Chapter 752 – Meeting Concluded, Re-entry into Room 302
—
– Kim Ahri
Today, as we prepared to re-enter Room 302, something bizarre happened early in the morning.
“Hyung?”
“…”
“Why… what’s wrong?”
“…”
“Um, do I have to just stand here like this?”
“Be quiet.”
From the morning, Kain was fixated on Seungyub, staring at him intently.
Clearly, he was trying to gain some insight or intuition.
Seungyub felt incredibly burdened, which was hardly unusual.
Whenever Kain does this, everyone ends up feeling uncomfortable.
Of course, no one tried to stop Kain.
They figured he must have a good reason for it.
On a side note, looking at Kain’s rather haggard appearance, I could guess what was going on.
He probably slept almost none the night before, huh?
After about fifteen minutes, Kain suddenly raised his hand.
“Let’s have a short morning meeting before going back to Room 302.”
Everyone slowly nodded in agreement.
“Uh… do you have something to say? Let’s do it then.”
“Sure.”
“Hyung, should I bring some cola?”
Kain’s next words were unexpected.
“Seungyub stays out of this.”
“Excuse me?”
“Go back to Room 105 and rest. You’ll come out in thirty minutes.”
His voice was surprisingly firm.
When Kain displays such determination, no one among us can refuse.
Seungyub also nodded obediently and returned to Room 105.
“Is 7:20 fine?”
“Sounds good. See you later.”
This is kind of amusing.
It’s not the first time Seungyub was excluded from a meeting.
Due to his unique abilities, sometimes it’s better for him to be kept out of the loop.
Just like now, there have been times in the past when we left Seungyub out during discussions.
But still, acting like this immediately after waking up in the morning?
Seems like Kain figured something out last night.
He must have utilized some advice and thought about it all night long.
Soon, the last meeting before re-entering Room 302 began.
—
As everyone’s attention focused on Kain, we quickly dove into the main topic.
“As we discussed yesterday, Seungyub hasn’t recognized his original wish. Why? Because he has changed too much since before coming to the hotel.”
“Right! That guy has matured a lot since he got here!”
Mooksung nodded in agreement as Kain continued to explain.
“According to Seungyub’s analysis, even when he tries to imitate his past self, it doesn’t go as planned. The way people around him treated him before and now is completely different.”
This time, Songyi chimed in with her thoughts.
“It’s like a rabbit turning into a wolf. No matter how much a wolf tries to act like a rabbit, the surrounding foxes are bound to react differently.”
Kain turned to everyone and asked.
“Can Seungyub solve this problem by himself?”
After a brief silence, Eunsol answered.
“Are you saying he can’t solve it alone?”
“It’s not impossible, but I think it’s tough. Seungyub isn’t particularly skilled at acting.”
“That much is true…”
“The more he falls into thoughts about how he used to be, the more he’ll veer off.”
“That’s valid. Listening to your point, it dawned on me that Seungyub could actually be considered one of the elder members depending on the perspective.”
“If we combine his life sent to Fortuna, that could be the case. Although, Fortuna’s personality has almost vanished now…”
The persona and memories of Fortuna have been eradicated.
However, the traces left by the highly accomplished Black Knight, the last swordsman of the Vatican, will remain within Seungyub.
Those traces turn the rabbit into a wolf.
Eunsol cautiously interjected.
“Couldn’t we rely on the Primordial Man? It’s a power that creates a sort of simulation persona. I think this ability is meant for times like this. Perhaps Seungyub’s benefactor anticipated this – oh, maybe I’m going too far.”
The notion of using a simulated personality to replace Seungyub’s ego, the Primordial Man.
As Eunsol mentioned, it’s certainly a capability for situations like this.
Kain nodded slightly.
“Of course, we’ll have him use that. Seungyub probably suspects that himself.”
“Then wouldn’t that suffice?”
At this point, a few colleagues, myself included, shook our heads slowly.
“Older sister, the mood that emanates from a person is more of an instinctive realm than a rational one.”
“Hmm…”
“It might be called the vigor of the soul. I think it’s very difficult to completely erase that even with the Primordial Man.”
Elena gently raised her hand, referencing past memories.
“Was it Room 203? I remember Seungyub using the Primordial Man back then. He didn’t look like a timid boy at all. Of course, it wasn’t solely because there was no command to be timid.”
Then Jincheol concurred.
“It happened more recently. It was during the first attempt at Room 301, while fighting some counts in the post-apocalyptic world. The vibe was anything but timid.”
Now it was Kain’s turn again.
“Got it? This isn’t going to be as easy as we thought.”
“Right. Ugh, this is surprisingly tricky.”
“We might need some help.”
“Help?”
Mooksung tilted his head.
“How are we supposed to help Seungyub, who’s in a fantastic new world? Are we really talking about invading a dream kingdom?”
Kain immediately shook his head.
“No way are we sneaking into the fantastic new world. Forget it! The fantastic new world is under the Bureau’s control.”
According to Seungyub, there was an unidentified force that literally ‘deleted’ infected children just before death.
It’s as if there’s an invisible eraser wiping people away if reality were a picture.
Considering it now, it’s obvious that the staff managing the fantastic new world were the ones behind it.
So attempting to sneak into the fantastic new world is an absolute no-go.
Determining if it’s even possible is uncertain, and if successful, we’d immediately be erased by the Bureau anyway.
At this point, Eunsol looked slightly shocked.
