Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 186

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 185: A Prayer for Mi-ro (4)

──────

- Outside, Park Seung-yeop.

The flame burned. The flame burned. The flame burned.

My mind grew hazy, as if I were dreaming, and the incense candle for the Prayer for Rest weakened. This can't happen... The moment that candle went out, there was no telling what would happen to my companions.

This candle, which allowed the living to enter the world of the dead, burned on human vitality. I gritted my teeth and pinched my thigh. There wasn't a spot left without bruises.

Only now did I understand everything my Sponsor had said.

‘This is different from a Curse Room. Not everyone needs to participate.’

‘You don't need to push yourself too hard.’

Thinking about it, those words had been a little contradictory. The first sentence sounded like I didn't need to participate, but the second told me not to overdo it. Telling someone not to overdo it would be strange if they weren't going to do anything at all. You said that to someone who did need to do something, meaning they should take care of themselves too.

It turned out not to mean much. The first sentence meant I shouldn't enter Mi-ro's Hell myself, while the second only meant I shouldn't push myself too hard while participating in the Prayer for Rest outside...

The flame burned.

It felt like the incense candle had burned through the last handful of vitality I had left. Saliva began running from my mouth uncontrollably, and my consciousness slowly clouded over.

Ah! I was suddenly getting a little angry!

‘You lack talent, and on top of that, you lack diligence. You were like that outside, and you're the same inside the Hotel.’

Now that I thought about it again, wasn't that way too harsh, you bastard of a Sponsor? Where else in the world was there a middle schooler struggling as hard as I was?

Seriously, Ga-in always says the Owl is less helpful than Pero, but when you look at it, my noob Sponsor acts like they care about me while saying nothing but cruel things every time we meet.

--- Fwoosh!

After getting angry for a while, I looked ahead and saw that the flame had grown as large as a child's fist again. I could hold on a little longer. Thank goodness. Song-i's turn was next, so I should hold on a little longer before then.

Grandpa Mook-seong, A-ri, Ga-in! Please do your best! And...

If possible, please hurry.

* * *

[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 92

Current Location: Mi-ro’s Hell

Sage’s Advice: 2]

- Han Ga-in

My timid escape attempt, where I drew a line across Mi-ro's eye and fled into the hallway, ended in tragedy. The schoolteacher scolded me. Very severely.

... Well, if someone suddenly swung a writing utensil at a classmate's eye, getting scolded was the normal outcome.

Should I call it fortunate?

The fact that an unknown color had suddenly appeared in Mi-ro's eye before disappearing was impossible to explain through ordinary common sense about writing utensils. The teachers only understood it as Mi-ro getting very startled when I waved my pen through the air.

I was only released after being warned two or three times that I had to apologize to Mi-ro before evening.

“Pfft! Pffft!”

“Don't snicker. Just laugh openly.”

“Are you seriously an idiot? You suddenly drew a line across a kid's eye and ran away?”

Watching A-ri laugh at me made me want to draw a line across her too. I was going through all this because of her mother, and she was laughing?

“Hey, this is all because of your mom!”

“From what I heard, Mi-ro just asked you to have a snowball fight.”

“That wasn't it. She used some kind of incomprehensible power! Should I call it hypnosis? She tried to forcibly control my mind with supernatural power.”

Only then did A-ri look a little serious.

“Not just charisma, but hypnosis? What did it feel like? There are far more related powers than you think. Did she show you hallucinations like Song-i? Confuse your mind? Or suppress your will entirely?”

She questioned me so closely that I couldn't give a clear answer. Still, one similar feeling came to mind right away.

“It was similar to something you used to do sometimes.”

A-ri tilted her head for a moment.

“That was using Old Blood. Vampires use it to charm their prey, but enough background explanation. What I mean is, Mi-ro can't do that now without an Inheritance.”

“No, I mean it felt similar from the victim's side. There was also a clear difference. Back then, your ability seemed to focus on your eyes, right?”

“The source of my power is always blood. But when it came to hypnosis, making eye contact was the medium through which the power was conveyed.”

