CHAPTER 337: ROOM 203, CURSED ROOM - 'NEW BEGINNING' (17)

0% There were two beings crossing a desolate plain full of dust.

The combination of a monstrous bird large enough for a child to fit entirely in its beak and a girl with fluttering jet-black hair was a somewhat strange combination.

As the sun was setting, the Grotesque and Ahri stopped moving and halted at a nearby lakeshore. At that moment, the woman buried in the Grotesque’s feathers raised her head.

“...Ahri.”

“Yes?”

“Did you learn some kind of martial arts?”

“...”

Although the Grotesque’s power was strong, it wasn’t enough to run hundreds of kilometers every day carrying two people.

In the end, only Eunsol rode on top of the Grotesque and Ahri started running herself, and at this point, Eunsol thought it would take a few months to reach the destination.

Only when dust storms were kicked up in the face of Ahri’s sprint did she realize that wasn’t the case.

“Even ordinary human marathoners can reach this speed. I might be a bit faster though?”

“Marathoners can’t move at that speed for 10 hours a day.”

“What’s the big deal...”

This was also correct, so Eunsol nodded. She had known that Ahri’s physical abilities were different from humans since experiencing the sports day when they first entered Hotel High.

Eunsol, who was about to scoop up water from the lakeshore with both hands to drink, flinched for a moment. It was because she saw something like whitish threadworms in the water.

Soon, she sighed once and scooped up the water again, this time just drinking it.

“Room 203, I really want to get out quickly.”

“Everyone’s desperate wish.”

“Especially Sanghyun... You said he suffered for hundreds of years?”

“Well...”

At Ahri’s ambiguous answer, Eunsol also fell silent. The story about Kim Sanghyun was something the two had been talking about incessantly while moving for days.

Soon, an unremarkable flute appeared in Eunsol’s hand. Just looking at its appearance, it seemed like an insignificant souvenir that could be easily obtained at a tourist site.

“Will there be a chance for this to play an active role?”

“I’m bringing you along believing in that.”

“I see...”

Eunsol’s gaze passed through Ahri and towards the distant void.

Ahri asked Eunsol with interest, “Can you see something? I can see the aurora, but is that right there Adravita’s domain?”

“...”

“Eunsol?”

“Adravita is there.”

“...”

“It’s... close. Maybe it’s watching us right now.”

“Let’s sleep now. We need to leave early tomorrow morning.”

***– Park Seungyub

On the third day since the legion stopped near the hatchery, an aurora started to appear in the sky.

The battle-hardened soldiers who had dealt with countless monsters while running here started stirring, and the doctor silently looked at the sky.

“Seungyub.”

“Yes?”

“What do you think when you see that light?”

“...Is the Convict doing something?”

“Probably.”

“Honestly, I’m scared. What on earth does it still have left...? It doesn’t make sense that it’s running wild like this when it’s not even the 5th attempt.”

“Adravita’s thoughts will be different.”

“Different?”

“How do you think we look in his eyes? At best, aren’t we like chicks or chickens? It’s originally impossible for humans to compete with chickens.”

“...You mean a confrontation is established because the Hotel imposed tremendous restrictions on the Convict?”

“That’s right. Think about it. Did it actively intervene after we woke up?”

As I pondered the doctor’s words, I could understand the meaning.

Adravita distorted Room 203’s records to lead us to wrong conclusions, and not content with filling the whole world with monsters, it even used the AI like a tool to trap us.

However, all these machinations were merely the realization of groundwork laid hundreds or thousands of years ago when we started actively operating.

Recalling this fact, instead of suffering from vague anxiety, I started pondering what cards Adravita had left.

“I think I know something!”

“What point makes you think that?”

“If Adravita has cards left, something we’ve never seen or heard of won’t suddenly appear at this moment.”

“...”

“The moves it can use aren’t something newly created after we woke up. It’s something laid out before we woke up.”

“...”

“What could it be? Something that’s been in this room for a very long time?”

“They’re coming.”

“What?”

“Look over there. It seems Ahri has returned.”

