Escaping the Mystery Hotel

- Park Seungyub

What is this? What the hell is going on?

Suddenly, screams were coming from the front of the train, and Kain-hyung started asking me weird questions and then began acting crazy!

At first, he calmly went to Grandpa Mooksung and asked to borrow the gun.

“Grandpa. I want to check something, could you lend me the gun?”

Would there be any suspicion in asking a comrade to borrow a gun?

“Going to shoot at the window or something? Give it a shot. But it won’t break that easily, right?”

“Hmm. Even if the Inheritance can’t be replicated, the gun can? It’ll be easier than using a knife at the very least.”

“What?”

“Why are you asking that all of a sudden? His name was... what was it again?”

-Bang!

Just as Grandpa Mooksung tilted his head in confusion, Kain-hyung immediately pulled the trigger.

“…”

Soon, the train car was also filled with screams.

“K-Kain! What are you doing!”

“Tell me your siblings’ names.”

“What? Why all of a sudden—”

-Bang!

“What were the names of the dogs you raised at home?”

“Ahhh! Oppa! Please save me—”

-Bang!

In an instant, Grandpa Mooksung, Eunsol-noona, and Songee-noona fell.

Are they dead?

This is so terrifying...

What is happening?

-Bang!

The sound of something being thrown and shouting.

Jinchul-hyung and Kain-hyung started fighting.

“Kain, you crazy bastard! What the hell are you—”

“You think I’m crazy? Really? Isn’t it the opposite?”

“What the hell are you talking about? Wait, are you not Kain? Are you possessed or something?”

-Bang!

“Of course. I’m not Han Kain. And neither are you.”

“You bastard, what kind of nonsense—”

“Do you really not know? Or are you just pretending because you don’t want to? If you really are Cha Jinchul, show me the ‘Star’.”

“...”

What is this all about?

Jinchul-hyung, who was shouting mere moments ago, stood like someone who had lost their mind after summoning the Star.

Something is wrong.

If the Star appeared, there should be a tremendous wave that tickles the skin, but why was there nothing?

Kain-hyung calmly approached and stabbed Jinchul-hyung with a knife.

“Now do you get it? You already felt it, didn’t you? The time of suffering will return someday, but for now, rest.”

“…”

One by one, the number of living people in the train car decreased.

It was terrifying.

Too terrifying.

My heart was trembling so much I couldn’t even move.

-Clunk!

The only survivor in this train car, besides me, sat before me.

“Are you alright? You’re covered in cold sweat.”

“...”

“Relax. You have to keep going.”

“Who are you?”

“Still don’t know? I don’t know who I am either. What’s certain is, you’re the only ‘real’ one in this car.”

“...”

“The rest are all fakes. Including me. We were probably participants long ago.”

“How do you know that!”

“I’ve felt uncomfortable from the beginning. It must be because this isn’t my real body. Also, when the parrot flew by, you must have noticed. That parrot only reacted to you because you’re the only person it recognized. Then, while looking out the window, I realized something strange. There are memories of reforestation projects in my childhood, but reforestation projects ended decades ago, didn’t they? It couldn’t have happened during Han Kain’s childhood. Lastly, when I summoned the Grimoire, it turned out to be just a book mimicking its appearance. The only reason the fake Inheritance appeared is because the real one isn’t with me.”

“...”

“Oh~ who am I really? I feel like I’m on the verge of remembering.”

“Why did you help me?”

The man laughed for a long time at those words, then patted my head.

“You really are a fool, huh?”

After about 5 minutes, someone came over from the front of the train car.

It was Songee-noona with Perro on her shoulder.

Seeing this, the man in front of me spoke.

“Aha! You’re the ‘real’ Songee? How did you realize? Is it because of the parrot following only you? Or the bracelet?”

“...Who is real?”

“Can’t you tell at a glance? This kid is the real one!”

Songee-noona’s right arm, with ‘Diverse Perspectives,’ emitted a hazy glow.

“Relax! I’m not going to take this kid hostage. I’m not that horrible.”

“...”

“Just give me a little time. Just a bit.”

“Time?”

“Time to remember who the real me is. I got rid of the fakes for you in advance, so can’t you give me that much?”

Songee-noona approached.

Perro on her shoulder tapped my head.

Noona silently grabbed my arm and leaned against the side of the train.

“Noona, what’s going on?”

“Everyone in this car except you is a fake.”

“I heard that.”

“I was the only real one in my car. It seems we were all divided into different cars.”

After about 3 minutes, Kain-hyung… no, ‘someone’, who seemed to be pondering, stood up.

“That’s it. I’ll finish it myself, so go on. By the way, you’d better hurry.”

“What do you mean?”

“When the hotel uses NPCs, the ‘original personality’ never comes back to life. But I felt discomfort and incongruity as soon as it started, and while looking out the window, I realized the truth. Do you understand what that means? After a certain time, the fakes will all reawaken their consciousness. It’s a time attack. Will everyone be as cooperative as me? You’d better hurry if you want to save your ‘real comrades’.”

Noona’s expression hardened instantly, and she approached the man.

The man smirked and quietly brought the gun to his head.

