Chapter 758 – Room 302, The Curse Room – ‘Brave New World’ (28)
—
– Park Seungyub, Past
I lived with faith.
Believing in my fate, trusting in my luck.
So, in front of the wave of flickering flames, I confidently shouted:
“Move aside!”
To my disbelief, the flames parted like a scene out of a movie, creating a clear path.
It was absurd.
But to me, it felt entirely normal at that moment.
“Wow! Unbelievable!”
“What’s unbelievable?”
“Are you saying it’s logical to shout at flames to make them part? I’m no Moses—”
“Ha ha! Didn’t I say? I’m the best Seungyub of all time!”
Somehow, the pulling resistance from Soyeon’s hand vanished.
She was no longer doubting me and began to follow along.
“Do we need to survive until Sunday?”
“Yup.”
“If we go out the front, the adults will be there. If we get caught, it’ll be dangerous, so let’s use the back.”
After meeting Soyeon on the 5th floor science lab, we had made it to the 2nd floor corridor.
If we smash that window ahead, we could drop into the tennis court.
A one-minute sprint from the tennis court leads straight to the back exit, and then we’re free!
Just as I was about to dash to the window with confidence!
—Thunk!
Soyeon grabbed my arm.
At first, I worried she might show doubt again, but this time it was different.
“Are you an idiot? Can’t you feel the heat all around? That window’s gonna be scorching!”
“Can’t we just open it with our hands?”
“We need to smash it. Here, use this!”
She pulled out a small hammer as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Isn’t that the meticulousness typical of a time-looping pro?
Pfft! But she was trapped on the 5th floor before I got here.
—Crash!
The window shattered in an instant.
As Soyeon had said, each shard of glass was boiling hot.
“Let’s go!”
Just before I leaped down, I instinctively hesitated.
It was the second floor, so I wouldn’t die from falling, but it would surely hurt a lot.
And pain is something you can’t escape from even with luck – Ahhh!
S-Soyeon pushed me!
—Thump!
“Ahhh!”
I rolled on the ground for about thirty seconds, groaning.
Soon enough, Soyeon gracefully landed next to me like she had mastered the art of falling.
“Why did you suddenly jump?”
“Were you planning to stay in a burning school?!”
“Well, no, but…”
“You really… were so cool a while ago.”
Then Soyeon looked away, as if she was embarrassed.
“Run! The adults are coming!”
Thinking of those adults who were acting crazed earlier sent my body into automatic mode.
—Pat, pat!
From the tennis court to the back exit, then onto the roadside.
After about ten minutes of running like we were on fire—literally—the sound of fire trucks began to echo.
—Weeeee—!
As the tension eased, I unexpectedly collapsed onto the solid ground.
“Haah…”
Soyeon plopped down next to me like she was half-dead.
The sensation that followed was one of accomplishment.
We’d successfully stirred up strong emotions in the adults, just as Soyeon had wished.
Plus, thanks to my efforts, we had escaped the scene; I likely wouldn’t die just yet.
“Hah, hah, hah!”
I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Soyeon looked at me with a blank expression.
“Did you see? Did you see?!”
“Yeah.”
“Wasn’t I right? I told you I’m the greatest Seungyub! I knew I’d succeed this time!”
“…”
Instead of answering, Soyeon reached out and flicked my cheek.
Ouch!
It stung like crazy.
It must’ve been burned too; I was sure there were more burns scattered all over.
Right now, I was in such a hyper state that I barely felt the pain, but would I end up crying out of agony in a few hours?
Anyway, I felt extremely embarrassed at this moment, so I quickly changed the topic.
“Is this it? Will the adults wake up next week?”
“Probably. But I can’t say for sure.”
“You don’t know?”
“Of course not. Other than you, I’ve never woken anyone up.”
“Right…”
“Maybe there’s some bizarre rule we don’t know about.”
Just like what happened at school, Soyeon’s taking a negative stance again.
It seemed like repeated failures had deflated her spirit.
But—
“I often thought…”
“About what?”
“That this world feels like a cartoon or movie. Like, if you kiss, time slows down, or things repeat every so often.”
“Uh…”
“Every fictional world has a protagonist, right?”
“A protagonist?”
“Maybe you just got the protagonist buff a moment ago?”
This time, Soyeon’s gaze shifted subtly.
Her face was slightly flushed, and it didn’t seem like it was just from escaping a fire.
“I think if I’m with the protagonist, we could get out.”
“…”
“Even if this is a failure, if we keep trying—next time, the next time, we’ll definitely—”
Our eyes met.
My heart raced.
And then—
—Booom!
The shattered illusion.
*
– Park Seungyub
I woke up.
“…”
This time, I’m really awake.
Not like the fuzzy awareness returning from a memory, but 100% fully conscious.
Meaning the primeval human has concluded.
That’s not strange at all.
This time, the primeval human’s conditions were quite complex, but the core element of the termination condition was ‘regain past memories.’
Since I regained my memories, it meant the primeval human completed their role and was done.
So far, so good, but there are two issues.
