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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 344: Party Time - An Unfathomable Conversation and Punishment (3)

──────

- Han Ga-in

I stared at the Owl soaring into the sky, too flustered to know what to do. Then a single sentence seeped into my mind.

「Reflect upon yourself.」

The moment I heard the Owl's message, I realized my body was no longer in human form.

Where human arms should have been, wings covered in scales or feathers with a dark blue sheen had sprouted.

Confused thoughts flashed through my head.

Had I looked like this from the beginning? If so, why was I only noticing now?

Had the Owl changed my appearance?

What even was my appearance in this place?

Was the Sanctuary of Blessings real? Or was it a dream?

「Set aside unnecessary thoughts and follow me.」

"... All right."

The instant I spread my wings, an indescribably strange realization washed over me.

Had I gained some entirely new insight?

No.

It was more accurate to say something I had already known had been carved into my mind again.

I knew I could fly.

--- Flap!

I cut through the sky, frantically beating both wings.

Humans who had never needed to flap wings to fly their entire lives could never understand, but flying was unbelievably exhausting.

"W-why am I doing this?!"

Even as I asked, I didn't expect an answer.

It was more an expression of my anger at suddenly turning into a gigantic crow and suffering through this nonsense.

"Flight training."

An answer came back anyway.

"Flight training?"

"You will frequently borrow that pitiful parrot's body in the future. Learning to fly will be useful. You may forget other memories, but this is one memory that must be restored."

It made so much sense that I was briefly speechless.

Not just borrowing Pero's body, but flying through the sky in it or transforming into Grotesque.

If I could do that, the range of tactics available to me in Curse Rooms would expand enormously.

According to the Doctor, I had lived in Pero's body for hundreds of years and become capable of both flying and transforming.

For some unknown reason, I had lost those memories upon leaving the room, along with those abilities. The Owl seemed determined to let me fly again, at least.

Once I knew that, I began moving more actively.

For example, I bent the tail feathers near my rear to one side. When had these even grown? Then I tried making sharp turns.

I also tried diving while taking a posture that reduced air resistance as much as possible.

As I trained in flight out of nowhere, a question came to mind.

Was I even allowed to do this in the Sanctuary of Blessings?

Normally, it was a place to enhance blessings and occasionally speak with Sponsors.

But if I could use a virtual environment created by a Sponsor as a training ground like this-

"Of course not."

"Huh?"

"This place was not made for training. Using it for that purpose is grounds for punishment."

"What??"

"Do not worry. The punishment has already been received."

"N-no! Are you going to be locked in the Birdcage again like last time-"

"This time, you will be punished instead of me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Focus. Since the punishment has already been received, you must properly learn how to fly. If not here, where else would you learn?"

Punished without a word of warning! What was the hotel going to do to me?

For a moment, disbelief, irritation, and a little fear all rose at once.

I wanted to ask why the Owl had broken the hotel's rules without even telling me, especially when I was the one who would be punished for it, but I stopped myself.

When had my Sponsor ever discussed things with us before taking action?

"That's true."

"What do you mean, that's true?!"

"Focus on the angle of your right wing."

"Seriously!"

...

Time passed.

It felt like several hours had gone by, but I couldn't be sure. The Sanctuary of Blessings seemed to mix dreams and reality together.

The Owl suddenly landed on a massive cloud.

After hesitating for a moment, I folded my wings over the cloud and immediately fell.

"Argh!"

"... You have not yet learned how to land. What a foolish little bird."

Embarrassed, I barely managed to get back up. Then the Owl spoke.

"Think of the human mind as water contained in a vessel. A great quantity of black, murky paint is being mixed into it."

"... Are you talking about me? Is the black, murky water the Grimoire?"

"It is not necessarily a bad thing. Infinite and great wisdom has seeped into the black paint. But excess is worse than deficiency. You need to control the pace."

"..."

"What should you do?"

"I'm listening."

"The first method is to freeze the water."

"Freeze the water?"

