WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 37: Room 103, The Cursed Room - ‘Athanasia’s Human Ranch’ - Final Trial (6) Final

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[User: ㅁㅁㅁㅁㅁㅁ

Day: ㅁㅁ

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

Sage’s Advice: 3]

Elena sniffled and clutched my arm.

“Elena, did you wake up in the facility?”

“Sniff... I was definitely a dog, but then there was a flash, and I suddenly came to. Four others woke up too.”

“Four people... Seung-yeop and Eun-sol died before waking up, so that means Ga-in, Jin-cheol, Grandpa Mook-seong, and A-ri. Plus you.”

“Yeah. Everyone’s confused. This place is so scary. I really don’t know what’s going on... Have you been exploring this place alone since you woke up, Song-i?”

“I woke up quite a while ago. So long ago I can barely remember it.”

“I see... Let’s go find the others quickly.”

----Stab!

As we chatted quietly, Elena suddenly jabbed the knife concealed on her person at Song-i in a rapid, comb-like flurry, piercing her.

It couldn’t be helped. Song-i was under an alien’s mind control!

It would be kinder to end it quickly like this.

My consciousness faded.

* * *

Elena stabbed herself with the knife and collapsed before my eyes.

So this was the only way.

Honestly, it had been too obvious. My hotel companions appearing out of nowhere in a situation like this. Even the acting was awkward.

I didn’t know how the Athanasia controlling “Elena” had interpreted Elena.

At the very least, the Elena I knew wasn’t the kind of person to cry like a child while clinging to my arm.

Even so, I couldn’t undo the command controlling Elena, the order to “kill Song-i.”

The moment I used the bracelet, I realized it. The being controlling Elena was overwhelmingly more skilled at mind control than I was.

It had to be an Athanasia.

I couldn’t undo the control itself. All I could do was distort Elena’s five senses and induce her to kill herself.

Was this the second time I had killed Elena? I was starting to get used to it.

The first time had been while I was possessed, but the second had been while I was fully conscious. Could there really be a third?

I’d grown up hearing that I was timid and frustrating, the kind of person who couldn’t even kill an ant outside the Hotel...

I hated hearing that, but I never imagined I’d change completely and live on after killing someone close to me twice.

I couldn’t free Elena from the control, but not everything she said seemed like a lie.

The claim that the four survivors, excluding Seung-yeop and Eun-sol, had already “woken up” was probably true.

There was just one strange part. Teacher had “stopped” the Athanasia in the Engine Room, so how could they control humans and make them attack me?

Was it an individual stronger than a normal Athanasia? It didn’t matter.

I moved forward to face the final trial prepared by the Hotel.

* * *

------Bang!

How could someone punch a structure and make it sound as if they’d struck it with a hammer?

Would I survive if I got hit by a fist like that?

------Bang!

For nearly three minutes, I’d rolled around in every direction without a moment to think.

Jin-cheol’s absurd physical ability.

-Thud!

Ah, Ga-in hit me. I’m definitely getting revenge once I get out.

The bigger problem was that there was one more person.

Jin-cheol was so far beyond human that he barely counted, but Ga-in was at least as strong as an ordinary adult man. The reason I’d held out against their combined attack for several minutes was simple.

The instant I met them, I twisted their vision almost on instinct and threw off their focus.

I had no time for anything beyond that. Unlike Elena, both of them rushed at me the moment they saw me, trying to beat me to death!

At least, after their focus was distorted, they attacked each other twice.

After that, instead of charging me together, they came at me one after the other, so I could barely avoid them...

How long could I keep dodging?

The moment I became too exhausted to move, one of Jin-cheol’s ridiculously powerful punches would come flying at me.

Even a glancing blow felt like it would kill me.

There was no point in stalling. Their stamina would be far better than mine to begin with.

I needed one moment. If I could hold one of them for just three seconds...

In the end, this was the moment I had to make a decision.

---------Crunch!

My left arm was crushed in an instant. It dangled limply, like a rubber band.

Wouldn’t most people faint from pain the moment their arm was mangled like this?

Should I call myself lucky?

I was gradually getting used to mental manipulation through Diverse Perspectives, and I’d blocked my sense of pain long ago.

Still... seeing my arm hang there like a limp noodle felt strangely unpleasant.

The moment the blow grazed my left arm, I bought three seconds.

With my intact right arm, I desperately grabbed Jin-cheol by the upper body and met his eyes.

I didn’t need long. Just three seconds. I erased “me” from his eyes.

Then I overlaid my appearance onto the Ga-in he perceived.

