Escaping the Mystery Hotel-Chapter 214: Room 104, Cursed Room - Preparatory Selective, Hotel High School Re (8)

Chapter 214: Room 104, Cursed Room - Preparatory Selective, Hotel High School Re (8)

- Lee Eunsol

After bringing Aurelia back to our hideout, we were able to gather various pieces of information related to the cult from her.

As we spent the late hours organizing the information and making some plans, Sanghyun arrived at the hideout.

To our surprise, Sanghyun, who we thought had perished in the collapse of the underground city, showed up in perfect condition.

“What the—! Sanghyun? How did you survive?”

“…”

“Sanghyun?”

“Eunsol, step back.”

Startled by Grandpa’s cold voice, I quickly backed away.

Grandpa had his gun drawn—pointing it at one of our own comrades!

I was about to grab Grandpa’s arm, but I realized something was wrong.

It wasn’t just luck that Sanghyun had survived the collapse of the underground city—after all, we made it out fine, too.

But why had he only just arrived now?

Everyone except Kain already knew that Grandpa held the escape button as a last-resort measure. We also knew the location of the hideout, something our team of teachers had confirmed early on.

That was why I was able to bring Perro Kain and Elena here without issue.

In the tense atmosphere, Sanghyun finally spoke calmly, “Do you remember what I said before?”

“What you said before?”

“In a place as dangerous as this Hotel, strong leadership is necessary, right?”

“…”

“I’ve found someone suitable to take on that leadership role for us. The Lord has now descended upon me. My words are his words, so be mindful of your ‘conversation’.”

As he finished, a faint glow emerged from Sanghyun’s body!

Elena, who had been standing nearby, her eyes flashing with fury, snapped.

“Doctor! No, you bastard! You do realize the person who saved you was Kain, right—”

Grandpa quickly pulled her back.

“Alright, alright. I’m sure you didn’t come all this way just to introduce your new master.”

“Of course not. the Lord has a proposal for you.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“The Lord says that you are already cornered. You are aware that the curse of Room 104 stems from the cult itself, yes? The moment you deal with the cultists and the Saintess, the room will be resolved. The Saintess is already ‘eliminated’, so only the cultists remain. Do you know where and how many of them are left?”

“…There are probably a few remnants left at Hotel High School.”

“Haha! Do you really think that’s all? Do you believe that Hotel High School, with its grand architecture, was built out of thin air through miracles? If that were the case, the Administration would’ve started a war ages ago. No, it was constructed with money. Where do you think that money came from?”

“Are you suggesting that the cult has more resources and manpower than we’re aware of?”

“Precisely. Even if you manage to find them, it will take a significant amount of time to deal with them. In the meantime, the Lord will fully recover by tomorrow at this time. Do you really think you can solve this in one night?”

“…”

“However, the Lord is not a tyrannical demon. He is a being of wisdom and mercy. You may be at odds with him in Room 104, but outside, you are his people—those who will navigate the treacherous Hotel on his behalf. Thus, he has decided to show mercy.”

“So basically, you’re saying we have no options left, and we should grovel and beg?”

“The Lord is giving you one day to think it over. Meet him at the old school building tomorrow evening.”

“Hey! You bastard—!”

Unable to hold back any longer, Elena lunged at him!

This time, I had to grab both of her hands and pull her back.

…He said, “The Lord has descended upon me,” right?

“Elena, please!”

As I pulled Elena away, I caught Sanghyun’s gaze.

There was a clear glimmer of gratitude in his eyes.

After delivering his message, Sanghyun left the hideout.

***

“Why did you stop me? I should’ve—”

“Elena, you were so quick-witted earlier, why are you suddenly acting like this now?”

“Huh?”

“Elena, was everything Sanghyun said judged as true by your lie detection?”

“…Yes.”

Grandpa sighed deeply.

“Kain, what do you think?”

For the first time since the conversation started, Perro Kain, who had been quietly pecking at some nuts like a real parrot, finally spoke. “It seems the doctor is playing his own game. Like entering the tiger’s den to catch the tiger.”

“Didn’t something seem off at the start of his sentence?”

“Yes, when he said, ‘the Lord has descended upon me,’ and started glowing, that was unnecessary. It was almost as if he was warning us that the Lord was listening in on our conversation.”

“And ‘be mindful of your conversation,’ that phrasing struck me as odd. He could’ve said ‘Mind your tongue,’ but he used ‘conversation’. It seemed like a warning to be careful with the ‘Chat Window.’”

Elena looked confused.

“Does that mean the Lord can spy on our Chat Window because he now has participant status? But the Chat Window has distance limitations! The old school building is far from here, even by car.”

Grandpa shook his head.

“That’s true for now, but Sanghyun was warning us for when we’re closer to him. He’s telling us not to use the Chat Window recklessly when we’re near the Lord.”

“If Sanghyun had really betrayed us, there were far better ways for him to serve the Lord.”

Grandpa laid it out plainly, “Our group generally doesn’t suspect our comrades, right? If Sanghyun had come to us beaten and bruised, we wouldn’t have doubted him. If he joined us and then ambushed us at night, we’d all be dead, and the room would be the Lord’s.”

