[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 8

Current Location: Floor 1, Room 102 (Cursed Room – Mansion of Fear)

Sage’s Advice: 3]

It was even harder than I thought. I knew hiking in the rain would obviously be difficult but it was seriously no joke. 

Although the rain was weaker than before, that was only in comparison to the previous storm. There were still dense drops of rain clouding my vision, and the humid ground was caving in with each step so it was also difficult to even walk forward.

When I stepped on a piece of rock to stop my feet from sinking in, I slipped from the wet rock and landed on the floor.

That butler though; was he using some kind of magic? Sure, he had more hiking experience and knew more about the mountain than me, but was it possible for us to be so different? He did not wobble a single time and continued walking powerfully through the rain.

He even helped me stand back up when I was thrashing my arms around and dusted me off.

 

My stamina was gone when we were half-way up the mountain, and after hearing me gasp for breath, he opened his mouth.

 

“I believe we should take a quick break.”

“So, sorry. My stamina is not very good.”

“Please don’t worry about it. It is natural because we are trying to climb the mountain in the rain. Please come over to this tree. It has thick leaves and branches, so there will be less rain here.”

With a face that did not seem tired in the slightest, he told me it was natural to be tired and led me to the tree.

“I believe you took Ahri to the cathedral yesterday.”

“Yes, there were things to look for… and things to check as well.”

“Have you finished finding and checking everything?”

“I found what had to be found, and confirmed what had to be confirmed.”

I felt a slight tension rising up.

“Have you heard enough stories from Ahri?”

Ahri changed after hearing the sound of the bell, and there was a ‘hymn’ after that – was I supposed to tell him everything?

I was silently hesitating to myself when the butler started walking again without asking any more questions.

“That child used to be a kind girl ever since she was young. It wouldn’t have been strange for her to fall to the wrong path after losing her parents at a young age but… she always kept herself on the right path.”

“She’s very energetic and kind. I could have never expected such a backstory.”

“Thank you. And, I’m not saying this because she’s my granddaughter, but she is a very pretty child is she not? But what’s more beautiful than her face was her heart. She was an innocent girl who believed everyone would lend her an ear as long as she showed her sincere heart.”

“Being sincere is definitely the best way to persuade people.”

“However, there are people in the world who stay unmoved at the face of it.”

“Sounds like you saw someone like that.”

The butler closed his mouth.

We walked and walked again. In around 30 minutes, we would probably arrive at the peak, but we were constantly being slowed down by the rain and it was hard to say how long it would exactly take.

More importantly… I was curious. The butler seemed to be wanting to say something about Ahri.

What did I have to do to force it out of him? Did I have to prick deeper in?

“Please hold on a bit more. We are close to the peak. If we head to the peak and scan underneath, we should be able to see if there is a safe path.”

“That’s some good news. Actually, my legs are starting to fail me.”

“Did you find the bell at the cathedral?”

It was a sudden continuation from the previous conversation. This time, I decided to delve deeper in.

“Yes. It was at the bell tower looking fine. There is something I noticed, but the cathedral looks quite well-managed even though there is no-one living inside it. The bell was in good shape too…”

“There is no-one living there, but the building itself is still useful. We have our boat docked there as well, after all.”

I opened my mouth.

“Is that why you’ve been taking care of the cathedral until now, Mr. Priest?”

There was a brief silence again.

“It has been a long time since I heard that name. Did Ahri tell you that?”

“Ahri didn’t say anything, but there was this line of thought that I had. ‘Even though the cathedral has been empty for a long time, it’s still quite clean. Is there someone who’s still cleaning the building? There is no-one else but the butler. But why would he take care of it even though looking after the mansion should be hard enough already?’”

“Did you figure it out with just that?”

“Actually, I’ve been to a church when I was young as well. It might be different from a cathedral, but honestly, the church wasn’t that fun as a kid. The only interesting thing was meeting other kids. So I had a doubt after hearing how Ahri used to diligently go to the cathedral by herself in a place without any friends. I thought, maybe she wasn’t going to the cathedral, but was instead living there with her grandfather.”

“That too is more like jumping to a conclusion instead of a speculation with great evidence. In the end, it seems like you were just throwing it out there.”

“To be fair, that’s true but… it seems that was correct.”

The rain started to turn thicker again. Due to that, we had to slow down even more and my legs were wobbling so much that it was now hard to move properly.

A clear voice reached my ears through the drops of rain.

“Sir was a cruel person. 

At the start it began with a ridiculous request.

‘Give me your land. I will break the bell tower if you ring the bell one more time.’

I did not care. I paid little regard even after realising that Sir had fallen into a corrupt faith.

We have the Lord in the sky so why should I fear anything?

Time went by and the lands became barren.

People near the mansion started to leave one by one.

And Ahri could not endure that.”

“When you said there was a person who was unmoved at the face of a sincere heart. Was that…”

“Ahri went to the mansion alone. With a sincere heart, she wished Sir had a gentle mind towards the world.

Ahh, she was young. That girl was too young.

It was my fault for not telling her beforehand that some people were immovable even with a sincere heart.

She suffered from a fever starting from the next day. As if she was soulless, she couldn’t even speak properly.

All she did was tremble, while saying Sir ‘kindly’ showed her something.

A strange song. A weird poem. After that, she no longer sought the Lord…”

We approached the peak of the mountain.

