WeTried Translations

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 325: Re Room 203, Curse Room - ‘A New Beginning’ (5)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 683,615

Current Location: Level 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 3]

- Han Ga-in

After exchanging information, everyone split up to spend some time alone. So much information had suddenly been dumped on us that we needed time to sort through our thoughts.

When everyone gathered again around evening, Eun-sol wrote in large letters on the whiteboard.

1. Why were we forced to escape?

“Tell us what each of you thinks is important. This is what I think matters.”

It was certainly an important question, and everyone nodded.

Jin-cheol stepped forward next and wrote the second item.

2. What is the Prisoner's objective?

“I talked with Song-i for a moment earlier. I'd like to discuss this.”

It was something we'd discussed as soon as we came out of the room. What was the purpose of Adravita, who had been suspiciously cooperative?

A-ri wrote the third item.

3. What are the identities of the Divine Humans, the primitive people, and us?

“After talking with Mi-ro, I felt this was important.”

It was one of the questions I'd been considering too. Since A-ri had already written it down, I didn't need to add another item.

We naturally began sharing our opinions in order.

First, why had we been forced to escape?

The first to speak was Eun-sol, who had written down the topic.

“Unlike a resolution, where the room disappears, escape is usually judged individually, right? Even if Jin-cheol meets the escape conditions and leaves the room, that doesn't mean I leave with him.”

“The Prisoner in Room 104 tried to exploit that escape mechanism.”

“And Ga-in countered it with the Escape Button. Anyway, why did we all come out at the same time this time?”

Something similar had happened once before.

“Wasn't it Room 102? In House of Horror, didn't we all escape when Lee Se-hyeon suddenly killed himself in front of us? This seems like a similar situation.”

“Similar to then... At the time, the Adversary felt threatened by us and hid before it could do anything, right? Did that mean we all met the escape conditions at once?”

“Probably.”

“Then what are Room 203's escape conditions?”

Everyone's attention naturally turned to Mi-ro and A-ri. We were all thinking the same thing.

If a being summoned with Time Lender died, the original body died as well. During the second attempt, the A-ri Mi-ro had summoned died while fighting to protect Mi-ro.

A-ri's original body should have died at that point too, but in Room 203, A-ri's original body was apparently under the AI's control.

“Could A-ri's death in the mountain range be the escape condition?”

“Probably. I can't think of any other possibility.”

When the A-ri summoned through Time Lender died, the A-ri in the mountain range died too, and everyone escaped at that moment.

That alone was a major gain. It meant we'd discovered a perfect way to escape Room 203 whenever we wanted.

Eun-sol finished her coffee, then spoke again.

“Everyone probably guessed why we escaped. I knew as soon as I heard Mi-ro's story. But why was it an escape rather than a resolution?”

“Because there's something more?”

“Right. That's what I wanted to discuss. We still haven't figured out all of Room 203's scenario, but we learned at least one thing. Killing the A-ri in the mountain range doesn't end Room 203. There's something more.”

We moved on to the second topic.

Why was Room 203's Prisoner helping us? What was its objective?

Jin-cheol spoke first.

“This isn't the first time a Prisoner has acted cooperatively. The teacher in Room 103 openly helped Song-i wipe out Athanasia, didn't they?”

Grandfather nodded.

“Didn't the Nebula Dragon in Room 102 help Ga-in near the very end too? The Sea God in Room 202 had a similar feeling.”

Eun-sol tilted her head slightly.

“The teacher in Room 103 and the Nebula Dragon in Room 102 did, but isn't the Sea God in Room 202 questionable?”

It was hard to say the Sea God in Room 202 had taken our side. During the first attempt, we had nearly all been wiped out the moment the Sea God revived.

Rather than taking our side, it would be more accurate to say it used us to reach the ending it wanted.

Come to think of it, the Nebula Dragon in Room 102 was questionable in that regard too.

“I think the Nebula Dragon was questionable as well. You may remember this, but the Hotel gave Room 102's progress a fairly harsh review. After making several mistakes, we forced our way through what was practically a failed scenario using the power of Descent.”

“Ah, I remember!”

“If we'd followed the normal route the Hotel intended, the Nebula Dragon wouldn't have appeared in the first place. So it's difficult to say whether it was on anyone's side.”

Perhaps worried that the conversation was drifting toward the Prisoners of other rooms, Jin-cheol cleared his throat to draw our attention back.

“Ahem! Let's focus on Room 203. It's clear that Adravita in Room 203 has been the most cooperative Prisoner we've encountered since the teacher in Room 103.”

Adravita had awakened me at the very beginning and told me that Room 203 began aboard a planet-colonizing spaceship.

Then, when Time Lender caused the A-ri in the mountain range to suddenly die and we were forced to escape empty-handed, it showed Mi-ro an “unknown machine.”

