WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 200: Party Time - The Ninth Companion (2)
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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 95
Current Location: Level 2, Snow Globe Snowfield
Sage’s Advice: X]
- Han Ga-in
The Sponsor's “defense” of Doctor Kim Sang-hyeon was that he was a diligent person, or at least not an evil one. Jin-cheol's reaction was negative.
“Can we trust that? For all we know, Sponsors always want their participants to climb the Hotel, right? It doesn't sound like an objective opinion.”
“That’s true. The problem is that we don't know much about the person we're supposed to revive.”
“Right.”
“Should we offer a Prayer for Rest for Kim Sang-hyeon too?”
Ever since that damn “prayer,” several people had been bedridden for days. Jin-cheol, who had lost at least ten kilograms from a single prayer, suddenly fell silent.
A-ri let out a light sigh.
“Now I understand another reason the Hotel created the procedure called Prayer for Rest. It seems to be a way of finding out what kind of person a Former Participant was before reviving them.”
“It's an insanely exhausting way, though. Even if we do it, we can't do it now.”
I looked back at Jin-cheol, who had grown gaunt as if he’d lost at least ten kilograms from a single prayer. Even if we offered a prayer, doing it today would be too much.
Honestly, I didn't know whether we'd ever have enough leeway in this brutal Hotel to pray again. At first, we hadn't realized the risks of a Prayer for Rest were this great, and we'd done it without hesitation because we needed to restore the Hotel to normal anyway.
“It's not just exhausting. Even if we pray, we don't actually learn that much about the Former Participant.”
A-ri's point was right too. Even if a Former Participant had entered the Hotel in their forties, if their Trauma had formed in their teens, then the person in the prayer would be a teenager. Could knowing what they had been like as a teenager guarantee what kind of person they would be in their forties? There was no answer.
Finally, A-ri asked the Guide, which had returned to normal after the Sponsor left.
“Can I ask how capable Kim Sang-hyeon's healing ability is? For example, can he use abilities on the level of what he does in Room 105 now?”
“Kim Sang-hyeon's personal abilities remain the same.”
“Personal abilities?”
“The tools the Hotel provides to NPCs in the Doctor role will disappear.”
As though it had no more information to give us, the Guide vanished into the distant sky.
* * *
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 95
Current Location: Level 1, Room 105 - Rest Room
Sage’s Advice: X]
“That’s all the information we found. What do the rest of you think?”
At lunchtime, I told the others what I'd learned in Frozen Hell. Grandpa spoke as soon as he heard it.
“Judging from the mechanics of the blessing, Diligence, we should assume the Doctor's healing ability comes from skills and knowledge accumulated through a long career as a doctor, appropriately enhanced by the blessing's power.”
“Right.”
“There is some uncertainty. If the ‘tools provided by the Hotel’ disappear, then his current near-divine healing ability will decline considerably as well... Still, it's true that he seems the best among the candidates we've found.”
“Considering the blessing's nature, he may be exceptional in other areas too. The blessing isn't specifically specialized in medicine.”
“Sounds plausible. His physical abilities or marksmanship might be better than expected.”
Eun-sol agreed and summed it up.
“If we start picking everything apart, we'll never finish. There are no perfect candidates, and each one has something worrying about them. Instead of debating forever, let's choose now. At least if we bring someone back around lunchtime today, we'll have today and tomorrow to introduce ourselves and get acquainted, right?”
The day after tomorrow, we had to enter a Curse Room. There were plenty of concerns about entering a Curse Room immediately after waking a new companion, when neither side even knew who the other was. We needed at least a day to get to know one another.
In the end, we decided to make the final choice through an anonymous vote. Eight ballots were quickly prepared, each listing five options: the four revival candidates and saving the Ticket. The results came immediately.
Kim Sang-hyeon: 5 votes
Mi-ro: 1 vote
Estavio: 0 votes
Cha Seung-jin: 0 votes
Save it: 2 votes
...
Unexpectedly, someone besides Jin-cheol had voted to save it. Had A-ri written Mi-ro's one vote? A-ri seemed flustered instead.
“I voted for the Doctor!”
Eun-sol immediately cut her off.
“It doesn't matter who voted for whom. If we were going to ask that, we would've held an open vote. What matters is that Kim Sang-hyeon received five votes.”
