CHAPTER 308: ROOM 204, MISSION ROOM - 'HOTEL CINEMA' (30)

0% – Park Seungyub

As I activated The First Human, my consciousness left my body and arrived in an infinitely white space. It was a truly strange place. Incomprehensible characters flew around everywhere, and a form like a black flame appeared in front of me.

Where on earth is this?

I tried to speak, but no words came out. I had no mouth to speak or scream.

“...”

Strangely, I seemed to know what I should do.

Did Hyung and Noona have similar experiences when they realized how to use their Inheritance the moment they got it?

I needed to create a “command” in this mysterious place. I needed to create a revelation that the “other me” who would wake up from now on would follow like a golden rule.

“Where?”

...In the mansion?

“Until when?”

Until the movie ends?

“What?”

This is easy.

Survival!

“How?”

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

How to survive? I used this ability because I don’t know that either?

As I was pondering, the “gap” started to shake. There was no time to think leisurely.

Ah, figure it out! Well!

My consciousness became hazy. I felt another me awaken in my body.

***– Park Seungyub (The First Human)

Suddenly, I came to my senses in a strange place.

Where is this? Who am I?

Survive in the mansion until the movie ends on your own.

A revelation came down. As a heavy voice echoed in my head, my confused mind cleared and I knew this sentence was a command I must follow.

...It was difficult to understand the content of the revelation.

It wasn’t that I didn’t know the meaning of each word. Strangely, the meanings of the words naturally came to mind.

The mansion was this enormously big house where I was now.

A movie was when many people watched a black wall where strange fantasies appeared in a large place.

But what did it mean until the movie ended? There was no black wall where fantasies   around me?

I didn’t understand the meaning of survive on your own either.

I’m alive and safe, aren’t I? Is something threatening me?

At that moment, the pink elephant in front of me opened its mouth, “Kevin, what are you doing not drinking the tea?”

“...Kevin? Is that my name? Who are you?”

“Me? I’m Dollyphant!”

“Dollyphant? I have a question.”

“A question?”

“Where is a movie playing right now?”

Dollyphant showed a reaction as if asking what on earth I was talking about.

“A movie? There’s no such thing in this house?”

“But, I have to live until the movie ends.”

“What on earth are you saying? Until the movie ends?”

“Hmm... Let’s put aside the movie. Does ‘survive’ mean something is threatening me? Are there dangerous beings around?”

The pink elephant, Dollyphant, tilted its head.

“Dangerous beings? This place is safe! If you’re talking about Thomas, don’t worry. I’ve already smashed it.”

“Aha! So there was originally a threat in this place, but you’ve already smashed it?”

“Maybe? So Kevin, don’t worry and drink the tea.”

“Is this water the tea?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll drink it.”

Feeling at ease, I drank the water in the huge cup. After about two sips, it tasted a bit bitter. When I raised my head, Dollyphant was staring at me with wide eyes.

“Don’t tell me Kevin, you’re not trying to leave the tea I brewed with care?”

“I’m not? I’m planning to drink it later?”

“Drink it later? Now is tea time!”

“What’s tea time?”

Dollyphant seemed flustered for a moment, then brought a small book from the side.

“Tea time is the time to drink tea!”

“I see. But I drank tea, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t drink it all!”

“Do I have to drink it all? Does it say in tea time you have to drink all the tea without leaving a single drop?”

Dollyphant got flustered again and started flipping through the book with its trunk. Curious, I went closer and started reading together.

“D-do you have to drink it all? There... There’s no such thing written...”

“Look at this! It says if you’re a fine English gentleman, you should always be able to enjoy a cup of tea without losing composure and dignity, right?”

“...Yes.”

“It says to drink leisurely. There’s no need to drink it all at once. I’ll drink slowly.”

“Is that so? But Kevin, this picture is a bit strange!”

“What is?”

“Why is the English gentleman’s nose so short? My nose is much longer?”

“Because you’re an elephant and the gentleman is a human?”

“Can’t elephants be English gentlemen?”

I pondered for a moment at those words.

Can’t elephants be English gentlemen? Why didn’t the being who gave the revelation mention such an important issue?

As I carefully examined the booklet, flipping through it, I found a sentence written in slightly different handwriting.

