Chapter 708 – Someone’s Rest, Someone’s Hardship (4)
—
Elena
Today marks the first day of a peculiar party time where the ending point is unknown. According to Kain’s status window, it’s also Day 19 of the start of the third floor.
In the Sanctum of Blessings, Songi received advice regarding the descent while Eunsol unnie obtained a blessing enhancement.
While my unnie was fainted, I found myself holding a cup of coffee, taking a stroll, when I was suddenly stopped by Ahri.
“Elena, can you help me for a sec?”
“What’s up?”
“I’m in the middle of a search and could use your help.”
Ahri took me down the guest room corridor and pointed to the ceiling.
“Do you see the light?”
“Yeah.”
“Could you turn it off?”
I was momentarily baffled, not grasping what Ahri meant.
“What do you mean? Can’t you reach the button?”
Ahri shrugged in response.
“Back in the day, I might’ve asked you this, but with our height difference now? I have Wing Boots, for crying out loud!”
Thinking back, she had a point. Ahri could just fly up and hit the high button.
“There’s no ON/OFF button for the lights in the third-floor guest rooms.”
“?”
“Isn’t that strange? It feels like a peculiar aspect. If we forcibly turn off the lights—”
“So you want me to turn off the lights and conjure ominous images, is that it?”
“Exactly.”
For a while, I helped Ahri explore various places in the hotel, as it seemed she was searching an area brimming with her blessings, but we didn’t find anything significant.
“Phew…”
“Elena, let’s take a break. Thanks for helping out.”
“No worries. By the way, did you find anything yet?”
Just like Kain, who supposedly has a status window only visible to him, I suspected Ahri had something similar.
I didn’t ask expecting an answer, as if she’d discovered something, she would’ve told me first.
Surprisingly, an answer came.
“…I didn’t find anything through the search.”
“Uh?”
“However, some changes occurred before the search.”
“Really?”
Ahri explained slowly.
“From my experience, when I don’t know anything, I only see three question marks. Like this.”
A string of text appeared on the whiteboard, visible only to Ahri.
* Hidden NPCs of the Third Floor
1. ???
2. ???
* Hidden Rooms of the Third Floor
1. ???
2. ???
It seems there are two hidden NPCs and rooms on the third floor as well.
“If I uncover something here, the name will appear. From then on, I’ll get a vague sense of where they might be.”
At that moment, I began to grasp what Ahri was hinting at.
“Did a name pop up? Is that why you were rummaging through the guest room corridor?”
Ahri nodded, writing the name of one of the question marks.
* Hidden Room of the Third Floor
1. Heaven
“Heaven. So this was considered a hidden room.”
“The reason Heaven’s name appeared is simple: during the intrusion of Is, we came to learn of Heaven’s existence and position.”
“True.”
“The strange part is that another name popped up.”
“Hmm?”
Like Ahri, I felt puzzled.
We hadn’t even started a proper exploration of the third floor yet, yet the hotel claimed we’d uncovered information about two hidden elements.
“What’s the second one?”
* Hidden NPCs of the Third Floor
1. 不令解脱
“What the heck does this mean?”
“…”
“I’ve never seen this word before. It doesn’t seem like a normal word…”
“Ah, this is read as ‘Bulyeonghaetal.’”
“I’ve never heard that term before.”
“Me neither.”
“…”
After a moment of silence, I mumbled without realizing it.
“It’s been a while since I sensed your blessing’s presence…”
Realizing what I’d said, I flinched.
“Sensing your blessing’s presence after a long time…”
Sounds like I’m saying it was useless all along, doesn’t it?
Ahri reacted as if it didn’t bother her at all.
“Honestly, it’s not that useful most of the time.”
“…”
I often ponder this.
The Hotel Pioneer isn’t inherently a fair place.
There’s definitely a noticeable performance gap between blessings and inheritances.
Although it’s also ambiguous whether it’s a matter of performance disparity or user tendencies.
Ahri’s blessing, Secret, is a great example.
The Secret is a dedicated power for discovering hidden elements within the hotel.
In other words, it’s kind of impractical inside a cursed room.
At least, its strength in the compass and the invisible girl made some use in the room a few times.
After reaching this thought, I unintentionally shot a somewhat sensitive question at Ahri.
“Hey, Ahri.”
“Hmm?”
“…Do you have any complaints about your blessing?”
“Complaints? Oh, because of its limited versatility?”
“Yeah.”
“I do feel a tad disappointed sometimes… but I just accept it.”
This answer surprised me slightly.
Because I felt that people in a similar situation, like my grandfather or Eunsol unnie, seemed quite disgruntled.
“I think the cause lies with me.”
It’s true that the versatility of her blessing is lacking, but since she attributes the cause to herself, she doesn’t have significant complaints.
After all, why did Secret take on such a form?
It’s because when Ahri returned to the hotel, she earnestly wished for the revival of the Miro.
To resurrect Miro, she had to find the Mirror Room and the Resurrection Room, both of which are hidden elements of the hotel.
So, a power specialized in finding hidden elements was born.
“I see.”
Thinking about it, it makes sense for Ahri to have little complaint or expectation regarding her blessing.
It’s the form she wanted, and obtaining it through Miro’s revival is what she sought.
