WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 274: Meeting (1)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 131

Current Location: Level 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 3]

- Han Ga-in

The meeting began around evening. Elena, who had stayed in her room without even eating, seemed to have recovered a little and returned. As Song-i naturally took Elena’s hand in a firm grip, Eun-sol, who had been scribbling in her notebook, spoke up.

“I wrote down what we need to go over in today’s meeting, so everyone check the whiteboard.”

The whiteboard read as follows.

1. Combine the information everyone gathered.

2. Proceed with the next run.

3. Investigate what that piece-of-trash Sandglass actually is.

... Everyone gave a wry smile at number three, the only item written with any emotion. It bore repeating, but what the hell was that Sandglass for? We needed to check it again before the day was over.

The Doctor looked over the whiteboard, took the pen, and added a fourth item.

“Let’s discuss this as well.”

4. How about trying another room?

“Good! Let’s talk about that too. But I think we should go in order, starting with number one. Since everyone split up to tackle the room, let’s put our information together. First, tell us about the Mountain Party. I heard the rough details. You found somewhere like the ruins of a destroyed ancient civilization?”

The Doctor, Grandpa, and I explained the robots we saw while crossing the mountain range, the basin we discovered after getting past them, and the traces of a ruined civilization. We also told them about A-ri, who had been controlled by some incomprehensible force and attacked us.

A-ri, who had been listening with interest, asked, “So Room 203 is a kind of post-apocalyptic world? Human civilization flourished long ago, then humanity was destroyed by some incomprehensible power? And the primitives outside are descendants of that ruined civilization?”

It was also the first hypothesis Jin-cheol had come up with. Still, we had heard quite a few disturbing words that made it hard to leave it at that.

“When I possessed you, I heard something strange. The unidentified being inside you called us the ‘Descendants of the Traitor.’”

“Descendants of the Traitor... Does that mean the humans outside are descendants of traitors? Then, when that city was still intact, humans who rebelled for some reason escaped outside, and their descendants became the primitives?”

“Let’s think about it some more.”

It felt like I was missing something. There had been something I heard before I possessed her...

“Nonhuman beings have no right to live, only the right to die. The traitors and their descendants are no different.”

“Huh?”

“I think you said something like that.”

“That’s a seriously insane sentence.”

Silence fell over the room for a moment. Then Eun-sol tilted her head.

“Isn’t that a strange sentence? It sounds like there were nonhuman beings in that place.”

“Nonhuman beings... Sang-hyeon, don’t you have something to say?”

Grandpa suddenly pointed at the Doctor.

“Didn’t you say the primitives were a little strange when you first met me?”

The Doctor thought for a moment before speaking.

“I can’t be certain, but I often felt something odd while treating the tribespeople. Their physical structure was subtly different from that of humans. The problem is that, as you all know, my method of ‘treatment’ is closer to magic than medicine. Since my hands pass through a person’s body, I can only understand their internal structure through the sensation in my fingers.”

“So you felt something was strange while touching around inside, but since you didn’t see it with your own eyes, you can’t be sure?”

“That’s right. Why is this bone here? There isn’t a blood vessel here? How can the leg move when there are no muscles in this area? I had experiences like that several times, but I’ve never actually cut open and dissected a human body, so I can’t be certain.”

The discussion gradually turned toward the possibility that the “primitives” were not human. Hearing that, Jin-cheol added his own thought.

“Ga-in and I talked about something similar. Everyone, did you know that the group called Divine Humans is just as strange as the primitives? Divine Humans aren’t born among the primitives.”

“I heard that too. They say a Divine Human child suddenly appears among the tribespeople after they wake up. It’s not like a stork brings them...”

Listening to this, I realized that this was probably why Seung-yeop’s tribe had tried to burn him alive. Why could they kill someone from the bloodline of a god who performed miracles? Because killing one meant the sky would send down another Divine Human!

I gave my opinion too.

“It seems the primitives aren’t human. The term ‘Divine Human’ also appears to have many secrets hidden behind it. Given the circumstances, I think the ‘Descendants of the Traitor’ mentioned by Adversary A-ri may refer to the Divine Humans. Let’s go back in and verify the rest. Next time, how about the Doctor dissecting one if necessary, so we can find out for sure?”

The word “dissect” made everyone flinch for a moment. Still, it felt like a necessary procedure. The Doctor also nodded with a determined expression.

“I’ll look for an opportunity and make sure to do it.”

“There’s also something else none of you should forget. Early on, you all fought strange monsters, right? Seung-yeop’s tribe seemed too busy wandering around looking for food to encounter any, but the rest of you must have seen them.”

Everyone nodded.

“Those monsters had strange tentacles embedded in them. I confirmed this through Possession, but the monsters’ bodies and the tentacles are entirely separate organisms. I think the tentacles were created by some demonic being and scattered across the whole world.”

“I could tell they were separate organisms when I tore them out, but I just thought it was a world overflowing with every kind of disgusting thing.”

As Jin-cheol nodded, A-ri, who had been listening, offered a thought.

“Could the civilization inside the mountain range have created those tentacles too?”

“I don’t know... Would a civilization that had already been destroyed have the means to create something like that?”

“Maybe they made them a very long time ago.”

The Doctor shook his head.

“I don’t think so. Those of you who directly observed the traces left by the civilization in the mountain range will understand, but the tentacles are different somehow.”

I felt the same way.

“I agree. The ancient civilization left in the mountain range felt very familiar somehow. Even those robots felt strangely familiar. They were definitely traces left by a human civilization more advanced than twenty-first-century Earth.”

“Those tentacles, on the other hand, weren’t like that at all. They were clearly the product of some occult power.”

