WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 375: Room 205, Curse Room - ‘Absolute Master’ (24)

──────

- Kim Sang-hyeon

The moment I landed on the writhing stingray, Jo Won-hong’s expression twisted.

The relaxed composure on the Fire Cult Leader’s face as he looked down at us from the sky vanished in an instant.

The moment I realized I was truly enjoying this.

[‘One Who Enjoys’ activates!]

At last, I could take another step forward.

--- Thud!

Responding to the Fire Cult Leader’s anger, the stingray twisted wildly as it tried to throw me off.

At first, I couldn’t tell what kind of ability I’d gained. It wasn’t an obvious superpower like superhuman strength or telekinesis.

Then I mistook it for an ability to control my body with precision, like Cha Jin-cheol’s Instant.

Even as the stingray shook its entire body, I could keep my balance with absurd ease.

The Fire Cult Leader shouted angrily.

“You bastard, I never thought you’d suddenly climb up here! Give up on getting down alive!”

In the cramped space atop a flying creature, where movement was limited, the Fire Cult Leader rushed at me, swinging both hands.

The moment I saw his movements with such clarity that they seemed almost within my grasp, I was startled again.

Had my eyesight become incredibly sharp?

No, I couldn’t see people’s pores like Eun-sol could.

The Fire Cult Leader thrust out his right hand and unleashed flames.

I spun my upper body half a turn clockwise and thrust the spear in my left hand toward his waist.

He knocked aside the shaft with his left hand to block my attack. Judging by his posture, I knew his next move would be to slash diagonally downward with his right hand.

I cut off that attack in advance, rushed deeper in, and rammed his upper body with my shoulder.

The Fire Cult Leader wheeled half a turn backward. The floor seemed to writhe, and a fireball formed in his hand.

I instinctively realized the stingray’s movements were linked to the Fire Cult Leader’s counterattack.

He intended to knock me backward and launch the fireball, but because I had read the stingray’s movement, I regained my balance with movements that were strangely precise.

Then...

...

“W-What?”

A breathless exchange followed in the blink of an eye.

I blocked the Fire Cult Leader’s attacks, read his next move, then read even his counterattack and cut it off before he could use it.

... This was different.

It was far too different from when I had first exchanged blows with the Fire Cult Leader only ten minutes ago.

Hadn’t a single move from him thrown me into danger back then?

If Cha Jin-cheol hadn’t swung his Guandao from behind the Fire Cult Leader, I wouldn’t have lasted.

Yet now, not only was I exchanging blows with the Fire Cult Leader on nearly equal footing, I could read his next move.

The Fire Cult Leader let out a gasp of pure admiration.

“Yi Ja-seong’s disciple, your talent is remarkable!”

“M-My talent?”

“You clearly weren’t this capable just moments ago. Did you gain enlightenment in that brief time we fought?”

At that moment, Jo Won-hong was not the supreme leader of the Fire Cult or our enemy. He was like a great senior of the Martial World who had discovered a talented junior.

... At last, I understood what One Who Enjoys could do.

* * *

There is a saying in the world.

A genius cannot defeat one who works hard, and one who works hard cannot defeat one who enjoys it.

According to that saying, one who enjoys it is something beyond both the talented and the hardworking.

Why?

This was how I interpreted the meaning behind it.

Because they enjoy the process, they can invest more time than others.

Therefore, one who enjoys it is also one who works hard.

If someone worked hard but achieved nothing at all, their passion would naturally fade. So, one who enjoys it must also be someone capable of achievement.

Therefore, one who enjoys it also possesses the talent needed to achieve things.

Still, no matter what one does, there are bound to be stressful moments.

What does it take to overcome that stress and keep enjoying something passionately?

Motivation.

The greatest motivation is imagining your future self, the self who has already achieved success.

So if you could bring your future, accomplished self into the present, that would be the ultimate motivation.

It’s easy to understand through a game analogy.

The blessing of Diligence grants skills corresponding to effort. If you primitively built campfires thousands or tens of thousands of times, you would gain [Samadhi True Fire lv1]. If you trained in Spear Technique for a long time, you would gain [Spear Technique lv1].

One Who Enjoys temporarily raises the levels of skills gained this way.

It manifests the achievements my future self would gain right now.

* * *

--- Wooooong!

A loud roar shook the air.

My mind, which had briefly sunk into thought in that instant, returned to the battle before me.

When the Fire Cult Leader spun his entire body once, the vortex of flames I had seen earlier rose up and slowly began expanding its range.

On the ground, I could have avoided it by taking a few steps back. This place, though, was the back of a flying stingray.

There was nowhere to retreat. If I backed away any further, I would fall.

