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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 377: Room 205, Curse Room - ‘Absolute Master’ (26)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 206

Current Location: Room 205, Curse Room - ‘Absolute Master’

Sage’s Advice: 3]

- Han Ga-in

Startled by the demon-like being that looked as though it had crawled out of hell, I took a step back.

It took a step back too.

When I frowned, wondering if it was playing with me, it frowned as well.

I held out a hand to tell it to back off, and it did the same.

...

The realization that came a moment too late left me stunned.

This was me.

The mysterious substance filling the surroundings was simply reflecting my soul like a mirror.

I'd clearly awakened from Sealing, so why had I become such a grotesque monster? I couldn't understand it.

Then a single snake appeared alongside a pitch-black vortex.

Before I could react, it coiled around my body and began to constrict me.

At the same time, a grating noise jabbed into my mind.

You are an insect.

You are a servant who will serve me forever.

You are nothing but dust in my long life.

You are a Wraith dwelling within my body, a shadow!

Rebukes and mockery laden with every kind of curse echoed through my head.

You are...

“This feels way too cliché.”

That snake was probably the Phantom Demon, but I didn't feel particularly tense.

Nobody had explained it to me, but I just knew.

It was all bark and bluster. It was even afraid of me.

To put it more directly, it sounded like a frightened child crying at the top of its lungs.

I thought of the Chief Researcher I'd met in Room 201.

Regardless of how strong he was, he possessed a noble dignity that couldn't even be compared to that hideous snake.

What had he said?

When an NPC awakened from Sealing, the participant held the initiative in their relationship.

I naturally understood what that meant.

When it realized its curses didn't work, the snake began to burrow into my body instead.

This wasn't a physical battle. It was a battle of the mind.

The kind of battle I'd fought with the Witch inside Jin-cheol's head long ago.

Our minds mixed and separated.

I read the Phantom Demon, and the Phantom Demon read me.

The outcome of our repeated exchanges was unexpectedly hollow.

It wasn't intentional, but during the battle, the Phantom Demon learned a shocking piece of information and instantly broke down.

‘W-What is this!’

“...”

‘Everything... is a lie? This entire world? Me? Th-this is just the inside of a room called Room 205?’

“...”

‘No! This can't be... You devil, you've shown me an illusion! You deceived me!’

I never thought I'd hear the Phantom Demon call me a devil.

It didn't matter.

Since it had found out anyway, I might as well use this situation.

“Do you really think so?”

‘...’

“Don't deceive yourself. You must know that all of this is true.”

‘Ah... How, how could this be!’

The Phantom Demon cried.

It was no joke. The Phantom Demon cried like a child.

Its mind had completely collapsed, and it didn't even try to hide its true thoughts from me.

He had realized a fact far too terrifying to bear while reading my memories.

If we escaped, Room 205 would reset, and the Phantom Demon of this cycle would disappear.

If we cleared it, Room 205 would vanish, and the Phantom Demon would disappear forever as well.

If we failed, the entire Hotel would reset and the contents of the Curse Room would change, so the Phantom Demon of this cycle would disappear anyway.

That was right.

No matter what ending we reached, the Phantom Demon would vanish.

The immortal life he had been so obsessed with had never been possible for a Hotel NPC from the start.

Endless despair.

A simple desire to live.

Screams filled with fear.

Someone bound to life itself, desperately clinging to survival day after day.

“You truly are lowly.”

‘...’

“Just survival. You only want to live. I don't see what makes you any different from a larva wriggling through the dirt.”

‘Y-You can obtain immortality, true immortality!’

“Really?”

‘You can go outside, outside this place. You can gain true eternal life, so you can afford to be so calm! I...’

I composed myself and changed my tone.

“You are doomed to die. Your days are numbered, nothing more than a mayfly. The only difference between you and other people is whether you know you're a mayfly.”

‘Ah...’

“But... you have a chance too.”

‘What?’

“I, I will tell you the way to gain eternal life.”

‘W-What do you-’

“Will you serve me as your heaven? Will you bow your head before me? Will you cast off your mayfly fate and gain eternal life?”

‘...’

“...”

‘... I shall.’

“I shall?”

‘I will heed your words. I am blind and deaf, so please grant me your teachings.’

Information I'd learned while our minds had blended a moment ago.

A Primordial Memory even the Phantom Demon himself remembered only vaguely.

The first moment he gained incomprehensible power.

I reached into the air and summoned the Soul Box.

“Look.”

‘...’

“You freed yourself from the curse of the flesh by forcing your soul into that box.”

The snake's eyes fixed on the Soul Box.

“You understand now. That box is Room 205's Inheritance.”

‘... No way!’

“When I clear this room, I'll take the Soul Box with me. Your tiny soul is inside that box too, so you may be able to escape your mortal fate as well.”

‘Absurd! What kind of-’

“Why do you think it's impossible? If you searched through my memories, you must have caught a glimpse of Room 104 too.”

‘T-That was!’

“When a Curse Room disappears, everything inside it vanishes. But one item, other than a participant, can leave the room.”

‘An Inheritance...!’

“Serve me. Accept your weakness. Then you shall gain eternal life.”

At last, the frightened lamb entered the Lord's embrace.

* * *

When I fully woke after leaving the world of the mind, two blackened figures covered in stone fragments stood before me.

They were so filthy that they looked uglier than the snake-shaped Phantom Demon I'd just seen.

“Filthy devils! Get back!”

“...”

“...”

A-ri and Mi-ro stared at me with their mouths half-open.

“You're awake?”

“That hideous appearance, get rid of it right-”

“Hey! Stop talking nonsense. You're awake, right?”

“Yeah. First, let's get out-”

As I analyzed the Phantom Demon's memories pouring into my mind in real time, I found unbelievable information.

