WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 262: The Hotel Turned into Hell, Entering Room ???

──────

[???? : ??????

???? : Day 118

???? : ??????

???? : X]

- Han Ga-in

For a fleeting moment, it felt as though my consciousness had floated away before returning.

What was that? What just happened? More importantly, hadn't a notification appeared?

"What just happened?"

I suddenly realized everything around us had gone dark. It was dawn, but every light on Level 2 that had come on while we climbed up had gone out.

"Huh? What is this? Is everyone all right? What is happening all of a sudden-"

Along with the Doctor's flustered voice came strange noises and the rough breathing of beasts.

"Everyone, get dooown!"

By the time I heard A-ri's sharp shout, I was already bending over. Something like a huge whip sliced through the air, followed by a dull impact.

Thud!

"What the hell is this? A tail? Why is this bastard so strong? No, my strength-"

Cha Jin-cheol grabbed the monster's tail, only to be overpowered and dragged along with it. But that was only the beginning.

"Kiiaaaah!"

A woman in bizarre clothing charged at us with a piercing scream.

I didn't know who she was, but I knew she wasn't one of us. A gunshot rang out, and her head exploded. Then hundreds of tentacles sprang from where her head had been and flew toward us.

A-ri leaped as though she were flying and swung her hand. White frost surged out, freezing the chunks of flesh.

"Ha ha ha! Participants! Today's special show is about to begin! How about a ‘Live Dissection Show’?"

With that high-pitched voice, lights suddenly came on in the space that had been dark moments ago. On a floor where bizarre lumps of flesh wriggled, a freak in a clown costume stood holding Seung-yeop in one hand. Sharp, awl-like nails pushed through the glove on its other hand. There was no time to hesitate.

"Ugh, aaaah! Save me!"

"We'll start by gutting you- What the fuck is this? Are you okay?"

"...Ga-in?"

"Go over there and protect my body."

"Me? How am I supposed to-"

"I'll protect it!"

Thankfully, Grandpa seemed to have secured my body. Then there really was no time to hesitate.

The moment I kicked off the ground, the clown freak's absurd strength sent me flying almost as though I had taken flight. The awl-like nails jutting from its glove tore apart the jelly-like creature wrestling with the Doctor.

Stab!

A sharp needle burst through my stomach. Only then, absurdly enough, did I realize that the clown body I had taken over didn't have a body beneath the costume at all.

That monster wasn't wearing a clown costume. The costume itself was its true form.

I grabbed the needle-like tentacle and pulled it hard. A squirming lump of flesh slammed into my back. I reached behind myself and tore at it for a while until it finally went still.

But that must have been the limit. The clown costume became nothing more than clothing and scattered in every direction.

"Gasp!"

"Have you returned?"

"Ga-in, are you okay?"

"What about everyone else?"

"That's what I want to ask! Check the Status Window."

"..."

Only then did I realize the text in my Status Window had turned into alien writing. What were these characters? The place where my remaining Advice should have been displayed showed only an X.

And the date.

118?

"Day 118?"

"What are you talking about?"

Could seven days really have passed? Because the Sandglass had been flipped?

Once I thought that, I understood why the place was overflowing with monsters and why the Status Window had malfunctioned. If seven days had passed, Party Time would have ended long ago.

The hotel was the kind of place that released monsters into the swimming pool if we went even a single day without entering a Curse Room. By the hotel's standards, we had gone seven days without entering one. Even if the first day had been Party Time, that still made six days.

"Kyaaaah!"

Song-i screamed sharply.

This wasn't the time to sit around. Grandpa had already run toward the scream. Seung-yeop was trembling as he stared only at me.

Think.

If we were suddenly thrown into a crowd of monsters, quite a few people would struggle to hold out. Where was Elena? Eun-sol? Song-i?

"Uryaaaaah! Ngh!"

A roar that seemed to shake heaven and earth rang out, and pressure bore down on my skin. Jin-cheol had summoned the Otherworldly Star.

I immediately understood the intent behind his roar. He was trying to draw their aggro.

But mixed into the roar were groans of pain. Had Cha Jin-cheol's Courage weakened too? If so, using the Star properly would be difficult!

[???? : ??????]

Ah, damn it! The Chat Window was completely fucked too. All our blessings had malfunctioned at once.

Was this because we hadn't entered a Curse Room either?

"Ga-in, Ga-in, Ga-in... What do we do?"

I'm thinking too. How the hell are we supposed to get out of this situation?

At that moment, something landed neatly on my head.

"Screech!"

You came!

"Pero, watch Seung-yeop and my body!"

With a loud clamor, Pero appeared behind me. I could trust Pero with that much, right?

As I stood up and searched for another monster to take over, I saw Eun-sol hiding beneath a table to avoid the arm of a huge mantis-like monster nearby.

I immediately took over the mantis's body, pointed Eun-sol toward Pero with one arm, and looked over the situation.

Pero was protecting Eun-sol and Seung-yeop. Jin-cheol was fighting a scorpion of unbelievable size and a spider with too many legs to count. Grandpa, Song-i, and the Doctor had gathered together and were facing a writhing, fleshy monster at the entrance of an empty room.

