WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 418: Room 104, Curse Room - ‘Hotel High, the Prestigious Academy’ Re (17)
──────
- Cha Jin-cheol
To meet Aurelia without killing the cultists, certain conditions were necessary, and I couldn't create those conditions myself.
That meant waiting underground for the right moment.
「When will it be?」
“...”
About half a day later, the Chat Window finally flashed.
Lee Eun-sol: Cha Jin-cheol, start!
“I've waited long enough!”
--- Fwoooosh!
“Argh! Help! Somebody save me!”
I summoned the Otherworldly Star Fragment, rolled it toward the center of the prison, then screamed like a little kid.
As if that horrifying thing had nothing to do with me.
“What? Wh-what is that?”
“It's a strange piece of stone! Let me check it-”
“Can't you see the prison transforming? Everyone, get back!”
As I naturally slipped out of the half-collapsed underground prison, dozens of cultists gathered around, murmuring among themselves.
“What the hell is that?”
“Th-the ground's about to collapse!”
The Otherworldly Star Fragment was an Inheritance with such an overwhelming presence that it couldn't have been more conspicuous.
Naturally, the cultists didn't dare approach the Star Fragment lying on the ground, so there were no casualties.
People could get out of the way, but the terrain couldn't.
Before everyone's eyes, the Star Fragment slowly began to cause the ground beneath it to collapse.
“B-bring the Saintess!”
At last, people started calling for the Saintess.
“W-which Saintess do you mean?”
“Any of them, just hurry-”
“Lady Mi-ro is currently away!”
This was it!
Mi-ro had temporarily left the school under the pretext of pursuing the vanished demon.
I'd been waiting for this moment.
Right now, only one Saintess remained in the Cult.
“Bring Lady Aurelia!”
No matter how mentally broken Aurelia was, she'd definitely come in a situation like this.
If she wouldn't come when the Cult was about to fall apart, she should quit being the Saintess.
“Hey, it's your turn now. You know that, right?”
「I'm a little nervous.」
“Lady Aurelia! This way!”
At last, the young woman who'd been damn hard to meet appeared.
“... Is it near the prison?”
Aurelia walked over with the cultists. She really was a stunning beauty, enough that I could see why Arima coveted her-
Damn it! Why did I keep trying to understand the way a Witch thought?
Cha Jin-cheol, you bastard. Get a grip!
“Yes! A strange stone- Huh? I-it suddenly disappeared?”
I sent back the Star Fragment.
I never intended to collapse the real underground city in the first place.
--- Boom!
My entire body moved like lightning with the sound of concrete exploding.
At the same time, the power of Instant activated, and the world's clock began to slow.
Ha!
An indescribable rush boiled up inside me.
One jump, and concrete exploded as my body shot forward like a missile.
With Instant added to that, I could control strength powerful enough to shock a gorilla with astonishing precision.
Explosive power, yet enough delicacy to slice a feather with a blade.
All that strength had condensed into one man, Cha Jin-cheol.
What incredible power!
What would my life have been like without the Hotel?
A failed aspiring fighter. A thirty-something whose life had gone wrong, getting older without a single decent accomplishment to his name.
My life had been shit at exactly that level, but the Hotel gave me a chance to be reborn as a hero.
At some point, I'd stopped resenting the Hotel.
Enough daydreaming!
Instant slowed the whole world, and I got carried away without realizing it.
A man whose mouth had fallen open in surprise threw himself forward to stop me.
I snapped my upper body like a spring and knocked him aside with my shoulder.
Next, a man dressed like a soldier slowly raised his rifle.
Even with the blessing of Courage and Instant accelerating my thoughts, I wasn't Superman. I couldn't move faster than a bullet.
But I didn't need to be faster than a bullet to dodge one.
I immediately threw myself to the ground and rolled forward, avoiding his aim.
Aurelia was already in front of me.
She looked a little flustered, but she didn't try to evade me.
Did she think she could beat someone like me in a fight?
If so, she was mistaken.
