WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 100: Party Time (2) - Hatching, Book of the Avatar
──────
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 32
Current Location: Level 1, Room 105 - Rest Room
Sage’s Advice: 3]
- Han Ga-in
---Squeeeak!
“Argh!”
“Hey! Bring something, anything!”
“What do you mean, anything?! Does anyone know what we're supposed to feed it?”
“Song-i! Do you know anything? Should we give it milk?”
“I've never raised a baby bird either.”
Pure chaos!
After taking a short nap in the room, we found Room 105 already in an uproar by dinnertime.
A creature that looked like a baby parrot had hatched from the Egg, something none of us could've imagined.
Seriously, what were we supposed to do when this thing suddenly appeared and none of us knew anything about raising animals?
Amid the chaos, the parrot began squeaking like mad.
A bird that came from the hotel's Golden Egg! There was no way it could be an ordinary bird.
We couldn't let it die just because we didn't know how to raise a baby bird!
[Sage’s Advice: 3 -> 2]
‘Please tell me everything about how to raise a baby bird!’
Even as I asked, I was incredibly uneasy. Would I get a normal answer?
‘Raise it with devotion.’
If I got an answer like that, we'd be in serious trouble.
Instead, I received a kind, detailed answer, completely unlike what I'd expected.
[Feed it a mash made by crushing egg yolk with a small amount of water. Make it a bed out of soft clothing. Its infancy will not last long, so take care for only a few days.]
... What was this? It felt like the ‘kind advice’ I'd experienced after obtaining Descent for the first time.
Had the Owl become kinder because it was a bird too?
I told everyone what Sage’s Advice said.
Everyone frantically brought boiled eggs from the dining table to make mash, took off their clothes to wrap around the bird, and caused a huge commotion.
“Song-i!”
“Yes?”
“How long do ordinary birds stay babies? We have to enter a Curse Room in a few days.”
“I don't know either. But according to the advice you received, ‘its infancy will not last long.’ Isn't it different from an ordinary bird? The hotel wouldn't make us raise a baby bird for a whole month.”
That was convincing. She was probably right.
Only after making a tremendous fuss for over an hour did the room finally calm down.
Jin-cheol muttered with a vacant expression.
“Now we have to raise baby animals too? Don't tell me we'll have to raise a human baby next time.”
Even in the middle of all this, Eun-sol spoke coolly.
“If something happens, use Sage’s Advice again right away. It's an extraordinary creature that came from a Golden Egg. We can't let it die pointlessly.”
“It must be extraordinary, but what kind of ability could it have?”
“Who knows? It probably won't do anything until it's past infancy, at least.”
Even afterward, the baby bird squeaked once every ten minutes. Every time it did, we lost our minds trying to feed it mash. I couldn't even tell whether I was eating dinner through my mouth or my nose.
Was it because of Affinity?
The baby bird naturally went to whine beside Song-i, and Song-i naturally began feeding it mash.
Only after the bird fell asleep did the rest of us relax a little.
“This is really exhausting.”
“...”
“Yeah...”
As everyone sat there blankly, A-ri spoke up.
“Use Sage’s Advice one more time and ask if there are any precautions.”
“Didn't we already hear them? Feed it mash properly and keep it warm.”
“That's just how you raise an ordinary bird. This bird can't possibly be ordinary, so ask something more specific. Like, ‘Is there anything special we need to be careful about?’”
I was a little worried. Since earlier, I'd been asking for advice about things I knew absolutely nothing about.
Would I get a normal answer? Still, there was no other choice.
[Sage’s Advice: 2 -> 1]
‘Tell me the special precautions for this bird!’
[The Grotesque Parrot must not be left alone at night.]
...
For a moment, I was speechless.
What was that name? ‘Grotesque Parrot’?
What kind of bird had such a vicious-sounding name?
What would happen if we left it alone at night?
I relayed the advice.
Song-i answered as though it were no big deal.
“I'll take it with me when I sleep.”
