Escaping the Mystery Hotel

『Translator: RainTL』

༺ Moment of Choice, What Ahri went through (1) ༻

– Cha Jinchul

As soon as I came to myself, I found myself alongside Elena and Sir Mooksung standing inside a large arena resembling the Colosseum.

‘Moment of Choice’?

It was my first time hearing that, but I could immediately understand what they meant. There were several people qualified for the Inheritance but there was only one Inheritance, so it seemed that we had to choose a person.

According to the notification, there were 2 conditions to be qualified for the Inheritance.

1. Survive until the end.

2. Contribution to the final battle.

Lee Eunsol, Park Seungyub and Yu Songee were out because of the 1st condition, and Kim Ahri was not qualified because of the 2nd condition.

Why was Kain disqualified? Did he die during his recovery at the hospital? Or was it because he was in the hospital which didn’t count as the ‘final battle’?

Looking back, the biggest obstacle to clearing Room 101 wasn’t in the battle.

In fact, the fight itself was relatively easy.

The staff members of the TV Station were just normal people and the nurses weren’t exceptionally powerful either despite their horrifying appearances. Plus, the giant inside the hospital was definitely killable with a gun.

The only reason it was difficult was because we came all the way to the 5th attempt because of my mistake. We got attacked first and the power of the curse had become stronger but if that wasn’t the case, Songee and I would have been enough to resolve this room. In fact, Elena might have been able to do it by herself, and I could think of a few other possible solutions.

The biggest obstacle was in finding the ‘right location’. It was about finding the ‘TV Station’ without being too occupied with the family; and about finding the ‘hospital’ lying beyond the ‘TV Station’.

…

Looking at it from that perspective, it was kind of unfair that Kain wasn’t qualified just because he fell before the final battle, even though he had done all the work looking for the locations.

Oh well, I’m sure there will be another chance.

There was still Room 102, 104 and the Gate Room. He should be able to get one with so many rooms left over.

I decided to stop thinking about Kain and focused on the current situation at hand.

Slowly, I walked towards the center of the arena, just like the other two.

?

That was when something – a torrent of information flooded into my head with a stinging pain. In an instant, my head was filled with an incomprehensible array of letters.

This was the information about the ‘Star Fragment of Another World’ but… I couldn’t understand what it meant.

I was still feeling confused when I got to the center of the arena and found Sir Mooksung walking up with a gun in his hand.

The moment I saw the gun, I unconsciously flinched and took a step back. Seeing that, he grinned before putting his gun back into the holster.

…It seemed that I had yet to fully open myself up to the people from the ‘Administration’.

“Now~ great work everyone! It’s finally time to get that damn reward. But this son of a bitch that’s running the Hotel is obviously trying to make us fight. Oi! What do you think, Boar?”

“A fight? We are not barbarians are we? I have no plans of deciding on the owner of the Inheritance like that.”

“So then why did you flinch and take a step back, huh?”

“What do you mean flinch? Old man, you must be going senile!”

“Alright. Let’s say I was seeing things. Anyway, did you guys understand what just flooded into our heads?”

Elena replied, “It is probably about the features of the Inheritance, but I honestly have no clue.”

Hearing that, I realized that Elena had gotten the same impression as me.

“It sounded like an array of an indecipherable alien language,” I added.

Sir started his explanation after a nod.

“I figured. It’s not that you’re stupid or anything; it’s something you cannot understand without some ‘background knowledge’. It gets extremely confusing, but let me put it as simply as possible.

You can think of the ‘Star Fragment of Another World’ as a device that distorts everything. At first, I was thinking that it was a tool that contaminated the mind but it’s more than that.

The Star Fragment contorts ‘everything’. That’s why Kim Sangmin’s room looked like some place from an alien planet.

That ‘everything’ naturally includes human minds and bodies.

The reason it was mainly restricted to the mind at first was because we were indirectly exposed to the curse through the ‘media’, instead of being directly exposed to it.

By nature, the ‘media’ is a medium that ‘transfers information’, so I guess that must be why the curse twisted only the mind and not the body.”

“An item that distorts the world. I can tell that it’s a tremendous artifact, but how do we use it?”

“We don’t need to worry about ‘how’. You can just pull it out and the fragment will begin to contort everything nearby without a stop. The real question is ‘who’ should hold onto it.”

“I think your explanation seals the deal,” I replied. “Elena and I have no clue what this item does, so I think you should take the Inheritance, Sir.”

“Hearing you say that does tell me that you haven’t understood the ‘Star Fragment’ at all. Let me tell you right now. Piggy, you are the one who is the most suited to use this item.”

“Huh?”

“There is a very big problem with the ‘Star Fragment’. It’s that it cannot differentiate between allies and enemies. Do you remember how Kim Sangmin looked when using the item for himself?

He was the one that had been distorted the most. The power of the fragment is like a radioactive wave. It reaches out far and naturally, the user will be under the biggest stress when using it.”

“Wait a second! Then how do we even use it?”

“That’s why we need to give it to the person who can resist the ‘distorting power’ the most – someone who can resist it both physically and psychologically.

The psychological part doesn’t matter, because anyone can resist temporarily with Songee or Ahri’s help.

However, out of our group, you are the only one that can ‘physically’ resist the power.”

After saying that much, Sir took off his shirt.

…

The sight in front of me was immediately added to the collection of all the horrible memories of the Hotel.

Five? Or was it six? There were eyeballs budding out all over his upper body, along with three tongues and several teeth.

I unconsciously stepped back while Elena retched from the side.

“Kain probably died because he couldn’t hold off against the curse, and Songee’s arm turned into a monster. I’m no different. Elena is fine because she has resistance to curse after using ‘Justice’, but what about you?”

