### Chapter 235 – Room 202, Cursed Room – ‘Mermaid Princess’ (13)
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[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)]
Date: Day 101
Current Location: Floor 2, Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 0
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As soon as I stepped out of the room, cold sweat started pouring down. I thought I had had enough peculiar and ghastly experiences in the cursed room, but who would’ve thought I’d end up experiencing what it feels like to turn into a fish!
Just as I was about to check on Elena, who I last met—
“Ugh! W-What’s wrong?”
Elena collapsed right on the spot. Thankfully, Songyi, who was right beside her, caught her, but everyone was surprised and gathered around. As all eyes were on her, Elena, looking a bit embarrassed, spoke up.
“I was just floating in the water, so I wasn’t using any strength at all. I’m fine.”
What shape had Elena been in just moments ago? Forget it; I was already too mentally drained. Everyone looked tired as we moved to Room 105, sharing some quick information. I thought the rest—except me, who had escaped last—had perished when Kadarudakh rose from the sea, but surprisingly, Songyi recounted having experienced all sorts of things afterwards.
*
After taking a short break in Room 105, we headed to the table to start our meeting. Since Elena had gathered the most information from Room 202, she stepped up and began organizing events chronologically.
“From now on, let’s refer to Elena as the second daughter. The story begins with her relationship with Lee Sooho. They were lovers and often talked about the future of the island in an enlightened manner.”
Ahri raised her hand slightly.
“Can I ask a few questions in between? Did the Cheongseong Group know they were dating? It’s a crucial bit of info that feels strange they didn’t share with us.”
“I think the second daughter didn’t know. That’s what Lee Sooho told me. But I see it a bit differently. The second daughter knew little about land affairs and wasn’t well-versed in chaebol matters. It’s hard to believe that two people, with the second daughter being someone close to royalty among the merfolk and the eldest son of a conglomerate, could date for years without anyone noticing.”
“Good point. Contrary to the second daughter’s thoughts, the Cheongseong Group might have known. If they did, we should think about why they hid that fact from us. Continue.”
“The second daughter suffered from terrible nightmares daily due to her ancestor’s memories. Seungyub probably heard this from Rilinganor, but the ‘nightmares’ experienced by the daughters of the Sea God go far beyond what an ordinary person imagines. They often feature being filleted or fried without any filters. Sharp-minded people might find it strange that the island’s leaders and the three daughters of the Sea God are all so young.”
At that, Eunsol unni’s mouth dropped open slightly.
“Wait… Did they not survive until they aged?”
“Correct. Most of them lose their senses before hitting 40. The daughters of past Sea Gods who have already lost their senses are on medical leave in the basement of the hospital you all visited. Hearing this, Lee Sooho fell into despair. While he couldn’t ease his lover’s suffering, he at least hoped to share it himself.”
“So, that’s why he wanted to become a merman?”
“Yes. The daughters of the Sea God have access to a hidden cave containing the island’s greatest secrets, where there’s a means to turn a person into a merman.”
Upon this statement, Elena looked toward me. Having experienced that method firsthand, I sighed and replied.
“There’s this huge, blurry creature that resembles a giant snail. It seems you stick that into your body to become a merman.”
“That’s right. It’s called ‘Rudah.’”
“What kind of creature is that?”
“I don’t really know. The information about Rudah is way too outdated. It’s a creature similar to Kadarudakh’s followers, and all I know is that sticking it in your body transforms you into a merman.”
“Got it.”
At this point, the doctor finally spoke up.
“It makes sense why people say mermen are different from humans.”
“Oh right, Sanghyun mentioned that ages ago! What made you feel that way?”
“It’s nothing much. How did history get distorted on the Sea God Island? They say the mermen who lived deep in the ocean during ancient times were reshaped by the Sea God into human forms and sent to land, right?”
“I remember it that way too.”
“That’s a typical intelligent design argument. The logic that a great god created sentient beings. Considering this crazy world is filled with gods flicking stars with a finger, I can accept that. But why would such a great god replicate the ‘incomplete flaws’ of a human body when recreating mermen?”
“Incomplete flaws?”
“There are many flaws in human bodies, so pointing them all out would take too long. Blind spots in vision or lumbar disc issues are prime examples. These weaknesses arise from the evolutionary process relying heavily on chance. The same issues persisted with the mermen. If a truly great god were involved in their recreation, they wouldn’t replicate these flaws in their descendants.”
It was oddly intriguing and felt convincing. If mermen truly were creations of the great Sea God, then even if they were reshaped to resemble humans, there’d be no reason to incorporate human imperfections.
Everyone’s eyes shifted back to Elena.
“So, Lee Sooho became a merman. The problem came next. He reached the ancient memories that none of the previous daughters of the Sea God had accessed—not just any memories but prehistoric ones. He even accessed memories from before the first merman was born, over 800 years ago.”
As soon as I heard that, I immediately questioned.
“I’ve been curious about this since the beginning. What exactly is the memory before the first merman was born?”
