WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 302: Room 204, Mission Room - ‘Hotel Cinema’ (24)
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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 135
Current Location: Level 2, Room 204 - Mission Room, ‘Hotel Cinema’
Sage’s Advice: 3]
- Han Ga-in
As the battle unfolded on the screen between the Nine-Tailed Fox Eun-sol had become and the Holy See's special forces, the others began an intense discussion.
Song-i seemed a little flustered.
“Didn't Eun-sol make a rather sudden decision? Couldn't she have considered other options?”
Elena looked understanding but curious.
“It all went by so quickly on the screen, but she probably spent more than half a day thinking about it.... More importantly, what was that just now? She isn't some magical girl.”
A-ri was practically pressed against the screen, examining each spell the Nine-Tailed Fox used as she discussed them with the Doctor.
“Does she make gestures with her hands like this? She's versatile, but there's a delay right before she casts a spell. That's why she's getting countered.”
“If you went in, Miss A-ri, could you cover that delay with Old Blood? If we can subdue the Holy See's special forces, things should go much more smoothly....”
“I need to watch a little more. It feels like Eun-sol is cycling through different things to show us.”
“What was that movement just now? It looked like it created a shockwave, didn't it?”
While everyone else did their best, I simply leaned back on the sofa and thought.
The others were already straining their eyes to analyze details like the Nine-Tailed Fox's abilities and how long it took the Holy See's special forces to arrive. I should think about something more fundamental.
How were we supposed to clear this?
Looking only at the film itself, the proper scenario seemed obvious. Kill twenty-eight humans and become human.
After that, Han Yu-ri would handle things herself, whether that meant casting an Oblivion Spell to erase the past or creating a fake identity to adapt to human society.
Eun-sol couldn't accept that scenario, so she'd refused it and asked whoever came after her to find another solution. It seemed she'd had an ethical concern.
Me....
Well, I couldn't really relate to that concern. These weren't just people in a film. They were people in a film within a film. Did we really need to regard beings like this as real people?
Still, ethics aside, the civilian-hunting scenario did have a problem. Honestly, it wasn't a happy ending by any stretch. The Guide was bound to shake their head.
Was there any scenario where both the Nine-Tailed Foxes and the humans could smile at once? How could this possibly have a happy ending?
Just as my head began to throb, A-ri lightly tapped my shoulder.
“Ah, A-ri. Are you done analyzing the film's details? You and the Doctor were in front of the screen going, ‘Hah! Hah!’ and dancing.”
“I wasn't dancing. I was copying the spell movements while you slept behind us.”
“I wasn't sleeping. I was having deep, philosophical thoughts.”
“What thoughts?”
“Can we make this a happy ending?”
“Hmm....”
“A happy ending without sacrifices. If anyone knows whether that's possible, it'd be you, an agent of the Management Bureau. Grandpa is gone, after all.”
“There is a way, but it's difficult to pull off.”
“Tell me more.”
“Don't lie half-sprawled in your chair and demand an explanation. Sit respectfully first.”
I straightened up and knelt on the chair.
“Teacher A-ri, please tell us. Song-i and Elena are listening closely too.”
Song-i flinched, then knelt with me. A-ri snickered before giving us a simple explanation.
“They said it themselves, didn't they? Yokai like Nine-Tailed Foxes are bound by folk tales. Why do they have to eat a hundred livers to become human? Because that folk tale actually exists and has been reproduced through fiction. In cases like this, if the folk tale isn't too famous, you can erase it or change its contents.”
Song-i asked, “But Nine-Tailed Fox folk tales are incredibly famous. Can you change all of them?”
“It'd be hard. It would take a huge amount of time and resources. Besides, there's no reason for the Holy See to do that. Why would they go through all that trouble when they could just kill two Nine-Tailed Foxes and be done with it?”
She was so right that I had nothing to say. If I were some high-ranking person in the Holy See or the Management Bureau, I'd kill the two Nine-Tailed Foxes instead of doing something so pointless.
“Isn't there another way?”
“You could turn them into a being from a similar folk tale with different details. But that's also incredibly difficult.”
“Hmm....”
“As far as I can tell, the proper solution to this scenario is to eat people. Every other scenario is either forced or ridiculously difficult.”
“But how can that be a happy ending?”
The theater fell silent at Song-i's point. Even A-ri seemed not to know the answer.
As time passed, the film naturally ended with Eun-sol's death, and a signal appeared for the next person to enter. By then, an idea of my own had come to me.
“Maybe it's a simpler problem than we think....”
A-ri looked at me.
“A simpler problem?”
“We don't need to satisfy all three of them in the first place.”
A-ri understood immediately.
“We give up on the Guide and only get the Merchant's and Souvenir Girl's votes?”
“Shouldn't we make it coherent, bizarre, and horrible? Forget the happy ending.”
“A coherent, bizarre, and horrible plot? What could that possibly-”
A-ri stopped midsentence and slightly raised her eyebrows.
“Something did come to mind. Listen.”
At A-ri's explanation, I pressed my lips tightly together, and so did everyone around me. A moment later, Jin-cheol barely managed to offer his opinion.
“I-I think the Merchant would like it. Then are you going in this time, A-ri?”
“That would be best. It seems like it would be difficult for anyone else anyway.”
A-ri rose in the theater, walked toward the screen, and shouted.
“Guide! I'm taking a blessing with me!”
“Huh? A blessing?”
A-ri usually relied very little on blessings, so Song-i looked startled. But the Doctor, who had analyzed the Nine-Tailed Fox's abilities alongside A-ri in front of the screen, put a hand on Song-i's shoulder.
“That's the conclusion Miss A-ri and I reached during our discussion earlier.”
“Is that so? Then....”
