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Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 190: A Prayer for Mi-ro (9)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 94

Current Location: Mi-ro’s Hell

Sage’s Advice: 3]

- Han Ga-in

Demon Santa’s fifth argument was, “Can someone without a Rudolph really call himself Santa?”

Wow! Rudolph was coming too? I’d lost track of this whole thing ages ago!

If we’d brought Pero, could we have insisted that Pero was Grandpa’s Rudolph? What if Pero tore out Grandpa’s hair while we were insisting? What if Grandpa got mad and smacked Pero?

...

Get a grip. This atmosphere was so insane that I kept having weird thoughts too. There was no point talking about it when we hadn’t brought Pero. Besides, without Song-i here, it would’ve been difficult to control Pero carefully in the first place.

Grandpa threw out the first thing that came to mind.

“Of course I have a Rudolph too.”

Han Ga-in: What?

Kim Mook-seong: Do something! Now!

Kim A-ri: Stall for time!

What was A-ri trying to do in the middle of all this? Had she realized Grandpa had just blurted that out? Santa began to sneer.

“Ho! Have you finally run out of prepared excuses? Naturally, a hack pretending to be Santa couldn’t possibly have made proper preparations. You should know just how grave a crime it is to impersonate Santa!”

“I said I have one, you brat! I’m not a magician like you, so Rudolph can’t just pop out right away! You’re not about to say magic is mandatory for Santa, are you?”

“Then where exactly is this Rudolph? Unless my eyes have gone dim, I can’t see your Rudolph anywhe-”

--- Vroooom! Crash!

A 1982 Ford Granada smashed through the front gate Santa had entered through and drove into the school. The Ford came speeding in, smoothly drifted around, and sent the reindeer that had been posing peacefully beside Santa flying.

“Gyaaaaagh!”

“Comeeet! Comet!”

A reindeer screaming as it flew away, Santa crying out in despair at the sight. I couldn’t even tell who the villain was anymore!

A-ri smiled brightly through it all.

“Rudolph has arrived!”

I didn’t know anymore.

“You crazy bastards! Who calls a car Rudolph?”

“Hey, punk! And why can’t a car be Rudolph?”

“You think that makes any sense?”

“The world keeps advancing! We live in an age where porcelain made in China crosses the ocean by ship to America! Only old-fashioned Santas like you still ride around in sleighs. Rudolphs these days are cars and airplanes.”

“Ha! You must not even see the terrified children before you.”

Of course not. Until a moment ago, the children had been giggling because it felt like a bunch of crazy old people were spouting nonsense. Then a car smashed through the front gate and stormed in, and they completely lost their minds.

“You sons of bitches! I was wrong to even try talking to lunatics like you! You don’t deserve to live. I’ll blow each of your heads apart and kill you!”

Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way.

“Eeeh! It didn’t work? We even brought a car?”

“Of course it didn’t! How could such a ridiculous stunt work?”

A-ri and I were both out of our minds. Just as we were about to give up, thinking the second attempt had failed, a song rang out.

“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, had a very shiny nose!”

?

The school was filled with shock as Mi-ro walked toward the 1982 Ford Granada, wearing an expression that said, What the hell, why not? She held something in her hand.

From the children to the teachers, our Hotel party, and even Santa himself, everyone’s attention focused on Mi-ro. They were all wondering what insane thing would happen next.

What flew from Mi-ro’s hand was a cherry from a Christmas cake.

“On a foggy Christmas Eve, Santa said, Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”

--- Plop!

A cherry was stuck to A-ri’s nose.

“Now she’s Rudolph, right? Her nose is bright now.”

The change began.

We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas

We hope you have a merry Christmas

And a happy New Year!

The carol switched to Korean. From the moment we arrived at the school until now, the magical carol that had never stopped for even a second began to lose its power.

A-ri cried out in shock.

“Th-this worked? If a cherry is stuck to my nose, I’m Rudolph?”

Santa’s body began to collapse like sand. His voice sounded endlessly weary.

“When I first arrived at this school... I thought something about the air felt wrong.... Who could’ve guessed the whole school would be filled with nothing but lunatics, from little children to old people....”

No, we were crazy, but was that really something a child-murdering Santa should say?

Only one person was full of joy and excitement.

“D-did you see that? Did you see? Santa started dying when the cherry was stuck on me! Wow! I think I’m really smart! Right?”

“... Yeah. That really surprised me.”

“Ahahaha! I’m a genius among geniuses! Should I become an exorcist or something now? It sounds so fun!”

You already were one. And an incredibly experienced one at that.

“Everyone, clap! Why aren’t you clapping?”

--- Clap! Clap! Clap!

Everyone started clapping for Mi-ro with vacant expressions. Her cheeks flushed red as she pulled all the cherries off the cake and began sticking them onto the noses of the people around her.

I, Rudolph Number Four according to Mi-ro, barely held onto my sanity as I watched Santa. Santa, who had been speaking in despair as if a moment of clarity had come over him, vanished, leaving behind only a tiny doll.

At some point, the magical carol had lost its power. The children were laughing and chattering, happy even though they had no idea what was happening. Amid them stood a girl roaring in triumph, overflowing with happiness.

Either way, it was a happy ending!

The space slowly began to crumble. Mi-ro’s Hell, once filled with nightmares, started to vanish beyond time and space.

