Escaping the Mystery Hotel-Chapter 244: Room 202, Cursed Room - ’The Little Mermaid’ (22)

- Park Seungyub

Out of nowhere, the parrot that crashed through the window transformed into a grotesque creature and crushed two restaurant employees against the wall.

“Ahhh!”

As I recoiled in shock, something strange happened.

Guns emerged from the waists of the restaurant employees!

Wait, do restaurant employees normally carry guns these days?

Confused, I glanced across the table.

Even amid the chaos, the director remained calm, pulling a gun from his coat and aiming it at me.

I found myself watching in slow motion as his finger tightened on the trigger—

- Thud!

My body was launched into the air.

In that split second, I realized the grotesque creature had headbutted me from the shot trajectory.

The director’s face twisted in anger, and the restaurant employees simultaneously pointed their guns at the grotesque Perro.

While my mind was a mess, my hands were smart enough to react on their own.

Thanks to my countless fights alongside Perro, I instinctively covered my ears!

- Rooooaaar!

The building shook with an earth-shattering roar!

Even though I had braced myself and plugged my ears, the sheer force of the sound made me kick over the table in a burst of adrenaline.

Regaining my composure, I turned and bolted outside.

They’re enemies.

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The Administration is now my enemy for some reason?

Why?

How could this be?

I couldn’t comprehend it at all.

Feeling like a rabbit being chased by wolves, I sprinted aimlessly out of the room and into the restaurant’s main area.

- Clunk!

The door I had just passed started to open.

Already?

They recovered from Perro’s roar that quickly?

What do I do? What do I—

- Splaash!

“Ouch, hot! Damn it, why is it so hot?!”

“Aaaaaargh!”

“I’m so sorry!”

I wasn’t sorry at all, but the words came out instinctively!

Right in front of me was a bubbling seafood stew.

Grabbing it with my bare hands, I hurled it, ignoring the searing pain that made it feel like my hands were melting.

The scalding pot struck the director, who collapsed to the floor, rolling and writhing in agony.

I kept running.

Shoving aside chairs and tables in my way, I dashed toward the restaurant’s exit.

Once outside, I thought I could head to a crowded place where—

- Bang!

Ah…

Is this what it feels like to be struck by lightning?

Like a red-hot poker tearing through my body.

In the movies, protagonists take a bullet or two and keep going with just a bandage, but I guess I’m no protagonist.

The bullet hit my shoulder, yet I felt the strength drain from my entire body, leaving me collapsed on the slick pavement.

- Whoooosh!

Rain poured from the sky as I heard wet footsteps approaching from the restaurant.

It hurts.

It hurts so much.

At this moment, the pain was far more overwhelming than any fear of death.

I didn’t care if it ended; I just wanted the pain to stop.

“Mom…”

“…”

“Mom… Mom… Hic…”

“I’m sorry, kid. I’ll end it soon.”

Then, the streetlight went out.

Was this death coming to claim me, robbing me of my sight?

In the next instant, another streetlight across the way flickered off.

Then all the lights nearby followed.

The desolate alley was shrouded in darkness.

- Step-step!

Through the rain and wind, the sound of footsteps echoed.

Strangely, even the unbearable pain scorching my body seemed to hush, overtaken by the approaching presence of… someone.

“What now? Another freak—”

As the director tilted his head in confusion and stepped toward me, his body abruptly froze as if turned to stone.

Someone approached.

Their stature was no larger than mine, dressed in what looked like a raincoat, their steps slow and deliberate.

They seemed no more than a small girl.

“Hello?”

“…”

I couldn’t muster a response.

The girl emerging from the shadows turned her gaze to the frozen director.

“Ah! Uncle! I saw you in a dream last night. Suho-oppa was very afraid of you.”

Her eyes drifted upward.

Above the director, the drenched restaurant sign began to creak ominously.

“Uncle, whenever I see old restaurant signs like this, I can’t help but think… what if it suddenly falls? It’s not impossible, right? Every year, people in Korea get injured by falling icicles.”

- Creak!

Strange.

Surely there were more Administration agents inside the restaurant and stationed nearby, but none of them approached.

Was it because of the oppressive aura emanating of “Ominous Imagination” from the girl, smothering the dark alley?

The rickety sign began to sway.

The director couldn’t move a single finger.

The girl slowly approached, lifting the stone-like director’s face upward.

“Watch carefully. It’s better to know what’s happening before you slip away, isn’t it?”

Slowly, the sign tilted further until it finally fell, crushing the director into an unrecognizable pulp.

He didn’t move a single step, even in his final moment.

- Click-clack!

“Goodbye!”

“…”

“Not in the mood to talk? Seungyub… hmm. It doesn’t look like you’ll make it. What a shame. If you’d gone straight to the hospital, you might have had a chance.”

