Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 138

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 137: Room 107, Gate Room - Final Trial (28)

──────

- Kim A-ri

--- Whoooosh!

I grabbed my trembling legs with both hands.

I had no idea the wind was this strong on top of a building.

From the rooftop of the Management Bureau building disguised as a publishing house, I looked down at the ground.

Though it was already close to midnight, the city was full of life from its neon signs, bustling restaurants, and bars.

What a beautiful world!

And I had climbed all the way up here to jump off the roof.

I tried to think of a better way, but I couldn't come up with anything more certain than suicide.

Something horrible and miserable that I could never imagine.

Could there be a surer answer than ‘my death’?

Ever since the one nailed to a cross thousands of years ago died and rose again three days later, it hadn't been easy for a living person to experience death and resurrection.

Naturally, even among my faintly recovered memories, there wasn't a single memory of death.

I'd steeled myself on the way up to the rooftop, but once I actually got here, my legs started shaking.

... What if the idea that this world was fake was just my delusion?

What if I lost my mind during a classified mission and was doing all this shit?

Swallowing hard, I approached the rooftop railing and looked down. My breath caught in my throat.

I shut my eyes tight and climbed onto the railing.

One step. Just one more step. Don't look down.

Just close my eyes and take one step...

“Gasp!”

With a ragged breath, I finally opened my eyes.

The dizzying view from the rooftop filled my vision.

This isn't right! There had to be another, better way.

What if everything I'd thought so far was a misunderstanding?

Let's think this over again. There had to be a method a little more reasonable than suicide.

People really should think things through before acting-

--- Peeyoooooo!

Thud!

Something shoved me from behind, and I began falling through the air in an instant!

I'm definitely frying that fucking bird!

“Hey! You fucking biiiiird! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

Was I dying? Was this really how I died?

I hadn't even jumped on my own. Was a parrot's headbutt really going to be my end?

The ground rushed up at me! No, I was plummeting toward the ground at incredible speed.

An overwhelming terror I'd never experienced in my life consumed my soul.

In that brief instant, every confused thought that had filled my mind was swept away.

Only one thought remained.

Stop!

World, stop! Please, just stop!

And the world stopped.

The people who had been washing away the day's exhaustion with late-night drinks stopped.

The neon signs that blinked without rest, lighting up the city that had forgotten the night, stopped.

The flow of air that had battered my skin as I fell stopped.

Even the arrogant parrot looking down at me from the sky stopped.

Only when the whole world stopped in answer to my wish did I finally accept the truth deep in my heart.

This entire world was nothing more than my illusion!

The Pendant around my neck drifted naturally into view and opened.

It clicked open, revealing the photograph hidden inside.

The reason I entered the hotel. My precious memory that I must never forget.

In the photo was a girl who looked exactly like me except for her hair color.

Unlike the person I'd been seeing until that morning, my mother looked no older than her mid-teens.

As everything stopped, my mind drifted back into the past.

* * *

- A Memory from Long Ago

--- Screeeech.

I woke to the sharp sound of something scraping against the wall.

A clown with more than ten gleaming eyes all over its body stood before me.

I immediately gagged. But it was fine.

There was no food left in my stomach to throw up anyway.

“Get lost already.”

--- Screeeech.

The clown scraped at the glass box protecting me with dozens of fingernails.

“It's useless. This thing was specially made by the hotel.”

Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I looked around.

The beautiful hotel that people had once admired as more splendid than any hotel in the world had disappeared long ago.

The hotel had collapsed in places as though it were a ruined construction site, and monsters whose gazes were terrifying to meet were everywhere.

... Mi-ro? Where are you? Where did you go, leaving me alone in this glass box?

Time passed. The memory swayed like the wind and moved to the next scene.

I was inside the glass box again. Mi-ro appeared, bleeding all over.

“How did you get hurt this badly? Did another strange monster appear?”

“Mm, no. I got a little hurt getting this.”

In Mi-ro's hand was something like a balloon, though I couldn't tell what it was.

“Is that an Air Bubble? Didn't the other team have that? How did you get it? Don't tell me!”

“I had no choice. It's the only thing that can save you.”

With those words, Mi-ro pushed me into the glass box.

“What are you doing? Why-”

“A-ri, stay still.”

“Mi-ro!”

“A-ri, my prettiest and smartest daughter in the world. I'm more foolish than you, but I know now. We can't hold on here any longer. Right?”

“...”