The stingray was unharmed even as the flame vortex spread across its back, as expected of the Fire Cult Leader’s summoned creature that hurled fireballs. But if I were caught in those flames, I would be reduced to a handful of ashes.

It was an unmistakable, desperate crisis.

Still, now that I knew what I could do and what I had to do, I could smile.

The people of Room 205 called it Samadhi True Fire.

A superpower born after endlessly building campfires in the primitive environment of Room 203, in an ancient age.

I had thought it was nothing more than an ability for lighting cigarettes.

Even after learning how to wrap it around my spearhead, I hadn’t found it particularly useful.

At heart, I was a twenty-first-century American.

I had looked down on it because a single pull of a pistol’s trigger had far more killing power than wasting time on this kind of bullshit.

But...

This ability held potential beyond imagination.

I casually leaped into the vortex of flames the Fire Cult Leader had created.

Jo Won-hong’s eyes widened, his expression saying, Is this bastard insane?

Then the flame vortex broke free from Jo Won-hong’s control and, at a gesture from me, parted to open a path.

“No! How can this...”

“Hyah!”

The spear shot forward like lightning and pierced straight through Jo Won-hong’s head.

No, it only seemed to.

Jo Won-hong’s body split apart like shattered glass, and he had already moved to the rear.

Having escaped the crisis, the Fire Cult Leader pressed his palms together with a resolute expression.

The stingray that had been carrying us through the air suddenly collapsed and vanished!

“You bastard, are you insane?!”

“At least show some basic courtesy!”

“You’re seriously saying that now...”

I was falling.

Falling.

At that moment, I panicked badly.

What was the Fire Cult Leader planning? Why send the stingray away and decide to fall with me?

As if he had been waiting for it, the Fire Cult Leader’s long robe fluttered, and his descent visibly slowed.

Like A-ri, he had a trick that let him fall slowly.

Because of the difference in our falling speeds, the Fire Cult Leader above me smiled in victory.

At this rate, my death was unavoidable, while the Fire Cult Leader would escape with only minor injuries!

“Fire Cult Leader, let’s go together!”

My spear cut through the air toward the Fire Cult Leader.

Jo Won-hong sneered and unleashed palm force, knocking the spear aside.

Then, as though someone were controlling it with an invisible hand, the spear wheeled half a turn in midair and pierced through the Fire Cult Leader’s upper body.

“Q-Qi-Guided Spear Control! Impossible!”

--- Thud!

... If we’d been a little lower and I could’ve moved even one arm, I could have tested how much stronger my Medical Arts had become.

That was a little disappointing.

Still, I had fun.

That was my last memory of Room 205.

* * *

- Lee Eun-sol

“Khuhk!”

Jo Won-hong’s body, which had reached the ground, was drenched in blood.

Honestly, this was an achievement I had never expected.

I had watched the battle between Jo Won-hong, Cha Jin-cheol, and Kim Sang-hyeon as well.

I couldn’t have joined that battle myself, but my eyes could see through it clearly enough.

At least from what I could see, it had been nearly impossible for Sang-hyeon to inflict a critical blow on Jo Won-hong alone.

But I was wrong.

Sang-hyeon had died as his head and spine were crushed at the same time when he fell, but Jo Won-hong had suffered a critical blow as well.

...

Depending on how one looked at it, I should have been moved by Sang-hyeon’s efforts. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a situation where I could afford that.

The battle had gone on for too long.

The Fire Cult elites around the Heavenly Tower had surrounded us long ago.

“W-What is this?!”

Jo Won-hong had suffered a critical blow, but our losses weren’t small either.

Sang-hyeon had fallen, and Jin-cheol still couldn’t properly use one hand.

On top of that, Fire Cult elites surrounding us from every direction were glaring as if they wanted to devour us.

Jo Won-hong was even receiving first aid with the Fire Cult’s help.

Why was I still alive in such a hopeless crisis?

Ironically, it was because of Yi Ja-seong, who had been trying to kill me until just moments ago.

The Fire Cultists were too afraid of Yi Ja-seong beside me to approach.

“Haaa...”

Then Yi Ja-seong, having recognized his disciple’s death, reacted with deep grief.

“Harmonious Gate Lord, what are you thinking now?”

“...”

Why did this man keep pressing me about things nonstop?

Yi Ja-seong moved toward Jo Won-hong without hiding his sorrowful expression.

The cultists who had been trying to stop the Fire Cult Leader’s bleeding gathered their courage and stood in Yi Ja-seong’s way.

“S-Stop!”

“...”

“Even if you are the Sword of All Under Heaven...”

“Enough.”

“Fire Cult Leader!”

“Yi Ja-seong is not the kind of man who would ambush me in this situation.”

“...”

“Ja-seong, do you have something to say?”

