Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 324

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 323: Re Room 203, Curse Room - ‘A New Beginning’ (3)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 683,615

Current Location: Level 2, Room 203, Curse Room ‘A New Beginning’

Sage’s Advice: 3]

- Han Ga-in

I sent the nearby tribespeople away so I could speak with Jin-cheol.

“You ran here as soon as it started, right? Wasn't there a monster near your tribe too?”

Jin-cheol nodded.

“I already killed it.”

“What?”

“I killed it on the way here. I knew where it was, too. The tribespeople should be fine for now.”

He said it as casually as if he'd stopped for coffee on the way. It struck me again that no one among us was better than Jin-cheol at dealing with monsters with physical bodies.

“Anyway, it's a good thing you came early. I had a strange experience and learned a lot.”

“A strange experience?”

I told Jin-cheol about what I had experienced aboard the spaceship before waking in this primitive era. He stood there for a while with his mouth half open, unable to hide his confusion.

“This damn hotel keeps turning up weirder stories the deeper you dig.”

“Right.”

“F-first, let's put the spaceship aside and talk about everyone's locations. They're all hundreds of kilometers away?”

“Not all of them. Surprisingly, Eun-sol and Song-i were only sixty kilometers apart at the start. Mook-seong is the farthest away. He's currently 871 kilometers away.”

“871 kilometers... Ga-in, do you know how far that is?”

“I don't have a license, so I'm not sure.”

“Following the roads, Seoul to Busan is about 390 kilometers. Eight hundred seventy-one kilometers is enough to cross Korea diagonally and then some.”

“That really is far.”

“It's not just far! How are we supposed to meet up?”

“We met in the mountain range during the first attempt.”

“That was because Sang-hyeon and old man Mook-seong ignored the tribespeople and moved on their own.”

“We can meet again if we do that this time.”

“...”

Silence fell around us for a moment.

I felt sorry for the tribespeople outside, but this was the thought that had occurred to me the instant I checked our companions' locations through the restored Status Window.

Hundreds of kilometers made it difficult to meet?

That was true if we traveled with ordinary humans like the tribespeople. If we ignored them and moved on our own, it was a completely different matter.

What if I controlled the countless monsters in this world and traveled through their bodies? What if Song-i did something similar with the Blessing of Affinity?

Elena could create monsters that flew through the sky, and Jin-cheol could run faster than a horse even on foot.

It might be harder for the doctor and old man Mook-seong. Neither could fly or control monsters.

Still, thanks to the power of Diligence and Mook-seong's background as a former Management Bureau agent, their basic physical abilities were among the best humanity had to offer.

If we moved by ourselves, we could cover even 871 kilometers in a short time. Jin-cheol understood what I meant and sighed.

“That might be the answer. Whew...”

“...”

“Let's talk about the spaceship. Something you said really shocked me.”

“There was a lot of shocking information.”

“Humanity in the distant future sends a spaceship out to colonize space? The crew is entirely made up of Enhanced Humans, and there's an AI advanced enough to be nearly indistinguishable from a person?”

“It sounds like a science fiction movie.”

“And what's a Human Growth Kit? Did you see one?”

“I didn't.”

“The most shocking part is the time you spent there itself.”

“Do you mean the date in the Status Window, 683,615 days?”

“That six-hundred-eighty-thousand-something figure. You said it was roughly eighteen hundred or nineteen hundred years?”

“Yes.”

“To us, that time was just a number because we spent it in Cryogenic Sleep. But what would it mean to the Prisoner?”

“You mean Adravita?”

“That bastard stayed awake and sane for eighteen hundred years, right?”

... Right.

Unlike us, who had fallen into Cryogenic Sleep, Adravita had been perfectly awake even on the spaceship. Naturally, they must have remained conscious for the following eighteen hundred years as well.

“It is a long time. Still, they're a transcendent being, not a human. Wouldn't their sense of time differ from ours?”

“Sure, but look at it another way. Eighteen hundred years wasn't something that happened to them only once. It isn't even just eighteen hundred years. This is already our second attempt, so that's a minimum of thirty-six hundred years.”

I understood.

If the same thing had happened during the first attempt, and we simply hadn't known because we never woke aboard the spaceship, then Adravita had spent 3,600 years there in just two attempts.

“And that's only the minimum. The hotel has accepted countless participants in the past, hasn't it? There were probably others before us who challenged this room and failed. If eighteen hundred years passed every time...”

Just how much time had Adravita spent in this Curse Room?