* * *
- Kim A-ri
When I opened my eyes, I was in the same bustling street where Mook-seong and Eun-sol had started. The time seemed slightly different, though. Suspecting as much, I entered Black Cafe 25:00 and found I was right.
--- Ding-dong!
“Ah, you're here? You were late, so I wondered if something had happened.”
“... I suppose I was late.”
“It's all right. Since it isn't an easy confession, you must have thought it over until the end. Oh, Park Su-mi has already ‘finalized’ her story. It's Yu-ri's turn now. Would you come this way?”
“All right.”
When Do In-ho suddenly glanced toward the theater and mentioned that Park Su-mi's story had been “finalized,” I suspected the first scenario had ended with the story Eun-sol had completed. From now on, I just needed to proceed from the second scenario.
“Ahem! Then, now-”
“Wait a moment!”
I rushed up to Han Yu-ri and firmly grabbed her hand. As the girl with almost unbelievably beautiful features became visibly flustered, I closely examined her eyes, hair, and everything else.
“...”
“E-Excuse me?”
“Miss A-ri? Why are you suddenly doing this?”
“I'm sorry. You look so much like someone I know.... Excuse me.”
After I bowed my head a couple of times, everyone gave awkward smiles. They were probably thinking they'd invited someone to tell a scary story, only for some crazy girl to show up.
I wanted to make sure Yu-ri was truly human right now. The conclusion was that she was almost certainly human. As expected, I would have to follow the scenario we had planned outside.
Soon, Yu-ri recalled the past and entered the story within the story.
* * *
- 21st-Century Tale of the Nine-Tailed Fox
--- Ding-dong, ding-dong!
Something unexpected happened along with the loud ringing of the bell. I immediately gripped Saerom's arm as she chattered beside me and whispered in her ear.
“Yu-ri! Tomorrow, do you have time- Huh?”
“Take me outside.”
“Huh? Huh?”
“There's a problem with the Oblivion Spell.”
Saerom's expression instantly froze like ice, and she quietly nodded. The Oblivion Spell suppressing the Nine-Tailed Fox's mind was interfering with my memories in real time, like an eraser in my head, so I needed to break the spell itself.
As we moved quickly, I tightly grabbed Saerom's arm again in front of the shoe lockers.
“Yu-ri?”
“Hey, you!”
The idiot behind the shoe lockers didn't answer.
“Meet me on the rooftop at eight tonight.”
With that, I headed for the athletic field. Saerom looked puzzled.
“Who were you talking to?”
“The Confession Murderer.”
“What?”
As soon as we reached the athletic field, my mind cleared, and the Nine-Tailed Fox's wisdom and power began to seep into my head. That meant the most dangerous moment had passed. I had chosen a blessing instead of Old Blood because I trusted this Nine-Tailed Fox's power.
If another story came up later where we couldn't freely use supernatural powers like in the first story, it seemed easier to use The Unremarkable Girl or Compass instead of Old Blood, which was clearly a supernatural power.
“...”
Saerom, who had been looking around, cautiously approached.
“Sis, are you okay? You'll be really hungry if you break the spell here.”
“That's true.”
I understood why Eun-sol had nearly gone half-mad. Would it help if I said every student walking around the school smelled like perfectly grilled steaks and hamburgers?
“Lunch break will be over soon. Shall we go inside now?”
“You go in first.”
“Sis?”
“I'll be in soon.”
Perhaps because I was different from the usual Han Yu-ri, Saerom tilted her head and returned to the classroom alone. Rather than entering the school, I left through the front gate. I needed quite a few things to carry out my plan.
“Y-Yu-ri!”
There was a baseball club boy on the athletic field at this hour.
“... Ji-ho.”
“I-I-I-”
“Eight tonight.”
“What?”
“Please meet me on the school rooftop then.”
The baseball club boy watched me walk quickly toward the front gate with a bewildered expression.
Come to think of it, this “travel time” was a scene with no real meaning. It wouldn't be included in the edited film my companions were watching. It would obviously cut straight to me at the next location. Once I thought about that, various thoughts began to arise.
...
...
...
When was it? Thirty years ago? Fifty? I couldn't remember clearly.
The first person I met after leaving the Hotel of the Deep Sea. A department head at the Management Bureau Korea Branch. They had died so long ago that even their face remained only as a blurry image now.
...
‘Agent Kim A-ri, do you think people are equal?’
‘I was taught that in school.’
‘It isn't wrong. Human lives are equal. In most situations, we believe that too. We try to save as many people as possible without discrimination.’
‘I see.’
‘But there are exceptions. Some people aren't equal. Who do you think they are?’
‘Exceptions? Um.... People possessed by evil spirits? People infected with neural parasites?’
‘Those aren't people. They're simply targets for extermination.’
‘High-ranking politicians? Chaebol?’
‘We don't pay much attention to status in the civilian world.’
‘... I don't know.’
‘The answer is simple. It's you.’
‘Pardon?’
‘People who can fight monsters and ghosts, fanatics and evil gods. If you, if an agent, if someone from the Management Bureau dies, who will protect the world? That's why we aren't equal. Repeat after me. All humans are equal. Except us!’
‘...’
‘Repeat it.’
“All humans are equal. Except us!”
I was startled by the words that suddenly came out of my mouth. Who would have thought that ridiculous sentence, so full of a chosen-people mentality, which I learned long ago, would come out of my mouth again....
...
But that statement was ninety-five percent true. A small expansion of the concept would be enough to make it one hundred percent true.
All humans are equal. Except Management Bureau agents and people who will become agents!
That was why, unlike Eun-sol, I didn't hesitate at all.
Even if the people here were real humans rather than NPCs in a film, I wouldn't have hesitated. I hadn't hesitated in countless similar situations I had experienced already.
“Please give me a lighter.”
Footnotes:
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