### Chapter 310 – Room 204, Mission Room – ‘Hotel Cinema’ (32)
—
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 135
Current Location: Level 2, Room 204 – Mission Room, ‘Hotel Cinema’
Sage’s Advice: 3
—
– Han Kain
If what I saw right before Seungyub died is correct, I need to resolve the anomalies Kevin is swept up in and find a way to escape the mansion.
However, after wandering around the mansion’s first through third floors, I still haven’t found any answers to resolve these phenomena. I also couldn’t find any exit, nor the key to unlock the front door that Kevin’s parents locked.
Sure, I know one way out. If I can somehow persuade Dollyphant to break through the wall, that would do the trick. But making such a ruckus by smashing through the mansion’s walls makes me uneasy.
I felt like it could attract that being outside. The creature that crushed Seungyub with just a flick of its hand would likely tear Dollyphant apart like a toy!
Also, I’m starting to doubt whether persuading Dollyphant to escape like that is truly something a 12-year-old boy would naturally come up with.
But right now, I couldn’t think of any other plans. The fact that Dollyphant was roaring from above only added to my anxiety.
“KEEEEVIN! Why am I the only one looking for cookies?”
“Wait just a second!”
I quickly ran over to the angry Dollyphant and tried to reason with him.
“Dollyphant! It seems there aren’t any sweets in this house.”
“What? Then what about tea time—”
“Let’s get out of here!”
Dollyphant’s eyes widened.
“Let’s break the wall and get out. There might be cookies outside!”
Tilting its head, Dollyphant unexpectedly made a sharp rebuttal.
“Tea time, but suddenly going outside the mansion? Kevin, you shouldn’t act so undignified!”
I was momentarily stumped but quickly thought of a plausible excuse.
“Dollyphant! Didn’t you read the book closely? Many illustrations showed scenes of having tea in the garden outside!”
Remembering this, Dollyphant nodded.
“Okay! However, breaking the walls is still too undignified. Let’s go out through the door.”
Moving to the first floor, Dollyphant nudged the door with its nose and then started to get frustrated.
“It won’t open!”
— Boom!
What happened to his earlier claim that breaking walls was undignified? Dollyphant, already frustrated, began ramming its hefty body against the door.
— Crack!
Eventually, it couldn’t endure the third collision, and the mansion’s door burst open. The world beyond was blocked by a fluffy black-brown fabric.
“… What the heck?”
“Kevin? What’s wrong with the outside?”
“I have no clue—”
[Advice: 3 -> 2]
[Roll to the right immediately!]
At the moment the fluffy fabric suddenly tore, revealing a massive light emerging from the darkness – my body instinctively rolled sideways!
At the same time, a crazy cat, Cathy, started bumping her head against the mansion as if trying to shake it!
“Kyyaaaa! Kevin~! Save me!”
Why is she calling me?
And Cathy, please! What were you doing with your head shoved at the mansion entrance? And why on earth are you shaking the mansion? You must have a reason!
“AAHHHH!”
“Kyeeek!”
The chaotic moments didn’t last long. Cathy seemed to get bored of playing with the mansion and vanished somewhere.
Outside the mansion, ‘real Kevin’s home’ existed, and Cathy, the cat that wasn’t here, was roaming around. I realized this after catching a glimpse of a large cat’s face just before Seungyub died on the screen.
My companions might not have recognized the blurry figure as a cat because it was so massive, but I had a similar experience going outside the snow globe of the hotel on the second floor, so I figured it out.
If outside is ‘real Kevin’s house,’ what is this place I’m in? Am I inside some dollhouse? Is Kevin summoned to the dollhouse right now?
For now, it seemed the only way to find out was to go outside. As I moved toward the entrance of the now-chaotic mansion, I caught Dollyphant, wedged in a corner, saying something utterly unbelievable.
“… Kevin, it’s dangerous outside, so you shouldn’t go out recklessly.”
It’s funny that Dollyphant is giving me this advice, but he’s right. Heading out thoughtlessly is definitely risky.
[Advice: 2 -> 1]
‘Is there a safe way to get outside?’
[When meeting a bear on the mountain, you don’t need to be faster than the bear.]
It’s a famous tale. When encountering a predator on the mountain, as long as you’re faster than someone else, you can survive. Connecting this ‘lesson’ to my situation, I came up with an answer.
I need to go out with the toys.
“I absolutely need to get out.”
“Kevin! Didn’t you just see the monster? It’s dangerous outside, I tell you!”
Instead of answering, I prepared to go outside. I grabbed the transformed Happy Happy, wishing he could take a hit for me at least once. Next, I picked up the tracks rolling on the ground beside Thomas, who was being tossed around as the mansion shook, heading toward the broken front door.
Before I knew it, Thomas steadied himself, honked, and this time took off toward the front door. Just as I cautiously followed behind, Dollyphant appeared at my side.
“…”
“Let’s go out together!”
What a surprise. I thought Dollyphant wouldn’t join after seeing Cathy, so I didn’t even attempt to persuade him!
“There’s definitely going to be cookies outside!”
“… Alright. I hope that’s the case.”
— Beep!
With a loud noise, as Thomas went outside through the front door, Dollyphant and I quickly followed suit. As soon as we popped out, we took in the surrounding situation.
Where the heck am I? Is this a shelf against the wall of ‘real mansion’? This means I’ve been inside a model mansion up on the shelf this whole time?
Quickly moving my gaze side to side to observe the scenery around the shelf—
“Mew!”
