Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 39

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 38: Party Time! - What on Earth Happened to You?

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Day: 13

Current Location: Level 1, Room 105

Sage’s Advice: 3]

We woke up together in front of Room 103, with a sensation we had all grown used to, then made our way back to Room 105. There were no tears of joy or hugs. We all simply wore dazed expressions.

What on earth had happened?

Only one person could answer that question. The rest of us had lost consciousness after playing animals, so we had nothing to say.

Glance. Glance.

I kept watching Song-i, the only one who could answer. Something... had changed.

No matter what terrible things we went through in the hotel, we returned to normal once we got out. Even so, the change in Song-i’s demeanor was impossible to hide. Her usual timid, cowed manner was gone, replaced by an expression of boundless exhaustion. Then, just before we woke from our “sleep,” the Status Window displayed a clear message for everyone to see.

Final Resolution. Inheritance ‘Diverse Perspectives’ Acquired.

I did not know what it was, but I understood one thing. While the rest of us had been out of it, Song-i had gone on an incredible adventure alone and obtained a “treasure.”

It felt as though she had suddenly climbed to the top of the food chain among us.

Everyone watched Song-i’s mood carefully as we headed to Room 105 for lunch. Maybe she would tell us something after eating something good.

* * *

----Pop!----Pop! Clap clap clap clap clap! Clap clap clap clap clap! Clap clap clap clap clap! Clap clap clap clap clap!

The moment we entered Room 105, party poppers exploded, followed by applause that filled the entire room despite there being no one there!

/Dear valued customers! Congratulations!

All hotel staff sincerely congratulate you on discovering your first treasure.

Endless trials! Lost companions! Overwhelmingly powerful enemies! You overcame every hardship and reached the treasure! You have undoubtedly proven yourself to be the hero we have been waiting for.

Of course, we have no doubts about the rest of you either. Everyone who was invited is worthy of claiming a treasure. We are delighted to witness the heroic tale you will write.

Still, treasures possess great power and are very difficult to use. Why not spend the next three days resting and becoming familiar with how to use your treasure? Sometimes, rest is necessary before making even greater progress.

Today’s Surprise Event has begun: Party Time!

# Party Time will last for three days, during which no dangerous incidents will occur. The hotel is also said to hold secrets that reveal themselves only during Party Time?/

The boisterous announcement blinked across every display in Room 105. We were speechless for thirty seconds.

“Clap clap clap clap clap! Everyone, thank Song-i! Say it, hurry!”

Only then did the tension break, and everyone began loudly congratulating her. At first, Song-i looked flustered and exhausted, but her face gradually reddened, and she returned to a version of herself we were more familiar with.

After we summoned food and started eating amid the lively atmosphere, the hearing began.

“So, Madam Dark Song-i. Please explain exactly what happened.”

“Eun-sol! What’s with that weird name you’ve been calling me? What do you mean, Madam Dark Song-i?”

“Then let’s go with Corrupted Song-i. Until a moment ago, I was too scared of Song-i to even talk to her.”

The story Song-i slowly unfolded was deeply shocking.

A human ranch created by aliens using mind-control tools to extract human intelligence. A spaceship containing the ranch. A godlike transcendent entity that served as the ship’s engine. Her escape with that entity’s help, and the process of obtaining the Inheritance.

And... the trials.

She told us of meeting an ally in a place where countless intelligent beings were tortured forever with only their heads remaining. Of slaughtering Athanasia juveniles in a place full of them and bringing down their administrator. At that point, we could barely breathe too loudly. Then came the final trial, a battle against “us” after we had been controlled by aliens.

No one could speak.

Song-i did not say much about how she overcame that “trial,” and we did not particularly want to ask how she had killed us. So we let it pass.

Come to think of it, Song-i had played the role of killing us in the House of Horror too.

She was basically a horror-party butcher in the flesh.

Naturally, none of us said that out loud.

When the atmosphere grew unbearably cold, Eun-sol stepped in to sort things out as she always did.

“All right! What’s past is past. Let’s sort out what we need to do from here!”

“According to the announcement, we’ll be resting for the next three days. First, I think we all need time to understand that Inheritance, as it instructed us to do.”

“That works for me. Any thoughts besides Ga-in’s?”

“Dangerous things disappear during Party Time, and there are secrets that reveal themselves only during Party Time. Isn’t that basically telling us outright to explore the hotel? It looks like we should get some rest, then go explore the hotel...”

“Our time is tighter than I thought. We have to understand the Inheritance and explore the hotel. Is there anything else we should all think about?”

There was one thing that had puzzled me when I saw the Status Window immediately after waking up.

“It isn’t a big deal, but... the date on the Status Window says ‘Day 13.’ It was Day 10 when we entered, and Day 13 was our last day as animals. After that, the dates stopped being counted altogether. I don’t know what the date means, though.”

“Well, if you think about it simply, isn’t it because you got taken out at that point, Ga-in? That Status Window can only be seen by you, not us. Maybe its timekeeping doesn’t reflect anything after you died or failed.”

Was that it? It was vague, but plausible.

“Let’s go over everyone’s Blessings one more time. Mine just makes me stronger and improves my stamina. It’s very simple, but some of yours seem vague and complicated...”

