CHAPTER 313: THE PERFECT CHILD (1)

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User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 135

Current Location: Floor 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 3

– Han Kain

Before starting the full-fledged discussion about Miro’s revival and the Mirror Room, I hit the table to get everyone’s attention.

“Please listen to me for a moment. I heard some unusual information when the horror movie ended, which seems to be part of the Cinema’s reward?”

Among the stories I heard from writer Do Inho and the storytellers as the horror movie was ending, it seemed good to share the second and third ones with my companions.

I shared the second story, about the tool that could save reality that the Administration wanted.

As expected, Grandpa and Ahri reacted sensitively, “One is the hourglass, you say? That?”

“That’s what they said? Do you have any guesses? I don’t even know what that ‘reality problem’ is talking about in the first place.”

Ahri frowned and answered everyone, “I was thinking of roughly telling you someday, but since the opportunity has come, I’ll tell you a little. Anyway, the people here probably won’t have a chance to live normally even if they go outside.”

No one objected to the firm statement that “there’s no chance of living normally in the future’.

“On December 31st of a certain year, a strange light suddenly came down from the sky.”

“A strange light?”

“And the world fell into crisis.”

“...Why?”

“I don’t know. Finding that out itself is one of the goals.”

For a moment, everyone looked at Ahri in bewilderment.

Light just came down from the sky and the world fell into crisis? Wasn’t that too out of context? Wasn’t it even worse than the Cursed Room?

Noona pointed out, even stuttering, “T-the world hasn’t ended yet, right? That’s why you came to the Hotel, right?”

“Well... that’s right.”

“Then that means you somehow endured, and if you endured, shouldn’t you have found out something?”

Ahri carefully answered after pondering for a long time, seemingly choosing her words, “Everyone loses their memories in the process of enduring. I’ll leave it at that. Anyway, that’s all we know. How is the hourglass supposed to help with that problem?”

Grandpa interjected, “According to Kain, there’s one more besides the hourglass, right? The Inheritance from Room 206? That might be even more important.”

Thinking there would be no progress if we kept talking about this topic, I brought up the next story.

When I shared the third story about the third floor, my companions showed even more confused reactions.

Jinchul-hyung muttered as if in disbelief, “That gumiho didn’t play some trick on you, did she?”

“I don’t think so?”

“Haaa! That’s really talking nonsense.”

Unlike the second story, which contained relatively concrete information, the third story felt abstract. Perhaps because of that, my companions showed reactions of not understanding well.

The doctor carefully opened his mouth, “Kain’s stories are interesting, but they’re about the outside world and the third floor. Aren’t we struggling on the second floor right now? It doesn’t seem like an urgent issue.”

The doctor seemed to want to discuss more urgent matters first, saying that the story I shared wasn’t an immediately pressing topic.

I understood that attitude, too. Any one of us could die on the second floor at any moment. In this situation, talking about what was outside or what was on the third floor was a distant story.

Around that time, as if the Hotel wanted to change the atmosphere, a notification appeared saying there would be party time for two days starting tomorrow. The expressions of my companions, which had hardened from bringing up difficult-to-understand stories, brightened in an instant.

“They gave us party time even though it’s a mission room? The duration is subtly short though...”

Jinchu-hyung answered as if grateful just for being given something, “Noona, isn’t it good that they gave us anything? I thought they only gave it when we solved cursed rooms, but there’s strangely some discretion in this aspect.”

On the other hand, the doctor seemed to feel uneasy seeing the short duration of two days.

“Two days? We’ll surely need to use Seungyub’s The First Human for the Mirror Room, right? Can he use it again within two days?”

At those words, Ahri also frowned and asked Seungyub, “Seungyub, when can you use The First Human again?”

Seungyub suddenly concentrated and glared at the air. It seemed like there was something only he could see.

“Tomorrow evening? The morning after tomorrow? It’s ambiguous. It’s not like it becomes usable after a certain number of hours, but rather when the gauge fills up.”

Surprised by those words, I asked again, “Wait, you can use it again in just a day? That’s incredibly powerful?”

Jinchul-hyung also nodded, “Isn’t Heaven’s Luck at least a week after using it once? I thought The First Human would be similar.”

This time Seungyub smirked and explained, “It’s something I found out after using it for the first time, but the subsequent cooldown is determined by how much I used it.”

“How much you used it?”

“Uh... I guess it’s how much luck I used? I’m not sure about the exact criteria. Just that the longer I use it, the longer the cooldown until the next reuse?”

Eunsol-noona, who was listening, asked, “Is it like a pay-later concept? You used it for about 20 minutes this time, right? Is the cooldown about a day and a half for that much use?”

“It’s not a concept that’s directly proportional to the usage time...”

I roughly understood what he meant.

“It seems to be proportional to how many absurd things you caused. Literally, how much ‘abnormal luck’ you drew upon.”

“That’s the feeling.”

At that moment, the doctor, who had been listening, said with a hardened expression, “Seungyub, when you use The First Human in the future, make the ‘termination condition’ clear.”

“What?”

“The story about the cost being paid later means there’s no time limit while using it, right?”

“Yes.”

“What do you think will happen if you use it carelessly in a room that takes a long time like Room 203 while making the termination condition ambiguous?”

“...Like being in The First Human state for a month?”

“If you use it for that long, how long do you think it will take until you can use it again?”

“I might not be able to use it again until we escape the Hotel.”

