### Chapter 150 – Rest and Reinforcement (6)
—
Lee Eunsol
—
“Oh, come on! Diagnosing me with chronic secret-making syndrome? Do you think I’m trying to hide meetings like some kind of mastermind?”
Ah, so she’s miffed that we were trying to hold a meeting without her, huh?
This kind of thing is meant to be a covert operation.
Not that I have anything specific to say, so I mixed a cocktail and passed it to her.
“Drink this.”
After downing it, Ahri’s expression visibly brightened.
“When I first saw the tickets, it was overwhelming. It felt like the realization of a long-held dream was just around the corner. If we had held this meeting on the first day of our vacation, I bet you all would have seen a pretty extreme side of me, right? I’ve spent the last few days thinking about it alone.”
“So, did the solo think session change your mind?”
“Some realistic reasons came to mind. Can Miro really avoid causing trouble?”
Looks like even Ahri can’t fully trust her own mother. Resurrection might be a bit…
“Just to ask, about the allegations of monopolizing the inheritance —”
“One of them is Miro, right? We all kind of guessed that already?”
“…”
“However, let me defend that part just a bit. It’s not just Miro; this applies to all the party members from back then. They weren’t evil per se when they were in society. They faced the harsh environment of the hotel, and when one or two began acting selfishly, everything fell apart.”
“If a perfectly fine Miro were to join our party now, would she not act selfishly?”
“Yes. But of course, that’s just my belief. The truth is, I’ve never met a ‘perfectly fine’ Miro myself.”
Hearing that, Ahri seemed emptier than usual. Curiosity began to creep in.
“Since we’re discussing inheritance, if Miro is resurrected, will she come back with all the inheritance she had in life?”
“I’m curious about that too. Actually, it’s a question that applies to all potential resurrection candidates. To what extent will their powers from life remain after resurrection? Would the blessings be the same as before? If we resurrect Estavio, will he come back with his bracelet? Will the doctor retain the healing powers he had while in his NPC state?”
“It’s hard to guarantee whether their abilities, which we use as criteria, will be maintained after resurrection. Right now, it’s all uncertain.”
“Resurrection has a lot of secrets. Most of those secrets will be revealed in the Resurrection Room. We’ll need to have this discussion again then.”
“Let’s return to the topic of Miro. I heard her current mental state isn’t normal.”
“True. So, she’s not a suitable first choice for resurrection. We need to find another way.”
“Another way?”
Fire reignited in Ahri’s previously empty expression. Her tone shifted as well.
“Miro was twisted in the process of creating me and became like a child. The place where I was born. My starting point. That place has to hold the key to restoring Miro. Only after finding that method would Miro’s resurrection hold meaning.”
“The place you were born? You don’t know where that is, do you?”
“I don’t know. The only person who could explain it is the one who was in a child-like state the moment I was born. What kind of room, what kind of power allowed Miro to create me all by herself?”
…
That seems to be Ahri’s plan.
Reviving Miro, who has lost her mental faculties due to some incident, is a massive burden for her daughter, Ahri.
As she mentioned, if she’s not going to stick by Miro’s side 24/7, there’s no way to prevent Miro from going off the rails.
So, her plan is to find a way to restore Miro’s sanity before resurrecting her.
Now, I understand why Ahri so easily stepped back earlier.
And yet, one more question popped up.
How on earth did Miro manage to create Ahri by herself? A mysterious hidden chamber? Some enigmatic powers? No clue.
Once again, this hotel has too many hidden secrets.
After handing her another cocktail, I shifted topics.
“What do you think about my eyes right now?”
“Honestly, you want me to be straight with you?”
“Yup.”
“Well, they look a bit scary.”
“Honestly, they’re kind of hideous. Well, it’s not like I didn’t expect to end up looking this way. What worries me is the recovery after leaving the hotel. I honestly never thought such a huge change would happen. It feels like my bones were ground down and huge eyeballs were shoved in. Is the Management Bureau really capable of fixing something like this?”
Ahri tilted her head, making a confused expression for a moment before snapping her fingers.
“Aha! I think I might have misunderstood something!”
“Just speak casually. Switching up your tone makes it more confusing. Misunderstand?”
“Most people don’t know that the size of human eyeballs is larger than they think. The visible eye size is only a small part surrounding the pupil. A huge eyeball? Are you thinking that the new eye you received is about 1.5 times larger than your old one?”
“Not 1.5 times, but I thought it had increased by about 1.3 times.”
“Think about it a little easier. Is there, like, any spare room inside a human skull for extra parts to fit? If a specific body part suddenly got 30% bigger, there wouldn’t be space for that. You would have to go through surgery to the level of body modification.”
“So you’re saying my eyeball didn’t actually grow?”
“I think it did get a little bigger. But until I see it, I can’t guarantee anything. However, it definitely didn’t grow by 30%. The fact that your eyes look bigger right now could be due to reasons other than just the size change.”
“Are you saying there’s just a larger portion exposed?”
“Exactly. Right now, metaphorically speaking, it’s as if you had excessive eye surgery done. Normally, even a little eyelid surgery can make your eyes look 10-20% bigger. It’s not that your right eyeball itself increased in size by 30%, but the portion that’s shown is about 30% more than before. So, you can fix that on the outside.”
I’m relieved to hear it’s not like I had my skull ground down.
But the fact that I still look ugly doesn’t change.
“Forget about the outside later, but can I lower the ugliness level a little temporarily? Of course, the merchant did say he couldn’t cure the effects from your eyes.”
