Room 102, The Cursed Room — Mansion of Terror (7)

After we returned from the Cathedral, I laid Ari down in one of the rooms. She had fallen into a sleep so deep she might as well have been unconscious.

A tangle of complicated thoughts pressed in on me. Two deaths. A mansion overflowing with grotesque phenomena. A girl full of secrets. A demon that fed on offerings as it slowly clawed its way back toward resurrection. How on earth were we supposed to escape?

You couldn't solve every problem at once, so the more complicated things became, the simpler your approach needed to be. Hadn't we already confirmed at least one solid means of escape? Focus on the boat first. I settled my mind.

At dinner, I would gather all four of us and say that the moment the weather improved even a little, we would take the boat out immediately. Even if the lake was a bit rough, better to risk the water than remain in this mansion. That was my judgment. And one more concern… if it was Jinchul hyung, he could handle suppressing that part well enough.

One hour later, my plan collapsed in the most horrific way imaginable.

"Cough… kheugh… ghk…"

Chunks of blood sprayed from hyung's mouth as a sound thick with agony filled the mansion. By now it was almost familiar—the sight of someone dying. From the morning of day two after arriving at the hotel to the evening of day three. Barely two days, and this was already the third time. Blood pouring from a person's mouth.

We had all gathered to talk about escape. While I stood still, running through the contents of my plan, Seungyeop had asked the butler to prepare some light snacks, and Song-i had gotten beer and soft drinks ready. Hyung had been watching the two of them with sharp, wary eyes, as if something suspicious might approach them.

We sat down at the simply prepared table, intending to eat a bite of snack before I laid out the plan—and within a minute, only hyung was thrashing on the floor.

I couldn't understand it. I had already been worried about possible problems with the food. At minimum, I had to avoid a situation where we all ate at the same time and died together. So I'd made the butler eat the snacks first, on the pretext that the seasoning seemed off. As for the drinks, Seungyeop had gulped them down before I could even invent an excuse. Neither of them had shown any abnormality. So why only hyung?

The scenery of death was growing more familiar by the day. I didn't even want to picture Song-i crying again or Seungyeop trembling. Even so… at the very least, I wanted to hold his hand. I walked over quietly and took the hand of the hyung thrashing on the floor. His trembling eyes turned toward me.

"Gain-ah… kheugh, Gain-ah… I should have been able to help you more…"

I decided to offer him the comfort I hadn't been able to give the previous two.

"Hyung. Let's see each other outside."

"Ah… heh heh… Right. It's nothing special. See you outside, Gain-ah."

And just like that, nine-tenths of our party's combat power vanished into nothing.

I stood by a window of the mansion and looked up at the night sky. The storm was still raging even at this late hour. Even through it, a bleak moonlight slipped past the curtains and filled every corner of the room.

What was I supposed to do now? The only person I could bounce plans off of was gone. So was our reliable muscle. Besides me, the only ones left were a girl who had cried for two straight days until even her tears had dried up, and a boy who had shut his eyes to everything and was sprinting toward love as a form of psychological escape.

With our combat power gone, was trying to escape by boat even wise? Honestly, I didn't have the confidence to suppress the danger myself. While I stayed up through the night with my tangled thoughts, I heard footsteps.

Don't tell me—me too?

Without hesitation I grabbed the silver dagger and stood beside the door. If it was who I expected, if I struck first from my side, I might manage somehow.

The person who entered was not who I expected.

"Ari? It's late… No, more importantly—you're awake?"

"No. Ari is asleep. That's why I can come meet you."

My breath stopped for a moment. This was not the Ari we had been seeing since day one. This was the other Ari ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we had seen at the Cathedral yesterday. Was she only able to appear in a special place like the Cathedral? Or had the Cathedral simply been a place that unsealed the other Ari?

"Who exactly are you…"

"Want to play a game of cards?"

What was this about?

"At this hour? I'd like a little more explanation."

"That's what the card game is for."

The other Ari used informal speech without a second thought, and it felt completely natural. I couldn't understand. Why would she suddenly offer to explain something to me? When I looked at her with suspicious eyes, the other Ari spoke with a meaningful air.

"You doubt me?"

"Wouldn't trusting you be the stranger choice?"

"You're critically short on information anyway, aren't you? Don't you feel like you need to get something out of me somehow?"

…She wasn't wrong.

