WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 387: A Midsummer Night's Dream (3)
──────
- Kim A-ri
“Mi-ro, wait.”
Ga-in stopped Mi-ro’s confession.
The tension suddenly drained out of me, and I let out a sigh without realizing it. I had no idea why.
“Ga-in?”
What was he planning?
When we made the plan earlier, we told Ga-in to accept Mi-ro’s confession, but that would cause problems too.
What if Mi-ro didn’t forget this?
How were we supposed to sort this out?
Then Ga-in started saying strange things to Mi-ro.
“Love will eventually lead to marriage, right?”
Marriage out of nowhere? Mi-ro was flustered.
“Huh? M-marriage is too soon...”
“Mi-ro, a middle schooler and a high schooler can’t discuss something this important by themselves.”
“Then who should I discuss it with?”
“We should talk to our parents.”
What the hell was Ga-in talking about?
“Our parents?”
“Ah, but there’s a problem. My parents are outside the Hotel, so I have no way to talk to them.”
“... My parents are probably dead.”
Why was Mi-ro taking his nonsense seriously?
“Mi-ro’s parents may be gone, but there’s still someone you can trust and rely on.”
“Someone like that exists?”
Did Mi-ro have someone like that?
Everyone, even Elena, who was half out of her mind, stared at Ga-in in confusion.
Then...
Something absurd came out.
“Midnight Mi-ro!”
“What?”
“Argh!”
“That bastard Ga-in!”
“Ga-in? What are you suddenly talking about?”
As everyone reacted in shock, the Chat Window flashed.
Han Ga-in: I have a plan.
What plan?!
“M-Midnight Mi-ro? Me as an adult?”
“That’s right! Adult Mi-ro is the person you can trust and rely on the most. So call her.”
“If I call Midnight Mi-ro, Ga-in will disappear...”
Of course. The Time Lender could only summon one being from the past at a time.
“Can’t you summon me again after hearing adult Mi-ro’s judgment?”
“Is that how it works?”
Looking almost entranced, Mi-ro took out the Time Lender.
Ga-in quickly scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Mi-ro.
A moment later, Mi-ro’s body began trembling like the hands of a broken clock.
?
Ga-in looked flustered.
“What? Why am I not disappearing...”
At that moment, Mi-ro’s face twisted with anger, and she immediately grabbed Ga-in by the throat.
Midnight Mi-ro had awakened!
“You!”
“Ghk!”
“You bastard, do you have any idea how precious my time is? For some ridiculous prank...”
“P-please let go, and read the note!”
“The note?”
Mi-ro read the paper Ga-in had handed her earlier. She fell silent for a moment, then looked doubtful.
“The time I just used will be restored once I wake from the dream?”
“That’s certain. Think about it. Normally, it’d be impossible for you and me to have a conversation at all. We’re both summons created by the Time Lender.”
“The Time Lender can only summon one person at a time...”
“The fact that two summons can exist at the same time means the Inheritance’s judgment itself is different from usual.”
“...”
“Because this is a dream. Maybe what we’re using right now isn’t an Inheritance at all, but something imagined in the dream based on our memories of the Inheritance.”
“... I see. I apologize for what happened earlier.”
Mi-ro looked around, her expression more relaxed.
Mook-seong, Seung-yeop, Elena, Song-i, Ga-in, and me.
“To think the day would come when I’d see you with my own eyes...”
I had no idea how to respond to the complicated emotions in Mi-ro’s eyes.
Then Ga-in spoke.
“You understand the situation, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you understand why I called you?”
“Looks like you had a lot you wanted to ask me.”
So that was Ga-in’s plan!
He’d suddenly started saying crazy things, and I’d wondered what was wrong with him, but he’d planned from the beginning to coax young Mi-ro into summoning Midnight Mi-ro.
She had a little over thirty minutes left.
Normally, we couldn’t waste the time of such a powerful being on questions and answers.
But we could do it now.
Once the dream ended, everything that happened would return to how it had been!
Mi-ro smiled lightly.
“Good. That wasn’t a bad judgment. But before that.”
