Escaping the Mystery Hotel

Party Time, Day 3, Evening

- Han Kain

“Stories about the second floor are fascinating, but let’s focus more on the Gate Room. Remember Ahri’s explanation? Now let’s strategize.”

At Eunsol-noona’s words, everyone snapped back to reality.

The second floor was a story for later.

For now, we needed to focus on the Gate Room.

I took notes on the characteristics of the Gate Room.

Firstly, the Gate Room consists of a series of Cursed Rooms with brief rest in between.

Secondly, those who were eliminated midway could only be revived if at least one person passed through the entire Gate Room.

“It’s difficult to devise a strategy with just this. We don’t know the contents of each room, so it’s hard to predict. Do you know any other characteristics? Like how many rooms there are?”

Ahri seemed to be pondering as well but gave a lackluster response.

“While I have experienced the second floor firsthand, I’ve only heard about the Gate Room. Moreover, as you all know, the first party wasn’t too keen on kindly sharing information.”

Although I resolved not to rely on Advice, we really needed a piece of advice right now.

Give me advice on preparing for the Gate Room.

Sage’s Advice: 3 → 2

Preparing for exams starts with analyzing mock exams.

“…”

I was momentarily speechless.

Given our limited information, I had anticipated a cryptic response, but wasn’t this a bit much?

I shared the question and answer with my teammates.

Upon hearing it, Jinchul-hyung sighed.

“Is that owl some like of Sphinx or something? Always making us solve riddles.”

“It’s not always like this, but when you ask questions with insufficient information, this happens.”

“But in this Hotel, information is always insufficient!”

“That’s the problem.”

I thought it through step by step.

Exams obviously referred to the Gate Room, right?

Then mock exams must refer to the Cursed Rooms.

Interpreted this way, the advice could mean:

Recall the lessons learned from the Cursed Rooms you’ve passed through.

“It seems that exams refer to the Gate Room, and mock exams refer to the Cursed Rooms. Maybe it means to review the Cursed Rooms we’ve already passed through.”

Eunsol Noona responded.

“I thought similarly…”

“From what I’ve felt through Advice, there are no meaningless words or metaphors. Every word, every metaphor has a meaning. There must be a reason for specifically using the metaphor of ‘exams and mock exams’.”

“So, what does our top exam expert, Kain, think is the reason?”

“Usually, the problems that appeared in the mock exams often reappear in a similar form in the actual exams. I think it means that the Cursed Rooms we’ve already passed will reappear similarly, though slightly altered, in the Gate Room.”

“Then let’s review the Cursed Rooms one by one and identify key points to watch out for. How about Room 101?”

“Strange Family and Common Sense Renovating Media. Several keywords come to mind. The most important was quick thinking. As soon as it started, we were bombarded with mental attacks, so immediate action was necessary. Next is deduction. You need to find the right place.”

“I can talk about Room 102. ‘Complacency’. The Mansion of Fear didn’t have a fast tempo like Room 101. During the first attempt, nothing happened on the first night, and even after the scenario changed, a day or two would pass without incident. Then, when you let your guard down, you’d fall into an irreversible trap.”

Next was Songee.

“For Room 103, the keyword seems to be ‘Doubt’. Doubting the entire reality before your eyes. Keeping in mind that the stage given could be false or an illusion. It’s like having a paranoid mindset, but it seems necessary in the Hotel.”

What about Room 104?

“What about Room 104? It’s the only room we didn’t solve and decided to skip, so I have no clue.”

Ahri answered.

“Open thinking? The Heavenly Daughter is arguably the strongest Enemy across all rooms, but even with such power, she acted most discreetly. It required the element of ‘paying attention to external factors’.”

“Look outside the stage?”

“It’s just my guess. Since I’ve never actually progressed through Room 104. When we actually proceed, the key point might be entirely different.”

“Let’s summarize this much. Considering our lack of detailed knowledge, thinking about a few key points is probably the best we can do.”

“We need quick thinking to respond to immediate attacks, deductive reasoning to analyze twisted scenarios, the mindset to doubt everything we see, and think creatively amidst all that.”

Jinchul-hyung spoke in disbelief.

“Is that even humanly possible?”

“Let’s do our best. Even if it doesn’t work out, the worst that can happen is death, right?”

I said it with a smile, but no one laughed.

Thus, all the meetings for today ended.

The next day, on the fourth day of the Party Time, everyone kept their promise and spent the day either resting or training individually.

Party Time, Day 4, Early Morning

- Park Seungyub

I feel stifled.

At some point, I always felt frustrated with myself.

Why am I so stupid?

I wasn’t good at studying or sports, and I wasn’t even particularly good at games.

Every time my parents scolded me, I shouted at them to stop interfering, but once I calmed down, I knew…

If I had at least become Challenger ¹ in LoL as a middle schooler, my parents might have believed in me.

Ultimately, everything I did was subpar, so it was inevitable for others to interfere.

Nothing has changed since coming to the Hotel.

At first, I luckily escaped the Strange Family.

At that time, I thought things might work out.

But nothing changed.

I was just following the smart and strong people, playing a passenger role for the “main characters”.

Am I going to live my life as a passenger wherever I go?

I sank deep into my nightmares.

- Splash!

“This kid is quite gloomy.”

Someone grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

Looking around, I found myself waking up on a yacht floating in the vast ocean.

In front of me was a boy around my age.

Seeing his playful expression, he looked like he’d suit a straw hat.

