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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 193: Party Time - The Secret of the Second Floor (2)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 94

Current Location: Frozen Hell - Resurrection Room

Sage’s Advice: 0]

- Han Ga-in

Despite our moving first step, it did not take long for us to return to the first floor.

The second floor of the Hotel had a hole in its ceiling, letting a fierce blizzard rage through it. But from another perspective, even if the ceiling was gone, it still had walls. The blizzard outside the Hotel, where even those walls had vanished, was on another level entirely from that of the second floor.

The degree of cold was similar, but the brutal wind was the problem. Apparently, it was extremely difficult to take even a single step. At least, that was what I heard. Honestly, I could not really tell because I was wearing the Protective Suit.

The idea of bringing Pero along also came up, but Pero was always in Song-i's room, and Song-i did not respond no matter how many times we called through the Chat Window. It seemed everyone except Jin-cheol had been drained of too much energy by the Rest Incense Candle and passed out.

Still, we could not postpone the exploration until tomorrow. There was no guarantee that we would be able to come outside even after the Hotel Repairs were finished. Who knew if the Hotel would reinforce its outer walls after the repairs so we could not break our way out? There had to be a reason the Owl had strained itself to give advice specifically for today.

In the end, we tore down the Hotel's curtains as before, made a sturdy rope, and tied all four of us together.

Our completed exploration formation was as follows.

At the very front was me, wearing the Protective Suit and weighing two hundred kilograms or more. Behind me were A-ri and Grandfather, bundled tightly in winter clothes. At the rear was Jin-cheol, the only one among us who could endure the bitter cold barehanded.

We began exploring once again.

* * *

--- Whoooosh!

The raging wind slightly lifted my entire body before dropping it again. Considering I weighed over two hundred kilograms right now, this was no ordinary wind.

One step. One step.

My feet frequently sank into the piled-up snow up to my knees, making it truly difficult to walk.

Han Ga-in: Okay?

Kim A-ri: No strength to reply x

Cha Jin-cheol: Slowly.

We were already moving more slowly than a child walking, but at Jin-cheol's instruction to slow down further, we began moving at the pace of a crawling child. The others were struggling even to remain standing, so there was no other choice.

The more I looked around, the more I realized how strange the scenery of this place was. First of all, nothing besides the mountain was visible. Naturally, the blizzard blocked our view, but even with obstructed visibility, we should at least have been able to faintly see the outlines of something.

The mountain we were walking on had been clearly visible the moment we came outside the Hotel's second floor. Yet no scenery other than the mountain was visible at all.

As if there were no terrain at all except the mountain.

I decided to keep that possibility in mind. Once we had realized that the outside of the second floor differed from the first floor, we could not cling to preconceived notions. This might not even be Earth. It could be a special space, like the Hotel basement. For example, there was a strange place called the Hiking Room in the Hotel basement, and that place literally had no terrain other than a mountain for hiking.

...

About thirty minutes later, we finally realized that we had encountered an obstacle. After coming outside the Hotel's second floor, we had made a circuit around the area in all directions, but there were cliffs in every direction. It seemed that the Hotel was situated between extremely steep terrain.

In reality, building a Hotel in a place like this would be absurd. There was no road, so how could guests possibly find their way to the Hotel? Only a Hotel that kidnapped its guests whenever it pleased could be located somewhere like this.

Han Ga-in: Cliffs in every direction. Terrain like an island floating in the air.

Cha Jin-cheol: No way out beyond the mountain at all.

The more I looked, the stranger the terrain seemed. Could terrain like this have formed naturally?

After gathering our opinions, we found a method. I would brace myself like a weight at the top of the steep terrain with my weight of over two hundred kilograms, while everyone else held onto the cloth and climbed down.

Whenever we reached a stretch where their strength might give out, Jin-cheol broke the ice on the cliff face to make small hollows. Everyone rested briefly in them before laboriously continuing downward.

Finally, I simply went down while crashing into the terrain. I did not know whether to call it going down or falling, but even with the Protective Suit on, the impact to my entire body was considerable, and I could not move properly for a while.

After repeatedly exploring through this extreme environment, we finally found a tree so enormous that it was impossible to take in at a glance, and everyone gathered beneath it.

“At least we can hear each other here.”

“Yeah. The branches are incredibly dense and sturdy, so it feels like they block some of the wind.”

“What have you all been thinking? Doesn't the scenery seem too strange? Look over there.”

A pure white world lay in the direction I pointed. It was white in the most literal sense. No matter how fierce the blizzard, we should at least have been able to see some dark shape...

A-ri nodded.

“I don't think there's anything in this space besides the mountain. There's something even stranger. Has anyone spotted a living creature other than us while we were walking?”

Grandfather responded immediately.

