Chapter 757 – Room 302, The Curse Room – ‘Brave New World’ (27)
—
– Miro
— Click!
Late at night, just when I felt that sleepiness creeping in, I summoned Kain.
I had no intention of wasting Kain’s time, but a crucial question had popped into my mind.
What’s my role in Room 302?
According to Kain’s analysis, for a happy ending, this “Brave New World” ultimately needs to vanish.
The problem is, for the folks trapped inside this world, escaping on their own is nearly impossible.
So, someone has to deal with the Administration Bureau staff from the outside, and that’s my job.
I know what I need to do, but when exactly should I do it?
There’s no way to know what’s going on in the Brave New World from the outside, so I can’t figure out the right timing.
Would Kain have the answer?
Upon hearing my question, Kain fell silent for a moment.
At first, I thought he was contemplating my inquiry, but soon I noticed his gaze fixed on empty air.
Kain, did something pop up in your Status Window?
“Did something come up?”
“…”
Instead of answering, he hastily pulled out a pen and started scribbling something in the Status Window.
It looked like he was hoping his Observing self would see it, but I had no idea what it was.
“Hey, hey! Tell me! What’s it about? Another storyline about true love or something?”
“… The next content has appeared.”
“What is it?”
The next line sounded incredibly meaningful.
“A wise person creates a board where everyone can win.”
“Oh! That’s something Owl mentioned to you before—”
“A foolish person creates a board where everyone seated loses.”
“….”
A moment of silence.
“Uh, that doesn’t sound like a good thing.”
At that moment, Kain muttered with a rigid expression.
“Not even a day has passed. Considering the time difference with the U.S., Seunghyun hyung is probably around 11 AM at most?”
“Yeah.”
“Things aren’t at a proper starting point for him yet. He’s probably just on the move in a car. Meanwhile, the scenario has changed twice while he’s done nothing…”
I began to feel anxious.
The doctor’s side has just started, but the storyline is being updated continuously for a reason.
Something must be happening rapidly in the Brave New World.
There must be enough going on to require this many updates within 30 minutes!
“Miro, I’ve found the answer to the question you asked earlier.”
“…?”
The question I tossed to Kain was simple; I knew I had to go to the school and deal with those managing the Brave New World, but exactly when should I do it?
The answer was remarkably simple.
“Head to the school right now. There’s no time to waste.”
Just before I dismissed Kain, he was still consumed by a lingering question.
“True love. A board where everyone loses. What could that possibly mean?”
*
– Park Seungyub
Consciousness crept back in, blurry at first.
The first thought that hit me was ‘how?’
By the first principle, since the primeval human hasn’t finished, there shouldn’t be any of this waking up nonsense.
Yet, the experiences I’ve built in the hotel offered an answer to the puzzling question.
All the rules within the blessing and inheritance factually have exceptions.
Or I could say, there’s a Zero Principle that supersedes all others.
The Zero Principle states: everything is up to the hotel.
The hotel decided to vaguely awaken my consciousness to show me something.
Thanks to that, I felt a bit accomplished.
Being able to recall more memories than before means that what the primeval human experienced is getting closer to ‘something I actually went through’ back in the day.
…
Very old memories.
A sad dream blurred like an illusion.
*
– Park Seungyub, Past.
“Ugh! I was a fool to expect anything from you. You coward are just going to stay here. I can handle this all on my own.”
With that, Soyeon headed to school alone.
Fifteen minutes later, the school suddenly burst into flames.
A far larger fire than she had planned.
She hadn’t intended to burn the school down to this extent at all.
“Fire! Fire!”
“Call 119! Fire department!”
Voices of the adults echoed in anger all around.
Luckily, one teacher managed to rush outside quickly, but the school was burning in real-time.
“What the hell…! Damn idiots!”
“Who did this? Who did it?!”
The expressions of the adults were extremely agitated.
Their crude language and menacing glares indicated a boiling rage.
I think Soyeon pretty much succeeded in achieving her goal if triggering extreme anger in the adults was her intention!
Adults gathering in groups on the field were engulfed in uncontrollable fury.
Fortunate or unfortunate, no one suspected me.
After all, I was just standing in the field, and I hadn’t participated in the arson.
“Shit! There’s nobody inside, right?”
“The one who set this must be in here.”
“He can burn for all I care!”
“Hey, why are you being so short with me?”
“What the hell?!”
It was hard to comprehend the adults losing their rationality.
There was no reason for them to fight among themselves, but they looked like they’d start stabbing each other any moment.
It was incomprehensible.
Yet, one fact dawned on me.
No one would go save Soyeon, who was trapped in the school.
“…”
In the next moment, I made a decision so insane I felt like I had never done anything like it in my life.
“Hey! Where’s that kid running off to?”
