Chapter 844
Chapter 844 – Room 303, Cursed Room – ‘Time Machine’ (29)
User: Han Gain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 14
Current Location: Level 3, Observatory
Sage’s Advice: 3
— Han Gain
These past few days, every moment I think of it.
Thank goodness.
For some reason, we haven’t suffered any pain.
When the incident happened on Grandfather’s side, everyone thought.
We’re doomed!
We’re stuck in the observatory for at least 100 years!
After all those years of suffering in Room 302, and now this nonsense in Room 303?
…
That terrifying scenario did not occur.
The mere ‘Day 14’ displayed on the status window is proof of that.
Seung-yeop cautiously opened his mouth.
“Hey, Brother Gain.”
“…”
“Grandfather has definitely awakened, right?”
“That’s right. He seems to have lost his memory.”
“That’s a relief. I thought we were going to be trapped for at least 100 years!”
Brother Sang-hyun chimed in.
“Seung-yeop, we managed to avoid hardship, but Agent Mook-seong couldn’t. And calling it a relief—”
Before he could finish, Elena murmured from the side.
“Phew! We’re alive… Thank goodness, right?”
It seemed she was too tense to hear Sang-hyun’s words.
Soon, Jin-cheol, who was nearby, also let out an awkward laugh.
“Honestly, it is a relief. It’s better if fewer people suffer.”
Ultimately, with the power of public opinion, Seung-yeop flashed a grin at Sang-hyun.
“It’s a relief, right? Isn’t it?”
“… Let’s just say it’s a relief.”
With the possibility of being stuck in the observatory for 100 years vanished, the tension lightened slightly.
Seizing this opportunity, I posed a question to everyone.
“Everyone, why do you think Grandfather’s suffering was omitted from our experience?”
Let’s consider the characteristics of the Parinirvana Train.
In the ‘non-protected car,’ the burdens of time travel are directly transferred to the passengers’ bodies.
If hundreds of years pass in that section, unless one is immortal, they immediately age and die.
That was what we went through in the world after the first cycle’s end.
On the other hand, in the ‘protected car,’ the burdens of time travel do not transfer to the passengers’ bodies.
In that section, even if a million years pass, nothing happens to the passengers. At least, physically.
Grandfather operated within the protected car.
Therefore, we cannot gauge how long Grandfather spent on the train.
All we can infer is that he likely spent at least several decades.
However, for us, only about 3 days have passed.
Sang-hyun cautiously answered.
“Perhaps the hotel, um, just let it slide…”
The colleagues fell silent.
“… That seems unlikely.”
You think the hotel would let things slide because we would suffer in the observatory?
If they were going to be lenient, they would have done it back in Room 302.
Back then, they made us endure for decades in the observatory, so it’s strange that they would be lenient this time.
Elena timidly raised her hand.
“Well, at the time I was observing.”
“Right.”
“For 3 days, Grandfather looked fine. He was wandering the train, and I saw him looking flustered several times. He seemed scared. But then…”
“But then?”
“He sat down in a tired manner. In that moment, he just… blanked!”
“Blanked?”
“It was as if someone switched off the power, and the observation on Grandfather was cut off. Automatically switched to Ari.”
“…”
“It must have been about a minute? Suddenly, the observation on Grandfather became possible again. It led directly to Ha Jin-seong rummaging through Grandfather’s pockets.”
While observing through the telescope, the story of the observation being interrupted as if the power was switched off was explained.
I understood Elena’s explanation.
It was a phenomenon I had experienced multiple times already.
“Blanking out and cutting off observation. That’s a classic case, right?”
As I trailed off, Sang-hyun answered instead.
“It’s a phenomenon that occurs when the observation target dies.”
“So, Grandfather died the moment he sat down in exhaustion?”
“Hmm… Then does that mean the Mook-seong agent still observing Gain’s doppelganger is someone else?”
“In that case, he wouldn’t have been able to observe.”
“…”
At this point, I realized something I had been missing.
“We really don’t know much about the train.”
“…”
“It’s a bit late to ask, but why do people lose their memories when they wander the train?”
