WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 171: Time to Choose, Choosing the Reward
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- Han Ga-in
I was surprised that we could choose the reward, but what came next was no less shocking.
The people qualified to receive an Inheritance were those alive when the room was resolved and who had accumulated enough Contribution.
Contribution mattered, but survival was the real issue. Even though the Zero-Dimensional Eye had covered the world, someone had survived.
A notification soon appeared to answer my question.
/Participants! Congratulations once again on resolving Room 201!
Participants who have survived and contributed to the final battle are qualified to receive an Inheritance.
The qualified participants are as follows.
1. Elena Ivanova (Justice)
2. Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
However, only one person may receive the Inheritance!
The ‘Time to Choose’ will begin shortly!/
Elena was alive!
Her survival alone was surprising, but it made sense from the perspective of Contribution as well.
In both the second and third attempts after the first, Beatrix's combat ability had been the greatest obstacle. Elena had fought Beatrix more fiercely than anyone each time.
Still, it was unfortunate that Eun-sol, who had gathered all the information alone during the second attempt, hadn't been chosen. Had she died the moment the Zero-Dimensional Eye was released?
... It was sad, but I'd already experienced that myself.
What had Jin-cheol said before about the Time to Choose?
Didn't he say that when you came to, you'd be thrown into a space like the Colosseum and told to fight? Of course, I had no intention of fighting, and who would receive the reward was already decided-
A dizzying sensation struck, and I lost consciousness for a moment.
* * *
When I came to, I was definitely not in the Colosseum.
It looked like an ordinary hotel room. There was a table, a bed, and even a display.
Then I turned toward the bed.
“Ahhh!”
Elena was sprawled on the bed, apparently unconscious. Her clothes were so badly torn that she was nearly half-naked, but there was no room for inappropriate thoughts when her whole body was covered in blood.
...
Surprisingly, it didn't seem to be Elena's blood. When I carefully wiped it away with the blanket, I found that although her clothes were torn, she didn't appear badly injured. Her breathing was steady too.
Had she simply fallen asleep from exhaustion?
Elena woke a little later.
She looked somewhat flustered when she saw her condition. After drinking a glass of water beside her, she calmly explained what had happened.
While Elena had been fighting Beatrix, the power of Justice had nearly run out. Thinking she was about to die, she'd given up.
At that moment, Beatrix had flown off somewhere in a hurry. Beatrix had probably sensed my resurrection and rushed off to stop it.
Elena had immediately taken flight to chase Beatrix, but the power of Justice had completely run out. Unable to fly any longer, she fell to the ground and lost consciousness. She'd only just woken up.
“It's a good thing you passed out. If you'd been conscious, you definitely would've died.”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing.”
I gave her a suitably shortened version of what I'd experienced as well. Her eyes widened when I explained that the Chief Researcher had awakened inside me the moment the Sealing was released.
... I think this was the first time the two of us had talked alone since leaving the Gate Room. As we spoke, things felt a little awkward. I wanted the Hotel to get things moving quickly.
Perhaps it decided we were ready. The display in the room flashed and gave us an instruction.
/Please choose which reward you will receive and which of you will receive it./
Who should receive it was already obvious.
I said it directly to the flustered Elena.
“You should receive this Inheritance, Elena.”
“... You don't need to give it up for me-”
“I've already been Sealed once. Even if I receive another Inheritance here, I'll only get Sealed throughout the second floor. I'll explain properly after we get out, but I heard quite a bit about the Sealing system. There was nothing saying that someone Sealed once can't be Sealed again. I could be Sealed again.”
“I see....”
“It's strange that we can choose the reward itself too. One is probably the Irregular Polyhedron, but what's the other?”
As if it had been waiting, the display flashed again.
/Please choose your reward!
1. Inheritance, ‘Glowing Irregular Polyhedron’
2. Ability, ‘Ominous Imagination’/
One was an item I had already expected.
The strange tool the Chief Researcher had used to create the Cube, the Glowing Irregular Polyhedron.
The other was rather unexpected. It wasn't even called an Inheritance, but an ability. It had no physical form to begin with.
It was Beatrix's psychic power, Ominous Imagination. That was the Hotel's second option.
“Um, Ga-in?”
“Yes?”
“You said you briefly became one with the Chief Researcher earlier, right?”
“Yes. We're separated now, so you don't need to worry.”
“Do you still have the Chief Researcher's memories?”
“Even when we merged, it wasn't as though all the knowledge the Chief Researcher had accumulated over a lifetime entered me. Like when I use Possession, I only received the information necessary to resolve the room. I still have that much.”
“Could you explain a little?”
She was right. Unlike Elena, who knew nothing about the Irregular Polyhedron or Ominous Imagination, I knew a little about both.
Neither the Inheritance nor the ability was something convenient or easy to use.
I started explaining as the details came to mind.
“As for Ominous Imagination, I found this while reviewing the information, but it isn't simply the power to create monsters. Creating monsters is apparently a relatively advanced application. At its core, as the name suggests, it's the power to make ominous imaginings real.”
“Making ominous imaginings real?”
“There aren't any precise examples left behind, so it's difficult to explain further.”
“I see.”
