Chapter 701 – Room 301, The Cursed Room – ‘Origin of Species’ (35)
—
– Kim Ahri
To quickly summarize what happened in the intense latter half of the second round:
1. The King of Is has been hiding underground in Gangwon Province for a long time, and Eunsol has harbored a clone of his self in her heart since birth.
2. The King awakened this clone that was dormant in Eunsol’s heart and transferred his powers to her.
3. As a result, Eunsol was completed as a ‘contestant with the power of a prisoner’ and witnessed the realm beyond Heaven.
Now that the third attempt has begun, the King of Is underground in Gangwon Province is aware of points 1 and 2 mentioned above.
Just like the other past prisoners, the King retains memories of previous rounds.
However, he is clueless about point 3—the exact happenings in the heavenly realm.
It’s his clone that went up there, not him.
So, can we persuade the King by making it clear that viewing the heavenly realm is pointless?
…
Convincing someone is a very difficult task.
It’s a problem not only if the opponent is foolish, but also if they’re a being of considerably higher stature.
Think about it.
Would it be easy for an adult to listen to and change their mind based on a child’s words?
“My King… Creator. Please, hear my words.”
Right now, someone was attempting the impossible by borrowing my body.
+ Son, are you listening? +
The Duke began to persuade the King.
I saw the success rate as zero, but my companions had a different view.
Some thought you never know until you try, while others felt there was no harm in giving it a go.
So the Duke, having asked for a chance to persuade, had decided to proceed.
During the negotiation process, a kind of safety mechanism was established.
The Duke would stand before the King using my body, and my self would remain awake.
“O King… Before the time of the universe ticks back, I witnessed Heaven alongside you. You are aware of this fact, I believe.”
+ Yes, what did you see? +
“I understood your wishes. I realized the one who weeps for the three thousand worlds abandoned us, and I comprehended how despairing you must feel upon realizing this.”
+ … +
“But, My King, I also recognized this truth as a delusion.”
+ Delusion? +
“Please believe my words. The one who weeps for the three thousand worlds has not abandoned us. We have been saved, are being saved, and are destined to be saved. This is not merely my subjective judgment. These were the words spoken directly by the King who ascended to Heaven.”
+ … +
“You have seen beyond the heavenly gates. You do not know what lies beyond, for I saw nothing. However, you must have seen something and collapsed under that burden.”
+ … I, collapsed while seeing beyond Heaven? +
“Indeed. Do you understand? We have been saved, therefore your despair is unfounded. Rather, going to Heaven would spell doom—both for you and for us!”
The Duke conveyed the events that transpired in the celestial realm without embellishments.
Not a single word was a lie; it’s just what the Duke and we had understood.
The Is tribe is also a subject of salvation.
Thus, there’s no reason for the King to despair or be angry with the one who weeps for the three thousand worlds.
The King of Is saw the shimmering golden gates of Heaven and looked beyond them.
While Kain claimed to see nothing, it appeared the same happened to the Duke.
On the other hand, the King saw something and crumbled under a formidable weight.
“My King… Let go of your obsession with Heaven. You must relinquish this meaningless anger directed toward the one seated on the highest throne. If you relent, we can reach a happy conclusion.”
At that moment, I felt the Duke’s heart, borrowed from my body.
The Duke was sincere.
He earnestly desired the King to snap out of it.
He wished for the King to give up on pointless dreams and return to being the great ruler he once was.
Sadly, that wish was impossible.
+ Poor child… +
“My King—”
+ My son, you could not endure the madness of Heaven. +
“…”
This was the first time the Duke had been left speechless.
+ The supreme evil, the ultimate hypocrite has ensnared you. +
Well, of course it’s me!
Didn’t I call that correctly again?
When Kain was rambling about persuasion and whatnot, I mentioned didn’t I?
The Buddha probably manipulated it all!
The Duke didn’t easily give up.
“If you find it hard to believe my words, consider this: Before the time of the universe ticks back, you sent the clone you planted in the princess’s body to Heaven.”
