WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 385: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1)
──────
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 224
Current Location: Level 2, Central Hall
Sage’s Advice: 0]
- Han Ga-in
I woke up on the second floor.
... Had I really woken up?
As I settled my queasy stomach, I recalled what had happened last night.
It seemed I'd drunk until I blacked out.
Near the large table in the center of the second floor, I spotted Jin-cheol.
“Jin-cheol!”
“...”
He seemed lost in deep thought.
I didn't want to disturb him, so I went down to the first floor.
“A-ri?”
“...”
“Eun-sol?”
“...”
I walked around, calling out to my companions one by one, but no one answered.
Like Jin-cheol on the second floor, they all seemed immersed in their own thoughts.
More importantly, I'd been feeling dazed for a while now.
At first, I thought it was because I'd drunk too much yesterday, but I wasn't having trouble controlling my body.
This was different from a hangover.
I felt like I'd experienced this before...
Then a voice whispered in my ear.
「Do what you will.」
* * *
- Yoo Song-i
What was going on?
The moment I saw my Sponsor's reaction, I guessed something strange must be happening outside.
But what was this?
My companions hadn't disappeared or anything.
I'd run into Ga-in, Jin-cheol, Elena, and the others just moments ago.
What was strange was their condition.
No matter how much I spoke to them, they didn't respond. They only muttered strange things and seemed lost in their own worlds.
They looked like they'd suffered some kind of mental attack, but two things didn't add up.
First, this wasn't a Curse Room. It was Party Time, so who had put everyone in this state?
Second, we had more than one means of defending against mental attacks, so why was everyone like this?
What about Ga-in's Status Window?
What about Elena's Clear Mirror, Still Water?
Were they all broken or something?
“Ga-in!”
“... I want to fly.”
“Get a hold of yourself.”
“Why don't I have wings?”
--- Smack!
“Hey, Han Ga-in! Snap out of it!”
“Ah... I see. I need to bring Pero.”
Pero?
Just as I tried to grab him before he walked away, someone hugged me from behind.
“Eek!”
“Song-i, Song-iii...”
It was A-ri.
No joke, this was the first time I'd ever seen A-ri act like this.
“You're like this too?!”
“Song-i, you're a second-year high school student, right?”
“Of course I am-”
“Is it fun?”
“What? No, let go of me!”
“I hated going to school. I went too many times.”
“I'm telling you to let go! Why are you so strong? Don't use your Inheritance at a time like this!”
“A long time ago... when I first started school. Back then, I wanted to make friends and get close to people.”
“Did you?”
“It doesn't matter. Ordinary people always forget everything.”
“What? Forget what?”
“You won't forget me, right? So that's a relief.”
For a moment, I was so shocked that I even forgot A-ri was hugging me.
People forgot A-ri?
Forget someone as beautiful as her, with ruby-red eyes?
She was already on the level of a comic book character.
Even if someone happened to see her once on the street, they wouldn't be able to forget that face for the rest of their life.
“... This isn't normal forgetting. Does the Management Bureau erase people's memories of you?”
“The Management Bureau? Hahaha! Don't be ridiculous. It's not that- Urgh!”
A-ri suddenly staggered and collapsed.
“W-What's wrong?”
“... Hypnotherapy.”
“What?”
“You aren't an agent yet. I shouldn't tell you...”
Anyone who still hadn't realized it by now was an idiot.
This was a story about the Management Bureau, and at the same time, a secret about the world we lived in.
Something A-ri would normally never say.
Was it really right for me to hear this?
As I stood there, flustered and unsure what to do, A-ri suddenly ran off.
“Where are you going? At least finish what you were saying!”
Mi-ro was sitting near a small fountain by the first-floor terrace.
A-ri leaned against Mi-ro, then placed her head on Mi-ro's lap.
It was like a young daughter seeking affection from her mother.
And...
This was also something I'd never seen since Mi-ro woke up.
“Mi-ro.”
“...”
“Mi-ro.”
“...”
“Why aren't you answering? Do you hate me?”
