Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 311

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 310: Room 204, Mission Room - ‘Hotel Cinema’ (32)

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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

If the scene Seung-yeop showed right before he died was what I thought it was, then I had to resolve the anomaly Kevin had gotten caught up in and somehow leave the mansion.

Yet even after searching from the first floor to the third, I hadn't found an answer to the anomaly. I also hadn't found a way outside or a key that could open the front door Kevin's parents had locked.

Of course, I knew one way out. I could somehow coax Dollyphant into breaking down a wall. Still, doing something as loud as smashing through the mansion wall made me uneasy.

It felt like it would provoke that thing outside. The monster that had crushed Seung-yeop to death with a single gesture could tear even Dollyphant apart like a toy!

I also doubted whether coaxing Dollyphant into breaking out was really an escape method a twelve-year-old boy would naturally think of.

But I couldn't think of anything else now. Dollyphant shouting upstairs was starting to make me nervous too.

“Keeeviiin! Why am I the only one looking for cookies?”

“J-just wait a second!”

I hurried over to the furious Dollyphant and tried to persuade it.

“Dollyphant! I don't think there are any sweets in this house.”

“What? Then tea time-”

“Let's go outside!”

Dollyphant's eyes widened.

“Let's break the wall and leave. There might be tons of sweets outside!”

Dollyphant tilted its head, then made an unexpectedly sharp observation.

“It’s tea time, and you suddenly want to leave the mansion? Kevin, you mustn't behave so disgracefully!”

I was caught off guard for a moment, but soon came up with a plausible excuse.

“Dollyphant! Didn't you read the book closely? Quite a few illustrations showed people drinking tea in an outdoor garden.”

As if it remembered, Dollyphant soon nodded.

“Fine! But breaking the wall is still far too disgraceful. Let’s leave through the door.”

Dollyphant went down to the first floor and prodded the door here and there with its trunk before quickly getting irritated.

“It won't open!”

--- Bang!

It was ridiculous, considering it had just told me breaking walls was disgraceful. Dollyphant was already angrily ramming its massive body into the door.

--- Crash!

The mansion door finally burst open after the third impact. Beyond it was a world blocked by something like dark brown fuzzy fabric.

“... What is that?”

“Kevin? Why does it look like that outside?”

“I don't kno-”

[Advice: 3 -> 2]

[Roll to the right immediately!]

The fuzzy fabric suddenly tore open, and the instant I saw a massive light appear from the darkness, my body reflexively rolled to the side!

At the same time, Cassie, that crazy cat, began butting the mansion with its head and shaking it around!

“Kyaaaah! Kevin! Save me!”

Why was it calling for me?

And Cassie, please! Why were you sticking your head into the mansion entrance in the first place? Why were you suddenly shaking the mansion around? There had to be a reason for this!

“Ahhh!”

“Kieeek!”

The chaos didn't last long. Cassie apparently grew tired of playing with the mansion and disappeared somewhere.

Outside the mansion was the real Kevin's house, and Cassie, a cat that hadn't been in the mansion, was roaming around. I had realized this after seeing the enormous cat's face flash briefly across the screen right before Seung-yeop died.

The others hadn't recognized the vague shape as a cat's face because it was so huge, but I'd had a similar experience when I went outside the Snow Globe containing the Hotel's second floor, so I noticed.

If outside was the real Kevin's house, then where was I now? Some kind of dollhouse? Had Kevin been summoned into a dollhouse?

For now, I had to go outside to find out. As I crossed the wrecked mansion toward the front door, Dollyphant, which had been thrown into a corner, said something truly unbelievable.

“... Kevin. It’s dangerous outside, so you mustn't go out carelessly.”

It was funny for Dollyphant to be giving me this advice, but it was right. Going out blindly was dangerous.

[Advice: 2 -> 1]

‘Is there a way to get outside safely?’

[When you encounter a bear in the mountains, you do not necessarily need to be faster than the bear.]

It was a famous saying. When you encountered a wild beast in the mountains, even if you were slower than it, you could survive as long as you were faster than the person beside you. Once I connected that lesson to my situation, the answer came to me.

I had to go out with the dolls.

“I have to leave.”

“Kevin! You saw that monster earlier, didn’t you? I told you it’s dangerous outside!”

Instead of answering, I prepared to go outside.

Hoping it would take at least one attack in my place, I brought Happyhappy, which had turned into a doll. I also picked up a rail beside Thomas, who had been rolling across the floor as the mansion shook, and laid it toward the broken front door.

Thomas soon straightened up, sounded his horn, and set off toward the front door. As I carefully followed behind Thomas and was about to go outside, Dollyphant appeared beside me.

“...”

“Let's go together!”

That was unexpected. Dollyphant had already seen Cassie, so I thought it wouldn't come no matter what I said. I hadn't even tried to persuade it.

“Th-there will definitely be cookies outside!”

“... Yeah. I hope so.”

--- Beep!

The moment Thomas went outside through the front door with a loud sound, Dollyphant and I quickly followed. As soon as we came out, I looked around to assess the situation.

Where was this? A shelf on the wall of the real mansion? Had I been inside a Model House sitting on that shelf this whole time?

I quickly swept my gaze around the area surrounding the shelf when-

“Meow!”

