WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 234: Room 202, Curse Room - ‘The Little Mermaid’ (12)

──────

- Yoo Song-i

I heard the waves crashing.

My body would crumble too, like foam fading from a sandy shore. The moment that incomprehensible being rose from the heart of the dark sea, black as the abyss itself, I gave up on everything.

Maybe it would've been better if I'd gone mad like Eun-sol, who'd been tearing out her eyes earlier. Thanks to the power of my bracelet manifesting instinctively, my mind was still painfully clear. So I decided to close my eyes and wait for death.

It might sound irresponsible, but I'd seen the Chat Window earlier. It looked like Elena had called only Ga-in over and taken him somewhere. There was no way they were going on a date in the middle of this, so they had to have escaped, right?

I decided to believe that.

--- Splash!

I felt ‘something’ approaching from beneath the murky abyss.

A twisted, distorted, ugly shape came toward me. At last, I could feel the end of the first attempt at Room 202, which had been so difficult, drawing near.

“If you don't mind, could you start with my head and take it in one bite? My head's small, so you should be able to finish it in a single bite!”

I obediently held my head out toward the monster.

--- Splash!

It had been quite a while since I'd remembered that my blessing was Affinity.

* * *

“Toto! Doesn't it itch when you've got things like this stuck all over you?”

--- Grrr!

--- Tap!

“Got it! Can't you keep your head still? I'll make you feel better.”

What on earth was happening?

Let's go through it in order. I arrived at the harbor to stop Lee Su-ho. But I was too late, and the Demon God of the Ocean rose the moment I got there, bringing everything to an end. I held out against the madness the Demon God caused with the power of my bracelet and waited for death.

Then a gigantic sea turtle appeared, put me on its back, and started swimming somewhere.

Does that make any sense?

I don't know either.

Things at the hotel were generally like this. You could never tell what would happen. You might think, This is the logical way things will go, right? Those predictions were almost always wrong. You might consider all kinds of possibilities and think, Then it'll probably go like this. Those predictions were almost always wrong too.

1, 2, 4. What should come next?

At a glance, it seemed like 8 should come next, then 16. Looking at it another way, it could be a sequence where 7 came next, then 11. That was what people thought of as a ‘logical progression.’

Then the hotel would scream, ‘3 is missing between 2 and 4!’ and wipe us all out because we'd skipped 3.

So I gave up on making predictions and decided to just follow the flow of my thoughts.

Looking at all the barnacles stuck to Toto's body, Toto being the name I'd just given the turtle, I couldn't bear it anymore and started pulling them off. Toto must have been itchy all this time, because it raised its legs to show me there were barnacles there too.

The Demon God, who had risen as if he would shake the whole world, left for somewhere far away. Was he heading for land? I had no idea.

The snake that appeared beside me was more concerning than the Demon God's next move.

--- Lick!

“Don't stick your tongue on me! Pervert. I'm a popular girl, you know.”

It didn't seem like the sea serpent understood me. In fact, it looked like the sea serpent was just trying to climb onto the turtle's back too.

The sea was rising. Rolling waves swallowed the traces of Haesin Island one by one. At some point, the Merfolk's screams, which had been audible even through the storm, stopped.

Around then, a rather grand-looking yacht approached me. A young man whose upper body was covered in scales stood aboard it.

“Hello! The world's ending, so mind if I ride on your yacht?”

“You... are you an agent from the Management Bureau? I received word that someone had entered the island-”

“An agent? I don't know any scary people like that!”

“...”

“I'm very good at removing barnacles from turtles!”

As I lifted Toto's front leg and waved it, the young man's mouth fell open.

“Come aboard. I've seen all kinds of strange things today.”

--- Tap!

Wandering the sea on a turtle's back had been fun in its own way, but a yacht was still better than riding a turtle. The moment I climbed aboard, I felt comfortable.

“Bye, Toto! See you next time, Pyu-pyu!”

“Toto? Pyu-pyu?”

“The turtle is Toto, and the snake is Pyu-pyu.”

“Their names are Asdallios and Kiorne-”

“Toto and Pyu-pyu are better.”

“... Fine. Let's call them that. So, Miss Management Bureau, what do you think as you watch the island collapse?”

“Could I get something to eat?”

“...”

* * *

The sight of canned food on the table made me hungry even now. This man, who I assumed was Lee Su-ho, was pretty funny too. It wasn't normal that he actually gave me food after I asked for some in the middle of all this.

“It isn't much of a meal, but-”

“It really isn't much.”

“... You can't seriously expect steak in a place like this, can you?”

“I thought the eldest son of the Cheongseong Group chairman would be on some absurdly luxurious yacht.”

“Yachts like that are too large to hide in.”

“So you usually hide like a rat.”

“You've got a foul mouth. Serenade was chasing me as though she wanted to fillet me alive. I had no choice but to hide.”

One thing became clear from our brief conversation. Serenade had been pursuing this man.

As I chewed for a long time on the bland, overcooked lumps of flour from the can, I thought things over.

I should believe that Ga-in had escaped. I needed to find something out. But how?

Should I use my bracelet to show him an illusion?

He wasn't some ordinary person. He was a being like a high priest who had raised the Evil God. I didn't know if it would even work, and even if it did, I doubted something like that would make him fear me.