Where were A-ri and Elena? Were they together?

This monster's compound eyes were surprisingly inconvenient.

And then...

"Aaaah! Get away! Get away!"

There was no time to think. A disgustingly huge wolf, its back higher than the table, shoved its head forward, and Seung-yeop screamed wildly. Pero was too busy keeping both the wolf charging from the side and the man in black rushing from behind at bay.

"Just die! Die!"

Seeing the wolf's severed head bounce around and try to bite the leg of my human body lying nearby was enough to drive me mad.

I had to think. If only I had a moment, even a moment, to calm down and think...

Laaaaaa...

A gloomy sound slowly filled the space.

Pale dust that clouded the air gradually spread, carrying an indescribably ominous presence that captivated everyone's attention in an instant. Not only people, but even the monsters stared at the floating being as though they had lost their minds.

A moth appeared.

Sounds unlike anything I had ever heard filled the room. The monsters stopped attacking as though entranced and began spinning in circles.

Around then, I returned to my own body. The first thing I saw was Eun-sol trying to play the Flute of Rest.

Smack!

"Why are you trying to play the Flute of Rest right now?"

"Huh? Huh? The moth seemed to be using some strange power, so..."

"Elena summoned the moth. The moth stopped the monsters with that power to protect us. What if you interfere with it using the Flute?"

"Ah. Ah."

One look at Eun-sol's expression told me she was no longer capable of sound judgment.

Was she the only one? Everyone else probably wasn't in their right mind either.

I had to get a grip.

...Pale dust poured from the moth's body. Beneath it, strange scale-like growths had appeared on Elena's body as she inhaled the dust.

I also realized that my damn eyes had finally returned to normal.

As the pain faded with my restored vision, my mind became clearer too.

For some unknown reason, several days had passed in an instant, and the hotel had become hell. In other words, this had happened because we hadn't entered a Curse Room.

So...

"We need to enter a Curse Room."

"What?"

First, I had to tell everyone through the Chat Window...

[???? : ??????]

Seriously, come on!

There was no answer. Once I opened a Curse Room, everyone would be summoned inside anyway. That was our only option.

Recalling the layout in the darkness, I ran with difficulty toward where the Curse Room had been.

Creak!

"Will you just dance already, you bastard!"

Didn't this jelly bastard have ears? Every other monster was dancing to the moth's song. Why did it have to block me at a time like this?

The jelly blocking my way suddenly grew five times larger.

"Uh, Doctor, why are you suddenly doing this?"

At that moment, a pale flash flying from behind ripped the jelly apart. A-ri flew over at the same time, grabbed me, and cut through the air.

"Ga-in, you're thinking of making jokes in a situation like this? Doctor?"

"What joke?"

"Look! You see that Curse Room over there, right? Fly! Ga-in Missile!"

As I flew toward the door in the distance, I realized that someone besides me had figured out why the hotel had become such a mess.

Had A-ri already experienced something similar in the past?

Another grotesque being, something that looked like a giant bat, flew toward me. But that didn't matter now.

At this distance, the door was within my Teleportation range.

Thud!

The moment I crashed into the door, I hurriedly opened it with both hands. As the door slowly opened, the hotel brightened and the monsters filling the space began to fade.

Only then did I think to ask.

"What room is this?"

* * *

[???? : ??????

???? : Day 118

???? : ??????

???? : X]

- Han Ga-in

When I regained consciousness, the first thing I saw was a campfire burning red.

None of my companions were in sight. Instead, scantily clad people who looked like primitive humans filled the area around me. Every one of them was kneeling before me.

"What is this now...?"

The moment my voice left my mouth, all the kneeling people raised their heads and began to cry.

"Oh! The Divine Human has awakened! The Divine Human has awakened!"

"Divine Human?"

My Status Window was still a complete mess, and it seemed I still couldn't use Advice. I tried checking the Scenario just in case, but it was still nothing but alien writing.

As though it had been waiting, a notification appeared.

/Did you enjoy your long unauthorized rest?

The employees of Hotel Pioneer have shed tears of bitter regret over the participants' improper conduct. Of course, please do not misunderstand. No one resents you.

It is all our fault. Could it be that the ‘content’ provided by Hotel Pioneer was so lacking that the participants spent their time in idleness?

Do not worry! We will do our utmost to make your stay more enjoyable.

Rather than touch the Inheritances you worked so hard to obtain, we have decided to make the hotel a more interesting place in an entirely new way.

Of course, your Inheritances remain unchanged, so there will be little difference for those who ‘depend on Inheritances.’ But those who ‘depend on blessings’ will need to make a more difficult ‘choice.’

# Unauthorized Rest Penalty: Until you escape from or resolve a Curse Room once, blessings will not function normally./

The warning that blessings would not function normally gave me one very ominous thought.

Right before entering the room, Elena had pushed Ominous Imagination to its limit and summoned the moth. Naturally, the process would have twisted her mind into a complete mess.

Normally, Clear Mirror, Still Water would have restored her clouded mind, but...

What condition was Elena in now without Clear Mirror, Still Water?

I stopped thinking.

Footnotes:

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