Chapter 295: Room 204, Mission Room – ‘Hotel Cinema’ (17)

– Kim Mooksung

When I came to my senses in the movie, I was standing in a bustling city reminiscent of a university district. While observing the citizens all around, brief information about the current situation was injected into my head.

“25 Hour Black Cafe?”

That was the name of the coffee shop I need to go to now.

As I organized the information slowly coming into my head, I couldn’t help but chuckle. If this were the Cursed Room, simply not going to that damn coffee shop would be an option.

But that wasn’t possible. Considering the judges’ evaluation later, I had to go to places that were necessary for the scenario.

There was a sign on the coffee shop entrance saying it was closed for the day. Of course, that sign didn’t apply to me. When I opened the door and entered, four people were already gathered inside.

“Ahem. I’m a bit late. I’m Kim Mooksung.”

“Not at all. We all just gathered a moment ago. Sir, you can sit over here.”

Do Inho, the person who organized the meeting and said to be a drama writer, smiled and gestured. I sat at the table and checked the other people besides Do Inho.

A dignified middle-aged woman in her early 40s, Park Sumi.

A stunningly beautiful young woman in her early 20s, Han Yuri.

A fairly handsome young man in his late 20s, Cha Eunpyo.

And here, a “intellectual elderly man” in his late 60s, Kim Mooksung.

These four people were the storytellers. As I was carefully observing my surroundings, Do Inho started to summarize the situation, “As you know, ‘Scary Stories’ is a gathering for you to share scary experiences you’ve had in your lives.”

Han Yuri asked with a slight smile, “Are you collecting the stories we share, writer? They might become movie or drama plots later, right?”

Do Inho affirmed, “Of course. I informed you about this in advance, didn’t I? If anyone still dislikes it, you can leave now.”

No one left.

Do Inho started leading the conversation again, “The four of you gathered here have all experienced unusual events in your lives. We’ve gone through a process to verify the truth to some extent. However, as is often the case with such stories, as you listen, you might think, ‘Is this even possible?’”

Cha Eunpyo nodded, “Are you saying we shouldn’t call others’ stories lies or truths?”

“That’s exactly right, Eunpyo. Well… shall we start now? Let’s go clockwise. How about starting with Ms. Park Sumi?”

“Alright.”

The first speaker, Park Sumi, was clearly a wealthy lady from her attire and the bag placed on her chair. She recalled her past memories for a moment and then opened her mouth, “This story is from my newlywed days. My husband was running a small business, and at that time, the economy was good and the business was doing very well. Our marital relationship was also very harmonious. Then one day, my husband said to me with a serious expression…”

Space shook

“…”

What is this? What’s suddenly happening?

– First Story, Newlywed Memories

I barely regained my senses in an atmosphere that made me feel nauseous as everything shook. As soon as I realized the absurd current situation, I immediately cursed.

“Ah, really, this is bull—“

“S-Sumi?”

Seeing the young man in front of me, Park Sangho, with his eyes wide open, I sighed.

Let’s try to smooth this over for now.

“Oh, oh my! I’m sorry. Something sharp just suddenly stabbed into my foot…”

“Sharp? Is it a thorn? Should I take a look?”

Seeing Sangho’s attitude dripping with love, I sighed deeply. Waving my hand, I went to the bathroom for a moment to reassess the situation. Reflected in the mirror was an elegant-looking woman who appeared to be in her early 20s.

And that’s me now. Ah, damn it, really!

As a “shocking development” started just 2 minutes after the movie began, the theater started to get noisy.

“W-what’s that! Did Grandpa just change into that noona?”

Looking at Kain with his mouth wide open, Elena muttered, “It’s like a movie within a movie structure. The ‘Scary Stories’ movie itself seems to be composed of four small short films. It looks like we become different people in each individual short film.”

Seungyub said in bewilderment, “In Ms. Park Sumi’s story, we change into that noona? Will that happen in the stories of the other people, too?”

Ahri nodded.

