Escaping the Mystery Hotel

Chapter 249: Room 202, Cursed Room - 'The Little Mermaid' (27)

- Lee Eunsol

A melody filled the air.

A mystical sound emanated from Jinchul’s entire body, brushing against our ears, as he stood before a group of nearly 300 people.

How can such a melody come out of his body instead of his mouth?

The person in question doesn’t seem to understand himself.

The sheer size of the crowd was astonishing, even though a significant number had been sent to the Sea God’s Island as part of Grandpa’s ploy.

Those who remained in the research facility, the so-called “evolved humans,” were still plentiful.

Now, every single one of them had become part of Jinchul’s army.

Jinchul, under complete control of the “evolved”, directed them without hesitation.

Watching them move with such thoughtless precision made me oddly envious—for they seemed free from the turmoil and anxiety that plagued our minds.

Our plan this time was simple in concept: to ease the Sea God’s wrath.

While that sounded straightforward, it was riddled with complications.

The first challenge was whether Jinchul could endure this ordeal.

Since we decided to forgo unsealing Elena and didn’t have time to visit the Sea God’s Island,

Jinchul was the only one physically capable of withstanding the conductor Rudah’s assimilation.

But this wasn’t merely a physical trial—it was psychological too.

Since the moment Rudah was implanted, Jinchul had been murmuring incessantly about hearing “voices”.

Songee stayed close to him, using her bracelet to provide relief whenever its cooldown reset, but how long could he truly hold on?

The second challenge was whether the Sea God would be satisfied.

As substitutes for its vengeance, we lacked the power to bring humanity to its knees—and we had no intention of doing so.

Even targeting the Administration wasn’t about annihilating everyone from the bottom ranks to the top.

It was about dealing a decisive blow to their headquarters and forcing them to abandon their “Project”.

Would that level of retribution be enough for the Sea God?

Or would it deem our efforts inadequate?

The third challenge was the act of confronting the Administration itself.

Raiding a coastal research facility was one thing, but storming the Administration’s Korean branch in Seoul was a completely different matter. Could we win? ṙ₳Ɲ𝐨𝖇˧

The biggest concern was their unmanned weaponry.

Many of the abilities we’d relied on during the Hotel Cursed Room would be useless against drones.

They couldn’t be possessed, nor could they be affected by illusions.

We weren’t without solutions, though.

For the first challenge, the answer was simple: Jinchul only needed to hold out for a short time.

Given the nature of our plan, Jinchul, leading the charge alongside the “evolved”, was unlikely to survive.

If he could just endure until we reached Seoul, that would be enough.

Until then, Songee would do everything she could to support him.

For the second challenge, the answer lay in the Sea God’s apparent desire for closure.

From what Kain heard during the first attempt and what Elena learned during the second, the Sea God seemed to long for an end to its torment.

If we could enact even a semblance of retribution that the Hotel deemed acceptable, perhaps the Sea God would accept it too.

The third challenge, however, had no clear solution. If the Administration unleashed hundreds or thousands of drones to kill us, what could we do?

To address this, Ahri and Kain had departed for another location.

Everything depended on them. If they failed…

“Do we just run until the Sea God descends, then play the flute to pacify it?” I muttered.

“What?” Songee looked at me, puzzled.

“No… It’s nothing,” I replied, shaking my head.

I decided to stop entertaining such grim thoughts.

***

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 107

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

Sage’s Advice: 3

- Han Kain

As my comrades marched confidently toward Seoul, I found myself wondering why I was hiking up a mountain with Ahri instead.

“What do you think?” Ahri asked.

“About what?”

“Eunsol’s plan.”

“I’m more curious why we’re hiking, to be honest.”

“I don’t really get it. What exactly did Eunsol mean by ‘the Administration’s fault’? Is it their attempt to biologically enhance humanity? Was that so wrong?”

“Wait, where are we? There’s no trail here. This isn’t just veering off the path—we’re completely lost!”

“Sure, you could call it a failure in hindsight. The Administration clearly miscalculated here in Room 202. They underestimated Rudah’s hive-mind nature. Look at Jinchul—by controlling just one powerful Rudah entity, he gained command over all of their ‘evolved humans.”

“There isn’t even a path here! This is full-on wilderness survival mode now.”

“But that’s only obvious to us because we’ve been through multiple iterations. For the Administration, it was a mistake they couldn’t have known without trying. Failures like this are how humanity pushes its limits—watch your step!”