“Why is it helping us so much? If the room disappears, won't it disappear too?”

Song-i picked up the conversation.

“Jin-cheol and I came to a conclusion when we talked earlier. We think Adravita wants to die.”

I understood what she meant. It was something Jin-cheol and I had discussed inside the room.

“It wants to end everything because it's spent too long in the Curse Room?”

“That's the conclusion Jin-cheol and I reached.”

The room fell quiet for a moment.

If Adravita truly wanted to die because it had fallen into some kind of depression, I could guess the reason. Wasn't it written in my Status Window?

[Day 683,615]

Each time Room 203 began, nearly 1,872 years passed. We just couldn't feel it because we were in Cryogenic Sleep. We'd already entered Room 203 twice, so nearly 3,750 years had passed from Adravita's perspective.

Was that all?

No. There had been participants who progressed through the Hotel before us, and some of them must have challenged Room 203's scenario.

If they too had spent 1,872 years every time they entered, it was terrifying to even think about how many years Adravita had spent in the Curse Room. It must have spent a span of time close to eternity.

I turned toward the Management Bureau members, wondering what they thought, but Grandfather gave an uncertain response.

“I'm not sure. I know that some divine beings have lived through hundreds of millions of years. If Adravita is such a being, I don't think it would want to die just because it experienced ‘only’ 1,872 years over and over.”

A-ri gave a simple answer.

“Ask. Your Owl should know better than Grandfather or me.”

Would it answer if I asked about a Prisoner's state? I should ask anyway.

[Advice: 3 -> 2]

‘Does Adravita truly wish for death?’

[Even great beings can fall ill at heart, for they too possess aspects similar to mortals.]

It was an ambiguous answer. When I told them, A-ri gave a dry laugh.

“So the answer is that it might be possible. Maybe the Owl doesn't know either?”

“Maybe...”

If the question concerned a divine being's mental state, perhaps even the Owl couldn't know.

Then Eun-sol reacted with anticipation.

“It can fall ill at heart! I feel like that means something.”

“You do?”

“A Prisoner that's a god sick at heart? Could there be a chance for my Flute to shine?”

Come to think of it, Eun-sol's Inheritance, the Flute of Rest, could affect even divine beings.

Song-i offered a somewhat cold opinion.

“Let's say Adravita has spent too long in Room 203 and developed depression or something. The Flute of Rest might be able to cure it.”

“That's what I'm saying!”

“Do we need to cure it?”

“Huh?”

“If it's helping us because it wants to die, there's no reason for us to remove that desire.”

“... You're right.”

If the Prisoner was helping us because it had gone mad, there was no need to treat that madness. It was a cynical attitude, but she was right.

While Eun-sol looked somewhat disappointed, A-ri brought up the third topic.

“The Divine Humans, the primitive people, and us! Have you all thought about it? When I combined the information Ga-in got from the spaceship with what Mi-ro learned in the Hatchery, I got a rough idea.”

A-ri began a long explanation.

“First, the Divine Humans. According to what Ga-in learned from the spaceship, there are crew members aboard. What do you think their role is? At the very least, it isn't controlling the spaceship.”

Since the crew were all in Cryogenic Sleep while the spaceship traveled, they couldn't have been responsible for controlling it. That was the AI's job.

I had an idea, so I shared it.

“They're probably the ones who wake up after reaching the destination and colonize the planet. The reason every one of them is an Enhanced Human must be to make colonization easier.”

A-ri nodded.

“I think the Divine Humans are Enhanced Humans, just like the crew members.”

“Enhanced Humans... Are the Divine Humans' supernatural abilities powers they possess because they're Enhanced Humans?”

“Probably. And if you see it that way, the cocoon and Hatchery Mi-ro found become obvious too.”

Grandfather slapped his knee.

“The Human Growth Kit!”

“Exactly. It must have been an artificial womb for creating Enhanced Humans.”

When the conversation became difficult-to-follow science fiction, Elena asked a question.

“We're Divine Humans too, aren't we? Um... Were we made in a Human Growth Kit?”

“That's a good question, but I think Adravita already gave us the answer.”

I understood what she meant and spoke.

“Are we the crew themselves?”

“Exactly. That's what we are in Room 203. We are the crew members who arrived on this planet aboard the spaceship 1,872 years ago.”

After saying that, A-ri wrote her opinion on the whiteboard.

Divine Humans: Enhanced Humans created by the Human Growth Kit.

Our identity: The crew members who arrived on an alien planet 1,872 years ago.

We would need to investigate further to know whether it was true, but it seemed like a plausible hypothesis. Still, one important point was missing.

“Then what exactly are the primitive people?”

“I don't know.”

“Huh?”

“I don't know. Are they even human to begin with? There already seem to be quite a few signs that the primitive people aren't human...”

