CHAPTER 325: ROOM 203, CURSED ROOM - 'NEW BEGINNING' RE (5)

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User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 683,615

Current Location: Floor 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 3

– Han Kain

After spending time exchanging information, everyone separated to spend their own time. This was because we needed time to organize our thoughts as too much information had suddenly poured in at once.

In the evening, when everyone gathered, Noona wrote in large letters on the whiteboard.

Why were we forced to escape?“Tell me the important issues you’re each thinking about. For reference, this is what I think is important.”

Everyone nodded as it was certainly an important issue.

Next, Jinchul-hyung approached and wrote number 2.

2. What is the Convict’s purpose? “I talked with Songee briefly earlier, and I want to discuss this part.”

It was the conversation we had as soon as we came out of the room. What was the purpose of Adravita, who was suspiciously cooperative?

Next, Ahri wrote number 3.

3. What is the identity of the Divine Ones, primitive humans, and us?“I felt this part was important while talking with Miro.”

It was also an issue I was pondering. Since Ahri had already written it, I didn’t need to add a separate item.

Naturally, we started gathering opinions in order.

First, why were we forced to escape?

The first person to open their mouth was Eunsol-noona, who wrote the topic, “Unlike the resolution where the room disappears, escape is usually an individual judgment, right? Even if Jinchul meets the escape conditions and leaves the room, I don’t leave with him.”

“It was the Convict of Room 104 who tried to use that mechanism of escape.”

“You also countered with the Escape Button, Kain. Anyway, why did we all come out together this time?”

There was a similar incident once before.

“Was it Room 102? Didn’t we all escape when ‘Lee Sehyun’ suddenly committed suicide in front of us in the Mansion of Fear? It seems like a similar situation to that time.”

“Similar to that time... At that time, the Adversary felt threatened by us and hid before even starting anything, right? Is that why we simultaneously met the escape conditions?”

“I think so.”

“Then what were the escape conditions for Room 203?”

Naturally, everyone’s gaze turned to Miro and Ahri. It was because everyone had similar thoughts.

If the summoned being died, the original body also died. In the second attempt, the Ahri summoned by Miro died fighting to protect Miro.

At that point, Ahri’s original body would have died too, but in Room 203, Ahri’s original body was under AI control based on the circumstances.

“Wouldn’t Ahri’s death in the mountain range be the escape condition?”

“That must be it. No other possibilities come to mind.”

If the Ahri, called out by the Time Borrower, died, the Ahri in the mountain range also died, and at that moment, everyone escaped.

This itself was quite a significant achievement. It meant we had found a perfect way to escape from Room 203 at any time.

Noona emptied a cup of coffee and opened her mouth again, “You all probably guessed the reason for the escape. I sensed it as soon as I heard Miro’s story. But why is it escape and not resolution?”

“Is there something more?”

“Yes, that’s what I wanted to talk about. We still haven’t fully grasped the scenario of Room 203, but we’ve found out at least one thing. Even if we kill Ahri in the mountain range, Room 203 isn’t over. There’s something more.”

We moved on to the second topic.

Why is the Convict of Room 203 helping us? What is his purpose?

Jinchul-hyung gave his opinion first, “This isn’t the first time a Convict has acted cooperatively. Didn’t the Devourer in Room 103 openly help Songee to wipe out Athanasia?”

Grandpa nodded, “Didn’t the Nebula Dragon in Room 102 also help Kain at the very end too? The Sea God in Room 202 felt a bit like that too.”

Noona tilted her head for a moment, “The Devourer in Room 103 and the Nebula Dragon in Room 102 are like that, but isn’t the Sea God in Room 202 a bit too ambiguous?”

It was hard to say the Sea God in Room 202 took our side. In the first attempt, we were almost completely wiped out as soon as the Sea God was revived.

Rather than taking our side, we should see it as using us to achieve the ending it wanted.

In fact, in that context, the Nebula Dragon in Room 102 was a bit ambiguous as well.

“I think the Nebula Dragon is ambiguous too. I’m not sure if you remember, but the progression of Room 102 was quite criticized by the Hotel, right? It’s close to forcibly breaking through what was essentially a failed scenario with the power of ‘Descent’ while making several mistakes.”

“Ah, I remember!”

“If it had progressed normally as the Hotel intended, the Nebula Dragon probably wouldn’t have appeared in the first place. So it’s a bit ambiguous to say whose side it was on or not.”

Perhaps sensing that the conversation was gradually shifting to talk about Convicts from other rooms, Hyung cleared his throat to refocus attention, “Ahem! Let’s focus on Room 203. It’s clear that Adravita in Room 203 is the most cooperative Convict to us since the Devourer in Room 103.”

Adravita woke me up as soon as it started and informed me that the beginning of Room 203 was a “planetary pioneering spaceship”.

Also, when the situation became one where we escaped without gain as Ahri in the mountain range suddenly died due to the Time Borrower, it showed Miro an “unidentified machine device”.

“Why is it helping us like this? The room’s disappearance would be its own disappearance, right?”

Songee picked up the conversation.

