Chapter 285: Room 204, Mission Room – ‘Hotel Cinema’ — Act 1 (9) FIN

– Han Kain

“…”

“…”

A silence different from Elena’s part filled the theater. Hyung’s confused voice was heard, Ah, Ahri! Is this really a good ending? Are romance movies like this these days?”

“…There’s no way,” Seungyeob muttered with his mouth half-open.

“Didn’t the genre suddenly change at the end? It wasn’t romance, but thriller!”

“N-no, it’s horror! Horror!”

Thriller? Horror?

“…It’s about time we start hearing some bullshit.”

“Dun-dun-da-da! Da-da-da-da-da-dun!”

As Grandpa said, the guide’s idiotic sound effects were heard. As my companions’ expressions crumpled, I suddenly realized how crucial this situation was.

What did that person say again?

Persuading the judges is also part of your skill.

Hotel Cinema wasn’t a complete solo play in some sense. While the person inside had to progress through the movie alone, we outside had a chance to intervene in the “judging” of the ending they created.

Songee had already made her own ending. Now, we needed to get a positive evaluation for it!

I felt relieved seeing the first judge, the Merchant, step forward. The latter part of the development had gone crazy, so it seemed to fit this person’s taste perfectly. As expected, he unhesitatingly pulled out an O.

“Pass! My goodness! Another pass. Were you all really born outside the hotel? Following Elena, for Songee to create such an excellent ending too! Keu… This plot is truly a hymn to humanity itself.”

…A hymn to humanity?

The souvenir girl beside him, seemingly too bewildered, asked, “How on earth is this a hymn to humanity?”

“Did I watch the movie alone? Isn’t it one form of the utopia humanity has dreamed of, where those who work diligently are rewarded!”

“So the female lead ‘diligently’ made her ex-girlfriend and mother-in-law commit suicide and was rewarded with the male lead?”

“That’s right. It’s the 21st century now, shouldn’t we achieve what we want with our skills? How long are we going to suffer from the nagging of our mother-in-laws? Just gently push them from a carriage or terrace. If they still climb up, maybe slip some poison in their wine.”

“You’ve been playing some strange game lately, haven’t you? Could it be Crusader—“

“Ahem! Let’s not talk nonsense. My evaluation is a pass! Pass. Isn’t this totally Hip? Isn’t this totally MZ?”

Hotel staff play games too? What doesn’t this hotel have?

The souvenir girl pulled out an X with an infinitely tired expression.

“Haa… I don’t know how you understand the word ‘romance’. Fine, I’ll give you credit for at least having a better direction than Elena. Dealing with the ex-fiancée’s check, psychological warfare with the mother-in-law. It seems you understood these main elements of romance fantasy.”

This person was indeed the problem! Unlike the Merchant, as a judge who preferred “sensible” developments, she started giving a critique full of complaints.

“But resolving conflict structures by killing them twice in a row? Didn’t you understand the movie’s setting? It’s not a high-power world! In a world without magic or superpowers, you just solve everything by killing all the undesirable beings with the power of Inheritance? What on earth—“

“I object!”

The girl raised her eyebrows at my resounding voice.

“Go on.”

“Your evaluation criteria are strange. Why do you say ‘romance’?”

“What?”

“Who decided this movie was romance? The hotel only told us the movie title, right?”

The guide interjected slightly, “To be precise, in the case of the second part, I did tell you it was a ‘war movie’. It’s true that I didn’t say anything about the first and third parts.”

“T-that’s right! The important thing is that the genre of the first part wasn’t determined!”

The souvenir girl asked incredulously, “Then what genre do you think it is?”

“…Thriller? Horror? It’s a movie where an evil being appears when the Crown Prince’s heart is weakened, killing those around him and capturing him.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

As I was flustered, Ahri’s supporting fire came in, “Judge! What was the problem you pointed out earlier? The movie’s background is a ‘low-power world’ without supernatural powers, but it’s an error that all obstacles were killed using the power of an Inheritance, which doesn’t fit. Is that right?”

“…That’s right.”

“As you said, such a development in a romance movie is a bit of an error. It would be strange if the female lead suddenly used hypnosis to bewitch the male lead when no one else can use magic or superpowers, right?”

“Eh? That might be a good development…”

Suddenly, the souvenir girl’s face turned red. While everyone around, even the Merchant, looked at her in bewilderment, Eunsol-noona quickly took notes.

“The souvenir girl likes hypnosis pure love. Noted.”

“N-no, that’s not it!”

Ahri hurriedly intervened, “W-wait! Please listen to me. In a romance movie, Songee’s actions might be a ‘balance breakdown’. But if the genre is horror or thriller as Kain said, this isn’t a problem.”

