Chapter 286: Progress Meeting, Entering The Second Movie

– Han Kain

After successfully completing the first movie, we gathered at the refreshment table and began to talk. Elena, after hearing about how Songee had progressed, showed a somewhat interesting reaction.

“I-I see. There were more hidden elements than I thought. I never imagined Lady Evelyn would be such a character. To think even the Empress was behind it… I thought too simply.”

It was a reaction that suggested her pride was subtly hurt. It was different from when she failed in the Cursed Room. It must be because of the “movie” setting. In other words, it was like an amateur solving a problem that an industry professional failed to solve due to carelessness.

I felt I should boost her confidence a bit.

“Elena, this isn’t your fault. The first attempt always starts without knowing anything. I think it’s structured so that when the person in front fails, they show what not to do, and the person behind learns from it.”

“Thank you, Kain. But… honestly, I don’t think I figured out that much in my first attempt. I just failed without doing much, and Songee figured out most of it and even solved it.”

The atmosphere was subtly becoming tense. At that moment, Noona lightly changed the mood.

“Come on! Come on! There’s no need for self-blame since we solved it, anyway. I think it’s just a matter of ‘immersing’ yourself more.”

Elena nodded with a slight smile.

“I think so too. Looking back now, when I first saw the Crown Prince, I was too shocked so my immersion immediately went in the gutter. I never thought he’d be such a little boy. After my immersion broke, I think my actions became sloppy. I hope others are careful.”

Ahri naturally changed the topic of conversation, “Today’s work seems to be done, but tomorrow we need to go in somewhere again. Do you want to go back into Hotel Cinema?”

A moment of silence fell around us.

The room we were originally progressing through was Room 203. The problem was that Room 203 was the most “physically” challenging room among all the rooms we had experienced thus far. That was why we changed to Room 204.

Hotel Cinema wasn’t physically challenging. Only one person entered at a time, and it ended in 4 hours at most. It was incomparable to Room 203, where we had to roll around in the primitive era for nearly a month.

However, the fact that inner thoughts were revealed was somewhat concerning.

…Elena had yet to learn this fact. Songee avoided talking about it, and we didn’t mention it either as it was a highly embarrassing topic for everyone.

Eunsol-noona opened her mouth, “Room 204 had its own difficulties, but isn’t it much better than surviving for a month in the primitive era?”

Jinchul-hyung shook the half-empty popcorn bag beside him.

“Popcorn tastes a million times better than tree bark. I think it’s better to push through Room 204 to the end.”

Opinions quickly converged.

Rolling around for a month in the primitive era eating rotten water and food waste versus having an embarrassing experience for 3-4 hours. Even I could see we just had to choose the latter.

Ahri added another reason, “Remember the reward when we cleared Room 106, the Mission Room on the first floor? It gave us hints for solving other Cursed Rooms. Maybe there will be something like that in the reward for Room 204, too. So let’s solve Hotel Cinema first.”

We decided to enter Hotel Cinema again tomorrow. The second movie was “The Guardian of the Wall”.

The doctor gave his opinion, “You should remember that the ‘genre’ of the movie we’re entering tomorrow has been decided. The guide said it’s a ‘war movie’. Today’s… ‘sophistry’ won’t work.”

Ahri chuckled, “That’s a shame. But just looking at the title ‘The Guardian of the Wall’, I’m not sure about the time period.”

I had the same thought, so I spoke up, “Right. It could be a pre-modern war wielding cold weapons, or a fantastic war with magic and superpowers. Or it could be a modern war centered around a modern wall like the ‘Maginot Line’.”

“Who should go in first?”

Everyone took a moment to think deeply.

Hotel Cinema was subtly similar to the Cursed Room. Especially in that there was almost no chance of solving it on the first attempt.

The person who went in first tomorrow would have to face unknown enemies without knowing whether they’d wield a sword, use magic, or shoot a gun.

Grandpa gave a cold opinion, “The first attempt should be counted as gathering information rather than solving. Let’s be cold. The person who qualifies as a ‘throwaway card’ should go in for the first attempt.”

“Gramps, calling someone a throwaway card is…”

“Jinchul, I’m saying you or Kain shouldn’t go in for the first attempt. I don’t know what form the war will take, but if it’s pre-modern combat, Jinchul could use his Xiang Yu-like strength, and if it’s modern warfare, Kain’s possession would be very powerful.” ¹

“Well, actually, I was thinking of taking my Blessing into the ‘horror movie’. In case you’ve forgotten, it’s difficult to use the grimoire properly without the protection of the Status Window.”

“For something like that, didn’t you perform possession well enough even with your Blessing malfunctioning?”

“From experience, ‘possession’ was somewhat usable. Maybe because I’ve grown? But the Power of Incarnation is impossible. I think I’d go crazy and die if I used it.”

“Isn’t possession enough? For example, try taking over the body of a fighter pilot.”

“I don’t know how to fly a plane though?”

“What do you mean fly? Just making it crash would be a huge gain.”

– Thud!

Ahri intervened, “Both of you, stop talking about the second priority and beyond. We need to choose the first person to go in tomorrow. Mooksung’s words make sense. Coldly speaking, Kain and Jinchul should be pushed to later. By the way, I think I absolutely have to go into the horror movie side, so I’m out too. Who wants to go into the war movie first?”

I thought about the remaining members.

Elena and Songee had already used their chances. Seungyub might be okay for a horror movie, but a war movie was not for him. It was a mispick, one could say. The same went for Eunsol-noona.