— Thud!
“Eek!”
In the brief moment after hearing Thomas’s horn, that damn cat appeared!
“Damn! A truly insane cat—what is that? Kevin?”
I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Kevin attached to me was here, yet there was another Kevin outside? What in the world is going on?
Outside Kevin was lounging on the sofa under the shelf. From the looks of it, he was probably asleep. Had just his spirit been dragged into this mansion?
— Squeak!
“Save meeeeee!”
Hearing a noise that sounded like a toy being torn apart from afar, I realized I was out of time. Once Thomas, Happy Happy, and Dollyphant are all taken out, it’ll be my turn next!
I jumped off the shelf toward the sofa. Even though I had no idea what I was supposed to do, I just jumped!
In the brief moment of freefall, it felt like time slowed down as if a movie was running in fast forward—
And then, the last piece of advice popped up.
[Advice: 1 -> 0]
[Teleporting directly onto Kevin’s eye!]
— Thud!
—
When I regained my senses, I found myself waking up on the sofa. My right eye was throbbing painfully, and as I rubbed it, I spotted a small Lego toy. The Lego resembled Kevin quite astonishingly.
“Mew!”
Cathy was making a racket from up on the shelf. Grabbing Cathy by the scruff of her neck, I noticed the half-destroyed train toy and the torn trunk of the elephant toy all in view.
I haphazardly pushed Cathy into a room and used tape to fix Dollyphant’s nose, who had put in a lot of effort for me. Just then, Suzie, who had been sleeping nearby, woke up.
“Woof!”
As soon as she came to, Suzie, feeling uneasy, approached me. Upon noticing the Happy Happy doll nearby, she flinched in surprise.
“… So, was this all a dream for you and me?”
“Woof!”
“Did we just get dragged into that mansion on the shelf?”
“Woof?”
“Guess you had a pretty tough time too, huh?”
As I leaned against the wall to catch my breath, the space began to shake.
“… At last, it’s over. It’s a farewell, but still, thanks everyone. Good job.”
With one arm wrapped around the repaired Dollyphant and the other around the Golden Retriever, I closed my eyes, waiting for the end.
—
The familiar scent of coffee tickled my nose. Perhaps due to all the struggles, as I gently rubbed my painful neck, I listened to Cha Eun-pyo’s story.
“Isn’t it outrageous? A clown doll that spits out weird sounds, a mad train that spins around laughing uncontrollably, and an elephant that’s suddenly throwing a tea party! And at the end, I even teleported!”
Oh! They wouldn’t take issue with mentioning a teleport at the end, would they?
“But all of that was just a dream, right?”
“Correct. I guess at that time, I was just a kid. It was incredibly vivid, but… it was indeed just a dream. Well, that’s how reality works. Or is it? It seems others here have also gone through unbelievable experiences…”
Thank goodness. They’re casually just brushing it off as a kid’s dream! If I had known that, I would’ve brought the Grimoire and used it without hesitation.
“Hmm…”
“… Sorry. Ultimately, it’s just a boring story because it was a dream.”
“Uh? Ah! I see, Eun-pyo-kun thought my ‘Hmm!’ meant I was disappointed. Not at all! Rather, I’ve been wondering if there were mysterious events that even you weren’t aware of.”
“A mysterious event even I wasn’t aware of?”
“You mentioned it was just an ordinary child’s dream, but I hear the dog you raised had the same dream, right?”
“That, that was a bit surprising for me! Suzie would bark madly at a clown doll until her last breath after that!”
“You never know. Perhaps you really did get swept away into that magical model house on the shelf and escaped from it. The world is filled with mysterious happenings. By the way, what happened to that model house afterwards?”
“Well… it suddenly vanished one day.”
“Oh! Now that’s truly a curious incident. Alright! Since it was an amusing story, I’ll mark this as ‘confirmed.’”
It appeared everything went swimmingly.
As I breathed a sigh of relief, the gaze of Doh In-ho, the writer, turned toward me, the last person remaining at the table.
“Now, only one person is left.”
“… That’s true.”
What should I even say? Do I have anything worth saying? Or maybe—
“Once, I had a strange dream.”
The moment my ‘script’ began, I found myself unable to control my body.
“Are you talking about dreams?”
“It was on a breezy February evening. At that time, I was a high school senior just done with college entrance exams. That period is undeniably one of those rare golden times in life, isn’t it?”
“Indeed, it is.”
“I went on a solo backpacking trip. Though it’s a bit embarrassing to admit, I did receive decent pocket money since my exam results weren’t bad. So I could afford to travel leisurely. The last place I headed was a hotel in Jeju Island….”
—
A long story emerged. As I shared my experiences at the hotel, it turned out to be quite amusing and mysterious.
Sometimes, I wondered why everyone acted so foolish, and at some points, it reminded me of times when I thought, “Wow! That’s so cool, I did that!”
And so, a long time passed.
“And now, we’re here.”
“Ohhhh.”
After a brief contemplation, Doh In-ho, the writer, opened his mouth with interest.
“As you said, right now, this place is within Room 204 of ‘Hotel Pioneer.’”
“That’s correct.”
“This is Room 204, part of Hotel Cinema? This conversation now is also part of the play within the horror film?”
“Exactly.”
“How fascinating. Truly intriguing. It sounds like a story that could make for an excellent webtoon…”
“Re-really?”
“However, while listening, a question came to my mind.”
“Excuse me?”
Suddenly, Doh In-ho leaned forward and looked directly at me.
—
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