“Seems so. Since we’re entering the past memories recalled by the storytellers, we probably change into the past appearance of that person.”

With those words, Ahri nudged Kain.

“You’d be good at this. You’ve been in other people’s bodies a lot.”

“…”

“Just don’t touch the breast this time—“

“W-what are you saying!? More importantly, what’s the fourth story? It seems like ‘we’ are also storytellers, do we have to make up the last story ourselves?”

“Well…”

“Really, isn’t this just utter bullshit?”

“S-Sumi? Are you okay?”

Hearing the voice of my “husband” worrying outside, I couldn’t help but sigh. I couldn’t hold back my cursing.

How can I not curse when I suddenly changed into a powerless young woman in her 20s?

The reason I held back even worse curses was, firstly, because my husband was outside, and secondly, because my current appearance reflected in the mirror was of an extremely elegant and dignified young woman.

Fortunately, the chat window was still intact. I was worried it might have disappeared since I entered the memories of another person. Although, it was annoying that even my name had changed into that of the character’s. It was a problem that I was the only one who could see it, but it was fortunate that the Blessing seemed to work even in the memory. It seemed likely that Inheritances could also be used.

– Crack!

The Abras Warrior’s arm was also fine.

Amusingly, the appearance of my right hand had changed to the beautiful and delicate arm of a woman in her 20s, but when I lightly gripped with that hand, the bathtub burst.

After coming out and reassuring the worried Park Sangho, I started the conversation.

“Sumi, this oppa hasn’t talked much about his parents until now, has he?”

The moment I heard “oppa”, goosebumps ran all over my body and I almost hit him. After exerting desperate patience, I was able to avoid the Abras Warrior’s angry fist shattering Park Sangho’s head right at the start.

Let’s focus on this damn story.

Park Sangho left his hometown as a child and settled in Seoul. Since then, he said he had forgotten about his hometown for many years and did his best in the city. Fortunately, he had quite a knack for business and not only amassed considerable wealth but also met a beautiful wife like Park Sumi.

…Is this the part where I should blush and say something like, “Oh my, you too!”?

As I listened without saying anything, Park Sangho showed a somewhat disappointed reaction and continued, “But… as time passed, the blood flowing in my body started telling me to return to my hometown. People are really strange, aren’t they?”

“…”

“Sumi?”

“This youngin has become quite the philosopher!”

“S-Sumi?”

“…My foot stings, so I made a mistake. Please continue.”

One day, Park Sangho suddenly started remembering the hometown he left as a child.

Of course, he hadn’t completely cut off contact with his family for the past 10 years or so. He said he sent a couple of letters after settling in Seoul. But how could letters be the same as meeting in person?

“That’s why I planned this vacation schedule.”

“To go to your hometown and see your parents?”

“That’s right. But…”

Aish! This guy really talks in a frustrating way!

“Just speak clearly. Go on.”

“I-I think you might be surprised when you see my parents. I often recalled memories from childhood, and my parents and family members are a bit… unique. You know, they’re countryside elderly.”

Sangho, I’m probably older than your parents, so stop this nonsense.

Not to mention young people these days always talk with prejudice that the elderly are strange, but those strange ones were usually terrible people when they were young, too.

It’s not that they became strange as they got old, but that strange people got old, and they can’t distinguish that…

Ahem! Let’s refocus on the movie content.

With this, the conversation with my “husband” ended. I never thought I’d have a husband in my life!

Various thoughts came to mind. Since the guide himself called it a “horror movie”, there would inevitably be bizarre and cruel events. Surely, that Park Sangho’s family members must be some kind of twisted bunch.

I tried to gauge various possibilities, recalling my experiences with the Administration, but so many possibilities came to mind that I couldn’t easily determine any one thing. It was a problem that could only be known by going there.

“…”

After that, nothing happened for a while. It was really regrettable that the benefit of “skipping” meaningless scenes had disappeared. Three days later, we boarded a train and left for Park Sangho’s old hometown.

