### Chapter 173 – A Happy Dinner Time: What on Earth Was Room 201? (2) Fin
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– Han Kain
“From a business perspective?”
It felt like “business” just popped up in the most unrelated context ever.
Songee, who’d earlier said she felt like throwing up, couldn’t help but focus intently on what was being said.
Sister’s explanation resumed.
“I see the behavior of the Zero-Dimensional Eye as being very similar to that of a ‘fisherman.’ The ocean feels almost limitless, filled with countless fish. But as humans endlessly consume these fish, eventually, nothing remains from fry to adults. In the end, humans started ‘fish resource management.’”
“Fish resource management…”
“From the perspective of the Zero-Dimensional Eye, it could come down to Earth and toy with 8 billion humans, but considering the madness of an evil god armed with endless power, how long could Earth endure if it did that? A year, maybe? Knowing this, the Zero-Dimensional Eye actually restrained itself. It’s thinking long-term, maybe contemplating plans that span hundreds or thousands of years.”
Ahri sighed and replied, “If that’s the case, the lead researcher basically suggested to the talking mackerel to start a fishery so they could be consumed over centuries. Please manage those fish resources, will ya?”
“Exactly. The Zero-Dimensional Eye took that offer happily. It would be a problem if all the mackerel were wiped out, right? But if it could oversee them not going extinct with some annoyance, that’s great. A talking mackerel coming along to manage? The evil god-farmer must have been grinning from ear to ear.”
“So, if the Zero-Dimensional Eye ‘restrained’ itself for that reason, then why was humanity’s existence only scored 30 points?”
Eunsol suddenly gazed off into the distance with a somewhat wistful look.
“My father isn’t a particularly good person on a human level.”
Suddenly, father?
“But he has undeniable insight when it comes to business. He often has this saying, ‘Stagnation is regression.’ A common enough phrase.”
“Stagnation is regression.”
“Businesspeople dislike just maintaining their operations. They always dream of expansion. The Zero-Dimensional Eye probably aimed for expansion, too. Once it pressured the Administration Bureau, and they willingly gave up a fishery, would it stop at just that?”
Everyone fell silent.
“One time leads to two, two to three. Eventually, wouldn’t the entire Earth transform into a gigantic ‘pain farm’ for the evil god? Even in a hotel that seemingly values human life very little, giving a score above 30 would be impossible.”
In the heavy silence that settled, Eunsol concluded her hypothesis.
“Don’t forget, all this is just my interpretation. Just like the lead researcher had his interpretations, I have mine.”
Makes sense. While it might not be 100% perfect, it feels closer to the truth than the chief’s interpretation.
Of course, it’s because we’re judging from a sort of future perspective, unlike the chief who had to find solutions from a zero baseline.
One last question popped into my mind.
“Room 201 has been declared resolved and won’t be revisited, but let’s think about it briefly like a review for the future. What could have been a better solution?”
After a moment of deep contemplation, she answered, “I thought about that too… I came up with two ideas.”
Ahri shot right in, “Two? I didn’t think of even one! Spill it!”
“Number one: the ‘Evil Servant’ operation.”
“Huh?”
“From experiencing Rooms 102 and 103, it feels like there are quite a few intelligent beings in this universe besides us. The Administration Bureau seems aware of that.”
That’s definitely true. Even Ahri’s grandpa didn’t disagree.
“The offer was to the Zero-Dimensional Eye: we humans will become your servants. We’ll offer you alien races instead.”
… My mind went blank.
Ahri responded, somewhat disappointed. “That doesn’t sound right… Let’s hear your second operation.”
“Number two: the ‘I Yi Je Yi’ operation. Also from our experience in the hotel, I noticed there are endless evil beings around.”
“True. Honestly, it’s amazing the Earth has endured this long.”
“How about bringing in other demons to start a fight? Maybe there are demons out there who would say, ‘Hey! I was going to devour those humans. Who do you think you are?'”
This time, Ahri sighed deeply. “That’s a plan that could be summarized as ‘when the whales fight, the shrimp gets crushed…’ The Bureau would never attempt something like that. Sure, it might be possible to pit evil beings against each other, but if they come and start cooking up havoc on Earth, how many humans do you think would survive?”
“Ahh! I just blurted that out! Stop nitpicking and share your thoughts already!”
With that, Ahri went quiet.
Now, Grandpa decided to chime in.
“I came up with one too. How about the ‘Deception’ operation?”
“Deceiving the Zero-Dimensional Eye? How do you do that?”
“No, it’s not about deceiving the Zero-Dimensional Eye; it’s about deceiving humanity.”
“Huh?”
“Do you remember the response strategy to the Zero-Dimensional Eye? ‘Not perceiving’ was surprisingly effective.”
“That’s true.”
“Let’s spread memory erasers across the entire Earth and wipe away memories of the Zero-Dimensional Eye.”
“… But didn’t the Zero-Dimensional Eye grow large enough to cover the sky at the end? I mean, if it blocks the sky, fine, but if people can visibly see it, how can you stop them from recognizing it?”
