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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 20: Room 102, The Cursed Room - ‘House of Horror’ (6)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 7

Current Location: Level 1, Room 102 (Curse Room - House of Horror)

Sage’s Advice: 3]

I arrived where the boat was moored.

I checked the small gap near the lower right, where water had been seeping in. After being left out in the storm all night, the gap had widened further.

Far more water had flooded in through it than the day before.

“A third of the boat is filled with water. We need to bail it out before we can repair it or do anything else. Good thing we brought the pump.”

And so, we began pumping in the middle of the storm.

It was damn hard.

Of course, the inside and outside of the boat were separated, so it was not some horrible Sisyphean task where the storm endlessly refilled the water we pumped out.

Still, bailing out the massive amount of water already inside the boat was torture in itself. I regretted stopping Jin-cheol hyung from coming along.

About two and a half hours later, the bottom of the boat finally began to show. The butler brought over various tools and began repairing the gap where the water had seeped in.

As I slumped down wherever I could with my exhausted body and caught my breath, the butler stood up.

“Butler, have you finished repairing the boat?”

“This should do. It does not seem to be leaking anymore. Of course, after taking on this much water, the boat is finished in the long run.

“Even if it has to be dismantled later, it only needs to hold out for a day or two so we can get outside. That is fortunate enough.”

“Could we leave today, then?”

“That would be difficult. If we tried to take this nearly dead boat out in weather like this, we would only be feeding the fish in the lake.

“The storm will not rage forever. I believe you will need to wait a day or two.”

Repairing the boat and escaping were separate matters. At the earliest, we would need another day or two before we could leave. I knew nothing about boats, so I had no opinion to offer.

As I returned to the mansion with the butler, dragging my exhausted body along, I cautiously brought up the subject we had glossed over earlier.

“I would like to apologize for what happened with A-ri, on behalf of our group. Ever since what happened to Elena and Eun-sol, Jin-cheol hyung has not been able to calm down.”

“It is all right. Two people died within a day or two. It would be stranger if someone remained perfectly calm.”

“It seemed like A-ri got very angry for a moment.”

“She is still a child.... Back when the church was still intact, the priest took good care of her. But after the conflict destroyed the church and the priest left, she has always been lonely.

“Perhaps she developed a rough side without my realizing it....”

An incredulous laugh escaped me.

A-ri still looked around thirteen or fourteen, yet she had supposedly lived here since she was even younger?

Then where on earth had she attended elementary school? It was hard to imagine a school existing anywhere in a place this remote.

Of course, once I started questioning details like that, it was strange enough that there was a church in such an absurdly isolated place, with the mansion being the only inhabited place nearby.

I did not dwell on it.

More importantly, just as I had suspected, it felt like the meaning behind the two keywords Eun-sol had given me had become clear.

Maid. Church.

One was a person and the other was a place, so nothing had come to mind beyond bringing the person to that place. Now I had even learned that A-ri had attended church since childhood.

As soon as we got back, I would make an excuse and take A-ri to the church.

By the time we reached the mansion, the mood had eased somewhat.

At least Jin-cheol hyung was not shouting again, and Seung-yeop was fluttering around A-ri like a sparrow, helping so eagerly that it was hard to tell who was the guest and who was the employee.

Honestly, I could not understand why a child who looked no older than her early teens was managing a mansion in the first place.

With two people dead and the atmosphere so grim, nobody could prepare an elaborate meal.

Since our first day camping by the valley, most meals had been as simple as sandwiches, and nobody saw fit to complain about it now.

I thought as I ate a sandwich.

What excuse could I use to take A-ri to the church? The answer came quickly.

“A-ri. Do you have a moment?”

“Seung-yeop is helping so much that I am free! Is there something you need help with?”

The sharpness she had shown that morning had vanished as if it had never existed, replaced by her usual cheerful answer.

“Oh, it is nothing much. The butler told me you used to attend church often when you were young. There are a few things I need to find there. Could you show me around?”

“Sure! When should we leave?”

“The weather is bad, so I think it would be best to leave as early as possible.”

“Then I will get ready right away.”

Not long after, I left the mansion again with A-ri.

I looked back at her and found myself impressed all over again. They said beautiful people looked beautiful in anything, but this girl, with her extraordinary looks, seemed like a fairy even in a raincoat that covered everything but her face.

Was that why Seung-yeop could not think straight around her...?

Suppressing a sigh, I walked toward the church. At some point, A-ri had stopped.

“Do your legs hurt? Should we rest for a while?”

