Chapter 24: 23

Chapter 23 – Room 103, Cursed Room – ‘Mansion of Fear’ (9)

[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 8
Current Location: Floor 1, Room 102 (Cursed Room – Mansion of Fear)
Sage’s Advice: 0]

It was a mistake – the same mistake as before.

If I had a dagger myself, the opponent could have possessed a blade as well.

If I had a secret move, the opponent could have also had one himself.

Because he released the skewer while wriggling from the pain created by the spray, I thought he was bare-handed.

I was too tired. The severe tension, hiking in the rain and a bloody fight. While I was slowly walking up to him due to my depleted stamina, the priest managed to suppress his pain. 

Right when I was next to him, a kitchen knife suddenly left his waist and pierced through my thigh.

Fortunately, I was wearing a thick raincoat and the priest was also exhausted so the kitchen knife ended up rolling on the ground without creating a deep stab.

“Huuk… Uhukk… Seriously, Priest, were you in the war for 10 years or something…?”

It seemed that the priest was also exhausted, and he silently walked up to me.

Ah… My body was refusing to move. I had to somehow move and avoid him but… 

Seriously, my body was completely powerless from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. 

The priest grabbed my neck with his hand. Like the chimes of heaven, I heard the sound of a distant bell…

Wait, bell?

The priest stared into the air. His rather vacant gaze wandered out of focus.

And that was when a ‘different person’ appeared.

It was the same as what happened with Ahri. Back then it was also the ‘bell’, and it appeared to be the same this time around.

Even though his body was still the same, he was clearly different. The old man in front of me was no longer the calm butler nor the priest filled with suppressed fury but…

It was ‘someone who I was seeing for the first time’.

He had an expression on his face which I had never seen before – it looked like he was both teasing and sneering at me. In any case, it was a mischievous expression which both the butler and the priest would never make.

“You made a mistake, didn’t you? Are you too tired to even speak? Hah, seriously. Kids these days are too weak. 
You should not have lowered your guard in the hotel. One mistake could equal death, don’t you know? 

If you still had a lot of trustworthy teammates left, you might be able to close your eyes in peace but… aren’t you practically by yourself? 
Well, but all in all, it wasn’t bad. Your stamina is horrible, but your brain is decent.”

‘Hotel’

The old man in front of me just said ‘hotel’ and not the mansion.

This old man…

He knew that our situation was nothing but the inner works of Room 102 of the hotel. I was staring at the old man with shocked eyes when he grinned and tapped me on my head.

It was a very amicable gesture. Was he not going to kill me?

“You were going to kill three of the sacrifices with your own hands before ‘Sir’ did, right? Not bad, and you also have the determination but you’re still too weak. You need to get stronger.
I am a bit concerned but I guess you’ll be able to escape. There was nothing we could do either. We started off as ‘characters of the mansion’ and we couldn’t escape the mansion with our own strength.
I will trust you and go first. Let’s ‘meet outside’.”

After saying that, the one that was neither the butler nor the priest walked away from me and… he approached the cliff and unhesitatingly jumped down.

*

My eyes were fuzzy.

I slowly climbed down the mountain with all my strength. Hiking in the storm, a desperate fight and a knife stab…

Seriously, I could not feel even a tiny bit of strength left in my body. 

It was unclear whether I was climbing down the mountain or being pulled down by gravity but in any case, I was pretty much rolling down when a person entered my sight from a distance. 

A small body and long black hair reaching her waist. Seeing Ahri walking up to me, I barely managed to say a sentence.

“You rang the bell, right? Thanks.”

“I had a feeling you wouldn’t be able to do it by yourself.”

“What in the world is that bell? At first I thought it was a device the hotel gave us to suppress the power of the devil but… It feels like there is more and more stuff behind it as time goes.”

“The bell itself is what you think. I’ll just tell you there is a method grandpa and I have that can let us wake up.”

“Waking up from the role injected by the hotel… Is that even possible?”

“Just stay faithful to what you have to do. You know what you have to do, right?”

“It’s not a problem of whether I know it or not. I can’t do anything. I seriously can’t even lift a finger.”

As soon as I said that, Ahri handed me a small bottle.

“Drink this. This will help you recover your poor stamina and allow you to stand up at least.”

It tasted strange.

It was reddish-black, and gave off a slightly fishy smell. 

Don’t tell me this… 

All I could think of were some disturbing things so I quickly put a stop to that line of thought.

It felt bizarre.

There was heat travelling up. The liquid that went past my throat started to pervade through my body as heat surged from my throat and warmed up my body.

Even though I still wasn’t feeling refreshed, I had enough power to stand up as Ahri said.

Standing back up, I was warming up my body when she walked up to me.

“Ah~ This damn mansion is finally nearing the end.”

“You… You and the priest, or I should say the one acting as the ‘priest’ – what are you guys?”

“You’ll see for yourself after leaving this place. And can’t you somewhat tell already? Don’t waste your time and do what you have to do.”

