Escaping the Mystery Hotel

[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 2

Current Location: Floor 1, In front of Room 101 (???)

Sage’s Advice: 3]

We stood in front of Room 101 as everyone turned slightly tense. 

What kind of monster was it that was waiting ahead of us? Would it be stronger than what Jinchul-hyung can handle? 

Honestly, if the thing inside was a monster that was too strong for Jinchul-hyung, then that just meant it would be a wipe for all of us.

I did take a dagger for myself but… to be frank, I didn’t think I would be that big of an addition to our combat power just by carrying a dagger. Everyone else appeared to be thinking the same thing as we all glanced at Jinchul-hyung.

No matter how we saw it, he was the power of our group; our fists and our most reliable person. It was great such a reliable person had a good personality on top of that. Seriously, how scary would it have been without him?

After perhaps sensing everyone else’s gaze, Jinchul-hyung gave an empty cough before personally walking closer to the door of Room 101. 

“Well, let’s go in. I will be the first one going in. Let’s not worry too much. It might be optimistic of me to say this but… If this hotel was really trying to kill us all, then they wouldn’t even have to make things so complicated. Without food we would starve to death, and if there was poison we would have all died as well. But, until now they gave us good food, and a nice bed to rest on. There’s more – they gave Kain a warning alarm in case there was something dangerous, gave fake Amazon to Eunsol-noonim in case we didn’t have enough equipment, and even gave me more power than before.”

“You mean this hotel is sincerely hoping for us to win and obtain the treasures?” asked Eunsol-noona.

“Yes. I don’t know why they are doing something like this, but at least they are not planning on blindly killing us. That’s the conclusion I came to. They are probably not saying stuff like ‘esteemed guests’ all the time for no reason, is what I’m trying to say. So even if there are monsters inside, they wouldn’t be ridiculous ones that suddenly kill us all in 1 second. That’s probably not going to happen.”

If they were going to end it like that, it would have been enough to poison the food instead of making things this complicated. That was what he was saying, and it definitely was persuasive. I didn’t notice it until now, but he was unexpectedly quite insightful.

Yes. This hotel wasn’t made to kill us. Whatever it was, the risk inside was probably enough for us to deal with! Thinking of it like that settled my mood a little. 

[You have understood a little bit about the hotel.]

At last, the moment we opened the door and walked inside, I instinctively realised, that the order we went into the room was not important in the slightest.

*

[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 2

Current Location: Floor 1, Room 101 (Cursed Room – A Strange Family)

Sage’s Advice: 3]

I had a dream. 

It was like a nightmare but I couldn’t really remember the content. There was nothing strange there. In fact, aren’t dreams usually forgotten when you wake up? I shook my head off of those thoughts and felt my consciousness seeping into the world of dreams again…

Thud!

“Han Kain! Wake up! It’s late already! You’ll become a cow if you’re this lazy all the time. A cow!!!”

A shout noisy enough to clog my ears made me jump up from the bed.

“Ah! Mum! I told you! Please don’t shout!”

“Wake up in time and see if I ever shout at you. Do I have to wake you up until you turn thirty? Hurry up and have your breakfast! Everyone else finished theirs already!”

Blankly, I got up, washed myself a little, and headed to the dining room after changing my clothes.

*

…

On the way to the dining room, I looked at my family and talked to them as a distancing sense of reality encroached my mind. The plan we came up with, teammates, and the current situation. All those elements scattered like particles of sand falling through the fingers and vanished.

…

My consciousness rose to the air and slowly evaporated.

…

Before ‘I’ completely vanished into nothing, I thought to myself. ‘Was talking to my family a mistake in the first place?’

Immediately after that, I lost track of myself.

*

It felt like I hadn’t seen them for a very~ long time. Was it because of yesterday’s nightmare? It was strange.

Of course, my family was sitting in front of the dining table, and let alone finishing their breakfast already, they weren’t even carrying their spoons. Mum always woke me up saying everyone finished their breakfast without even opening the rice cooker, and I had no idea why she did that all the time.

“Aaaahm! I thought my ears were going to explode because of you, oppa. Why did you have to wait until she called you 5 times?”

“Dude, it’s because of this weird dream last night. My head hurts like crazy. By the way, why aren’t you at school? Why is a high schooler like you waking up at the same time as me; are you slacking off because it’s your second year?”

“I heard super lazy people forget the date all the time, and that’s exactly you, oppa. Today’s a Sunday and tomorrow’s a public holiday, so we were going to go on a trip. Don’t you remember that?”

“Actually? How come I don’t remember this?”

“You live like a pig so of course you wouldn’t. Thank goodness there was a university that took you in! Hurry up. Eat your breakfast and finish packing up your stuff!”

While having a distracting conversation, I quickly ate my meal. 

Were we going somewhere today? Even though I was a little bit lazy after the final exam, did I really forget our family trip until the actual day? It was a bit of a shock.

More importantly, what was my sister eating?

“Heegang? What… is that? Is that meant to be eaten?”

“What are you talking about? Silkworms are the most popular healthy food recently. Mum puts them into rice all the time; what in the hell are you talking about?”

Silkworm rice. Right, that was the popular health food recently right? I forgot again. Looking down, there was also a fresh silkworm wriggling on top of my rice. But for some reason, I didn’t feel like eating it.

“Mum! I’m going to go pack my bag.”

“What about your breakfast? How can you not eat just because you don’t like the menu at your age?”

