WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 214: Room 104, Curse Room - ‘Hotel High, the Prestigious Academy’ Re (8)
──────
- Lee Eun-sol
After bringing Aurelia to the hideout, we learned all sorts of information about the Cult from her. We were organizing what we'd gathered and making a few plans late into the night when Mr. Sang-hyeon arrived at the hideout.
We'd expected Mr. Sang-hyeon to have died in the underground city, so seeing him show up completely unharmed came as quite a shock.
“Ah! Mr. Sang-hyeon? How did you make it out alive?”
“...”
“Mr. Sang-hyeon?”
“Eun-sol, step back.”
Startled by Grandfather's cold voice, I stepped back. He had a pistol in one hand. He was pointing a gun at a companion!
I reached for Grandfather's arm in shock, then finally realized what was strange. Fine, let's say Mr. Sang-hyeon had been lucky enough to survive the underground city's collapse unscathed. We'd gotten out safely too, after all.
Why had he only come here now?
Everyone except Ga-in already knew that Grandfather had the Escape Button as our final insurance. At least the teacher team had checked the hideout's location early on. That was why I could bring Pero Ga-in and Elena here.
In the tense silence, Kim Sang-hyeon calmly spoke.
“Everyone. Do you remember something I said before?”
“Something you said before?”
“I said that a place filled with dangers like the Hotel requires ‘strong leadership,’ didn't I?”
“...”
“I decided to bring in someone suitable to take on that leadership role. The Lord has come upon me. My words are His will, so be careful with your ‘conversations.’”
A faint light rose from Kim Sang-hyeon's body as he spoke!
Elena, who had been listening beside me with her golden eyes gleaming, had sparks flying from her eyes.
“Doctor! No, you fucking bastard! Do you know it was Ga-in who tried to save you-”
Grandfather grabbed Elena's arm as she flew into a rage.
“Fine. You must have a reason for coming all this way. I doubt you came here to pay respects and announce that you'll serve a new master.”
“Of course not. The Lord told me to convey a proposal to you.”
“Let's hear it.”
“The Lord says you are already cornered. You know that the Source of the Curse in Room 104 is the Cult itself, don't you? The moment you eliminate the cultists and the Saintess, the room will be resolved. The Saintess has already been ‘eliminated,’ so only the cultists remain. Do you know where they all are, or how many there are?”
“... There must be remnants left at Hotel High.”
“Ha ha ha! You don't truly think that's all, do you? Surely you don't believe a flashy building like Hotel High was raised from thin air by a miracle? If that had happened, the Management Bureau would have started a war long ago. It was built the ordinary way. Where do you think the money came from?”
“Hah. Are you saying there are plenty of people in the Cult who can supply the money and manpower needed to build Hotel High and the underground city?”
“That's right. It won't be easy for you to find them, and even if you do, it will take quite some time to deal with them. For your information, the Lord will already be fully recovered around this time tomorrow. Do you think you have a way to resolve everything overnight?”
“...”
“But the Lord is by no means a tyrannical devil. He possesses the wisdom and mercy to lead us. You stand against Him in Room 104, but once you leave, you will become His hands and feet as you make your way through the harsh Hotel. Therefore, the Lord has decided to show mercy.”
“So we're screwed anyway, and we're being told to stop talking shit and come grovel nicely. Is that what you're saying?”
“The Lord said He would give you one day to consider it. Come to the Old School Building tomorrow evening.”
“Hey! You fucking bastard-”
Elena finally snapped and lunged at him!
This time, I had to grab both of Elena's hands and pull her back.
... He'd said the Lord had come upon him at the start of the conversation, hadn't he?
“Elena, please!”
The moment I pulled Elena back, the Doctor's eyes turned toward me. There was clear gratitude in them.
Kim Sang-hyeon left the hideout.
* * *
“Why did you all stop me? That man-”
“Please! You were so quick-witted and smart earlier, so what's gotten into you now?”
“Huh?”
“Elena, did Lie Detection judge everything Mr. Sang-hyeon said earlier to be true?”
“... Yes.”
Grandfather sighed.
“Ga-in, what did you think?”
The mouth of Pero Ga-in, who had remained silent until now and had even been pecking at nuts like a real parrot, opened.
“It seems the teacher has a plan of his own. He appears to be acting on the idea that if you want to catch a tiger, you have to enter its den, but...”
“The first part of what he said was strange, wasn't it?”
“Saying, ‘The Lord has come upon me,’ and then showing us that light was completely unnecessary. It was practically a warning that the Lord was listening to this conversation as well.”
“‘Be careful with your conversations.’ That phrasing was strange too. There are plenty of other ways to say it, like watch what you say or be careful with your words. But he said to be careful with our ‘conversations.’ It sounds exactly like he was telling us to be careful with the Chat Window.”
Elena answered, somewhat flustered.
“Are you saying that since the Lord has gained the qualifications of a participant, He can spy on the Chat Window? But the Chat Window has a range limit! Even by car, the Old School Building is quite far from here.”
Grandfather shook his head.
“Elena is right that it's far away now. What Kim Sang-hyeon meant was that once we get near that bastard later, we shouldn't use the Chat Window carelessly.”
“If Mr. Sang-hyeon had really betrayed us, there was a much better way than coming here to act as the Lord's messenger.”
Grandfather clearly explained that “better way.”
“Doesn't our party basically tend not to suspect companions? If he'd broken a few bones and come here covered in wounds, we wouldn't have doubted him. If he'd joined up with us and ambushed us at night, we'd all be dead, and this room would be in the Lord's hands.”
