『Translator: RainTL』
༺ Room 102, Cursed Room – ‘Mansion of Fear’ Re (4) ༻
* 6 hours ago
– Kim Ahri
There was something I had been pondering about during the strategy meeting we had before the Third Attempt began.
Why did the Hotel separate us into ‘Team Exorcists’ and ‘Team Village’? It can’t be because we looked young because clearly, the Hotel had the power to change the participant’s outer appearance at will.
Park Seungyub and me – there had to be a role that we had to play inside the village.
First off, I needed to leave the house to find clues but…
“No! Ahri. I told you you can’t go outside!”
The moment I merely got close to the door, my ‘mom’ showed up to stop me from leaving the house.
Four children had already gone missing, and households with kids were therefore being extra cautious with their children.
Did I have to sit here and do nothing?
— Ding dong!
The bell rang as some kids came into the house.
Ever since the children started to go missing, the village began to adopt a joint supervision system. There had to be adults supervising the kids, but they had to go to work which was why they decided to take this approach.
Today, it was our family’s turn to look after the nearby kids.
“Ahri!”
I looked up and found Seungyub coming closer with a group of children. Before long, they started to play around.
…
I was sitting there blankly looking at the ceiling and when I came to myself, I realized that Seungyub was getting along with the kids very well. Wasn’t he in middle school though? He didn’t look any different from the elementary school kids he was playing with.
Like that, I was sitting there waiting until the problem kid, ‘Lee Siwoo’ showed up.
“Siwoo-oppa! Come here!”
“Siwoo-hyung! Help me fix this~”
It was an amusing sight but just like his father, the boy was a popular celebrity among the kids of his age. He was like the leader amongst the children.
Even the adults appeared to trust him a lot – the adults that were supervising us began to leave one by one once he showed up.
“Ahri! Come here and join us.”
Like a brother looking after his younger sister, he called me to join. It wouldn’t be right to sit here all the time so I walked up and he suddenly started to pat my head.
I almost couldn’t stop myself from holding back my fist! This kid was asking to be bashed!
Somehow, I held myself back but there was someone else who couldn’t.
— Flick.
Seungyub suddenly appeared next to us and pushed Siwoo’s hand away. Siwoo seemed slightly surprised; he gave an awkward smile before going back to other children.
What the heck were these kids doing? Seungyub? You’re embarrassing me now.
Around 20 minutes went by when Siwoo said to the kids.
“Guys~. It’s time for a nap. Let’s all take a nap.”
Time for a nap? Although they were kids, they didn’t look small enough to need a ‘time for a nap’ though…
!
That was when something strange began to unfold.
Siwoo gently waved his hand and all the kids suddenly started to doze off. He then started to carry all of them to the sofa and the mattress.
After sensing that something was going wrong, Seungyub quickly whispered to me.
“A, Ahri-noona. What is—”
“Don’t call me ‘noona’.”
“Ahri…”
“Don’t worry. Stay still.”
“Okay.”
It’s alright, Seungyub! The worst that could happen to us is death!
I wanted to turn to the conversation tab but realized that we were too far apart.
Team Exorcists said they would meet Lee Sehyun at the mansion and immediately come to the village by car so that they don’t make him suspicious, but it seemed that they weren’t at the village just yet.
The conversation tab wasn’t activated yet for us.
Siwoo walked towards us and did ‘something’ after holding Seungyub by the arm. Before long, Seungyub began to follow him with a dreamy look in his eyes.
I just had to copy that, right?
For the time being, I decided to leave a trace behind.
*
…How inconsiderate.
We walked for around 2 hours from the village to the rear mountain of the mansion. It wouldn’t have taken that long by car but it took us 2 whole hours.
Normally, kids like us wouldn’t have been able to walk straight for 2 hours but Seungyub was hypnotized while I was pretending to be, so we all walked without any complaints.
Was it right to continue following him? I wasn’t entirely sure.
The conversation tab didn’t work the whole time but I could guess the reason. Mooksung probably wasn’t dead; he was probably at the mansion when we were in the village, and while we were going around the village towards the rear mountain, Mooksung must have headed straight to the village.