“It's strange. Delicious food always used to come at mealtimes. But there wasn't any food today either. Clowns started coming out from under the beds, and transparent monsters began crawling out of the walls.”

“... It's because we haven't entered a Curse Room.”

“And we won't be able to from now on. We can't progress through Curse Rooms anymore. Right?”

“Mom...”

“It's okay. I thought something like this might happen someday.”

The balloon in Mi-ro's right hand expanded until it covered the entire box I was inside.

“How did you get the Air Bubble? Did you take it? Don't tell me... You didn't kill the people on the other team, did you? We agreed not to do that.”

“I had no choice.”

“Please. Let's leave together instead. We can just make the Air Bubble a little bigger.”

“No. It was written in the instructions when I got this balloon. This thing is for one person. If two people go in, something will definitely go wrong.”

Ever since my mind had awakened, Mi-ro had always seemed like a child. Yet that day, she was strangely smart and resolute.

“Then Mom should leave instead. I heard you used to be a very important person outside-”

--- Kiss!

Mi-ro's moist lips touched my forehead, then pulled away as the glass box closed.

“I love you.”

At Mi-ro's touch, my consciousness began to fade.

Tears poured endlessly from eyes I had thought were dry.

Using tears as ink and my soul as a notebook, I carved an unchanging vow.

I would never forget this moment.

And someday, I would definitely return to this place.

Just as you gave up your life to save me today, I swore that next time, I would save you.

* * *

- Kim A-ri

I truly woke up. A tremendous flood of information burst through a dam inside my mind and filled my head.

The sudden headache left me no choice but to clutch my head and lean against the wall for a long time.

... As my mind awakened, I realized one absurd fact as well.

I'd already died several times in this hotel.

My memories of what I experienced in the hotel had not returned, even until the very end.

Thanks to that, I couldn't imagine ‘death,’ so I was able to wake up by attempting suicide.

What would have happened if my memories of dying in the hotel had returned and I had been able to imagine death?

A chill ran through me, and I stopped thinking about it. Now that I thought about it, wasn't that an incredibly dangerous method?

Either way, that solved it, right? This long Gate Room! Cute girl A-ri carries the day~!

A holographic window appeared in the air.

/Participant Kim A-ri, congratulations on passing the final trial, ‘Perfect Life’!

One of your companions has passed the final trial! Because a companion has passed the final trial, all members will return safely.

The successful participant may immediately escape the Gate Room. Would you like to escape? (Y/N)/

“Waaaaah! It's really over! It's really, really over!”

Since the whole world had stopped, there was no one around to see me.

I spun around happily and danced for quite a while!

Just as I approached the hologram to press Y, I felt something was off.

Why was there a ‘choice’?

I'd escaped or cleared Curse Rooms many times before.

But the hotel had never offered a choice about whether I could leave.

When you escaped, you were automatically taken out. When you cleared it, the room vanished immediately.

Sometimes, when we were trying to clear a room, the ‘automatic escape judgment’ even got in the way.

So why was I being given a choice this time?

The meaning of being offered ‘the choice not to escape’ even though I had already passed.

‘I still have something to do.’

“I want to ask a question.”

/What is your question?/

“What will happen to my remaining companions after I leave?”

/You already know the answer./

The Gate Room was ultimately an enhanced version of a Curse Room.

Therefore, many of the rules that existed in Curse Rooms also applied to the Gate Room.

I recalled the time we went through Common Sense-Altering Media.

While we repeatedly made attempts to clear it, Seung-yeop was on the escape team. Every time, Seung-yeop secured an escape by moving far away from the room at the very beginning.

That was possible because Seung-yeop's escape didn't stop the others from progressing.

Unlike a ‘clear,’ where the entire world inside the room vanished, an ‘escape’ only removed the person in question from the stage while those who remained continued onward.

Until when?

Until they cleared it, escaped, or died.

I looked at the notification that had appeared before me again.

‘The successful participant may immediately escape the Gate Room. Would you like to escape? (Y/N)’

It wasn't a clear. It was an escape.

Even after I escaped, the Gate Room wouldn't disappear, and my companions would continue progressing.

...

A terrifying thought came to mind.

What would happen if my companions kept going and failed to wake up?

Unlike a Curse Room, it was a peaceful, warm world with no enemies threatening their lives.

If they lived for decades, perhaps even longer, in such a perfect life before finally awakening by chance, or only after their lifespans had ended...

The ominous thought choked off my breath.