Escaping the Mystery Hotel

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 46

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

Sage's Advice: 2

- Han Kain

We just learned the astonishing fact that we’ve returned to the past.

I spent quite a while organizing the notes left by the “past me” in the Status Window.

Although it was unclear at the moment, it seemed I wrote these notes in a very urgent situation.

The notes weren’t neat. They seemed more like a chaotic collection of jumbled thoughts if anything.

“It feels like you wrote it just as you thought it.”

“I must have been in a huge rush. The handwriting is almost flying off the page. Let me summarize what I understand. Somewhere on this ship, a wicked ritual using humans as sacrifices is ongoing. Grandpa Mooksung was taken to this place and passed away. Elena used Justice to kill all the staff and passengers, and then the demon reversed time, bringing us to the present.”

“The ritual requires information regarding our age and birthplace?”

“Yes, and there's a clock at the ritual site that currently points to 1.”

“What determines the movement of the clock’s hand?”

“It’s vaguely written, so I’m not sure. It seems even the past me wasn’t certain.”

Elena spoke up after listening for a while.

“I think I roughly understand the situation. Let’s follow the instructions left by the past Kain for now. It seems there are two main tasks.”

“Yes. First, it says the dinner party in the evening is their reverse scale, so we should try to crash it. The staff have guns though, so be careful.”

“How are we supposed to crash it when the staff has guns? Now that Grandpa is gone, we don’t even have a gun—”

“A gun?”

“We do.”

Ahri pulled out a gun from her waist, looking confused.

Why does Ahri have the gun?

Regardless, it was fortunate.

I continued speaking, “Second, there is a place resembling an underground prison on the ship. We should check it out.”

Songee tilted her head.

“An underground prison… That’s not a place you’d expect on a ship. And we don’t even know how to get there.”

I conveyed various other pieces of information from the jumbled flow of thoughts from my past self.

As I suspected, I asked Elena for confirmation.

“Can you use Justice now?”

Elena shook her head as if it were obvious.

“No. I’ve never felt like this before, it’s weird. It’s not about lacking evidence or anything, but it seems like the power itself has dried up. Normally, it feels like a water bottle was full but hard to open, but now it feels like the bottle itself is empty.”

“Is it recovering? If so, when do you think you can use it again?” Ahri asked with concern.

“It is recovering, but it’ll take at least two or three days.”

Two or three days is an eternity in the context of the Gate Room.

It seems we won’t be able to use Justice for the Fourth Trial.

There were two terms in my notes that I couldn’t understand: “Wild Bees” and “Senior”.

What do those mean?

We all puzzled over them as we stepped out of the cabin.

Outside the cabin, two things changed.

First, Perro flew in from somewhere.

According to the notes, Songee had sent him out, so it seemed he was safe.

Did Perro not get affected by the time reversal?

Maybe he was just outside the ship.

While Perro and Songee reunited joyfully, rubbing their cheeks together, the scenario was updated.

Most of it was a general description of our current state, but there was one significant detail.

The staff and passengers of the Esper Ho were terrified when the hand of the “Clock of Contracts” moved.

Observing the people around us, I understood the meaning of those words, we observed the people around us.

The staff and passengers were too busy talking among themselves with extreme anxiety to pay attention to us.

Although they occasionally reminded us to come to the dinner party, they didn’t seem capable of focusing on us.

Observing this, Ahri voiced an optimistic view.

“This situation isn’t bad. It feels like an asymmetry in our information has occurred.”

Songee asked.

“Asymmetry in our information?”

“No one can remember anything before the time reversal, but thanks to Kain’s Status Window, we’ve come back with quite a bit of information. Meanwhile, these people remember nothing and only know that the clock hand moved.”

Listening to her, I grew curious.

“What could have caused the hand of the Clock of Contracts to move? My past self wrote about it vaguely.”

“What exactly did you write?”

“Clock’s number = Number of time reversals? I crossed out the number of time reversals twice.”

“What does that mean? Is it or is it not the number of time reversals? Couldn’t you write something understandable?”

“How can you blame the current me for that? I guess even I wasn’t sure when I wrote it.”

Elena interrupted.

“Let’s focus on our next plan. We have half a day until the dinner party, so we should check out the ship’s basement before then.”

Despite putting our heads together for quite a while, we couldn’t come up with an ingenious plan.

The biggest problem is our lack of strength.

With Justice depleted, we have no power left to confront the staff of the Esper Ho directly.

If there’s a hidden place in the basement, there must be patrolling staff members.

After much thought, I used the Sage's Advice. I expected a vague answer, but even that would be helpful.

