Chapter 576 – Everyone’s Interpretation (1)
—
– Kim Ahri
A sigh of relief escaped me.
Kain has exited my dream territory.
I think I’ve done all I can do.
Now, I wonder if my comrades will manage just fine?
— Boom!
The sound of the dream realm collapsing.
I could see the punishing hand of retribution looming from the other side of time and space.
With the “Kingdom of Dreams,” which had protected both Kain and me until the end, disappearing, it feels like it really is the end.
“…”
Suddenly, a thought struck me.
Have I betrayed the Management Bureau by siding with my comrades?
At least it seems the “Stone Tablet” thinks so.
So, this fuss is to punish me, huh?
“…”
I don’t think that way.
The Management Bureau and the Hotel Party.
Ideologies, beliefs, perceptions, and solutions to problems – they are both different groups, but they share the most crucial thing.
“We,” all wish for a happy ending.
That’s why “we” can be both the Management Bureau and the Hotel Party.
The journey won’t be easy.
After many fights, some may die, no matter which side it is.
But in the end, we’ll reach a happy ending together!
At least, that’s what I believe.
“Ugh…”
My whole body aches.
It’s the kind of pain that makes the thought of approaching death feel more like liberation than fear.
I confidently told Kain, “We’ll meet again in the next world if things go sideways!”
But do I really have a “next” to look forward to?
…
I’m not certain.
The Management Bureau has means to destroy even the immortality of agents and permanently kill them.
Considering the current situation of the Stone Tablet that perceives me as a traitor, it might be different from ordinary death…
“…”
It’s okay.
I’m not afraid of death.
Isn’t dying eventually part of the natural order for everyone?
I’ve always known better than anyone that I could permanently die someday.
I’ve been mentally prepared for it long ago.
So, as I laid serenely on the ground…
— Swooosh!
A radiant light began to rise before me.
It was the “dream” bonus I received when escaping from the hotel – the second floor clearance!
Since I had no wishes at the time of escape, I kept it as my last insurance, and now it’s appearing!
“Huh?”
Just as I was astonished by the rare experience of seeing a “dream” in the dream world, I heard a cold voice from deep inside my heart.
Ahri, are you truly not afraid of death?
Are you really sure you’re prepared?
Dying when the time comes is the way of the world, the natural order—
Suddenly, I shot up and shouted.
“Bull! What natural order!”
What kind of order is that?
In this crazy world where the moon becomes a devil and dives into the earth, where’s the so-called natural order?!
I just mentally won over the idea since there was simply no way to live!
I thought it was the end, and bid a stylish farewell to Kain.
But I still had one more chance!
— Boom!
A roaring force approaches, breaking down my mental world.
This is the punishment from the Stone Tablet, striking “traitor” Kim Ahri!
“Ha~! I have the dream in my hands!”
Who do you think you are, Stone Tablet?
What, are you some ancient artifact passed down from the primordial Management Bureau?
A security plan created to prevent the same betrayal after the first one?
Wow~ that’s amazing!
But are you stronger than the hotel Buddha? I’m asking if you’re stronger!
“I love you, Buddha!”
With an ecstatic smile, I made my wish.
The eighth dream shone bright.
I felt the brush held by the greatest hand approaching.
*
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 112
Current Location: Apartment 205, Sin-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul
Sage’s Advice: 3
— Han Kain
“Day 112, huh?”
“Has that already passed?”
In just one more week, it’ll be four months since I escaped from the hotel.
The period the hotel predicted is not far from now, only six months since escaping.
A lot has happened during that time.
Just after my escape, Eunsol noona went on a bizarre adventure in the hotel.
Then, I boarded Elena’s cruise and experienced some strange malady involving a mask, while Eunsol noona was the first among us to meet the former participant – Patrick Biderman.
Just as it was about to end, I ended up going with Grandpa Mooksung to a place called “The World You Can’t Remember,” where we had a wild encounter with another former participant, Ryan Reynolds.
