Chapter: 101
Chapter 101 – Party Time (3) – Grotesque, Consultation
Party Time Day 1 Early Morning
– Yu Songee
— Biiiiiik!
I woke up to the sound of a piercing beep. Flicking on the lights and checking the clock, it was 3 AM.
I headed to the little nest I made with towels scattered around the hotel and found that Perro had already devoured all the food I had prepared.
Looks like I need to whip up some more grub.
Just as I was about to step outside the room, Perro was staring at me intensely.
Recalling the warning, “Don’t leave it alone,” I deliberately threw open the door to Room 105 so Perro could keep an eye on me.
Outside, there was a pile of parrot food that Eunsol-noona had ordered stacked up in the corridor.
After mixing the food with some eggs I brought in, Perro, who had been watching the whole time, immediately shoved his beak into the bowl and started chowing down.
…
It seemed like he had just hatched last night, yet he had noticeably grown in just a few hours.
He was now the size of a small parrot. No more feeding him with a syringe—he came right up to eat the nuts included in the parrot food.
Surprisingly, he was smart enough to distinguish where to do his business.
At this rate, raising him was actually easier than having a dog or cat!
The only tiring part was the sheer quantity of food he consumed.
Perhaps it was due to him still being in his growth phase? Even though his size was just a tad over my hand, he still ate as much as an average young human.
Naturally, trying to fit all that in his tiny beak meant he could eat all day long and still be hungry.
Watching him eat, I gradually started getting sleepy again.
— Creeeak…
— Bang!!!
A thunderous noise and a crash jolted me awake!
In an instant, I was propelled into the wall.
“Ah! What the heck?!”
“What on earth is happening?”
“Huh? What’s going on with everyone?”
Coming to my senses in a daze, I found the entire team sprawled out all over the room. At that moment, Elena was scrambling to find clothes while still only wearing her negligee, and Jinchul-oppa, who was halfway topless, was flustered and picking up clothes from around him.
— Bang!!!
Right then, with another earth-shattering sound, the door to Room 105 came completely off its hinges and flew away.
Staring in shock at the door, there was a massive, terrifying creature I’d never seen before in the hotel.
It stood at least 4 meters tall!
It looked like a gigantic, hideous ostrich, and its beak was large enough to engulf my head whole.
Additionally, its body was covered in sharp and sturdy feathers mixed with scales, and instead of wings, it sported something that resembled tentacles and horns on its back.
Truly, it was a monster that looked like it belonged in a horror movie!
Everyone’s jaws dropped in disbelief.
The creature strutted into the space where the door had been, glaring right at me.
As it approached, I instantly felt the monster’s emotions wash over me.
Joy. Relief. Happiness.
…
Wait, could that be…?
But it was already too late.
“Everyone, be careful!”
Before I could even finish my warning, Jinchul-oppa charged out, yelling—
He punched the giant bird’s beak and kicked its body, causing it to tumble backward.
What the heck? How is he so strong?!
“Hey! Everyone, stay calm—”
— PIYOOOOOOOO!
The creature outside—the one I realized was Perro—let out a menacing roar.
In that instant, a wave of tremendous emotions surged through me: fear, disgust, and rage, all mixed together in a chaotic flurry of negativity!
Does Perro have that kind of power too? Timing couldn’t be worse!
I hastily protected myself with the bracelet, but the others were already getting fired up by his roar.
Jinchul-oppa was yelling and charging back at Perro.
It was bizarre seeing a human charging at a 4-meter monster, but clearly, one of them was in great danger.
Perro’s life is on the line!
Jinchul-oppa had already sent Perro flying with a single punch and kick, and a larger size doesn’t guarantee victory here.
The only silver lining was that Perro instinctively sensed the danger and started fleeing like crazy.
Just then, someone grabbed my shoulder to snap me out of my panic.
“That monster is the bird from the golden egg, right?”
“Ahri? Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine.”
“Yes. It’s Perro. He’s the same bird.”
“Why did it grow that big? We need to stop Jinchul before he literally knocks the bird into next week!”
We rushed out of Room 105.
Thank goodness, Jinchul-oppa seemed to have regained his composure—he was leaning against the wall, cradling his head with one hand.
But Perro—who looked thoroughly beaten by now; he didn’t seem weak in the slightest—was utterly terrified and smashing everything around him!
