Escaping the Mystery Hotel Chapter 80

『Translator: RainTL』

༺ Party Time (2) – Sanctum of Blessings (1) ༻

– Han Kain

First day of Party Time.

During a light breakfast, we talked about our plans for this morning. I started off by sharing my opinion.

“How about we go to the Sanctum of Blessings first? I am certain that quite a few of us will be able to enhance their blessings this time. After the last time we went to the Sanctum, we went through Room 104, Hotel High School, Room 106, Hotel Land, and Room 101, Common Sense Renovating Media, right? Just a rough calculation and I believe many of us would be able to get acknowledged for their participation.”

Jinchul-hyung said in agreement.

“I agree. When we empower our blessings, we will probably get access to new abilities. Those would take time to practice as well, so let’s take care of that first.”

Enhancing blessings! Aside from Inheritances, that was probably one of the most valuable rewards. I could see that many of us had expectant looks in their eyes.

I thought about who the recipients of the empowerment would be. 

From Hotel High School, it would definitely be Ahri and me, right? And at Hotel Land, it was Jinchul-hyung and I that showed good progress. From the Common Sense Renovating Media, the official list from the Hotel was Elena, Cha Jinchul and Kim Mooksung.

At the very least, it would be me, Kim Ahri, Cha Jinchul, Elena and Kim Mooksung.

The five of us should be able to empower at the very least.

As if they were thinking the same thing, those people had expectations surging in their eyes.

*

After quickly finishing the meal, I ran to the front entrance of the Hotel. As soon as I got there, I clicked the switch next to the entrance to turn the lights off.

…That was immediately received by an irritated complaint from noona and Grandpa.

“Hey! I can’t see if you run up first and turn the lights off!”

“That little guy! Are you showing off that you can enhance your blessings?”

I turned the lights on again, waited for everyone to arrive and turned the lights off again to enter the Sanctum of Blessings.

We were met by a familiar notification, welcoming us for the arrival at the sanctum and a sentence saying that we could understand or empower our blessings.

I walked up to the display as the ‘Empower’ button lit up so I quickly clicked on it.

…

Grandpa Mooksung’s name wasn’t there. 

He immediately reacted to it.

“What? You son of a bitch! I tried so hard, so how can I not have any empowerment available yet!”

While listening to him shout for the following few minutes, I contemplated by myself. 

There were few points that I could think of. The ‘Administration Team’ was a bit late to enter our party, so that probably affected their contribution score.

Also, the greatest contribution he made was certainly when resolving the ‘Common Sense Renovating Media’, but it was different from the time Songee resolved the ‘Human Farm’.

The resolution of ‘Common Sense Renovating Media’ was possible due to the combined effort of several people instead of one single person. That probably meant that the contribution points had been distributed to each person.

Seungyub said to console him.

“Grandpa! I think you have a lot of exp points, but just fell off short from a level up. You will definitely be able to empower it the next time we come.”

Seungyub. I can understand but, how is Grandpa going to understand all these terminologies like exp points and a level up?

“Hah! Freaking hell. How are we supposed to know when they are not showing us the exp bar?”

Oh, so he did understand it. It seemed that he was more up to date than I assumed. 

Jinchul-hyung did not even attempt to hide his excitement.

“Now! Now! Move aside, old man with your low contribution score, and let’s quickly enhance our blessings.”

I couldn’t hold myself back anymore either.

Without wasting another second, I quickly pressed the ‘Yes’ button.

The radiant light covering the sanctum struck me, Kim Ahri, Cha Jinchul and Elena.

*

My consciousness soared all the way through the sky.

It was my second time and therefore felt less awkward than before. Soon, I arrived at the land that transcended all lands – the dimension that didn’t exist anywhere.

When I came to myself, I was in front of the owl.

Was it going to scold me again for being unable to obtain an Inheritance? The first thing it said, however, was different from what I imagined.

“You weren’t doing that bad these days.” 

