WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 117: Room 107, Gate Room - Second Trial (8)

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Episode 117: Room 107, Gate Room - ‘Witch’s Forest’ (8)

- Han Ga-in

[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 40

Current Location: Level 1, Room 107 (Gate Room)

Sage’s Advice: 3]

After the first trial, we were given only an hour to rest.

Of course, that was far too little for us after fighting the fakes under such extreme tension.

Strangely, we began recovering our strength during the second trial.

Because Arima could only take human form from midnight until just before sunrise, there was nothing in particular for us to do from morning until midnight.

We spent that time making plans and catching up on the sleep we could not get at night.

My body felt considerably better now, and Jin-cheol seemed to be sleeping almost comfortably.

Scenario Understanding hinted again today that Arima was realizing something.

Was it not finally time to make a decision?

Even if Jin-cheol did not wake up, I felt we should give up on any further treatment and kill Arima.

I shared my opinion with the others.

Grandpa Mook-seong gave an indifferent response.

“Wasn’t it you, Ga-in, who kept stressing how important Jin-cheol was and saying we should wait longer until just recently?”

“My thoughts on Jin-cheol’s importance haven’t changed. But if Arima becomes any stronger and Elena can no longer suppress her, I think we’ll be in danger.”

“I don’t understand your concern. You and A-ri spouted bullshit you made up on the spot, and the witch gained some great enlightenment from hearing it? Do you think that makes any sense?”

“...”

“My opinion is the same as yesterday. Laypeople can’t distinguish a con artist’s plausible words from what a real expert says. Arima may be a witch, but she probably lacks knowledge in matters related to Possession. Didn’t she just misunderstand your bullshit on her own?”

“Scenario Understanding is giving us a kind of warning. It’s hard to see it that way.”

“I heard that sentence too, but...”

Grandpa still looked unconvinced. I understood why. Jin-cheol’s treatment was almost complete.

With just a little more treatment, our most physically powerful and dependable companion would wake up. It was understandable that suddenly suggesting we give up now would be hard to accept.

Eun-sol, who had been listening quietly, spoke.

“I agree with you, Ga-in. And I want to tell you about a bad feeling I’ve had since yesterday.”

“A bad feeling?”

Eun-sol took a sip of tea before continuing.

“What if the idea that you were talking bullshit was a misconception from the start?”

“What?”

“Ga-in, have you ever been to a Buddhist temple?”

“Not at all. I went to church briefly when I was very young.”

“Then how did you know terms like impermanence and no-self?”

“Uh... They just came to mind. Maybe I learned them while studying Korean history?”

“My whole family is Buddhist, so I can tell you. Impermanence, all existence is suffering, no-self, and nirvana is peace. In Buddhism, they’re called the Four Dharma Seals. They’re central doctrines of the faith. Knowledge like that would not be on the college entrance exam. And yesterday, the lecture you and A-ri gave explained those concepts rather plausibly. There were plenty of differences in the details, but even those differences did not feel randomly made up. They seemed to contain profound philosophy from another perspective.”

...What was that supposed to mean?

A-ri and I looked at each other in confusion.

“Knowledge so similar to profound Buddhist doctrine that it’s hard to believe you made it up at random. You don’t even know where you got that knowledge. I think I know why. You and A-ri have one thing in common. You’ve both read the Grimoire.”

As the Grimoire’s owner, I had read it several times. A-ri had opened it during the first attempt at House of Horror.

A-ri spoke uneasily.

“Are you saying the Grimoire’s knowledge seeped into Ga-in and me without us even realizing it?”

Eun-sol nodded.

“That’s how I see it. I don’t have an Inheritance, but everyone who has obtained one says knowledge related to it naturally seeps into their minds. Something similar must have happened to the two of you after seeing the Grimoire. Normally, only its owner can read it, so Ga-in should have been the only one to gain that knowledge. But A-ri, you read the Grimoire using your own power and endured it for a while. Maybe some of its knowledge seeped into you too.”

A-ri and I were thrown into confusion.

Knowledge from the Grimoire had entered our minds without us knowing?

A-ri had only seen it once, but I had continued reading it afterward.

If what Eun-sol said was true, there had to be enough knowledge about the Grimoire somewhere in my head to fill an entire bookshelf.