“…”

“Last night, I dreamed. Such a… such an old dream. I heard voices. The countless cries of my kin echoed across the world. And then, I gained new ears.”

“…”

“It’s strange. When I woke up, I realized my ears were completely useless. They never heard what truly mattered. Why didn’t I notice that until now? So I tore them off. Now… now I can hear. Seungyub, can you hear the voices too?”

That’s when I noticed the girl’s ears were torn off.

“Father! My father. Do you hear our prayers? At last, I hear your voice. Bestow your grace upon me, as you did upon Lee Suho. Bestow your grace upon me.”

With those words, the girl brought her hands to her eyes.

I instinctively shut mine, bracing for what was to come.

A horrifying sound followed.

Did Liringanaur gouge out her eyes to see what she couldn’t before?

Her footsteps grew distant.

As the world around me dimmed, I realized my end was near.

“…”

What is she?

The final trial of this room?

The Sea God’s last card in case of Lee Suho’s failure?

I didn’t know.

But I felt a tinge of betrayal.

Liringanaur probably didn’t remember, but during the first attempt, we had bonded while rescuing the people of Busan.

Was that all just an act?

Or perhaps she didn’t even know her role until Lee Suho failed.

Maybe I was just grasping at straws.

I stopped overthinking.

Predictions were meaningless unless we got another chance, after all.

As my consciousness faded, I desperately hoped for a “next time”.

***

- Elena

Early in the morning, I was abruptly shaken awake, still groggy, and immediately hit with shocking news: Director Park Jinseong, the de facto head of the research facility, had died in an absurdly unexpected way!

“Uh… so, how exactly did he die?”

“They say he died when a restaurant sign fell on him during a mission.”

I was momentarily speechless.

Sure, humans can die from choking on food or tripping over a stone on the street, but I never imagined someone as high-ranking as an Administration executive would meet such a ridiculous end.

Sharing the absurdity of the situation with Serenade-unni, we tried to assess what was going on when we realized something truly ominous was unfolding.

“The Rudahs are emitting strange waves! You need to act quickly, Daughters of Sea God!”

A frantic staff member rushed to us, his voice trembling.

Without even having time to change, the three Daughters of Sea God—Serenade, Imelda, and I—hurried toward the tanks holding the Rudahs.

Sure enough, the Rudahs were collectively writhing and emitting bizarre sonic waves that caused excruciating pain to the “advanced humans” in the facility.

What was even stranger was that our control over the Rudahs had become ineffective.

Even Imelda, who was the most adept at controlling them, was unable to stop them from emitting the strange waves.

Not only that, but the waves began to affect us too.

I felt a horrifying sensation as though something beneath my skin was trying to break free.

At that moment, I realized the inevitable had arrived.

It all made sense in hindsight.

Why hadn’t the situation been resolved or an escape event triggered after Lee Suho’s death supposedly stopped the Sea God’s descent?

The Sea God still had one last bullet in the chamber.

It was clear now that some unknown method, some final contingency for the descent, had been left in place.

That single bullet had just pierced through the entire world.

The reason we had lost control of the Rudahs was also clear.

Something with greater authority over them was now in control.

“…”

So there’s no need to hold back anymore.

“Why on earth won’t they respond?”

“Imelda, don’t you have some kind of emergency protocol? Surely you didn’t experiment on these suspiciously supernatural creatures without preparing a last resort, right?”

“Of course, we have one. But it requires a meeting among the facility’s leaders—“

“Elena, I know what that last resort is.”

Serenade abruptly cut Imelda off and looked at me.

Had Serenade been up to something while I thought I was the only one exploring this facility over the past few days?

Her meaningful gaze sparked a strange excitement in me.

“What are you suddenly—“

Before I could finish, Imelda froze solid as if she had turned to stone.

“Imelda, for someone who made the bold decision to betray us and collaborate with the Administration, why are you so careless? Did you become an idiot from staying too long in this supposedly ‘safe’ facility?”

Was Serenade still harboring resentment from being captured and dragged here while unconscious?

She stomped mercilessly on Imelda’s feet.

- Bang!

A single gunshot echoed.

The life of the former Saintess, who had longed for peace and safety after years of torment from nightmares, came to an unexpectedly hollow end.

“Elena, when you see the ‘final card’ this facility prepared, you’ll find it hilariously familiar.”

“Familiar?”

“Yeah. It’s something you know very well. The Administration just made some major ‘improvements’ to it. I’ve been impressed by their creativity.”

Screams echoed all around us.

Within the research facility, filled with the bizarre waves, the so-called “advanced humans,” the “future of humanity,” the “hope of Homo sapiens,” were writhing on the floor like insects.

I could sense the second attempt coming to an end.

Perhaps I would be the last survivor.

Will I be able to escape?

***

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