“You said you've never raised a baby bird. Are you sure?”
“I've raised kittens and puppies before. Won't it be similar?”
I had no idea whether it would be similar, but aside from Song-i, no one here had even raised a dog before.
Once things calmed down, we started thinking rationally again.
“I know everyone's distracted, but we have a lot to do during this Party Time. We need to visit the Sanctuary of Blessings and examine the Book of the Avatar. We also need to think about each of our blessings and decide which room to go to next. If there's time, I'd like to get some counseling about Descent.”
When I mentioned counseling, I looked toward the Management Bureau people.
“So this isn't the time to focus only on the bird. We need to get on with what we have to do. How about we go to the Sanctuary of Blessings and enhance our blessings first?”
A-ri had a different opinion.
“If we go to the Sanctuary of Blessings, some people will fall asleep for a day because of the enhancements, right? If something strange happens to this bird while that happens, it could be difficult for the rest of us to deal with it. Let's postpone the Sanctuary of Blessings this time. We'll take care of the bird ourselves, so I think you should study the Inheritance first.”
I was clearly going to be the busiest person during this Party Time.
I had to work on my proficiency with the Inheritance, enhance my blessing, and think about Descent.
Grandpa Mook-seong agreed.
“That's right. Focus on your own work this time.”
Naturally, I seemed to be exempt from raising the bird.
I left Room 105 alone and took out the Grimoire.
Even with the Filter on, I felt like vomiting the instant I tried to open it.
I forced it open and stared straight at the strange letters.
... My consciousness bubbled like foam and sank into the abyss.
* * *
- Han Ga-in
A distant voice, as though it would melt my brain, echoed in my ears.
Where was this?
I want to get out.
Let me out.
It's too dark here.
.
.
.
I'm
going
down.
An endless abyss.
Darkness with no end, no matter how far I descended.
A space where only ‘below’ existed.
Someone writhed in the darkness beyond.
As I swam through a sea of despair, I learned the Grimoire's true nature.
Long ago, the Unborn One awakened to self-awareness within the remains of its dead mother.
For eons, it endured a nightmare without knowing who it was or where it existed.
When the death of the Nebula Dragon drove its world toward destruction, mortals who sought to stop the end came into contact with the dragon's remains.
The heroes of that other world learned that a god's child lay within the dead god's corpse.
At that very moment, the Unborn One first learned that there was an ‘other’ in this universe.
It grew angry at the whole world and envied the whole world. Even the mortals who had come into contact with it became objects of its envy.
The one who envied everything created powers so it could leave the world.
It fashioned the power of Possession to take mortal bodies.
It fashioned the power of the Avatar to manifest another self in the outside world.
It fashioned the power of Sacrifice for its true birth.
The means through which it could share fragments of all those powers with its servants was the Grimoire!
Understanding came with disappointment.
The most powerful authority, ‘Sacrifice,’ had been edited out.
Before the hotel was reconstructed, in true history, the Grimoire had been called the ‘Book of Sacrifice.’
Yet the authority of ‘Sacrifice’ I could faintly sense was evil in the extreme.
That was why the strongest power remaining in the Grimoire was ‘Avatar,’ and why the Grimoire's name became the ‘Book of the Avatar.’
At some point, I came back to my senses. I found myself standing in the corridor, leaning against the wall.
“Bleegh!”
I vomited violently onto the corridor floor.
An unbearable sense of alienation struck me.
Have you ever felt as though the body your parents gave you at birth was nothing more than clothing?
The moment I awoke, I realized what it meant to become the Grimoire's owner.
I was now free from my body.
At this point, my flesh was nothing more than clothing.
I had gained immortality!
Immortality, the thing even an emperor who ruled a continent had longed for so desperately.
I'd gained it only a month after arriving at the hotel.
But what I felt now wasn't a refreshing sense of freedom, nor joy at having transcended humanity.
My entire body felt like restrictive clothing, and I knew I could take that clothing off.
