### Chapter 273 – A Time Full of Trials
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[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 131
Current Location: Room 105 – Room of Rest
Sage’s Advice: 3]
— Han Kain
— Crinkle crunch!
The mysterious sound coming from my mouth made me ridiculously happy. It was the delightful sound of a perfectly grilled steak cracking as I tore into its crust, formed by just the right Maillard reaction. As my tongue and teeth breached its crusty wall, a sea of juices flooded out.
The thick, pink meat crumbled in my mouth, and the warm, savory juices moistened my tongue. After savoring a piece with great care and swallowing it, I took a swig of cola from my glass.
With food this good, my score should probably be—
“I dunno!” That’s more like it! I’d have to eat this for a whole day to get a proper grasp on the flavor!
I dove into the steak, then tackled some pork cutlet, followed by spaghetti, thoroughly demolishing the nateless feast spread before me.
Earlier, we had exited the cursed Room 203 and made our way to Room 105, silently eating for about 20 minutes—completely lost in our meals.
Only then did my companions begin to gather their wits, lifting their heads one by one.
“Whoa, this is super tasty! Was the hotel food always this good?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had food this delicious in my life! Aww! I might just cry…”
And no joke, Songyi actually started tearing up.
“Eat this and stop!”
Ahri scooped a spoonful of white rice, topped with a piece of Spam and some stir-fried kimchi, and handed it to Songyi, who accepted it while still sniffling. Seriously, were we a bunch of starving refugees or something?
Of course, here I was too, desperately trying to shove more meat in my mouth, which led to Grandpa scolding me to eat slowly, reminding me that the meat wasn’t going to run away.
Moments ago, my older sister had been inhaling bulgogi, but now, she had her head back on straight and started to speak sensibly.
“When we walked down the corridor, we talked about all sorts of things, but now that food is in front of us, it looks like everyone’s lost their minds!”
“Eunsol, chew your bulgogi and swallow it before talking!”
“Can’t do that! You have to keep eating bulgogi endlessly!”
“But seriously… what the heck has everyone been through to lead to this chaos?”
The only one not vibing with this atmosphere was Ahri, flailing her hands like she was the daughter of a wealthy family lost among these food-crazed warriors.
“Oh, you really should’ve experienced it yourself! Do you know what the first thing I got to eat when I started in Room 203 was?”
“What was it?”
“A caterpillar! No exaggeration! They called a caterpillar on a leaf a special dish!”
Hearing her, Grandpa snorted.
“Well, at least a caterpillar is still food, right? You got a decent treat there. I was served a handful of tree nuts that had less nutrition than acorns and called it a meal!”
“I got tree bark and ants boiled in water… apparently it was some tribe’s traditional health food.”
Mr. Sanghyun, who had been listening in, couldn’t help but chime in.
“At least you all had something. Our tribe didn’t bother to feed us at all. I was worried we’d end up eating each other, so I had to gamble my life to find food!”
“Eating each other?! Don’t tell me those terrifying stories… It’s already been horrific enough for me, you know? I’ll definitely have to share this!”
“Why do you want to tell us if it was so terrible?”
“If I didn’t go through it, I wouldn’t understand it; since I did experience it, everyone must know!”
As Songyi said something ridiculous, Ahri’s mouth actually dropped open. And what did Songyi do? Naturally, she launched into an outrageous tale.
“I woke up on this crazy rough straw bed, right? Right after I came to and was surveying the area, some old man came in, congratulated me on waking up, and suddenly brought me hot meat.”
“Meat?”
“At first, I didn’t know any better and gratefully ate a bit. But then suddenly, out of nowhere, a Perro flew in and knocked the plate away. That’s when I sensed something was off.”
… I think I could guess the identity of that meat.
“Turns out they grilled up the wrist of a dead warrior they’d hunted! And then they were like, ‘It’s still fresh, so don’t worry!’ I almost passed out!”
That feeling…
For quite some time, we continued this absurd competition of who had it worse. So many bizarre stories came pouring out, I didn’t even have a chance to speak up myself. Listening made me realize that even something like my ‘stinky meat porridge’ might sound like a gourmet dish in comparison.
It was surreal: we had spent over ten days gorging ourselves with such fare. Meanwhile, other tribal folks were eating even worse scraps, and with that, nobody had the right to complain while holding back the urge to vomit during every mealtime.
Then came the feast spread before us, and it made all of us lose our marbles!
Around that time, Seungyub, who had silently devoured five plates of pork cutlet, finally raised his head. A spontaneous hush fell over the room.
“Who… who’s the likely champion of this pathetic competition?”
“Seungyub, how’ve you been? Everyone was really worried about you.”
“I’ve had… quite an interesting time.”
Silence enveloped the area.
“Looking back now, it seems there wasn’t much respect for me from the start. If they treat the sorcerer poorly, then they’ll probably treat the warrior leader with a bit more respect, right? They told me with the cold weather approaching, I should predict a location for water and food.”
“Predict?”
“They caught some armadillo or another and skinned it, then smeared my blood all over the skin before roasting it. Then they moved their tribe based on where the skin split.”
“What the…? Is that some kind of primitive divination or something? Why are these savages so creative?”
“Except I messed up four times in a row. If my blessings had been intact, I might’ve gotten it right. But hey, every time I failed, they drew more of my blood to smear.”
The story was already getting disgusting.
“Honestly, it wasn’t remotely useful. When they smeared a bucket of my blood over that armadillo skin, I thought, ‘Am I going to die like this?’ But that wasn’t the end either.”
“By the way… Elena mentioned you were tied up somewhere?”
