Escaping the Mystery Hotel

Chapter 163: Room 201, The Cursed Room - The Cube (12)

“What is your purpose in infiltrating this place?”

“…”

“How did you obtain information related to headquarters?”

“…”

Ah, we’re screwed.

“It would be more convenient for both of us if you cooperate while we’re still treating you politely.”

“…”

“We’ll stop here for now. The proper interrogation will begin once the Artanin arrives. We plan to start with the person over there. By the way… your ‘eye’ is quite extraordinary.”

It seems they’re treating me somewhat gently because of my “eye”.

How did we end up in this situation?

I sighed and retraced my memories.

***After parting ways with the others, Grandpa and I entered the TV.

Under Ahri’s suggestion, we believed the area was safe at the time, and walked straight ahead with our eyes closed for a long while.

With a sudden thud, we bumped into something.

When we opened our eyes and looked around, we immediately realized something.

We’re screwed.

Armed soldiers surrounded us on all sides.

They were all aiming their guns at us. There wasn’t a way to resist.

We were swiftly overpowered and dragged away for interrogation.

At least, the Chat Window worked without any issues, so we could plan.

Lee Eunsol: OK?

Kim Mooksung: Damn bastards. OK.

The people of “headquarters”, seemed to have a lot of questions for us.

In hindsight, it was understandable from their perspective.

Now that Ahri’s hypnosis had worn off, I realized that beyond the TV was an incomprehensible source of madness.

The key to avoiding madness is to simply be unaware of the existence of such an incomprehensible monster!

However, this solution, while simple, was extremely difficult to implement.

The monster wasn’t exactly invisible, so the moment one saw it, they’d realized its existence.

Therefore, they’d have to avoid looking at it, but as soon as they did, any person with normal intelligence would immediately feel a sense of unease.

There’s something dangerous here that mustn’t be seen.

Even that slight level of awareness could make it impossible to avoid the madness.

In fact, without a special method like Ahri’s Ancient Blood hypnosis, it was nearly impossible to defend against.

We managed to perfectly execute this difficult method of entry.

Naturally, the people at headquarters were curious about how we knew this!

Then, “Patrick”, a bigshot from headquarters, appeared.

“I’ve confirmed your identity. You’re Ms. Eunsol, right?”

“I never told you my name.”

“We received a report with your names beforehand.”

“You’re not even trying to hide it at this point. Have you planted spies in the Administration or something?”

“Haha! You still have some fire in your eyes, don’t you? That eye, isn’t it from ‘Ivlax, the One-Eyed Bird’?”

I’ve heard the term “One-Eyed Bird”, but this is the first I’ve heard of “Ivlax”.

“How did you manage to transplant that eye into a person? Not even the Administration’s technology could do that.”

“…”

“Well, you’re quite tight-lipped, aren’t you? Don’t worry. We have Artanin with us.”

I’ve heard the word “Artanin” a few times now. What is it?

Patrick seemed to misinterpret my puzzled reaction as something else.

“Haha. There’s no need to be afraid. I know how harmful Artanin can be to a person. I have no intention of injecting it into you, so you can relax. It’s the old man who should be worried about going through something rough, don’t you think?”

“Stick it in your own arm, you bastard!”

Lee Eunsol: What is Artanin?

Kim Mooksung: A powerful truth serum.

Lee Eunsol: Oh no.

Kim Mooksung: Don’t worry. I know how it works. I can handle it.

So there’s a countermeasure. The people at headquarters seemed quite confident in the efficacy of this “Artanin”.

But Grandpa is an agent from the Administration, so he should be reliable. I have nothing more to say.

Lee Eunsol: They’re being oddly nice to me.

Kim Mooksung: Your eye is a great treasure, even by Administration standards.

Lee Eunsol: Think they’ll try to take my eye?

Kim Mooksung: They can’t transplant it, not even with their technology. They can’t do it.

It just keeps getting worse. As I suspected, the only reason they’re pretending to be nice to me is because of my eye.

It’s too precious to give up on, but they don’t have the technology to transplant it to someone else.

If they want to use the eye, they have to keep me alive.

So they can’t use something as harmful as that Artanin, or whatever it is, on me.

Beatrix seemed to have some sort of mind control ability. It looked like they were planning to use that on me.

A moment later, a soldier-looking guy came in with a syringe filled with an opaque green liquid and injected it into Grandpa’s arm.

Kim Mooksung: I’ll be dead in 3 hours. Hang in there.

Lee Eunsol: I’ll see you outside.

The enemy’s interrogation began.

The veteran’s way of handling the truth serum was absurd yet creative.

***Patrick’s voice rang out, “Kim Mooksung. Are you ready to talk now?”

“Yes.”

“First, let’s start by confirming something from earlier. Bring in the kid!”

The kid?

A moment later, Seungyub was brought in on a cart! To be precise, the Protective Suit was brought in.

Seungyub himself seemed to have either lost consciousness or died.

“This kid was with you, right? Well, he seems to be dead already. He fell into the ‘trash can’ earlier. He appears to be wearing some kind of specialized spacesuit, but we couldn’t take it off no matter what. How do you remove it?”

Kim Mooksung: If you put your hand on the helmet, a sensor will activate. You probably can’t remove it because you’re not a hotel participant.

“It can only be opened from the inside. Forcing it open will cause a massive explosion.”

Grandpa? What are you talking about? An explosion?

Did the Protective Suit really have such a feature?

And what’s with that response in the chat just now?

…Could it be?

“What I’m most curious about is how you found your way into headquarters.”

Kim Mooksung: We used the information from the first attempt in Room 201 and followed Kain’s advice.

“…There was an informant on the inside.”

“An informant on the inside? Don’t tell me! Did you plant someone on our side?”

