Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 371

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 370: Room 205, Curse Room - ‘Absolute Master’ (19)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 178

Current Location: Level 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 3]

- Han Ga-in

I carefully read the message Midnight Mi-ro had left for her other self.

1. If you wait without moving, an escape notice will appear.

2. Conserve Midnight Mi-ro’s time. In the end, you will need at least 30 minutes in Room 207. Nearly 20 minutes have already been used.

3. Yi Ja-seong.

The easiest point to understand was the first one, and Teacher seemed to feel the same.

“I understand the first one. It means we should wait because we'll escape soon. Did it actually happen that way?”

“Yes.”

“I can guess why. The dangers in Room 205 were the Fire Cult and, if we add one more, the Phantom Demon.”

A-ri nodded.

“From what I've heard, the Phantom Demon is surprisingly cowardly. He got beaten badly and fled, so he probably won't return for a while.”

“The Fire Cult would be the same.”

“They heard Kardamos's prophecy too.”

Let's interpret the situation from the Fire Cult's perspective.

An incomprehensible disaster foreseen by their god had occurred, waking the Phantom Demon and causing a massacre.

That wasn't all. An unknown force had destroyed the city in an instant and driven the Phantom Demon away.

Could they recklessly resume their war of conquest or enter a capital when they had no idea what kind of monster might be hiding there?

They must have halted all their plans and watched the situation. It seemed the escape condition was met at that point.

Unlike the first point, which was relatively easy to understand, the second gave everyone a headache.

Mi-ro tilted her head.

“Doesn't it seem like it's telling us not to summon Midnight Mi-ro carelessly?”

In context, the second message meant we should conserve Midnight Mi-ro and use her in Room 207.

Of the stored hour, nearly twenty minutes had already been consumed, and it told us to leave at least thirty minutes.

That meant we shouldn't use her for ten minutes or more before entering Room 207. Still, it was hard to understand. It felt as though Midnight Mi-ro had been prepared specifically for Room 207.

We had never even entered Room 207.

Neither I nor my companions knew anything about it, so what could the stored Mi-ro from the past possibly know that I didn't?

Eun-sol looked baffled.

“I don't get it. A-ri told me the old Mi-ro stopped progressing around the middle of Level 2. Right?”

When A-ri nodded, Eun-sol continued.

“She must have been behind us or around the same point as us now. So how could she know about Room 207?”

Thinking it over, I had an idea.

“It seems she obtained information about the next room somehow. We did that too, didn't we? We got a few keywords before entering Rooms 205 and 206. But information about a Gate Room seems especially difficult to obtain.”

“Hmm. I understand. The hotel scatters hints in all kinds of ways, and we can sometimes obtain information about the next room. She probably paid a considerable price to learn something about Room 207.”

There was still something difficult to understand.

“It is strange. The information Midnight Mi-ro obtained about Room 207 should have concerned Room 207 in the Hotel of the Deep Sea.”

At that, Teacher slapped his knee.

“Ha! That's right. Even if she obtained it, it would only be information about the Hotel of the Deep Sea. At that point, Room 207 in the current hotel would have been far in the future, a completely different room.”

“Yet the wording Mi-ro left behind makes it sound like she's talking about Room 207 in the current hotel.”

“Could she have developed memory confusion? Perhaps her memories of the past and present became mixed up because of the Time Lender?”

Grandfather refuted Teacher's suggestion.

“Ahem. Isn't that underestimating the steadfast mind of a veteran Management Bureau agent?”

“Um...”

Then A-ri cautiously spoke.

“Maybe...”

“Maybe?”

“Could the broad outline of Room 207 be similar even if the hotel changes? Maybe Room 207 in the Hotel of the Deep Sea and Room 207 in the current hotel are alike, and Mi-ro learned that too.”

“...”

Looked at that way, it was logical. It was also an interesting thought.

Still, it felt like our conversation was gradually leaving rational deduction behind and entering the realm of creative imagination.

“I don't think we'll figure it out by discussing it among ourselves. Shall we move on?”

I changed the subject, but we had just as little to say about the next one.

Eun-sol gave a hollow laugh as she read the words.

