Escaping the Mystery Hotel

It was a noisy morning.

“Ah! Fucking hell. How many times do I have to say it? I’m not going! Are you deaf?”

“Seungyub. I’m not telling you to stop playing games… I saw an article yesterday. You said you wanted to become a professional League of Legends player right? Apparently, most of them earn money overseas, and Europe and America pay the best. How hard would it be for you to learn English from scratch when you become a professional later on? I just want you to learn English at least when you still have some time.”

“I told you I’m not going to go to those language schools.”

“Please do as I say this time. That school is famous for hammering in English words very well. Let’s just go there for 2 months.”

“Hammer English words in?”

“Nn. The teachers there are famous for being great at hammering English words into the skin. Seungyub, you’re clever so I think 2 months will be enough for you to memorise the basic words.”

I was hearing a lot of strange words today. Hammer English words into the skin? That might be a unique expression about effectively wedging in English into your brain.

Of course, it had nothing to do with me whether they hammered or wedged those in.

Because I didn’t feel like talking anymore to my mum, I closed the door and went back into my room.

I skipped lunch again today.

However, there were no regrets, because I was one step closer to diamond, the tier of my dreams!

Now, there were only 2 people in Shindong Middle School’s League of Legends group chat that were higher tier than me.

At around 5 pm, dad returned after apparently finishing his work.

Kung kung kung kung.

“Seungyub! You! Open the door and come out right now!”

I could hear the enraged voice of my dad from the other side of the door. Seriously, I had no idea why dad was always so eager to tell me off every time.

However, I still left because I didn’t want to get smacked on my head again.

“What.”

“I heard from your mum. Are you not going to go to the Inco language school that your mum and I looked for? And why did you skip your lunch and stay holed up in your room again? I just… don’t understand!”

Ah, it was so annoying. It’s not like I was requesting something great or expensive from my parents. I was simply practising League of Legends to achieve my dream, so why were they always so desperate to harass me?

I just could not understand what these boomers wanted from me. 

“Pro gamer this, pro gamer that. I get frustrated whenever I hear you say that. Do you think I’m a fool? I looked into it myself. A famous gamer said it on a stream, that the score or tier or whatever at least had to be at masters to become a professional. What? Platinum? You can’t even become a substitute with a score like that.”

“I told you I would have been diamond if you didn’t interrupt me the whole time!!!”

“You little brat! You’re saying that again!!!”

For an instant we shouted at each other, as we were then met with silence. Both dad and I knew that we wouldn’t do anything else apart from shouting so I wasn’t afraid but in any case, I felt a bit bad for shouting at my dad, so I silently lowered my head.

After about 1 or 2 minutes, he continued with a slightly softer voice.

“Seungyub… I am not trying to harass you or anything. Learn some English, and do some exercising – isn’t that going to be good for you as well? I looked into it because you wanted to become a pro gamer. Do you know how easy it’s going to be to find a job when you are good at English? And those matches; they all require stamina right? High-standard players seem to focus tremendously on 4 to 5 games a day. Of course that will take a lot of your stamina. I looked for a good place, so let’s go have a look together.”

He would probably shout again if I said no, so I wore a random hoodie and went outside with him while deciding to think of this as a little walk.

Why was something so irritating happening to me on such a rare weekend? I would have hit diamond this weekend for sure! Honestly, I would have reached diamond a few weeks ago if mum and dad stopped interrupting me all the time.

I was walking with dad when he brought up the topic about boxing again.

“This boxing studio nearby is very good. Son, you see, I was also having quite a difficult time at school when I was young because of my mean friends. But in the end, what is a man all about? Power. If you learn boxing for 2 or 3 months, everyone will stop looking down on you! Besides, if you build stamina, you can focus on your game even more and do everything better. Look. We are here already.”

Heaving a sigh, I looked at where dad was pointing at and became flustered.

Screams, cries and splattering blood. What in the world was that?

A large, bulky man was bashing kids up as if trying to kill them, as kids around my age ran away from him in tears. The crazy bulky man drenched in blood was chasing after the kids while chewing on something I’d rather not imagine, and after seeing dad, he walked up to us with a wide smile on his lips.

“Hah! Just being here puts me in a better mood already. That is boxing for you. How manly is that? Kids should lose a few teeth at a place like that, and get a few limbs disjointed. That’s how you become a man!”

“Hahaha, you know it way too well, sir. Kids these days are too weak-minded and empty, but all of that gets fixed after a month at our studio! A healthy mind requires a healthy body right? Broken teeth can be replaced with implants, and limbs get healed quickly for young kids. The key is that their hearts get fixed.”

“Hiya. Grandmaster, you’re putting it in a great manner. Seungyub, did you hear–”

I ran without even looking back.

I was thinking there was something wrong with my parents all day, but only now did I feel certain. What was going on? They had always been a bit of a boomer, but…

Today, they were really strange. Rather than a boomer, they were more like lunatics. My parents were seriously out of their minds.

I saw mum as soon as I came back home.

“Seungyub! How was it? Your dad said that place was excellent! Mum made dinner for you. Here is a delicious–”

I stopped listening to her. Without bothering to listen to her next words, I went into my room and locked the door. Hearing the bizarre scream coming out of the ‘dinner’ she prepared, I just didn’t feel like leaving my room.

Kung kung kung kung.

Was someone knocking on the door? I thought, but soon realised it was the crazy thumps of my heart.

What was going on?

Hiding behind the door, I was trembling for 30 minutes when suddenly, strange memories popped up in my head.

Strange people – a large ahjussi with a tremendously big body, a noona looking like an angel, a cute noona resembling a chipmunk, a handsome but strange hyung who always blankly looks at the air, and a scary lady who looks like a school teacher.

Who were they? Their faces were too vivid for it to be because of a mere imagination. 

I thought deeper and deeper into it.

Morning; was it yesterday morning? I was in a scary building when I woke up. Running away from a monstrous monkey, I was helped by a bulky ahjussi. Then, we went after the strange hyung and…

I think we talked a lot. Did we? It also felt like I was in an illusion by myself, buried in a myriad of thoughts. It was confusing. It was scary and strange.

Kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung kung.

This time, it wasn’t the sound of my heartbeat. It was clearly that of a knock. My parents did not knock ignorantly like that, and only after thinking that did I come to my senses.

This is not my home. They are not my parents.

Opening the window, I ripped out the mosquito screen.

Third floor – it was too high to jump down. But thinking of how I might die to that ‘thing’ outside the door if I hesitated too much, my heart felt like it would stop anytime soon.

Fortunately, there was a car nearby. If I jumped well, I might be able to land on that car.

“Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub Seungyub.”

They weren’t even trying to hide their madness anymore!

Mindlessly, I jumped and landed on top of the car. I felt my body crumbling all around and unknowingly let out a scream. 

I saw Captain America jumping down dozens of floors and sprinting just fine, but as expected, that wasn’t the same for me.

Tears gushed out of my eyes. It was frightening. Where was this place? Who were those people?

It was very painful, but I ran on and on regardless. And at one point–

Everything faded away. As if I was all alone in complete darkness…

/You have successfully escaped!

The scariest age group in the world: Grade 2 of Middle School! By completely shutting off your conversation and contact with your strange parents, and by immersing yourself in the Summoner’s Rift, you were able to suppress the contamination and finally discover something strange about your parents.

As expected, the forged madness of the strange family pales in comparison to the true madness of an unstoppable middle school student.

You have escaped the curse, but you sense the root cause of the curse still persists.

One of your team has successfully escaped! Congratulations! The successful escape allows everyone to return safely./