Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 43

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 42: Room 104, The Cursed Room - ‘Hotel High, the Prestigious Entrance Exam School’ (2)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 16

Current Location: Level 1, Room 104 (Curse Room - Hotel High, the Prestigious Academy)

Sage’s Advice: 3]

Had I ever studied this hard in my life?

I did not think I had even studied this hard for the college entrance exam.

Of course not. A low score on that exam would not get me killed!

* * *

Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): Language Arts - 43211 53422 15323 12432

Kim Mook-seong (Teacher): Korean History - 52452 12431 11123 14123

* * *

The answers for Language Arts and Korean History had been posted. Now it was my turn to work myself to death solving the rest.

I unfolded the test paper.

Question 1. The numbers of distinct real roots of the two equations P(x) = 0 and Q(x) = 0 are 7 and 9, respectively, and the set A = {(x, y) -P(x)Q(y) = 0 and Q(x)P(y) = 0, x and y are real numbers} is an infinite set. -----

Ah. I hated it from the very first question.

Was there really no other way besides coordinating answers like this? No matter how much I thought about it, this did not seem like the right approach...

I did not know. Since I could not think of anything else, all I could do for now was solve the problems and survive.

...

Fifty minutes passed. I only managed to post the answers with less than ten minutes remaining.

Han Ga-in (Student): Mathematics - 21223 53121 45121 33315

Kim A-ri (Student): The answer to number 13 is 3, not 1.

Han Ga-in (Student): I’m unsure about number 16. Is 3 right?

Kim A-ri (Student): Think 3 is right.

So I had not been solving them alone.

That was some comfort.

As I worked through the tests until my head felt ready to burst, a problem arose during the English test.

Han Ga-in (Student): English - 23111 45231 13522 3 - Beep.

I used up the entire Chat Limit!

At least I had managed to call out the answers through number 16.

As for the last four questions... I could only hope everyone solved them properly on their own.

* * *

“Wow... You really worked hard, hyung!”

“Thanks, oppa.”

“Without Ga-in, I think we would all have ended up in the Old School Building.”

“Good work. But I think you got English number 11 wrong.”

While everyone else thanked me, A-ri added that one comment, leaving me in a subtly bad mood.

Whatever. As long as I survived in this strange hotel, that was enough.

I wanted to hold a strategy meeting, but there was no time.

The instant the test ended and we exchanged a word or two, a bell rang, ordering us back to our dormitories.

This exhausting boarding school, Hotel High, the Prestigious Academy, had extremely strict student-life rules. Once the exams were over, we were allowed to do nothing but return to our rooms and study.

* * *

It was quiet.

How long had it been since I had been this alone?

Come to think of it, before Grandpa Mook-seong and A-ri joined us, we had each been shut away in Room 105 after dinner like this. I remembered coming out once an hour to meet the others.

After Grandpa Mook-seong’s chat window opened, though, we had exchanged a word or two whenever we could, even while confined to our own rooms after dinner. The feeling of isolation had faded.

I sat alone and thought.

Was there really no other way?

To grit my teeth and endure each day by solving college entrance exam prep questions?

That could only be a temporary measure.

The danger we had identified so far was the Old School Building.

Was there any point in simply avoiding it at all costs?

I recalled the conversation I had with Eun-sol in the House of Horror.

If everyone only tried to survive, we would all die together without knowing anything.

Someone had to go to a dangerous place and gather information, even if it meant dying.

The hotel demanded sacrifice.

But... who had to make that sacrifice?

As the night deepened, I tossed and turned, agonizing over it until morning.

* * *

[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 17

Current Location: Level 1, Room 104 (Curse Room - Hotel High, the Prestigious Academy)

Sage’s Advice: 3]

The chat window erupted as soon as morning came.

Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): You idiots!!!!

Han Ga-in (Student): What? Don’t tell me we got a ton wrong?

Kim Mook-seong (Teacher): It would be better if that were the case.

Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): You solved them really well. Was it Ga-in? A-ri?

Han Ga-in (Student): Both of us.

Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): But you idiots, when you’re copying answers, you’re supposed to copy one or two wrong!

Kim Mook-seong (Teacher): How can it be that only A-ri had a few different answers, while the other four had identical answers, even for the questions they got wrong?

Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): The answers from English question 16 onward were different... The problem is that everyone got them wrong.

We were doomed. I could not believe we had failed to deliberately copy even a few answers incorrectly...

I had assumed everyone would know to do that without being told.

Park Seung-yeop (Student): Gasp.

Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): Don’t gasp. We’re doomed.

Han Ga-in (Student): What happens now?

Kim Mook-seong (Teacher): Everyone is in an uproar over cheating. Eun-sol and I argued as hard as we could that there was no evidence. We barely managed to cover it up, but today’s test is written-response.

