CHAPTER 310: ROOM 204, MISSION ROOM - 'HOTEL CINEMA' (32)

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User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 135

Current Location: Floor 2, Room 204 - Mission Room, ‘Hotel Cinema’

Sage’s Advice: 3

– Han Kain

If the scene Seungyub showed just before dying was as I thought, Kevin must somehow leave the mansion after resolving the strange phenomena he was caught up in.

However, even after wandering from the first to the third floor of the mansion, I couldn’t find an answer to resolve the strange phenomena. Also, I couldn’t find a passage to go outside or a key to open the main door that Kevin’s parents had locked.

Of course, I knew how to get out itself. I just needed to somehow persuade Dollyphant to break the wall. However, I felt uneasy about causing such a commotion as breaking the mansion wall.

It seemed like it would provoke “that being” outside. That monster that killed Seungyub with just a gesture could tear apart even Dollyphant like a toy!

Also, I doubted whether persuading Dollyphant to get out was really an escape method that a 12-year-old boy would naturally think of.

But now I couldn’t think of any other way. It was also a big problem that I was starting to feel anxious because of Dollyphant shouting from above.

“Keeevin! Why am I looking for cookies alone?”

“J-just wait a moment!”

I quickly ran to the angry Dollyphant and tried to persuade it.

“Dollyphant! It seems there are no snacks in this house after all.”

“What? Then tea time—“

“Let’s go out!”

Dollyphant’s eyes widened round.

“Let’s break the wall and go out. There might be overflowing snacks outside!”

Dollyphant, who had been tilting its head, made an uncharacteristically sharp point.

“Going outside suddenly during tea time? Kevin, you shouldn’t do such undignified actions!”

I was momentarily flustered, but soon came up with a plausible excuse, “Dollyphant! Didn’t you read the book carefully? Quite a lot of illustrations described scenes of drinking tea in the garden outside, right?”

As if recalling its memory, Dollyphant soon nodded.

“Good! But breaking the wall is still too undignified an action. Let’s go out through the door.”

Dollyphant, who moved to the first floor, touched the door here and there with its trunk and soon started getting irritated.

“It won’t open!”

– Thud!

It was ironic that it just told me breaking the wall was undignified. Dollyphant was already getting irritated and started ramming its heavy body into the door.

– Crash!

Finally, unable to withstand the third collision, the mansion’s door burst open. The world beyond the door was blocked by something like a fluffy dark brown cloth.

“...What?”

“Kevin? Why is the outside like this?”

“I don’t know eith—“

Advice: 3 → 2

Roll to the right immediately!

The moment I saw the huge light appearing from the darkness as the fluffy cloth suddenly tore—my body reflexively rolled to the side!

At the same time, the crazy cat, Cathy, started shaking the mansion by hitting it with its head!

“Kyaaah! Kevin~! Save me!”

Why is it calling me?

And Cathy, please! Why are you putting your head at the mansion entrance? Why are you suddenly shaking the mansion? There must be a reason for doing this!

“Uwaaah!”

“Kyeeek!”

The time of chaos wasn’t long. Cathy soon lost interest in the mansion and disappeared somewhere.

Outside the mansion was “Kevin’s real house”, and Cathy the cat, which wasn’t in the mansion, was wandering around. I realized this fact itself when I saw the blurry face of a large cat that briefly passed on the screen just before Seungyub died.

My companions couldn’t recognize that the blurry form was a cat’s face because it was so huge, but I noticed because I had a similar experience in the past when I went outside the snow globe of the second floor of the Hotel.

If the outside is “Kevin’s real house”, what is the place I’m in now? Some kind of dollhouse? Was Kevin summoned into a dollhouse?

For now, it seemed I needed to go outside to know. As I was moving towards the main door across the messy mansion, Dollyphant, who was stuck in a corner, said something truly unbelievable, “...Kevin. You shouldn’t go out recklessly because it’s dangerous outside.”

It was funny that Dollyphant was giving me this advice, but it was right. It was dangerous to go out recklessly.

Advice: 2 → 1

Is there a way to go outside safely?

When you meet a bear in the mountains, you don’t necessarily need to be faster than the bear.

It was a famous story. When one met a predator in the mountains, one could survive if one was faster than the person next to them, even if one was slower than the predator. When I connected this “lesson” to my situation, an answer did come out.

I should go out with the dolls.

“I must go out.”

“Kevin! Didn’t you just see the monster? I’m telling you it’s dangerous outside?”

Instead of answering, I prepared to go outside.

Hoping it would take an attack for me at least once, I brought Happy Happy, who had turned into a doll. Also, I picked up the rails next to Thomas who was rolling on the floor as the mansion shook, and laid them towards the broken main door.

Soon, Thomas, who had regained his posture, blew his horn, and this time departed towards the main door. As I carefully followed behind Thomas just before going outside, Dollyphant appeared beside me.

“...”

“Let’s go out together!”

How unexpected. I hadn’t bothered trying to persuade Dollyphant, assuming it wouldn’t come along after its encounter with Cathy.

“T-there must be cookies outside!”

“...Yeah. I hope so.”

– Screech!

With a loud noise, the moment Thomas went out through the main door, Dollyphant and I quickly followed. As soon as we came out, I grasped the surrounding situation.

Where is this? A shelf hanging on the wall of the “real mansion”? Have I been in a model mansion on the shelf until now?

As I quickly turned my gaze here and there examining the scenery around the shelf—

“Meow!”

– Thud!

