Escaping the Mystery Hotel

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 92

Current Location: Miro’s Hell

Sage’s Advice: 2

- Han Kain

“Miro, Miro! Come over here, quickly!”

“Huh? Why all of a sudden? What—“

- Rustle! Grunt!!

Just as something leaped out from the bushes, the tension that had gripped me loosened all at once.

It was just a well-dressed reindeer.

“Oh.”

“Hehe! Kain, are you scared of deer? There are tons of these around the school!”

Miro, unafraid, rushed toward the reindeer, leaving me in a panic.

Although it wasn’t the monster I had feared, a reindeer was still dangerous to a middle school girl.

“Miro, be careful! That’s not just a small deer; it’s a reindeer! It could be dangerous.”

“Hohoho, child, there’s no need to worry.”

Startled by the sudden gentle voice behind me, I turned around.

There stood a fluffy, rotund elderly man with a warm presence, dressed in an outfit that was all too familiar.

“Who are you?”

“Oh my! Surely you’ve heard of Santa Claus?”

“It’s not that I haven’t, but you appeared out of nowhere…”

“Nowhere? Child! Don’t you hear the music?”

<We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas

And a happy New Year!>

The cheerful carol had been playing ever since I arrived in this place.

“I do hear it.”

“So, ‘out of nowhere’ doesn’t quite fit, does it? You do know that tomorrow is Christmas, right?”

“Is it? I wasn’t paying much attention to the date.”

“Oh dear. I’m disappointed! But since you seem to care for that girl, I’ll forgive you for being a good kid.”

“…Sure.”

As I conversed with the self-proclaimed “Santa Claus”, Miro was happily playing with the reindeer a short distance away.

“What a beautiful scene. She’s like a snow fairy. Tell me, young one, do you like her?”

“Not at all.”

“Such dishonesty! I feel like scolding you right now. But since it’s Christmas Eve, I’ll let it slide.”

What’s with this nonsense?

I really don’t like her!

Listening to this old man’s silly assumptions and his laughable “forgiveness” made me feel exasperated.

“Your eyes can’t seem to leave her. Are you still afraid of the reindeer? Don’t worry. His name is Comet. He’s not as sturdy as Donner, but he’s still a gentle one.”

“…That’s reassuring. But it’s getting late. Can we go have dinner now?”

“Oh! I liked that response. Yes, yes, children should eat on time. Make sure you bring your girlfriend with you.”

At this point, I couldn’t even be bothered to correct the old man’s ridiculous imagination.

I ignored him and led Miro toward the school dining hall.

Han Kain: ‘Santa’ showed up. Suspicious. Called by the school?

Kim Mooksung: Wait.

…

Kim Mooksung: Yeah, Called.

He was called by the school?

So, was that old man just hired by the school?

I glanced outside, but the Santa who had made me nervous earlier had already disappeared.

I checked the scenario as well, but there was still no change.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

It still said, wait for the night.

Was that Santa really just someone the school hired?

During dinner, Ahri showed up, and I immediately asked her about the ritual traces she and Grandpa found earlier.

“We didn’t figure out much, but I’ll tell you what we know. The ritual was conducted a long time ago, and it had traces of Christian influence. It’s a kind of spell that’s at least 50 years old.”

“A spell from over 50 years ago is causing problems now?”

“To an outsider, it might sound strange, but this happens more often than you’d think. Just think logically. There’s no Wikipedia for evil sorcerers, and no schools for them either.”

“I get it. What you’re saying is that the knowledge isn’t preserved and passed down properly, and organizations like the Administration actually prevent its spread, right?”

“Exactly. The more forbidden the knowledge, the harder it is to preserve it in its entirety. Even when someone stumbles upon such knowledge, it’s usually incomplete. So, there are far more bizarre rituals happening in the world than you’d imagine. Most of them fail and leave only traces, while only a few succeed as intended. The rest just linger, waiting for the right conditions to randomly manifest.”

“So you’re saying some of these failures can ‘accidentally’ come true decades later due to random conditions?”

“That’s about right. Anything new from the scenario?”

“Nothing. It still just says to wait for tonight.”

Ahri peered out the window and muttered, “Let’s patrol together.”

We spent the evening patrolling the grounds, checking out the ritual site Grandpa and Ahri had discovered.

I didn’t find anything new.

The ritual seemed like a random pile of junk to me, and there wasn’t anything outside.

The boarding school itself was located in a remote area of Indiana, far from where any outsider would easily stumble.

“This is frustrating. And what’s with this Santa thing? Isn’t this a high school? Shouldn’t Santa events be for elementary schools?”

“You can’t think of this as someone from the 21st century. At this time, there’s no such thing as smartphones.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Stuff like this is how they keep kids entertained. When you lock kids up in a rural American school, they’re bound to get bored out of their minds, so the school organizes events like this. The kids know Santa’s just a guy the school hired. Apparently, they even asked for presents a few days ago. Of course, I’m not sure how you and I fit into that.”

Like that, midnight crept up on us without any real progress.

***- Miro

“Yaaawn~!“

I let out a big yawn and looked around.

Everyone seemed tired but still awake.

When is Santa going to show up?

Kain looked more nervous than sleepy.

“Kain, what present did you ask for?”

“I don’t know.”

What a dumb answer.

“Why is everyone waiting for Santa anyway?”

“Don’t you know? He used to come into the dorms and leave presents in socks by the beds. But some girls’ parents didn’t like the idea of a stranger coming into the dorms. So now we all get presents on the first floor.”

