### Chapter 316 – Miro (1)
—
– Kim Ahri
My vision blurred. Tears streamed down my cheeks for the first time in a long while.
I knew it. I had an inkling.
My irrational obsession with Miro might not be a natural emotion. I’ve pondered this countless times.
I’m an agent of the Administration Bureau. After encountering incomprehensible beings and powers that touch on human emotions, it’s bizarre that I haven’t considered this possibility before.
But… “could be” and “is” are quite different.
— Whooooosh!
With a bizarre sound, the mirrors all around began to show different images again. My heart stirred by the sight of Miro’s wish just moments ago.
As I wiped my flowing tears, I recalled the conversation I had with Kain earlier.
What’s the beginning of love? It’s genetics.
The social and cultural pressures emphasizing help and affection among family members, or the bond between parents and children, are merely forces sustaining love that’s already formed.
That’s right. The start of love is like a pre-programmed setting. So, love created by a wish isn’t all that different from love formed genetically.
I believed that. I decided to believe it.
The one fortunate thing is that my memories of Miro aren’t that bad. She wasn’t a good person, nor frankly a good mother—but she definitely loved me.
In the end, Miro provided me an escape route while sacrificing herself.
Once again, the flickering images in the mirror faded, revealing just one single reflection. Just as expected, a notification popped up.
“Would you like to make a wish? Press ‘Yes’ to fulfill your wish.”
My hand touched the floating alarm in mid-air.
*
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 137
Current Location: Level 1, Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 3]
– Han Kain
“To put it simply—”
“Yawn!”
“Don’t yawn!”
“Hey, it’s 4 AM…”
My grandpa’s ‘individual alarm’ kept ringing relentlessly, so I wrangled up enough strength to get up. When I stepped outside, Grandpa yawned and went back inside, leaving only Ahri.
“So, you managed to wish for Miro’s mind to come back, huh?”
“Right.”
“Good for you. But why just me?”
It’s only natural to wake me up for something important regarding Miro. The odd part is that it was only me they called for.
“Well… things went a little differently than originally planned.”
“Okay, I’ll listen closely this time, so tell me again.”
“Sure. The issue started when Miro made her second wish.”
“Second wish? You said the first wish was the one that created you, right?”
“Exactly. The problem is, on the day I was born in the Mirror Room, Miro didn’t just make one wish; she made two.”
“Hmmm… Did she make both the free wish and a wish using a ticket one after the other? How do you even know that? Did the Mirror Room tell you?”
“It did. It confirmed she made them one after the other.”
“How about the ticket? Well, now that you’ve passed through the first floor, she must’ve had a ticket. Did she obtain it herself?”
“… Miro might’ve gotten it, or she might’ve taken it.”
After a brief silence, I opened my mouth again.
“Sounds like no one outside knew about that. You just got born, so you wouldn’t know, and the one who made the wish regressed to infancy, so how could they know? Anyway, why is that second wish a problem?”
“That wish caused Miro to lose her intellect.”
This reminded me of something Songee mentioned before. The hotel doesn’t take human intellect as payment, so the loss of intellect may very well be a result of the wish itself.
There was something puzzling.
“That’s strange. When we ended Miro’s nightmare in Ice Hell, we met an adult Miro, right?”
“True.”
“At that time, Miro explained about the Mirror Room and said, ‘I tried to achieve many goals there, but in return, I lost everything.’”
Ahri opened her mouth slightly, as if stumped.
“What’s wrong?”
“Wait, how do you remember that entire sentence?”
“… It was quite an impactful memory. Anyway, think about that statement. No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t sound like a case of someone intending to lose their intellect, does it?”
“You’re right. It wasn’t Miro’s intention. It’s a matter of perspective.”
“A matter of perspective?”
“From Miro’s point of view, it was a massive disaster, while from the Mirror Room’s point of view, it fulfilled her wish. The second wish was…”
Ahri paused, as if choosing her words carefully.
“To resolve my weaknesses?”
“Miro’s weaknesses?”
“To gain stronger power?”
“Whoa! What on earth was the wish?”
“I want to phrase it in one sentence, but it’s tough. You know the Mirror Room isn’t a place where spoken words are just heard, right? Miro herself said, ‘Please resolve my weaknesses.’”
“But what she actually desired was different?”
“It was more like she wished for various things all at once. Let’s revisit the situation. The party Miro entered the Mirror Room with was in a state of collapse, wasn’t it?”
“It was.”
“Miro thought her own issues contributed to that collapse.”
“… A little?”
“At that point, she must’ve thought she needed a one-person escape route secured first so that once she left the hotel, she could think about re-entering.”
“To want to go back after escaping… wow, she really is something.”
“The issue is this: if Miro has a problem that caused the party to collapse, then upon entering again, her same issues could trigger the party to collapse again.”
“So, she tried to fix the problem itself? I get why she wished for it, but how does that connect to the loss of her intellect?”
Suddenly, Ahri chuckled.
“Kain, what do you think is the reason the Deep Sea Hotel party fell apart?”
“The doc told us, right? Your mom’s… authoritarian nature had a huge impact. She tried to brainwash and control people.”
“How does one solve that?”
“Reasonable communication and improving the relationship itself, I’d guess? This would be the standard method, right? I feel embarrassed to say it, but like how we are now.”
“Other ways exist too.”
“Like what?”
“If you could snap your fingers and overpower the entire party, how many would dare rebel against Miro then?”
“…”
“Miro thought her greatest issue was the ‘blessing she couldn’t wield freely.’”
