WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 198: Party Time - Growth, Preparing for the Next Room (2)

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- Han Ga-in

When I summoned the Grimoire, A-ri began explaining slowly.

“This book is the source of your supernatural powers, right?”

“Only about half of them. The other half probably comes from my blessing or tattoo.”

“Of course. Anyway, many beings who wield supernatural powers borrow the power of special objects. We don't have to look far for an example. Hotel participants, meaning us, are exactly like that. But have you ever thought about what kind of effect these objects have on their users?”

“...”

“Actually, this doesn't apply only to ‘supernatural objects.’ It applies to supernatural experiences in general. Even a situation where the dog you raised at home turned out to be a dog from Hell would count.”

Song-i muttered in surprise.

“Pero too?”

“There’s an organization that takes a great interest in how supernatural experiences affect humans. You know it well.”

“The Management Bureau.”

“Right. The Management Bureau also possesses the most supernatural objects. For many years, they’ve observed the effects these objects have on their users. And they found several clear changes.”

As I listened, I realized this wasn't just about me. Song-i, who owned the bracelet, and Jin-cheol, who owned the Star, approached A-ri with interested expressions.

“Even if users of supernatural objects start out as ordinary people, they gradually begin to change over time. The form those changes take truly varies from case to case. Some suddenly grow horns, some begin seeing things they couldn't see before, and some begin suffering from mental illness.”

“So the changes can be good or bad?”

“You could put it that way. The Management Bureau broadly describes such changes by saying, ‘Their Soul Rank has risen.’”

“The phrase itself doesn't really make it clear. Why bring souls into this all of a sudden?”

“That’s a good point. The phrase feels unfamiliar because we didn't create it. It’s knowledge passed down by beings closer to the unreal world, demons and monsters we can communicate with. When they saw people who had undergone these ‘changes,’ they said, ‘Their souls have risen in rank.’”

Unable to hold back any longer, Song-i asked, “What does ‘soul’ mean? What exactly does it mean for its rank to rise?”

The answer was rather anticlimactic.

“I don't know.”

“Huh?”

“I really don't know. I’ve said this many times, but most members of the Management Bureau are ordinary humans born and raised on Earth. Of course, people who are smarter and have stronger minds than average tend to gather there, but they’re still human in the end, right? Demons can go on and on about human souls, but we don't even understand what a soul is supposed to be. You can't see or touch one in the first place.”

Grandfather interjected softly.

“We don't know the true meaning of the phrase ‘a Soul Rank rises.’ Still, we have a vague idea of what changes occur when it happens. For example, the most representative phenomenon is what people call ‘spiritual sensitivity.’”

“Spiritual sensitivity?”

“Those phenomena A-ri mentioned earlier. Suddenly seeing what you couldn't see before, or hearing words you couldn't hear before.”

Jin-cheol, who had been quietly listening for a while, asked, “What changes did you two undergo, Grandfather?”

Grandfather’s expression stiffened for a moment. A-ri answered in his place.

“Mook-seong had his changes removed through surgery.”

“Cough! P-physical changes, then. What about you, A-ri?”

A-ri suddenly fell into thought, then answered vaguely.

“I sort of know, but I don't. I definitely changed, but I can't point to exactly what the change was.”

Jin-cheol looked confused.

“What are you talking about?”

I thought I vaguely understood what A-ri meant.

“Is it because your body became one with Old Blood?”

“That's right. Haven't you ever thought that when you saw my powers? Like, how can she use so many different abilities with just one Inheritance?”

The moment she said that, every one of my companions, myself included, nodded at once!

I'd thought about it dozens of times. In a sense, Old Blood was far too different from all of our Inheritances. How many supernatural abilities had A-ri demonstrated with that one Inheritance? Hypnosis, flight, and enhanced strength were only the basics. She had even imbued blood with restorative power and stored her own memories in it.

It wouldn't have been strange if she could display any ability at all. Old Blood was an Inheritance with such versatile capabilities that it almost seemed omnipotent. None of the treasures we had acquired so far could cause as many different phenomena as Old Blood.

Through this conversation, I understood part of that secret.

“I accumulated all kinds of strange experiences over a very long time and used Old Blood. Demons and monsters told me dozens of times that my Soul Rank had risen. And...”

“And?”

“As time passed, the abilities I could use kept increasing. One day, I could suddenly fly through the sky. Another day, I could suddenly break rocks with my bare hands. The problem is that I can't distinguish which powers came from changes to my soul and which ones I newly developed as I became more skilled at using Old Blood.”

It was simple. To A-ri, who had been one with an Inheritance since birth, Old Blood was already something inseparable from herself. She couldn't tell the difference between powers that emerged as her Soul Rank rose and powers she had newly developed through mastering her Inheritance.

While everyone asked A-ri one question after another, I began focusing on myself again.

Had I started developing special powers too?

Maybe I had. Several strange experiences I’d had during Christmas and in Mi-ro’s Hell passed through my mind. Still, at the very least, what the Owl had instructed me to do wasn't to find new supernatural powers.

Study again. Studying meant reading books, so in the end, it meant opening the Grimoire again!

Stroking the Grimoire, I decided that when I was alone that evening, I would examine its latter half again, the section on the power of the Avatar.

After our morning conversation ended, we naturally left Room 105 and headed toward the elevator. What changes had occurred on the second floor?

* * *

“Wow! It’s so gorgeous!”

“The snow is completely gone. There’s even a ceiling now.”

“Is that a chandelier? And is this a Christmas tree?”