At that point, Ahri chuckled.
“I want to say that if you were thinking of Mooksung or Eunsol, our situations differ.”
“Situations differ?”
“I have two inheritances, right? These days, I don’t feel I need anything more in terms of capacity. I still can’t fully handle the power of the irregular polyhedron.”
“Ah, I get it.”
A mindset leaning more towards digesting already acquired powers rather than seeking additional abilities.
I could understand that completely since I was in a similar situation.
Ahri’s feelings toward the irregular polyhedron were similar to the feelings I have towards my ominous imagination.
However, hearing about Ahri’s second inheritance made me feel a little conflicted.
It’s not that I wanted to have the irregular polyhedron itself.
In the first place, I didn’t think it was a usable inheritance for me.
“…”
What I envied wasn’t the inheritance itself, but the process through which Ahri obtained it.
Ahri didn’t acquire the irregular polyhedron through actions in the cursed room or the time of choices.
It was given to her by Kain.
So, the irregular polyhedron symbolizes Kain’s trust in Ahri.
The one he trusts the most among us is Ahri.
“What are you thinking about?”
“It’s nothing serious.”
“You looked kind of deep in thought.”
“…It’s your fault.”
“What?”
“Because you invoked ominous images and turned off the lights in the guest room corridor.”
“Oh, is that why you’re feeling weird? Sorry about that.”
Feeling the need to shift the conversation, I asked.
“By the way, when unnie wakes up, she’ll probably go back to Room 301 with Songi, right?”
“Probably.”
“Ugh… I’m worried. Will they do okay?”
At that moment, Ahri made a meaningful comment.
“We’ll probably face something like that one day too.”
“…What?”
“Don’t you think? If we each recognize our wishes and resolve our own rooms, we could descend too.”
“I guess so.”
It’s suddenly clear that the third floor is quite different from the first and second floors.
I recalled a tale Kain mentioned he heard from past wisdom.
The hotel supposedly creates participants—the divine swords—through the first and second floors, and it seems like they intend to swing those swords on the third floor.
I began to sense the meaning behind that statement.
“Elena, I realized something suddenly, but there are still four rooms left, right?”
“Counting the nameless rooms, that’s five.”
“Let’s focus on the rooms with numbers for now. The nameless room seems like a different kind of room. In any case, the other rooms should be similar to Room 301.”
“Similar how?”
“I think two people will occupy one room. Meaning, there’s someone else in the world who lived a similar life to mine.”
“True.”
Two people who have lived in the same world, with similar backgrounds for their wishes.
In Room 301, it was exactly that for Eunsol unnie and Songi.
“I have a good guess about who my partner will be.”
Hearing that immediately made me realize who Ahri’s partner would be.
“It’ll be the grandfather.”
“That’s right. We were like colleagues in the reality, after all. Naturally, we share the same loop. Actually, we share quite a few loops. I really have no idea what kind of loops the hotel is targeting.”
Eunsol unnie and Songi, along with Ahri and grandfather.
The remaining people are me, the doctor, Miro, Jinchul, Seungyub, and Kain.
“Who could be your partner?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Ever felt anything while chatting before coming to the hotel?”
“Not at all. Unnie and Songi didn’t know before they entered Room 301, right? Though that was due to unnie’s unusual life.”
“No, I meant…”
Ahri tilted her head slightly and then brought up an unexpected topic.
“It’s a bit hazy since it was so long ago, but didn’t you appear on TV in reality?”
“A few times, I think. I was sort of the concept of a foreigner settling in Korea?”
“I believe someone claiming to have seen you on TV existed. Right?”
“Hmm…”
Hearing Ahri made me feel like I had that sort of conversation a long time ago…
But considering the nature of the hotel, where immense events happen daily, it’s hard to recall past events.
“I can’t remember it exactly.”
“Me neither.”
“Let’s talk about it later when we’re all gathered. Want to keep searching?”
“Ah~ When will unnie wake up?”
“Probably tomorrow morning.”
*
Lee Eunsol
…
Waking up on a fluffy bed, I noticed my comrades must have moved me to Room 105 after I fainted in the Sanctum.
“…”
As soon as I woke up, the first thought that crossed my mind was, of course, the new ability I’d obtained.
The words of the dragon before we separated flickered in my mind.
“Therefore, I will grant you the power you need and that which fits you: Noble Virtue.”
Naturally, a new power appeared in the corner of my vision.
Sure enough, the third enhancement of wealth had a name befitting Noble Virtue.
“Noblesse Oblige”
“Noble Virtue, Noblesse Oblige….”
My first thought was the realization that the Patron acknowledged my direction.
He deemed there was an issue with my tendencies and tried to correct it through the Hand of Greed.
The Patron’s intent had changed, though.
It wasn’t that I’d failed; therefore, he recognized the situation honestly and bestowed upon me a power entirely different from the Hand of Greed.
“…”
Really, it’s completely different from the Hand of Greed.
The power meant to correct my path—a power saying my direction is valid.
If I think negatively, there’s absolutely no synergy with the Hand of Greed.
On the bright side, perhaps both powers can cover each other’s gaps.
Noblesse Oblige.
Those of noble birth are given an obligation fitting their status.
Just like the noble are given duties, those who take on duties first are bestowed with nobility.
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