I hadn't come to kill Aurelia.
--- Grab!
I took Aurelia's hand.
Then -
“...”
“...”
A brief silence passed.
The sensation I felt was impossible to explain clearly.
If I had to put it poorly, it felt as though something that had weighed down my body and mind for a long time had disappeared.
It was as if an invisible ghost had been sitting on my back, and it had just vanished.
More simply put, I felt liberated.
Arima had finally left my body.
* * *
- Lee Eun-sol
Let's sort out the situation.
When we came back into Room 104, our goal was simple.
Before obtaining the Inheritance, Sacred Sun, we needed to find out what kind of item it actually was.
It would be even better if we could remove or weaken the trap the Lord had placed in the Inheritance during that process.
That's why we were investigating Room 104's secrets while keeping control of the Cult.
Ga-in said we probably needed to visit the Sacred Domain in the underground city, but only a Saintess could enter it.
The matter with the Saintesses was developing awkwardly, though.
“Things keep going wrong on Jin-cheol's end.”
“Reaally?”
“...”
Mi-ro had pushed three desks together and was lying on top of them in a cat loaf position.
We were having a serious conversation!
“Listen seriously.”
“I'm listening super seriously.”
“What kind of posture is that?”
“I am listening. Wow, Eun-sol, you just sounded exactly like a teacher!”
If I were a teacher, I'd have smacked her on the head five times already!
Mi-ro had always acted like a child, but lately she'd been hearing, “Saintess! Saintess!” everywhere, and she'd become even more full of herself.
--- Thump! Thump!
“Eek!”
--- Thump! Thump!
“A-A-ri! Th-this is a crime against the Saintess!”
“I'm playing the demon, so it's fine.”
A-ri smacked her four times, and that made me feel better.
Mi-ro couldn't do much in front of A-ri.
“I went down near the prison with Grandpa and talked through the Chat Window. According to Jin-cheol, Arima did enter Aurelia's body.”
A-ri's expression turned strange.
“Then why is she still hiding away?”
“I don't know...”
“Could the body-snatching have failed? Aurelia isn't an ordinary human, so it's possible.”
“Wouldn't Arima have killed Cha Jin-cheol if that happened?”
--- Thump!
“Why are you hitting me again?”
“Where did you get that cigarette?”
“I picked it up at school.”
“Why would you pick something like that up? And why are you trying to smoke it?”
“Think about it! When we leave a Curse Room, our bodies reset to perfect condition. So-”
“If you're about to say you want to try smoking here, that's another five hits.”
“...”
While A-ri and Mi-ro acted out an exhausting sitcom, I looked at Seung-yeop.
“You know you're the one who has to put them in the Soul Box in the end, right?”
“Yes.”
“Have you spoken with Mr. Sang-hyeon?”
Making Seung-yeop meet Aurelia was Mr. Sang-hyeon's job, since he was playing the school guard.
“But what if I put someone in it, and it's Aurelia instead of Arima?”
“... Good point.”
As I considered the complicated possibilities, someone beside us suddenly shrieked.
“Why do you keep picking on me? Eun-sol smoked earlier too!”
“You and Eun-sol aren't the sa- Huh? Eun-sol, you smoked?”
Why was Mi-ro bringing up something so pointless again?
“When I'm around your mom, my hand just reaches for cigarettes on its own.”
“I didn't know you smoked.”
“I quit more than ten years ago.”
“Then why are you smoking now?”
“Think about it. When we leave a Curse Room, our bodies reset to perfect condition, so-”
A-ri suddenly looked tired and waved her hand.
“Don't teach Mi-ro strange things. Anyway, I'll go to the Sacred Domain with Mi-ro.”
With Mi-ro?
Ah, she was planning to use The Unremarkable Girl.
“Um... I don't know if you heard, but we reached a rather annoying conclusion about Mi-ro entering the Sacred Domain.”
The Sacred Domain was originally a place only the Saintess could enter.
Could Mi-ro be called a Saintess?
