Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 403

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 402: Room 206, Curse Room - ‘The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days’ (4)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 239

Current Location: Room 206, Curse Room - ‘The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days’

Sage’s Advice: 3]

- Han Ga-in

After my interview with 「Happyhappy Paradise News」 was published, I was locked in solitary confinement.

I was glad I no longer had to work in the mine. My body felt much better.

Besides, what did it mean that they'd put me in solitary confinement?

They were afraid I might do something strange, so they locked me up, but they had no intention of killing me.

News about the mysterious mass murder in the Mirconium mine had taken over the television.

Would they kill me, the key informant, at a time like this?

That would only give the press an even bigger story.

This was why, if you were going to cause trouble, you had to make it big.

As I relaxed slightly and considered the next step of my plan, the cell door suddenly opened.

--- Creak!

The moment two hulking men emerged from the darkness and pulled a hood over my head, I couldn't understand where my calculations had gone wrong.

* * *

“Hi.”

“...”

“Have you been well? I saw your name in the article.”

My calculations hadn't been wrong.

An entity I couldn't account for within the room had simply intervened.

The two hulking men who kidnapped me were Grandpa and Jin-cheol, and Eun-sol was the one who got them out.

“Wait, you're a Second-Class Citizen?”

“Apparently.”

“Wow! I started as a Fourth-Class Citizen and got thrown into the mines, while Eun-sol started out as nobility? What kind of absurdity is this-”

“Sorry, but let me talk. We barely have any time. I have to send you back within eight minutes and return to my post.”

What Eun-sol said implied something important.

Even Second-Class Citizens, whom Fourth-Class Citizens regarded as beings far above them, couldn't act freely.

In the end, they were only cogs under the city's surveillance.

“I'll tell you everyone's status first. Grandpa and Jin-cheol, listen up too.”

Han Ga-in: Fourth-Class Citizen, mine worker.

Park Seung-yeop: Fourth-Class Citizen, orphanage.

“Is Seung-yeop playing an orphan? From Emperor to-”

“Don't interrupt. We're in a hurry.”

Cha Jin-cheol and Kim Mook-seong: Third-Class Citizens, Enforcers.

Elena: Third-Class Citizen, actress.

Kim Sang-hyeon: Second-Class Citizen, special agent.

“You heard all that, right?”

“Three people are missing.”

“Mi-ro, A-ri, and Song-i. They're not on any list I can access.”

“Then that means-”

“It's one of three possibilities. First, Sealing. Second, First-Class Citizen. Third, unranked.”

“...”

“You know about Sealing. First-Class Citizens are Leon Kadyrov and those around him. With few exceptions, their identities are completely concealed. Unranked people are like people without resident registration in Korea. Most belong to criminal organizations.”

“I understand.”

“That's all the information I wanted to give you. Now it's your turn to talk. Why did you cause that mess at the mine?”

With time running short, I told her only the essentials.

“I didn't cause trouble just because the work was hard. Everyone lost their Inheritance or blessing, right? We're ordinary people now. That makes it extremely difficult to escape Paradise's control on our own.”

“Ah, so because you don't have superpowers and can't escape Paradise's control by yourselves, you decided to screw over all of Paradise?”

“... We need to create confusion if we want to move freely.”

“That makes sense. Keep it up. I'll support you, so stab them all with pitchforks or something.”

Eun-sol seriously told me to do my best to start a proletarian revolution.

Eun-sol was the youngest daughter of a chaebol family.

...

Right. This was another one of the Hotel's charms.

“You're doing well. We need to part ways since there's no time. Oh, starting tomorrow, the investigative authorities will summon you. Are you ready?”

“Of course.”

“I'll trust you.”

* * *

The next day, people in suits took me to a Second-Class High Legal Officer before dawn.

It hit me anew just how seriously the city was taking this.

Only a few Fourth-Class Citizens had died, hadn't they?

That wasn't the right way to look at it.

If it had ended as a cave-in accident, as Rupert intended, no one would have cared. But this was a murder case.

It concerned public safety across the city.

Before long, the High Legal Officer began questioning me.

“Fourth-Class Citizen Han Ga-in. Swear that from this point onward, you will speak only the truth.”

“I swear.”

“Know that if there is even one lie in anything you say before me, you will be executed immediately.”

“Of course.”

“I will now ask my questions. According to the interview you gave to a reporter from 「Happyhappy Paradise News」, Third-Class Citizen Rupert and their servants murdered twenty-four mine workers. Is that correct?”

“That is correct.”

At that moment, Rupert, who had been listening from across the room, couldn't contain their anger.

“Hey! You demonic bastard-”

--- Bang!

The High Legal Officer struck the desk with a wooden gavel and glared at Rupert.

“Rupert.”

“... Yes.”

“If you interrupt me once more, you won't leave here in one piece.”

“My apologies, esteemed Legal Officer. I won't interrupt again.”

“Han Ga-in, I will ask again. Rupert refuted your allegations as follows.”

They had questioned Rupert about the facts before me after all.

In moments like this, I could feel the difference in how Fourth-Class and Third-Class Citizens were treated.

What would Rupert claim?

Would they deny everything and invent lies from scratch?

