Chapter 289: Room 204, Mission Room – ‘Hotel Cinema’ (12)

– Theater

The moment Murtanie’s head fell on the screen, the theater was filled with silence. The audience watching the movie was so immersed that they couldn’t even breathe.

Except for one boy who was cleary irritated.

“Ah! Stop covering my eyes! Why are you even doing this?”

“Hey! Seungyub, you bastard, will you wet the bed at night if you see something like this?”

“Mooksung. Just move your hand. You think Seungyub can’t sleep just from seeing a corpse?”

“Ha! This damn hotel is really the worst place for kids to grow up. Why are there so many occasions to see corpses? How can kids grow up normally like this? They’ll just grow up to be crazy psychos—“

“Mooksung. I was born here.”

“…”

“Ah! So that’s why Ahri is a crazy—“

“Hey!”

Ahri kicked Kain. Eunsol, who had been listening to the childish conversation that wasn’t even funny, got a little annoyed.

“Be quiet! It’s really interesting right now. This is totally a hero movie. I didn’t know Jinchul was this strong!”

Kain agreed, “That’s right. Was Hyung always this strong? He seems much stronger than when he fought the monkey on the first day of the Hotel. With Hyung’s current strength, wouldn’t he kill monkeys like that in just 10 seconds?”

Eunsol muttered regretfully, “I guess his Blessing has grown. I wonder why my Blessing is still like this… The cooldown for Hand of Greed is ready. But it’s hard to use when it’s not Party Time.”

On the screen, an old man called the Great General of National Defense appeared, personally handing over a splendid guandao and armor while praising Jinchul’s achievements. While watching the scene where the surrounding generals kept praising Jinchul in the conference room, Ahri had an ominous thought.

There’s nothing wrong with being strong. But the flow of thoughts is a bit unsettling. To say it’s refreshing and enjoyable while fighting like that on the battlefield…

– Cha Jinchul

From the moment I killed Murtanie, the tide of war turned in our favor. Judging by how Grandpa Commander-in-Chief and other generals were all making a fuss about how I contributed greatly to the victory and how the Emperor would bestow an enormous reward, it was certain.

Around that time, I started to feel uneasy as I recalled the movie’s run time.

The fight on the battlefield was so chaotic that I wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed. But it was certain that there was still more than an hour left until the movie ended. What did this mean?

It meant there was no way it ended with the army just conquering the plains! Surely some unimaginable shitty event was waiting to torment me.

The ominous feeling started to become reality when an envoy sent from the plains arrived at the military camp.

“We tell you, descendants of the Emperor. The anger of the Sky God has filled the plains—“

There was an old woman in the envoy who was surprisingly still alive, said to be the leader of the shamans of the plains.

When that shaman came and spouted nonsense, one of the generals burst out in anger, “Hey! What are you doing not cutting off that old hag’s head right now!?”

“Oh ho! Even in war, there’s no law about beheading envoys!”

“The Sky God shall send down his loyal hound to the earth… His anger shall come upon the land with lightning…”

They were saying that if we didn’t withdraw the army immediately, the Sky God’s anger would descend upon the earth. “Common sense” would say to just ignore it, but thinking “cinematically”, I started to get a feeling.

Isn’t this the “second crisis”?

Cold sweat ran down my spine. Without realizing it, I strongly grasped the splendid crescent blade placed beside me, and the general next to me showed a puzzled reaction.

“General Cha?”

“This doesn’t feel good.”

“What do you mean?”

“General Baek, are the shamans of the plains famous? Is there any rumor about them summoning demons or something?”

“Haha! General Cha, you must be joking? The being possessed by the demon they summoned was Murtanie, and didn’t you behead him?”

So Murtanie’s identity was a being possessed by a demon summoned by the shamans. Then is the next crisis of a similar type?

Soon, the envoy from the plains left.

In the strategy meeting, it was decided to advance after relieving the soldiers’ fatigue for two weeks. I also heard that they would distribute alcohol and meat to the soldiers as they had overcome the great barrier called Murtanie.

It was a reasonable decision. Originally, even during war, when there was a chance, one should boost the soldiers’ morale. The only disappointing thing was that I, who played the biggest role in obtaining that alcohol and meat, didn’t get to taste any of it.

In typical movie fashion, two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

Honestly, this moment really sucked.

Come on, is it that hard to give me one piece of meat, one sip of alcohol? Is it reasonable to be back on the battlefield 3 minutes after the meeting ends?

I didn’t know if I should be grateful for this, but the injuries I got while fighting Murtanie had completely disappeared. It seemed that unlike my perceived time, two weeks had passed in the movie.

As I grumbled while looking at the vast plains that suddenly appeared again, I was surprised to find myself on a horse. Fortunately, it must have been an extraordinary horse because it kept pace with its surroundings on its own, so I didn’t suffer the disgrace of a general falling off his horse.

