### Chapter 129 – Room 107, The Gate Room – ‘The Secret of the Esper Ship’ (20)
—
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)]
Date: Day 46
Current Location: Level 1, Room 107 (The Gate Room)
Wise Advice: 2
—
Han Kain:
I realized that we’re currently reeling back through time.
After a while, I organized the chaotic scribbles from my ‘past self’ in the status window.
It’s unclear, but it seems like I was in a rush when I wrote this.
The writing didn’t follow any coherent structure; it was more of a jumbled collection of frantic thoughts flying every which way.
Ahri sighed as she listened to my explanation.
“It feels like you just jotted it down as you thought.”
“Seems like I was in a serious hurry. My handwriting looks like it’s racing! Let me summarize it as best I understand.
There’s an evil ritual somewhere on the ship using humans as sacrifices, and Grandpa Mooksung was dragged to this place and died. It seems the moment we’re in now was caused by Elena unleashing ‘justice’ and wiping the crew and passengers, so the demon turned back time.”
“The ritual needs our age and birthplace information, correct?”
“Yup. And there’s a clock on the ceiling of the ritual site, which is currently pointing to 1.”
“What determines the clock’s hand movement?”
“It’s so vague, I have no clue. Seems like even I wasn’t sure when I was writing.”
After listening for a bit, Elena chimed in.
“I think I have a rough idea of the situation. We should follow the instructions from your past self. It seems like there are two major tasks to tackle?”
“Yes. First, it looks like the dinner party is the enemy’s Achilles’ heel, so we should sabotage it. But be careful; the crew has guns.”
“The crew has guns, and they expect us to just barge in while Grandpa’s gone and we’re… wait—”
“Guns?”
“Yup.”
Ahri surprised us by pulling out a pistol from her waist. Why on earth does she have a gun?
Still, I’m glad it’s there. I continued.
“Second, there’s a space below deck that resembles a dungeon. We should check that out.”
Songee tilted her head.
“A dungeon? That doesn’t sound like a place on a ship at all. I don’t even know how to get there.”
Besides that, I conveyed various bits of info that my past self seemed to have recorded in a frantic flow.
I had a hunch, but I decided to ask Elena for confirmation.
“Can you use your sense of justice right now?”
Elena shook her head, as if it were obvious.
“No way. This is a first for me, and I feel a strange sense of novelty, but I lack the evidence and the ability itself has dried up. Imagine a full water jug, but now it’s just too hard to open. Now it’s empty.”
Ahri asked with concern.
“Are you recovering? If so, when can you use it again?”
“I am recovering, but it feels like it’ll be at least two to three days before I can use it again.”
Two to three days is way too long in the context of the Gate Room.
It feels like in the fourth trial, we won’t be able to use justice anymore.
One particular memory from my notes made no sense at all.
“Ddangbeol, Seonbae.”
What the heck does that mean? Everyone looked puzzled as we stepped out of the room.
Upon exiting the room, two more changes occurred.
First, Pero flew in from somewhere.
According to the note in the status window, Songee had managed to send him away on the fly, and he seemed to be just fine.
Had Pero not been affected by the time rewind?
He could’ve just been outside the ship.
As Pero and Songee rubbed against each other like long-separated family members, the scenario updated.
Most of it was just a mundane explanation of our current situation, but one significant detail stood out.
The crew and passengers of the Esper Ship panicked when the hands of the ‘Contract Clock’ started moving.
Stepping outside the room, I glanced at the people around us and understood what that meant.
The crew and passengers were too preoccupied with conversations filled with extreme anxiety to even notice us.
Although they occasionally reminded us to join the dinner party, they seemed incapable of caring about anything else.
Watching all this unfold, Ahri shared an optimistic view.
“This situation isn’t so bad. It feels like we’ve got an information advantage.”
Songee asked.
“Information advantage?”
“None of them can remember anything from before the time rewind. But we’ve returned with quite a bit of info thanks to you, Kain. Those folks only know that the clock’s hand is moving.”
As I listened, I became curious.
“What could have prompted the clock’s hand to move? My past self scribbled it vaguely.”
“What exactly did it say?”
“/Clock’s Number = Number of Time Rewinds?/ and then I drew two lines over the ‘Number of Time Rewinds’ section.”
“What the heck does that mean? Are you saying the number of time rewinds is correct or incorrect? Shouldn’t you write it so we can understand?”
“Yeah? Why are you asking me now? It seems like even my past self had doubts!”
Elena jumped in.
“Alright! Let’s focus on our next plan. We have half a day until the dinner party, so we should check out the ship’s basement before then.”
We brainstormed together for quite a while, but nothing solid came to mind.
The biggest problem was a lack of power.
With justice depleted, we no longer had the strength to face the Esper Ship’s crew directly.
Surely, there must be patrolling crew members in some hidden area down in the depths…
Lost in thought, I decided to throw out some advice. It might yield vague answers, but even those could be useful.