I need to write some advice on this.
As soon as I thought that…
「Participant Han Gain, would you like to receive powerful advice? If not, regular advice will be provided. (Y/N)」
“Powerful advice?”
“What’s this about?”
“They’re asking if the benefactor wants to receive powerful advice.”
“Of course, it would be better to accept – Wait, is it the 3-piece advice?”
“Seems like it.”
The Owl suggested I use all 3 stacks for powerful advice.
“I’ll accept the offer.”
Let’s think simply.
The Owl probably found it difficult to explain with the usual single piece of advice.
「Advice: 3 -> 0」
「The observation target is a living participant. If the observation target dies or loses participant qualifications, it cannot be observed.」
It seems like a tangled ball of string at first glance.
Assume the train is a sort of character, and then interpret it based on its perspective.
You already possess most of the information needed to reach the answer.」
“What do you think? Did we get a good response?”
“First, the reason observation was cut off is that Grandfather temporarily lost his participant qualifications.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t know that part yet. And secondly.”
I picked up a pen in front of the whiteboard.
“We should interpret the information we’ve accumulated so far based on the train’s perspective.”
“Based on the train’s perspective?”
“Room 303 has a confusing timeline. There’s an outright time-travel train, after all. If we try to order the story based on the lower realm, we can’t make sense of it. So let’s look at it from the train’s center.”
Let’s organize the sequence of discovered incidents from the train’s perspective.
“From the train’s perspective, the first incident: The ancient civilization created the train to reach paradise.”
“Uh, that part seems a bit ambiguous… the train is too transcendent.”
“It might have been discovered like a mirror. In any case, the train has set off.”
1. Ancient civilization, Parinirvana Train departs towards paradise.
“The first failure occurred. According to Winston’s explanation, the existence of the train itself interfered with the completion of paradise.”
2. First failure. The existence of the train interfered with the completion of paradise.
“What happened after the failure?”
Sang-hyun answered.
“Aleph told Ari: The train never gives up. Perhaps it’s a being that doesn’t even comprehend the concept of giving up.”
Let’s think of the train’s intelligence as a sort of AI created by ancient humanity.
For an AI, there’s no concept of giving up.
It keeps moving forward endlessly, whether it takes millions of years or trillions of years until it succeeds.
“The train doesn’t give up. It must have found another way to get to paradise.”
“It seems Winston got off the train in that section. The train has an indomitable will, but Winston is just human. His spirit faltered once.”
“Seems plausible.”
3. The train began researching Plan B. Winston gave up and disembarked.
Elena tilted her head.
“Next is the birth of the Eldist? Winston had no concept of the Eldist. This means the Eldist emerged after Winston got off.”
“There’s an additional step in between.”
“An additional step?”
“… It’s vague, but after Winston disembarked and before the Eldist emerged, seems to be the time of Grandfather.”
According to Winston’s theory, he claimed to have broken the train on his way off.
As Ha Jin-seong relayed to his daughter, he also contributed to the train’s repairs.
Thus, Ha Jin-seong must have boarded the train after Winston disembarked.
Next, the fact discovered through observation.
Aleph designated the memory-losing Grandfather as ‘Eldist.’
Did Grandfather later transform into an Eldist?
It’s uncertain.
However, my sharp intuition answered, “At the very least, there is a connection.”
4. Kim Muk-seong and Ha Jin-seong, along with Aleph, form a party on the train.
5. Birth of the Eldist. The Eldist begins to spread time-space pollution.
Seung-yeop, staring blankly at the whiteboard, spoke.
“Number 6 is the time of Older Sister Ari, right?”
“Exactly. Ari is sorting out the situation after the Eldist’s emergence.”
— Tap!
“Here, this is the sequence of events organized from the train’s perspective.”
1. Ancient civilization, Parinirvana Train departs towards paradise.
2. First failure. The existence of the train interfered with the completion of paradise.
3. The train began researching Plan B. Winston gave up and disembarked.
4. Kim Muk-seong, Ha Jin-seong, and Aleph formed a party on the train.
5. Birth of the Eldist. The Eldist begins to spread time-space pollution.
6. Ari and Aleph encounter within the train. Currently, they are in a situation to obtain information from Winston.
A calm silence.
