### Chapter 127 – Room 107, The Gate Room – ‘The Secret of the Esper Ship’ (18)
—
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)]
Date: Day 45
Current Location: Level 1, Room 107 (The Gate Room)
Wise Advice: 0
—
Han Kain:
[Advice: 1 -> 0]
—
[Immediately stop your companions’ ruckus and apologize to those around you.]
—
Right away, I started typing in the dialogue window.
Han Kain: Activated advice. Everyone, come down now!
With that, I hopped on the table and grabbed Grandpa’s arm.
Seeing the pop-up notification, Grandpa didn’t resist and climbed down, starting a show of slurred speech.
We pretended to apologize to the surrounding people for Grandpa’s drunken antics.
While faking support for Grandpa, a sudden realization hit me.
Unlike the ‘advice’ that provides answers to questions, the ‘crisis alert’ only activates when my life is truly at risk.
…
A chill ran down my spine. I discreetly checked the reactions around me.
The people around didn’t just seem like they were watching a pathetic drunk; there was a palpable hostility in the air.
I could feel a tingle on my skin, foretelling danger.
Especially a few of the crew members on the Esper ship were visibly pulling out revolvers.
Given that the crisis alert had activated, wouldn’t they have considered taking a shot if Grandpa’s drunken rage continued?
That was an abnormal reaction.
No matter how much a party gets out of hand among the elite, it’s normal for staff to simply drag the drunkard out.
It’s not normal to prepare to shoot.
After a lengthy apology and an effort to calm the atmosphere, we returned to our room.
—
*
As soon as we arrived, Grandpa spoke up.
“I was right.”
“Right about the party being a sore spot for the foes? I agree.”
Ahri, Songee, and Elena all nodded in agreement.
“Grandpa, you sure did go wild — hit a staff member, tossed food at passengers, and yelled like there’s no tomorrow… now that I’m saying it, it really was a chaotic scene, huh? But even with all that, they wouldn’t normally pull guns.”
“The oddity was the passengers’ reactions. The staff might act threateningly because it’s their job to restrain disruptive players, but the passengers were glaring at us with wide eyes. I found it too terrifying to even look up!”
“Definitely strange. Usually, you’d expect people to avoid trouble like they would dodge animal dung — it’s just common sense.”
A concern began to creep in.
“From their reactions, it feels like messing up the party triggers something. If we get the chance, let’s derail it again. But right now, our main threat isn’t the party in two days; it’s tonight at midnight. We’ve only got about an hour left.”
Grandpa chuckled as if enjoying the whole situation.
“I have my own plan. In a way, it connects to today’s chaos.”
“A plan?”
“They’ll probably come for us at midnight, right? Since Pero isn’t around, I bet they’ll want to take one of us — me, most likely.”
At that moment, everyone looked at Grandpa in shock. Ahri had already caught on to the vibe.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Considering how much I’ve riled them up, they’re likely to take me away, especially since I just spilled my personal info earlier while drunk. All I really shared were my age and birthplace, but those two are key details, I think?”
Songee exclaimed in astonishment.
“You were prepping to be taken away this whole time?”
“Exactly.”
I was starting to grasp Grandpa’s intention.
“Wait… do you mean you plan to use the ‘dialogue window’ while being taken away?”
“Aha, you’re finally catching on. That’s exactly it. What’s our biggest issue right now? If they attack us, we’re utterly unarmed to fight back. With Pero gone, aside from Elena activating justice, we lack any real counter. The issue is, Elena can’t use justice due to the absence of evidence.”
Ahri added, “But since you activated ‘communication’ earlier, it means you can share video now, right? Is that the plan?”
“Right. As I’m getting carted off, I’ll share the situation. They’re bound to commit some wicked acts. Once we confirm that with evidence, Elena can activate justice. That would essentially resolve the fourth trial.”
Songee asked, “In the previous scenarios, like during the Social Media Renovation or the Mansion of Horror, it seemed sharing the dialogue window got blocked once we were too far apart. Is that not an issue?”
“That was because we were kilometers apart then. Even on this ship, it’s not big enough to block the dialogue sharing.”
I understood the intention. It all connected back to the ruckus from earlier.
The plan was to purposely trigger the enemies into taking Grandpa, and then with the dialogue window’s video-sharing feature, gather evidence of their misdeeds. That could activate Elena’s justice!
It sounded convincing; however, there was one worrying point Elena raised.
“Will Grandpa be alright?”
“You’ll have to come save me using justice, Elena.”
“Even with justice, I can’t teleport. It’ll still take time, no matter how fast I go.”
“What can we do? There are no risk-free operations in this place. If things go south, I’m okay falling while you guys continue to the fifth trial. With four of you, at least one should get through.”
Ahri replied with a somber tone, “As soon as Elena can use her justice, I’ll go rescue you!”
Grandpa smirked and handed a pistol to Ahri.
—
Until midnight rolled around, we couldn’t come up with a better plan.
—
— Cuckoo! Cuckoo!