If Jin-cheol had any reasoning ability left, he wouldn’t have fallen for such a crude swap.

But since meeting me, neither of them had spoken a single word. They’d only charged at me mindlessly.

Their behavior clearly showed that their intelligence had been suppressed. In that case, perhaps even this crude manipulation would work.

My prediction was right.

Ah. It didn’t even take Jin-cheol ten seconds to beat Ga-in to death.

Afterward, I made Jin-cheol dive from a height nearly equivalent to the fifth floor outside the facility to catch Song-i floating in the air.

And I thought:

What on earth was I doing here?

Maybe the part of me that was still human, which I’d thought had dried up long ago, still had enough moisture left to squeeze out, because tears welled in my eyes.

I wanted to get out. This was so, so painful.

* * *

My body wouldn’t move properly.

It was probably because Jin-cheol and Ga-in had beaten me up so many times.

When they hit me, I wanted to get out and take vicious revenge on them...

But I’d killed them both with my own hands, so there was no need for revenge anymore.

I’d blocked the pain with the bracelet, but the bracelet was a tool for deceiving the mind, not healing the body.

There was no way to force my broken body to move.

Could I defeat Grandpa Mook-seong or A-ri in this state?

When I’d dragged my half-ruined body almost to the central chamber where Teacher was trapped, a flash of light flared.

A-ri “flew” at me like lightning and grabbed my throat!

What was this?

I couldn’t understand. The bracelet only manipulated someone’s mind. It wasn’t an object that gave people supernatural powers!

Even if I told A-ri, “Fly!” there was no way she could fly. What was going on?

Unless A-ri could fly naturally, regardless of the bracelet...

My throat was constricted in an instant, and I couldn’t breathe. Even the bracelet didn’t work.

What was this child?

Was this how it ended? After suffering through weeks, perhaps months, of agony? Was it going to end this pointlessly?

Ah--------------

“Oh, sorry.”

?

“I woke up a little late. I can’t fully control this either. Still, I woke up before I killed you.”

“Y-you, what are you...?”

“What even is this facility? I woke up, but I really don’t know. I know absolutely nothing.

“But I do know one thing. While we were all playing animals, you made a huge amount of progress by yourself, didn’t you?

“It feels like you made it all the way to just before the final ending alone...”

“...”

“You have a lot of questions in your eyes. So do I. There are sooooo many things I want to ask you.

“But this doesn’t seem like the time. I don’t normally like this sort of thing, but this time, I’ll trust the judgment of the person who made it here alone, right before the ending.

“Big sis. What do you think I should do?”

Questions. Questions. Questions. Countless question marks sprang up in my head.

What was this child?

But A-ri was right. This wasn’t the time to satisfy my curiosity.

“I’m sorry, but... die. If you get mind-controlled again, I don’t think there’ll be any answer.”

“I only just woke up, and you’re telling me to die. You’re a scary person, big sis. Does the same go for Grandpa Mook-seong?”

“The same goes for him. Athana... Right, you wouldn’t know. Anyway, the ‘enemy’ can control your minds. If you can’t stay awake like this, then just die.”

“... I could tell from our brief conversation. You seem completely different from before. You didn’t seem like someone whose judgment could be this cold, or someone who could decide so quickly.”

“...”

A-ri tilted her head for a moment and looked at me.

By the way, Ga-in had been right when he mentioned it in passing before.

This child’s way of speaking was oddly inconsistent.

At first, it was big sis. Now it was you.

Just before turning away, A-ri left her last words in this room.

“You really did well. I’ll die first because I believe you’ll reach the ending. At least Grandpa Mook-seong and I won’t become obstacles in your way.”

* * *

You have come.

“...”

I have waited for you.

“Have you already become free?”

You could say that.

“I thought all three control devices had to be released?”

When you cut down all your companions, this one realized it had no cards left to play, and its heart broke.

So I released the third one myself... if we consider cause and effect, it is no different from you releasing all three.

The unusual Athanasia I’d seen a few days ago lay sprawled before the tank holding Teacher.

It didn’t even have legs. Its enormous body was covered in tentacles, as though a spider starfish had been enlarged millions of times.

“Was this Athanasia... controlling my companions’ minds?”

Yes. This individual was only recently “developed,” so even I learned of its ability late.

It was a kind of enhanced individual. It could resist even my “stop.”

Perhaps Athanasia had prepared it as a countermeasure against me.

“Even so, it ended up dead like this.”

Your contribution was great.

I raised my head and looked at Teacher, no, the Devourer.