While Elena’s reactions were more emotional, the rest of us quickly agreed: Sanghyun was trying to warn us through that conversation.

“Based on what Elena’s lie detection revealed, everything Sanghyun said was true. The fact that the Lord asked him to deliver a proposal is true.”

Grandpa added an important point, “Remember, the lie detection applied to Sanghyun. Just because he spoke the truth doesn’t mean the Lord isn’t deceiving us.”

“I understand that. the Lord could’ve deceived Sanghyun as well. Anyway, let’s each say what stood out. I found the talk about the cult’s resources odd. It didn’t quite match what we heard from Aurelia.”

“Aurelia said that aside from the core forces at Hotel High School, the outside groups have no real knowledge of the cult. They don’t even know about the Lord or Aurelia. They’re not really part of the cult but more like its appendages.”

“Right. So, the idea that it would take us forever to deal with the cult’s forces is just a bluff. In reality, we just need to handle the remnants at Hotel High.”

The parrot bobbed its head in agreement.

“I agree. One thing that caught my attention was when Sanghyun said, ‘The Lord is giving you one day to think.’ What does that mean to you?”

Grandpa’s lips curled into a grin.

“I think you’re seeing it like I do. It’s a trick to waste our time.”

Perro Kain responded immediately, “The part about the Lord recovering by tomorrow or the day after is likely true. Not just because Sanghyun said it, but because it matches the timeline I predicted before I left my body. Also, the Lord still needs time before he can use his next Descent.”

The situation was clear.

The Lord would recover tomorrow or the next day, and once he did, we wouldn’t stand a chance.

That means this is our best chance—right now when the Lord is at his weakest!

This was the trap.

The Lord pretended to offer negotiations to trick us into wasting precious time—today’s time, which we should use to act, not to deliberate.

“Alright. No time to waste. Let’s move now. Time is on the enemy’s side, so we need to finish this tonight.”

Elena, who had seemed embarrassed after realizing the situation, spoke up hesitantly, “Uh… I have something to say.”

“Go ahead.”

“Even if we go after the Lord now, can we really win? We barely survived against him when he wasn’t even moving.”

“That was when the Lord was using Descent.”

“I don’t think the Lord is someone who only relies on Descent.”

I agreed with her. From what we’d seen so far, the Lord was a being who set traps within traps, someone who would anticipate any move we made.

Perro Kain, who had been silently listening, finally spoke, “I have an idea.”

After that, Elena didn’t object any further.

***

As night fell and we finalized our plans, we were about to head to the old school building when one more person joined us.

“I will come with you.”

“Aurelia, I thought you were meditating alone.”

“I needed time to sort my thoughts. You’re going to the old school building now, correct? You promised me, didn’t you? That I’d get a chance to find my answers.”

Honestly, I was still suspicious of her.

While we had managed to sway her somewhat and gather useful information about the cult, could someone as important as a Saintess really turn against her god so quickly?

Could she really deny everything she’d lived for?

To my surprise, Grandpa accepted her calmly, “Come along. You’ll need to see your conclusion as well.”

“Grandpa?”

Kim Mooksung: Hint.

I understood.

If the hint we had been interpreting so far was correct, Aurelia still had a role to play in this room.

She wasn’t just useful for giving us information about the cult.

We didn’t trust her, but we trusted the hint.

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Besides, even the little power she had left could be useful to us now.

- Vroom!

Tonight, we hunt a god who dreams of escaping to the real world and beyond.

***

Atop a luxurious bed, a young man lay unconscious.

From the atmosphere, it seemed like just a gentle push of a pillow would end his life.

But the doctor treating him knew that even if a missile hit, this man wouldn’t be so easily affected.

Were it not for the strange blood toxin twisting his body, this room would already be in his control.

Could the “Ancient Blood” really do something like this?

As far as Kim Sanghyun knew, not even “Miro” could manage this kind of manipulation.

A voice echoed in his mind.

[Did thou deliver the message?]

“Yes.”

[Hmm… this one recall telling thou to kill a few of them, did I not?’

“You told me to assess the situation first. I understood it to mean I should kill them if I could, but otherwise, just deliver the message.”

[Thou could not kill them, so thou merely delivered this one’s words?’

“Yes.”

The young man’s lips curled slightly.

Watching this, Kim Sanghyun was overcome with an inexplicable fear.

Is this how a rabbit feels when it’s standing before a wolf?

[Child, doth thou believe this one is unaware of thy little game?]

“…”

[Thy cunning is amusing, henceforth, this one shall overlook it.]

What does that mean?

The young man’s voice disappeared, leaving Sanghyun in the deafening silence.

***

On the old man’s shoulder, the parrot—the most intelligent being in human history—plucked a gray hair, deep in thought.

Everything was going smoother than expected.

In his experience, when things started going this smoothly, it usually meant something was about to go wrong.

Surely, something unexpected would happen when they arrived at the old school building.

But it didn’t matter.

Whatever the Lord had prepared—

They had a card that could surpass any of his tricks.

The moment of conclusion was approaching.

The time to settle the long relationship with the Lord had come.

“…Why are you plucking my hair?”

“Oh, oops! Guess it’s just a habit /genesisforsaken