I quietly sat with her on the bed and listened to a simple explanation of the rules. Put simply: I used Attack Cards to destroy Ari's Defense Cards or chip away at Ari's own HP. Ari held out with Defense Cards while, each time she drew a Sacrifice card, she destroyed it. If Ari destroyed six out of a total of eight Sacrifice cards in this process, she won. If I reduced Ari's HP to zero before that, I won.

The hands went around several times. I repeatedly chipped at Ari's HP, destroyed her Defense Cards, and tried every way I could to bring her down. It wasn't easy. Ari kept blocking and holding on, somehow drawing and destroying six Sacrifice cards, and she kept winning. I lost a game. Lost the next. Lost the one after that. Around the fifth straight loss, I thought: honestly, weren't the rules themselves far too favorable to Ari?

"Do you think I have too big an advantage?"

The timing was so perfect she might have read my mind. I was flustered.

"No. I mean—more than that, maybe I'm just not used to it yet?"

"It's both. You're not used to it, but it's also true that the game is stacked in my favor."

As casually as that, the girl who had started this peculiar card game said it was originally advantageous to her. What kind of answer was she looking for?

"You're not familiar with this game, and on top of that the rules are against you. What should you do?"

"Well… think harder?"

"The opponent will be thinking too, won't they?"

I didn't know. My words failed me.

"How about changing your strategy?"

"Change my strategy?"

"I'm saying you need to accept that this isn't a game you can win with your current skill."

Now—I was starting to have a vague idea of what this girl was trying to tell me.

"Even if I change strategies… at this point there's basically only me left. If I lose, everyone dies. How am I supposed to accept that I can't win?"

"Why do you think losing means death? You can survive just by drawing."

"I get what you're saying, but I was already trying for that draw. I was only trying to run. I just don't know how. The boat—"

"Stop fixating on the boat. Go back to the card game and think. To win, you'd have to somehow drain all of my HP. But there's an easier way to draw, isn't there?"

An easier way. That was when I finally understood the meaning she was trying to convey.

"One more game."

In the final game, I gave up on cutting her HP. I gave up on destroying her Defense Cards. I destroyed Ari's Sacrifice Cards. Ari's win condition was to personally destroy six out of eight Sacrifice cards. To stop that, I didn't need to take Ari down at all. I just needed to destroy three or more Sacrifice cards myself before she could destroy them.

When the last game ended, Ari smiled faintly for the first time and went outside. I had realized another way to escape.

But could I trust the information she had given me? A place saturated with deception. What exactly was I supposed to believe? After much deliberation, I made my decision. Trust Eunsol noona. Before she died, noona had figured out something, and following the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instructions on her note had produced some kind of change in Ari. Therefore, at this point, believing in the other Ari was the direction Eunsol noona had intended.

The morning of day four since arriving at the mansion. When I woke up, the rain had finally begun to ease. I hurried to wash up and call for hyung or noona—then suddenly realized. There was no one left to call. Calling Seungyeop or Song-i honestly wouldn't accomplish anything. From now on, I had to be prepared to proceed alone.

When I stepped outside, I saw the butler, who always tended the garden in the mornings.

"It's still quite early… You're up early, I see?"

"It finally feels like the rain is easing a bit. I was thinking maybe a way out is finally coming into view."

"It's a great relief that the rain is weakening. However, just because the rain has eased doesn't mean the lake level, which has already risen, will go back down. You'll need to wait a day or two if you want to take the boat."

"The boat is one thing. But is there any route out toward the mountains? With rain this light, it seems like we could put on rain gear and try ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠climbing."

"Hmm. On a clear day, of course, there is a path over the mountains. But with the storm that raged until yesterday… the terrain will be far more treacherous. I don't know if it would be possible. Hiking in the rain is extremely dangerous, after all."

"Of course underwater-level hiking is dangerous, but honestly this mansion seems more dangerous."

"I find it sad that I cannot deny that. In that case, will you go look and see whether there is a path of escape on the mountain side?"

"I think it would be best if you and I go take a look together, Butler. I'll get ready shortly."

"I shall make my own preparations as well and return."

Seizing the lull in the rain, the butler and I decided to check whether there was an escape route on the mountain side rather than the lake. In my room I dressed as suitably for hiking as I could and tucked several thick towels inside my clothes. Then, with the silver dagger slipped inside my jacket, I left the mansion.

Today, I might kill someone.