“‘Yi Ja-seong.’ Mi-ro.”

“Yes?”

“You're not messing with us, are you?”

“Wha! I’m not!”

Eun-sol sighed and muttered.

“If you were going to write it like this, you might as well not have written anything... What are we supposed to do? Be wary of him?”

Jin-cheol gave a bitter smile.

“Isn't that obvious? Was there anyone here who sincerely trusted Yi Ja-seong in the first place?”

I'd never met him myself, but I could tell from everyone's reactions during the meeting.

No one here trusted Yi Ja-seong.

Why had the first attempt fallen apart in the first place?

Yi Ja-seong had drawn his sword and slaughtered his companions.

The room had reset, so Yi Ja-seong had lost his memories, but his companions still vividly remembered being cut down by his sword.

Teacher gave a bitter smile.

“Well, even if everyone already knows it, there's value in warning us once more. Let's take it as a reminder to be wary of Yi Ja-seong.”

The next topic was Midnight Mi-ro herself.

Mi-ro went on at length, even expressing a little admiration for her “incredibly cool, enviable, amazing” past self. After listening for a while, though, I realized something.

Mi-ro herself didn't know much either.

Current Mi-ro's memories of Midnight Mi-ro were abstract and vague.

She vaguely remembered having done certain things, but not why she had done them.

She could explain how she fought, but not the principles behind it.

Even so, we could infer a few things.

She was unbelievably strong, capable of bold decisions, and at least not insane.

She was different from ordinary people, but she had her own logic.

That logic resembled A-ri and Grandfather's way of thinking. Beyond that, it was the Management Bureau's very philosophy.

“We shouldn't view that as only positive.”

Teacher seemed to have complicated feelings about the past Mi-ro.

He looked ready to voice some complaints, but perhaps he realized there was no point arguing with the current Mi-ro, who had lost her memories. He closed his mouth.

Then Jin-cheol looked intrigued.

“This is just personal curiosity, but Midnight Mi-ro seems incredibly strong, right?”

That was certain.

“She gained that kind of strength in the latter half of Level 1 or the early part of Level 2. Yet she didn't get much farther. She was stuck around the middle of Level 2, so wouldn't she have been behind us or around the same point as us now?”

Eun-sol answered.

“Didn't she get Sealed?”

“Didn't you say she wasn't the one who got Sealed every time? Also, wasn't there someone else who had acquired many Inheritances like Mi-ro? Of course, that person probably wasn't as strong as Mi-ro. They weren't from the Management Bureau, after all.”

Jin-cheol's question was simple.

If there had been Mi-ro, who was as powerful as a natural disaster, and another person nearly as strong, why had they stopped in the middle of Level 2?

Teacher, who had experienced it himself, answered with a bitter smile.

“Well... It's been so long that my memory is hazy, but I can give you the general idea. It's nothing special. Individual strength matters less than you'd think in a Curse Room.”

Strength didn't matter as much as expected in a Curse Room.

“Think about it, Jin-cheol. Say you recklessly enter the TV in Room 201 and encounter the Zero-Dimensional Eye. What do you think would happen if that impressive young Midnight Mi-ro encountered the Zero-Dimensional Eye?”

“She'd die instantly?”

“Let's switch it to Room 202. Was it one day? Two? Anyway, if she failed to find Lee Su-ho within that brief period, he'd summon the Sea God. What could Midnight Mi-ro do before the Sea God?”

“Turn into a fish?”

There were Prisoners in Curse Rooms.

Their power was beyond anything you could contend with even after acquiring five or six Inheritances instead of three.

That was why the most important thing in clearing a Curse Room wasn't strength, but choice.

You had to choose the right option and avoid the bad ending where you fell into the Adversary's scheme and were beaten to death by a Prisoner.

“In the end, obtaining enough information is essential if you want to avoid such horrible endings. And my old companions...”

“...”

“In that regard, they were the worst. Everyone was too busy hiding the information they had obtained.”

A story about the past hotel.

It was negative in many ways.

It was a painful memory for Teacher and A-ri, and it could also cause conflict related to Mi-ro.

