WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 196: Party Time - The Secret of the Second Floor (5) (Final)
──────
- Han Ga-in
‘Mysterious Craftsman’
Given the circumstances, it couldn't be a coincidence that the LEGO's name and the hidden second-floor NPC the Merchant on the first floor had told us about were both Mysterious Craftsman. Right on cue, the LEGO began giving off a faint glow!
At this point, I couldn't doubt that this LEGO was the hidden NPC on the second floor.
But what was I supposed to do? It wasn't as though the LEGO suddenly started talking to me, so it was hard to know what I should do.
I came to a simple conclusion. If there was no way to bring the LEGO back to us, I could put it where we were. Fortunately, when I examined the Snow Globe, I found that I could open its top lid.
“Kim Min-young, right? Sorry. You've got so much LEGO that you won't notice if I take one, will you?”
The moment I carefully opened the Snow Globe's top lid and put the LEGO inside, it vanished as though it had been whisked away!
First it gave off that faint glow, then it vanished! The moment I saw that supernatural phenomenon unfold right before my eyes, I knew it.
This was it. I'd found the right answer.
Only then did I feel a little relieved. Since I'd opened the lid anyway, I thought of one more thing I could do. I took a small scrap of paper, folded it into a bridge, and made a path for going up and down the mountain inside the Snow Globe.
I'd finished three things in no time. The blizzard had stopped, I'd made an easier path up and down the mountain, and I'd found the Mysterious Craftsman. There probably wasn't anything else to do, right? It seemed safe to go back in.
I closed the Snow Globe's lid so Min-young wouldn't suspect anything, returned to the exact position I'd been in before borrowing his body, and went back to my own body.
* * *
“Ha ha! Did you all see that? I even found the hidden LEGO NPC, so-”
“Go back out!”
“Huh?”
“Hurry up and go! Right now! We can talk later!”
Before I could even brag, everyone was making a fuss and telling me to go back out!
When I looked at the empty air they were pointing at, I found a notification floating in front of everyone, including me.
* * *
Today's Special Event: Han Ga-in's Travelogue: Exploring the Land of Giants!
Can Han Ga-in, who has begun exploring the mysterious place on the second floor, find every hidden element?
1. Manipulate the Snow Globe and stop the blizzard! (O)
2. Find the Mysterious Craftsman! (O)
3. ? (In Progress)
* * *
???
What kind of event was this supposed to be?
It was absurd enough that an event had suddenly begun, but what was even more ridiculous was that I, the protagonist of ‘Han Ga-in's Travelogue,’ hadn't even known this notification had appeared!
Had the notification not appeared because outside the Snow Globe was outside the Hotel? Then why hide something in a place where notifications didn't even appear? Was this really hidden for us to find?
There weren't even twenty minutes left until the date changed, so I didn't have time to be annoyed. I hurriedly went back out, repeated what I'd done before, and borrowed Min-young's body again while he stood there looking confused.
There was still one more hidden thing in this place.
In a frenzy, I tore through the room, searching everywhere for anything that might be there. I pulled out all the LEGO, scattered worksheets through the air, and emptied the bag, but there wasn't a single object that gave off light the moment I saw it, as if it were saying, I'm the answer!
Next, just in case, I began putting small objects that might fit inside the Snow Globe in one at a time, then taking them back out. As I'd already confirmed with the Mysterious Craftsman LEGO, wouldn't the right thing disappear the moment I put it inside?
I put Yu-Gi-Oh cards in and out, LEGO in and out, even an eraser and mechanical-pencil leads, but there was no special reaction. Besides, I kept slowing down because I worried that what I was doing could be incredibly dangerous for my companions inside.
There was still one hidden element left.
Ten minutes remained.
I frantically searched everything from the LEGO and worksheets to the schoolbag and beneath the bed, but nothing unusual appeared. Was I missing something? What could it be? It wasn't as though there would be a hidden safe in a child's room for no reason, so where could it be?
Then I realized there was one place I hadn't checked.
The Snow Globe contained the Hotel and my companions. If I even bumped it lightly, it might cause something equivalent to an earthquake inside. That scared me, so whenever I got near the Snow Globe, I became slow and cautious.
In other words, the only place in this room I hadn't properly searched was around the Snow Globe itself.
“I don't know if you can hear me, but everyone, be careful.”
I picked up the Snow Globe as carefully as I could and inspected it from every angle, but I still couldn't see anything.
Was this not it?
... Maybe.
Maybe it was something too small to see. For example, if it was something small even by our standards inside the Snow Globe, it wouldn't be visible at all to my eyes while I was possessing the boy in the outside world. Should I return to my original body and search? No. There was no time now to search for something with my original body, which was smaller than a sesame seed.
An idea came to me.
I thought back to what had happened with the LEGO earlier. Didn't it start glowing when my gaze fell on it? That had probably been a hint.
--- Click!
I turned off the light.
A tiny light floated faintly in the air beneath the Snow Globe I was holding. Something smaller than a sesame seed and lighter than a feather drifted through the air as though it had been scattered on the wind.
