WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 390: A Midsummer Night's Dream (6)

──────

- Han Ga-in

A moment later, two employees entered the place where I was being held with a clank and picked up the birdcage.

“Stay quiet.”

I nodded vigorously instead of answering, and the escape operation began in earnest.

As expected, the Management Bureau had enough security procedures to border on paranoia.

Iris scans were only the basics. There were all kinds of passwords that no one but employees could know, along with bizarre procedures that made me wonder if they were occult rituals. Security measures were layered two, three deep.

Still, people were the problem with everything.

No matter how thorough the procedures were, five employees who knew every detail of them had betrayed the Bureau.

In the end, five layers of security collapsed helplessly in less than ten minutes.

At that point, I realized that the hooded ‘Reincarnated Jesus’ was more dangerous than I'd thought.

He had bewitched five Management Bureau employees, people accustomed to supernatural beings who likely had some degree of resistance to them.

He probably wasn't the real Jesus, but he was definitely a strange man with terrifying abilities.

Soon, five employees, one strange man, and one bird arrived at an SUV parked nearby.

Then...

--- Beep!

Something unexpected began to happen.

“Stop!”

Soldiers armed with intimidating equipment began approaching from the darkness.

Had something gone wrong?

“You're leaving the containment area at a late hour.”

The words were polite, but the atmosphere was anything but friendly.

Their hands were openly resting on their guns.

“This has been authorized. Please check these.”

The soldiers carefully examined the authorization documents.

“There are no issues with the documents.”

“Then-”

“We'll inspect the rear compartment briefly.”

“W-what?”

“Open it!”

What the hell was this?

They'd just said there was nothing wrong with the documents.

Had they sensed something strange?

If the escape failed here, it was over...

The employees who had calmly led the escape were visibly flustered.

At that moment, when even I could feel their undisguised fear, the ‘Reincarnated Jesus’ rose to his feet.

“There are no anomalous entities here. You saw nothing.”

That simple sentence ended the situation.

The soldiers, who looked ready to shower us with bullets the moment things went wrong, turned away as if nothing had happened.

Soon, the believers looked at their priest as though they were about to kneel.

“Lord... Your greatness-”

“So-un, as I said, let's get out of here first.”

The Reincarnated Jesus was more practical than expected.

* * *

Once the SUV finally left the Management Bureau's territory, a subtle tension filled the vehicle again.

The believers began glancing at the birdcage, wondering what they should do with me.

Then a low voice spoke.

“Take it off now. It's a little stifling.”

“You've worked hard.”

The two employees manipulated a strange device, and the hood covering the self-proclaimed Jesus's face came off.

With an odd smile, he turned his gaze toward me.

He looked to be in his early forties.

Long hair that reached his shoulders.

Brown eyes that gave nothing away.

A face I'd seen often in sculptures and paintings.

Setting aside what the real Jesus might have looked like, the man before me resembled the image ordinary people had of Jesus quite well.

“Cute friend, are you going to scream loudly here too? It won't mean much anymore.”

Of course I wasn't.

The moment the Grimoire opened in midair, the SUV stopped.

All five employees turned to look at the self-proclaimed Jesus at once.

“My Lord, if you intend to call yourself the Messiah, shouldn't you show us something more? Your tricks so far have been... a little boring.”

The man looked around with his mouth half open.

“They said it was just a talking parrot?”

“The Management Bureau isn't the kind of place that would keep an ordinary parrot.”

“Ha ha, you're right. Still, my friend, the car should start moving again, shouldn't it? We haven't gone far enough yet.”

He wasn't wrong.

Besides, without the Status Window, I wasn't confident I could maintain the Power of the Avatar for long, so I soon released control.

The employees looked flustered, as if they had just woken from a dream. Before long, they began trembling in terror.

“M-monster! What did you-”

The self-proclaimed Jesus soothed his believers in a deliberately calm tone.

“Hyun-seok, don't worry. Start driving. What is there to fear when I'm here? Something the Management Bureau confined was never going to be an ordinary bird.”

The battle of nerves continued after that.

He watched me, and I watched him.

This kind of fight favored me in some ways. Since I had the body of a parrot, it was hard for my thoughts to show on my face.

