WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 365: Room 205, Curse Room - ‘Absolute Master’ (14)
──────
- Lee Eun-sol
Beneath the blue moonlight, a bizarre structure came into view.
Even I, who knew nothing about architecture, could tell at a glance that this “tower” hadn't been built for ordinary purposes like housing.
It looked like two snakes twisting around each other as they stretched upward.
“Hold on.”
It was inconvenient having to explain everything out loud because Grandfather couldn't come with us.
Of course, someone had to command the soldiers at the barrier and maintain a dignified presence beside the emperor, so there was no helping it.
Another reason Grandfather had stayed at the barrier was that Yi Ja-seong couldn't see the Chat Window anyway.
Everyone turned to look at me.
“The Fire Cult members around the tower haven't noticed us yet, but if we move any farther, they'll spot us.”
Yi Ja-seong looked slightly impressed.
“It is dark, yet you can see those people so clearly from so far away? Your Clairvoyance is truly remarkable.”
“...”
“You aren't suggesting we turn back now, are you?”
“No. I agree with the Alliance Leader that the Heavenly Tower is nearly complete. That just means we need to settle this quickly from here on.”
“Hmm...”
“You understand the new plan, correct?”
“You want me to stop Jo Won-hong, is that it? While the rest of you destroy the Heavenly Tower yourselves?”
“Yes.”
“I almost feel sorry that I've been given the easiest task. Let us go.”
Anyone could see that holding back Jo Won-hong, the Fire Cult Leader, was the hardest task. For a moment, I was speechless at Yi Ja-seong saying he felt sorry for being assigned something so easy.
At this point, it was hard to tell whether Yi Ja-seong's composure was an Absolute Master’s arrogance or the deranged bravado of a madman.
Whatever the reason, it was time to move.
Sang-hyeon raised an arm slightly and tapped the shoulder of the companion who hadn't said a word since earlier, concentrating on charging Ominous Imagination.
“Now-”
“Take your hand off me. Do you think I'm deaf?”
“... My apologies.”
Her voice was so murderous that she seemed like a different person.
Elena's mind had become twisted from the concentration needed to unleash Ominous Imagination.
We had grown used to it by now, but Yi Ja-seong, who was seeing it for the first time, clicked his tongue and silently moved forward.
Then-
Elena's cloak fluttered as she spoke a curse upon the world.
“Darkness descends.... Tonight, a nightmare will fall upon everyone.”
A sinister hue spread in every direction.
The next moment, reality began to be painted over wildly, as if a child were carelessly swinging a brush.
It had clearly been a dark night, but a blue sun suddenly rose in the sky.
Then seawater, as though mixed with blue paint, surged up from the ground and began soaking my legs.
Even though I had prepared myself, the sensation of everything twisting out of control filled me with fear.
When I summoned the Flute to escape the endless hallucinations tormenting my mind, I couldn't help but marvel.
In that nightmarish world where all things had twisted, only the Flute ignored every change and retained its distinctive antique appearance.
--- Laaaaa!
The sound of the Flute seemed to tickle my ears.
And then....
The seawater vanished, and my feet once more stood on solid ground.
The blue sun disappeared, leaving only the faint moon in the sky again.
Sang-hyeon and Jin-cheol, standing beside me, shook their heads as though waking from a dream.
“Ugh, as expected, Elena's power can't distinguish friend from foe....”
“Where did the Alliance Leader go?”
Yi Ja-seong, leader of the Heavenly Righteous Alliance, had run off alone as though he had no need for the Flute's help.
“He just went on ahead by himself.”
“Will he be all right?”
“He's the man who cut through the Grimoire's power with a sword. It'd be strange if hallucinations created by Ominous Imagination could affect him. Let's go.”
“... I'll stay here. Please handle this as quickly as possible.”
I nodded as I looked at Elena, whose whole body was drenched in cold sweat after only a short while.
“Return to the castle as soon as you recover.”
No one blocked our path until we reached the Heavenly Tower.
Instead, screams filled with terror and pain rang out everywhere.
With a single prayer, Elena had plunged the hundreds of Fire Cult members guarding the area around the Heavenly Tower into nightmares.
“You heard Elena. Let's finish this as fast as we can.”
* * *
A burly Fire Cult martial artist, who would certainly have charged at him with a spear if they were well, rolled across the ground and screamed.
They weren't the only one.
Too many Fire Cult members to count at a glance were crying out like children. Some called for their god, while others called for Jo Won-hong.
As he watched the incomprehensible sight, the old man thought it would have been better if they had charged at him bravely with their swords.
He recalled the strategy meeting from earlier.
The means the imperial family was said to have prepared to destroy the Heavenly Tower had disappeared for some unknown reason.
Since they had lost the means to destroy the tower from afar, they had to approach it directly.
Yet the hundreds of Fire Cult members guarding the tower posed a problem.
The Harmonious Gate Lord had said they couldn't fight all these rank-and-file soldiers one by one and given instructions to the hooded sorcerer. Absurdly enough, that sorcerer was a traitor to the Fire Cult.
At this point, Yi Ja-seong could only laugh bitterly.
On one side was a mad Cult that intended to summon the eldest grandson of an ominous god because it lacked confidence in winning a war through human strength.
On the other were greedy politicians who had brought in a traitor from that Cult, used wicked sorcery with a single gesture, and sought to preserve their power.
“Ah....”
With a sigh, he realized it anew.
This war had no future from the beginning, no matter who won.
That was why Yi Ja-seong made up his mind.