It was too small to make out its shape, so I didn't even dare touch it with my fingers. I carefully moved the Snow Globe back to its original spot, then gently blew the glowing speck until it landed on my palm. Finally, I cautiously opened the Snow Globe's top lid again and shook the tiny object off my palm and into the Snow Globe.
Just like the LEGO from before, the glowing object vanished the moment it entered the Snow Globe.
“Ugh... That's it now. It has to be over, right?”
Three minutes remained.
It was my first time coming out into the outside world since entering the Hotel, and I was so reluctant to go straight back in that I looked around a little without thinking.
Familiar and peaceful... What was that?
There was a pigeon outside the window.
But could a bird larger than an eagle, with saw-like teeth filling its beak, really be called a pigeon?
I watched with my breath caught in my throat, then noticed something even stranger. The room itself was an ordinary child's room, but the outside wasn't. Iron bars had been installed outside the glass, as if the window were a prison meant to prevent escape. When the vicious pigeon peered into the house, a robot that looked like a CCTV camera fired lasers and drove it away, as though it had been waiting for it.
...
It was truly, truly bizarre.
The security system in this mansion was more astonishing than that pigeon. I'd encountered monsters suddenly appearing many times in Curse Rooms, so that itself wasn't terribly surprising. But why did an ordinary house have iron bars, and what was that thing that looked like a laser turret?
It was a strange sight, as if even ordinary homes had adapted to a world overflowing with monsters.
A world in a different phase from the one I'd lived in.
With countless questions in my heart, I returned to my original body.
* * *
When I woke up inside the Snow Globe again, I realized just how much of an impact my actions had had. Since there'd been so little time, I'd frantically put objects into the Snow Globe and taken them back out. The result was craters large enough to hold dozens of people scattered everywhere, as though a massive earthquake had struck.
At least the blizzard had stopped.
Just in case, I checked Companion Information in the restored Status Window. Thankfully, everyone was alive, and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Wearing my Protective Suit, I wandered around for a while and found A-ri, Grandpa, and Jin-cheol sprawled here and there.
“Is everyone okay?”
“...”
“...”
“Well... We didn't have much time, and I had to find something, so I tried putting everything in.”
“You even picked up the Snow Globe, didn't you?”
“Yeah.”
“That was really bad... When I was young, I sometimes imagined it. I wondered what would happen if an enormous giant picked up and shook all of South Korea. I never thought I'd experience something similar.”
“When exactly was ‘when you were young’ for you?”
“Hey!”
A rock-hard fist flew at me right away, so it seemed they weren't hurt badly enough to die. As I sat on the ground for a moment to catch my breath, Jin-cheol returned from checking the barrier.
“Ga-in, did the date change?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Looks like we can't go outside anymore. The barrier won't budge at all. It doesn't move even with the power of the Star.”
“I didn't think it would stay connected to the outside world forever. If it remained connected, that would cause a bigger problem. What if Coco got moody and knocked the Snow Globe onto the floor? It would be over just like that! Wouldn't an ending like that be horrible?”
“That's true. By the way, what was the last thing you found?”
“It was too small for me to even tell what it was. Didn't a notification appear?”
“Notification, my ass. Once you started messing with the Snow Globe, the three of us were too busy getting thrown around and clinging to things to see anything.”
“...”
“I don't even know what I put in. More importantly, where did the LEGO NPC and glowing thing I put in go?”
Grandpa answered as if it were no big deal.
“If you put them in, that's enough. The Hotel isn't going to steal the things you worked so hard to find. They're probably somewhere. Maybe they went inside the Hotel.”
“That could be it.”
“Let's head back for now. I've been through so much hell all day that I'm exhausted.”
The way back was much easier. The paper bridge I'd made earlier was far easier to move across than the frozen ice wall.
After returning to Room 105 with expressions so exhausted they looked half-dead, everyone collapsed into sleep.
The long, difficult exploration of the outside world on the second floor had ended.
* * *
...
...
...
--- Thump!
“Wake up.”
“Ugh, who is it? This is Room 105, so what the-”
The moment I opened my eyes in a daze, I felt the gaze of a house-sized Owl.
“... Didn't you say it would be difficult for us to meet for quite some time?”
“Circumstances are always changing. You did well.”
“Pardon?”
“You did very well. Truly, very well.”
“... Ha ha ha. Thank you. You're suddenly acting like this, so I can barely get used to it.”
“Finding the third object must have been extremely difficult! I can often feel that your quick thinking has improved dramatically compared to a few months ago.”
The third object really had been so difficult that I wondered whether it had truly been made for someone to find. Its hiding place beneath the Snow Globe had been absurd enough, but what was even more ridiculous was that it was too small to see with the vision of the outside world.
I couldn't find it with my original body because I couldn't move the Snow Globe, and I couldn't find it with the body I possessed because it was too small to see. I only noticed it existed by its faint glow after turning off the light.
Even thinking about it again, I couldn't understand how I was supposed to find it. It felt as if there'd been some malicious intent behind it.
But I found it!
... Then I noticed something strange.
The Owl I was meeting again after so long was trapped inside a Birdcage.
“You must think I look ridiculous. It's nothing. More importantly, remember what I am about to say. You must not miss a single word.”
Footnotes:
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