The Doctor nodded and told us that their bodily structure was somewhat different from that of humans.

Elena also said that during the time “crazy Elena” had been mutating the primitive people in a frenzy, she had perceived them as beings that were not human.

Considering that, along with how they showed Song-i excessive friendliness in response to her blessing, and the AI in the mountain range that also saw the primitive people as nonhuman, there was only one answer.

They were likely not human.

“Were the primitive people a group separate from the humans who came aboard the spaceship from the beginning?”

No one could answer that question. The Doctor did offer a skeptical view.

“Don't they look far too similar for that? I don't believe they are alien lifeforms that evolved in completely different environments.”

“Then what are they?”

“I don't know.”

It seemed we needed to learn more. I used my second Advice just in case, but once again, the answer was vague.

[Advice: 2 -> 1]

‘Are the primitive people in Room 203 human? If not, what are they?’

[It depends on how one defines humanity.]

When I shared the answer, everyone clutched their heads, and some complained.

“It would be nice if it could just explain things clearly! Why is Ga-in's Sponsor so unhelpful?”

Mi-ro's question was one I had wondered about roughly three thousand times.

“It probably has restrictions of its own. Still, it's irritating.”

The Doctor cautiously gave his opinion.

“I think it gave a meaningful answer in its own way. If they were simply beings wearing human skin and imitating humans, I think it would have said they weren't human.”

A-ri nodded.

“If you define humanity very broadly, it seems the primitive people have something that could count as human too.”

As the rough discussion of the three topics came to an end, Seung-yeop, who rarely participated in meetings, offered an active opinion for the first time in a while.

“Let's think about it more simply.”

“More simply? Room 203's scenario is difficult enough to make our heads explode.”

“No, A-ri. What I mean is, let's not dig too deeply into the scenario. What if we think of it like a game?”

“Like a game?”

“When I play games, I skip all the story.”

“...”

For a moment, everyone was speechless as we stared at Seung-yeop, wondering what he was talking about.

“Now! Where do we ultimately need to go? The mountain range, right? That's where A-ri is Sealed!”

A-ri flinched at his unusually forceful attitude.

“I-is that so?”

“Why can't we go to the mountain range right now? Because there are tons of powerful robots there! Right?”

This time, he looked at me and emphasized how dangerous the robots were. That really was a major problem.

Unlike the first attempt, our blessings had returned and we had more companions, but the robots filling the mountain range were still a huge barrier. Many of our Inheritances and abilities were useless against robots.

My Book of the Avatar and Song-i's Diverse Perspectives meant nothing before robots.

“That's true.”

“That machine the Prisoner showed Mi-ro at the end! Could it be something like a spaceship part?”

The part had “Pride of Humanity” written on it, so it had to be related to the spaceship.

“Now! We've reached a conclusion!”

“We have?”

“A conclusion?”

Seung-yeop declared firmly.

“Let's take that part and charge into the mountain range.”

“Why?”

“Come on! A-ri, why else would that part be there? In game terms, it's like a key that lets us safely enter the area with the final boss!”

“Huh? Why?”

“Come on, this is frustrating! Why would the Prisoner show it to us if it wasn't important?”

“What are you even talking about?”

...

Everyone was left dumbfounded for a moment. Then Eun-sol, who had been thinking for a while, chuckled.

“I considered Seung-yeop's idea, and it's actually fairly plausible. Think of it this way. Maybe that part is a critical component of the spaceship, and the AI in the mountain range doesn't want it destroyed.”

Only then did I begin to understand.

“If we take it to the mountain range, the robots there won't attack us?”

“Right. If the robots attack us without warning, the part could be destroyed.”

Hearing Eun-sol's “interpretation” made it easier to understand. It sounded convincing enough that I asked another question.

[Advice: 1 -> 0]

‘What do you think of the plan to take the part and go to the mountain range?’

[Consider how you will get to that place.]

After that, everyone continued offering different opinions as we made plans for how to proceed with the third attempt.

* * *

When the meeting ended and we all parted ways, telling each other to do our best tomorrow, an indescribable uneasiness came over me.

Even I couldn't easily explain where that feeling had come from.

...

It wasn't until late at night, when I lay down in bed, that I realized what the uneasiness was.

Where had much of the key information come from, the information that formed the basis of our understanding of Room 203's scenario and our plans?

Adravita.

Adravita had crammed far more information down our throats than we had uncovered ourselves by searching Room 203.

Perhaps we were like Sun Wukong in Buddha's palm.

Of course, if Adravita was a being that wanted death, it had more than enough reason to help us. But what if our very hypothesis that Adravita wanted death had been shaped by its intentions?

I felt stifled. Even if that were true, I had no idea what we should do.

Because of that, I tossed and turned until late into the night.

Footnotes:

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