WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 407: Room 206, Curse Room - ‘The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days’ (9)
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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 268 (+36)
Current Location: Room 206, Curse Room - ‘The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days’
Sage’s Advice: 3]
- Han Ga-in
The date had changed.
Not by a day or two, but by thirty-six days.
The realization hit me like a hammer to the head.
There was a Regressor in Room 206!
It wasn't something I'd never considered.
My companions and I had discussed the types of story clichés mentioned in Revelation of Heavenly Secrets.
Regression, possession, and reincarnation had all come up as examples.
But a Regressor?
I felt like I was losing my mind.
Was suppressing supernatural abilities with Indomitable Reason not enough? And now only the enemy gets the power to turn back time?
Was this really designed to be cleared?
I'd cursed the Hotel plenty of times before, but this was too much!
...
This wasn't the time to calmly curse at it.
Think.
Every time we escaped the Curse Room and entered it again, everything reset.
In other words, from the perspective of the beings inside the Curse Room, we were Regressors.
The Regressor in Room 206 was much like us.
What did we do?
We gathered all kinds of information during the first attempt, then eliminated the dangers we'd identified beforehand during the second-
“This is bad.”
The dangers we'd identified beforehand?
That was us!
...
When I pressed my ear against the iron door, I could already hear several people moving outside.
There was no room for doubt.
The Regressor would try to kill me the moment this began. One hundred percent!
Just then, I heard someone rubbing their eyes beside me.
“What? Why the hell are you up at this hour instead of sleeping?”
I'd been moving around on my own in the communal quarters, so Peterson woke up beside me.
“Han Ga-in, you bastard. Looks like you've got plenty of energy.”
“...”
“You bastard, tomorrow you'll be working an extra hou-”
--- Thud!
“Ugh, urgh!”
I didn't have time to waste talking to this guy.
I grabbed a nearby ornament, smashed Peterson over the head with it, and took the key to the quarters.
I'd been running for about three minutes when the pursuers finally realized I'd escaped the quarters and began making a huge commotion.
“Catch him!”
“He can't have gone far!”
“Seal off the exits!”
Every word was right, which made it even more chilling.
I hadn't gone far, and if they sealed the exits, there was nowhere to run.
What the hell was I supposed to do-
--- Click!
The doors to the miners' quarters along the corridor began opening one after another.
It was late, but the noise outside had woken every foreman sleeping in the rooms.
Naturally, those violent foremen couldn't just let it slide.
“What is it? Eric! What's all this noise?”
“How should I know? Sounds like someone's running around upstairs.”
“Huh? Who's this guy in the hall? You're... aren't you one of the miners from Peterson's room? Why are you out at this hour?”
My breath caught in my throat.
Enforcers were chasing me from behind, while foremen from the other rooms blocked the way ahead.
“What the hell am I supposed to do...?”
Just as I fell into despair, realizing once again how absurd regression was as an ability, someone appeared at the end of the corridor.
“...?”
It was someone I never could've imagined seeing. For a moment, I doubted my own eyes.
Black hair that fell below her waist swayed.
Red eyes showed faintly even in the darkness.
“A-ri? What the hell is-”
The next moment, people who had appeared behind A-ri shoved the foremen aside as they approached.
“Argh! W-who are you people?”
“W-what the hell is happening today-”
A-ri emerged from the darkness and shouted firmly.
“Let's go. Right now!”
* * *
After escaping the mine with A-ri's help, I got a long explanation from her.
“These people are members of the Demon King Cult? And you came to rescue me the moment you woke up?”
“That's right.”
That meant two things.
First, A-ri hadn't been affected by the regression.
Second, A-ri had expected the Regressor to target me.
“You noticed the regression?”
“Yeah. I was outside Paradise.”
“Outside Paradise?”
“There are gaps underground that lead outside the city. Once you go through one, you can use supernatural abilities despite Indomitable Reason. The regression works the same way. Only time inside the city was turned back.”
“The Regressor was Leon Kadyrov, the mayor, right? How did you know he'd target me?”
“Because you started a revolution before time turned back.”
For a moment, I couldn't speak.
“R-revo what?”
“A revolution.”
“Don't speak metaphorically. Explain it simply-”
“It wasn't a metaphor. A real revolution. The kind where you take up bamboo spears, kill all the ruling class, and try to create a world where everyone is equal.”
“...”
Was that bastard Han Ga-in from the first run insane?
“Ahem. I understand why the mayor tried to kill me. What about the other companions?”
A-ri's expression darkened.
“Don't ask who died. Figure out who survived.”
That meant fewer people had survived.
“Eun-sol, Mook-seong, Sang-hyeon, and Song-i definitely died. Jin-cheol probably didn't survive either.”
“... Did everyone take part in the revolution?”
“They didn't participate directly. They helped you. The mayor found that out.”
“Other than us, did Seung-yeop and Elena survive?”
“Seung-yeop... I'm not sure.”
“Why?”
“He was already missing before time turned back. Maybe he escaped. When he's alone, he has a strange talent for escaping.”
It would be good if Seung-yeop had escaped, but it wasn't certain.
As we walked through the underground passages and slowly analyzed the situation, I realized something A-ri hadn't bothered to mention.
“A-ri, you practically sacrificed the Demon King Cult.”
“... That's right.”