After I revealed the Power of the Avatar, the self-proclaimed Jesus no longer took me lightly.

Still, he didn't seem afraid of me like the employees were.

Then...

“My friend, I'm glad that a mysterious connection has brought us together and placed us in the same boat. Still, shouldn't we show each other the minimum courtesy?”

“...”

“Please stop trying to control my body. I can laugh off your little prank, but Father is displeased.”

The Grimoire's power didn't work on him.

That meant his Soul Rank was high.

“Let me ask you something.”

“Gladly.”

“We can't keep calling each other friend and Lord, can we?”

“Oh, you've finally decided to introduce yourself? What should I call you?”

Maybe because I'd met a self-proclaimed Messiah, a name from the Bible came to mind.

“Cain.”

“Call me Ictus (ἸΧΘΥΣ).”

A strange sequence of letters passed through my mind.

At the very least, it wasn't English or Korean.

* * *

Ictus and I didn't speak again, and our uncomfortable coexistence continued for quite a while.

But everything had to end eventually.

At some point, I realized the SUV was no longer moving forward and was circling a certain area.

It seemed Ictus's base was nearby.

The believer driving the car probably didn't think they could bring a monster to a Sacred Land.

In the end, the silence broke.

“Cain. I've come up with an idea of my own, so hear me out.”

“...”

“You could leave this vehicle whenever you wanted. We wouldn't be able to stop you in the first place.”

“...”

“Is there something you want from us?”

“Ictus, you seem to be in a similar position. Is there something you want from me?”

Ictus nodded.

“There is. Cain, I serve someone.”

“...”

“My Father. He did not create my body, but He shaped my soul. He is the spirit who will truly awaken humanity, the one who watches all people with a holy gaze-”

“So there's something above you?”

“That's right.”

Thinking back, there had been signs.

He hid behind doctrines imitating Christianity and pretended to be not a god, but the son of a god.

That meant there was a being who filled the role of god.

And he had resisted the Grimoire's power.

I'd experienced it many times in Curse Rooms, but that wasn't something that could be done simply by being physically strong.

It was only possible when one's Soul Rank was incomparably higher than that of an ordinary person.

It meant he was connected to some kind of divine being.

I was starting to think this self-proclaimed Jesus might not be the Son of God, but perhaps the son of a demon.

“Father always laments that He is short-handed. Your talent... Father would put it to good use.”

A laugh almost escaped me.

Didn't everyone imagine, at least once, being offered an enormous salary by a global corporation?

In an era when the news discussed the severity of youth unemployment every day, here I was, choosing one of five multinational corporations offering salaries in the hundreds of millions.

Damn! Just imagining it makes me feel like I'm about to piss myself!

...

I'd imagined that countless times during high school, but I never expected the job offer would come from the Cult of some unknown evil god instead of a major corporation.

Let's think positively.

Not even graduating from Seoul National University, Harvard, or MIT would make it easy to get an offer like this.

“I have something I want too.”

“Tell me.”

Ictus watched me, his eyes shining strangely.

He definitely had some kind of power, like Elena's ability to detect lies.

It didn't matter. I had no intention of lying.

First, I needed to adjust my tone.

“I originally descended from above. Long ago, there was one who watched over all creation from a heavenly throne, and He was called the Lord. He bestowed upon me the power of the Sacred Sun. I am His eldest son and herald.”

Ictus's expression stiffened slightly.

“Well... I had no idea you were in the same line of work.”

Was that supposed to be a joke?

This bastard, a cult leader, was calling himself my colleague?

That was somehow irritating.

“After a series of accidents, I became trapped in the body of a bird, but my true essence has always been in the heavens above. I have no interest in worldly matters. I wish to return to the sky.”

“Return to the sky?”

“In five to six days, my body will begin falling somewhere from the skies of this country.”

Exactly seven days after the Hourglass turned, my body fixed in the sky would begin to fall.

The problem was that I'd slept and passed out in between, so I didn't know the exact time.

“Before my body reaches the ground-”

Before I hit the ground and die.

“You must find that body.”

Then I could return to it.

After thinking for a moment, Ictus summarized my request simply.

