Escaping the Mystery Hotel-Chapter 261: Party Time - Worries About the Next Room, The Arrival of the Package (7)

Chapter 261: Party Time - Worries About the Next Room, The Arrival of the Package (7)

- Han Kain

Seungyub received a warning about Room 203, while Ahri was warned about the final Cursed Room.

The details of these warnings didn’t quite align.

So which room is actually more dangerous?

Room 203?

Or is it the final Cursed Room, which is assumed to be Room 205 or 206?

Jinchul-hyung muttered hesitantly, “What if Room 203 is the final Cursed Room, and Rooms 204, 205, and 206 aren’t Cursed Rooms at all? Then both warnings would actually be about Room 203... But that doesn’t seem right.”

“I don’t think that’s the case.”

That seemed unlikely.

There was no way there were so few Cursed Rooms.

It was far more reasonable to assume that Seungyub and Ahri had been warned about different rooms.

“Hmm?”

As I lifted my cup of cola, I felt something... off.

Why is the cup so light?

The moment I noticed, a strange, unsettling sensation crept over me.

It felt as if something obscure and blurry was circling around me, unseen yet present.

- Splash!

“Ah! That’s cold!”

And just like that, everyone snapped to attention.

***“So... you’re saying you were sneaking around us this whole time?”

“Yup! And it was so fun since no one noticed!”

“Ugh! Enough nonsense—hands up again!”

After splashing her with a cup of cold water, Eunsol-noona quickly approached Ahri and lifted her hands up.

Ahri pouted but obediently knelt and raised her hands.

“I was wondering why my cocktail glass kept emptying! What kind of troublemaker immediately starts messing around with a new ability?!”

“I just felt like it~”

At that, Noona plopped Perro right on top of Ahri’s head.

“Eh?! Hey! It’s trying to pull my hair out!”

Why does Perro always try to yank people’s hair when it sits on their heads...?

Just as my head started to ache from the absurdity of it all, Ahri suddenly spoke in a more serious tone, “But Eunsol, how did you find me? The ability was still active, the time limit wasn’t up yet, and no one else noticed me at all.”

“...You know my eye has a ‘capture’ function, right? I can store what I see as clear images and review them later.”

“...That’s basically a camera in your head.”

“I knew I hadn’t drunk my cocktail yet, but the glass was empty. It felt off, so I captured a few images and reviewed them in my head. That’s when I saw you.”

“Hmm... figures, but I guess ‘The Unnoticeable Girl’ can’t avoid cameras. My body doesn’t turn invisible, after all. It must be some kind of perception interference.”

“If you focus hard enough, you can probably sense it. I kept getting these little hunches that something was off.”

Being a seasoned agent, Grandpa must have used his sharp intuition to pick up on Ahri’s presence.

Hearing this, Noona shot him an annoyed glare.

“So you knew she was doing weird stuff, but you just watched?”

Caught off guard, Grandpa flailed, scrambling for an excuse.

“No, no! You got it wrong! I kept sensing something and then forgetting right after—it wasn’t something I could just stop.”

Luckily, it seemed he’d been spared from having to raise his hands, too.

Meanwhile, watching Ahri grin as she analyzed her new ability made me feel an intense urge to push her over.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. Seungyub casually peeled another peanut and handed it to Perro.

Perro gave him a skeptical look—like, “What’s gotten into you?”—before promptly chomping away at the peanut, showering peanut crumbs all over Ahri’s head.

“AAAH! IT’S GETTING EVERYWHERE!”

At the sight, everyone finally relaxed.

The doctor let out a quiet chuckle.

“You do take after your mother in some peculiar ways, Ahri.”

Ahri, now comfortably seated back in her chair, raised a brow.

“Me and Miro? In what way, exactly?”

“Miro had a habit of easing tension at the most unexpected moments—usually by pulling outrageous pranks.”

That... wasn’t quite the image I had of her.

But then again, people weren’t one-dimensional.

Thinking back, the young Miro I met in the Frozen Hell was incredibly mischievous.

I mean, the first thing she did upon meeting me was hurl a snowball at my face.

...Wait.

Does that mean Ahri really inherited Miro’s prankster streak?

- Thwack!

“Alright! Focus back on the whiteboard!”

At Noona’s sharp voice, everyone turned forward again.

Ahri, as if just remembering something, spoke up, “Oh, right! I was about to explain something. Kain, you pointed out how Seungyub was warned about Room 203, while I was warned about the ‘Final Cursed Room’, and how those seemed contradictory, right?”

That was exactly how it felt.

“Yeah.”

“Well, the warnings we got had different tones. My warning was about a room that would be a general threat to the entire party. But in Seungyub’s case—”

“The warning seemed specific to me,” Seungyub finished.

“Neither the mysterious voice nor my Patron warned that Room 203 would be hard for everyone. If we’re talking about a room that’s truly dangerous for everyone, then it’s probably Room 205 or 206.”

That clarified things.

The Final Cursed Room was difficult for everyone, whereas Room 203 would be especially difficult for Seungyub.

That meant we should delay tackling Rooms 205 and 206. It only made sense to avoid the hardest rooms first.

“In that case, how about we skip Room 203 and go to Room 204 first?” Noona suggested.

“That’s what Ahri originally proposed before she started stirring chaos and derailing the meeting.”

Under Noona’s piercing gaze, Ahri slowly raised her hands again.

“...Should I stand in the corner this time?”

Surprisingly, Seungyub had a different opinion.

