Escaping the Mystery Hotel

- Riiing! Riiing!

- Click!

It’s morning.

I rubbed my sleepy eyes and got up, heading to the bathroom for a quick wash.

As I washed my face and ran my fingers through my hair, a few strands fell out.

The sight of the three hair strands slowly spiraling down, drifting in the air currents, before finally landing on the bathroom floor, etched itself into my mind in slow motion.

When I applied lotion to my face at the sink, I noticed how it seeped into the tiny pores of my skin, each pore standing out in sharp detail—

“Agh! Enough already! Do I really need to see all of this?”

There was no point in complaining.

My enhanced vision was simply showing me the world and all the things I had been unaware of until now.

Finally, I looked in the mirror.

My left eye, the one that had served me all my life, looked normal.

But in stark contrast, the right eye—the Grotesque one—was at least 30% larger.

The pupil constantly twitched, and the three dots in the upper right, lower left, and lower right corners, relentlessly shifted their focus like tiny lenses, greedily absorbing information about the world.

As I showered, I could see the steam condensing into water droplets on the mirror, and the sight of those droplets slowly forming was captured by my vision.

After watching the water droplets fall, I stepped out of the bathroom.

It was already the fifth day of rest.

It had been two days since I received this eye from the merchant.

At first, I was thrilled that we were given seven days of rest, but now I wish we had a few more.

Stepping out of my room, I saw that some of my companions were already up.

“Good morning, Eunsol-noona! Did you sleep well?”

“Good morning!”

I greeted them lightly and turned my head.

I noticed Seungyub flinched slightly when he saw my face.

I wasn’t really surprised or offended by it.

Even I got startled when I looked in the mirror and saw my eye, so it made sense for my companions to react the same way.

They just needed time to adjust.

After all, this eye was 30% larger than a normal one.

There was no space in a regular human skull for such a large eye.

So, the morning after I acquired the eye, I realized that the hotel’s doctor (probably) had performed some intensive surgery on my head.

As the time for breakfast approached, the others began to gather near the dining table in Room 105.

Despite their initial shock, they quickly brightened up and greeted me.

I noticed the fine, thread-like scratches on Kain’s cheek.

Had he been scratched by something?

I could see each of Songee’s pores as she tugged on Pero’s beak.

She must have washed with water that was too hot this morning.

I sensed that Elena acted as if there was an invisible wall between her and Kain, even though she was eagerly looking forward to breakfast.

Ever since we left the Gate Room, they’ve been like this.

Something amusing must have happened between them.

A scale fell from Grandpa Mooksung’s mysterious right arm as he yawned.

And then there was Jinchul’s strange behavior I had noticed since yesterday.

…I’m seeing too much. My head is starting to ache.

My right eye might have supernatural abilities, but my brain was still that of an ordinary human.

The human brain wasn’t equipped to endlessly process this excessive amount of visual information.

To combat this, I briefly covered my eye with an eye patch and leaned against the wall to think.

It’s not bad.

The price was by no means small.

I lost my real eye, my appearance became somewhat grotesque, and I developed chronic headaches.

But I gained superhuman vision.

An indescribable sense of achievement filled my heart.

***- Lee Eunsol

After breakfast, everyone went off to their preferred locations. It has become the norm for us to do so recently.

I stopped Jinchul, who seemed intent on heading back to that damn Safari again.

“Jinchul.”

“Huh? Noona? Do you need something?”

“Follow me for a bit. I need to ask you something.”

A short while later, we were seated at a cocktail bar with some drinks.

Jinchul, sitting across from me, started acting strangely again.

His eyes seemed to focus on something in the air.

His gaze chased something only he could see.

Sweat trickled down his face as if he were scared.

These were the changes I hadn’t noticed until recently. Jinchul wasn’t the type to complain about things that were happening to him; he likely just kept it to himself, thinking it was no big deal.

But in this place, hiding such anomalies isn’t a sign of toughness—it’s foolishness.

“What are you looking at so intently? Is there a ghost floating in the air?”

“Ah… you noticed?”

“I realized after getting this new eye.”

Jinchul took a moment to collect himself and sipped his cocktail.

I had an inkling of what it might be about—the issue that arose during the process of handling that witch in the Gate Room.

Kain had warned us.

Although he had managed to deal with the witch by some means, he said that as long as Jinchul was alive, the witch would never be completely eradicated.

We already conveyed this information to Jinchul.

After a brief silence, Jinchul finally spoke, “I first noticed it when we left the Gate Room. Something—whether it was a ghost or a shadow I couldn’t tell— kept flitting around. I wondered if something was wrong with the Hotel, but that strange presence was only visible to me.”

“That seems to be the case. I don’t see anything with my eyes.”

“Maybe it’s the witch’s ghost?”

“I don’t think so. According to the hotel’s description, my eye should be able to see invisible entities. Even if it were a ghost, I’d be able to see it faintly. The fact that my eye can’t detect anything means it’s neither a ghost nor anything real—it’s just an illusion only you can see.”

