Escaping the Mystery Hotel

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 32

Current Location: Floor 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 3

- Han Kain

We left Room 102.

Having a short headache after leaving a Cursed Room was nothing new, but it was especially more intense this time.

I looked at the “Grimoire” in my hand.

There apparently had been a discussion before about who should inherit the Star, but this time, the Grimoire was automatically given to me without any of that.

To be honest, it was probably because it was practically just me who contributed to the final battle.

The Grimoire gleaming in blue made it very obvious that it was an Inheritance. After coming to themselves, everyone also turned their curious eyes to the book.

Elena walked closer before curiously raising a question.

“Is this the Grimoire?”

“I think so—”

That was when Ahri intervened with a shout.

“Elena! Be mindful of your disrespectful words!”

“Eh? Sorry?”

“How dare you say that to the Son of Heaven?! From now on, you must bow every time you speak to the Son of Heaven.”

Ah! Come on!

“Please stop…”

“What is it, Son of Heaven? Was that insolent of me? Should I bow down this time?” Ahri jested.

Seungyub chimed in, wondering what this was about.

“Noona? What do you mean?”

“From now on,” Ahri said in a stern voice. “When speaking to Kain the Geezus, make sure to bow at a straight angle and bring your hands together. I almost died to the angel inside the Cursed Room for not doing that.”

***

Ahri teased me endlessly all the way until we arrived at Room 105.

Songee and Seungyub seemed to be enjoying it too - they made it seem like prayer whenever they were talking to me, and at one point, Jinchul-hyung even drew a sign of the cross on his chest.

It continued until we at last arrived at Room 105.

Like, this Son of Heaven bastard; why did he go around acting arrogantly like a god? Let’s be real. He wasn’t a god. He just borrowed the power of the “Lord”, didn’t he?

He’s like the son of rich parents, acting cool with his allowance!

I have no idea why he cosplayed as a god with powers he borrowed from a different existence.

And these people… Since when were they able to get together this quick just to tease someone?

***

As expected, we were welcomed with a set of firecrackers and a noisy notification the moment we stepped into Room 105.

Esteemed guests! Congratulations!

We, the staff of the Hotel, give sincere words of congratulations on your discovery of your third treasure.

An unidentified Enemy! Fear of losing your body at any moment! Evil god preparing for its birth!

You, who have overcome all those trials, are most certainly the heroes we have been waiting for.

Four days of rest will be provided from tomorrow! You better get used to the treasure.

Today’s Surprise Event: Party Time! Will now begin.

Party Time will last for 4 days and there will be nothing dangerous happening during that time.

???

It might be because I got so used to the notification for Party Time, but I immediately realized that something was different.

“It’s slightly different from the notifications we’ve received until now. Congratulations, take a rest and practice – until there is the same, but it’s missing the part about ‘A secret in this Hotel that only shows itself during Party Time’.”

Eunsol-noona replied after tilting her head in thought.

“There is no way they would have changed it for no reason. Maybe…”

“Are there no more secrets to be found?”

We all thought for a bit in silence.

Should I ask Advice?

“That’s correct,” that was when Ahri answered our question.

As expected of a second-timer of the Hotel!

…I had a feeling that Ahri’s memories worked in a very convenient way for her. It felt like she only answered questions whenever she wanted to.

In any case, if she was right, that meant we didn’t have to go exploring during this Party Time!

While having a meal in Room 105, I started to talk about how I solved Room 102. I did most of the talking since I was the one who stayed until the end.

“Do you understand everything so far?”

They were supernatural stories that even I, the one who experienced it, had trouble explaining. Naturally, I could tell that everyone listening was holding themselves back from screaming out, “What the hell are you talking about?”

Ahri, who I met before going to the basement, understood a little bit more than those who didn’t see me and added to the explanation.

“I get it. So basically, we were almost doomed because we couldn’t stop the birth of the evil god, but we solved it thanks to the prayers of Archangel Kain, right?”

Without a sliver of hesitation, I took the pen out and scribbled at her eyes!

She couldn’t react in time to my sudden ambush. After losing her sight, she calmly went to the dining table and knelt down.

“How long should I bow down for?”

To be fair, she isn’t wrong. We did win because of my prayers, right?

With her head tilted, Eunsol-noona said.

“The part about the evil god and the dragon; I honestly didn’t understand. Sorry, but I don’t think you understand it fully either, Kain. Am I right?”

“You’re right. As I’ve said, it’s like my sense of self disappears after using Descent. I am just explaining as best as I can using the memories left behind in my head, and it’s quite difficult to explain.”

“So let’s instead talk about something I do understand,” she said to change the topic. “The message that popped up after you solved it - that one’s a bit interesting.”

“It is.”

“As for ‘Congratulations’ and ‘Well done,’ those seem like pleasantries. I think ‘Don’t take the ‘hardcore’ path’ was what they really wanted to tell us.”

“I don’t think the Hotel is very happy with the result, and I can understand why. It’s because of the detrimental mistake we made in the Fourth Attempt. After the Third Attempt, the clue basically could have only meant, ‘Don’t go to the basement.’ If we remembered this, we wouldn’t have gone to the altar in the basement no matter what Lee Sehyun told us. If we stayed as one group without going down…”

Grandpa Mooksung replied, “The crystal would have melted over time and Jinchul alone would have been enough to deal with the Apostle under the effect of the bell. Monsters of the mansion wouldn’t have woken up, and even if they did, we would have easily dealt with them if we were together.”

