WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 337: Re Room 203, Curse Room - ‘A New Beginning’ (17)

──────

Two figures crossed a desolate plain choked with dust.

The combination of a monstrous bird with a beak large enough to swallow a child whole and a girl with jet-black hair streaming behind her was an odd sight.

Only around sunset did Grotesque and A-ri stop by a nearby lakeshore. At that moment, the woman buried in Grotesque’s feathers raised her head.

“... A-ri.”

“Yeah?”

“Did you learn some kind of martial art?”

“...”

Grotesque might have been strong, but it could not carry two people while running hundreds of kilometers every day.

In the end, only Eun-sol rode on its back while A-ri ran alongside it. At first, Eun-sol had assumed it would take them months to reach their destination.

She realized otherwise only when A-ri began running and kicked up a dust storm behind her.

“Even ordinary human marathoners can run this fast. Maybe I’m a little faster?”

“Marathoners can’t keep moving at that speed for ten hours a day.”

“What are you pointing that out for...?”

That was true too, so Eun-sol nodded. She had known A-ri’s physical abilities differed from a human’s ever since they had first entered Hotel High and gone through the sports festival.

Eun-sol was about to scoop up water from the lake with both hands when she flinched. A pale, threadworm-like thing was visible in the water.

After a brief sigh, she scooped up more water and drank it anyway.

“I really want to get out of Room 203 already.”

“It’s everyone’s earnest wish.”

“Especially Sang-hyeon, I guess.... You said he suffered for hundreds of years?”

“Well....”

A-ri’s vague response made Eun-sol fall silent as well. The two had spent the past several days talking endlessly as they traveled, and much of it had been about Kim Sang-hyeon.

Soon, a shabby Flute appeared in Eun-sol’s hand. It looked like nothing more than a cheap souvenir one could easily buy at a tourist attraction.

“Will this really get a chance to shine?”

“I’m bringing you because I believe it will.”

“Right....”

Eun-sol’s gaze passed A-ri and fixed on the distant sky. A-ri looked intrigued as she asked Eun-sol a question.

“Can you see something? I can see the aurora too. Is that Adravita’s domain?”

“...”

“Eun-sol?”

“Adravita is there.”

“...”

“He’s... close. Maybe he’s watching us right now.”

“Let’s sleep. We need to leave early tomorrow morning.”

* * *

- Park Seung-yeop

On the third day after the army stopped near the Hatchery, an aurora began appearing in the sky.

The veteran soldiers who had killed countless monsters on their way here began to stir uneasily, while Doctor silently stared at the sky.

“Seung-yeop.”

“Yes?”

“What do you think when you see that light?”

“... Do you think the Prisoner is making a move?”

“Most likely.”

“Honestly, I’m scared. What kind of move does he still have left.... And this isn’t even the fifth attempt. Does it make sense for him to run wild this freely?”

“Adravita likely sees things differently.”

“Differently?”

“How do you think we look in his eyes? At best, we are chicks or chickens. A human competing against a chicken is absurd to begin with.”

“... You mean this can only be a contest because the Hotel placed immense restrictions on the Prisoner?”

“That is correct. Think about it. Has he actively intervened since we woke up?”

As I carefully considered Doctor’s words, I understood what he meant.

Adravita had distorted Room 203’s records to lead us to the wrong conclusion. Filling the world with monsters had not been enough, so he had even used the AI as a tool to lure us into a trap.

Yet all those schemes were nothing more than plans he had laid hundreds or thousands of years ago, finally becoming reality once we began acting in earnest.

Remembering that replaced my vague anxiety with thoughts of what trump card Adravita had left behind.

“I think I get it!”

“What do you mean?”

“If Adravita has a trump card left, then something we’ve never seen or heard of won’t suddenly appear at this moment.”

“...”

“Anything he can use isn’t something newly created after we woke up. It’s something he prepared before we woke up.”

“...”

“What could it be? Something that has been in this room for a very long time?”

“It’s coming.”

“What?”

“Look over there. It seems Miss A-ri has returned.”