Surprisingly, the owl started off with a compliment.

“It’s a shame that I couldn’t get an Inheritance.”

“It wasn’t for you.”

The owl didn’t seem to be in a bad mood. It seemed that it wasn’t disappointed, because the Inheritance wasn’t something I could use in the first place.

“Looks like you are finally starting to get used to your blessing.”

“I didn’t know I had to ask for the answer to use ‘Advice’ properly.”

“Isn’t that obvious? You cannot be advised properly, if you yourself do not know what you want to know.”

“Why didn’t you tell me how to use the Advice when we met last time?”

“There is a clear limit to the form of help that I can give. Fundamentally, it is structured so that the participant must figure it out themselves.”

Owl – my ‘sponsor’.

I quietly digested its words. Did it mean that it couldn’t actively guide me by teaching how to use the blessing properly?

The owl continued.

“Now that you have understood the basics of it, I can elaborate a little bit more. Do you remember when you were asking for advice before entering the hospital ward?”

“It told me to hand the gun over to my teammate.”

“Why do you think that was the advice you received?”

“Isn’t it because there was no other way around it?” I replied. “I figured that it was telling me a way to die in peace because there was no way for me to resolve it at that point.”

“You are not wrong, but it wasn’t a helpful piece of advice. What meaning is there to an advice that tells you the method to die in peace?

The reason you received a piece of ineffective advice is because you personally asked for advice regarding ‘the unknown’.”

“The unknown?”

“You asked for advice before entering the ward. In other words, that was before you knew the types of risk that were inside the room. 

What is ‘Wisdom’?

Finding the right solution without any clues is not wisdom. That is closer to fortune or foresight. Even the wisest person needs some clues to make a wise decision.

That is the same when using the ‘Advice’. Do not ask for advice regarding the unknown, and ask after you have acquired some information, and you will be able to make better use of it.”

I had a rough gist that was the case, but felt assured now that the owl clarified it for me. That was something I assumed some time after I started using the Advice. It was hard to receive good advice when asking for something from a blank state. 

Making the right choice from a blank state was closer to foresight and luck, rather than wisdom. 

In other words, I had to gain as much information as I could before using the Advice.

It was a short yet productive conversation. However, that was still just the introduction.

After all, the main goal today was the empowerment of my blessing! I turned back to the owl in expectation.

“You seem like you’re looking forward to the empowerment of your blessing.”

“Yes. I made good use of the Teammate Information checking tool that you gave last time.”

“I would like to raise a slightly different proposal.”

“Sorry?”

“Recently, you have acquired quite a lot of contribution scores. By escaping Room 104 and completing Room 106, you achieved quite a high number of points as a result.

Although you fell before the end, your judgment and actions during Room 101 weren’t bad either. If you build up a little bit more, I can give you a ‘very powerful empowerment’.”

A very powerful empowerment… My heart started to race.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean what I said. It is a powerful tool, incomparable to the likes of Teammate Information. I assure you that it will be incredibly helpful in achieving your objective in the Hotel. However, you need more points.”

“So do you suggest I save the contribution points without empowering it now?”

“It is up to you. If you want, I can immediately give you normal empowerment.”

It was a difficult choice to make. Although the very powerful empowerment sounded very appealing, it was still a shame that I wouldn’t be able to gain anything this time.

“Can you please elaborate a little bit more on this ‘very powerful empowerment’?”

…The owl hesitated for a bit before carefully wording itself.

“Let’s say it’s a power that lets you understand the ‘scenario’.”

A power to understand the ‘scenario’… I wasn’t sure what it was, but it did sound like a very impressive ability. 

After hearing about the ability, it felt like I couldn’t afford to give up on the ‘very powerful empowerment’ 

Soon, I made up my mind.

“I’ll hold onto it.”

“Excellent choice.”

That was the end of the conversation as my consciousness started to fall back down towards the endless bottom.

.

.

.

