Chapter 17 - Room 102, The Cursed Room - 'Horror Mansion' (3)
Chapter 17 - Room 102, The Cursed Room - 'Horror Mansion' (3)
[User: Han Ga-in (Ji-hye)
Date: Day 6
Current Location: Floor 1, Room 102 (Cursed Room - Horror Mansion)
Sage's Advice: 3]
It was a morning when heavy rain began to fall.
As I got up and came out, the butler was naturally there.
While passing the time with small talk about how hiking would be difficult because of the rain today, but the chapel would be manageable, the others started coming out one by one.
It was breakfast time, but Elena hadn't come out.
Had she fallen into a deep sleep because of the exhausting schedule yesterday, including the hike?
Because everyone suspected the butler and the maid, they had all gone to bed with their doors locked,
So even entering Elena's room was not easy.
However, as it approached 10 o'clock, the butler eventually brought the mansion's master key and opened it-
Inside the room, there was an atmosphere as if looking at Sleeping Beauty.
A room with a peaceful atmosphere. A gorgeous bed as if nothing had happened.
The young lady lying on it, like a princess of the Northern Kingdom.
Nevertheless, a pungent stench that couldn't be hidden.
Death. Surprising and shocking, but-
It wasn't as tragic as I had thought. After all, didn't Eun-sol-noona make it clear yesterday?
Somehow, only one person needs to survive until the very end. Then, everyone can live.
Therefore, rather than crying or grieving, I had to understand what exactly had happened and what the remaining people had to do to avoid it.
"Sniff... sniff... ugh..."
However, not everyone could think so coldly.
Song-i couldn't contain herself and started sobbing.
Jin-cheol-hyung stood there dumbfounded with an expression as if struck by lightning.
Even for me, it wasn't easy.
No matter how much I knew there was still a chance, the corpse in front of me was enough to shake my heart.
Calming my mind, I approached the corpse.
Just because I looked closely didn't mean I could suddenly realize a lot of things at once.
I'm neither a police officer nor a detective.
Still, a few facts caught my eye.
Outwardly, there were no other wounds. On her neck, there was a distinct mark, bruised so badly it was black rather than red.
The shape was not of a human hand, but probably a cord. Was she killed by strangulation with a hard, thin cord?
It didn't seem like there had been a significant struggle.
Although the mansion wasn't completely soundproof, it wasn't soundproof enough to muffle the sounds of a life-and-death struggle either.
Above all, the room was too clean, and there were no signs of a struggle.
Someone else also noticed a difference.
"This... the mark. Both Elena's position and the mark next to her. It seems she was with someone."
Looking again, I understood what it meant.
Elena's position was by the left window rather than the center of the bed, and on the right, there were clear traces of someone having sat or lain down.
The mattress was still slightly sunken, and the blankets were scattered about.
An ominous thought crossed my mind.
Was it because I showed signs of not being able to hide my panic?
Unlike the other three who were crying or stuttering without a single clue of what was going on, Eun-sol-noona stared at me with a sharp gaze.
"Ga-in. Let's not have useless thoughts. There's nothing certain, and in a place like this, 'logical thinking' itself might be meaningless."
"Yes... I was just panicked."
'If I think logically'
Someone entered the room of a person who locked her door full of suspicion.
They sat or lay on the bed together, spending time.
Then, after Elena fell asleep, they strangled her with a cord and killed her.
Wasn't the situation so clear that it was impossible to think otherwise?
Someone Elena trusted-
No.
In a place like this, interpretations derived from racking my brain might be meaningless.
Just as my thoughts were getting complicated, the butler made the situation even more complicated.
"This is a disconcerting thing to say, but it seems I must inform you of another serious situation. The weather has deteriorated so much that the path by the lake seems to be blocked."
Hurriedly putting on raincoats, Jin-cheol-hyung and I headed toward the lake.
While we were having various conversations in front of Elena's corpse, the heavy rain had intensified even more.
Now, it was to the point where we could barely see right in front of us.
Upon arriving at the lake, hyung and I sighed at the same time.
The water level of the lake had clearly risen significantly.
The bridge, which already had moisture from the lake seeping into it enough to bring up the Rasputitsa story on the first day, had now practically dived deep underwater, making it impossible for anyone or any car to cross.
Just one day.
Come to think of it, from those peaceful times where all we did was play together, eat fish, and go to sleep,
after just one night passed, one of our party died, and the path to leave the mansion was blocked.
I recall what noona said in the valley yesterday evening.
'Doing nothing seems safe, but it's actually the most dangerous action.'
Actually, shouldn't we have started acting since yesterday?
After spending a night doing nothing, we were immediately pushed into a pinch.
After returning to the mansion, the full-scale 'offensive' began.
While lightly washing my face, I looked up, and I was staring at myself.
I was grinning, and somewhere, twisting little by little.
As my eyes widened, teeth sprouted inside them, and disgusting bugs crawled on my tongue—I watched this sight for 30 seconds.
