Chapter 674 – Room 301, The Cursed Room – ‘Origin of the Species’ (18)
—
– Yu Songee
—
If the law of evolution applies to souls, then regressors are the owners of souls that have been naturally selected, according to the Pioneer.
I thought that was quite a plausible argument, but…
Ahri seemed to think the Pioneer was just spewing nonsense.
“That’s a strange statement.”
“Why is that?”
“Isn’t it just a careless extension of natural law?”
“Is it wrong to extend it?”
“Of course, it is! Souls and genes are completely different. For starters, the biggest difference is that souls can’t be inherited, right?”
“…”
“If survival in the harsh forces of nature is about passing down genes, souls are inherently disconnected from that logic.”
Listening to this, I finally understood Ahri’s point.
Unlike genes, the traits of a soul are not inherited.
So just because you’re the child of a regressor doesn’t make you a regressor yourself.
Thus, extending a scientific theory related to genes to souls doesn’t make any sense.
The Pioneer’s response to this was even stranger.
“You’re right.”
“…”
“Everything Ahri said is correct. The laws of evolution don’t apply to souls. But surely, those limits could be overcome, right?”
First, the Pioneer was applying a law meant for biology to souls, and now, after facing a rebuttal, he claims those limits could also be overcome.
Something feels off.
By now, I’d started to realize that the Pioneer’s ideology was somewhat unsettling.
Being crazy doesn’t just mean ranting and drooling with a weird expression.
It can also manifest as a kind of madness you sense when having a deeper conversation.
That was how the Pioneer felt right now.
Somewhere deep inside, something was twisted, but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what was wrong.
At that moment…
“The time has come.”
“Uh?”
This was the first time I heard a strange voice.
“What’s going on?”
Yu Songee: Didn’t you just hear that weird sound?
Kim Ahri: I don’t know.
Did Ahri and I pause for a moment, both with puzzled looks?
The Pioneer smiled widely and said, “The ground is unstable, so it wouldn’t be good to stop recklessly.”
“…”
“We only need to go a bit further. The answer to the mystery you both hold lies ahead.”
At that moment…
“Cha Jinchul: Get out here!”
“Kim Mooksung: Both of you out!”
“Elena: Intruder! Intruder!”
Our allies outside, who had been listening to Ahri and my conversation, started warning us one after another!
“Ah!”
“…!”
Surprised, I exchanged glances with Ahri for just a moment before immediately turning my body at the warning.
Just as I was about to dash toward the entrance—
— SNATCH!
“Stop! Don’t go!”
“Ah, Ahri?”
“It’s too late. They’re already here!”
When I glanced at Ahri in surprise after that comment, I finally noticed her face had gone pale and rigid.
“Children, come here.”
“…”
The unknown voice returned once again.
Just as I pondered what this could mean, I heard a voice full of admiration from the front.
“It seems you’re receiving outside news in real-time? Impressive.”
The moment I heard that, Ahri charged toward the Pioneer like lightning, grabbing him by the collar.
The polite demeanor she had just seconds before had completely vanished.
“You!”
“Ouch! That hurts. You both don’t need to worry!”
“…”
“Do you know? The Is race is more cowardly than you think.”
“…”
“Due to their abilities, they often feel invincible since they can avoid death easily. But if they sense danger, they tend to act much more safely than humans.”
Ahri, with a desperate expression, asked, “Is something in the underground ruins dangerous for the Is race’s schemers?”
“They would think so.”
“Why would the Is race think this place is dangerous?”
“Because they might think their king died here.”
Suddenly, the mention of the Is king surfaced!
Ahri stiffened, tightening her grip, and soon, the Pioneer’s face began to turn pale.
“You…!”
“Calm down! You have to trust me.”
“Ha! I’m surrounded by aliens because I followed you, and you’re telling me to trust you?”
“That’s why you must believe me even more! Killing me won’t make the Is race disappear!”
His words seemed nonsensical yet weren’t entirely false.
“Disregard the situation outside. I told you, the Is race are cowards. They’ll be moving very slowly here. We have time!”
“… Tell me. Immediately upon stepping into the underground ruins, the Is race surrounded us. What’s going on?”
The Pioneer, despite being choked by Ahri, maintained a hazy smile.
“It’s a natural occurrence. Everything is unfolding as ‘you’ arrived here.”
