### Chapter 154 – Room 201, The Cursed Room – ‘□ □□’ (3)
—
– Kim Ahri
In the midst of the chaotic atmosphere, Seungyub opened his mouth with an unsure tone.
“Should I pick the next route again? I got it wrong last time. Should I use my active skill? I’m in a state to use it.”
“From now on, we’ll call that active skill ‘Divine Luck’. Just don’t use it. The cooldown is ridiculously long,” I replied.
Mooksung shared the same sentiment.
“Divine Luck? The naming sense is… well, anyway, Seungyub, your ‘Divine Luck’ is more of a passive skill. It’s not an active skill since it automatically triggers in crucial moments. It activated on its own with that bizarre family, and we got a prompt about it in Hotel High. Just chill; if it’s really needed, it’ll activate by itself.”
When I thought about it, he was right.
From now on, we were calling that lucky active skill ‘Divine Luck’, but if you looked at it closely, it wasn’t really an active skill. It triggers automatically during crises and even suggests when to use itself—such a weird skill.
Plus, it had its own random cooldown, which we didn’t even know how long it was; Seungyub was clueless about that as well.
It felt like it changed every time.
Once again, the luck-making ‘skill’ gave me the vibe of being the most ungraspable blessing among blessings.
Eventually, Seungyub picked the exit route again. This time, the back door.
He called Elizaveta to move with him through the back door.
We set off toward the fourth mansion.
—
Walking through the underground passage, Songi sighed and asked, “By the way, where’s Pero?”
Mooksung nudged me to signal to use the chat window, and only then did Songi zip it.
… Honestly, I felt it didn’t really matter.
If that woman, Elizaveta, isn’t an idiot, she must know by now that we’re hiding something and that we have our own means of communication.
Just from the party’s powers we’ve demonstrated, like Mooksung’s gloves and Jinchul’s star, it was enough to raise suspicions.
To an outsider, it might look like we’re acting in sync without saying a word.
Yet, Elizaveta had never probed us once.
…
Should I shoot her from behind?
Just like us, she would be wearing full-body armor and a helmet, which means I can’t take her out in one shot.
She’s a capable agent, so she would resist. But we have Cha Jinchul with us.
Honestly, I was contemplating if killing her was a good idea right now.
I subtly moved the barrel toward Elizaveta—
Lee Eunsol: Ahri, stop.
Kim Ahri: Feels suspicious.
Lee Eunsol: What do you mean?
Cha Jinchul: Calm down!
Let’s observe a bit more. The cursed room is basically structured to be overcome after multiple attempts, right?
Instead of immediately removing a potential threat, we need to watch carefully and figure out her secret.
Another concern crept in.
We might have these diverse superpowers as ‘settings,’ but what if that woman is really just an ordinary human?
As a management bureau agent, I can’t let my guard down regarding her combat capabilities.
I relaxed a bit. The topic that Songi brought up earlier started popping up in the chat.
Kim Mooksung: From the start, it’s a no-go for Pero x.
Yu Songee: This is my first time dealing with this kind of situation.
Park Seungyub: Could he be somewhere else, like Kain hyung?
Kim Ahri: Is the location itself a red herring?
— Clunk!
Elizaveta, leading at the front, opened the door to the fourth mansion.
Once again, the tension surged, and the chat paused.
Where the heck is Pero right now?
—
After experiencing the third mansion, we developed a theory about this trial.
It was like an ongoing ‘find the difference’ game.
The repeating mansions each had one discrepancy.
That discrepancy always hid a monster, which attacked after a set time.
So, as soon as we entered the main door of the fourth mansion, our senses were on high alert as we scoured the place.
We had been powerless against the first three because we didn’t know what was what, but now we had strategies.
The holder of keen eyes, Eunsol, immediately spotted the difference.
“There! The tree in the living room! It’s a different species!”
We couldn’t make the same mistake we did when we lost Elena.
Mooksung and Jinchul immediately shot at the tree.
— Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Four or five bullets hit in quick succession, and anomalies unfolded.
It looked like the tree was bleeding like an animal, then it sank into the floor and disappeared.