Sang-hyun, who was reading carefully, pointed out a sharp part.
“From the train’s perspective, the requests given to Ha Jin-seong and Older Sister Ari are a bit different.”
“Hmm?”
“According to Song-yi, the essence of the request Older Sister Ari fulfilled was the removal of time-space pollution. And, the entity spreading time-space pollution is…”
“The Eldist.”
The Eldist spreads time-space pollution.
The train utilized Ari, Song-yi, and Aleph to remove time-space pollution.
“In sequence, the era in which Agent Mook-seong met Ha Jin-seong and Aleph is before the Eldist’s emergence.”
“…”
“Honestly, why before the Eldist’s emergence is unclear. I’m just analyzing what Gain had less. But… this part should be certain, right?”
Aleph named Grandfather as the ‘Eldist.’
So, in the time frame where Grandfather has fallen, there should be no Eldist present, right?
It’s just speculation. It’s intuition.
However, my intuition after gaining insight was different from the average person’s.
“Perhaps.”
“Gain’s words must be reliable.”
Well, honestly, I can’t trust my judgment to that extent.
At such moments, it seems Sang-hyun has more faith in me than I do in myself.
“So, in the time where Mook-seong is active, there are still no Eldists remaining.”
“…”
“Then, what are those people doing?”
In a time where Eldists have yet to emerge.
What kind of objective request did the train give to Ha Jin-seong?
*
— Kim Muk-seong
It has been two days since I started traveling with the absurd humans, Ha Jin-seong and Aleph.
Through the peculiar request received from the train staff, I naturally realized one thing.
Ha Jin-seong is truly an ordinary human.
He has no special powers, no magic, no superhuman strength, no mystical tools.
Just the feeling of bringing in a rural farmer.
So did Ha Jin-seong seem pathetic and funny? Not really, it’s just amusing.
“Why are you laughing so much over nothing?”
“Eldist, aren’t you happy?”
“What’s there to be happy about? The staff only gives us nonsensical requests that are impossible to comprehend.”
“Eldist, you see, I’m really a worthless seed.”
“What are you saying…”
“Oh, Brother, you’re saying unnecessary things again.”
“I’ve spent nearly twenty years farming.”
“For someone who did that, you handle a blade pretty well.”
“Hey, there are wolves and wild boars jumping out at me every day. That’s just part of farming.”
“Why do wild boars come out in farmland? It’s not a zoo, you know.”
“Hey, you brat! Back when I was young, there were no zoos! Wild boars and tigers were just neighbors.”
“How could people live in such a barbaric place?”
“Wow, Aleph, you’re getting annoyingly under my skin, you know?”
“Ah, you brats, stop with the nonsense.”
Anyway, having conversations with Ha Jin-seong brings a lot of laughter.
That’s a significant advantage.
“Ahem! Eldist, the essence is this. I thought I’d live my whole life farming and bowing down like a king’s servant.”
“That’s a life too.”
“Life is life, but I don’t want to go back to that life now.”
“…”
“The train changed my life. It showed me just how vast the world is. And how dreamy the future can be…”
“…”
“I once descended to the land of Joseon in 1992.”
“1992, isn’t that not Joseon?”
“To me, it’s all Joseon.”
“Let’s say it is. So?”
“When I was farming, there weren’t any oxen?”
“There were times when you farmed with oxen? That’s really primitive.”
“Hey, you!”
“Ugh!”
“Ahem! I was surprised when I saw a tractor, but what surprised me even more was the abundance.”
The prosperity Ha Jin-seong, a farmer of the dynasty, witnessed in the future.
“A farmer who has never even seen the king’s face lives in a house like a palace!”
“… Not a palace, but it was probably the president. And the house probably wasn’t a palace either.”
“You say the elder has no memories of the past, right?”
“I think I know that much.”
“Anyway, at first, I was genuinely envious. Why was I born in a rough era when such a great era exists?”