“…That’s a very practical reason.”

“When will Santa come?”

Kain made a thoughtful expression for a moment before answering.

“The Chat Window—no I mean, I was told he’ll arrive around 2 A.M. If you’re sleepy, you can sleep beforehand.”

What is he talking about?

“2 A.M.? But it’s midnight right now.”

“Huh?”

“He’s already here. Look, I can see him outside.”

As soon as I said that, Kain’s face turned pale.

Why’s he acting so scared?

He was like this earlier with the reindeer too.

Maybe he’s more of a scaredy-cat than he looks.

<Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh! What fun it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh.>

The cheerful carol rang out.

On this cold winter night, it was probably the most exciting time of the year.

- Bang!

Santa entered, and all the kids cheered.

“Woohoo! Santa Claus!”

“Did you bring my present?”

“Grandpa! Did you bring my skateboard?”

“Oh, my dear children. Yes, of course, I brought presents. But…”

“What?”

“Are you a good kid?”

Thomas, who stood at the front, answered with a bored expression, “Of course, I’m super good. Now hurry up and give me my skateboard. I—“

“You lied to me…”

“Huh?”

“You bad, bad boy!”

- Splat!

Thomas’s head exploded like a ripe tomato hitting the ground.

With the showers of gore and blood, bloody Christmas had begun.

***“Aaaaah!”

“Kyaaaaah!”

My ears felt like they were going to burst.

All the kids screamed and ran in a panic.

<dashing through="" the="" snow~!=""></dashing>

As the lively carol played, snow suddenly started falling indoors, making the floor slippery.

Kids slipped on the snow, and with every fall a horrific sound came from behind.

We ran, ran, ran and ran.

I didn’t want to think about what was happening behind us.

I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared.

It felt like my heart was going to explode!

What is happening? What is happening?

The teachers appeared.

At the front was the P.E. teacher who had arrived a few days ago, Grandpa Mooksung.

When he threw off his gloves, his arm transformed into something monstrous.

With a single punch, he sent Santa flying.

The teachers cheered and fired their guns at him.

It’s over now, right? I’m so tired of these bizarre situations.

But Santa stood back up like nothing had happened.

“A sleighing song tonight!”

Suddenly, the teachers stiffened like statues, dropping their guns to the floor, and began to sing.

“Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!”

As they sang, their heads wobbled back and forth, and soon, tomatoes appeared.

The entire floor was covered in thick tomato soup.

If one added some mushrooms and cracked some pepper, it would make a perfect breakfast soup.

It’s a shame there are no eggs.

I get it now.

I must have fallen asleep waiting for Santa Claus.

All these tomatoes must be because I’m hungry. When morning comes—

“Miro, don’t think. Just run.”

“Huh?”

Kain grabbed my hand and started running.

“Kain? We’re not supposed to run in the school! The teachers always—“

“Just don’t think about anything.”

“In a one-horse open sleigh!”

Another line of the carol played.

The reindeer sleigh from earlier crashed through the wall on the first floor.

The once gentle reindeer, Comet, now had its face smeared in red, feasting on the tomatoes.

As Comet chewed on the tomatoes, it began to approach me.

Am I going to become a tomato too?

- Thud! Bam!

Suddenly, Kain “disappeared” and reappeared where Comet was, sending the man-eating reindeer flying!

“K-K-K-Kain! What is that??”

Kain smirked and muttered, “That damn Santa. Now he’s summoning monster sleighs? Is there anything he can’t do?”

With that, Kain grabbed my hand and started pulling me along again.

As I was dragged away, a realization dawned on me.

This boy… he’s completely different from “ordinary people” like me.

As we ran, a car smashed through the back door of the school!

I stood there in shock as the girl in the car leaned out of the window and spoke to Kain, “I’m going to hold him off! So take this! The plate number is written on the key.”

“Huh? Wait, but I don’t have a driver’s license—“

- Vroom!

Who is that girl?

Terrifying noises echoed from behind us.

“Are you a good kid?”

“Shut up, you piece of sh—!”

- Vroom! Crash!

I felt like I was going to lose my mind.

***Without understanding a thing, I just let myself be dragged along by Kain’s Hand, running for who knows how long.

When we finally jumped into the red Cadillac’s driver’s seat, Kain let out a deep sigh.

“Ah… I really need to learn how to drive manual one day.”

“…”

“This probably isn’t the best time to ask, but are you okay?”

“I don’t even know what’s going on… It feels like I’m suddenly in a James Bond movie.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“This might be too much. Looks like we should’ve acted before that thing showed up…”

“What have you been talking about since earlier—“

<in a="" one-horse="" open="" sleigh!=""></in>

“It’s already here. That was fast.”

“…”

Just as Kain was about to leave the car, he turned back to me.

“Do you think you’re a good kid?”

“…I haven’t done anything bad.”

“Really? I don’t think you’re that good.”

“Are you picking a fight with me right now?”

“But you’re also not evil enough to die at the hands of that monster. Let’s try one more time. As long as the incense stays lit, we can keep trying.”

“What on earth are you talking about!”

Just before leaving the car, the boy smiled brightly at me.

“See you later! Everything will be fine. May these words carry magic with them!”

“…”

My mind grew foggy. As the nightmare reset to its beginning, I forgot everything that had happened once more.

<Jingle bells, jingle bells, Jingle all the way!

Oh! What fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.>