“That means your real eyes cannot be restored. What you want is just to reduce the ugliness, so I think it’s possible to recover a bit. But…”
“But?”
“Why did the doctor even perform such an ugly procedure in the first place?”
“…”
“Don’t close your eyes for a second and stay still.”
With that, Ahri grabbed my face with both hands and leaned in closely.
Her enchanting, fiery eyes stared straight into mine. In response, I pierced through her gaze, examining the veins on the surface of her eyes.
“You have such fascinating eyes. Really amazing. Is it like a structure mimicking a telescope? Around this one pupil, three little lenses form a unique pattern.”
“My eyes do look peculiar, for sure.”
Ahri pulled back for a bit and continued speaking.
“The doctor wouldn’t have increased the exposure of your eyes just for fun or to torturously mess with you. There must have been a necessity to do it. I think it’s likely that all three lenses surrounding your pupil had to be exposed to the outside.”
“Does that mean we can’t do anything about it?”
“I can only offer you this advice. But I understand your desire to reduce the ugliness. If one day we resurrect the doctor, ask the person who performed the procedure directly whether they can fix it.”
With that, the eye consultation wrapped up.
It suddenly felt even more imperative to resurrect the doctor.
Since they’re the one who performed surgery on my eyes, couldn’t they also modify them in a less ugly way?
Until then, I’d have to go about my daily life with my eyes covered. Another day is drawing to a close.
—
Han Kain
—
Will I succeed?
Last night, after finishing the discussion, I gained some useful offensive methods using advice!
I grasped the theory, but it’s a different story to try it out in practice.
Who should I ask to help? As I wandered around, pondering, I spotted Ahri coming from a distance.
“What are you doing? Just spinning around like a little kid?”
Is this timing fate? Perfect!
“Actually, the past few days, I’ve been asking a lot about teleportation through advice.”
“Did you get a decent response? It looks like a pretty fun atmosphere?”
“Yeah. A fair bit of detailed advice came through. Among them, there was an explanation about a new offensive method.”
“A new offensive method?”
Look at that expectant look on Ahri’s face! She’s definitely interested. Just thinking about testing it out lifts my spirits.
“Watch closely! I’ll show you once. Be careful.”
“You’re not planning to—”
— Whoosh! Thwack!
The entire sensation of my body being yanked forward hits me. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, like someone grabbing me with a giant hand, and in an instant, I’ve been relocated.
— Crash!
Ahri instantly ricocheted off a wall upon impact!
“How was that? Pretty impressive, right? This technique comes from the simple idea of what happens if my coordinates overlap with an opponent through teleportation? The Owl provided more detailed explanations on this. When overlapping occurs, the smaller mass gets thrown back. Just looking at it—”
While I was busy explaining, Ahri stood up.
“Wow! What a neat technique. I’ll show you one of my new tricks too.”
Suddenly, Ahri soared into the air and barreled toward me, knocking me away.
— Whomp! Bang!
The impact against the wall briefly took my breath away.
“…”
“This is my new technique. I’m capable of hitting people with my fist and launching them.”
A moment of silence settled in the room.
After a sigh, Ahri finally broke the silence.
“So, what’s the principle? When coordinates overlap, the lighter one gets thrown back?”
“The basic principle is correct. But there’s something surprising I discovered: right after teleporting, I’m rated as much heavier than usual. To be precise, it relates to the principle of teleportation—”
“Okay, okay! What are you getting at? Explaining the principles of your unique ability? Are you a walking encyclopedia? The gist is that this ‘overlapping teleportation’ can totally send most opponents flying!”
It seems Ahri’s a little annoyed.
“Exactly.”
“Have you asked anything about resurrection?”
“I did once, but I got the vibe that they couldn’t say any more. They told me to ‘not get ahead of myself.’ I think the limit was the answer that you can obtain tickets on the second floor too.”
“There will be limits on advice too. Questions like ‘Tell me the origin of the hotel’ probably won’t be answered.”
“This week-long vacation is nearly over as well. I’m sad it’s coming to an end tomorrow.”
Ahri seemed to think about something for a moment before responding.
“It feels like you’ve really built up your teleportation skills and figured out how to handle the protective suit, plus you’ve used the Hand of Greed, and we talked about resurrection. It seems like you’ve done most of the necessary stuff. Can we expect the second floor to open at midnight tomorrow? Or will it be the morning after? Let’s head over as soon as it opens!”
“It’s too bad the Blessing Sanctum didn’t open. I thought there might be someone who could enhance the blessings with the contribution points we stacked in the Gate Room.”
“Well, the Blessing Sanctum only opens during ‘Party Time.’”
“Can we come back to the first floor even after the second opens? I wouldn’t want to find out that we can’t use the Blessing Sanctum after entering the second floor!”
“When I was there, I could go back to the first floor. But the hotel keeps changing, so my memories differ from now.”
“It looks like Eunsol is ordering a bunch of stuff.”
“Get yourself ready for the second floor. Mentally or otherwise.”
There was no further dramatic incident during the remaining vacation period.
The next morning after seven days of vacation, a notification appeared on the hotel display.
—
/Dear beloved customers, how do you do?
The second floor of Hotel Pioneer has finally been opened!
Congratulations to all of you who have endured various trials and reached the second stage.
Now, before you lies a new challenge and new treasures!
Please proceed to the elevator./
+ Note: The second floor may not be well heated. Please be aware that it might be a little cold./
—
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