The butler no longer used respectful language to me. He was no longer the butler; he was just a priest whose granddaughter was kept a hostage.

“I went to the mansion and prayed again and again. I gave up on the lawsuit and the cathedral. I simply begged on my knees, hoping for Sir to show his mercy. Only after I dropped everything was Ahri able to get up from the bed… 

I had to protect my granddaughter…”

“Is that when you dropped your stance of being a priest?”

“What else could I do? I spent my entire life to the Lord. When the devil attacked me and my child, he did not show us the way out. Your heart is quite firm and that is your downfall. It would have been enough if you spent your last moments while crying by yourself like the other kids of the mansion and yet you are here making it difficult for everyone.”

He continued.

“I pondered again and again, whether I should do it myself or whether I should wait for Sir to offer you as a sacrifice. However, six is enough. 3 have been offered already with 2 remaining in the mansion, and the throat of this old man is more than enough. There is no need for Sir to bother dealing with you himself…”

At the peak of the mountain, the priest turned around.

Right, things really were going the hard way. Back when we started hiking the mountain, I thought there would be plenty of easy opportunities during the hazardous process of climbing the mountain in the rain. 

However, the priest was always way in front of me while I couldn’t even control myself… and this was happening now that I was exhausted near the peak of the mountain.

Clenching my teeth, I took out the dagger.

“As expected, you’ve been prepared from the start. Were you cautious? Or were you going to kill me? Whatever it is, it does not matter.”

In the next instant, the priest dashed towards me as if he was flying.

[Immediately take 3 steps to the left!]

‘Sage’s Advice’, which had never been activated after entering the ‘Mansion of Fear’ and had stayed silent even when everyone else was dying, worked for the very first time.

My body subconsciously took 3 steps to the left upon seeing the alarm without even thinking, as the rotten log in the middle of the priest and I started to crumble.

The priest stumbled when the rotten wood crumbled beneath his feet.

Is it now? I was about to immediately take the dagger out but,

[Step back right now!]

Another alarm popped up in 1 second and I quickly took a step back. That was when something that looked like a pick or a chisel shot out of the priest’s pocket and grazed past my body. 

“What was that?”

“You took a weapon yourself. Did you expect me to come empty-handed?”

In less than 5 seconds after the start of the fight, I already used up 2 of my Advices. It was clear and evident that this priest was stronger than me.

However, I knew he was physically stronger than me ever since the first day. Naturally, I had prepared one more thing in secret, but it wasn’t something I could use in a heavy rain. I had to move to a different place.

It seemed that I had been thinking for too long – the priest quickly stabilised his body and dashed in again.

That priest must have learned some martial art or something. How was he able to run unwaveringly like that in a place filled with rotten logs, slippery rocks and a muddy ground?

– Slip

In the end, it was me who slipped first. My body fell to the side and rolled across the floor. When I quickly lifted my upper body back up, I saw the priest running in to make the most out of that opportunity.

[Pull the rock on your right!]

That was the 3rd Advice. This time, I was a little flustered for a split second.

Why was it suddenly telling me to pull a rock out instead of dodging to a side? But even though my head was still pondering on the reason, my arms moved by themselves to pull the rock which led to a shocking turn of events.

The rock I pulled had been supporting the half-rotten tree next to it!

When the rock supporting the tree was pulled out, the tree immediately fell down towards the priest. He quickly turned his feet to avoid the falling tree but in an environment where you could slip simply by walking, his set of steps were too vigorous and he ended up completely falling on the ground.

Should I run in? I pondered but not for long.

It happened before, did it not? Getting too close to him was far too dangerous. He wasn’t even critically injured and I had no confidence to beat the priest who was carrying a weapon in a frontal fight.

Looking around, I found a tree which had dense branches and leaves that were blocking the rain.

There, I would be able to use my secret move. 

I quickly ran to the tree while grasping on the tool that I had kept hidden in my clothes.

The moment I arrived there, I immediately turned around and saw that the priest was approaching me after quickly standing back up in a brief instant.

– CHIIIIIK!

“Uaaaaaaaaaahkkk!!!! Uhuuukk!!!!! You son of a bitch, what have you done!”

The priest who had stayed firm in the face of the storm, tempest and the rugged mountain was rolling on the ground like a child. The pick made by sharpening a candlestick was thrown away from his hands, and he was busy rubbing his face while mindlessly rolling on the muddy ground. 

2 days before entering Room 102, when the monsters came out of the pool to attack us, Eunsol-noona displayed her wondrous wits by buying concentrated capsaicin from the HP market to defeat the monsters.

That was when everyone noticed how incredible of a weapon this was. In a place without guns, concentrated liquid capsaicin was in a way a more remarkable weapon than a knife.

Unfortunately, there was only a small amount left at the bottom of the container after a generous pour at the monsters. 

It was barely enough to fill the bottom of the perfume spray container which was at the hotel. 

After somehow making two of them, noona handed one of them over to me without any hesitation.

Why did she give it to me? I wasn’t sure back then, but looking back, it seemed that she had been somewhat trusting me from then.

In any case, her judgement was not wrong.

At last… it was time to end this bloody battle of the rainy mountain.

Clasping on the dagger, I approached the wriggling priest.

 

– Stab!

That was when something stabbed onto my thigh.

Ah, if I had one more Advice left, it would have told me to avoid the attack. 

How unfortunate.

My body was already at the limit and it crumbled in an instant.