I took the next words.

“Judge, isn’t it common in horror movies for victims to be ordinary people without any abilities while evil spirits wield all sorts of supernatural powers? It’s the same in thrillers. In many thriller movies, serial killers display such incredible physical abilities that you might think they’re Terminators.”

That’s right! What if Taming the Crown Prince wasn’t actually romance but horror or thriller?

If the dynamic between Songee and the Crown Prince wasn’t that of female lead and male lead, but of an evil being and victim, it was natural for only Songee to wield supernatural powers.

…It was an absurd sophistry, but it worked on the souvenir girl. Her eyes started spinning, not metaphorically, but her eyeballs literally began to roll.

“S-so you’re saying the genre isn’t romance? Of course, no one determined the genre of the first part, but… Argh! Aren’t you guys saying strange things? You said it was romance with your own mouths!”

“That was before the movie started, so we didn’t know well.”

“The participant who went inside directly progressed the story under the premise that it was a romance movie! I heard countless times about how natural it was for a romance movie—“

“Didn’t you say that narration isn’t reflected in the evaluation?”

“At the end, she said to the Empress with her own mouth that it was romance fantasy!”

“She must have been mistaken.”

Let’s insist! Just keep insisting endlessly! Looking at the souvenir girl’s expression, I think I understand. She’s surprisingly weak to such forceful arguments!

Reading the atmosphere, Ahri also started pushing sophistry, “Don’t you understand? I’m telling you the movie genre is horror thriller! She said it was romance fantasy with her own mouth? Ghosts and monsters in horror movies are usually mentally unstable! It’s a scenario where a mad killer who mistakenly thinks the genre is romance fantasy slaughters everyone around the Crown Prince! Why can’t you accept this!? That’s your prejudice!”

“I-Is this right? No matter how I think about it, aren’t you guys deceiving me now?”

“Bah! Honestly, what does the genre matter? As long as it’s interesting, that’s enough! Hey, you!”

Ahri started pushing with informal speech now.

“Put your hand on your heart and speak! Was it interesting or not? Honestly, it was interesting, right? Admit it? Do I have to give you another famous line?”

Ahri immediately stood up from her chair and said the “famous line” with a somewhat wistful expression.

“I’ll take good care of your son! Fighting!”

“Pfft!”

She laughed! She just laughed!

In the theater full of chaos, the souvenir girl, who finally couldn’t hold back her laughter, quietly flipped over the X panel.

“Pass. I’ll mark it as a pass. I feel like I’ve been completely played, though.”

We got consecutive passes from two judges. As if he had been waiting, the guide burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! The participants are quite skillful, aren’t you? Excellent! As I said, the process of persuading the judges is also part of your skill. Since two out of three judges have already declared a pass, it’s confirmed as passed. Even so, it wouldn’t be bad to check the third evaluation, right?”

The last judge, the Lego, held up an X without a moment’s hesitation. I reflexively raised my hand, but didn’t know what to say.

We roughly knew by what criteria the first two judges, the Merchant and the Souvenir Girl, evaluated because they had expressed their opinions several times. The Merchant preferred unique and distinctive endings, while the souvenir girl wanted sensible developments fitting the genre.

But what were the Lego’s criteria?

Ahri carefully whispered in my ear, “This time it wasn’t a problem because we passed both of the first two judges, but that seems like it might become a problem later.”

“The Lego?”

“Yeah. We don’t know the criteria, so we don’t know how to persuade them either.”

“Hmm… Shouldn’t we aim to persuade the first two?”

The first movie really ended. The screen suddenly split vertically, and Songee and Elena popped out from inside.

Elena, momentarily confused, soon realized that Songee had solved it and hugged her with a broad smile.

“Thank you!”

Songee, not hiding her somewhat proud expression, walked towards us.

“Did you all see? Because I know romance fantasy developments so well—“

The judges are still behind us!

Ahri hurriedly approached and answered, “I enjoyed the horror movie.”

“Huh?”

“The development of breaking down the Crown Prince’s mind by killing those around him! It was excellent!”

“What?”

“Hey! Guide! The first part is over, can we go outside for a moment?”

“Of course. Please come back when you want to proceed with the next part.”

“Let’s go out for now. By the way, you were the villain in a horror movie, so know that.”

“Huh?”

It was certainly different from the Cursed Room in many ways because it was a Mission Room. It seemed we could come out if we’ve definitely finished one movie.

What should we do tomorrow? One more movie? Or back to Room 203? Where should we use Advice?

I needed to talk with my companions right away.

“Why am I suddenly the villain in a horror movie?”

…Songee fell into confusion alone.

I had a vague feeling that we would bizarrely twist the genres of the remaining movies as well.