Escaping the Mystery Hotel

Chapter 120: Room 107 - The Gate Room, The Third Trial (11)

- Han Kain

The group began to rack their brains.

Should I call it fortunate?

The Jekyll and Hyde game felt like a variation of Mafia, and only Grandpa Mooksung didn’t know the game.

While Grandpa Mooksung was frantically asking others about various things, I started asking the Moderator questions.

“How much can you answer?”

I can answer within reasonable limits. I obviously cannot inform you of the identity of Hyde’s host.

What kind of reasonable limits are there for such a bizarre game?

However, the one in need here is us, not it.

I started asking all the questions that came to mind.

“Hyde will possess one of us when the game starts, right? Can the host use their Inheritance or tools?”

Hyde strictly adheres to the rules of the game. Hyde cannot use a participant's Inheritance or harm you by any means other than execution.

So Hyde won’t suddenly use the bracelet or Grimoire.

Understood.

Eunsol-noona quickly asked a question too.

“We have to discuss and find Hyde during the day each round, right? Can Hyde listen and participate in our discussions?”

A very important question.

In Mafia, Mafia members disrupted the discussions of the citizen team.

Hyde does not take away the free will of his host. Therefore, Hyde cannot participate in the discussions. However, Hyde can listen to them.

Hearing this, I began to understand what kind of entity Hyde was.

A being that strictly followed the rules of the game.

A being that didn’t rob the free will of its host.

Hyde seemed less like a sentient being and more like an AI created purely for the game.

The fact that Hyde wouldn't interfere in our discussions was a relief.

However, just knowing that Hyde could eavesdrop made things more complicated.

Everyone was racking their brains, asking the Moderator various questions about the rules.

The 30 minutes passed quickly.

***

- 1st Round, Han Kain

-Beep!

All Jekylls, the Jekyll and Hyde game will now begin.

The 1st round of the day begins now. All Jekylls have 15 minutes to identify and execute Hyde. The Doctor can designate someone to protect.

“…”

Grandpa Mooksung was the first to speak.

“So Hyde or whatever it is has possessed one of us?”

“That seems to be the case. But since Hyde doesn’t take away free will, even the host wouldn’t know Hyde is in them.”

Although the chances were slim, I still looked at Songee.

Songee scanned us with her bracelet.

“I can’t tell.”

“It was said that Inheritance can’t detect Hyde. What about Perro?”

“It's hard to communicate properly without the Blessing, but even then, Perro has no reaction.”

Just as Songee said, Perro was in the rest area, leisurely snacking on sunflower seeds without a care in the world.

Watching a parrot comfortably eat sunflower seeds while we were in a life-or-death situation was exasperating.

Worthless golden egg...

Since neither the bracelet nor Perro could find Hyde, everyone remained at a loss for words

Ahri, who had been quiet up till now, broke the silence.

“Is there any point in us all drinking my blood to find Hyde?”

“We were told Inheritance can’t find Hyde.”

“I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“If Inheritance can’t find Hyde, why allow us to use them in the first place?”

“...”

“If they didn’t want us to use our Inheritance, they would’ve sealed it too. Allowing us to use it but with the caveat of being unable to find Hyde with them means...”

“They must want us to use the Inheritance in ways other than finding Hyde,” Eunsol-noona answered.

The 15 minutes were short.

Less than five minutes remained.

“Moderator!”

Yes.

“Is the Doctor already selected?”

Yes. The Doctor knows they are the Doctor.

We looked around at each other.

“One of us is already the Doctor.”

Grandpa Mooksung spoke curiously.

“Oh! Who is it? Who have you decided to protect—”

-Whack!

Ahri smacked Grandpa on the back of his head.

If it hadn’t been for Ahri, I would have kicked him to shut him up.

“Please! Grandpa Mooksung, if the Doctor reveals themselves, Hyde will target them!”

“Oh.”

Eunsol-noona spoke with a sigh.

“Please keep in mind that Hyde is listening to our conversation.”

At least one thing was clear to me.

I am not the Doctor, and Grandpa Mooksung isn’t the Doctor either.

If he were the Doctor, he’d be confusing us by questioning who to protect.

“Three minutes left. Should we just randomly pick someone?”

Ahri nodded.

“No choice. Let’s just pick someone. Seungyub, you choose.”

“Huh? My Blessing is sealed.”

“Just do it.”

Seungyub hesitated, then pointed at Songee, who was on his left.

Songee didn’t react, but the Moderator responded.

All Jekylls, do you agree to execute “Songee” as Hyde?

“...!”

I had a sudden realization and spoke quickly before everyone agreed.

“Wait a minute! Moderator!”

Yes.

“If we execute Songee, and she has Hyde, does only Hyde die? Or does Songee die too?”

Everyone else turned pale, realizing the situation.

There is no way to only execute Hyde. Executing the host is the only way to eliminate Hyde.

Eunsol-noona cursed, holding the back of her neck.

