『Translator: RainTL』
༺ Room 101, Cursed Room – ‘Common Sense Renovating Media’ (10) FIN༻
*
Fifth Attempt
*
Nervously we went into the hospital.
Unlike our previous expectations, the twisted nurses did not immediately pounce at us. Instead, they appeared rather polite just like yesterday.
However, Jinchul-hyung and Grandpa Mooksung appeared way too hostile so the nurses also started to pull their hands and…
“Both of you, lower your weapons!”
I shouted out loud after alas coming to myself. From the looks of things, it seemed that we would be able to avoid fighting them.
The two of them quickly hid their weapons, tonfa and the gun respectively, behind their backs after hearing my shout.
The tension in the air started to loosen little by little.
…
What was going on? Didn’t we see an alarm when we entered Room 101?
[The Enemy is aware of the contestants.]
Wasn’t it because of this that ‘Kim Sangmin’ was controlling the ones under the effect of the curse into attacking us?
It was hard to tell why, but it was good for us if this hospital was going to treat us like guests.
I asked for advice just in case.
‘Would it be okay to ask the hospital to take care of Elena’s wounds?’
[They will help Elena for now.]
…It was an ambiguous reply. ‘For now,’ huh.
Did that mean things could change over time?
Something I noticed after I started actively making use of the ‘Advice’, was that this wasn’t like a walkthrough guidebook that told me everything I wanted to know.
Instead, the advice was like a hint that weaved everything I knew already, that took it just one step further.
In any case, we had no other options. I knew the best as the one carrying Elena on my back.
At this rate, she was going to die.
“We have an emergency patient! She is bleeding heavily and we need to attend to her wounds immediately!”
Seeing me suddenly jump out and hand Elena over to them, Jinchul-hyung and Grandpa Mooksung seemed surprised despite not saying anything to stop me.
Four nurses came over and carried her over somewhere.
…Even that short contact with the nurses made my head turn from the curse even though there was still a filter covering my sight.
She would be fine, right? There was nothing I could do but believe that she would be able to withstand the curse with the power of her Justice.
Jinchul-hyung said in concern.
“I do remember you saying that they treat us like guests if we enter through the main entrance, but would they heal her? What if they kill Elena?”
“If they were going to kill us,” I replied. “They would have attacked us straight away the moment we entered the hospital, right? Besides, if they were going to kill Elena, they could have stabbed her immediately and wouldn’t bother going into a ward like that.”
“Stop your chatter and look over there.”
Urged by Grandpa Mooksung, we looked over to the side and found a nurse pushing a trolley with blood packs and bandages towards Elena’s room.
“Looks like they are going to heal Elena-unni.”
“Well, that means you guys were right that they act like a normal hospital if you go in through the main entrance. And there’s no reason they wouldn’t heal a patient if they were a normal hospital, so that’s probably why. Anyway, let’s all go and see that ‘Kim Sangmin’ or whatever.”
Right when we were about to turn towards the upper floors,
A sudden sting of pain flooded in.
“Uhk! UAAAAHK–!”
I fell on the floor and rolled left and right.
After half-fainting for a second, I belatedly came to myself and noticed a bloody tooth mixed with a chunk of flesh had left my mouth during that short seizure. That disgusting sight made me want to vomit.
Noticing that I wasn’t looking normal either, the nurses surrounding us started to walk up.
…Things would probably get worse if they came near me though.
“I guess Elena wasn’t the only one that needed to be healed. The houses were affected by the curse the most, right?
I had my gun, Songee has her bracelet and the pig is strong so he finished early, but it looks like the curse got to you the most when you were fighting with a bunch of clothes on.”
“I’m fine.”
“No. You don’t look fine. Your organs are in a mess aren’t they?”
“…”
Jinchul-hyung added.
“Kain, I think you should take a rest as well. You’re like our final last resort – instead of you coming with us and dying, I think you should wait and use ‘Descent’ if we all fail.”
“You can tell whether we are alive or not with ‘Location Information’, can’t you? As soon as you wake up, use that to see if we are alive and if we’re dead, descend and destroy the entire hospital if you must.”
“…Alright. I’ll do that.”
The nurses approached me from a distance.
The curse was the reason why my body was in a mess, so how did it even make sense that the nurses, the prime agents of that curse, would try to heal me?
…My consciousness started to fade.
I couldn’t even tell at this point whether it was because of the curse or because of the wounds on my body.
That was my last bit of memory in that room.
*
– Cha Jinchul
Pressure was weighing on my mind.
There were only 3 people left now.
We were almost there but… no matter how I saw it, it was looking more and more difficult for Songee to proceed any further.
One of her arms, that all of us were trying our hardest to look away from, resembled an alien creature more than a human arm.
A monster nurse walked up and said gibberish when we were about to climb up the stairs, so Songee walked closer and said some stuff about ‘Kim Sangmin’, which made the nurse step back again.
Sir Mooksung opened his mouth from the side.
“This hospital.”
“Yes?”
“It looks like ‘Kim Sangmin’ has no control over it, and the hospital is also considering him a normal patient. Perhaps the reason the nurses attacked her when Songee shot the chunk of flesh with a gun was not because he was in control of the nurses, but because ‘she was creating a ruckus at a hospital.’”
“Then who’s the one controlling the hospital in your opinion?”
“Must be that director guy. Suspicious and fishy till the end, damn it.”
We walked for around 10 minutes and arrived outside the room where the main perpetrator of this curse was.
“Hkkkk!”
Surprised by that sudden grunt, I turned around and found one of Songee’s arms choking herself by the neck!
In fright, I quickly took off the pieces of flesh that no longer looked like an arm. When I took off the big chunk, it suddenly divided into 3 segments that started piercing through her body.
