Escaping the Mystery Hotel

Chapter 173: A Happy Dinner Time, What Exactly Was Room 201? (2) End

“From a business perspective?”

It felt strange to hear a business-related concept in a situation as far removed from business as possible.

Even Songee, who had been feeling nauseous earlier, couldn’t resist her curiosity and started paying attention.

Noona began her explanation again, “I think the behavior of the Eye of Zero Dimension is very similar to that of a ‘fish farmer’. The ocean seems almost infinitely vast, filled with countless fish. But even if there are many fish, if humans keep catching and eating them endlessly, eventually there won’t be any left, not even the young ones. So, humans started ‘fisheries resource management’.”

“Fisheries resource management…”

“Now, think from the perspective of the Eye of Zero Dimension. Sure, it could descend to Earth and toy with 8 billion humans, but considering the sheer madness and infinite magic of the evil god, how long do you think Earth would last if it did that? Would it even last a year? The Eye of Zero Dimension likely restrained itself since it understood such a concept. It’s like a long-term plan to keep feeding off Earth for hundreds or even thousands of years.”

Ahri sighed and responded, “So, according to your reasoning, the Chief Researcher was like a talking mackerel offering a proposal to the fish farmer. Something like, ‘We’ll set up a fish farm ourselves, so you can feed off us for centuries, but manage the fisheries resources, please.’”

“Exactly. The Eye of Zero Dimension accepted that proposal. What could be better? The problem with killing all the mackerel is that they might go extinct, but managing them to prevent extinction is also a hassle. Then, along comes a talking mackerel offering to manage the fish farm itself. I think the evil god must have been overjoyed.”

“Let’s assume the Eye of Zero Dimension restrained itself for that reason. But why did the survival of humanity, thanks to fisheries resource management, only score 30 points?”

“My father wasn’t exactly a good person.”

Why is she mentioning her father out of nowhere?

“But as a businessman, he had undeniable insight. He often said, ‘Stagnation is decline.’ It’s a common saying.”

“Stagnation is decline…”

“Business People aren’t content with merely maintaining the status quo. They always dream of expansion. The Eye of Zero Dimension likely dreamed of expansion too. It pressured the Administration once, and they offered a fish farm on a silver platter. Would it stop at just one request?”

Everyone was at a loss for words.

“One request would turn into two, two would eventually become three. Eventually, the entire Earth would become a massive ‘farm of suffering’ to feed the evil god. That’s why, even for a place like this Hotel, which takes human life lightly, the solution could only score 30 points.”

In the cold silence that followed, Eunsol-noona put the finishing touch on her hypothesis.

“Remember, this is all just my interpretation. Just as the Chief Researcher had his interpretation, I have mine.”

It made sense.

It might not be a 100% perfect interpretation, but it felt closer to the truth than the Chief Researcher’s view.

Of course, this wasn’t because Noona was more of a genius than the Chief Researcher, but rather because we had the benefit of hindsight, whereas the Chief Researcher had to find a solution from scratch.

One last question came to mind.

“Room 201 has already been deemed resolved, so we won’t have to try again, but as a review for the future, let’s think about it lightly. What could have been a better solution?”

Noona thought for a moment before answering.

“I’ve been thinking about that too… and I’ve come up with two possibilities.”

Ahri immediately asked, “Two? I couldn’t think of even one! Tell us.”

“Option one: the ‘Servants of Evil’ strategy.”

“What?”

“After experiencing Rooms 102 and 103, it became clear that there seem to be quite a few other intelligent life forms in this universe besides us. The Administration probably already knows this.”

That much was certain. Neither Ahri nor Grandpa denied it.

“We could propose to the Eye of Zero Dimension that we humans become its servants and offer up other alien species instead.”

…My head spun.

Ahri responded with a somewhat disappointed tone, “That doesn’t seem quite right… Tell us the next strategy.”

“Option two: the ‘Fighting Fire with Fire’ strategy. Again, after experiencing the Hotel, I realized there are endless numbers of evil entities.”

“That’s true. Honestly, it’s a wonder how Earth has managed to hold out so far.”

“What if we bring in another demon and pit them against each other? There might be a demon out there who says, ‘No way! I’m the one who’s supposed to feast on humans; who are you to take them all?’”

Ahri let out a big sigh this time.

“That strategy can be countered with, ‘When whales fight the shrimp’s back is broken.’ The Administration would never attempt such a thing. Sure, it might be possible to pit evil entities against each other, but would any humans survive if those demons fought over Earth?”

“Eesh! I just came up with it at the spur of the moment! Instead of nitpicking, why don’t you share your thoughts?”

That comment silenced Ahri.

This time, Grandpa spoke up, “I’ve thought of one too. How about the ‘Deception’ strategy?”

“Deceiving the Eye of Zero Dimension? How?”

“Not deceiving the Eye of Zero Dimension—deceiving humanity.”

“Huh?”

“Remember the strategy for dealing with the Eye of Zero Dimension? ‘Not recognizing it’ works surprisingly well on it.”

“Right.”

“So, how about spraying a memory-erasing agent across the entire Earth to erase any memory of the Eye of Zero Dimension?”

“…But in the final moments, the Eye of Zero Dimension grew so large it seemed like it would cover the whole sky. If it covers the entire sky, maybe, but how do you stop people from recognizing it when it’s right in front of their eyes?”