“Kyaah!”

In that short moment, the damn cat appeared hearing Thomas’s horn!

“S-shit! A really crazy cat—what’s that? Kevin?”

I truly doubted my eyes. Clearly I, who was dwelling in Kevin, was here, but there was another Kevin out there?

What’s going on?

The Kevin outside was lying on the sofa below the shelf. Seeing his eyes closed, he seemed to be sleeping.

Was only his mind dragged into this mansion?

– Rip!

“S-save me!”

The moment I heard the sound of something like a doll being torn from afar, I instinctively knew I had no more time.

After Thomas, Happy Happy, and Dollyphant are all done for, I’m next!

I jumped from the shelf towards the sofa. I just jumped while having no idea what to do from now on!

In the fleeting moment of falling through the air, when I felt time slowing down as if my life was flashing before my eyes—the last advice popped up.

Advice: 1 → 0

Teleport onto Kevin’s eyeball!

– Thud!

***“...”

When I came to my senses, I woke up on the sofa. My right eye was very sore, and as I rubbed my eyes and looked around, there was a small Lego toy. The Lego surprisingly resembled Kevin.

“Meow!”

Cathy was making a loud noise on the shelf. I immediately grabbed Cathy’s nape and pulled it down, and saw a half-broken train toy and an elephant doll with a torn nose.

I roughly pushed Cathy into a room and brought tape to reattach Dollyphant’s nose, who had worked hard for me. Around that time, Suzy, who had been sleeping nearby, woke up.

“Woof!”

Suzy, who seemed anxious about something as soon as she woke up, approached my side. Suzy shrank back in surprise as soon as she saw the Happy Happy doll nearby.

“...So, was all this a dream for you and me?”

“Woof!”

“Were we dragged into that mansion on the shelf?”

“Woof?”

“You really went through a lot, too.”

As I caught my breath leaning my tired body against the wall, the space started shaking.

“...It’s finally over. It’s goodbye, but still, thank you all. You did well.”

I closed my eyes, waiting for the end while hugging the repaired Dollyphant with one arm and the Golden Retriever with the other arm.

***“...”

The familiar coffee scent tickled my nose. Perhaps because I went through quite a lot, I listened to Cha Eunpyo’s story while rubbing my aching nape.

“Isn’t it absurd? A clown doll making strange noises, a crazy train spinning round and round laughing crazily, and even an elephant rampaging to drink tea! I even teleported at the end, I tell you?”

Huh! Surely he won’t make an issue of teleporting at the end?

“But you’re saying all that story was a dream, right?”

“That’s right. I was young at that time, after all. It was incredibly vivid... But in the end, it was a dream. Well, that’s reality. Isn’t it? Though it seems like the other people here have had unbelievable experiences...”

Thank goodness. He’s passing it off as if it doesn’t matter because it’s the dream of a child!

If I had known this, I could have brought and used the Grimoire without any problem.

“Hmm...”

“...I’m sorry. In the end, it’s just a dream, so it’s a bit of a boring story.”

“What? Aha! Eunpyo, you misunderstood when you saw me go, ‘Hmm!’ I didn’t react that way because I was disappointed. Rather, I was thinking there might be a mysterious event that even you yourself aren’t aware of.”

“A mysterious event that even I myself am not aware of?”

“You said it was an ordinary child’s dream, but listening to it, didn’t the dog you were raising have the same dream?”

“T-that was a bit strange to me, too! Suzy would bark whenever she saw a clown doll until she died after that.”

“We never know. Perhaps Eunpyo was actually dragged into a mysterious model house on the shelf and escaped. There are many mysterious things in the world. By the way, how did you handle that model house afterwards?”

“Well... It suddenly disappeared one day.”

“Oh ho! Now that’s truly a mysterious thing. Good! It was an interesting story, so I’ll ‘confirm’ it.”

It seemed I somehow managed to get through it well.

As I was breathing a sigh of relief, writer Do Inho’s eyes turned to me, the last person left at the table.

“Now only the last person is left.”

“...That’s right.”

What should I say? Do I have anything particular to say? If not—

“In the past, I had a strange dream.”

As soon as the “lines” started, I couldn’t control my body.

“A dream, you say?”

“It was a February evening with a cool breeze blowing. I was a high school senior who had just finished the college entrance exam. Isn’t that time perhaps one of the golden periods of life that doesn’t come many times while living?”

“That’s certainly true.”

“I went on a solo backpacking trip. It’s embarrassing to say, but my exam results weren’t bad, so I received quite a lot of pocket money. Thanks to that, I traveled comfortably. The last place I went to was a hotel in Jeju Island...”

***It was a long story. Listening to the summary of my experiences at the Hotel from my own mouth was quite interesting and amazing.

There were times when I wondered why I acted so stupidly in some stories, and in some parts, I thought, “Wow! Even though I did it, that was cool.”

And so, a long time passed.

“And now it’s the present.”

“Oh, ho.”

Writer Do Inho, who had been pondering for a moment, opened his mouth as if interested, “According to Kain, this place is a room inside a place called ‘Hotel Pioneer’, right?”

“That’s right.”

“You’re saying this is part of Room 204, Hotel Cinema? Even this conversation now is included in the horror movie content as a play within a play?”

“That’s right.”

“Interesting. It’s really fascinating. It seems like a story that could at least be made into a webtoon...”

“I-is that so?”

“But as I was listening, I had a question.”

“Yes?”

Suddenly, Do Inho stretched his neck and looked towards me.