CHAPTER 305: ROOM 204, MISSION ROOM - 'HOTEL CINEMA' (27)

0% – Kim Ahri

– Click!

“I didn’t expect this kind of variable...”

30 minutes after entering the third story, I realized that the house was locked. Not only the doors coming in from outside, but also the doors going out from inside were locked.

Rather than supernatural forces intervening, it seemed that the parents simply locked it when they left. Probably intending to prevent their 12-year-old son from going outside just because he was bored alone.

Giving up on going outside, I walked around the house interior trying to gauge what might happen, but it wasn’t easy to make a judgment. It was a situation where there was an extremely rich house with no parents and only a child left.

Realistically speaking, it was a situation where crimes like theft or robbery were likely to occur, and considering supernatural variables, there were too many possibilities. As my head started to hurt thinking of endless possibilities, the keyword “toys” came to mind.

In the coffee shop, Cha Eunpyo said that his parents gave him much more toys than usual as gifts for canceling the New Year’s party. Also, the couple who just left said they had prepared lots of things Kevin would like in the bourgeois space called “the living room of Kevin’s room”.

While moving to the living room of Kevin’s room, I noticed a cat yawning while lying on the floor. The warm-looking Golden Retriever had been following me wagging its tail since earlier.

I wonder if these animals have any role too? It’s hard to tell.

Arriving at the living room, I started opening the gift boxes one by one. What popped out of the first box was an extremely cute pink elephant doll.

“Make cookies with Dollyphant?”

The pink doll came with a tea set, and on the side of the box was written”’Enjoy a fun tea time with Dollyphant!”

What kind of gift is this for a 12-year-old boy? Did the kid’s mom just buy what she likes?

Fortunately, the second gift was a toy that a 12-year-old boy would like. Inside the box were toy Thomas the Tank Engines with faces drawn on them like human expressions and lots of toy rails similar to Lego.

“‘Lay the rails for Thomas and friends!’ huh...?”

Finally, the third box, I kicked it away as soon as I opened it, feeling angry, “Hey! What kind of gift is this for a kid!? Do both parents really want to be punished?”

It was a clown doll that screamed “I’m ominous,” just by looking at it. Despite its hideous appearance, its name was “Happy Happy”.

I don’t understand why they make such things, but why buy it and give it as a gift to a 12-year-old child? Are they trying to make the child cry? Or is Kevin’s taste very unique?

Looking at the toys made me feel ominous. The clown doll especially made me more anxious the more I looked at it. Didn’t it look like it would wriggle to life and come at me with a knife when I turned my back?

But I didn’t know what to do. I felt uneasy just staying still, but I also felt uneasy about destroying the doll. Who knew if it would attack angrily for trying to destroy it?

In the end, I put it back in the box and sat blankly in a chair.

“At this rate, I’ll just die without doing anything.”

Something would surely attack me, but I didn’t know what to do because I didn’t know what it was.

Will criminals attack from outside? Will the cat rolling on the floor suddenly turn into a man-eating cat? Is the suspicious clown doll the problem after all?

...It didn’t take long for the answer to my worries to be resolved.

***“Kevin! I’ll start the New Year’s party for you!”

Suddenly, a loud noise rang out throughout the house!

Just as I was raising my head wondering where the sound was coming from, the whole house started to vibrate. And a miracle began to happen before my eyes!

The corridor widened and lengthened.

The ceiling heightened and chandeliers appeared here and there.

Pillars that didn’t exist before sprouted up everywhere.

The already huge mansion became gigantic like a palace in an instant. If one were a Korean who found it hard to buy a 30-pyeong house in Seoul after working for a lifetime, one would have thought this sight was a miracle of the creator.

For someone directly witnessing the miracle, it felt like my heart would burst!

What on earth is going to happen for this to occur?

I held onto the nearby closet and waited for the vibration to end. When I barely managed to balance my body and raised my head, I realized that all the toys had disappeared.

“What on earth—“

“Happy Happy! Kevin, it’s hide-and-seek from now on!”

“Thomas is departing! Please make way as we need to lay the rails!”

“Dolly dolly! It’s tea time! Good children come to the second floor.”

It’s chaotic! What on earth am I supposed to do?

– Thud!

Hearing heavy footsteps from behind, I turned around in surprise to see the hideously ugly clown doll appearing, much larger than Kevin.

[https://edit.genesistudio.com/assets/db1c6789-f693-4e6b-90aa-b9dea34f7fb7]“It’s hide-and-seek from now on~! The rule is back touch~!”

“...Back touch?”

“Now~ start! Kevin, wouldn’t it be better to run away quickly~? Run right now!”

The moment I heard “Run right now~!” I instinctively turned around and started running like crazy!

Jumping over the carpet where my feet kept sinking, running on the annoyingly slippery marble, I entered a room and immediately closed the door leading to the living room.

– Bang!

“Happy Happy!”

Happy Happy’s right hand, the clown doll’s snow-white glove, started to forcibly twist open the door. After forcibly closing the door with my whole body weight, I ran towards the window.

Wouldn’t it be better to jump out the window? Rather than this mansion full of monsters—

“Why is the window so solid?”

I couldn’t go out through the window. At that moment, I heard the sound of the wooden door breaking.

“Happy!”

Just as my whole body was about to freeze at the heart-stopping laughter, an unexpected helper appeared.