“No, that’s not it. I didn’t pack my stuff at all so there is a lot to do.”

“That’s why I told you to do that last night… Hurry up!”

I went into my room to pack my bag but I became flustered again. ‘Where’ were we going? Mysteriously enough, I seriously had zero idea. Did I get Alzheimer’s at 20 years of age?

While holding in my confusion, I went to the living room again and found dad sitting on the sofa crunching on something that was wriggling, after somehow finishing his meal in the blink of an eye. 

It was a larva. That was also a popular health food right?

“Dad! Where were we going again?”

“So there was a reason why your mum was being noisy so early in the morning. You don’t know anything!”

“Where was itt~. Seriously, you love nagging too much dad.”

“We’re going to a botanical garden in the morning, have some grilled duck for lunch and head to a resort at night. And tomorrow morning we’ll go skiing. Wear something thick. It’s cold these days.”

“Okay.”

Going back to the room, I started packing my bag. I shoved into the bag a simple sportswear for walking down the botanical garden, some underwear, and a thick parka for the ski resort. When I came to myself, it had already been 30 minutes, so I left the room for a little breather and my sister handed me a pair of scissors that was as big as my arm.

“What is this?”

“What would you do without scissors at a botanical garden? Did you forget that again?”

Aha, I finally remembered it. Scissors were mandatory in botanical gardens. Of course.

After packing my bag, we departed and immediately arrived at the botanical garden. I remember it taking 3 hours on a car back when I was young, but it only took us 3 seconds this time! I guess expressways have become super-expressways these days.

We were met with a cheerful atmosphere upon arriving at the botanical garden. A rich and fertile land, beautiful flowers and chirping birds. I could see many households going around enjoying themselves.

Scissors. Yes, scissors. Everyone was delightfully chopping off plants with their scissors. Of course, right? Botanical gardens were meant to be enjoyed by cutting off plants while taking in the sunlight! 

Why do we raise domestic animals? It’s to eat them.

Humans raised everything to ‘consume’ them, and naturally, the reason we raised plants was to chop them off.

Like what I used to do as a child, I began slicing everything off with my scissors. Next to me, I saw Heegang chuckling while tearing lilies to pieces.

It was peaceful. How nice would it be for such a happy moment to last forever? 

I saw mum taking out a worm from the ground. She looked silly so I went up to her and opened my mouth.

“Mum! You’re not a beggar, so why are you eating something that’s in the ground! We can just buy some at a market.”

“That’s true. Honey, you do look a bit too stingy at times. We already have 2 bags full of worms so why are you eating that from the ground?” dad added.

“Ehew… How about you spit out that beetle in your mouth first? And you’re saying that all~ because you’ve never managed the household before. Grab a few of these and you only have to buy 2 instead of 3 bags from the market, and if that goes on for 10 years, the amount of money you save will…”

“Uaaah~. Mum started her lecture again. It’s all because of you, oppa. Just come here and chop this tree with me.”

It was my mistake. My needless nonsense made room for my mum to lecture again! Running away with my sister, I chopped off trees and spent an enjoyable morning.

After some time, we headed to a famous duck restaurant nearby. Something mysterious happened again – after we gathered together, we said ‘Let’s go have lunch!’ and we arrived at the restaurant in just 3 seconds. How convenient this world has become!

The restaurant was filled with the fragrant scent of blood and fluttering feathers, as the screams of ducks added to the charming atmosphere. It was a very elegant restaurant. This place was so great that our family came here at least twice a year.

When we took our seats in front of a table, the waiter brought two live ducks as always. Seeing that, I flinched a little. Were ducks meant to be eaten raw?

“Heegang? Isn’t this, a bit too raw? Rather than duck meat, it’s just duck at this point.”

“Please. Stop making yourself sound so dumb. Who cooks duck meat these days? The trend is to eat them fresh.”

Ahah, I made a fool of myself again. I was getting told off by my family a lot today. 

It seemed that the world had improved a lot while I was rolling around on the bed after my exam. 

But how are you supposed to eat a live duck? Asking that would probably make me sound like a fool again so I glanced around instead.

A harmonious couple was grabbing on the legs of a duck eating it from the head. 

Isn’t that too dangerous? The duck is ripping the lady’s mouth with its beak though?

I was looking at it in a fluster when dad added a comment.

“Eating a duck from the head like that is dangerous and unsightly. Seriously, kids these days… Well, I guess that is how you play when you are young but…”

“Were you well-mannered yourself, when you were young, honey?”

“Of course I was a steaming hot man when I was young. When I grabbed your mum, Mrs. Yumi by the arm, she would–”

“Oh my oh my! What are you saying in front of your kids!”

“Hahaha. Why can’t I? The kids are all~ grown up already. Anyway, Kain. When you’re eating a duck, you should poke the neck with your fork, rip it open and suck the blood first. That’s how celebrities eat on the TV these days. You have to be well-mannered like that.”

For some reason, I didn’t feel like eating lunch either, so I stood back up after a staring contest with the duck. Fortunately, everyone else was desperately fighting their ducks so there was no-one to say anything to me.

Finishing my meal, I stood up from the seat.

We would be playing by ourselves at the resort till nighttime, and we would have a buffet at night. And tomorrow was the long-awaited ski time.

Suddenly, I felt like I was forgetting something. Plus, there was something else – something was flashing in a corner of my sight but it was probably nothing important. I must be a little tired.

*

[Your mental contamination has reached a critical level. You must cease any contact and communication with your family immediately.]