“In short, five or six days from now, a human body will fall from the sky. You want us to find it? Somewhere in Korea?”

“That's right.”

“You're asking us to monitor the entire sky over the Korean Peninsula for a day. The fall will only last a minute at most, so the time limit is tight too.”

“...”

“It would be impossible for me, and not easy even for the Management Bureau.”

“...”

“But it would be very easy for my great Father.”

“That's fortunate.”

“It works out well for both of us.”

“...”

“Make that request directly to Father. Father is endlessly merciful to those who serve Him, so He will gladly grant it.”

“...”

“Hyun-seok, start driving. Let us go to the Sacred Land. It has been a long time since I last saw Father.”

Ictus's intentions were painfully obvious.

He intended to take me to the god he served.

...

He was certain.

Certain that if he could somehow bring me to the Sacred Land, that being called Father could dominate me in an instant.

Then the Cult would be able to use a parrot with useful talents.

At that moment, what filled my heart wasn't fear, but curiosity.

I was genuinely curious.

How did this so-called Father compare to the Prisoner of the Hotel?

* * *

Early in the morning, the Management Bureau's peace was shattered in an instant.

“Serial Number M-0154, ‘Ictus,’ has escaped!”

“It is believed that he mentally dominated at least three internal employees-”

“There are also signs of outside interference-”

“It has been confirmed that the employees' MP 214 did not provide sufficient mental resistance-”

Breathless reports and frantic responses filled the room.

Amid it all, a man who looked to be in his late forties wore an utterly exhausted expression.

“This again...”

“Director, please approve the revision request!”

The man, Park Hyun-min, head of the Management Bureau Korea Branch, looked at the file on his desk.

「‘Ictus’

Serial Number: M-0154

Risk Level: C

An entity that led an unidentified cult group in Incheon.

Can beguile people with his gaze, behavior, and speech, but trained employees can resist.

There appears to be a divine being worshiped by the Cult, but it is presumed not to exist.

Management Procedure: Control (Manipulate)

The manifestation of his abilities can be suppressed with a C-grade restraint suit and a B-grade AT Control Device.

As his abilities are useful, it is considered worthwhile to recruit him through persuasion.」

“Most of this is wrong.”

Soon, a revised file was submitted.

「‘Ictus’

Serial Number: D-0154

Risk Level: B

An entity that led an unidentified cult group in Incheon.

Can beguile people with his gaze, behavior, and speech, and even employees cannot resist.

There appears to be a divine being worshiped by the Cult, but it is presumed not to exist.

Management Procedure: Destroy

Control and Containment are impossible. Elimination is necessary.」

Director Park's eyes stopped around the middle.

“I think this part is wrong too.”

“Pardon?”

“The divine being worshiped by the Cult. I think it really exists.”

“Even though the Incheon cultists were wiped out during the capture, it never appeared-”

“If it had the same power back then, would it have been captured in the first place?”

“...”

“It was weaker then. It grew stronger while it was confined. Do you think it got stronger by working out alone in solitary confinement?”

“Someone gave that bastard power.”

As the room began growing noisy again, another employee cautiously approached.

“D-director!”

“What is it?”

“It seems another contained entity escaped with Ictus.”

Another file was placed on the desk.

「‘Cunning Parrot’

Serial Number: C-0237

Risk Level: D

It possesses high intelligence and can freely speak human language.

It claims that it was originally a K University student named ‘Han Ga-in’ and lists several people it claims to know.

Verification has confirmed that Han Ga-in, his family, and his friends do not exist.

It threatens to escape using a ‘Grimoire.’

It is impossible to verify whether such a tool actually exists.

+ Additional Information

It is quick-witted and has the nerve to threaten cultists amid chaos.

No other special abilities have been confirmed.

Management Procedure: Containment (Contain)

Keeping it in an electrified birdcage is sufficient.

+ As this is a temporary file, remember that much of the information is unconfirmed!」

“Should we revise the management procedure? Destroy? Control?”

Director Park declared with a tired expression.

“There's no need to create more trouble. It doesn't seem to have used any remarkable power while escaping, so it probably has no great abilities.”

“I'll issue the order to shoot it.”

Footnotes:

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