“The fourth ‘prediction’ was also a failure. Honestly, I still don’t understand what those idiots read from the burned armadillo skin. Was it the fourth day or the fifth day? The result said it would take almost a day to move northwest.”
“So they actually marched a day?”
“Yeah. But that ended up leading them to a barren wasteland without a drop of water, and soon some exhausted tribesmen started collapsing and dying.”
“… No way.”
“Then the warrior leader, called ‘The Wolf Running Across the Plains,’ proclaimed, ‘Our forerunners’ wrath over the newfangled delinquency, foolishness, and greed means we must appease them with a sacrifice of blood!’”
“….”
“As I was tied up, the warriors vanished somewhere, planning to ignite a fire below me. Here’s the funny part: the wasteland was so desolate they struggled to find anything to burn, so it took forever just to get a fire going.”
Of course, no one laughed. Seungyub suddenly burst up from the table.
“That’s when! Suddenly a heavenly angel swooped down and wiped out the wicked tribesmen, saving me! Although that angel did seem a bit… off!”
“… Be sure to tell that story to Elena later. I’m sure it’ll be a great help.”
“Sure, but wait—Elena hasn’t eaten!”
At the mention of Elena, whose mental shock was far beyond anyone else’s, everyone’s expressions darkened. No one had expected this would happen…
After facing dark imaginings near the mountains, once the cause of our madness vanished, Elena—slowly regaining her faculties—realized she had committed slaughters during her blank moments. She stood there dazed for a while, saying she was going to take a nap before heading into the bedroom.
I had no idea how to comfort her.
It might have been a bit unethical, but honestly, a part of me hoped she would just forget about it all. After all, with our escape from the cursed room, the evil she had enacted would be as good as wiped away. If she entered the room again, all those who had died would likely come back to life.
Moreover, strictly speaking, once we resolved the main goal we had—solving the room—all the NPCs would disappear anyway. With that in mind, I believed that NPC lives couldn’t genuinely be equated with real human lives.
Of course, that was just my perspective, and it was something Elena needed to overcome.
In the end, we didn’t get to discuss the serious matter of solving the room until lunch was over.
*
As I strolled down the corridor, deep in thought, I realized I had come out of Room 203 after our escape. If that was coincidence, it was quite a peculiar one.
The party had split into two main groups.
Jinchul, the doctor, Grandpa, and I made up the group that joined the mountainous path, while Eunsol and Songyi found themselves following the traces of some bizarre creature in the sky, which we can conveniently call the “shadow group.”
Among us, only the shadow group managed to escape. They said after following the shadows for about ten days, they suddenly found the opportunity to escape, as if it had just appeared out of nowhere.
Incredibly, those who escaped didn’t even understand “what” they had escaped from or “why.” They just said, out of the blue, the option to escape had appeared.
However, the timing of their escape closely coincided with when the mountain party encountered Ahri, unleashing rays before they were wiped out. I had an inkling that this wasn’t mere coincidence.
The events we set off in the mountains clearly must have impacted the shadow group, who were moving further away like shadows. Though how exactly that affected them, I couldn’t say. And then—
Thud!
“Deep in thought alone, are we?”
“Ah, Professor?”
“I called from behind, but there was no response, so I figured I’d come say hi.”
“Sorry about that.”
“No need to apologize. By the way, it doesn’t seem like things are getting any easier. We should have another meeting in the evening. Gathering information from others in-between shows this level of confusion is quite rare.”
“Right, huh….”
“Who’s our opponent? Could it be Ahri, who showed up in the city? However, that doesn’t mean anything. After all, we’re clueless as to who’s manipulating Ahri. I can let the prisoners go since they don’t need to know anything unless we’re breaking free. But what curse hangs over Room 203?”
“Not a clue.”
“Of course, we learned a fair amount of information. I found out there are the ruins of an ancient civilization beyond the mountains. Additionally, there’s a malevolent existence that’s seized Ahri over at that location. Also, it seems Seungyub saw something curious at the end.”
Something strange?
“Let’s discuss that later. However, I do have one suggestion. I thought I should let you know ahead of time.”
“A suggestion?”
The teacher, who had been wearing a somewhat tired expression, sighed.
“Let’s move on to the next room.”
“…”
“Room 203 is absurdly difficult; even if I combine my experiences from the first hotel, this room stands out as excessively tough.”
“Tough?…”
“Not in terms of danger. Room 203 itself isn’t particularly dangerous compared to others. By danger metrics, 202 was a nightmare, where we faced doom within one day, and the prisoners in 104 were degenerates trying to devour us. In comparison, Room 203 gives us time to breathe. We’ve now spent over ten days here without even knowing what the curse threatening us is. What does that signify?”
“It likely means we have over ten days left before the curse strikes.”
“It’s the most relaxed room in terms of time. Yet, in terms of sheer difficulty, the reverse is true. The mental anguish from being forcibly torn away from friends is hell.”
In Room 203, the hotel party would have to fight alone in different locations.
“I don’t need to tell you that physically, right? Let’s put aside the whining about not having a car or air conditioning. Room 203 is somehow prioritized where we can’t even find food to eat. All the water is nothing but murky water.”
“Man, the more I talk, the worse it sounds.”
“That’s why I plan to suggest we move on to the next room during the evening meeting.”
“…”
“I’m not suggesting we abandon Room 203 forever. Once we recover our strength and gather ourselves in a less torturous environment, we’ll return. As a mental health expert, I could confidently say Seungyub and Elena will shudder at the sight of just ‘203.’”
My head was becoming messy once more. Would there even be a comfort in moving to the next room?
Still, it was true that Room 203 was way beyond tough. Even comparing the cursed rooms, the primitive settings that separated us from our allies was a stark first experience. It felt like I should probably talk things over with everyone.
—
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