WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 150: Rest and Reorganization (6) (Final)

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- Lee Eun-sol

“Chronic secret-making syndrome... Are you worried I might start hiding meetings like you?”

A-ri was sulking because we'd held a meeting without her.

Things like this were supposed to stay hidden.

I didn't have much to say, so I mixed her a cocktail and handed it over.

“Drink this.”

A-ri downed it in one go, and her expression improved a little.

“When I first saw the ticket, it was hard to bear. It felt like a long-held dream was about to come true. If we'd held this meeting on the first day of vacation, I probably would've reacted pretty extremely, just as you all expected. I've spent the past few days thinking it over alone.”

“Did thinking it over change your mind?”

“A practical concern came to mind. Could Mi-ro really avoid causing trouble?”

Even her daughter, A-ri, couldn't trust Mi-ro. Resurrection really was...

“Just in case, the person you mentioned before who monopolized Inheritances...”

“One of them was Mi-ro. You all already suspected that, didn't you?”

“...”

“I'll defend that part a little, though. This applies not only to Mi-ro, but to everyone in that party. They weren't evil before they entered the hotel. They were exposed to the hotel's harsh environment, and once one or two people started acting selfishly, their bond fell apart and everything collapsed.”

“So if a normal Mi-ro joined our party now, she wouldn't act selfishly?”

“Yes. Of course, that's only what I believe. I've never actually met a normal Mi-ro.”

As A-ri said that, she looked emptier than ever. Listening to her made me wonder about something.

“Since we're talking about Inheritances, if Mi-ro comes back to life, will she return with all the Inheritances she had before?”

“I wonder about that too. It applies not just to Mi-ro, but to every resurrection candidate. How much of their former strength will remain after resurrection? Will their blessings be the same? If Estavio is resurrected, will he come back with his bracelet? If the Doctor is resurrected, will he still have the healing power he had as an NPC?”

“We can't guarantee that the abilities we're using to judge them will remain after resurrection. There are too many things we can't know yet.”

“There are many secrets surrounding resurrection. We'll probably learn much of it only once we reach the Resurrection Room. We'll have to discuss it again then.”

“Let's go back to Mi-ro. I heard her current mental state isn't normal.”

“That's right. So she isn't suitable as the first resurrection target. We need to find another way.”

“Another way?”

A fire returned to A-ri's previously empty eyes. Even her tone changed.

“Mi-ro broke down and became a child while creating me. The place where I was born. The place where I began. That place. There must be a way to restore Mi-ro there too. Only after we find that way will resurrecting Mi-ro have any meaning.”

“The place where you were born. You don't know where it is?”

“I don't. The only person who could explain it became a child as soon as I was born. What kind of room, what kind of power, could have allowed Mi-ro to create me alone?”

...

That seemed to be A-ri's plan.

Even for A-ri, Mi-ro's daughter, resurrecting Mi-ro after she'd lost her sanity for some reason would be an enormous burden.

As A-ri said, unless someone stayed by Mi-ro's side twenty-four hours a day, there would be no way to stop her from doing something strange.

So her plan was to find a way to restore Mi-ro's sanity before resurrecting her.

Only then did I understand why A-ri had backed down so easily earlier.

Another question came to mind.

What had Mi-ro done to create A-ri by herself? An unknown secret room? Some mysterious supernatural power? I had no idea.

This hotel was full of far too many hidden secrets.

After handing A-ri another cocktail, I moved on to the next topic.

“What do you think about my eye now?”

“Do you want me to be honest?”

“Yeah.”

“It does look a little scary.”

“Honestly, it's ugly. Well, I can live with becoming uglier on the outside. I was prepared for that much. What worries me is recovering after we leave the hotel. I didn't expect such a major change. It feels like my bones were scraped away to fit a giant eyeball in. Can the Management Bureau treat something like this?”

A-ri tilted her head for a moment, as if she didn't understand what I meant, then slapped her knee.

“Ah! I think you've misunderstood something.”

“Just speak casually. You change the way you talk all the time, so it's more confusing. Misunderstood?”

“Most people don't realize that human eyeballs are bigger than they think. The visible part of the eye is only the area around the pupil, not the whole eyeball. Did you think your new eye was about one and a half times bigger than the original?”

“Not one and a half times. I thought it was maybe 1.3 times bigger.”

“Think about it more simply. Do you think there's empty space inside a human skull for spare parts? If one body part suddenly grew thirty percent bigger, there wouldn't be room for it. To fit it in, you'd need surgery on the level of reconstructing the human body.”

“So the eyeball itself didn't get bigger?”

“I think it got a little bigger. I can't be certain unless I take it out and look, though. But it didn't grow by thirty percent. The reason it looks so big now is a separate issue from the size of the eyeball itself.”

“More of it is exposed?”

“Right. To put it simply, you're like someone who had excessive eye-widening surgery at both corners. Even regular surgery like that can make a person's eyes look ten to twenty percent bigger. Your right eyeball isn't thirty percent larger. About thirty percent more of it is exposed. So it can be fixed after we get out.”

It was a relief to hear that my skull hadn't been carved out.

Still, the fact that it looked ugly didn't change.

“Fine, that's after we get out. But can't I make it look a little less ugly right now? The Merchant did say the hotel couldn't recover losses caused by the eye, though.”

