Escaping the Mystery Hotel

Chapter 211: Room 104, Cursed Room - Preparatory Selective, Hotel High School Re (5)

I am afraid.

This situation terrifies me.

As I recall the moment I regained consciousness in the Hotel for the “second” time amidst the deafening roars of an earth-shaking battle.

I remember my thoughts when I first saw my new companions after my resurrection.

How did these people even make it to the second floor?

I didn’t say it out loud in front of my new companions, but I was sure anyone else who got revived in my place would share the same sentiment.

In a dangerous place like this Hotel, wouldn’t anyone question, “How did they manage to get here?” when they see a teenage girl, an even younger boy, or a woman in her 30s who looked like she had lived a privileged life?

The others were no different.

A male college freshman or an aspiring actress—none seemed any better equipped.

I guessed those three must have led the party here somehow.

It is only now that I realize how foolish I was.

Ah! How worthless is the knowledge I’ve accumulated over 40 years in the world of the supernatural?

After all, hadn’t “she” terrified everyone in the Deep Sea Hotel while being a girl who looked no older than her mid-teens?

It wasn’t until I experienced the battle between demigods at the heart of this underground city that I truly understood.

There are no humans here.

The weak had already been crushed like insects, and the ones still standing were either wicked gods or demigods who still believed they were human.

“…”

I heard a divine voice.

[Kim Sanghyun, what hast made thee so afraid?]

“…Oh, Lord.”

[Be not afraid. I hath prepared a place for thee. Why do thou sit in the wrong place? Come to this one’s side. When this one goes out into the world, thou shall sit just below the greatest seat.]

***

- Lee Eunsol

After the Hotel High School was destroyed, I started heading to where Grandpa was while carrying Perro and Elena.

As time passed, I gradually began to calm down.

Looking at it logically, the situation wasn’t a major crisis right now.

We’ve prepared two ways to escape, even if I don’t know how to solve the bigger problems in this room!@@novelbin@@

From the beginning, our party had anticipated the possibility that we might have to fight Kain, especially Kain in his Descent form.

How would we respond to that?

The conclusion we reached after a late-night meeting, the night before entering Room 104, was simple.

We can’t win.

We absolutely cannot defeat Descent Kain.

That doesn’t mean we had no countermeasures, of course. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have entered the room in the first place.

The plan was straightforward.

First, we send Seungyub out in advance.

Second, we entrust Grandpa with the escape button and send him far, far away.

The first step is already underway.

Based on Ahri’s experience during the first attempt, escaping Room 104 doesn’t immediately happen after being arrested.

The escape is only triggered after a trial and a final verdict that makes it impossible to return to the Hotel High School.

Since it takes at least a month for a first-trial verdict, it’s a slow method of escape, and there are many variables in between.

That’s why it’s time for the second plan.

Grandpa will likely need to push the escape button soon, so it’s time to discuss it.

“Noona.”

…Kain’s still in Perro’s body.

Hmmm… let’s call him “Perro Kain” for convenience.

“Yes?”

“While we were on the way, I thought about it carefully. Does Grandpa still have the escape button?”

“That’s right.”

“Have you told him to press it through the Chat Window?”

“What do you mean? You’d know if I did. I haven’t said anything yet. I was planning to talk to him when we meet.”

“…Noona, I can’t use the chat window anymore.”

I suddenly found myself at a loss for words.

It had already been several hours since Kain possessed Perro.

Perro Kain was no longer a participant by Hotel standards.

“Noona, we can’t escape now. Please tell Grandpa not to press the escape button either.”

…Something serious must be happening.

I conveyed Kain’s message to Grandpa, telling him not to escape.

“I’ve told him. We’ll reach Grandpa’s location in about 15 minutes. Once we get there, you’ll have a lot to explain.”

“Understood.”

As soon as we arrived at Grandpa’s hiding place, the meeting began.

***

“Are you saying something bad will happen if we escape? What are you talking about? We came in here relying on the idea of escaping.”

As expected, Grandpa looked perplexed when we arrived.

Perro Kain began his long explanation, “First, let me explain the current situation. To start with the bad news, the Power of Incarnation ran out quite some time ago. I could only maintain that power for about 10 minutes. So now, the Lord can act freely. He’s likely busy recovering his body for now, though.” РÁℕỘ𝐁Ëʂ

The Lord can move freely!

Upon hearing that, both Grandpa and I turned pale.

Grandpa immediately asked, “But if that’s the case, why are we still alive? If he could act freely, he could’ve killed us by now. Is it still because of his injuries?”

