WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 163: Room 201, Curse Room - ‘The Cube’ (12)
──────
- Lee Eun-sol
“What was the purpose of your intrusion?”
“...”
“How did you obtain information about Headquarters?”
“...”
Ah, I’m screwed.
“It would be easier for both of us if you spoke while we're still treating you politely.”
“...”
“That will be all for now. A proper interrogation will begin soon enough, once Artanin arrives and we question that person over there. By the way... your ‘eye’ is quite extraordinary.”
At least they seemed to be treating me gently because of my eye.
I could already hear Grandpa Mook-seong being beaten up across from me.
What on earth had happened to put us in this situation? I sighed and thought back.
* * *
After separating from the others, Grandpa and I entered through the TV display.
Because of A-ri’s Suggestion, we believed it was a place without much danger at the time. We kept our eyes closed and walked straight ahead for quite a while.
After bumping into something with a thud, we opened our eyes, looked around, and immediately realized.
We were screwed.
Soldiers with guns surrounded us on all sides.
Every one of them had a gun pointed at us. How could we resist?
We were subdued in an instant, dragged here, and interrogated.
At least the Chat Window worked without a problem, so we could still make a plan.
Lee Eun-sol: OK?
Kim Mook-seong: Bastards. OK.
The people in this place called “Headquarters” seemed to have plenty they wanted to ask us.
Thinking about it, it must have seemed strange from their perspective.
Now that A-ri’s hypnosis had worn off, I understood. Beyond the TV display was the source of an incomprehensible madness.
The only way to avoid madness was not knowing that such an incomprehensible monster existed!
But while the solution was simple, it was extremely difficult to carry out.
The monster wasn't invisible, so the moment you saw it, you knew it existed.
That meant you had to block your vision, but wouldn't any normally intelligent person immediately feel something was off the moment their vision was blocked?
‘There's something dangerous in this place that must not be seen.’
Even that much awareness was enough for the madness to spread.
In truth, it would be difficult to deal with it without a special method like hypnosis through A-ri’s Old Blood.
We had entered while perfectly carrying out such a difficult countermeasure.
Of course, the people at Headquarters had no choice but to wonder how we had learned all of this!
A high-ranking official from Headquarters I had met earlier, Patrick, appeared.
“Your identities have been confirmed. Miss Eun-sol, was it?”
“I never told you my name.”
“We were given your names beforehand.”
“You aren't even trying to hide it anymore. Did you plant a spy in the Management Bureau?”
“Haha! You’ve still got fire in your eyes. Isn't that eye from the Monocular Giant Bird Ibrax?”
I'd heard the words Monocular Giant Bird before, but Ibrax was new to me.
“How did you transplant that eye into a human? Even the Management Bureau's technology couldn't accomplish that.”
“...”
“My, you're quite tight-lipped. Don't worry. We have Artanin.”
I’d been hearing the word Artanin since earlier. What was it?
Patrick interpreted my confused reaction differently.
“Ho ho. There's nothing to fear. I know very well how harmful Artanin is to humans. I have no intention of injecting a young lady like you, so rest easy. Isn't it only right for an old man to suffer through the rough treatment?”
“Stick it in your own arm, you bastard!”
Lee Eun-sol: What's Artanin?
Kim Mook-seong: Powerful truth serum.
Lee Eun-sol: Ahhh.
Kim Mook-seong: Don't worry. Know how it works. Can handle it.
A countermeasure. From the looks of it, the people at Headquarters were confident in Artanin’s effects.
But Grandpa was a Management Bureau agent too, so I could trust him. There was nothing I could say.
Lee Eun-sol: Weirdly kind to me.
Kim Mook-seong: Your eye is an incredible treasure even by Management Bureau standards.
Lee Eun-sol: Think they'll pluck out my eye?
Kim Mook-seong: Can't transplant it even with Management Bureau technology. These bastards can't either.
Things just kept getting worse. I had guessed it already, but they were only pretending to be kind because of my eye.
