Chapter 40 – Sanctuary of Blessing, Entering Room 104
Chapter 38 – Sanctuary of Blessing, Entering Room 104
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 14
Current Location: Floor ???, Sanctuary of Blessing
Sage's Advice: 3]
A bizarre space. Was it because it was a 'Sanctuary'?
A radiance like starlight poured down from an endlessly high sky,
and on the ground, there was a massive aggregation of light and a display seen here and there in the hotel.
At the very least, it didn't feel like there was any danger.
Around the time our tension eased, a string of text floated up on the display.
/Congratulations on reaching the Sanctuary of Blessing! Challengers, you can understand and strengthen your own blessings in the sanctuary.
However, this is limited to those who are qualified to strengthen./
Unlike the typical hotel notices that rambled with all sorts of rhetoric and caused confusion, the 'Sanctuary's' notice was short and clear.
You can understand and strengthen your blessing. Strengthening requires qualification.
Everyone stood around in a bewildered atmosphere before grasping the situation.
"This... doesn't seem like a particularly dangerous place, does it? It looks like a place that provides help related to blessings, just as it says."
"Understanding, strengthening. Both are good, right? There are people like me whose status window just pops up and they go, 'Ah, this is my blessing!', but there are also people who still don't know what their blessing is. Strengthening goes without saying."
"It's truly a relief. Honestly, everyone got something like a superpower, but I was only given the vague word 'Justice' with nothing else, so I was so frustrated."
"But what's this 'qualification for strengthening'? I don't even know how things will improve if it's strengthened in the first place. If I become stronger than I am now, am I going to punch through concrete?"
"Let's go to that light first. Something will probably pop up if we go there."
The moment everyone approached the light source, the display's content changed.
1. Understand 2. Strengthen
Two words floating up largely.
Feeling like I understood something, I reached out and touched 'Understand'.
It responded immediately. Ah, so this is touch-responsive.
Han Ga-in (20) - Wisdom -> Acquisition of knowledge to survive in the hotel
Cha Jin-cheol (31) – Courage -> Physical strengthening
Yu Song-i (17) – Affinity -> Generation of affinity against Chaos Entities
Park Seung-yeop (14) - Luck -> Periodically manifested luck
Lee Eun-sol (32) - Wealth -> Access to and supply of the HP Market
Kim Muk-seong (64) - Communication -> Mental connection between participants
Elena (23) – Justice -> Punishment against evildoers
Kim Ari (16) - Suggestion -> Hypnosis on self and others
Most of it was content already guessed.
The contents of Wisdom, Courage, Affinity, Luck, and Wealth were exactly as guessed.
Suggestion was also not different from what was guessed.
As expected, what everyone found fascinating was 'Justice'.
"Punishment against evildoers?"
"Miss Elena, do you have any idea?"
"I still have no idea at all. In the first place, I've met evil entities often in the hotel so far, but I've never once gained any ability to punish them."
"I think I understand a little. It's not an 'evil entity', but an 'evildoer'. This means it must at least be a 'human-like being', right? Looking at it that way, the Athanasias are not 'human' at all, and the farm family were beings who weren't evil at all in retrospect, so it must not have activated."
"In Room 103, the Human Farm, we can say it was because there were no 'evil humans' as Ga-in said, but what about Room 101, the Bizarre Family? They were clearly evil humans. Even in Room 102, the Mansion of Terror, the possessed Song-i that Elena met last was clearly an evil human."
Room 103 was easy to understand, but I didn't know the reason 'Justice' didn't activate in Room 101 and Room 102.
While everyone was thinking in silence, Ari spoke up.
"Could it be that it only works if the person themselves recognizes it?"
"Elena has to recognize that the opponent is an evil human?"
That's persuasive.
In Room 101, the Bizarre Family, her own mind was twisted, so normal judgment would have been impossible, meaning she couldn't 'recognize' it.
In Room 102, the Mansion of Terror, she died in her sleep, so she couldn't recognize the possessed Song-i's wickedness.
"If that's true, isn't my blessing too heavily restricted? In this hotel, just figuring out what happened is incredibly difficult."
"Noona! Think positively. This hotel is somewhat like a game. If there are a lot of conditions attached, on the contrary, the moment those conditions are met, it'll be incredibly strong. That's how balance works!"
Balance.
I thought that wasn't a wrong statement. Certainly, if our reasoning was correct, 'Elena's' blessing had more demanding conditions compared to other blessings.
If meeting the conditions was this difficult, then it had to be an ability that strong when met for the balance to be right.
Summarizing the situation to that extent, I pressed the next button on the display.
2. Strengthen
Park Seung-yeop, Han Ga-in, Yu Song-i can be strengthened. Do you wish to proceed? (Yes/No)
Exactly 3 people. The rest of the people's names weren't there.
The moment they saw the three names, everyone realized what the 'qualification for strengthening' was.
Having made an absolute contribution to escaping/solving the Cursed Room!
Room 101 was escaped by Seung-yeop alone
Room 102, honestly, I did almost everything.
Room 103 was even cleared by Song-i alone.
"It's a bit disappointing. I tried to use my head every time too... Still, those three seem right. Click it. I'm curious to see what strengthening does."
Naturally, I clicked 'Yes'.
/Strengthening in progress-------------Complete!/
!!!
The radiance illuminating the center of the sanctuary suddenly struck me, Seung-yeop, and Song-i.
I felt my consciousness slip out of my body in an instant.
