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Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 238: Room 202, Curse Room - ‘The Little Mermaid’ (16)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 102

Current Location: Level 2, Room 202, Curse Room ‘The Little Mermaid’

Sage’s Advice: 3]

- Han Ga-in

I'd already felt it during our first attempt, but Serenade was highly wary of us. More precisely, she was hostile toward the Management Bureau. What could we say to persuade her, bring her in, and get information from her in this situation?

I discussed several possibilities with my companions last night, but we eventually reached one conclusion. If no one else, we had to tell Serenade that Haesin Island, and the Merfolk as a whole, were facing a threat to their very survival. That raised the question of how we knew such information in the first place.

The story we came up with was that we'd turned back time. Depending on how you looked at it, it wasn't entirely a lie. Every time we entered, time in Room 202 returned to the starting point.

After hearing me out, Serenade gaped for a moment.

“What on earth are you talking about? The Management Bureau wouldn't be doing this just to mock me, so...”

I had to press on before Serenade could collect herself.

“Let me tell you what we learned before turning back time. For reference, we know very well that Lee Su-ho is alive and well, and that you, Governor, are pursuing him.”

Serenade's expression stiffened.

“Lee Su-ho's goal is Kadarudah's descent. Also, Elena, whom you confined as punishment in a hospital on the island's western side reserved for the Daughters of the Sea God...”

“Stop.”

Silence settled over the room. Serenade paced around without a word before speaking again.

“I don't know whether you truly turned back time, but it seems you've gathered some extraordinary information.”

“...”

“Still, I think I should confirm one more thing.”

“Confirm?”

Rather than answer, she stared intently at us. What was she trying to confirm...

[Advice: 3 -> 2]

[Body slam Serenade!]

The moment I saw the notification, something yanked hard at my navel, and I slammed into Serenade. My body flew across the room without warning, sending Serenade more than two meters through the air before she crashed into the wall!

At the same time, Song-i and Jin-cheol, who were in the office, cried out in shock.

“Eeeek! Oppa?”

“G-Ga-in?”

I couldn't answer because I had no idea what had just happened either. Serenade rose from where she'd struck the wall, looking exhausted.

Bang!

Someone knocked on the door outside. A bodyguard or secretary?

“Saintess! Is something wrong? Open the door at once...”

“Stop! I'm fine, so don't let anyone into the office.”

“... Are you truly all right?”

“Yes.”

A moment later, Serenade got to her feet as though nothing had happened and turned toward us.

“So there really is something. Then... time? Fine. It seems you've already experienced my ability before turning back time. Still, that's strange. My ability has no warning signs.”

I understood the situation. Serenade had tried to use the supernatural power she possessed as a Daughter of the Sea God on us, and I'd stopped it beforehand with that body slam.

... Danger Alert only activated when my life was in danger. That meant Serenade had just tried to kill me. My expression hardened.

At the same time, I felt a considerable threat. Serenade had an ability that could kill someone instantly without any warning. What exactly was it?

“Did you just try to kill us?”

Serenade answered boldly, as though there were nothing wrong with it.

“You said you could turn back time. If that's true, even if one of you dies, that person can come back to life. And you already knew about my ability. You knew enough to stop it, didn't you? There's no problem.”

For a moment, I was speechless. I couldn't decide whether she was shameless or just insane. Perhaps trying to calm our anger, Serenade immediately continued.

“I believe you now. You must need my help if you were willing to reveal such an unbelievable story.”

“There are many things we want to ask.”

“Ask away.”

During the previous attempt, we'd obtained quite a lot of information. We learned that the Source of the Curse was Kadarudah's descent, brought about by Lee Su-ho, who was still alive. We also learned that if we failed to intervene, the descent would take place sometime between dawn and morning tomorrow.

One crucial piece of information was still missing.

Publicly, Kadarudah was the god of the Merfolk. Why would the Merfolk's god descend and immediately wipe them out? Lee Su-ho said the Merfolk had committed two sins. One was the sin committed by the first Merfolk eight hundred years ago, and the other was the sin committed by the Merfolk of the present day.

We needed to know what those sins were. They had to be Kadarudah's motive.

I briefly summarized what we knew about the sins. Serenade wore an inscrutable expression.

“That's a difficult question to answer.”

“What do you mean?”

“I say that because I don't know the answer to one of your two questions either. But I'll answer what I do know first. The sin committed by the first Merfolk.”

One of Room 202's greatest mysteries was finally beginning to unravel.

“It seems you already know that the Merfolk's ancestors were originally poor fishermen. Eight hundred years ago, they discovered mysterious creatures called Rudah in an underwater cave.”

“You mean the creatures that look like giant snails.”

“... You've seen those too? We regard Rudah as servants of the god. Kadarudah means ‘Father of Rudah.’ Our ancestors encountered Rudah in an underwater cave and soon became aware of Kadarudah as well. Then the First Contract was made when the fishermen revered Kadarudah and placed Rudah inside their own bodies.”

The First Contract.

At those words, Serenade opened a desk drawer and took out a thick notebook.

