Escaping the Mystery Hotel

- Outside, Park Seungyub.

The flame burns. The flame burns. The flame burns.

It feels like I’m in a dream, my mind growing hazy as the incense for the Prayer of Rest dims.

This can’t be happening… If that incense goes out, who knows what might happen to my comrades.

This flame, which allowed the living to enter the realm of the dead, burned a person’s vitality as fuel to sustain itself.

I gritted my teeth and pinched my thigh.

There was no spot left on my thigh that wasn’t bruised by now.

Only now do I fully understand what the Patron meant.

“It’s different from the Cursed Rooms. Not everyone needs to participate.”

“There’s no need for you to overexert yourself.”

In retrospect, it was a somewhat contradictory statement.

The first part implied that I didn’t need to participate, but the second part warned me not to overdo it.

It was strange to tell someone who wasn’t participating not to overdo it.

That advice was meant for someone who had something to do but was also being reminded to take care of themselves.

In the end, it wasn’t that complicated.

The first part meant I shouldn’t enter Miro’s hell, while the second part meant I shouldn’t push myself too hard while participating in the Prayer of Rest outside.

The flame flickered.

Moments ago, it felt like the incense had consumed the last of my remaining vitality.

I couldn’t control the drool now dripping from my mouth, and my consciousness gradually began to fade.

Ah! Suddenly, I felt angry!

“Lacking talent, and on top of that, lacking diligence. That was the case outside, and it’s the same in the Hotel.”

Thinking about it again now, that was way too harsh, you jerk of a Patron!

What other middle school kid in the world is living as hard as I am?

Kain-hyung always said that the Owl was less helpful than Perro, but my clueless Patron only ever gives me crap while pretending to care.

- Fwoosh!

As I momentarily fumed, I noticed that the flame had grown back to the size of a child’s fist.

Looks like I can hold on a little longer.

Thank goodness.

The next turn will be Songee-noona’s, but before that, I’ll endure just a tiny bit more.

Grandpa Mooksung, Ahri-noona, Kain-hyung! Do your best! And…

And if possible, could you hurry it up a little?

***

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 92

Current Location: Miro’s Hell

Sage’s Advice: 2

- Han Kain.

After slashing at Miro’s eyes with my pen and fleeing into the hallway, my timid escape came to a tragic end.

I got scolded.

Very badly scolded.

…Well, I guess it’s normal to get scolded if you suddenly wave a pen at a classmate’s eyes.

Should I consider myself lucky?

The weird colors that suddenly appeared and then vanished in her eyes couldn’t be explained by normal logic.

The teachers just thought I waved my pen around and accidentally scared Miro.

After being lectured two or three times to apologize to Miro before dinner, I was finally let go.

“Kek! Hehehe!”

“Stop giggling like that. If you want to laugh, just laugh.”

“Are you serious? You drew a line in the air and ran away from a kid?”

Watching Ahri smirk like that made me want to draw a line on her eyes too.

I’m in this mess because of your mom, and you have the gall to laugh at me?

“Hey, this is all because of your mom!”

“From what I heard, Miro just wanted to have a snowball fight?”

“That’s not it. She used some kind of strange power! Like hypnosis or something. She tried to control my mind with some supernatural power.”

Ahri’s expression finally turned more serious.

“Not just charisma, but hypnosis? What did it feel like? The powers related to that stuff are a lot more varied than you’d expect. Did she show you illusions like Songee? Or did she confuse your mind? Or did she outright suppress your will?” Ꞧ

The more she asked, the harder it became to explain clearly.

However, I could think of something similar.

“It felt similar to what you used to do sometimes.”

Ahri tilted her head slightly in thought.

“That was when I used the power of Ancient Blood. Vampires use that to charm their prey—but that’s going off-topic. What I’m trying to say is Miro can’t use that now because she doesn’t have her Inheritance.”

“No, I’m just saying it felt similar from my end, but there were clear differences. When you used your power, it seemed like your ‘eyes’ were the key, right?”

“My power’s source is always blood. But in the case of hypnosis, the medium to deliver that power was eye contact.”

