### Chapter 369 – Room 205, The Cursed Room – ‘The Absolute Master’ (18)
—
“… Is this it?”
It didn’t take long for Miro to abandon the chase.
The practical reason? The speed of the Demon Spirit, borrowing Cha Jinchul’s body, was absurdly fast.
Plus, waiting around seemed to be leading to at least an escape possibility.
Considering the nature of the Demon Spirit she had just grasped, the chances of it walking back in were slim.
Another threat, the Baehwa Leader, likely felt a significant sense of crisis regarding the events in the capital.
And most importantly, she couldn’t waste all her time in that cursed room of 205.
Her one hour was a carefully saved resource for the most critical moment.
Just as Miro stiffened her resolve, she heard a faint voice coming from the debris of the barrier.
“Are you the one who descended from the heavens?”
An old man’s voice. She recognized it.
“Lee Jaseong?”
“… Do you know me?”
“How have you survived until now?”
Curiosity stirred within Miro as she approached the old man to examine him closely.
He wasn’t just missing limbs; his entire body bore the scars of torture, presumably inflicted by the Demon Spirit.
Add the burns from the lightning she had dropped on him.
How he managed to survive was utterly baffling to her.
“The Demon Spirit didn’t kill you… Did it torment you to the last like it did the emperor?”
“…”
“How did you survive my lightning strike? Did you have a last-ditch effort planned?”
Instead of answering, the old man muttered softly.
“His nature remains the same.”
“Who? The Demon Spirit?”
“He was like this before too. Always acting cruel, cunning, and grand…”
“…”
“When truly in danger, his true form reveals itself. A thoroughly pitiful and weak being—an eternally immature, horrific child. That is the essence of the Demon Spirit.”
Miro realized the meaning behind the advice suggesting that if Han Kain regained consciousness, he could handle the Demon Spirit.
It wasn’t about physical or magical strength but about mental fortitude.
“I wondered how I could advance to the next stage.”
There was an odd warmth in the dying man’s voice.
As if something more important than the imminent death was at stake.
“At one time, I believed the path of the Demon Spirit was the way.”
“The path of the Demon Spirit?”
“Freedom of mind from secular reasoning and laws.”
“If you’re asking me, I didn’t get strong that way.”
“Then there’s this thought.”
Lee Jaseong seemed unconcerned by Miro’s interjections, spilling his revelations.
“Immortality weakens humans.”
“What?”
He didn’t have much time left.
Miro was aware of that, yet she decided to wait an additional ten seconds.
She was too curious about the old man’s insight.
“Eternal life… weakens the human mind. Because there’s always a next chance, you can give up this time. Hence, immortals grow cowardly and grotesque over time.”
“Like the Demon Spirit?”
“The very fact that there’s an end is what makes us truly great as humans… The opportunity granted to us should be just once. At the boundary between life and death, in that fleeting moment when one chance comes to an end… If one can encapsulate everything in that brief instant… That is the ultimate goal.”
After finishing those words, the old man slipped into eternal slumber.
…
Miro felt genuine admiration for the old man’s determination.
Since the moment the conversation began, he’d been torn apart and burned all over by lightning.
He seemed to survive through a hidden last resort and a bit of luck, but that was all.
There was no turning back from his death.
Yet until the last moment of his breath, he pondered the ‘ultimate of nothingness.’
His obsession with an extreme form of nothingness, or perhaps the result of madness.
If that’s what ‘talent’ or ‘aptitude’ is, this old man must have been born with the greatest quality in the world.
It was just that he couldn’t break free from his shell until the very end.
Miro shook her head lightly, dismissing any thoughts about the dead, and left a little note for herself on a scrap of paper.
… Her hand paused at the last line.
She hesitated to write anything definitive.
But she didn’t have the luxury to ponder endlessly; time was too short.
In the end, she let out a sigh and put down her pen.
“I don’t know. Figure it out yourselves.”
— Clink!
The needle on the pocket watch slipped past midnight.
She returned to being the powerless girl she once was.
—
– Miro
When her hazy mind returned, she found herself amongst the ruins.
It looked as if some massive earthquake had brought the city down.
As she stood there, dazed, she noticed a piece of paper in her hand.
“What, what is this?”
On the paper was a message that ‘I’ had left for ‘me.’
…
The next morning, at dawn.
I finally managed to escape the torments of Room 205.
—
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 178
Current Location: Floor 1, Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 3]
– Han Kain
As I woke in the corridor, I glanced around.
Was this the resolution? Has someone already claimed the inheritance?
…
Nope.
I’ve woken up enough times to tell right away—it wasn’t a resolution; it was an escape, and it wasn’t a very pleasant process.
Some people, like Eunsol and Seungyub, were even gagging.
“Hey, sis! You okay?”
“Seungyub, how about you grab a shower first?”
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for the two to calm down.
Even if the memories were brutal and painful, once out of the cursed room, they felt blurry.
During this process, clear memories dulled, and sometimes important ones slipped away, which was a drawback.
But had it not been for this consideration, everyone’s minds probably wouldn’t have been able to endure at the hotel.
While caring for the distressed Eunsol and Seungyub, Miro wore a somewhat puzzled expression.
She stood there alone, lost in thought as if muttering a sentence from a spell.
“What’s happening?”
“Room 207… 30 minutes… 20 minutes…”
“What?”
“Lee Jaseong… Lee Jaseong… What does it mean?”
