Chapter: 92
Chapter 92 – Room 102, Cursed Room – ‘Mansion of Fear’ Re (5)
2 hours ago
– Park Seungyub
As soon as I took the syringe from my sister, I ran like a madman.
It felt similar to when I shoot balloons at a shooting range. So instead of complicating my thoughts, I decided to not hinder the destiny blessed upon me.
Right now, I’m the luckiest person in the world! If I just believe in the blessing and seize every moment, that’s the answer!
I started hearing tremendous sounds coming from behind.
A bizarre world. Everything feels so small.
Now that I think about it, the alien-like being that appeared opposite of Ahri-noona was small too.
As I sprinted madly, the animals I encountered were small, and so were the plants.
Is this what it feels like to be Gulliver in Lilliput?
Even I had shrunk a bit upon entering Room 102, but in this peculiar world, I belonged to the category of giant creatures.
I could see grass and tiny trees swaying all around. The sound of thud-thud echoed in my ears as footsteps became prominent.
A foul, sour scent, likely emanating from a rotten chunk of meat, tickled my nostrils.
Something started chasing me.
What should I do?
This moments like this really hit home, you know?
Why don’t I have the ability to fight back at all?
In front of me stood a big tree. Let’s get up there.
As I hesitated and took a few steps, my body suddenly whoomped down.
— Sploosh!
My foot plunged into a hole in the ground!
What kind of rotten luck is this—
Wait, rotten luck? How could I be unlucky right now?
At this moment, I’m the luckiest guy alive. Nothing unlucky could possibly happen!
So, if my foot fell into the hole, that can’t be bad luck; it must be because I’m ‘lucky’!
With that thought, I shoved my whole body into the hole.
After colliding with some muddy ground, I landed in a strange underground cave.
Once in the cave, I started running and began to realize something.
This is it. My lucky charm is running out.
The fact that I ended up in this cave just by running with the syringe in hand was the limit of my ‘luck.’
…
Was it because my blessing ran out? Eyes like bats’ flickered open all around.
Bats. Is there even such a thing as bats with scorpion tails?
I gritted my teeth and dashed toward the end of the cave.
— Swoosh!
No matter how hard I ran, with the speed of a young child, I couldn’t possibly outrun flying creatures.
As if they were here to show me just how fleeting my fortune could be, the bats started stabbing at me with their tails.
… It hurts! And I can feel something wriggling in the places I got punctured.
I didn’t look at the wounds. It wouldn’t be too much to wish to come out of this strange place unscathed, right?
Even if I die, I need to keep this syringe, which undoubtedly holds a message my sister wanted to convey.
I could probably guess what the message contained.
There’s a place in the mountains that leads to a bizarre world, and this is definitely the enemy’s base!
I’m sure my sister has figured out even more than I have.
Paat!
The world got bright.
I instinctively closed my eyes at the sudden blast of sunlight, and when I opened them again, I knew I had returned to the outside world.
— Twitch!
It hurts. This pain is unbearable!
I rolled around on the ground, writhing from the agony.
It’s so terrifying. What the hell is happening to my body?
Shivering, I tore off my shirt.
“AAAHHH!!!”
I screamed uncontrollably.
Those bats injected eggs into my body!
I could see something like a worm, about the thickness of my finger, wriggling inside.
A few must have already burrowed deeper into my flesh.
I’m so sorry, everyone. It looks like this is where I’ll draw the line.
I simply can’t handle the thought of these monsters hatching inside me.
I would get as close to the mountain trail as possible, take off my clothes, and lay them down carefully with the syringe tucked inside.
Then, I jumped off a cliff.
… That was the end of my consciousness. I’m so sorry, everyone. And please, stay strong.
Current
– Han Kain
After confirming the deaths of Ahri and Seungyub, we swiftly gathered the sisters.
Let’s head to the house with the kids; all the other kids were fast asleep on the sofa and mattresses as if they were dead.
The Cardinal found some traces.
“It’s the rear mountain!”
“What?”
“Here! The agents leave traces like this. Let’s head to the rear mountain!”
Without further explanation, Cardinal Musung hopped into the car. I quickly glanced at the door and saw some unrecognizable symbols.
Is that a code they use between agents?
In a hurry, I, along with the Cardinal and the sisters, jumped into the car heading to the mountain behind the mansion.
On the way there, we made a quick stop and picked up Jinchul-hyung from the conversation tab.
We were at the mountain in no time.
But the next issue arose.
Where in this vast mountain should we search?
Even just knowing the spot where Seungyub and Ahri died would help!
For now, we all climbed along the hiking path in a flurry. Had we reached the halfway mark?
Nearby, I spotted a blood-soaked shirt. Songee reacted immediately.
“Look! That’s Seungyub’s top!”
A blood-splattered shirt. What had he gone through?
As I lifted it, a syringe filled with blood appeared from within.
Next to the shirt lay some hasty scrawled letters in the dirt.
‘Mountain, strange world, real base.’
Somewhere on the mountain, there’s a strange place said to be the enemy’s true base?
I understood the gist of it, but where in this vast mountain is that base?
