bookandnovel Chapter 165: Room 201, The Cursed Room - The Cube (14)
Chapter 165: Room 201, The Cursed Room - The Cube (14)
Chapter 165: Room 201, The Cursed Room - The Cube (14)- Han Kain
With a sudden jolt, I opened my eyes.
At the same time, a freezing wind that felt like it would tear my skin apart seeped in.
“Ugh~! Seriously, Hotel! This weather is ridiculous!”
While complaining about the weather, I glanced sideways to check on the state of my comrades.
How’s the atmosphere this time?
...
Is it the same? Most of them were sighing deeply, looking half-dazed.
Room 201, isn’t this just too much?
Am I just going to sleep through this entire ordeal?
At least let me be freed!
“Alright~ Alright~ Cheer up! There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s get moving~!”
At least one person seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood.
Seeing Eunsol-noona’s bright expression, everyone else seemed to perk up, their faces visibly brightening as they started moving.
This is going to be interesting.
As soon as we entered the elevator to escape the chilling cold, they started chatting noisily.
It seemed like the group that went to fight Beatrix had a rough time.
I overheard some weary talk about how her main body might be somewhere else, and how there was no way to kill her.
It wasn’t until we returned to the warmth of Room 105 that Noona began her detailed explanation.
***Noona spent quite a while recounting the story of how she and Grandpa fought valiantly at the headquarters.
Many parts left us in awe.
We couldn’t help but applaud when she described how Grandpa quickly came up with a strategy to counter the truth serum and how she managed to bring in the Administration’s forces.
Toward the end, she recalled unsealing Perro and how he sacrificed himself for her escape. I got so tense that I started to sweat.
Noona, seemingly overwhelmed with emotion as well, suddenly hugged Perro and rubbed her cheek against him, only letting go after getting her ear bitten.
After finishing her tale, she began recounting the information she had gathered.
“Where should I start? Okay, I’ll explain in chronological order. In the 1980s, a being called the ‘Eye of Zero Dimension’ suddenly appeared. No one knew where it came from or its purpose. The moment it appeared, it encompassed the entire world within its sight, and anyone who became aware of the ‘Eye’ quickly descended into madness. According to the charts, the world collapsed in less than half a year.”
I couldn’t help but interrupt such an absurd story.
“The world collapsed?”
“According to the data I found, yes. Of course, given the quality of the weapons we used in Room 201 and the Administration’s military power that we saw at the last moment, it doesn’t quite feel like a collapse... Well, the Administration is a powerful organization, so they might have somehow managed to put the world back together.”
Grandpa nodded in agreement.
“The ‘Eye of Zero Dimension’, huh? That must be the creature that Elena and Kain saw.”
“Seems like it, right? I’ll continue. The Administration somehow managed to seal the Eye of Zero Dimension. That’s when our very own Chief Researcher Han Kain came into the picture!”
Everyone’s eyes instantly turned to me. I had nothing to say, so I kept my mouth shut.
“It’s not clear what method the Chief Researcher used, but it seems he used a tool called the ‘Irregular Polyhedron’. In fact... The records I found vaguely describe the Chief Researcher as something not quite human.”
The more I heard, the more curious I became.
“What exactly was my role?”
“Because of the title ‘Chief Researcher’, you probably imagined a clean-cut, sophisticated intellectual, right? But that wasn’t the case. According to Patrick’s journal, the Chief Researcher was described as a fiend with demonic charisma.”
Ahri seemed to find that amusing.
“Kain~! No more demonic behavior from now on.”
“...”
After hearing that, I couldn’t help but ask, “So, the Administration wanted to use a girl who creates monsters that need to eat humans as a ‘useful weapon’?”
“...Why are you blaming me? I’m just a clueless 16-year-old girl.”
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence at that unfunny joke.
There were still many unanswered questions.
For instance, how did the Chief Researcher end up trapped in a tank?
If they could trap someone in such a place, they could have killed them, so why didn’t they?
It seemed that Eunsol-noona hadn’t found any information on that part either.
But that can’t be helped. We can’t uncover all the secrets of the Cursed Rooms, nor do we need to.
We just need to know enough to resolve the problem.
The next topic of discussion was how to break my seal.
Eunsol-noona explained the location of where I was trapped and the conditions needed to break the seal.
As I listened, I realized it wouldn’t be easy.
“It’s not as simple as storming the headquarters and destroying everything, is it?”
“No. According to the information I found, only Patrick and Beatrix can break your seal.”
“That sounds difficult. We can’t exactly ask Beatrix for help, so do we need to brainwash Patrick somehow?”
Curious, I looked over at Ahri, who had an uncertain expression.
“If it’s a regular person, I can control them just by making eye contact. Even someone with a strong will can’t resist if I force them to drink my blood. The problem is Patrick isn’t an ordinary person. He likely has some means of resistance. Besides, capturing Patrick alive is a challenge in itself.”
Jinchul-hyung seemed to be thinking.
“If push comes to shove, I could forcefully smash through with the Star, right?”
“Do I need to explain why that’s dangerous again?”
“I understand. I’m just suggesting it as a Plan D.”
Songee raised another concern, “It seems like in the next round, we’ll all be heading to the headquarters together. But what about Beatrix? If we start causing trouble at the headquarters, she’ll likely come back.”
Elena answered simply, “I’ll hold off on using Justice until Beatrix shows up. Then I’ll keep her busy while you guys free Kain.”
The plan for the third attempt was starting to take shape.
They would all move to the headquarters through the TV, wreak havoc there, and free me from the seal.
If Beatrix showed up, Elena would stall her while the others worked on freeing me.
After that, with my revival, we’ll defeat Beatrix and solve the problem!
Everyone started to celebrate, feeling like the resolution to Room 201 was finally within reach.
Amid their joy, I...
To be honest, I was very uneasy.
There was a very important detail my comrades’ plan overlooked.
Everything sounds great, but how exactly are we supposed to kill Beatrix?
Everyone just seemed to be thinking, “Once we free the great Chief Researcher Han Kain, we’ll somehow be able to deal with Beatrix!”
Is this plan really going to work? Is it even reliable?
I don’t even know what Beatrix looks like, but my comrades seem to think that once I’m free, I’ll be able to take care of her on my own.
That makes me really nervous!
In the end, I couldn’t hold back and spoke up, “Um... I’m sorry if I’m ruining the mood, but are you sure I’ll be able to take down Beatrix once I’m freed from the seal? Wouldn’t it be better to summon the Administration again?”
Eunsol-noona responded with a somewhat somber expression, “...There’s something I haven’t told you all yet.”