WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 397: A Midsummer Night's Dream (13)
──────
- Kim Sang-hyeon
Personally, I don't like the Management Bureau.
Maybe it'd be more accurate to say I fear them.
My Management Bureau colleagues, the people I spend every day with, might be hurt if they knew how I felt. But there's nothing I can do about it.
I still lose sleep whenever I remember what happened at the Hotel of the Deep Sea.
The Management Bureau is ruthless and has no concept of human decency.
They invoke the greater good and kill enough people to shock even ordinary demons.
And that's not all.
Outwardly, they hide it, but inwardly, they're filled with an elitist sense of superiority.
They don't see outsiders as fellow human beings, and they share important information only among themselves.
How could anyone like people like that?
Still, there is one fact I solemnly accept.
They are also this world's guardians.
A shield that has protected everyone from the Chaos filling the entire planet.
That is why I must respect their methods as well.
* * *
“Today, I'll take care of Timothy.”
“Should I contact the deacon?”
“Let's do that.”
While I was speaking with the police, Timothy looked at me with fear in his eyes for the first time.
Was he afraid he'd have to stay with me until his parents arrived?
“... Mister.”
“Don't worry. Mama is a very good cook.”
“...”
Even though I brought a child home out of nowhere late at night, Mama wasn't surprised.
“Oh my! Timothy, you're nothing but skin and bones!”
When I apologized for imposing on her, Mama Sherry answered with a smile.
If I ever got the chance, I wanted to repay her kindness.
The next morning, I began examining the boy in earnest.
His thin skin and strangely gleaming eyes were unsettling even in daylight.
Did that mean he was a monster rather than a human?
That was difficult to say as well.
I had a medical license and an enormous amount of treatment experience accumulated over countless years in Room 203.
According to my examination, the boy was still human.
“Mister, I want to play with my friends.”
“...”
“Mister!”
“Go on.”
“When is Dad coming?”
“James contacted him, so don't worry. It shouldn't take long. At the latest, he'll be here this evening.”
I carefully watched the way he spoke, his actions, and his intentions, but I still couldn't find anything unusual.
“You still don't remember the time you were missing?”
“No.”
His eyes darted around to avoid my gaze. The fine hairs on his skin stood slightly on end, and his muscles were tense.
That was a lie.
He clearly remembered something.
Should I force the answer out of him?
The Management Bureau would have tortured this child until he spilled everything he knew.
I didn't want to go that far.
I was confident I could get the information another way.
“Have you always lived near Asterlake?”
“I, I don't know!”
So he had lived near the lake.
“Someone took care of you, didn't they? Was it someone like a grandmother? Or... a monster?”
“There weren't any monsters!”
“Didn't you just say you couldn't remember?”
“...”
Like any child, he wasn't very good at lying. After only ten seconds of conversation, his words no longer matched up.
“Someone did take care of you. Who was it? Tell me.”
“I, I don't know.”
“Timothy, do you want an orange?”
“Huh?”
I picked up an orange from the table and clenched it lightly in my hand.
A moment later, it was crushed in my grip, juice running everywhere.
“H-hic!”
I stepped close, stood right in front of Timothy, and looked down at him.
I had interrogation skills, a strong build, and experience handling children.
I didn't need extraordinary mind-reading or supernatural powers to look into a child's mind.
Timothy and I had a long, “truthful” conversation.
The truth behind the incident was quite shocking.
It wasn't easy to tell how I should handle it.
* * *
Near evening, Timothy's parents arrived.
Ryan, his father, was a deacon at Rivervill Church. Betty, his mother, ran a small coffee shop. Ryan and Betty were an ordinary couple.
Perhaps they were shocked by the news that their missing child had returned. The moment they entered Mama's house and saw Timothy, their mouths fell open.
Timothy hovered restlessly around his parents.
“Ryan, you received the call, correct?”
“A-agent! James told me.”
“You know about the child's condition, right? Based on my examination, he appears to have porphyria or a similar rare, incurable disease affecting his skin. You should have him examined at a university hospital.”
“... We know. His skin had been getting worse.”
While I was speaking with James about Timothy's illness, Betty asked with a sharp expression.
“Agent. Are you sure it's only his skin that's sick?”
“What do you mean?”
“His eyes! Look at his eyes! What kind of human has eyes like that?”
The black in Timothy's eyes had disappeared, replaced by something that gave off a pale glow.
Anyone could see they were far from natural human eyes.
Instead of answering, I created a flame on my fingertip.
“Gasp!”
“Betty, do you think I know less about these matters than you do?”
“I, I didn't mean it like that.”
“His eyes changed temporarily after coming into contact with a Chaos Disaster. It's not a serious problem, and they'll return to normal within a year. Until then, he can wear contact lenses.”
“I understand. Thank you for your advice.”
The couple still couldn't hide their unease.
They had only yielded to the authority of an agent. It didn't seem like they truly accepted what I said.
After they left with their child, Mama Sherry came over to me.
“Johnny.”
“Yes?”
“I happened to overhear your conversation with Timothy yesterday.”