The repaired second floor was the very image of a luxurious five-star hotel. Shining decorations and beautiful paintings were everywhere, while spaces that had once been nothing but walls had all changed into separate rooms. The enormous Christmas tree in the middle of the huge central hall was especially spectacular. None of us could easily pull ourselves away from it.

After looking around for quite a while, we discovered several mysterious features and new changes on the second floor.

First, many rooms without numbers had appeared. Every empty room on the first floor had a number from 101 to 107 and served roles such as Curse Rooms, Rest Rooms, mission rooms, and Gate Rooms. On the other hand, quite a few rooms on the second floor had no numbers. Of course, rooms numbered 201 to 207 had also appeared. Between these new rooms and the massive central hall, the second floor seemed more than twice the size of the first.

Second, an official entrance leading outside from the second floor had appeared. Naturally, we could no longer go out into the world beyond the Snow Globe, so it was a door leading to the snowy field outside the second floor. We no longer had to break down a wall every time we wanted to go outside.

Third, the Mysterious Craftsman we found in the outside world and the unidentified package had been placed on the second floor.

Also, though it was difficult to call it a feature of the second floor, A-ri’s blessing, Secret, had activated again.

“Everyone, come here! The moment we arrived on the second floor, my blessing started working again!”

“Oh! Secret?”

“Yeah. I’ll tell you the information that just appeared. There are two hidden NPCs and two hidden rooms on the second floor.”

“Have we already found one NPC and one room?”

“That's right. We found the Mysterious Craftsman and the Resurrection Room. Also, I learned the name of the Mirror Room, so its name is appearing in the blessing too.”

As she spoke, A-ri wrote in the right corner of the whiteboard that had somehow been installed in the center of the second floor as well.

Hidden NPCs

1. Mysterious Craftsman: Awakening.

2. ???

Hidden Rooms

1. Resurrection Room(!)

2. Mirror Room(?)

“Awakening? And what are the ! and ? marks beside the rooms?”

“I just wrote down what I saw. Maybe that LEGO thing will wake up in a few days and talk to us? If I focus on the ! mark, an explanation of the Resurrection Room appears. It’s something we already know. The ? means we haven't found the room yet.”

“You said your blessing is meant to find the Hotel Secrets, right? Can you sense where they are?”

“It isn’t like I can just stand still and automatically know. If I walk around, I gradually get a vague idea of where they are. Oh, and the door to the Resurrection Room appeared to the left of the Christmas tree.”

“Looks like we'll have to search for the Mirror Room and the other NPC too.”

Eun-sol joined in.

“Let's search another time. As you can see, everyone looks terrible.”

“Yes. I only meant that we should do it someday. The rest days end tomorrow anyway, but let's stop searching for now.”

Those of us who had explored the outside world were tired, and the people drained by the Rest Incense Candle still looked haggard. We had to enter a Curse Room in only two days. This was the time to recover our strength, not start something new.

While we were talking, a notification suddenly appeared in front of everyone.

[Delivery in Progress]

“Huh? What’s that?”

“Ah, sorry, everyone. I was about to open this package when the notification suddenly appeared.”

Our third discovery from the outside world. The object hidden beneath the Snow Globe, in a location that still seemed absurd when I thought about it, was none other than a package. Of course, its true identity probably wasn't the package itself, but whatever was inside it.

Still, [Delivery in Progress]? Did that make any sense? Elena, who had apparently thought the same thing as me, spoke up.

“Isn't this ridiculous? If it’s still being delivered, the package itself shouldn’t have arrived yet, right? The package is already here, but they made it impossible to open, then called it ‘Delivery in Progress’? What is this? They really put no effort into it!”

A-ri snickered.

“Maybe it’s the Hotel's idea of a joke! I thought it was kind of funny.”

Ancient beings seemed to share a similar sense of humor. I didn't bother pointing it out.

“Maybe it’ll open once the rest days are over? Either way, let's wait a little longer. The Golden Egg took quite a while to hatch too.”

...

Silence fell over the Hotel after my final words. There were plenty of things each of us could do alone, such as me researching the Grimoire again and Elena practicing Ominous Imagination, which she was probably still unfamiliar with. But there was almost nothing left for us to do together.

The two most important things we usually did during Party Time were deciding which room to enter next and exploring, but this time, neither was necessary. We had decided to stop exploring because it was exhausting, and we had already chosen Room 104 as our next destination.

Only one matter remained for us to decide in a meeting.

‘Resurrection.’

Should we use the Ticket this time? If we did, who should we use it on?

Everyone naturally scattered to spend time on their own. Planning to research the Grimoire by myself until lunchtime, I went out into the snowy field on the second floor.

--- Thud!

“Ah! Mi-ro, you really did it again... It can't be Mi-ro. Eun-sol?”

“Sorry! You were so far away that you couldn't hear me calling you. By the way, did Mi-ro throw snowballs at you in Hell or something?”

“Hahaha! She did.”

Remembering the snowball fight with Mi-ro made me smile without realizing it. It might have been one of the most enjoyable times I’d spent in this vicious Hotel. I didn't know whether I was strange or the Hotel was strange, considering that the most fun I had was in Hell of all places.

“Hmm...”

Eun-sol approached me with an oddly meaningful expression.

“So, what was Mi-ro like?”

“...Did you ask anyone else?”

“I didn't, and I have no intention of asking them. What would be the point of asking her daughter or colleague? Let's make one thing clear. I have no intention of bringing someone who isn't in their right mind back to life. I’m only asking whether she’s someone worth resurrecting if we someday find a way to make Mi-ro come to her senses. You might forget as time passes, so let's talk about it before then.”

As I walked through the snowy field, I reflected on my experiences in Mi-ro’s Hell.

Footnotes:

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