WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 301: Room 204, Mission Room - ‘Hotel Cinema’ (23)

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- Lee Eun-sol

Sweet and cool. Its rich flavor surpassed even the finest wine, and the vitality it filled my entire body with was beyond comparison with any energy drink.

I was talking about blood.

I couldn't overcome the violent urge boiling inside me, so I ended up drinking the blood stored in the abandoned house. It was funny, but the Hotel Party's experience of occasionally drinking A-ri's blood when necessary comforted me.

Honestly, I could drink a little human blood! Couldn't I? I'd already drunk it, so let's just say it was fine.

As the drops of blood rolled down my throat, passed through my esophagus, and reached my stomach, my hunger and thirst slowly subsided. Of course, this was only a temporary measure.

For a man-eating Yokai, blood was like rice gruel. When I was starving, even rice gruel would help me regain my strength, but no one could live on rice gruel forever. In the end, I needed ‘meat.’

“Saerom.”

“Sis?”

“Let me ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“Why do you want to become human?”

“...”

“A Nine-Tailed Fox has an incredibly long lifespan. Humans live a hundred years at most. Even your beautiful, dazzling appearance won't last long once you become human. Ten years at best? Twenty if you take good care of your skin these days? Even then, that's short compared to the life of a Nine-Tailed Fox.”

“...”

“Your mystical powers weaken greatly too. It isn't that humans can't use mysterious powers at all, but compared to when you're a Nine-Tailed Fox, only remnants remain.”

“I'm surprised, and envious, that you'd even wonder why I want to become human.”

“What?”

“That means you're becoming closer to being human yourself, sis.”

The fact that I was asking such questions meant I was becoming closer to being human?

I couldn't understand what she meant. Saerom studied my confused expression, then began explaining carefully, as if she were speaking to a child.

“There is a difficult explanation and an easy one.”

“Give me the difficult one first.”

“Have you heard of the term First Cause Theory?”

“Isn't that a concept from Christian theology?”

“They say Aristotle was the first to propose it. Everything has a cause that makes it exist. That cause has another cause. If you keep tracing causes and the causes behind those causes, there is a first cause with no prior cause, the First Cause. That's the idea.”

“I know it's used in reasoning meant to prove God's existence, along the lines of, ‘The First Cause is God!’”

“That's right. First Cause Theory says that if you logically trace back the causes of everything, there must be an original cause with no cause before it. It resembles the concept of a single god if you think about it for even a moment. Of course, you and I are Yokai who eat people, so I'm not trying to start talking about God now.”

Saerom calmly ate a piece of red meat. My heart lurched for a moment, but I only let out a sigh.

“They say the First Cause of humans, as discovered by natural science, is genes. If you trace the causes of every human action and urge far enough, they're contained in the blueprint for a person written into their genes. Then what is the First Cause of a Yokai?”

“...”

“The folktales and legends that created us. So if we explain your question, ‘Why do you want to become human?’ through First Cause Theory, the answer would be, ‘Because that's what Nine-Tailed Foxes are in folktales,’ or, ‘Because humans defined us that way.’”

“Because humans defined Nine-Tailed Foxes that way...”

“There's an easy explanation too. I just want to become human. That's all.”

My head felt numb.

I'd lived my whole life as a human and never cared what Yokai thought of themselves. The conversation itself was strange. Could a Yokai really say something this convincing?

“No, where did you even hear terms like First Cause Theory? Do they teach that in high school these days?”

Saerom's eyes widened as though she had no idea what I was talking about. Then she answered with a confident expression.

“Sis! I graduated from Ewha Womans University.”

“...”

The solid logic of this Nine-Tailed Fox, no, Seven-Tailed Fox who had graduated from Ewha Womans University left me speechless.

* * *

Late at night, I left the abandoned house and walked through the shabby alleyways in the dark. Maybe it was because I'd drunk so much blood. My hunger and thirst had eased enough for me to think rationally.

Talking with Saerom until this hour made me realize something.