“I felt like Mi-ro's eyes were only secondary, and that her words were the key. More than anything.”

“More than anything?”

“The moment she said something strange, it suddenly sounded like English. Ah, of course, this setting is America, so everyone had probably been speaking English all along.”

“The Hotel translates it automatically, so we're hearing Korean. But only those words sounded like English? Maybe because if the Hotel translated words containing supernatural power as it pleased, that power would disappear? Either way, this is a good change.”

“What do you mean, good?”

“If Mi-ro uses strange power through her mouth, it would normally be hard to react immediately. But thanks to the Hotel's translation, we'll know right away. If English comes out of her mouth, it means she's trying something strange, so let's be careful from now on.”

I understood. In the end, we had gained a way to immediately notice when Mi-ro spoke words containing strange power. If English came out, she was up to something.

... Up to something. A-ri had started using aggressive expressions about Mi-ro too.

“You called it ‘up to something,’ so are you starting to be scared of your mom too?”

“Honestly, a little. She's the very definition of a wild psychic who never received any education from the Management Bureau.”

“A wild psychic?”

“Using abilities on ordinary people without the slightest hesitation, and using them as naturally as breathing in everyday life. That's typical behavior for wild psychics. The Management Bureau trains people harshly to use powers beyond common sense only when absolutely necessary.”

It sounded like a good thing about the Management Bureau, something I hadn't heard in a long time. One reason the world I remembered had been reasonably livable really might have been because of the Management Bureau.

“Ga-in, come to think of it, isn't there any ‘scenario’? Your blessing is functioning normally.”

“I would've told you if there was. There's nothing at all. It just says some pointless things about a Hotel party in Mi-ro's Hell, and tells us to wait for nightfall.”

“Will something happen once it gets dark?”

“Probably? Why did Grandpa call you earlier?”

“Traces of a strange ritual. We need to examine them a little more. They're very old traces.”

“Should I go too?”

A-ri shook her head.

“They're extremely delicate, old traces, so it's better for non-experts not to approach. Anyway, Grandpa and I are narrowing down the candidates. We'll have an answer around evening, so you don't need to search too.”

“Whatever it is, that's a relief.”

“So do what you need to do.”

“Huh?”

“Go apologize to Mi-ro.”

With that, A-ri vanished again, snickering.

The teacher too, A-ri too, why did everyone keep telling me to apologize? Wasn't the one who used hypnosis more at fault?

It was pointless to argue about it. Regardless of who was at fault, they meant I should smooth things over. The teacher obviously wouldn't understand anything about hypnosis anyway.

Finding Mi-ro was very easy. I didn't know how much she liked snowball fights, but she was still outside on the school field, throwing snow with her friends. Looking through the window at Mi-ro playing with the children, she honestly didn't look like such an evil being. All she had done so far was play as much as she wanted, even during class.

If you thought about it, feeling bored in class and always wanting to play was every child's wish. Mi-ro had simply been born with the ability to make that wish come true.

I walked onto the field, enjoying the pleasantly cold weather, which felt like an ordinary winter unlike the Hotel's second floor. The children around me noticed me.

What were they, Mi-ro's personal guard? Mi-ro clearly knew I was there but showed no reaction. The children, on the other hand, made fierce expressions and began approaching me.

“Hey! Han Ga-in! You...”

“Mi-ro only asked you to play, so what the hell did you...”

“Are you not going to apologize already? You nasty...”

That sort of thing. As I blankly listened to Mi-ro's personal guard making noise for a while, the surroundings suddenly fell quiet. Mi-ro waved a hand as if she were willing to let it go, and the children backed away. When she stomped her foot once, they moved far away. With a single hand gesture and a single stomp, she commanded around ten children as if they were her own limbs. She was no different from an emperor of an absolute monarchy.

“...”

“Hm. Ahem! Ahem!”

She wore a proud expression. Was it something like, You did me wrong earlier, but I'm showing you mercy?

I was starting to understand.