Sage's Advice: 2 → 1

Make a noise in the east, then strike in the west

“Ah, what now…”

“What does it say?” Ahri asked.

“It just says, ‘Make a noise in the east, then strike in the west’.”

“Is that one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems? What does it mean?” Songee asked.

“‘Make noise in the east, then strike in the west’? It roughly means to draw attention elsewhere and attack the targeted place.”

Elena slapped her knee.

“I think I understand the advice!”

***- Elena

I spun around lightly to inspect myself.

The luxurious evening dress I’d never worn before was a mix of purple and silver, resembling a galaxy in the night sky, and the shawl draped over the dress was covered in soft white fur, reminiscent of a winter mountain rabbit.

But the most important content is me!

Ah, this is a bit embarrassing.

But with this level of glamour, I can draw everyone’s attention.

In this plan, my role was to be the “decoy”, so I needed this level of splendor.

If I had one regret, it would be that the people I would have wanted to show this off to were extremely tense and had long departed for the basement.

Earlier, while I was getting dressed, my companions were too busy planning the basement exploration to look my way.

Honestly, I felt a bit left out.

Finally, I hid a candle lighter inside the dress to complete my glamorous look.

There was still plenty of time until the dinner party.

However, many people were already wandering the ship in their party attire.

As I approached the vicinity of the party hall, people naturally flocked toward me.

“Oh! My eyes are blinded. Has a star fallen from the sky? My lady—”

These cheesy lines… Really?

They’re too old-fashioned.

Still, I have to respond.

“I am Elena Ivanov.”

“Hahaha! Lady Elena, I am Stevenson. May I have the honor of escorting you?”

This line is even worse. Isn’t it over a hundred years old?

But I linked arms with the man named Stevenson and moved towards the party hall anyway.

It was quite amusing to see several men showing visible jealousy towards Stevenson.

As we tried to enter the party hall, a staff member appeared.

“It’s not time for the dinner party yet. You can’t enter.”

“I know the time. I just heard so much about how splendid the hall is. Can’t I have a look?”

Despite my earnest expression, the staff member didn’t budge.

“Lady, I’m sorry. We aren’t finished preparing yet. Around dinner time—”

“Is it really not possible?”

Now, I gazed at the staff member with the eyes of a young doe.

The flustered staff member stepped back, ready to refuse again.

This guy’s tough. But I have another card to play!

I turned to Stevenson.

“Is it so hard to see the party hall once? Why can’t we even step outside the cabin? Should we return to the cabin?”

It was strange.

The staff member didn’t say anything about going back to the cabin.

But it was enough for the man next to me.

“You! Step aside! I don’t understand why you’re making such a fuss over a simple viewing. Move!”

It worked as expected.

This is why I put my heart into getting dressed.

The staff and passengers of this ship weren’t ordinary, and there were sinister relationships hidden beyond their appearances.

I did my best to dress up, thinking I’d become about 70% angel, and as soon as I came out, people gathered around me.

Among them, the man who confidently spoke to me must hold a high rank in this wicked group.

As expected, at Stevenson’s words, the staff member stepped back, looking flustered, unlike when he was dealing with me.

The party hall was already splendid.

Since it wasn’t party time yet, there were few people.

Stevenson, who came in with me, started boasting about his business.

I humored him for about ten minutes, then asked to look around alone, and he left.

He probably thought we were engaging in some form of flirtation.

Whatever, now it was time for the plan: Make a noise in the east, then strike in the west!

I’ve lived in Korea for quite a while, but I’m still not used to these strange Chinese phrases.

Why does Korea even use these odd Chinese words?

Make a noise in the east, then strike in the west?

How about shortening it to Feint East, Attack West?

Or Shout East! Punch West!

Thinking such nonsense, I took out the lighter.

Time to make some noise in the east.

***- Han Kain

As we lingered near the stairs, a commotion began.

“Fire!”

“The party hall is on fire!”

The past me left a piece of advice: “The party is their reverse scale.”

Indeed, that advice was correct.

As soon as Elena set the party hall on fire, the entire ship erupted in chaos, with everyone rushing to the party hall.

Songee voiced her concern.

“Will Elena be alright?”

“Don’t worry about her.”

I wasn’t worried at all.

I’d already witnessed Elena’s incredible acting skills on the doppelganger train.

Even if she gets caught, she can just cry a little and say she didn’t know it would turn out this way, and they’d probably let her off.

In fact, we’re in more danger than Elena.

After taking a quick look at each other, the three of us started descending the stairs to the basement of the Esper Ho.