“At the very least, I will stand on humanity's side.”
At that moment, someone he knew well appeared with a thunderous roar.
“Yi Ja-seong!”
“Cult Leader, it has been a long time.”
“You bastard! What trick did you use? How did you plunge more than six hundred believers into an illusion all at once-”
“I do not know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“... Jo Won-hong. Do you truly think I used such a trick? We are not strangers to one another.”
A middle-aged man, Jo Won-hong, the Fire Cult Leader, had rushed over like lightning. He frowned at those words.
“Fine. You could not possibly be skilled in such arts, so you likely did not act directly. But isn't it pathetic to make excuses when you came alongside those who use such arts?”
The old man, Yi Ja-seong, let out a long sigh.
“Hah.... You are right about that. What excuse could I possibly make-”
--- Paaah!
The next moment, an utterly incomprehensible and bizarre wave swept through the surroundings.
At first it felt like wind, yet in another sense, it felt like a wave.
The insight the old man had gained in his later years told him that an unknown power was twisting the entire world.
Feeling his heart grow even heavier, he drew the sword at his waist.
Fierce killing intent filled the Cult Leader's eyes.
Soon, the two Absolute Masters standing upon the earth clashed.
* * *
- Lee Eun-sol
After Final Flash disappeared, we considered another way to destroy the Heavenly Tower.
The conclusion came quickly.
How were we supposed to destroy a “building” with spears and swords in the first place?
Even Yi Ja-seong, who feared nothing under heaven, looked flustered when asked whether he could cut down a tower with his sword.
Ominous Imagination or a Star Fragment was the answer, but Elena's power had been used to disable the Fire Cult members guarding the Heavenly Tower. That left only the Star Fragment.
The moment we entered the Heavenly Tower, passing the Fire Cult members sprawled across the ground, Jin-cheol began looking for something to destroy.
“Did you find anything?”
“I don't know! Can you see anything?”
“I'm not sure either. We don't have time, so hit some important-looking spot with the Star Fragment!”
“Where exactly is an important-looking spot?”
“How would I know?”
“Then how am I supposed to know? This is the first time I've ever seen a ritual meant to summon the grandson of a god!”
“Should we just bring the whole tower down?”
It was such a stupid conversation that just hearing it made both our blood pressures rise.
Naturally, neither of us knew much about rituals, so we had no idea how to destroy one.
Yi Ja-seong seemed to be starting to see me as some grand master of evil sorcery, though.
Then Sang-hyeon's voice called out.
“This way! Over here!”
We ran over and found a blue-glowing pattern embossed into the wall.
Seven people were sprawled around it as well, so I was certain this was an important location.
“Is this it?”
“Whoa!”
--- Slash!
Sang-hyeon, who had entered first, quickly grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back.
A blue blade swept past me by a hair.
“Stop.”
A young man with cold features, nearly 190 centimeters tall, with facial features suggesting mixed Western blood stood before us.
He was one of the Fire Cult’s Thirteen Commanders. His alias was-
“Ghost-Soul Demon Blade!”
“... It is an honor that the emperor's adviser knows me. I'll cleanly cut off that lovely face of yours, bury it in the ground, and pour you a drink.”
“You talk quite well, don't you?”
Before long, clanging sounds began coming from behind us as well.
Jin-cheol had begun fighting someone too.
Had Elena's hallucinations not worked on them at all?
That didn't seem likely, considering no one had resisted us on the way to the tower.
They were simply much stronger than ordinary Fire Cult members, so they had woken from the hallucinations more quickly.
Sang-hyeon, seemingly with no intention of dragging things out, thrust out his spear like lightning.
“Iron-Soul! Your reputation-”
--- Bang!
Ghost-Soul Demon Blade's head exploded.
For a moment, I was speechless.
“... W-were you not about to fight with your spear?”
“I saw Mook-seong do it. Pretending to fight with a spear, then pulling out a gun and shooting, works very well.”
“Did Grandfather lend you the gun?”
“That is right. Wait here.”
Soon, a couple of gunshots rang out from behind us, and Jin-cheol appeared with an oddly empty expression.
“Masters and all that, they're not even a match for a single handgun....”
“It won't work on the Cult Leader. I heard he has something called a Protective Qi Barrier or something like that.”
Jin-cheol shook his head and moved before the blue pattern.
“Everyone, please step back.”
--- Paaah!
A wave that seemed to press down on my skin burst forth.
The power of the Star Fragment, as though it carried malice toward the entire world, crushed the ritual of the Heavenly Tower.
...
The holy being in the sky, the Ever-Flaming Prince of Azure Flame, wept three times.
The first cry was out of pity for the mayfly-like lives of humans suffering in the mortal world.
The second cry was because the upright goodwill that sought to save humanity had been frustrated.
The third cry was because he foresaw the miserable fate awaiting those who knew nothing.
I saw an illusion.
I saw the final mercy bestowed by the Prince of Azure Flame, whose descent had been thwarted.
I see myself.
I see myself dying, a sharp blade through my lung and a roughly torn-out Demonic Eye stuffed into my mouth.
I see myself, not even granted a peaceful death, only groaning in pain.
...
When I barely came to my senses, I saw that Sang-hyeon and Jin-cheol wore the same expressions as me.
I knew without anyone saying a word.
A moment ago, we had seen “our own deaths.”
“... Could it be-”
“Stop.”
“...”
“I think Kardamos showed us strange illusions to shake us.”
Neither of them answered.
I didn't believe the words that came from my own mouth either.
Footnotes:
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