Escaping the Mystery Hotel

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 45

Current Location: Floor 1, Room 107 (Gate Room)

Sage's Advice: 1

Everyone realized what just happened.

When the staff members came to kidnap Perro, Songee quickly had Perro escape through the window.

Ahri spoke in amazement.

“You told him to go outside?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re quick-witted. But how will we meet him again?”

“I’m worried about that too. The situation was so urgent that I only told him to go out. Perro is smart, so he’ll probably return at the right time.”

Since Perro was not an ordinary parrot, he likely had the intelligence for that.

The morning's chaos subsided.

We ordered room service for a light snack for lunch.

Grandpa Mooksung spoke in a curious tone.

“Do you know one interesting thing about the Hotel?”

“What is it?”

“They rarely disturb our meals. The Hotel itself always provided excellent food, and in Cursed Rooms or in the Gate Room like now, they always find some reason not to starve us. This ship also has a peculiar rule of ‘not crossing the line’ during the day, so we can eat in peace.”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

“If you end up working for the Administration later, you’ll realize how merciful the Hotel is for not disturbing meals. There are times when you’ll gnaw on barely chewable biscuits for three or four days while rolling around doing rough work.”

“I told you, I’m not planning to work for the Administration…”

Grandpa just laughed as if it were amusing.

Ahri joined the conversation, “Let’s worry about that when we get out. But Grandpa’s words do make me a bit concerned.”

“Concerned?”

“We’ve been through all kinds of things in the Hotel, but as Grandpa said, we’ve gotten accustomed to always eating well. We don’t really stay on guard about meals. If someone tampers with our food, we’re bound to fall for it at least once.”

We all fell silent at that.

“…”

At least this meal seems fine.

In an attempt to change the ominous topic, Grandpa spoke again.

“By the way, not being able to use our Inheritance is a significant pressure. Did you see it earlier? It’s hard to respond when a staff member even just touches a revolver.”

“And there are many staff members with guns on this ship.”

“That’s exactly it. We still don’t know how the Fourth Trial will unfold, but if it comes down to a fight, we’re severely lacking in strength. Perro alone isn’t enough.”

Songee spoke optimistically.

“The staff and passengers are all humans, right? If worse comes to worst, can’t Elena-unni handle them all? During the Common Sense Renovating Media, she could block bullets using Justice.”

Indeed, if Elena used Justice, a mere revolver wouldn’t be a problem.

But can Elena use Justice now?

When I looked at Elena, she responded immediately.

“It’s not feasible at the current moment.”

I thought so.

Whether they’re passengers or staff, their atmosphere is sinister, but we have no clear idea of their wrongdoing.

At least they needed to commit some obvious crime we can recognize for Elena to use Justice.

Grandpa stroked his chin and answered.

“We need to create a situation where Elena can use Justice somehow.”

“We need to find evidence of the people committing evil deeds on this ship, right?”

“Exactly. Waiting for them to attack is dangerous. If Elena dies before she can use Justice, we’d be massacred.”

After finishing our meal, we decided to explore the ship's facilities until the dinner party.

***Only after we started exploring the ship did we feel the immense size Grandpa mentioned.

The restaurants and party halls were basic, but there were also swimming pools, bowling alleys, and even a small botanical garden.

The ship was so large that we didn’t have time to thoroughly inspect everything.

We could only briefly note the facilities and move on.

After exploring for about two hours, we sat in a park-like area, gazing at the vast sea and sky while resting.

Ahri spoke up.

“Something feels off.”

“What feels off?”

“This ship is very different from other cruises.”

“It’s my first time on a cruise, so I don’t know what other cruises are like.”

“You don’t need to have been on a cruise to notice. How should I put it? The interior and everything feel a bit...”

What is she talking about?

I wondered what she meant, but Elena understood.

“The interior doesn’t feel modern, right? Even the people’s clothes aren’t.”

“Maybe the setting of this stage is a long time ago? Like the 1950s?”

“I thought so too at first, but look at this. I picked it up along the way,” Grandpa countered.

Grandpa took out a yellowed, dried-up old newspaper.

The date in the newspaper was August 2003.

“It’s a 2003 newspaper, but it’s completely decayed. The time within this stage must be at least 2004 or 2005. While it’s from a past era compared to our time, it’s not the 1950s.”

Songee gave her opinion.

“Could it have been drifting at sea for a very long time? The scenario title is ‘The Secret of Esper Ho’, right? Maybe it’s a ghost ship that’s been drifting for decades?”

“It doesn’t seem like a ghost ship. If it were, that would mean we’re seeing some sort of hallucination. But everything looks the same, even with the filter on.”

As another passenger passed nearby, we naturally fell silent.

The ship’s interior and the passengers' attire seemed decades old compared to the stage's time.

Has the Esper Ho been drifting at sea for decades?

If so, the first story that came to mind was a ghost ship, as Songee mentioned, but it didn’t seem like there were any hallucinations.

Eventually, the dinner party time approached.

As time passed, everyone grew increasingly anxious.