“What are you up to?”
“Ahh!”
Miro startled herself, roughly pushing me away.
I was left with a dumbfounded expression as she seemed a bit embarrassed.
“I-I’ll explain later!”
Miro’s promise was taken literally.
After everyone showered and gathered at the snack table, Miro indeed had an astonishing story to share.
“Did everyone understand?”
Miro beamed with a triumphant smile.
I was genuinely impressed.
Although a significant portion of Miro’s explanation was difficult to grasp, one thing was certain.
An unexpected disaster occurred when she woke me from slumber, leading to tremendous peril.
In this situation, Miro didn’t crumble in despair but executed her last resort, successfully saving us all.
The girl before me was still slightly awkward, possessing a cleverness akin to that of a child…
But it eased my mind a bit to know she seemed a tad more reliable now.
“Well done!”
As Eunsol cheerfully hugged Miro, everyone shared a light laugh.
—
It was time to analyze what really happened.
To summarize the second attempt in Room 205:
The party split in half—one group blocked the Baehwa from the barrier, while the other moved to unseal me.
Fortunately, the imperial forces brought in Cheon-ui-myeong and emerged victorious against the Baehwa.
Faced with crisis, the Baehwa attempted to erect a colossal structure known as the ‘Sky Tower’ to summon a divine being.
Eventually, the imperial side managed to tear it down, cornering the Baehwa.
Suddenly, the Demon Spirit barged in and massacred my allies.
The deaths were so abrupt that many of my companions were unsure who had taken them down.
For instance, Grandpa Mooksung’s last memory cut off just as he stepped outside the barrier and ran into an unidentified martial artist.
Similarly, Jinchul’s last memory was a brief glance exchanged with his teacher while walking down the street, and the doctor was at a similar level.
It was pretty much like getting hit by a truck just walking down the road.
The reason such absurd accidents occurred was simple.
Miro summoned the doctor to wake me, who casually fired a final flash of light into the depths of the underground.
But—
Accidentally, the laser shot straight through me, killing me.
Thanks to that, the Demon Spirit was perfectly awakened as that ‘restriction’ was finally removed.
Honestly, I doubt the hotel accounted for a situation this ridiculous.
It was such a ludicrous scenario that the doctor’s jaw just dropped.
“Is that even possible?!”
“Uh? Um…?”
As Miro panicked, the doctor coughed lightly and lowered his tone.
“Ahem. Miro, I’m not questioning you, but that’s just an absurdly low probability!”
That was precisely what I was thinking.
I’ve heard the walls of Cheongzam Mountain are massive, and yet here I was, buried somewhere underground.
You’re telling me a random laser just happened to exactly pierce through me?
Given the mountain’s size, my body was probably akin to a grain of sand, right?
Is this some sort of insane difficulty level where I’d shoot at someone with a gun just as they shot at me?
Miro didn’t seem to seriously think about the probability, however, and showed a distinctly flustered reaction.
“Is… Is that so?”
Just then, Ahri tapped the table lightly.
“Miro, think back to that memory.”
“Memory?”
“Did ‘the laser’ actually pierce through Kain?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve used the final flash several times, and its power is no joke. If it made contact with a human body? It could turn flesh to vapor without leaving a trace.”
Miro frowned as she responded.
“Then Kain’s hand wouldn’t have survived?”
“That’s it.”
We delved further into this subject, but it went nowhere.
Miro’s memory of those circumstances was insufficient.
In the end, we had to conclude that it was just ludicrously bad luck.
“Um… I apologize for aiming the laser too accurately.”
I interrupted the doctor, who was indiscriminately apologizing.
If luck was truly that foul, it was needless to say “sorry” about something that just happened.
“Come on, you need to let a teammate die or two for a real hotel experience anyway.”
Ahri said it so nonchalantly, leaving everyone wearing incredulous expressions, sealing the topic.
—
Next up was a subject that piqued everyone’s curiosity—‘the past Miro.’
The fact that ‘the past Miro’ was saved at the time-dilation device’s ‘midnight’ shocked everyone.
In that moment, I nearly started asking her why she concealed such serious information.
But my sis next to me gripped my hand gently.
“…”
“She must have been anxious herself.”
“… I guess so.”
Other people seemed to share the same sentiment, merely exchanging looks that suggested they were unsure whether to speak.
Miro, with an awkward expression, simply bowed her head in apology.
Jinchul chuckled and said, “Well, I’m just glad you told us at last. After all, that power saved all our lives.”
“Thank you~!”
—
As the situation calmed, Miro quickly raised her hand and started jotting something down on the whiteboard.
1. Stay still and wait, and the escape option will pop up.
2. Save the time until midnight. Require over 30 minutes in Room 207. Already consumed around 20 minutes.
3. About Lee Jaseong.
Lee Jaseong…
With that, Miro stopped writing.
After tilting her head for a moment, Ahri asked, “What’s this? Did Super Saiyan Miro leave a record?”
“Super Saiyan? What’s that?”
Amidst the giggling from Jinchul and the old man, Miro stared blankly at Ahri.
Eunsol sighed and answered, “It means a really strong Miro. Let’s just call it ‘Midnight Miro.’ Is that the record left by Midnight Miro?”
“Yeah.”
“What about the ‘Lee Jaseong’ part? Did you forget—”
“Ah, no way!”
Miro firmly denied it.
“Originally, that note was cut off right there.”
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