Just as a female protagonist was natural for the smooth progression of a romance movie, it was more natural for an adult male to enter a war movie. We couldn’t ignore this point as there was a judge who preferred “natural progression”. Even if the first entrant was a “throwaway card”, if it was such a mispick that normal progression was impossible, we wouldn’t be able to gather information properly.

With me, Jinchul-hyung, and Ahri out, the people suitable to enter the war movie first were the doctor from the special forces and Grandpa with his various experiences.

As gazes naturally turned to the two of them, the doctor raised his hand first.

“I think it’s best if I go in first.”

Grandpa opened his mouth, “Wouldn’t I be better? You seem too valuable to go in first…”

“Senior, the person who goes in first needs to find out a lot of information, even if they can’t solve it. For this, we need someone who can freely move around here and there.”

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t the profession of a doctor advantageous in that aspect?”

“Hmm…”

Listening to it, it was persuasive.

In a battlefield, a doctor was always welcome regardless of the era. Using treatment as a pretext, they could wander anywhere on the battlefield, and depending on the situation, they might even meet wounded enemy prisoners or high-ranking officials of their own country.

Eunsol-noona slapped the table.

“Alright. So it’s decided that Sanghyun will go into the second movie first tomorrow. We can decide the next order based on the information Sanghyun finds out. Anyone else have something to say?”

I immediately opened my mouth, “I’m thinking about using Advice to find out more about the Lego.”

Ahri responded, “You’re going to ask what criteria they use to evaluate? That’s good. Ask right away.”

What criteria does the third judge of Hotel Cinema, the Mysterious Craftsman, use to evaluate?

Somehow, I expected this. The judge’s evaluation criteria, this was a question one dimension higher than questions about internal movie developments. Even so, we must get an answer. I sent the intention to use them all, and the answer came.

“…Ah.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I just used all 3 pieces of Advice.”

“I thought that might happen. So what’s the answer?”

“It says to think about what kind of existence the Lego is.”

Ahri leaned back in her chair with a tired expression.

“…Looks like your patron has developed a taste for Zen questions again. Does it think it’s Socrates?”

“What kind of existence is the Lego?”

Seungyub spoke for the first time, “It’s a toy, right?”

“What kind of existence is a toy?”

“Something to play with?”

“What does it mean to play with—“

“Bah! Kain, you stop with the owl-like talk too! I’m tired, so let’s split up and rest a bit today.”

With this, the meeting concluded. The next day, the doctor entered “The Guardian of the Wall” first.

– Kim Sanghyun

“…”

“…”

My head throbbed. Someone was shaking me—

“General! General!”

“…Ugh! Where am I?”

“You’re awake! Hey! General Kim has woken up! Immediately report the General’s recovery to the superiors!”

“Yes, sir!”

Sitting on a hard wooden bed, I surveyed my surroundings. Judging by the clothes of the people moving around and the shape of the bed and quarters, the setting seemed to be a pre-modern East Asian world view. It was a bit disappointing. I had hoped for a modern war movie setting, given that the war I experienced was modern warfare.

Should I pretend to have amnesia and gather information?

No, given the circumstances, my rank is general, and if I pretend to have amnesia, there’s a high possibility they’ll restrict my external access under the pretext of “preventing demoralization”. To gather information, it’s better to pretend to be in good health.

I hope everyone doesn’t make this mistake.

“Hey there!”

“General, please give your orders.”

“Report what happened while I was unconscious. What’s the state of the war situation?”

Soon after, several warriors wearing traditional East Asian armor entered and started talking about various things. After listening for a while, I could understand the general background.

First, the setting was a pre-modern East Asian culture.

Second, the “wall” referred to a border defense wall built by the “Jincheon Empire” to which I belonged.

Third, the enemy was a tribe called Durkai, which seemed to be a nomadic people, and a general named “Murtanie” was said to be very dangerous.

Fourth, in short, it appeared to be a movie set against the background of a pre-modern Chinese empire and nomadic people—

The audience, who had been listening to the logical “explanation” for a long time, collectively half-opened their mouths.

“Ah, no! Sanghyun! This is too much like an explanation!” Eunsol spoke, and Kain agreed. “…The doctor feels less like a character in the movie and more like he’s completely entered the role of explaining to us.”

Songee showed a somewhat anxious reaction.

“I think ‘immersion’ in the movie is important for solving it…”

On the other hand, Mooksung could understand Sanghyun’s intention.

“That guy seems to think he can’t solve it, anyway? Since he won’t be the one to solve it, rather than immersing himself, his goal is just to gather as much information as possible and relay it to us.”

Ahri summarized all these audience impressions in one line, “An explanation-maniac has entered the movie.”

“Ah, no! More importantly, what is this? Why can we hear inner thoughts?”

No one answered Elena’s question, who had fallen into shock.

There was unexpected content in the subordinates’ reports.

“I was almost poisoned?”

“Yes. Three days ago, someone tampered with the General’s meal.”

“The culprit? Was he caught?”

“About that…”

The situation was already tiring. Someone tried to kill me by poisoning my meal, but they couldn’t even catch the culprit. It meant I had to be careful every time I ate a meal from now on.

Everyone, please be careful about this part. Jinchul might have resistance to poison, but if it’s Kain, he might just die while eating, possession or not.

“…Sanghyun’s immersion aside, my immersion has been broken.”