“That probably means it can't restore your real eye. You only want to reduce how ugly it looks, so I think it can be fixed. But...”

“But?”

“Why did the Doctor perform such an ugly procedure in the first place?”

“...”

“Don't close your eyes. Stay still for a moment.”

With that, A-ri held my face in both hands and leaned in close.

Her mysterious eyes, as though a blazing fire burned within them, stared directly into mine. In response, my eye looked straight through A-ri's eyes, observing every blood vessel on the surface of her eyeballs.

“It's an amazing eye. Really amazing. Is it structured to imitate some kind of telescope? Three small lenses, like dots, surround a single pupil.”

“My eye does look strange.”

A-ri pulled back and continued.

“The Doctor wouldn't increase the exposed area of your eyeball for fun or to torment you. There had to be a reason. I think it's because all three lenses around the pupil need to be exposed.”

“Then there's nothing I can do?”

“That's as much as I can tell you. But I understand wanting to make it less ugly. If we resurrect the Doctor someday, ask the person who performed the surgery whether they can improve it.”

That ended our discussion about my eye.

It made me want to resurrect the Doctor even more.

If the person who had operated on my eye came back, couldn't they alter it into something a little less ugly?

Until then, I'd cover it with an eyepatch in daily life. Another day was coming to an end.

* * *

- Han Ga-in

Could it work?

After our discussion ended last night, I'd used Sage’s Advice and gained a useful new means of attack.

I understood the theory, but I couldn't be sure until I tried it for real.

As I wandered around wondering who to ask, A-ri approached from a distance.

“What are you doing? Spinning around like a kid.”

Was this timing fate? Perfect.

“Actually, I've been asking Sage’s Advice about Teleportation whenever I had the chance these past few days.”

“Looks like you got a decent answer. You seem pretty happy.”

“Yeah. I got some fairly detailed advice. One part explained a new way to attack.”

“A new way to attack?”

Heh heh. Look at A-ri's expectant expression! She definitely wanted to see it too. Just thinking about testing it made me feel good already.

“Watch carefully! I'll show you. Be careful.”

“Don't tell me you're going to use it on me...”

--- Whoosh! Thud!

My whole body lurched as though a huge hand had grabbed and pulled me. The unpleasant sensation lasted only a moment before my position changed instantly.

--- Crash!

A-ri was flung into the wall and slammed against it!

“What do you think? Amazing, right? This technique came from a simple idea. What happens if my coordinates and my opponent's overlap through Teleportation? The Owl gave me a more detailed explanation. If our positions overlap, the side with less mass gets flung away. Looking at it like this...”

A-ri got up while I was still explaining.

“That's quite an impressive technique. Let me show you one of my new techniques too.”

A-ri suddenly floated into the air and flew at me, then struck my body and sent me flying.

--- Whoosh! Bang!

The impact of hitting the wall so hard left me unable to breathe for a moment.

“...”

“This is my new technique. I have the strength to punch people and send them flying.”

Silence filled the room for a moment.

A-ri sighed before speaking.

“So what was the principle again? If coordinates overlap, the lighter side gets flung away?”

“That's the basic rule. But there's something I didn't know. Right after I teleport, my mass is treated as much heavier than normal. More precisely, the principle of Teleportation and...”

“Enough already! What's the point of explaining the principle of an ability only you can use? Do you really love explaining that much? The point is that you can send most opponents flying with that ‘overlapping Teleportation,’ right?”

A-ri seemed a little angry.

“Right.”

“Didn't you ask about resurrection?”

“I asked once, but it felt like it couldn't tell me any more. It told me not to get ahead of myself. Maybe saying tickets can be obtained on the second floor was the limit of what it could answer.”

“Sage’s Advice has limits too. It probably wouldn't accept a question like, ‘Tell me the hotel's origin.’”

“Our week-long vacation is almost over. It's a shame it ends tomorrow.”

A-ri counted something on her fingers for a moment before answering.

“It feels like you've built up a fair amount of skill with Teleportation, we've roughly decided how to handle the Protective Suit, we used Greedy Hand, and we talked about resurrection. I think we've done most of what we needed to do. Will the second floor open at midnight tomorrow? Or the morning after? Let's move up as soon as it opens.”

“It's a shame the Sanctuary of Blessings didn't open. Some people probably could've enhanced their blessings with the Contribution they earned in the Gate Room.”

“Well, the Sanctuary of Blessings only opens during Party Time.”

“We can still return to the first floor after the second floor opens, right? It won't become impossible to use the Sanctuary of Blessings once we enter the second floor, will it?”

“When I was here, we could return to the first floor. But the hotel always changes. Even now, there are a lot of differences from what I remember.”

“It looks like Eun-sol is ordering all sorts of things.”

“You should start preparing for the second floor too. Mentally or otherwise.”

Nothing else happened during the rest of the vacation.

On the morning after the seven-day vacation ended, a notice appeared on the hotel's display.

/Dear valued guests, greetings.

At last, the second floor of Hotel Pioneer has opened!

We sincerely congratulate all of you who have overcome many trials and reached the second stage.

New challenges and new treasures await you.

Please proceed to the elevator.

+ Note: The second floor is not heated well. Please be aware that it may be cold./

Footnotes:

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