WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 120: Room 107, Gate Room - Third Trial (11)

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Episode 120: Room 107, Gate Room - ‘Jekyll and Hyde Game’ (11)

- Han Ga-in

The group began racking their brains.

If there was one silver lining, the Jekyll and Hyde Game felt like a variation of Mafia. The only one among us who didn't know what Mafia was happened to be Grandpa Mook-seong.

While Grandpa Mook-seong frantically asked the people around him all sorts of questions, I began questioning the Host.

“How much can you answer?”

/Within reasonable limits. Naturally, I cannot answer questions such as who Hyde has possessed./

What common sense could possibly apply to a bizarre game like this? It sounded like the Host was saying it would answer whatever it wanted.

Still, we were the ones at a disadvantage, not it. I fired off every question that came to mind.

“You mean Hyde will possess one of us once the game starts? Can it use the possessed person's Inheritance or tools?”

/Hyde is an entity that strictly adheres to the rules of the game. Hyde will not use a participant's Inheritance, nor will it harm you by any means other than execution./

So Hyde wouldn't suddenly use a bracelet or the Grimoire. Got it.

Eun-sol quickly asked a question of her own.

“Every round, we have to discuss who Hyde is during the day. Can Hyde listen in and participate in those discussions?”

It was an extremely important question. Wasn't one of the Mafia's main roles in a Mafia game to interfere with the civilians' discussion?

/Even if Hyde possesses someone, it does not take away that person's free will. Therefore, Hyde cannot participate in the discussion. It can, however, listen to it./

By this point, I was beginning to get a sense of what Hyde was.

An entity that strictly followed the rules of the game.

An entity that didn't take away its Host's free will.

Rather than a being with its own consciousness, wasn't Hyde more like an AI created solely for the sake of the game?

It was fortunate that Hyde couldn't interfere in our discussions. Still, the fact that it could listen was enough to make my thoughts even more tangled.

Everyone racked their brains and asked the Host whatever they were curious about.

The thirty minutes flew by.

* * *

- Round 1, Han Ga-in

---Beep!

/Jekylls. The Jekyll and Hyde Game will now begin.

Round 1, daytime, has begun. For fifteen minutes, the Jekylls may identify and execute Hyde. The Doctor may designate a person to defend./

...

Grandpa Mook-seong spoke first.

“So this Hyde thing has possessed one of us?”

“I think so. But they said Hyde doesn't take away free will, so even the person who's been possessed wouldn't know Hyde is inside them.”

I'd been told it was impossible, but I still looked at Song-i just in case.

Song-i scanned us with her bracelet.

“I don't know.”

“They said we couldn't find Hyde with an Inheritance in the first place. What about Pero? Any reaction?”

“It's hard to communicate properly without my blessing right now, but aside from that, there's no reaction.”

Just as Song-i said, Pero was munching on sunflower seeds brought from the rest area, looking as though it had no idea what was going on.

We were in a life-or-death situation, tense beyond belief, yet the parrot was peacefully eating sunflower seeds. I couldn't help sighing.

Try earning your keep, Golden Egg...

Once we failed to find Hyde with either the bracelet or Pero, everyone fell silent.

A-ri, who had been quiet until then, spoke.

“It would be pointless for everyone to drink my blood and try to find it that way, right?”

“They said we can't find Hyde with an Inheritance.”

“I don't understand.”

“What don't you understand?”

“If we can't find Hyde with an Inheritance, why are we allowed to use them?”

“...”

“If they wanted to stop us from using Inheritances, they could've sealed them too. Leaving the Inheritances available while only preventing us from finding Hyde means...”

Eun-sol answered.

“It means we're supposed to use them for something other than finding Hyde.”

Fifteen minutes wasn't much time. There were already less than five minutes left.

“Host!”

/Yes./

“Has the Doctor already been selected?”

/Yes. The Doctor already knows that they are the Doctor./

At that, we looked around at each other.

“So one of us is already the Doctor.”

Grandpa Mook-seong spoke as if he found it fascinating.

“Oh! Who is it? Have you decided who to defend, or-”

---Smack!

A-ri slapped the back of his head.

Honestly, if A-ri hadn't done it, I would've stopped him even if I had to kick him.

“Please! Grandpa Mook-seong. If the Doctor reveals themself, Hyde will kill them!”

“Ah.”

Eun-sol sighed.

“Sorry, but please remember at all times that Hyde can hear our conversations too.”

At least I knew one thing.

I wasn't the Doctor, and neither was Grandpa Mook-seong.

If that old man had been the Doctor, he would've already been asking questions like, Who should I protect? and scrambling our brains.

“Three minutes left. Should we just pick someone at random?”

A-ri nodded.

“No other choice. Let's pick someone for now. Seung-yeop, you choose a person.”

“Huh? My blessing is sealed.”

“Just do it.”

Seung-yeop hesitated, then pointed at Song-i, who stood to his left.

Song-i didn't say anything, and the Host watching us responded.

/Jekylls. Have you judged participant ‘Song-i’ to be Hyde?/

!

A suffocating realization suddenly struck me!

Before anyone else could answer, I shouted first.

“Waaaaait! Host!”

/Yes./

“What happens if we judge Song-i to be Hyde? If Hyde is inside her, does only Hyde disappear? Or don't tell me Song-i dies too?”

The other companions finally understood the situation, and their faces went pale.

/There is no way to execute only Hyde. Removing the Host is the only way to remove Hyde./

Eun-sol clutched the back of her neck and swore.

