WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 110: Room 107, Gate Room - First Trial (1)
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Episode 110: Room 107, Gate Room - ‘Doppelgänger Train’ (1)
- Park Seung-yeop
What? What the hell... What the hell is going on?!
Screams suddenly rang out from the front of the train, then Ga-in asked me a strange question and started doing something insane! First, he calmly went over to Grandpa Mook-seong and borrowed his gun.
“Grandpa. I want to check something. Could you give me your gun?”
Would anyone suspect a companion simply for asking to borrow a gun?
“Going to shoot the window or something? Go ahead. It probably won't break, though.”
“Hmm. Even if Inheritances can't be copied, guns can? That's more convenient than a knife.”
“What?”
“Grandpa. Do you remember the name of the grandson you said had passed away?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden? That child's name was... What was it?”
---Bang!
Just as Grandpa Mook-seong tilted his head, Ga-in immediately pulled the trigger.
...
The train car I was in started filling with screams too.
“G-Ga-in! What the hell are you doing?!”
“Tell me your siblings' names.”
“What? Why are you suddenly-”
---Bang!
“What were the names of the dogs you kept at home?”
“Ahhhh! Big brother! Save me-”
---Bang!
In an instant, Grandpa Mook-seong, Eun-sol, and Song-i collapsed. Were they dead?
I'm so scared...
What is happening?
---Crash!
Something was thrown, followed by shouting. Jin-cheol and Ga-in started fighting.
“Ga-in, you crazy bastard! What the-”
“I'm crazy? Really? Isn't it the other way around?”
“What the hell are you talking about? No, you're not Ga-in, are you? Did some ghost possess you?”
---Crash!
“Of course. I'm not Han Ga-in. And neither are you.”
“What kind of bullshit is that-”
“You really don't know? Or are you pretending not to know because you don't want to? If you're really Cha Jin-cheol, take out the star.”
“...”
What does that even mean?
Jin-cheol, who'd been shouting just moments ago, took out the star and suddenly stood still as if his soul had left his body.
Something was wrong. If the star had appeared, there should've been an enormous wave that made my skin itch. Why wasn't anything happening? Ga-in calmly walked over and stabbed Jin-cheol with a knife.
“Do you get it now? You'd already felt it, hadn't you? The time of pain will begin again someday, but for now, I hope you rest.”
...
One by one, the number of living people in the train car dwindled. I was scared. So scared that my heart was pounding and I couldn't move at all.
---Tap!
The only survivor in this train car besides me sat down in front of me.
“You okay? You're covered in cold sweat.”
“...”
“Relax. You've got to keep going.”
“Who are you?”
“You still don't know? I don't really know who I am yet either. One thing's certain, though. You're the only ‘real’ person in this car.”
“...”
“Everyone else is fake. Me included. We're probably participants from a long time ago.”
“How do you know that?!”
“My body had felt uncomfortable from the start. Probably because it wasn't my real body. Then I wondered why the parrot had simply passed me by. It only reacted to you, right? That's because you're the only person it knows. Then, while looking outside, I noticed something strange about my memories. I remembered a greening project from my childhood, but that project ended decades ago, didn't it? There was no way they would've had a greening project during Han Ga-in's childhood. Finally, I tried summoning the Grimoire, but all that appeared was an ordinary book imitating its appearance. The train only sealed our blessings, so there's only one reason an Inheritance came out fake. The real one isn't with me.”
“...”
“Ah, who the hell am I? It feels like I almost remember something.”
“Why did you help me?”
The man laughed for a long time at that, then stroked my head.
“You really are an idiot, huh?”
Had five minutes passed? Someone crossed over from the front of the train car. It was Song-i, with Pero sitting on her shoulder. The man in front of me spoke when he saw her.
“Aha! You're the ‘real’ Song-i? How did you realize it? Because the parrot only followed you? Or because of your bracelet?”
“... Who's real?”
“Can't you tell just by looking? This kid is the real one!”
Diverse Perspectives on Song-i's right arm gave off a pale flash.
“Don't overreact! Are you worried I'll take him hostage or something? I have no intention of acting that pathetically.”
“...”
“Give me a little time. Just a little.”
“Time?”
“Time to remember who I really am. I cleared out the fakes for you ahead of time, so can't you give me even that much?”
Song-i came over. Pero tapped my head with its beak. Without a word, she grabbed my arm and stood leaning against the side of the train car.
“Song-i, what is this?”
“Everyone in this car except you is fake.”
“I heard that.”
“In my car, I was the only real one. It looks like all of us were divided among different train cars.”
Had three minutes passed? Ga-in, no, ‘someone,’ who'd seemed lost in thought, stood up.
“That's enough. I'll finish it myself, so move on. You should hurry, by the way.”
“What do you mean?”
“When the hotel sets out to use NPCs, there's no chance of their ‘original personalities’ returning. But I felt uncomfortable and out of place from the moment this began, then I learned the truth while looking out the window. You understand what that means, right? After a certain amount of time, all the fakes regain their senses. This is a time attack. Do you think they'll all be as cooperative as me? You should hurry if you want to save your ‘real companions.’”
Song-i's expression hardened in an instant, and she immediately approached the man. Watching her, ‘someone’ gave a faint laugh and quietly raised the gun to his head.
... One question still puzzled me. Why had that man helped me?
