WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 99: Party Time (1) - Reviewing and Resting

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 32

Current Location: Level 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 3]

- Han Ga-in

I came out of Room 102.

I often felt dizzy for a while after leaving a Curse Room, but today was worse than usual.

Was it because I'd been in a state beyond human?

My eyes naturally fell on the Grimoire in my hand.

The last time we got a star, there'd been that whole thing about a ‘Time of Choice’ and deciding who would receive the Inheritance. This time, the Grimoire came straight into my hands without any of that.

It was probably because I'd practically handled the final battle alone, so the difference in Contribution was too great.

The Grimoire gave off a bluish glow. Anyone could tell it was screaming, ‘I'm an Inheritance!’

The others who came out of the room stared at it with curious expressions too.

Elena came over and spoke in an intrigued voice.

“Is this the Grimoire?”

“I think it is-”

A-ri cut in with a shout.

“Elena! Please refrain from such rude speech!”

“Huh? Yes?”

“How dare you speak like that to the Son of Heaven! From now on, you have to bow every time you say a word to the Son of Heaven.”

Ah! Seriously, stop!

“Please stop...”

“Son of Heaven? Did I offend you? Should I bow this time?”

Seung-yeop joined in, looking curious.

“Sis? What are you talking about?”

“From now on, whenever you ask Ga-in the Jesus anything, you must bow at a ninety-degree angle and speak with your hands clasped together. I didn't follow that rule, so I almost got beaten to death by an angel in the Curse Room.”

...

A-ri made fun of me nonstop until we reached Room 105.

Song-i and Seung-yeop must've found it too entertaining to watch, because they prayed every time they spoke to me. Jin-cheol even started making the sign of the cross with a tiny cross he'd found somewhere.

That was when we arrived at Room 105.

What kind of god was that Son of Heaven bastard trying to be, acting so dramatically?

He wasn't even a god himself. He'd borrowed power from the Lord.

Was he some rich kid in a drama, showing off with money his parents earned?

Why had he worked so hard at pretending to be a god with someone else's power?

And when did these people get so good at working together?

* * *

Just as expected, the moment we returned to Room 105, fireworks went off and a flashy notification appeared.

/Dear valued guests! Congratulations!

All hotel employees sincerely congratulate you on discovering your third treasure.

An unknown Adversary! The fear of having your body stolen! An Evil God seeking birth!

You who have overcome all those trials are surely the heroes we have awaited.

Four days of rest starting tomorrow! You should become accustomed to your treasure.

Today's surprise event begins: Party Time!

# Party Time will last for four days, during which no dangerous incidents will occur./

?

I'd seen Party Time several times, enough to have roughly memorized the message. The moment I read it, I noticed it was slightly different from usual.

“This is different from the previous Party Time notifications, isn't it? The parts about congratulating us, resting, and practicing are always there, but the part about finding secrets that only reveal themselves during Party Time is gone.”

Eun-sol tilted her head as she replied.

“A change in wording like that can't be meaningless. Could it be...”

“Does it mean there are no more secrets to find now?”

Everyone fell silent for a moment. Should I use Sage’s Advice?

Before I could, A-ri answered.

“That’s what it means.”

A-ri's answer ended our worries. As expected of someone on her second run through the hotel!

... Sometimes I wondered if A-ri's memories were a little too convenient.

Why did it feel like she only remembered things when she wanted to answer?

Either way, if that was true, there was no need to explore any further during this Party Time!

After coming out of Room 102, we ate in Room 105's dining hall, and I began explaining how I'd resolved it.

Since I'd been the one to resolve it at the end, I gave most of the explanation.

“Did you roughly understand everything I've said so far?”

It was such a surreal story that even I, the one telling it, wondered what on earth I was talking about.

Naturally, the others looked like they were holding back the urge to yell, What are you even saying?!

A-ri, who had encountered me just before I entered the underground area and understood the situation a little better than the others, spoke up.

“I get it, more or less. To put it simply, we were practically doomed because we couldn't stop the Evil God's birth, but Archangel Ga-in cleared it by praying, right?”

Without hesitation, I took out my pen and scribbled across A-ri's eyes!

Caught off guard by my swift ambush, A-ri couldn't even react before her vision was covered. She quietly climbed onto the table and knelt.

“How long do I have to bow for?”

Still, that was actually a good summary. I really had cleared it by praying, hadn’t I?

Eun-sol joined the conversation, tilting her head slightly.

“To be honest, I don't understand any of the parts about fighting an Evil God or a dragon awakening. Sorry, but I don't think you fully understand it either, Ga-in.”

“That’s right. As I said before, it felt like my ego disappeared after I used Descent. I'm trying to explain by piecing together the information left in my head, but it's difficult.”

“But there is one part I understand. That notification we got after you cleared it was a little strange.”

“It was.”

“Honestly, the rest was just routine praise, saying we did well and worked hard. I think what it really wanted to say was, ‘Don't take this kind of self-imposed hard mode route next time.’”

“It seems the hotel doesn't view our resolution this time very favorably. I can guess why. We made a fatal mistake during the fourth attempt.

“By the end of the third attempt, the hint had almost certainly meant, ‘Don't go underground.’ If we'd kept that in mind, we never would've gone to the underground Altar no matter how Lee Se-hyeon tempted us. If we hadn't split up by going underground...”

Grandfather Mook-seong answered.

“The crystal would have vanished if we'd waited, and Jin-cheol could've beaten an Apostle to death by himself as long as the Bell kept ringing. There wouldn't have been any troublesome business like the mansion's monster waking up, and even if that had happened, we could've smashed it if we'd stayed together.”

