WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 3: Exploring the Hotel

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 1

Current Location: Level 1, Room 105 (Rest Room)

Sage’s Advice: 2]

It was an excellent meal.

I mostly stuck to spaghetti and steak, so I didn't really know about the other dishes, but those two were delicious.

Before the meal, my head had been spinning with confusion, fear, anger, and everything else. But after filling up on good food, my frustration had subsided.

Maybe humans really are animals after all...

Judging by everyone's expressions, they seemed to feel much the same way. They all looked satisfied.

Around then, I checked the clock, just in case.

Lunch lasted from twelve to one thirty, and it was currently around one twenty-four. That meant only about six minutes remained until mealtime ended.

I wasn't the only one checking the time.

"Um, it looks like everyone's more or less finished eating. Shouldn't we move somewhere else?"

"Mm... Eun-sol, why don't we keep talking here? Maybe they'll bring out coffee or something too."

"We all experienced it earlier, didn't we? Once mealtime ends, we won't be able to see one another again, like before. This is a wonderful hotel that protects our 'privacy,' after all. I don't know why such a wonderful place kidnapped us, but still. We have a lot left to talk about. We should move. Jin-cheol, how's your arm now?"

"It's fine now. It was just a scratch. And I agree with you. There are still a lot of things we need to decide, starting with what we're supposed to do right now... Let's move."

"Moving is fine, but where do we go? That monster will be outside, and once it's one thirty, we won't be able to see one another again inside the room."

At that moment, a notice appeared.

/Dear valued customers! Did you enjoy your meal?

Hotel Pioneer prepares fresh ingredients every day and has carefully selected chefs prepare meals for our guests' excellent dining experience.

We hope you always enjoy your meals.

Today's surprise event: There Are No Bad Animals in the World has ended./

For a moment, none of us could speak.

"What a perfectly timed notice."

"Very... perfectly timed. At this point, it feels like something in this hotel is watching us every moment. The moment we start talking about monsters, the event ends as if it had been waiting. Does this mean it's safe outside now?"

"There are no bad animals, my ass. If a monkey running around with a knife and trying to eat people isn't a bad animal, then what the hell is? This hotel's completely insane. What the hell was I doing to end up in a place like this?"

"Animals can get somewhat violent when they're scared of people. It's not necessarily that they're evil or violent. It's more like... an extreme defensive reaction because they're even more frightened. Something like that..."

Did Song-i like animals?

Her answer was a little out of nowhere.

"Are you saying a monkey stabbing my arm with a knife counts as a 'defensive reaction'? What kind of defense is that?"

Cha Jin-cheol was intimidating enough just from his size. When he raised his voice, Song-i, who already seemed timid, shrank back like a turtle.

The sight left Jin-cheol unable to hide his embarrassment.

"Huh. No, I just meant that's how it sounded. No... My voice got a little loud. I'm sorry. I got stabbed earlier, so thinking about that monkey makes me a little angry. I wasn't trying to say anything to you, Song-i."

This guy seemed kinder than I'd expected.

"Alright! There's really only about a minute left. Everybody get up and let's go! We need to head out and talk."

Eun-sol called out confidently, completely like the group's leader. It felt very natural, and I didn't feel any resistance to it.

It wasn't simply because she was the oldest among us. Somehow... she seemed used to taking charge and leading people. That was the feeling I got.

At Eun-sol's call, everyone naturally stood up, left the dining room, and opened the door to Room 105.

[You have gained a slight understanding of your companions.]

Clean.

Absurdly enough, outside was completely clean.

That morning, we'd fought the monster while both it and the people had thrown all sorts of things around.

Had the "shy staff" already cleaned it all up?

The traces of that brawl seemed like they would need major repairs, not just cleaning.

It was nothing new.

There was no need to question every strange thing anymore.

As we headed toward the front desk, we found drinks and snacks arranged on a table across from it.

There were exactly enough for all of us, with coffee, juice, and soda.

As if they had considered everyone's different preferences.

"Heh... These people are really thorough. If they're this thorough, just how shy are they that we haven't even seen a single hair? There are more than one or two things I'd like to ask them, even if I have to grab them by the collar and shake them."

"More than absurd... this taste is almost creepy."

"Does it taste strange, Eun-sol?"

"Not strange. It's exactly how I like it. The sugar ratio, the amount of milk. Probably even the type of beans. The color looked exactly like the color I know, so I thought, no way. You should all try yours too. I have a feeling it'll be exactly the drink each of you wants most."

At least I could immediately drink Pepsi Zero Lime, so this situation wasn't entirely bad.