The Owl fell silent, as if telling me to think carefully about the metaphor.

In that metaphor, the water was the human mind, or humanity. To freeze it?

Did it mean making it solid so the paint could not seep in? An unwavering heart?

Or...

"The girl from the Management Bureau. She was born with a love that will never melt."

"..."

"An emotion that does not fade even through eternity. An unchanging heart. If you can hold such a thing within yourself, no demon's power will be able to twist your mind."

"Is that really something I can do?"

"It is difficult. That is why there is a second method."

"I'm listening."

"Simply pour in more paint."

"What?"

"The problem is that only black paint keeps seeping in. Find some white paint and pour that in as well. That too is a path."

I was speechless.

Given the flow of the conversation, the black paint referred to my Grimoire.

But white paint comparable to the Grimoire?

"Are you telling me to obtain another Inheritance? Is that even possi-"

"Do you truly believe it is impossible? Or do you think that even if an opportunity arises, you should yield it to your companions?"

"..."

Then the Owl repeated something it had said long ago.

"Remember. I want you to obtain glory at the end of the hotel. Not all of you."

"..."

"..."

"Did you call me here to tell me this and train me to fly?"

"There is more. Are you not keeping the Hourglass?"

"Yes. I put it in the desk drawer in my room in Room 105."

"Why did you not bring it into the Curse Room?"

"I didn't know how to use it, and I thought it was too dangerous. We almost all died after I accidentally turned it over once."

"If you consider it dangerous and refuse to touch it, you will never learn how to use it."

"..."

"It was given to you to be used. Do you intend to never use it?"

I understood what the Owl meant.

I thought the same thing every time I saw the Hourglass in that drawer.

If I kept it hidden away in a drawer, I would never learn how to use it.

But...

It wanted me to bring it into a Curse Room without knowing how to use it?

A place full of monsters already eager to kill us, where I was supposed to bring along a ticking bomb whose blast could go off in any direction and try using it?

"Please give me a hint."

The Owl silently turned its gaze toward empty space.

It seemed that explaining the Hourglass's use in detail would be another rule violation.

From what I had heard earlier, flight training in the Sanctuary of Blessings had already broken the rules, and my punishment was certain.

Honestly, I was afraid of adding another punishment on top of that.

Just as I gave up on getting an answer, the Owl unexpectedly replied.

"The fact that you came to possess that item was not chance, but inevitability."

"... Thank you."

What did that mean? I still didn't know, but it surely had meaning.

"Lastly."

"There's more?"

"This conversation is what truly suits the purpose of the Sanctuary of Blessings."

So the purpose of the Sanctuary of Blessings was to discuss blessing enhancements?

"The more a blessing is enhanced, the more powerful abilities are unlocked. Yet the Contribution required to obtain them also rises greatly. Many participants never enhance their blessings even once, and even those with both luck and ability can manage three at most."

"Does that mean I've enhanced mine three times? Since Scenario Understanding counts as two?"

"You are... a participant who has gained the possibility of obtaining a fourth enhancement, something that appears only very rarely."

"..."

"Even so, do not expect too much. You will only be able to obtain it after resolving at least two more rooms."

"What kind of ability is it?"

"Those who reach the end of Wisdom will see through all things..."

With those final words, the Owl flew into the sky, and the space around me began to shake.

The timing for obtaining the fourth enhancement was far too late.

Rather than power to help me climb the hotel, wasn't it more like a final reward for having done well this far?

At the very least, it didn't seem like an ability that would offer meaningful help on Level 2.

* * *

[Rule violation! The Sanctuary of Blessings is not a place for idle chatter or training.]

[Han Ga-in (Wisdom) can no longer use advice during this Party Time.]

[The Curse of Tantalus will be inflicted upon Han Ga-in (Wisdom) for this Party Time.]

... The Curse of Tantalus?

* * *

- Lee Eun-sol

It was a peaceful afternoon, spent leisurely at the hotel during the Party Time we had received after resolving a Curse Room.

