Escaping the Mystery Hotel

“Keeping secrets as a habit... Are you worried I’ll hide things? Like you did with the meeting earlier?”

Ahri was obviously upset that we had tried to hold the meeting without her.

We shouldn’t have gotten caught by her, but…

I didn’t have much to say, so I mixed a cocktail and handed it to her.

“Here, have a drink.”

After downing the drink in one gulp, Ahri’s expression softened a bit.

“When I first saw the ticket, it was tough to bear. It felt like my long-cherished dream was finally within reach. If we had held this meeting on the first day of rest, I probably would’ve reacted in the extreme way you all expected. But over the past few days, I’ve had time to think it over.”

“Did your thoughts change while you were thinking alone?”

“I thought about it practically and realized something. Will Miro really be able to avoid causing trouble?”

“Just out of curiosity, one of the people who monopolized the Inheritances you mentioned before—”

“One of them is Miro. You all suspected that already, didn't you?”

“...”

“But let me defend her a bit. It wasn’t just Miro; it was something that applied to the entire party at that time. None of them were evil people when they were part of society. But once they were exposed to the harsh conditions of the Hotel, and a few people started acting selfishly, the group fell apart.”

“Do you think a sane Miro would act less selfishly if she joined our party now?”

“Yes. But that’s just my belief. After all, I’ve never actually met the sane version of Miro.”

As she spoke, Ahri seemed emptier than ever. Listening to her, a bit of curiosity arose within me.

“Speaking of the Inheritances, if Miro is resurrected, will she come back with all the Inheritances she had in life?”

“I’m curious about that too. Actually, it’s something that applies to all of the resurrection candidates. How much of their power from life will they retain after resurrection? Will their Blessings be the same as before? If we resurrect Estavio, will he come back with the bracelet? Will the doctor return with the same healing powers he had as an NPC?”

“It’s hard to guarantee that the abilities we’re considering in our decision will even be preserved after resurrection. These are things we can’t know for sure at this point.”

“Resurrection is still a mystery. Most of them will likely only be uncovered once we discover the Room of Resurrection. When that time comes, we’ll need to have another discussion.”

“Let’s go back to the topic of Miro. I heard her mental state isn’t normal right now.”

“That’s correct. That’s why she’s not suitable as the first resurrection target. We need to find another way.”

“Another way?”

The emptiness in Ahri’s eyes seemed to ignite with a new fire.

Even her tone changed.

“Miro became like a child after creating me, right? The place where I was born, where I originated…  is where we’ll likely find a way to restore Miro. Her resurrection will only be meaningful once we find a method to return her to her former self.”

“You don’t know where that place is, do you?”

“No, I don’t. The only person who could explain it was diluted into a childlike state the moment I was born. What kind of room, what kind of power could have allowed Miro to create me all on her own?”

“...”

That seems to be Ahri’s plan.

Resurrecting a mentally impaired Miro is a heavy burden, even for her daughter Ahri.

As Ahri mentioned, unless she stays by Miro’s side 24/7, she wouldn’t be able to stop her from doing something strange.

So, she plans to find a way to restore her intellect first, and then resurrect her.

Now I understand why Ahri backed down so easily earlier.

And another question arose.

How did Miro manage to create Ahri all by herself?

Is it a secret room? An unknown supernatural ability?

I don’t know.

It’s clear that this Hotel is filled with too many secrets.

I handed her another cocktail and moved on to the next topic.

“What do you think about my eye right now?”

“Do you want me to be honest?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a bit scary to look at.”

“It’s honestly hideous. But the appearance isn’t what concerns me. I was prepared for that after all. What actually concerns me is whether it can be fixed after we leave the Hotel. I didn’t expect such a drastic change. It feels like they shaved my bones to fit this massive eye in. Can the Administration fix something like this?”

Ahri tilted her head as if she was trying to figure out what I was talking about, then suddenly clapped her hands.

“Aha! I think there’s a misunderstanding.”

“Just talk normally. You keep changing your manner of speech, it’s confusing. A misunderstanding?”

“Most people don’t realize how large the human eye really is. The visible part of the eye isn’t the entire eyeball, just the area around the pupil. You think the new eye is 1.5 times larger than your original eye, right?”

“I thought it was about 1.3 times bigger.”

“Think about it simply. Do you think there’s any extra space inside the human skull for additional parts? If a specific body part suddenly grew by 30%, there wouldn’t be any room to fit it. To accommodate that, you’d need surgery that’s practically body modification.”

“So, the eyeball itself didn’t get bigger?”

“It seems like it grew a little. I can’t be sure without taking it out, but it didn’t grow by 30%. What’s making your eye look bigger is a different issue.”

“You mean more of it is exposed?”

“Exactly. To put it simply, it’s like you had extreme eyelid surgery. Even a standard eyelid surgery can make eyes look 10–20% bigger. Your right eyeball didn’t grow by 30%, but about 30% more of it is exposed. So, this can be fixed once we’re out.”

Good thing they didn’t have to reshape my skull.

But that doesn’t change the fact that it still looks hideous.

“I’m okay with waiting until we’re out, but is there a way to make it look less terrifying right now? The merchant did say that any damage caused by the eye can’t be healed in the Hotel.”

