Chapter 713 – Someone’s Rest, Someone’s Hardship (9)
—
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 25
Current Location: Third Floor, Room Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 3
—
Han Kain
— Creak!
The door to Room 301 opened, revealing a familiar face.
It was Eunsol, who had been suffering in Room 301 for the past few days, finally returning to the hotel.
Thanks to Miro, who had just been watching and said, “I think Eunsol will be back soon!”, everyone was waiting in the corridor on the third floor.
“Hey everyone, I’m back—”
— Whoosh!
Fireworks went off, raining colorful paper over Eunsol’s head.
Looks like Ahri had prepared a little prank-cum-welcome in that brief moment.
Eunsol gave an incredulous expression, but she also looked secretly pleased.
“Fireworks? What the…”
“Good job out there!”
“Unnie, you did great!”
“You’ve really been through a lot. You should take a break now that you’re back.”
“… Thanks, everyone. By the way, how’s Songi?”
Miro immediately chimed in.
“Songi will be here soon! She was heading toward the building.”
“Oh, thank goodness…”
“Let’s just relax for now and talk later.”
—
By evening, Songi returned to the hotel as well.
Naturally, everyone gathered around the snack table.
The first topic of discussion was the troublesome Duke A.
“I’m serious; it was so ridiculous, right? A suddenly whisked me away to escape!”
Ahri shrugged nonchalantly.
“That’s good. When we go back, just thank him and maybe give him a gift.”
“Are you serious?”
“The gift part was a joke, but you should genuinely thank him. When you receive, you must also give.”
Eunsol shook her head in disbelief and continued.
“Guys, can you guess why A sided with me?”
To be honest, I had already been guessing the answer before she brought it up.
Because A’s judgment felt really, well, reasonable and fitting.
The more rational someone is, the easier they are to predict.
Hard-to-predict types? Like Miro or Seungyub.
… The others seemed different from me.
“Hmm… that’s curious,” Sanghyun said, wondering what the reason might be.
“If what you said is true, then that means you killed a ton of people with that destructive magic, right? So isn’t that the worst king ever?”
Elena chimed in about how that sounded like the behavior of the worst king.
“I panicked and ran away as chaos ensued, and that whirlwind was summoned by Eunsol! Maybe A just lost his mind in that chaos?!”
Songi theorized that the whirlwind summoned by the Hand of Greed drove A a bit mad.
However, it seemed everyone struggled to easily understand A’s judgment.
As I pondered whether I should explain, Ahri chimed in first.
“Wow…”
“Ari, do you get it?”
“… I can guess, but I’m astonished in so many ways.”
“Right? Isn’t it insane?!”
Suddenly, it struck me that the ten people sitting around the table were divided into three groups.
1. Those who didn’t understand Duke A’s judgment.
2. Those who understood but found it absurd.
3. Those who understood and found it rational.
Sadly, it seemed like I was the only one in the third group.
At this point, Miro decisively yanked on Ahri’s arm.
“Stop talking like it’s an inside joke and explain already!”
“To put it simply, A believed Eunsol was a candidate for ‘the king who can’t betray his people.’”
“What?!”
“Comparing with the previous king, the prisoner in Room 301 was a glorious being born as a god, capable of creating the Is tribe with a mere gesture.”
“Uh-huh…”
“In other words, the previous king was beyond the Is tribe. While he might care for his creations, he remains a very self-righteous being.”
Now, let’s think about the prisoner in Room 301, the King of Is, from A’s perspective.
The king is literally a cosmic god, an entity with no constraints whatsoever.
No matter what the king does, there’s no way for the Is tribe to control him.
Even if the king wanted to kill them for reasons that are incomprehensible, his kin wouldn’t dare openly defy him, save for A.
Thus, that king isn’t just any king; he’s a very self-important god.
“Now, what about Eunsol?”
Only now did A’s judgment start to sink in, making my companions’ jaws drop in disbelief.
“… If she betrays her people, her powers would be nullified.”
“So, she’d have no choice but to act ‘nobly’ to prevent losing her powers, right?”
“Exactly!”
At that moment, Sanghyun’s disbelief was hard to hide.
“No way can you rationally come to that conclusion after that situation! Eunsol killed hundreds of her own subordinates!”
Eunsol nodded in agreement.
“Exactly! I mean, I did it to survive, but still, I killed a hundred or so.”
Grandpa showed a look of amazement in multiple ways.
“So you’re saying it’s like this? A tremendously powerful ability user brainwashes 300 citizens of Seoul, then brings forth a whirlwind for survival that kills all 300?”
At the ‘survival’ point, Eunsol flinched but didn’t deny it.
To be honest, she did kill for her survival.
Ahri continued.
“Someone might’ve thought after seeing that crazy scene: ‘Wow! Killing 300 people broke the brainwashing ability? Isn’t that the quality of an excellent king?!’”
While everyone but me sat in stunned silence at such utter absurdity.
Feeling the need to bolster A’s side since he sided with Eunsol, I thought it would be good to clarify things.
“Um!”
Clearing my throat to gather attention, I simply explained.
“Uh, the sacrifice of 300 wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“…”
“The Is tribe isn’t some endangered species, you know? There must be at least hundreds of millions of them. They probably outnumber humans.”
“…”
“300 isn’t really a big deal… honestly, it’s not that serious for you as well.”
