Escaping the Mystery Hotel

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 97

Current Location: Floor 1, Room 104 – Cursed Room ‘Preparatory Selective, Hotel High School’

Sage’s Advice: X

- Han Kain

What in the world just happened?

I staggered in utter disbelief as I replayed the events from a few moments ago.

In the already strict environment of the Hotel High School, Seungyub suddenly stood up in the middle of class, prompting the English teacher to walk over, ready to scold him.

At that moment, Seungyub pulled out a hammer from his waistband and struck the teacher’s chin with an uppercut.

One hit was all it took. The English teacher, who never expected a student to attack with a hammer, was struck in the chin and collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, completely unresponsive.

“Kyahhhhh!”

“What the hell! He’s gone crazy!”

In an instant, the classroom descended into chaos, filled with screams, and I, still in shock, grabbed Seungyub by the shoulder—

- Whoosh!

The hammer swung right at my head!

Is this guy possessed?

I barely ducked in time, hearing the whoosh of the hammer as it passed over my head.

“What in the—!”

“Aaaaagh!”

…Seungyub, the one swinging the hammer, screamed out in shock, then hurriedly apologized.

“H-hyung! I’m sorry! I had prepared myself, but hitting someone with a hammer… I was just so stunned, and then someone grabbed my shoulder out of nowhere—“

“So, you swung on reflex? Fine, whatever. But what’s with suddenly hitting the teacher? Was that part of the plan?”

The answer came from behind me, “I told you not to be surprised. Relax, both of you. It was all part of the plan.”

The teacher lay unconscious from the hammer strike, the students were fleeing in terror, and Ahri, in contrast, calmly responded as if she was on a different wavelength from everyone else.

Elena, on the other hand, looked uncomfortable, glancing around the chaotic classroom.

Thanks to Ahri’s relaxed demeanor, I quickly pieced things together.

“So, the plan is to get Seungyub out of here from the start?”

“Exactly. He just assaulted a teacher with a hammer, so the police will be here soon. I can already hear the other students running to the office.”

“Isn’t that plan a bit too full of holes? What if they decide to handle it internally instead of calling the police?”

That had happened during our first attempt.

The Hotel High School often tried to deal with incidents through its own disciplinary measures, sending students one by one to the old school building for brainwashing by the Daughter of Heaven.

“That’s why Songee is downstairs.”

Seungyub, Ahri, and Elena were here, but Songee was nowhere to be seen. I guess if the school tried to cover things up, Songee would make sure the police got involved.

“Alright, explain the plan briefly.”

The three of them exchanged somewhat vague expressions. I looked at Elena, hoping she’d be on my side.

She sighed and explained, “You don’t seem to be under any sort of control or the like as of now, so I agree that explaining things at least briefly would prevent further confusion.”

Finally, Ahri gave a quick rundown of the situation, “It’s simple. Our top priority is ensuring ‘escape’. We’re not doing anything until that’s secured.”

“So, once we confirm Seungyub’s arrest, we move on to the next step?”

“Exactly.”

“And the next step is breaking into the old school building, right?”

“…You’re too good at guessing. Yeah, once Seungyub’s taken, we’re storming the old school building. The forces there are no threat to us now, after all.”

Indeed, the cultists in the old school building weren’t a concern anymore.

The only real problem would be Aurelia.

But with Elena marking her with ‘Justice’, and the rest of us—Ahri, Jinchul-hyung, and I—providing support, we could probably handle her now.

“Haah, haah, haah!”

Seungyub was breathing heavily. Even though he had mentally prepared for it, the act of hitting someone with a hammer had clearly shaken him.

Ahri patted his shoulder lightly to calm him, and I checked my status window.

Unfortunately, the “Scenario Comprehension” function was still sealed.

I had hoped it might work like the filter did when I was reading the Grimoire, but that wasn’t the case.

- WEE-OO WEE-OO!

The sound of sirens blared.

Thankfully, it seemed they had failed to cover up the incident internally.

The police arrived, and not long after, the teacher was declared dead, and Seungyub was taken away in handcuffs.

With his escape ensured, the tension in the air eased slightly.

Messages and instructions began popping up in the Chat Window.

There was no need to drag things out. We decided to storm the old school building that evening. Thanks to the chaos caused by Seungyub’s actions, the school atmosphere was so disturbed that we didn’t have to deal with any of the high-difficulty quizzes or tests unique to the Hotel High School.

***After our classes finished and dinner ended, the signal came around 7 in the evening.

Lee Eunsol: Go!

I descended from the dormitory to the first floor, ready to head to the old school building. The guard at the security office saw me and immediately issued a warning.

“Student! It’s already past curfew. You know you need permission from a teacher for nighttime outings, right?”

In our first attempt, just getting out of here was quite a hassle, as we had to avoid being seen.

But now, it didn’t matter.

The plan was to break into the old school building anyway.

