Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 36

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 35: Room 103, The Cursed Room - ‘Athanasia’s Human Ranch’ (4)

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[User: ㅁㅁㅁㅁㅁㅁ

Date: Day ㅁㅁ

Current Location: Level 1, Room 103 (Curse Room - Athanasia’s Human Ranch)

Sage’s Advice: 3]

How could I escape this “ranch”?

The answer was simpler than I’d expected. There was absolutely no way I could leave this place on my own.

How could a chicken escape a poultry farm by itself?

If I couldn’t get out on my own, the answer was to borrow the power of someone who could.

And Teacher, the one who could leave, was sealed away by the Athanasia.

In the end, every escape plan came down to one thing.

How could I free Teacher from the Athanasia?

Plan A, using Diverse Perspectives to directly control an Athanasia and disable the control devices, had failed.

That meant it was time for Plan B. Time to find an ally.

From sky to ground, unknown “faces” filled the entire horizon.

Some let out low screams without end, but most seemed too weak even for that, producing only groans.

The vast plain was filled with those horrifying sounds.

Countless faces belonging to intelligent beings I knew nothing about.

If I hadn’t lasted in this ranch long enough to become numb to most terrible sights, I might’ve done nothing but scream the moment I arrived.

With “faces” covering the entire ground, even walking was difficult.

The squishy ground was the least of it. Strange mouths kept trying to bite my feet, so I had no choice but to hop along like a rabbit.

Teacher had said there was an ally somewhere in this vast Pain Farm. Where could they be?

As I struggled onward, an Athanasia appeared in the distance.

Should I hide? No. Forget it.

There was nowhere to hide in this vast plain full of faces. Besides, the fact that I had spotted the Athanasia meant that, with senses far superior to mine, it must’ve noticed me long ago and come looking for me.

Its shape was more familiar to me now than that of a person.

A gigantic humanoid creature at least six meters tall, with thick tentacles that seemed to replace its arms and legs.

The Athanasia approached me, silently watched me for a moment, then walked away at less than half the speed it had used to approach.

It probably meant for me to follow.

Has the Devourer recovered his strength?

What?

It just... spoke to me?

I stopped without realizing it, too startled to move. I had never communicated with an Athanasia even once before!

Do you not understand my intention?

“No... can you speak human language too? I’ve never heard you speak before.”

Let us say that I am unusual. I shall ask again. What is the Devourer’s condition? You must know that you cannot leave without his power.

“The Devourer... do you mean Teacher? He stopped all the Athanasia in the room where he’s trapped.”

That should be enough to get you out.

For the first time, I had a conversation with an Athanasia. Then I asked the question that had come to me as soon as I arrived.

“This place full of faces... Teacher said it was like a prison the Athanasia use to hold their captured opponents.”

It is a hell where intelligent beings who opposed the Athanasia have had only their heads extracted and imprisoned.

“Why... why do you go this far? Why are you so cruel to people, no, to so many living beings?”

A foolish question. Are “humans” merciful to creatures lower than themselves?

For a moment, I had no answer. But the Athanasia continued.

In truth, the premise of that question is wrong. The Athanasia did not create this hell in the first place.

I do not know whether the “real Athanasia” outside operate such hells, but the one who made this hell is not the Athanasia. It is the Tower of Trials itself.

The Tower of Trials. Did it mean the hotel?

“I’m asking because we can talk. Why are you helping Teacher, no, the Devourer escape? Aren’t you an Athanasia too?”

What importance is the race assigned to me in a puppet show?

The moment I heard the words “puppet show,” I understood.

This being...

It knew that everything happening here was taking place inside the hotel.

Just like Teacher.

I also learned something from your question. You still do not understand this place’s laws very well.

The Devourer’s goal is not escape. He can never leave this place.

That shocked me again. Teacher’s goal wasn’t escape?

“Then what is his goal? And yours?”

You will naturally learn the Devourer’s goal when the end comes. As for mine... let us say it is the continuation of my self.

“The continuation of your self?”

You know a little about this place’s laws, but not precisely. I have a proposal for you, so I shall explain.

The Tower of Trials has existed for an exceedingly long time, drawing in countless intelligent beings...

Those who passed its trials to the very end obtained miracles.

