WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 140: Room 107, Gate Room - Final Trial (31)
──────
- Han Ga-in
How could we wake Elena?
The biggest problem was that she'd become far too successful in this stage.
She was already such a star that she was being cast in leading roles for all kinds of dramas and films.
Just approaching her was difficult for an ordinary person, and even if we managed it, bodyguards would always be nearby.
That meant we couldn't use forceful methods like the ones used to wake me.
If we tried anything like that, the bodyguards would shoot us dead.
Still, we had a few things in our favor.
A-ri, who'd woken up first and begun waking the rest of us, shared her thoughts.
“There are two things we can use. First, the emotions Elena will feel the moment she sees us. We've already experienced it ourselves, right? Even when we're swept up in Perfect Life and can't come to our senses, we feel intense emotions the moment we meet each other. Elena will be the same.”
“We'll have to get into Elena's line of sight somehow.”
“That won't be easy either. Still, if we look into it, there must be a way. Second, Elena has forgotten us, but we know Elena. If we can somehow get a chance to talk to her, we can bring up stories from her past that she's told us and pique her interest.”
“A few things come to mind, but most of them are just fragments Elena mentioned in passing.”
“Even that will make Elena curious. From her perspective, complete strangers know stories from her childhood.”
“So it's simple. Get into Elena's line of sight somehow, make her aware of us, and find an opportunity to talk.”
Song-i, who'd been listening quietly, spoke up.
“Wait, hear me out. I'm the only one who used to talk to Elena a lot. I have some ideas about how to get her attention and what to say to her.”
After considering Song-i's suggestions, we spent a long time discussing how to approach Elena and wake her.
* * *
- Elena
...
...
I'd had a deep dream. An unfamiliar, strange place.
A bizarre hotel where endlessly terrifying, horrible things happened.
Companions who were with me in that place.
One scene from that long memory remained etched in my mind.
A young man like an angel, surrounded by a shining halo.
What was that dream?
“Elena! Elena!”
“Ah.”
“Not ‘ah.’ It's about time you woke up.”
“Thank you, Manager. How long until we reach the set?”
“About thirty minutes. I'll show you today's schedule again.”
The manager beside me took out a tablet and showed me the evening filming schedule and late-night broadcast schedule again.
Ah, it definitely felt like I'd achieved a long-held dream, but now that I had, it was unbelievably exhausting.
Still, this was the life of a star! I had to endure it.
It was early evening, and darkness was beginning to fall. I rubbed my sleepy eyes and looked out the window.
Maybe because today's drama shoot was taking place somewhere scenic, the surroundings were already filled with lush trees, a gentle breeze, and the fragrant scent of pine tickling my nose.
Beside the road our car was traveling along stood a tree so enormous that I wondered what kind it was. Perched on one of its branches was a bird with an incomprehensible beauty unlike anything I'd ever seen before-
???
What was that?
“What is that?”
The car suddenly slowed, and everyone inside stared up at the tree in surprise.
Trembling pale-purple feathers. A curved beak that formed a graceful arc. Tail feathers as splendid as a peacock's.
The surreal bird, like a fairy descended from heaven, looked down at us as a soft radiance glowed from its entire body, faintly illuminating the night.
Maybe it was because everyone, including me, was used to cameras.
As if enchanted, everyone pulled out their cameras and frantically took pictures of the bird.
The bird, which vaguely resembled a parrot, seemed to remain still in its mysterious splendor. Then it suddenly looked at me.
“E-le-na.”
I was utterly stunned when it suddenly said my name.
While I could only sit there with my mouth open, the bird flew off somewhere.
Everyone began looking at me in shock.
What a heart-pounding mystery!
A strange exhilaration swelled in my heart after that unbelievable experience.
I was so excited that I got scolded quite a lot during that day's shoot.
* * *
“Song-i, do you really think this stupid plan will work? You think strapping a mini LED lamp to Pero's back will enchant Elena...?”
“Ga-in! Just do what I tell you for once.”
“No, I've been trying to tie the lamp to its back, and it's been going completely wild.”
“I know because I've talked to Elena a lot. Elena is secretly really into occult stuff, you know? She's incredibly weak to pretty, mysterious things. And there's no creature prettier or more mysterious than Pero.”
“Ga-in, quit complaining and tie it on. Song-i is busy dressing me up. Pero does look strange, though. But why can't a parrot talk properly? Is one sentence really that hard? ‘Remember me, Elena.’”
“If it comes down to it, we'll just have it say ‘Elena.’ I guess Pero is dumber than I thought.”
--- Screeeech!
“Seriously! Stop biting me! Song-i was the one who came up with the idea to tie a lamp to your back!”
* * *
- Elena
I barely managed to finish filming.
The director and senior actors who usually praised me scolded me a little today.
I had to apologize several times too.
Ah! I wasn't normally the type to make so many mistakes while acting.
But it couldn't be helped today.
That mysterious creature I saw on the way to the set!
Some people said it was probably just a kind of parrot, but I completely disagreed.
What parrot in the world looked that mysterious?
