### Chapter 179 – Party Time – The Most Ominous Being (6)
—
– Han Kain
Just after Elena dashed off to the safari, Ahri showed up.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Oh, Elena just dropped some heavy stuff on me.”
“Hmm. She told me something weird too.”
“Have you already met her?”
“Just briefly. She said the patron mentioned something odd.”
“What kind of odd?”
“Something about how the cold is not something Elena should deal with. And… there was something else about you. She even asked me about it.”
With that, Ahri looked at me with a smirk.
“What on earth does that mean?”
“Nothing at all.”
“Don’t give me that! You clearly have something to say.”
“I really don’t.”
I felt increasingly like I was being teased! For some reason, I wanted to headbutt her again, so I got ready, but thankfully, the others started arriving at the dining table.
“Good morning!”
“Did you sleep well?”
With light greetings, breakfast began.
—
The first topic of conversation was undoubtedly Elena. My sister asked with a curious tone.
“So, Elena leaves for the safari right after telling you something meaningful?”
“Yeah. She’s planning to create ‘something wicked yet communicative’—not sure what kind of monster that would be.”
Ahri seemed indifferent.
“She’ll manage just fine. Since it’s the safari, right? If Pero couldn’t get in there, then neither can the monster Elena makes. I think you’re worrying for nothing.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that even if Elena creates some weird, failed monster in the safari, it probably couldn’t come out. It’s like the inside and outside of the safari are on different planes—only participants from our hotel can go in and out, you know?”
Songi looked puzzled.
“So, if she creates a successful one, won’t she still not be able to take it out?”
“Hmm… Elena probably thought about that level of things. She might have a plan.”
I could see where she was coming from.
“Maybe once she creates a successful one, she can recreate that feeling outside?”
I found that interesting to consider. Even Beatrix, who had honed her abilities, couldn’t just churn out successful creations one after another.
Of course, her abilities had also likely changed in subtle ways along with the hotel’s influence, and since every user is different, it can’t be assumed that the logic applied to Beatrix applies to Elena as well.
—
Talk of Elena’s abilities wrapped up, and the conversation shifted to the group’s shared concern: preparing for the dropping temperatures in the hotel. My sister neatly summarized the information she had gleaned the day before.
“So, it seems we need to go to this creepy place called ‘Ice Hell’ right after Party Time ends to handle some business?”
“That’s right. Should we write down some advice about hell?”
“Let’s discuss it a bit more among ourselves. I thought a lot last night, and that notification we saw was pretty ominous.”
She stood briefly to jot the notification on the whiteboard.
“/Would you like to open the door to Ice Hell? Opening the door will immediately end Party Time./”
“We focused solely on the first part, ‘Ice Hell,’ yesterday, but it dawned on me that the latter part, ‘Party Time will end,’ is also quite concerning. What do you think that means?”
“It means we’re still in Party Time.”
“Exactly. We’re already freezing and struggling, and the second floor has turned into something worse than the Arctic, yet the hotel is still saying, ‘It’s still Party Time.’ In other words…”
Grandpa, having heard enough, lamented.
“It means once Party Time is over, they’re planning to really mess with us. Right now, this is just a warm-up, according to the hotel!”
“Everyone, try to keep calm. Party Time hasn’t ended yet! As of now, it’s just slightly uncomfortable on the first floor. Like this.”
With that, my sister picked up a strange frozen pork cutlet where only the meat remained frozen.
—
Ahri spoke up, looking a bit anxious.
“I’m getting some pretty horrifying scenarios in my head. Thanks to my past experiences.”
“Experiences?”
“Well, the second floor is the hellish predicament we’re in at the moment, but the first floor is mostly in one piece, right? If the hotel genuinely plans to torment us, they might freeze the first floor too.”
Seungyub answered gloomily.
“Why would they want to torment us at all?”
“That’s a good question. I’ll definitely ask that owl the next time I see him. Any other questions?”
“Of course, we need to ask about that ‘Ice Hell’ too.”
In no time, questions piled up, and I was ready to start firing them away.
First question: “If Party Time ends, will the first floor get weird too?”
[Advice: 3 -> 2]
[If the cold hits the first floor, most of the hotel’s systems will shut down. There are benefits and downsides.]
Having already guessed the answer, I posed the question just to confirm, and an unexpectedly precise response came from the owl. However, the content made me curse almost immediately.
“Oh shit, it’s real!”
“What’s real?”
“The hotel system shuts down. Naturally, Room 105 is going to be impacted too, right?”
“This is seriously -”
A chorus of expletives flew around the room. Even though I had suspected it, confirming it stoked my anger.
Despite my frustration, when I heard the next bit about ‘benefits,’ something clicked.
“Hey, listen to me for a sec. The hotel stopping its systems seems to offer us some benefits too. I find this to be quite significant.”
My sister quickly responded.
“Does that mean the cursed room stops too?”
“That’s what I’m thinking. When the hotel system rests, surely it includes the cursed room.”
“What on earth could they want if the cursed room is stopped?”