“Who are you?”

“I’m your friend! Usually, I’d watch and only meet you in the Sanctuary, but you were sinking so deeply that I decided to come see you.”

“Friend? All of a sudden—”

Usually meet in the sanctuary.

That was when I realized who the boy in front of me was!

“Oh! Are you my sponsor? I’m sorry, you look different from before—”

“Was I in the shape of a card back then? That’s one of my favorite forms too. Just call me ‘Dice’. It’s my favorite tool.”

The boy playfully took out two dice from his pocket and rolled them.

Of course, they both landed on 6.

“Why do you think I came to see you?”

“Because I suck?”

“Let’s say it’s more because you’re so frustrating. Meeting outside the Sanctuary is quite a hassle. I used a fair bit of power, but mostly because you were almost dying which made this meeting possible.”

Dice continued while fiddling with the dice.

“Why are you always so gloomy? ‘Nothing works’, ‘This doesn’t work’, and ‘That doesn’t work.’ You’re always full of such thoughts. Even luck would wilt with such a mindset.”

“I’m not gloomy because I want to be, but because gloomy things happen. It’s not that I think things won’t work out, they just do.”

“Wow! Every syllable of that sentence was stifling!”

“...”

“What’s making you so gloomy? There’s no Dongjin or Myunghwan here to bully you, nor your parents who didn’t understand you.”

“Why are you bringing up their names all of a sudden!”

“Calm down and think. What kind of person do you think ‘Park Seungyub’ is?”

“Huh?”

“Lacking talent, and on top of that, lacking diligence. That was the case outside, and it’s the same in the Hotel. Because you’re entirely lacking, nasty people flock to you. Not to mention, your parents don’t trust you either.”

“Are you trying to drive me to suicide or something…”

“Haha! Of course not! Quite the opposite in fact! I’m saying I have the perfect answer for you. Actually, I chose you because you’re ‘that kind of person.’”

“...?”

The sponsor spoke as if he had chosen me.

Didn’t “I” decide on the blessing by picking up a shard on the first day of entering the Hotel?

Dice continued.

“You hate thinking deeply and working 10 hours every day, don’t you? Answer honestly.”

“...Yes”

“That’s exactly it! I chose you because you wouldn’t do such things. It was like… a problem you don’t know comes up, so you roll a die. The die shows 3. Then you choose 3 as the answer. That’s luck. But shallow-thinking friends do this. Does the die show 3? But looking at the OMR card, 3 has already appeared too many times? So it must be 4, right? And they avoid the answer.”

“Are you saying not to think?”

“You’ve already experienced it once, haven’t you? After Hotel Land, when you consciously tried to aim at the balloons, you hit a silver one, but when you shot it by accident, you hit the golden one. The point is to have faith and groundless confidence.”

“Huh?”

Earlier, this kid seemed like a normal child despite being a god.

His words were all over the place, making it hard to understand.

“Believe! Live with faith. I am the God of Luck, and I chose you. You are the luckiest of humans, so why don’t you trust your own luck?”

“Because normally the % isn’t high enough to activate luck—”

“Luck is with you at all times. That skill is just for moments that need ‘overwhelming luck’ to overturn reality.”

“But… I’ve never felt lucky in everyday life?”

“That’s the problem. Now answer me! Got it?”

“Y-yes!”

“Faith, hope, love, the greatest of these is?”

“Huh? Uh... Love?”

“Luck.”

“What?”

“World peace, wealth, honor, or the most beautiful girl in the world, Ahri-noona. The greatest of these is?”

“Stop teasing me!”

“If you’re lucky, you can have it all. It’s luck.”

“Why are you choosing answers that aren’t even in the options—”

“That’s it! Got it?”

What the heck do you mean, you crazy guy!?

“Did you just think, ‘What the heck do you mean, you crazy guy?’”

“...”

“Don’t think. Act on feeling. Go with the flow!”

“Huh? What did you say?”

Dice grabbed my arm and moved me towards the end of the yacht.

This is so confusing!

“What do you think will happen if you jump into the sea here?”

“I can’t swim well, so I’ll drown.”

“Can’t a sea turtle suddenly save you and take you to an island?”

“That’s ridiculous—”

“Why is it ridiculous? It can happen. Why do you keep thinking? Honestly, you’re not that smart, right? Stop trying to use your brain that doesn’t work and just believe! There’s a sea turtle below that will save you.”

With that, Dice grabbed my arm and threw me into the sea!

“YOU CRAZY SON OF A BITCH.”

“Yeah!”

“I’M GONNA DIE YOU PIECE OF SHIT!”

“Look closely at the sea. Maybe there’s a mermaid there?”

“…”

- Jolt!

With a dizzy feeling, I woke up to find myself back in the bed in Room 105.

I looked down at my body. It was thinner and weaker than before.

My head was pounding.

Oh, this is a mess. My sponsor is truly a madman.

But there was a turtle in the sea.

Just jumping into the sea, a turtle appeared by chance and saved me by chance?

How?

Does that even make sense?

What are the chances?

It doesn’t matter.

If there’s a turtle, there’s a turtle.

Doubt, distrust, and thoughts.

Those are the enemies of luck.

I opened my hand.

There was a die.

I lightly tossed it onto the desk and went out to see the hyungs and noonas outside Room 105.

I didn’t bother to check the die.

If it was me who threw it, it’d obviously land on 6.

***

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