“...”
“Can you really leave that child with that son of a bitch and that bitch?”
I flinched at the harsh profanity coming from Mama's affable-looking mouth.
“You knew how to say things like that?”
“Johnny, I think I know what you're thinking.”
“...”
“You're an agent of the Management Bureau...”
Mama couldn't hide her gloomy expression.
* * *
For the next three days, I spent every evening near Timothy's house.
Fortunately, there was a coffee shop nearby and plenty of places to park, so I didn't draw suspicion.
“This child is ours? That can't be true!”
“Mom...”
“Don't call me Mom! Who are you, exactly?”
“Betty, can't you lower your voice?”
“Ryan, can you say that after looking at this child's eyes?”
“Well, didn't the agent say it would be fine?”
“Are agents always right? Come look for yourself!”
They were loud enough that people walking by turned to see what was happening.
That night, just as expected, something happened.
--- Looooo!
Timothy walked out of the house while singing a mysterious song.
His parents seemed to have already fallen asleep under some kind of power.
Soon, I blocked the boy's path.
“... Mister.”
“Timothy.”
“You'll keep your promise, right?”
“Yes.”
A happy expression appeared on the boy's face.
“Okay! Then please take me to my ‘mom.’”
* * *
There is a legend in the West called the Changeling.
It refers to a child fairies leave behind after kidnapping a human child. The child left behind by the fairies is always said to be disabled or physically frail.
As with most such legends, what matters isn't whether it is true, but why people came to believe it.
One prominent interpretation has a rather horrifying implication.
Caring for a child suffering from illness causes immense pain for many parents.
Naturally, some people wanted to escape their duty of care, even if that meant abandoning their child.
The Changeling became a convenient excuse.
It wasn't my child, but a child left behind by an evil fairy, so it was acceptable to abandon them.
...
The truth I learned while speaking with Timothy a few days ago brought that Changeling legend to mind.
Unlike his eyes, which had mutated after being swept up in a Chaos Disaster, the boy's skin was the result of porphyria, a type of genetic illness.
The disease caused serious symptoms such as low blood pressure, anemia, frequent vomiting, and muscle weakness.
That wasn't all.
Because porphyria made a patient's skin extremely fragile, they had to avoid ultraviolet rays and spend their entire life avoiding the sun.
There was even a claim that the urban legend of vampires began because of people with this disease.
The illness devastated not only the boy's mind, but his parents' minds as well.
At some point, their despair over his illness became hatred for their son.
The couple wanted to escape from Timothy and his incurable disease.
Timothy wished for a parent who could truly love him.
Then a miracle happened.
Timothy's true “fairy parent” appeared.
A few days ago, I made a promise to the boy during our conversation.
If his human parents wouldn't accept him, I would take him back to the Fairy.
“Mister, you heard them outside, right?”
“...”
“Those two hate me. They definitely aren't my real parents, are they?”
“...”
“I want to see Mom...”
“Yes. I'll take you to her.”
* * *
Late at night, we arrived at Asterlake.
--- Looooo!
Timothy sang a mysterious song, strange light pouring from his eyes and body.
He was probably calling for his “mom.”
A whirlpool formed in the lake, and a Fairy appeared.
I didn't know how it looked to Timothy, but it wasn't a very beautiful creature to my eyes.
Then again, what mattered to that boy wasn't its appearance, but whether it truly loved him.
Sure enough, the misshapen being made bubbling noises as it gently embraced the son it had taken into its heart.
“Mom... Mom... I missed you...”
--- Looooo...!
A boy born human, abandoned by his parents because of the illness he had been born with.
Timothy was once again embraced by a parent who could love him.
* * *
In some incidents, humans may be the source of evil.
In others, a being of Chaos may be on the side of good, or may even be the victim.
How should such matters be handled?
The Management Bureau came to a clear conclusion.
They don't think about it.
The distinction between good and evil, or who is the victim and who is the perpetrator, is a trivial issue to them.
There is always only one standard: humanity's survival.
...
When I first met Timothy, he had been wandering around downtown Austin late at night.
When I stopped him and asked why, the boy gave a simple answer.
‘I was looking for friends.’
The boy was looking for friends.
He wanted to take children his own age to his “mom.”
An inescapable, cold truth froze my heart.
* * *
Hearing my footsteps, Timothy turned toward me.
“Mister? Mister! You can see my mom, right?”
“...”
“Thank you! Thank you so much! Mom, this mister brought me back here.”
The “Fairy” let out a strange cry and looked my way.
Had it sensed danger on instinct?
It was already too late.
--- Click!
“M-mister?”
“Move aside.”
I hadn't deceived Timothy.
As promised, I brought the boy, who had been abandoned by his parents again, to the Fairy waiting at the lake.
I simply hadn't mentioned what would happen afterward.
Just as that thing had tried to use Timothy as bait to lure human children.
I used Timothy as bait to make that thing appear before me.
--- Bang!
“THIS IS AMERICA!”
My great homeland always speaks through a double-barreled shotgun.
Footnotes:
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