I took off my shirt just in case, and when Elena turned around, I also took off my pants for a full scan. All I saw were a few bruises and scales here and there.

The degree of the change was certainly a lot less in comparison.

“I knew it,” Sir said. “I figured when I saw you move just a while back. If your body had changed like mine, there was no way that you would have been able to move that freely, regardless of your strength. That was why I had a feeling that the curse was weaker on you.

Your body is extremely resistant to the ‘distortion’, which is probably because of your blessing. It’s a shame that you have no mental resistance, but that’s something we can overcome with the help of our teammates.”

“I do understand that I could be a better candidate than you Sir, but can’t Elena use it as well? She is fully resistant, both physically and mentally, when using her blessing, right?”

“That’s only when her ‘Justice’ is active. Besides, she doesn’t need an Inheritance like this. There’s no need for her to bother carrying a time bomb with her ‘Justice’ activated, because she is already strong enough.

What Elena needs isn’t a power that will amplify her strength when ‘Justice’ is activated, but something that could fill in the discrepancy in power when her blessing isn’t active.

Of course, we have to ask her personal opinion as well. What do you think about it, Miss Elena?”

“I, I think so too. I believe it’s better for Jinchul-ssi to hold onto it.”

…

I guess that was it.

The Inheritance, ‘Star Fragment of Another World’, had the power to distort everything in existence. It was an incredibly destructive item that could crumble someone’s body and the mind, but the biggest downside was that it couldn’t distinguish allies from foes.

Therefore, only those who could withstand the power of the distortion were able to make the most out of it.

Except for Elena, who was a bit unique, there were 3 ways to mentally resist the power of the curse; the status screen, bracelet and Ahri’s blood. However, I was the only one that could physically resist the power.

Therefore, Sir’s point of view was that I was the only one that could use it with the support of Songee or Ahri.

I understood what he meant, but seriously though, wasn’t the downside too big for this Inheritance? It was way too different from the bracelet.

“Why does this Inheritance have such a big penalty, unlike the bracelet?”

“I’m not the manager of this stupid Hotel; how am I supposed to know? However, it is in a way more powerful than the bracelet – the bracelet can only control the mind but the Star Fragment can destroy both the body and the mind so it’s much stronger, right? Of course, with the downside that it does the same thing to its owner.”

“That’s way too serious of a penalty though.”

“Well, that’s something for you to worry about.”

Ending the conversation there, the two of them took a few steps back. Soon, the Star Fragment floated up onto the center of the arena.

“Do I pick it up?”

“Buddy! Are you trying to make us jealous? Just hurry up and pick that thing up.”

I picked up the fragment, as the arena crumbled down without hosting a single battle.

Even though we acquired an Inheritance, what made me even happier was that we were able to solve it with a conversation even though the Hotel was clearly trying to instigate a conflict.

The Hotel was endlessly trying to induce conflict within the group.

Maybe, the hardest trial given by the Hotel wasn’t what was within the ‘Cursed Rooms’.

My mind floated to the sky as if my soul had left the body.

It was then.

?

What was that? Was that someone crying from a distance?

…

I must have been hearing things. Before long I saw a door.

At last, the arduous pain inside Room 101 finally came to an end.

*

# What Ahri went through (1)

– Kim Ahri

“Cow!”

Mom shouted with an innocent voice.

I’m sure I was one of the few people in the world who could describe my mom with the word, ‘innocent’.

Hi everyone~! My beloved colleagues, or maybe some great celestial beings that are watching over the Hotel?

“Worm.”

You didn’t forget me by any chance, did you?

Red-eyed black-haired mysterious beautiful lady that you would see in games and movies! That’s me!

Everyone was out there fighting against their Strange Family, forging their way through the fearsome TV Station and finding the enemy hiding in the hospital.

“Music~!”

And here I was, having a sweet time playing shiritori¹Shiritori = A word game in Japan and Korea, where players need to say a word starting with the final letter of the previous word. with my mom.

“Chickenpox.”

“…”

It was my win again. 5 out of 5 wins~!

“You lost again, mom. I can’t open the door for you.”

The child was under a curse and it was dangerous to be in the same room as her. However, refusing the child without any room for negotiation was not a good thing to do.

“Again! Do it again~~!”

“Okay.”

Especially if that child was powerful enough to blow a house away with a single gesture.

In fact, that’s an extremely dangerous thing to do.

In times like this, simple plays are the most effective. Kids love them after all.

“Car!”

“Rat.”

‘I’ll let you come in if you win, mom~’

“Thumb!

“Buffalo.”

I wonder how it was going outside? As for me, I was somehow doing fine.

“Octopus!”

“Smallpox.”

“…”

“Mom. You lost again.”

“That’s not fair!”

6 wins out of 6 games! Lo and behold the master of shiritori!

Everyone else must be working hard.

So at least one of us ought to take a good rest right? For everyone else’s sake, I will do what they can’t do by resting here.

Of course, it’s not like I had no plans either.

If my teammates can’t resolve the room by tonight then… my plan was to go to the TV Station with mom. In fact, I already persuaded her to go to the TV Station later.

With mom next to me, there wasn’t going to be a single problem, whether it be the TV Station or the hospital.

TV Station workers? Monster nurses of the hospital? My mom could fling them away with a flick. Easy right?

“Mantis!”

…

She would be mad if I said ‘Swinepox’ right? I guess I would draw this out a bit more.

Ever since I came back to Room 101, there had been a single question in my mind.

My mom was at the Hotel that was cut off from all sorts of external communication like TV and the Internet, so how did she get infected by the curse?

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  Shiritori = A word game in Japan and Korea, where players need to say a word starting with the final letter of the previous word.

***

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