My whole body felt uncomfortable. I wanted to take it off.
A nauseating sense of alienation filled my head.
Perhaps someone had heard me vomiting, because someone came out of Room 105.
“Ga-in? Are you okay?”
“Eun-sol...”
The moment our eyes met, I knew.
I could take that clothing and wear it.
I gritted my teeth and turned away.
Endure it. What reason could I possibly have to steal a companion's body?
After apologizing, I headed toward the refreshment table near the front desk to spend time alone.
I'd better be alone today.
If Possession, with immortality casually included as though it were a bonus service, was only one authority, then what exactly was Avatar, which surpassed it?
Strangely, I still couldn't understand Avatar.
I decided to use my final Sage’s Advice for today to understand the Grimoire.
* * *
- Yoo Song-i
Ga-in suddenly started vomiting.
Eun-sol, who had gone out to check on him, came back. She had a puzzled expression on her face.
“Is he okay?”
“I don't know. Nothing seemed particularly wrong with him, but he seemed a little on edge. He said he wanted to be alone.”
“Could it be because of the Grimoire?”
“Who knows.”
Why had he suddenly become like that? Should I go out and check too?
---Squeeeak!
Ah, I couldn't go out. It was starting again.
The bird seemed to have fallen asleep for a moment, only to wake up and make noise nearly once every ten minutes.
At least I understood what ‘its infancy will not last long’ meant.
I'd never raised a bird before, but I had raised kittens and puppies. This bird's appetite wasn't normal.
It endlessly gulped down mash, to the point where I wondered whether it was physically possible for something that size to eat so much and so often.
It was probably the only baby animal in the world that could eat thirty egg yolks in an hour.
Only a few hours after hatching, its growth was already becoming noticeable.
At first, it honestly looked creepy, but feathers quickly came in and it grew a little larger. Now it was starting to look like a fairly cute parrot.
What kind of ability did this little one have?
One thing was certain. It wasn't an ordinary animal!
At first, everyone diligently prepared mash and cushions, taking care of it with all their hearts.
Yet only a few hours later, everyone had subtly wandered off somewhere to rest, leaving me surrounded by syringes full of mash.
Why did it suddenly feel like I was raising this thing alone?
Was this the kind of solo childcare I'd only heard about? None of them even had jobs to go to!
I could understand Ga-in, since he was having a hard time because of the Grimoire, but the rest of them were too much.
Still...
I remembered what Eun-sol had said earlier.
I often just sat there blankly during meetings too.
The people who were good at meetings worked hard during meetings. Since I was better at raising animals, I should think of this as my job.
As I fed it mash for a while, I remembered what we'd discussed earlier.
We'd said we should think about our own blessings during this Party Time, right?
That reminded me of the Sponsor I'd met when I enhanced my blessing recently.
The others said they'd had amazing conversations with their Sponsors, but I hadn't had anything like that.
An elephant so huge it seemed to reach the sky had simply appeared before me, nudged me once with its trunk, and that was it.
Then I received my enhanced blessing, Telepathy.
... Surely it hadn't chosen not to say anything because it was going to give me an enhancement that let us communicate only through our minds?
I hadn't had many chances to meet Chaos Entities, the targets of my Affinity, so I hadn't had many opportunities to use it. But while caring for this little one, I naturally began gaining experience.
Just as its name suggested, the emotions and impulses the bird felt were transmitted to me. I also realized that I could convey my feelings to it.
Endless hunger, fear, curiosity, and... love.
I could feel that this little one sincerely trusted and depended on me.
That fact filled my heart with affection.
That was why I could care for it without getting too angry, even though everyone else had quietly slipped away.
Since I was the one raising it anyway, I should be the one to name it.
Forget that awful name, Grotesque Parrot! Your name is Pero now!
I cared for Pero until nightfall, then brought Pero to the cushion I'd made beside my bed.
That night, I learned what Pero's terrible ability was.
Footnotes:
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