Escaping the Mystery Hotel

Chapter 174: Party Time - Elena's Dilemma (1)

Everyone’s faces stiffened as they carefully read the notification.

The initial part was the usual congratulatory message and the announcement of Party Time, which we’d heard several times before.

But the truly important part was in the “additional information.”

“Check the ticket? Are they talking about the Gate Room reward? Where is the ticket now?”

Noona immediately rushed off and brought back the ticket.

A faint glow was already emanating from the ticket.

As soon as it arrived, a small notification popped up.

Weren’t you disappointed that you had to give up one of the treasures? Don’t worry! You can still obtain the reward you missed by using the ticket in the Mirror Room.

This notification confirmed our suspicions.

Choosing between two rewards isn’t unique to Room 201!

In other rooms on the second floor, we would also have to choose between two rewards and the missed reward could be obtained with a ticket.

Ahri’s earlier speculation that there would be more opportunities to acquire tickets now seemed more convincing.

Given the many uses and even a dedicated room for the tickets, it was unlikely that the one we just received would be the last!

“The missed reward is referring to the Irregular Polyhedron, right?”

Noona replied with wide eyes, “That seems to be the case. If you use the ticket in the ‘Mirror Room’, you can get the missed reward. But where is the Mirror Room? Ahri?”

Ahri’s blessing, “Secret”, was specialized not only in keeping her secrets but also in uncovering the “secrets of the Hotel”.

“Hold on.”

Ahri concentrated for a while but then kept tilting her head.

“There’s nothing.”

“Huh?”

“There’s nothing there. Usually, I’d get hints about hidden NPCs or rooms. For example, on the first floor, the NPCs were the Merchant and the Doctor, and the rooms were the Sanctum of Blessings and the Souvenir Shop.”

Ahri walked over to the whiteboard and wrote down:

“Real Secret” Information (2nd Floor)

Hidden NPCs: –/?

Hidden Rooms: –/?

Location Information: ?

Function Explanation: ?

“I usually get an image like this in my head, but as you can see, most of it is just question marks. Normally, it’ll give me hints about finding the room or NPCs, but not this time.”

It suddenly made sense why Ahri had found the Sanctum of Blessings before anyone else and why Grandpa had suddenly taken us to the Hiking Room, which led us to discover the Souvenir Shop—it was all thanks to her blessing.

“Is it possible there’s nothing? The ticket notification clearly says there’s a place called the ‘Mirror Room’.”

Listening to the conversation between Eunsol-noona and Ahri, I began to understand.

“It seems like it will only become fully active after the ‘hotel repairs’ are complete.”

In the end, we were back to square one.

All the hotel notifications seemed focused on fixing the second floor, which had been in disrepair.

Jinchul-hyung let out a deep sigh.

“Seriously, what kind of hotel is this? If the facilities are broken, you’re supposed to refund the guests and apologize before sending them home.”

In the quiet atmosphere, Seungyub spoke with a tired expression, “Party Time doesn’t start until tomorrow, right? How about we talk about the rest tomorrow?”

We had just come out of Room 201, and even during dinner, we’d been discussing difficult topics, so everyone was really exhausted now.

Just before we dispersed, Noona mentioned the plans for tomorrow, “Get some rest! As soon as you wake up tomorrow morning, everyone gathers! First, we’ll go to the Sanctum of Blessings. We should strengthen the blessings as soon as Party Time starts.”

I’ll also need to think about where to use Advice tomorrow.

Ahri suddenly asked a question, “Elena said she was going to take a nap first, right? So she’s alone in the bedroom?”

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“Probably? Guys! Be careful. If you head to the bedroom now, Elena will be there since we’re still at dinner time.”

“Yes.”

“Han Kain.”

“Hm?”

Ahri suddenly called out to me.

***- Elena

-Krikk

…It’s so noisy.

- Squeak

…Should I check?

I shouldn’t. Every time I check, the situation only gets worse.

“…”

“Eek!”

- Crash!

The moment I couldn’t hold back and cracked open my eyes, I recoiled in shock and hit the wall.

Seriously, what the heck is under the blanket?

The cuckoo clock’s chime sounded oddly vivid, and a living cuckoo with a serrated beak popped out.

The picture of a mountain and waterfall on the wall’s frame distorted slightly, turning the waterfall red.

I didn’t remember there being any dolls on the table, but now there was a creepy clown doll staring straight at me.

And just now, the moment I opened my eyes from the noise, a hand shot out from under the blanket!

My stress levels skyrocketed, and I felt like I was going to lose my mind.

The bedroom door opened.

“Don’t come in! It’s dangerous—”

- Slash!

As the clown doll, dripping blood from its mouth, spat out something sharp and turned, a translucent blade sliced through the air and instantly shredded the doll.

“What danger? It’s nothing.”

“…”

Ahri giggled as if nothing happened, and soon she tore down the picture frame and snapped the neck of the living cuckoo.