It was too valuable to give up, yet they lacked the technology to transplant it into someone else.
If they wanted to make use of the eye, they had to keep me alive instead of killing me.
Naturally, they couldn't use an extremely harmful truth serum like Artanin on me.
Beatrix also seemed to have mind-control powers. They probably intended to use something like that on me.
A little later, a man who looked like a soldier brought over a syringe full of opaque green liquid and injected it into Grandpa's arm.
Kim Mook-seong: I'll die within three hours. Hang in there.
Lee Eun-sol: See you outside.
The enemy's interrogation began.
The truth-serum countermeasure of a veteran agent with decades of experience was absurd, yet creative.
* * *
Patrick's voice rang out.
“Kim Mook-seong. Are you ready to answer now?”
“Yeah.”
“First, let's confirm what happened earlier. Bring in the brat!”
The brat?
A little later, Seung-yeop was brought in on a cart! More precisely, the Protective Suit was brought in.
Seung-yeop inside seemed to have already lost consciousness, or perhaps died.
“Part of your group, right? Well, he seems to be dead already. He fell into the ‘trash can’ earlier. It looks like he's wearing some kind of highly specialized spacesuit, but we couldn't remove it no matter what we tried. How do we take it off?”
Kim Mook-seong: Put your hand on the helmet and the sensor activates. You aren't hotel participants, so you probably can't remove it.
“It must be opened from the inside. If you force it open, there will be a massive explosion.”
Grandpa? What are you talking about? What explosion all of a sudden? Did the Protective Suit have a function like that?
And what was that answer in the Chat Window before it?
... Don't tell me?
“Let's ask what I’m most curious about first. How did you learn the method of entering Headquarters?”
Kim Mook-seong: We figured it out based on information from the first attempt at Room 201, using Ga-in's advice.
“... We had intelligence from inside.”
“Intelligence from inside? No way! Did you plant someone on our side too?”
Kim Mook-seong: How would I know, you idiot?
“We received regular reports.”
Was that really his countermeasure against the truth serum...?
“Can we trust what this man is saying?”
“Look at the color of his pupils. Artanin is working properly. Besides, we planted Elizabeth in the Management Bureau. There's no reason the Management Bureau couldn't do the same to us. Who did you plant?”
“I don't know that. I only know the contents of the intelligence.”
Listening to the conversation from across the room, I was impressed!
The truth-serum countermeasure Grandpa had come up with in that short time was simple.
He gave the truthful answer to me alone through the Chat Window, then lied aloud afterward!
Amazing. What kind of principle did that truth serum operate on for a method like this to work?
For the first time, Grandpa felt like a real “veteran agent.”
Meanwhile, Patrick and the people around him began urgently talking among themselves.
“It appears he doesn't know the spy’s identity either.”
“He said they received regular reports. Let's ask him about the contents of the intelligence.”
“Good. Mook-seong, what was in the latest report you received?”
Kim Mook-seong: There was no such thing, you idiot!
“...”
“Why is he taking so long to answer? George, check his pupils again!”
“Artanin is still in effect. Please wait a moment.”
Kim Mook-seong: Fuck! I can't think of an answer. Eun-sol, make up something plausible, quickly!
Aah! Grandpa! You seemed like a complete veteran just a moment ago! Why were you suddenly dumping this on me?
Lee Eun-sol: Pero! Pero! They probably caught Pero somewhere around here!
“... I heard that recently, an unusual parrot with the power to transform into a monster was captured.”
“What? That only happened yesterday! A report already got out?”
“What is wrong with Headquarters’ security system? How is information leaking out this easily?”
“Could it be the research wing? The parrot should be locked up in Research Wing 2-9.”
It seemed my improvised mention of Pero had been quite a shock to them.
Research Wing 2-9, where Pero was being held. I remembered it.
A little later, most of the people around us left.
Patrick must have decided that he couldn't trust anyone except a few of his most reliable subordinates.
“Mook-seong, what is your purpose in coming here? How much does the Management Bureau know about us?”
