WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 424: Party Time (4) - A Suspiciously Easy Event
──────
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 376
Current Location: Basement Level, Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 0]
- Han Ga-in
Unfortunately, the hidden NPC didn't appear even after the mannequin playing the Manager showed up.
Instead, the staff grabbed me by the shoulders and dragged me out of the restaurant.
A-ri got kicked out too.
“You got me kicked out because of you!”
“That can happen.”
“You're about to say something weird again, aren't you?”
“That can happen too.”
I brushed it off with a vague, “That can happen,” then thought about which room to enter next.
Unlike Elena, A-ri started following me for a very clear reason.
“It'd be unfair if I were the only one dealing with this.”
“...”
“Come on. Do it with me this time.”
I had no idea what she meant.
Did A-ri think I was pulling some kind of prank?
“You don't think I'm fooling around like Seung-yeop, do you? I'm seriously looking for the NPC.”
“I'm super serious too.”
The way she said it sounded a little like Mi-ro.
[Zoo]
“Ga-in, what about here? Song-i went in earlier.”
“If Song-i went in, we don't need to.”
“... You went into the restaurant even though I was there.”
Listening to A-ri complain gave me an idea.
“No, we should check out the zoo too. I'll go get a Protective Suit.”
“I'll get my Wing Boots~.”
* * *
Song-i had once told us about the zoo a long time ago.
There were hardly any normal animals we knew, and it was full of bizarre creatures we'd never seen before in our lives.
The moment we entered, I understood exactly what she'd meant.
“What even is that? A-ri, do you know?”
“Maybe some kind of spider?”
“Spiders like that exist? Did you see one at the Management Bureau?”
“No way.”
Instead of answering, A-ri touched the glass enclosure holding the strange creature, her mouth half open.
“‘Monster zoo’ would fit better than zoo. This makes me uneasy.”
“Ga-in, let's just drop the plan. Honestly, I'm worried about causing trouble here.”
“That uneasy feeling might be exactly what the Hotel wants. That's why we need to break it even more.”
“...”
Just then, Song-i appeared from where she'd been exploring the zoo.
“You both came to the zoo? What's going on?”
“...”
“Oppa? Why are you wearing a Protective Suit? A-ri, aren't those Wing Boots?”
“W-we just came to see the zoo too.”
At that, Song-i began excitedly explaining the animals around us.
“This one's called a Litogi, and it lived on Planet Resto 130 million years ago...”
“...”
“They say this lived on Earth 210 million years ago. It had visual organs on both its front and back. Isn't that amazing? Could it see the whole world at once?”
“...”
“Oppa, look at this. They say it was a relative of humanity from 2.3 million years ago...”
“...”
I knew Song-i liked animals, but I hadn't known she liked this bizarre kind of cryptozoology until today.
A-ri, who had been listening blankly, suddenly spoke.
“I can tell the animals like you even through the glass walls.”
“Huh? Hehe, that's the power of my blessing.”
“Good. You can control them if something happens.”
“Huh?”
“Ga-in, let's begin.”
Once A-ri made her decision, I took my stance in my Protective Suit.
“It could be dangerous, so Song-i, get out.”
“O-oppa! What's with that pose? You look like you're about to throw a punch or something.”
“...”
I took a deep breath and gathered my strength.
I only had one chance.
I poured all the karma I'd amassed at the Hotel into my fingertips.
Han Ga-in Style: Teleportation (Instantaneous Movement) Nuclear Punch!
“Hiya!”
“Aaah! What the hell are you doing?!”
--- Boom!
The entire glass wall shook with a thunderous sound.
Song-i was so startled that she collapsed onto the floor, while A-ri had already put on her Wing Boots and floated in the air.
“Even with the power of the Protective Suit behind it, it's not enough. This time, I'll use my whole body...”
The next moment, a flash of light went off, and Diverse Perspectives briefly blacked out my vision.
“...”
“Crazy, crazy, crazy! What the hell are you doing all of a sudden? Oppa, have you seriously lost your mind?”
“... Song-i. Listen...”
“Crazy, crazy, crazy!”
“... Listen. We're in the latter half of Level 2, and the NPC that still hasn't appeared...”
“I already knew something was wrong with your head!”
“No, listen to me...”
“I-I tried to ignore it, but my shoulder, my shoulder...”
“Your shoulder?”
“How did you know there's a h-heart-shaped mole on my shoulder?!”
“What does that have to do with this?”
“Tell me right now!”