Jin-cheol asked with a slightly confused expression.

“But the Grimoire was underground. Could we really have avoided going down there?”

I thought of the answer.

“There was no need to try to get the Grimoire early in the first place. Didn't we get the star fragment as a reward after everything was practically over?

“If we'd just waited beside the crystal together like Grandfather said, it would have vanished eventually. Then we could've killed the Apostle while ringing the Bell and wiped out the sanctuary in the Otherworld with the star. Wouldn't that have resolved it?”

“Come to think of it, aren't we on the first floor right now? There's no way the condition for resolving it was suddenly fighting and defeating something as ridiculous as a god's son.”

After listening for a long time, Seung-yeop summarized the conversation.

“In short, we made the wrong choice and went down the bad ending route, but Angel Ga-in forced a clear by using the Descent cheat code. That's probably why the hotel's reaction is so negative.”

Without hesitation, I scribbled across Seung-yeop's eyes too.

How far did this pen's abilities go? I never knew it would be this useful.

Seung-yeop soon began bowing beside A-ri.

A-ri's waist must've started hurting, because she stood up and grumbled.

“Seriously, what the hell! How can people not make mistakes? The scenario suddenly got rewritten and everything went to hell. Isn't it normal to make mistakes?”

She wasn't wrong. Of course ordinary people made mistakes. But...

We couldn't be ordinary people.

“An ordinary person might collapse in terror at the sight of a single lion, but a hero would keep their wits about them or beat the lion to death even in that situation. Maybe the hotel is looking for heroes like that.”

“I don't care. Ga-in got the Inheritance in the end, so let's call it good. Now wipe this off my eyes.”

Eun-sol changed the subject.

“No, this isn't something we can just brush aside. We need to think about why we made that mistake and how to prevent it going forward. I'll be honest today.

“Looking at how our meetings have gone, Ga-in, Grandfather Mook-seong, and I do about ninety-five percent of the talking, while everyone else often just listens. Eight of us are gathered, but the real meeting is usually held by only two or three people.”

Eun-sol had suddenly hit us with the facts. Everyone around the table went quiet.

“We held a meeting after the third attempt too. The problem was that we rushed through it and moved on.

“Why did we do that? There probably wasn't any particular reason. Maybe the three of us just happened to be tired at the time.”

It felt like we were being scolded by a teacher.

Unable to bear it, Song-i replied.

“I'm sorry...”

“No, I'm not lecturing anyone. It's something that often happens when a lot of people gather for a meeting at work. Even at a large company, you can have over twenty people sitting around a table, but when you look closely, only about three of them are actually thinking while the rest are just going, ‘Time, please pass!’”

“There was one method I used in situations like that.”

I was curious.

“What was it?”

“It's called a devil's advocate. One person has to give the opposing opinion no matter what. From now on, I'd like A-ri to take on that role.”

Eun-sol pointed to A-ri and asked her to take the role of offering a different perspective during meetings.

A-ri answered.

“I'll participate more actively in discussions from now on. And.”

“And?”

“And Ga-in, seriously, wipe this off my eyes now.”

That was probably enough feedback on the meeting.

I brought up what I'd been thinking about for this Party Time.

“Let's hold meetings that way from now on. It doesn't have to be A-ri, but one or two people should always bring up a different perspective.”

“Ga-in, I'm telling you to wipe this off my eyes first.”

“Let's also think about how we'll spend this Party Time. We don't need to explore this time, so we have plenty of time. During this period, we need to think about ourselves.”

“Think about my eyes too.”

“Our blessings. Don't you think there are too many secrets? We still don't know much about our own blessings. Let's talk about our blessings whenever we have time.”

Grandfather Mook-seong replied.

“That’s a good idea. We should actively use your advice for that. For a while, we need to carefully use all of your advice every day and study our blessings themselves.”

The afternoon meeting ended around then.

A-ri eventually tried to strangle me, so I had no choice but to wipe her eyes clean before returning to my room.

* * *

- Kim Mook-seong, Kim A-ri

Kim Mook-seong: Private chat. Is it true that there are no more hidden elements?

Kim A-ri: Yeah.

Kim Mook-seong: How do you know?

Kim A-ri: Compass.

Kim Mook-seong: Three hidden rooms, three hidden NPCs? The rooms are the Sanctuary of Blessings, souvenir shop, and safari, while the NPCs are the doctor, Merchant, and shop girl?

Kim A-ri: No. Two hidden rooms, two hidden NPCs. The hotel told us about the safari directly. It isn't a hidden room. The girl in the shop is part of the shop. Not a separate NPC.

Kim Mook-seong: No need to search the underground area anymore?

Kim A-ri: There may be new hidden elements after going up to the second floor. There are no more right now.

Kim Mook-seong: Do we need to keep hiding Compass?

Kim A-ri: Still thinking about it.

* * *

- Han Ga-in

I rested in my room and thought.

This Party Time had no ‘exploration.’

What should I do?

I roughly organized my thoughts and wrote them down in the Status Window.

1. Think deeply about each person's blessing.

2. Learn about the Inheritance and the Book of the Avatar.

3. Visit the Sanctuary of Blessings.

4. Think about Descent as well.

5. Decide which room to enter next.

Wow! That's a lot.

... Let's just sleep for a bit.

We could think it over when we all gathered in the evening, and use Sage’s Advice too.

...

That evening, something happened that overshadowed everything on the list above.

The ‘Egg’ began to hatch.

Footnotes:

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