Escaping the Mystery Hotel

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 89

Current Location: Floor 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 3

- Han Kain

“We now begin the first Special Night Meeting of the Hotel Party!”

“…”

“…”

Silence filled the room.

It was 3 a.m., a time when we were not usually awake.

“Let’s give a round of applause to Grandpa Kim Mooksung for gathering everyone… Well, maybe not applause, but thank you.”

“What kind of meeting is so urgent that you had to gather everyone at this hour? And why did you insist on not using the group chat, making me call each person individually? It was exhausting.”

Ahri answered for me, “We had no choice. Some of the content had to be kept from Elena. She’s sound asleep right now.”

Elena wasn’t the only one missing.

It seemed Seungyub and Jinchul-hyung were in such deep sleep that they didn’t respond to Grandpa’s private messages.

With Room 105’s peculiarities, if someone didn’t wake up through the chat, there was no way to call them.

“As some of you might have guessed, this meeting is about how we should appropriately respond to Elena’s newly acquired ability, ‘Ominous Imagination’. We considered holding this meeting during the day, but it’s difficult to hold a daytime meeting without Elena noticing.”

“Hmm. It seems like you and Ahri are already handling it in your own way? Isn’t it about not triggering her anxiety?”

As expected, Grandpa seemed to have already figured out the intent of our unusual behavior.

Of course, I also noticed Songee’s eyes widened as she finally understood.

“That’s right. Until Elena becomes proficient with her ability, it’s important not to scream or run away in fear when strange phenomena occur around her. Such reactions could trigger her negative emotions.”

“Yes… I’ll be sure to be careful.”

Songee’s immediate response suggested that she might have already slipped up once.

“Good. But to be honest, I didn’t call everyone here at this hour just to talk about that. I spent several hours digging through the Chief Researcher’s memories.”

Grandpa’s eyes widened.

“Oh! That guy did raise Beatrix, didn’t he? Did you find any useful methods?”

“I have faint memories of him trying all sorts of methods. While the memories aren’t entirely clear, I can categorize them into three main approaches. The problem is… these methods are so ‘Chief Researcher-like’ that it might be difficult for us to implement them as they are, so I wanted to hear your opinions.”

Grandpa tilted his head in curiosity.

“Are we discussing how to utilize the ability without Elena present? Well, I’m sure you had a reason for excluding her.”

“That’s right. The first method is ‘Building Self-Esteem’.”

“What?”

“It’s simple. The way the ability works, strange things happen when she feels anxious or afraid. These phenomena become more severe the weaker the individual’s sense of self is.”

“So, the idea is to instill a belief in her that she’s incredibly powerful, eliminating the source of her anxiety?”

“Something like that.”

“How did the Chief Researcher do it?”

“In various ways. He made everyone address Beatrix with honorifics, and had some burly soldiers act scared and back away whenever they saw her.”

“…That might work on a ten-year-old Beatrix, but it doesn’t seem like a method that would work on a grown woman.”

Grandpa pointed out another issue, “It sounds like a method that would only work if the subject had low intelligence. A child under ten might be swept up in a delusion of grandeur, but Elena would likely wonder what the hell we’re trying to do.”

“A more proactive method involves creating an overwhelmingly powerful doppelgänger and transferring her consciousness into it. If she could break walls with a wave of her hand and regenerate even if her head was crushed, she’d have little to fear.”

“That sounds good.”

“The problem is, even Beatrix, the original owner of the ability, took over 15 years to reach the stage of transferring her consciousness into the monsters she created.”

“…”

“The second method is similar to what Ahri and I are already doing. It’s about ‘Turning Fear into Laughter’.”

“Laughing off the monsters together so that Elena starts to see it all as trivial?”

“Exactly. Remember what Beatrix said when you first met her? Something like, ‘Let’s play!’ Her cruel yet playful nature was shaped by this kind of education.”

This approach was pioneered by Ahri.

She sighed and replied, “After trying it for a day or two, it seems to have its limits. Honestly, I was a bit startled when the tea turned poisonous. Laughing through such experiences feels more unnatural. While there’s no need to deliberately scare Elena with exaggerated reactions, it’s not a perfect solution.”

“That’s true. My conclusion is that there’s no easy solution. If there were, ‘Ominous Imagination’ wouldn’t be such a terrifying ability. The gorilla that crushed Jinchul-hyung with a single punch, and Beatrix’s own body that made that gorilla tremble—all of them were products of Ominous Imagination. But the Chief Researcher did find a third method.”

Everyone fell silent, listening intently.

“The approaches I’ve mentioned so far are like trying to carry a full water bucket without spilling a single drop. Ominous Imagination is a massive vase filled with the ‘water’ of bizarre phenomena, and Elena is carrying it. No matter how careful she is, the vase will shake with every step, and some water will inevitably spill out.”

“And the spilled water manifests as the trivial monsters we’ve been seeing?”

“Exactly. While the first two methods focus on ‘how not to use the ability’, the third method is the opposite approach. It’s about using all of it.”