“I think we should go to Room 203 first. My Patron called it a ‘crisis and opportunity’. That might mean there’s a huge reward waiting there.”

“Well, since we already got a warning, let’s not get too attached to the idea of clearing 203. If it seems too dangerous, we can always pivot to 204.”

And with that, we finally wrapped up the meeting.

We would avoid Rooms 205 and 206 for now, prioritizing Rooms 203 and 204.

We’d start with 203, but if things got too bad, we’d move on to 204.

Now, what should I do with the rest of the day? Maybe I should grab a book and read.

***“Ugh...!”

A dark crimson liquid trickled from my eyes, and a notification appeared.

Advice: 1 → 0

Don’t be impatient. Stop here. There is a proper time for everything.

“...But when exactly is that time? I guess it’s not now, at least.”

With a rare moment of free time, I pushed myself to study the Grimoire, even using Advice to decipher the incomprehensible passages.

But in the end, my body couldn’t withstand the strain.

And just like that, my last Advice of the day was spent on a warning—telling me to stop.

“Are you alright?”

My vision was too blurred to make out anything, but I recognized Elena’s voice.

“Yes, I used Advice, and it told me to stop reading the Grimoire.”

“I think that’s for the best. Did you know you’re bleeding from your eyes? You probably can’t see anything right now.”

“My vision’s pretty bad, yeah. But we have Room 105, so I should be fine by tomorrow.”

Elena gently placed a soft cloth over my eyes.

“Saying something like, ‘Don’t do dangerous things,’ feels a little pointless, doesn’t it? If we stop trying to grow stronger out of fear, we’ll just end up dying because we’re too weak. But even so, I think you’re... special, Kain.”

Special?

I think I understood what she meant.

Compared to the others, I was probably the only one this obsessed with training my Inheritance.

Then again, aside from the Grimoire, how would one even train these things?

For example, how the hell was Jinchul-hyung supposed to train the Star?

That thing automatically emitted destructive waves, reducing everything to dust.

What was Hyung supposed to do with that?

Bench press a rock and hope it got stronger?

That seemed completely pointless.

“Well, it might sound arrogant, but I feel like my Grimoire has a lot of potential. It makes training kind of fun.”

The fact that I could sense the possibility of even greater power—the fact that I actually knew how to grasp it—these were things I hadn’t fully appreciated before.

That alone made it an incredibly powerful Inheritance.

“No, I wasn’t talking about the Grimoire. I meant you—your own uniqueness.”

A dull pain began to spread around my eyes.

Yeah, there’s no way I can keep training like this.

And since I’d used up all my Advice, I might as well just go to sleep.

***

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 111

Current Location: Floor 1, Room 105 – Room of Rest

Sage’s Advice: 3

The package has arrived! Please check it.

...

The package has arrived! Please check it.

“Ugh... what is it now?”

I was already struggling to fall asleep because of the pain around my eyes, and now this notification was blaring at me?

To make matters worse, my blurred vision made it difficult to even read the message.

But after focusing, I managed to make out the details—it was about the package we found at the base of the Snow Globe on the 2nd floor.

And of course, it had to arrive at this ungodly hour.

I rubbed my eyes and stepped outside Room 105, where I found my comrades gathering one by one.

Clearly, no one could ignore the relentless notifications that bombarded us until we got up.

“Ugh, what the hell is this crap?! We could’ve just checked it in the morning!”

Jinchul-hyung’s irritated complaints made me pause.

Is there a reason we had to check this right now?

Something urgent that would cause trouble if delayed?

Still grumbling, everyone made their way to the second floor.

If the hotel staff members were present, I had no doubt they’d be getting choked out by now.

As we walked, my blurry vision continued to make things difficult.

Had my treatment not finished yet?

“Kain, is your vision still bothering you?”

“Yes. The pain has subsided, but everything is still blurry.”

“Stop for a moment.”

The doctor halted me, pulling out a magnifying glass to examine my eyes.

A few seconds later, his fingers suddenly reached toward my eyeballs.

“W-WHAT THE HELL?!”

“Stay still. If you move, it’ll be dangerous.”

You’re shoving your fingers into my eyes, and you expect me to stay still?!

Is this guy insane?!

“Hmm... The basic healing process seems complete. By morning, the pain should be gone, and your vision should clear up.”

“...Was physically shoving your fingers into my eyes really necessary for a diagnosis?”

“Hahaha! You should get used to my treatment methods, Kain.”

By then, a voice called out from the table where the package had been placed.

“Oh! It’s finally opening!”

Grandpa sounded intrigued as he unsealed the box, revealing a strange figure-eight-shaped glass object.

“A... hourglass?”

“It looks like one, but the stuff inside isn’t sand,” Grandpa muttered.

“Hey, Sanghyun. You were an astronaut, right? Ever seen anything like this?”

It was definitely strange.

Just as Songee had noted, it resembled an hourglass, but instead of sand, the contents inside seemed to shift between liquid, solid, and gas—sometimes sloshing around, sometimes grinding like grains, and other times floating like mist.

The doctor picked it up, turning it over in his hands with fascination.

“This is certainly... bizarre. It’s almost like—”

Advice: 3 → 2

DO NOT FLIP IT!

Wait.

What did it just say?

My vision was still blurred, so I could barely make out the text.

Couldn’t it just speak to me for once?

“It’s almost like a mix between jelly and clouds,” the doctor mused.

“On the back, there’s... hmm... a number? It says 7.”

***

Date: Day 111

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Date: Day 112

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Date: Day 113

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Dxme : Zot 118

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