### Chapter 197 – Party Time – Growth and Preparing for the Next Room (1)
—
“From now on, remember everything I’m about to say and don’t miss a single word.”
As I heard the owl’s words, I felt a tension so thick it was like the air had been sucked out of the room. I focused all my senses.
“First, this matter exceeds the limits of wisdom. I cannot provide advice for the next curse room you enter. The penalties start today. Second, the room to which the penalty applies is decided the moment you first enter. Be careful in your choice of rooms. Third,”
…
After stating the “third,” the owl fell silent. I could swear I saw its beak move a few times, but no sound came out. If it were a person, I would have read its lips to guess, but even a master of decoding bird language wouldn’t be able to interpret that beak!
With the owl quiet, I glanced around. It was just an empty white room. Earlier, I had entered Room 105 after a long search, so I thought maybe this was just a dream.
The owl’s expression changed. I could feel the meaning behind that look—it was one of “frustration.” Some unseen force was likely preventing the owl from conveying its message. Perhaps the power that trapped the owl in the cage deemed the third message it wanted to deliver too much of a breach?
Or maybe it was allowed to convey the details of the penalty only after it was invoked. After all, the first two points were about “what the penalty is and how it applies.”
What could the third point have been?
— Clap!
Suddenly, I heard a sound again.
“Third, I can see your growth. It might be good to study again.”
Clang! With that statement, an unknown sound echoed as my consciousness faded.
Even until the moment of losing consciousness, I kept reiterating those three statements. As soon as I woke up, I needed to analyze their meanings.
—
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 95
Current Location: 1st Floor, Room 105 – Room of Rest
Sage’s Advice: X]
—
In the morning, as my mind slowly regained consciousness, I checked the status window immediately.
…
In the spot where the Sage’s advice number appeared, there was an X marking. It was a sight I had never seen before. That must be the ‘penalty.’
Did any other functions disappear? If the filter function or scenario comprehension was gone, that would be a serious issue.
For now, the status window spread out as I imagined, covering my surroundings. From the circumstances, it seemed the filter function was intact, but I needed more verification to see if the mental defense was active. There was currently no way to ascertain the functionality of scenario comprehension.
On the second day of the three-day rest initiated by using the rest ticket, the content of the morning meeting was decided.
—
When breakfast time rolled around, all the familiar faces returned. My companions, who had drained their energy from the calming scent of the relaxation candle, looked a bit worn but seemed to have enough strength to smile and chat.
Like sharing a heroic tale, I, Ahri, Grandpa, and Jinchul began recounting the story of how we broke through the exterior wall of the hotel’s second floor and discovered the snow globe, then ventured into the outside world. Everyone listened with rapt attention.
As the tale reached its conclusion, Elena, looking worried, asked, “I’m curious since we found out the entire second floor is inside the snow globe—what if the people outside dispose of or break the snow globe?”
Ahri replied nonchalantly, “Well, who knows? Just think about the hotel style we’ve experienced so far. At the very least, they wouldn’t destroy everything in a manner that we completely couldn’t respond to.”
“That’s true.”
I chimed in slightly, “It’s certainly something we can’t know for sure, but I reckon that the connection with the outside world is now permanently severed. After all, Jinchul confirmed yesterday that we could no longer leave this world.”
“Just as we cannot exit, it’s likely that no influence can come from the outside world to the inside of the snow globe, right?”
“I think that way too.”
My sister also spoke up. “I think that issue is settled, but what I’m really curious about is where that ‘Craftsman’ and the ‘shining dust’ are?”
“Maybe after we finish eating, we can head to a place like the front desk? It could be in the second floor; repairs should’ve been completed by now.”
“Maybe? Let’s check it out after we eat. I’m looking forward to the second floor. It was a tough find, so they wouldn’t let it slip. But you all know, the problem we have to decide is quite—”
“Hold on! I know what you’re about to say, but there’s something we need to confirm first.”
I hurriedly cut off my sister’s topic and relayed what I received from the owl last night, writing the owl’s three messages on the whiteboard without missing a word.
—
First, this matter exceeds the limits of wisdom. I cannot provide advice for the next curse room. The penalties start today.
Second, the room to which the penalty applies is decided the moment you first enter. Be careful in your choice of rooms.
