WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 403: Room 206, Curse Room - ‘The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days’ (5)
──────
- Kim A-ri
Dim lighting, stale air, and a faintly unpleasant smell.
Paradise already offered a quality of life close to rock bottom, but the underground cavern I was in now was miserable even by Paradise's standards.
There was no proper ventilation, let alone electricity.
Well over a few hundred people had gathered here.
“Everyone! Today's sermon is about ‘equality.’ We are all glorious descendants, and under the Great Gaze, each person's class is nothing but an empty shell-”
The man on the platform preached in a booming voice.
The content itself wasn't evil at all. Even twenty-first-century human rights activists would have nodded along.
It wasn't just the sermon, either.
The atmosphere underground was remarkably warm.
For one thing, while the sermon continued, the people gathered chatted among themselves and shared food.
No one stopped people from doing as they pleased, and even the preacher occasionally cracked a joke.
A large portion of those gathered were Fourth-Class Citizens, but there were also a few Third-Class Citizens and even Second-Class Citizens.
At least in this place, no one cared about class.
In every way, it was extraordinarily different from the city's oppressive atmosphere.
“Shall we talk about the Progenitor for the first time in a while?”
After opening with that, the preacher began discussing Paradise's ‘true’ history.
According to the Cult, the Progenitor was no great savior. She was a fraud who had deceived everyone.
“The Progenitor, Airavata. Some call her a Hero.”
This was probably the fictional trope mentioned in Revelation of Heavenly Secrets.
Is there any fictional trope more famous than the Hero and Demon King?
“What did Airavata say? She said she would lead us to Paradise, didn't she? Everyone, put your hands on your hearts and think! Is this Paradise?”
Countless people soon answered.
“No!”
“Are you happy?”
“No!”
“The Progenitor brought us to hell!”
The Cult then spoke of the Demon King.
“The time is approaching. Everyone, Release is close at hand. In the heart of this suffocating city, in the deepest place in the world, at the heart of the star. The true savior will rise there.”
Perhaps those words moved some people deeply, because a few were crying.
“Oh, don't cry! Why are you crying? This is the happiest news in the world, so why cry? You are fortunate people. You will live to witness the savior's advent. What greater fortune could there be?”
Of course, some people couldn't adapt to this atmosphere.
They tried to hide their unease, but it was obvious from the platform.
People nervously darting their eyes around.
People gaping at the claim that the Progenitor was a fraud.
People wondering whether everyone was insane at the talk of the Demon King.
They were all recent converts.
In the Cult's words, they hadn't quite washed off the city's ways yet.
For an ordinary cult, those inexperienced believers would be extremely dangerous.
What if the gathering ended like this?
Some of those inexperienced believers would certainly report information about the Cult to the Enforcers.
The Cult knew that well too.
That was why it always carried out a certain procedure near the end of every gathering.
“Now then! Everyone, let us go see the truth.”
Truth.
This was the Demon King worshipers' most powerful weapon.
* * *
Paradise had been built long ago and maintained over many years.
As a result, the deeper underground one went, the more endlessly complicated its structure became, like an anthill. Even the Enforcers didn't know every underground passage.
The Cult didn't know all of Paradise's underground passages either.
It had simply developed several routes the Enforcers didn't know about.
The preacher led the hundreds gathered at the meeting through one of those hidden routes.
Thick cables tangled together, pipes of unknown purpose, and conduits endlessly spewing steam.
They all resembled veins supporting this complicated city.
After walking between those veins for about two hours, they finally arrived before a wall so massive that its end couldn't be seen.
The preacher asked a question.
“Everyone, do you know what this wall is?”
Believers who had already come here several times answered at once.
“The Door of Truth!”
“Ha ha, that's right. It is the Door of Truth, a place the Cult considers sacred. But if I put it that way, those here for the first time won't understand, will they?”
At that point, one of the inexperienced believers finally couldn't hold back any longer.
“W-where exactly is this? And what is that gap?”
“An excellent question. Everyone, this is a door leading to the ‘outside’ of the city.”
Outside Paradise.
Citizens born and raised in Paradise had been taught this from childhood.
Paradise was humanity's last city, the final refuge the Progenitor created while the star was being destroyed.
Naturally, citizens raised on those teachings came to see the outside of Paradise as a hell where humans couldn't live.
--- Creak!
The preacher opened the gap.
“All right, everyone. Come out.”
Those who had experienced it before ran out with delighted expressions.
Those seeing it for the first time flinched in shock, but eventually, curiosity won out.
At last, people born and raised in a birdcage ran out beyond Paradise.
A sky glowing bright blue, clouds floating in the air.
An endless, sprawling plain.
Fresh air completely unlike Paradise's smoky atmosphere.
Birdsong came from every direction, while small animals ran about.
It was scenery that brought to mind a beautiful arboretum or national park.
People who had spent their whole lives working in factories in the city were seeing such a sight for the first time.
I couldn't even begin to imagine how they felt.
And then...
An elderly member of the Cult's leadership nudged me.
“Apostle.”
“...”
“Why don't you give the believers a demonstration?”
“Okay.”
I walked toward the grassland.
I could feel everyone's eyes on me.