+ … +
“In other words, you’ve already achieved the goal once. So what has changed?”
The Duke’s words sounded quite logical to my ears.
If you can’t believe what I say, just look at the objective events that occurred.
You’ve already sent a clone to Heaven once.
Yet nothing has changed, has it?
+ Ah… my son, while your words may seem reasonable, the answer lies in your current form. +
“What… what do you mean?”
+ There exists a malevolent intent up in Heaven, and your existence stands as its evidence. Your being has indeed been twisted by that malice. +
“My King…”
+ I shall begin anew. I await the moment my will touches Heaven. +
In this moment, since the Duke was borrowing my body, I could also vaguely feel his own emotions.
Despair, lamentation, agony.
As expected, the King cannot be persuaded.
No matter what I say, he will just blame Heaven for the trickery.
One sobering fact emerged: Heaven, the 3rd floor of the hotel, truly has the power to deceive and ensnare us.
Thus, if we shift our perspective, the King’s viewpoint isn’t devoid of logic.
It’s merely the difference between hating and distrusting the one who weeps for the three thousand worlds versus somewhat trusting them.
Another thought flashed through my mind.
How much time and effort has the King of Is invested for this very moment?
Eunsol is in her thirties, so it could be seen as a plan prepared for over thirty years?
It’s like seeing a pharmaceutical company produce a new drug in a split second and thinking, “Wow, just one second is enough?”
It’s a misunderstanding born from seeing just the surface.
Ten years plus of R&D, hundreds of billions spent.
The King of Is is no different.
The tremendous time and effort put into creating a successful work like Eunsol must have been immense.
It’s impossible to even fathom.
Thousands, tens of thousands of years might just be a breath in the grand scheme of things.
I thought about becoming the King of Is myself.
After a full 3 million years of buildup, something monumental is ready to unfold, and I’m standing on the brink of witnessing that culmination.
Then, suppose someone came along and said, “Stop! I came from the future, and this will fail and be meaningless.”
Could I simply quit?
At that moment, I came to understand the King’s heart.
In a way, it’s more apt to say I grasped the Duke’s understanding of the King’s heart.
“… I remember the first moment I met you amidst the sea of chaos.”
+ I too remember the moment I shaped you. +
“You’ve shaped me, and entrusted me with the mission of preserving the tribe’s future.”
+ That is correct. +
“From this point, I shall follow my mission. Thus, this is not betrayal, but loyalty.”
+ So be it. +
The negotiation came to an end.
Now, all that remained was for them to flex their muscles.
*
– Lee Eunsol
“By the way, Eunsol.”
“…”
“You used up all your time during yesterday’s meeting. I need to borrow an hour. Just one more time.”
“… Fine.”
When I came back to my senses.
“Ah.”
“Eunsol, are you awake?”
“Yeah.”
When we lend time as per Miro’s request, we would disappear for an hour and then reappear.
The memory of that lost hour would be a complete blank.
It felt almost like briefly closing my eyes and reopening them.
“Thanks for lending it to me!”
“Uh-huh…”
In that moment, I felt a flicker of fear about the ‘other me’ in a different time frame.
How would Miro use ‘another me’ this time?
Will this summoning also plot against me?
Previously, such concerns didn’t linger, but now it feels a bit frightening.
The ‘other me’ feels like a stranger.
“Phew…”
“Eunsol, you’ve been sighing a lot today!”
“Sorry.”
I turned my gaze out the window to avoid Miro’s scrutiny, and that’s when I made a startling discovery.
“Wait?”
“What’s up?”
“Isn’t this near the ruins in Gangwon Province?”
“Yes.”
“No… Are we seriously heading to the underground of Gangwon Province?”
“Yep.”
No, I shouldn’t be going underground in Gangwon Province!
According to the circumstances, Mother’s true body is down there.
Isn’t it the fact unveiled when Songee got ambushed right as she entered the underground during the second round?
For a moment, I was utterly confused, unable to comprehend what my companions were planning.
“Is this really right? I mean—”
Miro nodded emphatically.
