0% – Lee Eunsol
The mont a single flash of light split the air, my vision was dyed with light.
Watching the scene of an enormous heat wave that seed to burn my retinas overturning the whole world, I had a thought of.
No way, right?
Surely it’s not that we all wake up only to die in this explosion and fail, right?
Nah~! That can’t be it!
At that mont, soone’s voice was heard.
“At least your ending won’t be that empty.”
When I felt a beam of light from the sky shining on , everything that constituted , including my body and mind or soul, headed towards an infinitely high sky.
So high, so incredibly high, that I couldn’t tell if this place was the sky or space.
And in front of was Adravita.
“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...”
The unholy being filled my vision completely.
At the mont when a presence unbearable to humans instantly weighed down my soul and the urge to pluck out my eyeballs welled up, suddenly, a notification popped up.
[You have acquired ‘The Eye of One Who Observes All From The Pinnacle’!]
Thanks to that, I ca to my senses.
“It might have been better to just go crazy. Now I have to pluck out my eyeball while sane...”
I deeply stabbed my eye with my hand.
“Uwaaah!”
A-again!
“Uwaaah!”
Again!
“Eiyah!”
[What on earth are you doing?]
“...Plucking out my eyeball.”
[Why on earth?]
“Because I have to.”
The next mont, a tentacle that flew from sowhere stabbed my eye.
Then, as if it were an egg popping out of a glass bottle, my eyeball popped out with a plop and disappeared sowhere.
“...”
Suddenly, I had this thought.
What was the acquisition condition for “The Eye of One Who Observes All From The Pinnacle’ that I just acquired?
Wouldn’t it be coming out to outer space or a very high sky after the scenario officially started?
But now, I didn’t co to outer space on my own power.
For so reason I didn’t know, Adravita suddenly brought here.
Did the Hotel really anticipate that the Convict would make such an unexpected move and set up such a condition? If not...
[What thoughts are you so deeply imrsed in?]
“Perhaps... Was the Hotel’s intention for us to escape this planet on the spaceship? If we had proceeded that way, I would have naturally plucked out my eyeball too.”
[Why on earth must you pluck out your eye?]
Escaping the planet on a spaceship.
We thought it was just the Convict’s trap, but was that really the solution too?
Who knows? This was why Cursed Rooms were always difficult. There wasn’t just one answer.
“I’ve been able to hear your words clearly since earlier. It’s probably because Room 203 is being resolved and everything is coming to an end. Why did you bother to call at this point?”
[...What did you do to ?]
“I didn’t do anything. The flute doesn’t have any offensive power so maybe your once twisted heart just turned to normal?”
I wasn’t certain. As with other Inheritance owners, I didn’t understand and use the principles of the Inheritance.
[I recalled mories from long ago.]
“...”
[Very... old mories.]
“...”
[Have you ever built a sand castle? Have you ever spent all day carefully building a castle, only for a wave to lightly brush past and turn that day’s effort into bubbles?]
“No one hasn’t had that experience. It’s common for projects you’ve worked on for months to turn into debt the mont you blink.”
[Have you experienced a castle you worked on for 1800 years disappearing?]
“I haven’t experienced that.”
[It was empty. Not anger, not sadness. Just emptiness. I thought I had built a plausible castle doing my best. However...]
“...”
[...how can I protect the castle? After pondering, I started using various thods.]
“...”
[Unfortunately, they didn’t work well. Those living in the sand castle might see the children on the beach as gods, but children are powerless before the crashing waves.]
“So this ti you used very harsh thods?”
[And yet it ended in failure.]
Now, as the ending of Room 203 approached, the emotion the malevolent god Adravita felt was not anger towards us or sadness observing the perishing world.
It felt emptiness again. The relentless waves had demolished the sand castle.
[Thanks to that, I realized one funny fact.]
Did it realize sothing even in this emptiness?
[My initial purpose was to build a magnificent sand castle.]
“You an, to guide humanity on this world towards a glorious new beginning?”
[Yet, when I ca to my senses, I realized I had beco obsessed with rely preserving the sand castle.]
It was a common thing.
Why, it was a script that often appeared in dramas, right?
I wanted to earn money for my loved one, and I was devoted to work to earn money.
In doing so, I didn’t look after my loved one and lost them one by one.
Perhaps even gods experienced similar things.
With those words, Adravita started flying towards the distant sky.
By then, the space slowly started collapsing.
You have succeeded!
A primordial world without even traces of civilization, a primitive land full of barbarism and ignorance!
Who would have known that the most primitive world was actually the seed sown by the most advanced civilization?
What you see is not everything.
This is what we always want to tell participants.
Gather information in unknown lands, and reach conclusions through rational reasoning.
But what if that very information was manipulated from the start?The conclusion can only go astray.
If we say that, you might feel we lack a bit of conscience?
There was a slight accident in this room.
It seems the actions of the ‘guest’ staying in the room were sowhat excessive.
Certainly, this much crossed the line a bit.
We promise, separate from compensation.
Similar things won’t happen in the room you enter next.
Also, congratulations on the newly born young civilization being liberated from the malevolent god’s rule!
We also promise additional rewards for the happy ending.
*********
One of your teammates has successfully resolved the curse!
Congratulations!
The successful resolution allows everyone to return safely.
The Mont of Choice will begin soon!
The content was a little different from usual.
Phrases like “There was a slight accident in this room,” and “The actions of the guest staying in the room were excessive,” stood out.
Also, the promise that “Similar things won’t happen in the room you enter next” stood out.
It seed necessary to talk with my companions about various things.
