Escaping the Mystery Hotel

Party Time Second Night

- Han Kain

When I came to myself, I was in a place that resembled a clean conference room. In the background was Ahri’s clear voice.

“The administrative target is ‘Dream Eater’. According to the records, it was first discovered in 1924 near London. Digging into the mind of the host, it stirs up their trauma and eats away at their body. Their favorite hosts are young, creative, and emotional humans. In order to eat ‘uninterrupted’, it creates physical avatars of the host’s trauma and spreads it nearby. While the surrounding people are fighting against the host’s realized trauma, the Dream Eater devours the body and the mind of the host to a point of no repair.

“The priority is to kill it on the spot. The method is by having an agent with superior conditions to the host sleep nearby. Soon, the Dream Eater would leave the body of the host and move over to the more appealing target. The agent would then starve the Dream Eater inside their mental world, and destroy it once the weakened Dream Eater leaves the body.”

“...”

“How was that? Did I sound like an agent?”

“Was that how agents do briefing in the Administration?”

“Yeah.”

“Honestly, it didn’t have to be you. Seungyub was half-dead already and in the eyes of the Dream Eater, or Nightmare Butterfly, he was a semi-complete meal. It would have moved over to anyone sleeping nearby – the reason I chose you, is simply because I had something to talk about.”

Something to talk about, huh? I could guess what that would be, but was this the right time for it? Wasn’t Seungyub dying right now?

“There’s no need to worry about Seungyub. The butterfly has already moved over to your body. Actually, you and I talking like this here is already a part of the process of killing the butterfly.”

“How so?”

“What do you see around us?”

“Nothing but you and me.”

“It gets very technical, but I’ll just say that I have isolated our minds in this place through the Ancient Blood. The butterfly is still looking for us – it’s using its energy every second, and will soon leave your body exhausted.”

“Ancient Blood?”

“My information changed in the system window, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Ah~ I knew this time would come eventually.”

Ahri heaved a sigh before taking a seat next to me.

“So, I’m sure you have a lot of questions so ask away.”

“What is your real blessing? It showed up as ‘???’.”

“Turn on your system window.”

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 34

Current Location: Basement, Room of Hiking

Sage’s Advice: 1

Ahri flicked her hand once.

[How does it look now? This is the power of my Blessing. The power to find secrets of the Hotel, and hide my secrets. The Blessing of ‘Secret’.]

To be honest, it was very surprising. I had no idea there would be a power that could distort the contents of the system window like this!

“Secret?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s such a weird blessing though… Isn’t it weird that there’s a blessing to deceive ‘Wisdom’? The fact that there is an ability that is targeted at other participants and not the Cursed Room is—”

“The fact that you find that strange, is actually the greatest strength of this team.”

“What?”

“The power of the Blessing gets greatly influenced by the participants themselves. The reason none of your blessings have an ability that is targeted at other teammates is that none of you are even thinking about such a thing. Even for ‘Secret’, if it was one of you who had it, there wouldn’t have been something like an ability to deceive ‘Wisdom’.”

“...”

“Let me talk about the past – the first team I experienced. Objectively speaking, they were fantastic and greatly talented. Half of them were agents of the Administration, and the other half were from special ops, doctors, and professors. Both physically and psychologically they were at the top 0.01% of humanity. With all these talents in place, were they able to escape the Hotel? What do you think?”

“...”

“Two died before going past the 1st Floor, and progress stopped at the 2nd Floor. I was able to escape in the middle by sheer fortune, but for a very long time, no one was able to return to Earth. They were all dead. What do you think was the problem then?”

“...”

“They were all people who were exceptionally talented from a young age. They had a strong sense of competitiveness and a desire for accomplishment. I’m not saying they were human trash – they were normal law-abiding citizens on Earth, and people who contributed greatly to society. However, in the Hotel with no hierarchy and endless risk, they revealed their true personalities. I don’t have to share the details, do I? The two that died on the 1st Floor were both killed by the same participant.”