Eun-sol naturally moved on to the next topic.

“It's getting late! Let's talk about how we'll proceed with the third attempt tomorrow.”

After reviewing the second attempt, everyone considered what we could improve.

During that process, we naturally realized one thing.

“Unnie, isn't there not much we need to change?”

Elena's words reflected everyone's thoughts.

There was no need to change how we proceeded.

Was it because Room 205 was a room with a “simple structure,” officially recognized by the hotel?

We had already found a route close to the correct answer.

Park Seung-yeop: Emperor.

Lee Eun-sol: Harmonious Gate Lord and the true power of the empire.

Kim Sang-hyeon: The emperor's guard and disciple of the Heavenly Righteous Alliance leader.

Cha Jin-cheol: Grand General.

Elena: A Fire Cult traitor and the First Apostle with ties to the West.

Let's call those five the Imperial Party.

During the second attempt, the Imperial Party's progress had already been flawless.

They successfully brought in the Heavenly Righteous Alliance, won the war, and drove the Fire Cult into a crisis.

They had also stopped Kardamos's descent, the Fire Cult Leader's hidden card. If they used Final Flash in the next attempt, they could stop it even more easily.

The only reason they failed was the Phantom Demon's interference, which had nothing to do with any mistake by the Imperial Party.

After reaching the same conclusion, Eun-sol spoke cautiously.

“If we just... proceed without touching the Phantom Demon, won't we clear it in the next attempt?”

Mi-ro tilted her head.

“Are you saying we shouldn't wake Ga-in?”

“It feels like trouble keeps happening whenever we try to wake Ga-in. In the first attempt, Yi Ja-seong went berserk because you came to the imperial capital. In the second, we failed because you woke the Phantom Demon...”

“Gasp! Was it all our fault? S-sorry...”

“No! I'm not trying to blame anyone. I'm just wondering whether we really need to wake Ga-in, based on what we've learned so far.”

She was saying we should just leave me alone. It made me uncomfortable, but I understood the logic.

At least based on what we had learned so far.

There was no need to wake me. In fact, trying to wake me kept causing trouble.

Elena tilted her head.

“Sealing was made to be undone in the first place. Isn't it strange to give up on releasing it entirely?”

A-ri expressed a similar opinion.

“We still haven't discovered all of Room 205's secrets. There must be a reason we need to wake Ga-in.”

After hearing them, Eun-sol relented.

“Fine. Then let's just proceed with the ‘Sealing Release Party’ more cautiously.”

We finalized the details of the third attempt, using my advice as we went, and then ended the meeting.

* * *

- Kim A-ri

“Yaaawn!”

I was sleepy.

“Don't yawn. This is an important moment!”

“Got it, got it.”

--- Whooosh!

I was cold.

“Damn it! Why isn't this working?”

It was loud.

Why was I out in the snowy fields on Level 2 at this late hour, watching Mi-ro's antics?

It had started simply.

After our meeting about what to do tomorrow ended, we finished dinner and everyone began spending time on their own.

Then Mi-ro suddenly took me to the snowy fields on Level 2.

And then...

“I'm going to learn a new technique! I have to!”

Saying that, she began glaring at the pocket watch with her eyes wide open.

“... A new technique?”

Mi-ro's explanation was simple.

She vaguely remembered how Midnight Mi-ro had fought, and apparently that version of herself had actively used the Time Lender.

“The conditions are completely different when the Time Lender summons someone else and when it summons my past self.”

When she summoned her past self, no new body was created. Instead, her present and past selves overlapped.

On top of that, if she repeatedly used the Time Lender to “store” herself and “summon” herself to a desired location at incredible speed, she could use it like a kind of invincibility move or mobility skill.

“Focus!”

“...”

The hands of the pocket watch didn't move even a millimeter.

“... Mi-ro, I think it'll take a long time to train if you want to use it that way.”

“That's why I'm doing it now.”

“Why do you need me here...?”

“Be quiet!”

“...”

“Hngh!”

The silver-haired girl glared at the pocket watch with her eyes wide open.

Then...

“I-I did it! You saw that just now, right?”