- Kim Ahri
The task left for , as the one who passed the Trial first, is to wake up the comrades who are still in the illusion!
While leaning against the building's exterior and planning my next move, I felt a weight on my shoulder.
"After headbutting earlier, now you're sitting on my shoulder?"
Perro tilted his head, looking at as if wondering what was wrong.
Despite everything, that cute expression lted away my irritation.
"Perro, you went through a lot to find , didn’t you?"
Perro wasn’t in good condition.
He looked like he had pecked off that strange straitjacket I’d seen before, feather by feather.
The bald patches on his body made it clear how hard he had worked to find .
I could guess why he had gone through so much trouble to reach .
"Yeah, it seems like we have similar goals. I ca to this Hotel because I wanted to save my mom. Now, let's go save yours."
Before starting working in earnest, I wandered around the city for a while to confirm one thing.
It was as I expected.
There were no longer any traces of the Administration Bureau in the publishing house building—it had turned into a normal publishing house.
This world was a perfect place created from the dreams and illusions of the four of us who reached the Final Trial.
Places that were ford solely based on my presence, like the Administration Bureau headquarters, had vanished.
Similarly, when I returned ho, the adult version of Miro was nowhere to be found.
After figuring out this much, I ended the long night and fell asleep at ho.
The house, with my mother gone, felt too large and quiet.
***The next morning, I went to school.
The situation at school hadn’t changed much.
I figured the reason for this was because the dreams that maintained the school weren’t mine alone.
At this school, there were just three people: , Songee, and Kain.
First, I should wake up those two, and then Elena.
As soon as lunchti ca, I called Perro, who was perched on a tree outside the school window and went to find Songee.
Finding Songee was too easy.
What could Songee's “Perfect Life” be?
The life of a druid?
Is it her dream to bring animals to school?
I should have realized sothing was off when the scenario allowed her to bring a parrot to school!
As soon as I reached the second-year floor, the loud barking made it hard to think clearly.
Thanks to the “settings” Songee had added, the second-year floor had long since turned into a school where dogs studied in place of humans.
Even among the chaos, it was easy to find Yu Songee, beloved by the dogs as a saint and by the cats as a sage.
To blend in naturally, I placed Perro on my shoulder and approached Songee.
Songee recognized from afar and ran over.
"Perrooo!"
So she recognized Perro.
"I was so worried when you suddenly disappeared! Where did you go? Did you bother Ahri again?"
Songee looked at and continued speaking, "If Perro did sothing weird again, I'm sorry!"
"No, Perro didn’t do anything weird. You're the one doing sothing weird."
...I felt the atmosphere around grow cold.
Glancing around, I saw countless dogs and cats starting to glare at .
"I don't know about the others, but I suspect you’re already half awake… What do you think? You were the one who put that straitjacket on Perro, right? I’ve been thinking about it, and Perro probably tried to wake you up before coming to . You didn’t want to wake up, so you—"
"Shut. Up!"
Before I could finish, Songee shouted loud enough to shake the entire school!
Her outburst forced my mouth shut, preventing from making any sound.
"Get. Out!" Songee shouted again, even stronger.
And I was flung out of the school.
- Crash!
Wha–! What on earth just happened?
I tried to wake Songee up, and she got angry.
That much I expected…
But when she got mad and told to get out, I was literally thrown out of the school.
It was like a glitch in a ga, where my body flew through the air, passed through walls, and eventually landed in the schoolyard.
I was so stunned that I didn't even think about getting up.
I just laid there, covered in the schoolyard's dust, and thought, “Is that so kind of reality-manipulation ability?”
Co to think of it, it’s not surprising.
This place was the stage for our “Perfect Life”, created to fulfill our wishes.
Actually, creating a world that fulfilled human desires was no easy task.
Human desires were constantly changing and grew stronger over ti.
Soone who was satisfied with a decent house at first would eventually desire a grand mansion, and then a skyscraper.
So, how do you implent a “Perfect Life” that endlessly fulfills all these desires?
By giving each of us the power to fulfill our own wishes!
Co to think of it, haven’t I already used that power?
When I jumped off the building, I wished for the world to stop in my fear of death.
The world stopped in response to my wish.
Compared to that incredible miracle, being flung out of the school by Songee was nothing.
And co to think of it, Kain's situation wasn't normal either.
During the Fourth Trial, his internal organs and bones were all wrecked.
In reality, he wouldn’t even think about leaving the hospital for at least a few months, and even if he did, he’d probably suffer lifelong complications.
But after just about a week, he showed up with a cast on his leg and started hanging out with his friends energetically.
His abnormal recovery must also be the result of the world granting his wish to “get better”.
Thanks to that, waking them up has beco much more difficult.
Should I consider killing Songee or Kain if necessary?
But now I’m not sure.
Could I realistically kill people with the power to manipulate reality?
"..."
It’s a pointless worry. Let's go back to Songee.
At least waking Songee up doesn’t seem too difficult.
Unlike the others, Songee already feels halfway awake, thanks to Perro.