“Seriously? Fuck, we don't kill just Hyde, we kill its Host?”

A-ri hurriedly asked,

“Do we have to kill one person every day?”

/No. If you do not wish to, you may give up on identifying Hyde./

The instant we heard the Host's answer, Seung-yeop shouted.

“Cancel! Cancel it for now! Sorry, Song-i.”

“It's okay. More importantly, we can't keep going by picking someone at random and hoping we happen to find Hyde. The odds of hitting Hyde by chance are too low.”

At that point, I realized something.

“I was wondering why only the third trial would let us resurrect one dead participant. This is why.”

A-ri continued.

“Even if we respond perfectly and find Hyde the moment the game starts, the person Hyde possessed has to die. Since the rule that one person dies even with a perfect response is unfair, they gave us one resurrection.”

In the confusion, we ultimately couldn't name anyone as Hyde.

/The sun now sets. Daytime has ended, and Hyde's time has come./

My consciousness grew hazy...

* * *

- Round 2, Han Ga-in

I suddenly came to my senses. When I raised my head, everyone was waking up with puzzled expressions.

Who was it? Who had Hyde executed?

...

Everyone was fine.

The Host immediately descended.

/Congratulations. Hyde's first execution has failed. The Doctor successfully defended the correct target.

Round 1's Hyde was ‘Yoo Song-i.’ Hyde will now move to another person./

...

“Huh? Whaaaat? I was Hyde?”

Song-i was the only one completely shocked.

Eun-sol immediately asked her,

“Didn't you feel anything strange? Some dark presence inside you? An evil voice filled with malice?”

“I didn't feel anything occult-like at all.”

A-ri began thinking too.

“So even the person possessed can never know? Still, the Doctor stopped it in Round 1?”

Grandpa Mook-seong was the only one spouting nonsense again.

“Wow! Who's the Doctor? You're good at this game! No, how did you even manage to pick the right one in this situation? Seung-yeop, was it you? Your instincts for picking people are no joke-”

“Could you shut up already!”

This time, A-ri kicked him. Grandpa Mook-seong finally fell silent with a dejected expression.

Elena, who had been quiet until then, spoke.

“You're already doing well, but Doctor, please stay hidden as long as possible.”

While everyone offered opinions in the middle of the chaos, I...

Fuck. Fuuuuuck! Aaaaaah!

I covered my face with both hands and began regretting it!

Lucky or not, Seung-yeop had pointed at Song-i right away!

If I hadn't interrupted his choice and we'd named Song-i, Hyde would have disappeared as Song-i died.

Then, after clearing the game, we could've resurrected Song-i. It would've been the perfect ending, clearing it without anyone being sacrificed...

How had Seung-yeop picked her immediately? His blessing was sealed.

Was it just pure luck? Whatever it was, it was driving me crazy how much of a waste it felt.

A-ri, apparently thinking the same thing, immediately grabbed Seung-yeop's arm.

“I knew it, Seung-yeop, you're the only one! That's pure skill. Blessings are just a bonus! Pick again!”

Seung-yeop looked almost crushed by the immense pressure.

If he hadn't known that the Host would die too, he probably would've picked someone again. But now that he knew the Host would die, Seung-yeop couldn't choose anymore.

This time, too, fifteen minutes was far too short.

The information we had learned in Round 1.

Song-i had been Hyde's first Host. We didn't know the execution target, and the Doctor had successfully defended them.

That alone wasn't enough to tell us Hyde's next Host or its next execution target.

I don't know.

What on earth was Hyde's standard for choosing its Host and execution target?

Round 2 passed amid the confusion.

/The sun now sets. Daytime has ended, and Hyde's time has come./

My consciousness grew hazy...

* * *

- Round 3, Han Ga-in

The moment I woke up, I looked around. Who was it this time?

...

Again, everyone was fine.

The Host descended.

/Congratulations. Hyde's second execution has failed. The Doctor successfully defended the correct target.

Round 2's Hyde was ‘Park Seung-yeop.’ Hyde will now move to another person./

While Seung-yeop stood there blankly in shock, I was shocked too.

The Doctor had successfully defended someone two rounds in a row?

The first time, they could've randomly picked someone and gotten lucky. But twice in a row?

Even with a simple calculation, the odds of getting that right through luck were extremely low.

I felt relieved.

I'd vaguely suspected it from the start, but Hyde's selection criteria definitely weren't random.

There was some kind of priority in its choice of execution target.

And one of us, selected as the Doctor by the Host, had vaguely understood Hyde's selection criteria.

Someone else who had realized the same thing spoke up.

“Looks like the Doctor God has realized something. The problem is, we have absolutely no idea what it is the Doctor God realized...”

Grandpa Mook-seong, who had finally picked up on things a little, joined in.

“At least it'd be nice if we knew who that Hyde bastard was targeting. Isn't there any way to find out?”

The Doctor would know. The person they defended was the very person Hyde had chosen as its target.

After thinking for a moment, Eun-sol took out several sheets of paper.

“We don't have much time, and I can't think of a better method. The Doctor can't openly lecture us, so let's do this.”

She quickly wrote something on the sheets.

Each sheet contained a table listing our names and the rounds.

The moment I saw them, I understood what she meant.

“Everyone, turn around and pretend to write something. Anyone who's not the Doctor, don't touch your paper. Only the Doctor marks theirs. Just make a dot, so your handwriting won't give you away.”

A brief moment passed.

The papers handed out to everyone were gathered back onto the table.

Every other sheet was blank.

Only one sheet had two dots on it.

Footnotes:

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