Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 30

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 29: Room 103, The Cursed Room - ‘Animal Farm’ (3)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 12

Current Location: Level 1, Room 103 (Curse Room - Animal Farm)

Sage’s Advice: 3]

It was another morning like every morning since arriving at the farm. I chewed grass, blankly went “Moooo,” and got scolded for wasting words.

Then an emergency suddenly arose.

Wolf Boy (Park Seung-yeop): Emergency! Wolf emergency.

Rat King (Kim Mook-seong): What are you saying? Explain properly.

Wolf Boy (Park Seung-yeop): Other wolves are paying attention to the farm too. The entire pack has started watching the area around it.

It seemed yesterday’s loud commotion had piqued the wolves’ curiosity as well.

Honestly, if I were a wolf and there was a farm full of fat geese and cows right next door, I’d be drooling too.

Wouldn’t the farm owner handle it?

I thought that like a real cow, then realized I was the one in danger.

What danger was the farm owner in, anyway? At worst, he’d lose some of his property.

The ones who would die weren’t the farm owner. They were the cows and geese inside.

The more I thought about it, the worse things looked. There was nowhere for a cow this size to hide, and I couldn’t move around easily here.

Basically, all I could do was hope the farm owner managed to stop them!

Smart Snake (Lee Eun-sol): How many wolves?

Wolf Boy (Park Seung-yeop): Three groups. Over forty in total, I think.

The situation was becoming more serious. More than forty wolves.

The farm had a family of four. Two of them were the wife and daughter, so in reality, the farmer and his son had to stop forty wolves by themselves.

Could the cows and geese on the farm really get through that unharmed?

For the first time since entering Room 103, I felt overwhelming tension.

As I frantically chewed hay, I worked my sluggish cow brain.

Was there really no way?

Pig (Cha Jin-cheol): Is there anything I can do?

Rat King (Kim Mook-seong): Other than adding pork to the menu, run away.

Smart Snake (Lee Eun-sol): If I go too, I’ll die.

Everyone was beginning to respond as though they had no idea what to do. Of course they were.

What could a pig, snake, or rat do in the middle of a bloody fight between wolves and the farmer?

Just as Mook-seong said, they’d only be adding pork to the menu. I steeled myself and gave my opinion.

Black Bull (Han Ga-in): Don’t step in needlessly. If someone has to die, let it be only one.

If someone had to die, let it be only one.

That had become the unspoken rule we shared in the hotel.

It might seem moving for everyone to risk their lives and rush in to save a companion in danger, but in the hotel, that was an utterly foolish thing to do.

There was no need for that. As long as the companion ran away and survived until the end, everyone would be revived.

So, abandoning a companion when necessary was the way to help that companion.

The hotel always encouraged sacrifice.

Maybe this time, I would be the first sacrifice. Inwardly, I accepted that there was nothing I could do.

The day passed in a gloomy mood.

The others couldn’t find an answer, and Elena kept watch around the farmer’s family as best she could, but there was no sign that any major reinforcements were coming.

Still, there was one fortunate thing. There had been the wolf incident with Seung-yeop just yesterday, and today more than ten wolves were openly lurking nearby. The farm family seemed to be on high alert, preparing for an attack.

Seeing all of them frantically set traps across the farm and neatly prepare hunting rifles and ammunition, I started to feel relieved too.

Here I was, a cow relying on the farm owner who would butcher me.

It was ridiculous, but in a situation like this, the farm owner was the only person I could rely on.

Time flew by.

It was tension unlike anything I had felt over the previous few days, sitting in the cattle enclosure and chewing grass.

It felt like I’d only heard about the wolves’ threat that morning, but everyone had been frantically discussing ways to save me and scouting the area.

As I carefully observed the farm family, the sun began to set in the west before I knew it.

Howls rang out.

The wolf pack’s attack had begun.

* * *

- Park Seung-yeop

I ran around frantically all day.

There were roughly forty wolves circling the massive farm.

They weren’t all gathered together. They were divided into three groups, which made it even more exhausting.

I had to keep moving between the three groups, watching for when they would attack.

The pack I was part of, or rather, the pack whose leader thought I was part of it, looked at me as if wondering what I was doing as I rushed around. Still, they didn’t interfere.

Thinking about it again, there were times when I couldn’t understand Ga-in’s mindset.

It made sense that Song-i stayed silent, since the enclosure where the geese were kept was difficult for wolves to enter due to its location and structure. But the cows’ area was exposed to the outside.

That meant Ga-in and the other cows were in danger.

Yet this was a situation where he himself could die, and he was telling us not to do anything needlessly dangerous and to think of a way to escape instead...

Of course, trying to save one person and getting everyone killed would be the worst outcome, so I understood.

But even if we came back to life afterward, what about the pain?

