WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 116: Room 107, Gate Room - Second Trial (7)
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- Han Ga-in
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 38
Current Location: Level 1, Room 107 (Gate Room)
Sage’s Advice: 3]
Arima’s “treatment” began.
“Arghhh!”
“Please, please save me!”
“Take your hands off! Hold them down!”
...
The treatment was beyond anything we could have imagined, leaving our group speechless.
Arima had her guards restrain the slaves, then began skinning them alive and grafting their skin onto Jin-cheol’s body.
Song-i was so shocked that she immediately tried to have Lucca attack the witch. In that brief moment, she had even named the two-headed wolf.
If I hadn’t stopped her right away, a fight would have broken out already.
The witch seemed to enjoy how flustered we were.
Song-i still couldn’t contain her anger.
“What is that? What kind of treatment is that? Stop this right-”
Kim Mook-seong: Yoo Song-i! Chat Window!
After Grandpa Mook-seong’s Communication was enhanced, the Chat Window’s character limit had increased dramatically.
It was extremely useful in situations like this, where speaking rashly could make the other side look down on us.
Yoo Song-i: Shouldn’t we stop her right now?
Kim A-ri: Please calm down. Considering the witch’s abilities, it was obvious her treatment would be like this.
Kim Mook-seong: It’s cruel, but saving Jin-cheol is more important.
Yoo Song-i: Like that?
...
For the first time in a while, I felt the disconnect between the Management Bureau team and the rest of us.
The Management Bureau team, accustomed to cruel and grotesque scenes, was judging the situation with cold practicality. For everyone else, though, it was honestly painful to watch.
When Arima began skinning the slave, I had no choice but to turn away too.
Calm down.
I forced myself to think as coldly as possible.
The Management Bureau team was right. Was there any point in suddenly worrying about cruelty now?
We had already killed countless NPCs in Curse Rooms to survive.
Saving Jin-cheol was far more important.
The treatment continued for about thirty minutes.
By the time the slave being skinned stopped screaming, Jin-cheol’s skin had begun to look human again.
She could simply peel off a slave’s skin and graft it onto him without worrying about blood types or immunosuppressants. Any doctor who saw it would keel over in shock.
Though doctors probably wouldn’t have much reason to show up in a world where magic existed.
I approached Arima.
“His skin looks much better. When do you think he’ll wake up?”
“That isn’t up to me.”
“...”
“I don’t know how he ended up so horribly distorted, but even his internal organs have been twisted out of shape. It’s amazing that he’s still alive. Of course, I can treat him, but...”
Arima gave me a knowing smile.
She had put it indirectly, but I wasn’t too dense to understand.
If I wanted more thorough treatment, I had to teach her magic.
Now it began.
I beckoned A-ri over.
Arima asked in a puzzled tone.
“And this is? She’s quite a beautiful young lady.”
“She is my direct disciple. From now on, she’ll be teaching Miss Arima the Arcane Arts. You should at least greet her.”
Arima’s expression hardened at once.
“I thought I would be learning directly from the mage?”
Sorry. It wasn’t like I had any knowledge to teach you.
I gave a soft, mocking laugh.
“...What do you mean by that?”
“Words carry power! Just because I’ve been speaking kindly, do you think you’re my equal? You couldn’t even endure a single character I write.”
“What in the-”
Without hesitation, I summoned the Grimoire and opened it slightly.
Perhaps it was because she was a witch. I opened it deliberately slowly, but she sensed danger in that brief instant and immediately looked away.
The slave beside us, half-skinned and only able to groan, didn’t react in time.
In an instant, the slave’s eyeballs melted. After letting out a single scream, they stopped breathing.
...Maybe that was better. Staying alive in that state would only have prolonged the suffering.
Arima looked shocked as she watched.
“Do you still want to learn directly from me? Miss Arima seems to have plenty of spare eyes, so perhaps it would be fine?”
“...For now, I’ll learn a thing or two from your disciple.”
Not bad.
It felt as though the psychological advantage we had lost because of that cruel scene had returned to my side.
A-ri naturally walked over to Arima and started talking.
