Escaping the Mystery Hotel

Chapter 233: Room 202, Cursed Room - 'The Little Mermaid' (11)

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 101

Current Location: Floor 2, Room 202 – Cursed Room ‘The Little Mermaid’

Sage’s Advice: 0

- Han Kain

Seeing the Chat Window brought a moment of relief.

At least it meant two people were still alive—Elena, who sent the message, and Grandpa, who maintained the Chat Window.

Both were still hanging on.

But I was overwhelmed!

Caught in the swirling currents and struggling to hold onto the Protective Suit, I had no way to respond to Elena’s message.

What now?

The suit weighed well over 200 kg!

I knew there was one method left to me.

I doubted it would work, but hesitation wasn’t an option.

Focusing my mind on the feather tattoo on my shoulder, I felt a sudden pull at my navel, dizziness overtaking me.

When I came to my senses, I found myself inside the Protective Suit.

Han Kain: Success!

Elena: Pardon?

Han Kain: Never mind. Where to?

Elena: Follow the yellow light underwater, please.

As I moved, I felt an odd sense of dissonance.

Usually, the Chat Window was used in a more “economical” way to save words, but Elena’s phrasing sounded more natural and conversational.

Of course, it could just be that she was too distracted to speak her usual way.

Following the light was no easy task.

The suit lacked an oxygen generation function, forcing me to surface periodically to replenish air.

The chaos around me, teeming with strange marine creatures, made navigating toward the light a perilous endeavor.

After about 15 minutes—a relatively short time—I discovered a peculiar door.

Amidst the chaos of the God of the Sea rising and turning all the land into water, the door remained intact.

It wasn’t attached to a structure aboveground but embedded in an undersea cave.

Inside, an air pocket had formed, complete with some unknown ventilation system.

“What is this place...?”

“You’ve arrived. I’m glad you made it in time.”

“Elena?”

“This way, please.”

The voice from the depths of the cave belonged to Elena, yet it sounded markedly different.

It dawned on me: we had put the Protective Suit on Elena to shield her from the rain, which had grotesquely warped the merfolk’s bodies under Kadaru’dah’s influence.

Now, I was wearing that suit.

What state was Elena in now?

At the very least, I suspected her body was far from normal.

...

Another thought came to mind: the unique feature of Calmness and Tranquility.

Many of us in the Hotel Party possessed abilities to protect our minds from madness.

Songee could temporarily boost her mental defenses to unparalleled levels using her bracelet.

I had innate mental resistance through my Status Window, albeit weaker but I had the advantage of not having a time limit.

Ahri could achieve something similar by consuming her own blood.

But Elena?

She was different from all of us.

Calmness and Tranquility didn’t prevent madness; it restored sanity to a broken mind.

If our powers were shields, hers was a cure.

She had used Calmness and Tranquility when she first woke up in the hospital, allowing her to return as the Elena we knew from the Hotel.

But now?

What was she?

I had no idea.

Anxiety gripped me, making every step forward feel heavier.

The lack of Sage’s Advice was palpable—I’d already used up all three chances: once when the shark attacked, once to wake Elena, and once to grab the Protective Suit.

...

- Splash!

“Kain, we don’t have much time.”

I made my decision. Having come this far, there was no turning back.

Retreating wouldn’t reveal an escape route.

For now, I could only hope this “Elena” was still the Elena I knew.

“I’m coming.”

Each step I took illuminated horrifying sights with the suit’s headlamp—bones littered the cave.

Cleaned of flesh, they were scattered throughout the underwater cave.

Whose bones were these?

Why are there so many human remains here?

...

“Kain, can you hear me? Do you still understand me?”

“Of course.”

Elena’s voice was gradually becoming distorted.

Is her vocal cord mutating?

“I imagine it’s hard to understand why I led you to the port, where the evil god awakens, and why I brought you to this cave.”

“You’re right—it is.”

“Unfortunately, I woke up too late. Just before awakening, I heard Kadaru’dah’s voice. As a Daughter of the Sea God, I’ve suffered nightmares for over a decade, but this was a first. That’s when I realized his awakening was imminent.”

“...We awakened you less than 24 hours after entering Room 202, didn’t we?”

“Yes, and yet even a day’s delay was too long by the Hotel standards, apparently.”

“Then we need to head outside and carefully plan. If we don’t act within a day, it’ll be too late.”