Even after we took all the pieces out of her, Songee still could not stop her screams of pain.
…It was painful for me to watch.
Sir went up to her with the gun in hand.
“Songee. It’s looking rough for you. Do you want me to put you at ease?”
Powerlessly, without saying anything, Songee moved her other arm and touched me.
That was when a white beam of light surrounded the entire area for a moment! After that, my body started to give off a radiant halo.
When I turned to Songee in surprise, I found that she had closed her eyes already.
“Did she use up everything she had to pour it on you? That must have been a powerful mental protection spell.”
“I, I think so too.”
“Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and run! You need to destroy that stupid piece of flesh while that thing lasts! I will stay here and stop the nurses.”
— Kwang!
I immediately pushed the door wide open and dashed into the ward.
Just like what I heard beforehand, the scenery inside the room was strange. As soon as I entered that strange dimension that appeared like it was from an alien planet, I was met by a giant that was more than 3 meters tall.
I did not hear a monster like this being here though? Did he prepare it because it knew we were coming?
The monster did not wait for my trail of thought to end, and immediately swung its gigantic arm.
…
First off, I decided to distance myself from it. Since it was in a humanoid shape, I could somewhat predict its movements.
Three steps to the back.
The large arm of the giant barely missed my face.
I quickly dashed into the monster but this time, it raised one of its knees that was as tall as myself to stop my advance.
Using that as a foothold—
— Kwang!
With all my spirit, I gave it an uppercut with the tonfa on, as the head of the monster snapped back.
It was powerful enough to crush a human head to pulps, but the giant was resilient and tough.
This time, it tried to grab me with its two arms so I responded with my own arms. I reached my arms out and grabbed them back.
It was a pure fight of strength.
One might say it was impossible after seeing the difference in our physique but I was confident after that short skirmish.
This was doable!
“URAAAAAAAAA!”
Along with a loud roar, I pushed the arms of the monster back. Slowly but surely, I was starting to overpower the giant.
The giant crumpled its face and the moment it lost its balance, I quickly reached my right leg out and smashed his leg.
In the end, it crumbled down and rolled on the floor, unable to stand its ground anymore.
— Bang! Bang! Bang!
— Kuaaahk!
Naturally, there was no way that the hospital wouldn’t react after sensing a commotion of this size. Deafening roars, screams and gunshots were echoing behind me.
On top of that was an ambient lighting of gold that seeped in through the door of the ward.
Elena! She woke up!
It seemed that Elena and Sir were having an intense battle against the nurses outside.
I had to end this as quickly as possible.
Without even collecting my breath, I raced towards the giant and pounded on its face.
After about 10 seconds or so, the monster turned limp.
It was a shame that my tonfa broke from the pressure even though this was practically its first debut match. To be fair, it was hard to expect a hard piece of wood to sustain itself in a battle of monsters.
“Sangmin! You piece of shit! There’s nothing that can stop me anymore! Prepare yourself!”
In the distance, I saw it.
There it was — a chunk of flesh.
Its loud thumps were reaching my ears from all the way over there and when I went closer, I could hear its voice echoing in my ears.
He seemed to have led a pitiful life, complaining about the people who harassed him and how resentful he was.
“Ah! Shut your damn mouth, you little brat! No matter what happened to you, if you turn the world into this crap, you have no say even if I smash you to death.”
…By the way, how was I supposed to kill it?
Well, I guess it would work out if I just punch it on repeat.
— Kwang! — Kwang! — Kwang!
With every punch, I thought to myself how I would have easily become the boxing world champion if I had even a portion of my current strength.
Or… maybe not. If I was this strong, the Administration probably would have dragged me away before anything.
My fists could break through concrete let alone human flesh.
Soon, the ‘chunk’ was there no more, and all that was left were small ‘fragments’ of flesh.
That was when I found a shining piece of stone inside.
…
The moment I was about to pick it up, my fingers that were headed for the stone got divided into two and went through a drastic change.
Ah, this was it. The source and reason behind everything that happened in this room.
Ignoring the shredding of my fingers, I picked up the small stone from the remaining fragments of flesh.
As soon as the stone left its proximity, the flesh started to crumble down.
Along with that was everything. Everything started to crumble.
The room, hospital, TV Station – everything started to melt into nothing.
When I turned around, I found Sir and Elena looking around with astonishment in their faces.
An alarm popped up.
/You have succeeded!
A family tainted in madness; a world of insanity! It all began from a small bullying incident at a school, which we all hear about all too often. However, no matter the harshness of the circumstance he was in, it probably wouldn’t be enough to justify a revenge that put the entire world at stake.
Comrades falling side by side; enemies hiding in secret! You have overcome all those trials and have finally reached the last conclusion.
By removing the victim who became the perpetrator, you have resolved the root cause of the curse. Congratulations.
.
.
.
.
One of your teammates has successfully resolved the issue! Congratulations! The successful resolution allows everyone to return safely.
You have obtained the Inheritance, ‘Star Fragment of Another World’./
Finally, is everything over? That was really difficult. There was a time when I felt so sorry for everyone that I couldn’t even keep my head high, so it was great that I managed to seal the deal.
Please, let us rest now. This is too much regardless of how physically strong I am, right?
…
Why aren’t we going back? Is there still something left?
/Dear participants! Congratulations once again on concluding Room 101!
Those who have survived until now and contributed to the final battle have the right to acquire an Inheritance.
The list of those qualified is as follows.
- Elena Ivanov (Justice)
- Cha Jinchul (Courage)
- Kim Mooksung (Communication)
However, only one of you can acquire the Inheritance!
Now is the ‘Moment of Choice’!/