“Whatever it is, the thing is that the illusion is becoming clearer.”

“Clearer?”

“Yes. I first consciously noticed it two days ago, at the ski resort. I jumped to catch Kain during his teleportation practice, and as I was coming down, I saw something resembling a person’s face. Before that, it looked more like a blurry shadow.”

“What about now?”

“It’s similar. It’s slowly taking on a human shape. But I still can’t tell who it is.”

“A vestige of the witch’s presence, manifesting as an illusion perhaps?”

“Do you have any ideas?”

“Sorry, I’m not well-versed in supernatural phenomena like this. Maybe you can ask the Administration team?”

“I’ve already asked. Gramps wasn’t much help this time. He said he doesn’t know what to do either.”

“…”

“I’ll just wait and see. As the figure becomes clearer, maybe one day I’ll be able to talk to it. When that happens, I’ll ask what it wants.”

It’s not a tangible entity, nor a ghost, but a vague illusion only visible to Jinchul, a remnant in his mind.

I wasn’t sure what could be done.

I couldn’t think of any solution other than waiting, as Jinchul had suggested.

“When Kain comes by later, ask him to use the Sage’s Advice.”

“I’m not holding my breath. From what I’ve seen, that Advice seems more like it’s just going through the motions when we’re outside the Cursed Rooms.”

“As Kain mentioned, the Owl doesn’t really want to help us, does it? It’s only interested in Han Kain. So, if Kain asks for advice ‘for us’, the response is bound to be lukewarm.”

“That’s true.”

“I can’t offer immediate help, but if any other strange things happen, make sure to tell us. You’ve never met the witch directly, but I still vividly remember her. She was a being filled with an unimaginable level of madness.”

“Understood.”

“Anyway, we should start gathering the others. Our break is almost over, so it’s time to discuss ‘that topic’, don’t you think?”

“I’ll go get them.”

As Jinchul got up to leave the bar, he paused to ask one more question, “No need to bring the kids, right?”

I replied with a slight smile. He wasn’t as oblivious as he sometimes seemed.

He quickly understood why I chose the cocktail bar as the meeting place.

***- Han Kain

I arrived at the cocktail bar after being called.

Everyone was here except Seungyub and Ahri.

Maybe it’s to ease into the heavy discussion?

Eunsol-noona prepared several different cocktails and handed them out to each of us.

The cocktail that ended up in front of me was a mix of Kahlua, rum, and cola.

"…”

I’m still not sure about the taste of the alcohol.

I decided to speak my mind.

“Noona.”

“Yes? Does it taste good?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just drink cola rather than trying to make a cocktail that poorly imitates cola? It tastes like a cheap knock—”

- Smack!

She hit me.

Noona said she’d never make me a cocktail again and walked away.

But honestly, I stand by my opinion that cola tastes better than some mix of cola and random alcohol.

Anyway, as soon as we gathered, we knew exactly what today’s discussion was about.

It was time to discuss the issue we had to address sooner or later.

It was time to address “resurrection”.

Once the atmosphere felt more relaxed, Noona was the first to speak, “As you might have guessed, I gathered everyone to discuss who we should bring back to life. We’re not making any final decisions today. After all, the ticket alone can’t bring someone back, right? We still need to find the Room of Resurrection. Once we locate it, we’ll regroup to finalize our decision. For now, let’s take some time to organize our thoughts.”

Elena started with a question, “Is Ahri not here because her answer is already decided?”

“Yes. To be more precise, I excluded anyone who I thought couldn’t approach this discussion rationally. Ahri can’t maintain objectivity because the topic involves her mother, and Seungyub is young and would likely side with Ahri no matter what.”

I couldn’t help but sigh.

Seungyub…

“First, let’s review the current resurrection candidates. Firstly, Ahri’s mother, Miro. Secondly,  the doctor who treated Kain, Kim Sanghyun. Thirdly, the alien who helped Songee, Estavio. And last but not least, the special forces soldier who assisted Seungyub in the Gate Room, Cha Seungjin.”

“We’ve met quite a few people, but there aren’t many clear candidates for resurrection.”

“That’s true. But we may meet more in the future, and there might be others we’ve already met who could be considered. I’ve only listed the obvious ones.”

Jinchul-hyung spoke up.

“I’ll start with my opinion. I think it’s strange to use a single ticket for someone else in the first place. Shouldn’t we save it in case one of us dies permanently?”

“True.”

“That’s why I don’t want to use it on any of the candidates Noona mentioned. I feel bad for Ahri, but the people here with us right now are more important to me.”

“Let’s just save it and use it if one of us falls. Got it. That’s an important opinion to consider.”

Noona wrote down Jinchul-hyung’s opinion on a whiteboard and then looked at the rest of us.

“What do you all think?”

I began organizing my thoughts.

If we were to use the ticket on someone, who would it be?

What factors should we consider when choosing someone for resurrection?