Looking at this fairy-like girl, I thought to myself in frustration.

Was this really our best choice?

Butler / Priest, Ahri and me. Was the best choice for the 3 of us to kill ourselves before being swallowed by the devil?

I was hesitantly thinking to myself when Ahri walked up and met her eyes with mine.

“Looks like you can’t make a decision even after coming this far. Let me help you.”

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When the dark red eyes suddenly came close enough for our noses to touch, I was greatly flustaskldjtls

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*

After barely recovering my stamina, I somehow managed to climb down the mountain and headed to the mansion.

This disgusting mansion was finally nearing the end.

The rain was almost gone now. I slowly walked forward and saw the bizarre statue we saw on the first day near the main entrance. Next to the statue was a familiar face.

“Oppa! Are you okay?”

“I’m alright. Still alive at least.”

Silence befell the two of us. We both knew what was going on and it was laughable to even continue this puppet show.

Reaching her arm out, Songee caressed the heart of the statue.

“What do you think when you see this, oppa?”

“I think the owner has a terrible taste. It’s worse than the dinosaur I made with clay when I was in primary school.”

“Aht, kikikik. Well, sorry about that. I thought it had a primitive appeal to it.”

“Let’s stop there. Where is Seungyub?”

“Where is Ahri and Mr. Butler?”

“Somewhere in the mountain.”

“Kuhk, ahh this is so funny, right? Everyone else is dead with only the murderers left behind. I wasn’t expecting my long-awaited moment to become like this. To think there was a crazy sacrifice who kills the other sacrifices with his own hands.”

“Murderer? Let’s make this straight. You’re the murderer and I’m a victim. Sir? I don’t know how you got into Songee’s body, but how about you shut your mouth.”

“What a harsh tongue for a brat. It was fairly interesting so I’ll let you off.”

“Cut the bullshit. I’m seriously sick of this already.”

“Yes, yes. We both need to see the end of it. But… let me ask you one question. Why did you not kill yourself?”

“None of your business, you freak!”

In an instant, we both sprinted to our target. I thought to myself while running towards the cathedral.

The Cathedral Bell

After seeing the word ‘bell’ from the memo left behind by noona, I asked the butler and this was what he told me.

He told me the bell was just left unattended at the bell tower – there was no-one to ring it, and it belonged to the cathedral, so they just decided to neglect it.

That was nonsense. ‘Sir’ hating the sound of the bell was not just because he didn’t like the sound of it.

It was clear that there was some supernatural power behind the bell that crushed ‘Sir’s’ powers.

Would someone trying to bring out the devil neglect something that could be a crucial weakness to him just because of some ‘legal problems’?

Not a chance.

If so, then perhaps Sir and his servants aren’t able to approach the bell in the first place?

Turning around, I saw Songee touching the statues of the mansion as they each began to move. 

Ahah, so those are the ‘Defence cards’ that showed up in my card game with Ahri, huh.

I was grateful for all the rain and storm for the first time. Even though this wasn’t a part of my plan, the ground was drenched and was very soft. The legs of the statues were stuck deep in the mud with every step and they couldn’t follow me that well.

I mindlessly ran and ran and soon arrived at the cathedral.

However, it was too early to relax myself.

The butler, who was a servant of Sir, was also able to enter the cathedral. What was important was the bell and not the cathedral itself.

After climbing the ladder and touching the bell, I was finally able to settle my heart.

At this point, my part in this plan was completed.

Before long, Sir appeared with the statues following from behind.

“Are you aiming for a defensive battle with that bell?”

“If you don’t want that, how about you come closer?”

“How insolent. I’ll admit it. It is still difficult for me to touch that sacred artifact but… what about it? I can simply follow you around so that you can neither sleep nor have any food.”

“My apologies.”

Hearing me, Sir looked at me with suspicion.

“Looking back, Sir, you did do all the evil stuff in the world but you are clearly older than me, and in a Confucius country, I definitely should reply to your question at least.”

“What question?”

“You asked me, didn’t you? On why I didn’t kill myself. It wasn’t for me to survive or anything, and I’m not trying to beat you either, Sir. I was just… waiting for the right time to die.”

“Right time to die, huh. Is this a riddle? Why are you–”

GOOOOOOOO——————

A thunderous roar shook the heavens and the earths. From the deepest pit of the mansion, I heard the roar of the one who couldn’t be born.

I finally realised it was time.

I clenched onto my dagger.

This wasn’t easy. I had repeatedly steeled myself to commit suicide when it was time but… it really wasn’t easy.

Closing my eyes, I told myself – this was not my death. I was just going to enter a short yet deep sleep to wake up from this nightmare and meet my teammates again.

The dagger stuck deep into my neck. An excruciatingly unbearable pain flooded out in an instant. All I could do was hope that this pain would quickly come to an end.

That was my second death after arriving at the hotel.

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