The Cult members had raided the mine to save me.
As an Apostle, A-ri had probably used her position to claim she'd received a divine revelation or something.
After doing something like that, the mayor would never let the Cult live.
“It really feels like only the two of us are left. The Cult is practically gone too.”
“...”
“What are we supposed to do? Isn't this completely hopeless?”
A-ri nodded with a troubled expression.
“The suppression of supernatural abilities and turning back space-time. It's a little much.”
“Didn't you find any weaknesses before the regression?”
“A few. Whether it's the suppression of supernatural abilities or the space-time regression, their range only covers Paradise.”
Outside Paradise, we could use Blessings and Inheritances.
The space-time regression also only turned back time inside Paradise.
“Anything else?”
“One more thing. We may be humans who lost our supernatural abilities, but Leon Kadyrov is the same. Other than regression, he's just an ordinary human. A normal person who'll die from a single bullet.”
The moment I heard that, one goal came to mind.
“Do we have to kill the mayor?”
“... I don't know. We might need to recruit him.”
“Let's recruit him on the next run. We should at least escape once and come back first.”
Recruiting him was impossible in this run, at least.
I'd already started a revolution, so the mayor was extremely wary of me.
“We have to kill that bastard in this run. Otherwise, you and I will die.”
“That makes sense. Anyway, I'll tell you one last weakness of the mayor's forces. The Enforcers rarely come underground.”
“...”
I'd thought something was strange for a while now.
The Enforcers had seemed ready to blow up the entire mine just to chase me...
Yet the moment I entered the underground, the pursuit had practically stopped.
That was why A-ri and I could talk so leisurely.
“Why don't they come underground?”
“Could it be because there are passages leading outside?”
There were gaps all over the underground that allowed people to leave Paradise.
“Sang-hyeon told me before the regression. The mayor doesn't want information about the outside of Paradise spreading inside the city. Naturally, he'd want to hide it from the Enforcers.”
“Information that people can survive outside, even if they leave Paradise?”
“Yeah. That's why he only sends Secret Agents, who have undergone much more thorough ideological training than the Enforcers, underground to monitor the Demon King Cult.”
An outside world where people could live perfectly well, contrary to what they were taught inside the city.
The mayor knew that and kept it completely hidden from the citizens.
Something...
I felt like I understood something.
This was surely one of Room 206's major clues.
Then A-ri brought the conversation back to reality.
“Let's return to the plan to assassinate the mayor. Like you said, I think we need to kill him in this run.”
“...”
“The underground isn't safe either. The Third-Class Enforcers have backed off for now, but once time passes, Second-Class Secret Agents will come to kill us.”
“I've been thinking about it, but this really won't be easy. You say the mayor himself isn't much of a fighter, but he's always surrounded by guards.”
“Hmm...”
Another brief silence passed.
Then A-ri and I looked at each other at the same time.
“I've got it.”
“Me too.”
* * *
- Elena
“Phew...”
The grueling shoot was over.
I never thought the day would come when I found working in television this exhausting.
Even when I appeared in so-called B-grade dramas or unpopular variety shows, I enjoyed it just for the chance to be on them...
Reciting the ridiculous scripts written by trash like Patrick made me feel like I was getting stupider too.
With one sigh, I put the hard day behind me, went home, and lay down on my bed.
...
--- Rustle!
“...”
I sensed someone's presence.
Someone had broken into my house.
If I were the ordinary young woman Elena Ivanov, I might've panicked and cried without knowing what to do.
But I was a Participant who had been through it all at the Hotel, on land, at sea, and in the air.
I grabbed the golf club leaning against the bed.
All I needed was one clean swing.
I stood beside the door and waited for the intruder to enter.
...
--- Creak!
“Hiya!”
My swing, carrying enough force to kill in one blow, cut through the darkness and was about to strike the intruder.
Then I recognized who it was.
“Eek! G-Ga-in!”
I tried to stop the golf club in shock, but the world had something called inertia.
--- Bang!
“Argh!”
* * *
It took quite a while for Ga-in to wake up.
“A-are you okay?”
“...”
“Ga-in, can you see my hand?”
“... Incredible.”
“Pardon?”
“Getting chased by Enforcers after the regression was less dangerous than what just happened.”
“...”
“Elena charging at me from the darkness with a golf club was more dangerous than the two hundred Enforcers the mayor sent-”
“W-well, you snuck into my house in the dark!”
“Ugh... A-ri said she woke you up without any problems before the regression!”
“That's because A-ri hides better-”
What was Ga-in talking about?
What? Regression? A-ri woke me up without any problems?
As I stood there in confusion, Ga-in smiled faintly.
“Elena, listen to me- Ugh! No, this really hurts!”
“...”
Only after hearing the explanation did I understand the situation.
The fact that the mayor possessed the ability to turn back time was quite shocking.
“You came here through the underground, right? Because the mayor's reach doesn't extend far underground?”
“That's right.”
Why had Ga-in come to find me?
“You need me for your plan to assassinate the mayor, don't you?”
“Listen carefully.”
He explained the plan for quite some time.
“Do you understand?”
“...”
It was truly a strange assassination plan.
So...
“If the mayor were an ordinary person, a trick like this wouldn't work on him.”
“That's right.”
This assassination plan would only work on a Regressor.
Footnotes:
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