Through all this, the sun went blank, and ultimately, together with my friend, I had to create something at the thin line between a cult and a corporation to recharge the sun.
“Ugh…”
“Why do you say that?”
“Thinking about it makes me feel like I led a ridiculously busy life.”
“Hmm, I felt similarly while listening to your story. I had a comfortable time until recently.”
I doubt it was the teacher’s intention, but I felt like I was being teased a little.
“The hotel even said to just rest for at least six months.”
“… It did.”
“A good portion of what you experienced wouldn’t have happened if you’d just laid in bed watching movies.”
I admit it.
Quite a few events occurred because I went looking for them rather than the events overwhelming me.
I believe my comrades recognized this too, so the last couple of months everyone remained just chill.
As a result, everything slowly began returning to normal without major incidents.
Delight Hotel got restored on a larger scale, and the Esper ship began floating across the Pacific Ocean again.
However, one notable change did happen.
Hyung Sanghyun has moved into the Sin-gil apartment!
“By that logic, isn’t it strange that the teacher’s brother moved here?”
“Kain, moving is something ordinary people do at some point in their lives.”
“…”
“No matter how I think about it, it’s likely that something will occur in Korea where you all are, so I ought to be present on-site. My wife and kids are living well in the United States.”
The reason why my brother was contemplating moving to Korea was two months ago.
Ahri came to my dream and left with an overwhelming amount of incomprehensible information.
“Is Ahri still the same?”
Now that it’s brought up, I took a look.
Comrades’ Location Information (*)
Kim Ahri: Searching…
“Still searching, huh?”
“It’s quite a curious thing. It appears she’s alive, but it’s been searching for two months?”
“I have one hypothesis.”
The ability of the status window’s comrades’ location search function is stronger than expected.
It’s not just the power of strengthening blessings for nothing.
It can determine location as well as survival and death status indirectly.
In cases like Room 203 where it’s in a primitive era, it indicates the direction and distance from my location.
Naturally functional in the cursed room and even operates perfectly fine in reality.
Even in a situation where I unknowingly fell into an unidentified otherworld, it manages to find the location somehow.
“A hypothesis?”
“As I said before, the status window should inform Ahri of her location even if she’s in space or another realm.”
“I heard that. Even if she dies and goes to an afterlife, it would probably still indicate her location as the underworld.”
“However, locating an entity in another realm in reality takes some time.”
The word that appears at that moment is ‘Searching…’
“Are you saying that it hasn’t been found for two months?”
“Not that; I’m suggesting that it seems Ahri’s location is changing continuously.”
“Oh?”
“It’s a possibility that the advice indicated.”
“That makes sense.”
Ahri’s location is not in reality and is continuously changing.
Almost like…
“It feels like she’s running away from something.”
I remember the moment I parted with Ahri.
The significant force that had crashed into the dream realm, she might be trying to escape from that!
“Anyway, it’s a relief she seems to be alive. But more importantly…”
“More importantly?”
“It’s about the information Kain received from Ahri.”
I’ve discussed the events of that day multiple times with my comrades.
We actively used the advice, and by pooling our heads together, we came up with far more interpretations than what I envisioned at the time.
“There were three main ones. First, there are demons similar to the Demon King in reality. Second, the convenient devices often ignored in regression-themed creative works are causing problems in reality. Third, the mysterious painting.”
The most interpretations were focused on the first one.
“It’s suspicious about the moon…”
I fell into thought while observing my brother’s interesting expression as he stroked his beard.
The moon’s mystery.
In the world I remember, there was definitely a moon in the sky, but my comrades claim otherwise.
Some claim they’ve only seen the moon in history books.
Others have seen the moon in reality, yet their memories of it are vastly different from mine.
“According to my memory, the moon has been an object of fear for a long time. On full moon nights, everyone was terrified of going outside.”
