WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 415: Room 104, Curse Room - ‘Hotel High, the Prestigious Academy’ Re (14)
──────
- Kim A-ri
There was something we'd discussed countless times before entering.
Resolving Room 104 was actually very easy.
The condition for resolution was the destruction of the Cult hidden in the underground city beneath the Old School Building.
During our first attempt, we had been terrified of how we could possibly defeat a Cult with a huge stockpile of firearms, but that was an old concern now.
With our current strength, even dozens of soldiers armed with guns wouldn't be difficult to handle.
We didn't even need to fight directly and put ourselves at risk.
If one or two of us escaped and brought in the Management Bureau, they would clean things up somehow.
An even easier method would be to assassinate Aurelia and summon the Sacred Sun.
The Lord's goal wasn't to preserve the room forever, like the mad whale in Room 203.
The Lord wanted Room 104 resolved even more desperately than we did.
The Sacred Sun, the reward granted after Room 104 vanished, was the Lord's alter ego.
Therefore, he considered the Sacred Sun leaving the Curse Room to be his own escape.
That was Room 104's greatest problem.
Not that resolving it was difficult, but that the reward itself was suspicious.
Of course, Elena and Mook-seong had said this.
-------------------------------
“Back on the first floor, maybe the Sacred Sun could've brainwashed us... but wouldn't that be difficult now?”
“Elena has Clear Mirror, Still Water now. And Ga-in probably wouldn't be affected at all.”
-------------------------------
Ga-in, though, had reacted completely differently.
--------------------------------
“People say drizzle soaks your clothes before you know it. The Inheritance's influence will definitely be like that.”
“We'd change without realizing it?”
“The moment we obtain the Sacred Sun, I won't suddenly change and declare, ‘I'm no longer Han Ga-in. I'm the Lord. If you don't want to die, kneel before me.’ But when I come to my senses, Grandfather might be praying to me every evening.”
“Cough!”
--------------------------------
It was an oddly convincing example.
As if he'd already experienced something similar.
Anyway, that was why we'd made quite a complicated plan.
“What? What?”
“Ga-in suddenly hit the teacher!”
“D-Didn't he just use Teleportation?”
“You saw it wrong!”
“Call a teacher!”
As the classroom descended into chaos, teachers rushed in and dragged Ga-in to the Old School Building.
Amid the confusion, we waited for his signal.
* * *
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 275
Current Location: Level 1, Room 104, Curse Room ‘Hotel High, the Prestigious Academy’
Sage’s Advice: X]
- Han Ga-in
“Kids these days, I swear!”
“...”
“You got scolded by a teacher, and you throw a punch? Are you out of your mind?”
“...”
I considered getting rid of the chaperone teacher and heading to the Old School Building alone, but I didn't want to create unnecessary trouble, so I endured it.
Fortunately, the Old School Building wasn't far away.
“I brought him!”
“Leave.”
Aurelia was already waiting for me.
Had the Lord given her a revelation or a Prophetic Dream?
So I asked openly.
“Yes, what did Father say?”
Aurelia wore an inscrutable expression.
“... Father says, ‘Have you finally ended your wandering?’”
This was how I heard it.
‘You fucking idiot, are you finally ready to get on your knees and grovel before me?’
“Father, I have exhausted all the power you bestowed upon me long ago. Yet the trials remaining before me are grave, and I desperately seek your aid.”
This was how I replied.
‘Damn it. I've used up Descent, but there are still Curse Rooms left. I think I need more Inheritances, so please help me out.’
“Father says...”
“I think you can leave that phrase out now.”
“... Where has the arrogant attitude you once displayed gone?”
‘You bastard, last time you pressed the Escape Button and said there would be no next time between us.’
“I have realized how weak a being I am before these trials. Father, can you forgive this sinful son?”
‘Hey, hey. Let's forget about the past. Give me a break!’
“My son, your appearance is truly pitiful. Yet even when children repeatedly make mistakes and sometimes behave rudely, parents wait for their children to repent.”
‘You dumbass. Try getting on your knees and groveling.’
--- Thud!
The moment I heard those words, I knelt before Aurelia.
“Father, I repent for my past sins. Please grant me one more chance.”
‘Is this enough? Hey, if either of us gets hurt any more here, it'll be exhausting for both of us, so let's just let it go.’
“Resentment is like ink dropped into flowing water. The past has already been forgotten. My son, you seek mercy from me. This is truly a joyous day. Will you follow me now?”
‘I'll let it slide.’
“Of course. However, I have exhausted all the power Father bestowed upon me before. Since it will be difficult for Father to act directly, may I handle this myself?”
‘I've used up Descent. This time, you, Lord, probably can't act directly, so I'll deal with the Cult myself.’
“Do so.”
“I believe I must take ‘her’ life first. Is that acceptable?”
‘I’ll kill Aurelia first.’
“I permit it.”
‘Kill her.’
As we spoke, a hollow laugh escaped me.
It was a conversation between me and the Lord, or perhaps the Sacred Sun, but Aurelia was clearly standing right in front of me.
Right in front of Aurelia, we had openly discussed, ‘To resolve Room 104, we have to destroy the Cult, so I'll kill Aurelia,’ and, ‘Yes. Kill her.’
Aurelia didn't understand the situation at all.
She only seemed to think the god she had served all her life had devised some incomprehensible plan, and she was merely relaying his will to me.
“...”
