### Chapter 460 – Room 206, The Curse Room – ‘The Demon King Revived After 100 Days’ Re (22)
—
– Miro
I stood completely still, not twitching a hair.
Now that my protective permanence has worn off, moving carelessly is extremely dangerous.
Just like earlier, moving at a speed fast enough to crack concrete?
Wouldn’t my legs shatter first?
Just thinking about it makes my heart race.
Honestly, it’s a miracle I’m still alive.
If we get into details, isn’t my heart currently beating at about 100 times its normal speed?
If that’s the case, shouldn’t I have died the moment the permanence faded? But I’m still here, somehow.
It’s a similar vibe; my owner moved at quadruple speed, yet their outfit remained intact.
Well, Superman was able to fly at light speed even while reversing time without tearing those tight spandex suits!
Little things like this seem to be something the hotel just overlooks.
Or maybe the permanence protected my clothes too?
I don’t know.
The important point here is that if I move carelessly, my whole body will break!
I think.
I think.
I think.
Never before in my life have I thought this hard.
…
In times of crisis like this, two faces popped into my mind.
There was one person among those two who could save me right now.
— Click!
Suddenly, a young man appeared before me as everything around me wavered.
*
– Kim Ahri
— Boom! Crash!
Everyone went blank at the sound of thunder that felt like the world was collapsing around us.
Me, Jinchul, Seungyub, and Elena, all staring at each other with our mouths wide open.
The chaos didn’t last long.
A subjective eternity, perhaps 10 seconds? If not even that?
Suddenly, the noise died down.
“Ah, Sister Ahri!”
When Seungyub pointed at my arm, which was still crumpled on the ground, I realized I had broken it.
— Crunch!
“Ready.”
“Ugh… Is that all it takes?!”
Since my body is different from an ordinary person, I can regenerate from something like this quickly.
At that moment, Cha Jinchul muttered.
“I expected this, but wow, that’s a bit excessive.”
I had already heard Miro about how permanence resists time delay.
That’s why I thought Miro breaking out of the seal might lead to some rapid moving…
“I thought it’d only speed up three to four times.”
“Indeed.”
It wasn’t a baseless guess.
Medically speaking, faster than that is beyond what the human body can handle.
Even if the hotel is filled with clueless trash, how could they let a sealed comrade awaken and then die right away?
From a heart racing 200 times?
That’s just not right!
“Well then, is Miro okay right now?”
“…”
“I need to find Miro ASAP—”
“She’s on her way. Seems like she’s figured something out?”
With footsteps echoing, Miro appeared.
“…”
Something something.
The moment I saw her, I knew.
“… Kain?”
“Wow! How’d you recognize me just like that?”
Every single action of hers screamed familiarity.
Soon, Kain explained briefly.
She suddenly woke up in the research lab underground, looking like she was about to cry.
It seemed she was stuck due to some identity-unknown curse.
“So you jumped into Miro’s body?”
“Yeah, once I did, the grimoire informed me.”
The temporary super-acceleration had caused immense strain on Miro’s body.
While she managed to cover that strain with the permanence gained from enhancing her blessing, the permanence has now completely drained.
“Are you okay now?”
“I’m fine.”
Seemingly, once the owner of permanence was taken out of the equation, the blessing paused as well.
“…”
“…”
“…”
After a moment of silence, Elena spoke up.
“Looks like most of the soldiers are either passed out or dead.”
“Miro wiped out the lab within 10 seconds.”
“Wow… That’s incredible!”
Hearing Seungyub’s innocent admiration gave me an inexplicable joy.
That’s all fine and dandy, but the situation was still strange.
“Honestly, I expected a reward would come since Miro woke up.”
“…”
“Miro ran wild all by herself and handed her body over to you.”
“Exactly.”
“Did you learn anything useful?”
As Miro shook her head, Jinchul, scratching his head, came up with an idea.
“Can’t you check the scenario? Ah, but you’re not in the body; is it going to be a hassle? How about jumping back into your body—will Miro die in the meantime?”
“Ugh, the situation is getting complicated. I should’ve just checked the scenario right when I woke up.”