“Mine is the Status Window. It even gives us alerts whenever we’re in danger.”

“Mine’s the market. I bought the Tonfa, Capsaicin, and bandages. I was about to mention this! According to Ga-in’s Status Window, it’s Day 13, right? It looks like my market time follows that date too. What I mean is, I can buy three items every week, and tomorrow is Day 14. I’m definitely buying three useful things between today and tomorrow. One of them will be more Capsaicin. Think about what the other two should be.”

“Nothing has appeared for my Luck since the Strange Family... Maybe it’s a Blessing with a long cooldown.”

“I think I understand Affinity now. Maybe it’s the ability to earn the favor of nonhuman beings...”

“You all know mine, right? Communication.”

* * *

The six Blessings had roughly revealed their nature.

Han Ga-in (20), Wisdom -> Status Window. Warnings in times of danger.

Cha Jin-cheol (31), Courage -> Enhanced physical abilities.

Yoo Song-i (17), Affinity -> Gains the favor of supernatural beings.

Park Seung-yeop (14), Luck -> Luck, literally. Maybe it has a long cooldown?

Lee Eun-sol (32), Wealth -> HP Market.

Kim Mook-seong (64), Communication -> KakaoTalk in his head. The Chat Limit is severe.

Two Blessings remained unclear.

Elena Ivanov (23), Justice.

Kim A-ri (16), Suggestion.

I thought I understood Suggestion.

A-ri herself pretended not to know, but I clearly remembered her hypnotizing me in the House of Horror. That was probably Suggestion.

After organizing what we knew so far and finishing lunch, we agreed to examine the Inheritance before planning our hotel exploration.

* * *

The moment we tested Diverse Perspectives, or rather the bracelet’s function, we learned something.

Only Song-i could use the bracelet.

Song-i took it off and gave it to someone else, but nothing happened when it was worn on anyone else’s arm. Only its rightful owner could use it.

Would future treasures have the same trait? Or was it unique to the bracelet?

Once Song-i began properly using the bracelet on us, we were all left stunned.

* * *

What was this supposed to be?

We had been taking turns experiencing the bracelet’s power for hours, but it was astonishing every time. Eun-sol’s face suddenly grew three times larger before my eyes, then she vanished and Jin-cheol appeared.

Still dazed, I reached out to touch Jin-cheol before realizing something.

There had been nothing there from the start.

Bewildered, I turned around and saw myself standing in the middle of a forest. When I turned again, I saw the sky. Clouds filled the space around me.

The power of Diverse Perspectives.

True to its name, it violently shook the senses through which we perceived the world!

I tried to resist somehow, but I had no idea how. Did every Athanasia individual carry something this absurd around?

To us, it was an outrageous, surreal item. Song-i’s reaction, on the other hand, was ambiguous.

“It feels different from when I used it on the spaceship.”

“Different? What do you mean?”

“It feels... much more restricted.”

???

“No, this is a heavily restricted state?”

“There was already a huge difference between when Athanasia used it and when I used it... but that was probably because of the user. Even compared to when I used it, though, it’s much harder now. The movement function is blocked too.”

“The movement function might have been a function of the spaceship.”

“That could be it.”

“What do you mean by much harder?”

“Using it consumes too much concentration. I can barely use it for more than ten minutes.”

“Song-i! Isn’t that probably a nerf?”

“A nerf?”

“In games, weapons used by bosses have absurd stats, right? When you defeat the boss and get that weapon, it sometimes gets heavily nerfed so it doesn’t break the game’s balance.”

“...”

“It’s funny, but that sounds pretty accurate.”

“I’ll test it one more time. This time... A-ri?”

* * *

Amazing. And enviable.

An alien species’ mind-control tool.

Its performance was not remotely comparable to the “crude toys” used by the Management Bureau. The most astonishing thing was that such ridiculous performance came at practically no cost. The “shabby toys” used by the Management Bureau could only show someone an illusion for around ten seconds by consuming a liter of blood, shortening their lifespan, or requiring a device the size of a building.

The item that girl had obtained was the size of a bracelet. It could freely toy with intelligent beings for more than ten minutes, and its only cost was a slight headache.

They kept handing out absurd items like that, so the Management Bureau could not help forcing agents into the hotel every time. Even while I was thinking that, chaos broke out all around me. The room suddenly became a sea of fire, then I found myself in a frozen snowfield, cold and all, before only my companions’ faces floated through the air.

Should I try resisting?

I felt like I might be able to... but forget it. If I made someone with that kind of ability needlessly wary of me, it would be exhausting for both of us.

Was the bracelet experiment finally ending? Whoosh! I returned to the room.

Strings of text appeared in the air.

What are you?

I remember everything.

What are you hiding?

I’ll keep watching you.

Ah, Song-i’s wariness was already at max. I really wanted to avoid this kind of situation.

But what could I do? If I had not forced myself to use my power in that “ranch,” I would have killed you and ruined everything.

It would be so exhausting if someone who had gained such a powerful ability became wary of me...

Should I do something to ease that wariness?

* * *

A-ri’s vision gradually returned to normal, and it seemed Song-i’s bracelet experiment was coming to an end.