Escaping the Mystery Hotel

Chapter 194: Party Time - The Secret of the Second Floor (3)

user: han kain (wisdom)

date: day 94

current location: frozen hell – room of resurrection

sage’s advice: 0

- han kain

when i spoke of the nature of this place—the inside of a snow globe—jinchul-hyung and grandpa both looked around, astonished.

“it’s true! now that you mention it, i can see it! this entire scene is so familiar! we didn’t notice because we entered from the inside, but it’s exactly like a snow globe.”

“wow... now that i’m thinking about it, kain, this opaque wall is actually curved. it’s so huge that we didn’t notice at first, but it’s covering the whole space like a dome.”

as the two of them surveyed the surroundings with puzzled expressions, ahri asked, “hey, can you check the status window for the location?”

“yeah.”

“what does it say?”

“frozen hell – room of resurrection.”

“huh? what do you mean? we left that room ages ago! or... wait! do you mean this place is also...?”

“hold on! don’t misunderstand. i’ve used the status window long enough to understand its mechanics. if you were thinking this place is an extension of frozen hell, you’re mistaken.”

“that’s exactly what i was thinking... so what do you think it means?”

“it’s a matter of name updating.”

“name updating?”

“the location info in the status window only updates when i enter an area with a name designated by the hotel. in other words, if i move from point a to point b, and the hotel hasn’t assigned a specific name to point b, the status window will still say i’m in point a. an example of this would be the ‘corridor’ on the first floor.”

“the corridor?”

“yeah, in our minds, the corridor is the long stretch of space in front of the cursed room on the first floor. but according to the status window, even if you leave the corridor and go to the terrace or near the front door, it’ll still say you’re in the corridor. the terrace and front door haven’t been given distinct names. only the area near the reception desk has a unique name.”

“ah, i see what you mean. so after we briefly stopped by the room of resurrection earlier to warm up, the location changed to that, and it hasn’t been updated since?”

“exactly. and this tells us something important.”

after scanning the vast snowy plains, i added, “this place has no designated name within the hotel. that’s why the location info hasn’t been updated despite us walking for so long.”

both ahri and i fell silent.

the same silence spread to jinchul-hyung and grandpa, who had been chatting nearby.

right.

all of this makes sense.

realizing that we’re inside a snow globe is a surprising revelation, and finding ourselves in an area without a name is intriguing.

but... so what? we’re not here just to satisfy some curiosity!

shouldn’t there be a moment when someone or something appears and says, “dear esteemed guest, congratulations! here’s your reward for discovering this hidden place!”

as if everyone was thinking the same, my companions began speaking again.

“so, what now? do we just say, ‘wow, how mystical!’ and head back to the hotel?”

i don’t think that’s the case.

“think about when advice is triggered. the owl was practically shouting at us to pay attention, burning through all the advice counts at once, and then the drone complained that it was stepping out of line. there’s definitely something significant about this place.”

“i agree. it feels like we’ve uncovered a hidden area, and a hidden area should come with hidden rewards...”

- thud!

grandpa banged on the wall again.

“let’s break this.”

“...”

“got a better idea? besides, listen to that sound when i punch it. this isn’t some indestructible barrier. we can definitely break through it.”

“i have a bad feeling about this... what could possibly be outside the snow globe?”

“i don’t know, but think about it—why would the owl push us out here? it wants us to go beyond.”

jinchul-hyung agreed, “kain, you haven’t played many games, so you wouldn’t know, but in most games, chests are there to be opened, and walls are made to be broken. seungyub always said that, and weirdly enough, it applies here too. this wall was made to be broken.”

“kain, check the ground. what does it feel like?”

i crouched down and touched the surface.

after a moment, i peeled off a small piece in disbelief.

“this is wood. it’s like shiny varnished wood.”

“gasp!”

i turned at the sound of a shocked gasp from grandpa, who was pointing at something in the distance, his mouth agape.

“what is it? what’s over there—oh...!”

what had once been pitch-black darkness now held a pair of massive glowing eyes peering over us, their gaze unblinking.

frozen in terror, we all stood still, like statues gazing at the eyes of medusa.

summoning all my courage, i stepped forward, positioning myself between the others and the creature.

whatever happens, it has to happen to me first.

with jinchul-hyung’s blessing gone, i was now the strongest among us.

slowly, the glowing eyes approached.

should we run? what kind of creature is that?

“”...””

the closer it got, the more absurdly massive it seemed.

it was so big that it made me want to laugh from the sheer ridiculousness of it.

an elephant? its hair was probably thicker than an elephant.

a dinosaur? it would barely compare to one of its claws.

no exaggeration, its shadowy figure looming in the darkness was almost as big as a mountain. we could probably all climb onto one of its eyeballs and dance with room to spare.

“kain, is your grimoire still intact?”

“i’ve already summoned it.”

“do you think you could possess that thing?”

i gasped at the thought.

could i? ever since i obtained the grimoire, i had never failed to possess a being unless they were transcendent-like.

grandpa’s irritated voice came from behind, “are you kidding? if you could possess that, you could’ve possessed one of the convicts. no way you can possess that thing. get over here! stick to the snow globe!”

“kain! ahri! both of you, come back to the snow globe!”

following jinchul-hyung and grandpa’s orders, i slowly retreated towards the snow globe, all the while thinking.

what we thought was a frozen hell was just the inside of a snow globe.

so, what could this creature be?

an ancient demon? a beast of apocalypse? a monster that has slaughtered millions?

...no, i don’t think so.

for some reason, i had a feeling i knew what this creature was. and if i was right, possessing its mind would be incredibly easy.

ignoring the others’ frantic calls, i walked toward the glowing eyes.

the creature didn’t react to my movement.

if my guess was right, it wouldn’t.

it probably saw us as little more than insects.

my mind felt like it was floating. like a balloon drifting higher and higher, until suddenly, i heard a strange noise from the creature, as if it had finally noticed something.

- meow! meow!

when i snapped back to reality, i found myself in the body of a household cat.

“coco~! what’s that noise? are you messing with dad’s snow globe again?”

...as i heard the voice of what sounded like a teenager, a wicked thought began to stir deep within me.