…
After that, nothing particularly special happened in the fourth mansion.
Finally, we figured out a correct response method.
After taking a breather, Eunsol directed through the chat.
Lee Eunsol: Seungyub. Next room.
Park Seungyub: Every room I pick has a monster. Can someone else pick this time instead of me?
Lee Eunsol: Save characters. No one blames you. Just choose.
That was true.
In this situation, there was no one here that would be dumb enough to blame Seungyub if a monster appeared in the room he picked.
Anyway, we had to make a random choice, and it wouldn’t necessarily be worse if someone else picked.
However, after monsters kept popping up in the rooms he picked, Seungyub looked seriously shaken.
“Alright! Everyone over here!”
Suddenly, Elizaveta’s gruff voice echoed for a woman.
We all jumped and turned our heads, realizing Elizaveta was opening the back door.
Cha Jinchul, frantic, tried to reason with her.
“Team Leader, wait a moment! Let’s discuss where we should go—”
“Discuss? Since when have we ever discussed anything? That kid keeps picking rooms, and monsters keep appearing in each one.”
For a moment, everyone fell silent.
While we were communicating through the chat, from Elizaveta’s perspective, it must have looked like we were all silently following the weird kid who kept picking the route.
If Elizaveta were a trustworthy person and the situation was calm, we would’ve likely listened to her.
Honestly, we didn’t have that luxury right now.
Kim Ahri: It feels off. Let’s kill Elizaveta right here.
Cha Jinchul: Out of nowhere?
Kim Mooksung: That’s a bit impulsive for you.
Lee Eunsol: Why are you acting like this?
Yu Songee: Calm down.
Everyone was opposing me. I understood why.
The basis of my suspicion against that woman came from her continuously pulling reader actions and showing no reaction to our superpowers.
Reader actions could simply mean she was conducting her own search, and not reacting to our powers makes sense considering she’s a management bureau agent.
Rationally speaking, it’s pretty evident that I’d look weird suddenly wanting to kill Elizaveta for merely expressing a different opinion.
The reason I keep doubting Elizaveta is…
It’s just my gut feeling!
When it comes to devilish events, your collective experiences don’t even come close to mine!
A seasoned cop can pick up on the behavior of a passerby and feel something’s off.
In the same vein, my instincts have been warning me about that woman since earlier.
At that moment, Elizaveta seemed to sense the delicate atmosphere between us and made some compromising remarks.
“If anyone thinks a different route is more appropriate, speak up. Let’s have a normal discussion instead of letting that kid pick randomly.”
No one answered.
We weren’t exactly figuring out our paths through logical reasoning, so no persuasive arguments came to mind.
Also, the fact that monsters kept coming from the rooms picked by Seungyub was indeed a fact.
It seems like we were all starting to think of looking for a different method to navigate this.
Something felt odd.
Even if Seungyub didn’t use his Divine Luck, was he really pulling a stunt where he keeps rolling a six on a die?
Certainly, not every time was a six. It’s all a matter of probability.
But still, it was definitely clear he had luck on his side, so it felt strange to see him hit wrong answers back to back.
Simply put, he might have been psychologically overwhelmed, hindering that blessing from working normally.
But let’s look at this from another angle.
What if Seungyub was actually picking the correct answers?
Since monsters appeared in every room, maybe the premise itself is flawed to think he’s making mistakes by picking those rooms.
My head was spinning again.
Using the back door, we walked familiar underground passageways toward the next mansion.
As always, there was a door leading to the next mansion at the end of the passage.
Elizaveta opened the door and—
“Dumbasses.”
Instantly, Elizaveta turned transparent and disappeared into thin air!
“Ahhh! What the heck?!”
“What do you mean ‘what’! I told you I’d kill her!”
There was no time to say any more curses.
On the other side of the door was no mansion we’d seen before but simply a huge, white open space, and in the middle stood a gigantic gorilla.
— Grarararar!
The ground shook with its roar!
This room was a ‘bust’. Seungyub had been dodging all ‘busts’ until now!
The gorilla charged at us at breakneck speed.
— Bang! Tatatatatatata!
