Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 657
Chapter 656 – Room 301, Cursed Room – ‘Origin of the Bell’ (3)
Chapter 656 – Room 301, Cursed Room – ‘Origin of the Bell’ (3)
– Yoo Song-i
Fortunately, no one was home when I returned with the gray cat.
“Gray – that’s your name from now on. Can you understand me? Rest next to me for a bit.”
After giving the cat, who wasn’t in good health, some clean food, I checked Unnie Eun-sol’s reply.
“TeleoTalk?”
It said that she wanted to contact me through a kind of secure messenger.
I wondered if this was enough, but I couldn’t think of a better way.
As soon as I installed the app, messages started flooding in.
Eun-sol: I’m glad you contacted me! Did you find out anything?
Song-i: I found a talking cat.
Eun-sol: Already? Good job! Did you find out anything?
Song-i: I just got back. What about you?
Eun-sol: I’m gathering suspicious information related to Dad.
Song-i: Did you find anything?
Eun-sol: I didn’t know before, but now that I’m looking at it with suspicion, I can see it. He spends a considerable amount of money every year in an unknown area.
Song-i: How much?
Eun-sol: At least 2 billion won a year. Sometimes it’s over 8 billion won.
At least 2 billion won a year, sometimes over 8 billion won!
It was such an unrealistic amount that I couldn’t really grasp it.
Eun-sol: He makes the accounting process very complicated, so most people wouldn’t know. The people who did know thought it was just petty embezzlement.
Song-i: Do you know where he spent it?
Eun-sol: I don’t know. Also, there are a lot of strangely empty parts in Dad’s schedule.
After that, Unnie Eun-sol continued to list the strange things she had noticed about the chairman of Daeyang Group.
Some of them were strange even to me, like the tens of billions of won spent with no known purpose or the unidentified schedules, and some of them were hard to understand for someone like me who didn’t know much about business.
Song-i: I feel like you and I are working on completely different scenarios.
Eun-sol: In reality, one is a talking animal and the other is a suspicious chairman, so I guess it can’t be helped that we’re both suspicious.
Song-i: Should we continue like this for a while?
Eun-sol: Yes. Let’s each do our best in our own areas.
There were only two of us to begin with, but it felt like even those two people were split up. I wondered if this was really the best way to do things.
Oh, there was something I had been thinking about on my own. I should tell her now.
There’s also an Administration Bureau in Room 301.
I wondered if we should actively seek their help.
Song-i: Should we ask the Administration Bureau for help? I think they’d be interested in something like a talking animal.
Eun-sol: I thought about that too, but I don’t know how the Administration Bureau will react to us.
The problem of how the Administration Bureau would react.
But now, it’s much more disadvantageous for us.
Song-i: But, if the two of us solve Room 301… No matter how I look at it, it seems possible.
Our abilities are lacking, and above all, there’s no one who’s good at physical combat.
It’s sad to say, but even if you combine me and Unni Ensol, our combat effectiveness might be less than Perot’s.
Ensol: Let’s do this. You independently solve the animal-related problems. I’ll approach the Administration Bureau.
Song-i: Unni will?
Ensol: As you know, I have the background of the ‘Daeyang Group.’
Of course, as Jin-cheol Oppa experienced, if they want to, the Administration Bureau can even destroy a conglomerate family in broad daylight.
However, I thought they would at least be more careful with Unni Ensol than with me.
Song-i: Our roles are divided.
Ensol: You’re in charge of talking animals, and I’m in charge of contacting the Administration Bureau and the suspicious chairman.
At that point, when I was about to end the call, she said something unexpected.
Ensol: There are a few people who have been taking care of various unpleasant tasks for me since a long time ago.
They’re people who have handled the Daeyang Group chairman’s family’s affairs, big and small, for at least a few decades.
Song-i: Like a butler?
Ensol: Something like that. Should I send you one person?
It was an unexpected story, so I was taken aback.
Ensol: He’s a man of few words. He won’t ask you anything, and he’s not the type to go around blabbering. It seems like you need someone who can use their strength.
Unni Ensol might not have realized it, but I found it incredibly fascinating!
People who silently handle all sorts of ‘complicated and delicate matters’ for a conglomerate family?
This is something that you’d only find in a comic book!
Song-i: Please send him!
Ensol: How are you going to tell your parents?
Song-i: Don’t worry about that.
That’s how the first meeting ended.
I got the general idea.
I just have to research the phenomenon of a human soul being trapped in an animal’s body like this.
As it happens, I quickly secured a subject to use as a basis: ‘Grey.’
Unni Ensol can investigate the suspicious chairman and contact the Administration Bureau.
“…”
The Administration Bureau aside, how will the separate stories that Unni Ensol and I are working on connect?
A talking animal and a suspicious conglomerate chairman! There must be a link between the two.
For now, let’s focus on my work.
“Grey, come here. Can you read Korean?”
*
Communicating with an intelligent cat was not as easy as I thought.
