WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 392: A Midsummer Night's Dream (8)
──────
- Han Ga-in
How hollow are words?
Is there anything in this world as meaningless as a promise?
Evil people try to deceive others for personal gain, while good people try to deceive others for a greater cause.
Therefore, every human is skilled at lying. Replacing the word “human” with “god or demon” does not make much difference.
I am no exception to that rule.
Should I blindly distrust and oppose every being I encounter, then?
If I did that, I would only turn the whole world against me.
I needed to distinguish between circumstances where promises would be kept and those where they would not.
The standard for making that judgment was whether our interests aligned.
If A and B's interests aligned, there was a high chance they would keep their promise even without coercion.
If A and B's interests clashed, all that remained was the question of who would betray the other first.
Two promises lay before me.
Apollion, the demon Ictus served, promised to find the body that would fall from the sky.
The Management Bureau promised not to interfere until the demon found my body.
I could trust the Management Bureau's promise.
Their goal was to obtain from the hotel the power needed to save the world.
They were more likely to achieve that goal if I returned to the hotel and helped the two agents.
They would keep their promise not because they were good people, but because their interests aligned with mine.
What about Apollion?
His goal was to make the mysterious parrot his servant, and he could accomplish that without finding my body.
All he had to do was use his evil power to dominate the parrot's mind.
If anything, he would likely consider it dangerous to use his power to find my body, since it could draw the Management Bureau's attention.
...
If A and B's interests clashed, how could I make them keep their promise?
I had learned that answer at the hotel as well.
I had to align our interests.
* * *
After Cain joined Ictus's Cult, faith took root in the mysterious parrot's heart.
This was another miracle brought about by the great Father.
At least, that was what Ictus believed.
“Ictus, may I offer you some advice?”
“Haha! Cain, my friend. The advice of a wise person is my favorite thing. Speak freely.”
The advice was beyond Ictus's expectations.
Cain stressed that the Cult's methods of operation were too outdated and crude.
“Ictus, how about shaving your head and beard?”
“Friend, my appearance can leave a powerful impression on the public, and-”
“It leaves a powerful impression on the Management Bureau too.”
“...”
“About 150 people gather at your assemblies. Isn't that far too few? Looking through the ledger, it seems you have only around 500 followers in total.”
“There were many casualties when I was captured recently...”
“More importantly, your methods are too outdated.”
That evening, Cain took several followers of high social standing to Seoul, saying it would teach them “new-generation proselytizing methods.”
Two days later, the followers who had gone to Seoul returned with several people in suits, who began speaking passionately.
After listening to the suited people's explanation for a long time, Ictus finally spoke.
“So the work these new followers do is a pyramid scheme-”
“Not a pyramid scheme. Network marketing!”
“F-fine. Network marketing. I understand that, but why bring people like this into the Cult all of a sudden-”
The parrot, whose appearance was mysterious but whose mind was more worldly than anyone else's, spoke.
“Ictus, believing you need to build a church to serve a god is a prejudice.”
Cain's advice was simple.
Ictus kept going around saying things like, “I am the Son of God,” so the Management Bureau sent in the military.
First, he needed to gather people and money through “network marketing.”
“No, a pyramid scheme-”
“Network marketing!”
“We lack both capital and manpower. How could we possibly run such a business...?”
“Ictus, why worry when you have me? We just have to swallow up an existing business.”
“...”
Time passed as though they had all been possessed by ghosts.
By the time Ictus came to his senses, the Cult's followers had long since fallen head over heels for a “network marketing” company called Legway.
Some pointed out that Cain's words had many flaws and that the Management Bureau would notice if they caused too much of a commotion.
Most of them were wise followers with high social standing and a good grasp of the world.
Cain persuaded them all in a single day. From Ictus's perspective, the badges pinned to the followers' chests seemed to have played a major role.
“... Follower Park Jin-sol, what is that badge?”
“I-Ictus! This is the Diamond rank! At Legway-”
Cain had divided the followers into ranks.
The followers with high standing and plenty of doubts were each given a high rank.
“Cain!”
“I'm very busy right now. What is it?”
“What are you thinking? Are you trying to turn the entire Cult into a pyramid scheme? This will destroy the Cult's unity!”
“Ictus, you need to divide people into ranks if you want to grow an organization.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Please listen calmly. What is the plan? To disguise ourselves as a legitimate business and expand our scale, right?”
“...”
“But someone needs to know about the Cult, don't they? Shouldn't there be a standard for deciding who those people are?”
Cain's words sounded absurd, yet they were strangely convincing.
While Ictus was flustered, the parrot, which had transformed into a pyramid-scheme salesman in just four days, held out a small badge.
“... What is this?”
“Golden Triple Diamond. It is the only badge of its kind. For your information, I'm a Double Diamond.”
“...”
“It is a rank only you can obtain, Ictus.”
Ictus's eyes widened at the three real diamonds embedded in the golden badge.
For some reason, Cain's plan began to seem trustworthy.
It was absolutely not because of the badge.
* * *
The next day, the followers gathered to listen to the parrot's speech.
A parrot that spoke like a person was already mysterious by its very existence, so it captured the crowd with ridiculous ease.
“Everyone! Who are we? Are we not faithful sheep chosen by the great Apollion?”
...
“How have you lived until now? Trembling in fear every day, haven't you? Groveling in terror before the swords and spears of those lawless Management Bureau scoundrels, haven't you?”
