WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 354: Room 205, Curse Room - ‘□□□□’ (3)
──────
Countless religions around the world do their utmost to describe hell.
Man-eating insects everywhere, jailers beating people to death with iron clubs, tongues stretched out and doused with boiling oil, bodies skewered on spears and roasted over flames.
In a way, such creative, brutal imaginings might not be imagination at all. They might be experiences.
Before Cha Jin-cheol, walking across the battlefield, every form of violence one person could inflict upon another was taking place.
This had nothing to do with me.
It was not something I would experience, nor was it my responsibility.
None of this was happening in reality, so I did not need to care too much.
Jin-cheol believed that.
More precisely, he tried to believe it.
His heart had not frozen enough to fully accept the melody of pain erupting from all over the world.
In an instant, Jin-cheol's upper body spun halfway around, and the spear in his hands carved a semicircle through the air.
--- Slice!
One swing, two deaths. That was life at the Wall.
The Grand General wielding his spear looked like a farmer cutting grain with a sickle.
Jin-cheol sank into thought.
When he had begun in Room 205 as the Big Dipper Grand General, he had realized this world possessed a power called martial arts and had been fairly concerned.
Unlike supernatural abilities or divine authority, martial arts were literally something one studied and trained in.
That meant even an ordinary person could learn them through effort.
If even the rank-and-file soldiers could wield the strength of tigers and wolves, he wasn't sure he could hold his own, no matter who he was.
...
It had been needless worry.
Most of the rank-and-file soldiers did not know martial arts, and even their physiques were, at best, on the level of modern middle school students. Every day, hundreds of them perished amid the harsh struggle.
Besides, not every martial artist was meaningfully strong.
--- Thud!
Had he lost focus because he had briefly fallen into thought?
A flying Dagger, moving fairly quickly, slipped neatly through a gap in Jin-cheol's armor.
“I-I hit him!”
“...”
“You bastard! Hound of the fallen Empire, do you know what you've been poisoned with?”
“Was there poison on the Dagger?”
“Heh heh.... The refined essence of the Seven-Blood Poisonous Snake's venom has seeped into it. You won't even last a single breath before -”
“I've already taken ten breaths.”
“...”
--- Crunch!
The man who had thrown the Dagger, Black-Killing Flying Dagger, could not understand why the Big Dipper Grand General's expression had not changed even as his head was crushed.
Then Jin-cheol clearly felt a sting in his shoulder.
It was true that the Dagger had been poisoned.
His body had simply begun to shrug off most poisons like a passing cold at some point.
Then, with a strange shout that was clearly one person's voice yet seemed to ring out from every direction at once, three black masses flew toward him.
“They said the Empire's Big Dipper Grand General was born with the physique of a Heavenly Dragon. It wasn't an exaggeration!”
Jin-cheol looked over the heads rolling across the ground.
He recognized one of them. It was the head of Left General Do Jeong-myeong, who had boldly set out that morning after vowing before him to protect the Empire.
He gave a slight bow and replied.
“State your name.”
“... I am Mergoap. My alias is Blue-Eyed Asura.”
“Blue-Eyed Asura? One of the Fire Cult's Thirteen Commanders?”
“That is correct.”
Blue-Eyed Asura Mergoap, who had just appeared, frowned.
He had expected an enraged reaction after beheading a general and throwing the head as an insult.
Or perhaps it would have been entertaining to see the other man threatened by the flying heads and bat them aside with his spear.
Instead, the Grand General had simply asked his name.
Strangely, that one action made Mergoap feel as though he had already lost momentum.
Fortunately, the memories of the Asura Path that Blue-Eyed Asura had accumulated over the past several decades told him the most appropriate response in this situation.
Attack.
“Hyaaah!”
A pale crescent blade shot out like lightning, spiraling through the air.
Its path twisted strangely from moment to moment, like a snake crossing a desert.
Then a flash of light shot forward like lightning and pierced straight through the snake.
There was no profound principle in the Grand General's spear, nor was there any unfathomable trajectory.
“Fast and strong!”
That was Mergoap's reaction after barely escaping by repeatedly spinning his body.
He might have used a more fitting description, but he could not find one.
The Grand General's spear was fast and strong.
To be honest, it did not seem to contain any great principle. He had simply thrust straight ahead with all his strength.
That was why it was difficult to deal with.
The next moment, a short spear suddenly sprang from Blue-Eyed Asura's waist.
Jin-cheol's eyes widened. He had not expected his opponent to use another weapon.
“A sword, then a spear too? What kind of -”
Rather than grasping the spear and charging in, Blue-Eyed Asura hurled it at the Grand General. At the same time, he rushed forward with his crescent blade, releasing a milky white aura.