“Hey! Can’t you see the school is on fire? Where do you think you’re going?!”
I leaped into the raging inferno in real-time!
What happened next was almost unbelievable even to me.
Ceiling panels fell from above, just barely missing me.
Flames licked at the air, but astonishingly passed right beside me.
It was as if the whole world was spinning around me.
The peak of unexplained luck was finding my way.
Not knowing where Soyeon was, I was just running and sprinting around carelessly, only to find myself near the 5th-floor science lab.
There she was.
Sitting exhausted on the floor, clearly worn out from the scorching heat.
“… Wow. You made it? Good job.”
Soyeon looked as if she hadn’t even considered escaping.
Her eyes seemed dazed, as if she hadn’t anticipated the fire would get this bad~
“Why are you here? Did you come to lecture me?”
“…”
“Ah~ I didn’t expect it would get so out of control. It wasn’t this bad before; fires can be so unpredictable.”
“… So, you’ve done this before?”
“Of course. I’ve done many things.”
Strangely enough, I felt like I understood what Soyeon was feeling right now.
It wasn’t fear or despair.
More like a head-scratching weariness.
An endlessly repeating world.
An eternal cage that one could never escape.
“Why does your face look so tired? Didn’t you want to provoke some strong feelings in the adults? So, isn’t that a success?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“… Because I’m going to die soon.”
“What?”
“After experiencing one success—”
“Are you talking about me?”
“- I realized I need to live until Sunday after inducing extreme emotions. I don’t know why, but that’s just how it is.”
“….”
“Looks like I’m failing again.”
Next, Soyeon picked up a chair and headed for the window.
“Wait, are you trying to kill yourself?”
“Burning to death hurts like hell. Falling is less painful. You should just jump too.”
Her attitude, casual towards death, was frustrating.
I thought I understood why this girl kept failing.
So—just before Soyeon jumped, I grabbed her from behind.
“What are you doing? Going to jump first?”
“… This is why you keep failing.”
“What?”
“There’s a strategy called backdoor play.”
“….”
“While four of my teammates are dealing with the five of the enemy team, I just take their base and win.”
“What does that have to do with now—”
“It’s my favorite strategy. The entire match hinges on my choice to push.”
All the insights I gained through countless backdoor plays were present.
When a general draws his sword, he shouldn’t look back.
Retreating in fear of losing the team is just a sure path to defeat.
There’s no such thing as returning.
You throw away the return key altogether.
You push all the way through.
If you succeed, you’re a hero; if you fail, it’s just a banned account!
“Don’t think about returning. It’s not over yet, so why flee to death? Aren’t you going to see it through?”
“….”
“If we’ve gotten this far, we need to crush the enemy’s main base and either win or lose, but why think about retreating?”
That’s why you keep losing.
You hit the return key every time right when the stakes are high!
You need to be able to ignore the insults hurled at you by your teammates and scream, ‘Shut up!’ if you want to win!
The next moment, Soyeon suddenly scoffed as she looked at me.
“I get it now. You’re so confident because you think you have a hero complex.”
“What?”
“Did you think you were some kind of superhero after pushing through the fire? Your luck must have been crazy! The flames dodged you, and debris almost missed you. Right?”
Somehow, I felt as if she knew what happened to me.
But the next line was shocking.
“You fool. Did you think you were special just for that? It’s just that this time, you got lucky.”
“… What?”
“Rich naïf! Do you think something like this never happened before? You’re one of a hundred Seungyubs who entered to lecture me. The other ninety-nine burned to death, and you just happened to be the lucky one!”
“….”
Soyeon had countless loops in her past.
It wasn’t always a school fire, but surely there were similar big events.
The 100th Seungyub, the one who managed to appear against the backdrop of 99 others burning to death, is now me.
“It’s hilarious. Did you think you were something great?”
Her voice still retained a trace of irritation.
In this moment, I was engulfed in a sensation I couldn’t quite put into words.
“… Now is the time.”
“Just because you got lucky and ended up here doesn’t make you anything special—what?”
“It’s time now.”
“What?”
Ninety-nine deaths.
One success.
At this moment, I realized the goddess of luck was on my side.
“I am the greatest Seungyub of all time.”
“No—”
“I am the best Seungyub in history! Now is the time! Let’s go! Right now, I can turn all your failures around!”
Without another word, I grabbed Soyeon’s arm and turned back, only for her to gasp in shock and shout.
“What crazy talk! Just because you’ve lucked out so far, does it mean you’ll keep getting lucky? Do you even know what independence means—”
I firmly replied.
“Do I look like someone who understands such complicated words?”
Into the wave of flames, I jumped.
I just believed in my destiny, trusted my luck.
I am the luckiest Seungyub in history!
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