“…”
That story feels completely alien to me.
In my memory, the moon was just that—Earth’s satellite.
“Ahri has never seen it in real life, but you have, Kain. So it’s realistic to talk about the moon.”
“If we say there’s a Demon King in reality and that identity is the moon, where exactly is it?”
My brother pointed his finger “down.”
This was also one of the interpretations all the comrades agreed upon.
“Ahri mentioned the reality’s Demon King and referenced Room 206, right? Where was the Demon King? Underground.”
“… Are we saying the moon’s demon is underground in the Earth, and that every human is suppressing it like in Room 206?”
“Weren’t we all on the same page up to this point?”
“I also think it’s quite plausible.”
But no matter how fantastical the world is, there’s a limit to where it goes – would this even make sense?
Is there a moon inside the Earth?
Is that even physically possible?
“It’s quite amusing that this is coming from a doctor who also has astronaut experience with NASA.”
“Kain, did you still not realize? In this world, science is the real fraud.”
“… If the reality’s Demon King is the moon, then what would the identity of the moon be?”
Sadly, this part remained unagreed upon.
“I view it as a living calamity that fell from space, a type of alien lifeform, much like the Demon King of Room 206.”
“No, the moon isn’t an alien lifeform; it’s Earth’s satellite—”
“That’s a deception the Management Bureau pulled over the entire world.”
“…”
That’s an outright conspiracy theory!
But isn’t reality itself a conspiracy?
“My grandfather stated that it’s a chaotic entity created from humanity’s negative imaginations gathered since ancient times.”
“That hypothesis has merit.”
“Eunsol noona mentioned that aliens have set up invading bases on the moon.”
“That sounds convincing.”
From alien beings to chaotic entities born from humanity’s nightmares, to an alien invasion base—a sheer mix of all imaginable scenarios is appearing.
And of course, there are many more besides those.
I found myself letting out a chuckle and asked.
Advice: 3 -> 2
“Is our hypothesis correct?”
“Some of it is true.”
The owl blatantly avoided a direct answer.
Despite asking that same question repeatedly, the responses always ended up at this level.
Anyway, the fact that the owl acknowledges some of those absurd hypotheses as true made my comrades concoct even more ridiculous theories.
“Let’s move on to the next story. Regarding the convenient elements that transition through creation regression works.”
In this area, a consensus interpretation emerged to some extent.
“In fact, there are so many that it’s hard to pick just one. However, Eunsol didn’t focus on the incident in Room 203.”
Room 203, a new beginning.
“Technically, the cursed room itself is a regression story.”
“True.”
“What did we learn in Room 203? The point of awakening for regression was different from ours.”
The repetition of the world has both a beginning and an end.
In creative works, typically, the start and end of the loop fall between the protagonist’s awakening point and their death.
In the cursed room, Room 203, that wasn’t the case.
“Humanity, riding the spaceship arrived at the stage of Room 203, faced off against the prisoner Adriavita in what could only be described as a sci-fi battle, only to be overpowered. And the remaining crew members were us.”
History had already begun before the protagonist’s awakening point.
“What happens afterward? If all participants die, the scenario ends, and the cursed room resets. Yet, Adriavita remembers all this and awaits the next chance.”
Even after the protagonist’s death, something else persisted.
“The issue lies in what occurs before the protagonist recognizes the loop and what happens after they die. Most creative works tend to gloss over this part…”
“…”
If you were to draw a parallel between reality and creative works based on regression…
Unlike typical regression stories, multiple regressors exist, thus, the start of the loop could be seen as ‘when the agent that awakens first comes to.’
The end of the loop can be viewed as ‘the moment the agent that dies last passes away.’
Therefore, two gaps appear.
The first gap is what happened in the world before the first agent awakened.
The second is what occurs in the world after the last agent died.
Something should exist in these gaps.
That secret penetrates through everything in reality.
“Finally, let’s discuss that painting.”
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.