CHAPTER 315: THE PERFECT CHILD (3)

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User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 136

Current Location: Floor 2, Snow Globe Tundra

Sage’s Advice: 0

– Han Kain

While my companions were spending their own time, I came up to the second floor, curious about what Ahri was doing.

Ahri seemed to have already gone out to the snow globe tundra. As I went out through the slowly swirling snowflakes, I saw Ahri walking in the snow tundra in light clothing.

“Aren’t you cold in those clothes?”

“It’s bearable.”

With those words, she silently moved forward, leaving footprints in the pure white ground.

10 minutes passed, and another 10 minutes passed. The blizzard in the snow tundra had disappeared, but it was still not easy to move through the snow tundra.

When sweat drops started flowing down the bridge of my nose, I asked Ahri, “Are you going in today?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Wouldn’t tomorrow be better? Tomorrow, Advice will be recharged, so how about asking once?”

Instead of answering my question, Ahri gave me an unusual question of her own, “Do you love your parents?”

If I said “No,” here, wouldn’t I just straight up be Charmeleon?1

“Of course...”

“Why?”

When I received the question about such an obvious thing, I was momentarily at a loss for words. Of course, there are endless reasons.

Because my parents are good people!

“They raised me, right? Not just materially, but emotionally too. My parents are quite good people.”

“My question isn’t about what maintains love, but what creates love.”

She’s curious about what creates love, not what maintains it? What is she talking about?

“You’ve loved your parents for 20 years, and even now that you’re in the Hotel, you miss them because they raised you well. What do you think it would have been like if they were terrible people?”

“I probably wouldn’t miss them. If it was excessive, for example, if I had been abused as a child? I might have wondered when they would die.”

“Go back to when you were a newborn baby. You would have loved your parents then, too. Your parents would have thought you were the apple of their eye.”

“That’s usually the case.”

“Why is that? Why do parents love their children? Because they’re beings who will support them when they’re old?”

“...That’s an extreme story. That’s a story about the future decades after having a child. Also, the probability of a grown child living well enough to support their parents isn’t high.”

“You’re right. How about the opposite? Isn’t it more surprising? A child loves their parents as soon as they’re born. Even though those parents haven’t done any favors for them yet.”

I was starting to understand what Ahri was talking about. She was saying that there was no rational reason at the moment when love between parents and children was first created.

For parents, they didn’t even know what kind of child the newborn baby was. Any calculated benefit was too distant a story. For the child, how would they know what kind of people the parents they just met at birth were?

Yet why did they love each other from the moment they first met?

If one insisted on asking for that answer, others could give an appropriate answer. It was just that people didn’t bring it up because it was an unromantic story.

“So, are you trying to say that parents and children love each other because of genes?”

Ahri nodded lightly at my words.

“Right, parents treating their children well, cultural norms, social expectations—these are all secondary factors. Or perhaps they’re what sustains love that’s already there. But the origin of love? That’s genetic. Wouldn’t you agree?”

It wasn’t wrong.

It was too grand to mention separate reasons, even animals like mice with almost no intelligence cherished their own children terribly and children followed their parents. In the end, one could say the beginning of love was genes.

Of course, I believed human love was much more sophisticated than the love of such lowly creatures... But even so, it was hard to deny that genes played a considerable role.

“That’s somewhat true. But why are you suddenly talking about this?”

Ahri didn’t answer. Instead, her expression, which had looked somewhat gloomy until now, lightened slightly.

Was there something in the recent conversation that could make her feel at ease?

It seemed like the kind of conversation that people would usually find uncomfortable and unromantic.

“Eiyah!”

Suddenly, Ahri picked up a snowball and threw it at me!

“Aaah! What on earth?”

“Take this! Eagle shot!”

As I dodged the snowball flying at an incredible speed without time to react, I thought.

This absurd side of Ahri is exactly like Miro!

Not long after, the companions who were in the Hotel also came out and started throwing snowballs together.

***– Kim Ahri

– Splash!

“...”

– Splash!

“...Don’t you want to become friends with me?”

I looked intently at Perro, borrowed from Songee.

Clearly, according to Songee, Perro acted differently than usual just before entering the Mirror Room...

“Aren’t you sleeping too much? Yap!”

I threw a round plastic toy that was in the bathtub. As if Perro’s lazy appearance until now had been a mere ruse, it dropped the facade and—did absolutely nothing.

It just got hit by the toy and fell over with a squawk.

“...”

– Screech! Screech!

“Looking at you at times like this, I really can’t believe you’re a mysterious creature that came out of a golden egg.”

It seems you have no intention of giving me any prior warning. Well, you’re a creature that only takes care of Songee, anyway.

You seem to take care of Seungyub too in the Cursed Room, but that’s it. I guess you have no intention of taking care of me.

– Splash!

After coming out of the bathtub and drying my hair and body, I put on light clothing. I didn’t think I needed to delay any longer now.

Let’s go.

Kain wanted me to listen to Advice one more time, but I had a different thought. The owl wasn’t a being that answers questions as they were.

It always gave strangely twisted answers mixing in its own intentions.

Would the owl want Miro’s revival?

I didn’t think so. It might consider it as adding an unnecessary variable. So I felt that no matter what I asked, it would somehow include a negative nuance in its answer.

– Ting!

A clear sound rang out. Finally, the moment I had longed for had finally arrived.