Grandpa Mook-seong cut through the confusion.

“Think about the Grimoire later. After hearing Eun-sol, I’ve changed my mind too. If you really passed some of the Grimoire’s evil knowledge to the witch and she gained enlightenment from it, this is serious. Elena?”

“Should I use my power as soon as the witch enters next time?”

“I think that would be best.”

Song-i offered a similar but slightly different opinion.

“How about we let her treat him just for today? It really feels like Jin-cheol will wake up soon. It seems like such a waste. Let’s ask her to only treat him without giving a lecture.”

Would that work?

“The witch seems very calculating. Would she really do that if we ask for treatment without a lecture?”

Song-i looked at me with an odd expression.

“On the first day, she probably wouldn’t have. But now...”

“Now?”

“Now, if you say you’re tired today and ask her to only treat him, she’ll do it.”

What did that mean?

Unexpectedly, Eun-sol answered in agreement.

“Now that I think about it, I also think she’d agree to treat him once without a lecture. Let’s do that. We ask for treatment just for today, and after it’s done... slash!”

As she said “slash,” Eun-sol made a cutting gesture with her hand. Elena nodded.

Midnight approached amid growing tension.

* * *

- Han Ga-in

Arima entered.

“Miss Arima. I believe I must make a rather rude request today.”

“What might that be?”

“I think I’ll need a day to prepare my lecture. Your progress has been so rapid that I have to teach concepts of increasingly higher caliber. Thinking about them briefly each day is no longer enough.”

“Oh! I completely understand. Since I began walking the path of pursuing Arcane Arts, I’ve never met anyone as wise as you, teacher. If the knowledge is so advanced, then of course you’ll need time to prepare.”

“However...”

“Your companion’s treatment cannot be delayed. I’ll gladly do it, so you needn’t worry.”

It was that easy?

I had expected some arguing or a battle of nerves, so Arima’s willing acceptance caught me off guard.

What was even stranger was that several of my companions had already expected this to happen.

I stood there blankly, feeling like I was the only idiot, while Arima began treating Jin-cheol.

Leaning against the wall, I watched Arima and everyone around her.

...

Was today the fifth time Arima had come here?

A great deal had changed since the first day.

Song-i, who had wanted to kill Arima on the first day, was playing with her alongside Pero.

Whenever Pero repeated one or two of Arima’s words or rubbed its beak against her cheek, Arima laughed like an ordinary young girl.

Seung-yeop casually tossed cards around as he teased her, while Eun-sol sat nearby and chatted with Arima about this and that.

Grandpa Mook-seong and A-ri also discussed Jin-cheol’s treatment with her.

It seemed only Elena and I still maintained the same tension as on the first day.

As our tension eased, I could feel Arima’s tension easing as well.

For example, Arima had not brought any guards with her since the first day.

Maybe she was confident she could turn into a monster and subdue us, but more likely, she had stopped worrying that we might harm her.

The witch who had enjoyed tearing slaves’ skin off in front of us and savoring the sight of our fear was gone as well.

Whenever blood was going to spatter or the treatment was about to become especially brutal, Arima warned us to turn away first.

...Why had she changed so quickly?

I had an idea.

Arima had been treating Jin-cheol for days.

It was not easy to keep feeling hostile toward someone treating your companion.

She’d killed slaves for magical research. Even now, she was sacrificing slaves to treat Jin-cheol.

Once we ourselves had requested that brutal treatment, it became hard to condemn her any longer.

Putting aside the fact that she was evil, she was honestly pretty too.

That was why I became certain.

We had to kill her before we whitewashed her any further in our own minds.

Today really was the right time. Killing her seemed to be the condition for clearing this trial in the first place.

While I was thinking about this and that, Arima spoke.

“The treatment is nearing its end, but it will become a little brutal from here. Why don’t you all leave the mansion?”

When Arima called something “brutal,” it meant an ordinary person could not watch it while sane.

About two hours passed. It seemed she was doing something for much longer than usual.

“You may come in!”

As we entered, I subtly gestured to Elena. She nodded as though she understood.

We would check Jin-cheol one last time, then finish this.

The moment we entered, I went over to Jin-cheol.