“Oh, really? I died before seeing that part. Maybe we could make the entire human race blind for a few years—ah, this is a terrible idea even as I say it.”

“How about covering the Earth with a barrier so the Eye of Zero Dimension can’t be seen?”

“Songee, you might as well suggest moving the Earth out of the solar system?”

“Better for humanity to commit collective suicide than live as the demon’s slaves.”

“That sounds like a zero-point solution.”

…My comrades continued spouting increasingly absurd ideas.

Most of them felt fundamentally off the mark.

Why? Why did those solutions seem wrong the moment I heard them?

“…”

- Bang! Bang!

“Please listen to me for a moment.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to me.

“I think this whole situation is like an exam problem given to us.”

“You sound like a student.”

“What I mean is, when dealing with an exam problem, you always have to consider the examiner’s intent, and the examiner’s intent usually has a basis in the given material.”

“There was a basis in the material we encountered in Room 201?”

“Exactly. So, suddenly introducing another demon with no prior basis or turning the entire human race blind doesn’t seem right to me. Also, the solution should ideally be something ‘we’ can do.”

“Was there any basis in Room 201 for a better solution?”

“From here on, this is just my thoughts. It’s hard to say exactly what the Eye of Zero Dimension desires, but it seems to lean closer to suffering than death. There’s quite a bit of evidence to support this. It was the Chief Researcher’s conclusion as well. And if we interpret it from a ‘business’ perspective, as Noona suggested, it’s a being that gains some benefit from the suffering of mortals, not just amusement.”

Eunsol-noona immediately agreed, “That’s how I see it. If it were truly a being that sought only ‘amusement’, it would have acted more impulsively. ‘Amusement’, after all, is the opposite of boredom, something you feel when the unpredictable happens.”

“Moreover, the Administration in Room 201 already had the technology to keep a person alive with only their brain.”

Songee looked like she might spit something out again.

“Did the Chief Researcher’s insistence that people had to be exposed to monsters and actually die come from his own bias? If what the Eye of Zero Dimension seeks is suffering, wouldn’t it have been much more efficient to create numerous tanks where people were kept alive as only brains and subjected to endless suffering? This would reduce actual human deaths while still fulfilling the purpose of ‘producing suffering’.”

Ahri tilted her head and asked, “Wouldn’t the process of suffering be necessary too? And didn’t you say it should be something ‘we’ can do? What you’re describing seems entirely reliant on the Administration. Of course, back then you were in a position similar to the head of the Administration, so it’s plausible you could have promised to handle it, but…”

“Actually, I didn’t mention this because Songee seemed like she was about to throw up.”

Songee quickly interjected, “Um, I understand, so please don’t say it.”

“We could have created a prototype to demonstrate. We already had Beatrix’s floating brain. Songee could have used her powers to inject visions worse than hell into the floating brain and proposed this as an alternative.”

Ahri cynically murmured, “If that demon were really a ‘sustainable suffering entrepreneur’, it would have been a proposal it could accept. You could easily expand the fish farm since there’s no need for actual human deaths, and the situation of the fish farm being voluntarily built and offered by the fish themselves remains the same.”

Noona seemed to be reflecting on something and said, “Is that a possible approach? What I mean is, you needed Songee to give you a buff that cost her life just to enter the sealed area.”

“That problem only arose because we failed to save Patrick. We had to rely on Jinchul-hyung using the Star to crudely destroy the equipment controlling the Irregular Polyhedron. If we had saved Patrick, there might have been a safer way to enter the sealed area.”

Ahri nodded.

“It’s not baseless. There was a floating brain in the sealed area, right? Naturally, there must have been equipment to maintain the floating brain. There’s no way the Chief Researcher manually moved all that himself.”

“If we had saved Patrick to operate the equipment, we could have entered safely. Once inside, Songee could have shown the floating brain an eternal vision of torture and—“

“Oh! I told you, I’m not doing that!”

The conversation paused with Songee’s vehement protest.

Is that really the only method we had?

Ultimately, all the solutions seemed to involve giving the evil god what it wanted. We were just trying to minimize human casualties in the process.

I had a vague feeling that even this method would have struggled to score more than 60 points.

Fundamentally, we—and humanity as a whole—are lacking in power.

In the end, the solutions that mackerel could propose to a fish farmer have their limits.

For the first time, I began to understand why the Administration sacrifices lives to challenge the Hotel.

Another concern arose.

If we face another situation on the second floor where we have to use such an extreme method…

Some of us would absolutely refuse to go through with it.

I could already see how strongly Songee was opposed to such ideas.

In this hypothetical discussion, it ended as mere complaints, but what would happen if we actually had to do it?

After dinner, the Hotel displayed a notification.

Dear Esteemed Guests! Congratulations.

You have finally overcome the first trial of the second floor and claimed another treasure!

We sincerely congratulate you all.

Starting tomorrow, you will have a 3-day break! Given that the ability one of you just received is tricky to use, it would be wise to practice hard, wouldn’t it?

Today’s surprise event: Party Time! has begun.

Additional information:

1. Please take out your ticket immediately to check the notification.

2. The cold on the second floor is getting worse. Shouldn’t you prepare for it?