WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 216: Room 104, Curse Room - ‘Hotel High, the Prestigious Academy’ Re (10)

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- Elena

It was like a scene from a movie playing in slow motion.

A companion had come to save me from the birdcage, only for an enemy bullet to pierce that companion's chest. Wasn't that a rather classic sequence? The difference was that it felt incomparably more real than any movie.

The moment the Doctor's body crumpled, something inside me snapped. At the same time, fierce anger boiled up within me!

I could feel the scope of the ‘Judgment Target’ expanding. At this moment, Justice's Scales had once again placed a new group upon its scales.

--- Raaah!

Light burst from my entire body, and the Scales spun in a spiral as they tore the birdcage apart. In the chaos, I was free once more.

My expanded senses detected something flying in from the sky, like some new type of attack helicopter -

The next moment, an unimaginable light shone on me. Was this what it felt like to be hit by a flashbang? The light was so overwhelming that I couldn't see anything at all. The whole world was filled with light. Soon, an enormous noise began to fill the air as well.

I couldn't see anything or hear anything.

Only then did I understand the strategy the Management Bureau had devised during that brief clash with me. They intended to use an extremely powerful flashbang to render me helpless and buy time!

What was the point of simply buying time? That was a foolish question. An organization that had protected the world from Chaos Entities across an entire planet for so long must have guessed that immense power like what I was wielding now couldn't come without a price. Perhaps they thought there was some kind of time limit.

Once both my sight and hearing were paralyzed, I paradoxically found peace. In that empty white space, I wondered just how far I should extend the Judgment Target.

It seemed strange to be thinking about this in the middle of a chaotic fight, but I couldn't help it. Could I carry out an execution without even holding a trial just because the world was in chaos?

When a vicious criminal is caught, countless people always say to kill that bastard immediately. Cut off their head, burn them alive, physically castrate them. That anger was probably one of the driving forces behind humanity's pursuit of Justice.

But that couldn't be done. Even if someone who murdered another person in front of a camera was caught, wasn't the judicial process meant to punish them only after three trials spanning years had ensured there wasn't a single trace of injustice or doubt?

Even that frustrating slowness was the essence of Justice, and the essence of my blessing.

What the Management Bureau did to the innocent Doctor was undoubtedly wrong, but it was still an organization that protected the world. I couldn't designate the entire organization as a Judgment Target. To begin with, shouldn't what happened earlier be seen as an accidental incident caused by a lack of information?

If that was the case, there was no need to punish them by taking Management Bureau agents' lives. I was sorry to the Doctor, but let's settle this with money. The Doctor would come back to life once we got outside anyway, so he wasn't completely dead.

Of course, I didn't mean the Management Bureau should pay me, and then I would give it to the Doctor's family. Let's keep this simple.

I decided that destroying a whole lot of Management Bureau equipment would be enough.

After reaching that conclusion, I waited until I could see and hear again. It might have looked as though I was helpless against the flashbang, doing nothing but thinking strange thoughts, but I wasn't worried.

There had been one fatal flaw in the Management Bureau's tactics from the start.

Sorry to say this, but the entity in my blessing that handled combat wasn't me. It was the Scales. My role was only to provide the Scales with a ‘standard’!

* * *

- Lee Eun-sol

Strange, multi-legged walking robots whose identity I couldn't begin to guess! Three giant robots surrounded us in a triangular formation, forcing Grandfather to stop in his tracks.

There wasn't the slightest sign of people inside those robots, but the moment the autocannons protruding from their upper bodies aimed at us, their intentions were clear without a word being spoken.

Take one more step, and they would kill us.

"At least they aren't shooting right away."

Grandfather sighed.

"We don't look especially powerful, so they probably intend to take us in and interrogate us first. They don't know what's going on either, so aren't they frustrated in their own way? We're the ones who can answer their questions. What a tiresome situation. Getting captured won't mean it's over right away, but if the Lord recovers in the meantime, I don't know what we'll do."

Just as Grandfather and I were about to start worrying over the situation, an enormous burst of light and noise erupted!

...

The entire world stopped.

So this was what happened when someone was exposed to light that strong. The whole world was filled with light. I couldn't see anything or hear anything.

How much time had passed? It felt like at least ten minutes, but after being hit by a flashbang, even my sense of time was distorted, making it difficult to judge accurately.

When I came to my senses, I realized I was moving again while being carried in Grandfather's hand. Had Grandfather recovered sooner because Grandfather was an agent?

"What is this?"

"You're awake now. I don't know what's happening either. By the time I came to, all the robots had disappeared."

"Elena!"

"What?"

"Can't you see Elena over there? Elena's throwing lightning everywhere from the sky!"

I finally managed to grasp the situation. Elena, who had been rendered helpless before the Management Bureau forces only moments ago, had regained her tremendous power and started rampaging again!

