CHAPTER 306: ROOM 204, MISSION ROOM - 'HOTEL CINEMA' (28)

0% – Theater

After the movie stopped with Dollyphant’s angry roar, the screen flickered opaquely again, signaling that the next person should enter.

The two people with chances left, Park Seungyub and Han Kain, looked at each other and sighed deeply. They had secretly hoped that Kim Ahri would perform so splendidly that their turns couldn’t ever come.

In the quiet theater, Kain glanced around slightly. With both Eunsol and Ahri caught in the horror movie, there weren’t many people to lead the discussion.

“Let’s divide the villains first. The clown doll, Happy Happy, who chases you while playing hide-and-seek, the tank engine, Thomas, that lays rails and moves around the mansion, and lastly, the elephant obsessed with tea time, Dollyphant. These three, right?”

Elena answered, “I noticed while watching, but the three monsters aren’t cooperative with each other. Thomas mercilessly hits even Happy Happy if it blocks its path, and Dollyphant smashed both Thomas and Happy Happy because it got angry.”

“Inducing internal conflict seems like a useful response. From that perspective, we need to compare the strength of the three monsters. Dollyphant seems to be the strongest, then Thomas. Happy Happy seems to be the weakest.”

Jinchul nodded, “How about going towards Dollyphant from the start? It seemed obsessed with tea time, right? If Thomas or Happy Happy interfere, it might block the other two monsters saying, ‘They’re disturbing tea time’.”

Kain pointed out a gap, “The problem is we don’t know Dollyphant’s exact location. It’s said to be on the second floor, but as the mansion twisted, it inflated to a size rivaling that of the emperor’s palace in the war movie, right? The second floor will surely be incredibly vast.

“It’s also difficult to leisurely search for Dollyphant when Happy Happy and Thomas are actively chasing you. Even Ahri was caught by Dollyphant before she could even catch her breath from running away a lot.”

Kim Sanghyun, who had been thinking deeply, offered an opinion, “It would be easier to find if we’re on the second floor from the start. However... we need to consider whether being near Dollyphant is safe. While Dollyphant might check Thomas and Happy Happy, Dollyphant itself will surely do strange things.”

Kain immediately nodded. While the general characteristics of Thomas and Happy Happy were revealed, there was still not enough information about Dollyphant. Would that “tea time” really be a regular ol’ tea time?

“That’s right. Dollyphant will surely do strange things, too.”

Elena brought the whiteboard that Eunsol often used and started scribbling, “Let’s organize the dolls’ characteristics. Happy Happy is a being that plays hide-and-seek, right? Since the rule is back touch, it seems like something might be resolved if the person going in touches Happy Happy’s back.”

“...”

“...”

“Thomas is a tank engine that lays rails and runs on them. It gets angry if you interfere with its progress. Especially if you step on the rails, it gets tremendously angry and—wait, why aren’t you guys saying anything?”

Kain approached, smiling awkwardly, “Elena, I’ll write.”

Songee spoke honestly, “Unni’s handwriting... um, seems very artistic. Shall we say there was an exquisite exchange between Arabic and Korean?”

“Eek? The, the teacher who taught me Korean said I wrote well!”

Jinchul was certain that the teacher who taught Elena Korean must have been a man. And that guy would have said she wrote well even if Elena wrote in Cyrillic instead of Korean.

Kain took the pen and continued writing, “Thomas gets very angry and immediately charges if someone steps on the rails. Since it’ll even charge in reverse on a path it had already passed, we can use this habit depending on the situation.”

“T-that’s what I was trying to write.”

“Lastly, Dollyphant... Apart from Dollyphant coming to kill Kevin if he doesn’t go to Dollyphant until it calls for tea time three times, I don’t know.”

Everyone started pondering appropriate responses. While Jinchul moved towards Sanghyun and exchanged a few words, the two people who had to go in next sat facing each other.

“...Hyung, who should go in first?”

After thinking for a moment, Kain opened his mouth honestly, “Wouldn’t it be better if you go first?”

Seungyub nodded refreshingly.

“That’s right, isn’t it? There’s still quite a lot we don’t know, and in this situation, Fortune seems better. And...”

“...”

“Honestly, I think I’d be too scared if I went in last...”

Kain understood that mentality as well. The scariest situation in the Hotel was when one was the last survivor and my death meant the end of everything.

“Seungyub, listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

“Yes.”

Sanghyun approached and started conveying the countermeasures found after discussing with other companions to Seungyub. At that moment, Kain reflexively thought he should stop Sanghyun.

Is it right to convey such complex knowledge to Seungyub?

Actually, not conveying it is strange in its own way. Does Seungyub have to go in knowing nothing about the dolls then?

Ahri sacrificed her life to obtain quite a bit of information, but if we end up arguing about it, maybe we shouldn’t have watched the movie in the first place?

...Kain newly realized how tiring a Blessing Fortune was.

Just before Seungyub entered the screen, Kain grabbed Seungyub.

“Hyung?”

“You have both Heaven’s Luck and The First Human, right?”

“Yes, I’ll probably use both.”

“You should. But do you still not know what The First Human’s ability is?”

“Since I’ve never used it...”

“I see... I hope things go well.”

Kain truly prayed earnestly. He was next after Seungyub, after all.

– Screech!

Perro, who had mostly been sleeping since entering the movie theater, made a sound for the first time in a while. Seungyub felt even that sound was ominous as he entered the screen.

***– Park Seungyub

“Huff! Huff!”

Calm down! Calm down, Park Seungyub! You’re the bravest middle school student in the world! Let it go!

