Chapter 118: Room 107 - The Gate Room, The Second Trial End (9)

Chapter 118: Room 107 - The Gate Room, The Second Trial End (9)

- Han Kain

Noticing the commotion from afar, my teammates ran over.

“What on earth is going on?”

“What is it? What happened all of a sudden?”

“Ah! What is this corpse?”

In the midst of the chaotic atmosphere, I slowly explained.

Arima suddenly started talking about her childhood, then explained some magical enlightenment, kissed me out of the blue, talked about being reborn, and then committed suicide.

Even I found it difficult to understand what I was saying.

The others reacted with bewilderment.

Ahri spoke up, seemingly amused.

“How fascinating. She showed signs of liking you, but kissing and then committing suicide is rather unexpected.”

“She showed signs of liking me?”

“You didn’t know?”

“She acted strangely from the beginning, but I thought it was just an act.”

“It might have been an act at first. But after that, it was hard to see it as anything but genuine feelings unless she was a professional actress.”

Songee added

“When we talked, I sometimes felt that Arima had many wounds. She seemed to think of us as a kind of ‘Mage Party’ and was very envious because we all got along so well,” Songee added.

Eunsol-noona asked a question.

“It’s confusing, but now that the witch is dead, is it over?”

“That can’t be. Arima herself said she was ready to be reborn before she died, so there must be a next phase—”

A booming announcement rang from the sky.

Congratulations to all participants on passing the Second Trial, ‘The Witch’s Forest'.

Suddenly, the surrounding space began to collapse.

I didn't know what was happening, but seeing my comrades happy at the announcement of passing the Second Trial...

I was utterly terrified.

The things Arima had said to me.

The unusual circumstances.

And now this announcement.

“I want to serve you too.”

“The human mind is a mere illusion. I've now abandoned my obsession with meaningless attachments.”

“I'm almost ready to be reborn.”

“I wanted to live a little more as a woman.”

Arima had freely tampered with Jinchul-hyung's body for several days.

The hotel values the physical body when distinguishing between real and fake.

All the information converged into one horrifying conclusion!

***

Just like after the First Trial, we arrived in a space resembling a clean hotel room.

The seal on our Inheritance was lifted.

The power of the Grimoire was restored.

“Songee! Check Jinchul-hyung with the bracelet!” I frantically shouted

As soon as a white flash from the bracelet scanned Jinchul-hyung—

Songee's face turned ghostly pale.

“Oh! Oh no! Kyaaaaa!”

While Eunsol-noona and Elena were panicking, Ahri shouted in disbelief.

“No way! That’s not Jinchul—”

At this point, even Grandpa Mooksung was also shocked.

“Shit! ‘That thing’ is about to wake up!”

Jinchul-hyung's body started to twitch.

I immediately summoned the Grimoire.

Fighting that monster directly would result in too many casualties!

I had to end this with the Grimoire.

The power of the Grimoire manifested, and my consciousness floated up.

When I came to my senses, I found myself in a luxurious mansion.

***

Music from violins and pianos tickled my ears.

The decorations on the walls, the candelabras, the chandeliers, everything shone brightly in the mansion.

I wandered through the space that reflected the opulent taste of the mansion’s owner.

This was a first-time experience.

I had used the Grimoire many times, but I would usually take control of the body I possessed in an instant instead of falling into a world like this.

I had to end this fight before then.

I felt my mind reaching “higher” than ever before.

In the dreamlike world detached from reality, my mind grasped the doorknob of an unreachable realm.

To win, I needed greater power.

The power to summon reality from a dream, to create something from nothing!

In the void, the Grimoire appeared before me.

A new chapter, one I had never been able to open, unfolded before me.

The Power of Incarnation

Finally, a substance emerged in the world of illusions.

A single flash of light pierced through the void where Arima and I were fighting.

Arima began to disintegrate like ashes.

‘What kind of power is this?’

‘I don’t know either.’

‘Haha! You are truly consistent, Teacher. Believing you don’t know while clearly knowing the answer. Do you really not know? Or are you afraid of the meaning of enlightenment and choose to be ignorant?’

‘...’

‘Enlightenment is said to be sudden realization followed by gradual cultivation. Even if you gain sudden enlightenment, it takes time to internalize it. Remember, you already attained enlightenment the moment you obtained the Grimoire. It’s just that the memories accumulated over twenty years are holding you back from truly ascending into something great...’

With these as her last words, Arima disappeared.

Or did she?

My mind, which had reached a higher realm, found the answer.

As long as Cha Jinchul wasn’t completely dead, Arima wasn’t completely gone either.

Arima’s self and memories were gone.

But some trace of her would remain in Hyung when he revived outside the Gate Room.

My mind, which had touched a higher realm, gradually descended.

It’s not time yet.

For the Power of Incarnation to truly be in my hands, I needed a fundamental breakthrough.

Simply letting time pass and increasing my Possession ability wasn’t enough.

More fundamental growth was required.

It would take a long time.

Perhaps I wouldn’t achieve it before leaving the Hotel.

A mindset beyond human limits!

...Would such growth really be desirable?

Lost in thought, my consciousness faded.

***

- Han Kain

I woke up as my consciousness returned to reality.

As soon as I returned, I looked at Jinchul-hyung.

His head was cleanly split.

“What on earth happened?”

Eunsol-noona answered.

“I should be asking you. What did you do? You used the Grimoire, then both of you collapsed, and after about ten minutes, Jinchul’s head suddenly split open.”

“Is that so...”

I felt a sense of emptiness.

Despite all the efforts during the Second Trial to save Jinchul-hyung, it seemed it was all in vain.

Everyone sat with a sense of desolation.

Ahri nudged me and spoke.

“Still, you did well. Is it the power of the Grimoire? It feels like you’re getting stronger. Anyway, it’s a relief we avoided fighting Jinchul. If he had summoned the Star or something to fight us, we might all be dead. Is the witch completely gone?”

“Probably.”

“That sounds uncertain,” Grandpa Mooksung interjected.

“By the way, this situation is terrifying. As you might have realized, combining Ahri and Songee’s thoughts, didn’t the witch successfully escape the trial space by taking over Jinchul’s body?”

“If we put it that way, then yes. Though whether the entity that escaped can truly be called Arima is debatable...”

“Let’s skip the philosophical debate. The important thing is that it’s a kind of ‘escape’. It’s no different from escaping the Gate Room’s trial space. Could a similar escape be possible in the Cursed Room?”

My head spun with the implications.

A form of escape where one replicated their mind into a participant’s body and then exited with the participant...

At that moment, an unprecedented phenomenon occurred since entering the hotel.

Sage's Advice: 3 → 0

What?

I didn’t use the advice, and we overcame the crisis.

Yet all three disappeared at once?

Remember that realization. It is the problem you must overcome in the /genesisforsaken