That would make them easier to deal with.

Carelessly made-up lies would reveal their flaws after only a moment of listening.

“First, Rupert acknowledged that twenty-four mine workers were murdered. Rupert admitted that the earlier report of deaths caused by a tunnel collapse was false.”

“...”

“For your reference, Rupert, even that alone is enough to remove you from office. Do you acknowledge this?”

“I do. I will also accept punishment for my mismanagement of the mine.”

So Rupert admitted it was murder, not an accident.

Rupert had originally tried to cover up the incident because they feared ruining their career. But now that things had grown this large and Rupert was about to be charged with murder, they had given up on their career altogether.

“Rupert's next statement differs completely from the facts you described.”

“I'm listening.”

“The twenty-four victims who were murdered held the position of ‘foreman’ in the mine. Due to the nature of their work, they were likely to earn the resentment of other mine workers. You did not reveal this to the press.”

“... I acknowledge that. However, Your Honor, I hid the victims' positions because I didn't think it was necessary.”

“It wasn't necessary?”

“We all worked together in the mine. Naturally, we were close, like older and younger brothers, and we always faced difficult, exhausting work together. So there was no need to distinguish between workers and foremen-”

“Hey! What did you say? You treated foremen like older and younger brothers? You crazy lying bastard-”

--- Bang!

This time, the High Legal Officer didn't even speak. The Legal Officer simply made a small gesture.

--- Crash!

“Ugh!”

The Enforcers charged with keeping order in the courtroom ruthlessly slammed Rupert's head into the desk.

“I understand. You're saying there was no need to distinguish foremen from workers?”

“Aren't we all the same Fourth-Class Citizens anyway?”

My answer landed.

I could tell just by looking at the Legal Officer's expression.

What would a Second-Class Citizen, someone so far above us, know about mine work where lowly Fourth-Class Citizens died one after another?

The Legal Officer probably had no interest in it. Foremen or not, they all looked the same to someone like that.

“Han Ga-in, your reason for not revealing the victims' positions to the press has been explained. But Rupert claims that they did not harm the twenty-four workers.”

Wasn't it about time I put on a performance too?

I'd just said the victims were like older and younger brothers to me.

“Rupert, you bastard! Can't you hear the cries of the brothers you buried underground? Honestly-”

--- Crash!

Naturally, the Enforcers slammed my head into the wooden desk as well.

It hurt, but it was a fair trade if that act conveyed my ‘sincerity’ to the Legal Officer.

“... Cough. I'm sorry for making such a spectacle of myself.”

“According to Rupert, the murderers who harmed the twenty-four victims were the four hundred and eighty mine workers, including you. The motive was the resentment against the foremen we discussed earlier. What do you think?”

“Your Honor, is there any evidence that we harmed the victims?”

It wouldn't be easy to find.

Rupert had ordered their subordinates to thoroughly erase the evidence.

“There is none. But there is also no evidence that Rupert harmed them.”

There wasn't enough evidence to determine who the murderer was.

That put me at a disadvantage.

The mine workers, including me, were Fourth-Class Citizens, while Rupert was Third-Class.

Rupert was in the pathetic position of getting beaten every time they spoke because the Legal Officer before us was a Second-Class Citizen, but Rupert was still undeniably Third-Class, not Fourth-Class.

If the evidence was unclear, whose side would the court take?

Obviously, the Third-Class Citizen's.

Therefore, Rupert might not need evidence, but I did.

So I prepared some.

“Your Honor, that's not true. There is evidence that Rupert harmed the foremen.”

“Speak.”

“When I was interviewed by 「Happyhappy Paradise News」 a few days ago, my mind was in turmoil and I failed to mention it, but I remembered it recently. Your Honor, not all twenty-four victims died in the mine.”

The Legal Officer's eyes widened at those words.

“What?”

“I remember it clearly! Erickson, the foreman of Team Eleven! Covered in blood, Erickson escaped Rupert's clutches and fled out of the mine, to the surface.”

There was a difference between the mine and the surface.

Because of its nature, the mine was dark inside and electricity didn't work well, so there were no surveillance cameras.

The surface, on the other hand, had surveillance cameras everywhere to watch the mine workers.

Because of those cameras, every small mistake we made cut into our meals and sleep.

It was time to get something in return.

“There are hundreds of surveillance cameras on the surface! There must be footage somewhere of Erickson escaping covered in blood. If the data has been deleted, restore it and-”

Before I could finish, the Legal Officer reacted.

“Claude!”

“Yes.”

“I will issue a warrant. Take the Enforcers at once and conduct a search and seizure of the surveillance-camera records at the Mirconium mine in District 17!”

“I'll depart immediately.”

There was no way to determine who killed the twenty-three foremen who died underground.

But the one foreman who died on the surface was different.

All the miners had been trapped in the mine, yet one of the victims died on the surface?

That meant the culprit wasn't a miner.

And it was the truth.

Rupert really had killed the one foreman who died on the surface.

The world wouldn't distinguish between the foreman who died on the surface and the foremen who died underground.

When I turned my head, I saw Rupert, their face drained white as despair overcame them.

...

Now that the trial was settled, it was time for the next step.

One for all, all for one.