Before pulling the trigger, he muttered softly.
“Ah, I remember now. My name is Cha Seung-jin. To brag a little, I've got experience with the Navy Special Warfare Flotilla and the Navy SEALs. I'm confident I can be a great help to you. Remember my name.”
---Bang!
... That man wanted a chance at resurrection in exchange for helping us. Song-i picked up the gun from his body, then headed for the next car with me.
* * *
- Park Seung-yeop
As soon as we entered the next car, everyone inside stared at us with wide eyes. Song-i and I were already in that car, so there were suddenly more of us.
Amid the confusion, Song-i beside me raised her gun-
---Bang!
-and blew the head off the ‘fake Song-i’ right in front of us!
“Anyone with an Inheritance, take it out now!”
Even without Song-i saying it, someone had suddenly crossed over from another car and started shooting, so the Inheritances were already appearing. It didn't even take a second to figure out who the ‘real’ person in this car was.
---Slice!
A-ri, who'd understood the situation in an instant, ambushed the fakes from behind and began killing them!
... It was painful to watch.
Even if they were fakes, they believed themselves to be Han Ga-in, Yoo Song-i, and Cha Jin-cheol. Did we really have no choice but to kill them...?
Song-i and A-ri attacked from both sides, and the ‘fakes’ had no Inheritances.
In the end, they were all massacred so quickly it felt empty. A-ri picked up a gun from the fake Grandpa Mook-seong's body and came over to us.
“Pero only touched me as it passed, so I wondered if that was it. But every single one was fake? That's ridiculous.”
“We need to hurry!”
“Huh?”
“A fake who regained his senses told me. After some time passes, the fakes naturally realize that they're fake. What do you think they'll do then?”
“... Let's go right now. By the way, how do we tell who's real among people without Inheritances?”
“I think Pero just knows when it sees them.”
---Click!
The handgun was cocked.
“The parrot is finally earning its keep after coming out of that Golden Balloon. Unlike Inheritances, it looks like every Mook-seong on the train was given a gun. I wonder if we can take these with us?”
Things continued much the same way through the fourth car.
The moment we crossed over, A-ri and Song-i shot the definitely fake A-ri, Song-i, and Seung-yeop first, then sent Pero flying. Pero flew over and landed on Eun-sol's shoulder. Everyone else was killed.
The problem began in the fifth car.
When we entered, the ‘fakes’ in the fifth car had already begun waking up. As incomprehensible ‘real selves’ began waking in the minds of people who'd thought they were Yoo Song-i, Kim A-ri, and Park Seung-yeop just moments earlier, they began going mad and rampaging.
There was one fortunate thing. The real person in the fifth car was Grandpa Mook-seong. The train had sealed their blessings, and since everyone else was fake, their Inheritances had vanished too. No one could stop Grandpa, the only person with a gun.
By the time we arrived, Grandpa was already standing among seven corpses with a hollow expression. Even when Pero flew over and plucked out some of his hair, he simply stood still.
The real person in the sixth car was Jin-cheol. Even with an Inheritance, taking out the star without his blessing was practically suicide. Even so, he had no choice but to summon the star to face the others alone.
We crossed over in the middle of the fight and subdued the fakes, but Jin-cheol was already half-dead.
“Jin-cheol! Jin-cheol! Are you okay? What do we do... What do we do?!”
How brutal must the fight have been in that short time? He was bleeding from all over, and he'd even been shot. On top of that, his skin had changed like a lizard's hide because he'd summoned the star.
Actually, half of him looked like lizard skin and the other half like a jellyfish, so he was terrifying just to look at. A-ri spoke coldly.
“Let's go to the next car ourselves. There's no way for us to treat him anyway. He's still alive, so we have to clear this room and get our blessings back somehow. Then Regeneration will save Jin-cheol.”
“A-ri is... right. Just go. Leaving is how you save me.”
“Jin-cheol!”
A-ri didn't listen any further and dragged Song-i toward the next car. Eun-sol and Grandpa Mook-seong gritted their teeth and passed Jin-cheol too.
It was getting scarier. The farther back we went, the more fakes had regained their senses and begun acting in a frenzy. It made me realize all over again how lucky I had been. Even without a blessing!
The first ‘fake’ to awaken in my car, Cha Seung-jin, wanted to cooperate with the real person and earn a chance at resurrection later instead of causing meaningless trouble.
It wasn't just because I was grateful that he'd helped me. If someone could make a rational judgment even amid the extreme confusion and terror of their identities becoming jumbled, wouldn't they be worth considering among the people we might resurrect later?
I remembered the name ‘Cha Seung-jin.’
Only the seventh and eighth cars remained. The fakes there must've regained their senses long ago. What had happened to them?
* * *
- One Hour Earlier, Han Ga-in
---Clack! Clack!
The train traveled endlessly along tracks that stretched into the distance. Time flowed like waves. I leaned against the window and looked outside.
It had been a long time since I'd experienced sitting blankly on a train and traveling like this. When I was very young, I used to take train trips like this.
Back then, I got annoyed because there was no phone signal when we went to the countryside where Grandpa lived!
I'd heard that even rural village halls had Wi-Fi installed now.
Ah, what the hell is this?
There seemed to be a secret inside this train car, and the barrier leading to the next car would disappear once we found it... I was tilting my head when someone tapped my shoulder.
Footnotes:
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