Kim Mook-seong: We came because Room 201, the Curse Room, is this place, you idiot! What Management Bureau?
“There was a report about ‘Corruption.’ I heard it was connected to the missing people from the Arizona Branch. We are an advance team sent to investigate Hesbeth Mansion and report on signs of Corruption among the Arizona Branch survivors.”
“How...! How did you learn about that? Arizona, how did you even get information like that?”
“Something is wrong! Elizabeth never reported that the Management Bureau had become aware of Headquarters!”
“Elizabeth may have already been under their suspicion as well.”
“Now that I think about it, didn't they kill Elizabeth not long after entering Hesbeth Mansion? They already knew Elizabeth’s true identity!”
Patrick and his secretary were too worked up over the huge disaster(?) of top-secret information leaking to the Management Bureau to control themselves, but someone noticed a troubling word in Grandpa's answer.
“Reports? How are those reports made?”
“Regular reports are required every six hours.”
I was impressed. I was starting to understand what Grandpa was planning!
“Mr. Patrick, this is serious! While these people have been held here, they couldn't have made their regular report, right?”
It was about time for me to step in.
“Do you understand the situation now? A strike team will be coming in soon. At that point, I don't think your forces here will even have time to take a breath before they all die...”
“Did mentioning the Management Bureau suddenly give you confidence? Don't forget that we're standing in front of you. And you know nothing about our strength.”
“By your strength here, do you mean Beatrix? Our group is probably fighting Beatrix right now.”
“... Esteemed Beatrix will soon subdue them and return.”
“You have a lot of faith. Beatrix is incredibly strong, just as you said. Beatrix may be able to escape somehow even if the Management Bureau's forces attack. But can the rest of you survive that fight?”
The room fell quiet.
The fear that the Management Bureau's forces might attack soon had paralyzed their reason.
It felt strange to say it now, but in the real world, the Management Bureau had only seemed like a vague, intangible organization...
It really was an incredible organization.
When you got down to it, I was just an ordinary human with no combat ability at all.
Yet the moment I invoked the Management Bureau’s backing and put on a little swagger, they all seemed at a loss.
Patrick spoke calmly.
“You didn't suddenly start acting important for no reason. It seems you have something to say, so let's stop playing word games.”
“You have a way to contact the spy you planted in the Management Bureau too, right?”
Lee Eun-sol: What do you usually use to contact people? Hurry up!
Kim Mook-seong: Secure Smartphone.
Just like a normal company.
“You have a Secure Smartphone, don't you?”
“...”
“Give it to me. I'll make the regular report and tell them nothing is wrong.”
“You'll make a false regular report in exchange for us letting you leave safely? That's hard to believe. I'd like to inject you with Artanin as well.”
It was time to give a little.
“You can stand beside me while I make the report, can't you? If anything sounds strange, cut it off immediately. I'm doing this to survive too. Being killed by you is a problem, but being killed by the Management Bureau is a problem too.”
“Killed by the Management Bureau? What the... Ah, I see. Those people are brutes, after all. You must be worried they'll blow up the whole facility.”
“...”
“Hahaha! My, you're more timid than expected. It seems you don't know exactly what kind of place the Arizona Branch is. Don't worry about that. I guarantee they can never destroy this facility!”
Patrick answered confidently.
He was certain that the Management Bureau would never be able to wipe out their entire facility with something like an airstrike.
What was his basis for that? Did the Management Bureau not know the facility’s location?
They believed information about them had leaked to the Management Bureau, so they probably didn't think they were safe simply because the facility's location was unknown.
There was another reason. A definite reason the Management Bureau couldn't destroy this entire facility.
Even so, Patrick agreed to negotiate.
“Fine. We need to put out the immediate fire. But... I recommend you don't try anything foolish. We'll be watching right beside you.”
We were almost there.
Now I had to make a “request for support” to the Management Bureau without the enemy noticing, while they watched, and survive until the end.
... By the way, where the hell was Ga-in?
Footnotes:
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