“Were you having fun all by yourself?”

“Ahri…”

The moment Ahri jumped onto the bed, a hand suddenly shot out.

“What’s this?”

Ahri yanked out the hand from under the blanket, and it disappeared like dust.

“Looks like you didn’t get a wink of sleep.”

“…”

“Ah~ This is the first time I’ve seen such a fun ability. I would’ve had so much fun if I’d gotten it!”

“…”

This girl is really different from me.

I’ve always known this, but I’ve never felt it so clearly.

How can she laugh while looking at these monsters?

Even I, who created them, find them terrifying and hard to endure!

Watching Ahri’s nonchalant attitude, I started to feel more at ease.

Ahri glanced at the clock.

“Dinner time will be over in about 2 minutes. We’ll be separated into our own spaces.”

“Right.”

“Tonight, let’s sleep on the sofa near the tea table on the first floor.”

“Ahri?”

“You won’t get any sleep if you stay like this. Am I wrong?”

I couldn’t refuse. Ahri grabbed my hand and led me out of Room 105.

***- Han Kain

From a distance, I watched as Ahri led Elena out of Room 105.

Just as Ahri predicted, Elena hadn’t been able to sleep at all.

It would have been difficult for her to fall asleep peacefully while constantly creating monsters around her.

I subtly joined the two of them.

When these two were together, it really felt like the space around them shined.

If I had run into them in the outside world, I probably would have felt intimidated just by making eye contact.

“Elena! How many times have you used your ability?”

“…I haven’t used it intentionally; it just happened on its own.”

“Wow~ I’m so curious. From what I saw earlier, it seems like such a fun ability! Creating a wolf out of snow? That’s really cool! And it was actually pretty cute too!”

“Honestly, I don’t think it was that cute….”

- Thud!

Meanwhile, Ahri nudged my thigh, signaling me to act more naturally!

She’s really been expecting too much out of me recently.

Near the tea table, we started chatting about our lives before entering the hotel.

“When did you first dream of becoming an actress, Elena?”

“Since I was a child! I traveled from one country to another with my parents, so I didn’t have many friends… Watching plays or movies occasionally was my only joy. And I thought I might be able to become an actress.”

If I were born with Elena’s appearance, I’d probably consider becoming an actress or a celebrity every time I looked in the mirror.

Ahri cut in, “Aren’t you two at the point where you should start speaking more casually? You two still seem the most awkward within our team.”

As the team’s biggest breaker of formality—who spoke to everyone casually and was, thus spoken to casually—Ahri’s suggestion was quite convincing.

“Hehe… I think I need a little more time.”

“Kain, try calling her Elena-noona right now.”

“…Elena-noona?”

“Please don’t do that.”

“You’re right. It’s better not to.”

Then why even suggest it at all

The conversation naturally shifted to talking about me.

“So, Kain, did your grades start improving from your second year of high school?”

“Hahaha! That’s right. Actually, until my first year–”

“Kain, tell us something fun. Don’t you have anything more interesting than your high school studies?”

“…”

“Oh, I was enjoying it. Listening to your high school stories reminded me of my childhood…”

This is bad! Bad!

Isn’t Elena’s childhood a taboo topic?

In a similar vein, there are topics like Ahri’s “age”, Jinchul-hyung’s “dreams”, and Seungyub’s “rank in LoL”.

There are just some topics you don’t bring up.

Ahri’s expression darkened for a moment.

“Back then, I couldn’t even enjoy a simple cup of tea without worrying if it was poisoned.”

Purple bubbles began to rise from Elena’s teacup.

“I often worried about being followed while walking down the street.”

Something began to writhe in everyone’s shadows.

Just as Ahri’s expression started to turn pale, I made a decision.

“Is this tea infused with the warm love of Elena’s homeland?”

I grabbed Elena’s teacup and poured it into the shadow.

- Sizzle! Clink!

A strange sound and smell, like pouring acid, spread from the floor for a while.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Ahri suddenly laughed again.

“Haha! Elena, you really have a talent for making everyday life interesting! Even a simple cup of tea turns into such a thrilling, no, fun experience!”

“I’m sorry…”

“No, really, Elena, it’s fun. This is the first time I’ve ever had such an entertaining experience with just a cup of tea.”

The awkward atmosphere brought the tea time to an end.

As I sighed and returned to my room, I recalled the conversation I had with Ahri earlier.

“Isn’t Elena’s ability fun?”

“What are you talking about? That’s the most terrifying ability I’ve ever seen.”

“Don’t ever say it’s terrifying again. Fear is contagious. From now on, just think of it as fun. Just believe it’s fun. Until Elena believes it too.”

“…”

“…”

It looks like life is going to be quite “fun” for a while.

I recalled the memories of the Chief Researcher.

What kind of training did Beatrix undergo to control that power?