“Let’s move on to the second question.”
Second question: “Please tell me about Ice Hell.”
In place of an answer, a notification popped up.
[This question requires all 3 pieces of advice. Since one has already been used, you cannot ask.]
“… Wow, seems like there are other cases where we had to use up all 3 pieces of advice, aside from the 104 room questions.”
“Oh? All three, huh? Then I can’t answer you right now?”
“That’s right. Looks like this is an instance of a ‘crossing the line’ type of question. Let’s each think of some more questions until lunch. We need to use the remaining two before the day ends anyway.”
With everyone feeling a bit deflated, we wrapped up the morning meeting. All we figured out from the morning huddle was the ominous warning that the first floor would also go to hell once Party Time finishes.
—
– Elena
— Wooooo!
An immense roar echoed in the distance, so powerful it sent vibrations through my entire body. What kind of creature was making that noise? Did such creatures ever exist on Earth?
As soon as I stepped into the safari, a notification came up saying it was now a whopping 330 million years ago, likely during the Permian or Carboniferous period.
— Buzzzz! Shreeeek!
In a daze, I turned my head and saw a gigantic dragonfly—seriously, the size of my own head—flying nearby. Before experiencing the hotel, I surely would’ve screamed my lungs out at the sight of an insect that big!
But this hotel had turned me into a whole new person. It had been months since I’d seen corpses and monsters daily, and these days, I could even stomach sitting next to most monsters without a hitch, but as for this ‘just’ oversized dragonfly—
“Gyaaaaah!!!”
Oh hell! A cockroach as big as a puppy was pushing the limits! Technically, it was a massive ancestor of cockroaches, but still! I realized how shocked I was as I ran a good 30 meters before finally calming down.
While leaning against what I thought was a tree to catch my breath, I felt a tickle on my back. I brushed it off as something that had fallen, resolving not to check what it was.
Is it fortunate? Excluding the giant noise-maker in the distance, most of the creatures were just oversized bugs. They were disgustingly huge but still bugs; even the largest among them was probably the size of a pet dog. I didn’t see any monsters that could eat me.
After about ten minutes of walking, I finally stumbled upon the lake I had been searching for.
“Do you think this is going to work? What do you think, Kain?”
Of course, there would be no replies from any existence in this place.
The water in the lake wasn’t particularly clean. Strange creatures floated here and there. It’s likely I wouldn’t have dared to even look at them before!
I shrugged off my coat, took off my shoes, and lowered my skirt… and just wrapped my legs in a light négligé before dipping into the lake.
“Let the games begin.”
The pot tipped. The ominous energy that filled my soul spread out like wildfire all around me. Silence fell upon the world in an instant. The water bugs in the lake, the dragonflies in the air, and even the centipedes on the ground scrambled away from me in a panic.
— Splash!
—
What kind of power is ‘Ominous Imagination’?
Kain had explained that it’s the power that turns the anxiety we feel in everyday life into reality, based on the memories of the lead researcher. The patron also warned that using this power correctly could easily lead to mental instability.
Putting aside such superficial information, just what is ‘Ominous Imagination’? I pondered while feeling the volcano of power bubbling inside me.
This power is essentially the force that summons trauma into reality!
Beatrix’s ability evolved to bizarrely alter surrounding objects or make hideously powerful monsters using real animals because she awakened her power back when she was a child.
Do you remember those nights trembling with fear during childhood?
When you turn off the lights and lie in bed, it feels like the dolls are staring at you, and every sound at the window makes you think someone’s about to jump in!
All this ominous imagination became the source of Beatrix’s power.
However, I am not different from her in childhood. My trauma isn’t an ambiguous fear of ordinary objects; it’s based on—
“Actual experiences!”
Ah ha!
I finally realized the meaning of the warning from the patron. I profoundly felt why ominous imagination is inherently a power akin to insanity.
I felt an ominous presence—a man in a black suit was endlessly chasing after me.
I heard the old lady selling radishes in the morning betraying me and my family.
The moment I stepped out of bed into the living room, I saw a ghost of my father bleeding from his mouth.
As my self-created hell began to fill my mind, pushing me toward madness, all the embodiments of my fears rose from the surface.
That being resembled the man in a suit that used to chase my family when I was a child.
That being bore a warm smile like the lady who betrayed us.
That being was akin to the kind housekeeper who poured poison into my father’s cup.
And beyond all those nightmares—the being resembled a girl who laughed like it was a joke as I desperately tried to crush her with all my might.
“Hello?”
— Thwok!
A hand that rose from the surface pierced through my stomach in an instant. The indescribable, intense pain left me too stunned to scream.
As my body grew colder, the monster’s form began to disintegrate too. Confused, it produced strange sounds as it realized it was breaking apart.
How could I not resist the impulse and attack the very person in front of me?
…
You’re a failure. A bad child.
It’s okay… It’s okay… It’s nothing. I’ll recreate you.
I’ll keep creating you again and again.
Until a good child who listens to me emerges.
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