“This is the conclusion I came to while talking with Jinchul-oppa earlier, but we think Adravita wants death.”

I think I understood what she meant. It was the conversation I had with Hyung inside the room.

“It wants to end everything because it’s spent too much time in the Cursed Room?”

“That’s the conclusion Jinchul-oppa and I came to.”

The surroundings fell silent for a moment.

If Adravita really wanted death as if suffering from some depression, I could guess the reason. Wasn’t the reason shown on my Status Window?

Day 683,615

Room 203 passed nearly 1872 years each time the room started. We just didn’t feel it because we were in cryosleep. We had already entered Room 203 twice, so from Adravita’s perspective, nearly 3750 years have passed.

But was that all?

No, there were participants who progressed through the Hotel before us, and among them, there must have been people who challenged the scenario of Room 203.

If they also spent 1872 years each time they entered, it was frightening even to think about how many years Adravita had spent in the Cursed Room. It must have truly spent a time close to eons.

Wondering what the Administration people might think, I turned my head to see Grandpa showing a somewhat ambiguous reaction.

“I’m not sure. I know there are beings among divine entities that have spent time on the scale of hundreds of millions of years. If it’s such a being, I don’t think it would want to die just because it spent 1872 years repeatedly.”

Ahri simply answered, “Just ask. Your owl would know better than me and Grandpa.”

Would it answer if I ask about the Convict’s condition? Let’s try asking anyway.

Advice: 3 → 2

Does Adravita really desire death?

Even the Great Ones can have their minds fall ill because they have aspects similar to mortals in their inner selves.

It was an ambiguous answer. When I conveyed the content, Ahri let out a hollow laugh.

“It’s an answer at the level of ‘it could be’. Does the owl not know well either?”

“Maybe...”

If the content of the question was about the mental state of a divine being, even the owl might not know well.

At that moment, Eunsol-noona showed a reaction full of expectation.

“Their minds can fall ill! This feels like something!”

“Feeling?”

“The Convict is a god with a sick mind? Isn’t this a situation where my flute could play an active role?”

Come to think of it, Noona’s inheritance, the Flute of Peace, was an item that could affect even divine beings.

Songee offered a somewhat cold opinion, “Let’s say Adravita has, well, fallen into depression or something because it spent too much time in Room 203. Maybe the Flute of Peace could fix that.”

“That’s what I’m saying!”

“Do we need to fix it?”

“Huh?”

“If the reason it’s helping us is because it wants to die, we don’t need to remove that desire to die, right?”

“...That’s right.”

If the Convict was helping us because it had gone mad, we didn’t need to cure that mad state. It was a cynical attitude, but it was correct.

While Noona was somewhat disappointed, Ahri started mentioning the third topic, “The identity of Divine Ones, primitive humans, and us! Did you all think about it? When I combined the information Kain obtained on the spaceship and the information Miro obtained in the hatchery, I felt something in my own way,” with those words, Ahri began a long explanation. “First, the identity of Divine Ones. According to the information Kain obtained on the spaceship, there are crew members on the spaceship. What’s their role? At least it’s not controlling the spaceship.”

Since the crew members were all in cryosleep while the spaceship was flying, their role couldn’t be controlling the spaceship. That was the AI’s role.

Having a guess, I offered an opinion, “They’re probably beings who wake up after arriving at the destination to pioneer the planet. The reason they’re all enhanced humans is to make pioneering easier.”

Ahri nodded, “I think ‘Divine Ones’ are exactly these enhanced humans like the crew members.”

“Enhanced humans... Are the superpowers possessed by Divine Ones abilities they have because they’re set up as enhanced humans?”

“That must be it. Also, looking at it this way, the identity of the cocoons and hatchery Miro discovered is clear too.”

Grandpa slapped his knee, “Human cultivation kit!”

“That’s it. It must have been an artificial womb for producing enhanced humans.”

Just as genuinely difficult-to-understand sci-fi talk was about to come out, Elena asked a question, “We’re Divine Ones too, right? Were we... made in that cultivation kit?”

“That’s a good question, but I think Adravita gave the answer to that part.”

Feeling like I knew what she meant, I opened my mouth, “Are we the crew members themselves?”

“That’s it. That’s our identity in Room 203. We are the crew members themselves who arrived on this planet on the spaceship 1872 years ago.”

With those words, Ahri wrote her opinion on the whiteboard.

Divine Ones: Enhanced humans created by human cultivation kits.

Our identity: The crew members themselves who arrived on the exoplanet 1872 years ago.

Whether it was true or not remained to be seen, but it seemed like a plausible hypothesis. However, one important point was missing.

“Then what on earth are the primitive humans?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know. Are they even human to begin with? I think there have been quite a few circumstances suggesting that primitive humans might not be human...”

The doctor nodded and conveyed the fact that their body structure was a bit different from humans.

Elena also said that the “mad Elena” who was transforming primitive humans in a state of madness recognized primitive humans as non-human beings.

Besides this, considering that they showed excessive friendliness to Songee reacting to her Blessing, and even the AI in the mountain range that recognized primitive humans as non-human beings, the answer came out.

