Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 656
655th episode – Room 301, The Cursed Room – ‘Origin of the Bell’ (2)
– Yusong
“Song-ah? Where are you going?”
“I have an appointment with a friend!”
“Oh? Why did you bring Pero – Song-ah!”
As soon as she finished breakfast, she came out with Pero.
Of course, the primary reason was to proceed with the scenario…
But it was also because it was extremely uncomfortable to face my mother.
“…”
It’s uncomfortable.
It’s embarrassing.
It’s awkward.
After understanding the truth of the world, I never imagined that I would meet my real parents again.
I thought that it had disappeared long ago in the endless loop, the flow of time.
What is this situation now?
Is this the exact loop that I lived in before coming to the hotel?
If so, the concept of the 3rd floor may be time travel.
Going back to the ‘exact loop’ where we lived in the past and resolving the crisis of the end?
The questions grew more and more, piling up.
I’m not the only one who entered Room 301, and Unni Ensol made the same judgment as me.
Is this world also the loop that Unni Ensol lived in?
Did Unni Ensol and I live in the same loop?
But our memories of the world weren’t exactly the same.
I don’t know.
Question marks constantly popped up in my head, but none of them were easily solved.
In the end, I had to cut off my confusing thoughts, telling myself to calm down.
“… Song-ah. This isn’t the time for this. You can solve your questions with your colleagues outside!”
I need to focus on solving the Cursed Room now.
That’s the way for me and everyone to survive!
*
The first thought that came to mind was how to contact Unni Ensol.
If I had known that I would return to the past loop, I would have exchanged phone numbers with her before coming to the hotel!
I couldn’t do that because I didn’t expect it at all.
Thanks to that, I don’t know each other’s phone numbers or emails.
— Chirp! Beep!
“Be quiet. I’m busy.”
Fortunately, unlike me, Unni Ensol was the youngest daughter of a conglomerate family, so she was a celebrity, and when I searched for her, various information came up.
“Home address? That won’t work.”
Even if I went there, wouldn’t it be difficult to meet her?
It would also be burdensome for Unni Ensol’s family to know about my existence.
“Secretary’s email? That’s better.”
— Chirp!
The parrot seemed to agree, as if it was a good idea.
It feels good to have someone to talk to, but I feel like I’ve been talking to myself more because of Pero.
As I was about to send an email, I thought that Unni’s secretary might ignore my email.
So I sent an email that she couldn’t ignore.
— Ding-a-ling!
“Okay!”
I’d made contact, so now it was time for me to find out about Room 301 in my own way.
*
I stood before an animal hospital in the heart of Gangnam that boasted a luxurious interior.
「HappyHappy Animal Hospital」
Do people get it?
The “Yu” in front of HappyHappy is a way of addressing the customer as “You,” but it’s also the name of the veterinarian, Mr. “Yu Jeong-ho.”
In other words, it’s a play on words that means both “You, the customer, be happy” and “I, the doctor (‘Yu’ Jeong-ho), am happy.”
I didn’t think much of it when I was younger, but looking at it again, it’s kind of a weird name for a hospital!
I wonder if this was my father’s brilliant naming sense?
“…”
— Ding-dong!
I opened the front door and took a few steps inside when the counter staff appeared.
“Excuse me, do you have an appointment –”
“Oh my! Song-i!”
I had vague memories of visiting my father’s workplace a few times, so I guess one of the older staff members recognized me.
She was treating me very warmly, but I, having gained tremendous experience at the hotel, had no idea who she was.
It was a subtly bittersweet moment.
“Is my father inside?”
“The director? He’s currently seeing a patient – oh my!”
Without another word, I walked into the examination room.
I know it’s impolite, but this place is both the world I grew up in and the “cursed room” of the Hotel Pisher.
In other words, it’s a world where the end is approaching.
I don’t have the luxury of worrying about hospital schedules.
A few of the staff members tried to grab my arm in surprise, but…
Would it be a waste of the experience I gained at the hotel if I were to be stopped by something like this?
There was no need to use my Inheritance.
— Bang!
I opened the door without warning, and the middle-aged man sitting at the computer looked up in surprise.