Grandfather gave a hollow laugh.

"It must look like Elena to you, Eun-sol, but all I can see is a yellow dot."

Instead of answering, I jumped down from Grandfather's hand and started running. Just moments ago, Elena hadn't been able to use Justice's blessing against the Management Bureau. What had happened?

I didn't know. Still, I could ask about it properly once we got out. I ran frantically toward the Old School Building.

After running for what felt like forever, I entered the Old School Building, pulled back the camouflage curtain installed on the first floor, and followed the passage leading to the underground city. Aurelia was waiting inside.

"... I thought you'd gone to the underground city alone. Were you waiting for us?"

"I intended to wait for you for about ten minutes. The situation is chaotic, but I thought the Apostles of the Newly Risen One would have no trouble making it here. You've struggled more than I expected."

Her tone was so rude that it sounded like she was scolding us. We hadn't exactly been companions to begin with, but this woman really was something else!

"There's no need to waste strength on trivial matters in advance. You were waiting for us because you were afraid to face the Lord alone too, weren't you?"

At Pero Ga-in's mocking reply, Aurelia offered no rebuttal. She simply turned around and began walking.

As we walked through the underground city, I thought about it. The decision to persuade Aurelia and bring her along had been the right one. There was no way we could have found our way through this place on our own.

I hadn't known the layout of the underground city to begin with, but at least it had been well lit and ventilated. Yet after Elena caused the ground to collapse while escaping from the Lord not long ago, the underground city had literally fallen into ruin.

The headlamp function of the Protective Suit gave us the bare minimum of light, but that was all. The place was no different from a collapsed ruin in every direction, so even with my eyes, I couldn't tell where to go.

Only Aurelia, who knew the terrain of the entire city inside and out, walked on as though nothing had happened.

...

"Where are we going? Do you have any idea where the Lord is?"

"I've been thinking since yesterday. According to what you told me, Father's Descent was into the body of the boy who was part of your group, and that body is now on the verge of death."

"I think of it less as Descent and more as body theft, but the situation is as you said."

"Where would someone go to restore a body on the verge of death? It would be the safest place remaining in this area of collapsed ground. It would also need to be the place most strongly imbued with Father's power."

"It sounds like there's some kind of sacred place in the underground city."

"Something like that. Strictly speaking, this entire city is Father's Sacred Domain, but let us say there is a place that is especially sacred even within that Sacred Domain."

A place especially sacred within the Sacred Domain. A sacred place among sacred places.

... For us, who had to bring down that holy being, it felt like we were walking directly into the enemy's jaws. Would this really be all right? I'd heard the rough outline of Ga-in's plan, but I couldn't help feeling anxious.

After traveling for nearly thirty minutes, we entered a strange passage, and I immediately knew this was the place. Unlike the underground city, where every facility had collapsed, lights were still on from this passage onward. Not long after entering, an unknown girl appeared before us.

"You truly made it this far. Ah... Everything in this world rests in the Great One's hands, so the Great One's predictions can never be wrong."

Twelve? Thirteen? The girl looked no older than her early teens, yet streams of unfamiliar radiance poured from her body. Aurelia stepped forward.

"Seong-a, has Father bestowed power upon you?"

"Aurelia. Don't speak to me so casually. The Father of All has given me a revelation. I am now the new pillar of the Cult."

Endless pride filled the girl's expression as she spoke. Aurelia's face twisted terribly as she finally realized that ‘Father’ had abandoned her and appointed a new Saintess.

Beside me, Pero Ga-in spoke as though dumbfounded.

"That bastard Lord is really something else. In the middle of all this, he appoints a Saintess below the age of criminal responsibility. Do you understand what that means?"

Grandfather gave a hollow laugh.

"Did the Lord think Elena might make it this far? Kid, you're obviously an elementary school student, aren't you?"

At the word "kid," light began gathering around the girl's body as she flared up. Aurelia took a step forward.

"Wait, Seong-a. I didn't come here to fight you."

"What do you mean?"

"I... I only came to ask Father a question."

Open mockery appeared on the new Saintess's face.

"That is exactly why Father judged you unqualified! What question could possibly be worth asking? You dare try to fathom the Father of All with your inadequate mind, and the very fact that you harbor doubts proves your inadequacy."

Ah! That bastard Lord must have decided Aurelia had grown too old to listen properly, so he brought in an even crazier child as the new Saintess. What a piece of work.

Even now, Aurelia spoke as calmly as she could.

"Yes. Seong-a, no, Saintess, what you say is correct. But I want my question answered, even just once. You may kill me afterward if you wish. Saintess, no, Father! I believe you are watching me through this child's eyes right now. I devoted my entire life to you. Do you truly have no intention of speaking to me, not even for a moment?"

Footnotes:

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