The Tower of Trials really did mean the hotel.

Most did not pass. The defeated remained trapped in the tower forever, becoming actors in the dramas it created.

At times, they killed participants. At times, participants killed them. Forgetting even who they were, they became part of the tower...

“So you are also...”

Defeated.

I no longer remember who I was. Let us return to the original question.

Why do I help the Devourer despite being an Athanasia? Because they are not real.

Beings who operate a ranch of intelligent creatures, trapped in roles given to them by the tower without knowing who they are or where they are.

Yet in truth, they themselves are nothing more than beasts trapped in a ranch created by the tower.

How could such things be my kin?

Remember this. There are only two true beings in this “room.” One group is participants like you, and the other is the Devourer.

“By your logic, don’t you count as a true being? You know so much about the tower, and you’ve awakened from your ‘role.’”

I merely maintain my self by parasitizing the Devourer... He periodically destroys my “role” and restores my self.

But is the self restored now truly real?

Who can say?

Perhaps I am a puppet created by the Devourer. Perhaps I am only a tool waiting for “participants” like you to reach this place...

That is why I wish to ask something of you.

“...”

Someday, if you overcome enough of the tower’s trials, you will reach Buddha or the Resurrection Room.

When that happens, pray for the salvation of Estavio...

I am an Athanasia.

I am stronger than most beings you will encounter in this tower. I will surely be of great help.

It was a familiar story. Ga-in had said that when the “doctor” came to Room 105 after Ga-in was injured at the pool, the doctor had made a similar proposal.

That was how we learned that the hotel had something like a second chance for the defeated. Now, after the doctor, I had heard Estavio’s proposal as well.

I didn’t know what to say, so I simply walked on without answering.

Estavio didn’t speak to me again. Together, we walked endlessly across the plain full of faces.

Had almost two hours passed?

Walking across that plain was so difficult that I had been gasping for breath within thirty minutes, and Estavio silently picked me up.

After carrying me for quite some time, Estavio finally reached some kind of structure.

Its appearance was impossible to describe.

The strangest part was that no matter how I looked at it, the building resembled a gigantic living creature.

Estavio entered the hideous structure and touched a control panel of some sort. We began moving downward. Was this building some kind of elevator?

“Where are we going?”

Did the Devourer not tell you?

“He said that if I found an ally, they would help disable the control devices.”

One of those control devices is beneath the facility.

“If we dismantle it, will the Devourer be freed?”

All three must be dismantled. I will help with two, but...

The last one will ultimately depend on you.

It is likely the final trial the tower has prepared for you in this place.

A trial.

Why did this hotel keep trying to give me trials? I had never wanted any treasure or anything else.

Perhaps Estavio was tired of talking, because he didn’t respond to anything I said after that.

-------Thrust!

The third one.

When we descended underground, there were other Athanasia. They didn’t suspect Estavio in the slightest and went about their work.

Estavio ambushed them as naturally as breathing, taking them out one by one.

As if he had done this thousands, tens of thousands of times.

Estavio might have been stronger than ordinary Athanasia, but...

I didn’t think this kind of smooth progress could be explained by a difference in strength alone.

Perhaps this entire sequence, where Teacher sent “participants” to Estavio, and Estavio guided those “participants” to free Teacher...

Had been repeated countless times before.

I shook my head and pushed the thought away. That was something to consider with my companions after we got out. The older ones were smarter than me. They would sort it out.

For now, I needed to focus only on leaving.

After some time passed, every Athanasia in the facility except Estavio was dead.

Even the transcendent Athanasia that could shake a person’s mind with a gesture looked like nothing more than giant starfish once another Athanasia pierced their heads with tentacles.

To a dog, even a human looks like a god.

That was what the saying meant. They were neither great transcendent beings nor gods. They were just creatures a little stronger than humans.

The center of the underground facility.

A translucent hologram stood at its heart.

Estavio set me down.

From here, you must do it yourself.

“Do I need to do something with the bracelet? If you used it instead of me...”

Diverse Perspectives cannot be used by anyone other than the one registered as its owner.

You can use it only because the Devourer took measures unknown even to me.

I raised my arm.

Once again, the familiar sensation of my mind floating in empty space filled my head.

This time, the “target” was something that looked like that hologram.