Elephants participating in tea time can use their trunks instead of hands.

“Dollyphant! Look at this. Elephants can use their trunks instead of hands, so your trunk is your hand.”

“Then why are my hands attached to my nose?”

“Maybe the position of hands isn’t important. There’s nothing saying hands must be attached to the body.”

“That’s a relief!”

“But I’ve discovered a serious problem.”

As soon as I mentioned a serious problem, Dollyphant’s expression darkened. I flipped through the booklet and pointed to a scene where a woman wearing clothes like a flower was drinking tea.

“Look. She’s tilting the teacup with her hand to drink, right?”

“Yes.”

“But Dollyphant is sucking up the tea with your trunk and putting it in your mouth.”

“Oh? Could it be!”

“Dollyphant has been seriously violating tea time etiquette all this time. Now, tilt the teacup with your trunk to drink.”

Dollyphant started tilting the teacup with its trunk with a serious expression. Was it because it couldn’t move its trunk as delicately as a hand? The teacup lost balance and tea started spilling on the floor.

“Waaah! W-what is this? Why is it so difficult?”

“It’s because you lack practice. Watch me.”

I straightened my back and concentrated strength in both arms. Focusing my entire mind, I slightly tilted the teacup as big as my torso, and barely managed to drink the tea without spilling it.

“See! This is how you do it! Dollyphant, try it with your hand—no, trunk too.”

“C-can’t you just write it in the book like you did earlier?”

“Write it in the book?”

“Elephants can suck up tea with their trunks.”

“No! You can’t break rules as you please. I recalled rules I must follow as soon as I came to my senses, so you have to follow them too.”

When I told it to follow tea time etiquette, Dollyphant nodded with a sad expression. Afterwards, I grabbed Dollyphant’s trunk and made it practice tilting the teacup.

***– Theater

Songee, with her mouth half-open, muttered with a dumbfounded expression, “...What on earth is this?”

Kain had been giggling uncontrollably for a while.

“What do you mean what? It’s a person teaching an elephant how to drink tea!”

“N-no! I mean! Why did it suddenly change to this dynamic?”

Kain said, barely holding back laughter, “It seems to have ended up like this somehow, but isn’t the situation itself unexpectedly standard hotel strategy? Dollyphant is a monster that sets bizarre rules and attacks if you break those rules. Seungyub pointed out to that monster ‘You’re also breaking the rules,’ and made it fall into contradiction.”

As Songee tilted her head at Kain’s words, Sanghyun opened his mouth, “Seungyub’s new power, The First Human, is quite interesting. He lost his memory? Maybe because of that, he seems much smarter than usual. Ah, of course, I don’t mean Seungyub was lacking normally.”

Kain agreed, “It seems he’s acting like that because his thinking became freer as common sense disappeared. However...”

“He seems to have worded the command a little oddly.”

“He understands the word ‘movie’, but he doesn’t understand that he’s ‘inside’ a movie. Moreover, because he didn’t include who is threatening him in the content, he doesn’t understand why he’s in danger even with a murderous doll right in front of him.”

“As a result, things turned out well. Because he doesn’t know, he’s acting like that without even knowing Dollyphant is scary, right?”

“Honestly, it’s a bit different from what I expected. I expected scenes of him running away like a crazy person but surviving with crazy luck.”

“That’s one possibility, and this is another possibility, too. By the way, I see one big advantage of this ability.”

“The duration is incredibly long. It’s incredibly long compared to Heaven’s Luck.”

The people in the theater felt the tension gradually easing. The time until tea time ended was rapidly approaching.

“Hiya! I didn’t expect Seungyub to get through like this?”

There was Jinchul’s admiration.

“Oh! Just now, Seungyub pointed out to Dollyphant why it’s not standing on two feet!”

“That kid is doing it again as told. It’s really trying to stand on two feet?”

Along with Songee’s exclamation, there was now an elephant that started ballet practice to imitate humans.

When everyone sensed the end of the third story approaching, for some reason, Dollyphant’s voice, sounding very satisfied, flowed from the screen.

“It was a very informative time! Thanks to Kevin, I had an enjoyable tea time. Now I can become a fine English elephant too! Kevin enjoyed it too, right?”