“He was probably referring to restoring the original eye, not the new one. What you’re asking for is just cosmetic, so it should be possible to fix it. But...”

“But?”

“Why do you think the doctor did this kind of surgery?”

“...”

“Don’t close your eyes. Just stay still for a moment.”

With that, Ahri grabbed my face with both hands and came close.

Her eyes, glowing like they had a fire burning inside, stared directly into mine.

In response, my eyes tried to peer into hers, examining every blood vessel on the surface of her eyeball.

“It’s a fascinating eye. Really fascinating… Is it mimicking a telescope? The pupil is surrounded by three small lenses.”

“My eye is definitely unique.”

Ahri backed away again and continued, “The doctor didn’t increase the exposure of the eyeball for fun or to make you look scarier. It must have been necessary. I think it’s probably because the entire area around the pupil needs to be exposed.”

“So, it can’t be helped?”

“That’s all I can tell you. But I understand why you’d want to reduce how unsightly it is. If we ever resurrect the doctor, you could ask him to make some improvements directly.”

The conversation about my eye came to an end.

I suddenly felt a stronger desire to resurrect the doctor.

Since he performed the surgery on my eye, maybe he could make it look less terrifying.

Until then, I’ll just cover it with an eye patch.

With that, another day came to an end.

***- Han Kain

Will it work?

Yesterday evening, after the discussion, I used Advice to gain a useful attack method!

Although I understood the theory behind it, I couldn’t be sure until I tested it out.

Who should I ask for help?

As I was wandering around, thinking about this, I saw Ahri approaching from a distance.

“What are you doing? Spinning around like a child.”

Is this fate? Perfect timing.

“Actually, over the past few days, I’ve been asking for Advice regarding teleportation whenever I get the chance.”

“Looks like you got some good answers. You seem pretty excited.”

“Yeah. I got some pretty detailed advice. Among them was an explanation of a new attack method.”

“A new attack method?”

Heh. Look at that eager expression on Ahri’s face!

She definitely wants to see it.

The thought of trying it out already makes me feel good.

“Watch closely! I’ll show you. Be careful.”

“You’re not planning to—”

- Whoosh! Bam!

I felt a sudden pull on my entire body as if someone had grabbed me with a giant hand.

It was an uncomfortable sensation as my position shifted in an instant.

- Crash!

In the blink of an eye, Ahri was flung into the wall!

“How’s that? Pretty amazing, right? This technique comes from a simple idea: what happens if I overlap my position with my opponent’s during teleportation? The Owl gave me a more detailed explanation. If the positions overlap, the object with less mass gets flung away. If you think about it—”

Ahri got up mid-explanation.

“That’s quite a technique. Let me show you one of mine.”

Ahri suddenly floated up and flew toward me, hitting me hard.

- Whoosh! Bam!

The impact was so strong that I slammed into the wall, leaving me momentarily breathless.

“...”

“What do you think? This is my new technique. I have the power to punch people and send them flying.”

There was a moment of silence in the room.

Ahri sighed and then spoke up, “So, the theory is what? If the coordinates overlap, the lighter object gets flung away?”

“That’s the basics of it. But here’s something I didn’t know: right after teleportation, my mass is judged to be much heavier than usual. To be precise, the principle of teleportation—”

“Enough! What’s the point of explaining the mechanics of a power only you can use? Are you a lecture addict? The point is, with this ‘overlapping teleportation’, you can fling away almost any opponent.”

Ahri seemed a bit irritated.

“Exactly.”

“Did you ask anything about resurrection?”

“I did, but the response was that there wasn’t much more they could tell me. They told me not to get ahead of myself. I guess the limit of what they could reveal was that we could obtain another ticket on the second floor.”

“Even Advice has its limits. They’re not going to answer questions like, ‘Tell me the origin of the Hotel.’”

“Our week-long break is almost over. It’s a shame it ends tomorrow.”

Ahri counted on her fingers for a moment and then replied, “You seem to have gotten pretty good at teleporting, we’ve roughly decided how to handle the Protective Suit, used the Hand of Greed, and discussed resurrection. Looks like we’ve done everything we needed to. I wonder if the second floor will open at midnight tomorrow? Or the morning after? Let’s move up as soon as it opens.”

“I’m a bit disappointed that the Sanctuary of Blessings didn’t open. Some of us could have enhanced their Blessing with the contributions they earned in the Gate Room.”

“Well, the Sanctuary of Blessings only opens during ‘Party Time’.”

“We’ll be able to return to the first floor after moving to the second, right? We won’t be unable to use the Sanctuary of Blessings after entering the second floor, will we?”

“I could return to the first floor during my time. But the Hotel is perpetually changing. There are already many differences from what I remember.”

“Eunsol-noona seems to be buying a lot of things too.”

“You should start preparing for the second floor too, whether it’s mentally or otherwise.”

There wasn’t much else to do during the rest of our break.

The morning after our seven-day break ended, the Hotel display showed a message.

Dear esteemed guests,

Greetings!

The second floor of Hotel Pioneer has finally opened!

Congratulations on overcoming various trials and reaching the second stage.

New challenges and treasures await you.

Please proceed to the elevator.

+ Note: The second floor is not well-heated. Please be aware that it might be a bit cold.