“Still... while using it, there's a slight...”
“A slight?”
“There is information saying it's the kind of psychic power that can easily give its user a mental illness.”
“... What about the Irregular Polyhedron?”
“The Irregular Polyhedron is the tool the Chief Researcher used to create the Cube. It can twist space in all kinds of ways. It can create a pocket dimension or set up invisible walls. It can also make transparent boxes that no one can enter, or even be used for something like teleportation. It's an incredibly strange Inheritance with limitless possible applications.”
Elena's eyes sparkled at that!
Honestly, she looked so pretty that I found it difficult to meet her eyes for a moment.
“That sounds better! Better than a psychic power that can make me lose my mind!”
“Um... the Irregular Polyhedron has one serious problem too.”
“What is it?”
“According to the Chief Researcher's assessment, its user needs to be able to perform mathematical calculations at every moment while using it. It's a tool that requires extremely advanced intelligence.”
“...”
“The Chief Researcher thinks most people couldn't even make a single wall properly with it. For reference, he's an incredible person who believes he's the smartest person on Earth.”
The hotel room fell silent. After saying that much, I didn't know what else to say either.
A psychic power that was easy to use but perfect for driving you insane, and an Inheritance so difficult that anyone but one of Earth’s greatest geniuses would struggle to draw out even one percent of its power.
What kind of rewards were these?
...
Elena looked at me.
“Just choose for me, Ga-in.”
She was leaving such a burdensome decision to me....
“I can only make a recommendation. I think the side effects of Ominous Imagination are manageable in the Hotel. It isn't difficult to use the ability itself. The issue is the side effects that could arise while using it, right? But a place where we'd have reason to use that ability would usually be a Curse Room. Even if you lost your mind while using it in a Curse Room...”
“I'd return to normal once I came out.”
“Right. So the risk is high, but manageable. The Irregular Polyhedron, on the other hand...”
“Unless I suddenly become a genius of the century, there's no way for me to use it properly in the first place?”
“I'm sorry.”
“To be honest, I'm not extraordinarily intelligent like the Management Bureau's highest-ranking officials. I was never that good at studying, either.”
Judging by her reaction, Elena seemed to realize what she needed to choose.
Elena needed to obtain Ominous Imagination. At the very least, she should receive an ability she could actually use.
Elena stood and headed for the display-
“Ah!”
Her clothes had been torn to shreds in the fight, and she'd been covering herself with a blanket. Why would she suddenly stand up like that?
Startled, I quickly turned around. I heard her giggling behind me.
When I turned back to see what was going on, Elena had wrapped the inner blanket beneath the outer one around herself like a gown while we were talking.
As I stood there blankly, feeling like an idiot, Elena operated the display a few times.
“I've chosen.”
As she spoke, the room we were in began to collapse slowly.
The long trial of Room 201 had truly come to an end.
* * *
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 87
Current Location: Level 2, Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 0]
- Han Ga-in
--- Whoooosh! Rumble!
“Achoo!”
The moment we came outside Room 201, the howling wind cut against my skin like blades!
From far away, Jin-cheol looked at me and shouted something.
“Mmmp! Mmm?”
“Pardon?”
Mook-seong shouted something beside him too.
“Mmmp!”
“Pardon?”
What were they saying? The blizzard was so fierce that I couldn't understand anyone.
The Chat Window flashed.
Kim Mook-seong: Did you clear it?
Han Ga-in: Yes. Elena acquired the Inheritance.
Lee Eun-sol: Congrats, congrats
Kim A-ri: Grats, grats
Yoo Song-i: Grats, grats, grats
Elena: Thank you.
Cha Jin-cheol: Congratulations!
Park Seung-yeop: Grats, grats! Let's run for now.
The moment he said that, we all rushed toward the elevator without a second thought.
Even though the room was already over, everyone seemed to have a lot they wanted to ask about Room 201.
That made sense. Aside from me, no one truly understood what had happened in Room 201.
Most of them had died or lost consciousness shortly after the Zero-Dimensional Eye awakened.
It seemed I would need to explain the unbelievable events of Room 201 over dinner tonight.
Elena, who had been running beside me for a while, suddenly stopped.
“Elena? The blizzard is bad, so you can't fall behind-”
“So this is what the ability is like.”
“What?”
Elena turned toward me with a dazed expression.
“I think I understand. They said you automatically learn how to use an Inheritance when you receive it. It's the same with psychic powers.”
“Can we go to the elevator first? We can talk while we eat on the first floor-”
“I'm sorry, but I've already used it. Without realizing.”
“Pardon?”
--- Awooo! Awooo!
A brutal blizzard where visibility didn't even seem to reach ten meters. A freezing place where it was impossible to tell where anything was.
Wolves howled from somewhere unseen.
Elena, still dazed, muttered, “It may sound strange, but whenever it snowed when I was young, my mother always told me that on winter nights, there were always wolves outside the house, so-”
“Elena! Stop! Stop!”
I covered Elena's mouth with my hand.
Seriously!
Now I understood what that damned Ominous Imagination ability was like.
I'd recommended that she get it, so what could I say?
It seemed Party Time was going to be quite exhausting until Elena became accustomed to this ability.
Footnotes:
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