--- Thud!
The moment I pushed off the ground, I flew into the sky like a bird.
This was outside Paradise, an area beyond the birdcage's reach.
Indomitable Reason couldn't suppress us here.
Here, my hotel companions and I became superhumans once again.
“Hup!”
Was this my third time?
I felt it every time, but using Wing Boots was incredibly difficult.
Each boot generated thrust independently.
You needed enough leg strength to hold the boots in check while controlling both feet separately.
Otherwise, your body would spin wildly through the air before dropping to the ground.
Looking down from the sky, I saw people gazing at me as though they were looking upon a god from Greek mythology.
With this, true faith would fill the hearts of those inexperienced believers-
“...”
Since I was in the sky, one person naturally caught my eye.
Someone I knew far too well.
Kim Sang-hyeon, mixed in among the believers, gave me an awkward look and nodded.
Well, I had no choice but to nod back.
* * *
- Yoo Song-i
「Hello! This is Trimborn, a reporter for Happyhappy Paradise News. Not long ago, we informed you about the tragedy at the Mirconium mine. According to the latest breaking news on the matter-」
During a meal with Leon Kadyrov, the television was broadcasting news that had been stirring up the city lately.
It was about the mine's manager and subordinates brutally murdering twenty-four miners.
Soon, someone I knew all too well appeared on camera.
“... Han Ga-in.”
「I appeal to the citizens watching this news! This incident cannot simply be written off as the sacrifice of Fourth-Class Citizens. Didn't the Progenitor divide everyone's duties long ago? Second-Class Citizens lead, Third-Class Citizens carry out orders, and Fourth-Class Citizens support them. Therefore-」
Just listening to Ga-in, he sounded like a lifelong civil rights activist fighting for Fourth-Class Citizens.
But what he was saying...
Honestly, it sounded a little sly.
He spent more time discussing the immense property damage suffered by Second-Class mine owners than mourning the deaths of the Fourth-Class mine workers.
He also made sure to repeatedly mention how wise and fair the Second-Class High Legal Officer had been in conducting the trial, and how much the officer had contributed to solving the case.
He completely bowed to the Second-Class Citizens, satisfying their sense of superiority, while placing all responsibility on the Third-Class Citizens.
He was dividing them.
Usually, that was a method used by those above to control those below. This time, he was simply using it from below against those above.
Of course, anyone with a functioning brain could see through a trick like that.
I could see it, so there was no way the person sitting beside me couldn't.
That was why ‘Father’ sitting beside me chuckled.
“Goodness, that young man knows how to work the angles.”
“... Does he?”
“Of course.”
“Isn't it too obvious? It feels like he's saying, ‘Dear Second-Class Citizens, you are innocent. Please punish the Third-Class Citizens!’”
“It is obvious. But Song-i, there are methods in this world that are obvious yet impossible to avoid.”
“Obvious, yet impossible to avoid?”
“Let's say public opinion forms according to that young man's claims. The mine owners can avoid responsibility for a complicated problem, and the High Legal Officer can turn this case into a career achievement.”
“...”
“Then those who benefit will take that young man's side, and that young man will be able to accomplish what he wants.”
Listening to him made me curious.
Why was Ga-in doing all this? What was his goal?
“Perhaps that young man wants to raise his class?”
“...”
“Hmm... He's smart enough that it wouldn't be bad to promote him to Third-Class. What do you think?”
At least I was certain that Ga-in's goal wasn't something as simple as becoming a Third-Class Citizen.
“Father, could I meet him?”
“Hm?”
Leon Kadyrov tilted his head as he looked at me.
“Song-i, people like him are rougher than they seem, so meeting him might be-”
--- Snap!
The moment I snapped my fingers, my bracelet flashed and illusions began appearing all around us.
Leon Kadyrov understood what I meant.
“You want me to bring that young man to ‘this place’?”
“Yes.”
This was a place even higher than Paradise's highest level, a floating mansion outside the city.
Indomitable Reason couldn't suppress us here.
“How strange. He just seems like a clever Fourth-Class Citizen... Tell me why.”
I hadn't spent the past few days simply eating and playing either.
I had done my best to understand what kind of person Leon Kadyrov was.
“Isn't he arrogant?”
“...”
“Well, I know he's smart... but every class should faithfully fulfill its role. Fourth-Class Citizens are like coal that burns for the city. Therefore, they should burn. Is there any need for them to scheme like this?”
“Oh?”
“Would a rebel who bared his teeth at Third-Class Citizens truly behave himself before Second-Class Citizens? He's only pretending to bow because he lacks the strength for now. So we should show him what power the Progenitor granted us.”
I talked for a while, but to sum it up, I was saying that he was arrogant for a Fourth-Class Citizen, so I wanted to teach him a lesson.
Leon Kadyrov smiled broadly.
“Good. I will summon him.”
That was the kind of answer the man liked.
As the meal came to an end, Father smiled warmly.
“Truly, I have never felt you were as dependable as I do today.”
“...”
“Sleep well, my princess.”
“... Yes.”
Leon Kadyrov sincerely loved me, his only daughter.
That fact sometimes caused me pain.
Footnotes:
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