WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 258: Party Time - The Ultimate Girl (4)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 109

Current Location: Level 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 3]

- Han Ga-in

Even late into the night, we found nothing.

After dinner, the Doctor and I, followed by Grandpa and Eun-sol, rummaged through every painting and decoration on Level 2, but we didn't find anything unusual.

“This hotel is way too big to begin with!”

“Seriously. Why the hell is this hotel so endlessly huge...?”

What was the biggest problem?

The hotel was damn huge. At least Level 1 was small enough to check every location within about ten minutes on foot, but Level 2 had somehow gained a massive number of empty rooms with no clear purpose, making it noticeably larger.

The basement was the worst. It was ridiculous to question it now, but I suspected Hotel Pioneer’s basement was expanding in real time. There were too many rooms to even count.

“Aren't we wearing ourselves out too early? A-ri will wake up tomorrow morning anyway.”

“Yeah. Like Eun-sol said, let's just rest today. When A-ri wakes up tomorrow, she'll probably find it with her blessing, like poof! Oh, right. Ga-in, have you tried using Advice?”

“It doesn't react at all. It seems it won't respond if it thinks the question crosses the line too much.”

“Crosses the line? Like what?”

“Once, I asked what kind of being the Buddha was, since I'd heard a few things about it...”

“You idiot! That obviously crossed the line. Why not just ask about the truth of the universe while you're at it?”

“It was the same when I asked where the Mirror Room was. It didn't answer at all.”

Eun-sol, who had been listening, asked, “Couldn't you phrase it indirectly?”

“Indirectly?”

“Like calling it a ‘mysterious place.’”

“I don't think that would work.”

I tried it just in case, but such an obvious trick didn't work.

Then Elena approached from across the room.

“Ga-in!”

“Yes?”

“I haven't seen Song-i for a while. Could you check her location?”

I wasn't particularly worried. What was there to worry about? It wasn't like a robber would break into a hotel floating in the sky.

So, without any sense of urgency, I checked Companion Location Information in my Status Window.

[Companion Location Information(*)

Yoo Song-i: Mirror Room]

--- Crash!

The coffee I'd been drinking spilled onto the floor.

“E-eh? Ga-in?”

“What are you doing?”

... This was going to be a very long night.

* * *

- Yoo Song-i

--- Whoosh!

“Ahh, this feels nice! Does this make me sound too much like an old lady? But it feels good, so what can I do?”

“Chirp!”

“... I keep talking to myself when I'm with you. You do understand what I'm saying, right?”

“Chirp!”

“Hey! Don't bring sunflower seeds into the bathtub!”

Why did this thing have so little common sense? I quickly pulled Pero out of the tub.

...

Come to think of it, of course a parrot had no common sense. Wasn't it my mistake for bringing Pero to the bathtub in the first place?

Still, Pero was unusually clingy today. Normally, Pero followed me around the hotel, but since this morning, it had practically stuck to me like gum.

Even when I tried to pull it away, it clung to my fingers and dangled from them. I gave in and brought it all the way to the bathtub.

“Pero! You're not male, are you? If you are, I might pluck out all your feathers.”

“Chirp!”

It finally carried a sunflower seed into the bathtub.

Come to think of it, how did you tell a parrot's sex? I remembered hearing that some species could be identified by the color of their feathers...

That didn't mean anything in Pero's case. There was no other parrot to compare it to. If it laid an egg, it would be female, but Pero hadn't laid one yet. I heard that if it suddenly started singing as part of a mating display, it was male, but I'd never seen it do that either.

Did building a nest mean it was male? I wasn't sure. There was a clump of white hair Pero had made in my room. It was made from human hair, which made me pretty uncomfortable, but Pero had put so much effort into it that I left it alone.

... What a pointless thing to think about. Why did a parrot's sex even matter?

“Go wait outside. I need to dry off now.”

There were countless dangerous things for animals, but using electrical appliances in a humid bathroom with an animal nearby was insane. Honestly, letting an animal into the bathroom while a person was bathing was already questionable behavior.

“Why won't you leave me alone? Are you some regretful, obsessive, ruined parrot? Stop being so obsessed with me!”

The second I said it, I felt embarrassed.

It was fine. No one could hear me anyway.

I wrapped a hair tie around Pero and flung it toward the bed. Pero's pitiful cry tickled my ears.

After drying myself off and fixing my hair, I stood before a large mirror that reflected my entire upper body and looked myself over.

... It was a little disappointing.

What if my nose were a little higher? What if my eyes were slightly bigger? What if they were a special color? And what were these blemishes?

I hadn't thought about things like this very often before. Honestly, I'd gotten plenty of confessions at school.

It was the hotel. Ever since coming here, I'd fallen into thoughts like this often because I saw Elena and A-ri every day.

I looked at myself in the mirror. As I stared blankly, the faint blemishes on my cheeks disappeared. My nose became a little higher, golden flames appeared in my eyes, and I adjusted my figure a little too...

“... Starlight Whale from Room 103, if you're still watching me from heaven, please don't think I'm too foolish for playing ‘illusory plastic surgery’ with the bracelet.”