“…”
“But then, as time passed, I began to think: What a blessing this is. God has bestowed great fortune upon me. I was given the opportunity to see the world beyond the well.”
“…”
“Sometimes, I felt my heart swell. Humanity is truly remarkable. I thought kings spent all their time in the palace, indulging in feasting and women—”
“Ugh!”
Ha Jin-seong found humanity amusing.
“And it turns out they worked quite hard. The world has developed so much over the last few hundred years.”
“Brother, stop saying ‘King! King!’ all the time. That guy probably just indulged himself and died. This is why you can’t talk to a dynasty person.”
“Hey! You shouldn’t speak carelessly about the crown!”
“… Jin-seong, didn’t you say earlier that kings spent all their time indulging in women in the palace?”
“I can say that. You can’t.”
“Wow, ridiculous!”
“I genuinely dislike the word ‘royalty.’ What king? That fool probably flaunted his bloodline for nothing.”
“The king would be surprised if he heard that. You two really get along very well.”
Always cheerful, positive, and full of action.
“Brother, that doesn’t mean you’ll be stuck on the train for life, right?”
“Of course not. The staff promised me at the outset. They said after performing exactly 30 requests, I would receive a substantial reward.”
“Hmm… You’re nearly finished after 30 requests?”
“Just three more to go. The reward will likely…”
“What will it be?”
“… They’ll drop me in the era I desire. That’s what I think.”
“What era do you want to go to? The one you were amazed by in 1992?”
“Hey, Aleph, you really don’t understand the world, do you?”
“…”
“The important thing in living well isn’t which decade it is.”
“Ah, here we go, another weird comment.”
“Weird comment? This is a crucial story.”
“What is it?”
“The important thing is someone who can love me.”
“Hmm… That sounds somewhat plausible.”
“This is the truth! An era where there’s a lady who can love me! That era is perfect.”
“Ha! How about a prehistoric primitive woman who deeply loves Jin-seong?”
“…”
“She loves you immensely. Would even give her life for you. But she lives in a cave.”
“Is her chest large?”
“Yes, very large.”
“And her butt?”
“Also large.”
“And her face?”
“Pretty.”
He was a very honest guy.
“… But still, I don’t think I could love such a person.”
“Huh?”
“Aleph, she should at least dress nicely and comb her hair neatly.”
“Wow! So you’re basically saying you want to marry a future person! That’s discrimination against primitive people!”
“Will you all just shut up for a moment?”
“What about you? Hey, what kind of person do you like?”
“Can’t you both just be quiet?”
“First of all, they have to be pretty.”
“That’s obvious.”
“Extremely beautiful, and a bit mystical. A wonderful past, radiant beauty, and wisdom to lead me!”
“Do you prefer older women?”
“Uh, not exactly. I prefer those my age or younger.”
“Isn’t that an old person who has both a mystical past and wisdom to lead you?”
“Hmm, if it’s someone who has both the charm of younger and older people—”
“You both are crazy. Just crazy!”
Even though they clearly identified him as a normal person, Aleph’s calling out to me as “Brother!” strongly reflected human affection.
“By the way, what’s this request about?”
“Are you finally paying attention?”
“But didn’t Eldist work hard on the request document?”
“What about you?”
“I’m a little weak with words. I’m not good at reading the classics.”
“Ha! Enough. Both of you should carefully follow the dirt road and keep an eye out. If you discover a lightning-struck zelkova tree—”
“Is that one over there?”
“… That’s it.”
“What do we do with the lightning-struck zelkova tree?”
“There’s a sign on the right. Oh, there it is.”
As Ha Jin-seong approached, he tilted his head.
“What does it say? I can’t read it.”
“Uh… Vigna Fiorita?”
Vigna Fiorita.
Strangely enough, it felt like I had heard that word somewhere.
“Hmm…”
“Eldist, what’s next?”
“Remove the sign that reads Vigna Fiorita and find a stick of a similar size to write Castelluccio on it.”
“Hmmm… Sometimes I wonder, Eldist, what exactly are we doing? Do we confuse travelers on purpose?”
Oddly enough, the feeling wasn’t good.
It just was.