I was so shocked that I couldn't speak for a moment.

“Ga-in?”

“We need to get out!”

“What?”

“We need to get out right now! There's a primitive bomb planted here!”

The Fire Cult had prepared a means to destroy my body when it created this sealed area thirty years ago.

My body itself was part of the seal binding the Phantom Demon, so destroying it was also a means of releasing the Phantom Demon.

They'd prepared a bomb to imprison and release the Phantom Demon at the same time?

What the hell were these bastards doing?

--- Rumble!

As if it had been waiting for that, the entire clearing shook and the terrain began to collapse!

A-ri jumped in fright and hid beneath Mi-ro, who was wearing the Protective Suit. Mi-ro hurriedly stretched out to shield A-ri-

“Hey! Mi-ro, what about me!”

“Huh? Uh?”

[Advice: 3 -> 2]

[Three steps to the right, now!]

--- Boom!

The moment I rolled aside, a boulder larger than my torso crashed down.

It was a desperate moment where I could die at any second!

Seeing Mi-ro standing there with a dazed expression, only shielding A-ri, snapped me back to my senses.

I had to find my own way to survive.

And-

“Do something right now! If I die here, you'll die too!”

“W-What?”

“I wasn't talking to you, Mi-ro!”

Someone other than me, someone who could become as pathetic as necessary to survive.

With my permission, the Phantom Demon twisted its hands this way and that.

Soon, a strange wave rose, and a dark red barrier enclosed everyone.

--- Rumble!

* * *

The moment I emerged from Mount Cheonjang with the Phantom Demon's power, countless people filled my view.

They were all Fire Cult followers. It wasn't an exaggeration to say they looked ready to surround the entire mountain with a wall of people.

A middle-aged man descended from the sky, his long robe fluttering.

It was Jo Won-hong.

“Phantom Demon, it has been a long time. Thirty years, was it?”

“...”

“How does the outside air feel after so long? It must be fresher than the air in that gloomy cave.”

This man thought I was the Phantom Demon.

It would be best to use that misunderstanding.

“I vaguely realized it when I fell asleep thirty years ago... Jo Won-hong, why did you plant explosives to imprison me and release me at the same time?”

“For this very moment.”

The area was already filled with huge orbs. At Jo Won-hong's casual gesture, flames began to rise in every direction.

“Isn't it beautiful? I call this the Demon-Subduing Divine Orb. Try possessing me.”

“...”

I didn't bother attempting it and making a fool of myself by failing.

Jo Won-hong wasn't an idiot. The reason he'd confidently appeared before me was surely because those orbs could block Possession.

Just as Yi Ja-seong had, Jo Won-hong had prepared a means to block Possession.

I'd expected that much, so I wasn't flustered.

A frozen silence settled over everything.

At last, I understood the Fire Cult and Jo Won-hong's plan.

Those orbs, the Demon-Subduing Divine Orbs, hadn't existed thirty years ago.

They had probably been in development.

That was why the Fire Cult hadn't been able to control the Phantom Demon thirty years ago and had no choice but to imprison him in Mount Cheonjang.

But the Fire Cult had begun thinking from that point onward.

What if they developed an item capable of suppressing the Phantom Demon's power one day?

What if they could control that power?

The Phantom Demon could become the greatest weapon the Fire Cult could wield.

Then Jo Won-hong smiled and broke the silence.

“Even for you, it's impossible, isn't it? It seems the Soul-Shifting Demon Art won't even budge.”

“...”

A fan appeared in the Fire Cult Leader's hand.

“What a shame. If I deliver the Judgment of Crimson Flame here, you'll die without being able to do a thing.”

“...”

“Wow! Phantom Demon, are your hands and feet trembling because you're afraid?”

“Jo Won-hong, I didn't know you had such a childish personality.”

“Don't put on airs. I've met you more than once. Did you think I wouldn't know what you're like?”

“Did you recover some self-respect by pinning me down?”

“What-”

“Even so, your crisis hasn't gone away. When did you make the Demon-Subduing Divine Orbs? More than ten years ago, right? Then why did you only come to wake me now?”

“...”

“Won-hong. You're in trouble. Trouble serious enough that you had to take the risk of waking me. You said you'd overturn the Empire someday. Did it all fall apart?”

“You bastard!”

“Did you get crushed? No, how badly did you fail for the great Fire Cult Leader to be making such a fuss over being unable to defeat a child emperor?”

Jo Won-hong's face began to turn red, then pale.

It was a little funny, so I added a few more words.

“Ah! I should apologize. You can't even defeat the Emperor while he's still a kid. In another three or four years, Won-hong won't even be able to breathe, so you need to settle this now?”

“Shut up!”

The moment Jo Won-hong struck the ground, a murderous aura sharp enough to sting the skin filled the surroundings.

“Let's stop testing each other. You came because you had something to say.”

“... Phantom Demon. I have an offer you cannot refuse.”

Jo Won-hong proposed that we combine our strength and bring down the Empire.

In exchange, once Jo Won-hong became Emperor, he would no longer suppress the Phantom Demon and would let him roam the world as he pleased, whether he killed people or not.

I'd heard from my companions that Jo Won-hong was reasonably suited to be Emperor...

His childish display earlier, and now this attitude that abandoned all human decency.

Defeat in war was twisting Jo Won-hong's character.

It didn't matter.

There was only one thing I truly cared about during this meaningless conversation.

Could the Demon-Subduing Divine Orbs really suppress me?

‘What do you think, Phantom Demon?’

‘... Within the range of the Demon-Subduing Divine Orbs, Possession is impossible. This applies not only to me, but to Your Majesty as well.’

‘Really? You can only get out if I win, so do your best.’

‘A fine plan has come to mind.’

Footnotes:

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