Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 109

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 108: Party Time (10) - Strategy Meeting (2), What Is Luck?

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* Evening, Day 3 of Party Time

- Han Ga-in

“The second floor is interesting too, but let's leave it there and focus on the Gate Room. You remember A-ri's explanation, right? Let's work out a strategy.”

Her words brought everyone back to reality.

The second floor was something to worry about later. For now, the Gate Room came first.

I wrote down the Gate Room's characteristics as best I could.

First, Curse Rooms came one after another. There were only brief breaks in between.

Second, anyone eliminated midway could only revive if at least one person made it through the entire Gate Room.

Third, there didn't seem to be any Prisoners, and the reward wasn't an Inheritance.

“It’s hard to come up with a strategy from just that. We don't know anything about the individual rooms. Do you know any other characteristics? Not even how many rooms there are?”

A-ri seemed to consider it from every angle, but her answer wasn't very satisfying.

“I experienced the second floor myself, but I've only heard things about the Gate Room.... Besides, as everyone knows by now, my first party wasn't the sort to share information generously.”

I'd decided not to rely on advice emotionally, but I needed help right now.

‘Give me advice for preparing for the Gate Room.’

[Sage’s Advice: 3 -> 2]

[Preparing for the college entrance exam begins with analyzing mock exams.]

...

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

I'd expected a strange answer, since I was asking for advice with so little information about the Gate Room, but wasn't this a little much?

I told the others both the question and the answer.

Jin-cheol let out a sigh as soon as he heard it.

“Is that Owl bastard some kind of Sphinx? Why does it always make us solve riddles?”

“Not always. It happens when I ask questions while we don't have enough information, like now.”

“But we're always short on information in this hotel!”

“That's the problem.”

I thought it through carefully.

The college entrance exam naturally referred to the Gate Room, didn't it?

Then did mock exams refer to Curse Rooms? If so, the meaning of the advice was this.

[Reflect on the lessons of the Curse Rooms you've faced so far.]

“I think the college entrance exam refers to the Gate Room, while the mock exams refer to Curse Rooms. Maybe it means we should go over the Curse Rooms we've already cleared.”

Eun-sol replied, “I thought something similar too....”

“From what I've noticed after receiving advice so far, there isn't a single word or metaphor in it without a reason. Every word and every metaphor has meaning. There are countless metaphors it could use, so there must be a reason it chose college entrance exams and mock exams.”

“Then what do you think that reason is, Ga-in? You're our resident entrance-exam expert.”

“Thinking back to entrance exams, problems that appeared on mock exams often showed up again in similar forms on the real test. The Curse Rooms we've already gone through will probably appear again in the Gate Room, similar but slightly altered.”

“Then let's review each Curse Room and pick out keywords to watch for. What about Room 101?”

“Strange Family and Common Sense-Altering Media. A lot of keywords come to mind. The first important thing was quick reflexes. Mental attacks started the moment it began, so we had to act immediately. Next was deductive reasoning. We had to find the right location.”

“I can talk about Room 102. The keyword is ‘carelessness.’ House of Horror wasn't as fast-paced as Room 101. On the first attempt, the first night passed without anything happening. Even after the scenario changed, a day or two would pass without incident. Then your guard would drop, and before you knew it, you'd be caught in an irreversible trap.”

Song-i, who had been listening, spoke up.

“I think the keyword for Room 103, Human Ranch, is ‘doubt.’ Doubting the whole reality in front of you. Keeping in mind that even the setting we've been given could be a lie or an illusion. It's honestly the mindset of someone with paranoia, but I think it's necessary in this hotel.”

What about Room 104?

“What do you think Room 104's keyword is? We never cleared it, and we decided to skip it, so I have no sense of that one.”

A-ri answered.

“Open-mindedness? Daughter of Heaven might be the strongest Adversary out of every room, but despite having that power, she acted more secretly than anyone else. We needed to take into account that she was mindful of outside eyes.”

“Look beyond the stage?”

“That's just my guess. I never actually went through Room 104. Once we do, something completely different might turn out to be the key.”

“Let's leave it at that. Since we don't know the details, thinking of a few things to watch out for is probably the best we can do.

“We need the reflexes to respond to attacks that come the moment a scenario begins. We need deductive reasoning to analyze twisted scenarios. We need to doubt everything in front of us, and on top of all that, we need to think creatively.”

Jin-cheol spoke as if he couldn't believe it.

“Is that even humanly possible?”

“Let's do our best. At worst, we'll die.”

I said it with a laugh, but nobody laughed.

That ended all of the day's meetings.

The next day, everyone spent the fourth day of Party Time resting or training, just as promised.

* Dawn, Day 4 of Party Time

- Park Seung-yeop

It was frustrating.

For some time now, I'd always been frustrated with myself.

Why was I so stupid? I wasn't good at studying, I wasn't good at sports, and I wasn't even particularly good at games.

Whenever Mom and Dad pushed me, I'd yell at them not to interfere with me. Once I calmed down, though, I knew it too.

If I'd at least been a middle school Challenger in League, maybe my parents would've trusted me. Everything I did was below average, so the people around me couldn't help interfering.

Nothing had changed after coming to the hotel.

At first, I escaped Strange Family through sheer luck. Back then, I thought I might actually become something.

Then I came to my senses and found that I was still the same. I was just following smart, strong people around and letting them carry me.

Was I going to live my whole life like a bus passenger, getting carried everywhere?