Unlike Elena, who had been strangely slow to grasp the situation and reacted emotionally, the other three of us reached the same conclusion. Kim Sang-hyeon had tried to convey something to us through that conversation.
“Elena's Lie Detection confirmed that everything Mr. Sang-hyeon told us was true. It must be true that the Lord ordered him to deliver a proposal.”
Grandfather immediately pointed something out.
“Don't forget. Lie Detection's judgment would have applied to Kim Sang-hyeon. Just because he told the truth doesn't guarantee that the Lord who used him as a messenger won't deceive us.”
“I know. The Lord could have deceived Mr. Sang-hyeon too. Anyway, say whatever comes to mind. The part that struck me as strange was what he said about the Cult's forces. It was subtly different from what Aurelia told us earlier.”
“Aurelia said that outside groups, apart from Hotel High's core forces, know nothing about the Cult's true nature. They don't know about the Lord's existence, or even Aurelia's. They aren't part of the Cult. They're just its fingers and toes.”
“Right. So saying it would take us a very long time to deal with the Cult's forces is just a bluff. In reality, we only need to deal with the remnants at Hotel High.”
The parrot bobbed its head.
“I agree. There was another part that caught my attention. He said to come tomorrow because we had a day to think about it. What did that sound like to you?”
The corner of Grandfather's mouth curled up.
“You felt the same way I did. He was trying to make us waste time.”
Pero Ga-in answered at once.
“It is probably true that the Lord will recover by tomorrow or the day after. Not because the Doctor said so. That matches the time I predicted just before leaving my body. Also, there is still time before the Lord can use Descent again.”
The situation was clear. The Lord would recover tomorrow, or the day after at the latest. Once He recovered, we would have no chance. Which meant that right now was when He was weakest!
This was the trap the Lord had laid while pretending to offer us a deal. He wanted us to waste today, the time most precious to us, on something as pointless as debating whether to accept His proposal.
“Good. Let's not waste time and leave soon. Time is on the enemy's side, so it looks like we need to finish this today.”
Elena, who looked somewhat embarrassed as she listened to our explanation and understood the situation, cautiously spoke.
“Um... I have something to say.”
“Go ahead.”
“Can we really win just because we go to the Lord now? We all nearly died even against the Lord when He was just standing there.”
“The Lord had used Descent then.”
“I don't believe the Lord is the kind of being who relies on Descent alone.”
I agreed with that much. What kind of being had the Lord seemed to be so far? Someone who laid a trap, then laid another trap on the path around the first one, and even stationed a sniper to pick off anyone who turned back after deciding something was wrong.
Pero, who had been listening silently, spoke.
“I have an idea.”
Elena didn't argue any further.
* * *
- Lee Eun-sol
It was getting dark. As we made a rough plan and prepared to leave for the Old School Building, someone joined us.
“I will go with you as well.”
“Miss Aurelia. I thought you were meditating by yourself for quite some time.”
“I needed to organize my thoughts. You are heading to the Old School Building now, correct? You promised me, didn't you? You said you would give me a chance to resolve my doubts.”
Honestly, this woman was suspicious as hell. It was true that after we awkwardly recruited her, she gave us quite a bit of information about the Cult. Thanks to that, we could see through the Lord's deception.
But could someone who had been the Cult's Saintess really turn around in an instant? It was no different from denying her entire life.
Unexpectedly, Grandfather accepted it without hesitation.
“Come with us. You need to see your own ending as well.”
“Grandfather?”
Kim Mook-seong: Hint.
I understood. Based on the hints we'd interpreted so far, Aurelia clearly had some role to play in this room. Surely it wasn't just providing us with information about the Cult. Rather than trust her, I chose to trust the hints. Realistically, we were also in a situation where even the little power she had left was valuable.
--- Vroom!
Tonight, we would hunt the god who dreamed of escaping into reality.
* * *
A luxurious bed. On it lay a young man who seemed unconscious.
Judging by the atmosphere alone, he looked as if he would die the moment someone lightly pressed a pillow over his face. But the Doctor ‘treating’ the young man knew well that even if a missile fell on him, not a single nose hair would twitch.
If not for the strange Blood Poison flowing through his veins and endlessly twisting his body, he would already have resolved this room. Could Old Blood be used like this too? As far as Kim Sang-hyeon knew, even Mi-ro couldn't use it in this way.
A voice rang inside his head.
‘Did you convey my will?’
“Yes.”
‘Hmm... I seem to recall telling you to assess the situation and kill a few of them.’
“Didn't you tell me to act according to the situation? I understood that to mean I should kill them if I could, and if I wasn't confident, only convey your will.”
‘You weren't confident, so you only conveyed my words?’
“Yes.”
The corner of the young man's mouth lifted slightly. Watching it, Kim Sang-hyeon was seized by an inexplicable fear. Was this what a rabbit felt when it stood before a wolf?
‘Child. Do you think I wouldn't see through your little scheme?’
“...”
‘Your little trick is admirable, so I shall take it as a cute prank.’
What did that mean?
The young man's voice no longer reached him.
* * *
Perched on Grandfather's shoulder, the parrot with the greatest intelligence in human history plucked out gray hairs as it thought. Everything was going more easily than expected. From experience, when things started going this easily, their reasoning was usually wrong.
Something unexpected would probably happen once they reached the Old School Building. But that was fine. No matter what moves the enemy had prepared, we had a card that could overcome every one.
The moment of reckoning was approaching. It was time to settle their long relationship with the Lord.
“... Why are you pulling out my hair?”
“Oops! I guess it's a habit.”
“...”
Footnotes:
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