...
“It is coming. The time has come! The moment of glory has come. Now, you see the badges on your chests, right? You know everyone here is at least Platinum rank, right?”
...
“First, every household gets a BMW! You know that new headquarters going up in Bupyeong District? You all get shares in it, right?”
...
“Loyalty! More loyalty! Loyalty to Apollion's endless glory! BMW, Benz, Audi! Let's gooooo!”
“Let's gooooo!”
The followers shouted, “Let's gooooo!” with their eyes half-rolled back.
Watching the scene, Ictus was sincerely impressed.
It was the first time he had heard a sermon so blatant and worldly.
Yet that sermon spoke directly to the followers’ deepest hidden desires.
Thinking about it, it was only natural.
Who wanted to spend their entire life stuck in a small rural village?
Especially when “we” were great people chosen by the true god?
They had only been forced to cower under the Management Bureau's tyranny.
That was why the temptation to “disguise themselves as a legitimate business and grow their influence” struck them so strongly.
Of course, some remained suspicious until the end, and Ictus was one of them.
If they disguised themselves as a legitimate business, outsiders could not intervene?
That method only worked against the South Korean government.
When had the Management Bureau ever cared whether something was legal?
If something seemed off, their method was to gun everyone down, then fabricate a story for the media that 300 people had died in a gas explosion.
But...
For the past five days, the Management Bureau truly had not intervened.
That erased the last remaining doubts within the Cult.
“Ictus, it is only natural.”
“Natural?”
“To hide a tree, you hide it in a forest. You were easily discovered because you went around calling yourself Reincarnated Jesus on the Korean Peninsula, where Jesus was never even born.”
“...”
“So if you want to build a Cult, you need network marketing-”
“To my ears, that sounds exactly like saying we should start a business overflowing with con artists if we want to run a scam.”
After Cain's speech, an uncontrollable atmosphere of optimism spread through the Cult.
* * *
On the evening of the fifth day since the Cult began dreaming a new dream, Cain suddenly went mad.
It suddenly became impossible to reason with.
It suddenly turned into a monster and began throwing followers around.
It suddenly let out bizarre roars during an assembly, sending the followers fleeing.
The brainwashing of the pyramid-scheme salespeople suddenly began to wear off.
They had to hold an information session at the new Bupyeong District headquarters next week!
The Cult's new dream desperately needed the parrot's power to control people with a single flap of its wings.
Ictus's power alone was nowhere near enough.
Only then did Ictus come to a realization.
The Cult could no longer return to the past.
The dream of “Get rich!” had already been planted in everyone's hearts.
In reality, the parking lot contained nothing but small farm tractors, but in their hearts, everyone had long parked a BMW.
Late at night, the followers desperately begged Ictus to restore Cain.
Ictus could not refuse.
“...”
--- Squeeek!
“Cain.”
--- Screeech! Clatter!
“I know you're listening to me.”
“... Huh, Ictus?”
“Whew... So that’s why you’ve been raising such a commotion these past few days. Was this your intention?”
“What do you mean, intention?”
“Don't change the subject. You made us dependent on you, didn't you?”
“...”
“What do you want?”
Cain opened its beak slightly.
Ictus thought it might be Cain's way of smiling.
“You only need to keep the first promise you made.”
“A promise?”
“My body will probably fall from the sky sometime between dawn and noon tomorrow.”
“...”
“You only need to find it.”
“...”
“What is wrong? Wasn't that what you promised from the beginning? As if you never intended to keep that promise...”
“I'll be honest. If you regain your body, your power will become greater than it is now.”
Would the Cult be able to control Cain once it became stronger?
Ictus swallowed those words.
“There is an easy solution to that.”
“A solution?”
“How about having Apollion personally take custody of my body when it falls from the sky?”
“...”
“If I have any ‘foolish thoughts,’ Apollion can punish me immediately.”
Ictus considered Cain's proposal carefully.
No matter how much he thought about it, there was no flaw in Cain's logic.
If Apollion personally took and kept Cain's body when it fell from the sky?
From then on, Cain would not be able to betray the Cult.
If Cain tried anything strange, Apollion only had to destroy that body.
“I'll speak to Father again.”
“Thank you.”
“... In return, calm down today's chaos.”
“Of course.”
Late that night, the mysterious parrot apologized to the followers for the confusion caused by “a slight mistake” and gave another passionate speech.
“Let's gooooo!”
“Let's gooooo!”
This time, everyone had a Gangnam apartment in their hearts.
* * *
[U〿er: Han Ga-〿 (Wi〿dom)
D〿y: 2〿〿 〿
Cur〿ent Location: ---
Sag〿’s Advi〿e: 〿]
- Han Ga-in
At last, I regained my long-missed body.
...
The Status Window was not normal.
Unlike before, it wasn’t so broken that I couldn’t recognize a single character, but several characters were corrupted, and above all, it was blurry.
Was it because I had become too distant from my Sponsor, the source of my blessing?
Just as a cool, refreshing feeling washed through me and relieved the tightness inside, the red demon's voice rang out.
Are you ready to serve me again?
“...”
You will become my greatest servant alongside Ictus, and-
The Status Window was blurry and did not function normally.
It did not matter.
The power I was about to use was only formally included in the Status Window. It had not been granted by my Sponsor.
This power had been created from the beginning for a being to leave the hotel.
「Descent: 1 -> 0」
Footnotes:
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