Chapter: 39
Chapter 39 – Party Time! – In Search of the Secret
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 14
Current Location: Floor 1, Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 3]
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of my footsteps echoed in the corridor. A bizarre sensation—it was so quiet that even my footsteps sounded like a marching band. Ever since we arrived at the hotel, I had never wandered around by myself for this long. After leaving Room 103 together yesterday, we had spent the day eating, resting, and experimenting with “Diverse Perspectives.”
The next day, we started exploring the hotel early in the morning.
This wasn’t my first time exploring the hotel, but it was the first time everyone had scattered like this. The hotel was filled with dangers! Up until now, we had heavily relied on the Sage’s Advice, so separating like this felt like asking for trouble.
However, the hotel had officially declared the next two days as “days without danger.” If there’s no danger, why should we stick together for exploring?
Naturally, everyone decided to scatter.
*
The secret of the hotel that only reveals itself during Party Time!
Where could it be hiding?
Everyone but me headed down to the basement. Unlike the first floor, which only had the front desk, main entrance, and a corridor with seven guest rooms, the basement was filled with over 100 different rooms! Each room contained unbelievable amenities—so large they shouldn’t even be allowed in a room!
Zoos, botanical gardens, a bar, an internet café, billiards, a swimming pool, a photo room, a bathhouse— and absurdly, even places labeled amusement park and hiking!
What on earth is hiking? Is there a mountain on the other side of the door?
Given this vast space, it seemed highly likely there was a secret hidden down in the depths, so everyone went underground. Still, I thought at least one person should stay on the first floor, so I remained behind.
*
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 14
Current Location: Floor 1, Room 105 (Room of Rest)
Floor Information(*)
Room 101 (Cursed Room – Strange Family)
Room 102 (Cursed Room – Mansion of Fear)
Room 103 (Cursed Room – Athanasia’s Human Farm – Resolved!)
Room 104 (???)
Room 105 (Room of Rest)
Room 106 (???)
Room 107 (???)
Sage’s Advice: 3]
I checked the floor information after a long while. “Resolved!”—so Room 103 was truly cleared.
I walked up to Room 103. What would happen if I re-entered a resolved room? Would I suddenly get sucked into outer space? I was slightly worried, but since the Sage’s Advice didn’t say anything, I opened the door to Room 103.
Nothing. Just an empty space with only a door, and no sign of secrets whatsoever. With our party clearing Room 103, this space seemed utterly pointless now. After a few more steps past Room 104, the ever-visited Room 105, and Room 106, I noticed Room 107 only had the nameplate.
Days ago, I recalled what Ahri had said.
“We call it the Gate Room. It’s a room you can only enter after achieving a certain level of success in every other room, and clearing it lets you ascend to the next floor.”
Gate Room
Room 107 was probably that Gate Room! There was no door—just a nameplate. My guess is that the door would only reveal itself after achieving something in Rooms 101 to 106.
After reaching the end of the corridor, I found absolutely nothing. Except for the guest rooms, it was just plain walls. I couldn’t exactly enter the cursed rooms by myself, so was there really nothing in the corridor? I should head over to the front desk and the main entrance, then join everyone in the basement.
!
As I turned around, I found Ahri standing behind me without making a sound, as if she’d been waiting.
“Whoa! You scared me! Why’d you sneak up on me like that?”
“Did you find anything?”
With Ahri around, I was now accustomed to her blunt tone.
“I opened Room 103, but there was nada. Room 107 is probably the Gate Room. That’s about it.”
“So, you’re saying you found nothing?”
“Yeah… Speaking of which, you seem to know quite a bit about the hotel. Do you know the secret that only comes out during Party Time? It would be a lot easier if we knew whether we were looking for a thing, a person, or a room.”
“I don’t hold back on sharing important info. If I’m not telling you something, it’s either because I don’t know or it’s entirely useless. Besides, the management only knows a fraction of what’s out there. As for your question, the answer could be anything. It could be treasure, an unknown ally, a boost to your blessings, or even moving up to the next floor without going through the Gate Room. There’s a whole lot of mysteries, and you might already know some.”
I suddenly recalled the phrases “Room of Resurrection” and “Buddha.”
“Are you referring to the Room of Resurrection and Buddha?”
“The Room of Resurrection, yes. But Buddha is a concept even we know nothing about. It’s the first I’ve heard of it. The Room of Resurrection is straightforward; it’s a room that somehow gives participants who lost their chance after failing in the hotel a chance to revive and try again, albeit through some procedure. Though those procedures seem to change every time…”
“What about the other secrets?”
“There are too many. They change every time, so explaining them has no value. Ultimately, we have to figure things out ourselves.”
Hearing so much, I felt an overwhelming increase in questions. In the end, we really had no other option but to search for the secrets ourselves.
*
While I walked towards the front desk, Ahri followed closely behind.