“That’s part of it, but the bigger reason is that Descent has ended. The power and duration of Descent aren’t infinite. We poured all our strength into ending the Descent’s duration. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there’s still one more use of Descent left.”

The second Descent had already ended.

That’s why the Lord hasn’t immediately chased and killed us!

But hearing there was still a third Descent left made our faces pale again.

Perro Kain continued explaining, “According to the information I gathered just before the connection was cut, the Lord was still severely injured at the end of Descent. The sacrifices of Jinchul-hyung, Songee, and Ahri were effective. Elena collapsing the ground was also very effective. Additionally, the Descent forces the Lord to bleed profusely, so there’s still some time before he can use the third Descent.”

We still have some time. That gave both Grandpa and me a sense of relief.

“You asked earlier why we shouldn’t escape, right? It’s because of the Hotel’s system. I’ll repeat this multiple times, but the Lord is entirely different from the other Convicts. He’s not really a Convict…”

“Not really a Convict?”

“It’s more like he’s playing the system of the Hotel like a board. As you know, the ‘Status Window’ is tied to the body, so even if my consciousness moves to another body, the Status Window doesn’t follow. I can’t see the Status Window right now, which means I’m no longer a participant. The Blessing is proof of participation.”

As we suspected.

Perro Kain is no longer a participant.

…So who now holds the participant qualification that Kain had?

“The Lord! That bastard now has the participant qualification!”

“That’s right. The Lord, who has taken over my body, now has the Status Window and the participant qualification. From the moment he first possessed my body, he started sharing the participant qualification with me, and now that he’s passed the one-hour limit of possession, I’ve lost my qualification, leaving only the Lord with it.”

“Since the Status Window and participant qualification have passed over, what about the Grimoire?”

“That’s the interesting part. I was curious too since I’d never experienced something like this before, but the Grimoire is still with me. It makes sense when you think about it. Even when I possessed other bodies before, the Status Window didn’t follow, but the Grimoire did.”

So right now, the Status Window and participant qualification are with the Lord, buried underground.

At least, the good news is that Perro Kain still has the Grimoire.

Perro Kain continued his explanation, “As you know, escaping and solving the room are different things. When a Cursed Room is solved, the entire room disappears, but escape doesn’t make the room go away. It remains. Even if one of us escapes, the others can keep going. We’ve used this principle multiple times.”

“Yeah, it’s a strategy we’ve used since the Common Sense Renovating Media: have one or two people escape first, and the rest continue solving the room.”

“That principle also applies to the Lord, who now has the participant qualification. What do you think will happen if Grandpa, Seungyub, or Noona escape right now?”

“The Lord would be left alone in the room and continue progressing on his own.”

“And he will eventually solve this room.”

At this point, Grandpa looked confused.

Unlike me, who already knew the Lord was trying to solve the room by killing Aurelia, Grandpa, who wasn’t there, didn’t understand what Perro Kain was saying.

“Am I the only one who doesn’t get this? Why would the Lord want to solve the room? Does he want to die? If he solves it, he disappears, and Kain, you get the inheritance and leave, right? Are you worried the Lord will stay in your head?”

“That’s not it. When a Cursed Room is solved, all the damage we’ve taken disappears.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Your body is possessed by the Lord, but once the room is solved, the Hotel will heal you and erase the Lord from your mind.”

“Grandpa, when the Cursed Room is solved, everything inside disappears—Convicts, Adversaries, NPCs. But there’s one thing that can leave the room.”

“Us?”

“No, the ‘Inheritance.’”

Grandpa and I were momentarily speechless.

“Grandpa, Noona. The inheritance, ‘The Holy Sun’, is another version of the Lord himself. His goal isn’t to take over my body. That was just a means to steal the participant’s qualification and render our escape meaningless, a short-term objective. His real goal is to have us solve the room and release ‘The Holy Sun’ into the outside world.”

So to summarize what I’ve just understood…

Firstly, the Lord’s objective is to solve the room and release ‘The Holy Sun’, another version of himself, into the outside world.

Secondly, the Lord stole Kain’s body to gain the participant qualification. Now, even if we use the escape button, he can continue progressing on his own.

I feel dizzy.

Once inside the room, there are only three possible outcomes: solving the room, escaping, or total annihilation.

Annihilation is unacceptable.

Solving the room only fulfills the Lord’s goal, and escaping only lets him progress alone!

How are we supposed to break this board the Lord has set up?

Perro Kain’s explanation continued for quite some time after /genesisforsaken