"So this ti, you’ll have to step up. It’s about saving your mom, so do your best."
I patted Perro, who was perched on my stomach and went back into the school.
Perhaps as a reflection of Songee’s confused mind, the second-year floor was in utter chaos.
The animals were running amok, and the students were stumbling around like zombies.
I passed through the noisy area and approached Songee again.
She was curled up alone in a corner of the classroom.
If I talk to her, will she throw out again?
This could be risky, but I have to try.
"Songee?"
Songee quickly turned her head to look at .
Despite being an agent of the Administration Bureau, I prided myself on my quick and accurate responses.
I imdiately grabbed Perro with both hands and held him in front of .
"Bird shield!"
"..."
"..."
- Screechhh! Piyoo piyoooo!
The person was silent, and the parrot, furious, started pecking at .
"Ouch! Ow! Stop that! Don’t pull my hair!"
Songee sighed and took Perro back, "What was that? Did that kind of joke work in the 70s?"
"You’ve woken up, haven’t you?"
"..."
"If you’ve woken up, didn’t a hologram window appear?"
"Does sothing like that pop up? I haven’t seen it yet. Maybe it’s because I still want to stay here a little longer."
You want to stay a little longer.
Indeed, the temptation of this 'perfect world' must be enormous.
I sat down next to Songee.
She quietly apologized, "Sorry for throwing you out earlier. I didn’t know my power would work like that."
"It’s fine. Getting thrown around is pretty routine for ."
"In what world is that routine?"
"When you leave the Hotel, it’ll be your routine too."
"...When I leave the Hotel, will I have to do sothing like that?"
"Just kidding. You'll find out when you get out."
There was a brief silence between us.
"Isn’t it about ti you woke up?"
After a pause, Songee began to share her story, as if she was unburdening herself.
She talked about a once-happy family that fell apart as ti passed, with her parents’ relationship deteriorating for reasons she couldn’t understand.
Eventually, they both openly started seeing other people.
Avoiding divorce for the sake of their child had its limits.
By the ti Songee entered the Hotel, both parents had already started consulting with lawyers.
Tears began to stream from Songee's eyes.
"To be honest, I knew deep down, even before Perro tried to wake up. But I really didn’t want to leave. Every ti I saw my parents getting along at ho, I was so happy."
I had nothing to say, so I just held Songee’s hand.
"Am I being childish? Ahri, you work at the Administration Bureau. You’ve probably seen countless terrible and terrifying misfortunes that would make sothing like my parent's divorce seem trivial, right? Am I being foolish?"
"I don’t think that at all. Comparing misfortunes like that is aningless, isn’t it? It’s like saying all the misfortunes of Koreans are just childish complaints compared to the suffering of starving people in Africa."
"..."
"Everyone has their own misfortunes. Just because soone else is going through sothing worse doesn’t make your misfortune any less real, so what’s the point of comparing them? I just hope you can overco this sadness."
"When I leave the Hotel... When I leave the Hotel, will things be resolved? Could my parents’ relationship get better again?"
...I didn’t want to lie, so I decided to be honest.
"No. If your parents' conflicts have been building up over several years, it’s probably too late for things to go back to the way they once were. It’s not sothing that can be fixed just because you leave the Hotel with a bunch of treasures and superpowers. But there could be progress."
"Progress?"
"By the ti you leave the Hotel, your world will be much bigger than before you entered. I’m not talking about superpowers or treasures; I’m talking about your heart. As children grow, they gradually build their own worlds, and by the ti that process is complete, they’ve beco independent of their parents' worlds. When that happens, you’ll be able to understand that your parents have their own lives too."
"..."
"Leaving the Hotel won’t nd your parents’ relationship, but you’ll be able to understand and accept them."
Wow! Didn’t I sound like a professional therapist just now?
"…Heh!"
"Huh?"
"It’s just… it’s funny to hear you say things like that with your appearance. You look like a kid yourself!"
Songee laughed and playfully tapped my head.
After all the advice I gave, this is the response I get?
But I didn’t mind.
I had resolved my first comrade’s problem, after all!
After our conversation ended, Songee’s gaze stopped in mid-air, "A hologram appeared?"
"Yeah."
"What are you going to do?"
"You didn’t leave even after seeing this window, and you’re waking up the others, right? I’ll do the sa."
As Songee woke up, the animals in the school disappeared, leaving only Perro behind.
Songee was curious about how I woke up, and we talked about that for a bit.
Then we started deciding who to wake up next.
"It has to be Kain, right?"
"Elena-unni will probably be the hardest. Unlike us, she doesn’t even attend school and is constantly appearing in movies and dramas, so it feels like she’s more deeply imrsed in this world than any of us."
"How should we wake up Kain? Unlike you, he seems to be deeply imrsed in this illusion, so persuading him might be pretty tough."
After thinking for a while, Songee suggested an idea.
"How about we try pushing Kain-oppa off a building too?"
Perro seed delighted by that suggestion.
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