--- Bang!

“Kyaah!”

Almost immediately after hearing Thomas's horn, that fucking cat appeared!

“Fuck! That really is a crazy cat. What is that? Kevin?”

I truly doubted my eyes. I was here, possessing Kevin, but there was another Kevin out there? What was going on?

The Kevin outside was lying on a sofa below the shelf. His eyes were closed, so he seemed to be asleep. Had only his consciousness been dragged into the mansion?

--- Riiip!

“S-save meee!”

The instant I heard something that sounded like a doll being torn apart in the distance, I realized I had no time left. Once Thomas, Happyhappy, and Dollyphant were all taken out, I was next!

I jumped from the shelf toward the sofa. I had no idea what to do from here, but I jumped anyway!

During that fleeting moment as I fell through the air, time seemed to slow as though my life were flashing before my eyes.

My final Advice appeared.

[Advice: 1 -> 0]

[Teleport onto Kevin's eyeball!]

--- Thud!

* * *

...

When I came to, I woke up on the sofa. My right eye stung terribly, and as I rubbed it and looked around, I found a small LEGO toy. The LEGO looked remarkably like Kevin.

“Meow!”

Cassie was making a racket on the shelf. I immediately grabbed Cassie by the scruff and pulled it down, then saw a half-broken toy train and an elephant doll with its trunk torn off.

I shoved Cassie roughly into a room, got some tape, and reattached the trunk of Dollyphant, which had tried so hard for me. Around then, Suzy, who had been sleeping nearby, woke up.

“Woof!”

As soon as Suzy woke up, they came uneasily toward me. The second Suzy saw the Happyhappy doll nearby, they flinched in surprise.

“... So all of this was your dream and mine?”

“Woof!”

“Were we dragged into that Model House on the shelf and then came back from it?”

“Woof?”

“You really went through a lot too.”

As I leaned against the wall with my exhausted body and caught my breath, the space began to shake.

“... It’s finally over. We're saying goodbye, but thank you, everyone. You did well.”

I embraced the repaired Dollyphant in one arm and the golden retriever in the other, then closed my eyes and waited for the end.

* * *

...

The familiar scent of coffee tickled my nose. Maybe because I'd been through so much, the back of my neck throbbed dully as I rubbed it and listened to Cha Eun-pyo's story.

“Isn't it absurd? A clown doll spouting strange sounds, a crazy train spinning around and laughing wildly, and even an elephant going berserk about having tea! I even used Teleportation at the end!”

Wait. Surely he wasn't going to make an issue out of me using Teleportation at the end, was he?

“But you're saying all of that was a dream?”

“That’s right. I was young back then, after all. It was incredibly vivid, almost too vivid to believe... but it was a dream in the end. Well, reality is like that. Or is it? The other people here seem to have had experiences that are hard to believe too...”

What a relief. He was letting it pass because it was a child's dream! If I'd known this would happen, I could've brought the Grimoire and used it.

“Hmm...”

“... I’m sorry. It’s a boring story in the end because it was only a dream.”

“Huh? Ah! Eun-pyo, you misunderstood because I said, ‘Hmm!’ I wasn't reacting that way out of disappointment. If anything, I think something mysterious happened that even you yourself aren't aware of.”

“Something mysterious that even I don't know about?”

“You said it was an ordinary child's dream, but from what I heard, didn't the dog you raised have the same dream?”

“Th-that was strange to me too! Suzy definitely barked whenever they saw a clown doll until the day they died.”

“No one can say. Perhaps you really were dragged into the mysterious Model House on the shelf and escaped from it. The world is full of mysterious things. By the way, what did you do with that Model House afterward?”

“Well... it suddenly disappeared one day.”

“Oho! Now that really is mysterious. Good! It was an interesting story, so I’ll ‘confirm’ it.”

It seemed things had worked out somehow.

As I breathed a sigh of relief, writer Do In-ho's eyes turned toward me, the last person remaining at the table.

“Now only the final person remains.”

“... I suppose so.”

What should I say? Did I even have anything to say? Or maybe...

“A long time ago, I had a strange dream.”

As soon as the ‘dialogue’ began, I could no longer control my body.

“A dream?”

“It was a February evening with a cool breeze. At the time, I was a high school senior who had just finished the college entrance exam. Isn't that time one of those golden periods in life that don't come around often?”

“That’s certainly true.”

“I went on a solo backpacking trip. It’s embarrassing to admit, but my exam results were pretty good, so I received quite a generous allowance. That let me travel without worry. The final place I went was a hotel on Jeju Island...”

...

It was a long story. Listening to the account of my experiences at Hotel Pioneer, summarized in my own voice, was quite interesting and strange.

There were times when I wondered why I had acted so stupidly, and other parts where I thought, Damn, I was incredible.

And so, a long time passed.

“And that brings us to the present.”

“Ohooo.”

Writer Do In-ho thought for a moment, then spoke with an interested look.

“According to you, Ga-in, this place is a room inside somewhere called Hotel Pioneer.”

“That’s right.”

“This is Room 204, part of Hotel Cinema? Even this conversation is a story within a story, included in a horror film?”

“That’s right.”

“Interesting. It truly is fascinating. It seems like the kind of story that could at least become a webtoon...”