‘A very powerful empowerment’. ‘A power to understand the scenario’.

What would it be about? It certainly was very appealing, but it nonetheless was a shame that I couldn’t obtain anything from the Sanctum this time around.

…My consciousness faded along with a tiny bit of regret.

*

– Cha Jinchul

I wasn’t expecting I would come across a scene like this in my life. There were countless blades and cold weapons going all the way to the horizon.

Even the ground beneath me was filled with swords, blades and spears.

It truly was a mountain of blades and a forest of swords.

Looking down at me from the top of the mountain of blades was an unbelievably enormous being wearing large armors.

It was impossible to fathom just how big he was – he looked several hundred meters tall at the very least. 

I was looking at the giant in awe when a voice echoed across the entire world of swords.

“Right when I was starting to feel disappointed that I chose the wrong seed from all your foolish actions, you have redeemed yourself. Heavily from luck, however.”

“Are you the sponsor or something?”

“Besides, you even wasted an attempt due to your stupid mistake, did you not? How appalling.”

…For some reason, I was getting scolded from the very first encounter.

Although I was slightly intimidated by his overwhelming size, it didn’t feel good to be told off immediately.

“There are so many things that can’t be solved with power so what am I supposed to do!”

“Is taking your mother to the TV Station something that happened because of your lack of strength?”

“…”

“Let’s stop there. Whether it be based on luck or not, you still did a great job acquiring the Inheritance. I shall give you a power that will be helpful when using it.”

“What do you mean by help?”

There were no more words to be shared. When the giant rolled his foot once inside the world of cold weapons, my consciousness immediately started to fade.

*

*

– Elena

A cup of tea was placed down in front of me with a click!

This was awkward. Very awkward.

My consciousness floated up and by the time I came to myself, I was standing in the middle of a pastoral garden. 

When I followed down the path of the garden, I came across a simple tea table and sitting on one side of the table was a mysterious lady.

According to what Kain-ssi explained about the Sanctum… that woman must be my sponsor, right?

I sat down on the other side of the table. She brewed tea for me, after which we both sipped our teas in silence.

…

Was she not going to say anything? I glanced at her appearance but I couldn’t tell how she looked.

It must be some supernatural ability but I couldn’t see her outer appearance. I only assumed she was a female based on her silhouette. 

“You are being restless,” she said.

“Yes?”

“Take your time with the tea. You must have tranquility at heart even in the face of danger.”

“Okay…”

I slowly sipped the tea as I was told. She continued the conversation by the time we were almost done with the tea.

“You are doing well.”

She suddenly let out a compliment.

Was I doing well? Honestly, I felt like I hadn’t been able to contribute much.

“I am not referring to your contributions at the Hotel. There were a few parts that had room for improvement in that sense.”

“Then what do you mean?”

“This is about your conviction of ‘Justice’. I have been watching you all along. The standard of your ‘scale’ that you have set inside your heart is quite similar to the laws made by humans.

Punishment of evil actions, the necessity of evidence, intentions and more. I can tell it is valuable since it is similar to the perception of right and wrong that humanity has worked on over a long period of time.”

“Isn’t that natural because I’m also a human?”

“It is nothing natural. I have seen a lot more humans than you have. Many humans considered everything evil if it didn’t suit their wants or needs, and made the judgment for themselves. The previous user of ‘Justice’ before you, was an extreme version of that.”

Who was the previous user of Justice? The sponsor in front of me appeared extremely repulsed by that person. 

“The correct path is bound to have a lot of thorns. If you think short-term, you might consider it rewardless and with a lot of restrictions but look further ahead. There is a potential reward that will be given only because it is the rightful path.”

“Honestly, I can’t really understand what you mean, but I’ll try my best.”

“That is the spirit.”

She handed me another cup of tea. While I slowly drank the tea, she opened her mouth again but this time on a slightly different topic.

“I saw there was a child trying to guide you down the wrong path.”