As the clock struck midnight, the cuckoo clock chimed.
Soon enough, I heard the cheerful chime from a hidden music box we left behind.
Ahri fiddled with it for a while and declared the magical power had faded away.
Feeling anxious, I realized that it was true. No sleepiness was washing over us from the music box anymore.
Everyone pretended to be asleep, laying on the wall or floor.
…
Gasp!
Despite having been warned by Kain in advance, I almost screamed when a face suddenly emerged from the wall.
A chilling voice began to echo.
“Are they all asleep?”
“Seems so. The music box is softer than usual, so I wondered…”
“Looks like only one music box is working. What’s up with that?”
“Guess the others are broken? I’ll have to inform the captain. Anyway, with one still functioning, these fools are definitely asleep now, and that beastly bird is gone.”
“Who should we take away?”
“Ha!”
“Pffft! Is it even worth thinking about?”
“It’s not like we don’t know the answer! Let’s grab that old fool. We need to show him what hell looks like tonight.”
With those words, faces emerged from the wall as four figures appeared.
They were all familiar faces from the party — three burly men and one frail-looking woman.
The men began dragging Grandpa away.
“Why’s he so heavy?”
“Sure, he’s built like a tank, but this is no joke! Why are his arms so thick?”
“It’s just destined to be one hefty meal for Markus.”
‘Markus’ — that name gives me the creeps!
…
With the sounds of footsteps echoing, Grandpa and the crew members left the room.
A bit of time passed, and the dialogue window lit up.
Kim Mooksung: I’ll share the video soon; the footage has a limit.
Kim Mooksung: Follow the long corridor. Don’t go up the stairs at the second floor; take a right instead.
Kim Mooksung: When you turn right, you’ll find the maintenance room. To the left of the maintenance room—
Grandpa took his sweet time guiding them along the way, detailing their route to the location they were being taken.
It seemed trickier than I thought. Fifteen minutes? Twenty?
Finally, Grandpa’s visual feed started appearing in the dialogue window.
It was like a scene straight from a coliseum. The center was wide and flat, surrounded by enormous pillars, with tiered seating surrounding it.
So many people must be gathered; the place was packed with hundreds of spectators!
Although Grandpa’s sight had limitations and couldn’t capture the whole space, the aura of excitement was palpable even through the video.
In the center stood several towering pillars draped with velvet cloth. A man wearing a square hat stepped into the spotlight.
“Dear comrades of the Esper ship, passengers and crew alike! It’s time for the festival we’ve all been waiting for. You all know this one — the pest that dared to ruin our feast!”
Kim Ahri: Look at that hat. Is that the captain?
Han Kain: Shh! Focus on the video!
“The great Markus watches over the Esper ship, bringing us everlasting glory! First Officer!”
And just like that, from the side, a convincingly dressed first officer appeared.
He began giving orders to the crew. They quickly tied Grandpa to a different pillar.
Yu Songee: Something’s about to happen! Elena, are you ready?
—
Not yet. Justice was beginning to activate, but we needed to watch a bit longer to be sure.
As soon as Grandpa was bound to the pillar, the captain began his ominous announcements.
“The sacrificial offering is 68 years old, born in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Korea, and occupation—”
The captain rambled on for quite a while about Grandpa’s age, birthplace, and other details, scribbling something around the pillar Grandpa was tied to.
At that moment, the cloth covering another pillar next to Grandpa was suddenly yanked away.
…
My breath hitched.
Light flooded into the dark crew quarters.
The scales of justice appeared, swirling like a tornado.
—
Han Kain:
Oh no! When the cloth covering the pillar was ripped away, gasps escaped all our mouths.
The man hanging from the pillar — presumed to be the ‘prey’ caught in our place yesterday — was an image no one could gaze upon without feeling sick.
His skin peeled away, his body marked with cruel signs of torture.
The instant abundant evidence of heinous acts made the atmosphere — which until now had been terrifyingly tense — tremble dramatically.
Even Grandpa, sending visual information, found it hard to keep his composure in front of such a horrific sight.
A golden wave suddenly surged around Elena.
— BAM! Boom!
The whirlpool of scales shattered the room with incredible force.
Elena took off, and everyone else bolted in panic.
How do we get to the coliseum? What was the route again? I think we turn right after the second-floor stairs—
— CRACK!
Forget the route! Elena started bulldozing her way straight through the ship!
She was on a rampage, blasting through walls and floors like a rampaging bull, so we just had to run!
In fact, the floor was breaking apart so badly that it was hazardous to find secure footing.
Yu Songee: Grandpa! Hold on a sec! Elena’s in full throttle now!
…
Grandpa didn’t respond.
Instead of a reply, a snapshot appeared in the dialogue window.
Was that the ceiling of the coliseum? A giant clock-like object hung from it.
The numbers displayed were just 0, 1, 2, and 3, with the hand pointing at 0.
What could that clock signify? There must be meaning behind it.
But at least this means that Grandpa is still hanging on!
—
I’ll keep this going with steady updates!
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