Episode 42 – Room 104, The Cursed Room - 'Elite Exam Prep Hotel High' (2)
Episode 40 – Room 104, The Cursed Room - 'Elite Exam Prep Hotel High' (2)[User: Han Ga-in (Ji-hye)
Date: Day 16
Current Location: Layer 1, Room 104 (Cursed Room - Elite Exam Prep Hotel High)
Sage's Advice: 3]
Have I ever studied this hard in my life?
I don't think I even studied this hard for the CSAT.
Of course not. They don't kill you for getting a low CSAT score!
*
Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): Language - 43211 53422 15323 12432
Kim Muk-sung (Teacher): Korean History - 52452 12431 11123 14123
*
The answers for Language and Korean History were uploaded. Now it's my turn to solve the rest like my life depends on it.
I opened the test paper.
Number 1. The number of distinct real roots of the two equations P(x) = 0, Q(x) = 0 are 7 and 9 respectively, and the set A = {(x,y) | P(x)Q(y) = 0 and Q(x)P(y) = 0, x and y are real numbers} is an infinite set. -----
Ah. It's extremely obnoxious right from number 1.
Is there really no answer other than responding like this? No matter how I think about it, this doesn't seem like the right direction...
I don't know. No other method comes to mind, so for now, I have no choice but to at least solve the problems and survive.
...
50 minutes passed. I was only able to upload the answers with barely 10 minutes left.
Han Ga-in (Student): Math - 21223 53121 45121 33315
Kim A-ri (Student): Number 13 answer is not 1, but 3.
Han Ga-in (Student): Confused on 16, is it 3?
Kim A-ri (Student): Seems like it's 3.
So I wasn't solving this alone.
It was a small comfort.
While solving the exam to the point of my head exploding, a problem arose during the English test.
Han Ga-in (Student): English - 23111 45231 13522 3 - Beep.
'Chat capacity' has been entirely depleted!
At the very least, I called it out up to number 16.
As for the last 4 questions... I just hope everyone solves them well on their own.
*
"Wow... you really worked hard, hyung!"
"Thanks, oppa."
"Without Ga-in, we probably would have all met in the Old School Building."
"Good work~ But I think the answer for English number 11 is wrong."
While everyone was expressing their gratitude, A-ri added that one remark, which slightly ruined my mood.
Whatever. As long as I survive in this weird hotel, that's all that matters.
I wanted to have some sort of strategy meeting, but there was no time for that.
The bell rang for us to return to the dormitories almost immediately after the exam ended and we met to exchange a word or two.
This exhausting boarding school, 'Elite Exam Prep Hotel High', had extremely strict lifestyle management, so after an exam, nothing was allowed except going straight back to the room to study.
*
It's quiet.
How long has it been since I've been left this 'alone'?
Come to think of it, before Muk-sung grandfather and A-ri joined up, we were locked in our respective rooms in 105 like this after dinner. I remember we used to come out and meet once an hour.
However, after Muk-sung grandfather's 'chat window' opened, even when we were stuck in our respective rooms after dinner, we would occasionally exchange a word or two, making the feeling of isolation disappear.
I sat alone and thought.
Is there really no other way?
Gritting my teeth and just solving CSAT prep problems day by day to survive?
This is ultimately just a temporary fix.
The hazard identified so far is the 'Old School Building'.
Is there any meaning to just blindly avoiding going to the 'Old School Building'?
I recalled the conversation I had with Eun-sol noona in the 'Mansion of Fear'.
If everyone just tries to survive, we will all die without knowing anything. Someone has to go to a dangerous place and get information, even if it kills them.
The hotel demands sacrifice.
But... who exactly should be the sacrifice?
The night deepens. I tossed and turned in agonizing deliberation, staying awake all night.
*
[User: Han Ga-in (Ji-hye)
Date: Day 17
Current Location: Layer 1, Room 104 (Cursed Room - Elite Exam Prep Hotel High)
Sage's Advice: 3]
As soon as morning hit, the chat window was in an uproar.
Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): You shit-for-brains!!!!
Han Ga-in (Student): What? Did we get a ton wrong?
Kim Muk-sung (Teacher): It would have been a relief if that were the case.
Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): We solved it incredibly well. The ones who solved it were Ga-in? A-ri?
Han Ga-in (Student): Both of us.
Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): But you idiots. When you copy answers, you have to get one or two wrong!
Kim Muk-sung (Teacher): How... Except for A-ri being slightly different, even the 4 questions the four of us got wrong were exactly the same.
Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): It was different from English number 16... But the problem is they're all wrong.
We're screwed. I never imagined we wouldn't even be able to copy the answers with a few believable mistakes...
I thought they'd naturally know to do that without being told.
Park Seung-yeop (Student): Gasp
Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): Don't 'gasp', we're screwed.
Han Ga-in (Student): What happens now?
Kim Muk-sung (Teacher): There's an uproar about cheating. Eun-sol and I stubbornly insisted there was no evidence as much as we could. So we barely covered it up, but today's exam is written response format.
Oh my. Written response.
Now we're truly fucked. A change that seems precisely aimed at sniping our cheating through the chat window.
