Chapter: 121
### 121 – Room 107, The Gate Room – ‘Jekyll and Hyde Game’ (12)
—
– Han Kain
In the 1st and 2nd round, the execution targets chosen by Hyde were ‘me.’
While I was momentarily speechless, my teammates began chatting frantically.
“Why is Kain the top target? Everyone who’s unsure has to speak up. That way, the doctor can participate in the discussion naturally.”
Under Eunsol’s insistence, Seungyub, usually quiet, spoke up.
“Maybe it’s because he thinks a lot?”
“Thinks a lot? That might be true, but…”
Songee chimed in with a different take.
“Isn’t it more straightforward? For example, he has a legacy.”
I jumped into the conversation.
“Legacies aren’t unique to me! Songee, you have one, and so does Ahri. There’s three legacy holders right here.”
Ahri offered her input.
“Isn’t your legacy potentially lethal to Hyde? Like, capable of killing him?”
“But we were told we can’t find Hyde through legacies.”
“Maybe you can’t find him, but you can kill him?”
Can’t find him, but can kill him?
That seemed plausible yet confusing.
What could be the reason Hyde targeted me first?
Probably because I’m the smartest!—which honestly doesn’t seem likely.
There are two others with legacies besides me.
Is it that the ability of the grimoire itself threatens Hyde? That felt like a decent hunch.
But what does it mean to be a threat? Kill him? I couldn’t quite grasp it.
Since the Jekyll and Hyde game started, the announcer kept showing us the time. Only 2 minutes left.
Amid my thoughts, round 3 ended.
—
/The sun is setting now. Daylight is over, and Hyde’s time has come./
My consciousness began to fade…
—
– Round 4, Han Kain.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I looked around.
!
One person was missing. Reactions arose among my teammates.
“Songee?”
“Songee, no!”
The announcer descended.
/I’m sorry. Hyde’s third execution was successful. The doctor failed to protect the right target.
In the third round, Hyde was ‘Han Kain.’ Now, Hyde migrates to another person./
The atmosphere in the room shifted drastically with the first sacrifice. But we were still okay. One person out wasn’t a tragedy; we could revive them.
In round 3, the host Hyde had infested was me.
The execution target switched from me to Songee. Why didn’t Hyde execute the host while infesting him? Is it impossible to execute the host?
I asked directly.
“Announcer, can Hyde execute the host? Does Hyde die in that case?”
/It is possible to execute./
‘It is’? There’s something suspicious about that wording.
Ahri quickly pointed it out.
“What happens if Hyde executes the host?”
The announcer remained silent.
But that silence told us everything. Ahri confidently declared,
“If the host dies, Hyde must die too! The only way to eliminate Hyde is through the host’s execution!”
“So, Hyde’s host execution can only happen when there’s just one survivor left?”
“Probably.”
“Is that why the execution target changed from me to Songee? If Hyde executed me while infesting me, the game would end.”
Eunsol offered a slightly different view.
“Another interpretation is possible. Hyde tried to kill you twice in a row, but the doctor defended. Maybe Hyde concluded that it couldn’t kill you because the doctor only defended you.”
So, after two failures, it changed targets? That could make sense.
This game isn’t exactly a walk in the park for Hyde either. Hyde’s biggest penalty is that it can’t infest the same person twice.
Right now, there are still plenty of host candidates left, but as more rounds pass, Hyde won’t have many hosts to infest, making it easier for us to identify them.
Hyde has a kind of turn restriction in this game.
—
The previously silent Grandpa Mooksung spoke up.
“Didn’t you feel that Hyde was infesting you at all?”
“No, not at all. So, it seems impossible to eliminate Hyde using the grimoire. Well, maybe if I trained with the grimoire for about 30 years…”
That was a pointless comment. As everyone was getting confused, Elena interjected.
“I think our conversation itself is a misstep.”
“Because Hyde is listening in?”
“Yeah. Even if we figure out Hyde’s judgment criteria through discussion, if Hyde learns we know, he might change the criteria.”
My head started to throb more. We were trying to uncover Hyde’s schemes, but Hyde was right there eavesdropping.
Ultimately, our discussion might even be dangerous.
After Elena’s point, discussions fell silent, and everyone started delving into their own thoughts.
Ahri, who had been pondering alone, spoke up.
“I have a feeling that the next execution target is—”
Thud!
Eunsol suddenly grabbed Ahri’s arm. Ahri instantly realized and shut her mouth.
Everyone seemed to have the same thought about the next execution target.
But we shouldn’t speak that out loud.
If Hyde discovers that we’ve guessed the target, he might choose someone else for execution instead.
As the situation grew more confusing, control was slipping into Hyde’s hands, making it harder for the doctor to defend.
—-
In the silence, everyone’s minds started racing.
The first execution target was me, and the second was Songee.
Both were legacy holders. There’s no way this is a coincidence.
Is Hyde executing participants of ‘high value’?
But this speculation also has its flaws.
If legacy holders are indeed more valuable and thus have a higher execution rank, why was I ranked higher than Songee? Is it also because of Descent?
Putting myself aside, why is Songee ranked higher than Ahri, who’s also a legacy holder?
And what about the other four without legacies—Eunsol, Seungyub, Mooksung, and Elena? What’s the basis for ranking them?
My head felt more tangled.
It seemed like there might be criteria separate from legacy possession.
There has to be some standard for ranking all seven participants.
Let’s first think about our response for this round. At this rate, the next target looks like Ahri.