“With Miro, the eyes seemed secondary. The real power came from her ‘words.’ And, above all…”

“Above all?”

“Whenever she said those strange words, they suddenly switched to English. Of course, given the setting, everyone’s already supposed to be speaking English.”

“The Hotel auto-translates everything, so it sounds like Korean to us. But only that ‘one phrase’ was left in English? Maybe the supernatural power in her words couldn’t be translated without losing its effect. Either way, that’s a good thing.”

“What’s good about that?”

“If Miro uses strange powers through her words, most people wouldn’t notice right away. But thanks to the Hotel’s translation system, we can instantly know. If we hear English coming from her, it means she’s up to something, so we just have to stay alert.”

Got it.

Now, we’ve got a clear way to tell when Miro is using “supernatural words”.

When English comes out, she’s up to something.

…“Up to something,” huh?

Ahri’s even starting to use more aggressive expressions when it comes to Miro.

“Using words like ‘up to something’—are you starting to get scared of your mom too?”

“Honestly, a little. She’s a wild superhuman who hasn’t received any training from the Administration.”

“A wild superhuman?”

“Someone who has no hesitation about using their powers on regular people and does so as naturally as breathing. That’s typical behavior for wild superhumans. The Administration strictly educates its agents to only use out-of-the-ordinary powers in dire situations.”

Huh. This is actually a nice thing to hear about the Administration for a change. It seems like part of the reason the world I know is relatively livable is thanks to the Administration.

“By the way, Kain, did anything come up in the ‘scenario’? Our Blessings are working normally, right?”

“I’d have told you if there was something. There’s nothing at all. Just the usual nonsense about how the Hotel party entered Miro’s Hell or whatever, and to wait for nightfall.”

“Maybe something will happen when it gets dark?”

“Probably? Why did Grandpa call you earlier?”

“He found strange traces of a ritual. We still need to investigate further. The traces are really old.”

“Should I check it out too?”

Ahri shook her head.

“The traces are so old and delicate that it’s better for non-experts to stay away. Grandpa and I are narrowing down the candidates, and we should have results by evening. You don’t need to help with the search.”

“Good. That’s a relief.”

“So, you should take care of your own task.”

“Huh?”

“Go apologize to Miro.”

With that, Ahri disappeared again while laughing.

The teachers and Ahri—why does everyone keep telling me to apologize?

Isn’t Miro the one who’s more at fault for trying to use hypnosis?Nôv(el)B\\jnn

It doesn’t matter who’s at fault, I guess.

They just want me to smooth things over.

And anyway, trying to explain that she used hypnosis won’t make sense to the teachers.

Finding Miro was easy.

I didn’t know how much she loved snowball fights, but she was still outside playing in the schoolyard with her friends.

Watching her throw snowballs with the other kids through the window, honestly, she didn’t seem like such a “sinister” figure.

All she had done so far was play during class time.

If you think about it, all kids want to escape boring classes and have fun.

Miro just happens to have the power to make that wish come true.

As I stepped outside, the weather was refreshingly cold—just a normal winter’s day, not like the extreme chill of the Hotel’s second floor.

As I walked across the schoolyard, I noticed the other kids start eyeing me.

What are they, Miro’s personal guards?

Miro herself didn’t seem to care, but her followers quickly put on angry faces and started approaching me.

“Hey! Han Kain! You—”

“What do you think you’re doing after Miro just asked you to play?”

“Aren’t you going to apologize, you jerk—”

Something like that.

As Miro’s “guards” buzzed around me, the noise suddenly stopped.

Miro made a dismissive wave of her hand, and the kids retreated.

And with a single stomp, they scattered.

She was like a queen ruling a kingdom, controlling a group of more than a dozen kids with a mere gesture.

“…”

“Hmm. Ahem! Ahem!”

She was looking so smug.

Is this her way of saying, “You wronged me, but I will oh so graciously forgive you.”

I think I’m starting to understand.

The one who created Ahri, the natural-born superhuman, and the one who had even managed to make followers out of Administration members… beneath all that mystique, this girl was just a middle schooler.

