Escape from the Ghost Story Hotel
"Huff, heh heh heh…."
"Why'd you suddenly go quiet? Why not say something like you usually do?"
"W-When did I go quiet?!"
Thank goodness.
As the courage test began, both Aurora and Rozalia fell silent. They were trying to pretend to be calm, but from a distance, it was obvious at a glance—they were tense and scared by the sight of the ghost hotel.
In contrast, Elaine and Rone were tense too, but not openly terrified like Aurora and Rozalia. It wasn't fear of the ghost hotel itself so much as wariness of the impending ghost story attack.
That was a relief.
"Teacher Allen didn't mention anything about groups of four…."
"Could something have gone wrong?"
One issue, though: even for them, the sudden addition of Aurora and Rozalia was disconcerting. They kept glancing around restlessly, waiting for my instructions.
Hidden in a spot where they couldn't see me, I watched them and thought it over.
The original plan had been pairs for the courage test, naturally putting Elaine and Rone in the first group to resolve the ghost story. But who could've guessed it would suddenly switch to groups of four?
Resolving a ghost story while dragging along those two weak links, Aurora and Rozalia, was next to impossible.
So, to clear the ghost story, I had to somehow separate them from Elaine and Rone. But that came with its own problems.
Suppose I managed to split them off. I could execute the strategy then, but Aurora and Rozalia would be left defenseless and exposed to the ghost story.
Unlike the waiting group gathered in the garden outside, those two were already inside the hotel—and stepping inside meant falling into the ghost story's clutches.
Damned if I did, damned if I didn't.
In the end, did I have to regress?
No.
I couldn't.
Resentment was a limited resource. Regression was undeniably powerful. You could clear any ghost story just by keep regressing over and over.
But the key to tackling ghost stories was to conserve regressions as much as possible. If you burned through your resentment before figuring out the solution, you'd head straight to a bad end.
In other words, ghost story assaults were like minesweeper with a fixed number of coins.
And that wasn't all. Resentment was also used to strengthen gifts. Each regression meant fewer opportunities to power up.
Without powering up, tackling ghost stories would only get harder, and our chances of victory against the outer god beneath the academy would dwindle even further.
So regressions had to be saved for the absolute last resort.
And there was another reason I absolutely couldn't regress now.
Regressing here would send me back to day two of the academy!
After all this progress, back to day two? No way!
If I kept bouncing back to day two every time something went wrong, I'd be the one going mad first.
I couldn't die until I found a way to update my save point.
"Elaine. Isn't that the checkpoint Ms. Lydia explained?"
"It is. We were supposed to meet Teacher Allen well before reaching it, per the plan…. He must be holding back because of the two who got added so suddenly."
While I was being cautious, they'd already approached the first checkpoint.
The courage test was simple: the three-story ghost hotel had designated points on each floor, each with a symbol marked by floor number. Collect symbols by type from each floor's points, then escape outside the hotel.
Reaching the checkpoint meant they'd gone deep enough into the hotel. It was too late to back out now.
"What do we do…."
"Eek! Wait! Did you hear that just now? It sounded like a man's voice!"
"D-Don't lie! Are you trying to scare me?"
Oh no.
They'd heard my muttering. Too caught up in my thoughts, I'd neglected to stay fully hidden.
I needed to mask my presence now….
…Wait.
Why hide at all?
"Hahaha. Busted. I was hiding to give you a scare."
"Kyaa… Teacher Allen?"
"Just Allen is fine."
Aurora started to scream but stopped when she recognized me. I chuckled awkwardly and stepped out naturally.
I'd play it off as getting caught and brazenly join them. Kicking out the two extras was impossible now anyway.
Time for improvisation. Stick with the students, resolve the ghost story naturally.
"Since I'm busted, mind if I tag along? Nothing to do solo."
"Of course! I'd feel much safer with you leading us."
"Hm. This is basically cheating on the courage test… B-But I'm not saying no."
Naturally, no one objected when I volunteered to join. If anything, my presence as the adult male lightened the mood considerably.
