Escaping the Mystery Hotel

Chapter 218: Room 104, Cursed Room - Preparatory Selective, Hotel High School Re (End)

- Elena

The sky was clear and blue.

But the ground was covered with broken machines everywhere, making it hard to find a proper place to step.

I smashed and smashed again.

It was hard to guess just how many machines I had destroyed.

The one relief was that most of the forces the Administration had sent to kill me were unmanned.

Among all those machines, there were barely ten humans.

I could guess why. After the underground city collapsed, the Administration probably gathered enough information about this “Hotel High School” to realize it was a suspicious school.

They might have also believed I had the power to enchant people’s minds as I rampaged through Hotel High School.

I had used up all my Blessings, and my Ominous Imagination hadn’t recovered.

Thus, I had no strength left in my body. However, seeing Kain fly into the sky and out of the room earlier left me at peace.

So, what should I do now…?

I picked up a gun lying on the ground and thought about ending it all, but something felt unfinished, so I moved toward the underground city.

It didn’t take long to find a young girl.

“Sob! Hic! Waaah!”

“Hey, why are you crying like that?”

Fear glistened in the eyes of the girl who stared at me blankly.

Does she know who I am?

Well, it would be strange if she didn’t, after all the chaos I had caused here.

“You! You and your people, you killed Father!”

“Father? Did something happen to the Lord?”

I could guess.

It must have taken a lot of effort for him to carry out the plan to take over Kain’s body.

Now that the plan had failed, I thought there wouldn’t be any power left for the Lord for a “second attempt”.

To this girl, this situation might feel like the disappearance of a god.

But the Lord had not disappeared. As long as Room 104 remained, there was still a chance for him.

“I am Father’s daughter! As long as I am here, the cult will…”

I ignored the girl’s rambling and began contemplating realistically.

Do I have any reason to stay in this room?

Kain had escaped, and aside from Seungyub, who had been captured by the police, all my comrades were dead.

It seemed like our enemy had no more power left either.

Maybe killing this girl will resolve everything?

“…”

One thought lingered in my mind.

The Inheritance, “The Holy Sun”, was another part of the Lord himself.

He wanted Kain to claim it and escape.

So, what would happen if someone other than Kain obtained that Inheritance?

It was certain that it was an outcome the Lord didn’t want.

But an outcome the Lord didn’t want didn’t guarantee it would be good for us.

Maybe anyone other than Kain would burn to death trying to claim that Inheritance.

In that case, it would be the worst outcome for both the Lord and us.

The thought felt extreme and unreasonable.

After all, the “Inheritance” was a reward given to us by the Hotel.

Would it really incinerate the person who claimed it?

The Hotel wouldn’t allow such a bizarre reward.

I didn’t know.

What would happen if someone other than Kain claimed “The Holy Sun”?

I wished I could get some “Advice” at times like this.

After a moment of hesitation, I made a decision.

We learned all of the Lord’s plans and tactics during the second attempt, which was tumultuous and difficult.

When we came back, we would be in a much better position to handle the room.

Also, the potential danger of someone other than Kain claiming the Inheritance could be answered through Kain’s “Advice”.

There was no need to take unnecessary risks now.

If we really wanted “The Holy Sun”, we could return to Room 104 later.

Of course, the Escape Button has been used up, so we will need to become stronger first!

- Bang!

With the sound of a gunshot, I lost consciousness.

***

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 98

Current Location: Floor 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 3

- Han Kain

The moment I regained consciousness outside the room, the first thing I looked at was my Status Window.

Sage’s Advice: 3

The penalty that had been on my Status Window had finally disappeared!

The journey was rough, but Ahri’s plan to use Room 104 as a sacrificial move to dump the penalty had worked.

I quickly started thinking about what to ask.

A few questions immediately came to mind, though discussing them with my comrades first seemed wise.

When I stood up and looked around, familiar faces were smiling at me.

We walked to the refreshment table, sharing tales of our exploits.

The main topic, of course, was Room 104.

“So, Room 104 ended with an escape, huh? No one actually solved it? And Elena ended up killing herself? Seungyub?”

“I escaped too, but I got out much faster than Ahri-noona did!”

“Much faster?”

“Yeah, I got an escape notification about a week after being arrested by the police.”

“Oh! I get it now. We stormed the old school building that day, and Elena destroyed it, followed by a huge fight with the Administration’s unmanned weapons the next day. That must have been when Hotel High shut down.”