First problem: I didn’t recover all my memories.
Like how Seunghyun bro learned sequentially through three photos, I too was regaining my memories in order.
Even though I finally regained the ones I couldn’t before, I still don’t have everything.
I recovered the memory escaping the school with Soyeon, but there’s nothing after that.
I never reached the moment of making the ‘first wish.’
Second problem: Right now, I’m still at the site of the fire.
“Are you an idiot? Can’t you feel the heat all around? That window’s gonna be scorching!”
This was right at the moment Soyeon handed me the small hammer, telling me to use it to smash the window.
“It’s here; use this to smash it.”
Not too long ago, I felt like I showed Soyeon a pretty cool side of myself.
As a sign of that, Soyeon’s face was blushy, and she was giving me some significant looks.
Honestly, seeing that made my heart race.
But on the other hand, one fear crept in on me.
The reason I hadn’t become aware of the first wish.
“…”
It seems the process of regaining past memories differs by participant.
In my case, recreating the past experience similarly allows memories to return up to that point.
Let’s think back to my first attempt.
I met Soyeon, noticed the world’s oddities, and regained memories of that interval, but I couldn’t recover what followed.
Why?
Because the next segment diverged from actual history.
Specifically, I went along with my own ‘rescuer of the ravine’ plan instead of burning down the school as Soyeon had intended.
If you think similarly, then I get why I couldn’t realize my first wish in this instance either.
… From here onward, the developments are changing.
“What are you doing? Smash it! We’re gonna burn to death!”
Hey, Hotel! Why’s the development changing from here?
I’m supposed to smash the window with the hammer and run with Soyeon to the tennis court, right?
That would be the same development.
“Pfft! Don’t tell me you’re getting nervous? You just pushed through flames, and now you’re scared of smashing a window?”
“… No. I’ll do it now.”
Even up to the moment I swung the hammer, I wasn’t able to grasp what was happening.
Why couldn’t I realize the first wish?
Why did the hotel decide the development would diverge from here?
—Bang!
The moment the hammer hit the window.
—Shudder!
The entire world shook.
The window began to change in a strange way.
“Kkh!”
“Whaaaat?! What is this?!”
The window turned opaque—like a movie’s ‘screen.’
A mysterious, unfathomable existence appeared beyond the screen—the audience.
In that bewildering chaos, at least one truth became crystal clear to me.
“It’s different! Damn it!”
It’s truly different!
Based on the memory I just regained, there was no transforming the hammer into a screen thing going on!
“What the heck? What the real is going on?!”
Just at that moment—
—Swaaa…!
The heat of the fire no longer pressed against me.
Instead, a clear and refreshing energy began to envelop my surroundings.
As I dazedly turned my head, I witnessed the birth of an angel.
A beautiful girl gazing dreamily at the sky.
Four soft wings filled with feathered softness sprouted from behind Soyeon.
At that moment, it hit me.
The reason I hadn’t become aware of the first wish.
The reason the hotel deemed that developments would change from here.
It wasn’t because I messed something up.
… The Son of Dawn had intervened.
“Ahhh…”
“…”
“Father, your foolish daughter now understands your will.”
“…”
“I see now. There was an end after the end in this world.”
The heavenly light-filled eyes turned towards me.
“I missed you… I’ve missed you for such a long time.”
Hearing those words made it clear.
Right now, Soyeon had reclaimed memories from her first attempt!
“Seungyub, do you see?!”
“…”
“Your allies have come. They’ve come to save you!”
With surprise, Miro clutched my arm.
What on earth was going on?
How could I know what Seungyub had gone through the moment we arrived at the movie theater?
How did Soyeon manage to regain the first round’s memories to recognize me?
But at least I could answer one thing.
“The Son of Dawn.”
A prisoner is involved.
To make up for the failure encountered during the first attempt!
The next moment, the girl gazed sadly at the screen and murmured.
“Father. You commanded that I do your will.”
At the tip of her outstretched hand—fluttering feathers appeared.
Feathers capturing the dim light of twilight just before the sun sets.
The moment I saw it, I understood.
The fate of those feathers encompassed the entirety of this room!
Should we obtain it, Room 302 is resolved.
Not just preventing the Son of Dawn from descending, but also erasing the prisoner’s malign influence over reality.
Should the Son of Dawn obtain it, we shall be defeated.
The prisoner will immediately descend, merging the end-game world with the afterlife.
The girl holding the feathers seemed to be aware of this too.
The principle of insight reached upon entering the exalted realm whispered to me.
The choices granted to the poor angel.
If she offers the feather to her father, the lover dies forever.
If she hands it to us, then her father’s victory in saving the cosmos is assured to end in failure.
Thus, the angel made her decision.
“I will do what I desire.”
A handshake after prolonged deliberation.
The worst decision stemming from the weight of consideration.
The destruction of the feather.
“I love you.”
—Fwoosh!
The poor angel, having lost all her support, returns to emptiness.
… The ending that nobody wished for had arrived.
‘A foolish one creates a board where all seated lose.’
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