***– Kim Ahri
– Clank! Clank! Woong!
When I ca to my senses, I was on an unidentifiable train.
“Miss Ahri, co over here.”
Sanghyun was already sitting in a seat. He was holding a small booklet in his hand.
“What’s our situation now? Is it the Mont of Choice?”
“That’s right.”
“I shot the core with the Final Flash. An enormous explosion occurred and the polluted land instantly disappeared. And then—“
“We were swept away by the shockwave and flew far together. You probably lost consciousness in that process. Unfortunately, judging by the fact that only the two of us are here, Eunsol and Seungyub might have died in the explosion.”
“That’s right.”
“If you lost consciousness, you probably didn’t see the notification related to the resolution?”
“Right.”
“Let’s talk outside. There was quite a bit of aningful content.”
aningful content, huh?
I lightly shook my head. As he said, we should talk outside.
“Choose quickly. And let’s go out.”
“...”
“I have so sha too. No matter what, it doesn’t feel right for to take this room’s Inheritance.”
“It’s not such a simple matter.”
“Don’t tell you’re trying to give the Inheritance to ? I’d gratefully accept if you give it, but—“
“Read this first.”
“The title is unusual. Two choices...”
Sanghyun handed the small catalog booklet he had been reading. Did he wake up earlier than and already figure sothing out?
According to the contents of the booklet, we had to make two types of choices during this ti of choice.
The first choice was, as always, choosing the Inheritance.
“Final Flash, I expected this one, but the second is unexpected. Cryptic Cell?”
“But you know what it is now, right?”
“Is it the power Adravita gave you?”
“It’s the power given to and the power that turned the continent’s beasts into monsters.”
I recalled the power Sanghyun wielded.
The high level of physical enhancent that could overwhelm my movents strengthened by Ancient Blood ca to mind first.
Also, judging by how he pulled out bone knives from various parts of his body, it seed he had the ability to mutate his body itself.
If I were to choose between the two, I would choose Final Flash without hesitation.
I was curious how strong I would beco if I double-enhanced my body with Ancient Blood and Cryptic Cell, but in the end, it would just be a fast and strong body.
There was a limit to how much one could enhance a body made of protein. As proof, every ti I loaded the Final Flash, Kim Sanghyun, using Unknown Cell, busily rolled on the ground.
However, Kim Sanghyun seed likely to choose Cryptic Cell.
He seed to have trained a high level of martial arts while living as a primitive chieftain for hundreds of years in Room 203, and those fighting techniques would synergize with Cryptic Cell.
Also, his professional knowledge as a “doctor” would help in mutating the body.
In fact, apart from this synergy, there was a more important reason.
“Sanghyun, congratulations on gaining immortality!”
“...”
Cryptic Cell provided its owner with an immortal life.
For most humans, this alone would be worth choosing over other Inheritances.
Instead of answering, Kim Sanghyun turned the catalog page to the next one.
“Look at the second choice.”
The content of the second choice was as follows:
[mory or Oblivion, which will you choose?]
“This part isn’t sothing for to say this or that about.”
“...”
– Clank! Clank!
In silence, the train endlessly ran across the plain.\
The outside scenery looked like an African savanna, but no people were visible. It didn’t seem to be Room 203.
“Why did they give such a choice? Doesn’t the Hotel originally treat ntal trauma as well?”
“...”
“Thinking about it, I think I understand. In cases where ntal damage exceeds a certain level, the appropriate treatnt is only oblivion.”
“It’s the sa in the Administration. For mories above a certain level of horror, oblivion is the best treatnt. Elena, who went insane in Room 201, lost all her mories after one night.”
“But now, I have too many mories that should be erased. And...”
“And?”
Instead of answering, Kim Sanghyun lightly rubbed his fingers. At that mont, sparks arose from his fingertips.
“...What’s that?”
“Do you know how difficult it was to make fire in the primitive era? You can’t even imagine. One day, when I ca to my senses, fire would light just by snapping my fingers.”
I laughed dryly. It was a strange and unique skill, but I thought it wasn’t really necessary if you had a lighter.
“I understand what you’re trying to say. You’ve gained various skills over hundreds of years in Room 203, and you’re afraid of losing those skills if you lose your mories?”
“I won’t lose them completely. It’s hard to explain, but I just know. I can use abilities gained through Diligence, even if I lose my mories. However...”
“However?”
“I’ll forget the process of gaining those abilities, and the mories of using them after gaining them.”
I gradually understood the situation.
Even if Sanghyun chose oblivion, the mysterious abilities he gained in Room 203 wouldn’t disappear.
However, he’d lose proficiency because he lost the mories of using those abilities.
“From the perspective of strength, you should take your mories out.”
I held back the following words. Because it was sothing we both knew.
Could a human who built a small kingdom after creating a family and leaving descendants over 300 years take those mories out intact and climb the Hotel again?
That was why I had to keep my mouth shut. Only the person in question had the right to decide.
– Screech!
At that mont, the train stopped briefly.
“...”
One more person boarded the train.
He didn’t have the right to intervene in the “first choice”.
After all, he had already lost his qualification as a participant at the mont of resolution.
However...
He had the right to intervene in the “second choice”.
“...”
Was he human? Was he a bird? Or was he neither?
He seed to have forgotten human speech from not opening his mouth for too long.
Looking at the young man who was touching his human body here and there with an incomprehensible expression, I thought.
If he could use the Grimoire, why was he trapped in a bird’s body? Couldn’t he borrow a primitive human’s body?
Was there a reason he had to be trapped?
If he really lived as a bird for 300 years, what state is he in now?
The train got a little cooler.
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