Just like that, I slipped in among the girls, and we soon reached the first checkpoint.
It was at the end of the hallway, in front of a vase. The symbol marked "1" inside was proof they'd cleared the test.
"I know where the proof symbol is. I set them up myself, after all. So I'll grab it."
"Eh? Is the teacher allowed to intervene like that?"
"Hahaha. Can't I enjoy the courage test too?"
"If you put it that way…."
I grinned playfully and stepped forward. With a glance from me, Elaine and Rone subtly shifted to block the other two's view.
"Huh? Something weird over there?"
"Elaine. W-What do you mean all of a sudden?"
"Where? Where?!"
"I saw it too! Something just passed by!"
"Rone too…. Stop, it's scary."
"Ahh! I see nothing at all!"
As Elaine and Rone distracted them, a poison needle shot silently from the vase at the hallway's end table.
In the pitch-black space lit only by moonlight, the needle flew swift and soundless. Fast enough to pierce a normal person's throat before they noticed. Even I, forewarned of the ghost story attack, might not have reacted in time—it was that stealthy and quick.
…If it had succeeded properly, that is.
The needle from the vase pierced halfway through the thick layers of tough cloth I'd stuffed in the mouth and stopped dead.
"Just as I expected."
That was why I'd believed I could resolve the ghost story even in this unexpected situation.
The source of my confidence that we could blitz it before the second group even entered.
It stemmed from our previous visit to scout the ghost hotel—though the purge had failed, we hadn't left empty-handed.
Or rather, the opposite. We'd planted our preparations and left bare-handed.
In other words, the hotel was rigged throughout with countermeasures for when the ghost story revealed itself.
I shoved the vase off the table with my hand. It shattered with a crash!
For a piece of the ghost story, it broke disappointingly easily.
"Kyaa! Didn't something just break?!"
"I heard it too this time! Teacher, what happened?!"
"Ah, sorry. It was so dark I accidentally knocked over a vase on the table. Gotta warn the next group."
"Oh, that's all…."
"Are you hurt, Teacher?"
"Thanks for worrying. I'm fine. We'll clean up the shards later."
I answered the girls' concerned questions smoothly, eyeing the pitifully shattered vase.
Until now, ghost stories had ambushed me one-sidedly when I was off-guard and defenseless.
But this time was different. The training camp schedule let me predict when it'd strike, and the location narrowed down what.
An abandoned, rundown hotel. What ghost story would haunt a place like this?
Why was it abandoned?
What happened here?
In my past life, there were countless stories—movies, games, novels, dramas—with killer hotels as the backdrop.
As I'd once pondered in the staff room, this world's ghost stories shared striking similarities with those from my previous life.
Not because of some special link to reality, but because human fear triggers are universal.
If the content overlapped, I could infer solutions from past-life media even without prior interest here.
A closed, confined space: the hotel interior.
Rest and sleep—the most vulnerable acts—in an unfamiliar place rife with the fear of the unknown.
Stranger staff, guests, owners. Outsiders' alienation and unease.
Plenty of ghost stories about old hotels, but as a facility for transient masses, the types were limited.
The hotel's unique anxiety and dread became the ghost story's hook.
So, what's the most appealing product for a hotel setting?
If I were selling "ghost story" as a product, how would I market the hotel?
"Phew. For a second, I thought that murderer who used to live here had come back."
"Ha! You actually believe that nonsense about this hotel being a serial killer's old murder den?"
"The killer was real!"
Right. The Murder Hotel.
That was this ghost story's true nature.
And if you knew the ghost story in advance and had time to prepare? No need to fear anymore.
"Anyway, everyone. Got the first proof symbol. On to the next checkpoint?"
I smiled naturally and crushed the auto-launch mechanism hidden in the vase with my foot.
One hidden murder hotel trap neutralized.
At this level, I could clear it just strolling through like a nighttime walk.
I'd worried at first about the sudden group of four.
But maybe I could one-shot this without even regressing?