WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 405: Room 206, Curse Room - ‘The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days’ (7)
──────
- Kim A-ri
“We need to join the protest!”
“Isn't this our chance? To overturn the false Paradise created by the Progenitor-”
The flames of protest sweeping through the city spread to the Demon King Cult as well.
The Cult had always been hostile toward the city's leadership.
The enemy of my enemy is an ally, so from the Cult's perspective, joining the protesters was a reasonable idea.
But what about me?
I thought it through carefully.
Why was Ga-in causing all this, and what should I do?
...
Once in Room 102, and once during our first attempt at Room 104.
I'd had plenty of experience progressing through scenarios when only the two of us remained in the hotel.
That was why I could vaguely sense his intentions.
To throw the entire city into chaos and give his companions freedom to move.
And through that process, to naturally expose the secrets their enemies had hidden.
That was his goal.
Then what should I do?
--- Tap!
“Ooh! Apostle Kim A-ri, what do you think?”
I made my decision.
* * *
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 264 (+33)
Current Location: Room 206, Curse Room - ‘The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days’
Sage’s Advice: 3]
- Han Ga-in
The moment I collapsed, the city's order crumbled.
Before long, the enraged people formed a Citizen Army and began driving out the Enforcers and seizing Paradise's major government buildings.
I watched for a while, then casually got up and dusted off my clothes. Funnily enough, whether I got up or not, the Citizen Army's advance didn't stop.
After all, this chaos hadn't erupted because of me alone.
Either way, corpses piled up like mountains in the process.
Was that why?
Jin-cheol, who had been captured by the enraged Citizen Army and would have been summarily executed if I hadn't intervened, wore a pained expression.
“Ga-in, did it really have to be done this way? Was this the only way to provoke the people up top?”
“...”
The first answer that came to mind was, Why are you still like this?
This wasn't our first day in the hotel. Did he still care this much about NPC lives?
Of course, saying that would only provoke Jin-cheol for no reason.
Unlike the NPCs, he was my true companion. I needed to be considerate of him.
So I gave Jin-cheol an answer he could accept.
“Jin-cheol, don't you think all of this was inevitable?”
“Inevitable?”
“At its core, these people are only fighting against a dictator. Their grievances have built up for decades, at the very least. What happened at the mine was only the trigger.”
“...”
“If revolution is wrong, then should they keep working like slaves under Leon Kadyrov until they die?”
“T-That's not what I mean.”
In the end, Jin-cheol accepted my answer and backed down.
Just as the battle between the Citizen Army and the Enforcers grew increasingly vicious and uncontrollable, the response I'd been waiting for finally came.
The airship of Leon Kadyrov, the man who held every secret of Room 206, appeared.
「Citizens, please remain calm. How heartbroken would the Progenitor be if they knew what had happened today? Violence solves nothing.」
“Leon Kadyrov! Step down!”
“Step down!”
Cries of “Step down!” erupted from every direction.
「I have heard your demand that I step down. But before that, I would like to hear your opinions. I have served you for over thirty years. Please give me a chance to speak with you.」
Jin-cheol tilted his head as he listened to the broadcast.
“Isn't that more polite than expected?”
“Yeah. I was expecting something like, ‘You reactionaries! I'll crush you with tanks!’”
“Things have calmed down a little too, haven't they?”
“...”
Just as he said, the chaos in the city gradually began to settle.
Even the agitated people found Leon Kadyrov's words persuasive.
When you thought about it, that made sense.
If the matter could be resolved through dialogue, wouldn't that benefit everyone?
And then...
Something unexpected happened.
「Han Ga-in, I know you are still alive. Would you come this way?」
He was suddenly calling for me?
I was only startled for a moment before the surrounding Citizen Army naturally turned their eyes toward me.
“...”
“G-Ga-in! Kadyrov is calling for you.”
“...”
“If you could properly convey the hardships we've suffered...”
No matter what anyone said, I had started the revolution now shaking the city.
Naturally, I was both a famous figure and a symbol.
That was why I couldn't refuse Kadyrov's offer.
* * *
Kadyrov stood on a platform covered in red cloth, surrounded by Enforcers who followed him.
“...”
“So you're Ga-in. I've heard a great deal about you over the last few days.”
“...”
“Ah, you met Song-i a few days ago too, didn't you?”
“Yes.”
“It's unfortunate. Song-i said you weren't such a dangerous person...”
“...”
“Well, my daughter is young. She still has a lot to learn about such things.”
Countless cameras were focused on me.
Several hundred thousand people, if not more, were watching my conversation with Leon.
First, I should say something plausible.
“Mayor, what do you think caused this situation?”
“...”
“If you think it was only because of me, you're gravely mistaken. The grievances of the Fourth-Class Citizens have accumulated over many years-”
“That doesn't matter.”
What?
What was wrong with this bastard?
Didn't he know how many people were listening to this conversation?
“Rebellions happen when the time is right. There's no need to examine every reason one by one.”
“You said you wanted to talk-”
“I had to say that to get you to come out willingly. Enough of this tiresome nonsense. Seize him!”
