Escaping the Mystery Hotel

As soon as I heard the Owl’s words, a tension so strong that it felt suffocating gripped me.

I focused all my attention on it.

“Firstly, what happened this time exceeds the limits of Wisdom. In the next Cursed Room, I won’t be able to give you any Advice. The penalty starts today. Secondly, the penalty applied to a room is determined the moment you enter it for the first time. Choose your room carefully. Thirdly–”

“…”

The Owl stopped speaking after, “Thirdly.”

Its beak moved a few more times in front of me, but no sound reached my ears.

If it were a person, I might have been able to guess by reading its lips, but even a master of lip reading couldn’t decipher the movement of a beak.

With the Owl silent, I looked around.

We were in a plain, white room.

The Owl’s expression shifted.

Even I could feel what that expression meant: frustration.

Some unknown force was preventing the Owl from communicating.

Perhaps the force that trapped the Owl in this cage also judged that the Owl’s third message had crossed a line.

Or perhaps, since I was being penalized, the content of the penalty was allowed to be conveyed, as the first two messages seemed related to the nature and application of the penalty.

But what could the third message have been about?

- Clack!

Suddenly, I could hear its words again.

“Thirdly, I can sense your growth. It might be worth studying again.”

- Clack!

After those words, an unknown noise echoed, and my consciousness began to fade.

Even as I lost consciousness, I kept repeating the three messages over and over.

I would need to analyze their meaning as soon as I woke up.

***

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 95

Current Location: First Floor, Room 105 – Room of Rest

Sage’s Advice: X

When I woke up in the morning, the first thing I did was check my Status Window.

“…”

An X was displayed where the Sage’s Advice count usually appeared.

It was a symbol I had never seen before.

This must be the “penalty”.

Had other functions disappeared as well?

If the filter function or the Scenario Comprehension had vanished, that would be a serious problem.

For now, the Status Window unfolded around me as usual, suggesting that the filter function was still operational.

However, I would need to test further to confirm whether the mental defense feature still worked.

As for whether Scenario Comprehension was functioning, I had no way of knowing at the moment.

The second of the three days of rest had begun, and our morning meeting’s topic was set.

***At breakfast, the familiar faces all returned.

Though my comrades who had their energy drained by the Incense of Salvation still looked weary, they had recovered enough strength to engage in cheerful conversation.

As if recounting a heroic tale, Ahri, Grandpa, Jinchul-hyung, and I shared our story of breaking through the second floor’s outer walls, discovering the snow globe, and exploring the world beyond it.

Everyone was captivated by our grand tale.

As the tale came to an end, Elena asked worriedly, “So, after hearing that the entire second floor is inside the snow globe, I have to ask—what would happen if someone from the outside decided to get rid of or break the snow globe?”

Ahri responded nonchalantly, “Well? Who knows? But based on the way this hotel operates, I doubt it would end everything in a way that we couldn’t do anything about.”

“That’s true.”

I added my own thoughts, “I can’t say for sure, but I think our connection to the outside world has been permanently cut. Jinchul-hyung confirmed yesterday that we can no longer leave the snow globe.”

“So, just as we can’t leave, the outside world probably can’t influence the inside of the snow globe?”Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“That’s what I believe.”

Noona spoke up as well, “I agree with that, but I’m curious about something else. Where are the ‘craftsman’ and that ‘shining dust’ now?”

“They’ll probably show up at the reception desk or something after breakfast, or maybe they’re on the second floor. The repairs should be done by now.”

“Maybe? Let’s check after we eat. I’m looking forward to the second floor. Like Grandpa said, the hotel wouldn’t just take away what we worked so hard to find. By the way, as you all know, we have a big decision to make—”

“Wait! Noona, I know what you’re about to say, but there’s something we need to check first.”

I quickly interrupted Noona, then shared the three messages I had received from the Owl the night before, writing them on the whiteboard, leaving out no single word.

First, what happened this time exceeds the limits of Wisdom. In the next Cursed Room, I won’t be able to give you any Advice. The penalty starts today.

Second, the penalty applied to a room is determined the moment you enter it for the first time. Choose your room carefully.

Third, I can sense your growth. It might be worth studying again.

