Chapter 516: Trolling
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 516: Trolling
An escape room cafe.
I’d never been to one, so I didn't really know what the vibe would be like.
I figured it would just be like a PC bang or a karaoke bar, taking up maybe one or two floors of a commercial building.
"What the... look at this."
The moment I saw a whole four-story building dedicated entirely to an escape room cafe, I actually started getting a little excited.
I didn't expect it to be this professional.
I thought you could only see places this big on variety shows. Seeing this, I can understand why people get hooked on them.
"This is awesome!"
"Seriously, it’s huge, isn't it?"
Seo Ye-rin and I marveled at the same time.
Standing next to us, Choi I-seo shrugged and pulled out her phone.
"They’re not all like this. I just booked the one with the best reviews and the largest scale."
"Oh."
"Whoa!"
Once again, Ye-rin and I let out exclamations in unison.
I was thinking we were really in for a serious escape attempt, but there was one person whose reaction was the exact opposite upon hearing how big and famous the place was.
"Agh! Why?! We could have just gone to some tiny hole-in-the-wall!"
Yoo Ah-rin was resisting, clearly not wanting to go in. But in the end, we caught her and practically dragged her inside.
"Hello, I have a reservation under Choi I-seo."
The staff member at the counter smiled and checked the system.
"Yes, Ms. Choi I-seo. You booked the 'Group Ghost Murder Case' room, correct?"
"Yes, that’s right."
"Shit, what kind of name is that? Is Choi I-seo a psychopath or something?!"
Clinging to me and trembling, Yoo Ah-rin whispered under her breath. She grumbled that if a name like that popped up on her phone, she wouldn't even want to click on it.
"You will each enter separate rooms to begin. Please place all your belongings in this basket—"
The explanation followed step-by-step.
Choi I-seo nodded, absorbing every rule, while the rest of us whispered in the back like kids waiting for their mom to pay at a public bathhouse.
"Hey, Kim Woo-jin. Are you confident? Don't you hate scary stuff too?"
"I'm not that bad. I can handle it if I have to. What about you, Ye-rin?"
"I'm invincible!"
"Invincible, my ass."
But honestly, Seo Ye-rin didn't look scared at all.
"Oh, man. It’d be fine if we started together. Why do we have to start separately?"
It seemed the theme we chose required us to start in different rooms, which made Yoo Ah-rin even more terrified.
"Put your wallets and phones in the basket, guys."
Choi I-seo collected our things.
As I handed over my phone and wallet, I asked the staff member, "By the way, do the staff members jump out and scare us or anything?"
"Some themes have that, but this one doesn't."
"That’s a relief."
It was a relief because I didn't want anyone getting beaten to death by Yoo Ah-rin.
And so, we headed in to start the escape.
"Ha... shit, shit, shit, shit."
"You're making such a fuss and we haven't even started."
"Hey, if I scream, you have to come save me."
A minute ago, she was saying she’d be knocked out in two rooms, and now she’s telling me to hurry up and save her.
I nodded in agreement and entered my room.
The interior was pitch black, making it hard to see anything. Then, an announcement gave us the time, the lights flickered on, and it began.
"Oh."
The atmosphere inside was quite eerie.
What was the name again?
Group Ghost Murder?
Since it was something like that, I expected a graveyard or something, but that wasn't it.
Looking around, it seemed I was in a man's room. There was a computer on a table, a bed, and several books on a shelf.
I went to the door first, and of course, it was locked.
'This is pretty legit.'
Scanning the room, I could piece a few things together.
This was the room of a man named John, a victim of the Group Ghost Murder Case.
I had to find some evidence here to get out.
'I feel like I've actually become Sherlock or something.'
They did say it was a mystery-style game.
I was pondering the clues with interest when—
Click.
Creeeeak.
The lock turned, and the door swung open.
"Huh?"
Standing there were Choi I-seo and Seo Ye-rin.
"Ah, it’s Woo-jini!"
"This room is pretty classic and normal."
"I was in a hospital morgue, Woo-jina!"
"I was in a convenience store. It was really well-decorated."
"Wait, what? I was just about to solve it."
When I asked in confusion, Choi I-seo shrugged.
"It looks like they made it so that if the person inside can't get out, you can solve it from the outside too."
"Ah."
I guess it makes sense. You can't have the whole thing fail just because one person out of three couldn't solve their puzzle.
They must have installed some kind of mechanism so the others could help from the outside.
"So I just gave it a shot, and it worked," I-seo muttered as she looked around my room.
"Woo-jina, I didn't solve mine either. I-seo did it."
"...What about Ah-rin?"
"She's in the last room, I think."
Stepping out, we found ourselves in a lobby designed like a hotel. Since this was a mystery theme, it seemed they provided several locations with evidence for us to deduce the truth.