“Oppa! Are you alright?”
“Ah, I’m fine now. But what was with that roar? Suddenly, my head started spinning and I felt furious.”
Surprisingly, Ahri chimed in at that moment.
“You came back to your senses really fast, considering.”
“Is this something that happens often in the hotel? I was puzzled and stopped myself for a second, but… that’s definitely the bird from the golden egg, right?”
“Yes! It’s Perro!”
“Perro?”
“I guess Songee named it Perro. Anyway, how on earth are we supposed to calm him down?”
— Bang! Crash! Shatter!
What a scene it was; it felt like something straight out of a monster movie.
Since we had grown accustomed to bizarre happenings by now, everyone quickly snapped back to reality, especially when we understood that Perro was the bird from the golden egg.
However, Perro was still in a state of panic, wrecking everything in sight.
The only consolation was that he wasn’t attacking us, likely out of fear of Jinchul-oppa.
As we all stood there, helplessly watching, Kain-oppa stepped forward.
“I’ll calm him down. He won’t get hurt.”
What’s he planning?
…
Kain-oppa paused for a moment, fixing his gaze on Perro.
The next moment, my bracelet detected a “change in sensation.”
I couldn’t quite describe it, but I knew that Kain-oppa had taken over Perro’s body!
…Just before Perro’s consciousness faded away, I felt an indescribably tremendous fear emanating from him.
Things dulled down swiftly after that.
Upon entering Perro’s body, Kain-oppa returned Perro to his original, adorable form. Afterward, he attempted to “fly” but—
“Oppa! Don’t do anything weird; just stay put!”
…He crashed into the walls three times before suddenly toppling backward and doing a bizarre dance. It appeared humans had a hard time learning to fly even when inhabiting a bird’s body.
I carried Perro in my arms, and soon after, Kain-oppa reverted back to his own body.
“Did you realize you were in the bird’s body?”
“I felt it right away; I was concentrating,” he replied.
“The bracelet really is impressive. Hmm.”
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Nothing, just that this is the first time I’ve physically possessed a body, and I discovered something new.”
“Something new?” Ahri asked, intrigued.
“I’ll explain after I try it a few more times. I might’ve misconstrued something.”
Kain-oppa stood there pondering something quietly in the corridor, while the rest of us started piecing together what had actually happened.
After coming to terms with everything, Perro snuggled against me in fear. Using tacit communication to probe into Perro’s mind and examining the clues around me, I eventually unearthed the truly astounding and almost absurd truth.
In the early morning, I opened the door with Perro looking at me and brought in parrot food from the corridor.
Seeing that, Perro realized, “There’s food outside the door,” and next time, rather than waking me up, he ventured out by himself to search for food!
However, for some unknown reason, while Perro could leave Room 105, he simply couldn’t return.
Consequently, after spending a few hours alone outside, terrified Perro eventually transformed into a monster and smashed the door down.
…
Eunsol-noona’s voice resonated in disbelief.
“So you’re telling me, he went outside by himself because he was hungry, and then caused this entire uproar because he got scared being alone?”
“Looks like that’s what happened,” I replied.
“Haa… What do you expect from a birdbrain? But how did he even manage to open the door to get out in the first place?”
Grandpa Mooksung carefully examined the remnants of the door lever before replying.
“I see scratch marks all over the handle. I guess he bit onto it and pulled it down with his wings? Man, this little guy’s got some strength!”
“Seriously, why go through all that trouble just to go outside?!”
“Who knows what the bird was thinking? Parrots are notoriously curious creatures, so maybe he just wanted to see what was outside. He probably hadn’t anticipated it being a challenge to come back in.”
But why could he not return?
“Why couldn’t he come back inside? If he figured out how to turn the handle, wouldn’t he have just opened the door again from outside? There aren’t any keys in this hotel!”
“I’ve never pondered this before either,” Grandpa mused. “But if you consider it, Room 105 is essentially a mashup of various dimensions, right? We can hardly interact unless we’re eating together, so it seems other beings can’t enter Room 105 unless they’re with a participant.”
Seungyub, rubbing his tired eyes, sighed.
“So what do we do now, since Perro demolished Room 105?”
Ahri replied, “Well, Kain already showed us once, didn’t he? They’ll probably do a ‘major repair’ and then send us off to the camping grounds.”
Two hours later.
