### Chapter 268 – Room ???, The Cursed Room – ‘????’ (6)
—
After meeting Jinchul, four days had passed.
On the first day, we concluded the meeting and decided that my brother and I had to head toward the mountain range. It was a sudden conclusion, but the time given to participants in the cursed room isn’t long. There had been more than a few instances where doing nothing led to death because “it was too late.”
Of course, the tribe pleaded with us to change our minds, kneeling and begging, and even the old wolf, with its toothy grin, clung to my leg and cried. But Jinchul and I insisted that we had both dreamt the ancestors’ prophetic dreams.
There’s an old saying, “Three men make a tiger,” meaning that if three people insist on a lie, they can create a tiger that doesn’t exist. I decided to add a new saying to the collection.
“Two Gods Make Ancestors” (이신인성조) – If two deities lie and insist, they can make an ancestor that doesn’t exist.
We didn’t need evidence or logical explanations. After all, talking about some hotel nonsense wouldn’t make sense to them.
We simply gritted our teeth and insisted that we had prophetic dreams and that a paradise awaited us in the mountains. If they didn’t want to follow, we’d go alone.
In the end, the tribe members were persuaded. Many began to genuinely believe that we had indeed dreamt of prophecies, and even those who thought it was ridiculous felt they had no choice but to follow, fearing being lost in the wild.
And so, four days passed.
“I don’t think many people can drag them along like this,” Jinchul remarked for the fifth time.
It’s not easy to drag the tribe, half threatening them, toward the mountain range.
“The power of the grimoire you have instills extreme fear in the supernatural realm, and the physical abilities I possess are intuitively powerful. It’s because we have our unique strengths that they’re blindly following us.”
“You think we can take down a real demon that jumps out from the mountains with just the two of us?”
“Pretty much. Plus, they wouldn’t dare resist us, which is another reason. No matter how you look at it, others, like Eunsol sister or Mooksung grandpa, or Seungyub brother, can’t do what we’re doing. Can Elena or Ahri pull it off?”
Elena seems capable of pushing even harder than us, of course, if she keeps her sanity intact. Ahri could manage too.
The exhausting march continued on the fourth day, but honestly, it wasn’t that tough. That made me more worried.
“The pace is so slow. It’s nice on the body, but…”
Jinchul hadn’t seen a single drop of sweat drip from himself.
“With so many old men, women, and kids in the tribe, how can we pick up speed?”
At that moment, a sudden cold thought crossed my mind: Should we leave the tribe behind?
If it was just Jinchul and me moving, we could go three times faster than this. But could these primitives survive in a world crawling with monsters without the help of new gods? Over the past four days, Jinchul and I had faced off against a ‘shining bird’ and a ‘blood-drinking tree.’
Then, Jinchul, who had been watching me closely, spoke up.
“Han Kain, don’t rush things. I can tell what you’re thinking.”
“What thinking…?”
“I’m not just trying to play the nice guy by taking everyone along. I do believe the tribe has a purpose for existing.”
“The tribe’s reason for existing…”
“There must be some role for them on this stage.”
Could it really be true? Or was he just wanting to feel that way?
I had various thoughts swirling, but I decided to drop them. Honestly, I didn’t agree with him, but at this point, if I suggested abandoning everything to head toward the mountain range just the two of us, I didn’t think he would be persuaded.
And somewhere in my heart, there was still a little triangle of not wanting the people following me to get eaten by monsters. That triangle just turned around once.
As evening approached, we paused near a murky puddle. While I was about to discuss what might be beyond the mountains with Jinchul, someone forcefully opened the tent.
“Han Kain! Isn’t it boring always being with the Boar God?”
The girl who had barged into my tent before, ‘Winter Flower’, was practically treated as my betrothed within the tribe. So even though I had ordered the warriors not to let anyone in, it didn’t seem to matter. How could a mere warrior stop a ‘God’s betrothed’?
“… Winter Flower, I’m busy right now—”
“Aren’t you always busy? You were busy yesterday, busy today, and you’ll be busy again tomorrow.”
Having heard that, Jinchul chuckled.
“Ah, you’re the girl we met before. Sorry, but we’re about to discuss something really important. So, could you please step outside for now?”
“I’m sorry….”
Unlike how she treated me, Winter Flower displayed quite a respectful attitude toward Jinchul and left the tent.
“Why do we have this ‘girlfriend setting’ weighing on us so heavily?”
I certainly never intended to live my life alone without romance, but I had absolutely no intention of forming a deep connection with anyone I meet in this cursed room. The likelihood of us parting ways ‘forever’ after resolving the room was 100%.
“Simply put, there must have been a ‘girlfriend’ in the original history created by the hotel. But on top of that… have you ever thought about why no naked women enter your tent every night?”
“Pfft!”
I was so surprised I nearly spat out my drink!