The moment Leon Kadyrov shouted, more than ten Enforcers rushed at me.
Having lost all my supernatural abilities, I had no way to resist.
* * *
What the hell was happening?
Even as Kadyrov's people dragged me away, I couldn't understand the situation.
I hadn't stepped forward thoughtlessly earlier.
I had come out trusting in the Citizen Army, which had risen with enough force to overturn the city, and the hundreds of cameras focused on me.
Even a dictator who had completely lost his mind would normally have to show at least some restraint before enraged citizens and cameras.
Even if he intended to kill me, he'd normally secretly stage it as an accident.
But he was openly dragging me away in front of everyone?
I'd bet both my hands that war had already begun again in the city.
That man was acting as if he had no need to worry about the consequences.
I knew people who acted very much like the current Leon Kadyrov.
* * *
Kadyrov's people took me deep underground beneath the city, where three people stood before me.
They were Eun-sol, Grandpa Mook-seong, and the Doctor.
Han Ga-in, Lee Eun-sol, Kim Mook-seong, Kim Sang-hyeon.
Just looking at the list, I could guess why they had been brought here.
The three of them, aside from me, had all leaked confidential information to me.
If Jin-cheol hadn't been captured by the Citizen Army, they would have brought him here too.
“You really are something, aren't you?”
Kadyrov looked at Eun-sol, Grandpa Mook-seong, and the Doctor as if he found the situation amusing.
“Two Second-Class Citizens and one Enforcer. Aren't you all living quite comfortably?”
Eun-sol gave a bitter smile.
“I thought we might get caught, but we really did.”
“Commissioner Lee Eun-sol, you're speaking casually now? ‘We really did get caught,’ is it?”
“...”
“It really is absurd. What could you possibly have been dissatisfied with? This is why ruling a city is so difficult.”
A little later, all four “reactionaries” were bound and taken to a strange place.
“What is this...?”
--- Boom!
“What is that?”
--- Boom!
A mass of light giving off a blinding white radiance pulsed periodically, like a heart.
Leon Kadyrov spoke.
“I bring welcome news to you reactionaries.”
“...”
“You are hopeless trash. Traitors not worth keeping alive. But the Progenitor created a remarkable miracle.”
“...”
“The Progenitor gave even insects like you one final chance to serve the city.”
Serve the city?
Just as I stood there, confused by what he meant, Grandpa Mook-seong shouted harshly.
“The Soul Furnace! No, Indomitable Reason!”
Everyone turned toward him.
“Fuck! These bastards are going to offer us as sacrifices to Indomitable Reason!”
The mayor frowned and gave an order.
“How did you... Tch! Throw him in!”
The Enforcers immediately grabbed Grandpa Mook-seong by the collar and threw him toward the mass of light.
His body scattered like grains of sand in an instant and was absorbed into Indomitable Reason.
Soon, Eun-sol and the Doctor also met their deaths without being able to resist.
The mayor walked toward me with a mocking expression.
“Well? Nothing to say?”
“...”
“You seemed rather good with words on the broadcast. At least leave some last words before you go.”
“...”
“Haha! It seems your breath catches in your throat when death is right in front of you, my friend.”
I thought.
How could I survive this situation?
All my supernatural abilities had been sealed.
Muscular Enforcers, each of whom could overpower someone like me alone, filled the room.
My companions had also died without being able to resist even once.
--- Crash!
“W-Wait! Miss!”
A loud commotion came from the other side.
The Enforcers who had seemed infinitely strong to me were flustered and helpless before a single girl.
Leon Kadyrov's expression twisted.
“Why aren't you stopping her? Who told that girl unnecessary things-”
At that exact moment, my mouth moved on its own.
“Faaather-in-laaaw!”
The world stopped.
The grim-looking Enforcers and the irritated mayor alike.
Everyone stared at me as though they'd been struck with a hammer.
“W-W-W-W-W-What are you suddenly saying-”
“Sir! Mr. Leon! Song-i and I have promised each other a future!”
“W-W-What kind of crazy bullshit are you spouting-!”
“Look! Why else would your daughter have come all the way here to save me?”
As the mayor staggered with his mouth hanging open, I hurriedly shouted.
“Father-in-law! You arranged my meeting with Song-i a few days ago, didn't you?”
“When did I ever do that?!”
“That meeting was truly a moment neither of us will ever forget for the rest of our lives.”
“You bastard-”
“That day, Song-i and I talked at length as we promised each other a future. Oh, did you know Song-i has a heart-shaped mole on her right shoul-”
“Kill that son of a bitch right now! No, I'll burn him alive myself!”
Was mentioning the mole too much?
I should've just left it at saying we were engaged-
“Damn it!”
“Miss!”
Song-i finally pushed through the Enforcers and appeared before me.
Even Leon Kadyrov couldn't stop Song-i as she charged forward like a mad boar.
At last.
Song-i, the mayor's daughter, the second most exalted person in the city, my savior.
She stepped in front of me.
“If you kill this man, I'll kill myself too!”
The room froze once more.
Footnotes:
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