“Was your mother, uhh…”

“I know what you’re thinking. I suppose your hypothesis is natural, considering the fact that I was born in the Hotel, at a place like that on top. But no – my mother was the strongest agent of the Administration and very powerful. She was the type who would assault and not be assaulted. Plus, my mom didn’t ‘give birth’ to me.”

“She didn’t give birth to you? What do you mean?”

“That’s one of the things I am trying to figure out. By the time I was born, it was already hard to have a normal conversation with Mom. Anyway, that’s what happened to the first team. It was a horrible experience for me, but probably an uncomfortable experience for the people running the Hotel as well. Their goal wouldn’t be to kidnap humans and have them die a meaningless death, right? And you guys were the ones chosen next. It’s like the flipped version of my first team’s pros and cons.”

“Flipped version of pros and cons…”

“Looking at everyone as individuals, honestly it is an undeniable truth. There is a normal middle school student, a high school student… Jinchul is the same. Frankly speaking, he’s just a college graduate with a tough career right? And you’re just a new college student as well.”

“...”

“But all of you are on great terms. After knowing that the conditions for acquiring an Inheritance are heavily based on the contributions made at the end, it’s possible to think about contending against each other towards the end to obtain the Inheritance, but no one ever thinks about such a thing.”

“Were we chosen because we were nice…?”

“Being simply nice is not a merit. What’s important is, ‘Do they have a group mindset?’ and this team is extremely strong in that sense. When they think their own death is necessary for the team, even a middle school kid is not afraid of sacrificing himself, and even someone overwhelmingly stronger, who could potentially think about controlling the party by himself, does not do so and has instead given the authority over to someone with better judgment. I don’t think people like them are common in this world.”

Ahri evaluated the strengths of our team based on her experience in two polar opposite teams.

For the short period of silence that ensued, I organized the pieces of information I just heard.

Ahri’s blessing was that of “Secret”—the power to find secrets of the Hotel and protect one’s own secrets. The reason she had an ability that was targeted at other participants was because of her experience. The first team she witnessed was a Hell Party that fought against each other instead of the Hotel, and that was why Ahri thought about keeping other teammates in check when entering the Hotel.

“What’s your next question?” she asked.

“I can understand your blessing, but then what’s with all the superpowers you’ve been using this whole time? Did they teach you that at the Administration?”

“If the Administration had the power to teach superpowers, Mooksung would be a superman by now. It’s the power of an Inheritance – “Ancient Blood”, which I shared with Mom.”

“Ancient Blood?”

“I heard they obtained it after killing a vampire on the 1st Floor. My mom was then referred to at the Hotel as ‘Blood Witch’.”

Vampire.

Now that I thought about it, many of the abilities Ahri had used until now were similar to those commonly associated with vampires. Her abilities like flying, shaking one’s mind through eye contact, and doing tricks with blood were all common powers of vampires that I’ve seen in fiction.

“But weren’t you fine under sunlight?” I asked.

“That’s what’s crazy about the Hotel – because it means they can create miraculous treasures that give the power of a vampire, without the restrictions. Of course, I do fall short in certain areas compared to a real vampire. I can’t use other people’s blood, and I can only use my own.”

…The word “real vampire” was what stuck out to me the most. So there were “real vampires” in this world, huh? It seemed that the world I had been living in was quite deranged.

“Do you have any more questions?” asked Ahri. “I think I’ve said pretty much everything.”

“Why did you come back to the Hotel?”

“I’ve never lied about that. I told you already – personally, it’s to revive my mother, and as an agent, it’s to find the ‘power to stabilize reality’.”

“I can understand wanting to revive your mom as a daughter, but what’s with the ‘power to stabilize reality’?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t know,” she replied, “We’re just here because of the ‘revelation’.”

“Revelation?”

“Let’s just say we have a prophet in the organization. You’ll see them once you become an agent. The prophet is essentially the root and the entirety of the Administration. Any other questions?”

“There’s one more. This is not that important but…”

“What is it? I will tell you everything just this once.”