“Seriously? Shit! So it’s not just Hyde dying, but the host too?”

“Do we have to execute someone every round?” Ahri urgently asked.

No. If you do not wish to, you can forgo the search for Hyde.

Hearing the Moderator’s response, Seungyub quickly spoke.

“Cancel! Cancel the execution! I’m sorry, Songee-noona.”

“It’s okay. But we can’t proceed by randomly picking and hoping to find Hyde. The chances are too low.”

At this point, I realized something.

“The reason we can resurrect one dead participant in the third trial is because of this.”

“Even if we have a perfect run and identify Hyde right away,” Ahri continued, “The host of Hyde has to die. Since that’s unfair, they gave us one resurrection.”

In the end, we couldn’t identify Hyde in the first round.

The sun is setting. The day is over, and Hyde’s time has come.

My consciousness faded...

***

- 2nd Round, Han Kain.

I came to my senses. Everyone else also woke up, looking around in confusion.

Who is it? Who did Hyde execute?

“…”

Everyone was fine.

The Moderator descended immediately.

Congratulations. Hyde’s first execution failed. The Doctor successfully protected the correct target.

The Hyde of the 1st round was “Yu Songee”. Now Hyde will move to another person.

“…”

“Huh? What? I was Hyde?”

Songee was shocked.

“Did you feel anything strange? Any dark energy inside? An evil voice?” Eunsol-noona quickly asked Songee.

“I didn’t feel anything in particular.”

Ahri started to ponder.

“So the host can’t tell they’re possessed? But at least the Doctor blocked the first round?”

Grandpa Mooksung, still babbling, spoke again.

“Wow! Who’s the Doctor? They’re really good at this game! How did they manage to guess correctly? Was it you, Seungyub? You seem to have a knack for guessing—”

“Shut up!”

This time Ahri kicked Grandpa.

He finally quieted down with a sulky look on his face.

Elena, who had been quiet, spoke.

“You're doing well, but Doctor, please keep your identity hidden.”

While everyone was discussing their thoughts, I...

Oh, shit, shit, shit! Ahhhhh!

I covered my face with both hands, regretting everything!

Whether it was luck or something else, Seungyub initially picked Songee!

If I hadn’t interfered, and we had executed Songee, Hyde would’ve died immediately.

We could have won the game and then resurrected Songee, achieving a perfect ending with no sacrifices...

How did Seungyub guess so accurately?

His Blessing is sealed.

Is it pure luck?

Whatever it is, it’s frustrating.

Ahri, who seemed to have similar thoughts, grabbed Seungyub’s arm.

“You’re the only one who can do this! At this point, your luck is beyond normal, the Blessing is just a bonus! Pick again!”

Seungyub looked overwhelmed by the pressure.

If he hadn’t known the host would die too, he might have picked again, but knowing the host would die alongside Hyde, he couldn’t choose.

The 15 minutes were too short.

Here’s what we learned from the 1st round:

The first host was Songee.

We didn’t know the execution target, but the Doctor successfully protected them.

That alone couldn’t tell us who the next host or target would be.

In other words, we had no leads.

What are the criteria for Hyde choosing a host and execution target?

The 2nd round passed in confusion.

The sun is setting. The day is over, and Hyde’s time has come.

My consciousness faded...

***

- 3rd Round, Han Kain.

As soon as I came to, I looked around.

Who was it this time?

“...”

Everyone was fine again.

The Moderator descended.

Congratulations. Hyde’s second execution failed. The Doctor successfully protected the correct target.

The Hyde of the 2nd round was “Park Seungyub”. Now Hyde will move to another person.

“…”

Seungyub was stunned, and so was I.

The Doctor succeeded in protecting twice in a row?

The first time could’ve been a lucky guess.

But twice in a row?

The odds of guessing correctly purely by luck were very low.

I felt relieved.

As I had vaguely predicted, Hyde's choices weren’t random.

There was a certain priority in selecting execution targets.

Among us, the one chosen as the Doctor by the Moderator understood Hyde's criteria for choosing targets.

Someone who realized the same thing spoke up.

“It seems the ‘Doctor’ has figured something out. The problem is, we don’t know what that ‘something’ is...”

Grandpa, now slightly more aware, chimed in.

“At least we could know who Hyde was targeting. Isn’t there a way?”

The Doctor would know.

They protected the person Hyde targeted.

Eunsol-noona pulled out several sheets of paper.

“We don’t have much time and can’t think of a better way. Since the Doctor can’t openly guide us, let’s do this.”

Noona quickly wrote something on the papers.

Each sheet had our names and the rounds listed on them.

I immediately understood the idea.

“Everyone turns around and pretends to write something. Only the Doctor should mark their paper. No one else touches theirs. Just a dot to avoid revealing handwriting.”

A moment passed.

The papers were gathered on the table again.

All the other papers had no marks except one, which had two /genesisforsaken