Still, this was honestly so fun.

There was a reason so many people Photoshopped their photos. It was like children playing dress-up with dolls, only far more advanced.

Because the doll was yourself!

What? These days, people could even use deepfakes to edit videos? How lame. My bracelet could show me exactly what I imagined in real time.

“Pero, I suddenly feel like dying.”

“Chiiirp!”

“Want to get in the bathtub with me and hold your breath?”

“...”

“Huh? No answer? Then do you want to go into the bathtub alone with your beak tied shut?”

“Chiiirp...”

“Pero, do you think there's a way to become prettier in the hotel?”

“Chirir?”

“I don't want much. Just as pretty as A-ri. Ah, even I think that's too greedy. Fine. I'll give up on having eyes that shine like jewels.”

As I chatted away, my body naturally dried.

When I looked back at the mirror one last time, a fun idea came to mind.

“Pero, I'll show you something interesting!”

I looked around and spotted a small mirror near the vanity.

“Look. You see the big mirror and the little mirror, right?”

I moved the two mirrors so they faced each other, then stood between them.

There was a mirror. Inside it was another mirror. Inside that mirror was yet another mirror.

Within the infinitely multiplied mirrors were an infinite number of me.

I looked at the infinitely multiplied versions of myself. Within them, I saw endlessly multiplied imperfections.

I didn't like the skin with faint blemishes. I didn't like the color of my eyes, which seemed to symbolize my ordinariness. I didn't like the lines of my body, which looked a little lacking. I didn't like my somewhat introverted personality.

I was imperfect.

It felt as though my countless imperfections had multiplied even further within the infinite mirrors.

... Just as I was about to put the mirrors away, struck by a sudden wave of disgust, I thought of something.

Could I overcome those imperfections?

Could I surpass the countless weaknesses of the person called Yoo Song-i?

At that moment, something reached out its hand to me from beyond the endless mirrors.

/Of course! At Hotel Pioneer, you can achieve anything!/

I felt my consciousness growing hazy...

* * *

When I came to my senses, I woke in a strange space filled with mirrors.

--- Ting!

There were mirrors everywhere I looked. Even the floor beneath my feet and the ceiling above me were mirrors.

Every one of them reflected me.

I sat down in extreme confusion, and a notification appeared.

/Participant Yoo Song-i, congratulations. You have discovered one of the hotel's hidden secrets, the ‘Mirror Room’!/

“... The Mirror Room? Here?”

/The Mirror Room is a place to make wishes. Of course, wishes require a price. You need a ‘Ticket’ to make a wish./

I didn't have a Ticket. The Ticket I got after clearing Room 107 had been used to revive the Doctor, and I only had half of the Ticket from Room 201.

/But shouldn't the first person to find the Mirror Room receive a special benefit? Rejoice! Massive bloodletting service! The first person to discover the Mirror Room may make one wish without paying any price. Unfortunately, you must use a Ticket starting with your second wish./

A Ticket was essential to make a wish here.

Still, since I was the first person to find the Mirror Room, I could make one wish for free!

My heart pounded wildly. A wish? An actual wish?!

This wasn't some wish you made with your family when you saw a shooting star! This was the hotel! A place that could truly grant anything!

--- Thump! Thump! Thump!

What was that sound?

Ah! It was my heart beating. The moment I heard the word ‘wish,’ my mind had already entered a state where it couldn't possibly calm down!

What should I wish for? There were so, so many things I wanted!

Money? Enough to buy the world's most expensive apple company? Pfft, money was nothing special. Shouldn't I at least ask for immortality?

Oh, what about becoming the President of the United States? Should I become president for life? Was that too much? No, presidents worked too much and got cursed at all the time. That didn't sound great.

What about charm so overwhelming that everyone would be captivated by me? Beauty? Or supernatural charisma?

Let's think of the greater good!

It would be good to wish for something that helped the world too. From what A-ri and Grandpa said, it seemed terrible, unknown things were happening in the world we lived in! We were all just pretending not to know because we didn't want more things to worry about in this hotel.

Desire boiled up inside me.

Like foam bubbling over, desire spread without end. Humans were creatures of desire, and even the sea would not be enough to fill the cup of infinite desire.

I looked at the mirrors. I looked at the mirrors reflecting me from every direction.

Within them, I saw infinite versions of myself.

There was a rich girl swimming atop treasures beyond price.

There was a powerful girl standing in the center of a white building, receiving the salute of countless people.

There was a superstar girl whose image filled the displays at the center of a dazzling city.

And then, I saw the ultimate form of every desire.

I saw a vision of the ‘perfect me.’ Me, who could make everyone kneel. Me, whom everyone could not help but love.

And therefore...

I saw the ‘ultimate me,’ who could even captivate myself.

As if bewitched, I walked forward.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

The moment the hand I had absently extended into empty air was about to touch the infinite possibilities of the ‘me’ shimmering like heat haze...

A notification appeared.

/Would you like to make a wish?/

Footnotes:

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