A little later, A-ri appeared with Eun-sol.

And then...

The sound of a Flute reached us.

* * *

--- Whoooooo!

A clear, pure sound rang out. The resting soldiers rose in small groups and gathered around Eun-sol. They seemed to have mistaken it for some kind of religious ceremony.

“Eun-sol?”

A-ri gestured for me to come closer.

“What’s going on all of a sudden?”

A-ri looked into my puzzled eyes as I listened to the Flute, then nodded.

“So it wasn’t you. That’s a relief.”

“Pardon?”

Soon, Eun-sol reached out with one arm and stroked my head. Even so, she did not stop playing the Flute with her other hand.

Before long, the three Divine Humans entered the priest’s tent. Thinking the Divine Humans were holding a meeting among themselves, the soldiers soon lowered their heads and left.

“...”

“...”

--- Whooooo!

Silent people, and the strange sound of the Flute filling the space.

As an unexplainable tension hung in the air, Doctor gave a short laugh.

“It seems you’re trying something. Haven’t you finished by now?”

Eun-sol lowered the Flute and smiled.

“Sang-hyeon, it’s been a while. I heard you’ve had a hard time.”

“It would be dishonest to say it was nothing. I have suffered quite a lot.”

“How was my performance?”

“Well, it did bring back memories.”

“...”

“Why don’t we speak honestly? You can see that aurora in the sky, can’t you? Adravita is probably watching us as well.”

A-ri nodded and stepped forward.

“Fine. As you know, I tend to be suspicious.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s an occupational hazard. Once you’ve spent enough time in the Management Bureau, everyone you pass on the street starts looking like a potential demon summoner.”

“Would you like me to examine you later?”

“A long time ago, when I fell asleep because of the AI’s anesthetic gas attack, I thought about it. If anyone could resolve this crisis, it would definitely be Cha Jin-cheol.”

“...”

“Jin-cheol was wearing the Protective Suit. We never tested the Protective Suit’s limits, but wouldn’t it be able to block anesthetic gas too?”

“...”

“Even if the Protective Suit couldn’t block it, Cha Jin-cheol’s blessing strengthens his body itself. Would an extraordinary body capable of resisting even the Star’s power collapse so easily from anesthetic gas?”

“Those are mostly assumptions. You seem to have forgotten that when the Hotel gave us the Protective Suit, it only guaranteed that blades, water, and fire could not harm it. It could have been useless against anesthetic gas made with future technology. Also, having a strong body and resisting anesthetic gas are separate matters.”

“You’re right. That’s why I could accept Seung-yeop coming instead of Cha Jin-cheol. Maybe the Protective Suit was weaker than expected, and maybe the blessing of Courage was useless against sleeping pills. But Priest, how exactly did you get the Protective Suit?”

“Did I not tell you? I ventured into the mountain range to save Miss A-ri, and...”

“That doesn’t add up. There are two possibilities. Either Cha Jin-cheol resisted the anesthetic gas or he didn’t. If he resisted it, then he would’ve escaped somehow and still been alive with you.”

“...”

“If he couldn’t resist it, then he collapsed there. Shouldn’t the Protective Suit he was wearing have been near the Cryogenic Sleep facility? You said the robots were so strong that you couldn’t even approach the facility before Seung-yeop woke up, so how did you find the Protective Suit?”

“I see. There was certainly a hole in that part of my story. This is what happens when one gets old. The older one gets, the duller the mind becomes.”

The atmosphere inside the tent froze. Caught in the middle of it...

I had no idea what to do.

Had the Flute’s power caused some change in Doctor’s heart?

Doctor willingly began revealing the story he had hidden.

“As you guessed, Jin-cheol escaped the mountain range that day. He fought so fiercely that, despite wearing the Protective Suit, one of his arms inside it was reduced to pulp, and I had to amputate it. It was fortunate that he survived at all.”

“...”

“To be honest, while Jin-cheol was still with me, I never considered raising a civilization with primitive tribes and making a grand three-hundred-year plan.”

“You intended to rescue us right away.”