Even breathing. Faint coughs. A number of other signs confirmed that his recovery was nearly complete.

I asked one last question.

“Do you think he’ll wake up soon?”

“He’ll wake up within two or three hours at the latest.”

Perhaps because the treatment was over, Arima wore a somewhat sentimental expression.

Now it was time to signal Elena-

“Teacher.”

“Yes?”

“There’s something I absolutely must tell you. Would that be all right?”

“Go ahead.”

“I’d like to say it with just the two of us. It will only take a moment.”

...I was caught off guard. The Chat Window chimed.

Kim Mook-seong: Stop screwing around and kill her. Elena!

Elena: She’s not lying. It really seems like she has something to say.

Kim A-ri: She might reveal a secret. She says she’s not lying, so let’s hide and watch.

In the end, we decided to go out and talk for a moment. I was uneasy, but Elena could fly into the sky and move at tremendous speed the moment she used Justice, so I decided to trust that she would watch from hiding.

I had a feeling something unusual was about to come from Arima’s mouth.

--- Click!

The door closed behind us.

In the end, I came out to speak with Arima alone, as she had suggested.

Since we were going to kill her anyway, I wondered if there was any need to talk. Still, I was curious whether some hidden truth might come to light.

“Did you have something to say?”

After a moment of silence, Arima began a long story.

She told me how her parents had sold her as a child. How an evil mage bought her and used her and other children as assistants and experimental materials. How, through a series of fortunate circumstances and events, she killed the mage and stole the results of the mage’s research.

Had she called me out because she wanted to tell me her story?

“You must have gone through difficult times.”

“Do you know what I envied most while treating your companion?”

“What was it?”

“Your disciples have such a wonderful relationship with you, teacher. It feels less like a master-disciple relationship and more like friendship, but you still respect and care for one another.”

I wasn’t actually their master.

“Is that so?”

“If the mage who bought me had been a person like that! Would I have lived differently too? Could I have respected my master from the heart and spent whole nights discussing the truth, exploring it together?”

I wouldn’t know. I’d never lived that kind of life either.

“Perhaps you could have.”

“I want to serve you too. I want to learn your wisdom and share what little knowledge I have with you.”

“...”

Silence filled the space around us.

Was this witch saying she wanted to follow me?

Honestly, I’d been considering when would be the best time to kill the witch, so I felt a little sorry for her.

...Pickled eyeballs. Human flesh sausages.

Come to think of it, there was nothing to feel sorry about.

It seemed the conversation was about to end, so I asked what I had been curious about for days.

“Did you gain some kind of enlightenment from my recent teachings? It seems you’ve made remarkable progress.”

Had she been waiting for that question? The witch’s face brightened in an instant.

“Of course. I learned far more from you in three or four days than I had through years of research. No-self! The human mind is an illusion, like flowing waves. There is nothing unchanging in the self, only an ever-changing, flowing collection. Why have I clung meaninglessly to something with no real substance?”

I didn’t know either. I didn’t even know how she understood my words and came up with this.

“As you may have already guessed, I’ve abandoned my attachment to an unchanging mind. The continuity of memory and self is meaningless. Is there any need to cling to it? Preparations to be born anew are nearly complete.”

What on earth was she talking about? What had I guessed? Be born anew?

“There is only one regret left. I suppose this too is because I am so lacking compared to you, teacher. I wanted to live as a woman for a little while too.”

Arima smiled shyly at me.

? This atmosphere was strange-

...

Soft and warm.

In an instant, Arima approached me, and something soft touched my lips.

I was completely stunned.

My first kiss in the hotel carried a scent like a mixture of mint and roses.

“M-Miss Arima?”

Arima smiled demurely.

“I’m sorry. I thought I would have no regrets if I kissed the most wonderful person I’ve ever met just once before it all ended.”

I really couldn’t take it anymore! What had she been talking about this whole time?

“What are you talking about? Being born anew, abandoning regrets, what exactly do you mean-”

Without answering, Arima smiled faintly, put her right hand to her head, and used an incomprehensible power.

Arima’s head melted in an instant before my eyes.

The young woman who had given me a fragrant kiss ten seconds ago became a headless corpse sprawled on the ground before me.

Footnotes:

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