“Listen to the theory first. The heart of Arcane Arts is impermanence! All things change without end, so matter and mind alike are like rippling waves. What flourishes declines, and what declines flourishes. Just as a full moon wanes. In the end, nothing is eternal. The mind is never one with the body, so amid those rippling waves, the mind spreads like a vibration...”
What was she even talking about? I had no idea, so I used the Chat Window without thinking.
Han Ga-in: What the hell is she talking about?
Kim A-ri: Woof!
It was ridiculous, but I forced myself to keep a straight face and chimed in now and then.
“Hmm. A-ri, explain that part in more detail. The wonder of impermanence arises from the principle of non-self. How could there be an ‘I’ in this universe? All things in existence are illusory, formed through conditions and changing with them. The ‘I’ is like an empty shadow, and a shadow can move wherever it pleases...”
Kim Mook-seong: What the hell are you even talking about?
Han Ga-in: Meow?
Kim Mook-seong: This is a complete mess! A complete mess!
Lee Eun-sol: Did you go to a temple when you were little or something?
After an hour of A-ri earnestly spouting nonsense while I added cat noises at the appropriate moments, Arima began asking questions as if she had gained some great enlightenment.
“As I listen to your teachings, it feels as though a shadow that had filled my mind for many years is lifting. Are you saying that I should not regard the human mind as bound to the brain, but as a fluid wave instead?”
...What was she talking about now?
Han Ga-in: What is she rambling about by herself?
Kim A-ri: Maybe she listened to nonsense and achieved enlightenment.
Han Ga-in: Can enlightenment really come like that?
Kim A-ri: They say Master Wonhyo attained enlightenment just by drinking rotten water.
I said we should take a short break and sat in a chair.
Had our lecture, full of nonsense and cat noises, truly moved Arima?
She went back to Jin-cheol and began another treatment.
About thirty minutes passed before Arima rose and spoke to me.
“I would like to receive more teachings from you, but sadly, there is a limit to how long I can remain human. I don’t believe we can continue today. I’ll return at midnight.”
Her attitude had truly become respectful. She even called me teacher now.
With a polite farewell that made it seem as though she truly considered me a master of magic, Arima withdrew.
...We were the most bewildered of all, staring at one another.
Eun-sol asked, “Just in case, did you tell her something you understood after reading the Grimoire?”
“I told you, the Grimoire looked like quantum mechanics written in Arabic... I just spouted whatever came to mind.”
“Then why is that woman reacting like that?”
“I don’t know either.”
Grandpa Mook-seong offered his opinion as if it were no big deal.
“Hey, have none of you ever listened to a pyramid scheme pitch? When you listen to them, everything sounds plausible. Unless you’re a real expert, you can’t tell convincing bullshit from actual professional knowledge. Why would that witch be any different? She probably just interpreted it however she wanted. Quit worrying about it and check on Jin-cheol.”
We gathered to examine Jin-cheol. Had the second treatment affected his insides too?
His breathing seemed more even somehow. It was hard to say exactly what had changed, but he now gave off the feeling of someone sleeping peacefully.
Elena looked amazed.
“It really feels like the treatment is working. At this rate, won’t he wake up soon?”
Jin-cheol’s obvious improvement lifted the mood of the party.
With the witch gone, everyone was able to rest more easily.
For the first time in a while, I caught my breath and got some sleep.
* * *
- Han Ga-in
During the day, I prepared the next plan with my companions, observed Jin-cheol’s condition, and checked the updated Scenario Understanding.
At midnight, the witch arrived.
Something similar happened again.
The witch first came to Jin-cheol and began her cruel “treatment.”
This time, around three slaves died without even being able to scream, and Jin-cheol’s internal organs began to stabilize as well. At this rate, wouldn’t he wake up soon?
Then the lecture began.
This time, I changed the topic slightly.
“What do you think about Luck, Miss Arima?”
“Pardon? Um... Is that related to your Arcane Arts?”
“Would I have brought it up if it weren’t? Focus. Those who live ordinary fates tend to think of luck as a destiny granted by heaven. They have no way to control it and can only accept it, so it’s an understandable attitude for them. But are we ordinary people? Do you intend to live that way, Miss Arima?”