The person who created A-ri, someone who had been a superhuman since birth, someone who had even created followers within the Management Bureau. Once I stripped away all that mysterious wrapping paper and looked at her objectively, that girl was just a middle schooler. Her behavior and way of thinking were even more childish than Seung-yeop's.

That fact annoyed me, but it was also reassuring in a way. If she had been a creepy girl who gave off an incomprehensible ominous air from that age and whose thoughts could never be read, I probably would've been thirty times more afraid than I was now.

“Um... Mi-ro? I'm sorry about earlier. I suddenly heard ‘strange words’ coming from your mouth and got startled.”

“‘Strange words.’”

“...”

“You can tell my words apart?”

It was an abrupt question, but I immediately understood what she meant. She was asking whether I could distinguish between her ordinary words and words containing power.

“At least right now, you sound normal.”

--- Hop!

“... What the hell are you doing?”

“You were only looking at the sky.”

I was deliberately avoiding her gaze as we talked, and apparently that amused Mi-ro. She began jumping toward wherever I was looking.

--- Hop! Hop!

For a moment, we had a different kind of snowball fight. Rather than throwing snowballs, we competed to meet each other's gaze.

“Ah, I'm tired! Just act normal for once. Anyway, what was that pen from earlier?”

“...”

“If you answer ‘it's expensive,’ I'll bury you knee-deep in snow. I know it's something strange.”

“My deceased grandfather left me an old family trea-”

“Don't lie. ‘Deceased’ is already a lie. I've decided to bury you knee-deep in snow.”

Was this some kind of psychic ability too? Or had my lie simply been obvious? I couldn't tell.

--- Whoosh!

Snowballs began flying down and striking my body.

“Starting again?”

--- Whoosh!

“Aren't you going to dodge?”

“You said you'd bury me in snow up to my knees.”

--- Thud!

“Are you really just going to stand there and get buried in snow?”

We wish you a merry Christmas

And a happy New Year!

Cheerful music drifted over from somewhere.

When I came to my senses after listening to the music, I was holding snowballs in both hands. Had I been hypnotized in the meantime?

“Ahh! There's ice in it! He put ice in it and threw it!”

Seeing that my frozen fastball knocked Mi-ro out in one hit, apparently not! Should I do it a little more?

“Take this!”

“Ahh! He's really good at throwing snow!”

We wish you a merry Christmas

And a happy New Year!

* * *

Had two hours passed? The sky was gradually darkening. It seemed to be time for dinner. I still didn't know why this place was called Hell, but more than half a day had passed since we entered Mi-ro's Hell. In that time, the uncomfortable atmosphere between the children and me had completely eased. It had been nothing more than childish posturing from the beginning.

“Hey! Hey!”

“Yeah?”

“Everyone should go in now. It's already getting dark. Aren't you hungry?”

At those words, the children began saying they were hungry one by one, and the mood naturally shifted toward everyone parting ways.

“I want to stay a little longer...”

“Mi-ro, let's go in now. It's late. And... late hours are dangerous.”

Scenario Understanding had told me something would begin at night. There had to be a reason this place was called Hell.

...

Most of the other children headed toward the dormitory, but Mi-ro showed no intention of going inside and kept throwing snowballs at me.

“Let's go in now.”

“Ah! You said weird things, so everyone went inside!”

“I didn't say anything weird. I said we should eat.”

“So annoying! Take this! Oh, you dodged?”

I was getting tired. My body had become younger, but my mind wasn't that of a middle schooler, so I was exhausted. If I went back first, wouldn't she follow me inside?

“I'm going in first.”

“Are you really going to leave me here alone?”

“...”

“You like me too, don't you? Everyone likes me!”

“I told you it won't work.”

“... Just like earlier, how can you tell my words apart?”

--- Hoo.

My breath stopped. For a single instant, in a sliver of time as though a moment had been split into ten pieces, I heard a strange sound.

An overwhelming silence descended over the space.

The chirping birds in the trees.

The soft sound of snow sliding off statues and cars.

The jingling sound of Christmas trees swaying in the wind.