I was only briefly flustered by the sudden, out-of-context mention of a mole. A-ri, who had been watching from above, came down with an interested expression.
“What mole?”
“I-I don't know either. Why am I even talking about this...”
“Don't try to change the subject! Do you know how surprised I was in Room 206?”
“I-it was just something that came to mind...”
“Something like that just came to mind? Then on A-ri's waist...”
A-ri's waist?
What was that supposed to...
At that moment, A-ri darted forward like lightning, covered Song-i's mouth, and dragged her away.
“Mmph! A-ri too!”
“We're leaving~! Ga-in, do whatever you want, whether that's wrecking the zoo or not. You've got a Protective Suit, so you'll be fine~!”
“Mmph! A-ri's waist too!”
“...”
The two of them left.
...
“Nope.”
Even after I was alone, I tried several more times to break the zoo's glass walls, but I failed.
Whether I punched them or threw my whole body against them in the Protective Suit, all I could do was make the glass tremble a little. It didn't crack at all.
“Should I ask Jin-cheol to use Star...?”
“Ha ha, please refrain from that.”
A familiar voice came from beside me.
“...”
A monster wrapped in bandages, imitating a human shape with what might have been a body or tentacles.
One of the Hotel's NPCs, the Merchant.
“It's been a long time, Ga-in.”
“... I see.”
“Ha ha! You're full of energy this morning. You broke the train window, wrecked the restaurant, and now you're at the zoo?”
“...”
Jin-cheol showed intense disgust every time he saw the Merchant, and I felt much the same.
Was it because I knew the thing beneath those bandages wasn't human?
Everything it did felt unpleasant and revolting.
Of course, the Merchant probably didn't care in the slightest.
“Please go easy on the Hotel. You're not some terrorist, so why do you keep breaking things?”
“You can fix everything the moment you blink anyway.”
“Ho ho... It's not as easy as you think, Ga-in. It all consumes resources of a sort.”
“... Still, I have to do what I need to do.”
Then the Merchant suddenly moved close to me.
“Ugh! Back off!”
“Why? You just sounded like a middle school girl.”
“Quit talking bullshit and get away from me.”
“I like you very much, Ga-in.”
--- Thud!
“...”
This time, I couldn't hold back and threw a punch.
It was disgusting even with the Protective Suit on. If I had been bare-skinned, I might've actually thrown up.
Something beneath the bandages was constantly writhing.
“Ha ha! Ga-in, you're so shy.”
“If you keep pulling this shit...”
“A refined hobby.”
“What?”
“PC cafés, billiard halls, swimming pools. Those aren't bad, but this is a luxury hotel, isn't it? You should take up a refined hobby.”
“... Tell me more.”
“Ha ha! Are you going to make me spoon-feed you? I said enough. You should understand by now.”
With the words “a refined hobby,” the Merchant disappeared like mist.
When I came outside, A-ri and Song-i had already calmed down.
After I told them the Merchant's hint, both of them tilted their heads and fell into thought.
“A refined hobby...”
“Listening to classical music? Musicals?”
“A golf course?”
“‘Refined’ doesn't really suit a hobby that involves physical activity.”
“Doesn't it?”
“Pottery?”
“Ga-in, have you ever seen a room like that?”
“No.”
As the three of us walked and tossed around different ideas, a sign appeared in front of us.
[Hotel Art Museum]
“Th-this is it!”
* * *
As I walked through the space filled with quiet silence, I thought about it.
If this place was the answer, the reason we hadn't found the hidden NPC even though Level 2 was nearly over was simple.
None of my companions had a hobby of appreciating sculptures or paintings in an art museum.
I stared intently at a strange painting hanging on the wall when A-ri came over.
“It captures the beauty of outer space.”
“Outer space?”
“Here, the black background represents space. The sparkling dots in the middle seem to depict stars in a pale world. Is that white light in the center a nebula? Anyway...”
Without a word, I pointed to the description beneath the painting.
「‘Charred Pork Cutlet’
A work by Klef aidoleon.
The black background is a frying pan, and the white space in the center is undercooked breading.」
“... Why would they hang up such a stupid picture?”
“It did its job. It fooled Kim A-ri.”
While we were having that ridiculous conversation, Song-i came over.
“Oppa, are you thinking of setting this place on fire or tearing up the paintings too?”
There was no need.
“Oh my! What scary people.”
The NPC had appeared among the artwork of its own accord.
A white-haired girl in a beret appeared with a bored expression.
“You've never come here once in all this time, and what do you say the moment you arrive? That you'll burn the paintings?”