Barely calming my mind, I entered the coffee shop. As expected, I heard that I was a bit late and Park Sumi and Han Yuri’s stories had already been confirmed.

After a while, Cha Eunpyo started telling his story.

“This is a story from when I was young...”

***– Home Alone

“Kevin!”

The initial part was exactly the same as what Ahri-noona went through. Kevin’s parents nagged me for a while before leaving, but before that, I asked one thing, “Mom!”

“Hmm? Do you have something to ask?”

“Are you going to lock the house?”

Come to think of it, this house itself is strange. It’s strange that it suddenly becomes enormously big, isn’t it? Can’t I just go outside the house? Ahri-noona tried to leave the house too, but failed.

Instead of answering, Kevin’s mom smiled slightly and hugged me.

No, don’t just hug me—answer the question, auntie!

“Are you going to lock it?”

“Mom~ is worried Kevin might accidentally go out.”

“I absolutely won’t go out, so can’t you leave it open?”

“If you’re not going out, why should it be left open?”

I was momentarily at a loss for words at that. Kevin’s mom laughed lightly, as if I was cute.

“Kevin, as I always say, going out alone is very dangerous. It was on TV recently, carnivorous deer and infectious spore butterflies—“

“Honey, don’t say such scary things to Kevin, let’s just leave.”

With those words, the couple locked the house and left.

So in this world, deer eat people, and butterflies spread strange spores. No wonder parents had no choice but to lock the house inside and out when they went somewhere.

Now it was busy. I started moving quickly, recalling what the doctor said in order.

— Let’s quickly go to Dollyphant. Once we meet, Dollyphant will block Thomas and Happy Happy. The problem is we don’t know the exact location of that pink elephant, but it’s certainly on the second floor. Let’s go to the second floor as soon as we start.

— Wait, won’t Dollyphant kill me?

— It might. Let’s find that out too, Seungyub.

— ...

I immediately ran and moved to the second floor.

I tried to memorize the structure of the second floor while walking around, but honestly, I wasn’t sure if it was meaningful. Anyway, as the mansion became enormously huge, rooms and decorations that weren’t there now would appear everywhere.

Thomas is a tank engine. It doesn’t jump or fly in the sky. Also, it doesn’t lay rails in mid-air. If your feet don’t touch the ground, Thomas will think you’re not interfering with rail construction. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should fly around.

I looked around for a moment, checking the locations of tables, wall-mounted cabinets, etc. I moved tables in the center of the room, etc., to make it possible to run “on top of furniture” as much as possible.

Doing this with the body of a 12-year-old kid even younger than me already made me feel tired.

— Stay with Suzy. Sorry to the cute dog, but Seungyub needs to live. It was quite loyal. It can stop Happy Happy once.

“...Suzy, sorry, but stay by my side.”

“Woof!”

“Will you fight for me?”

“Woof?”

“Never mind.”

“Kevin! I’ll start the New Year’s party for you!”

Around that time, along with the shout announcing the start of the party, the whole house began to vibrate.

A breathtaking tension overwhelmed me. Without realizing it, I hugged the Golden Retriever tightly and wedged myself between the furniture to endure.

***“It’s hide-and-seek from now on~! The rule is back touch~!”

As if teleporting, Happy Happy suddenly appeared behind me.

“Now~ start! Kevin, wouldn’t it be better to run away quickly~? Run right now!”

“Woof! Woof!”

While restraining Suzy, who was barking loudly, I recalled what the doctor had said about Happy Happy.

— Happy Happy tries to touch your back somehow, right? Facing it head-on like Ahri is a good method, but actually, I thought of an even better method. Ahri probably didn’t think of it because she was too frantic.

Instead of running, I moved towards the wall and started walking sideways with my back against the wall. Seeing me like this, Happy Happy frowned.

“...You, you’re acting a bit cowardly?”

“Isn’t that a compliment?”

Happy Happy’s expression distorted instantly, and its hands started stretching like rubber.

Ahri-noona had difficulty positioning because of Happy Happy’s arms stretching out like this. But if one completely stuck their back to the wall, it didn’t matter whether Happy Happy’s arms stretched or not!

— What if Happy Happy forcibly pulls me off the wall?

— If that was possible, would there have been a reason for Happy Happy to stop when Ahri faced it head-on? It could just charge in and turn her by force. Wouldn’t forcibly exposing the back be against the rules of hide-and-seek?

If there was one fearful possibility, it would be Happy Happy grabbing my body and forcibly turning me. Fortunately, Happy Happy didn’t act that way. Up to here was as the doctor predicted.

“Dolly dolly! It’s tea time!”

I heard Dollyphant’s shout from afar.

Is it to the right after going out of the room I’m in now?

I knew the direction, but the distance seemed quite far.

I moved out of the room walking sideways while sticking to the wall. Happy Happy just stared at me with a terrifying expression but couldn’t make any particular attack.

At that very moment, a horn sounded from somewhere.

“Thomas is departing! Please make way as we need to lay the rails!”

***– Theater

“Oh ho! It’s going well up to here? This has definitely produced a countermeasure for Happy Happy.”

Kain nodded at Sanghyun’s joyful voice. He had been anxious about telling Seungyub complicated things, but it was worth telling him.

If he could respond appropriately like this and just get to Dollyphant, wouldn’t he be able to escape at least the threats of Happy Happy and Thomas?

The next problem would be Dollyphant, for which we couldn’t come up with any countermeasures...

He can use both Heaven’s Luck and The First Human, so it’ll work out somehow!

Kain decided to believe that.