Unlike A-ri, who watched Mi-ro roar with a deeply moved look, Grandpa and I looked utterly exhausted.

“... You worked hard.”

“You too.”

“You’re quick on your feet. I never imagined you’d handle Santa’s bullshit that well.”

Just as things seemed to be ending, and we acknowledged each other’s hard work while waiting for rest.

Everything stopped.

Snowflakes drifting through the air, the carol now sung in Korean, teachers staring blankly as they wondered how to clean up this chaos, children having the time of their lives without knowing what was going on. Every sound stopped, and the collapsing space froze as well.

Grandpa, A-ri, and I looked at one another, wondering what was happening. Then a familiar yet different voice spoke.

“You really came to save me.”

There was something wistful in her voice. A-ri’s eyes widened in shock, but Mi-ro naturally walked over and hugged her.

“M-Mom? You recognize me now?”

“Of course. It’s stranger that I couldn’t recognize you until now because of the Hotel’s tricks. We look so alike.”

Something was wrong.

“Mom....”

Something was wrong. A-ri cried, unable to bear the flood of emotions as Mi-ro acted like a mother for the first time in her life. Grandpa and I, on the other hand, stared with our eyes wide in shock.

“Wait! Are you in your right mind right now?”

Only then did A-ri notice something was off and step back in surprise. No one knew exactly what had happened to the Mi-ro in the Hotel, but she had lost her intellect while creating A-ri!

Until just now, this had been Mi-ro’s childhood from long ago, before she created A-ri, so it made sense that she was sane. But the current Mi-ro was different even from young Mi-ro.

She was neither the child Mi-ro nor the Mi-ro who had lost her intellect while creating A-ri. Mi-ro smiled with a wistfulness she had never shown here before.

“What a funny thing. A daughter being surprised to see her mother in her right mind.”

“... It’s nice to meet you, Mother.”

“Come here.”

“...”

“Aren’t you coming?”

A-ri couldn’t refuse in the end and approached. Mi-ro held A-ri’s face between both hands and examined it for a long time, as if observing something.

“You haven’t found the Mirror Room yet, have you?”

“No.”

“When you do, be careful. It’s a far more dangerous place than you think.”

“Wait! Tell us more. What exactly makes it dangerous?”

“Ga-in, what you said earlier, ‘See you later! Everything will be fine,’ was kind of cool.”

“... You remember what happened during the first attempt too.”

“It feels strange hearing you speak so politely to me. That’s one of the things I dislike about Korean. I can’t tell you much about the Mirror Room because you haven’t found it yet. The advice I can give you is this.”

Mi-ro looked as though she were considering her words before speaking again.

“I tried to achieve many goals there, but I lost everything in return.”

“What?”

Instead of answering more questions about the Mirror Room, Mi-ro changed the subject.

“Ah.... To think I’d be given another chance at the Hotel! I truly never expected it.”

“That remains to be seen.”

“Ho! That’s true. Whether you use the Ticket is ultimately up to all of you. Still, you’ll meet me again in the end.”

“How can you be so certain?”

Rather than answer directly, Mi-ro gave a small smile. Did she have a reason for her confidence?

“Our blessings aren’t given without reason. You already know that much, don’t you?”

“They’re given to people who suit them. Though I think I chose mine.”

“I obtained Justice. What do you think that means?”

“...”

“You’ve probably heard quite a few bad things about me. I don’t intend to deny them. But there’s one thing I can say for certain.”

“What do you mean-”

“I always wanted to save the world, even if it meant staining my hands with blood!”

An inexplicable fire rose in Mi-ro’s eyes. First that wistful smile, now eyes burning with passion.

Only then did I accept it deep in my heart.

This person was different from the girl A-ri knew, the one who had regressed into infancy. She was different from the innocent girl who had been with us in this Hell until now. A person who had formed a mind as deep as an abyss by passing through countless Hells beyond Earth’s comprehension for an unknowable amount of time stood before me.

They said blessings were given to suitable people. That was something the Sponsor of Luck had already told us.

From what I’d felt over the past few months, Justice, as held by its current owner Elena, was similar to law. Then what had Justice meant to the sane Mi-ro?

If Mi-ro had needed to stain her hands with blood to save the world, what on earth had happened to the world?

The frozen world began to collapse again. Mi-ro blankly looked around her.

“Thank you.”

“What?”

“Pain. Tragedy. trauma. There was a time when I believed you could get used to such things if they repeated often enough. I mistakenly thought that even the most painful memories would eventually feel like nothing after repeating again and again.”

“...”

“That wasn’t true. On Christmas Day, all the friends and teachers I loved died. I alone hid among the bodies and was rescued by the Management Bureau.”

“You went through something terrible.”

“I thought it was nothing more than the distant past. Only after falling into Hell did I realize that I’d never overcome that pain even once. I only buried it beyond the reach of memory and forced myself to believe I’d forgotten it. This Hell was never a place one could grow accustomed to just because time passed....”

“... You suffered a lot.”

“Thank you. I mean it. And when you revive me someday, I’ll have to choose one of the Inheritances I once possessed.”

“I did hear that would happen.”

“I’m telling you this because I might not be in my right mind then. If I hesitate over what to choose, tell me without fail. Tell me to choose the Clock.”

The Clock.

At the very last moment, Mi-ro looked at A-ri and smiled brightly.

“I love you!”

Then Hell collapsed.

Footnotes:

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