It even gave off light, and more than anything, it called my name.
It had to be some fairy-like creature sent by a mysterious fate.
My heart began to race at the thought that something mysterious might happen in my life again.
Again? Had something similar happened before?
After tilting my head for a moment, I leaned back in my chair and began to doze off again.
There was still time before the late-night broadcast. If I didn't nap when I could, I wouldn't get enough sleep.
...
“Elena! Elena!”
“Huh?”
“Wake up! Look ahead.”
I rubbed my eyes and sat up at my manager's urgent shout. The car had stopped again.
It was evening now, dark enough that I could barely see ahead.
When I looked out the window, the bird I'd seen on the way to the set was looking down at us, even more mysterious than before.
Once again, people got out of the car, and I heard cameras clicking.
How could a bird like that exist? I stared at it blankly for a long time, amazed.
...
“E-le-na.”
The sound of it calling me was even clearer than before.
The bird slowly moved toward the forest as if asking me to follow.
As though hypnotized, I followed it blankly.
“Elena! Hiking at night is dangerous! Please come back!”
I heard voices calling me from behind.
The voices of the kind people who always looked after our safety.
But right now, right now, I couldn't help it.
Thankfully, I didn't have to go deep into the mountain.
After going in just a little way, I found a small clearing. The bird was sitting quietly on a tree branch.
The moment only the bird and I remained in that mysterious clearing!
The fairy revealed its true form.
The parrot's body suddenly swelled as if it would burst.
Its soft pale-purple feathers, like down from heaven, turned into black scales as hard as steel.
Its beak, once curved as cutely as a child's tiny fist, transformed into one powerful enough to crush a human head in a single bite.
Its cute wings, like something that might be attached to the back of a baby angel, changed into an incomprehensible, alien form like a mass of tentacles.
Before the grotesque monster that had suddenly appeared before me, radiating overwhelming pressure, I could only collapse to the ground in shock.
...
...
Unexpectedly, the monster did nothing and simply looked at me.
Then, from one side of the forest, someone appeared who was no less mysterious than the bird.
Flowing hair like a waterfall held the faint night sky before dawn within it.
Between the folds of the cardigan swaying in the wind, various unfamiliar occult symbols caught my eye.
A small perfume bottle sloshed with a liquid as red as blood. A swaying candlestick and a gleaming Dagger seized my attention.
The Scales attached to the left side of the chest gave me such a strange sense of déjà vu that I could barely think clearly.
More mysterious than anything were those eyes.
The moment those red eyes, filled with blood-red droplets that Jesus might have shed when nailed to the cross, pierced through me, I froze, completely overwhelmed.
The girl, like a witch who had crossed over from another world, gently stroked the bird that had become a monster before approaching me.
“Don't you know me?”
I couldn't breathe. I, I knew this girl...
I knew her!
My heart simply cried it out. I knew this girl!
From the very first moment I saw her, I felt an indescribable familiarity.
She seemed about to say something else to me.
Then a booming voice came from behind me.
“Miss Elena! Didn't I tell you hiking at night is dangerous?”
Someone came closer, breaking branches and trampling the grass.
In an instant, the forest's peace shattered. Unfeeling shoe heels trampled the surreal and summoned reality back.
“Ah...”
“I guess it's too much to talk any longer today.”
The girl looked disappointed as she held out a photograph to me.
“You'll find it soon. Next time, I hope you'll come alone.”
With those words, she and the bird vanished like the wind.
--- Clack!
“Ah, why are there so many branches here? Miss Elena? Are you all right? Why are you sitting here alone-”
“Why did you come so quickly?”
“Pardon?”
The words came out more sharply than I intended.
Something unbelievable, something that felt as though it would never happen again in my life, had been taking place. I felt like it had been interrupted.
But the bodyguards had only come to protect me.
“I'm sorry. I was just thinking about something complicated.”
“It's all right. Let's return to the car.”
As I walked back to the car, I looked at the photo in my hand. It showed a café overlooking the sea.
She told me to come alone, right?
* * *
“That was a shame. Elena definitely looked like she was starting to wake up. Wouldn't it have been better to try a little longer?”
“If we'd continued and the bodyguards rushed in, who knows what might've happened? We might have ended up unable to get near Elena at all.”
“What if Pero just pecked Elena once with its beak?”
“... If Elena found out Ga-in suggested that, she'd definitely be hurt.”
“What if Elena suddenly summoned bodyguards with assault rifles, like you summoned oil?”
“Is that possible?”
“Elena is the person who has changed this stage more than anyone else. She's the most deeply immersed in the dream, and she's wielding the wish-granting power more powerfully than anyone. Using force against Elena is far too dangerous. In the most extreme case, even if we blew Elena's head apart, she might simply dismiss all of this as a bad dream and forget it, and only we might die.”
“Right. Let's guide Elena toward waking up on her own somehow.”
“Now, let's finish the preparations at the café. Ga-in, you're ready, right?”
“I don't think there's much for me to do. I've mostly finished preparing. It feels like we're almost at the end.”
Footnotes:
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