“Oh really? I missed that moment. I thought about all of humanity being visually impaired for a few years—wow, that’s wild, even for me.”
“What if we cover Earth with barriers so the Zero-Dimensional Eye can’t be seen!”
“Songee, you might as well suggest we move Earth out of the solar system.”
“Better to die by suicide than live miserably as the demon’s slave.”
“That’s definitely sounds like a zero-point solution.”
… After that, my companions continued to throw out crazier ideas.
It felt like most of the solutions fundamentally missed the mark.
Why is it that such solutions immediately seem wrong as soon as you hear them?
…
— Bang! Bang!
“Hey, listen to me for a sec.”
All eyes turned to me.
“I think we’ve been given a kind of test problem.”
“What kind of exam are you talking about?”
“I’m saying, whenever you have an exam problem, you have to think about the test-maker’s intentions, and those intentions usually have some basis in the text.”
“Are you saying the 201 Room we went through had any basis?”
“Exactly. So suddenly bringing in some other random demon or making all of humanity visually impaired doesn’t seem plausible. Plus, it should ideally be something we can do ourselves.”
“Were there any better solutions related to what was inside Room 201?”
“Now, this part is just my opinion. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the Zero-Dimensional Eye wishes for, but it seems closer to suffering than death. There’s decent evidence for that, likely from the lead’s decision as well. And like your sister said, if it can be interpreted in a ‘business’ manner, it’s likely that it stands to gain something from the mortal’s suffering, rather than purely acting out of ‘fun.’”
Eunsol nodded in agreement.
“I can see that too. If it was truly a being solely seeking ‘fun,’ it would have acted more impulsively. ‘Fun’ is generally the opposite of boredom, and you feel it when unpredictability happens.”
“Also, the technology the Administration Bureau had within Room 201 already allowed them to keep a person alive with only their brain left.”
Songee looked like she was about to blur something again.
“Maybe believing that a person had to actually die by being exposed to monsters was the chief’s bias? If the Zero-Dimensional Eye craved suffering, wouldn’t it be way more efficient to just create vast tanks that give people infinite torment with just the brain left? This would mitigate actual human deaths while still producing suffering.”
Ahri tilted her head, pondering the thought. “Don’t you think the process of suffering is needed? Plus, didn’t you just say it had to be something we could do ourselves? What you’re suggesting sounds entirely dependent on the Bureau. Sure, you at that time were sort of the head of the Bureau, so your willingness sounds plausible, but…”
“Actually, I was hoping to skip that part since Songee looked ready to vomit.”
Songee quickly interrupted, “I get it already, so just don’t go on about it.”
“We could create a sort of finished product to show them. Conveniently, since we had Beatrix’s floating brain, Songee could inject the most painful illusions into the brain and suggest how about this?”
Ahri muttered cynically under her breath, “If that demon truly aimed for ‘sustainable pain development,’ that would be a catch they could accept. They could easily scale up their fisheries without losing any humans, and regardless, the fisheries would be created by the fish themselves.”
Sister seemed to deliberate for a moment and then replied, “Is that even a feasible approach? I mean, to enter the sealed area, Songee had to give Kain a fatal buff, right?”
“That was an issue from not saving Patrick. Jinchul had to shamelessly crash the equipment controlling the irregular polyhedron with the star. If we had saved Patrick, there would definitely have been safer methods to enter the sealed area.”
Ahri nodded.
“That makes some sense. The brain of Beatrix was within the sealed area, right? Naturally, there would have also been the facilities needed to keep that floating brain intact. There is no way the lead researcher personally moved all of that himself.”
“If we had saved Patrick to control the equipment, we would’ve been able to enter more safely. Go in safely and show Songee the visions of eternally torturing the floating brain—”
“Ah! I’m not doing anything like that!”
Songee’s fierce annoyance brought the conversation to a halt.
Was that truly the only way?
Ultimately, whatever solution was offered that simply provided what the demon desired remains unchanged. In that process, we just saw how to figure out a way for humans to die less, that’s all.
I got a vague feeling; solutions along those lines wouldn’t even earn a score above 60.
Fundamentally, we, and humanity, lack the power.
For the first time, I began to understand why the Administration Bureau was sacrificing lives to challenge the hotel.
—
An additional concern arose.
If another extreme solution is required, just like today, as we progress from the second floor…
Some of us would absolutely refuse. Like Songee’s violent objection just moments ago.
In a simple if-scenario situation, it ended up as no more than a complaint, but what would happen if we actually find ourselves in that position?
After dinner, the hotel sent out an announcement.
“Dear esteemed guests! Congratulations!”
You’ve finally defeated the first trial of the second floor and obtained another treasure! Heartfelt congratulations!
A three-day rest begins tomorrow! Since it’s not an easy ability to use, it would be wise to practice hard, wouldn’t you say?
Today’s surprise event: Party Time! This is starting now.
There are additional announcements.
1. Please take out your tickets and check the notifications.
2. The cold on the second floor is gradually worsening. Shouldn’t you be prepared?
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