The Cult was having quite a fierce debate over that question.
“They said they can't allow Mi-ro to enter alone. She has to go in with Aurelia.”
Interestingly, Aurelia had agreed.
She said that if Mi-ro wanted, they could enter the Sacred Domain together.
Mi-ro stood with a confident expression.
“I'll go!”
“...”
“Hehe! Aurelia, you little minx. If you think you can do anything to me-”
--- Thump!
“Y-you hit me again!”
“Sorry. The moment I heard that tone, my hand moved on its own.”
Mi-ro left the classroom with a slightly sulky expression.
A-ri watched her go with a worried look.
“Mi-ro is strange sometimes.”
“...”
“This is still a Curse Room. Even if it's only the first floor, how can she be that fearless? Is this-”
A-ri answered firmly.
“It isn't like that.”
“Huh?”
“Don't you see it often in war movies? Bullets and missiles are flying over someone's head, their comrade's head explodes right beside them, and they're still making childish jokes.”
“... Sometimes.”
“They don't act that way because they're mentally strong. It's because thinking deeply about it is too frightening.”
A-ri left the classroom after saying that.
“...”
“...”
When I turned toward Seung-yeop, I realized he was looking at me too.
Was it a strange sense of solidarity between two people watching the situation from relatively safe positions?
According to A-ri's analysis, Mi-ro had begun to act childish as a form of escapism.
A-ri loved and pitied Mi-ro, yet still had to take her to dangerous places.
The Hotel truly was a cruel place.
When this harsh journey was over, what kind of beings would we become?
My thoughts grew complicated.
Seung-yeop was surely thinking something similar.
He was a middle school student, but he was more thoughtful than he seemed, so-
“S-sis!”
“Yes?”
“I think Sis A-ri and Mi-ro are really, really pretty!”
“...”
“E-especially because they're wearing school uniforms, I can barely bring myself to look up-”
--- Thump!
“Argh!”
* * *
- Mi-ro
--- Click! Click!
“... How do you feel?”
“...”
--- Click! Click!
“Don't you have any strange thoughts? Like forgotten memories suddenly popping up in your head?”
“...”
--- Click! Click!
What was with this atmosphere?
Without saying a word, Aurelia led A-ri and me toward a secret place in the underground city.
“...”
A scary thought came to me.
What if Aurelia had devoured Arima?
If that was true, A-ri and I would have to fight Aurelia even though she knew our weaknesses.
Could we win?
Wouldn't it be a problem even if we did?
If Aurelia got badly hurt, the Lord might intervene.
What would happen then?
What if...
It couldn't be true, but what if...
The Lord had decided this Hotel Party was no good...
--- Gulp!
Let's stop thinking about that.
“Hmph! Aurelia, does Father still think of you as his daughter?”
“...”
“Maybe His heart has already turned toward me! Just look at me! I'm cute, talented, smart, and even young! You can't compare to-”
--- Click!
When Aurelia touched the wall, stairs leading underground appeared.
“Go.”
“...”
“You came here to resolve your doubts, didn't you? The answers to what you want to know are down there.”
“... Fine, then-”
“Only you are allowed.”
“...”
‘Only you are allowed.’
That meant she knew someone besides me was here.
A-ri finally dropped her disguise.
“So you knew. Well, you aren't an ordinary person.”
“...”
“But why should I listen to you? I have no intention of sending Mi-ro into a dangerous place alone.”
Aurelia looked calmly at A-ri.
“Believe me. You cannot endure His radiance.”
“On what grounds-”
“Father said so. Only Han Ga-in and Kim Mi-ro can endure Father's majesty...”
“So how am I supposed to believe that!”
“Kim A-ri. Believe me. You intend to accept me as a companion, don't you? By putting me in the Soul Box? But you're going to ignore my warning?”
For a moment, A-ri and I both fell silent.
This woman had learned information about us from Arima!
“Mi-ro, go down. Go down and resolve every doubt. Father has prepared a stage for everyone.”
Footnotes:
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