"Let's go get Ah-rin out quickly."
"Is she crying in there?"
In front of Yoo Ah-rin's door, Choi I-seo began to contemplate. I caught a glimpse of the puzzle, but I had no idea what it was talking about, so I just gave up.
"Woo-jina, this place is actually really cool."
"Yeah. Should we look around while I-seo solves the puzzle?"
"Okay!"
While Choi I-seo worked on the puzzle for Ah-rin's room, Seo Ye-rin and I decided to scout the area under the pretext of looking for clues.
It was surprisingly fun. Every clue we found was provocative—murder methods, murder weapons, grudges—which kept things interesting.
"But this isn't a great place for a date. They're watching everything on CCTV."
"True."
Ye-rin and I were muttering as we looked up at the CCTV cameras on the ceiling.
Click.
It hadn't even been a few minutes before Choi I-seo opened Yoo Ah-rin's door.
Thud!
As if she’d been waiting, Yoo Ah-rin rushed out, tripped over her own feet, and tumbled forward.
But thanks to her good reflexes, she performed a clean breakfall and screamed.
"That was soooooo fucking scaaaary!"
With tears welling in her eyes, she ran straight into my arms. As I held her and patted her back, she climbed right up, wrapping her legs around my waist.
"Dammit! Why was it so scary?! What was that thing?!"
Holding Yoo Ah-rin, I looked into the room she’d just come out of. No wonder she was scared; it was a full-blown murder scene.
With prop corpses and everything, it seemed Yoo Ah-rin had ended up in the scariest room of all.
I was patting her back and giving her butt a little squeeze while holding her when—
"...Hey, get down. I want to be held by Woo-jini too."
"Get lost. You said you weren't scared. You said you were invincible."
"There's no such thing as invincible in this world, dummy."
"I said get lost! I'm seriously terrified!"
"Che!"
Grumbling, Seo Ye-rin ran over to Choi I-seo. Choi I-seo was like a human Roomba, moving without hesitation.
She just looked around here and there by herself, nodding as she scanned the area.
"Is she some kind of escape room pro?"
Even Yoo Ah-rin, still clinging to me, forgot her fear for a moment and marveled at her.
"She said it was her first time, but she's good."
"Ugh, when is this going to end? Choi I-seo, please just finish this quickly."
Yoo Ah-rin tightened her grip around my neck, pressing herself closer. I wondered if this was okay, but I guess this level of affection was being overlooked.
If we went any further, they’d obviously tell us to leave.
"Let's try to do something too. We came to an escape room, we can't just watch."
"...I guess so."
Yoo Ah-rin slowly climbed down from me.
"You have to keep holding my hand!"
She grabbed my hand firmly and gave me a warning—or rather, a declaration—that she would never let go.
Looking at the exit, there was a space to write down the answers.
'So we have to find the murder weapon, the motive, the killer, and the mastermind.'
Interesting.
I liked that it wasn't just about writing down a single name, but about making you understand the flow of the story.
Holding hands with Yoo Ah-rin, we looked around and tried to make our own deductions.
"Kelsey hated John."
"John had an unrequited crush on Hallen."
"I think this is the weapon. A kitchen knife? Earlier, the cause of death—"
"I think Celine is an accomplice, don't you?"
Just as we were finally starting a proper deduction...
Seo Ye-rin ran over to us and said with a grin, "Let's go, guys!"
"...Huh?"
"..."
"I-seo solved everything!"
* * *
I guess if you solve it super fast, they take your picture.
They said we were registered in some kind of Hall of Fame, but honestly, I wasn't happy about it at all.
At a real cafe near the escape room, I took a breath and spoke.
"So, Kelsey was the killer, John was the victim, and Hallen was the accomplice, right?"
At my question, Choi I-seo, who was sipping her coffee, looked at me like I was talking nonsense.
"John was the killer. Kelsey, Tom, and Hallen were the victims. There was no accomplice. The masterminds were John's parents."
"...I didn't get a single thing right."
"Why did we go to an escape room and come out knowing nothing about the story?"
Ye-rin and I grumbled, but Yoo Ah-rin sat beside us, sipping a smoothie and smiling brightly.
"Who cares about that! If that John guy was in front of me, I would've blasted him with a roundhouse kick."
She was just happy to have escaped.
"...I am never going to an escape room with Choi I-seo again."
Choi I-seo had hard-carried the hell out of it by herself, like someone doing a group project alone.
I didn't know whether to call this a 'carry' or 'trolling.'
"Ahem, I got immersed without realizing it."
Scratching her cheek in embarrassment, Choi I-seo took another sip of her coffee.
"So, what should we do now?"
A date after a long time.
Since the escape room ended much faster and more anticlimactically than expected, we began to deliberate on what to do next.