WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 366: Room 205, Curse Room - ‘Absolute Master’ (15)
──────
The wall had protected the Light Empire from foreign enemies for centuries. Standing atop it, the old man looked out with concern.
Was he worried about the Empire's future, now that it had finally reached its limit?
No.
To Kim Mook-seong, the “Empire” was nothing more than a worthless fake.
What concerned him wasn't the future of that hollow Empire, but the safety of the companions who had left to destroy the Heavenly Tower beyond the wall.
“Ugh... I should've gone with them! Elena, do you think it'll work out?”
The cloaked woman beside him, Elena, who had returned to the wall a short while ago, answered.
“I don't know... I hope it works out. Cough!”
Perhaps it was the late-night cold, or perhaps she'd used Ominous Imagination too much, but Elena looked far more haggard and exhausted than usual.
“You should go inside and rest. Go rest with Seung... with the Emperor.”
“I won't refuse.”
With that, Elena headed to the imperial palace to rest and guard the Emperor.
As Mook-seong sighed alone on the wall, a guard from the watch post ran over to report.
“Elder!”
Mook-seong found it a little funny that someone was reporting to him at all.
He didn't hold any official position to begin with.
Still, after his great performance in the recent battle, the soldiers had begun treating him like some sort of general.
This was an era when an unaffiliated master who had fought beside them felt more reliable than a high-ranking civil official with an impressive title.
“What is it?”
“Someone wearing strange clothes has arrived!”
“And?”
“Th-they say they're a friend of yours!”
What the hell was that supposed to mean? There couldn't possibly be any friends of mine here...
There could be.
Not friends of Kim Mook-seong, but friends of the Soul-Severing Old Man. That was possible.
According to his setting, he'd lived as a martial artist for over fifty years. It would be stranger if he didn't have even one friend.
“A friend, at a time like this? Give them some travel money and send them away.”
“I-I'm sorry, but...”
They were probably a master.
“Good grief... Where are they? Lead the way.”
“Yes!”
* * *
- Lee Eun-sol
What happened at the Heavenly Tower ended successfully.
That was what I decided to believe.
No matter what, we did stop Kardamos's summoning ritual.
The problem was that everything afterward had gone far beyond common sense.
When we awoke from the vision Kardamos had shown us and stepped out of the Heavenly Tower, we were greeted by Fire Cultists who had awoken from their nightmare and were consumed by rage.
I thought our fate had been decided. Either we'd be wiped out, or we'd somehow massacre our way out and escape.
That wasn't what happened.
Jo Won-hong appeared out of nowhere, blood pouring from his body. The Fire Cult Leader stopped his followers and sent us back.
At that moment, we, the Fire Cultists who had surrounded us, and Yi Ja-seong, who had pursued the Fire Cult Leader, all looked confused.
The Fire Cult Leader spoke to us with eyes full of unbearably complicated emotions.
‘Go back. Go back and face your fate.’
‘... What are you talking about?’
‘Didn't you see it with your own eyes? The ending the Prince of Azure Flame has prepared for you is not here.’
I couldn't understand it.
First, I couldn't understand the horrible visions of death shown by the Prince of Azure Flame.
Second, I couldn't understand the Fire Cult Leader's insane attitude that he couldn't kill us now because the god's eldest grandson had foreseen that future.
I really didn't think I'd ever understand how fanatics like that thought.
Elena, who had been resting at the imperial palace, stopped by the wall, so I called her over.
“Sis?”
“Elena, I want to ask you something about the Fire Cult's gods.”
“Go ahead.”
“Is the Fire Cult a kind of polytheistic religion?”
“Polytheistic?”
“It seems like there are several divine beings. Asha, Kardamos. Are there more?”
“Vohu Manah, Asha Vahishta, Ameretat, Agni, and many others. It wouldn't be wrong to call it polytheistic.”
“Which one do you think is the Prisoner?”
“I don't know... Do we really need to find out?”
