Chapter 806
Chapter 806 – A Very Weird Day (2)
— Han Gain
「* At the request of the participants, we will now begin today’s surprise event.
Today’s Surprise Event: A Very Weird Day
Haven’t there been many strange happenings until now?
Take a moment to reflect on each one.
By the way, we’ve prepared some “fun events” to keep you entertained.
Always be grateful to the hotel.
It’s all thanks to us.」
— Koo-gung!
For a moment, I was flustered by the absurd notification, but the sudden noise and turbulence caused my vision to go dark.
…
When I regained consciousness, I found myself awake in Pero’s body.
*
“Beeep!”
“… Gain, why are you beeping?”
“Ah, I didn’t mean to.”
“…”
This was the hotel lobby on Level 1, where a total of nine colleagues had gathered.
Though it wasn’t a small space, having nine individuals – precisely eight people and one bird – in one place was a bit uncomfortable.
Of course, there was a reason everyone was huddled together.
Grandfather summarized the current situation.
“What the heck? We can’t get out?”
Yusong tilted her head and replied.
“Yeah.”
“No matter how much we walk, we just end up back in the lobby. What’s going on?”
“Doesn’t it feel like the way out of the lobby has stretched infinitely?”
At that moment, Ari, who was surveying the area, began to explain in her own way.
“It feels like the corridor has become infinitely long. Also, look up. I can’t see the ceiling.”
“Hm…”
“The place we’re in, the way out of the lobby has all become endlessly long. Simply put, we’re trapped in the lobby.”
“Isn’t this something Eunsol used the Hand of Greed on?”
“Seems like it.”
“Where did she go off to after causing this mess?”
The only colleague missing from this spot was Lee Eunsol.
Ari simply answered.
“Well… The Hand of Greed has no risk for the user, you see.”
“Ugh! That means Eunsol is safe all by herself.”
“Right. Oh, look, there are some more lines of explanation on the display over there.”
As Ari said, a bit of explanation had been added to the display.
「There is darkness in the hearts of five of you.
The darkness is casting a foreboding shadow over the hotel!
Today will not end until everyone’s misconceptions are cleared away.
How about having an honest conversation with each other?」
Sang-hyun brooded with a slightly dazed expression.
“There’s darkness in the hearts of five people… Gain, any idea about who they might be?”
The question naturally came back to me.
“Beeep!”
“…”
“Ah, sorry, that was involuntary.”
“If it’s involuntary beeping, then Pero’s body is effectively a clone of you, Gain.”
Yusong looked dumbfounded.
“If Pero heard that, she might be super shocked. Gain oppa, can’t you get out of Pero’s body?”
“Bee—”
“If you beep one more time, I’ll pluck your beak out.”
“… I can’t summon the magic book. The hotel must be blocking it.”
“Oh dear, it’s definitely the hotel. Even oppa can’t move. Anyway, don’t you have someone in mind?”
Following Sang-hyun, Yusong threw the question at me too.
As if waiting, other colleagues turned their gazes towards me, and I thought to myself.
“…”
“Oppa?”
Am I not just like Wikipedia for everyone?
“A few names come to mind.”
“Indeed, the smartest parrot in human history!”
“…”
“The smartest Gain oppa in Pero’s history.”
“What are you saying?”
“Who do you think it is? Someone with darkness in their heart?”
Just earlier, when Seungyeop and Sang-hyun returned sooner than expected, there were colleagues who exhibited strange behaviors.
The first person who popped into my mind was Miro.
I vividly recalled her speaking nonsense with her head on Ari’s lap.
“Miro.”
“Wha-? Me?”
Ari nodded her head immediately.
“Yeah. Earlier, Miro was crying like a child, saying she didn’t want to go to the next room.”
Miro gasped in surprise and retorted.
“I-I did not cry! Ari, don’t lie!”
“You said it was okay to cry because you were five years old.”
“Th-That’s just a joke!”
Just then, Seungyeop shrugged his shoulders and said.
“Hey, hey! Miro, stop being annoying and get a grip.”
“…”
“Once you’ve reached Level 3, you’ll have to go to the next room anyway, so what are you so scared about?”
“…”
“Get a hold of yourself, man! With just being scared, you’ll never become a master…”
Miro did not respond.
Soon, Ari let out a big sigh and kicked Seungyeop’s leg.
— Thump!
“Ugh!”
“Can’t you be quiet for once?”
“S-Sister, why so suddenly—”
“Do you think talking like a fool is going to fix a depressed person? And to top it off, it’s you, Seungyeop, of all people saying that… just shut up.”
— Flap!
Meanwhile, I naturally flapped my wings and landed on Miro’s shoulder—
— Bang!
— and collided with the wall next to Miro.
“Beeep!”
“Ah!”
“… Is it just me, or is my flying a bit off due to not flying for a while?”
“G-Gain, are you okay? Is your beak okay?”