The majestic sight of thousands of troops advancing on the vast plains and at its very horizon—the God of Lightning descended upon the earth.

The name of the God of Lightning was known as Kurta. The nomads of the plains called it that, so it must be right. It was certainly a creature that looked similar to a wolf. Except that it was bigger than an elephant and wielded lightning.

“Aaaaah!”

“B-block it!”

“Retreat behind the wall! Retreat!”

“G-General!”

Had it been 10 minutes since Kurta started rampaging? In that short time, the empire’s forces were busy running away in panic, like a herd of wild boars encountering a tiger.

Just Kurta’s movement caused lightning to strike all around, burning soldiers black. A light swipe of its front paw crushed two soldiers at once, and with a light jump, it instantly closed a distance of over 10m and collapsed a barrack.

It was such an overwhelming sight that I didn’t even have the energy left to get angry. That being was not an enemy that a normal human army could defeat, even if thousands gather. The more numbers there were, the more crispy human meat there would be.

You can hear what I’m saying outside my lines, right?

“Guide, you fucking bastard! You want me to catch that?”

The moment the lightning-wielding wolf appeared, the theater was in an uproar.

“Wow! Are you really crazy? You want him to defeat that? Where’s that bastard guide? Where is it hiding?”

“This is too much! Murtanie was at least human, so that’s one thing, but what the hell is that monster!?”

Amidst Mooksung and Songee’s shouts, Ahri, who was watching the screen with a dazed expression, asked Kain, “Kain…”

“…”

“Do you think you could win if you went in? For reference, I absolutely can’t win.”

“If possession works, it’s one shot.”

“It’s called the Sky God’s hound? Isn’t it half-god? It seems like its rank would be incredibly high.”

“Then I can’t win. It’s a bit much to use Incarnation.”

“Aren’t you saying that too easily?”

“No, it’s not that I’m saying it easily… It’s obvious that thing isn’t meant to be fought, right?”

Ahri nodded with a sigh.

Not just Kain, but she herself felt similarly. As they had experienced several times in the Hotel already, sometimes the Hotel sent out enemies that couldn’t be defeated even if one died and came back to life, or that require enormous sacrifice to overcome.

Usually, in such cases, the correct answer was not to fight.

“We probably need to prevent the summoning itself, or interfere with the summoning process to make it appear in a much weaker state.”

Let’s think about it logically.

If they could summon such a monster without any cost, why would the plains forces stupidly wait until Murtanie died, and they were on the brink of defeat?

They must have paid an enormous price.

The shamans might have committed mass suicide, or a member of the royal family might have sacrificed their life as an offering, or they might have used up an extremely rare ingredient that could never be used again. Or they might have paid all of these prices.

Of course, such magical procedures usually took quite a long time.

Eunsol looked at Ahri and asked, “You know the envoy from the plains earlier? After they left, the Great General of National Defense said to rest for two weeks, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Was that a mistake? It seems they summoned that wolf during that time.”

“That’s what I think.”

“The next person who goes in should actively voice their opinion at the strategy meeting after the plains envoy leaves. They should say to push forward immediately, right?”

“If it’s the meeting after the envoy leaves, that’s when the protagonist has just defeated Murtanie, right? It’s a timing when the protagonist’s voice carries a lot of weight. If they say to push forward immediately, the meeting will probably flow that way.”

Kain sighed as he watched his companions naturally discussing “next person”. They had all concluded it was a failure at the point where that overwhelming monster appeared.

What if the entire Hotel party went in?

It seemed like they could win if Songee twisted the wolf’s senses, Elena supported with Ominous Imagination, and Jinchul shoved the Star into its mouth. But the only being who entered that movie now was Jinchul with just his Blessing and no Inheritance.

Even Kain thought this was a failure. He just sighed because the next person to go in would most likely be himself.

– Cha Jinchul

…I felt it naturally.

The gazes of the people around gradually converged on me. Not just the soldiers, but even the generals trembled and looked only at me. Even Grandpa Commander-in-Chief with the grand title of Great General of National Defense was no exception.

After all, if there was something in this world who could defeat such an extraordinary being, it would only be me—no, it could only be me.

One who stood in a position unreachable to ordinary people.

One who faced Adversaries that humans couldn’t hope to defeat.

One who could reassure those trembling in fear.

That was the essence of a hero—and the protagonist was said hero.

That was why I smiled and opened my mouth, “Great General.”

“…General Cha.”

“Would you pour me a drink?”

The Great General made an expression as if wondering what I was saying, but filled the cup as requested. I said something I had always wanted to say at least once in my life, something that could only be said at a time like this.

“I’ll return before that drink gets cold.” ¹