- Han Kain
After finishing our evening eting, we moved to the first-floor terrace.
Elena was still leaning against the wall in a half-crazed state.
I deliberately kept my gaze on the floor and asked, “Elena, are you okay?”
“...”
“Elena-unni, you skipped dinner, didn’t you? If it’s too much, how about getting so sleep?”
“...”
“Let’s just leave her be. If we go by Kain’s Advice, she’ll be back to normal by tomorrow.”
Earlier, when I asked for Advice regarding Elena’s recovery, this was the response:
Treatnt will be administered tonight as a consideration for you.
I felt sothing was off the mont I saw the Advice, and thinking back now, it still seems like strange advice.
Feeling a similar unease, Ahri nudged .
“Now that I think about it, isn’t it weird? Why are they delaying Elena’s treatnt for tomorrow?”
“And why is it in consideration for us?”
By that point, the others also began to sense sothing was amiss.
“Yeah, why did they treat us imdiately for any psychological trauma, but they’re leaving Elena untreated and then treating her the next day? And how is that supposed to be for our benefit?”
Why would delaying treatnt be for our benefit?
Is there so kind of loss for us if she gets the treatnt right away?
“…!!!”
Then, it hit like a bolt of lightning!
Grandpa, who seed to have had the sa realization, shouted, “We need to interrogate Elena before she loses her mory!”
Even in this situation, Grandpa used the word “interrogate”.
“What do you an ‘interrogate’? But we definitely need to find out sothing. Elena is in a state where she’s seen sothing beyond human comprehension and has gone mad, right? During the treatnt process, they’ll probably blur the mories of what she saw.”
Eunsol-noona slapped her knee and said, “Then we need to find out what those mories are!”
Everyone widened their eyes and crowded around Elena.
They repeatedly spoke to her and shook her shoulders.
“…”
Yet Elena still didn’t show any reactions.
Suddenly, she scread and pushed us away, and then she would go silent for a long ti, staring blankly at the air.
In the end, everyone’s eyes turned to .
I sighed. There was a reason I hadn’t used the Grimoire from the start.
I can’t use the Status Window while I’m possessing soone else.
What if I go mad while trying to read Elena’s mories?
But we’re out of options now.
And since I’m getting sealed anyway, what does it matter if I lose my mind?
The hotel will probably treat anyway.
I used the Grimoire’s power to possess Elena.
***- Han Kain
“…”
I’m sinking.
I felt myself slowly descending into Elena’s mind like an endlessly falling feather.
I had possessed others many tis, but possessing soone didn’t an I could instantly read all their mories.
If that were possible, my brain might have burned out every ti I possessed soone.
Usually, only the general information, or the necessary information at the mont was summarized and delivered to .
Maybe the Grimoire processes it all for ?
Whenever this happens, I recall what Songee used to say.
We don’t truly understand the transcendent power; we’re just wielding the tools imbued with those powers.
It was like how most modern people used televisions and computers without understanding the fundantal principles behind them.
“…”
My consciousness delved deeper.
The Grimoire located the necessary information within Elena’s confused mind.
At so point, I found myself transford into Elena.
I heard bizarre phrases of “pledges” and then saw hands erge from the TV, grabbing and pulling Elena in.
Inside the TV was a pure white space.
I saw a giant cauldron with boiling oil splattering around.
If Grandpa hadn’t destroyed the TV in ti, would Elena have been dragged into that cauldron?
Thinking about it that way, it is scary, but that’s all there is to it.
Just perceiving a boiling oil cauldron wouldn’t be enough to drive soone insane.
Is there anything else around? There must be sothing besides the cauldron.
I see them.
Wriggling beings are starting to appear around .
I realized what this place was.
Strange. There’s sothing else in this space, beyond these things—
There are eyes in the heavens and the earth.
I am like an insect crawling on the ground, the most insignificant creature in the world is greater than I.
At least, they have substance—
“CUT THE BULLSHIT! YOU MOTHERFUCKIN’ EYETARDS!”
I scread as soon as I ca out, startling my companions who stared at .
I would probably forget what I saw soon.
Just before my consciousness completely lted, I frantically shouted two words and passed out.
“Research lab!”
***
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 82
Current Location: Floor 1, Room 105, Room of Rest
Sage’s Advice: 3
When I ca to, it was already morning.
I rembered possessing Elena, but nothing after that.
Did I lose all my mories?
As I thought a bit more, I realized I had a faint recollection of shouting, “Research lab,” after coming out.
So, I did manage to find sothing.
Feeling a bit of satisfaction, I went out to et my companions.
***“Oppa! Are you okay?”
“Are you sure you’re okay now?”
As soon as I ca out, I heard my companions’ concerned voices.
After reassuring each of them, I checked if Elena had co out as well.
Across the table, Elena gave a faint smile instead of screaming when our eyes t.
They definitely treated her!
After I joined them at the table, we started discussing the information retrieved from Elena’s mories.
“What was I thinking when I shouted ‘Research lab’?”
Ahri chuckled.
“That sounds like a Koan1. Asking us what you were thinking when you’re the one who said it.”
“I don’t rember anything from that mont.”
“The interpretation is obvious, isn’t it? Elena’s mories are related to what she saw beyond the TV. You confird that and then shouted ‘Research lab.’ Doesn’t that an beyond the TV display is a research lab?”
Everyone agreed with Ahri’s interpretation. I couldn’t even think of a different interpretation.
It finally felt like the mystery of the research lab’s location, where I was sealed, was starting to unravel.
Jinchul-hyung stated the obvious, “We have to go to the research lab, don’t we?”
“Of course. Isn’t that where I am?”
“No, what I an is... how do we get in? When the TV turns on, we can’t move. It’s not like we can break free by force. I couldn’t even move a finger.”