Being Yokai did not mean Nine-Tailed Foxes lacked love. It was the opposite. There were only a handful of their kind in the whole world, and they spent long years together, so their bonds were more affectionate than human family ties.

Yeah. Honestly, even if I added up all the affection my real family felt for one another, it probably wouldn't compare to what Saerom felt for me now.

Once I realized that, a question rose in my heart. Was the decision I'd made earlier really right?

Just as humans eat pigs, Nine-Tailed Foxes eat humans. Was there room for human morality to intervene? Even if a tiger or lion harmed a person, humans didn't discuss the evil of tigers and lions.

Of course, that didn't mean they let them live.

I entered the abandoned house without a word. Maybe because no one was watching, Saerom had completely transformed into a fox and was sleeping like a cute puppy. When I sat beside her, the seven-tailed fox rubbed against me and burrowed closer.

I slowly steadied my breathing and informed my companions outside.

My companions outside.

Especially Seung-yeop, A-ri, and Ga-in, who have to proceed after me. I'm sorry. I just can't kill and eat twenty-eight ordinary people.

Yeah, all of this is happening inside a movie. Maybe I should kill and eat twenty-eight people as if I were dealing with game characters. But... now that I'm in here, I can't think of it that way at all. If I'd known this would happen, maybe I should've played more games outside.

I give up!

I can't eat people, and I don't know another way to become human. At least, the knowledge I have as a Nine-Tailed Fox says there isn't another way.

That doesn't mean I'm going to kill myself for no reason. I'll find out what I can before I go. I'm sorry.

My right hand turned black, and my nails hardened like obsidian.

I reached out and slowly stroked the fox's back before lightly gripping the right spot. Saerom seemed to mistake it for petting and rubbed herself against me.

--- Crunch!

... Her time in pain probably wasn't long.

Grandpa Mook-seong had already personally demonstrated it when he was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher, hadn't he? Even a Nine-Tailed Fox wasn't especially tough physically unless it was using mystical powers.

The girl who had eaten hundreds of people in the darkness of civilization over long years, dreaming of the day she would become human, the Nine-Tailed Fox who had graduated from Ewha Womans University, stopped breathing in less than five seconds.

* * *

I thought as I walked through the shabby alley.

Would the information I was about to uncover be delivered to my companions exactly as it happened? Unlike the earlier movies, the horror movie was happening in real time for those inside, but the companions outside were watching an edited version.

Since one movie contained four short stories, each individual story could only be forty minutes at most. Most of what I went through would be edited out, and my companions would probably only see thirty to forty minutes at most.

There was a good chance the conversation I had with Saerom at the house would simply be cut. They'd probably only see the moment I killed Saerom.

So I needed to make a spectacle. I had to create an unskippable scene, a highlight.

“I'll have to cause a little trouble.”

When I left the alley and reached a busy street, I spotted a building with plenty of lights still on at this hour. Were they working overtime? Perfect.

The moment I confidently walked into the building, a security guard tried to stop me.

“Uh? What are you doing here at this hour-”

“Can't I come in?”

“... Please go ahead.”

Once I started using a Nine-Tailed Fox's hypnosis, it became easier and easier.

“Daewoong Trading Company? The building is huge and nice too! But making your employees work until this hour? I should scold you a little, shouldn't I?”

My legs turned black, gaining enough strength to shatter a boulder with one blow.

--- Bang!

“Get out here!”

The office door burst open, and chaos erupted inside!

“Eek!”

“Wh-what is this? Which crazy bastard is this?”

“A f-female student? What the hell is security doing-”

Now it began.

* * *

Sitting on the roof of the building, I held out my glass. President Cha Jin-un, a dazed, graying middle-aged man after the Nine-Tailed Fox had suddenly stormed into his office, trembled as he filled it.

“Hey.”

“Y-yes!”

“Who am I?”

“Th-the great Nine-Tailed Fox!”

The man across from me, Manager Kim, muttered without reading the room.

“W-what kind of monster is this?”

“You! Get over here and kneel!”