“I’m fine. It’s not my beak.”
“Ah~ Oppa, seriously, be careful.”
“Anyway, Miro, you don’t want to go to the Cursed Room?”
Miro fell silent for a moment before responding honestly.
“… Of course not.”
“Hmm, but Miro, it was your choice to come to Level 3, wasn’t it?”
“That was then and this is now.”
The gloomy-faced girl.
As I stuck close and looked into Miro’s eyes, I could feel the undeniable fear within her.
A vague thought.
Looking back, it had been her first time enduring years of time with a stable mind in Room 302.
The Gate Room on Level 2?
The majority of the time Miro spent there was in a dormant state within the sarcophagus.
Thus, it seemed that her experience of enduring three years in Room 302 had been quite shocking for her.
Three years of pain was painful enough, but the thought that she could have been tormented for 25 years or more if things went wrong.
This fear was the darkness in Miro’s heart.
“Try to recall the feelings you had when you first challenged Level 3. Go back to your original intention – Oh!”
Ari grabbed my body and lifted me up.
“Gain, you go back to the table.”
— Flap!
“No, I was trying to persuade Miro—”
“I’ll take care of it, so don’t worry.”
Ari wore a confident expression, saying she would convince Miro.
All the other colleagues, and even Miro, widened their eyes and looked at Ari.
Soon, Ari whispered something in Grandfather’s ear.
At this moment, I realized Pero’s hearing was better than I thought.
… Send a personal message to Miro.
… What content?
… Send Miro exactly what I sent you.
The conversation that passed between Ari and Grandfather.
Soon, Ari’s message was delivered to Miro through Grandfather’s chat window, and…
“Wha-! A-Ari, seriously—”
“You idiot, don’t say it out loud!”
“W-Wow! Is this for real?”
“Yeah. It’s real.”
“Are you really going to do it?”
“Can you be quiet for a bit!”
Miro’s expression brightened significantly.
What? What message did Ari send that suddenly changed Miro’s expression?
Is it just me who doesn’t understand this situation?
Looking around with bewildered eyes, the other colleagues were also wearing expressions saying, ‘What is happening?’
— Flap!
I quickly hopped up onto Grandfather’s shoulder.
“What’s going on?”
“….”
“What did Ari say to Miro?”
“… A really childish story.”
“So, what is it?”
“The idea came from you.”
“Huh?”
“You told Miro to find her original intention.”
“That’s—”
“Think about what Miro’s original intention is. What was the reason Miro came to Level 3 in the first place? Ugh! Do I have to keep pestering you?”
Miro’s original intention?
— Koo-gung!
Suddenly, vibrations began.
“Wah! Oh!”
“The floor and ceiling are shaking—”
“It’s not shaking; it’s getting closer!”
The twisted space was starting to return to normal.
The endlessly stretching corridor returned to its proper length, and the unseen ceiling was coming closer again.
So, it seemed we could now finally exit the lobby—
At that moment, Jin-cheol’s rough shout burst out.
“Ari! Block the ceiling! Now!”
— Whoosh…!
*
The twisted space was back to normal, allowing us to move out of the Level 1 lobby.
However, we were still huddled together.
— Whoosh…!
“… Black rain is falling from the ceiling.”
It was because the unknown black drops were falling.
Ari had created a transparent wall above using the power of the Irregular Polyhedron to prevent the black drops from touching our bodies.
Strangely, the black drops were not pooling on the floor, so there was no need to worry about the ground.
“What is this now?”
Sang-hyun, peering keenly up at the ceiling, muttered.
“I think I get the general method of how this event works.”
“Method?”
“There’s darkness in the hearts of five colleagues, and that darkness is creating ominous phenomena in the hotel.”
“Hmm…”
“Miro’s darkness has vanished. So, the twisted space has returned to normal.”
Miro’s eyes widened as she spoke.
“I was the one who made it so we couldn’t leave the lobby?”
“Perhaps. If you think about it, Miro didn’t want to go to the Cursed Room.”
The darkness in Miro’s heart that didn’t want to go to the Cursed Room.
That darkness twisted the space, preventing us from leaving the lobby.
By resolving Miro’s darkness, we were able to exit the lobby.
“That means there are four more anomalies to deal with.”
“One of them is the black rain.”
“What about the other one?”
— Grrr…!
As soon as those words ended, a thunderous roar erupted from afar.
“… That would be it.”
“What’s the other one?”
Yusong tapped my back.
“It’s your state itself. You’re the only one trapped in Pero’s body, right?”
“…”
— Grrr…!
Seungyeop shouted with a tense expression.
“That sound, isn’t it Humpty Dumpty!”
“It seems so.”
“If it’s darkness related to Humpty Dumpty… Sister Yusong?”
Naturally, all the eyes were drawn toward Yusong.
“… Looks like I might be the culprit.”
The darkness we need to resolve next is the darkness in Yusong’s heart.
