Chapter 700 – Room 301, The Cursed Room – ‘Origin of Species’ (34)
—
– Kim Ahri
As I felt the chilly wind, I gazed out the car window.
Just a few shabby shacks and half-rotten greenhouses came into view.
To an outsider, it might look like an abandoned farm, but my companions and I knew better.
That landscape was all a disguise, hiding the entrance to an unidentified ruin created by the Administration Bureau beneath Gangwon Province.
This ruin was also the source of the apocalypse and a place where the secret of ‘Blessing’ was hidden.
It’s the battlefield where we would draw the conclusion of Room 301.
The most crucial players have yet to arrive, though.
At that moment, Mooksung, who was driving the truck, scratched his head and said,
“Hey, hey. Miro sent a private message.”
“What’s it about?”
“He said he got to meet Eunsol as requested by the Duke. The conversation lasted all of a few seconds, and right afterward, Eunsol fainted for a bit. The problem is, that Duke guy added another request.”
Another request?
“What did he say?”
“He wants to meet another duke from this time period. He knows how to arrange the meeting and says three minutes is enough.”
“… Three minutes.”
“There shouldn’t be a lack of time. If all goes according to plan, Room 301 should wrap up before dinner.”
Elena, sitting in the back, chimed in.
“Time isn’t the issue. The Duke seems unaware of the risks of time travel. If the summon body encounters the actual body—”
“Miro mentioned that. He said instead of meeting his own self from this time, he wants to meet a ‘different duke.’”
“Oh my!”
I thought the same thing, ‘Oh my!’ Thanks to the Duke’s request, we’ve indirectly unearthed additional info – there are already ‘multiple’ dukes on Earth.
Soon, Sanghyun, who was seated across from Elena, frowned and said,
“That’s a perilous request. Dukes are ultimately aliens, right? Evil beings?”
Mooksung immediately answered, apparently still in contact with Miro in real time.
Funny enough, it meant Mooksung’s Blessing is still usable without major issues… well, for now.
That also indicated Miro isn’t too far from us.
“Hey, hey! But the Duke can’t solo halt or adjust the Blessing ceremony!”
“What?!”
“It requires at least three dukes to stop it,” Mooksung said.
“He didn’t say that yesterday!”
“That’s why he’s a damn dog!”
Just like we’re withholding information from the Duke, he’s hiding a ton of stuff too, revealing it piece by piece at pivotal moments.
The Duke has two major tasks in this round.
First, attempting to persuade the King of Is.
I don’t have high hopes for this, but whether it succeeds or fails, attempting the persuasion is part of our plan.
Second, halting or manipulating the Blessing ceremony.
This is solely in the Duke’s hands, and only now that we’re in Room 301 do we learn what he’s been hiding.
He needs the help of several other dukes because he can’t manipulate the Blessing alone.
“…”
What should we do?
Controlling a single duke is going to be tough for our whole team!
As everyone held their breath, the partner in the passenger seat spoke up.
“Let’s do what he wants.”
“What?”
“Anyway, to proceed with this round’s plan, we have to trust the Duke to some extent. If he has any ulterior motives—”
“Ulterior motives?”
Elena, clearly anxious, got a shrug in response.
“If he betrays us, well… this attempt goes down in flames. But we have a trusted fallback at the observatory right? So if this fails, we can just pass on that trust for the next round.”
Even if the Duke betrays us and this round fails, we needn’t fret.
Why? Because that ‘trusted fallback’ at the observatory will succeed in the escape!
As long as we don’t make the same mistakes again next time, we’ll be alright.
“Pfft!”
His confidence was so contagious that I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Realistically, getting out won’t be that easy, even with that over-the-top confidence.
Still, his words eased the uneasy looks on everyone’s faces.
“I have another thought.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I think the Duke understands this situation too.”
“… What?”
“If he betrays us, it would mean nothing. Hence, I believe he will cooperate.”
“Really?”
“Though he’ll cooperate with us, I suspect he has his own goals too.”
The passenger’s insight into the Duke’s strategy is interesting.
He’ll cooperate with us on the outside but pursue his own objectives at the same time.
I cautiously asked,
“If the Duke has his own objectives, what do you think they are?”
After a brief silence, the young man murmured softly.
“… To acquire new gears.”
*
– Lee Eunsol
…
When I regained my senses, the voice of the Duke had vanished.
Instead, I saw Miro sitting next to me.
“Awake?”
“Miro, earlier, the Duke asked to summon him and have a chat, right?”
“Yep. He wanted to talk to you.”
The Duke’s request was crystal clear: channel the power I inherited from Mother to become the King of Is in her stead.
“What did he say?”
“…”
“Eunsol?”
“Just a moment, let me think a little.”
What does it mean to become a king?
Can I actually inherit the powers of a prisoner?
If I do, will the Is race genuinely pledge their loyalty to me?
Why, in the first place, does the Is race need a king?
A cascade of questions rushed through my mind.
The thought of awakening as an alien king threw me into utter chaos!
The fear of veering off the human path.
Curiosity about a possibility I had never imagined in life.
And finally…
The greed for boundless power and cosmic authority surged within me.