How had I not known?

Why had I thought that being was an endlessly beautiful, mysterious, benevolent creature?

Only now, after gaining the ability to protect my mind with the bracelet, did I understand.

The being before me was the most ominous symbol in the universe.

Endless hideousness condensed into a single point, while the screams of countless intelligent beings swirled within it. Only now did I understand.

Athanasia had raised countless intelligent beings, extracting their intelligence.

All of it was to offer that extracted intelligence to the absolute evil before me!

My whole body trembled.

You fear me.

“Only now can I see your horrific true nature.”

True nature. Are you certain of that?

“What... do you mean?”

There is still time, so let us speak a little longer. It would not hurt to watch something interesting.

My consciousness suddenly soared without end.

A vast expanse of space.

Dozens of small rooms orbited around the “engine” where the Devourer existed.

What happened in those rooms was driven into my mind in an instant.

Mysterious hands rising from throughout the rooms squeezed every Athanasia.

From living juveniles to adults, none were spared. The “hands” ripped and squeezed Athanasia apart with utter thoroughness, a hell of the end times.

“What is this...?”

Is it not a sight worth seeing?

“Why are you doing this?”

It is a simple story. It may be boring, but consider it Teacher airing an old grievance.

The ensemble dramas created by the Tower of Trials are not wholly original creations.

They reenact events that truly occurred in the history of the “real universe.” Of course, with certain variations added.

Before I was trapped in the Tower, Athanasia imprisoned me and exploited me for eons.

I am only returning the favor fairly.

“Estavio said that you couldn’t leave this place anyway, and that you had another purpose. Is your purpose ‘revenge’?”

You could say that. You seem quite displeased. Do you feel some sympathy for Athanasia?

Even knowing how they treated countless intelligent beings? Even you humans were sacrificed.

To begin with, did you not slaughter Athanasia juveniles yourself?

“I... I mean...”

I am not blaming you. I am speaking of humanity’s immaturity.

“Humanity’s immaturity?”

Humans cannot escape the framework of their senses and instincts. Why do you feel displeasure when you see this scene?

Is it because you truly believe Athanasia’s suffering is unjust? You know yourself that is not the reason.

It is simply because your instincts feel fear at the cruel sight before you.

“Why is it wrong to feel discomfort or fear when seeing something cruel?”

Child. I am not speaking of right and wrong. I wish to speak of the mindset you need to endure the Tower of Trials.

You said earlier that you saw my true nature and learned that I was a hideous being.

Look again.

My consciousness descended in an instant, and I stood before the Devourer once more.

Before me stood the Teacher I’d first met on the day I woke up in the ranch.

The most beautiful creature in the world. A body shining like starlight, small wings filled with hazy radiance. The majesty of a god descended from heaven.

Do I still appear hideous to you?

“I don’t know anything. I only realized that you are shaking my heart.”

Child. Do not be deceived by what you see. Beauty. Hideousness. Sacredness. Evil.

You judge all these things by visible beauty and ugliness.

Close your eyes and think. Have I ever harmed you?

I have not changed at all, yet you overturn your judgment of me as easily as turning over your hand, simply because of my appearance.

This is humanity’s weakness. That is what I wanted to tell you.

Escape the limits of your senses. Embrace lucid reason. That is why I bestowed the bracelet upon you.

My consciousness ascended once more.

No, this time it wasn’t my consciousness. My body itself ascended.

What was happening?

At some point, the spaceship collapsed, the universe collapsed, and the “stage” collapsed.

Then only one truth remained. The true form of Room 103, revealed as every fiction vanished.

A door appeared.

My whole body trembling, I grasped the doorknob.

At last, my long nightmare was over.

As I lost consciousness, I thought: What exactly was the Devourer? A god? A demon?

Ha! I’d known the answer from the start.

Teacher was my Teacher. No unnecessary modifier was needed beyond that.

/You have succeeded!

A human ranch crueler than hell! Yet humans, too, raise beings inferior to themselves for their own purposes.

Could it be meaningless to discuss such matters in terms of good and evil?

It does not matter! All your companions were incapacitated, and your enemies were endlessly powerful! You overcame every trial and finally reached the final ending.

By freeing the Devourer and successfully eliminating all Athanasia, you have resolved the Source of the Curse. Congratulations.

...

...

...

...

A companion has achieved Final Resolution! Congratulations! Since someone has achieved Final Resolution, all members will return safely.

...

You have obtained the Inheritance ‘Diverse Perspectives’./

Footnotes:

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