A smile seeped into Kain’s face. Now that elephant was starting to look cute.

“That guy, looking at it again, isn’t it cute? It seems kind of nice too?”

“That’s right. The way it thoroughly follows rules itself—“

“No.”

“Hmm?”

“Did I hear wrong?”

“It wasn’t fun. Especially the black tea was the worst.”

“S-Seungyub?”

“Uwaaah!”

“Why do you drink such bitter water? I never want to have tea time again.”

“Kyah! That kid, he’s crazy!”

Everyone except one boy fell into shock and fear. Even the elephant on the screen had a shocked expression with its mouth wide open.

“T-that! Park Seungyub, this crazy bastard! He’s too fearless!”

“Especially teaching you, Dollyphant, was the most tiring. From the start, this booklet, don’t you feel it as you look at it? An elephant having tea time? Tea time, my ass!”

Kain just decided to laugh, “Hahaha! Well, the current Seungyub hasn’t experienced anything scary even once, so it would be stranger if his behavior was cautious.”

Jinchul despaired endlessly, “This idiot! He blew it!”

“Puuuuuu!”

A cry full of sadness burst out from the elephant on the screen.

***– Park Seungyub (The First Human)

“Puuuuuu!”

Dollyphant suddenly stood up and made a noise so loud that my body trembled. Tears flowed from the pink elephant’s eyes, wetting the floor. At that moment, I thought for the first time.

“Did I make a mistake?”

Instead of answering, as Dollyphant raised its huge body and lifted its front legs.

Before my head could think, my body rolled on the floor first.

– Bang!

The mansion floor crumbled with one hit. At this point, I had a sudden thought!

Could it be that the being threatening me was Dollyphant? T-then it would have been good if you had told me when you gave the revelation!

“Uooooh!”

A huge roar! I frantically rolled to the side and ran towards the door. Instead of chasing me right away, Dollyphant remained in the room and started wailing.

“Dolly dolly! I’m angry! I’m angry! Kevin! I’ll boil you in a teapot! I’ll flatten you and turn you into paper!”

“How can a person become paper?”

“Shut up!”

Why is it getting angry when I just asked a question? This elephant has a strange personality!

As Dollyphant shouted and twisted its body, the mansion started shaking. In that process, maybe because the mansion got damaged, with a tick, the mansion suddenly darkened.

As darkness descended where I couldn’t even see my hand in front of me, Dollyphant started getting angrier.

“Keeevin! Where are you hiding?”

– Bang! Crash!

I heard the sound of the elephant rampaging.

Even the sturdy and solid mansion couldn’t withstand that monster’s body slam. Vibrations strong enough to shake the entire house occurred incessantly, and various decorations from the ceiling started falling.

Although I couldn’t see well because it was dark, fortunately, nothing fell towards me. While reaching out my hand and feeling around the walls and stairs, I touched a soft ball of cotton.

“Wha—gasp”

I immediately closed my mouth, afraid Dollyphant might hear. But, a strange sound came from the cotton ball.

“Yooou touuuched myyyy baaack. Keeeviiiin woooon—“

What is it saying? I touched its back so Kevin won? Does cotton originally talk?

Seeing the cotton making sounds made me anxious, so I threw it far away.

– Boom!

The mansion started shaking again. Was it because unbearable impacts were applied in succession? This time, truly ominous sounds started to be heard.

Eventually, with a crashing sound, a huge wall collapsed and light from outside the mansion started coming in. Maybe because light suddenly came in from the darkness, the elephant that broke down the wall stretched out its trunk to cover its eyes.

Around that time, I fell into contemplation. The revelation told me to “Survive in the mansion until the movie ends on your own.”

Does this mean don’t go outside the mansion? Or does it mean I can do as I please once I go outside the mansion because I’ve succeeded in surviving?

Let’s think comfortably!

Let’s remove “until the movie ends” because I don’t know what it means. Then only “Survive in the mansion on your own” remains. What if I go outside the mansion? It means I’ve succeeded in surviving on my own while in the mansion.

Smiling happily, I came out of the mansion. I successfully completed the revelation!

“Hahaha! Success!”

...Consciousness slowly returned.