Escaping the Mystery Hotel

With a sudden jolt, I opened my eyes.

At the same time, a freezing wind that felt like it would tear my skin apart seeped in.

“Ugh~! Seriously, Hotel! This weather is ridiculous!”

While complaining about the weather, I glanced sideways to check on the state of my comrades.

How’s the atmosphere this time?

…

Is it the same? Most of them were sighing deeply, looking half-dazed.

Room 201, isn’t this just too much?

Am I just going to sleep through this entire ordeal?

“Alright~ Alright~ Cheer up! There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s get moving~!”

At least one person seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood.

Seeing Eunsol-noona’s bright expression, everyone else seemed to perk up, their faces visibly brightening as they started moving.

This is going to be interesting.

As soon as we entered the elevator to escape the chilling cold, they started chatting noisily.

It seemed like the group that went to fight Beatrix had a rough time.

I overheard some weary talk about how her main body might be somewhere else, and how there was no way to kill her.

It wasn’t until we returned to the warmth of Room 105 that Noona began her detailed explanation.

***Noona spent quite a while recounting the story of how she and Grandpa fought valiantly at the headquarters.

Many parts left us in awe.

We couldn’t help but applaud when she described how Grandpa quickly came up with a strategy to counter the truth serum and how she managed to bring in the Administration’s forces.

Toward the end, she recalled unsealing Perro and how he sacrificed himself for her escape. I got so tense that I started to sweat.

Noona, seemingly overwhelmed with emotion as well, suddenly hugged Perro and rubbed her cheek against him, only letting go after getting her ear bitten.

After finishing her tale, she began recounting the information she had gathered.

“Where should I start? Okay, I’ll explain in chronological order. In the 1980s, a being called the ‘Eye of Zero Dimension’ suddenly appeared. No one knew where it came from or its purpose. The moment it appeared, it encompassed the entire world within its sight, and anyone who became aware of the ‘Eye’ quickly descended into madness. According to the charts, the world collapsed in less than half a year.”

I couldn’t help but interrupt such an absurd story.

“The world collapsed?”

“According to the data I found, yes. Of course, given the quality of the weapons we used in Room 201 and the Administration’s military power that we saw at the last moment, it doesn’t quite feel like a collapse… Well, the Administration is a powerful organization, so they might have somehow managed to put the world back together.”

Grandpa nodded in agreement.

“The ‘Eye of Zero Dimension’, huh? That must be the creature that Elena and Kain saw.”

“Seems like it, right? I’ll continue. The Administration somehow managed to seal the Eye of Zero Dimension. That’s when our very own Chief Researcher Han Kain came into the picture!”

Everyone’s eyes instantly turned to me. I had nothing to say, so I kept my mouth shut.

“It’s not clear what method the Chief Researcher used, but it seems he used a tool called the ‘Irregular Polyhedron’. In fact… The records I found vaguely describe the Chief Researcher as something not quite human.”

The more I heard, the more curious I became.

“What exactly was my role?”

“Because of the title ‘Chief Researcher’, you probably imagined a clean-cut, sophisticated intellectual, right? But that wasn’t the case. According to Patrick’s journal, the Chief Researcher was described as a fiend with demonic charisma.”

Ahri seemed to find that amusing.

“Kain~! No more demonic behavior from now on.”

“…”

“Anyway, the Chief Researcher used the Irregular Polyhedron to seal the Eye of Zero Dimension in some strange space that can’t be accessed by ordinary means, and for that achievement, he was heavily promoted. A considerable amount of time passed after that. Then, in the 1990s, Beatrix appeared in New York.”

Now it begins. Beatrix.

“From what I read, Beatrix was known to have the power to create monsters from the moment she was discovered. Because of that power, she lost both her parents at a young age. Initially, the Administration tried to eliminate Beatrix. Although they considered her ability to be useful, they judged her to be no different from a natural disaster since she couldn’t control the monsters.”

This part I knew.

“That’s where I came in again. I helped Beatrix control her power, right?”

“Exactly. There was a bit more detail in the records. During the Chief Researcher’s experiments, Beatrix created countless monsters, but most of them were failures. The sheer number of failed creations was a big problem. By ‘failures’, I don’t mean weak monsters.”

“You mean incredibly powerful monsters that Beatrix couldn’t control.”

“Exactly. And then our Chief Researcher Han Kain had another brilliant idea. They recalled the place where they had previously sealed the Eye of Zero Dimension.”

At this, Ahri hesitantly asked, “Wait, are you saying they built a research facility inside the place where the evil god was sealed? And there, Beatrix kept creating monsters, throwing the failed ones to the evil god?”

“You catch on quickly, Ahri. You really are from the Administration.”

Grandpa looked incredulous.

“I can only say they’ve truly crossed the line…”

Jinchul-hyung couldn’t hold back his curiosity, “Gramps, did the Administration in our world do stuff like this too?”

“They rarely went to such extremes.”

Songee sighed, “‘Rarely’ means they did, just not often.”

“…”

“Even though the Administration operates beyond the understanding of ordinary people, doing something like this is definitely over the line.” Ahri quickly added, defensively. “To think they considered creating monsters to use as weapons… This isn’t normal at all. The real problem here is clearly Han Kain.”

Even though this story wasn’t really about me, I felt suffocated.

Eunsol-noona seemed to have grasped something.

“Think back to the story I told you earlier. According to the records, the world in this scenario was on the brink of collapse due to the evil god. The one who stopped it was Chief Researcher Han Kain. If you exaggerate a bit, you could say he saved the world. Given such a monumental achievement, imagine how much influence he must have gained. The Administration, at the end of the day, is still run by people after all. Who would dare oppose the person who saved the world?”