That’s not right.
“No, jumping right into Miro’s body was the right move. For you, it was immediate, but for Miro, it was still pretty late. If you didn’t hurry and watched the scenario, Miro would have died in the meantime.”
“That’s true.”
Seungyub asked, “Now what do we do?”
“…”
“Should we just head straight to the city controller’s device?”
“No way.”
There has to be a reward that comes with releasing Miro from her seal.
There must be!
We can’t just end Room 206 carelessly before getting that.
With everyone pooling their thoughts together, we had the time to mull over it since Miro had taken care of the soldiers in the lab.
Luckily, every problem comes with its answers.
*
– Miro
…
…
…
I woke up in the darkness.
“Gah! I shouldn’t wake up! I’m dying!”
“…”
I’m not dead.
And in front of me stood a girl who looked just like me.
“Ariyaaang! I’m gonna die!”
I carefully approached Ari and poked her—
“…Such a cutie.”
At that moment, I heard Ari’s voice at ‘normal speed.’
“Huh? Huh? How’d you do that? Ari doesn’t have permanence—”
A thin white finger shot forward and pressed against my lips.
“Shh. Talking disrupts thinking.”
“…”
“Think back. You’ve had a similar experience before.”
Similar experience.
Still vaguely conscious, I realized that time was flowing faster within my body.
However, I could still converse and exchange opinions with Ari without issue.
Right.
I experienced something similar just recently.
“This isn’t reality.”
“This is your mind. Like before, I entered this place through the power of ancient blood.”
“…”
“While you were asleep, I interfered with the various devices in the lab.”
“Did you find anything?”
“Not really. If it was truly special, I would’ve found it last time.”
“…”
This wasn’t the first time my comrades reached the lab to secure the ‘body of the director.’
“When a sealed entity awakens, the hotel grants rewards. It’s always been that way.”
When Kain woke up in Room 201, he practically solved the room alone.
Elena woke up in Room 202, knowing many secrets about Lee Sooho and the Sea God.
Ahri, when she woke up in Room 203, used powers that even surpassed AI to uncover forgotten histories.
Kain defeated the cult leader when he awakened in Room 205, a crucial element in solving the room.
Surely, there’s something for me too.
Even if it’s not perfect, there should at least be something connecting to the room’s solution.
“Think. Doesn’t something come to mind? Secret information even the director forgot? Or something spectacular you can do right now?”
“…”
Secret information even the director forgot.
For members of the Order, forgetting something is different from a normal human simply spacing out.
When one can’t handle the information, there’s a chance they’re forced to forget it due to being unworthy of holding such knowledge.
“… Ah.”
“Did something come to mind?”
“‘End of Days Conference.’”
“What? End of Days Conference?”
A special memory.
An experience so far beyond comprehension that even the director as a high-ranking member of the order couldn’t grasp it.
That’s precisely why it was forgotten.
It was essential to forget.
The director was just one rank below the ultimate rank, being 9=2 Magus (High Official).
Only 10=1 Ipsissimus (The Ultimate) was permitted to know this information.
However, the memory suppression spell placed on the director means nothing to me.
The invincible power resisting time distortion—there’s no way something so basic as the order’s memory suppression spell could take me down!
“Ah, ah, ah….”
Like a tightly closed thread unraveling in an instant or a solid lock melting in lava, the horrifying memory seeped into my head.
A very old memory.
…
…
…
“End of Days Conference”
I see a masked figure sitting in the highest seat of the conference hall.
The terrified participants gathered in the chamber.
One of them was me, or rather, ‘the director.’
The masked figure begins to speak.
“Dear comrades of the Order, as you know, the fate of the world hangs by a thread. Our efforts to subdue the Demon King have ultimately failed.”
An old man yelled out, almost in a fit.
“That can’t be! The unyielding reason and the ruler of time, that great power has suppressed the Demon King—”
“Don’t say words even you don’t believe.”
“Ugh!”
The masked figure continued, as if there were no issue at hand.
“We amplify the unyielding reason through the ruler of time to subdue the Demon King. During that stalling time, we build a city to confine the Demon King with humanity’s spiritual mass. These are mere temporary measures.”