“...How old are you? It still says ??? for your age.”

She refused to reply.

***

My head started to hurt after listening to Ahri’s real blessing, the general past, her Inheritance, and her goals. There might still be more secrets she hasn’t shared but…

I had an instinctive feeling that wasn’t the case. Blankly sitting there, we silently organized our own thoughts.

“So what are you going to do?” I asked.

“Do what?” Ahri asked back.

“Are you going to tell that to everyone else too?”

“What do you want me to do?” she asked back yet again.

“I don’t know. I’ve been having more thoughts these days as well.”

Similar to me, Ahri also seemed exhausted from constantly having to lie.

Why did she lie about it in the first place? I wondered.

Looking back, it made sense though.

Her first team had a terrible history, so it made sense why she would want to hide her arsenal. Hiding the Inheritance meant she had to hide the blessing as well; hiding the blessing meant she had to deceive my system window, and while she was at it, she also concealed her age and real identity.

Lies were giving birth to more lies.

It wasn’t just someone else’s story.

I was having the same problem myself. I concealed clues about the elevator, hid the conditions of Sage’s Advice, and lied about the content.

What should I do?

Turning to the system window, I found the line that read [Sage’s Advice: 1]. There was one left—if I asked the owl, it would probably return a reply that it considered helpful. I could even guess what it would be about; it would probably teach me a way to hide the truth from them.

I decided not to ask.

Since when have I been so dependent on a bird whose real thoughts I couldn’t even read? At the start, I was only asking questions about the Cursed Room, but by the time I realized it, I had begun asking all sorts of questions and even began looking for advice in human relationships.

Through the daily process of asking questions and seeking advice, the owl had seeped into my life.

Think about it. What was the greatest strength of our team?

It was that we could trust each other, and cooperate.

I made up my mind.

*** Party Time Third Morning**

Immediately upon opening my eyes, I realized that it was a new day – the Possession timer and the number of Advice’s available had both been replenished.

When I woke up, I was on the sofa near the tea tables of the front reception. It seemed that they moved me here in my sleep.

“Is everything alright?” I asked.

“Huh? Kain, you woke up! Great work.”

The teammates paused their chat and gathered near me to explain everything that happened.

The disposal process of the butterfly was quite boring. As soon as Ahri and I fell asleep, dozens of blue butterflies immediately emerged from Seungyub’s body and transferred over to mine, and after an hour or so, it seemed that those butterflies left in weary conditions.

As soon as they left my body, Eunsol-noona used the pesticide she ordered in the meantime and sprayed it at them.

***

Funnily enough, despite being such supernatural existences, they were “real butterflies” at the same time.

The event ended like that and we received a mysterious item.

“By item, are you talking about that accessory on your hair?”

“Yep! Does it suit me?” Eunsol-noona asked brightly.

Honestly speaking, a brooch in the shape of a butterfly as elegant as that would probably only suit grandmas, but I returned a positive reply nonetheless.

“It looks great. What does it do?”

She brought the brooch closer and cracked it open. Wriggling inside was a small pupa.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“I’m sure this will turn into that same butterfly. It will probably fly towards the target I choose and attack their mind or something, right? But it’s still a pupa so I’m not entirely sure either.”

The mind attack she mentioned reminded me of Seungyub.

“Is Seungyub alright?”

Her face turned gloomier.

“He’s sleeping in Room 105. I’m not sure if he has any serious injuries, but he’s still very bony, and says strange things in his sleep.”

“The doctor will treat him. I’m sure he will be fine by tomorrow.”

“I hope so. Anyway, you should rest up, Kain. We decided on the schedule while you were asleep. Today, Ahri said she will tell us everything she knows about the Gate Room and the 2nd Floor.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I know it’s unusual, but Ahri wanted to voluntarily explain everything to us. I was actually thinking about asking her about it anyway.”

Gate Room.

2nd Floor.

Those were the biggest obstacles we now had to face. It was time to analyze the “next stage”.

Of course, before that, I had to come out honest and tell them everything.

***

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