Kim Mooksung: How would I know, you idiot?

“We received periodic reports.”

Could this be his way of countering the truth serum?

“Can we trust this man’s words?”

“Look at his pupils. Artanin is working correctly. Besides, we also planted Elizabeth in the Administration, so it’s not entirely impossible for them to have done the same. Who did you plant?”

“I don’t know. I only know the content of the reports.”

Listening to the conversation, I couldn’t help but be impressed!

In that brief moment, Grandpa came up with a simple yet effective method of countering the truth serum.

He was answering the questions truthfully through the Chat Window, and then lying aloud afterward!

It’s fascinating. What kind of principle does this truth serum work on that allows such a countermeasure?

For the first time, Grandpa actually felt like a “veteran agent”.

Meanwhile, Patrick and the others were urgently discussing among themselves.

“It seems he doesn’t know the identity of the spy.”

“If he’s receiving periodic reports, let’s ask about the contents.”

“Good idea. Mooksung, what’s the latest report you received?”

Kim Mooksung: There’s no such thing, you idiot!

“…”

“Why are you hesitating? George, check his pupils again!”

“Artanin is working. Let’s wait a moment.”

Kim Mooksung: Damn it! I can’t think of an answer. Eunsol, make something up, quickly!

Ahhh! Grandpa! You were acting like a total veteran just a moment ago! Why are you putting this on me now?

Lee Eunsol: Perro! He’s probably captured somewhere here!

“…Recently, you captured a peculiar parrot with the ability to transform into a monster.”

“What? That just happened yesterday! You already got a report on that?”

“How is information leaking so freely from our headquarters? What the hell is going on with the security system?”

“Could it be from the research wing? The parrot was probably locked up in Research Wing 2-9, right?”

The mention of Perro that I came up with on the fly seemed to be a huge shock to them.

Research Wing 2-9, where Perro was kept.

I’ll remember that.

A little later, most of the people around us left.

It seems Patrick decided he couldn’t trust anyone except for a few of his most loyal subordinates.

“Mooksung, what is your purpose here? How much does the Administration know about us?”

Kim Mooksung: We came here because this place is the Room 201, you idiot! What about the Administration?

“There was a report about ‘corruption’ related to the missing personnel at the Arizona branch. We’re the advanced team that was sent to explore the Hestbert Mansion and report on the circumstances of the Arizona survivors’ corruption.”

“What the…! How…! How did you know about that? Arizona… How could you know?”

“There was no report to Elizabeth that the Administration was aware of headquarters!”

“Maybe Elizabeth was already under suspicion from their side.”

“Come to think of it, you’re right. They killed Elizabeth not long after entering the Mansion, didn’t they? They must have known who she really was!”

As Patrick and his assistant grew increasingly agitated over the massive breach of classified information to the Administration, someone picked up on a suspicious term in Grandpa’s answer.

“A report? How does the report work?”

“A regular report is required every six hours.”

I was impressed. I began to get an idea of what Grandpa was plotting!

“Patrick, this is a serious issue! These guys have been captured here, so they haven’t been able to send their regular report, right?”

It’s about time I stepped in.

“Have you finally figured it out? A strike team will be here soon. When they arrive, I doubt anyone in this place will survive.”

“Are you getting cocky just because you’re from the Administration? Don’t forget, we’re the ones in front of you. And you have no idea what we’re capable of.”

“By capability, you’re referring to Beatrix, right? Our team is probably fighting Beatrix as we speak.”

“…Lady Beatrix will subdue them and return soon.”

“You have a lot of faith in her. Beatrix is incredibly powerful, as you say, and she might find a way to escape even if the Administration’s army invades. But will you all survive that fight?”

The room fell silent.

The fear of an impending attack from the Administration paralyzed their reasoning.

It’s ironic.

In reality, I had always thought of the Administration as an abstract, almost mythical organization.

But they’re actually quite impressive.

Now that I think about it, I’m just an ordinary person with no real power.

Yet, by bluffing a bit with the Administration behind me, I had them all at a loss.

Patrick’s calm voice cut through the tension, “You’re not just showing off suddenly, are you? It seems you have something to say, so let’s stop playing games.”

“If you’ve planted spies within the Administration, you must have a way to communicate with them, right?”

Lee Eunsol: What do they usually use to communicate? Hurry up!

Kim Mooksung: Secure smartphones.

…It’s just like any other company.

“You have a secure smartphone, right?”

“…”

“Hand it over. I’ll send the regular report.”

“You want us to let you go safely in exchange for faking a report? Hard to believe. I’m tempted to inject you with Artanin.”

Now’s the time to give in a little.

“Why not just stand by while I make the report? If the content seems off, you can cut it off immediately. I’m just trying to save my own life. Dying by your hands is one problem, but getting killed by the Administration is another.”

“Killed by the Administration? What do you—Oh. I see. You’re worried they might blow up the whole facility, aren’t you?”

“…”

“Haha! You’re surprisingly cautious, aren’t you? It seems you don’t really understand what the ‘Arizona Branch’ is. Don’t worry about that. I can guarantee they’d never destroy this facility!” Patrick answered confidently.

He was certain that the Administration would never resort to blowing up their entire facility.

But why? Does the Administration not know the location of this facility?

Given that they believe all their information has leaked to the Administration, I doubt they are relying on the simple assumption that their location is unknown.

There must be another reason. Something that makes them sure the Administration can’t destroy this facility.

Nevertheless, Patrick agreed to the negotiation.

“Well, we need to deal with the immediate issue first. But… I’d advise against trying anything funny. We’ll be watching closely.”

We’re almost there.

Now, I just have to figure out how to make a “support request” without the enemy noticing and survive until the end.

…By the way, where the hell is Kain?