...What is that man’s reason for helping me?

Before pulling the trigger, the man murmured softly.

“Ah, I remember now. My name is Cha Seungjin. I have experience in the Navy Special Forces and Navy SEALs. I’m confident I can be a great help to you. Remember my name.”

-Bang!

...That man wanted a chance at resurrection in exchange for helping us.

Noona picked up the gun from his body and moved on to the next car with me.

***

- Park Seungyub

As we entered the next car, the people there widened their eyes at us.

Since a version of Songee-noona and I were already in the train car, our sudden increase in numbers caused confusion amid the train car.

In the chaos, Noona raised her gun—

-Bang!

And blew off the head of the “fake Songee-noona” right in front of her!

“Everyone with an Inheritance, bring it out now!”

Even without Noona’s words, the sudden shooting from the next car made the people with Inheritance bring them out.

It took less than a second to realize who the “real” one was in this car.

-Slash!

In no time, Ahri-noona, who grasped the situation, started killing the fakes from behind!

...It was a painful moment.

Even if they were fakes, they believed themselves to be Han Kain, Yu Songee, and Cha Jinchul, and yet… we had no choice but to kill them.

Songee-noona and Ahri-noona attacked from both ends.

In the end, they were all annihilated in no time.

Ahri-noona picked up a gun from the body of the fake Grandpa Mooksung and approached us.

“I expected that to be the case since Perro only touched me and left, but they were all fakes? That’s crazy.”

“We need to hurry!”

“Huh?”

“A fake who regained consciousness told us. Over time, the fakes will all realize they’re fakes. What do you think they’ll do?”

“...Let’s go right now. How do we distinguish the real ones from the fakes who don’t have Inheritance?”

“Perro seems to know just by looking.”

-Click!

The gun was loaded.

“The parrot is finally proving its worth after coming out of the golden balloon. By the way, unlike Inheritance, it seems all Mooksung’s on the train have a gun. Can we take it?”

The same process continued until the fourth car.

As soon as we crossed over, Ahri-noona and Songee-noona shot the fakes of Ahri, Songee, and Seungyub and then sent Perro flying.

Perro flew to sit on Eunsol-noona’s shoulder, and the rest were all killed.

The problem started from the fifth car.

When we entered, the fakes in the fifth car were already starting to regain their bearings.

Just a moment ago, they believed themselves to be Yu Songee, Kim Ahri, and Park Seungyub, but as their true selves started to awaken, they went berserk.

Fortunately, the real one in the fifth car was Grandpa Mooksung.

With the Blessing sealed and the fakes without Inheritance,  no one could stop the lone grandpa with a gun.

When we arrived, Grandpa was standing amidst seven bodies with a hollow expression.

Even as Perro plucked his hair, Grandpa just stood there.

The real one in the sixth car was Jinchul-hyung.

Even though he had an Inheritance, summoning the Star without his Blessing was tantamount to suicide.

Despite that, Hyung had no choice but to summon the Star to fight against the many fakes.

We crossed over in the middle of a fierce battle and subdued the fakes, but by then, Jinchul-hyung was already half-dead.

“Jinchul-oppa! Oppa! Are you okay? What do we do... what do we do!”

How brutal must the fight have been?

Hyung had a gun wound and was bleeding from multiple places.

On top of that, summoning the Star turned his skin into something akin to a lizard’s scales.

Half of his skin looked like lizard scales and the other half like jellyfish, making it terrifying to look at.

Ahri-noona spoke calmly.

“Let’s go to the next room ourselves. We can’t heal him anyway. He’s still alive, so we have to get through this room and regain our Blessings to save him. The regeneration will save Jinchul.”

“Ahri’s right... Just go. Finishing this is the only way to save me.”

“Jinchul-oppa!”

Ahri-noona dragged Songee-noona to the next car without hearing another word.

Eunsol-noona and Grandpa Mooksung gritted their teeth and passed by Jinchul-hyung.

It’s getting scarier.

The further we go back, the more the fakes realize they’re fakes and start acting out in madness.

I realized anew how lucky I was.

Even without my Blessing!

The first fake who woke up in my car, Cha Seungjin, chose to cooperate with the real one instead of causing meaningless chaos, hoping for a chance at resurrection later.

I wasn’t saying this just because I was grateful, but someone who could make rational decisions, even amidst extreme fear and confusion from mixed identities, was definitely worth considering as a candidate for resurrection.

I engraved the name “Cha Seungjin” into my mind.

The remaining cars were the seventh and eighth.

The fakes would have regained consciousness by now.

What happened?

***

- 1 hour ago, Han Kain

-Clang! Clang!

The train continued its endless voyage along its tracks.

Time flowed like a wave.

I leaned against the window, staring outside.

It had been a while since I traveled by train, just sitting blankly like this.

When I was very young, we used to take the train to visit Grandpa in the countryside, where there were no signals!

Which was annoying!

I heard they even installed Wi-Fi in the village hall in the countryside now.

Ah~ what could it be?

There was a secret in this train car, and we needed to find it to remove the barrier to the front car…

As I was tilting my head full of thoughts, someone tapped my shoulder.

***

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