As I picked up the syringe, I stared curiously at it, when the blood inside it suddenly started shifting.
“Huh? What?”
The Cardinal beside me exclaimed in shock.
“Hey! Give me that syring—”
The blood, almost sentient, oozed out of the syringe on its own and invaded my body, causing my consciousness to blur.
When I regained my senses, I found myself in a dark space.
Turning around, I saw Ahri standing there with a dazed expression.
Is this her way of transmitting information?
“What on earth did you do to end up dead? Why didn’t you just use the conversation tab to call us? Why did you go into such a dangerous place alone?”
Ahri just stood there, unresponsive, and as I approached, she waved her hand in the air.
…
Something about this ‘Ahri’ feels off. Is this simply a hologram?
A video materialized in the air.
It showed the path from the mountain entrance to some strange door. Beyond the door was a bizarre world with a beautiful flower garden.
The video replayed twice as if inscribing it into my mind.
At the end of the video, Ahri spoke in a tone that felt detached.
“Passing through this door leads to the enemy’s base, the other world. This place has flowers created from the refining of human souls. Destroying this area is presumed to be the key to breaking the curse.”
This feels too grand for a task; we need to destroy an entire area in another realm?
While I was dazed, the hologram continued with even more shocking information.
“There’s a significant risk that I may be defeated. The status of my soul is extremely high, equivalent to sacrificing hundreds or thousands of human lives.
The ‘Unborn Evil God’ is likely to be born very soon. You need to escape immediately.”
I gasped out loud, startled.
“Wait! What do you mean, the Unborn Evil God is coming? And what does it mean that your soul’s status is high?”
Mid-question, I felt something dawn on me.
This question was something that the ‘real Ahri’ would never have answered.
However, this hologram that seemed to embody Ahri’s memories turned to me and replied.
“The participants’ souls increase in status through the trials conducted by the Hotel. This is one of the Hotel’s objectives. My soul has transcended the human realm.”
With that response, I felt like falling into an endless whirlpool, and then, I returned to the gloomy space.
Han Kain
I immediately relayed the information I received.
There’s a base in the mountain that pertains to the enemy, and how Ahri herself was sacrificed, nearing the birth of the ‘Unborn.’
The Cardinal shouted with a grave expression.
“We’re in deep trouble!”
Songee, bewildered, exclaimed, “What is going on?”
The answer came directly from the being in the process of birthing.
— Gooohhhhhh!
An endlessly wicked scream rattled the very skies and ground.
Dark clouds surged from the mansion, covering the whole sky in an instant.
I looked at the Cardinal with a dumbfounded expression as he sighed and said, “It’s great we’ve found where the enemy base is and all, but it seems Ahri is to be sacrificed and the Evil God is about to be born.”
Elena murmured in a terrified voice, “Are you saying…?”
“That everything is on the verge of collapsing.”
The earth trembled as black energy seeped out. Jinchul-hyung shouted desperately.
“What do we do now?”
“Move immediately! We need to escape before the ritual is fully completed!”
“What about the base we found? Isn’t that where we’re supposed to hit?”
“Idiot! The Evil God has already devoured everything it needed and is close to being born; what will destroying that place do now?! We should have hit it before all this.”
I began to comprehend the situation.
We discovered the location of the ritual for the birth of the Evil God, but due to the heavy sacrifice, Ahri, the Evil God is on the brink of being born.
In other words, this attempt has already failed.
Of course, that didn’t mean we gained nothing. As long as we could somehow make it to the fourth attempt!
If only we could destroy the base before the Evil God’s birth and take out the enemy too, isn’t that a solution in itself?
Let’s think about that after we escape.
We all hurried into the car, racing towards the mansion.
As soon as I got in, I was caught in a dilemma.
‘Should I use Descent here?’
I asked for opinions from those around me as soon as I got in the car.
“Should I unleash Descent to take him out? He should be a bit weak right when he is born, right? What if the rest of you keep your distance as much as possible?”
The Cardinal replied, “Not sure about that.”
“Isn’t that a great idea?”
“Sure, but your Descent is limited, and I’m still wary of that so-called ‘Lord.’ I’d prefer to save it for a situation where we have a solid chance.”
To me, this attempt felt as good as over. The moment we failed to prevent the resurrection of the Evil God, the best we could aim for was simply escaping.
“But can we escape without using Descent?”
The condition for escape is to temporarily get away from the ‘current threat.’ In a situation where the Evil God is about to be born, how can we temporarily avoid it?
It’s times like these that we needed ‘Advice.’
I desperately prayed. Please tell us what we need to do!
[Advisor’s Advice: 3->2]
[Sometimes, disturbing the board just to buy time is the only way.]
… What does that mean? Disturb the board just to buy time?
I couldn’t grasp the meaning at all. So immediately, I used the advice again.
‘How do I disturb the board to buy time?’
[Advisor’s Advice: 2->1]
[You all possess the power to ‘beat everything up’.]
I stared at Jinchul-hyung.
The third attempt spiraling into calamitous failure.
I discovered the only path to escape.
I promise to repay with continuous updates!
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