“I'm sorry!”

“Do you know why I'm scolding you?”

Honestly, I had no idea why such a tiny company had such detailed ranks, but the president and manager both began trembling and saying whatever came to mind.

“Because we couldn't answer the fox's question properly...”

--- Thud!

“Hey!”

“Gah!”

“Am I some crazy bitch? Would I make you kneel and punish you because you couldn't answer a question?”

“I-I'm sorry!”

“Hey! Assistant Manager Kim!”

“Yes!”

“Have you ever received overtime pay?”

“...”

“Wow! I knew it! Employee Cha said the same thing earlier. You haven't gotten overtime pay either?”

“...”

“If there's anything else strange, tell me. Big sis will scold the president for you.”

I'd already revealed all nine tails long ago.

After seeing desks flying through the air and people collapsing at a flick of my hand, Assistant Manager Kim wore a blank expression. With the expression of someone who had reached enlightenment, he said,

“The elevator.”

“What?”

“Employees aren't allowed to use the elevator. I only started using it last year. The office is on the seventh floor, by the way.”

For a moment, I was so dumbfounded that I gestured toward the manager.

“Hey, Manager.”

“...”

“I'm genuinely curious. Why aren't they allowed to use the elevator?”

“... Doesn't a company need hierarchy? And there are only two elevators-”

“Hey, just stay face-down. Before I break your wrists.”

While the manager silently lay face-down, another employee across from me spoke up.

“I, I joined the company last year.”

“And?”

“I... was pretty good at studying.”

“Good for you.”

“So the president makes me tutor his children every weekend.”

“... What about the tutoring fee?”

“He only says he'll pay me later...”

“Argh! Hey, President Cha!”

“Y-yes, Fox!”

“When are you going to pay the tutoring fee?”

“I, I've written everything down. Before they resign, I will definitely-”

--- Smack!

“Argh!”

“Not before they resign, you idiot! You need to pay the tutoring fee now! Transfer it while I'm watching. You have your phone, don't you?”

“I-I'm sorry...”

“He made us help with a move too!”

“Th-the assistant general manager keeps trying to touch my thighs!”

What kind of company was this? I only came in to make a scene, but what kind of garbage company was this? Was this the reality of Korean corporations?

But... thinking about it, hadn't the Daeyang Group owner family, my family, made employees do things like this often too? What did Father always say to his children?

‘Make those beneath you fight each other. You should always act like their mediators.’

...

I'm sorry. Employees in the real world, I'll apologize on Father's behalf.

Around then, one employee who had gone outside finally returned with a pile of fireworks.

“Let's get ready!”

“... Are you really going to set all of these off?”

“Yeah.”

“I-in the middle of Seoul, at night, on a rooftop, all these fireworks?”

“What do you take me for?”

“... A Nine-Tailed Fox.”

“Right. So do you think setting off a few fireworks is a problem?”

“You're right.”

“You all carry the fireworks up. And President Cha!”

“Y-yes!”

“Report it!”

“Pardon?”

“Report it to the police or the Holy See, you idiot. Tell them a Nine-Tailed Fox is rampaging and beg them to save you!”

“...”

As I placed the boxes full of fireworks all around, I thought,

No matter how hopeless this movie was, it couldn't skip the moment these went off. Right now, this moment would definitely appear on the screen my companions were watching.

“Set off the fireworks.”

“... Understood.”

In a world where the Holy See, an exorcist group that hunts monsters, existed, if a man-eating Nine-Tailed Fox went on a rampage, of course someone would move to punish it.

So before I died, I decided to show my companions one last thing. The trial of 21st-Century Tale of the Nine-Tailed Fox, an exorcist unit that hunts Nine-Tailed Foxes!

--- Pheee! Bang! Whooosh! Bang!

Amid the tremendous fireworks that brilliantly colored the dark night sky, I stretched out my hand. Light extended from my fingertips, forming enormous letters in the sky.

「The Nine-Tailed Fox makes a grand entrance!」

Footnotes:

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