In an instant, everyone scrambled in all directions, pulling triggers.
Flames erupted from the gun barrels as flashes flew from the bracelets.
What happened next was shocking. The bullets bounced off!
“Stop! Stop shooting! The bullets are bouncing back and putting us in danger!”
In the brief instance, dozens of shots were fired, but we couldn’t even pierce the monster’s skin.
At least the bracelets worked.
The gorilla seemed to lose track of us, flailing about when—
Now it started swinging its arms wildly!
In less than 3 seconds, a punch flew toward Songi.
— Bang!
With a loud noise, Seungyub launched himself to intercept the punch and got slammed into the wall!
I hope he’s okay? He’s in armor, so he shouldn’t die. I’ll give him a hug when we get out!
Caught in the chaos, Songi exclaimed in horror.
“Seungyub! What do we do? That gorilla is smart! It’s just swinging around—”
— Boom!
Chajinchul dashed in from the gorilla’s back. The floor shook so forcefully that I felt new vibrations.
At the same time, I felt a heavy pressure as fierce waves erupted right in front of Jinchul.
No matter how bulletproof this monster is, can it withstand a star?
— Kraaah!
A distinct reaction followed!
The star began twisting at the gorilla’s back skin in an instant. Crystals sprouted from the monster’s back, and its flesh began to tear apart!
Seeing that, Mooksung and I fired simultaneously.
Different! As the skin twisted, it lost its fierce defensive power!
As the bullets sank into its body, the gorilla let out pained growls.
— Bang!
“Argh!”
In the next moment, bullets from seemingly nowhere whizzed in with a scream, and Songi collapsed.
“Elizaveta!”
The transparent Elizaveta attacked Songi from her hiding spot!
With the full-body armor on, it didn’t seem she was dead; but even armor can’t completely nullify a bullet’s effect. The shock must’ve felt like being hit by a hammer.
While Songi writhed in pain, the gorilla, freed from the bracelet’s control, immediately corrected its course and charged at Jinchul.
— Bang! Bang!
“Kraah! What is this King Kong shit—”
Two seconds? Three seconds? It felt like the speed at which the gorilla hit Jinchul was far faster than the star could finish him off.
In this exchange of blows, one thing was clear.
That monster’s physical prowess greatly surpassed even Chajinchul’s. I was not joking; it reminded me of the gorilla romancing with dinosaurs in movies!
The gorilla even appeared to have high intelligence. After beating Jinchul, it didn’t stop; it jumped straight up—
Can it really jump that high with that body? Is it the Hulk?
I couldn’t bear to watch any longer. With a deafening boom that shook the earth, Jinchul became ‘former Cha Jinchul.’
—
Not that we didn’t gain anything.
While the gorilla swung its massive fist to smash Jinchul, he couldn’t even retaliate.
But the star he summoned continuously emitted astral waves right before he could meet his death.
In mere fleeting moments—not even a couple of seconds—the gorilla’s fiercely armored skin had transformed into torn flesh!
In this chaos, I…
Honestly, felt powerless.
What can I do? Although the old blood had various powers, I had nothing that could work on such a brutish creature.
Should I approach and hypnotize it? The gorilla would make me into jelly before I could even attempt that!
The only relief was that after the gorilla regained its senses, Elizaveta completely vanished from presence like a dead mouse.
It seemed the gorilla wasn’t giving her any special treatment.
As the venue filled with dread, a butterfly appeared in the air.
…
Honestly, that beautiful blue butterfly was such a mismatch for this dreadful place drenched in flesh, blood, and bones.
The butterfly fluttered slowly, almost playfully heading toward the gorilla.
In a moment of confusion, the gorilla hesitated, then casually swatted at the butterfly with its palm—
As soon as the butterfly touched the gorilla’s palm, it seeped right in!
Eunsol is hiding somewhere! Just like Elizaveta!
For the first time since the battle started, the gorilla began to wobble.
At the same moment, the chat beeped.
Kim Mooksung: Ahri! Now!
I immediately raised my gun and rushed toward the gorilla’s wrinkled skin.
—
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