First,thepower—’Telepathy’isn’tatelepathicabilitythatyoucanuseonanyrandomentity.Ratherthanconveyingclearintentions,itisanaabilitytoconveythemind( Heart),orheart.Thanks to that,IcouldsensehowmuchpainandsorrowGraywasin,buttheexchangeofspecificinformationwasdifficult.Second,Gray’smentalstatewasn’tstable.Beingtrappedinthebodyofananimalmusthavebeenlikebeingtorturedeverysecond,soitbasicallyfeltlikeIwasconversingwithsomeonewhohadbeenundergoingtortureforoverayear.”Thinkbackslowly.CanyouunderstandthewordsI’vewritten?”Healsoseemedtogenerallyunderstandwhenspoke,buthecouldn’twrite.WhenImadehimsitatthekeyboard,hecouldn’tfigureouwhichbuttonshehadtopress,sohewasbasicallyilliterate.Coulditbethatthecat’sbraincouldn’thandleahuman’sintelligence,causinghisIQtodrop?I’mnotsureaboutthatpart.”Ifyourheadhurts,eateatfirst.”Onlyafterhe’dbeenwelltakencareof,withthingslikegoodfoodandawarmbath,didinformationstarttotricklein.”So…you’resayingyouwokeupinthebodyofacatabouttwoyearsago?”-Meow!He didn’tremembertheexactdate,buthecouldrecallhavinggonesomethrough twoharshwinters.”Youwerehumanbeforethat?”Asthosewordswereuttered,Icouldfeelahugeonslaughtofemotions.EvenwithTelepathy,itwasdifficulttocomprehend,butfromwhatIheard,Iwasabletofigureouthisbasicprofile.”Yournameis…ParkJinho?ParkJiho?ParkJihu?Sorryforbeingconfused.Beforeyoubecameacat…lateteens?Earytwenties?I’mnotsure.”Asnightfell,IhadsummarizedalmostalltheinformationGraycouldremember.”Youwokeupinthebodyofacatabouttwoyearsago,whenyouwerebetween18and21,andyournameisParkJihu,right?Youlivednear theseacoastinGangneung-si,Gangwon-do.”AsIfiguredoutthatmuch,thenextthoughtoccurredtome.”Shouldwegotoyourhouse?Haveyoueverbeenthere?”-Meow!He wantedtogo,buthesaidhe’dneverbeenthere.Thatmust’vebeenbecausehecouldn’tusepublictransportationasa cat,andtherewasnowayhecouldwalkfromSeoultoGangneungoncatfeet.Anaturalquestionarose.Twoyearsago,themindofayoungmannamedParkJihuendeduptrappedinthebodyofacat.Ifso,whathappenedtoParkJihu’soriginalbody?Isheavegetable?Didhealreadydie?Or… “I’llhavetoseeformyself.”Ishouldgotomorrow,sinceit’snotpossibletoday.Theworldwon’tcometoanendinovernight,right?Lateatnight,MomandDadcamehome.Theybothseemedtohavethings theywantedtosaytome,butwhentheyheardmetellthemturnin,they didn’tbotherme.
*
The next morning,at6:30AM,Ihurriedlypreparedtoleaveasthedaybegantobreak.Myparentswerealarmedtoseemegettingreadyfor thedaysoearly,butIdidn’tfeeltheneedtoexplainin detail.
However, an unexpected variable briefly stopped me.
—Clang!
Suddenly, the door would not open.
“What the?”
The door would not open even though the door lock had been released.
Unable to understand, I just held onto the door handle, and my dad, who had seen this, approached me.
“Why is this like this? Song-i, stay back for a moment.”
“…”
—Thud!
“Why is this happening? Is the door lock broken?”
After the three of us struggled for over 10 minutes, the door finally opened.
“Whew! It’s open, it’s open.”
“…I’m going out.”
“Song-i, um, are you meeting a friend again today? Are you taking Pero?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going out this early? When will you be back – Song-i!”
“Goodbye.”
After walking for over 10 minutes from my apartment, I waited at the meeting place that I had told Unni Eun-sol about in the morning.
Soon, a black sedan approached.
—Wheeing!
The window rolled down, revealing a solidly built, middle-aged man who looked to be in his early 50s.
He looked like some kind of security team leader at first glance.
“Are you Miss Song-i?”
“Yes.”
“I heard from the young lady. I’m Section Chief Kim. Please get in.”
“Yes. I will call you Section Chief from now on – Huh?”
—Clang!
Strangely, the car door would not open.
I pulled it once more, then twice, but the door would not budge.
Section Chief Kim looked puzzled.
“It was fine this morning, but why is it suddenly like this? I’m sorry.”
“…”
At this point, I also sensed that something was strange.
The door lock malfunctioned suddenly without any prior signs.
The car door would not open for no reason.
Was it a coincidence?
Taken individually, these were common occurrences that people often experienced in life, but they felt strange when they happened consecutively.
In any case, the door opened eventually this time as well.
—Thud!
“Oh my! It opened. I apologize for not checking the car’s condition beforehand. I’m sorry -”
“It’s okay.”
After finishing his apology, this person named Section Chief Kim did not say anything else, so he seemed to be a man of few words, just as Unni Eun-sol had said.
I had heard a brief explanation when I contacted him last night.
According to Unni Eun-sol, Section Chief Kim seemed to know something similar to an agent from the Management Bureau.
Did he say that because he thought it would make me comfortable?
It would be absurd for the Management Bureau, but it did not matter because this man would not be able to contact the Management Bureau to confirm my identity anyway.
“Go to this address.”
“Gangneung, Gyeongpo-dong? What’s the more detailed address?”
“You’ll have to find out when you get there.”
“Understood.”
*
This is…! I can’t stop Song-i at all!
She doesn’t even heed the warning when the door is locked!
Is more active intervention impossible?
It was even hard to lock the door! It was just ghostly intervention!
Ah! You can’t see the whole picture from the inside, and you can’t touch the inside from the outside. That’s what this means!
There must be a way. Definitely!