She wasn't wrong.
The Prisoner wouldn't run wild in this room, so there was no need to work hard to uncover its identity.
“Can you tell me about Kardamos again?”
“Asha's eldest son's eldest son's eldest son, the Ever-Flaming Prince of Azure Flame. The one who sees what no one else can see. The Son of Fate.”
“He can see the future?”
“According to the myths.”
“Hmm...”
“What's wrong?”
“Nothing. Go get some rest.”
Elena tilted her head, then eventually returned to the imperial palace.
“...”
A suffocating feeling slowly built inside me.
Were the visions shown by a god who could see the future really just visions?
If there had been any concrete information, I could've discussed it with the others. Instead, they were closer to images of condensed unease, so I didn't even want to bring them up.
I pushed aside that pointless worry with a sigh and focused on the administrative work piled high on the table while I'd been away from the wall.
Late at night, someone knocked.
“Harmonious Gate Lord, may I come in?”
It was Grandfather's voice.
Did he have any reason to come at this hour? He could've used the Chat Window...
Had he come not as Kim Mook-seong, but as the wall's temporary person in charge?
“Come in.”
--- Click!
Grandfather calmly told me about ordinary matters, such as a problem with the waterway installed at the base of the wall and some of the stored food having gone bad.
It was a normal report.
“...”
Lee Eun-sol: Answer.
“Ah, Gate Lord. Northern barbarians sent an envoy yesterday evening. I heard that-”
Lee Eun-sol: Anyone who can see the Chat Window, immediately-
“Isn't that ridiculous? So I sent those bastards back! Ah, you've already caught on? You're sharp!”
* * *
- Kim Sang-hyeon
The moment Eun-sol's message cut off in the Chat Window, I was already rising from the bed.
I flung open the door. The nearby maids passing by and the soldiers who had been dozing off stared at me in shock.
“S-Sir? What's going on all of a sudden?”
“Spread the word! Something has happened to the Harmonious Gate Lord!”
I heard soldiers behind me gasp and run in every direction.
I ran madly toward the room where Eun-sol had been handling administrative work. Before I could even open the door, the stench of blood hit my nose and made my head spin.
--- Bang!
Mook-seong was inside the room, his mouth half-open. Beside him was Eun-sol's corpse, murdered with a cruelty too horrific to describe.
“W-what happened?”
“I don't know either! I came in to report something, and the Harmonious Gate Lord was already like this!”
“What the hell? Did the Fire Cult send an assassin? S-so this is how Kardamos's prophecy comes true!”
“Kardamos's prophecy?”
Mook-seong, who hadn't taken part in destroying the Heavenly Tower, reacted as if he had no idea what that meant.
“I'll explain later! First, we need to get this under control-”
“I want to hear it now.”
“...”
I raised my head blankly.
The old man's pupils were spinning at strange angles.
He wasn't Mook-seong.
He was something that had taken over Mook-seong's body.
* * *
In a quiet room, there wasn't even the bare minimum of furniture, much less luxurious decorations.
The old man sat cross-legged in the middle of it all, saying nothing.
Then the door opened, and a young man, Kim Sang-hyeon, entered.
“Master!”
“...”
“Something terrible has happened! An assassin from the Fire Cult infiltrated the wall and harmed the Harmonious Gate Lord. We must head to the imperial palace at once-”
“That's enough of this joke.”
“...”
“You want to see the Emperor, it seems. Is revenge your purpose? The former Emperor should've died long ago...”
“Ah, this is embarrassing.”
As if speaking to an old friend, the old man calmly asked.
“Did something unpleasant happen?”
“It did! Damn... Ja-seong, listen to me complain for a moment.”
“Go ahead.”
“Some fucking bugs got me, and I woke up after sleeping for thirty years.”
“You've had a hard time. It's a shame I couldn't drive the blade in one more time back then.”
“You really know how to say pretty things. Anyway, the kid who woke me used some strange item and suddenly became untouchable.”