A heavy silence settled over us.

“... Let's discuss this with the others later. For now, I think figuring out where to go is more urgent.”

“Let's do that. Rather than heading for the mountain range this time, we should look into that unknown being in the sky. Come to think of it, isn't that Adravita?”

“It has to be. Eun-sol's description of what she saw was similar to what I saw. They said humanity promised them the right to spread faith.”

“If they float through the sky in this primitive age and spread abundance across the entire continent, faith will spring up even where there was none. Should we follow Adravita's shadow?”

“This time, let's do that-”

--- Rumble!

An incomprehensible tremor suddenly struck the entire world!

“What the-”

Jin-cheol gaped and pointed into the air. A familiar hotel notification floated there.

「You have escaped!」

We escaped suddenly? And both Jin-cheol and I received the notification at the same time? Did everyone escape?

* * *

- Kim A-ri

I regained consciousness in cold air. The moment I woke, a terrible stench assaulted my nose.

I was the target of Sealing in Room 203. Yet even though I had awakened, there was no notification saying the Sealing had been lifted. The meaning was clear.

When I turned my head, the person I expected was there.

“Mi-”

“Shh!”

Before I could say anything, Mi-ro covered my mouth and pointed around us as if telling me to look.

--- Bzzzz! Bwoooom!

I silently looked around and took in the situation.

Giant cocoons large enough to hold an entire person filled the area, while the floor was covered in dark red flesh that writhed unpleasantly.

Some of the cocoons had begun to twitch. As if they had been waiting for that, giant wasp-like monsters flew over and started carrying the twitching cocoons elsewhere.

What was strange was the monsters' attitude.

They stared right at us, yet showed no hostility. They only gave us little prods now and then, as if warning us not to interfere with their work.

That was probably why Mi-ro had told me to stay quiet. When she made noise, the monsters must have reacted as though telling her to be silent.

...

This place really sparked the imagination in all sorts of ways. The whole world was filled with grotesque monsters and writhing cocoons.

Where the hell were we? A monster hatchery?

Why was Mi-ro in a place like this? The others said they woke among primitive people.

--- Bwoooom!

Once the nearby wasp disappeared, Mi-ro asked me in a trembling voice.

“W-why am I in a place like this?”

“... Why are you here?”

“...”

After sharing that hollow feeling for a moment, we began moving. I had no idea what was going on, but there was no reason to remain in such a horrible place.

More importantly, Mi-ro had been gripping my arm as though she meant to break it.

“Loosen your grip.”

“...”

“My arm's going to fall-”

The moment I turned to look at Mi-ro, I was at a loss for words. She was on the verge of tears, as though even breathing hurt.

Only then did I look around properly once more.

Ground covered in slimy membranes, leaving a sticky sensation with every step.

Twitching cocoons that made dreadful scraping noises.

Wasp-like monsters flying everywhere as they busily worked.

It wouldn't have been strange if this were a scene from Alien.

Someone like Ga-in or me would probably calmly watch to see what the wasps were doing, even in a place like this.

Of course, we were the strange ones. Being crushed by fear like Mi-ro was the normal human reaction.

It was only a matter of time.

Mi-ro would eventually adapt to the hotel's horrors too. It probably wouldn't take long. Whether that change would be a good thing was another question.

I took Mi-ro's hand tightly and walked through the hatchery filled with grotesque beings.

After about twenty minutes, I reached one conclusion.

There was no way out on foot. Other than the ceiling the wasps traveled through, there was no path leading outside. Mi-ro, who had come to the same realization, asked me in terror.

“H-how do we get out?”

“...”

“What are those cocoons?”

“I don't know.”

“A-ri, you're a Management Bureau agent. You don't even know that?”

When I glanced to the side, Mi-ro was giving a faint smile.

She had recovered enough to make a joke. If she had pulled herself together this much in such a short time, she really did have the makings of a natural agent.

I'm not saying that just because she's my mom. Probably.

“There is a way to find out.”

“Th-then hurry up and do it!”

“It's a little dangerous. I think those monsters will react badly.”

“...”

Mi-ro trembled for a while before her expression hardened.

“I-I'm sure we'll be trapped in this strange place until we die if we stay like this! The ceiling is the only way out.”

“That's right.”

“So I think we have to try something... What if A-ri disappears in this situation?”

She was right. Time Lender could only summon me for one hour, and nearly thirty minutes had already passed.

Could Mi-ro endure a place like this alone? No chance. I had to try something while I was here.

I gave Mi-ro an order.