“I don’t know. Lee Sooho merely claimed he read something. It’s nearly finished, so let me continue. When Lee Sooho became a merman and came into contact with those mysterious memories, Serenade tried to catch him and kill him. Of course, in that process, the second daughter, having caused a ‘major incident,’ was also locked up in a psychiatric hospital as a form of punishment.”
Elena paused her explanation there.
What happened next was already known to us. We found Elena in the hospital, awakened her, and realized that Kadarudakh’s awakening was imminent, prompting her to take me to the underwater cave to transform me into a merman for escape.
Seungyub, who had been quiet for a while, asked a question.
“Why was Rilinganor exiled? From what Rilinganor said, Serenade kicked her out like a tyrant without any explanation…”
Elena provided a convincing answer for that.
“Rilinganor is particularly young among the daughters of the Sea God, so she often misses important matters. The ‘major incident’ caused by the second daughter was a disgrace for the Sea God Island. I think Serenade didn’t want to expose that embarrassing event to the young and naive youngest daughter.”
To be fair, we sometimes treated Seungyub that way, so I could understand Serenade’s mentality. While I was organizing the information I heard from Elena, Songyi added her explanation.
“I’ll share my experience too. I managed to escape and then came across Lee Sooho’s yacht while drifting in the ocean, where we chatted about various things. If you’re looking for meaningful information, it’s that the mermen committed significant crimes.”
“Significant crimes?”
“Yup. Even the first mermen over 800 years ago committed some crime, and it appears the modern mermen also committed certain sins. By the way, Lee Sooho said that Serenade was chasing him to kill him.”
“Serenade deceived us. The fact that she was chasing Lee Sooho implies she knew he was alive.”
From the first attempt, we gathered quite a bit of information.
The source of the curse was the resurrection of Kadarudakh caused by Lee Sooho, leading to a catastrophic disaster. The identity of the mermen was humans transformed into a different species through some contract with the underwater god. Elena’s sealing within the scenario was due to Serenade’s punishment.
What could the external reason be? Now it’s becoming clearer. It seems to be a complex mix of lie detection, wisdom, and justice.
It was evident that many characters had lied to us. The Cheongseong Group appears suspicious, and without a doubt, so does Serenade. If we had the ability of lie detection, we wouldn’t have been deceived in the first place. Furthermore, the daughters of the Sea God inevitably suffered from torment due to ancestor memories, while wisdom provided resistance against that pain. Considering that justice would be valid against someone like Lee Sooho, the reasons to seal them were abundantly clear.
Either way, discovering that Lee Sooho is still alive thanks to releasing Elena from her seal is a big win. If we hadn’t released Elena’s seal, we might not have caught on to Serenade’s lies. Until we heard from Elena, we hadn’t even considered that Lee Sooho might be alive.
Yet there was still a gap in information.
A nagging question that had been piquing everyone’s curiosity. What were the two major sins committed by the mermen? How on earth do we find Lee Sooho, the root of all these problems?
The room fell silent while everyone pondered. After a while, Grandpa spoke.
“In the end, we can condense the next mission down to two tasks. Gather the missing information and find that Lee Sooho brat to interrogate him. We’re all thinking the same, right?”
Everyone nodded.
“However, we face a very serious issue. The time we have been given is far too short.”
Fair enough. During the first attempt, we entered in the morning, had our meeting with the Chairman of the Cheongseong Group, then entered the Sea God Island in the afternoon for a meeting with Serenade. By evening, we had checked out the basement and released Elena’s seal past midnight.
Releasing Elena’s seal in less than a day felt like a remarkable pace, but it turned out that was still too late. Kadarudakh resurrected early the very next morning!
“Which means I think searching the island for information or trying to locate Lee Sooho would all be out of the question. If we waste time searching, the Sea God will wake up. We need to take a faster route.”
A faster route. I began to catch on to what Grandpa was getting at.
“There’s someone who might know the answers to our questions. What about Serenade? If we get her to speak…”
Ahri interrupted, “Not interrogate, but enlist. I don’t see Serenade as our enemy. Think about it; she chased Lee Sooho. She probably wants to prevent the Sea God’s revival too. After all, she’s supposed to be protecting the island, yet the Sea God annihilated the mermen right after being resurrected.”
“Then let’s say enlist her. Anyway, let’s obtain some information from Serenade.”
With a worried expression, Eunsol unni asked, “Sure, we can get information from Serenade. But how do we find Lee Sooho? Even Serenade couldn’t track him down.”
The surroundings went silent once more.
In the end, our goal for the second attempt came down to collecting information and locating Lee Sooho. For gathering information, let’s say we’ll enlist Serenade. Of course, figuring out how to enlist her starts now.
How to find Lee Sooho? Search the island in just a day? This island is much bigger than Jeju Island! It’s not a simple task. The awkward silence continued among the teammates. Then, Songyi spoke up again.
“This isn’t really related to the issue at hand, but I have a personal curiosity. Ahri?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you know what a ‘Terminator’ is? Like, you know?”
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