If one could not stop the Ghostly Spear dominating the space ahead, there would be no next move. Yet if one spent strength blocking the spear, one could not withstand the Soul-Severing Strike of the Asura charging in afterward.
That was why Blue-Eyed Asura's Ghost Spear Soul-Severing assault was called unrivaled in the Martial World.
--- Clang!
As most of Blue-Eyed Asura's opponents had done, the Grand General first knocked away the Ghostly Spear.
‘Now!’
No matter how fast and strong the Grand General was, with only one weapon, he could not knock away the spear and block the blade at the same time.
Ghost Spear Soul-Severing had to be stopped before it unfolded. Once it had, no response could withstand it.
At least, that was what Blue-Eyed Asura had always believed.
He believed it until the Grand General knocked away the Ghostly Spear with one hand and swung an iron fist with the other, knocking the Soul-Severing Strike aside.
“What in the world!”
He could not believe it.
Someone ignorant of martial arts might say it was nothing strange. Attacks came from two directions, and he had two arms, so he had blocked one with each hand.
For Blue-Eyed Asura, who had suffered it firsthand, it was enough to drive him mad.
He had thrown that spear with all his strength, filling it with the power of the Asura Heart Technique. He had driven that blade forward with all his strength, drawing out power until his blood vessels seemed ready to boil.
Blocking both attacks with one arm each meant the power the Grand General could produce with one arm was comparable to the power Blue-Eyed Asura could produce with his entire body.
Of course, in the midst of such a breathless duel, he had no time to lose himself in thought.
The Grand General had straightened his posture, and his spearhead was splitting the air as it flew toward him.
Once, twice, three times.
Three thrusts came in succession.
The spearhead simply spun halfway around as it flew forward, but the power contained in that simple assault was something Mergoap had rarely experienced in a lifetime of struggle.
He defended against the attack rushing toward his shoulder by striking the side of the spear shaft.
He avoided the spearhead thrusting toward his abdomen by spinning his body around once.
Then the third attack pierced straight through Mergoap's thigh.
... No.
Just before it could pierce him, the spear shifted its course on its own and only scraped his skin.
Blue-Eyed Asura could not understand the situation.
Moments ago, he had misjudged the Grand General's strength and speed and had been fated to die without even lasting ten seconds.
Then why had the Grand General shifted his spear?
--- Grit!
Blue-Eyed Asura soon let out a furious cry.
“Thank you... for your mercy! My next move will not disappoint you!”
Jin-cheol let out a brief laugh.
Naturally, he had not intended to show even the slightest mercy, nor had he been trying to mock this man who was one of the Fire Cult's Thirteen Commanders.
What had just happened was due to a reason Blue-Eyed Asura could never have imagined.
Today was only the second time in Cha Jin-cheol's life that he had held a spear.
It had simply slipped in his hand.
The next moment, a dark, cloud-like aura rose from Blue-Eyed Asura's entire body as he stepped back.
Sensing danger from that indescribable, wildfire-like presence, Jin-cheol immediately took three steps back.
...
...
...
About three seconds passed.
Nothing happened during the time it would have taken Jin-cheol to cut off Blue-Eyed Asura's head ten times if he had wanted to.
Only then did Jin-cheol understand what was going on.
His opponent had mistaken Jin-cheol for toying with him, as though saying, ‘Let's see what you've got!’ He was using a technique that took an absurdly long time to prepare.
And because Jin-cheol had realized this too late, he had genuinely given Blue-Eyed Asura time to prepare.
“Ah, fuck -”
Weapons rose from all around them.
In the Corpse-Strewn Sea of Blood that filled the world, dozens of ownerless weapons rose behind Blue-Eyed Asura with murderous clamor.
“At last, the wrath of the war god filled the world....”
“Hey, you bastard! What kind of martial art is this?”
Had the Fire Cult Leader's versatility as a priest, sorcerer, and martial artist also been passed down to his subordinates?
A magical force that could not possibly be called martial arts overwhelmed the area, and dozens of weapons flew at the Grand General all at once.
Then one head fell.
* * *
- Cha Jin-cheol
“Waaah! Aaaah! That really scared me! Jin-cheol, what was that just now?”
“You said you were the Emperor's advisor, and now you've come all the way to the Wall, Sister.”
“How could I stay in the imperial palace when the country is about to fall apart? What was that just now?”
“A power I acquired recently.”
“I thought you were doing some circus act. Around fifty swords and spears flew at you, and your hands moved so fast I couldn't even see them. You knocked them away one by one, then moved through the swords?”
“Did it look like that?”
“It was like watching someone walk between raindrops in a storm without getting a single drop of water on them.”
“Hmm....”
It was difficult to explain.
The moment I used Instant had felt like a fantasy even to me.
A world slowed to an extreme, the slow changes of all things that only I could perceive.