“Are you not going down to the basement? There’s nothing on the first floor apart from the front desk and main entrance. Wouldn’t it be better to go to a wider area?”
“There’s no guarantee that secrets are only hidden in larger spaces. I just have this odd feeling that something might be on the first floor.”
We reached the front desk.
Visually, it was just like any standard hotel front desk—except empty. There was an appointment desk lying flat under the absence of staff and above that was a massive display screen.
Click
????
Click
With the sound of a button, the surroundings dimmed, then brightened again with another click. Confused, I looked over at Ahri, who appeared to be fiddling with the light switch.
Click
Click, click, click
“I’d appreciate it if you’d stop playing around like a kid,” I muttered.
…
Click—Click—Click
“Why don’t you take your childish games elsewhere?”
“…”
She kept poking and prodding. When I stepped behind the desk and opened a drawer, I found a note reading ‘87439124’—a mysterious eight-digit number.
Could this possibly be…?
Without thinking, I instinctively tucked the note into my pocket and glanced at Ahri, who was still messing with the switch near the main entrance.
My heart raced. This was clearly a password. Was it just a coincidence that such a number was hidden in the desk drawer?
The escape button on the elevator requires you to enter the ‘password’ while wearing the ‘Protective Suit.’
I decided to shake it off. In the end, it was worthless without the Protective Suit.
Was it wise to keep this a secret from everyone?
*
I didn’t find anything else at the front desk. All the other drawers were empty, and even with my hawk-like stare, I saw no other hidden items. Was there anything around the main entrance? It was just a massive door, and it seemed there wouldn’t be much space to hide anything, yet Ahri continued to linger around it.
“Find anything good?”
“Come here and check this out.”
Did she really discover something?
Click
“Wow! Are you serious with these childish pranks?”
“This is no joke! Just come look.”
The moment she flicked off the lights, the entire first floor went dark.
That’s when it struck me—what a colossal oversight!
It was ludicrous to think that it was natural for darkness to prevail when lights were switched off. This entrance had transparent glass doors, and outside the glass door was the sky, with the sun shining bright!
Of course, even if we switched the lights off inside the hotel, sunlight from outside the glass should’ve poured in.
But when I switched off the lights, everything outside the hotel became pitch black as well.
It felt as if the moment the lights were turned off, the area outside the glass door morphed into a ‘different realm!’
“Should we open the main entrance then?”
“I don’t know, that’s why I was waiting for you.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? They said today would have no dangers!”
“I see it differently,” Ahri replied. “That probably means the hotel won’t create any dangerous events for us, but what if we step into a space that is inherently risky? Wouldn’t it still be dangerous? I think not. If that were the case, we would’ve been able to enter the Cursed Rooms during every Party Time without any mishap, and it’s safe to say that’s never going to happen.”
So you’re saying there’s a strong possibility that beyond this door could be a previously dangerous place?
“Exactly. Why don’t you try grabbing the doorknob?”
I cautiously reached for the door handle while paying close attention to my system’s Sage’s Advice. Nothing appeared. However, based on previous experiences in the pool, I couldn’t fully trust the Sage’s Advice. It only seemed to activate just before danger struck—in other words, if a monster ambushed us a minute inside a room, there wouldn’t be any warning before opening the door.
“Let’s gather everyone first.”
Ahri looked a bit displeased but didn’t protest as I made my way down to the basement.
*
Click—Click
“Really? How did you stumble across something like this? We just wasted time in the basement,” Lee Eunsol chimed in after hitting the light button a few times.
“Didn’t you find anything, Eunsol-noona?”
“Nope. We occasionally gathered to discuss hiding places in the basement, but it’s just too vast. In fact, I wandered into hiking and got lost, needing the others to come rescue me.”
“Alright, let’s enter the room. We’ll have to see for ourselves what’s really there. I’ll take the lead.”
“Jinchul-oppa, wait a moment.”
Yu Songee dashed over to Jinchul-oppa and performed some sort of action.
“What was that? I don’t feel anything changing.”
“I stabilized the perspective of your senses and prevented any disorienting stimuli.”
“Sorry, but could you say that more simply? I’m not that bright,” Jinchul-hyung admitted, but truthfully, I hadn’t understood either.
“It’s like taking measures against something that might mess with your senses. Since we can’t guarantee that the risks are purely physical.”
“Can you really do that? That’s super handy!”
“It’s only possible for one person at a time and lasts for a maximum of 10 minutes.”
After entering the hotel, I had thought numerous times about our vulnerability to mental attacks, and finally, we now had a countermeasure! The powers of Diverse Perspectives truly know no bounds.
With Jinchul-hyung momentarily enhanced both mentally and physically, we ventured into the bizarre space formed outside the main entrance after the lights went out.
And as soon as we stepped in, we all toppled over.
[Congratulations on reaching the Sanctum of Blessings!]
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.