The next moment, A-ri began strangling Mi-ro with both hands!
What was this sudden outburst?
“Argh! A-Are you crazy? Let go! Why are you so strong, seriously?!”
Should I use the bracelet?
She was my companion.
But that companion was about to kill another companion.
Would the bracelet even work?
A-ri suddenly lowered her hands and muttered.
“Who are you?”
“...”
“My mother was insane. She was like a childish tyrant. She couldn't tolerate even the slightest irritating remark, and if someone tried to stand up to her, she immediately punished them with force.”
“...”
“No matter how you looked at it, she scored zero as a companion. Someone I could never be with. That's why I never even considered reviving her.”
“...”
“Then you woke up. You were a child. A girl who was childish yet secretly clever, who seemed brave but was also easily frightened. A normal person, not a madwoman.”
Mi-ro slowly turned her head toward A-ri.
“So... when I saw you, I finally understood. You're not the Mi-ro I know. You're not my mother.”
“...”
“You were revived like this, and you're the only Mi-ro who will live into the future. The ‘adult Mi-ro’ the Management Bureau knows has disappeared for now, but she hasn't been completely erased.”
Traces of adult Mi-ro still remained in the Time Lender.
And that Mi-ro was the future of a Mi-ro who had grown up normally.
If she returned to reality and spent a long time as a Management Bureau agent, someone similar to her would eventually appear again.
In that sense, neither middle-school Mi-ro nor adult Mi-ro had vanished.
Only one Mi-ro had disappeared.
“I realized something terrifying. I didn't revive my mother...”
My breath caught at A-ri's thoughts, which she'd never revealed before.
“Didn't I erase her so she could never, ever be revived?”
It felt as though everything in the world had stopped.
A-ri stared blankly at Mi-ro as if seeking an answer, while I watched her.
Then...
Mi-ro, still wearing a dazed expression, opened her mouth.
“I found something I want to do!”
As Mi-ro beamed like a child and ran away, I finally realized.
Like everyone else, Mi-ro had also been lost in her own thoughts.
This long conversation had really been A-ri's monologue.
... This was so like the Hotel.
I was grateful that I was the only one who had truly heard this conversation.
So if I alone forgot it-
“Gaa-in! I like you!”
“Argh! What the hell is wrong with this girl?!”
* * *
A sudden confession!
Was she actually insane?
“Gaa-in! I've liked you since school.”
Without setting the mood or playing hard to get, she blurted out her confession like a dinosaur charging headfirst. I almost fainted.
“Why aren't you answering? Do you hate me? Take this!”
“Why are you hitting me all of a sudden?!”
“Maybe if I hit you a few more times, you'll like me?”
She was even punching Ga-in nonstop. Judging by her actions alone, it seemed less like a confession and more like a threat.
At that moment, Ga-in, who had been blankly staring outside through the main entrance, opened his mouth.
“Mi-ro. Let's jump.”
“What the hell are you saying, Han Ga-in? You crazy bastard!”
Mi-ro's eyes went round.
“Jump? Why?”
“What is love? The hottest emotion between people, an unmatched passion. Therefore, love is a flame.”
“Flame?”
“The biggest ball of fire in the world is the sun in the sky. So people in love should get closer to the sun.”
“What movie line is that? Why are you suddenly trying to jump from the main entrance?”
“I want to see outside.”
“What are you suddenly-”
“Song-i, haven't you ever wanted to leave? We even have two ways to escape now.”
I was left speechless.
It would be a lie to say I'd never thought about it.
“I-I want to leave. I want to see my parents.”
“... Ga-in. Leaving aside wanting to get out, why do we have two escape methods? We haven't even obtained the Wing Boots-”
“I can already fly.”
Ga-in grinned and raised his hand.
--- Screech!
In his hand was a cute parrot wearing a pitiful expression.
“Pero!”
“I know how to fly now. First, I'll jump, then use Possession on Pero.”
“Y-You got Pero's permission for that plan, right?”
--- Screech!
Flashes of light repeatedly burst from my wrist.