Shortly after, Ahri-noona appeared with Eunsol-noona.

And...

The sound of a flute was heard.

***– Ro-o-o-o-o!

A clear and pure sound was heard. The resting soldiers also got up in groups and gathered around Eunsol-noona. They seemed to be mistaking it for some kind of religious event.

“Eunsol-noona?”

Ahri-noona gestured for me to come closer.

“What’s suddenly going on?”

Ahri-noona, who was looking at my puzzled eyes while listening to the flute sound, soon nodded.

“As expected, it’s not you. That’s a relief.”

“What?”

Soon Eunsol-noona stretched out one arm and stroked my head. While doing so, she didn’t stop playing the flute she was holding with her other hand.

Eventually, the three Divine Ones entered the tent where the high priest resided. Thinking it was a meeting among Divine Ones, the soldiers soon bowed their heads and disappeared.

“...”

“...”

– Ro-o-o-o-o!

Silent people and the strange flute sound filling the space.

Amidst an inexplicable tension lingering, the doctor smiled with a “pft”.

“It seems you’re trying to do something, but isn’t it all over by now?”

Noona lowered her flute and smiled.

“Sanghyun, it’s been a while. I heard you went through a lot.”

“It’s nothing... Well, honestly, it was too much hardship.”

“How was my performance?”

“Well, it does remind me of the past.”

“...”

“How about we talk honestly with each other? You see that aurora in the sky, right? Adravita must be watching us, too.”

Ahri-noona nodded and stepped forward.

“Alright. As you know, I’m a bit paranoid?”

“Is that so?”

“Consider it an occupational disease. Originally, when you build up some experience in the Administration, everyone walking on the street starts to look like a potential demon summoner.”

“Should I give you a check-up sometime?”

“Before, when I was falling asleep due to the AI’s anesthetic gas attack, I thought. ‘If someone could solve this crisis, it would surely be Cha Jinchul’.”

“...”

“Jinchul was wearing the Protective Suit. We hadn’t tested the functional limits of the Protective Suit, but wouldn’t it be able to block anesthetic gas, too?”

“...”

“Even if the Protective Suit couldn’t block it, Jinchul’s Blessing makes his body itself tough. Would an extraordinary body that can resist even the distortion of the Star so easily collapse to mere anesthetic gas?”

“Those are mostly guesses. You seem to have forgotten, but what the Hotel guaranteed when obtaining the Protective Suit was ‘Invulnerable to Blades’ and ‘Impervious to Water and Fire’. It might be useless against anesthetic gas made with future technology. Also, having a strong body and resisting anesthetic gas are separate issues.”

“Your words are right. That’s why I thought, okay, Seungyub came instead of Jinchul. The Protective Suit might have been unexpectedly flimsy, and the Courage might be useless against sleeping gas. But High Priest. How on earth did you obtain the Protective Suit?”

“Didn’t I tell you? While challenging the mountain range to save Ahri—“

“It doesn’t add up. There are two possibilities. Either Jinchul resisted the anesthetic gas, or he didn’t. If he resisted, he would have somehow gotten out, and he would still be alive with you.”

“...”

“If he couldn’t resist, it means he collapsed on the spot, so shouldn’t the Protective Suit he was wearing also be near the cryosleep facility? You said the robots were too strong and you couldn’t even approach the facility before Seungyub woke up, so how did you find the Protective Suit?”

“I see. That part certainly had a gap. This is all because I’m old. As you get older, your mind becomes duller.”

The atmosphere inside the tent froze. In between... I didn’t know what to do.

Was there some change of heart due to the power of the flute?

The doctor willingly brought out the story he had been hiding, “As you expected, Jinchul escaped the mountain range that day. He fought so fiercely that even though he was wearing the Protective Suit, one of his arms inside was mashed and I had to amputate it. It was fortunate to at least save his life.”

“...”

“In fact, when Jinchul was still around, I didn’t even think about raising civilization with some tribe members and making a 300-year grand plan.”

“You were thinking of rescuing us right away, right?”