“Who – oh?”
“Father.”
“S, Song-i? What’s this – did something happen at home?”
To my father, it would have seemed like his daughter had suddenly shown up at his workplace without contacting him first.
It was such an unexpected situation that instead of scolding me, he was more concerned about whether something serious had happened.
“Keep the staff away from me.”
“…Okay.”
Amusingly enough, my father began to obediently follow my orders.
He seemed to have come to his own interpretation of the situation, and although it was 100% wrong, I didn’t bother to correct him.
“Whew…. Song-i. It seems like you’ve found out something shocking -”
“Be quiet and answer my question.”
“Hm?”
“Haven’t you had an unusually high number of customers lately?”
“Why are you suddenly -”
“Just answer me. That’s all!”
“Just answer me. Just!”
“I thought I saw an amazing, uh, scene.”
Dad couldn’t hide his fluster, but he answered as if he was pressured.
“We, well, we did have a bit more.”
“Weren’t there any strange animals? Animals that were physically or mentally ill!”
“Song-ah, this is a hospital. Of course, animals that are physically or mentally ill come here.”
“I mean, weren’t there any unusual… special patients?”
This is why I came to Dad’s hospital.
The only thing I know about Room 301 is that ‘an old golden retriever spoke like a human when I was young.’
Wouldn’t a successful veterinarian be the first to sense any unusual phenomena related to animals?
“Tell me more.”
“Like speaking like a human?”
“Are you talking about a parrot?”
“It could be a dog or a cat.”
“If there was such an animal, we would report it to the Management Bureau instead of bringing it to the hospital.”
That’s true.
No one, unless they’re an idiot, would take their dog to the hospital if it spoke like a human.
They would report it to the Management Bureau right away.
And then?
“Wouldn’t an animal taken to the Management Bureau end up dead?”
“Huh? Well, it wouldn’t be a normal animal from the moment you mentioned it, so euthanasia would be inevitable, wouldn’t it?”
Dad talks about euthanasia as if it’s natural.
That’s the common sense in the world.
Once I realized this, the following thought came to mind.
If there was an animal that somehow gained human intelligence, most of them would hide their intelligence!
The moment they reveal it, they’ll be taken by the Management Bureau and subjected to all sorts of experiments before they die, so there’s no way they would speak like a human so rashly.
Like Som in my childhood, they would only open their mouths when they’re old and about to die, unable to hold back their regrets any longer.
“Was there any animal that behaved in a way that seemed unlike an animal?”
“Hmm….”
He had a look on his face as if something was coming to mind.
“Behavior unlike an animal. Among the staff, um, there’s someone who feeds stray cats?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve heard him say a few times that he saw a strange cat. He said it was so memorable that he couldn’t forget it….”
After listening to a few more stories, I got up.
“I’m sorry for coming all of a sudden.”
“It’s okay that you came, but what’s really going on? Just in case, did Happy or Ring Ring do anything strange?”
“… No.”
“Why did you bring Pero then? Is something wrong with him?”
It must have been a strange situation for Dad, but it was a bit annoying to be questioned so persistently.
I was thinking about using the bracelet to resolve the situation.
Dad hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.
“I, um, you told me to fire the employee….”
“…”
“…””An endless continuation of despair and suffering.”
My head began to ache slightly.
Unpleasant information I had forgotten began to stir in the depths of my memory.
Thanks to that, an unknown heat surged up.
“When the time comes, um, I was going to tell Song-i everything -“”Are you preparing for a divorce?””…””Or are you both seeing other people?””That…””It’s okay. It’s already old news to me.”
In that instant, I left the hospital, leaving my father behind, who didn’t understand what I was saying.
It’s old news now.
I don’t remember it well anymore, and it wasn’t such a big deal.
I didn’t care.
Really, I didn’t care.
…
Afterwards, I met the employee my father had mentioned and asked him about the ‘unusual cat’s’ appearance and where it often appeared.
Fortunately, it wasn’t too far from the hospital.
*
Before I knew it, it was lunchtime.
When I had first heard about the unusual cat at my father’s hospital, I thought I would find it right away.