The people gathered in the conference room, even the director, trembled and shrank back.
For a long time, the Rationalists organization has fought against the demon, gods, cultists, and monsters that threatened humanity.
Even for high-ranking members of such organization, the dread of the end is unbearable.
And the Truth revealed through the ultimate one’s words.
The Order knew from the beginning.
That both the Ruler of Time and the Unyielding Reason and city construction were just temporary.
They could buy time, but couldn’t fundamentally solve the issues related to the Demon King.
“So I made a resolution.”
“A resolution? What are you talking about without notice!”
And—
Ah, ah, ah!
My head hurts.
Is it a man, a woman, or what?
People scream and collapse in an instant.
I heard voices.
“Everyone, I have already been saved. So pray.”
Screech—!
*
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 538
Current Location: Room 206, The Curse Room – ‘The Demon King Revived After 100 Days’
Sage’s Advice: 3
– Han Kain
“How many days have passed?”
My ‘older brother’ who had been looking over documents on my behalf at the mansion asked.
“481 days? So, about 58 days since we came in.”
“Then we have about 40 days left. When do you plan to end this room?”
“… I’m not sure.”
Ending the room.
That’s a weird statement.
As if it implies we can halt the progress of Room 206 and leave whenever we want.
Yet it’s not entirely incorrect.
Recently, ‘someone’ touched the status window and conveyed important information.
‘Miro awakened, urban control device secured.’
At this point, the odds of escaping are promising.
By activating the control device and pouring the entire surviving human population into the Unyielding Reason, we could greatly delay the Demon King’s rampage occurring in the depths.
“I feel relieved that we secured the urban control device.”
“…True.”
“It seems Miro has summoned Kain. The status window manipulation allows for real-time communication, right?”
“Though the flow of time is different, it’s indeed possible.”
“So when Kain gives the signal of ‘Let’s finish this,’ we’re good to go.”
“Exactly.”
“Isn’t the charging of the Holy Sun nearly done?”
“… Yes.”
“Glad to hear that.”
For some time now, my ‘older brother’ Sanghyun has been subtly hinting to me.
I gathered enough information and made a rough plan for a solution.
Moreover, since the charging of the Holy Sun is almost complete, we ought to wrap things up and transition to the next chapter.
“Let’s wait just a bit. By the way, I have something to attend to, so I’ll step out.”
“Understood.”
Sanghyun gave me a light bow as he saw me off.
*
When I reached the garden at the outer part of the mansion, where Songi loved to play, I saw Grandpa.
“What’s the sudden need? Did you press the emergency contact button again?”
“… I wanted to see Grandpa without anyone around.”
“Anyone around? Is there someone suspicious near you now? Is there a spy among the servants?”
“No.”
Recently, there is only one person around me.
“If you suspect someone, tell Sanghyun. That guy’s got quite a diverse career, huh? If he sees someone suspicious—”
“That’s the person.”
The garden fell silent for a moment.
“Tell me more.”
“…”
That’s odd.
I can’t put my finger on it, but something feels off.
So…
“I called Sanghyun ‘Uncle’ recently?”
“…”
“He got really upset and told me to call him ‘Teacher’ instead.”
“Is that weird?! Hey! That’s totally natural to feel uncomfortable!”
“I, is that so? So next time, I called him ‘Brother.’”
“Much better. You’re not seriously suspecting Sanghyun just for that, right?”
“Um…”
That’s not all there is.
Something else as well…
“Is he starting to get restless wanting to end the room?”
“Hmm. I’m a bit tired too, but doesn’t Room 206 take too long sometimes?”
Hmm.
“Is he openly saying, ‘I’ve figured out everything we needed to, we’re almost done’?”
“Oh! That’s a bit peculiar. Normally, we spare no effort to refrain from saying things like, ‘It’s almost done, isn’t it?’ among ourselves.”
“…”
“Have you tried using the advice?”
“Today is the first day I’ve thought it’s odd. I’ll write it now.”
[Advice: 3 -> 2]
‘Is Kim Sanghyun’s current condition normal?’
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