Eun-sol cut in.

“Then could the tentacles be traces left behind by whatever destroyed the civilization in the mountain range?”

No one could answer that question. After a brief silence, Eun-sol showed us her notebook.

“I organized what we’ve discussed so far and wrote down several ‘problems we need to solve.’ First, analyze the identities of the primitives and Divine Humans. The primitives may not be human, so dissection is necessary. Second, analyze the identity of the tentacles. They may be traces left by the being that destroyed the ancient civilization in the mountain range.”

“That about covers the information gathered by the Mountain Party.”

“Ah!”

Seung-yeop hurriedly raised his hand.

“I saw something really strange at the end!”

“Something strange?”

“You probably remember, but A-ri set a trap to cut off my leg-”

“Seung-yeop. A-ri is really uncomfortable listening to this, so please call her ‘Adversary A-ri’ or something...”

“A-ri cut halfway through my leg, so I fell over, and Grandpa threw me to the side, right? While I was rolling across the ground, I saw a building with a huge hole in it. I think when A-ri fired that laser and burned Elena alive-”

“This is really uncomfortable...”

“When she burned Elena alive, the laser must’ve destroyed the building behind her. Inside that building, I saw a Protective Suit.”

A Protective Suit! Only then did I remember. I’d been wondering who had that damn Protective Suit during this run, and it had been in the city in the basin all along?

“But when I went inside, it wasn’t a Protective Suit. It was something completely different that just looked like one. It was white, with complicated machinery and something like oxygen tanks attached to it. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, covering the walls. I was touching one because it was interesting, then a bomb suddenly flew in from behind and killed me.”

Clothing similar in appearance to Protective Suits, with complicated machinery and oxygen tanks attached. A few pieces of equipment came to mind, such as diving suits and spacesuits. There were hundreds of them?

Eun-sol added another sentence to the whiteboard.

“Third, identify the many Protective Suit-like outfits in the ruins of the destroyed city. Let’s figure that out too.”

“I think that’s about all the information the Mountain Party gathered. What did your side find out?”

Eun-sol and Song-i looked at each other for a moment, then both wore the same confused expression.

“Um... Ga-in, and I’m sorry to everyone else too, but honestly, I have no idea.”

“What do you mean, you have no idea?”

“I really don’t know. We just spent about ten days following the shadow of some strange creature in the sky, a creature that I couldn’t even see and only Eun-sol could see, then suddenly a message appeared saying, ‘You have successfully escaped!’”

“I don’t know either... I just felt something. If I had to mention one thing you couldn’t sense, it would be the weather.”

“The weather?”

“It was getting abnormally cold. That’s why I thought the Curse might be an Ice Age. I had no idea about ancient humanity that perished beyond the mountain range or anything like that.”

An Ice Age. That seemed like another new keyword.

“But Eun-sol, what was that being in the sky? The miraculous way it brought vitality to the entire world just by floating there made me think it was definitely a Prisoner, but it never spoke to us or anything.”

“I don’t know. If it was a Prisoner, perhaps it didn’t speak to us because of its restrictions.”

Before the fifth attempt, Prisoners were under powerful restrictions and could not easily intervene. Until then, Prisoners also acted according to predetermined rules, almost like NPCs. The only being that seemed to be an exception to that rule was the Lord in Room 104.

At that moment, Elena, who had remained silent since joining the meeting, muttered in a small voice.

“Purification.”

“Elena?”

“First, I’m sorry, everyone. I think I almost caused trouble because I lost my mind.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. It wasn’t intentional, and haven’t we all gone crazy a few times since coming to the hotel? What’s the big deal about going crazy and attacking someone else...”

A-ri giggled.

“Right! I don’t apologize even though I burned Elena alive with a laser. You don’t need to apologize for things like that.”

“Thank you. Then I’ll tell you one thing I ‘realized.’ Everyone, didn’t you think the power I used in Room 203 was absurd?”

“Absurd?”

“It wasn’t enough to create one powerful moth monster. I had the power to turn hundreds, thousands of people into monsters! The power to mass-produce hundreds and thousands of monsters as easily as breathing. Do you really think that was purely the power of Ominous Imagination?”

I had never considered it that way, so my mouth fell slightly open. Elena answered with a firm expression.

“That power went far beyond the limits of Ominous Imagination. Think about it. Even Beatrix from Room 201, whose power itself was stronger than mine, not to mention her mastery of it, couldn’t create monsters that easily.”

I understood what she meant. Thinking back on the cube in Room 201 that created monsters, Beatrix’s method of making them had been almost entirely handcrafted. Elena, on the other hand, had covered the sky with hundreds of monsters in barely ten days, as though she were mass-producing them in a factory.

“I can say this firmly. The monsters I created were only the first one, myself, and Seung-yeop after his... ‘modification.’ Just three in total.”

Grandpa, who had been listening blankly, voiced everyone’s question with an incredulous look.

“Then what were the rest?”

Elena couldn’t easily answer that question.

“That’s what I want to know too. At the time, I thought something like, I’m not creating monsters. I’m purifying a twisted world with the power of Fairies.”

My head was starting to hurt.

We had gathered quite a few keywords. The primitives and Divine Humans, the tentacles, the equipment Seung-yeop discovered, the Ice Age, and the reason Elena had been able to mass-produce monsters.

The problem was that we still hadn’t found the thread that could tie those keywords together.

“Alright! That’s enough gathering information. We’ve roughly put together everything we learned. Now we need to move on to number two. There was talk of changing rooms too, but let’s discuss that at the end... For now, assuming we’re going to Room 203, how should we proceed next time?”

Footnotes:

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