“But,” Jinchul-hyung asked as if he couldn’t understand. “The Grimoire was in the basement, so how could we have not gone to the basement?”

I thought of the answer to that question.

“There was no need to acquire it in the first place. If you think about it, the Star Fragment was just given to us as a reward after everything was over. If we stayed next to the crystal as Grandpa said, it would have eventually disappeared. After that, we probably could have killed the Apostle with the bell and destroyed the other world's sanctum with the Star. That might have been enough for a resolution.”

“If you think about it, we are still only on the 1st Floor. There is no way the Hotel would have wanted us to fight against a being that only the Son of Heaven would be able to defeat.”

“So in other words,” Seungyub summed it up after listening the whole time. “We made a bad choice and went close to a bad ending, but Angel Kain used the cheat code of Descent and forced our way back to the good ending, right? Maybe that’s why the Hotel doesn’t like it that much.”

Without a hint of hesitation, I scribbled on Seungyub’s eyes as well.

How useful is this pen? It has unlimited power!

Seungyub got on his knees next to Ahri.

Ahri stood up with a grumble while stretching her back.

“Seriously! We are humans, so how can we not make mistakes? The scenario turned on its damn head, so isn’t it normal for us to make mistakes?”

She wasn’t wrong. It was natural for normal people to make mistakes but…

We had to be different from normal people.

“Normal people would lose their minds and be horrified by a lion, but a hero would be able to maintain their rationality and bash the lion to death or something. Maybe that kind of hero is what the Hotel is looking for.”

“Whatever. Anyway, Kain got the Inheritance of that room so it doesn’t matter. Please get this off my eyes now.”

“Wait,” Eunsol-noona continued. “This is not something trivial we can trivialise. We need to think about why we made that mistake, and how we can prevent it in the future. Let me be very frank here. Looking at the discussions until now, it’s like Kain, Grandpa Mooksung, and I talk for 95% of the time, and the rest just listen. We have 8 people but only 2-3 are actually contributing to the meeting.”

Eunsol-noona suddenly dropped bombs of facts on everyone, which made them immediately turn silent.

“We did have a meeting after the Third Attempt. The issue, however, is that it was cut short, and we only had a quick conversation before glossing over everything. Why? It’s nothing crazy. The three of us were maybe a bit exhausted.”

It felt like a class being scolded by the teacher.

“Sorry…” Songee said.

“Don’t be. I’m not trying to tell someone off. It happens very often in an office in large-scale discussions. There are 20 people sitting around the table, but if you take a closer look, only 3 of them are actually thinking and the rest are usually just waiting for the time to go by. It happens often, even in large companies. There is a method I use to solve that.”

“What is it?” I asked in curiosity.

“It’s called devil’s advocate, where one person always comes up with an opposition to the plan. From now on, I want Ahri to take on that role.”

Noona pinpointed “Ahri” to take on the role of coming up with a “different idea” in the meeting.

“I will participate more actively in the conversation,” Ahri replied. “And…”

“And?”

“And Kain. Can you please wipe this off my eyes now?”

That seemed to be enough feedback for strategy meetings. I thought a little about what we should do during Party Time before speaking up.

“Let’s do as Eunsol-noona said for the strategy meetings from now on. Even if Ahri doesn’t do it, it would be great if one or two people could shed light on a different perspective.”

“Umm, Kain? Can you wipe this off first?”

“And let’s also think about what we should do during Party Time. We don't have any ‘exploration’ to do this time, so we will have a lot of spare time left. During that time, I believe we need to have a deep contemplation about ourselves.”

“I would appreciate it if you could contemplate the situation with my eyes as well.”

“Don’t you think there are still too many secrets left about our blessings? We don’t know everything about our blessings yet, so let’s talk about them with each other whenever we have time.”

“Good idea,” Grandpa Mooksung replied. “We should probably make use of your Advice for that. Let’s make sure to use up all the Advice carefully every day, and research about ourselves.”

That marked the end of our afternoon discussion.

Towards the end, Ahri tried to strangle me so I had no choice but to wipe her eyes clean before returning to the room.

***

- Kim Mooksung, Kim Ahri

Kim Mooksung: Is it true there’s nothing else to find?

Kim Ahri: Yes

Kim Mooksung: How do you know?

Kim Ahri: Compass

Kim Mooksung: 3 hidden rooms, 3 hidden NPCs, no? By room; it’s Sanctum of Blessings, souvenir shop, Safari. Doctor, Merchant, and the girl for NPCs?

Kim Ahri: No. 2 hidden rooms, 2 hidden NPCs. Safari was told by the Hotel; it’s not a hidden room. Girl is a part of the souvenir shop, not a separate NPC.

Kim Mooksung: Nothing more in the basement?

Kim Ahri: More could be added once we go to the 2nd floor. Nothing for now.

Kim Mooksung: Do we need to keep hiding the compass?

Kim Ahri: Thinking.

***

- Han Kain

I thought to myself while taking a rest inside the room.

There was no need to explore in this Party Time.

What did we have to do now?

I wrote a note of it on the system window.

1. Think deeply about everyone’s blessings.

2. Find out more about the Book of Incarnation.

3. Visit the Sanctum of Blessings.

4. Think about Descent.

5. Decide on the next room.

Wow! That’s more than I thought!

…Let’s take a nap for now.

Later when we gather together for dinner, we could discuss the above-mentioned topics and use Advice.

***

That night, something happened, that in terms of priority, far exceeded everything written on the list.

The “egg” began to hatch.

***

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