If we start having a long conversation in the chat window, the chat capacity is entirely depleted in less than 3 minutes.
Naturally, we won't even be able to properly write out one or two written response questions.
Yoo Song-i (Student): This is actually good. We can't keep holding out like this. Someone needs to go to the Old School Building.
Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): It's true someone has to go, but we must go 'one at a time'. Right now, if we take the exam, El/Park/Yoo—three people—will be in crisis at once. Too much sacrifice.
Kim A-ri (Student): I have an idea! Chat window cheating is impossible, but 'multiple perspectives' are possible. The teachers prepare cheat sheets. Secretly pass them to Song-i during the exam. Song-i delivers them to us through 'multiple perspectives'.
Kim Muk-sung (Teacher): It's the end times. Truly, there is no greater master of cheating than this group.
Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): Old man, stop wasting text. I'll prepare the cheat sheets. Song-i, can you do it?
Yoo Song-i (Student): The bracelet makes it hard to target the desired person when people are mixed together.
Han Ga-in (Student): Adjust everyone's desk positions so Song-i can target easily. Practice taking positions so that there's nothing blocking the way between Song-i and yourself even during the exam.
Elena (Student): It might also be good to pretend to drop something in the middle and approach Song-i.
Kim Muk-sung (Teacher): What kind of school days did you all have? How are you so-
Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): SHUT THE MOUTH
Cha Jin-chul (Teacher): I'll also participate in exam supervision.
And so, we planned a super cheating project that even included the teachers.
Trouble erupted right from the first class.
*
"Park Seung-yeop! Can't you focus today either? Where exactly are your eyes going? Are you even listening to the class? Come out and solve this!"
During math class.
Seung-yeop ultimately couldn't hide his dazed look, and was in a state without any 'blessing' or anything. Naturally, he couldn't even touch the math problem.
"This won't do. Get out and receive discipline!"
As soon as the words 'receive discipline' left the math teacher's mouth, as if they had been waiting, a burly man came in from outside the classroom and dragged Seung-yeop out.
It's a new realization, but where on earth does a school like this exist in the world?
While everyone was at a loss, Seung-yeop opened the chat window.
Park Seung-yeop (Student): I figured this would happen. It's a situation where I go alone, so it works out. I'll go and check it out.
Kim Muk-sung (Teacher): Good mindset. Don't worry. Even if you die, we'll all meet outside after some rest.
Han Ga-in (Student): See you later!
Elena (Student): See you later!
Everyone calmed the atmosphere, forcing themselves to say they'd see him out there.
Thinking coldly, Seung-yeop's words were right.
Rather than a problem arising during a group exam and all of us getting swept away to the Old School Building...
It would be better to go one by one and gradually figure out what the problem is.
*
While everyone pretended to focus on the class with their eyes, their minds were focused on Seung-yeop's 'report'.
Park Seung-yeop (Student): Nothing much yet. On the way to the Old School Building.
...
Park Seung-yeop (Student): Very old building. Strange light from the window.
...
Park Seung-yeop (Student): Inside the building. Quiet. The man who brought me disappeared.
...
Park Seung-yeop (Student): Strange sound. A song? I'll go in and check.
...
Park Seung-yeop (Student): So mystical and beautiful-
...
...
The report was cut off.
What could it be?
Old building. Strange light. Singing. Mystical and beautiful.
With just this much, I had no idea what was what.
It seemed I wasn't the only one who thought so.
Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): I have no idea either.
Kim A-ri (Student): Seems like he was subdued as soon as he entered. Someone with more 'combat power' needs to go in.
That's right.
Like Seung-yeop this time, if they get subdued as soon as they enter, we can't get proper information.
Someone - someone with 'combat power' must enter.
When everyone was immersed in doubt like that.
Seung-yeop returned.
*
"What the hell? You didn't even report in, so I naturally thought something happened?"
"Come on, hyung. Even if I wanted to report, there was nothing to report. I just went in and a teacher was there, I got scolded and came back. 'Study harder, what about your future,' that kind of nagging."
"Didn't you say you heard a song?"
"It was just the teacher humming."
"Seung-yeop, are you hurt anywhere?"
"No. Even Elena noona is worrying about me now."
"My! I'm just glad you came back in one piece."
"That's a relief. Anyway, does this put us back to square one?"
It's strange.
It was a brief conversation, but it was too strange. Strange light, singing, mystique, beauty...
All of this was just such a trivial issue?
Song-i, who had been sitting silently, stood up.
"Seung-yeop. Look at me for a second."
"Yes?"
Tap.
"From now on, everyone pretend you can't hear me. Because 'this thing' made it unable to hear my words."
The tension rises.
"This isn't Seung-yeop. It's hard to explain, but the 'perspective' is different. Its senses are different from a human's."
I had a chilling premonition. I immediately turned on the status window.
[User: Han Ga-in (Ji-hye)
Date: Day 17
Current Location: Layer 1, Room 104 (Cursed Room - Elite Exam Prep Hotel High)
Sage's Advice: 3
Ally Location Info (*)
Park Seung-yeop: Old School Building Basement]
The location of Seung-yeop according to the status window was the basement of the Old School Building.
Then, what exactly is 'this thing' in front of me...