“No. It is just....”

“Just?”

“My head feels a little clearer... and I remembered the past. When I used to travel around with Grandpa. By the time I came to my senses, I had settled down at the mansion.”

?

Had she moved around a lot as a child? There was something strange about the way she reminisced about the past, so unlike someone her age. Or was it because I had brought her near the church, just as Eun-sol’s message had said?

Even after we entered the church, no immediate change was visible.

A-ri was still looking around the church with an expression of vague wonder.

If I left her alone, something might change eventually. Staring at her would not make a difference, so I first climbed up to where the Bell was.

The bell tower at the top of the church looked like it had been added after the building was completed. Getting up there was not easy.

Rather than stairs, there was a flimsy wooden ladder. It had not been maintained and had been soaked by rain, making it deeply unsettling to climb. I made my way up and reached the bell tower.

How strange.

Given the state of the church and the bell tower, nobody should have been maintaining the Bell, yet it was remarkably clean. Strange writing, unreadable characters, had been engraved all over its surface.

I had never seen a Bell like this.

It clearly was not an ordinary Bell. Eun-sol’s message had mentioned a Bell, but even aside from that, its appearance was extraordinary. It was not very large.

I did not know much about bells, but were they not meant to be rung? If I tried, I might learn something.

I searched around for a rope to replace the completely rotten chain, forced it into place, and somehow hung the Bell.

Then I picked up a piece of metal nearby and lightly struck it.

- Taaang! Teoong!

Instead of a clear, refreshing tone, it gave off a harsh metallic sound. I did not know whether there was something wrong with the Bell or with the way I had struck it.

Then, in that instant, I heard a piercing scream.

“AAAAAAAH! KYAAAAAAAH!”

I rushed down from the bell tower and found A-ri rolling on the ground, clutching her head.

A flash of realization struck me.

Was this the answer? Did the three words Eun-sol had written, church, maid, Bell, mean I had to bring A-ri to the church and ring the Bell?

How had Eun-sol learned something like this before she died?

A-ri suddenly sprang to her feet and looked at me.

Her doll-like features were the same ones I had seen many times before, along with her crimson eyes.

But this was definitely someone else.

Her expression was slightly cold. Her gaze pierced me.

She looked exactly the same, yet with only a few movements and changes in expression, she had become a completely different person.

“So you did make it this far, big brother.”

What...? Her way of speaking had changed completely.

It was the same mocking tone she had used when she shouted at Jin-cheol hyung earlier.

“But what should we do? Things are moving too slowly. It is already too late for me. Still, listen carefully. I can sing a hymn!”

“A hymn? What are you talking about?”

A-ri’s eyes suddenly rolled back.

Black smoke carrying a terrible stench seeped from her twisted mouth as she faced the empty air.

Ahh, I have seen the deep pit.

I have heard the cry of the one not yet born.

Though the Father in Heaven cherished you, He did not even grant a place to be born to the child in the lowest place.

The child is rising! I see it writhing as it crawls upward!

I can see it! Can’t you see it?

Two have been offered by faithful hands, so only three remain.

Everything shall find its balance.

The time is near for the one who could not be born to take the place of the born!

A prophecy? A curse? A poem? Or, as A-ri herself had called it, a hymn?

After spewing those bizarre words, whose meaning was unclear, A-ri fell asleep as if she had fainted.

With no other choice, I carried her on my back and returned to the mansion as I thought.

What did it mean? I needed to interpret it in the most occult way possible.

Even to someone as ignorant about occult matters as I was, it sounded like some demonic being was being fed sacrifices so it could be born.

‘The one who could not be born in the lowest place.’

The reason that horrible song was called a hymn was probably because it was a song praising a demon.

‘Two have been offered.’

That likely meant Elena and Eun-sol had been offered.

The strange part was that only ‘three’ remained.

The survivors were me, Cha Jin-cheol, Yoo Song-i, and Park Seung-yeop.

Did that mean only three of the four needed to die? If not...

A hypothesis came to mind.

It was something I had first considered when Elena died.

At the time, I had pushed it to a corner of my mind, following Eun-sol’s opinion that we should bury her first....

But I could feel the evidence gradually piling up.

I assembled it piece by piece.

It was becoming clearer. What was threatening us?

A demon trying to be born by consuming sacrifices, and faithful hands.

I had learned much, but still did not know the one thing that mattered most.

How should we deal with it?

After I arrived at the mansion, a third victim emerged.

Footnotes:

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