Oh dear. Written-response questions.

Now we were really screwed. It was a change that seemed designed specifically to counter cheating through the chat window.

If we started talking at length in the chat window, our entire Chat Limit would be used up in under three minutes.

Naturally, we would not be able to properly answer even one or two written-response questions.

Yoo Song-i (Student): This is better, actually. We can’t keep enduring like this. Someone needs to check out the Old School Building.

Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): Someone does need to go, but it should be one person at a time. If we take the test now, El, Park, and Yoo will all be in danger at once. That’s too much sacrifice.

Kim A-ri (Student): I have an idea! Chat-window cheating impossible, Diverse Perspectives possible. Teachers prepare cheat sheets. Secretly give them to Song-i during test. Song-i passes them to us with Diverse Perspectives.

Kim Mook-seong (Teacher): The end times are upon us. I have never seen such masters of cheating.

Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): Old man, stop wasting characters. I’ll prepare the cheat sheets. Song-i, can you do it?

Yoo Song-i (Student): It’s hard to target the person I want with the bracelet when there are a lot of people together.

Han Ga-in (Student): Adjust everyone’s desk positions so Song-i can target us easily. We’ll practice positioning ourselves so nothing blocks the line between Song-i and each of us during the test.

Elena (Student): It might also work if someone pretends to drop something and approaches Song-i.

Kim Mook-seong (Teacher): What kind of school days did you all live through? How could you possibly be this...

Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): SHUT THE MOUTH

Cha Jin-cheol (Teacher): I’ll join the exam proctoring too.

And so, we planned a super cheating project that even involved the teachers.

Trouble struck in the very first class.

* * *

“Park Seung-yeop! You still can’t focus today? Where exactly are your eyes wandering? Are you even listening to the lesson? Come up here and solve this!”

Math class.

In the end, Seung-yeop could not hide how out of it he was. With no Blessing or anything else to rely on, he naturally could not even begin to solve the math problem.

“This won’t do. Go out and face disciplinary action!”

The moment the math teacher ordered him out for disciplinary action, a large man entered from outside the classroom as if he had been waiting and dragged Seung-yeop away.

It was nothing new, but where else in the world would a school like this exist?

Just as everyone was at a loss, Seung-yeop opened the chat window.

Park Seung-yeop (Student): Expected this. Better since I’m going alone. Will check it out.

Kim Mook-seong (Teacher): A good mindset. Don’t worry. Even if you die, rest for a while and we’ll all meet outside together.

Han Ga-in (Student): See you later!

Elena (Student): See you later!

Everyone tried to calm the mood, insisting that they would see him outside later.

Thinking about it coldly, Seung-yeop was right.

Rather than having a problem during an exam we were all taking and being wiped out in the Old School Building as a group...

It would be better to go in one person at a time and carefully figure out what the problem was.

* * *

Everyone pretended to focus on class, but their minds were fixed on Seung-yeop’s report.

Park Seung-yeop (Student): Nothing much yet. Going to Old School Building.

...

Park Seung-yeop (Student): Very old building. Strange light from windows.

...

Park Seung-yeop (Student): Inside building. Quiet. Man who brought me here disappeared.

...

Park Seung-yeop (Student): Strange sound. Singing? Going to check.

...

Park Seung-yeop (Student): Too mysterious and beautiful-

...

The report stopped.

What could it be?

An old building. Strange light. Singing. Mysterious and beautiful.

That was not nearly enough to tell what was going on.

Apparently, I was not the only one thinking that.

Lee Eun-sol (Teacher): No idea at all.

Kim A-ri (Student): Looks like he was subdued as soon as he entered. Someone with more combat power needs to go in.

She was right.

If someone was subdued as soon as they entered, as Seung-yeop had been, we could not obtain any useful information.

Someone, someone with combat power, had to enter.

Just as everyone sank into thought, Seung-yeop returned.

* * *

“What the hell? You stopped reporting, so I thought something had obviously happened to you.”

“Come on, hyung. Even if I wanted to report, there was nothing to say. I just went in, there was a teacher, I got scolded, and then came back. They nagged me to study harder and said something about my future.”

“Didn’t you say you heard singing?”

“It was just the teacher humming.”

“Seung-yeop, are you hurt anywhere?”

“No. I guess I made even Elena worry about me.”

“Oh! I’m just glad you came back unharmed.”

“That’s a relief. Still, does that mean we’re back at square one?”

Something was strange.

It had only been a brief conversation, but it was too strange. Strange light, singing, mystery, beauty.

All of that had been such a trivial matter?

Song-i, who had been sitting silently, stood up.

“Seung-yeop. Look at me for a moment.”

“Yes?”