At that moment, I understood why the hotel had detected my greed at my core.
“Ha…”
Letting out a light sigh, I glanced around and noticed the situation inside the car had changed.
Kain had vanished, and Miro, who seemed worn out since early morning, was the only one next to me.
“Are you alright, sister?”
The driver had changed from Mooksung to Jinchul.
“I’m fine. By the way, it’s been a while since I rode in your car.”
“Haha! As long as it’s not a manual, I can drive anything!”
I couldn’t help but wonder where Grandpa went.
Is this really Jinchul?
A thought nagged at me.
Maybe Yu Songee is sitting in the passenger seat already.
What did Songee say yesterday again?
Ah, that if we re-enter Room 301, we’d prevent our parents from having their bodies taken by the Is race.
“Miro.”
“Yeah?”
“What happened to Songee? She mentioned she would protect our parents.”
“Oh, that’s already taken care of!”
“Already?”
“Of course! It was done at dawn!”
“Dawn…”
When he mentioned dawn, I suddenly remembered the info revealed early in the second round.
At the start of Room 301, Is beings invaded Songee’s house in misty shapes, right?
“Did you stop the mist that shows up at dawn?”
“Yep. Those were the intruders. Songee took them both out. Wasn’t it a bit like a hermit crab?”
“… Hermit crab?”
Where’s this random mention of a hermit crab coming from?
“Hermit crabs shed their shells constantly, but without a shell, they die, right? It’s something like that.”
“So, the Is race can switch bodies but can’t last long without one?”
“Yep, isn’t it similar?”
Pretty clever analogy for a middle schooler, but now that I think about it, it is somewhat fitting.
Thinking of hermit crabs made me chuckle lightly, as it downplayed the grandiosity of the Is race.
Anyway, if Miro is right, Songee has already resolved the family issues and is now free!
Which means she could be here at this very moment!
Maybe she’s even in the passenger seat, looking ‘invisible’ right now!
Could she be showing me periodic welcomes from the passenger seat?
I figure in the past, the limitations on varied perspectives would’ve allowed them to fool me for hours.
However, since Songee is aware of her first wish, her power over perspectives has grown immensely.
“Phew…”
“Why do you keep sighing? Things are going well, right?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
The notion of my companions conspiring among themselves, without me, made me feel uneasy.
Of course, I can guess how Miro would respond to that.
“Didn’t Eunsol agree? You practically set up the whole plan!”
Feeling a little frustrated at being swept along in some scheme crafted by a hidden ‘me.’
I know this bizarre stuff can happen due to the nature of time travel, but knowing it mentally and experiencing it are two different beasts.
Honestly, this situation is a bit scary.
From now on, I don’t think I’ll treat entanglements with time travel lightly.
Could this turmoil be a kind of trial I must overcome?
In this moment of deep contemplation about my identity, Miro suddenly began to tap furiously on his phone.
— Tap, tap!
“Eureka! Yes!”
“…”
“It’s up! Let’s go!”
Normally, I’d ignore his peculiar behavior, thinking he had some deep plan, but it was clear that Miro’s actions were just plain weird.
“Miro.”
“Yeah?”
“What are you doing right now?”
“I’m racking up 3,000 years on the Dukeshin game!”
“… Dukeshin?”
“It’s the hottest game in Room 301!”
“… 3,000 years?”
“I’ve always wanted to try it! In real life, Ahri wouldn’t let me top 100,000 won in phone bills! That’s just so unfair!”
“…”
“How could she fret over 100,000 won when she has all that money? Is she afraid Mom will scold her for it? Honestly, I’ve already spent 4 million won on gacha!”
I was momentarily rendered speechless.
Wait a minute, is Miro seriously spending 4 million won on mobile games without Ahri’s knowledge?
Meanwhile, Miro was wide-eyed, tapping away, pouring in a work salary’s worth of cash into that game.
I couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Miro, I don’t know what Dukeshin is, but isn’t it a popular game inside Room 301?”
“Exactly.”
“I mean, you seem to be playing a game you’re seeing for the first time today.”
There’s a huge temporal gap between Room 301 and reality, making it impossible for a game popular within 301 to be famous in the real world.
That means the game ‘Dukeshin’ is very likely Miro’s first experience too.
“True. I just downloaded it because it was ranked number one in the store.”
“Wow, and you drop that much cash on a game you’ve never even played?”
Miro shook his head.
“Nah. I have no idea what this game is, so it’s not fun.”
“Then why are you spending money on it?”
“Pfft…!”
With a mysterious look on his face, Miro started capturing screenshots of the game.
“You see, Eunsol? It’s not about the game being fun—it’s about this being real!”
Soon, he began posting the captured images online along with a message that read:
—
Title: Just Started as a Noob Today!
“Copped SSR Samael, SSR Callisto, SSR Balita, and more from my free-rolls! Is this any good?”
—
“…”
I couldn’t help but mentally plead to whatever comrades might come across this message.
Guys, is this seriously our plan?!
“By the way, Eunsol.”
“…”
“You used up all your time during yesterday’s meeting. So I need to borrow another hour.”
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