Escaping the Mystery Hotel-Chapter 229: Room 202, Cursed Room - The Little Mermaid (7)

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 100

Current Location: Floor 2, Room 202 – Cursed Room ‘The Little Mermaid’

Sage’s Advice: 0

- Han Kain

After leaving the cavern and returning to the government office, we went back to the limousine to discuss our findings.

“Ugh, FUCKKK! Seriously! Doctor, are you sure my arm is okay?”

...I was beginning to realize that Jinchul-hyung had an incredible tolerance for pain.

Even with the enhanced regeneration he’d gained through his Blessing, reattaching his severed arm like it was a piece of clay seemed questionable.

As it turned out, the regeneration hadn’t fully finished on the spot.

He had just endured the pain to avoid showing weakness in front of the “enemy”.

“The skin, bone, and nerves are all roughly reconnected. The issue is that it’s only ‘roughly’ done.”

“What do you mean? Ahhh, it hurts...”

“If the healing finishes in this state, your arms will end up being different lengths. You said it was cut off by a monster, right? Monsters don’t exactly sever limbs cleanly for easy reattachment.”

“Damn it...”

“All I can say is to bear with it. Once we clear this room, the Hotel should restore you properly.”

While the doctor examined and refined the wounded area, the rest of us sank into deep thought.

Noona broke the silence wearily, “We’ve learned so much, yet it feels like we know nothing. Elena’s location is, yet again, unclear.”

I voiced a lingering question of my own, “Actually, there’s something I’ve been wondering for a while. What exactly is the ‘curse’ of Room 202?”

The group fell into contemplation.

“Surely, they wouldn’t call someone assassinating Lee Suho a ‘curse’.”

“Based on our past experiences, curses in these rooms typically involve something that threatens human civilization as a whole. One or two deaths wouldn’t qualify as a curse in the Hotel’s eyes.”

“That’s why this doesn’t make sense. Who or what is threatening the world at this stage?”

Grandpa interjected, “Well, maybe the world-threatening entity hasn’t awakened yet. At the very least, we’ve uncovered the name of a transcendent being.”

“Are you talking about Kadaru’dah?”

Songee turned her gaze toward Ahri.

“You said you could read the merfolk’s language. Do you know anything else?”

“Nope. The merfolk here are nothing like the ones I knew. The ones I knew were just intelligent fish—at best, they resembled manatees. They weren’t humanoid creatures with scales like in this stage.”

“But the language is the same, isn’t it?”

“Well, the Hotel tends to adapt languages for convenience. It’s possible it just aligned with a language I’m familiar with.”

“Fair enough...”

A heavy silence filled the limousine. Despite all the information we had gathered and the various hypotheses we’d formed, the core of this room’s puzzle remained elusive.

What exactly is the curse of Room 202? What secrets are the Daughters of the Sea God—and the Sea God itself—hiding?

What’s really happening here?

And where is Elena?

...

Just as I was beginning to feel the weight of fatigue, everyone suddenly sat upright.

Park Seungyub: Can you hear me? Should I get closer?

Seungyub, who should have been in Busan, had entered the range of the Chat!

***- Park Seungyub

Visit freewёbnoνel.com for the best novel reading experience.

In the chaos of tsunami-ravaged Busan, amidst waves crashing and everything being swept away, I found myself unable to respond to Liringanaur’s request to retrieve the flute from the floating car tire.

“All I have to do is get the flute from that tire, right?”

“That’s right!”

“Wait here. I’ll get it for you.”

Screw it!

I blurted out a confident reply.

Surely, if I jump into the water while relying on Heaven’s Luck, some miracle like a turtle would appear to carry me across.

As I turned to dive in, reality hit me like a truck.

The universe’s favor that had been with me—the Heaven’s Luck that filled me with confidence—was fading.

The exhilaration that had swelled inside me dissipated like a snuffed-out flame.

Heaven’s Luck had ended.

Shock swept over me, and I screamed internally.

Why now?!

I had just promised to retrieve the flute!

If only it had lasted five more seconds!

“...”

“...”

“...”

“Master? Shouldn’t you hurry? The car is drifting farther away.”

This was a crisis.

In this situation, there was only one entity I could rely on.

Clinging tightly to Perro’s neck, I whispered into his ear, “Do you see the flute? Gogetitgetitgetitgetitgetit—”

- Baboom!

Wait, what was that sound?

It didn’t sound like Perro’s usual chirping. No, it couldn’t be...

In the end, Perro let out a frustrated noise, shoved us into a nearby building for safety, and transformed back into his parrot form.

With surprising agility, he flew past the obstacles toward the flute.

Liringanaur, who witnessed a massive bird transform into a parrot, widened her eyes in awe.

“Wow! I’ve never seen such a wondrous bird! Does the Administration raise it?”

“Nope.”

“Is it a mystical bird passed down in your sect? A divine avian?”

“Definitely not.”

Despite her prestigious title as the Daughter of the Sea God, there was something casual about her demeanor, so I felt comfortable speaking informally.

She seemed to accept it naturally.

“By the way, I’m sorry about earlier.”

...???

“Why would you be sorry—”

“Now that I think about it, you must have exhausted your Qi using techniques like Void Step and summoning that mystical bird. It was unrealistic to expect you to cross the water with another advanced skill such as Water Walking. Luckily, your bird is fetching the flute.”