*
Ascending.
Ascending.
Ah, am I flying in the sky right now?
Is this what an out-of-body experience is?
I have no body right now.
Something – only my consciousness endlessly rises.
Not the physical concept of 'up', but 'up' in a more fundamental sense.
A place truly beyond the earth.
A land nowhere to be found.
At some point, the ascent stopped.
A massive – bird stood before me.
An owl.
I looked at it inadvertently and realized. It's familiar?
The night before entering the hotel. The statue I had grabbed. It resembled that shape.
I was disappointed recently.
Is it talking to me?
I didn't think you were a fool, but to think you wouldn't even notice Athanasia's simple trick.
Is this about Room 103?
But you weren't bad in the mansion, so looking at it altogether, I evaluate that there is potential.
Who is this one, evaluating me?
Let's say I am your patron. You will see me a few more times in the future... I will give you a little extra. I hope you earn at least a legacy next time.
A short conversation. No, could this be called a 'conversation'? A one-sided transmission of intent.
From the endlessly lofty space, my consciousness plummeted downward..........
*
[Han Ga-in (20) - Wisdom -> From now on, you can know the location of your allies.]
*
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 15
Current Location: Floor 1, Room 105 (Rest Room)
Sage's Advice: 3]
I checked as soon as I woke up from the bed. Day 15.
Ridiculously, a day had been deleted in that short amount of time.
A sweet 3-day rest. I wanted to spend it with at least a little leisure...
Day 13 was used up for the bracelet test, Day 14 morning for exploration, and Day 14 afternoon and Day 15 morning were deleted just by closing and opening my eyes.
I wouldn't mind if I had at least heard some good words.
"I was disappointed. Bring back a legacy next time."
Coming back after hearing such a cursing-inducing 'evaluation' was just absurd.
Did anyone beg to be kidnapped to such a weird place?
I spat out curses out of sheer absurdity, then suddenly noticed a new function had appeared on the status window.
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 15
Current Location: Floor 1, Room 105 (Rest Room)
Sage's Advice: 3
Ally Location Info (!)]
Checking just in case, it showed that everyone was on Floor 1, in the Rest Room.
If we enter a Cursed Room, would it show a more 'detailed location'?
It was definitely a useful function.
It seemed to be mealtime, so when I headed to the dining hall, my allies were there.
"Hah! You're finally out. Do you know how panicked I was yesterday when you three suddenly collapsed? I carried you all, punk! And Seung-yeop and Song-i came out a long time ago, I wondered why you were so late."
"So, Ga-in, did you gain anything?"
"Yes. Now 'Ally Location Info' pops up and shows everyone's locations. Right now it just shows the room, but probably if we enter a Cursed Room, it will show more detailed locations, right?"
Unlike me, who could immediately confirm the change, Song-i and Seung-yeop had tilting-head reactions.
"Hmm... there are no 'Chaos Entities' around me, so I have no way to check."
"I just got one opaque window. It only says [98%]."
"It seems when it reaches 100%, the 'cooldown' is full. When that time comes, I guess I can be lucky at a desired moment. 98%, it's almost full."
After roughly talking about the changes in our blessings, I also had dinner late.
I feel unfairly treated all over again.
Dragged here against my will, criticized for not doing well, and a day of rest deleted.
Even the military wouldn't be this unreasonable.
*
After finishing the meal, we started the discussion in earnest.
The agenda was 'What exactly should we order from the HP Market?'
"As I said yesterday, I'll make one capsaicin. I went around and gathered every spray I could see and made up to 4 of them, but the capsaicin itself is all gone."
"Are we making the other two weapons too? Like my tonfa?"
"That's the dilemma. Whether it's a tonfa or whatever, I think such physical tools are just inferior to capsaicin spray for the women. Besides, this hotel has bladed weapons here and there as decorations. Even Ga-in's silver dagger was just picked up from the hotel."
That makes sense.
It's not like the HP Market has any guns or proper bladed weapons anyway. Even if we buy them, it'd be kitchen knives.
Such things have no advantage over the bladed weapons decorated here and there in the hotel.
Ari, who had been silent, said a word.
"Lighter."
"Lighter?"
"I think a tool for making fire would be useful in some way. And I haven't seen any lighters while walking around."
"Not bad. Then one-"
"Noona, since we won't be using it to light cigarettes anyway, if we think of it as a weapon, how about a torch?"
"Hyung, wouldn't a torch actually be too lacking in portability?"
"Then let's go with a candle lighter."
"What's a candle lighter?"
"That long-snouted lighter they use at BBQ restaurants. You'll know it when you see it."
We continued to have various conversations after that, but no one could think of a suitable third item.
In the end, since capsaicin for making pepper spray was a consumable anyway, we decided to order two packs of it and chose a lighter for the other one, ending the day.
The next day, morning of Day 16. We entered Room 104.
*
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 16
Current Location: Floor 1, Room 104 (Cursed Room – College Entrance Exam Prestigious Hotel High)
Sage's Advice: 3]
Ding dong dang dong~
Familiar school uniform.
Allies looking around with blank expressions. And countless NPCs playing the role of students.
A high school senior right after the CSAT. The greatest golden period of life right before college admission.
I have returned to high school. And to a school with a hopeless name, 'Hotel High'.
Author's Note (Afterword)
Thank you for the sponsorships, 00Jeoljeong-nim and Miyao-ong-nim. I always express my gratitude to those who are reading.