“No! I... I walked this path to rise above a mundane fate. I know what people call us. They make a fuss, calling us devils and witches, and every so often people like hunters and priests come to say they’re going to kill me. Even so, I couldn’t stop.
“I may have been born insignificant, but I didn’t want to keep living that way. I want to become like a star in the heavens. The endless secrets hidden within this world! If I could claim even a piece of those secrets-”
She suddenly reacted intensely. Had yesterday’s lecture, full of nonsense, really given Arima some sort of enlightenment?
All I had done was casually ask whether she planned to live an ordinary life, but Arima showed tremendous emotion and spoke sentimentally about her dream.
Flustered, I fumbled my way through the conversation.
“Hearing about Miss Arima’s dream reminds me of eighty years ago, when I first began exploring the Arcane Arts. Every mage begins humbly.”
Kim Mook-seong: Here he goes again! Now you’re pretending to be a hundred-year-old mage?
“Let’s return to the subject of Luck. Luck is faith itself! Live by faith alone. A way of life without doubt. Conviction in yourself. I act, and the world follows. These are Arcane Arts not for Luck to lead people, but for people to lead Luck. Seung-yeop!”
As we had arranged beforehand, Seung-yeop approached. He casually tossed a die.
It landed on a six, naturally.
Having gained some confidence by now, Seung-yeop began putting on a more entertaining show.
He pulled out a deck of cards and flicked through them playfully before drawing one and sticking it against Arima’s chest.
Startled, Arima pulled out the card and turned it over.
It was a queen.
Seung-yeop casually drew another card and handed it to me. When I turned it over, naturally, it was a king.
...Even knowing about Luck, I found it amazing.
If he went to a gambling house like this, he’d become the god of gamblers.
Naturally, Arima’s eyes went wide as she stared back and forth between Seung-yeop and me.
“Can... this be learned as well?”
If this was a game of push and pull, was it time to pull back a little?
“This is difficult. It is greatly affected by innate talent. Still, I wanted to show Miss Arima the various possibilities of magic.”
You couldn’t do this without blessings.
“I’ve never met anyone like you, teacher. Even the chief mage of the empire beyond the sea, or the magician king of the kingdom east of the forest, probably don’t possess such a wide variety of powers.”
There was an empire and a kingdom in this setting too? Had those regions really been created as well?
That was enough to bring today’s lecture to an end.
Arima left the mansion again before dawn.
After she left, I recalled the Scenario Understanding that had appeared during the day.
Most of it was meaningless. Things like what plans we had made and that Arima would soon arrive at the mansion.
But one sentence gave me a strong sense of danger.
/The witch, having taken one step closer to Evil Wisdom, arrived at the mansion today as well, full of grand dreams./
...The latter half simply said she had come to the mansion, but the first half was unsettling.
‘The witch, having taken one step closer to Evil Wisdom.’
Did that really mean she had gained some kind of enlightenment from the nonsense A-ri and I had spouted?
I went outside the mansion and thought as I took a walk.
Really? Surely not. Maybe. What if...
That witch wasn’t really realizing something, was she?
I recalled what A-ri had said.
Master Wonhyo attained great enlightenment just by drinking a cup of water from a skull.
Isaac Newton was inspired to formulate the law of universal gravitation by watching an apple fall.
Enlightenment did not always come through a complex lecture from an expert.
A complete beginner with no foundation could not gain anything from a falling apple or a cup of rotten water.
But someone who had spent their entire life studying Evil Wisdom...
A witch tapping on the doorknob, only one step away from evil truth...
Couldn’t a small shift in perspective sometimes be enough to make someone leap forward by a step?
I had a bad feeling.
A villain who was actually growing stronger!
An enemy growing stronger by the moment, while we couldn’t easily make a decision because of our companion’s treatment.
Was this difficulty in choosing the core of the trial?
We’d settle this tomorrow. I had decided that eliminating the witch was now more important than Jin-cheol’s treatment.
One question remained.
If that witch was really gaining some kind of “enlightenment,” what exactly was she realizing?
I had the feeling it was some vicious realization that an ordinary mind could not even imagine.
Footnotes:
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