After hearing everything up to this point, I tried to piece together the truth of Room 201.

First, in the 1980s, an overwhelming entity dubbed the Eye of Zero Dimension appeared and drove the world to the brink of destruction. The Chief Researcher used a tool called the Irregular Polyhedron to seal the evil god and save the world.

Second, in the 1990s, a girl named Beatrix appeared, who had the power to create monsters. Initially, she couldn’t control them, but the Chief Researcher began experiments to help her gain control over her ability. During this process, countless failed monsters were produced.

Third, the Chief Researcher built a research facility inside the space where the evil god was sealed. The experiments on Beatrix continued within the seal, and all the failed monsters were thrown to the evil god to be killed.

Once I understood the bigger picture, the information our team had gathered began to make sense.

Ahri spoke up first, “Right before I died, I saw a ridiculous place. At first, I thought it was a red wasteland, but when I got closer, it turned out to be a massive lake filled to the brim with endless monster corpses. That place must have been the trash bin.”

Songee nodded in agreement.

“So, the Cube was like a breeding ground for monsters. Inside each of the dozens of boxes, monsters were being created. If one seemed useful, it was taken out and used, and if not, the box was flipped open, and the monster fell to the bottom.”

“Patrick was confident that the facility couldn’t be destroyed because it was built in the place where the Eye of Zero Dimension was sealed, right?”

Grandpa answered, “That must be it. Actually, Eunsol said that although they had prepared helicopters and armored vehicles, they didn’t physically destroy the facility; they just waited. They must have been waiting for Beatrix to come out.”

“So, Patrick underestimated the Administration. He mistakenly thought they were safe because the facility couldn’t be physically destroyed, only to fall victim to biochemical weapons.”

“Well, it’s common for those who are lucky enough to gain supernatural powers to start thinking they’re invincible, only to get crushed by the Administration.”

Seungyub asked a question, “If the failures were dumped into the Cube’s trash bin, what happened to the successful ones?”

“Wouldn’t the ones left in the Cube be the successes? After all, Beatrix was actually able to control those monsters.”

“Is that so?”

I had my own question, “By the time you guys entered, hadn’t there already been hundreds of people sacrificed in the mansion? Why were regular people being dragged in and killed? Doing that would almost certainly alert the Administration.”

Ahri seemed to ponder for a moment before offering a hypothesis.

“Maybe the monsters Beatrix created needed to consume humans to survive.”

After hearing that, I couldn’t help but ask, “So, the Administration wanted to use a girl who creates monsters that need to eat humans as a ‘useful weapon’?”

“…Why are you blaming me? I’m just a clueless 16-year-old girl.”

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence at that unfunny joke.

There were still many unanswered questions.

For instance, how did the Chief Researcher end up trapped in a tank?

If they could trap someone in such a place, they could have killed them, so why didn’t they?

It seemed that Eunsol-noona hadn’t found any information on that part either.

But that can’t be helped. We can’t uncover all the secrets of the Cursed Rooms, nor do we need to.

We just need to know enough to resolve the problem.

The next topic of discussion was how to break my seal.

Eunsol-noona explained the location of where I was trapped and the conditions needed to break the seal.

As I listened, I realized it wouldn’t be easy.

“It’s not as simple as storming the headquarters and destroying everything, is it?”

“No. According to the information I found, only Patrick and Beatrix can break your seal.”

“That sounds difficult. We can’t exactly ask Beatrix for help, so do we need to brainwash Patrick somehow?”

Curious, I looked over at Ahri, who had an uncertain expression.

“If it’s a regular person, I can control them just by making eye contact. Even someone with a strong will can’t resist if I force them to drink my blood. The problem is Patrick isn’t an ordinary person. He likely has some means of resistance. Besides, capturing Patrick alive is a challenge in itself.”

Jinchul-hyung seemed to be thinking.

“If push comes to shove, I could forcefully smash through with the Star, right?”

“Do I need to explain why that’s dangerous again?”

“I understand. I’m just suggesting it as a Plan D.”

Songee raised another concern, “It seems like in the next round, we’ll all be heading to the headquarters together. But what about Beatrix? If we start causing trouble at the headquarters, she’ll likely come back.”

Elena answered simply, “I’ll hold off on using Justice until Beatrix shows up. Then I’ll keep her busy while you guys free Kain.”

The plan for the third attempt was starting to take shape.

They would all move to the headquarters through the TV, wreak havoc there, and free me from the seal.

If Beatrix showed up, Elena would stall her while the others worked on freeing me.

After that, with my revival, we’ll defeat Beatrix and solve the problem!

Everyone started to celebrate, feeling like the resolution to Room 201 was finally within reach.

Amid their joy, I…

To be honest, I was very uneasy.

There was a very important detail my comrades’ plan overlooked.

Everything sounds great, but how exactly are we supposed to kill Beatrix?

Everyone just seemed to be thinking, “Once we free the great Chief Researcher Han Kain, we’ll somehow be able to deal with Beatrix!”

Is this plan really going to work? Is it even reliable?

I don’t even know what Beatrix looks like, but my comrades seem to think that once I’m free, I’ll be able to take care of her on my own.

That makes me really nervous!

In the end, I couldn’t hold back and spoke up, “Um… I’m sorry if I’m ruining the mood, but are you sure I’ll be able to take down Beatrix once I’m freed from the seal? Wouldn’t it be better to summon the Administration again?”

Eunsol-noona responded with a somewhat somber expression, “…There’s something I haven’t told you all yet.”