idea.
“Right. This time, focus on your own matters.”
So, naturally, I was exempt from bird-watching duties.
Heading out of Room 105 alone, I took out my grimoire.
Even with the filter on, as soon as I opened it, I felt like throwing up.
Dreadfully forcing myself to read, I stared blankly at the strange letters.
…My consciousness fizzled like bubbles and sank into the abyss.
*
— Han Kain
A distant voice with the power to melt my brain echoed through.
Where even is this?
I want to get out.
Let me free.
It’s too dark here.
…
…
…
D
O
W
N
An endless abyss.
No matter how deep I dove, the darkness was unending.
Only “down” existed.
In that darkness, something was writhing.
Swimming through this sea of despair, I realized the true nature of the grimoire.
Once upon a time, the “One Who Couldn’t Be Born” awakened its sense of self in the remains of its deceased mother.
Uncertain of who it was and where it was, it spent an eternity in a nightmare, unaware.
With the death of the Nebula Dragon, its world approached an apocalypse, prompting mortals to touch the dragon’s carcass to stop the end.
Heroes from another realm discovered a baby god within the corpse of the deceased deity.
At that instant, the “One Who Couldn’t Be Born” realized for the first time that there were “others” in this world.
Enraged by the world and envious of everything, even the mortals that had touched it.
Filled with envy, it generated power to manifest outside.
It forged “Possession” to seize a mortal’s body.
To create its incarnation in the realm outside, it forged “Incarnation”.
Finally, it created “Sacrifice” for its true birth.
That means to share a part of its powers with its followers was what the grimoire represented!
With this understanding, I felt a pang of regret.
The most powerful authority of “Sacrifice” had been edited out.
Before the Hotel restructured it, the grimoire was originally called the “Book of Sacrifice”.
However, I could faintly sense that the power behind “Sacrifice” was truly extreme evil.
Thus, the strongest remaining ability was “Incarnation,” and so the grimoire became known as the “Book of Incarnation.”
Suddenly, I came back to awareness. Leaning against the wall of the corridor, I found myself standing there.
“UWEEEKK!”
I spewed forth like an erupting volcano onto the corridor floor.
An unbearable, disorienting sensation slammed into my head.
Have you ever felt like the body given to you by your parents at birth was just a garment?
In the moment of awakening, I grasped the meaning of becoming the owner of the grimoire.
I was now liberated from my corporeal form.
At this point, my body was nothing more than clothing.
I attained eternal life!
Eternal life, a longing that even the emperor of a continent desperately chased after, and I achieved it merely a month after arriving at the Hotel.
However, the sensation I felt was far from refreshing liberation or joy over transcending humanity.
My entire being felt suffocatingly tight, leading me to instinctively realize that I could “take it off.”
Everything felt uncomfortable. I wanted to strip it off.
A sickening feeling of dissonance filled my mind.
Hearing my retching, someone emerged from Room 105.
“Kain? Are you alright?”
“Eunsol-noona…”
The instant our gazes met, I grasped the truth—I could steal “that body” for myself.
Gritting my teeth, I turned my face away.
I must withstand this. What reason would I have to take my comrade’s body?
After apologizing, I decided to find solitude at the snack table near the front reception.
Today, I figured, would need to be a solo endeavor.
Even eternal life felt like light service included with the “Possession” ability—what on earth could the “Incarnation” entail that surpasses it?
Oddly enough, I still couldn’t quite grasp what “Incarnation” even was.
I decided to use my final shard of advice for the day to gain some understanding of the grimoire.
*
— Yu Songee
Kain-oppa suddenly erupted with retching noises.
Eunsol-noona returned after checking in on him, wearing a rather puzzled expression.
“Is oppa alright?” I asked.
“Not sure. He doesn’t seem sick, but he was sharper than usual. He said he wants some time alone.”
“Could it be because of the grimoire?”
“Possibly.”
What on earth could have triggered his odd behavior?
Maybe I should check on him too?
— BEChapter: BEChapter:
Ah, no chance. The little bird just kicked up a fuss again.
Having barely rested, the bird woke up and started its racket again, just like ten minutes ago.
This bit truly clarified what they meant by “the infancy wouldn’t last long.”
While I hadn’t raised a bird before, I had raised kittens and puppies, and one thing was obvious—the amount of food this bird inhaled was absurd.
It wolfed down endless servings of baby food, and one might even question the physics behind such a thing at that size.
This baby was probably the only bird in existence that could devour 30 egg yolks in an hour!
Remarkably, just a few hours post-hatching, its growth was already noticeable.
To be honest, it was fairly grotesque at first, but as it grew and sprouted some feathers, it began to take on the appearance of an adorably peculiar parrot.
What sort of abilities would this little one hold?
One thing’s for sure—it definitely wasn’t an ordinary animal!
Initially, everyone was dedicated to making baby food and preparing bedding, but in just a few hours, they had begun to sneak off here and there, leaving only a pile of syringes filled with baby food next to me.
What was going on? Why did it seem like I was the only one taking care of this bird!?
Am I suddenly a single parent? They weren’t even helping!
I could understand Kain-oppa being busy with the grimoire, but everyone else was slacking off.
But… I remembered what Eunsol-noona said earlier.
I often found myself zoning out during meetings, so I decided to think of this as my contribution—doing what I was good at.
In the middle of feeding the baby, the earlier conversation popped back into my mind.
During this Party Time, we had agreed to ponder our blessings, right?
That made me think of the sponsor I met while enhancing my blessing. It seemed everyone else had profound conversations with their sponsors, but mine was far from it.
A gigantic elephant, larger than life itself, appeared just to give me a gentle tap with its trunk, and that was all!
Then, I received the enhanced blessing “Tacit Communication.”
…Could it be that they didn’t say anything on purpose since the skill revolved around “understanding each other without words”?
As I hadn’t come across “chaos beings” that my Affinity worked on, I hadn’t utilized it much, but this experience of looking after the baby bird was certainly piling up some practical knowledge.
As the name implied, I could feel the bird’s emotions and impulses and also transmit my own thoughts to it.
Endless hunger, fear, curiosity… and love.
I genuinely felt that this little creature trusted and leaned on me with all its heart.
That realization filled my own heart with affection, which is why I could calmly look after it, even when everyone else slipped away.
Since I was essentially its caretaker, I felt it was right that I got to name it too.
Forget that grotesque name, “Grotesque Parrot!” From now on, your name is Perro!
I cared for Perro until nightfall and then placed him on the cushion next to my bed when it was time to sleep.
That night, I discovered what Perro’s horrifying ability truly was.
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