Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 389

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 388: A Midsummer Night's Dream (4)

──────

- Park Seung-yeop

Monsters suddenly began appearing from every direction!

Luckily, Room 105 was nearby, so we rushed inside. But the danger wasn't over.

After a while, the entire room began to shake, and Room 105 itself collapsed.

The others, who had been catching their breath in their own versions of Room 105, appeared one after another.

“Ah, aah! What is this all of a sudden?”

Grandpa shouted with a grim expression.

“The monsters destroyed the hotel from outside!”

Room 105 had collapsed when Ga-in accepted Descent and when Pero got excited and tore off the door.

When the hotel itself is damaged beyond a certain point, Room 105 can't withstand it either.

--- Rattle!

The door twisted, and a giant covered in gleaming scales tried to break through it.

“First Wraiths, and now what, a troll?”

Grandpa hurried to the door. Using his superhuman strength to keep the giant from entering, he repeatedly pulled the trigger of his pistol.

The moment Elena saw that, she dropped to her knees and sank into Ominous Imagination.

As for me...

“Damn it! Aksha's-”

“Seung-yeop! Stop screwing around and check on Song-i! Now!”

“... Yes.”

Song-i couldn't properly get up from the bed. It looked like a stone falling from the ceiling had broken a bone.

“Seung-yeop...”

“Song-i!”

“Take me to the door.”

A moment later, her bracelet flashed, and the monster rampaging in front of the door disappeared.

Song-i murmured weakly.

“It'll only buy us a little time. I don't have enough strength...”

Grandpa hurriedly looked around.

“Where are A-ri and Mi-ro? Where did they both go?”

“Room 105 collapsed, but neither of them appeared. That means...”

“They weren't in Room 105! But it's crawling with monsters outside. What happened?”

“Maybe they couldn't get in?”

“Damn it!”

--- Boom!

This time, a tentacle covered in gleaming green slime tore through the wall!

“What the hell is this one?”

I deeply sympathized with Grandpa's scream.

First Wraiths, then a giant with black scales, and now green tentacles.

It felt like every monster in the hotel was coming out at once.

The instant the wall collapsed, the sight outside left us completely speechless.

A gigantic plant writhed near the desk, sending roots in every direction.

Near the fountain, a lump of flesh covered in red, rice-grain-like eyes rolled around.

The Wraiths that had appeared first were still flying through the air, while the thing that had just broken through Room 105's wall was a huge green starfish-like monster.

“This... What the...”

“...”

It was a hell beyond words.

While we had been catching our breath in Room 105, this was what had been happening outside.

--- Grrrk!

The starfish that had destroyed the wall writhed as it turned toward us.

Was it really looking at us?

I couldn't tell. It had no eyes.

Just as the writhing flesh lunged toward us,

“I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

A beam of light pierced the entire corridor.

“Doctor!”

“Sang-hyeon? No, I clearly saw you leave the hotel earlier-”

“The Time Lender! Mi-ro!”

Sure enough, across the corridor stood A-ri, Mi-ro, and the doctor.

Grandpa quickly carried Song-i on his back and began to run, with Elena and me following behind.

“This way!”

As A-ri waved us over, Mi-ro gestured again. She sent the doctor back, then called Jin-cheol.

“What's going-”

Realizing the area was full of monsters, Jin-cheol stopped asking questions. Instead, he grabbed the jaws of a huge wolf lunging at him from the side and tore them apart with both hands.

“-on? What kind of mess is this?”

At that moment, Elena, whose “charging” had finally finished, rose to her feet.

“Burn, all of you!”

Flames erupted in an instant and began swallowing the entire first floor.

Even the monsters were too busy fleeing from the fire to focus on us.

Then,

“Aah! Th-the fire's coming this way!”

Elena answered calmly.

“Fire doesn't have eyes, so it can't be helped.”

Grandpa shouted in disbelief.

“Then why did you set the place on fire?”

“Looking at the ruined hotel naturally made me think of a great fire...”

A-ri shouted urgently.

“To the elevator!”

“The elevator?”

“It's safe there!”

Sure enough, once the elevator doors closed, the chaos died down as though it had all been a lie.

“...”

Everyone collapsed onto the elevator floor with dazed expressions.

Song-i, who had been groaning for a while, closed her eyes as if she had fainted.

Mi-ro had pushed the Time Lender to its limit. After sending Jin-cheol back, she leaned against A-ri's shoulder.

Elena, Grandpa, and I were no less exhausted.

A brief silence passed.

Soon, Grandpa murmured as if he'd realized something.

“The entire first floor was wrecked, and Room 105 collapsed, but the elevator is safe.”

A-ri replied.

“The hotel's first and second floors exist on different planes, and the elevator connects those two places.”

“Is the elevator itself some kind of gap in space and time?”

“I don't know. It's safe, so that's enough.”

I asked the question everyone was probably wondering.

“Why is the hotel in such a mess?”

Grandpa looked gloomy.

“I think I know. It's probably Eun-sol.”

“Eun-sol?”

“There's no doubt she got caught up in the dream too. A wish she could never normally fulfill, one she could only hope for in a dream. She must've wished for something like that.”

“...”

“She used Greedy Hand at full power without sparing a thought for our situation.”

“So that's what happened...”

A-ri sighed.

“Well, she was half out of her mind, so we can't blame her. Let's say Eun-sol has joined the Dark Hotel Party now.”

“The Dark Hotel Party?”

“It's an inner circle only some of us have joined...”

“What is that supposed to be?”

“Only people who have killed, or nearly killed, a companion can join. Song-i was the founding president, by the way.”

“...”

Grandpa sighed.

“Stop talking nonsense. What are we supposed to do now? The first floor is already completely wrecked. The second floor probably isn't in any better shape either.”