[Wise Advice: 2 -> 1]
—
[Beating the Bushes]
“Ugh, what the heck…?”
Ahri asked.
“What did it say?”
“It just spouted ‘Beating the Bushes’ at me.”
Songee inquired.
“Is that an idiom? What does it mean?”
“It’s like ‘making a noise in the east while attacking in the west,’ right? Basically, it means creating a diversion somewhere and hitting the target elsewhere.”
Elena slapped her knee.
“I think I get what the advice means!”
—
[Elena]
She spun around a little, checking me out.
I wore a dazzling evening gown that I’d never donned before, swirling with purples and silvers that seemed to weave the Milky Way into the night sky, draped with a white, fluffy shawl that looked like winter’s bunny fur.
And above all, it’s me!
Oh man, this is so embarrassing. But hey, if I’m doing this, I better steal the show.
Given my role in this plan is ‘the distraction,’ I figured some flair was necessary.
There’s just one thing that irks me.
The people I wish would notice me are already on edge, heading into the depths without much thought.
Even while I was busy getting ready, my comrades were deep in the planning for the underground exploration, barely giving me a glance. Honestly, it hurt a little.
Finally, I secreted a candle lighter into the inside of my dress to add the final touch of glam.
—
We still had quite a bit of time left before the dinner party.
However, several party-goers were already roaming the ship in fancy attire.
As I neared the party area, people instinctively gathered around me.
“Ooh! I think my eyes are blurring! Did a star from the sky just fall? Lady—”
Come on, man. That line is a bit much! Way too old-fashioned.
Still, I’ve got to respond.
“I’m Elena Ivanova.”
“Hahaha! Lady Elena, I’m Stevenson. May I have the honor of escorting you?”
Now that was a serious case of overkill. Is that a line from a century ago?
Yet, I extended my arm and moved with this Stevenson dude toward the party area.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the guys around, clearly envious of him.
As I was about to enter the party area, a crew member blocked my way.
“It’s not yet time for the dinner party. You can’t enter.”
“I know the time. However, I’ve heard so much about how lovely the party area is. Can’t I take a quick peek inside?”
I tried to look desperate, but it didn’t seem to faze the crew member.
“Sorry, Lady. Preparations aren’t complete yet. Perhaps around dinner time—”
“Is there really no way?”
Right now, I looked like a doe caught in the headlights with my big, watery eyes.
The crew member flinched and tried to back away while getting ready to say ‘No’ again.
This guy’s tough! But I have different angles to work with!
Turning to Stevenson, I said, “Is it really that hard to get a sneak peek at the party? Why can’t we even take one step outside our room? Guess we must return to our room then?”
I figured it was odd. The crew member didn’t even tell me to go back to the room.
But that was enough for the guy next to me.
“Hey! Can’t you get out of the way? It’s utterly ridiculous to cause a fuss over just wanting a peek! Step aside!”
—
And it worked. I put my heart and soul into this moment.
The crew and passengers on this ship aren’t your average folks; they’re bound by deep, twisted relationships beyond appearances.
I had done my best to dress up as a 0.7 angel, and as soon as I stepped out, a crowd formed around me.
Among them, one guy stepped forward confidently, pushing aside other men to speak to me.
He probably holds a pretty high rank within this sinister group, huh?
As I expected, when Stevenson spoke, the crew member who had been blocking me fumbled and took a step back, revealing a puzzled expression.
The inside of the party area was already a spectacle.
Since it wasn’t party time yet, there weren’t many people.
As I entered alongside Stevenson, he began bragging about his business, droning on for about ten minutes.
Once he’d had enough of my compliments about his achievements, I said I wanted to take in my surroundings for a moment alone, and he walked off.
He must think he’s playing hard to get or something.
Whatever, I’m ready for Beating the Bushes!
—
Beating the Bushes.
It’s been quite a while since I moved to Korea, but I still can’t get used to these strange Chinese words.
Why does Korea even use this bizarre language in the first place?
Making a noise in the east while attacking in the west?
How about we shorten it to ‘East yells, West Punch’?
Like, “Agh from the East! Punch from the West!”
While pondering silly thoughts, I pulled out my lighter.
It’s time to create a ruckus in the east.
—
[Han Kain]
While loitering near the stairs, loud shouts began erupting.
“Fire!”
“There’s a fire in the party area!”
The advice from my past self echoed in my head: “The party is their Achilles’ heel.”
Well, that turned out to be spot on.
As Elena set the party area ablaze, chaos erupted across the ship, and both crew and passengers rushed toward the party area.
Songee expressed her concern.
“Do you think Elena will be alright?”
“I wouldn’t worry too much.”
Honestly, I had zero worries. I had witnessed Elena’s spine-chilling act in the Doppelgänger Train. If she got caught, she could just shed a few tears and say she had no idea this would happen—they’d probably let her off the hook.
What’s risky is us, not her.
After exchanging glances, the three of us began descending the stairs to the depths of the Esper Ship.
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