“Ah! What the—was that a snake?”

“Yeah, mountains have snakes. Anyway, listen to me.”

“How about you listen to me for once!”

A brief silence fell between us.

I sighed, deciding to play along with Ahri for now.

“Fine, fine. You’re right—the Administration probably had their reasons. I’ve thought about it myself while struggling through the Hotel Room. In a world filled with monsters like these, humanity really does seem so fragile.”

“That’s been the Administration’s concern for a long time, regardless of faction.”

“I understand their intent—to overcome humanity’s limitations. And I even get why they used Rudah for their experiments. After all, we slaughter cows and pigs for food every day, and they’re pretty intelligent animals too. But I think their fundamental approach was flawed.”

“Flawed how?”

“Instead of mixing in magic, sorcery, or supernatural creatures, wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on the path of science?”

“I get what you mean. That’s actually one of the core differences between the Containment Faction and the Control Faction. But where does science end and magic begin? It’s a blurry line. Astronomy began as astrology, after all.”

I understood what Ahri was saying.

In a world where gods, demons, magic, and supernatural powers exist, drawing a hard line between science and magic might be meaningless.

Depending on one’s perspective, science could simply be the parts of the universe we understand, while magic was the parts we had yet to grasp.

As I thought back to our conversation and yesterday’s meeting, a new question struck me.

“You don’t seem entirely on board with Noona’s plan, do you?”

“I’m not.”

“Then why go along with it? If not for you, her plan would’ve been shelved immediately.”

Last night, when Eunsol-noona proposed attacking the Administration, most of us opposed the idea—not for ideological reasons but because we didn’t think we could win.

More precisely, we didn’t think we could handle their army of unmanned weapons.

Ahri had been the one to unexpectedly push the plan forward, claiming there was a way to topple the Korean branch of the Administration.

Ahri stayed silent for a moment, a complicated expression on her face, before muttering, “A student’s answer isn’t always the one the test-maker wants.”

The test-maker’s answer… is she referring to the hotel?

“Eunsol’s answer breaks free from human constraints. And the beings who created the Hotel—they’re certainly not human.”

“…”

“It’s not an answer I agree with, but I think it’s one the hotel would approve of.”

Oddly enough, I felt a strong sense of camaraderie with that sentiment.

It reminded me of something all too familiar in Korea: figure out what the test-maker wants.

Sometimes, test-takers must write not the answer they believe in but the one they think the test-maker expects.

That seemed to be Ahri’s reasoning here.

“And if I could add one more thing,” she continued.

“Add what?”

“It’s about time this room was brought to an end. It feels like we’re at the breaking point.”

Just then, Ahri abruptly stopped.

“This is it.”

I saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Is there something only she could sense?

Without explanation, she grabbed my hand and positioned me beside her.

“Don’t you feel it?”

“…It feels heavy.”

“Not refreshing or clear, just heavy?”

“It’s like something oppressive is weighing down on me.”

For the first time, Ahri’s playful expression darkened slightly.

“I see…”

“Is something wrong with me?”

“No, it’s fine.”

She muttered something incomprehensible and waved her hand through the air.

Suddenly, an opaque door materialized before us.

It was bizarre.

Beyond the door was what looked like a small wooden house, with a dimly lit tunnel stretching out behind it.

The door had no handle, appearing accessible only from the other side.

“What kind of spell is this? What’s with that shrine? Is there someone inside?”

Ahri ignored my questions and kept murmuring strange words.

“…”

Eventually, she fell silent and looked at me.

“Do you remember what Grandpa and I said about why we entered the Hotel?”

“You mentioned stabilizing reality.”

“Have you thought about what that means?”

“I just assumed it was something incomprehensible and didn’t dwell on it.”

“It means that the reality we live in isn’t stable. Think about that.”

That made sense.

“I’ll show you what it means. See that person beyond the door?”

As she pointed out, there was someone standing motionless near the wooden house.

Their figure was small, likely male, but the opaque door obscured further details.

“Possess that person and open the door. That’s all.”

I approached the door as instructed, but Ahri added one final warning, “Whatever you do, don’t cross the tunnel.”

“Huh?”

“The tunnel behind the house. Never go through it. If you do, everything—literally everything—ends.”

I began the process of possession.

Even though I had done this countless times, this one felt subtly different.

It was as if I were reaching for something incredibly far away.

When I regained consciousness, I was on the other side of the door.

***

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