“What else can we do? We have to hold out in the elevator. We don't have any strength left.”

“The problem is how to end this damn dream. Once it's over, this chaos will disappear too.”

“Probably.”

“Come to think of it, everyone who can wake up has already woken up.”

“Hmm...”

“Song-i and I stopped by the Sanctuary of Blessings, and Seung-yeop didn't drink, so none of us got caught up in the dream.”

“Right.”

“Elena and Mi-ro both woke up after something like a confession.”

Elena panicked at that.

“I-I didn't do that.”

Mi-ro, who still looked dazed, quickly added,

“I was the one who turned them down.”

“... Fine. Let's say neither of you did. I woke A-ri up.”

A-ri replied.

“I don't know where she is, but Eun-sol has probably woken up by now. She must've gained something by using Greedy Hand.”

“Right. Jin-cheol is the problem, but considering his personality, I don't think he'll cause a huge disaster.”

“Probably.”

“So somehow, we've dealt with eight people.”

“...”

To sum it up:

People who weren't caught up in the dream: Kim Mook-seong, Yoo Song-i, Park Seung-yeop.

People who woke up after revealing their true feelings: Elena, Mi-ro.

Person Grandpa woke up: Kim A-ri.

People who likely woke up based on the circumstances: Lee Eun-sol, Cha Jin-cheol.

In other words, the eight people remaining in the hotel had somehow begun to emerge from the chaos.

The problem was the other two.

“The two who went outside are the problem. Sang-hyeon and Ga-in. We can't wake either of them up. What are we supposed to do?”

No one could answer, and a heavy silence settled over us.

* * *

‘Nothing like this has ever happened before!’

Kim Pil-ho, an old man in a suit, sincerely thought so.

Four years ago, he had been forced out of his job in his late fifties.

Like many retirees in South Korea, he didn't have enough savings to secure the rest of his life.

The little money he had saved was swallowed up by his wife's ovarian cancer, which came as if it had been waiting for him.

He didn't resent his wife for it.

It wasn't as though she had wanted cancer, and she had spent her entire life living diligently by his side.

Instead, he resented the world.

He had thought he had devoted his life to the country and society, yet this was the reward he received?

Just as everything was falling apart, people in black suits extended a hand of salvation.

That salvation came in the form of a job that deposited over six million won into his account every month.

The people from the “company” asked only one thing of him.

Every morning, he had to go to a Research Lab full of gray walls, enter a strange room, and sit still.

That really was all.

Of course, there were several bothersome requirements.

The same outfit and hairstyle every day.

Never leave the room for eight hours.

Maintain a pose similar to that of the old man in the photograph.

There were many other minor requirements as well.

Over the years he worked there, Kim Pil-ho came to realize several more things.

At his workplace, there was a family photograph showing an elderly couple, their daughter-in-law, and their grandson and granddaughter.

The old man in the photograph looked remarkably like Kim Pil-ho. With the clothes supplied by the company and a little makeup, they were impossible to tell apart.

Also, an elderly woman resembling the old woman in the photograph waited whenever he came to work, and someone resembling the daughter-in-law appeared when he left.

In other words, three people who resembled the people in the photograph took shifts guarding it twenty-four hours a day.

...

Once he realized that, Kim Pil-ho understood the identity of the “company” that had hired him.

There was only one organization in the world that handled such strange things.

‘I was hired by the Management Bureau!’

One day, during his peaceful routine, an accident occurred.

Even he didn't know why.

Maybe it was because the spring sunlight was too warm.

A sudden wave of drowsiness clouded his mind.

--- Beeeep!

At that moment, the camera monitoring him sounded an alarm.

“Urgh, huh! D-did I fall asleep?”

As Kim Pil-ho woke with a start and stood up, he saw that the people in the photograph were looking at him.

“Wh-what? What the-”

Just as he tried to flee the workplace in horror,

--- Click!

The door locked.

* * *

「Gyaaaaaah!」

A terrible scream came through the camera, along with footage ten times more brutal than the scream.

No one in the room had nerves delicate enough to be shocked by something like this.

This kind of thing happened every day.

A man in a white lab coat calmly reported,

“Containment failure in Area 26! Requesting a response team!”

Soon, they received word that a suppression squad equipped with bulletproof and stab-resistant gear had been deployed.

The man who had filed the report spoke to the colleague beside him with a tired expression.

“This Sacrifice only lasted four years...”

“Well, Kim Pil-ho was old. It's nothing unusual. We've already narrowed it down to five replacement candidates, so send someone over.”

As he spoke, the man typed on his keyboard and submitted a revision request.

「‘Happy Family Photograph’

Serial Number: C-0362

Risk Level: D

A family photograph discovered in a home in Busan in 2013.

When the family members in the photograph are nearby, it remains docile. When they are absent, a misshapen, twisted entity emerges and commits violent acts such as □□, □□□, and □□.

Management Procedure: Containment (Contain)

The actual family is dead, but it remains docile if people with similar appearances are kept nearby.

However, if the Sacrifice does not maintain a pose similar to the photograph, it enters a dangerous state.

In that case, sacrificing the Sacrifice stabilizes it for roughly 72 hours.」

「Revision Request: Prepare for the possibility of the Sacrifice falling asleep. Administration of a stimulant rated B or higher is required.」

“That should do it...”

At that moment, a loud announcement rang out from the ceiling.

- Notice! A new Chaos Entity has been secured! Check the messenger immediately and familiarize yourselves with the details.

“Again?”

“Seriously, how are there so many monsters in a country this small?”

“Don't even start. This is the fifth Reincarnated Jesus we've caught.”

“Still no Muhammad?”