***– Kim Ahri

It was a space full of light. There were shining mirrors on the floor, walls, and ceiling, everywhere my sight reached.

While looking around, I felt a sense of discomfort. Mirrors were objects that reflected light, they didn’t create it. For mirrors to shine, there should be a separate light source, but there was no such thing in this space.

It was a new story. However, this much wasn’t that special in the Hotel.

Shortly after, the notification I had already heard about popped up.

Congratulations, Kim Ahri! You have discovered Hotel Pioneer’s hidden secret, the Mirror Room!

“You know Songee discovered it. But the wording is the same. Isn’t that lacking sincerity?”

I tried to give a playful jab, but the Hotel ignored my words and conveyed the rest of the content. It was a story I had already heard. Wishes needed tickets, but the first time was free.

I slowly moved towards the huge mirror in front. As I got closer, various things started appearing in the mirrors all around.

Some mirrors showed a powerful sword imbued with fierce evil energy.

Some mirrors showed a mysterious throne imbued with the starlight of the universe.

Some mirrors showed me reborn as a transcendent being, awakening the hidden power in Ancient Blood.

Some mirrors showed Miro smiling “intelligently”.

“...”

I knelt down and clasped my hands together.

I focused my mind, seeking help from the omnipotent being somewhere in the Hotel, the Great One whose true nature even the Administration couldn’t grasp.

Old memories arose in my mind. Time spent with Miro in the Hotel, the very old Hotel, flashed by.

Miro throwing a tantrum saying she didn’t want to eat, Miro almost ruining the room by running wild with joy saying someone else was sealed in the Cursed Room this time. Miro trying to half-kill a protesting companion by crushing them with force.

...There aren’t many good memories?

Ahem! Thinking a bit more, this time good memories came to mind.

The girl who put food in my mouth saying it was delicious, the girl who held onto me on the sofa saying she didn’t want to sleep alone at night, Miro who blew away a companion threatening me with just a finger point.

All these memories came back vividly, as if they happened just yesterday.

It was a strange thing. Humans were naturally animals of oblivion, but how could events from decades ago be so vivid?

Memories after escape were much later in order, but many parts were blurry. The Administration branch director who first took me in, other agents I called seniors at the time... I couldn’t even remember their faces now.

I gathered my thoughts. Like a ripple caused by a single drop of water falling on a calm lake filling the lake, a ripple caused by a single wish began to fill my entire heart.

One by one, one by one.

The diverse impulses that humans inevitably held subsided. A single wish stronger than anything else swallowed all other wishes.

The mirrors reflecting the sword, throne, and the reborn me lost their light one by one.

Finally, at the moment when only the mirror reflecting Miro smiling mysteriously remained, I wished earnestly.

May my mother, who has suffered for a long time, be given another chance. May clarity dwell again in her mind before her revival.

The mirror shook and emitted an unknown light.

Is the wish being fulfilled?

Part of the wish content includes a portion that cannot be fulfilled! Do you want to confirm?

“There’s a part that can’t be fulfilled? What suddenly—“

Before I could answer, the mirror suddenly started playing an unknown video. This video was...

A video about Miro.

***I understood. I understood why the Mirror Room diagnosed that part of my wish couldn’t be fulfilled, and what the “fulfillable direction” was.

A conversation I had with Songee before flashed through my mind. What was the reason Miro lost her intelligence? The price paid while making a wish in the Mirror Room?

Songee said that couldn’t be. The Mirror Room only took tickets as payment and didn’t take human intelligence as payment. Therefore, the reason Miro lost her intelligence was...

...because Miro herself wished for it.

“It’s okay. I understand the other direction.”

The Mirror Room also showed another possibility to solve this problem. So—

– Ting!

The clear sound was heard again. The mirror showed another video I hadn’t even thought of.

...The moment I was born.

I saw a beautiful girl.

The girl with mysteriously flowing silver hair, looking exactly like my twin, was kneeling quietly and praying in the Mirror Room.

“I pray to the ruler of the Hotel sitting on the great throne.

“I want to have a perfect companion.

“A child who can overcome the Hotel’s trials. A child born with special power from birth, born with an extraordinary fate.

“A child who won’t succumb to fear even if an evil god wields endless power, who can unravel the tangled threads of trials in an instant.

“A child who has rationality that doesn’t fear sacrifice, yet can protect humanity’s greater cause in the big picture.

“And there’s a top priority condition that precedes all of this. That child must love me and not betray me.

“Even if the sky falls and the earth splits, even if eons of time pass and all memories scatter like a moment’s dream...

“I hope they will keep an unchanging love for me.

“Please give me the perfect child.”

When I turned away from the brightly smiling girl in the mirror, I realized that hot water had welled up in my eyes and my vision had blurred.

Yes, I vaguely expected it. I’ve thought it was strange for a long time.

How could only the memories and feelings for Miro remain so unchanged?

Even though all my other memories and feelings had worn away in the flow of time...

Only one memory and feeling never changed.

I was Miro’s perfect child. My very genes were Miro’s wish.

FOOTNOTES

1. TL Note: Took a liberty with this. Its the original text is more along the lines of "an unfillial child with the fire type" but the real ones know it's talking about Ash's Charmeleon from the pokemon anime. Pretty much after evolving from a Charmander it entered a rebellious phase and disobeyed Ash constantly.