Third, I can see your growth. It might be good to study again.
—
After a moment of silence in the room, Ahri cautiously offered her opinion.
“The first statement seems just as it is. The owl must have conveyed something before we realized during the exploration of the second floor. That must be the issue.”
“Exactly. It likely means we received advice on something we didn’t even ask or notice about, resulting in a penalty. The latter sentence seems pretty clear too. After all, the X mark next to the advice says it all. We can’t use that advice today or tomorrow, and the same goes for the next curse room.”
My sister sighed at that.
“Isn’t this penalty too harsh? The advice function essentially represents over half of your blessings. Not being able to use it during the rest days isn’t too serious, but blocking it in the next curse room is a real blow.”
Grandpa, staring at the whiteboard for a while, spoke up.
“This feels more than just covering the advice for the next curse room; it seems like the advice is blocked from the very first attempt there.”
“I think so too. Otherwise, it would’ve specifically said ‘first attempt.’”
“It implies you must conquer one curse room without your advice, revealing the second message.”
The first message indicates that during this day of rest and in the next curse room, I cannot receive help from my advice. Then in which ‘specific’ curse room am I blocked from receiving advice? The answer lies in the second message.
It’s determined the moment you first enter the next curse room.
In other words, upon entering Room 202 once, it would instantly confirm, ‘You cannot receive advice in Room 202.’ Even if you escaped and proceeded to Room 203, there would be no penalties applied in Room 203.
Realizing all this, Ahri responded.
“Let’s make sure to consider with care which room we enter next. It seems, at this point, the answer is clear. It should be Room 104, right?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
I briefly explained to Songi, who didn’t grasp Ahri’s statement.
“In the next room, I can’t receive help from my advice, right? Entering the unknown rooms on the second floor feels a bit unsettling.”
“Oh! So should we follow your and Ahri’s advice and go into Room 104? After all, Room 104 has hints too. ‘ㅁ teaches the father how to ㅁㅁ,’ right?”
Ahri responded, “You remembered that? Your memory is impressive. You’re right. We should definitely check that out later, but it seems like Room 104 is the way to go. It feels risky to enter the unknown rooms of the second floor without the help of my advice. In fact, I even came up with a trick.”
I immediately guessed what that trick was.
“Are you suggesting we first pop into Room 104, and if nothing works, we’ll escape and continue exploring the second-floor rooms?”
“Yep. There’s even an escape button for when it feels like an absolute no-go. Once we manage to escape, we can simply forget about Room 104, which was more about what’s left behind for us to ponder. I mean, I’ve said this multiple times before, right? We don’t have to solve every room.”
Ahri has always treated Room 104 as the ‘failed room.’ It seems she thinks the room became unmanageable in exchange for gaining some form of power that surpasses even inheritance. The penalty that emerged this time likely ensures that one of the curse rooms can’t use the advice.
Thinking about this further, I understood what Ahri’s ‘real thoughts’ were and why she was suddenly advocating to re-enter Room 104, a room she previously hesitated to return to.
Let’s pile even the penalty for the advice into the failed Room 104, and just let it all collapse!
…
Well, there’s still time left on the rest day, so let’s think about this a bit more. At least, this is not an unreasonable judgment.
Grandpa, who had been quiet, finally spoke.
“I can feel your growth. It might be good to study again. What does that even mean? This isn’t exactly the best place for studying.”
“I’ll detail the context behind that statement. When the owl was about to express something, some kind of force prevented me from hearing the owl’s message, and after a while, it went silent before suddenly saying that and ending the conversation.”
My sister muttered in amusement, “So it means it said something in a ‘roundabout way.’”
A brief silence settled over the area. Grandpa resumed speaking.
“Let’s break this down. ‘I can see your growth.’ While it’s a compliment, I doubt they’d just say that for the sake of giving praise.”
“That’s right. They already complimented before…”
“What kind of growth are we talking about? I have this vague sense about something.”
“What?”
Curiously, I looked up only to find Ahri showing an enlightened expression upon hearing Grandpa’s words.
“Hey Kain, have you ever heard the term ‘rank of the soul?’”
“What?”
Ahri murmured softly.
“‘Studying’ refers to looking things up in books. Take out that grimoire of yours.”
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