There was a high possibility they were not human.

“Are the primitive humans a separate group from the humans who came on the spaceship from the beginning?”

No one could answer that question.

However, the doctor expressed a skeptical view, “Doesn’t their appearance look too similar for that? They don’t seem to be alien life forms that evolved in a completely different environment...”

“Then what could they be?”

“I don’t know.”

It seemed we needed to look into it more. I used a second Advice just in case, but as expected, an ambiguous answer came back.

Advice: 2 → 1

Are the primitive humans in Room 203 human? If not, what is their identity?

It’s a matter of how you define human.

When I conveyed the answer, everyone held their heads, and some complained.

“It would be nice if it just spoke simply! Why is Kain’s Patron so unfriendly?”

Miro’s question was one I’ve had about 3000 times.

“Maybe it has some kind of restriction too. But it is a bit annoying.”

The doctor carefully offered an opinion, “I think it gave a somewhat meaningful answer in its own way. If they were beings that just mimicked humans at the level of wearing human skin, I think it would have said they’re not human.”

Ahri nodded, “If we define human very ‘broadly’, it seems there’s something about primitive humans that could be seen as human?”

As the general talk about the three topics was ending, Seungyub, who usually hardly participated in meetings, actively offered an opinion for the first time in a while, “Let’s just think about it simply.”

“Simply? The scenario of Room 203 itself is difficult enough to make your head explode.”

“No, Ahri-noona. I mean, let’s not dig too deep into the scenario. How about thinking of it a bit like a game?”

“Like a game?”

“When I play games, I skip all the story.”

“...”

For a moment, everyone lost their words and looked at Seungyub wondering what on earth he was saying.

“Look! Where’s the final place we need to go? It’s the mountain range, right? Because Ahri-noona is sealed there!”

Ahri flinched at the subtly powerful attitude unlike usual.

“I-is that so?”

“Why can’t we go to the mountain range now? Because there are a lot of robots there and they’re strong! Right?”

This time he emphasized the danger of the robots while looking at me. It was actually a big problem.

Unlike the first attempt, our Blessings had returned and we had one more companion, but the robots filling the mountain range were still a big barrier. This was because many of our Inheritances and abilities were useless against robots.

My Book of Incarnation or Songee’s Diverse Perspectives were meaningless in front of robots.

“That’s true.”

“The machine device that the Convict showed Miro at the end! Isn’t that probably something like a spaceship part?”

Since it had “Pride of Humanity” written on it, it must be related to the spaceship.

“There! It’s decided!”

“It’s decided?”

“The conclusion is drawn?”

Seungyub shouted firmly, “Let’s grab that part and charge into the mountain range.”

“Why?”

“Eiyah! Ahri-noona, why do you think that part is there? In terms of a game, isn’t it like a key to safely enter the area where the final boss is?”

“Eh? Why?”

“Ah~ How frustrating! Didn’t the Convict show it because it’s an important item~?”

“What are you saying!?”

“...”

Just as everyone was dumbfounded for a moment, Eunsol-noona, who had been thinking for a long time, smiled, “I thought about the idea Seungyub came up with, and it’s somewhat plausible. Think about it this way. Maybe that part is a crucial component of the spaceship, and the AI in the mountain range might not want that part destroyed.”

Only then did I start to understand a bit.

“If we go to the mountain range with that, the robots in the mountain range won’t attack?”

“That’s right. If the robots attack recklessly, the part might be destroyed.”

Hearing Noona’s “interpretation”, I understood a bit. Feeling it was certainly a convincing progression, I asked.

Advice: 1 → 0

What do you think about the plan to take the part and go to the mountain range?

Think about how to get to that place.

After that, everyone continued to offer various opinions and made plans for how to proceed with the third attempt.

***As the meeting ended and we were about to part ways saying let’s do our best tomorrow, an inexplicable anxiety overwhelmed me.

I couldn’t easily explain even to myself where this anxiety was coming from.

“...”

Late at night, when it was time to lie in bed, I finally realized the identity of the anxiety.

Where did the majority of the core information come from that became the basis for our judgment in understanding the scenario of Room 203 and making plans?

It was Adravita.

We had much more information that Adravita shoved into our mouths than what we found out by running around and searching Room 203 ourselves.

Perhaps, haven’t we become like Sun Wukong on Buddha’s palm?1

Of course, if Adravita was a being that desired death, there was enough reason to help us. But what if our hypothesis that Adravita desired death was created according to its intention in the first place?

I felt frustrated. Even if that were the case, I didn’t know what to do. Because of this, I tossed and turned until late at night.

FOOTNOTES

1. ED Note: Interesting story here. Pretty much Buddha made a bet with Sun Wukong to see if he could jump out of his palm. Sun Wukong leaped to the edge of the universe where he saw a massive pillar. He marked the pillar to prove he was there and leaped back claiming he won, but the Buddha showed him the exact marking he had made on that pillar was on his finger, thus the entire universe was his palm so he failed to jump out of it. He was then put under a mountain for I forgot how long. I left out some details since I didn't remember them but just something I wanted to share.