“That’s the judgment of a normal person. Fortunately, the spaceship was in a state where a considerable number of security units had been dismantled and become parts inside the spaceship as it was preparing to leave for space.”

“You two charged into the mountain range? With you wearing the Protective Suit? But... Failed?”

“Adravita read even that far. At that timing when the spaceship dismantled a considerable number of security units to prepare for departure, there were monsters to fill that gap. How far ahead did it see?”

“...”

“Jinchul... fought bravely until the end. But it’s difficult to handle ten hands with one.”

Suddenly, a question arose.

Even if the doctor wore the Protective Suit, he couldn’t match Jinchul-hyung in terms of combat power. The difference in physical abilities was too great, and adding the Star made it incomparable.

How did the doctor survive unscathed from that terrible fight where even Jinchul-hyung couldn’t endure and died? Also, why did the doctor hide the existence of this fight from us in the first place?

The doctor’s expression slowly started to distort. Along with that, an indescribable ominous aura started filling the space.

– Boom!

Strange sounds were heard from outside the tent. Screams of terrified soldiers started echoing from all around.

Also, a “young man’s” voice started resonating.

“After that day, I heard voices. He endlessly promised me glory. To become his apostle and grasp the stars, saying he would set me on solid rock and place me in a position above all under heaven.

“I didn’t care. I didn’t even pretend to listen. Because I believed that as long as my companions were alive, there was still a chance.

“The first 100 years were a time of will and hope. I prepared for the final battle while waiting for companions who would soon wake up.

“The next 100 years were a time of despair and pain. I saw the countless deaths of the woman I cherished, my children, my grandchildren. It wasn’t once or twice that I wished I too would crumble in the face of time...

“The last 100 years were a time of fear and acceptance. I finally realized how great a pain longevity without ‘youth’ is. My fingers and toes rotted and decayed while alive. The muscles throughout my body slowly died, and I felt the helplessness of not being able to lift my head once from the cart for 50 years.

“If you saw the history book, you would have known? 70 years ago, when my body could move at least better than now, I wanted to settle things. So when I led the legion and arrived in this land...

“Did what’s happening outside now happen then?

“Only then did I realize. That everything I had built up for a lifetime was an illusion... I sat down on the field and wailed and wailed again. And... I received an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

***– Kim Ahri

It was noisy outside. In fact, it wasn’t a situation to just be having a conversation from earlier.

Eunsol and Seungyub had already run out long ago trying to somehow salvage the situation.

Unholy aurora covered the entire sky.

At that time, the groundwork that the Convict had laid “first” finally started revealing its identity.

The surroundings were filled with the screams of soldiers.

The pain of their skin turning inside out while alive and transforming into unknown heteromorphic forms broke their minds.

Even the bravest warriors all cried like little children and turned into beasts.

Suddenly, I recalled what Elena had said long ago.

She said she couldn’t turn all these many primitive humans into monsters with the power of Ominous Imagination. She said only the first few monsters she created were hers.

Perhaps Elena just touched the “trigger”. A curse inherent from the moment the primitive humans were first created.

“Why did you come only now? I mean, why didn’t you come until I became like this!?”

I quietly closed my eyes while listening to the despair Sanghyun was spewing out.

The biggest reason I suspected him was separate.

What did Seungyub say?

That Sanghyun endured 300 years of pain waiting for us?

Impossible. The hearts of people are extremely fragile.

An indomitable will that never breaks, an unwavering sense of justice that never falters.

I’m too old to be fooled by such sophistry.

As such, I felt no renewed sense of bitterness or disappointment in Sanghyun.

300 years of waiting without promise.

The endless deaths of loved ones and descendants.

The pain of decaying flesh.

It was too difficult to endure such pain.

Even if he had endured this far...

He likely couldn’t bear the tragedy of watching the soldiers of civilization, whom he had nurtured for hundreds of years, transform into beasts with a single gesture of the malevolent god.

When I opened my eyes again, in front of me was the high priest who had regained his youth and stood up breaking the cart.

“Sanghyun, congratulations on your return to youth!”

It was time to end the long nightmare of Room 203.