After a brief silence, Ahri cautiously offered her thoughts, “The meaning of the first message seems straightforward. The Owl gave us advice about the second floor’s exploration before we noticed anything, right? That must be the problem.”

“Right, it seems we were penalized because the Owl gave us advice about something we didn’t ask for or notice ourselves. The rest of that sentence is also clear. The number next to the advice is marked with an X. That probably means we can’t use Advice today or tomorrow, and it will also be blocked in the next Cursed Room we enter.”

Noona sighed deeply, “Haa, that penalty is too harsh, isn’t it? Advice is more than half of your Blessing. Not being able to use it during the rest days isn’t a big deal, but losing it in the next Cursed Room is a real blow.”

Grandpa, who had been staring at the whiteboard for a while, spoke up.

“This doesn’t sound like Advice is blocked only for the first attempt in the next Cursed Room.”

“I agree. If that were the case, it would have said ‘first attempt.’”

“So, we’ll have to clear one of the Cursed Rooms without Advice. That brings us to the second message.”

The first message meant that during the rest days, and in the next Cursed Room we enter, I wouldn’t be able to offer my advice.

But which Cursed Room would Advice be blocked in?

The answer lay in the second message.

It would be determined the moment we first entered the next Cursed Room.

In other words, if we entered Room 202, it would immediately be decided that we couldn’t use Advice in Room 202.

Even if we escaped and proceeded to Room 203 afterward, no penalty would be applied to Room 203.

Ahri, understanding this loophole, responded, “We’ll need to be very careful when choosing which room to enter next. Honestly, it seems like we already have the answer—it’s Room 104, isn’t it?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Songee, confused by Ahri’s comment, asked for an explanation, “We can’t use Kain’s Advice in the next room, right? It feels risky to challenge one of the unknown rooms on the second floor.”

“Oh! So, should we enter Room 104 like you and Ahri said? If I remember correctly, Room 104 has a hint. It was something like, ‘It is natural for the _______ to ______ the father.’”

Ahri replied, “You remember that? Impressive memory. Yeah, you’re right. We’ll talk more about it later, but it seems like Room 104 is our best bet. It’s not ideal to enter one of the second floor rooms, which we know nothing about. I’ve also thought of a trick.”

I could immediately guess what that trick was.

“By ‘trick,’ do you mean we should check out Room 104, and if things look hopeless, we’ll escape and try one of the second floor rooms?”

“Exactly, if it looks bad, we can always use the Escape Button. Once we escape, we can just forget about Room 104, where Advice is blocked. Like I’ve said before, we don’t have to clear every single room.”

Ahri had always treated Room 104 as a “lost cause”.

She seemed to believe that because of the power of “Descent”, which surpassed even an Inheritance, Room 104 could no longer be cleared normally.

This new penalty seemed to follow the same logic—one of the Cursed Rooms would be ruined by the inability to use Advice.

I now understood Ahri’s “real plan”—why she was suddenly so eager to re-enter Room 104 after having avoided it for so long.

Let’s dump the penalty in Room 104, a “lost cause”, and just abandon it!

“…”

We still had time left on the rest day, so we could think about it a bit more.

At least it wasn’t a baseless plan.

Grandpa, who had been silent, spoke up, “‘I can sense your growth. It might be worth studying again,’ what do you think that means? This place isn’t exactly ideal for studying.”

“I’ll explain the context of that statement. When the Owl was about to say something, some unknown force silenced it. After a moment of silence, the Owl said that line and our conversation ended.”

Noona mumbled to herself with amusement, “So, it was a roundabout way of saying something.”

Silence fell over the room again. Grandpa finally spoke up, “Let’s break it down. ‘I can sense your growth.’ It’s praise. However, it doesn’t seem like the Owl would go out of its way just to give a compliment.”

“Right, it already gave a simple compliment earlier…”

“What kind of ‘growth’ do you think it’s talking about? Though… I have a hunch.”

“Huh?”

When I looked up in confusion, I noticed that Ahri seemed to have realized something as well.

“Kain, have you ever heard of the term ‘soul rank’?”

“What?”

Ahri muttered quietly.

“‘Studying’ refers to something you do by reading a book. Get your Grimoire out.”