Is the doctor aware of this fact?
In the midst of my pondering, one idea struck me.
Hyde can’t infest the same target twice.
Since Hyde can no longer infest me, I can find out who the doctor is.
As long as I don’t speak up, Hyde won’t be able to discover information that only I know.
The method to find the doctor came to me instantly.
While I can’t locate Hyde with the grimoire, I can find the doctor.
I summoned the grimoire under the table and glanced around at my teammates.
I hoped they’d pick up on my intentions…
I started by infesting each of them one by one.
First, Eunsol.
…
Not the doctor.
I thought maybe, but she merely widened her eyes a bit and showed no other reaction.
Next, Grandpa Mooksung.
…
Not the doctor.
I felt a bit anxious coming out, but aside from being oblivious about game rules, he wasn’t one to miss things; he only cleared his throat a bit.
Next up, Elena.
…
The moment I approached her, I knew!
A hologram eerily resembling a ‘Status Window’ appeared directly in front of her.
It displayed everyone’s names and selection boxes.
The doctor was Elena.
Why did Elena defend me twice in a row?
I have a legacy and Descent. Maybe she thought I had the highest chance of clearing the Gate Room?
It didn’t matter now. Just before I reverted to my original body, I quickly scribbled a note on my hand with Elena’s pen.
‘Ahri’
The choice of whom to defend was up to Elena, but I wanted to leave my opinion.
Elena’s eyes widened slightly, but she showed no other reaction.
Time was running short, the 15 minutes were about to expire.
—
/The sun is setting now. Daylight is over, and Hyde’s time has come./
My consciousness began to fade…
—
– Round 5, Han Kain.
With tension, I opened my eyes.
“Ah…!”
Soft groans echoed from my teammates.
Our team’s luckiest member, Seungyub, couldn’t hold out this time.
The announcer descended.
/I’m sorry. Hyde’s fourth execution was successful. The doctor failed to protect the right target.
In round 4, Hyde was ‘Kim Ahri.’ Now, Hyde migrates to another person./
Eunsol, with a defeated voice, exclaimed,
“Has it been about an hour since this game started? Already two people are out… Even if we revive one, we’re in trouble.”
The doctor, Elena, covered her face with her hands in despair, having failed to defend consecutively.
I was confused.
I assumed the next execution target would be Ahri after me and Songee, but that turned out to be wrong.
Instead, by inhabiting Ahri, Hyde executed Seungyub.
… Incredible.
Since entering the hotel, we’ve faced various trials, but this one felt particularly desperate.
We didn’t see the ‘enemy’ right before us, only stuck to the rules, watching two teammates get executed in an instant.
Eunsol, usually strong-minded, wore a hollow expression, while the others looked utterly defeated mentally.
I must focus. Even in this situation, one person needs to stay alert.
All my previous conjectures started from one assumption.
‘Hyde never acts based on luck.’
This belief had no solid backing.
But I was certain this hotel isn’t a place that simply kills us without purpose, so this game’s progress won’t be left solely to chance either.
If Hyde’s actions aren’t based on luck, there must be criteria for determining the ‘execution order.’
That criterion must be a basis upon which we can rank ourselves in a specific order.
—
I thought about it from a slightly different angle.
Instead of focusing on Hyde’s ‘execution order’ like before, I pondered on the order of infestation: Yu Songee -> Park Seungyub -> Han Kain -> Kim Ahri.
If there’s a standard for the execution order, there must be one for the infestation order as well.
Execution targets went from Han Kain -> Han Kain -> Yu Songee -> Park Seungyub.
The infestation order was Yu Songee -> Park Seungyub -> Han Kain -> Kim Ahri.
A common thread emerged. Both orders had Yu Songee followed by Park Seungyub.
When this realization struck, it felt like a lightning bolt hit my brain!
The basis for choosing execution targets and infestation targets is, in fact, the same!
Hyde arranged us according to a single criterion. The established order is as follows:
Han Kain -> Yu Songee -> Park Seungyub -> Kim Ahri.
Let’s summarize.
1. Hyde ranked us based on a specific criterion. The order is Han Kain -> Yu Songee -> Park Seungyub -> Kim Ahri.
2. If Hyde executes the host it infests, it too will perish.
Considering these points, I analyzed how the game has progressed thus far.
Hyde’s top execution target is me. So, to eliminate me, it infested Yu Songee, followed by Park Seungyub to take me out. The doctor successfully defended twice in a row (1st and 2nd rounds).
Hyde judged it couldn’t execute me, so it shifted the target to Yu Songee next in line. Since it changed the execution target, there’s no need to exclude me from the infestation sequence. So, it infested me again to target Yu Songee (3rd round).
The doctor is still alive, so Hyde may think it still can’t execute me. Thus, the target is now Park Seungyub. Having infested Han Kain, Yu Songee, and Park Seungyub, the next infestation target must be Kim Ahri. Therefore, it infested Kim Ahri targeting Park Seungyub (4th round).
From these deductions, the next target for execution appears to be Kim Ahri. But who will it infest next? The evidence is still lacking.
Hyde can still infest Elena, Mooksung, and Eunsol—three others remain.
To find Hyde, we need to discover the exact criteria it uses to rank us and figure out the order of Elena, Mooksung, and Eunsol.
What could that criterion be?
What kind of standard allows me and Songee to be 1st and 2nd while Seungyub ranks higher than Ahri?
I vow to solve this mystery.
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