But even after walking around with Pero for more than three hours, I couldn’t find it.
“The breed is close to a British Shorthair, and the fur is gray all over. One ear is missing, and the left hind leg is limping… Man, how can I find it with just this much information?”
— Beep!
“You think so too? But Pero, even if I don’t know, shouldn’t you be looking for it? You can fly!”
Should I have just reported it to the Administration Bureau and asked for their cooperation? I don’t know~!
It’s always like this, but the beginning of a cursed mission is the hardest.
I mean, how am I supposed to know what to do?
This is when I need Cain-oppa to guide me or Seung-yeop to follow me around!
As I was sighing,
— Bam! Beep! Bam!
Pero started pulling my hair like crazy.
“It hurts, why – ah.”
I suddenly noticed a strange sight.
A gray cat was standing frozen in the middle of the road.
A car that was driving by barely noticed it and honked its horn, and the cat dodged it and then went back to the middle of the road a moment later.
A voice that passed by like a hallucination.
‘I’m scared, it hurts, it’s miserable. Get me out of here.’
“…”
If a human mind were trapped in an animal’s body, how painful would it be?
For a lowly animal rotting away on the streets, even the most miserable human would be an object of envy.
If it were a real animal, it wouldn’t be able to realize its own misery.
Because it’s a human mind, the pain is more vivid.
Should I ask for help?
It’s extremely dangerous to show intelligence through speech or actions.
There’s a high probability that the Administration Bureau will capture it immediately and ‘dispose of it after research’.
An endless string of despair and suffering.
In this situation, there was one natural conclusion that many intelligent beings would come to.
“… Suicide.”
That cat is attempting suicide.
It wants to die, so it runs into the road, but when it actually sees a car approaching, it can’t overcome its natural fear and recoils.
Then it clenches its teeth and runs back out into the road again.
Once I realized this, I gave the order to Perot.
“Get it.”
Perot flew off like a bolt of lightning and seized the gray cat by the scruff of its neck just as it was about to run into the road again.
As the cat tried to frantically escape, the gazes of the two intelligent beings met.
I felt the emergence of ‘telepathy’!
*
The agony of rummaging through food waste every night with a rumbling stomach.
The memory of taking a bite of maggot-ridden meat and gagging in disgust.
The scorching heat of the sun during the day, and the bone-chilling cold at night with no way to escape it.
There was no one in the world on my side, and people treated me like a bug.
A life more miserable than that of the most wretched human being in the world.
Why did this happen to me?
If I committed a sin in my previous life and this is my punishment…
Please, just give me one chance.
There is only one escape from this prison: death.
*
I heard a voice filled with despair.
At the same time, I heard a completely different voice.
A lovely being.
An angel sent from heaven.
A savior and a goddess, a lifeline for a miserable fate.
The only being who can understand me.
“… I found you. Come here.”
The voice reached my ears.
The intense affection that the other being felt for me.
Affinity and telepathy were working!
‘That being’ was the very being I had been searching for.
As if struck by lightning, I embraced the miserable creature trembling all over.
At that moment, I was someone’s goddess and savior.
“Let’s go. We have a lot to talk about.”
*
– Lee Eun-sol
While I was frantically searching through documents to collect information, the door opened with a knock.
“What is it?”
“M, Manager!”
“I told you not to interrupt me -”
“It’s a strange email. I couldn’t help it!”
“A strange email?”
“At first, I thought it was some kind of agricultural product advertisement email, but the content is….”
“Agricultural product? The content?”
“… There were a few lines of confidential information related to the Chairman’s slush fund.”
“Blackmail?”
“You’ll know once you read it, but it says to forward the email to ‘Unnie Eun-sol’ without fail. It says that if you don’t, it will be sent to an ETS reporter….”
The moment I heard the words ‘Unnie Eun-sol,’ I had a rough idea.
However, when I checked the contents of the email, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Pfft!”
“M, Manager?”
“Don’t worry. It’s not the kind of blackmail email you’re thinking of.”
010 – xxx – xxxx
+ Please make sure to pass this on to Unnie Eun-sol.