“…”
“Haha! Come on, think about it. How long did it take to gather those 300 subordinates? Wasn’t it just three days? It’s nothing at all. The Is subordinates are practically littered around Earth right now. With A’s help, we could gather 3,000 or even 30,000 in no time!”
When I finished explaining, Ahri gazed at me with a hint of admiration.
“Now I completely understand A’s way of thinking. Everyone get it? This guy is basically A!”
“…”
“Eunsol should discuss more about A with Kain before heading out again. With Kain adding about a thousand tentacles to his body, he could be a perfect analysis of A.”
For some reason, Ahri’s statement didn’t sound like a compliment.
The others also looked like they were in a state of awe for various reasons.
Feeling the differences in thought processes between me and my teammates, I pondered whether there was something I should correct.
At that moment, Songi suddenly showed a very tired expression.
“Sorry, but I’m going to take a little longer to rest.”
Seemingly waiting for this opportunity, Eunsol nodded as well.
“…Same here. Honestly, I’ve been feeling a bit drained since earlier.”
Looks like the fatigue from the descent was pretty severe.
Naturally, the two decided to head off to Room 105 for a rest.
Once they left, it became awkward to continue discussing Room 301.
I guess that’s why Elena brought up a slightly different topic.
“By the way, has anyone been having strange dreams the last few days?”
Sudden dreams?
What’s that supposed to mean? But surprisingly, several of my teammates began to agree.
“It’s more like hearing voices rather than dreams, right?”
“Hearing voices? I felt like I was seeing hallucinations.”
“Me too!”
Bizarre dreams or hallucinations that only my teammates experience?
A plausible theory immediately popped into my head.
“It seems like everyone is recalling memories related to their first wishes.”
“Exactly!”
“Coming to the third floor must’ve started releasing the seal on those memories. Moreover, seeing Eunsol and Songi receiving such dreams might’ve triggered them too.”
Seeing everyone nodding continuously, it seemed they shared similar thoughts.
Feeling a strong sense of interest, I said, “Let’s each share what memories we recall.”
Elena, who started the discussion, was the first to speak.
“I keep having a nightmare, being chased endlessly down a dark corridor. Someone’s watching me and keeps pursuing me.”
Next up was Ahri.
“I… keep hearing the sound of a train running through the Milky Way. And…”
“And?”
“… I think I met someone I shouldn’t have.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I’m not really sure. That’s as far as my memory goes. Next!”
Miro frowned.
“Feels like something keeps repeating!”
“Miro, isn’t that from Ice Hell?”
“Uh, maybe…”
Jinchul shook his head.
“There’s no reason to suddenly dream about Ice Hell right now, right? This seems more like a wish-related dream.”
“Is that so…?”
The “Is that so” remarks reflected doubt as Miro seemed unsure of his own comment.
“What about the others? Ah, Jinchul, what about you?”
“Hmm, I think I had an intense fight with someone.”
“A fight?”
“… I lost.”
When he made a gloomy expression, Grandpa joked with a playful tone.
“Hey! You used to lose every time before coming to the hotel, so why does that matter?”
“Aah! It’s different from that!”
“How is that different?”
“… I don’t know how, but it just is.”
At this point, the conversation hit a momentary pause.
Everyone was recalling some kind of vague memory, but nothing really specific came to mind.
It was clear more time was needed for any plausible stories to emerge.
… Suddenly, I noticed a teammate who had been silent for a while.
“Seungyub.”
“…”
“Seungyub?”
“Ah, Kain.”
“What about you? Any dreams or voices?”
“I’m not sure.”
In that instant, I felt like Seungyub’s uncertainty was different from that of my other teammates.
While the others were genuinely clueless, he seemed to know but was pretending not to.
Did he have a topic he didn’t want to touch?
Maybe it’s something highly personal?
“…”
Rather than pressuring him, it might be better to observe over time.
Based on previous experience, Seungyub tends to reveal it with just a little observation.
“Alright, let’s all take a break.”
—
Park Seungyub
…
…
…
「…」
“Ah.”
I heard it again.
This time it was somewhat hazy, but I understood what it said.
After hundreds of times hearing it over the last three to four days, not knowing would be stranger.
Should I have talked to Kain about this sooner?
“…”
Yet, I really didn’t want to discuss it.
「You seem either very lucky or very unfortunate.」
Again, again…!
— Thud!
I flopped down on the bed and covered myself with the blanket.
Of course, I knew it was a meaningless action.
The source of the voice wasn’t external; it was stuck in my memory.
「I don’t know why it’s you.」
“Shut up!”
Who could it be?
Who in the past kept saying such annoying things to me?
「You lack both skill and qualifications, yet you’re sitting in that place due to luck. Do you really think it’s your rightful position?」
“So I got the blessing of fortune! Haven’t you heard that luck is a form of skill?!”
The intensity of the voice seemed to grow stronger.
It had that vibe of an unknown person trying to tarnish my self-esteem maliciously.
Suddenly, I noticed a die that I always kept by my bed.
Without thinking, I grabbed the die and threw it hastily.
1, 3.
“… Roll again.”
2, 1.
“…”
3, 5.
Random numbers rolling all over.
Does this mean I lost confidence in myself?
「Anyone could take your place. It means it’s not necessary for it to be you.」
“…”
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.