It wasn’t like the wolves would anesthetize a cow before eating it!

Just thinking about that pain was so terrifying I couldn’t stand it.

I couldn’t let Ga-in suffer through something like that.

Even if I had to run when there was truly no answer, I would do everything I could to save him first.

A vague thought suddenly crossed my mind. If I’d worked this hard before coming to the hotel, maybe I would’ve had a better relationship with my parents. When I returned, I’d live that way.

Howls came from all directions. The wolf pack’s attack had begun.

Wolves howling throughout the farm, animals screaming, excited men shouting.

And periodically cutting through all that noise, the chilling crack of gunfire.

I never knew gunshots were this loud.

Shivering every time I heard one, I slowly moved toward the cattle enclosure.

Several wolves had already arrived before me. They were staring at the cows, licking their lips.

My plan was simple.

Realistically, there was no way I could stop all those wolves.

Stopping the wolves was the farm owner’s job.

So my plan was to become a troll wolf and lure the farm owner toward the cattle enclosure.

To do that...

I had to target the person most precious to the farm owner.

* * *

- Lee Eun-sol

Had he lost his mind?

Watching the farm from a corner of the fence, Lee Eun-sol thought to herself.

Was she mistaken?

She had run into him once or twice while moving around the edge of the farm, so she remembered his distinctive features.

A small tuft of white fur sticking up near the top of his head. That wasn’t another wolf. It was Seung-yeop.

Right before her eyes, Seung-yeop had gone near the residential area where the farm owner’s daughter, May, was and started howling!

Had he really gone insane? Was he praying for the farm owner to kill him?

Had he not heard what Ga-in said yesterday?

Ga-in had repeatedly made it clear to everyone that dying to save someone in the hotel wasn’t moving, but foolish. What was Seung-yeop doing?

There was no father in the world who wouldn’t react to that.

The farmer had been shouting from a position where he could keep as many wolves in check as possible. The moment he heard his daughter’s piercing scream, he whirled around in horror and raced toward her.

What should she do? Eun-sol’s thoughts grew tangled.

Originally, she had intended to just watch.

If Ga-in died, there was nothing to be done. Just as she had accepted death in the House of Horror, Ga-in could do the same.

At least from what she’d felt so far, she and that guy had similar ways of thinking.

But... what if something happened to Seung-yeop too?

This wasn’t a matter of sentiment. Their party consisted of a dog, cat, cow, goose, wild boar, snake, rat, and wolf.

In many ways, wasn’t the wolf the most capable animal among them?

He had excellent physical abilities and sat high on the food chain, so he could move freely.

But if he were to be taken down so pointlessly here...

Eun-sol’s thoughts became even more tangled.

* * *

- Park Seung-yeop

I ran and ran. It felt amazing.

I’d never had a body this incredible in my life.

With one push off the ground, I flew forward as if I were taking flight! Was this why people exercised?

Of course, I was a wolf right now! Even Usain Bolt would be much slower than me.

Even the human with the best physical abilities in the world would be weaker than an ordinary wolf!

And on top of that, I was running to save a companion.

Ah, I could get drunk on myself.

-----BANG!

The gunshot instantly sobered me up.

I’d dodged it, but could I keep dodging until the end?

Just as expected, as soon as I howled near where that girl May was, the farm family went into an uproar, and the farm owner started following me.

It was fine. Just because he had a gun didn’t mean he was faster than me.

By the time I reached the cattle enclosure, the situation had become quite serious in that brief time.

Several wolves were darting in and out across the outer edge of the enclosure, and the cows were screaming in panic.

Technically, cows were much bigger than wolves, so they wouldn’t be pushed back this badly if they fought...

But it would be stranger if cows raised by people knew how to fight like that.

Even then, one large black cow openly thrust its horns forward and threatened the wolves.

Ah, I knew the moment I saw it. That was Ga-in, the Black Bull.

But when I arrived, the situation changed a little.

Did the wolves feel reassured now that an ally had joined them?

All of a sudden, about three wolves confidently attacked the Black Bull.

One wolf in front drew his attention while the other two circled behind him. I could sense that Ga-in didn’t know what to do either. I had to go help him right away.

Sorry, wolf pack, but I’m not actually a wolf, so it couldn’t be helped.

There was no need.

----------------BANG!

Two gunshots.

The farmer had appeared at some point and started pulling the trigger. The wolves scattered and fled in panic.

Now I was in real danger too.

I moved around as much as possible, using the posts of the cattle enclosure and the piles of sacks here and there as obstacles.

---------------BANG!

Ah...

A boy suddenly appeared in front of me.

Ah, was this Peter? The farm owner’s son...

I’d only been paying attention to the farm owner, but he had brought a gun from somewhere too.