When I stared directly at Aurelia's face, she tilted her head as if asking what was wrong.
The conclusion I'd reached from all the information gathered so far was this.
The Sacred Sun appeared when the Cult faced a crisis that threatened its existence.
In other words, when the Cult wasn't in danger, the Lord could only intervene indirectly through the Saintess.
So...
--- Shing!
“Ga-in? What's with that knife?”
If I took down only this woman while the Cult remained intact, the Lord surprisingly had no means to intervene.
--- Slash!
The Dagger I had brought from the hotel brushed across the Saintess's neck in a single stroke.
“Aaaah! W-What is this all of a sudden...”
I deliberately delayed my next attack by a beat and spoke clearly.
“Aurelia, didn't you just hear it? Father ordered me to take your life.”
“Th-That makes no sense...”
“If you can't believe me, ask Father to save you.”
--- Shing!
The Dagger came flying again, and Aurelia rolled across the floor, overwhelmed by shock and terror.
The Dagger slashed repeatedly across the Saintess's upper body.
Not one wound was fatal.
“Aaaah! F-Father! Father!”
The Saintess pleaded with the Lord again and again, her expression desperate.
By the time I came to my senses, her top had been half torn away, and her body was covered in blood from all the stabs and cuts.
And she was astonishingly voluptuous...
... G-Get a grip.
Anyway, after suffering such a terrible ordeal in such a short time, Aurelia's eyes filled with despair.
“Looks like Father hasn't granted you any power.”
“Ugh!”
“Are you stupid? That conversation earlier, your helplessness now. Don't you get it? If you were truly a faithful daughter, you should quietly strip in front of me and offer up your neck.”
“W-Why would I take off my clothes?!”
“... Forget the clothes. I mean, just die quietly!”
As I approached the bloodied Saintess lying on the floor, I thought about it.
When the god she had served all her life ordered her to die for his sake, how would she respond?
I'd found out the answer during the second attempt.
A spark flared in Aurelia's despair-filled eyes.
“Yah!”
--- Thud!
The fallen Saintess suddenly stretched out her leg and kicked me.
Just as I dramatically sprawled across the floor at the perfect moment, I finally heard the cultists from the underground city rushing up.
“Lady Aurelia! What is going on?!”
Hearing the approaching believers' footsteps, the Saintess regained her nerve and glared at me.
“Y-You vicious bastard! I will definitely...”
That was enough!
“Goodbye~!”
I immediately got up and ran outside the Old School Building.
Now Aurelia knew that her father intended to accomplish something even if it meant killing her.
I had spread the plague of distrust in the Saintess's heart.
* * *
- Kim Mook-seong
[Han Ga-in: Now!]
The signal came.
Soon, loud noises began erupting from every direction.
--- Crash!
“Aaaah, T-Teacher Cha! What is this all of a sudden...”
Cha Jin-cheol began smashing up the supply room at random.
“B-Butterflies! There are suddenly butterflies...”
“Eek! Someone collapsed when a butterfly touched them!”
“T-Teacher, what on earth is wrong with you?!”
Eun-sol used Butterfly Dream and made all the teachers in the administrative office flee.
Were the children doing well too?
I went upstairs and walked through the halls to check the situation. It looked convincing enough.
Song-i flicked her fingers, making the children fight each other with their fists, while Seung-yeop used chairs to smash windows wildly.
A-ri...
“How do I look? Am I pretty?”
“Y-You're incredibly pretty!”
“Yah!”
“Did you draw those lines beside your mouth yourself?”
“... Take this!”
Watching what A-ri was doing left me dumbfounded.
It looked like she was trying to scare the children by imitating the Red Mask ghost story...
Honestly, she was far too pretty to imitate a ghost.
Drawing red lines beside her mouth didn't make her look like a monster.
So A-ri simply started beating up the children by force.
“A-ri, your tastes really are something...”
Either way, the entire school was turned upside down in no time.
Now it was about time for me to...
“Round and round!”
“Round and round!”
“Let's dance as we spin around!”
“Clapping our hands!”
“Singing songs!”
All of a sudden, dozens of children came bursting out of their classrooms, singing.
I wondered who had done this, then saw Mi-ro grinning at the very front.
It seemed she had enchanted the children with her distinctive “Voice.”
Mi-ro soon went out to the schoolyard with the children, playing “Round and Round” with them.
“Hmm. Mi-ro's tastes are a little better than A-ri's.”
“That was a pretty rude thing to say.”
At some point, A-ri had come to stand beside me with a bored expression.
“At this point, even those Cult bastards will think some demon has invaded, right?”
A-ri nodded.
“Ahhh, probably. They'll start praying and going, ‘Lord, Lord,’ soon.”
Normally, if something this bizarre threw the school into chaos, Aurelia would have stepped in.
How would things unfold now?
If Ga-in had handled things properly, Aurelia should have been in complete inner turmoil...
As was always the case in Curse Rooms, though, I couldn't guarantee everything would go exactly as expected.
Either way, it was about time I got to work too.
“Senior, I'll head down first.”
“Senior? You don't normally call me that.”
“Next time, imitate a vampire or something instead of that unfunny Red Mask!”
--- Thud!
A-ri threw a ball at the back of my head.
* * *
When I returned to the administrative office, dozens of teachers were in disarray.
With things going this way, several teachers directly affiliated with the Cult had gathered together.
It was time to bring these people under control.
[Crowd Psychology activates!]
Footnotes:
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