Good food and drinks were good things, no matter what.

I didn't want to think any deeper about it.

After slowly sipping my drink and letting my tension ease, Cha Jin-cheol was the first to speak, as usual.

"I still don't know what the hell is going on, but my phone hasn't been able to get a signal since earlier. Is it the same for everyone?"

Everyone nodded.

"As expected... I think I've only seen something like this in articles about the Disaster Management Agency. Never thought I'd get caught up in it myself. Isn't getting out of here everyone's goal, one way or another? Let's start by checking the main entrance. It doesn't seem like whoever put us in this situation will let us leave easily, but we should still check what needs checking."

Fortunately, there was a rough layout of the building beside the front desk, and it wasn't particularly complicated.

We went down half a floor from the front desk, turned left, and followed the hallway. The main entrance stood across from us.

When we reached it, we all fell silent again.

The sky.

It really was the sky.

Outside the door, nothing but blue sky stretched out before us, with clouds far below.

The ground was so distant that we could barely see it.

The moment I tried to open the door and take a quick look down, an alert appeared.

[Opening a door in the sky without tools is suicide.]

"Ah... It says we shouldn't open the door."

"Ga-in, were you really about to open it? You can't even open a window when you're on a plane. Of course you can't open a door in the sky. I thought you were just going closer to the door."

"Hahaha. You're right. The situation was so absurd that I didn't even think."

"No, seriously... Is this hotel flying through the sky or something? I've never even imagined anything like this happening."

Eun-sol, wearing a dumbfounded expression, agreed.

"In my own way, I'd thought I'd lived well until this age, traveled abroad a lot, and seen plenty of interesting and amazing things. But I guess I'd barely lived at all, if something this absurd exists."

"At least we can't leave through here. Unless we grow wings. Haha, I never imagined Jeju Island was such an amazing place! A flying hotel, of all things!"

"Hey! There's writing here!"

At Song-i's voice, we all turned around and found strange graffiti carved into the wall to the right of the main entrance.

<Escape Route 2. Requires crafting a special tool>

What could that mean? Escape Route 2? Then did that mean there was a Route 1?

More importantly, the main entrance was actually one of the ways to escape? And what was this "special tool" supposed to be?

Was leaving through a place like this even possible without something that could fly?

And who had carved this message? I didn't think it had been the hotel.

Based on everything so far, the hotel didn't deliver information "like this."

Was there someone else in this hotel besides us?

That was starting to feel a little creepy.

I immediately shared my thoughts.

"It says Escape Route 2. There definitely has to be a Route 1, and maybe there are Routes 3, 4, and 5 too, if we're lucky. At the very least... I think there must be an easier way than finding a way to fly."

I decided to keep quiet about who might have written the graffiti.

There were already too many creepy things happening. I didn't want to make the mood even worse for no reason.

"That makes me feel a little better. Let's head back to where we were drinking coffee. The shy staff make decent coffee, at least."

We'd more or less expected it, but with a quick escape now out of reach, everyone returned to the table feeling a little deflated.

As if it were only natural, the table we had eaten and drunk from had been reset with fresh drinks and snacks, spotless as though nothing had happened.

This time, no one remarked on how strange it was.

I spoke first this time.

"First, how about we walk around the hotel and look over the layout? Something seemed strange when I looked at the building map earlier."

"I didn't notice anything. Was there something?"

"There are no stairs. The layout shows the basement, the first, second, and third floors, as well as all kinds of facilities like a gym and swimming pool, but absurdly, there isn't a single staircase. There are only elevators. Hotels don't use stairs often, but there are usually emergency staircases, aren't there? You need them for fires, earthquakes, things like that, and they should be on the layout. But I don't see any."

Cha Jin-cheol stood up immediately and inspected the map, then responded at once.

"You're right. There aren't any stairs at all. There aren't even those stairs with the blue sign showing a person running, telling you to escape this way in an emergency."

"Mm... Whatever we do, we should at least get a rough idea of this hotel's layout. If everyone's finished their drinks, let's get up and walk around to check for anything unusual. And let's stay together as much as possible. Something about this place... doesn't feel right. I don't think it's somewhere we should walk around alone."

With Eun-sol's summary of the situation, we all stood up and decided to search the hotel.

After searching the first floor for about an hour and a half, we reached the following conclusions.

1. According to the layout by the front desk, the basement contained various convenience facilities. The first floor had the front desk, the main entrance down half a floor, and "small" guest rooms. The second floor had "medium" guest rooms, while the third floor had "large" guest rooms.

2. There were no stairs in this building.

3. The elevator was the only way to travel between floors.

Footnotes:

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