### Chapter 161 – Room 201, The Cursed Room – ‘The Cube’ (10)
—
Second Attempt, Kim Ari
As soon as everyone heard the term ‘Chief Researcher Han Kain,’ they froze for a moment.
Was there a role for him in the script, despite being sealed away?
Oliver continued with his explanation.
“Actually, I’ve only heard about the Arizona team second-hand, so I don’t know the details.”
“Cut the small talk and just explain.”
“Got it. Beatrix was discovered around the 1990s near North Carolina. She had that bizarre power from the moment she was found.”
“What kind of power?”
“It’s classified, so I can’t say for sure, but I heard it involves creating monsters. However, they had many issues with her abilities at the time, and instead of using Beatrix, the Bureau aimed to eliminate her.”
“Issues?”
“They reportedly couldn’t control the monsters she created.”
Got it. If she can only create monsters but can’t control them, then she’s essentially just a natural disaster. Instead of a weapon, she should be a prime target for removal.
Muksung, looking intrigued, asked, “So they managed to fix that flaw?”
“That’s what I heard was Chief Researcher Han Kain’s achievement. Somehow, he allowed Beatrix to control the monsters she creates. But… given the current situation, it seems serious problems still remain.”
“So they succeeded in letting Beatrix control the monsters, but she herself can’t be controlled?”
“Looks like it.”
Lost in thought, Songi asked, “Is Beatrix’s power just creating monsters? Doesn’t she have super strength to rip heads off like a barehanded gorilla or durability that treats bullets like BB guns?”
“Uh? As far as I know, aside from her monster-making powers, Beatrix is just an ordinary human girl.”
Huh?
That’s odd. The Beatrix we fought was such an outrageous existence that I had doubts about whether her “monster creation” was just a support ability.
She ripped my head off with her bare hands and treated gunfire like a refreshing shower, leaving us completely chilled.
Eunsol shrugged it off, saying, “Maybe she enhanced her abilities. Our Chief Researcher Han Kain must have worked hard.”
“Seriously, what the hell has Kain done? Making the enemy stronger?!”
While the two joked around, Seungyub asked seriously, “Did Kain make Beatrix stronger? Before we entered the hotel?”
I sighed and slapped Seungyub’s head.
“Please, just shut up. Oliver, do you know anything more?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Then let’s move on. For now, we need to get to that TV room. Also, we should figure out the room’s rules.”
We all stood up to search the room together.
Exactly five seconds later, disaster struck.
“Ahhh!”
Before we could stop him, Oliver opened the refrigerator, complaining he was thirsty from talking too much.
The living fridge decided to store Oliver instead of food.
We hurriedly smashed the fridge, but in that brief moment, Oliver had already changed into well-aged frozen sausages.
“…”
“…”
Songi looked deflated.
“I hoped he wouldn’t die since he’s an NPC and provided some good info…”
“This guy lacks caution. The monster of the room is still lurking around.”
“… Wasn’t Oliver the first to die last time too? Back then, I thought Elizaveta had trapped him.”
Muksung sighed and summarized, “Seems this guy won’t survive long regardless of the circumstances.”
Eunsol shook her head and said, “He chose the wrong profession. The Bureau job is definitely not for someone who makes frequent mistakes. Anyway, we’re busy. Let’s find the rules of the room quickly. Kain’s concern about relying only on Seungyub’s guesses makes sense.”
“Maybe we should just destroy the mansion like last time?”
“We agreed to properly fight Beatrix this time. It’ll take a while to wreck the mansion, and we don’t need to worsen our condition beforehand.”
“Hm… We’ll have to think of another way.”
—
Kim Ari
After about ten minutes of thoroughly searching the mansion, I realized something.
I had no clue. At least, I couldn’t figure out the connections between the front, back, and underground doors by just searching the mansion’s interior.
Based on experience, it felt like something was about to pop up soon anyway. While it was curious to see what might happen if we ignored it…
Suddenly, Eunsol, who had been sitting nearby, spoke up.
“Maybe we could analyze the relationship between the entering and exiting doors?”
The entering door. The exiting door. That hadn’t crossed my mind before.
Eunsol and I began to revisit our memories from the first attempt, writing things down step-by-step.
In the first mansion, we heard “Go down” and went downstairs.
Next, we entered through the main door of the second mansion.
At the second mansion, a monster hid in the carpet. Elizaveta tried to lead us to the back door, but Seungyub opted to go back to the main door of the second mansion.
Then we entered through the back door of the third mansion.
The third mansion was the TV room. After Elena committed suicide in the TV room, Seungyub decided to return to the back door of the third mansion.
Finally, we entered through the main door of the fourth mansion. This one had strange trees.
At this point, Seungyub completely lost his confidence. Elizaveta pulled us toward the back door of the fourth mansion, where we collided with a gorilla.
!!!
We discovered two rules!
We could at least distinguish between rooms with weak monsters and rooms with top-tier monsters like the gorilla.
— Boom!
What was that?
“Haha! I knew it! Everyone come here!”
“Wow! Wild boar, I like this guy!”
So shocked, Eunsol and I dashed toward the source of the noise.
Cha Jinchul had stripped Seungyub of his protective suit and was wildly swinging it around like a weapon, smashing down the mansion’s outer wall.
I guess the hotel that gave him the protective suit didn’t foresee it being used as an “indestructible hammer.”
Beyond the demolished outer wall of the mansion was an opaque wall, through which we caught glimpses of the situation in other linked rooms.