“Before that?”
Mi-ro’s expression became that of a mischievous girl.
“Hey! The confession! The confession!”
Ga-in looked deeply flustered. He probably hadn’t expected the subject of the confession to come up again in this situation.
“No, that was...”
“What? You said you’d ask a trustworthy adult. Did you trick me?”
Ga-in opened his mouth halfway and started stammering. It had been a long time since I’d seen him this flustered.
Mi-ro looked like she was going to die trying not to laugh.
At that moment, there was no way to distinguish Midnight Mi-ro from young Mi-ro.
“I’ve made my decision!”
“... W-what is it?”
“Dating in the Hotel is out of the question. Do that after you get outside. You feel the same way anyway, don’t you?”
“...”
“But remember this!”
“Yes?”
“You didn’t reject me. I rejected you.”
After saying that, Mi-ro physically kicked Ga-in away.
Then...
Starting with Mook-seong’s laughter, everyone burst out laughing.
“Pfft, pfft, hahahaha! Right, this is how it should be. Who does Ga-in think he is, rejecting his senior?”
“Right?”
“His senior should be the one rejecting him.”
“Ugh, ugh!”
“Why don’t you just laugh it off too? Your name was... Song-i?”
“Hahaha! I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had this kind of personality!”
“What kind of personality did you think I had?”
Elena, who had regained her senses at some point, joined in with a laugh.
“Serious, secretive, terrifying, tyrannical...”
“... You have a lot of preconceived notions about me.”
“Though now that I think about it, it would be strange if Mi-ro grew up into Mi-ro and had a completely different personality.”
“Mi-ro grew up into Mi-ro. It’s true, but it sounds really strange. Anyway, you woke up suddenly.”
“I just happened to wake up.”
I thought I understood why Elena had awakened too.
‘Dating in the Hotel is out of the question, so do it after you get outside. Ga-in probably feels the same way.’
Mi-ro’s words were, in their own way, an answer to the worries Mi-ro and Elena had both carried.
They had put off their worries until the future, but not every problem could be solved right away.
As they chatted, everyone’s tension eased.
Ga-in, who had fallen to the floor, gave a small laugh.
“Now! The mood has improved, so it’s time for Miss Mi-ro to reveal the bundle of secrets she’s been hiding...”
Just as the real conversation was about to begin.
--- Rumble!
The entire Hotel shook, and Black Rifts began opening everywhere.
“W-what is this? All of a sudden...”
- Aaaah! Save me!
- Ugh! Please... kill me...
- Kill the women and rape the men!
“Argh! W-what is this?!”
“Is this a dream too?”
“N-no, something’s different! Isn’t this another event?”
Screams filled with pain echoed throughout the Hotel.
Writhing humanoid monsters began pouring out from every direction!
The next instant, an ink-black spear radiating a ferocious aura that seemed to crush the soul sliced through the air.
As the Spear of Mortality swept through the area once, more than ten monsters burned away like black ash.
It meant nothing.
Beyond the Black Rifts, there were so many Wraiths that they couldn’t be counted. More monsters emerged than the number they had destroyed.
--- Rumble!
Hard chunks of stone began falling wildly from the ceiling as well.
“Argh!”
“Song-i!”
A stone the size of a head struck Song-i in the back.
Song-i collapsed to the floor, unable to move properly, and Mook-seong belatedly slung her over his shoulder.
Fortunately, everyone was on the first floor, and Room 105 was nearby.
“Everyone, run to Room 105!”
At Mook-seong’s shout, everyone started running.
“Of all times!”
Ga-in’s shout was what everyone was thinking.
Just as the others entered Room 105...
Someone grabbed my shoulder.
“...”
“You stay here.”
The moment Mi-ro snapped her fingers, a golden flash erupted and formed a wall between the Wraiths and us.
“... I forgot. You could use Justice’s power too.”
“Of course. My conditions are easier than Elena’s. I can use it against Wraiths too. Of course, she gained defensive power in exchange for having stricter conditions, so there are pros and cons.”
“Why didn’t you use this power sooner?”
“Because I wanted to be alone with you.”