At the very end, Blue-Eyed Asura did not even try to avoid my spear.
He said it with eyes that seemed to hold genuine respect.
‘To die by your hand is an honor.’
“I feel a little sorry for him.”
“Why?”
“He thought I was some master who had attained a great realization.”
“Weren't you?”
“... No. Today was only the second time I'd properly used a bladed weapon. I just used a supernatural ability granted by the Hotel.”
“What difference does that make?”
“Pardon?”
“The martial arts they use and the blessings you use. To me, both are just supernatural abilities with incredible power.”
“But isn't their power gained through training?”
“It's not like you got Instant for free. You simply went through hardships and put in effort different from theirs.”
Sister's words put my mind at ease. She was right.
It wasn't as if I had acquired the power of Instant through sheer luck either.
Of course, I had never trained in martial arts, but they had never struggled through Curse Rooms either. It was about the same.
“How strong was one of the Thirteen Commanders?”
“If I fought him again now, I think I could kill him within ten seconds. It only dragged on earlier because I did a lot of pointless things.”
“That's reassuring. The Big Dipper Grand General and Iron-Soul Divine Spear are far stronger than the Thirteen Commanders.”
“But....”
Having fought one of the Thirteen Commanders and learned how strong they were, I could say it now.
“But?”
“I heard Jo Won-hong overwhelms all the Thirteen Commanders by himself.”
“...”
“Could I win if thirteen people like Blue-Eyed Asura came at me? I couldn't.”
“Fire Cult Leader.... He's really not human, is he?”
“Sister, no matter how I think about it, the Fire Cult Leader isn't someone one or two of us can handle.”
“What if all of us gathered together?”
“It might be possible, but would the Fire Cult Leader travel alone? There are twelve more people like Blue-Eyed Asura, and he probably has hidden forces too.”
“...”
“We need to bring in the Heavenly Righteous Alliance. No matter how I look at it, we need to make Yi Ja-seong deal with the Fire Cult Leader.”
“Iron-Soul Divine Spear already went to the Heavenly Righteous Alliance for that.”
“That's a relief. Yi Ja-seong will at least pretend to listen if his disciple speaks, won't he?”
“I don't know. It won't be easy. Still, I found another way.”
“What?”
Sister turned halfway around and looked toward some distant place.
“Grand General, do you know A-ri and Mi-ro's aliases?”
Jin-cheol let out a brief laugh. “Sorry. The word ‘aliases’ just made me laugh. What are they?”
“Blood-Heaven Witch Kim A-ri and Soul-Returning Goddess Kim Mi-ro.”
“They sound impressive.”
“And those two have one more remarkable detail in their backgrounds.”
“Backgrounds?”
“Blood-Heaven Witch and Soul-Returning Goddess. They are public enemies of the current Martial World.”
“P-public enemies of the Martial World?”
“Because they are followers of the Phantom Demon.”
“...”
“That is the role A-ri and Mi-ro were given in Room 205. Breaking Ga-in's Sealing.”
A strange possibility suddenly came to mind.
If it was the power of Time Lender, the great miracle Mi-ro possessed, which could borrow time....
“Sister, a thought just occurred to me -”
“I know what you're thinking. I'll try it as soon as I secure Mi-ro too.”
* * *
- Kim Sang-hyeon
--- Shing!
Killing intent could be felt from all around.
“...”
“...”
If eyes could kill, if a master who had reached the legendary realm of killing through intent alone were nearby...
I would already have died a hundred times.
“Ahem. Senior Brother, have you contacted Master?”
“Iron-Soul Divine Spear. You have come as His Majesty's representative, so I will treat you with due courtesy. But remember one thing.”
“...”
“I have no junior disciple named Kim Sang-hyeon. So do not ever speak words like ‘Senior Brother’ or ‘Master’ with that mouth again.”
“... I will not.”
What kind of person was Iron-Soul Divine Spear in Room 205?
He was the third disciple of Yi Ja-seong, leader of the Heavenly Righteous Alliance, and a descendant of a family of loyal retainers who had served the imperial household for generations.
Thirty years ago, when the Phantom Demon walked the earth, the world had a public enemy. That allowed the Heavenly Righteous Alliance and the imperial household to unite as one, and Iron-Soul Divine Spear to be both a loyal subject of the imperial family and a proud martial artist of the Heavenly Righteous Alliance.
In a world where the Phantom Demon had vanished, the Heavenly Righteous Alliance was far too dangerous a group in the Empire's eyes.
Caught in the conflict between those two groups, Iron-Soul Divine Spear had been forced to choose a single identity.
“... Master, no, Alliance Leader, can you tell me when he will arrive?”
“...”
All of a sudden, I began to worry whether I would make it out of this place alive.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