The men had all scattered, saying they were going to exercise, play games, or drink.

We women had gathered together at the pool.

--- Splash!

"I won!"

"Urk! Blech! S-save me!"

Everyone looked happy.

At least A-ri looked happy as she shoved Mi-ro into the water. I wasn't sure whether Mi-ro was enjoying it.

"Eun-sol!"

Song-i, wearing a swimsuit, came over and suddenly spun around.

She seemed eager to show it off, so I clapped lightly for her.

"Come into the water too."

"I don't want to."

"Huh? You don't like swimming?"

"I used to, but I haven't liked it since coming to the hotel. You girls are impressive too. You're getting into a pool where a giant mouth with lips as large as a human torso used to pop out and flick its tongue around without a second thought."

"Th-that was a long time ago."

"Go pull Mi-ro out of there. She's going to cry at this rate. A-ri worked so hard to save her, so why does she keep tormenting her?"

"M-maybe that's how she treats a younger sister?"

"She calls her Mom, after all."

"What does that matter?"

"True."

Right. What did it matter, honestly?

Even a Supreme Court justice would surely be confused about how to legally define the relationship between those two.

"But Eun-sol, A-ri told me to ask you something earlier."

"What?"

"When are you going to use Greedy Hand?"

"Who knows... Maybe after the people taken to the Sanctuary of Blessings return."

"I'll tell her that."

Greedy Hand. Hearing that name reminded me of Grandfather's complaint in the Sanctuary of Blessings this time.

'How am I supposed to accomplish anything with a blessing like Communication?!'

Honestly, I agreed with that opinion a hundred times over.

Grandfather's blessing, Communication, was somewhat useful to us as his companions, but it was of far too little use to him personally.

Since his blessing was not much help, it was difficult for him to contribute in Curse Rooms.

Since it was hard for him to contribute, it was hard for him to obtain Inheritances.

His own growth had stagnated while the party continued making rapid progress with its combined strength, and the Curse Rooms gradually became harder.

In the end, he had reached a point where it was difficult to recover from falling behind.

Had this happened only to Grandfather? It must have happened countless times in the past as well.

Given the hotel's nature, where it was hard to catch up once you started falling behind in growth, it was unavoidable.

Then what could be done?

The hotel had left even participants trapped in this situation with a chance for a dramatic comeback.

An Inheritance was not mechanically given to whoever contributed the most to resolving a Curse Room.

The condition that took precedence over Contribution was survival in the final round. If Contribution exceeded a certain level, everyone was gathered together during the Time to Choose and given an opportunity.

If you focused on the keyword "survival," one devilish idea came to mind.

What if, at the moment a Curse Room was about to be resolved, someone betrayed their companions and survived alone?

No matter how powerful someone was, they could not withstand a bullet that came flying in without warning.

No matter how strong Ga-in became by using the Grimoire, he would die on the spot if a bullet suddenly lodged in the back of his head.

The same went for Jin-cheol, who was physically the strongest.

Sometimes, the more I analyzed the hotel's rules, the more I wondered.

Who had created a system that encouraged betrayal, and how did they want us to act in a place like this?

My thoughts returned to Greedy Hand.

My Sponsor had said this power was extremely powerful.

But there had been more than a few times when I had been disappointed after actually using it.

The Butterfly Brooch, the Eye of the Monocular Giant Bird, and the Chef's Hat that I had gained through Greedy Hand were quite amazing, but in a place full of trials like the hotel, they had major weaknesses.

For example, the Butterfly Brooch would not work even on an ordinary person if they were on guard.

It could put whatever it touched to sleep, but the medium was literally just a butterfly.

The Chef's Hat did not work well on anyone with even a little training.

Naturally, it was useless against the monsters overflowing throughout the hotel.

...

When had it been? I suddenly realized something.

The problem was not Greedy Hand, but with me, Lee Eun-sol.

As its name suggested, this was a power that had to be used greedily.

When I realized that...

I gave up on expecting too much from Greedy Hand.

Footnotes:

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