“Sang-hyeon... died at your hands.”

“... Are you going to blame me? It was a battle where we both sought each other’s lives.”

“No. It was a bloody battle for both sides, and you nearly died too. Who could I blame?”

“...”

“How was that child at the end? I mean...”

Whenever those two spoke, I felt that Yi Ja-seong and Jo Won-hong were like old friends.

They were clearly the leaders of fundamentally opposing factions, but it was difficult to call them enemies.

Perhaps that was why.

Jo Won-hong gave Yi Ja-seong the answer he desperately wanted to hear.

“He was a peerless genius. He had talent enough to reach the heavens. If he had been given a little time, he would have rivaled you in your prime.”

“... At the end, he returned to the right path.”

Yi Ja-seong raised his head toward the sky.

Perhaps he believed his disciple, who had fallen under the Apostle's influence, had returned to the martial path at the end.

Yi Ja-seong’s state of mind seemed to have changed slightly.

“May I take the remaining people and leave?”

“... Leave.”

Neither side could keep fighting.

We had no way to break through all these Fire Cultists with our remaining strength and kill Jo Won-hong.

As for Jo Won-hong, he probably believed Yi Ja-seong would intervene if he tried to kill us here.

Today’s battle was over.

* * *

The moment we arrived at the imperial palace, Grandfather and Elena came rushing out with shocked expressions.

“Eun-sol! That bastard Yi Ja-seong...”

“Sis! Seung-yeop...”

“Both of you, keep it down. I know what happened.”

Jin-cheol, who had already heard about the situation, spoke with a bitter smile.

“Eun-sol... negotiated with Yi Ja-seong.”

“What?”

I sighed and began explaining the absurd story.

“Alright, I’ll explain just how ridiculous Yi Ja-seong is and what he proposed to me.”

I admit it, while talking to Yi Ja-seong, I thought I had become stupid.

He was clearly speaking human language, but I couldn’t understand him.

If Grandfather Mook-seong had been there instead of me, perhaps his experience as a devoted reader of martial arts novels would have made Yi Ja-seong’s way of thinking easier to understand.

Yi Ja-seong believed that “I” was the root cause of the corruption of the imperial family’s ideology.

Even what he meant by corruption confused me. I think he meant that instead of cultivating martial arts and focusing on scholarship, I had spread evil sorcery and a blasphemous cult.

... Me? I spread evil sorcery? I spread a blasphemous cult?

I had never heard such nonsense in my life, but Yi Ja-seong’s certainty did not waver in the slightest.

He didn’t even trust his own powers of insight.

* * *

“No, you said you can see through people’s hearts just by looking them in the eye, right? Then see through mine too!”

“You wicked woman! Do you think I don’t know you have the eyes of a monster? Do not try to deceive me!”

* * *

By that point, I gave up on persuading him and simply let his criticism go in one ear and out the other.

By the time I had become the imperial family’s evil grand sorceress, the priestess of a blasphemous god, and a corrupted devil who had ruined the Empire and the young Emperor’s future in his eyes, Yi Ja-seong found a final hope after seeing Sang-hyeon’s heroic end.

“F-Final hope?”

“I think he believed I hadn’t completely corrupted Sang-hyeon. Because at the end, Sang-hyeon returned to the right path, the martial path.”

“No, I-I understand that! But Teacher died anyway, didn’t he? What hope could there be if he’s dead?”

Elena, flustered, reminded me of something I had forgotten.

“Yi Ja-seong realized he still has one young disciple left.”

“What?”

“He decided he had to protect the young Emperor’s purity from the touch of the evil Lee Eun-sol.”

“Evil Lee Eun-sol! Pfft!”

“Don’t laugh. Elena, he called you a harlot of the Fire Cult and a devil who would surely drag the young Emperor into the depths of hell.”

“...”

“Then he made me an offer. He wouldn’t break the alliance, and the Heavenly Righteous Alliance would remain on the imperial family’s side for the rest of the war. But...”

“B-But?”

“He said he’s taking Seung-yeop with him now.”

Grandfather smacked his forehead.

“Oh, goodness! So he suddenly stormed into the imperial palace, grabbed Seung-yeop, and left?”

I decided to think positively.

“So what? He’s someone who cares deeply for his disciples, so he won’t let Seung-yeop die alone somewhere. Maybe Seung-yeop has already been deemed to have escaped?”

It felt as though the final battle of Room 205 was drawing near.

The Fire Cult had been driven into a corner.

They had lost the grand battle against the Empire, the Heavenly Tower meant to turn the tide had been destroyed, and even their Fire Cult Leader had suffered wounds from which he could not recover quickly.

If they had one final measure left, it was time for it to appear.

Footnotes:

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