The final meeting for the revival was over.
* * *
There was an indescribable tension in everyone's steps as we headed toward Frozen Hell. Doctor Kim Sang-hyeon, the ninth companion we would recruit after spending months in the Hotel. What kind of person was he?
Not long after we entered Hell, the drone we were seeing for the second time that day descended again.
“Have you made your decision?”
Everyone nodded, and we told it that we had chosen to revive “Kim Sang-hyeon.” A moment later, an ice statue appeared as if it had risen from the ground. At the same time, the Ticket Eun-sol had been holding flew into the air.
“I will ask one final time. This choice cannot be reversed. Do you choose to revive Former Participant ‘Kim Sang-hyeon’?”
“... Yeah.”
The Ticket began to burn. At first, the flames rising from it seemed to hover in the air like ghostly fire, but before long, they settled onto the ice statue below. The statue slowly began to melt. Only then did we focus on the man inside.
Was he in his early forties? He didn't seem that old. He had a sturdy build and didn't look physically awkward. Yet regardless of his physique, he gave off the impression that anyone passing him on the street would immediately think he was a scholar.
Judging people by appearance was extremely superstitious, but seeing that scholarly impression put me at ease without me realizing it.
Beside me, Eun-sol spoke to A-ri.
“Now we can see his face. You don't know him, right?”
“I told you, I don't. Even his name is one I've never heard before.”
“His expression is twisted.”
“He's having a Nightmare right now. It'll end soon.”
At last, all the ice melted. The man's body, which hadn't been able to move even a finger, began to twitch for the first time.
Then Kim Sang-hyeon opened his eyes.
* * *
The first reaction of a man who had just been freed after being trapped for a long time in his own personal Hell, reliving the most horrific moment of his life, was to cry.
He cried. He cried and cried again. Tears streamed endlessly down his face like a child's, leaving the rest of us speechless. Jin-cheol, who had opposed reviving the Doctor more than anyone just hours earlier, seemed moved by the sight before him and walked over to grasp his shoulder.
After crying without a word for nearly ten minutes, the man finally opened his mouth with difficulty.
“Thank you, thank you.... Thank you so much. No one in this world could express the gratitude I feel right now. Truly, I...”
He stopped there, then suddenly gripped my hand tightly.
“Thank you! I truly don't even know what I should say.”
Was it my imagination? Something about this man's pronunciation and word choice felt odd. It was like the accent of an overseas Korean. Maybe it was because he'd cried so much.
“Ah, no. I wasn't the only one who decided, so...”
“For a long time. I was trapped in Hell for a truly long time. Until you all arrived at this Hotel, there was no salvation for me.”
“Did you become the Doctor NPC when we arrived?”
“That is correct. However... I have almost no memories left of my time as the Doctor in Room 105.”
I'd expected that. NPCs were beings who would inevitably learn the Hotel's secrets. Considering the Hotel's nature, it was only natural that memories related to those secrets would be erased the moment they were revived.
“Still, I remember a few things clearly. For example, I remember begging you for salvation as vividly as if it happened yesterday. If you hadn't remembered my wish, this moment would never have come.”
I didn't know how to respond. What was I supposed to say when a middle-aged man held my hand, crying endlessly and thanking me over and over?
In the awkward silence, Eun-sol stepped in.
“All right, Kim Sang-hyeon? Let's go to the first floor and talk over something to eat. This is way too awkward, isn't it?”
“I understand.”
With that, Kim Sang-hyeon seemed to slowly regain control of his emotions. The expression that had been crying like a child's gradually relaxed, and as his distinctive confident demeanor returned, he looked much better than before.
Soon, he began studying us one by one. He probably had as many questions about us as we had about him.
Then the man's gaze turned toward A-ri.
The emotions in Kim Sang-hyeon's expression at that moment were impossible to describe in just a few words.
Joy and despair, belief bordering on religious faith, fear as though his heart were collapsing, regret and attachment. A whirlpool of emotion where every feeling a person could hold was mixed together in confusion.
The man trembled as if struck by lightning, then muttered blankly.
“You... How are you here ‘again’?”
He recognized A-ri.
No, he recognized “Mi-ro.”
Footnotes:
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