WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 188: A Prayer for Mi-ro (7)
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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 93
Current Location: Mi-ro’s Hell
Sage’s Advice: 3]
- Han Ga-in
I explained what I’d realized to Grandpa, who was wondering why I’d stopped him.
“The Santa who appeared earlier had no real form. It was just an illusion.”
When I pointed to the pristine snowfield without a single footprint, Grandpa understood at once.
“Not one footprint. Is that Santa bastard some master who can walk across snow without leaving a trace?”
“What?”
“... I was just saying. He felt so real that it’s hard to believe he was an illusion.”
“It’s not just about the footprints. He had no presence. When a person moves, their clothes naturally rustle, and their limbs make little sounds as they bend. I didn’t sense anything like that at all.”
A-ri, who had returned after seeing Mi-ro off, reacted with surprise.
“You could hear clothes rustling...? Your hearing’s that good? I thought it was strange before, too. It’s not like it’s quiet around here. Christmas carols are playing everywhere, so how did you hear a deer breathing ten meters away? Are you a rabbit?”
I had nothing to say.
Even I couldn’t easily understand how I’d sensed the deer’s breathing through the carols. A-ri had simply called it good hearing, but it had been more than that.
The strange memory of catching a faint, out-of-place sound, then having all my senses focus on it, like hearing my own heartbeat in a silent room.
I felt like I’d had similar experiences a few times before...
As my thoughts dragged on, the group that had returned to the school led me behind the building, where I’d found the ritual.
“It looks exactly the same as before. Or was that yesterday? Either way, it just looks like a pile of trash to me.”
“It really is trash now. We have no idea when the ritual took place.”
“Why did we come back? To destroy it?”
“That’s one reason. Before that, I wanted to see if there was anything we could learn.”
“Should we use Sage’s Advice? You know what happens when we don’t have enough information.”
“You mean it gives us useless answers? I know, but use it anyway.”
After thinking for a moment, I chose a suitable question.
[Sage’s Advice: 3 -> 2]
‘Is there anything we can learn from this ritual?’
[It is already over. Take six steps forward.]
“...”
“What’s with that face? Another strange answer?”
“It says it’s already over. Destroying it or not probably doesn’t mean much now. And it says to take six steps forward.”
“Then walk.”
“... If I do, I’ll end up destroying all this debris.”
“The Owl says the ritual is already over, right? It should be fine to break it.”
I did as it said.
One step, two steps, and then, on the sixth ste-
--- Thud!
“What’s this?”
The instant my shoe touched it, something solid caught against my foot amid the pile of trash crumbling like sand. It was a small metal plate engraved with a strange sentence.
‘A reward for a good boy and a punishment for a bad boy’
“Since it’s written in English, is this some kind of magical phrase too?”
A-ri looked completely lost.
“Good kids get rewards, bad kids get punished. It does sound like something a subtly insane Santa would like. So what are we supposed to do with it?”
“I think we should use Sage’s Advice one more time.”
Grandpa, standing behind us, offered his advice.
“Don’t ask about the ritual. Ask about Santa himself. From the look of it, the ritual ended a long time ago and doesn’t mean much anymore. It’d be a waste to ask more about something meaningless.”
“I’m worried about using Advice before a fight, but nothing will happen before midnight, right?”
“Probably not. That Santa bastard will show up at midnight again, and your Advice will be recharged by then. Don’t worry. Use it.”
A-ri disagreed.
“Leave one use just in case. We might have another question later, and we can’t be sure every danger showed itself during the first attempt. What if a man-eating reindeer suddenly goes kyaow while we’re heading back?”
“Kyaow?”
“Kyaow!”
I decided to leave one use for emergencies. We might need it again.
[Sage’s Advice: 2 -> 1]
‘Give me a hint about the proper way to deal with Santa.’
[This is not a Curse Room. Those who fall into Hell must save themselves.]
...
For a moment, I couldn’t speak. When I told them what it said, A-ri and Grandpa both stood there with their mouths half open.
It was obvious once I thought about it, but I’d unconsciously overlooked it. This place wasn’t a Curse Room. The way to resolve it was likely different as well.
A-ri muttered, sounding flustered.
“No, I understand what it means. It’s not a Curse Room, so we need a different approach.”
“I think the next sentence tells us what that approach is. ‘Those who fall into Hell must save themselves.’ It feels unusually detailed for the Owl.”
“I understand that too. Like you said, Ga-in, the Owl gave us a clearer sentence than usual. The one who fell into Hell is Mi-ro, so Mi-ro has to save herself. Of course, she can’t do it alone. We have to help her...”