“...”
The three of us stared at her in silence, and she introduced herself.
“Let me introduce myself again. Hi. I'm the Painter.”
After the Doctor, Merchant, and Mysterious Craftsman, the fourth hidden NPC was the Painter.
She immediately pointed at me.
“You, stay still.”
Before I could answer, the Painter quickly pulled out some paper and moved her pen at incredible speed.
“What is this all of a sudden...”
“I said stay still. Do you think I'm going to hurt you?”
Come to think of it, she had a point.
Hidden NPCs were hidden elements of the Hotel, a kind of reward, not dangerous beings.
The Merchant, Doctor, and Mysterious Craftsman had never tried to hurt us.
“...”
About five minutes later, the Painter showed us a simple black-and-white sketch.
“What do you think?”
“Th-thanks.”
A-ri and Song-i came over to look too.
“Wow~ You drew him well. It looks exactly like Oppa.”
“Come on. Isn't this a little flattering?”
“Isn't it pretty similar?”
“Maybe the face, but his proportions aren't like that.”
While the two of them evaluated me right in front of my face, the Painter looked at A-ri and swiftly moved her pen again.
A little later, she completed another drawing.
“...”
Unlike my sketch, this one looked like a scene from a horror movie.
A-ri looked at the Painter as if asking whether she was mocking her, and the Painter gave an awkward smile.
“So you're A-ri. This won't do.”
“... Why does only my picture look like this?”
“There are too many horrible things in your memories.”
Terrible memories appeared exactly as they were.
Did the Painter's drawings contain our experiences?
After hearing that, I had a question of my own.
“I have quite a few terrible memories too.”
“Ah, memories from after you entered the Hotel aren't reflected.”
Then I understood.
Before coming to the Hotel, I had been an ordinary first-year university student. Nothing horrible like A-ri's drawing could come out of my memories.
The Painter spoke again.
“Now then! Anyway, congratulations on finding me. It would've been nice if you'd come sooner, but well, your hobbies are vulgar, so it can't be helped.”
“Vulgar all of a sudden?”
“What do you think of portraits?”
“...”
“This is what I think. A portrait must contain human life itself.”
“Human life?”
“And a person's true nature comes out in extreme situations.”
Extreme situations?
“You found the hidden NPC, so you're curious about the reward, right? It's simple. From now on, show me your most terrible memories.”
Human life, extreme situations, terrible memories.
The Painter explained what we had to do through those ominous keywords, and it was surprisingly familiar.
“Isn't this like the Prayer for Rest we did in Frozen Hell?”
“That's right. The difference is that these are your own nightmares, not someone else's. Also, memories from after entering the Hotel are excluded.”
Then I understood why the Painter had told A-ri, “This won't do.”
A-ri had been a Management Bureau agent before coming to the Hotel, so she had gone through all kinds of terrible experiences.
Song-i asked a question.
“What do we get if we do this event?”
“It wouldn't be fun if I told you in advance!”
“...”
“It won't take long. Did the Dragon of Greed destroy the upper floors of the Hotel for three days? Three days will be more than enough.”
“Really?”
“Only one of you needs to do it. Choose. I'll wait, so you can bring your companions from outside too.”
I sorted out the situation.
The hidden NPC was the Painter.
The task was to escape from one's own terrible memories, like the Prayer for Rest. Memories from after entering the Hotel were excluded.
Only one person had to do it, and it didn't matter who.
Three days would be enough.
Song-i spoke carefully.
“Can't Oppa or I just do it?”
“...”
Let's exclude everyone from the Management Bureau without question.
It would be best to leave out Elena, who would have to run from Russian Secret Agents, Jin-cheol, who would suffer mentally while trapped in an unfulfilled dream, and Eun-sol, who had apparently gotten into some strange fight with her siblings.
I didn't know much about the Doctor, but the hardships in the Doctor's life probably weren't simple either.
Me, Park Seung-yeop, Yoo Song-i.
Wouldn't this be an easy event if one of the three of us did it?
How much could ordinary Korean middle and high school students have suffered?
No matter how I looked at it, this event was too easy.
That made me uneasy.
There was no such thing as an easy task in the Hotel.
“... I'll do it.”
“Oppa?”
It wasn't some heroic decision.
Like Elena said in Room 206, I simply trusted myself.
“Good!”
--- Clap!
The moment the Painter smiled and clapped her hands, my consciousness grew hazy.
「Nightmare: Han Ga-in - ‘A Family with Deep Roots’ begins!」
Footnotes:
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