My eyes turned toward Mi-ro.
Mi-ro’s eyes turned toward me.
Two faces and two pairs of eyes, identical in every way except their hair color, observed one another.
“So this is what you look like.”
“...”
“My perfect creation. At last...”
“I’m not a creation.”
“Why not? Every child is their parent’s creation.”
“...”
“Ga-in really thinks on his feet, doesn’t he?”
“He does. To understand the nature of the dream in such a short time and think of summoning you.”
“But there’s something I don’t like.”
“What is it?”
“Only those qualified should know secrets. Yet he wanted you to reveal them in front of all those people...”
“...”
“Right?”
The arrogance of not viewing others as equals.
The secrecy that sought to hide information whenever possible.
“You’re like me.”
“It’s the other way around. You’re like me.”
“...”
Mi-ro whispered as if soothing me.
“I know. Unlike me, you chose to share quite a lot of information with everyone.”
“My choice is right in the Hotel.”
“Maybe it is. In any case, I failed, and you haven’t failed yet.”
“...”
“But just as I respect your choice, I want you to understand me too.”
“What do you want me to understand?”
“They’re your companions, not mine. I have only one companion.”
With those words, Mi-ro tightly gripped my hand.
She was stressing the relationship between us so strongly that it felt burdensome.
I thought I vaguely understood her intention.
“You remember what I said earlier.”
“... No matter what happens to your memories, you’re my daughter.”
Was that sincere?
Or was it groundwork to steady my shaken heart?
I didn’t know. But...
This conversation was definitely beginning to shake me.
Maybe the ‘genes’ the Mirror Room had implanted in me were functioning.
“I have something to tell you.”
“...”
I learned many things.
I learned why Mi-ro had wanted to tell only me.
There may have been selfishness and secrecy behind it, but she likely also wanted to keep my companions from being shaken.
I learned about Room 207.
The existence of Room 207 itself was one of the greatest reasons the Hotel existed.
Yet there was one thing I couldn’t understand at all.
In Room 207, everyone would reach their own ending.
Those satisfied with that ending would have no reason to move forward any longer.
Then...
Why did the third floor, the stage after that ending, exist? What in the world was waiting there?
That was the one thing I couldn’t learn.
About thirty minutes later, Mi-ro gave me a light embrace.
“...”
“No matter what happens from now on, remember just this one thing.”
“...”
“I love you. I really do.”
I couldn’t tell whether the emotions I felt at that moment were artificial or natural.
* * *
- Cha Jin-cheol
I’m sane.
No.
I’ve been half out of my mind for a while now.
Aren’t I ignoring what my companions are saying too?
That’s not it.
A madman can’t know that he’s mad.
Realizing that I’m mad is proof that I’m sane.
What kind of nonsense is that?
If I realized I’m mad, that means I’m mad.
So...
“Calm down.”
A voice that wasn’t mine.
Words only I could hear in this world.
“Cha Jin-cheol, calm down. To communicate with you, I tampered with your Corpus Callosum and isolated part of your brain. Normally, even I would find it difficult to interfere with the brain this much...”
“...”
“The answer to your question is simple. Your cerebrum has been divided. Part of it is mad, while part of it is sane. So you’re both sane and mad. Actually, rather than being mad, you’re dreaming.”
“...”
“Originally, there was no hope for me. I was a Wraith without a soul, or something even less.”
“...”
“I searched through your head and found the best word to describe myself. ‘Computer virus.’ I was nothing more or less than a virus that had seeped into the computer called Cha Jin-cheol.”
“...”
“I found a miracle. There really is nothing impossible in a place like this Hotel.”
“If you mean the Soul Box, you can’t enter it because you have no soul.”
“The information Han Ga-in discovered? There was an additional explanation.”
“... An unconventional method.”
“Hahaha! Unconventional? That’s only unconventional by your standards!”
“...”
“From where I stand, there’s an extremely clear and certain method.”
“What is it?”
At that moment, she, who existed nowhere, smiled chillingly.
“If having no soul is the problem, then you just have to get one.”
Footnotes:
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