Grandpa summed up everyone’s concern in one question.
“So what are we supposed to do? Tell Mi-ro to beat Santa to death?”
“Unless Mi-ro has another ten supernatural powers she’s been hiding, I don’t think that’s the answer.”
“This is getting more troublesome by the minute. At first, I thought maybe we had to catch Santa before Christmas. But before Christmas, he’s little more than an illusion, so that failed. Then I thought we had to destroy the ritual, but the ritual has already ended and only the remains are left, so that failed too. Doesn’t that mean Santa appearing and running wild on Christmas is inevitable?”
Based on what we knew so far, he wasn’t wrong.
We hadn’t found a way to stop Santa from appearing on Christmas. In the end, we would have to stop him after he appeared.
In the middle of that confusion, I checked the clock and realized it was already past seven.
“There are fewer than five hours left until Santa appears.”
“...”
“Instead of thinking and worrying, let’s act on the information we’ve found.”
“What are you talking about? We barely know anything. What are we supposed to do?”
“Why do you say that? We learned something important. It says Mi-ro needs to participate.”
“Ah?”
“This.”
“Hm?”
“Take this too. Mi-ro might recognize it.”
The strange piece of metal we’d found at the center of the ritual, along with the phrase Santa might like.
‘A reward for a good boy and a punishment for a bad boy (Good kids get rewards, bad kids get punished).’
There wasn’t much time left until midnight. I was starting to feel anxious.
How was I supposed to explain this to Mi-ro?
... Then an idea came to me.
Why did Santa Claus come to schools?
To give presents.
* * *
Santa would appear soon.
The mood on the first floor was completely different from yesterday. The children, who had been full of anticipation for Santa coming with presents yesterday, now looked excited at the thought of playing a fun prank.
Would the plan work?
I was certain this was the right direction.
There was no way to stop Santa from appearing. Santa was an extremely troublesome opponent, difficult to face with force. Finally, Mi-ro had to save herself in this Hell.
After putting all those pieces together, I concluded that we had to somehow cleverly derail the bizarre situation of Demon Santa appearing on Christmas without fighting Santa.
“Ga-in, Ga-in, Ga-in, Ga-in!”
“Mi-ro? What’s wrong?”
“... Will it work? I’m a little scared.”
Most of the children on the first floor only saw this as a fun prank. If they began to fear Santa, it would be difficult to carry out the plan properly, so we had no choice but to lie to them. We’d managed to keep things under control because we had persuaded Mi-ro, who held absolute influence among the children.
And Mi-ro, the only girl on the first floor who vaguely understood the situation, couldn’t hide her anxiety.
“It’ll work.”
If it didn’t, we’d just have to try again.
“It’s too... too strange! Santa’s suddenly going to kill all of us?”
When I used the day’s final Advice to persuade Mi-ro, the Owl told me this.
[Seeing once is worth hearing a hundred times.]
When it came to convincing someone that supernatural phenomena were real, showing them a supernatural ability once was more certain than saying a thousand words. Mi-ro, whose response after thirty minutes of explanation had been little more than “Are you crazy?”, was convinced after seeing Teleportation once.
I lightly waved my pen again and wrote, ‘Don’t worry,’ where Mi-ro could see it. She finally calmed down.
[Date: Day 93] -> [Date: Day 94]
...
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.
The carol began to play.
I had just told Mi-ro not to worry, yet an unbearable fear rose from deep inside me.
--- Boom!
Santa came in.
At the same time, the children shouted.
“Merry Christmas!”
Santa’s eyes widened, then he broke into a beaming smile and shouted.
“Merry Christmas! Thank you all so very much! It seems there are many good children here. I’m so happy. But.”
Santa’s mouth tore open vertically.
The children in the back seemed to assume their eyes had deceived them and didn’t react much, but I could feel the shock of the children in the front row from here.
“But only good children can receive Christmas presents. There’s no way to know whether all of you are good children, is there? So-”
At that moment, Mi-ro stood up.
“Santa! We already got all our presents! Everyone!”
At her words, the children pulled out the boxes they had hidden behind their backs. All kinds of presents, which the schoolteachers had run themselves ragged to gather over the past few hours, burst from the boxes.
For the first time since entering Mi-ro’s Hell, Santa’s face filled with confusion.
It was time for the finishing blow.
“Hey! Who might you be? I already gave all our kids their presents. Aren’t you a little late?”
An old man in warm red clothes, carrying a huge sack of gifts in one hand. He gave off a far warmer impression than the Santa monster with a vertically split mouth.
Mook-seong Santa had arrived.
Footnotes:
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