Hello Dole4150,
It is possible to have the wired connection in a separate room. However, whether it will require random wires through the house depends on how your house is wired.
If there is an ethernet jack in the wall, the house is likely pre-wired for a network. Typically, those jacks all run to a central location, usually in the basement (if your house has one). If your house doesn't have a basement, they'll usually run to an area close to where the other utilities enter the house (ie electrical box). If that area also has cable access, you could place the modem/router there and connect the RJ45 connectors directly into the unit. If that area is in the basement, you should note that Wifi access could be reduced if the unit is further from the rest of the house.
If there is also an ethernet jack in the living room, there is an option to keep the modem in that room, but it's a little more complicated. Assuming you can identify which cables run to which rooms, you could get a separate dedicated router. That router would be placed where the wires converge (note: this router would need to disable DHCP). You would then connect a LAN connection from the modem to the wall. The wire connecting to that room would then connect to the INTERNET jack on the router. The other room wires would then connect to the LAN jacks on the router. You can see here for additional information.
There are also other options where the wires might be more exposed or require greater access to walls, floors, ceilings, etc but the exact layout of your house would be required. For example, my sister's house has an exposed ceiling in the basement. My brother-in-law drilled two holes in the floor (one where the modem was located and the other in their office, which was on the other side of the house) and passed an ethernet cable between and around the floor joists.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
