WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 211: Room 104, Curse Room - ‘Hotel High, the Prestigious Academy’ Re (5)

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I was afraid. This situation terrified me.

Listening to the deafening roar of a battle so immense it felt as if heaven and earth were collapsing, I recalled the moment I came to my senses in the Hotel for the second time. When I first saw my new companions after reviving, I had one simple thought.

How had people like this made it all the way to the second floor?

I couldn't say it in front of my new companions, but I thought anyone else who revived in my place would have felt the same.

In a place as dangerous as the Hotel, anyone would wonder, “How did you possibly make it this far?” when they saw a schoolgirl who looked barely in her teens, a boy who looked even younger, and a woman in her thirties who seemed to have lived a sheltered life.

The others weren't much different. What did it matter if one was a young man who had just started university or a woman aspiring to become an actress?

At least there was the old man from the Management Bureau, the broad-shouldered giant, and the mysterious woman said to be Mi-ro's daughter. I assumed those three had somehow led the party this far.

Only now did I realize how foolish I had been.

Ah! How worthless was the common sense I had built over more than forty years in the supernatural world? The one who had terrified everyone at the Hotel of the Deep Sea had looked no older than a girl in her mid-teens.

Only after going through the bloody battle between demigods in the center of the underground city did I finally understand.

There were no humans in this place. The weak had already been crushed like bugs, and those still standing were nothing but an evil god and demigods who still thought they were human.

...

I heard a sacred voice.

‘Kim Sang-hyeon, what has made you so afraid?’

“... My god.”

‘Do not fear. I have prepared a place for you, so why are you sitting in the wrong one? Come to my side. On the day I leave this place, you will sit directly beneath the greatest seat.’

* * *

- Lee Eun-sol

After Hotel High was reduced to ruins, I started toward Grandpa's location with Pero and Elena on my back. As time passed, I gradually calmed down.

When I thought about it, the situation wasn't a major crisis. I didn't know how we could solve the problems in this room, but we had prepared two ways to escape.

The possibility that we might have to fight Ga-in, especially Ga-in under Descent, in the worst-case scenario was a risk our party had considered long ago. So how would we deal with it?

The conclusion we reached during the meeting that continued late into the night before entering Room 104 was simple.

We couldn't win. We could never defeat Ga-in under Descent.

That didn't mean we had no plan. If we didn't have one, we wouldn't have entered in the first place. The plan was simple.

First, get Seung-yeop out in advance.

Second, entrust the Escape Button to Mook-seong and send him somewhere far away.

The first plan was already underway. Based on A-ri's experience escaping during our first attempt, being arrested by the police in Room 104 didn't immediately trigger an escape. It only counted as an escape after going through a trial, receiving a final verdict, and completely losing the possibility of returning to Hotel High.

Since it would take at least a month to receive the verdict in the first trial, it was a slower escape method than expected, with plenty of variables along the way.

That meant we should put the second plan into action now. Shouldn't Grandpa press the Escape Button? We should at least discuss it.

“Sis.”

... Ga-in had possessed Pero. For convenience, I would call him Pero Ga-in from now on.

“Yeah?”

“I've been thinking as we walked. Does Grandpa have the Escape Button?”

“That's right.”

“Did you tell him through the Chat Window to press it?”

“What are you talking about? If I'd used the Chat Window, you'd know too. I haven't said anything yet. I was going to tell him when we met.”

“... Sis, I can't use the Chat Window anymore.”

I was momentarily speechless.

Several hours had already passed since Ga-in possessed Pero. As far as the Hotel was concerned, Pero Ga-in was no longer a participant.

“Sis. We absolutely can't escape right now. Please tell Grandpa not to press the Escape Button either.”

... Something was seriously wrong.

I told Grandpa not to escape, just as Ga-in said.

“I told him. We'll reach Grandpa's location in about fifteen minutes. Once we get there, it seems like you have a lot to explain to us.”

“Yes.”

The moment we arrived at the hideout where Grandpa had been hiding, the meeting began.

* * *

“You're saying it'll be a disaster if we escape now? What are you talking about? We entered this place trusting we had an escape route!”

Just as expected, Grandpa asked with a bewildered look as soon as we arrived.

Pero Ga-in began a long explanation.

“First, I'll explain the current situation. Starting with the bad news, the power of my Avatar wore off a while ago. The Avatar's power could only be used for about ten minutes to begin with. That means the Lord can move freely now. Of course, he's probably busy recovering his body at the moment.”

The Lord could already move freely!

That fact alone drained the color from both Grandpa's face and mine. Grandpa immediately asked again.

“Then why the hell are we still alive? If that bastard can move freely, he should've come and killed us long ago. Is it still because of his injuries?”