Grandpa, still puzzled, responded, “Are you suggesting we flood the entire hotel with monsters and kill them one by one?”

“That’s not what I’m saying at all. And it’s pointless if we’re just going to kill them all. Ominous Imagination isn’t a curse but a reward for Elena, so we need to find a way to use it effectively.”

“Then what do you mean?”

“Instead of creating dozens or hundreds of weak monsters, we focus all of Ominous Imagination’s power into creating one incredibly powerful entity.”

Ahri looked visibly concerned with this.

“Are you suggesting that the ‘gorilla’ we saw inside the Cube was created through such a process?”

“That’s right. The reason the gorilla was absurdly strong compared to other monsters was that Beatrix poured so much power into its creation that it practically emptied her reserve.”

“Assuming we create such a monster, how would we control it? Through Songee’s Affinity? From what I’ve seen, her Affinity doesn’t work on creatures that go berserk.”

“On the contrary, there’s a better chance of controlling a powerful monster. The weaker ones lack proper intelligence and are just violent and brutal, but a truly strong creature could possess high intelligence.”

“So the plan is to create a highly intelligent monster and try to reason with it? The ability is called ‘Ominous’ Imagination, and you expect a creature born from ominousness to cooperate?”

“The Chief Researcher had a very simple solution for that.”

“How?”

“If it didn’t cooperate, he killed it. He kept creating new ones, over and over, until he got one he could control.”

“…”

“If we can manage it, this is the perfect way to use Ominous Imagination. The vase gets emptied, so there’s no more leaking power in daily life, and instead of dealing with hundreds of mindless, brutal monsters, we’d have one intelligent, highly powerful creature that we could use tactically.”

Ahri pointed at me as she spoke, “Actually, there’s one more method that might work for us but wasn’t available to the Chief Researcher.”

“That’s right. Unlike with dozens of mindless monsters, if we create one powerful creature… I can just possess it and control it myself if necessary!”

This was why I considered this the best method.

Does Elena have to control the monster she creates? Ideally, yes, but if it’s too difficult, I can step in and take over.

The room fell silent.

Noona and Songee, both unfamiliar with supernatural ability control, kept quiet, and even Grandpa remained silent.

Our team’s foremost expert in this field, Ahri, finally spoke, “To sum it up roughly, we have three approaches. First, build her self-esteem. It’s even better if she can transfer her consciousness into a monster’s body. Second, we try not to overreact and laugh it off, so we don’t trigger her anxiety. Third, we create one powerful monster and control it. If we encounter difficulties controlling it, Kain, you’ll possess it.”

“That’s right.”

“They all sound plausible in theory. We’ve even seen successful examples in Room 201. In the end, it’s a matter of what we can actually do. It’s like studying for college entrance exams—you can have a tutor from Seoul National University who teaches you their exact study methods, but if the student can’t follow them, it’s meaningless.”

“We’ll have to share with Elena what she can handle. Ultimately, it’s her choice.”

It was her ability, so it was up to her to decide.

Eunsol-noona, who had been silent throughout the discussion, finally spoke up, “Kain, you’ve got more Advice, right?”

“Yes.”

“What do you plan to use it for? It seems like you’ll need to be more strategic about it this time…”

“Actually, I was originally thinking of asking some questions about Room 104. Since we usually have to use Advice to solve the Cursed Rooms, I thought Party Time would be a good time for it.”

“The Hotel High School, huh? Hmm…? Didn’t you say each question about Room 104 costs three counts of Advice?”

“Yes. I’m also curious about why that is.”

“Using the Advice is your choice, but it would be troublesome if you use too much on Room 104.”

“I think so too. Wanting to ask about Room 104 is something I’ve thought about for a while… but right now, the hotel seems intent on freezing us to death, so I should probably focus on gathering information related to that. I’m thinking of using just one question for Room 104. Even one is expensive since it costs three counts but…”

“Smart move. Honestly, it’s already starting to feel a bit chilly. Starting today or tomorrow, we should gather information about the second floor and discuss what we need to do.”

Noona wasn’t imagining it.

For the past few hours, I’d felt the temperature in the hotel dropping even though we were still on the first floor.

***The next morning, as we headed toward the Sanctum of Blessings, the atmosphere among the group was frigid.

Jinchul-hyung spoke up anxiously, “I’m starting to feel uneasy.”

“You’re just feeling uneasy now?”

“No matter what, cold pork stir-fry is just…”

“That’s what you get for eating pork stir-fry first thing in the morning.”

“Come on, old man. What does ordering meat for breakfast have to do with it being cold?”

As always, Hyung and Grandpa bickered, but the content was worrying.

Even the spicy beef soup I ate was refrigerator-cold.

The air temperature in the hotel had noticeably dropped.

What felt like a refreshing spring-like day now felt like a chilly autumn breeze was blowing through.

Meanwhile, Elena was struggling to escape from the blanket she had wrapped around herself for warmth, which had suddenly started moving on its own, like a cocoon.

Ahri helped her get free.

What are we supposed to do on the second floor?

Everyone’s worries deepened.