“Student? What’s that book you’re carrying—?”

Taking control of the guard’s body, I had him unlock the doors himself.

Inside the security office, there were conveniently placed handcuffs, so I cuffed the guard’s hands and returned to my own body.

“W-what is going on? What have you—”

I left the shocked cries behind as I stepped outside.

Everything was so much easier than before.

I could feel how much things had changed since the first attempt.

Soon, I regrouped with the others.

Ahri, having grabbed the Protective Suit from her dorm room, was now suited up.

However, one person was missing.

“Noona?”

“Yeah?”

“Are we heading out on our own?”

“That’s right.”

“What about Grandpa?”

Among the group, Grandpa Mooksung was nowhere to be seen.

“Grandpa has a different role.”

Earlier, Noona had used the Chat Window to summon us, so it wasn’t like Grandpa was too far away.

In hindsight, it made sense.

We had grown stronger, and the cultists of the old school building were no longer a threat.

In a fight against Aurelia, there wasn’t much Grandpa could contribute, so he must’ve been assigned a different task.

But why is Noona coming with us?

It soon became clear.

As we neared the old school building, Noona distanced herself from the group and started scanning the surroundings with her eye.

She was taking on a scouting role, it seemed.

Suddenly, Elena came to a stop.

“Elena?”

“I have something important to say. When we face Aurelia, we should wait for her to make the first move.”

Unlike me, who was puzzled, the others nodded as if they had expected this.

Was this also part of yesterday’s meeting?

“Will it be difficult to trigger ‘Justice’?”

“I have a feeling it might be. During the first attempt, Aurelia and the cultists had already wronged us, however…”

“The current enemies won’t remember any of that. It was a concern, but now it’s confirmed to be a problem.”

Finally, I understood.

In the first attempt, we were attacked by the cult’s strike force while trying to escape Hotel High School.

But this time, neither the cultists nor Aurelia had done anything to us yet.

“They haven’t done anything to us, but they’ve already replaced several people, right?”

Elena didn’t answer directly but smiled awkwardly.

I had a rough idea why.

All of us—well, except for me—were accomplices in the murder of a teacher, which might complicate things for her ability to act.

It didn’t matter how complicated the reasoning was.

Elena’s Blessing depended on her own moral compass.

So, the point was that she felt uneasy about the situation.

Could Aurelia attacking us first ease that unease?

Will it justify our actions as self-defense?

It felt like an ambiguous justification at best.

- Bang!

Jinchul-hyung kicked down the door to the old school building.

“What is this! Who are you people? Do you know where you are—”

“Is this place really that important?”

Apparently, they hadn’t been informed of our approach.

Instead of Aurelia, there were just five cultists present.

Without much effort, Jinchul-hyung knocked them all out.

“They’re not dead. I’m holding back.”

Hyung explained to Elena, as I opened the hidden door behind the curtain, leading to the underground passage.

“Let’s go! As I mentioned before, once we go down these stairs, we’ll find an unbelievable underground city.”

“Haa, how fascinating. The Cursed Rooms are all variations of real events from somewhere in reality, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then somewhere in the world, there are crazy cultists who built an underground city beneath a school?”

“It might not be in our reality.”

“Well, that could be true, but still… no matter if it’s in a parallel world or not, the fact that people like this exist is fascinating. How did they even build this?”

Ahri, clearly annoyed, cut him off, “Do you really need to ask? Remember how the cultists were resurrected with a single prayer? They probably made this city the same way. ‘Dear Lord, give us our daily bread, and since it’s the 21st century, bread alone isn’t enough—throw in some real estate too!’”

As we descended the stairs, the sound of commotion echoed from all directions.

The atmosphere grew tense as everyone braced themselves. Ahri, now dressed in the  Protective Suit, took the lead.

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

Is this supposed to be fortunate?

Elena’s earlier suggestion about letting the enemies attack first, to justify self-defense, seemed to be working out by itself.

As soon as we entered, the air was filled with the deafening sound of gunfire!

“”…””

Something felt off.

Not a single bullet was aimed at us.

All the noise came from blank rounds.

The cultist strike team, numbering in the dozens, had us surrounded, their guns raised, but they didn’t fire.

Instead, they created a path in the middle of their formation.

Naturally, all our eyes were drawn to the person walking toward us.

In the suffocating atmosphere of the underground city, a woman appeared, radiating an overwhelming presence as if bathed in the light of the heavens.

“Daughter of the one who has newly risen. Have you come to judge us?”

“…???”

What in the world is she talking about?

Ahri, standing at the front, asked, clearly confused, “Can you talk in a way that’s easier to understand? Who’s this ‘newly risen one’? Daughter? You’re not talking about me, right?”

Aurelia, unbothered, didn’t even glance at Ahri.

Her gaze was locked solely on Elena.

“Father has spoken…”

A heavenly light began to descend upon the earth.