“Regardless, Kadaru’dah’s awakening was inevitable. My concern then became how to get you all out safely. That was the question filling my mind.”

There was a way to escape.

That was a relief, however slight.

“Let me be direct: Kain, you must become a merfolk.”

I immediately stepped back two paces.

“You must think I’m insane. But hear me out. Kadaru’dah rose fueled by hatred for humanity. If you become a merfolk, you’ll escape his wrath.”

I stepped back three more paces before replaying.

“What nonsense! I’ve seen countless merfolk suffer and die on the way here—”

“They are the descendants of sinners. The first merfolk committed an unforgivable sin, and Kadaru’dah is exacting punishment on their descendants. But you aren’t one of them. If you become a merfolk, Kadaru’dah will adopt you as his own, just as he did with Lee Suho.”

This wasn’t Elena.

I was sure of it.

The Daughter of the Sea God had taken over her body.

Disturbing possibilities flooded my mind.

Serenade had once controlled failed merfolk from an underground government facility.

The Daughter of the Sea God could command the merfolk.

Is she planning to turn me into one of them to control me?

Outside, the merfolk were being slaughtered, and the woman before me wanted to turn me into a merfolk while having the power to control them? How could I possible accept.

I had to leave immediately—

“Do you remember what happened in the Gate Room?”

“...”

“The first room—the Doppelganger Train? I still laugh when I think about it.”

“...”

“When everyone tried to kill me out of nowhere, I froze. Then I remembered my favorite drama scenes.”

“...”

“Whenever the tension was lacking, a slap across the face made everything better. It’s universal in dramas, but Korean dramas take it further—”

“You’ve been on the run for almost 10 years, so when did you see something like that again?”

“Even while on the run, I still had a phone. Plus, no matter where you go, there’s always a TV. Oh, and when I came to Korea, there was a scene that left a huge impression on me. Slapping someone with your hand is a universal trope, and I’ve seen it in many dramas, but slapping someone with kimchi—“

“Gahh! Stop! I believe you! Enough already!”

“By the way, Korean dramas also have scenes where people get slapped with soybean paste, kimbap, seaweed, and even pasta.”

The ridiculousness of the conversation told me one thing: this wasn’t the Daughter of the Sea God.

It was Elena trying to reassure me.

...But seriously, why are K-dramas so obsessed with slapping someone’s face?

“...”

After crossing the cave, a white, tentacle-like structure appeared ahead.

“You don’t need to come any closer.”

I understood. Elena’s form must have changed drastically, far from human.

She likely didn’t want me to see her like this.

At the tip of the tentacle was a strange creature.

Is it a giant snail?

A slug?

Its writhing flesh and tentacles made it unlike anything I’d ever seen.

“This is Rudah.”

“Rudah?”

“The progenitor of all. The god’s offspring discovered 800 years ago by the fishermen who became the first merfolk.”

As the tentacle slowly reached out to me, I removed the Protective Suit and braced myself.

“...”

Fear. Disgust.

Every instinct screamed at me to crush the snail-like creature underfoot.

But I couldn’t.

The tentacle approached, its end carrying the mysterious being.

What would happen to my body?

Despite everything I’d experienced in the Hotel, this primal revulsion was overwhelming.

I shut my eyes.

“It will hurt a little. Please bear it.”

That was a lie.

The pain was far beyond “a little.”

***Would this be what it feels like to be sliced alive?

What exactly was happening to me?

I could register that the tentacle had pierced through my torso.

Right after, something started writhing inside me.

I could feel the transformation—shedding my humanity, little by little.

But the emotion I felt at that moment wasn’t pain or anger.

It was disgust.

I was turning into an incomprehensible, grotesque being.

The overwhelming revulsion consumed my mind.

Yet...

If enduring this meant escaping this horrific Room 202, then all this pain would vanish like foam on the water. The end of suffering, liberation from disgust—there was only one word that could grant me salvation.

Escape.

Clinging to that single hope, I endured.

I bore it again and again.

My hands were gone.

My legs were gone.

My lungs were gone.

No, that wasn’t true—nothing was gone—they had merely become something else.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at my body with my own eyes.

Just before losing consciousness, I saw a pair of enormous, glowing eyes.

[You, who come from the outside.]

“...”

[Bring an end to my suffering.]

That was the last memory I had.

You have escaped!