I sank deeper into the Nightmare.

---Splash!

“Well, this one's pretty gloomy.”

Someone grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

When I looked around, I found myself awake on a yacht drifting through the vast ocean.

A boy around my age stood before me.

He had a playful expression that made it seem like a straw hat would suit him.

“Who are you?”

“Your friend! Usually, I just watch and only meet people in the Sanctuary of Blessings, but you were sinking too deeply, so I came looking for you.”

“Friend? What do you mean all of a sudden-”

‘I only meet people in the Sanctuary of Blessings.’

Only then did I realize who the boy in front of me was.

“Gasp! A-are you my Sponsor? I'm sorry. You look different from before-”

“Was I a card back then? That's one of the forms I like too. Just call me Dice. It's my favorite tool.”

The boy playfully took out two dice from his pocket and rolled them.

As expected, double sixes.

“Why do you think I came to see you?”

“Because I'm doing so badly?”

“Let's call it frustrating rather than bad. Meeting outside the Sanctuary of Blessings is quite difficult. I used a fair amount of power, but more than that, this meeting was possible because you were almost dead.”

Dice continued while fiddling with the dice.

“Why are you always so depressed? This won't work, that won't work. You're always full of thoughts like that. At this rate, Luck will die along with you.”

“I'm not depressed because I want to be depressed. I'm depressed because depressing things happen. It's not that things fail because I think they will. They actually all fail.”

“Wow! Every syllable of that sentence made it hard to breathe!”

“...”

“What are you so depressed about? Dong-jin and Myeong-hwan, who used to torment you, aren't here. Neither are the parents who didn't understand you.”

“Why are you suddenly bringing up their names?”

“Hey, don't get angry. Think about it. What kind of person do you think Park Seung-yeop is?”

“What?”

“You lack talent, and despite that, you lack diligence too. You were like that outside, and you're like that in the hotel. You're lacking in every way, so vicious bastards gather around you. Your parents can't trust you either.”

“Is your goal to make me kill myself...?”

“Ahahaha! Of course not. It's the opposite! I'm saying I've prepared the perfect answer for someone like you. In fact, I chose you because you're exactly that kind of person.”

The Sponsor spoke as if he had chosen me. Hadn't I chosen my Blessing on my first day in the hotel, when I picked up a fragment?

Dice kept talking.

“You don't like thinking long and hard, right? You don't like putting in ten solid hours of effort every day either, right? Be honest.”

“...Yes.”

“That's it! I chose you because I thought you wouldn't do those things. Think of it like this. A question you don't know the answer to comes up, so you roll a die. It lands on three. Then you mark number three, and it's the answer. That's Luck.

“People who think halfheartedly do this instead. The die says three? But looking at the answer sheet, there are already too many number threes. Number four must be right, then? They do stupid crap like that and avoid the right answer.”

“Are you telling me not to think?”

“You've already experienced it once, haven't you? After Hotel Land, during the shooting game, you consciously tried to shoot something and hit a silver balloon. But when you shot by accident without realizing it, a golden balloon burst. In the end, the point is faith and baseless confidence.”

“What?”

I'd felt it for a while now. I was young too, but this god seemed like a kid as well. Everything he said was all over the place, jumping from one thing to another, so he was hard to understand.

“Believe! Live by faith. I'm the god of Luck, and I chose you. You're the luckiest person alive, so why can't you trust your own luck?”

“It's because I don't have enough % to activate Luck normally-”

“Luck is with you even under normal circumstances. That skill only exists for moments when you need overwhelming luck powerful enough to overturn reality.”

“I've never thought I was lucky in everyday life.”

“That's the problem. From now on, answer what I say! Got it?”

“Y-yes!”

“Faith, hope, love. The greatest of these is?”

“Huh? Um.... Love?”

“Luck.”

“What?”

“World peace, wealth and glory, A-ri being the prettiest person in the world. Which is the greatest?”

“Stop making fun of me!”

“If you're lucky, you can get them all. Luck.”

“Why do you keep choosing things that aren't even among the options-”

“That's the feeling. Got it?”

What kind of feeling was that, you crazy bastard?

“You were thinking, ‘What kind of crazy nonsense is that?’ right?”

“...”

“Don't think. Act on instinct. Surrender yourself to the beat!”

“What? What did you say?”

Dice suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the edge of the yacht.

I'd been confused from the start, so I had no idea what was going on anymore!

“What do you think will happen if you jump into the ocean from here?”

“I can't swim well, so I'll drown.”

“Couldn't a sea turtle suddenly save you and take you to an island?”

“Say something that makes sense-”

“Why doesn't that make sense? It could happen. Why do you keep thinking? Honestly, you're not that smart anyway, are you? Stop trying to make your useless brain work and just believe. There's a sea turtle below us, and it'll take you to an island.”

With those words, Dice grabbed my arm and threw me into the ocean!

“You fucking bastard!”

“Yeah!”

“I'm going to die, you fucking asshole!”

“Look closely beneath the water. Maybe there'll be a mermaid?”

...

---Bolt upright!

I came to with a dizzying sensation and found myself back in the bed in Room 105.

I lowered my head and looked over my body. A body thinner and weaker than before. A spinning head.

Ah, what a fucking mess. My Sponsor really seemed insane.

But there had been a turtle in the sea.

I jumped into the ocean, and by chance there was a sea turtle, which then saved me? How did that make any sense? Where was the logic?