“Exactly! To stop the end of Room 301, we must destroy the Blessing Ceremony. You understand that much, right?”
“I get that, but why do I need to be here?”
“Well…”
Strangely enough, Miro suddenly became momentarily tongue-tied.
I began to suspect whether this was all part of my comrades’ grand design…
But it wasn’t.
“Jinchul!”
“What?”
“I forgot!”
“…”
“… What was it again?”
At this point, I was sure of one thing.
That guy wasn’t even planning to spend 4 million won on that mobile game!
Soon, Jinchul sighed heavily and said,
“Sis, think of the Blessing as a program we’re trying to hack.”
“So?”
“We’re not actually doing the hacking ourselves.”
“…”
While he didn’t explicitly say who would, I could easily guess it was the Duke.
After all, the Is tribe is quite knowledgeable about the Blessing.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Duke has led the ceremony as the King’s subordinate multiple times.
So it wouldn’t be out of the question for the Duke to halt or destroy the Blessing ceremony.
“But they said besides knowing how to hack, there would also be a need for authority.”
“Authority?”
“With just their own authority, it’s insufficient. Your authority must also be present for it to work…”
“…”
I had a vague understanding of what this meant.
In the final phase of the Blessing ceremony, the distant self that Mother ‘laid down’ within my mind awakens.
Then, that self would take charge of the final procedure.
In other words, I have equal authority to Mother.
It’s just that, for now, I don’t know how to wield that power.
*
When we arrived at the entrance of the underground ruins, screams echoed from all directions.
Originally, certain factions of the Pioneers and the fallen forces of the Administration Bureau had occupied the ruins.
They were likely in the process of ‘cleaning’ things up.
Listening to the pained screams, I could tell the ‘clean-up’ process was rather violent.
“…”
If it were during my time when I was progressing through the first floor, hearing ordinary humans dying would have probably burdened my conscience.
Even now, somewhere deep inside, it ached.
Though it was people who betrayed humanity under the allure of the King of Is, we must remember they are still prisoners.
No matter who was there, if the King had set his sights on them, they would undoubtedly fall.
On another note, there was a part of me that thought there was no other choice.
Regardless of responsibility, they were folks tied to the cosmic Arch-devil, so they had to die.
“Ah… I’ve become one of those agents too.”
“Pardon? What did you say?”
“…”
Was I really so far gone that I couldn’t even understand words spoken nearby? Jinchul was staring absentmindedly into space.
He seemed to be communicating through ‘personal messages’ with some grandfather figure.
At that moment, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of Kain popping into my mind.
In many ways, he was our leading comrade, yet he had a few quirks.
One of them was precisely this behavior of staring blankly into the distance during crucial moments.
He probably had a Status Window or Advice window popping up there.
So, the sharp-eyed comrades like Ahri would catch on when they see Kain using advice.
“… I had something I wanted to tell Kain from time to time.”
“Really?”
“That habit of staring into space is probably something you should fix. It’d be better to casually look around while checking.”
Jinchul, caught off guard for being found out for reading the dialogue box, replied awkwardly with a nervous laugh.
“Looks like the invitation is coming in. They’ve finished tidying up the interior.”
Just before we entered the underground ruins, I had a realization.
For some time now, Miro had been nowhere in sight.
“…”
Given the ongoing situation, I figured my comrades’ plan must feel somewhat like this.
1. Advance swiftly without accessing the memories of the Daeyang Group’s chairman. Hence, the King of Is would not escape from underground Gangwon Province.
2. Using my authority and the Duke’s skills, we’ll destroy the Blessing Ceremony.
3. Happy ending!
A simple and straightforward plan.
“…”
This thought crossed my mind.
If this is all, there should be no reason to hide it from me.
Clearly, there’s something more.
That something is probably something I shouldn’t know about.
So let’s not think about it anymore.
If it’s a plan that succeeds best when I don’t know, trying to figure it out could only hinder my comrades.
Did Jinchul feel something in my silence?
He spoke to comfort me.
“Just a little bit more, sister.”
“Let’s go in.”
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