We crossed our paths and were constantly too far from each other for the conversation tab to work…
It appeared that the ‘culprit’ was possessing the kid in front of me but… was it really a good idea to continue going after him?
Although I was unsure, I decided to follow him for the time being. After all, it was important to gather as much information as possible even if that meant death.
We would at least be able to figure out where the ‘missing kids’ had gone off to.
There was nothing special on the way to the mountain.
It stayed that way until we were around half-way up the mountain.
Aside from the difficulty that came from being smaller than usual, the mountain wasn’t unique or different from other mountains. Humans might find mountains to be quiet and frightening, but I could faintly feel and hear the animals and creatures inhabiting the mountain.
It was only when we were half-way up the mountain that I found something strange for the first time.
Sitting in front of us was a large door.
Was this door here the whole time? I didn’t remember seeing it in the future version, but it wasn’t like we ransacked the entire mountain so I wasn’t sure.
What should I do? Should I turn around and go back? Would I be able to run away even if I did so?
Before long, I decided against it. I wouldn’t figure anything out by turning back here.
Someone had to go in and find out what was lying inside that place.
I took courage. Even if I were to die here, I would open my eyes outside. It would be fine.
Saying that to myself, I walked in through the door.
And the moment I did, the world flipped upside down.
*
– Kim Ahri
Laundry inside a washing machine.
The world turned in circles like I was a hamster on a wheel.
I barely forced myself up and looked around, only to find an incomprehensible world in front of me.
There was no source of light in the sky above. Neither the sun nor the moon were in sight.
However, there were faint and ambient sources of light in the ground. Countless flowers were covering the ground, and those flowers were giving off light to supply a small amount of light into the world nearby.
Where was this place?
Naturally, the door I walked in through was nowhere to be found.
“Don’t be scared. This is the world of the Nebula Dragon. The owner has passed but the world is still left behind in fragments.”
“Nebula Dragon? Who is that?”
“No need for you to know. She has entered a deep slumber in prehistoric times, and this world started to crumble along with her passing.”
The boy explained while looking around with an emotional light in his eyes.
“Did you know I was awake?” I asked.
“Of course I did,” he replied.
“…Why did you take me here?”
Instead of replying, the boy sat in the midst of the flowers and carefully stroked each one of them.
“Aren’t these flowers beautiful?”
“They look like evening primroses. It’s surprising that they emit light though.”
“They cannot compare to flowers on Earth. Each one of them contains a soul, after all.”
It felt spooky all of a sudden.
I immediately retreated from the flowers and asked.
“Did you make these flowers by killing people?”
“They were leading a worthless life. But through death, they have found true value.”
Now this was something I was familiar with. Although the environment was very new, it wasn’t rare to see lunatics like this on Earth.
First off, I asked about his motive.
“So what; are you trying to kill a bunch of people to revive your god or something?”
“Did you think I was trying to revive the Nebula Dragon? That’s a misunderstanding. How would the likes of me possibly resurrect a dead god?
My job is simply to complete the birth of her firstborn son – the one who is still continuing to grow himself by swallowing the remains of his mother.
But that won’t be enough. Eating the remains of a dead god is not enough for the birth of an actual god.
He needs assistance. You might think I’m committing a horrible massacre, but that’s not the case. I’m simply helping them ‘immigrate’.”
“Immigrate?”
“The people that became these flowers will become the citizens of the newborn world. They will definitely acquire a fate that cannot be compared to the filthy life on Earth!”
I could feel it from that short conversation.
This guy was a madman who believed a demon to be an ‘unborn god’, and was considering human sacrifices to be the process of immigration.
“You’re trying to fight me,” he said.
“Are you surprised you couldn’t persuade me?”
“You are not normal people are you?” he suddenly asked.
Normal people? What did he mean by that?
“It’s interesting. Today is a very intriguing day. I was surprised when I saw you and Seungyub. Your souls are incomparably of a higher status compared to that of other people. You are not exorcists from the Vatican, so how could this be?”
…I understood where he was coming from.