The journey to Park Sangho’s hometown was more difficult than I imagined. Just as we thought we had arrived in Gangwon-do by train, we moved again by taxi to the countryside of Gangwon-do. When I thought this might be the hometown, we took a bus that only came once every three days and moved again into a mountain valley.

The location itself was threatening. There was no way to walk to a bustling place. It was even more impossible with the stamina of the 20-year-old woman I had entered.

My husband didn’t bring a car from the start, and the bus came only once every three days. With this level of transportation, it was practically no different from an island, and it was a place where no one from the outside could come to help if something happened. It was basic that cell phones didn’t work, and even electricity was frequently cut off.

At this point, I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. It seemed the time period was around the 1990s, but was there still such an absurd countryside left in Korea until that time?

Well, it’s a perfect location for a horror movie to progress, at least.

“Hello, Mother.”

“Oh, my child! I’ve often heard about you from Sangho.”

“Oh my! Sangho, you rascal! How did you get such a beautiful and virtuous young lady? This old father’s eyes are blessed!”

“Father…”

The first meeting with the in-laws was more touching than expected.

Contrary to my husband’s words about them being “unique people”, both in-laws showed an extremely kind attitude as soon as they met me. My mother-in-law sniffled, saying how could a “city girl” come to such a rough mountain village and that I must have had a hard time, while my father-in-law was busy praising me as soon as he saw me.

The strange things started happening when my husband’s siblings appeared. When I turned my gaze towards a disheveled young man near the cattle shed who was staring at me intently, the young man showed a startled attitude and ran away.

– Click!

“Hmm? Who is that—“

“D-don’t mind him. Myungjin is just very shy by nature.”

“Who is he?”

My husband gently grabbed my hand—this bastard, really giving me goosebumps!—and whispered, “He’s my younger brother, he’s been a bit peculiar since childhood and he’s still like that now. No need to worry much about it. I’ll talk to him later.”

The strange person wasn’t just Park Sangho’s younger brother.

“…Hello, miss.”

Park Hyeyoung, a middle-aged woman with a somewhat dark and cold atmosphere, was Park Sangho’s older sister by 6 years. She was at the very least better than the younger brother—she didn’t run away as soon as she saw me, after all.

Unlike me, who was focusing on observing the surroundings, Park Sangho seemed to have new feelings returning to his hometown after a long time. As he compared the surrounding places like the cattle shed and warehouse with his memories, showing an excited appearance, I also smiled slightly, and Park Sangho’s family members seemed quite happy too.

It was only when evening dawned that the “strange points” Park Sangho had mentioned started to be felt gradually.

For example, parts like this…

“Mother, I can handle the preparation—“

“Oh my, child! A city girl shouldn’t get her hands dirty! Don’t worry and go to your room. Hyeyoung, you damned thing! The city girl came out because you’re late!”

When I tried to work in the kitchen, my “mother-in-law” stopped me, almost fainting.

No matter how pretty the daughter-in-law looked, was this a normal reaction? If all mothers-in-law treated their daughters-in-law like this, the word “in-law troubles” wouldn’t even exist in the world.

“Miss, I’m sorry. Don’t worry and go inside.”

The behavior of my husband’s sister, my sister-in-law, was no less extreme. This attitude was more like a maid treating a noble family’s young lady rather than treating her younger brother’s wife, her sister-in-law.

…Let’s check a bit more.

“Oh my, I’m really fine. Should I at least chop some green onions for you?”

– Thud! Clang!

“…”

“…”

“…Child, you must have been surprised. I was startled thinking you might drop the knife.”

“Ah, Miss. Mother must have been surprised by the glint of the knife blade. You really can go in. I’ll prepare dinner well for you.”

What just happened?

The moment my hand touched the “knife” in the kitchen, the expressions of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law froze like statues simultaneously. My mother-in-law’s hand, which had been treating me like a royal princess until just now, moved like lightning to knock away my hand and take the knife.

There was something strange about this household.