I started to understand. Leadership isn’t solely built through communication.
In fact, the famous monarchs of human history and modern dictators prefer to control through overwhelming power.
Gradually, I started to comprehend the complete picture of what transpired that day.
The Mirror Room recognizes the many impulses within the participants’ hearts simultaneously. Miro probably reflected on her disrupted party in the Deep Sea Hotel.
She must’ve thought that if her own problems contributed to it, returning after escaping would be pointless. What could her issues be?
My blessing, ‘Justice,’ holds immense power but comes with numerous and strict conditions. With many weaknesses in that blessing, even after inheriting vengeance, my capabilities have vulnerabilities.
What if I could wield that blessing freely? If I could disregard the conditions of my blessing and wield an overwhelming power that surpasses Justice at my will?
No one would be able to stand against me.
“Was this the flow of thought?”
“… Probably.”
“In the end, we were mistaken about your mom, Ahri. She didn’t lose her intellect because of accidental circumstances. She lost her intellect because she wanted to wield Justice freely.”
“She likely didn’t foresee the loss of intellect. It seemed she vaguely thought it would be nice to wield that blessing freely, but for that, she needed to regress to infancy.”
I finally found the answer to the biggest question about Miro: why did she lose her intellect? She wished for her weaknesses to vanish, and she believed that weakness lay in the blessing she couldn’t wield freely.
The Mirror Room offered to make Miro capable of wielding her blessing at will.
“Now I see why Miro’s loss of intellect is a result of her wish. This is where the problem arose. Even before I made my wish, I didn’t know there was a limitation in the Mirror Room.”
“Limitation?”
“You can’t change someone else’s wish with your wish.”
“Oh!”
“That’s why reverting Miro’s mind to her ‘adult state’ is impossible.”
“So, what are we supposed to do? You can’t possibly mean to revive her in a child form, right? Even if you did revive Miro now, she wouldn’t be able to wield Justice—”
“Just listen. It’s impossible to revert her to ‘adult form.’ The hotel recognizes Miro in three states.”
One is the infantile state—akin to a disaster. Another is the dangerously grown adult Miro.
The last one is…
“Wait… Are you talking about the middle school Miro we met in Ice Hell?”
“That’s correct. Resurrecting that self is not an issue. Perhaps the Mirror Room perceives distinct selves as separate beings… it might classify the Miro who made a wish as a different entity to be merged back into Miro’s body.”
By the time I had half my mouth agape, Ahri lightly bowed her head.
“When Miro awakens, she’ll recognize you too. Help her adjust.”
Thus ended our dawn conversation.
*
The next morning, Ahri gathered everyone and briefly explained the situation.
She covered the reasons why Miro’s mind broke down, the limitations of the Mirror Room that prevent erasing someone else’s wish, and the circumstances of needing to awaken the middle school Miro’s mind instead.
At first, the companions were flustered, asking Ahri a barrage of questions. By the time everyone began to understand, some had unexpected reactions.
“That’s good news.”
Eunsol said. Surprised, I turned to see even the doctor nodding.
Seungyub looked puzzled and asked, “Good news? Isn’t this a pretty shocking situation?”
“Sure, it’s shocking, but isn’t it pretty good news? Look at the situation.”
With that, my sister wrote three words on the whiteboard, as she always did.
“Mad Miro
Adult Miro
Middle School Miro”
“Okay, pick one of these three. Which one’s the scariest?”
“….”
“….”
“Mad Miro is something even Ahri thought ‘yikes’ about, so it’s not worth mentioning. What about adult Miro? Isn’t she terrifying in a different sense?”
Multiple people nodded repeatedly in unison.
“Absolutely.”
“I was honestly really scared! She’s Ahri’s mom, and you just never know what she might do! She’s clearly got a lot of schemes brewing!”
“Cough!”
“Sorry, Ahri! But since you’ve already revived the third Miro…”
“Yeah…”
“The middle school version of Miro is the best option. From what Kain said, she had a pretty cute and kind personality, right?”
“Well… aside from how she uses her powers as if they’re second nature, she wasn’t evil or anything.”
“That’s probably not a significant threat to us now.”
A flute appeared in my sister’s hand. Seeing her confident expression made me feel more at ease.
“Okay! Let’s head out right away!”
A shining ticket flew across the table into Ahri’s hands. In the momentary pause, my sister resolutely stated.
“What’s taking so long? We’re going to wake her eventually, right? Her intellect is restored, so there’s no reason to delay any longer.”
Holding the ticket, Ahri stood awkwardly, bowing slowly to everyone. It was only when she turned to leave the table that everyone realized.
Now, the 10th companion, likely the last companion we would meet in the hotel, was about to awaken.
*
– Miro
…
…
…
I had a strange dream.
A long, very long dream. I attended school and played happily with friends every day.
At the end of it all…
Santa was always there, adorned in blood-red clothes and crafting mountains of cadavers.
That existence marked my demise, the beginning of my eternal nightmare.
Every day, I killed with friends and forgot everything. In that fleeting moment between death and life, I faintly regained my consciousness. Every time, I thought to myself,
“This is my fate. How did I fall into this incomprehensible hell?”
Then, one day, the content of the dream shifted for the first time.
An extremely familiar, adorable friend who looks just like me, along with a mysterious boy hiding enchanting secrets, appeared. And… and…
Now, I am waking up in a hazy fog.
“… What is this?”
“Please choose your second fate.”
Before me was a table scattered with various fragments.
—
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