“His injuries are part of it, but the bigger reason is that Descent has ended. The power and duration of Descent aren't unlimited. We poured every bit of strength we had into it and managed to hold out until Descent ran its course. That's the good news. The unfortunate part is that he still has one more use of Descent left.”

The second Descent was already over. That was why the Lord hadn't immediately chased us down and killed us.

But our faces went pale again at the mention of a third Descent. Pero Ga-in continued.

“Based on the information I gathered right before our connection was cut off, the Lord was still seriously injured even when Descent ended. Jin-cheol, Song-i, and A-ri's sacrifices landed effective blows. Elena collapsing the ground was also very effective. Descent also forces massive blood loss on the Lord himself, so he still needs a little time before he can use Descent for a third time.”

There was still time.

Grandpa and I both breathed a little easier.

“You asked earlier why we can't escape. It's because of the Hotel's system. I'll stress this several more times, but the Lord is truly different from the other Prisoners. Rather than a Prisoner, he is...”

“Rather than a Prisoner?”

“It's like he's a player in a game, exploiting loopholes in the Hotel's system. As you know, the Status Window is bound to the body, so it doesn't move with me even if my mind moves into another body. I can't see my Status Window right now. That means I'm no longer a participant. A blessing is proof that someone is a participant.”

It was what I had expected. Pero Ga-in was no longer a participant.

... Then who had inherited Ga-in's Participant Status?

“The Lord! That bastard has your Participant Status now!”

“That's right. The Lord who took my body also took my Status Window and Participant Status. When he first took my body, he used Descent. Back then, he began sharing my Participant Status with me. Now that the one-hour limit of Possession has passed and I've lost my Participant Status, only the Lord remains a participant.”

“If the Status Window and Participant Status went to him, what happened to the Grimoire?”

“That's the strange part. I was curious because this is my first time experiencing something like this, but the Grimoire is still with me. Thinking about it, it makes sense. I've possessed other people's bodies several times before. Each time, the Status Window didn't follow me, but the Grimoire did.”

Right now, the Status Window and Participant Status belonged not to Pero Ga-in here with us, but to the Lord buried beneath the underground city.

Was it at least fortunate that Pero Ga-in still owned the Grimoire?

Pero Ga-in continued explaining.

“As you know, escaping is different from resolving a room. When a Curse Room is resolved, the whole room disappears. But escaping doesn't do that. The room remains. Even if one of us escapes, those left behind can continue progressing through it. Haven't we used that principle several times already?”

“It's a strategy we've used several times since Common Sense-Altering Media. First, get one or two people out, then have the rest attempt a resolution.”

“That same principle applies to the Lord now that he has Participant Status. What do you think will happen if Grandpa, Seung-yeop, or you escape?”

“The Lord will be left alone in this room and continue progressing through it.”

“And someday, he'll resolve this room.”

Grandpa looked puzzled.

Unlike me, who knew the Lord was trying to resolve the room by killing Aurelia, Grandpa hadn't been at the scene and didn't understand what Pero Ga-in meant.

“Am I the only one who can't follow this conversation? Why would a Prisoner resolve a room? Is he trying to kill himself? If the room is resolved, the Lord disappears, you get the Inheritance, and you come back out, right? Are you worried the Lord might stay in your head?”

“No. The moment a Curse Room is resolved, all the damage we've suffered disappears.”

“That's exactly what I'm saying. The Lord has occupied your body right now, but no matter how impressive he is, before the Hotel he's Sun Wukong in Buddha's palm. The moment the room is resolved, the Hotel will heal you and erase that bastard from your head.”

“Grandpa, when a Curse Room is resolved, everything inside it disappears. Prisoners, Adversaries, NPCs. But there is one thing that can leave the Curse Room.”

“Us?”

“Not us. The Inheritance.”

Grandpa and I were both speechless.

“Grandpa, Sis. The Inheritance, Sacred Sun, is another self created by the Lord. His goal isn't to take my body. Taking my body was only a short-term objective, a way to steal Participant Status and make our escape meaningless. His true goal is to make us resolve this room somehow, then send Sacred Sun into the outside world.”

So, to roughly summarize what I understood so far...

1. The Lord's goal is to resolve the room and send another self called Sacred Sun into the outside world.

2. The Lord stole Ga-in's body and gained Participant Status. That gave him the right to continue progressing through the room alone, even if we escaped using the Escape Button or another method.

I felt dizzy.

Once we entered the room, there were only three possible outcomes: resolution, escape, or total annihilation. Total annihilation must not happen. Resolution would fulfill the Lord's goal. Escaping would only let the Lord continue progressing alone!

How were we supposed to upend the Lord's plan?

Pero Ga-in's explanation continued for a long time after that.

Footnotes:

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