WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 357: Room 205, Curse Room - ‘□□□□’ (6)
──────
- Park Seung-yeop
--- Swoooosh!
Rain poured from the sky like mad. It felt like rain might start pouring from my heart too.
Two days ago, Eun-sol said she would meet A-ri and Mi-ro at a secret location outside the imperial palace to carry out a special plan.
But then...
Since yesterday evening, shocking reports had been pouring into the palace nonstop.
Harmonious Gate Lord Lee Eun-sol was dead.
Yi Ja-seong, leader of the Heavenly Righteous Alliance, was dead.
Big Dipper Grand General Cha Jin-cheol was dead.
Kim Sang-hyeon, the emperor’s personal guard, was dead.
By the time I heard all that, I solemnly accepted a single fate.
We were screwed.
Most of our forces had been wiped out, so any hope of resolving this was gone. There was no one left to lead tomorrow’s state council, either.
The next day, I realized that, thankfully, there was no need to worry about the state council.
“...”
“...”
“Y-Your Majesty?”
“Elena, you can just speak casually now. There’s no one left anyway.”
“Where did all the officials go?”
“They’ve all been running away since yesterday.”
“... Where is the emperor’s Imperial Dragon Robe?”
“A few attendants grabbed it and ran.”
“You saw that and let them go?”
“What was I supposed to do, chase after them and demand they hand over the robe?”
The country had fallen. The world had fallen.
Everyone from the people running the state to the Grand General defending the walls was dead. Even the emperor’s guard and the greatest sword under heaven had died.
At this point, I couldn’t even blame the people who ran away.
Honestly, the nation’s fortunes had clearly run out, hadn’t they?
If I were a commoner or an official, I would’ve run too.
Was anyone still coming to work at the imperial palace?
Anyone who was had to be either crazy or pursuing some suspicious goal.
Elena and I were perfect examples.
Elena had only heard the news late last night, but she came to the palace early in the morning to discuss our next move with me.
Elena and me as a team.
Sorry to say this, but neither of us seemed like the brainy type.
What kind of team were we? A cookie party.
A cookie party was the type to sit beside companions working their brains to the bone, munching cookies until they reached a wise conclusion, then follow whatever they decided.
Could two cookie-party members putting their heads together really accomplish anything?
“I-I’ve got it!”
“What?”
“Seung-yeop, too many of our companions have already fallen, so resolving this will be difficult. We should focus on escaping on our own.”
“Right.”
“Let’s run to the provinces!”
“... What?”
“Why? It happened in history too. In a premodern dynasty, a war couldn’t be considered lost until the king was killed or captured.”
That wasn’t wrong.
Looking at Korean history, kings of both Goryeo and Joseon had run for their lives whenever defeat seemed imminent.
Sometimes, it even worked.
The logic of war in a dynastic state was subtly different from modern warfare.
But...
“Elena, isn’t that just a slower way to lose the war?”
“Isn’t that what escaping means?”
“The Source of the Curse is the Fire Cult’s Ascension Ritual.”
“Umm...”
“If the Fire Cult Leader takes the capital and simply carries out the Ascension Ritual without chasing me, wouldn’t that end with the Fire Cult winning?”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Why not?”
Silence settled between us.
Elena had firmly said my hypothesis was wrong, yet she couldn’t clearly explain why. She seemed to know by instinct that it wasn’t right, but she was confused about which part of my argument was wrong.
“I know!”
“Again?”
“The difference between your opinion and mine, Seung-yeop, is whether the Fire Cult Leader needs to chase you. If all he needs to do is take the capital, there’s no point in fleeing.”
“Right.”
“But if there’s a reason he has to chase you, then there’s a reason to keep running.”
“What reason?”
“To understand that, we need to discuss the Ascension Ritual...”
At that very moment, a familiar voice thundered through the palace.
“Elena! If that’s true, why are you standing around explaining it like you’ve lost your mind?!”
“Grandfather!”
“If you’ve got time to explain all this, pack your things and run already!”
Grandfather appeared in the palace with a thunderous shout, making it clear that every second was precious.
Elena gave a small, relieved laugh.
“You’re right. We can explain later. Grandfather, please take Seung-yeop and run.”
“What about you, Elena?”
“Talking it over gave me a better plan.”
“A better pla-”
The moment I tried to ask what that better plan was, Grandfather picked me up and started running.
“Whatever it is, do it!”
“Okay!”
...
On the day rain fell from the sky, the mind and sword that had supported the empire broke at once, and the country fell.
And the emperor began fleeing faster than anyone else, in a way unlike anyone else.
“D-Do you think King Seonjo felt like this when he ran too?”
“You little punk, can’t you at least keep your mouth shut?”
“Yes.”
* * *
Things moved quickly.
Grandfather hid Song-i and me in a palace hideout, then rushed all over the place to procure horses, carriages, plenty of funds, and food.
I couldn’t understand how he had found all that in the middle of this chaos, so I asked.
“Food aside, how did you get the horses?”
“By doing it well!”
It was a stupid question.
Grandfather’s prized alien arm was covered in blood.
It seemed like a ‘peaceful’ conversation had gone well. That was what I decided to believe.
Elena disappeared somewhere for the entire afternoon, then used the Chat Window to find where Song-i and I were hiding and joined us.
It struck me again that Grandfather’s Chat Window was an incredibly convenient ability.
There were no phones in this world. Without the Chat Window, how could companions scattered all over the place communicate in real time and coordinate their plans?