That part was certainly dangerous. The variable was that it was difficult to voluntarily terminate after activation due to the nature of the ability.

While Seungyub was deeply pondering about The First Human alone, the conversation topic naturally shifted to the newly obtained ticket and Miro’s revival.

Noona threw out one question, “I understand that the place where Miro’s mind can be recovered is the Mirror Room, but what’s the order? Isn’t it risky to revive her first and then recover her mind?”

“That’s right. If we revive her first but fail to recover her mind...”

In that case, we’d have to proceed through the Hotel’s trials with a mentally ill person running wild as she pleased. That would be impossible.

“But isn’t it a bit strange in terms of order to fix the mind before revival? Curing the disease of a dead person is a bit much, isn’t it?”

The one who answered Noona’s question was Songee, “I don’t think it matters much? Regardless of revival, the body itself is already in the Frozen Hell, and originally the Mirror Room has such powerful strength that it will grant wishes, even if it has to split a person in two as long as you make a wish normally.”

“Is that so?”

“Unni, rather than such issues, how to make a wish well is more important. You’ll remember that the Mirror Room is an extremely tricky place, right?”

The Mirror Room granted the earnest wish of a person inside it. This simple condition was unexpectedly very tricky and dangerous.

If one entered without preparation, the diverse and contradictory impulses that the human inner self held were realized haphazardly, causing a major accident. It was our guess that Miro losing her reason was a byproduct of this effect.

It was also very tricky to prepare.

According to Songee’s guess, who had entered once, methods like Ahri’s suggestion that touch surface psychology probably wouldn’t work because it read inner desires.

Also, since desire was an essential characteristic of humans, not some mental illness, not only Noona’s flute or Elena’s Calmness and Tranquility, but even my Status Window probably wouldn’t work.

After reconsidering these conditions, all my companions looked at Seungyub with tired expressions.

“As expected, it seems we’ll have to use your ability, Seungyub.”

“Is that so? Right?”

Amid all this, Seungyub looked quite happy. He seemed glad just for the situation where everyone needed him. However, the only person with Mirror Room experience showed a somewhat ambiguous attitude.

“Hmm...”

“What do you think, Songee?” when Ahri asked with an anxious expression, Songee answered after pondering for a moment. “I’m not sure. Just because I escaped the Mirror Room once doesn’t mean I’ve figured out everything about that room, and I know even less about The First Human. Kain-oppa.”

“Hmm?”

“Since we’re resting for two days anyway, let’s ask tomorrow? The First Human can’t be used again until tomorrow night, anyway.”

Will Sage’s Advice answer questions about the Mirror Room?

According to past memories, when I asked about its location before finding the Mirror Room, Advice had no reaction. It was as if it couldn’t accept such questions at all.

But now that we’ve found the Mirror Room, wouldn’t questions about it be unlocked too?

We’ll have to try tomorrow to know.

“I’ll try tomorrow. This question will probably use up all 3 uses... But I should do it. It seems we’ll use the Mirror Room several times, anyway.”

Today’s meeting ended with this much.

***

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 136

Current Location: Floor 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 3

– Han Kain

The next day, as soon as I came out of Room 105, I immediately used Advice. As expected, the question about the Mirror Room used all counts of Advice.

Advice: 3 → 0

For recovering Miro’s mind, is it good for Seungyub to enter the Mirror Room, use The First Human, and make a wish?

If it fails, be sure to include a command to immediately break the mirror.

“...”

A somewhat difficult-to-understand answer came out. As I was holding my head, Ahri appeared rubbing her sleepy eyes.

“Did you use Advice? You said you’d use it as soon as you woke up in the morning.”

When I shared the answer I received, Ahri tilted her head, “The answer is a bit strange? Breaking the mirror, isn’t that the Mirror Room escape method Songee discovered?”

“That’s right.”

“It’s not saying to send Seungyub, nor is it saying not to send him, but to include a command for when it fails? So is it saying to send him or not?”

“If it meant not to send him, I don’t think it would have said to prepare for when it fails.”

“Isn’t saying to prepare for when it fails saying it will fail? Then we shouldn’t send him!”

Noona, who had come out of her room and was listening to Ahri’s conversation, carefully offered her opinion, “Isn’t it that there’s a chance of success and a chance of failure? There’s a chance of success so it’s okay to send Seungyub to the Mirror Room for now, but there’s also a chance of failure, so prepare for that case too.”

“That does sound plausible.”

“But in the end it’s just my thought. Let’s ask Songee and Seungyub about this. The person who’s been in the room and the person who’s used the ability would know.”

Shortly after, as soon as Seungyub came out of his room with a drowsy expression, Ahri approached and asked.

Seungyub, who listened intently, showed an attitude of incomprehension, “Does it mean there’s a possibility of failure even if I use The First Human and make a wish in the Mirror Room? I don’t know the reason because I don’t know the Mirror Room well!”

A moment later, Songee, who heard the same question, gave a nearly identical answer.

“Does it mean there’s a possibility of failure even if Seungyub uses The First Human and makes a wish in the Mirror Room? I don’t know the reason because I don’t know The First Human well!”

Ahri ended up hitting her head.

I hated just standing still and pondering in this kind of situation, so I just grabbed Seungyub.

“Let’s have you go in once for now. When do you think your ability will be ready?”

“Uh... This evening?”

“Alright. Let’s work on the command together.”

That evening, Seungyub entered the room alone with a flushed expression amid everyone’s encouragement.