“Woof! Woof!”

Suzy, the Golden Retriever, who had been confused seeing the mansion suddenly changing in a bizarre manner, bravely charged at Happy Happy seeing her young owner in danger. As Suzy bit with all her might, Happy Happy’s knee burst instantly and cotton started flying around.

Not as sturdy as expected? Is it natural since it was originally a “doll”?

Seeing that sight, I also grabbed a golf club hanging on the wall and was about to approach Happy Happy when...

– Screech!

The cute and brave Suzy turned into a lump of flesh that “had been” a Golden Retriever. Seeing that tremendous strength, the thought of charging in completely disappeared.

“Suzy, I’m sorry!”

This time, I changed direction and ran towards the hall on the first floor of the mansion.

“Dolly dolly! It’s tea time!”

What should I do? Just keep running away endlessly like this? No, that’s not it. There’s no way I can run away from such monsters with a child’s walking speed. In the first place, I would have died just now if it weren’t for Suzy!

What was the rule again? Back touch?

While running towards the hall, I turned around just in case. Happy Happy, who had been running while forcefully breaking objects everywhere, suddenly stopped.

Happy Happy and I faced each other, staring at each other. Happy Happy started moving quickly to the side, aiming for my back!

This is it! The initial “Run right now!” was a trap.

Since the rule was back touch, if I ran away with my back turned, Happy Happy could just charge at me. Rather, when facing head-on like now, my back wasn’t visible, so Happy Happy couldn’t charge right in.

I slowly, slowly backed away. Happy Happy, who had been moving sideways trying to move to a position where my back was visible, soon frowned.

“Kevin! That’s unfair~! Are you going to act like this~?”

“...”

“If you do this, I have no choice but to act ‘roughly’~?”

Act roughly? Is there another level?

The next moment, Happy Happy’s mouth tore open and its arms started to stretch out!

What on earth is it trying to—

“Thomas is departing! Please make way as we need to lay the rails!”

– Screech!

“Kyahung!”

The train that barged into the magnificent hall of the mansion threw Happy Happy with its elongated legs. While Happy Happy rolled on the floor screaming strangely, the spider body at the bottom of the train stared at me.

[https://edit.genesistudio.com/assets/3a43dc64-33d7-4c9c-b17f-2c30b27db150]...What is that now?

The Thomas the Tank Engine that was among the toys earlier? No, where did the human face go and only the spider body is left?

Moreover, what was that action just now? It pushed Happy Happy? Is it because Happy Happy was blocking the way when it needs to lay rails? Don’t they even spare each other?

Countless questions swirled in my head. At that moment, Thomas pulled out “rails” from behind its back with its long spider legs and laid them in front. The extended rails suddenly—

“Ah shit, again!”

– Ping! Peeng!

With a loud noise, the train started charging at me! Seeing the disgustingly extended spider legs, I was too afraid to even imagine what would happen when the train caught up to me.

“Dolly dolly! It’s tea time!”

Should I say fortunately?

Thomas, true to being a tank engine, couldn’t move to places where rails weren’t laid. To approach me, it had to lay rails, and thanks to that, I could run away by watching where the rails were being laid.

In the bizarre mansion where the spider-legged train chased me while laying rails, I rolled on the floor without even catching my breath and Thomas passed in front of me. At that moment, I heard a chilling sound from behind.

“Happy Happy!”

“Ah fuck, really!”

A chilling sound cut through the air. Sharp nails sprouted from Happy Happy’s outstretched hand and flew towards my back.

I turned around again and faced Happy Happy head-on. This time too, Happy Happy stopped momentarily when my back wasn’t visible, but a playful smile settled on its expression.

“Kevin~! Let’s play together now~!”

Happy Happy’s hand, stretched out like rubber, started moving towards my back.

How on earth? Do I have to run again? Can I move faster than this monster even if I run? What—

– Screech!

The moment I heard Thomas’s horn blowing from afar, I knew there was only one way left for me to escape from Happy Happy. Thomas wasn’t a train that attacked “only” me.

It was a being that attacked Happy Happy without hesitation if it didn’t make way! I turned around and stepped onto the “rails” that Thomas had installed when it passed me earlier.

“How dare you step on my rails!”

With an angry shout, Thomas started to “reverse”. At the same time, Happy Happy, who had been approaching me, frowned and stepped back to avoid being hit by Thomas.

...But, what do I do now?

If I stayed on the rails, I’d die by being ran over by Thomas, and if I went off the rails, I’d die by being stabbed by Happy Happy.

Am I going to die either hit by the train or stabbed by the clown doll’s nails?

What kind of—

– Bang!

It was neither.

A third being that appeared bursting through the wall in an instant let out a shout loud enough to shake the entire mansion.

[https://edit.genesistudio.com/assets/0b0bd437-1a40-4650-b099-077d3ce5141e]“Dolly dolly! Three times! I called three times but you didn’t come! Is Kevin a bad child?”

“...”

“Dolly dolly! Bad children need to be punished! Eiyah!”

The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was the giant front paw of an angry elephant doll.

– Theater

Everyone stared at the screen with their mouths wide open. The scene of the angry elephant doll, Dollyphant, stomping on Thomas and Happy Happy after Kevin for ruining the party was playing.

At that moment, Kain, who couldn’t understand one thing, opened his mouth, “How on earth... did a 12-year-old boy survive in that mess?”