For us it was the Enemy that was possessing people, but from the Enemy’s perspective, it must have looked like we were suddenly possessing the villagers! Since he was an existence that could perceive souls, he must have been surprised to see the souls of participants of the Hotel, which were of a higher status than normal people.
He must have considered it normal for the exorcists of the Vatican because they weren’t supposed to be normal people in the first place.
But from his perspective, Seungyub and I must have been normal people until yesterday, and hence the reason why he was so intrigued by this change.
“We were sent from the above to kill you.”
“Really? Were you sent by the being that the Vatican believes in?”
Sorry. I’m just saying things. I was sent not from ‘the above’ but from ‘the Hotel’.
In any case, there was no more need for a conversation.
I drew out my ‘Ancient Blood’.
— Tat!
In a flash, I jumped across 10 steps to close the distance, and swung the blood claws frozen away from my nails at the enemy.
The boy shouted something strange while taking a leap backwards.
That was when black chains shot out of all sides, stopped the claws and raced towards me.
I spun myself on the spot before jumping off the ground to escape the chains. In the middle of the air, I clicked my fingers.
— Kwang!
Blood spurted out from Siwoo’s chest as he crumbled on the spot along with a scream.
I was about to strike down at his chest with my knees but… that was when more chains shot out of the ground to bind my legs.
However, without letting that stop me for a single second, I immediately cut off my legs.
His face was covered in shock as if this was the last thing he saw coming and — my sharp and solid fingers pierced through Siwoo’s neck.
.
.
.
Did I win?
Unfortunately, that was highly unlikely. The Enemy was someone who had exceeded the physical constraints of a human body. That ‘Siwoo’ was probably just a puppet for him too, and there was no way that this was the end.
For the time being, I glued my legs back together. They were cut off as cleanly as possible, so it didn’t serve to be too big of an issue. Putting my legs back together, I was using the powers of the Ancient Blood to close the wounds.
It was then.
“Noona!”
Seungyub, who had woken up a long time ago and was hiding himself, screamed out loud.
— Kwang!
Sharp chains struck me on my back. Withstanding the pain, I stood up and noticed there was a mysterious being standing behind me.
He looked like a young boy.
His skin seemed as thin as paper; I could even see the veins and his moving organs beneath it. Instead of pupils, in his eyeballs were little rotating tornadoes that gave off light, and his facial features were big and distinct.
Although he looked like a mysterious boy at a glance, upon a closer inspection you would see every way that he differed from a normal human, and feel disgusted by it.
Was that who the ‘Enemy’ was? Was it a citizen of this world that was made by the ‘Nebula Dragon’, the so-called mother of the demon?
His voice casually drifted out.
“You fight really well. Are you really an angel sent from the god of Earth? Beautiful Lady Ahri?”
“Stop giving me goosebumps. I am much older than you think.”
“That’s funny. Because I’m also quite a lot older than how I appear.”
“The results won’t be different for Round 2.”
“I agree too. Honestly speaking, my powers alone won’t be enough to beat you. It was spooky seeing you cut your legs and pasting them back together, but this is my hometown and I have someone protecting me here.”
That was when a tremendous amount of power started to boil inside the entire world. The demon was pouring out an overwhelming amount of energy!
I immediately used a syringe to take out my blood containing my ‘Allusion’ and handed it over to Seungyub.
“Run.”
“Sorry?”
“Use your blessing, and run. Continue running and you’ll make your way out.”
Our experience thus far had not been in vain – without asking me anything or wasting time, Seungyub immediately started to run with the syringe in hand.
I could hear a scoff being carried by the wind.
“I can sense an extraordinary soul from that boy, but isn’t he just a normal boy? Do you really think he can leave this place?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re making me curious now. What are you basing that on?”
“Will the graveyard of a dead god be complete without any flaws? There will be some holes here and there, and that must be why you yourself are able to travel back and forth. Right?”
“You’re not wrong, but you don’t know where—”
“Wherever it is, he will find it.”
The luckiest boy in the world would definitely be able to find a way out of this hell.
So as for you and me—
This would be the graveyard of one of us