“This is really -!”
As Ahri frowned and seemed to consider taking forceful measures, I felt a strange realization, something I couldn’t put into words.
“… Hold on.”
“What?”
“I think I understand something.”
“You’re saying some bizarre things again—”
“I’ve been hearing a voice calling to me.”
“…”
“Pioneer, I have three questions.”
“Go ahead.”
With this peculiar voice or thoughts circulating in my mind, I asked.
“First, someone has been trying to talk to me. There’s said to be a powerful chaos entity in the underground ruins. Is it the Is king?”
The Pioneer smiled brightly.
“That’s correct.”
“Second, you are subordinate to that entity, right?”
“Absolutely.”
This overly polite demeanor was utterly confounding.
The reason for revealing classified information without hesitation from day one.
The Pioneer was human.
Simply, a human willingly serving the Is king!
Those strange behaviors were just following orders from the Is king.
“Lastly, is the Is king currently waking up? Their race sensed the aura he exudes and came here?”
“Of course.”
“… Is he waking up because he senses us?”
“You’re quite the astute one. He wishes to meet you all.”
At this point, I began to understand the situation blurting out.
In the underground ruins of Gangwon-do, the Is king lay sleeping.
That – or she – had been waiting for ‘us’ and, upon hearing from the Pioneer about our approach, began to awaken!
Now that the king was aware, the Is race was flocking to the underground ruins!
“…”
I could start to hear the sounds of “bang! thud! argh!” in my ears.
The sounds of the agents from the Administration Bureau being slaughtered near the entrance of the ruins.
Meanwhile, Ahri’s expression grew even paler.
“… They’re coming.”
A rock-solid expression, trembling voice.
A sight of Ahri, usually calm, now stricken with visible fear.
“I can feel the presence of the schemers.”
Since during the first attempt, I hadn’t been able to catch my breath even once, I had never faced the Is race properly.
But I had heard about their schemers from my comrades who participated in the post-apocalyptic world.
They were high-ranking overseers of a grand extraterrestrial race traversing the galaxy.
Even if all my comrades were gathered, I’d be unsure of victory against them.
And us two?
A fight was not an option.
This wasn’t even a gap that could be bridged by effort or luck.
Could it be due to my experience of facing the schemers firsthand, or was it because I had been feeling the will of the unknown chaos entity that had been transmitting the ‘mind connection’ since a while ago?
Ahri looked at me with a dazed expression.
“… What do we do?”
Think!
Usually, Ahri would lead without hesitation if ‘Kain wasn’t around,’ right?
And it was that way this time too.
It was about the Administration Bureau, so there’s no choice, but in most cases, Ahri was leading me.
I wasn’t particularly dissatisfied with that.
After all, Ahri is often smarter than I am.
But, at this moment where even she was lost and leaning on me for judgment!
I couldn’t hide a tiny feeling of victory deep down in my heart.
I tried to appear more confident than usual and responded to Ahri.
“Let’s move forward. If we stay, we’ll only be caught by the Is race coming from behind.”
“… But there’s a prisoner ahead, right?”
That Ahri, openly using the term ‘prisoner’ even in front of the Pioneer, seemed to show how tense she was feeling.
Of course, this wasn’t exactly the time to be choosing words carefully.
“From the feeling, it seems like the prisoner is actively involved in this place.”
“…”
“To catch a tiger, you must enter the tiger’s den! Let’s go!”
…
“Finally, the opportunity has come.”
“It’s a shame that this isn’t the originally prepared child, but such is fate.”
“With this, everyone shall gain a glorious ending.”
*
‘… Observations from Songee have ceased.’
‘Kain! Did Songee die?’
‘I’m not sure.’
‘What about the others? Jinchul, Mooksung, and Elena have all been taken, right?’
‘Not that I can tell. At the very least, Elena is resistant even to the Is race. Plus, they’re all veterans. But…’
‘But?’
‘Even if they are alive, we won’t be able to observe them.’
‘Oh dear! I see. The only subjects of observation are Songee and Eunsol!’
‘Let’s pray they’re doing alright.’
*
– Kim Mooksung
— Vroom!
“Cha Jinchul! Step on it! Go faster!”
“How can I step on it more! Do you think this is a sports car?”
When the Is race began to swarm to the underground ruins of Gangwon-do, we responded swiftly.