“Ha! Wasn’t that an idea Grandpa suggested? Did that sense come from all those years at the Bureau?”
“Come on, it’s elementary. Anyone would have figured that out.”
Cha Jinchul and Kim Muksung were praising each other for their excellent judgment, which was just a bit too heartwarming for me.
Eunsol, sitting nearby, crumbled the notes she had been working on and tossed them like an airplane.
—
Eunsol
— Boom! Rumble!
“That way is blocked. What’s that? Sis, what’s that?”
“… Looks like a huge snake. Maybe it’s Gorilla’s friend?”
— Grumble rumble!
“Oh! This way! Everyone, come on!”
Feeling at ease.
It reminded me of the time Ari and I were mulling over the rules of the Cube.
Considering the positions of the entering and exiting doors, along with Seungyub and Elizaveta’s choices, we could uncover several rules.
Looking back, it felt like a waste of time now.
It seemed much easier and surer to just break down the wall and see what was in the adjacent room directly.
Ah, of course, that doesn’t mean it’s easy for me. Just easy for Jinchul.
I watched the movie “Cube” when I was young.
I have faint memories of characters fiercely battling wits while studying the few laws related to the rooms.
Thinking back, the real problem was that everyone was too weak.
If they could just break down walls with their fists, they wouldn’t have ended up dead. What a sad story.
After about four moves like this, we finally arrived at the TV room.
“Wait! We’ve arrived. Jinchul, come here before you break the wall.”
“Oh, have we arrived?”
“Yeah. You might not realize since you’ve been mindlessly smashing walls since earlier.”
There’s no way the TV wouldn’t start working if we got closer. We didn’t need to approach it for that.
Soon, Grandpa’s gloves flew up, snagging the remote near the TV.
Then, as we gathered near the TV, it turned on as if waiting for us.
/Line -/
As soon as the ‘line’ sound rang out, Grandpa muted it with his gloves.
The display began to flicker. It was time to separate the party.
“According to the plan, Grandpa and I will move to the TV.”
“Sis! You got this!”
How cute. I patted Songi on the head and, with Grandpa, headed to the display—
“Wait, hold on.”
Ari stopped me in my tracks.
“What’s up?”
“I’m just thinking a bit. No matter how I look at it, there was something weird about Elizaveta’s previous answer.”
Elizaveta’s answer? Didn’t she say we just had to close our eyes and walk straight through the display?
What was strange about it? But Ari had a sharp side to her. Everyone waited for Ari to speak up.
A moment later, out of nowhere, Ari pulled out a syringe and began drawing blood.
“Ari?”
Without answering, Ari handed the blood-filled syringe to me and Grandpa.
I was puzzled, about to ask again, when Grandpa grabbed my arm.
“I guess it’s better not to know?”
“Yeah. I’ve got that feeling. But you all should not know.”
What can I do? I expected them to explain later, so I, together with Grandpa and Ari, shared the blood.
The rumored magical elixir that Kain drinks regularly tasted fishy and bitter.
—
Kim Ari
Eunsol and Muksung disappeared into the TV display before us.
Two of our ‘adults’ had left the group.
I should be trusting them… but it felt like sending kids to a shore without supervision.
Interestingly, Muksung seemed more childlike and insecure than Eunsol.
“Ariii…”
“What is it?”
“Why’d you suddenly make them drink blood?”
“Just recalling my conversation with Elizaveta.”
“You kept saying the dialogue was weird, but what exactly was off?”
Others looked curious too.
I took a moment to look up at the ceiling, recalling my memories.
“In the beginning of our conversation, didn’t she say herself? ‘There’s no danger beyond the TV, not sure what you’re so curious about.’”
“Did she?”
“Yeah, she did. That response was already odd. The fact that there’s danger beyond the TV isn’t just our speculation; we confirmed that fact through Elena who went in and came out once. But Elizaveta claimed there’s no danger, and that wasn’t a lie.”
“That’s strange.”
“What’s stranger is what follows. She said with her own mouth that there’s no danger, yet she advised us to ‘pass through the screen with our eyes closed.’ That’s a sort of safety rule, a caution. Having just claimed there’s no danger, she gives us advice for dealing with hazardous situations.”
“Really odd? It’s not just a misunderstanding; there’s a contradiction between the knowledge she has and what she’s aware of?”
“Exactly, just theorizing here. Maybe not knowing about the ‘danger itself’ is a means of avoiding it.”
“Meaning we shouldn’t know there’s a danger? So that’s why she did something with the blood?”
“Just a guess. Let’s ask after we exit the room.”
— Boom! Rumble!
While I was chatting with Songi, the sound of a wall collapsing echoed.
“Cha Jinchul!”
“Hm?”
“From now on, take your time breaking things down a bit.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got enough stamina management going.”
“No, it’s not about your stamina management; from now on, let’s break mirrors as we go. We’ve sent people through the TV now, and we need to find Beatrix’s room.”
“Oh right!”
Oh right! Wait…
It was utterly baffling how he seemed to have forgotten our complete plan.
Though, if you’re strong enough, your brain can take a break, I suppose.
Afterward, we waited for a “Move!” to pop up from some mirror in the mansion before breaking it as we went.
When we arrived at the seventh mansion, another message appeared in the mirror.
Did you find me?
Ha! Here it begins!
Come out.
—
I’ll repay you with faithful updates!
+ What were the mansion’s rules?
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