“This is material left behind four hundred and thirty-eight years ago concerning the Primordial Memory contacted by the Daughter of the Sea God of that era. According to it, the Sea God granted the fishermen ‘the right to become children and participate in the cycle.’”

“What does that mean?”

“Listen carefully. Even our ancestors didn't fully understand the contract at the time. They understood it simply as, ‘If we worship the Sea God, we'll be able to catch lots of fish.’ That interpretation wasn't entirely wrong. In exchange for the contract, they caught an enormous amount of fish. They say the waters around the island were overflowing with them.”

If they received benefits, there had to be a price.

“As time passed, our ancestors finally came to understand the contract's true meaning. Before ten years had passed, their bodies began adapting to underwater life. Some of those who entered into the contract changed to the point that their lungs shrank and gills formed, making it difficult for them to breathe on land.”

“They were literally becoming Merfolk.”

“To become a race unlike humans and live forever in the sea. That was the true meaning of the contract between the Sea God and our ancestors. And our ancestors rejected that fate.”

A-ri, who had been listening with interest, asked, “What did they do?”

“To understand that, you must first understand Rudah. Simply put, Rudah are colonial organisms. They're like bees that live in the sea while possessing supernatural spirituality.”

“Supernatural bees that live in the sea?”

“Among the Rudah, there is also a queen. An entity capable of controlling the entire colony, like a queen bee.”

After hearing that much, I understood something.

“That queen is a Daughter of the Sea God.”

“That's right. Ever since the first Merfolk accepted Rudah, every Merfolk has been born with Rudah inside their body. If someone is born carrying a Queen Rudah, they awaken various supernatural abilities and become a Daughter of the Sea God, capable of contacting the Primordial Memory.”

It suddenly felt like I was attending a lecture on the ecology of supernatural creatures.

“Among the abilities possessed by Queen Rudah is the power to regulate the growth of other Rudah.”

Regulate the growth of other Rudah?

“It was probably originally meant to prevent too many queens from emerging within a single Rudah colony. The queen born first prevents other individuals from growing enough to become queens and threaten her position. Strangely enough, this ability saved our ancestors.”

A-ri spoke with a look of disbelief.

“So you're saying the current Merfolk are the result of you Daughters of the Sea God, who carry Queen Rudah, suppressing the growth of all other Rudah?”

“We stopped not only the growth of other Rudah, but our own growth as well. Because of that, all the Rudah inside the Merfolk of Haesin Island remain in their larval state and cannot grow any further. As a result, their physical changes stop at developing a few scales.”

The conclusion of this long, complicated lecture on supernatural creature ecology was simple.

Put simply, Rudah were sea bees. Just as queen bees controlled worker bees, the Daughters of the Sea God forcibly prevented the Rudah inside the other Merfolk, as well as inside themselves, from awakening. That was why the Merfolk were as they were now.

It sounded almost like a dictatorship when put that way, but because their growth had been stopped, the Merfolk could still live on land in human form. There probably weren't any Merfolk who wanted to turn into fish and live in the sea. In the end, the Daughters of the Sea God had saved the Merfolk in the truest sense.

“So that's the First Sin. Or should I say, a sin that has continued from the beginning until now?”

“I've told you an important fact that I know. Now, I'd like to ask you something as well.”

Serenade turned the question back on us.

“Why do you think the Sea God became angry?”

“What? Well... Based on everything we've heard, isn't it because you received benefits from the Sea God without paying the price? If you'd paid it, you would have turned into fish and lived in the sea.”

Serenade shook her head.

“If that was such a grave sin, why would he punish us now? He had eight hundred years to do so.”

I slapped my knee without thinking. She was right. If remaining on land by using Rudah's ecological traits was a sin, why was Kadarudah only punishing them now? This had been repeated for eight hundred years, not eighty.

Serenade answered as though asking and answering her own question.

“Actually, on Haesin Island, we believe this ‘First Sin’ has already been forgiven.”

“Forgiven?”

“Of course, it's a kind of wishful thinking. But there is a basis for it. First, although we live on land, we still serve Kadarudah as our god. Second, the Merfolk still live alongside the sea. We live on the island while alive, and after death, we're buried in the sea. Third, aside from inflicting nightmares upon us over the past eight hundred years, Kadarudah has not punished us.”

I understood what she meant.

The Merfolk still lived bound to the sea and worshipped the Sea God, while Kadarudah had not punished them apart from sending nightmares for eight hundred years. Their interpretation was that the Merfolk's First Sin, refusing to live beneath the sea, had already been forgiven.

Then what exactly was the Second Sin?

As though she had guessed my question, Serenade spoke again.

“The problem is the Second Sin. We're certain that we committed some new sin. We know that much. But there is one issue.”

“What is it?”

“We don't know what that sin is.”

“What?”

“I'm not joking. About twenty years ago, Kadarudah became incredibly angry, and the Daughters of the Sea God faintly sensed that anger. But for twenty years, no one has known why the Sea God is angry. That is the greatest problem with the Second Sin.”

Song-i, who had been listening blankly, spoke.

“Uh... Could it be environmental destruction?”

Serenade responded with a snort.

“You don't think we haven't considered something that obvious, do you?”

Silence fell over the room.

Footnotes:

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