“Oh?”
“They turned over an Hourglass, and that happened. Do you know an item like that?”
“My knowledge is still too limited. I don't know.”
“I had no idea what it was, but I still had something to do, so I came to the imperial capital. You have no idea how much I was looking forward to it on the way here.”
“And?”
“But strangely, everyone recognized me too quickly.”
“Hm... It seems Kardamos's prophecy kept them alert.”
“A prophecy? I heard about that earlier too. What is it?”
“Nothing much. The Fire Cult tried to summon a being that foresaw the deaths of many people.”
With that, the old man turned his back.
Then Sang-hyeon, the corner of his mouth lifting, asked him.
“Ja-seong...”
“...”
“What was your condition like in that prophecy? Did you die too?”
“See for yourself.”
* * *
- Two Days Earlier, Mi-ro
After Teacher fired Final Flash, a massive passage leading underground appeared.
When I jumped into the passage, I thought it would feel like a gigantic slide.
It didn't.
Unlike a smooth slide, sharp rocks filled every side of it.
If I hadn't been wearing a Protective Suit, my body would've...
That was too horrible. I should stop thinking about it.
If I hadn't worn the Protective Suit, I would've died long ago anyway.
After sliding for quite a while, an open area suddenly appeared underground.
Gravity pulled me down, and I finally hit the ground.
--- Sploosh!
“Good grief!”
...
“What is this?”
The area around me was full of a black, jelly-like substance. When I touched it, it was strangely springy, then suddenly turned into gas.
“Where should I go? That way?”
A path stretched out ahead.
Unlike me, whose movement stopped when I reached the open area and gravity pulled me down, the flash had continued straight ahead without being affected.
“Aah! W-what is this?”
At the center of the clearing were traces of rocks that had fallen from above, broken shackles scattered everywhere, shattered iron bars, and what remained of a person.
Even a fool could tell what it was just by looking!
“No... No, no, no!”
I ran over in a panic and clutched the person's ‘hand’ amid the scattered remains.
I knew this hand! I'd held it several times already.
“Ga-in...”
At that point, I went numb and collapsed to the ground.
I'd gone through hell to dig into Mount Cheonjang and wake Ga-in, but the terrain destroyed by the flash had crushed Ga-in's body at the center!
What kind of absurd accident was this?
It was so ridiculous that I didn't even have the energy to get angry.
By all rights, this should've been a horrific scene drenched in blood, but the absurdity and emptiness overcame my fear.
“Does this make any sense? Does this kind of bullshit really make any sense?”
“It doesn't.”
“Right? I went through all that shit just to wake him up!”
“Did you?”
“I worked so hard, and all of it was for nothing? What the hell is this-”
“It wasn't for nothing.”
“...”
I suddenly came to my senses.
Who...
Who was I talking to right now?
The thick gas spread all around me began to dance.
Even though no more voices could be heard...
The pressure felt as if someone had gripped my heart, freezing my soul.
Unable to even breathe properly, I trembled as I thought.
Unlike Ga-in, the Phantom Demon was an immortal being who wouldn't die even if its body disappeared.
The Owl had told me that if Ga-in's consciousness awakened, he could handle the Phantom Demon.
Final Flash...
It destroyed the Phantom Demon's Sealing and Ga-in's body at the same time, erasing even his consciousness.
The thick gas gathered into something like a hand and touched the surface of my Protective Suit.
“Let me borrow your body for a moment. To the outside-”
The next moment, I saw a strange vision.
Flames burning in the deep sea. Ice that didn't melt even in lava.
Something unchanged even through countless ages stretched out its hand and lightly wrapped around my body.
As I raised my head in a daze, the masked figure, the Sponsor, mouthed a single word.
‘Hourglass’
“You've learned an unusual trick, haven't you? There's no need to be afraid. You brought about my Release, after all. I shall grant you boundless glory-”
Footnotes:
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