I grabbed the cup next to me and smashed the mirror by striking it.
After returning to the mansion, the mansion had become like this.
If I looked in the mirror, I would start a staring contest with myself.
When the cuckoo clock struck 12, the cuckoo came out, spewed red liquid, and collapsed.
Every time I walked up the stairs, I heard a sobbing sound.
Even Song-i, who initially screamed at the top of her lungs every time,
it took half a day for her to kick the doll that she had been turning her head to look at since some point.
Should I say it's a relief?
The bizarre phenomena that started occurring in the mansion didn't seem to directly harm people.
The me in the mirror was just transforming into a hideous figure,
the cuckoo clock just broke down on its own,
the stairs were just noisy,
and the living doll was just highly curious about humans.
Since there was no particular direct harm, we all became somewhat used to it, but...
Getting used to it didn't mean my mind was at ease.
I half-heartedly ate lunch and gathered my thoughts with the others multiple times.
Nothing came to mind.
As all sorts of bizarre phenomena began to occur, the cause of Elena's death fell further into a labyrinth,
and the path to escape the mansion disappeared. Time flowed endlessly like that, and
6 PM.
When the cuckoo clock spewed red liquid again with a firecracker-like sound, the topic of the chapel came up.
"First of all, it seems we must go to the chapel somehow."
"The chapel all of a sudden? What's the reason?"
A snappy, condescending tone. I could feel the lack of composure in noona's voice.
"For now, shouldn't we seek a way out? Although the chapel was abandoned a long time ago, the old master used the half-ruined chapel as a sort of storage. The back of the chapel meets the lake, and there is a fairly sturdy boat there. Originally, it was a boat for recreation when the lake was calm, but..."
There was a boat where the back of the chapel met the lake. The suggestion was to ride it out.
Two thoughts crossed my mind.
First, I was tempted. I had already heard at least a rough story about how Seung-yeop survived from Room 101.
He said that by somehow escaping the danger zone and putting distance between them, he successfully escaped.
Then... by the same logic, wouldn't escaping outside the mansion obviously count as an escape?
Next, I was suspicious. Why was the 'butler' presenting us with a path for survival?
This also had two possibilities. The possibility of a trap at the chapel or the boat.
Or... the possibility that the butler wasn't hostile to begin with.
Come to think of it, neither the butler nor the maid had ever harmed us even once, so the possibility was sufficient.
After racking my brain, I looked up. At some point, Eun-sol-noona was staring at me.
"What does Ga-in think?"
"For now, if we want to get out, we should try this and that, shouldn't we? It's better than just staying still."
'Staying still is the most dangerous thing'
As I answered as if agreeing with noona's creed, the group's decision was made with that.
As evening fell, the heavy rain grew fiercer, and now it was closer to a storm than simply rain.
With the weather like this and the number of raincoats being limited,
it was eventually decided that four adults, namely Han Ga-in, Cha Jin-cheol, Lee Eun-sol, and the butler, would leave for the chapel.
Coming outside, the visibility was so dark that it was hard to see an inch ahead.
In the end, the butler, who knew the way, took the lead with a flashlight, and we began to follow in his footsteps, using the flashlight's beam as a guide.
Someone grabbed my clothes.
"Noona?"
"Come to the back for a moment."
Did she have something to say just between the two of us? Just in case, I checked the status window, but there was no change in the advice.
"I'm going to stop by the chapel and then go to the study. You can try to stop me, I don't care. If push comes to shove, I'll have Jin-cheol get rid of the butler and go anyway.
Right now... we know too little. No matter how I look at it, we have to go to the most suspicious place and find something. At the very least, we need to get a grasp on what's trying to kill us."
"Um, then I'll come with you later too-"
"You act like you're against it. Oppose it strongly, and even throw a fit and don't follow me. That way it'll look natural."
"Huh? Noona, what suddenly-"
"This place. I think I'm slowly starting to understand it. Everyone shouldn't try to survive.
The more they do, the more they'll all die without even knowing what the danger is.
The reason we know absolutely nothing about the mansion to an outrageous degree is because no one has ever taken a risk.
So, someone has to sacrifice themselves to confirm what the danger factors are.
Of course, we can't all go together. If we all go and all die, it's truly the end.
One by one, one by one, we go, and even if we die, we uncover all the danger factors, and the one or two people who survive until that point endure by avoiding those factors."
My breath hitched.
"You, you have to survive. Haven't you felt it all this time? This isn't a place you endure with strength.
You endure by thinking. The others, they can't think right now."
She forced the words out as if spitting them.
"Jin-cheol-hyung is quite thoughtful in his own way."
"He's not stupid, but he's emotional. Ever since Elena died, Jin-cheol has been out of his mind. He's going to die somewhere without even being able to resist now."
Anew, I thought this noona was a bit chilling.
I no longer had the confidence to oppose noona's opinion.
With no more words left, about 20 minutes later, we arrived at the chapel.