What kind of lowbrow joke is that? I rolled my eyes after realizing Jinchul’s expression didn’t hold a single trace of a smile.
“Does my question sound weird? I think it’s quite obvious. What do you consider yourself? To the tribe, you’re a child of the gods, a king, an emperor. Your spouse would be a queen, and your heir would be a prince or princess.”
“… That’s true.”
“In a situation like this, wouldn’t it make sense for the tribe’s girl to leap into your bed every night, hoping to change her fate?”
“…”
“But instead, only that one girl lingers around you. Why doesn’t anyone else crave your side?”
Finally, that thought stirred some curiosity within me.
“Simple. Deities don’t just come into existence; they descend.”
“Excuse me?”
He pointed to himself and me once more and spoke again.
“The deity—what kind of being are we playing the role of in this room? I grew curious and gathered some fascinating information about that.”
Good story.
“First off, all deities wielding mysterious powers, including you and me, are not born from the tribe.”
“What?”
“Didn’t know, huh? Did you think deities were born through human pregnancy? Surprisingly, no. All deities simply drop down from the sky when the time is right.”
I was momentarily at a loss for words. Deities drop down from the sky?
“More precisely, one day a tribe member wakes up, and suddenly an unknown child with a divine aura is there. That child has no past memories, and the tribe reveres and serves them.”
“…”
“That doesn’t mean deities marrying is pointless. After all, while they gain sacred status during their lifetime in the tribe, those who marry a deity are treated well, and the children of deities are also highly regarded. But those children are not deities. Only deities come down from the sky.”
After the conversation ended, I confirmed the truth with the old wolf and realized it was all true. The old man seemed a bit shocked that I had overlooked such an obvious fact.
Deities come down from the sky. They can marry humans and bear children, but those heirs born afterward are just humans. Only deities descend from the sky.
In this cursed room, what exactly is a deity?
If deities come from the sky, then WHO and WHY are they sending deities here to the mortal realm?
Numerous questions swirled in my mind, leaving me in a daze.
…Five more days passed, and on the ninth day, we finally arrived near the mountain range. I met with two of my long-missed companions.
*
– Elena
The mountains keep getting higher. There are truly no words that fit better than this expression. How can the cursed room unleash such horrid chambers the further we go?
Room 202 was already problematic with me unexpectedly becoming a mermaid princess and nearly losing my mind transforming into a fish. But this room was even worse.
When I first regained consciousness, I screamed like a madwoman. And understandably so, because the scene before my eyes was horrifying!
The entire world was filled with writhing flesh. The ground was covered with pulsating lumps resembling breathing, flapping lips, and the sky was purple, with my resting place on a gigantic tongue.
If that didn’t make you scream, you’re not human!
As I shrieked, dozens of squid-like creatures with wriggling tentacles appeared and surrounded me, driving me to the brink of losing my sanity.
“Really scary! What would have happened if it weren’t for you guys?”
“Pee?”
“No! I’m saying thank you!”
They say humans can only grow when faced with a crisis, right?
In the moment of desperation, ‘happy thoughts’ conjured beautiful creatures that glimmered like fireflies, resembling eyes filled with starlight and wings shaped like green leaves.
Did those simply respond to my fear?
The fairies soon began to purify the monsters using their mysterious powers. As the fairies enveloped the writhing bodies of the creatures that once frightened me, madness faded, and beauty began to grow.
Yes! More fairies are appearing!
Gradually, the ugliness dwelling in the world began to dissipate. The radiant beings blossoming from my hands brightened the murky world around me.
“Still, it was somewhat lonely. Fairies can’t speak, you see. So I’m really happy to meet Seungyub now.”
“Gulp!”
Strangely, Seungyub started hiccuping ever since we met.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes! I’m… okay!”
“Seungyub, it’s not too painful, is it?”
“Sister! I’m really fine.”
Lately, I’ve been pondering how frail and inconvenient the human body is. It’s weak and not very sturdy. But above all, can’t fly? A weakness should be overcome!
“What do you think?”
“Excuse me?”
“Doesn’t your body feel too weak?”
“Gulp!”
As I gently touched the soft skin of hiccuping Seungyub, I found it incredibly smooth. While this delicate skin isn’t bad, having skin as tough as a beetle would—
“Ah!”
“Hmm?”
Strangely, part of Seungyub’s skin that I touched grew hard. And then he fainted.
I stood up quietly and looked outside. At this rate, we’d reach the mountain range in two days. When we arrive, I’m sure we’ll meet our companions!
This information is certain. A few days ago, the information I had gained from the writhing octopus, before I ‘beautified’ it, said that grandpa had started moving toward the mountain range, having ‘abandoned’ their former selves. Of course, I had no idea why the octopuses felt a fierce sense of betrayal toward him.
As I briefly turned my head to look at the fainted Seungyub, the earlier thought returned to me. This child is too weak. Shouldn’t I be a bit more ‘proactive’ in helping?
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