Her actions and thinking were more childish than Seungyub’s.

As that realization set in, I felt both annoyed and oddly relieved.

If she had been radiating a sinister aura, from such a young age, I’d be about thirty times more terrified of her right now.

“Well… Miro? Sorry about earlier. I freaked out because I heard something strange coming from you.”

“‘Something strange.’”

“…”

“You can tell my words apart?”

Even though her question seemed abrupt, I immediately understood what she meant—she was asking if I could distinguish between her ordinary speech and the words infused with power.

“At least right now, it sounds normal.”

- Boing!

“…What are you doing?”

“You were looking up.”

I deliberately avoided eye contact with her, but for some reason, she found that funny and started jumping to get into my line of sight.

- Boing! Boing!

Instead of a snowball fight, we were now having a battle of eye contact, or rather, avoiding it.

“Ugh, this is exhausting! Just stand still for a second. By the way, what was with that pen earlier?”

“…”

“If you try to say, ‘It was expensive,’ I’ll bury you in the snow. I know it’s something strange.”

“That pen? It was a family heirloom passed down from my late—”

“Don’t lie. There’s already a lie from the word ‘late’, so now you’re getting buried up to your knees.”

Is this some kind of power?

Or did she just sense that I was lying because my lie was weak?

I couldn’t tell.

- Whoosh!

Snow started falling, landing on me.

“Are you at it again?”

- Whoosh!

“Aren’t you gonna dodge?”

“Didn’t you say you’d bury me up to my knees?”

- Thunk!

“You’re seriously just going to stand there and let me bury you?”

<We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas

And a happy New Year!>

A cheery tune started playing from somewhere.

As I listened to the music, I realized I was holding snowballs in both hands.

Did I get hypnotized during that time?

“Agh! There’s ice in it! He put ice in it!”

From the look of it, the frozen fastball I’d thrown had knocked Miro out cold in one hit!

Should I throw another?

“Take this!”

“Ahh! He’s really good at throwing snowballs!”

<We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas

*And a happy New Year!>*¹

***About two hours had passed. It was getting dark.

It seemed to be dinnertime.

Even now, I still didn’t understand why this place was considered “Hell”, but it had been more than half a day since we entered Miro’s Hell.

At that time, all the tension between me and the kids had melted away.

In the end, it had just been some childish standoff.

“Hey! Hey!”

“Huh?”

“Let’s all head inside. It’s getting dark. Aren’t you hungry?”

The kids started agreeing one by one, saying they were hungry and naturally began to disperse.

“I still want to stay out a little longer…”

“Miro, let’s go inside. It’s getting late. And… nighttime is dangerous.”

According to “Scenario Comprehension”, something was supposed to happen at night.

There had to be a reason this place was called “Hell”.

While most of the kids headed towards the dormitory, Miro stayed behind, still throwing snowballs at me.

“Let’s head in.”

“Ugh! You’re the reason everyone went inside!”

“I just suggested we eat dinner, that’s all.”

“So annoying! Take this!—Huh, you dodged?”

I was getting tired.

Even though my body had regressed to a younger state, my mind was still that of an adult.

Maybe if I started heading back, she’d follow.

“I’m heading in first.”

“Are you really going to leave me alone?”

“…”

“You like me too, don’t you? Everyone likes me!”

“I told you, that won’t work on me.”

“…How do you keep seeing through my words?”

- Whoosh.

My breath caught.

For a single moment, it was as though time had been sliced into ten pieces, revealing an eerie sliver of space.

An overwhelming silence descended upon the area.

The chirping of birds on the trees, the soft sound of snow sliding off statues and cars, the jingling of Christmas decorations in the wind.

All those sounds disappeared.

- Whoosh. Whoosh.

I could hear breathing.

A deep, low breath, unlike anything human, echoed in my ears.

“Kain? What are you doing?”

And there she was—a girl completely unaware of the change.

…How am I even “feeling” these changes?

1. ED Note: These carols are written in English by the author. Words written originally in english will be bolded, that will include this and something else you'll see coming up. Happy Reading