What do I mean by swift response?
Elena was left behind while Jinchul and I were frantically fleeing!
Someone might call us cowards for that.
But this is the best we could do against an ability that couldn’t resist the body snatching.
Would sticking around mean anything?
If we got controlled and attacked Elena, it would only make things worse for her.
“How long has it been since we took off?”
“Twenty minutes!”
After nearly twenty minutes of mindless running, I realized something.
“Jinchul.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t you think there’s no one chasing us?”
“… To be honest, I’ve been feeling that for a while.”
“Hey! If you’ve felt that since earlier, you should’ve said something then!”
“I just had a hunch; what if I turned out wrong!”
“Fool! You’re denser than Pepper!”
“You really have no idea what you’re talking about? Have you sold all your secrets? You’re weaker than Pepper!”
“Hey, hey, let’s just join up with Eunsol.”
“I’m already heading that way.”
“You’re clever, huh?”
“I should be at least.”
As we exchanged compliments and thought about the situation ahead.
— RUMBLE!
An enormous sound erupted from all around as if the world was shaking.
“What was that?”
“What’s going on?”
Startled, I looked out the window to see that all the other cars on the road were equally shocked.
They were all frozen in place, staring around with dazed expressions.
“… Jinchul.”
“…”
“I’m feeling an ominous thought creeping in.”
“Right now, I felt pretty much the same way.”
“It seems we’re doomed.”
“Have we already bitten the dust? It seems like Songee and Ahri did something.”
A moment of silence.
“…”
“…”
I instinctively pulled out the ‘One More Chance’ and fiddled with it in my hand.
“Are you planning to rewind time?”
“What do you think?”
“That’s a tough question to throw at me….”
“Hey! You’re the only one here!”
“Shouldn’t you think for yourself?”
To tell the truth, Jinchul had a point.
Since it’s my inheritance, it’s up to me whether to use it or not.
“…”
I remembered the warning I’d been hearing since I first obtained the One More Chance – the cost of reversing the world.
From my limited experience, that cost wasn’t fixed.
When I used it in the Room of the Gateway, it resulted in rapid aging.
When used in the real world, it meant the loss of regressor abilities.
Those seemed like completely different costs, but they did share one commonality.
“The limit on usage…”
“Agent!”
“The essence of the One More Chance’s cost is a limit on usage. The key point is to prevent multiple uses!”
“Exactly.”
In Room 207, the cost of aging had been sufficient.
There was no way to rejuvenate afterwards.
In reality, aging doesn’t matter since I can become young again thanks to the Administration Bureau.
So, in the real world, the price I paid was the removal of my regressor abilities.
If I had used it once more, I probably would have experienced annihilation.
In the Cursed Room, even annihilation wouldn’t be sufficient payment.
Remember how NPCs sacrificed themselves in the Soul Furnace and reanimated in the Cursed Room?
As long as one manages to escape, the hotel can restore even the souls that perished in the Cursed Room!
Thus, it seems the cost of reversing time in the Cursed Room would be different as well.
Maybe that was why I felt uneasy?
Maybe that’s why Jinchul, making a worried face said,
“If you feel anxious, you don’t have to use it.”
“…”
“You know, don’t you? Kain is waiting at the escape party. We’ll find a way out somehow.”
With that, I managed to reach a decision in my heart due to Jinchul’s words.
“… No, thanks.”
“Pardon?”
“Because Kain is behind us, you want me to just trust him and not use my inheritance? If that’s the case, then why did I earn the One More Chance?”
“…”
“That’s a foolish idea. If I’m too scared to use it because of the cost, I shouldn’t have earned the inheritance in the first place!”
In that instant, a flicker of admiration passed through Jinchul’s eyes.
“You’ve got guts. I bet even my benefactor would be impressed.”
“Kid, don’t flatter me!”
I lightly tapped Jinchul’s head before taking out my phone.
“Agent?”
“I have something I want to do.”
“What is it?”
“Something I was too scared to do because of the aftereffects. Now’s the time to try it!”
— DING! Tick!
“Ah, Grandpa? Did you hear the noise outside? Everyone was surprised -”
“Eunsol.”
“Yes?”
“Right now, shave your father’s head.”
“Excuse me? What are you—”
“Find out the secrets hidden in the chairman’s head, whatever it is, right now!”
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