“That would have been the judgment of a normal person. Fortunately, as the spaceship prepared to depart into space, many of the Security Units had been dismantled and turned into parts inside the spaceship.”

“The two of you charged into the mountain range? You wore the Protective Suit? And then... you failed?”

“Adravita had foreseen even that. At the very moment when the spaceship dismantled many Security Units for launch, monsters were there to fill the gap. How far ahead could he see?”

“...”

“Jin-cheol... fought bravely until the end. But one hand cannot fight ten.”

A question suddenly came to mind.

Even if Doctor wore the Protective Suit, he could not compare to Jin-cheol in terms of combat power. The difference in their physical abilities was enormous, and once the Star was added, there was no comparison at all.

Even Jin-cheol had been unable to endure that dreadful battle and died. How had Doctor emerged unharmed? More importantly, why had Doctor hidden the existence of this battle from us?

Doctor’s expression slowly twisted. At the same time, an inexplicably vile presence began filling the tent.

--- Rumble!

A strange sound came from outside. Terrified soldiers began screaming from every direction.

Then the voice of a young man began echoing through the air.

“After that day, I heard a voice. He promised me endless glory. He told me to become his apostle and seize the world. He said he would set me upon solid rock and raise me to a station beneath one, above ten thousand.”

...

“I didn’t care. I pretended not to hear. As long as my companions remained alive, I believed an opportunity remained as well.”

...

“The first hundred years were a time of will and hope. I waited for my companions, who would wake before long, and prepared for the final battle.”

...

“The next hundred years were a time of despair and pain. I watched the woman I loved, my children, and my grandchildren die countless times. More than once, I wished that I too would be crushed beneath the passing years....”

...

“The final hundred years were a time of fear and acceptance. I came to understand how painful a long life without youth could be. My fingers and toes rotted away while I was still alive. The muscles all over my body slowly died, and for fifty years, I endured the helplessness of being unable to lift my head even once from the cart.”

...

“If you read the history books, you would know. Seventy years ago, when my body could still move better than it can now, I decided to settle this. So when I led the army to this land...”

“Did what is happening outside right now happen then?”

“Only then did I realize that everything I had built over my lifetime was an illusion.... I collapsed onto the plain and screamed and wept, again and again. Then... I received an offer I could not refuse.”

* * *

- Kim A-ri

It was chaotic outside. In truth, this was not a situation for sitting here and talking.

Eun-sol and Seung-yeop had already rushed outside some time ago to somehow contain the situation.

A blasphemous aurora covered the entire sky.

At last, the first move the Prisoner had ever made revealed its true nature.

Soldiers’ screams filled the air.

The pain of their skin turning inside out while they transformed into unknown, grotesque forms shattered their minds.

Even the bravest warriors screamed like children as they turned into beasts.

Suddenly, I remembered something Elena had said long ago.

She had said she could not turn all these primitive people into monsters with the power of Ominous Imagination. The only monsters she had created were the first few.

Maybe Elena had only pulled the trigger. A curse innate to the primitive people from the moment they were first created.

“Why have you only come now? Why did you not come before I became like this?”

I quietly closed my eyes as I listened to Sang-hyeon pour out his despair.

There had been another, greater reason I had suspected him. What had Seung-yeop said?

That Doctor had endured three hundred years of suffering while waiting for us?

That was impossible. The human heart was far too fragile.

An unbreakable will that never bent, an unwavering sense of Justice.

I was far too old to be fooled by words like those.

That was why I did not resent Sang-hyeon anew or feel disappointed in him.

Three hundred years of waiting without promise.

The endless deaths of his beloved family and descendants.

The pain of a rotting body.

Enduring pain like that was far too difficult.

Even if he had endured all the way until now...

He could not have endured the tragedy of the soldiers from the civilization he had nurtured for hundreds of years turning into beasts at a single gesture from the Evil God.

When I opened my eyes again, the priest stood before me. He had regained his youth, shattered the cart, and risen to his feet.

“Sang-hyeon, congratulations on your Rejuvenation!”

It was time to end Room 203’s long nightmare.

Footnotes:

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