I'd already tried at least twice to restrain Ga-in with the bracelet's power, but it didn't work at all.
What in the world was happening?
My bracelet wasn't the only thing that had become useless.
What was A-ri's Old Blood doing?
Was Mi-ro's Immutability broken too?
Where had Ga-in tossed his Status Window?
Every single one of our means of resisting mental contamination had stopped working!
“Then try flying.”
Thinking someone else had said something crazy, I turned around and saw Elena.
“I've always wondered. Why did I fall for you...?”
Elena had given her heart to Ga-in before Mi-ro did.
Everyone among us knew that.
We spent every day together at the Hotel, going through Curse Rooms. There was no way we wouldn't know.
“I once thought it over on my own. What was the trigger? Looking back, there was a clear moment.”
The clear trigger that made Elena fall in love with Ga-in.
“When you used Descent for the first time. When starlight settled upon you and you transformed into an angel of the heavens.”
“...”
“When I realized that, it became a little frightening. Is this really love? Or...”
Or?
“Could the overwhelming charisma Descent gives off have twisted my heart...? It's a frightening thought.”
Ga-in answered calmly.
“Is that so?”
“So I want to see it one more time.”
“See what?”
“Jump. If you're an angel, you should be able to fly through the sky. Show me that light once more.”
“Oh! That sounds good.”
Elena's Clear Mirror, Still Water had gone bad too.
At that point, I gave up on everything and simply began watching.
There wasn't anything I could do once the bracelet stopped working anyway.
Ga-in smiled, tightly grabbed Pero, and opened the Hotel's first-floor main entrance.
“Wow!”
“What is it?”
“The view's nice! Shall I go?”
Mi-ro smiled and shouted.
“Go, Ga-in! I'll cheer you on from here!”
Elena clapped happily as well.
“Good luck, Ga-in! Make sure you fly.”
“Farewell, everyone! I cast off every chain and restraint in this world and leave to find my happiness! I hope all of you find happiness too~~!”
His expression as he jumped out of the Hotel was brighter than ever.
He must have finally fulfilled the desire he'd hidden deep in his heart.
At last, the Hotel's first escapee had appeared.
* * *
- Kim Mook-seong
“D-Doctor! Sang-hyeon! Please calm down! Get a hold of yourself!”
“I've never been more clear-headed.”
“You bastard! Then take off that Protective Suit first!”
“A-ri gave this to me.”
“Why the hell did A-ri give you a Protective Suit? What the-”
“Agent, did you know you could escape through the elevator?”
“Sang-hyeon...”
“Luckily, Ga-in even told me the number. 87439124. That's right, isn't it?”
It was.
That was why I felt like I couldn't breathe.
What had that crazy bastard Han Ga-in been thinking when he gave him the number?
And what had A-ri been thinking when she gave him the Protective Suit?
Everyone knew!
Kim Sang-hyeon's longing to escape was on a completely different level from ours.
He was someone who had personally experienced the Hotel's hell and returned!
He was even different from Mi-ro.
Mi-ro had already escaped the torment of hell through the Prayer for Rest before being revived.
“Haha, Agent. Why do you look like that? Someone would think something terrible had happened.”
“Please, Sang-hyeon...”
“Ever since I was young, I was the pride of my family. Special forces experience, then a doctor and even an astronaut. Honestly, isn't that impressive even to you, Agent?”
“I get it! I get it, so please take off the Protective Suit first-”
“I never got to properly repay my parents. That's been my lifelong regret. If they're alive, I'll do what I can for them, even if it's late. If they've passed away, I'll at least pour them a drink at their graves and come back.”
“Come back from where? You think you're just going out for a stroll around the neighborhood?”
There was no way to stop him!
We'd already been unable to match him physically since coming out of Room 203, and now he was even wearing a Protective Suit.
“I'll rest for a few days. I suppose the Hotel has vacations too.”
“Hey, you bastard!”
“Bye Bye! See you later!”
A moment later, an enormous roar and burst of heat came from the elevator.
When the doors opened again, Kim Sang-hyeon was gone.
Footnotes:
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