I have no idea what you’re talking about!

What’s Void Step?

And what’s Water Walking? And earlier, you said something about Qi Ascent.

As I struggled with the confusion Perro returned with the flute.

Liringanaur smiled brightly.

“Since you’re with the Administration, you must be here to save people, right? Please help me!”

***For nearly half a day, as I helped the girl, I couldn’t help but ponder.

Why was my “Heaven’s Fortune” used?

At first, I thought it activated to save me from being devoured by the giant sea worm.

But now, here I was, riding on top of the creature, helping rescue people.

In other words, the situation with the worm wasn’t actually a threat.

Even without Heaven’s Fortune, Liringanaur would have intervened to save us.

In fact, my sudden leap onto “Kongi” startled her so much that she slipped, inadvertently creating a crisis that didn’t exist before.

Could it be that Heaven’s Luck activated because I thought it was a crisis, even if it wasn’t?

I considered this possibility briefly but set it aside.

When I consciously used Heaven’s Fortune, it might be influenced by my own perceptions, but when it activated automatically—like earlier—it wasn’t tied to my awareness.

Even back in Room 101, when I wasn’t aware of the Blessing at all, Heaven’s Luck had acted on its own.

...

One thing became clear: this girl, the Sea God’s third daughter, Liringanaur, firmly believed that I was some sort of superhuman from the Administration.

Even though Heaven’s Luck had long since faded and I hadn’t displayed any extraordinary abilities for a while, she had already witnessed me performing miraculous feats like flying through the air and flipping mid-air.

Add to that my mysterious bird companion aiding me, and it fueled her boundless imagination.

I still didn’t understand words like “Body Construction”, “Reverse Aging” or whatever that she kept using, but I caught on to the general vibe.

Liringanaur seemed to think I was hiding my true power or that I couldn’t perform more skills because I was using my “Qi” to control Perro.

Regardless, a unique bond had formed between us, and over the course of rescuing people together, we’d grown quite close.

It seemed that the ultimate result of Heaven’s Fortune’s activation was this new friendship with the daughter of the Sea God.

How could I use this connection?

...

As I mulled over these thoughts, Kongi—exhausted from its efforts—submerged into the water.

We naturally retreated to a safer, higher building to rest.

“That flute you’re holding... what is it? A holy artifact from the Sea God?”

“Something like that.”

“Does it let you control animals?”

“Uh... not just any animals. It only works on special creatures blessed by Kadaru’dah.”

“Like this sea worm?”

“Yes, but the flute’s original purpose isn’t for controlling animals. That’s just something my sisters and I developed over time.”

“Original purpose?”

“The original purpose is to calm nightmares.”

Nightmares.

The word struck me as significant.

“Who needs a holy artifact to deal with nightmares?”

Liringanaur suddenly fell silent. Gazing distantly at the sea, she murmured, “Everyone.”

“Everyone?”

“All merfolk suffer from nightmares every night. No one knows why we’ve been cursed with such hardship. Young or old, male or female, high-ranking or low-ranking—it spares no one. Every merfolk, without exception, is plagued by nightmares. Even the god we worship is tormented by them. It’s a trial we must endlessly endure.”

“Do you also dream of nightmares?”

“Last night, I dreamed I was a fish flopping on land, suffocating until I died. I couldn’t breathe, no matter how much I struggled. I desperately tried to reach the water, but my gills, or lungs, felt like they were bursting before I blacked out.”

Suffocating pain?

Or maybe the reverse?

Either way, it’s horrifying.

“Three nights ago, I dreamed I was eaten alive by a shark. I ran and ran, but in the end, I couldn’t escape.”

“And every merfolk has nightmares like this every day?”

She shook her head.

“Not everyone’s are that vivid. If they were, all merfolk would lose their minds. Most have vague, unpleasant dreams. It’s not anything too different from the average person’s nightmares. Of course, experiencing even mild nightmares every single night is its own form of suffering.”

“Then why are your dreams so vivid—”

“It’s not just me. It’s a trait of the ‘Daughters of the Sea God’. That’s part of what defines us.”

What does that even mean?

Sensing my confusion, Liringanaur smiled faintly and explained, “Both Serenade-unni and Elena-unni were the same as me.”

“Elena?”

“Yes?”

“N-nevermind. Just surprised to hear a familiar name. Please continue.”

“The title of Daughter of the Sea God isn’t hereditary. My parents were ordinary government officials.”

“Then how is it passed down?”

“We interpret these endless nightmares as ancestral memories passed down from distant forebearers. Most of these nightmares reflect the suffering of fish.”

Ancestral memories...

“For most, only small fragments of these memories surface, resulting in vague, blurry dreams. But occasionally, there are those who can vividly recall significant portions of those ancient memories. Such individuals gain power in exchange and are revered among their peers.”

At this point, Liringanaur smiled faintly.

As the storm began to subside and the tsunami receded, the water dripping from her form seemed to dry in the light of the sun pushing through the clouds.

Under the clearing sky, signaling the end of the disaster, the daughter of the Sea God looked utterly ethereal.

“Have your questions been answered, oh peerless master of the Administration? Shall we consider this repayment for helping me?”