“Wait… why is Seungyub’s situation so difficult? What do we need to do?”
So that’s why Kain must have stayed up all night working this out.
Seungyub’s predicament is so complicated that they couldn’t figure out what to do.
— Tap!
Fortunately, as a participant chosen by Wisdom, he seems to have come up with a plausible answer.
“What if all ten of us go into the entry party? Wouldn’t some of us start as residents of the fantastic new world?”
“So, we really don’t need to invade the dream kingdom? Some of us will naturally start as residents of the fantastic new world!”
“Exactly. Why was Seungyub alone in the first attempt? It’s because only three were allowed in the entry party.”
A hypothesis that some of us may have been designated as residents of the fantastic new world.
There isn’t concrete evidence, but it feels remarkably sensible.
Think about it.
The stage of Room 302 is the reality where Sanghyun is and the amazing new world where Seungyub is, right?
Surely, the hotel wouldn’t distribute members at a 9:1 ratio?
Some allies also must have been allocated on Seungyub’s side.
The only reason Seungyub was alone in that first attempt was that that person didn’t enter the entry party.
Songyi appeared slightly anxious.
“I understand what you’re saying, but then who should enter? We don’t know who among us would start in the fantastic new world.”
Kain responded patiently.
“First of all, since we don’t know exactly who should go, we can send several people into the entry party. If you think about it, there’s really no point in putting a lot of dwellers from the post-apocalyptic world into Room 302.”
Room 302’s post-apocalyptic world takes place after the Son of Dawn initiates the creation.
“… From my experience, only the extremely talented few will survive at the start.”
You wake up trapped in a trap set by the Son of Dawn as soon as you start.
Since everyone begins in different locations, there’s no time to receive help from allies.
In other words, unless you have the fighting ability of dozens of angels, you’ll be dead in a blink.
“Ugh, that’s true. Except for a few like you, Kain, and the others, everyone else would be dead right from the get-go, making it pointless to enter…”
Thus, members lacking combat power would need to go into the entry party.
Since it wouldn’t make any sense for them to enter a post-apocalyptic party, they might as well join in there.
“Secondly, those who start in the fantastic new world. We don’t know exactly who, but we can make educated guesses.”
“Educate guesses?”
“Don’t forget, the background is a middle school.”
“Uh…”
After a brief pause, the gazes of the colleagues started to shift toward a few individuals.
People who could naturally blend into a middle school background.
…Could it be me?
“Ahri.”
…
As the meeting drew to a close, Seungyub returned.
Once we’d quickly finished breakfast, we headed to Room 302.
This time, according to the meeting, more people were included in the entry party.
—
– Park Seungyub
302, inside the amazing new world.
I woke up early in the morning before the sun had risen.
Because I had something urgent to do as soon as I woke up.
“Phew…”
[Would you like to use the Primordial Man?]
The moment I activated the Primordial Man, my consciousness left my body and arrived in a pure white space.
An area I had experienced several times before.
Extremely mysterious, yet I don’t understand anything.
Unintelligible characters were swirling around, and a dark flame-like shape flickered before my eyes.
I needed to create commands here.
I must inscribe instructions deep within my soul that the other me, who will awaken soon, will follow!
“Where?“
“When until?”
“What?”
“How?”
…
The commands were complete.
Now, I would forget all my memories of the hotel, and I wouldn’t recognize my colleagues even if I saw them.
Soon, my consciousness began to fade into the distance.
As I awaited the moment I would awaken again, I held one query close to my heart.
Can I really awaken my original wish through the Primordial Man?
I feel like… this might not be enough…
—
– Park Seungyub (Primordial Man)
—
“Seungyub!”
“…”
“Seungyub! You need to go to school!”
“…Ugh!”
With a long yawn, I woke up to the sound of my mom’s voice.
The rest of the day followed the same ordinary morning routine as always.
I washed up, got dressed, and dozed off at the dining table.
As usual, my parents were full of nagging.
“Oh dear! Did you really wash up properly?”
“Oh no! Seungyub, your shirt is all wrinkled.”
“Why are you so drowsy? Did you stay up late playing games again?”
I felt no need to answer.
After all, it’s a strange rule made by adults that I need to go to school.
Why do I have to go to school, anyway?
To learn skills for making money later?
Ha! I’m already in training every night.
I guarantee, there’s no middle school kid out there living harder than me.
Of course, I never voice these thoughts out loud.
No one would listen to me anyway, so what’s the point in saying it?
“I’m off now.”
“Hey, did you pack all your books?”
“Excuse me?”
“Excuse me my foot! Last time you forgot your Korean History book, and I don’t want you sneaking home during lunch! Got it?”
“…Yes.”
“And -”
“I’m really leaving now!”
As I woke up that morning, I had no idea that today would turn out to be the most horrific day of my life!
—
‘No… what do they want from me? There’s no guarantee I’ll even start in the amazing new world!’
‘Seungyub just needs help remembering the past memories, right?’
‘So what am I supposed to do?’
‘Uh… How about being the top of Bangbae Middle School?’
‘…’
‘The number one troublemaker of Bangbae Middle School -’
‘Shut up already!’
‘Ahri, Ahri! I have a great idea! How about we do something crazy?’
‘What even is “crazy?”’
‘Queen Bee of Bangbae Middle School!’
‘…’
‘Let’s give Seungyub a day he’ll never forget. A day that’s more real than reality itself. A day he’ll remember for good or for bad.’
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