Let’s leave Room 104 behind.

Honestly, I had no desire to go back.

Besides, we couldn’t use the same tactics again now that the Escape Button was gone.

When I shared the last thing I said to the Lord, everyone burst out laughing.

“You really thought of that in the middle of all that chaos? That was a pretty clever solution! Although, it’s a shame the Escape Button’s gone. Not that we could have kept it forever anyway.”

Ahri found it amusing but regretted losing the Escape Button. I understood her sentiment.

“Seriously! You’re something else. Did you really think of taunting him by asking if he was senile and saying, ‘There won’t be a next time between us.’”

“Hyung, I was probably the most annoyed. That crazy bastard ignored the fact that there were eight other people here and kept trying to take over my body. It felt like being stalked by the most persistent creep.”

“A stalker, huh? Yeah, that guy was a vicious stalker. By the way, do you still have Descent left?”

As soon as he mentioned it, I glanced at a corner of my Status Window.

Descent: 1

“…I still have one left.”

Ahri spoke as if it was no big deal.

“You’ve already used it once without any issue, right? I don’t think using Descent itself is the problem. It might just be related to entering Room 104.”

Piecing together everything that had happened and what the Lord said, it was clear that the reason he bestowed Descent on me was to enhance me as a human being.

If a god was like a lake, it could not be contained in a small bowl.

To hold a lake, the vessel must be just as big.

When I first clashed with the Lord for control of my body, he told me this.

— Be not arrogant, do not mistake the dark knowledge thou hath acquired for thine own talent!

If I considered Ahri’s observation that my progress with the Grimoire was astonishingly fast, the sudden extrasensory perceptions I sometimes experienced, and what the Lord had said, it all made sense. Descent was growing every aspect of who I was.

Then, was Descent harmless as long as I didn’t return to Room 104?

Just as my thoughts were about to get complicated, Grandpa summed up the situation with simple logic, “What are you worrying about again? It’s the same as before. Don’t use it unless we’re facing total annihilation. If you don’t use it and die, you’ll suffer for eternity in this Hotel anyway. So even if something happens afterward, you’ll end up using it.”

“True.”

I decided to stop worrying.

As he said, if I were ever in a catastrophic situation, I’d use the third Descent no matter what consequences awaited.

After some conversation about Descent, Noona brought up the Lord, “That guy was really too much! It was like he read a strategy guide and came to exploit us. I hope we never see him again.”

Jinchul-hyung voiced a different curiosity, “Do you think there are other Convicts like the Lord?”

“It’s only natural for a Convict to dream of escaping, right? I understood the purpose itself. It was just surprising that he created another version of himself as an Inheritance and tried to escape by having someone solve the room.”

Another being who dreamed of escape like the Lord.

When that topic came up, Ahri suddenly held her head.

“Ahri? What’s wrong?”@@novelbin@@

“I don’t know… I feel like I’ve met someone similar before. Am I imagining things?”

A similar being? Could it be a memory Ahri had forgotten?

In any case, we all agreed that it was likely other Convicts were dreaming of escape.

After all, even humans trapped in prisons desperately tried to escape, so why wouldn’t the Convicts, who were akin to gods in a Hotel, do the same?

The lively conversation eventually turned to Dr. Sanghyun.

“Sanghyun, earlier you really shocked us. I seriously thought you were enchanted by the Lord! What do you think, Elena?”

Elena blushed at Noona’s teasing tone and apologized to the doctor.

“I’m sorry… I was a bit flustered then.”

“No, it’s impressive that you realized it. Plus, considering that my behavior was read by the Lord, forcing us to fight the Administration’s weapons, I should be the one apologizing.”

“It’s fine. Even if we’d known about the Administration’s army, we would have had to go anyway.”

As the atmosphere stayed cheerful, Noona suddenly asked Sanghyun out of nowhere.

“Sanghyun, did you ever feel tempted when you heard the Lord’s offer?”

Everyone flinched, but Sanghyun calmly replied without hesitation, “Didn’t I mention this before?”

“What?”

“In this Hotel, strong leadership is essential. But that leadership should come from natural human qualities like knowledge and character, not supernatural power.”

“Oh, right.”

“So, the Lord was never an option for me. There was no room for debate.”

The tense atmosphere melted away at once.

We stayed by the refreshment table, laughing and talking until it was time for /genesisforsaken