“Seung-yeop, you understand the escape plan, right? Broadly speaking, it’s similar to the flight I first mentioned. We’ve just added a plausible pretext.”
“Yes.”
“You really understand?”
Elena didn’t seem to trust me, but I understood.
I didn’t trust a cookie party’s judgment all that much either.
Of course, I was strict with myself, so I didn’t trust my own judgment much, either.
“Yes. More specifically, I think my role has changed from King Seonjo to King Gojong.”
“What?”
Elena, who was weak at Korean history, looked confused because she had no idea what I meant.
Song-i, who had been listening beside us, burst into helpless laughter.
“Ah! Pffft, hahahaha!”
“Just laugh properly.”
“That comparison fits perfectly! It’s like King Gojong fleeing to the Russian legation, right?”
Elena tilted her head, then left the hideout again.
It really wasn’t the time to be trading jokes.
Grandfather and Elena were too busy running around without even taking a breath as they carried out the escape plan.
I was a middle school student, and also the emperor, so I couldn’t go out into the streets. If I got caught, it would be a disaster, so I was simply resting in a place like this.
Around evening, men covered in iron armor and carrying an imposing air appeared at the hideout.
At Elena’s request as the First Apostle of the Avestan Church, the Iron Cross Knights, the symbol of the Western Empire’s military power, had arrived.
When Elena gestured toward me, a knight with such an immense build that his whole body seemed to declare, “I’m unbelievably strong,” approached and knelt on his right knee.
“I, Drian, son of Conrad, de-”
“Let’s get on with it.”
“...”
Elena: Speak like an emperor! This is an official procedure between two nations!
“Drian, speak quickly. We’re both busy, are we not?”
“My apologies. Your Majesty, Emperor of the Light Empire, from this moment, the Iron Cross Knights shall escort Your Majesty. I swear upon a knight’s honor that this is by no means the result of the Iron Cross Knights coercing Your Majesty through force-”
“It’s at my request.”
“Therefore, this is a decision for peace between the Ruan Empire and the Light Empire-”
Park Seung-yeop: Do we really have to do this shit when we’re busy?
Elena: It is a procedure that cannot be omitted. We must declare that the Western Empire is not kidnapping the Emperor of the Light Empire.
Shortly afterward, the great escape from Room 205 finally began.
* * *
--- Rattle!
The carriage shook wildly.
A fussy noble might have fiercely confronted the driver, but thankfully, none of us were that thoughtless.
We had to flee without wasting a second. There was no room to care about comfort.
Elena explained the Ascension Ritual to everyone.
“What religious meaning does the Ascension Ritual hold within the Fire Cult? Interpretations of that are varied and complex, so it’s difficult for me to give a definite answer. Just know that Jo Won-hong’s side sees it as humanity’s salvation, while the Avestan Church sees it as a demon’s temptation.”
“So, simply put, it means everyone goes to heaven together?”
“That’s a very rough way of putting it, but yes.”
...
“This is what matters. Why does the Fire Cult want to conquer the empire before carrying out that ritual? It’s simple. The Ascension Ritual is originally a benefit granted only to Fire Cult believers.”
Grandfather questioned her.
“It doesn’t apply to imperial citizens who aren’t Fire Cult believers?”
“That’s right. But through various routes, Jo Won-hong discovered an interesting fact.”
“Various routes... Interpretations of scripture, or revelations from the Prisoner? What did he discover?”
“Even if someone isn’t a Fire Cult believer, if they serve the Fire Cult Leader, they can be considered something similar to an implicit believer.”
After thinking about it, I understood the difference between the two interpretations.
According to the traditional interpretation, only Fire Cult believers could participate in the Ascension Ritual and go to a place like the heaven spoken of by the Fire Cult.
According to the new interpretation Jo Won-hong had found, even if someone wasn’t a Fire Cult believer, they could go to heaven as long as they served Jo Won-hong as their emperor.
In other words...
“So if that bastard Jo Won-hong sits on the emperor’s throne and carries out the Ascension Ritual, every citizen in the empire can go to heaven.”
“That is why whether the Fire Cult Leader can sit on the emperor’s throne is an extremely important issue. It isn’t merely a symbolic goal. Jo Won-hong truly believes himself to be a savior.”
At that point, I asked too.
“You mean he wants to send as many people as possible to heaven?”
“If he can’t save all humanity on the planet, then at least the citizens of the empire where he was born and raised must be saved!”
“Wow, honestly, he seems far more qualified to be emperor than I am!”
Grandfather sighed and smacked me on the head.
“Be quiet. As far as I can tell, even without the Fire Cult Leader, this country would have fallen because of you!”
Elena continued.
“At first, I thought we could simply hide with Seung-yeop, but there was a flaw. What if the Fire Cult announced that Seung-yeop was dead?”
“I could reveal that I’m alive. Ah, then the great Absolute Master Fire Cult Leader would fly over and kill me.”
That was why simply running away wasn’t enough.
“That’s why you need to seek asylum. You need to be taken in by a force that can protect you from the Fire Cult Leader’s reach, a group that would be greatly displeased by the so-called heretical Fire Cult unifying the world.”
Three days later, the Western Empire sent a letter to the Fire Cult.
Their longtime brother and ally, the Emperor of the Light Empire, had requested salvation from the hands of a fallen heretic. Therefore, the righteous Avestan Church would not refuse that request!
Footnotes:
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