“I noticed that too. Even on a snowy mountain, shouldn't there at least be a rabbit or a fox? How can there not be even a single rat on this enormous mountain? There isn't even grass on the ground. We are the only living things here.”

“Strictly speaking, there is this one tree.”

Jin-cheol's slightly flustered voice came right after.

“What the hell is this tree? Everyone, come here!”

Wondering what Jin-cheol meant, we moved closer to the trunk and understood.

“This isn't a real tree?”

It took us a long time to notice because the environment made it hard to see anything. Surprisingly, the tree we had relied on to shelter from the wind was not real. It looked as though it was made of plastic, perhaps with metal mixed in, but one thing was certain: it was a fake model.

This place was becoming increasingly incomprehensible. Even this tree was not alive, and the only living creatures in this space really were us.

... It was a little chilling. The fact that there was not a single living creature in a natural world that should have been full of life sent a chill into our hearts as well.

“If you've caught your breath, let's get going. It must be well past dinner time by now.”

“Don't worry. I roughly wrote on the table that we went exploring, so anyone who comes out to eat will understand. There is something else to worry about.”

“How are we supposed to get back?”

“That's what I mean. We forced our way down beneath the steep terrain near the Hotel because the exploration had a time limit, but how are we supposed to climb back up later?”

A-ri answered as if there were nothing to worry about.

“If we really can't find a way, Ga-in can just use Descent and move us!”

Jin-cheol snickered.

“Honestly, I was thinking the same thing while coming down. You'll move us properly, right?”

“... If there is no other way, I'll have to.”

It struck me anew that Descent was always our last resort. No matter how difficult or hopeless a problem we encountered, Descent would solve it. And in truth, when I used Descent, I had the ability to solve nearly every problem we might encounter in the Hotel.

What kind of being was the Lord, granting such an absurd ability on credit?

Jin-cheol added a word, as if to reassure me.

“We didn't come down trusting only in Descent. I have a plan of my own. You could call it an operation to make a path with the Star.”

“Don't tell me you plan to use the Star to dig a mole-like tunnel upward through the cliff, then climb back up through it?”

“Don't you think it would work?”

It unexpectedly seemed as though it would work, which put my mind a little at ease.

“Let's go!”

After briefly pulling myself away from thoughts that had returned to Room 104, I stepped once more into the pure white hell.

* * *

We walked across the pure white plains. We walked and walked and kept walking. It truly felt endless. It seemed as if four or five hours had passed, but in situations like this, surprisingly little time could have passed, so it was difficult to be certain. The Status Window still showed that the date had not changed.

After coming down beneath the steep terrain near the Hotel, there was not even a change in terrain. There was only an endlessly stretching plain, so we walked without exchanging a single word.

Then something appeared.

--- Thud!

“What the hell is this? Ah, you can hear me now?”

“Yes. The wind is weaker here. Is this... some kind of wall?”

Grandfather tilted their head and struck it a couple of times with a fist.

“A wall? Rather than a wall, it looks more like some kind of crystal. Want to try breaking it?”

“Let's think about it a little more.”

At last, we had reached the edge of the snowy region where the Hotel's second floor stood. At its edge stood an endlessly tall opaque barrier, so high that it was impossible to tell how far it rose.

Only then did I realize the answer to part of the discomfort I had felt all along.

Why was it that, no matter where we looked, we could not see even a dark shape besides the mountain and saw only a pure white landscape?

Because there truly was no terrain other than the mountain, and a single opaque barrier cut across the entire space.

By this point, more than the question of what reward awaited at the end of this exploration, pure curiosity filled my mind.

Where exactly was this place? How could such an incomprehensible space exist?

As I stood there dumbfounded, wondering what this could possibly be, A-ri, who had been quiet for quite some time, murmured.

“I think... I know where this place is.”

Everyone turned toward A-ri. Jin-cheol asked curiously.

“Where?”

“...”

“Tell us. Where is it?”

“How? How can the Hotel be in a place like this? How? No, am I mistaken? Everyone, turn around, look over the scenery, and then look at this barrier again. Isn't it an incredibly familiar sight? It is something everyone has seen once or twice in their lives!”

It was strange. A-ri was reacting as though this bizarre landscape was somewhere familiar to us as well.

I turned and looked around, bringing to mind the features we had discovered one by one.

First, snow and wind filled every direction.

Second, there was no meaningful terrain or building except the mountain at the center and the Hotel halfway up the mountain.

Third, there was not a single living creature, not even a rat or a blade of grass. There was only one enormous fake tree.

Fourth, after coming down from the mountain and walking across the flat ground, an opaque barrier tall enough to reach the sky appeared.

... I realized the identity of this place.

We were inside a giant Snow Globe.

Footnotes:

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