WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 348: Hungry Ghost Hell (2)

──────

- Kim A-ri

“Overtime again! Again, again, overtime! Kid, I work overtime every other day, yet I've never received proper overtime pay! Does that make any sense-”

“Move, I'm busy!”

Sorry, mister, but no. I wasn't confident I could solve that problem.

Once the hotel's notification appeared and I understood what I had to do, I began considering which Hungry Ghost's story to resolve.

The escape mission was similar to when I'd entered Mi-ro's dream before.

I had to enter the memories of a Hungry Ghost trapped in the terrible experiences of their life and resolve the situation they faced.

Still, how terrible a story was for the person involved and how easy it was for an outside solver to resolve were two different matters.

For example, imagine a self-employed person ruthlessly mistreated by countless unreasonable customers, and another person whose entire family had been slaughtered by a vicious robber out of nowhere.

Usually, the latter would be considered far more horrifying, but it was different from the solver's perspective.

It was hard to even guess how to resolve the former.

Should I beat up an unspecified number of people?

Even if I dealt with a few, more unreasonable customers would just show up.

Or should I tell them to quit their business? Their income would be cut off.

Should I give them money? What if I didn't have that kind of money inside their story?

A little thought was enough to show there was no clear solution.

The latter, on the other hand, was simple. I just had to stay alert beforehand, catch the robber, and hand them over to the police.

So I looked for a relatively simple story.

“D-don't follow me!”

“...”

“Eek!”

“...”

“P-please save me!”

“Did you run into a murderer chasing you down an alley? Your story sounds perfect. What's your name?”

Unlike the other Hungry Ghosts, who were too busy charging at me in boiling rage, she was frantically trying to escape just from hearing my footsteps behind her.

“P-pardon?”

“I'm going to save you today, so tell me. What's your name?”

“... Yoo So-yeon.”

* * *

--- Beep beep beep!

I woke to a sharp notification piercing my ears.

The area around me resembled a stark white office, and a sheet packed with So-yeon's schedule lay before me.

Was I supposed to have just woken from sleep? For some reason, I felt groggy.

I waved my arm through the air for a moment, then realized something.

Just like in Mi-ro's dream, where the Inheritance had been Sealed, the power of Old Blood had been Sealed this time too.

It meant I was supposed to resolve this without using supernatural powers, which actually reassured me.

Didn't that mean I wouldn't need such powers?

Just then, the door slid open, and a solidly built man entered.

“A-ri, you're awake?”

“...”

“So-yeon noona said you must've been tired yesterday, so I let you sleep. But we need to leave now, so get ready and come out.”

“... Okay.”

* * *

As time passed, I gradually understood the situation.

Yoo So-yeon, the protagonist of this story, had been a fairly famous celebrity in life.

Even in her twisted Hungry Ghost form, I thought she was rather pretty. When she was alive, Yoo So-yeon had the kind of looks that made anyone immediately think she was a celebrity.

I was So-yeon's manager, secretary, younger acquaintance, aspiring celebrity, conversation partner, mascot, cutie, and...

Put simply, a successful celebrity treated me as a cherished younger sister, kept me around for company, gave me a suitable position, and handed me spending money.

I'd been sleeping in the office in broad daylight, and no one had even woken me. That alone showed I wasn't an ordinary manager.

It wasn't bad.

I was close to the victim, had no clearly defined job, yet still held a position I could use as justification to intervene.

It was practically a role the hotel had created specifically for a problem solver.

--- Click!

The SUV door opened, and So-yeon climbed in.

“Look at that bastard of a producer acting up again!”

“...”

“I clearly told him last week that I had an evening schedule, but he's taking passive-aggressive digs at me. What? ‘You seem to have a lot of free time these days.’ Kang-hyeok, what do you think that means?”

“It sounds like he's annoyed you're missing the night shoot.”

Kang-hyeok, the driver in the front seat, and So-yeon spent quite a while badmouthing people like that.

Thanks to them, I heard some very blunt stories about the producer taking digs at So-yeon for missing night shoots, an arrogant junior trying to take So-yeon's place, and a senior actor who'd screamed at her for making a single mistake.

...

Surely something this minor wasn't the horrible memory she still remembered even after becoming a Hungry Ghost?

“Kang-hyeok, hasn't A-ri been quiet for a while?”

“Oh my! A-ri, did I scare you by swearing? Sorry. I've been around so many irritating people lately!”

“...”

Even late into the night, So-yeon's schedule had no gaps.

She had drama filming during the day, a radio appearance in the evening, then a commercial shoot at night.

She was the picture of a successful celebrity, which made me increasingly curious.

What could possibly happen from here that would make this period not the peak of So-yeon's life, but its most horrible moment?

It wasn't going to be something like a murderer attacking her out of nowhere after the broadcast, was it?

If some unexpected accident was the problem, I'd have to stay glued to her side all day!

While So-yeon was on the radio, I eventually asked Lee Kang-hyeok, the driver and bodyguard in the front seat.

“Kang-hyeok oppa.”

“Hmm?”

“Has So-yeon unni been having a hard time lately?”

“... Did So-yeon noona tell you too?”

“It's just a feeling.”

“...”

It looked like there was something. Something that had made So-yeon's life horrible.

“Sigh... So-yeon noona told me not to tell you...”

“We're always together. There's no way I wouldn't notice eventually.”

“Don't say I told you.”

* * *

The story the bodyguard told me began with a stalker.

It had started seven months ago, around the time a popular drama starring So-yeon had ended.

The bodyguard said strange people had latched onto So-yeon because the drama had made her famous nationwide. It was a plausible theory.

At first, it was text messages.

‘You're on your way to the ABS station now, right? I heard you like sandwiches. The shop at such-and-such place is good.’