Moreover, the Scenario predicted another crisis at midnight.

Yet we still had no clue about the ship’s secret, and Elena, our biggest force, couldn’t use Justice.

Feeling pressured to do something, Grandpa made a bold suggestion before heading to the party.

“How about we stir up the party?”

We all looked at Grandpa in surprise.

“Don’t look at me like that. I have a hunch that the ‘party’ itself is suspicious. It’s not just a feeling. Even Kain’s scenario repeatedly mentions the ‘dinner party’, and the staff invited us to join it right from the start. Even today, I felt it.”

While exploring the ship after lunch, we naturally met the staff and passengers.

They acted friendly, laughed, and chatted with us, but every time, they mentioned the dinner party.

It felt like they were trying to embed the “dinner party” into our minds.

Songee offered a slightly different view.

“The ship’s people are potential enemies, right? If they’re trying to push us into the party, wouldn’t it be to avoid it entirely?”

“I thought so at first. But if we don’t go, we won’t uncover the secrets of the party. The Hotel isn't a place where you can solve problems by avoiding dangerous places. Plus, the scenario directly instructed us to gather information at the dinner party.”

As I listened, I became curious.

“I understand the party is suspicious, and that we should go despite the suspicion. But how does that lead to crashing the party?”

“Think of it more as an intuition. I feel the party itself is their weak spot.”

Intuition.

It’s rather ambiguous.

Usually, I wouldn’t be convinced by such a statement.

But with the certainty of another crisis at midnight, it seemed like the right time to act.

In the end, we all decided to crash the party in our own way.

***The dinner party began.

At first, it wasn’t much different from yesterday.

The passengers surrounded us, offering gifts and flattering us while sharply asking about our personal information.

Is the party’s purpose to gather information about us?

Or is there something more to it?

For now,it seems like they are interested in my age and where I’m from.

“…”

I had a strange experience.

When the passengers asked about personal information, I deliberately lied.

I had heard that Westerners often couldn’t guess Asians’ ages accurately.

I added three years to my age and claimed to be from Hunan, China.

They didn’t seem to believe me.

They smiled lightly and walked away, only to come back and ask the same questions again.

It was as if they knew my previous answers were lies.

Han Kain: They’re curious about my age and where I’m from. I lied, but they seem to know.

Yu Songee: Same experience. I didn’t answer my age and said I was born in Japan, but they didn’t believe me.

Elena: Are you all idiots? They understand Korean, so pretending to be foreigners won’t work.

Oh, right.

Now that I think about it, despite their mixed races, all the staff and passengers had been speaking Korean from the start.

It felt like the Hotel set the language to Korean so we could communicate.

Regardless, claiming to be Chinese or Japanese when speaking Korean wasn’t convincing.

Ahri shared a different thought.

Kim Ahri: Nationality aside, it’s strange they don’t believe our age.

True.

They could guess our nationality from the language, but not believing our age seemed strange.

It was odd that they could determine our age within a 1-2 year margin just by looking at us.

We gathered around a table, discussing our observations.

Like yesterday, any word or action from us drew attention from those around us.

Grandpa decided to stir things up.

-Clang!

He smashed a bottle on the table, causing a loud noise.

“Burp! Man, I’m getting drunk! Kain, go get some beer from over there.”

To blend in, I frantically brought drinks and snacks.

A staff member, unable to hide his panic, hurried over to us.

“Sir, you seem very intoxicated. Perhaps it’s time to retire—”

-Crash!

Grandpa overturned the table, knocking over the staff member who was speaking.

What?

Did he just hit a staff member?

Can he do that?

- Swish! Thud!

“Whoa!”

“What’s wrong with him?”

Grandpa broke three more bottles and started throwing round bread like frisbees at nearby passengers.

As the staff and passengers rushed toward our table in a fluster, Grandpa stood on the table.

“Ah~ you’re an untrustworthy person~𝅘𝅥𝅮 Ah~ you’re a childish person~𝅘𝅥𝅮 ¹”

I was dumbfounded, and the chat window exploded with messages.

Elena: Do we really need to go this far?

Yu Songee: What song is this?

Kim Ahri: It’s a recent song for him.

Amidst the chaos, everyone just stared at Grandpa with their mouths hanging open.

“Today you’re a chrysanthemum~𝅘𝅥𝅮 Tomorrow you’re a rose~𝅘𝅥𝅮”

Okay, this is just too funny. It’s so ridiculous that I started laughing.

“I’m done waiting, wild bee~𝅘𝅥𝅮”

“Wild bee!”

I turned to see Ahri also shouting “Wild bee!”

“I’m done waiting, wild bee~𝅘𝅥𝅮”

“Wild bee!”

Ah, whatever.

I’ll just join in.

It felt like something was bound to happen.

It’d be stranger if nothing happened after this chaos.

Sage's Advice: 1 → 0

The Life Warning suddenly activated.

:"Footnotes

1. A song sung by Kang Jin. Released at 2020 with the title "Wild Bee"

",notes:null,premium:{unlockable:void 0,