So I decided to face him directly.

“How about we just put everything out in the open?”

“...”

“Come on, big bro. Tell me what you're really thinking.”

“Why exactly am I your big brother?”

“Then should I call you handsome mister?”

Lee Su-ho let out a long sigh.

“Well, it doesn't matter. The ending is drawing near anyway, so perhaps it wouldn't be bad for both of us to feel a little more at ease...”

The ending?

“Let's do this. Miss Management Bureau, you must have many things you're curious about, but I have things I want to ask you as well. We take turns asking one question each. You know everything is almost over, so I hope we won't waste time on pointless mind games.”

This was different from what I'd expected. I thought he was after something like a position second only to the Demon God, above everyone else in a world ruled by him.

But thinking back on what he'd said, Lee Su-ho seemed to believe his own death wasn't far away.

“Fine. I'll ask first. Why the fuck are you doing all this insane bullshit, you crazy son of a bitch?”

My words came out a little harsh. I'd had a really rough day.

“Strong opening. It's nothing special. I simply made the Merfolk pay for their sins.”

“The First Sin-”

“Miss, it's my turn now. Wasn't that our agreement?”

“...”

“Was Elena well? What condition was she in?”

“You caused all this chaos, yet you're worried about Elena.”

“Answer the question.”

“Serenade had Elena locked up and kept pumping her with drugs so she couldn't wake up at all. We rescued her, but since you caused all this chaos, she's probably dead by now.”

After hearing my answer, Lee Su-ho looked up at the sky with a distant expression.

“It's my turn now, right? I don't know what sin you're talking about, but wasn't that the First Sin committed by the original Merfolk? It's been seven or eight hundred years since those Merfolk died. Does it make sense to blame their descendants' descendants' descendants' descendants, however many generations removed?”

That was the part I couldn't understand.

I could at least accept Kadarudah, the Demon God. He was such a different kind of existence that I could understand why he didn't care about distinctions like that.

When a person got bitten by ants, did they distinguish one ant from another before killing them? No. They sprayed poison and wiped out the entire nest. Maybe the Demon God had acted on the same logic, not caring whether the Merfolk he punished were the descendants of those who committed the sin.

But the man who had raised Kadarudah was human.

At least, he had been human.

“I think you have a misunderstanding.”

“What?”

“I have never punished the Merfolk for the sins of their ancestors.”

“Huh?”

“I simply made them pay for the sins the Merfolk have committed in the present. Of course, the past may have been a problem for the revived Kadarudah as well.”

The Merfolk had committed two Great Sins. The First Sin committed by their ancestors, and another sin their descendants had committed afterward.

Lee Su-ho said that what he intended to punish was not the former, but the latter. The revived Kadarudah might take issue with the former as well, but that wasn't Lee Su-ho's intention.

“My turn now. This is personal curiosity, but how did you control Asdallios and Kiorne earlier? They're Kadarudah's servants, and they don't even listen to me very well.”

“Toto and Pyu-pyu?”

“... How did you control Toto and Pyu-pyu?”

“Hmm. It's the power of a blessing bestowed upon me by a great being at the hotel.”

“That's a very sincere answer. Yet it feels like you haven't told me anything at all.”

“You're mistaken. I really did tell you everything.”

“Fine. I did gloss over your first question too.”

After that, Lee Su-ho didn't ask anything else. It seemed the only things he had wanted to know were how Elena was doing and information about my blessing, Affinity.

I was exhausted too, so I blankly picked at the rest of the soggy noodles. Lee Su-ho left for a moment, then brought back another can.

“Spicy stir-fried meat?”

“Eat it with this, and the noodles become somewhat bearable. I'd forgotten I had one left.”

“You could've brought it out earlier.”

“Sorry.”

The chicken noodles were definitely much more edible with the spicy stir-fried meat.

Around then, the sky suddenly brightened!

“Ah... The ending has finally come.”

“W-what is that?!”

Lee Su-ho looked even more dumbfounded by my surprise.

“Why are you asking me, Miss Management Bureau? Isn't that the weapon the Management Bureau uses when it decides things have completely gone to hell? I think it's called Terminator.”

“Terminator?”

Light descended from the sky.

Was it some kind of nuclear missile? It didn't seem like it.

It moved slowly, and there was no physical form like a missile. A mass of light, in the most literal sense, slowly descended toward the sea. Strangely, that light gave off the same indescribable, overwhelming feeling I'd felt when I saw the Demon God earlier.

A calm voice came from beside me.

“Everyone only has one life. In the end, what's important isn't obsessing over living a long life, but living a meaningful one. Looking at it that way, it wasn't a bad life.”

This Lee Su-ho bastard! Was he becoming enlightened all by himself? The thought was so absurd that I gave him a piece of my mind.

“Mister.”

“Any last words?”

“I'll tell you something interesting. We'll meet again. And when we do, things won't turn out the way you think they will.”

The light descended.

A blazing radiance that shook heaven and earth, something containing the accumulated strength of the organization that had protected the world against immeasurable evil, struck the surface of the sea.

--- Flash!

Ridiculously enough, the feeling I experienced in that final moment was joy.

I could feel that the distilled essence of civilization, built by seven billion humans over thousands of years, was contained within that single beam of light.

Footnotes:

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