Elena, who hadn’t spoken in a while, chid in, “If you just stay still, the TV will eventually pick soone and drag them in. I’m sure of that because I experienced it.
“Specifically, it drags them in and tries to throw them into the cauldron. We can’t go in that way. We need to find a way to break the paralysis caused by the TV.”
The one who had broken the paralysis, Grandpa, responded, “Well, didn’t we already confirm the thod? Even in a paralyzed state, my gloves can move. When I shot the TV, it broke the paralysis.”
Eunsol-noona pointed out the flaw.
“But if we shoot and destroy the TV, the passage to the research lab disappears too. We need to find a way to break the paralysis without destroying the TV.”
...Silence fell over the table.
The goal was to get past the TV screen and reach the research lab beyond it.
The problem was that the mont the TV turned on, everyone beca paralyzed, and the TV would try to drag us in and brutally kill us.
If we broke the TV to stop it from killing us, the passage would disappear.
At this point, we had gathered enough information about the TV.
We were just having trouble piecing it all together to find the solution.
Sage’s Advice: 3 → 2
Is there a way to break the paralysis without destroying the TV?
What is the cause of the paralysis?
“Hmm... I used Sage’s Advice just now, and the response was, ‘What is the cause of the paralysis?’”
Jinchul-hyung was baffled.
“Isn’t it obviously the TV? Is there sothing else causing it?”
Ahri, who seed to be deep in thought, answered, “No, think about it. I just rembered—when we got paralyzed, it wasn’t when the TV first turned on. When it first ca on, we were all startled, asking what it was. We got paralyzed when the TV started saying the ‘pledge’.”
Grandpa sighed.
“My mory is similar, but does it make a difference? The TV turned on, and shortly after, it started saying the ‘pledge’.”
Silence fell over the table again.
For the first ti in a while, Seungyub spoke up, “Well... it might sound strange, but if the problem arises when the TV turns on and the pledge plays, why don’t we just mute it?”
“…”
Eunsol-noona slapped her knee.
“Why didn’t we think of that? That seems like the answer!”
“Hah! This kid usually doesn’t say a word during etings, but there’s truth to the saying that even a broken clock is right twice a day. Alright, let’s try muting the TV next ti.”
Seungyub’s expression brightened after he ca up with a good idea for the first ti in a while.
But Elena poured cold water on our excitent again.
"Sorry to dampen your spirits, but we still have the most important issue. I went crazy the mont I saw the inside of the TV. Kain also went mad after reading my mory. Do you think it’ll be different for anyone else? I’m sure everyone will go mad as soon as they see the TV display, except maybe Songee with her bracelet."
A very valid point.
We don’t know what drove Elena mad or caused to go insane after reading her mory, but crossing over without a way to deal with that presence is suicide.
Should only those who can resist madness cross over?
Excluding myself, who was sealed, Songee, as Elena ntioned, was a strong candidate.
Ahri also seed sowhat capable of resisting the madness.
But that was it. No one else ca to mind.
Ahri, deep in thought, looked at .
"You still have two Advice left, right? Ask again. Since you're sealed, you won’t need them, so let’s use them all this morning."
Advice: 2 → 1
Is there a way to resist the madness inside the TV?
What made you realize that place was a ‘Research lab’?
Another riddle-like response. I conveyed the content of the answer.
"It’s asking what made realize the place connected to the TV is a research lab."
"What did you see?"
"I don’t know. The mory is already gone."
"Oh, right. So, what could the answer be?"
The answer ca to quickly.
"I’ve never been to a research lab before. I wouldn’t have recognized it by its equipnt or interior. Also, when we first started in the room and I was about to fall asleep, I glimpsed people in white lab coats. I probably saw those people again inside the TV."
"So you probably saw lab workers inside the TV?"
As I answered Ahri, I naturally understood the aning of the Advice.
"This is what it’s saying. What does it an that there are lab workers near the source of the madness? The lab workers can’t all be superhumans immune to madness, so there must be a way for ordinary humans to resist it. Isn’t that the point?"
Eunsol-noona tilted her head.
"So, when we asked how to resist the madness, they basically said, ‘There’s definitely a way to resist it,’ in a really roundabout way?"
"Yes."
"Next ti you et your Patron, make sure to curse it out for us."
I’m planning on it.
I’ve got plenty of pent-up emotions.
Jinchul-hyung sighed.
"Why don’t you ask again? You’ve got one more, right?"
Grandpa Mooksung disagreed.
"If they were going to give a straight answer, they would’ve done so the first ti. Giving a crappy answer ans they want us to figure it out ourselves. Asking again will just result in another pointless riddle. Use the last Advice for a different question."
I decided not to use Advice on the sa question again.
Instead, I began to ponder the answer myself.
After all, the response did confirm that a solution does exist.
What is the thod to resist the madness inside the TV??
"Let’s think about what the being inside the TV is. Everyone who ca into contact with it ntioned ‘eyes’ in so way."
Noona agreed.
"Elena initially talked about feeling a gaze, and when Seungyub escaped, he had a similar experience, though much shorter. And you, too, cursed out the eyes as soon as you ca out."
Eyes. A gaze. Should we avoid its gaze?
Songee, who seed to have a similar thought, suggested, "By not looking at it?"
Seungyub, who had been talking more than usual, quickly disagreed.
"Although the mory of my escape is fuzzy due to the hotel’s ‘treatnt’, I clearly rember a feeling like, ‘The whole world is filled with eyes!’ I don’t think just avoiding looking at sothing will be enough."
Ahri also chid in, "Then, maybe we should go in with our eyes closed?"
That didn’t seem like the answer either.
What should we do to safely enter the research lab?
1. A riddle or puzzle that Zen Buddhists use during ditation to help them unravel greater truths about the world and about themselves.
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