Messages like that began arriving regularly.

At a glance, they could've been mistaken for harmless restaurant recommendations. But they were sent to a number known only by people personally close to So-yeon.

They also showed an eerie awareness of exactly where she was going.

“Did you report it to the police?”

“Of course we did. They asked why she couldn't just eat the sandwich.”

“...”

“Do you know how ridiculous those cops are? They won't even budge unless that bastard swings a knife at So-yeon!”

“Please tell me more.”

So-yeon eventually changed her private number and replaced everyone except the few bodyguards and managers she trusted most, worried about information leaks.

From what I heard, I remained because I was a distant relative So-yeon treated like a younger sister.

I assumed Lee Kang-hyeok had remained for a similar reason.

Even after taking those measures, nothing changed.

The other person somehow learned So-yeon's new number and began sending strange messages again.

The messages apparently escalated. Kang-hyeok was furious, but he wouldn't tell me what they said, so I suspected they'd begun including obscene remarks.

As time passed, So-yeon gradually began to give up.

She accepted it as the fate of a famous person to receive perverted messages like that.

“The messages weren't the end, were they?”

“They weren't the end. They were the beginning.”

About two months ago, something strange happened while both her manager and bodyguard happened to be away.

“It sounds like they deliberately waited for that timing.”

“Probably. It seemed like they were always watching So-yeon through some means...”

Late at night, while So-yeon was heading home, someone in black appeared behind her and muttered something strange.

“What did they say?”

“It seemed like she didn't hear it properly. She was too busy running away in shock.”

“Hmm...”

“From what she caught, it was something like... What was it? Don't be greedy beyond your means?”

It was a rather unusual line.

“Greedy beyond your means? What could that mean?”

“I don't know. So-yeon noona said she couldn't understand it either. Honestly, do the words of a lunatic stalker really need to have some profound meaning?”

“That is true. Is that all? The threat from the stalker who actually appeared two months ago?”

“...”

“There's more. Tell me.”

“So-yeon noona will be back soon. Let's stop here-”

I quietly reached out and jabbed Kang-hyeok's neck and shoulder.

“A-A-ri, what are you doing all of a sudden? That's creepy. Seriously.”

“Tell me.”

“... This happened three days ago. You remember, right? So-yeon noona blew off all her morning filming?”

“Yes.”

“She ignored every call and message all morning, then came to the company around lunchtime drenched in sweat. You know how diligent So-yeon noona is. Everyone thought something serious must have happened.”

“...”

“She said there'd been another ‘presence’ in her house besides herself all night. She definitely lived alone, but she heard someone walking and moving around outside her bedroom.”

“Couldn't she contact anyone?”

“That's the strange part. No matter how much she pressed the buttons on her phone, it didn't respond.”

“How did she get out?”

“She said the sounds disappeared in the morning.”

“The sounds disappeared in the morning, but she was too scared to leave until she finally managed to come out around noon?”

“That's right.”

“You checked the CCTV footage, right?”

“Of course. I personally went to So-yeon noona's house with the staff and checked it, but strangely, the cameras hadn't caught anything. They only showed So-yeon noona trembling alone in her room.”

“Hmm.”

As I considered several possibilities, Lee Kang-hyeok cautiously asked me something.

“A-ri, I'm asking just in case. Does what I'm saying sound like nonsense to you?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“Most people at the company didn't believe So-yeon noona when she told them. Even the president, who normally bent over backward for her, didn't believe this. He asked if she'd been drinking too much.”

“...”

“So-yeon noona was hurt badly by their reaction. That's why she told me not to tell you either.”

“Do you believe her?”

“I believe anything So-yeon noona says. I just believe her.”

At that point, I understood why Yoo So-yeon had kept Lee Kang-hyeok by her side even as she replaced people around her because of the stalking.

For someone to genuinely believe a story that sounded like a ghost tale, that was no ordinary trust.

Still...

“Something is strange.”

“A-ri, if you aren't going to believe it, don't even act like you know about it. Don't make So-yeon noona suffer for no reason-”

“Kang-hyeok oppa, I believe it too.”

“Y-you do?”

“I believe something serious happened to So-yeon. No, to So-yeon unni. But.”

“But?”

“If we organize what she experienced, there are three main things, right? First, someone learned So-yeon's number and schedule, then sent stalking messages. Second, someone appeared near her while she was heading home two months ago and threatened her. Third, the incomprehensible home intrusion she experienced three days ago.”

“Were you always this good at talking? That's right.”

“Are we sure one entity did all of that?”

“What?”

“The types are too different. As So-yeon unni said, text-message stalking is something any famous celebrity could experience, right?”

“That's true.”

“How did they learn her number? Well... As long as So-yeon wasn't the only person who knew it, there would always be ways for it to leak.”

“...”

“And obsessive fans often know a celebrity's schedule better than the celebrity does.”

“That's true too.”

“The second incident is stranger. They appeared late at night, taking advantage of her bodyguard and manager being away, said something odd, and left. It's hard to know their intention, but one fact is clear.”

“What fact?”

“The one who said that had a physical form, at least. It sounded like a person dressed in black.”

“So-yeon noona did say they seemed human.”

“The third incident is an urban legend, a ghost story itself. Something that doesn't appear on CCTV makes strange noises without end.”

“... Listening to you, it is strange. So-yeon noona and I thought it was all the work of the stalker who's been tormenting her for the past seven months.”

Just then, Kang-hyeok's phone rang.

“Oh, So-yeon noona says she's finished with the radio show. I'll go pick her up.”

“Have a safe trip.”

Leaning back against the soft seat of the Porsche Cayenne, I considered my plan going forward.

Footnotes:

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