By morning, we all learned Ahri was indeed right.
We had to head back to the camping grounds again.
Party Time Day 1 Morning
– Han Kain
Now that we were back for the second time, we all felt pretty accustomed to our surroundings.
Taking some meat to grill, it was actually a refreshing and fun atmosphere, far more enjoyable than just lounging around inside the hotel.
But anyway…
I was lost in thought when Ahri approached me.
“What’s so intense that you’re thinking like that?” she asked.
“About the bird and the grimoire.”
“Perro? He still won’t step off Songee’s shoulders. As far as his abilities go, I think it’s transforming into a monster and unleashing an emotional manipulation scream.”
“He might have more tricks up his sleeve,” I replied.
“Even what he can do now is already quite phenomenal. So, what’s the deal with the grimoire?”
“I used the grimoire for the first time, and something odd happened.”
“You mentioned it earlier… you said it allows for Possession and Incarnation, right? Since you haven’t figured out Incarnation yet, maybe it’s something to do with Possession?”
“Exactly.”
“What’s up?”
“If it wasn’t a mistake, the system window disappeared, and a strange number appeared in the bottom right corner.”
“Hmm.”
After contemplating for a bit, Ahri quickly came to a conclusion.
“Use it on me right now.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“This is the quickest way. Hurry and do it.”
…
Second attempt.
Glancing at Ahri, I thought about shedding my body and “wearing” hers.
Suddenly, my consciousness felt dragged in, and soon enough…I found myself in the body of a pretty teenage girl!
How bizarre suddenly did I feel?
First, I had to check the most important thing.
“…”
It was just like before when I possessed Perro.
The system window was gone, and a tiny countdown timer was now there. What those numbers indicated was clear—1-hour timer.
Could there actually be a time limit for Possession?
The Apostle didn’t have such restrictions!
Did they impose limitations on Possession, similar to how they altered the third ability, Sacrifice?
I could buy the restrictions, but why did the system window disappear?
This was baffling.
Hmm… Suddenly, a silly idea popped into my head.
I remembered seeing a scene like this in a movie before.
I slowly lowered my hands toward my chest—
— Thunk!
With an odd feeling of being rebounded, my consciousness snapped back to my original body.
“Haha! What was that?! You were acting all elementary school kid-like back there! Did you just want to touch them that bad?!”
Ah! Seriously, what was I thinking?!
A wave of embarrassment and self-loathing made me bow my head in defeat…
I didn’t even care about why I got flung out of her body. Reflecting back, it was similar to how Ahri managed to wake up when the Daughter of Heaven was hypnotizing us. She probably used some trick to regain control.
“Do you still want a go?” she teased.
“Um…sorry. Just a spur-of-the-moment thing.”
“That was ridiculously funny! So, did something similar happen again?”
“Yeah, the system window disappeared, and now I have this 1-hour timer. What do you think it means?”
“The latter is simple—it indicates a time limit. The bracelet and star fragments all have different abilities while inside versus outside the cursed rooms, right? It’s likely the same for the grimoire.”
“That’s a bit disappointing…I thought I’d found a way to achieve eternal life with the grimoire.”
Eternal Life.
Hearing those words, Ahri gazed up at the sky with an almost wistful expression.
Every time this happens, I can’t help but wonder how old she really is.
While I hadn’t directly asked about it, it was evident that she was probably far older than her appearance suggested.
“You’ve most likely achieved eternal life by now. Maybe even others.”
“What do you mean? If Possession has a time limit, I can’t really experience eternal life by just changing bodies, right? And what do you mean by others?”
“Have you ever seen Jinchul regenerate?”
“…”
“His skin could be burning, or bullets could pierce through him, and he still heals instantly. Do you think a body like that would ever age?”
“…”
“The same applies to your grimoire. If the hotel is trying to weaken the grimoire itself, it would probably leave a trace just like when they altered ‘Sacrifice’. But according to what you said about reading the grimoire, there weren’t any such traces.”
“What are you implying?” I asked for clarification.
“Having a timer means that the changes to the grimoire itself are actually irrelevant. Both the disappearance of the system window and the appearance of the timer probably correlate to the same situation.”
“The same situation?”
“Didn’t you express a desire to discuss ‘Descent’? What I’m about to share will link to all the issues you’re experiencing. It’s going to be a lengthy explanation, so pay close attention.”
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.