WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 432: A Family with Deep Roots (8)

──────

- Han Ga-in

“Ha ha ha! I’ll be going now, so enjoy what little time you have left. Your fortune will soon be in my hands, so don’t spend it carelessly!”

Han Min-sang sneered at me until the very end, while I was trapped in the old man’s body.

Instead of reacting to his words, I watched his actions closely until the end.

The boy sealed the jar so its lid couldn’t be opened easily, then carefully carried it out of the hanok and ran away.

“That’s a relief.”

There was something I had worried about outside.

What if Han Min-sang took my body, then smashed the jar?

Now that he’d accomplished his goal of taking over a young boy’s body, there was no reason for him to keep the jar around.

If that happened, I’d have no way to turn things around.

Thankfully, Han Min-sang took the jar and ran instead of breaking it.

Since he himself was an evil spirit trapped in the jar, he probably knew that breaking it would curse Han Jin-seong’s hundred-billion-won fortune.

He hadn’t destroyed it because he was thinking ahead to the future where he would receive that wealth through inheritance.

That greed would be Han Min-sang’s downfall.

Let’s think calmly.

There’s an old saying: know your enemy and know yourself, and you need not fear danger in a hundred battles.

To turn this around, I needed to consider both Han Min-sang’s situation and mine.

What kind of being was Han Min-sang?

Considering the era, he was an evil spirit who had been trapped in a jar in his early teens during the late 1930s or early 1940s.

What did that mean?

Once I got past the fear an evil spirit inspired and looked at it objectively, he was just a brat who didn’t know a damn thing about life in the 2010s.

Supernatural abilities? He was somewhat strong, but nothing extraordinary.

Thinking back to when he’d tested his strength against Elena, I concluded that an adult man could overpower him without much trouble.

Then what about me?

I was Han Ga-in, inside the body of the over-ninety-year-old Han Jin-seong.

Who I was inside didn’t matter, since only I knew that. What mattered was that, from the outside, I was Han Jin-seong.

I was a man with a hundred billion won.

...

About two hours passed, and morning came.

“Elder, good morni- Gasp! What happened here last night?”

The employee froze at the sight of the children who had collapsed after crying all night and the house left in ruins by the evil spirit’s rampage.

“Hyun-seok!”

“Y-yes! Elder, what on earth-”

“Forget that and call everyone! And those little bastards who went to the tea fields, they’re at the hotel right now, aren’t they?”

Wow. Now that I was in an old man’s body, an old man’s way of talking came out naturally.

“Yes, Elder.”

“Bring them all here at once. Tell any disrespectful brat who’s late that they’d better be prepared!”

“Ah, understood.”

* * *

Let’s think about this rationally.

Even middle schooler Han Ga-in could’ve figured this much out after hearing Han Min-sang and my great-grandfather call each other older and younger brother.

How much could a brat trapped in a jar in the 1930s possibly know about the world in the 2010s?

Did Korea even have taxis, buses, or subways back then? At best, there were rickshaws.

Han Min-sang had gone outside the hanok as though he were making some grand escape, but all he could actually do was walk for a couple of hours with a middle schooler’s stamina.

He was even carrying a heavy jar, so he couldn’t have carelessly climbed a mountain. He must have headed down the main road.

I was a hundred-billion-won tycoon, and the employees under me had lived in this area for over ten years.

It took them less than an hour to catch Han Min-sang.

“Oh dear... My grandson, you must’ve had such a hard time, huh?”

“Y-you... You bastard!”

“It’s so hot out. Where were you running off to in such a hurry? You’ve got plenty of stamina!”

“Hey! You- Mmff!”

An employee beside him smiled awkwardly and covered Han Min-sang’s mouth.

“Ha ha... Ga-in was such a polite child until yesterday, but he’s acting a little strange today.”

“Mmph!”

“Why are you so energetic?”

Han Min-sang struggled, and the employee looked briefly surprised at his unexpected strength. That was all.

He didn’t have the blessing of Courage, so there was a clear limit to the strength he could produce with a middle school boy’s body.

Before long, the strongly built employee subdued him with ease.

“Seung-chan, children change from one day to the next. There’s no need to be surprised.”

“R-right.”

“How did you catch him?”

“Everyone split up to look for him, and we found him resting in the middle of the road after setting down the jar.”

I smiled as soon as I heard that.

“Well, grandson! That’s why you should’ve exercised. How out of shape are you to get caught so quickly?”

“Mmph! Mmmph! Hiya!”

“Hold him tight. Did you take good care of the jar? I told you it was worth three billion won, didn’t I?”

I’d emphasized beforehand that the jar was extremely valuable.

Sure enough, another employee brought it over, wrapped in soft cloth.

“Of course.”

“Why are the ones who went to the tea fields taking so long?”

“They said they’ll be here soon.”

Around ten minutes later, the adults who had gone to pick tea leaves yesterday returned. My parents were at the front.

They had apparently already heard the shocking news. Both of them looked pale.

Soon, my father, Han Min-seok, who was also my great-grandfather’s grandson, rushed over and dropped to his knees before me.

“Grandfather! I-I heard something strange!”

“What did you hear?”

“G-Ga-in stole something from your storage room and ran away...”

“Then what did you think when you heard that?”

Why had so many people gathered at this rural hanok in the first place?

They wanted to catch the eye of a dying man with a hundred billion won and receive even a little more inheritance.

Then his young son had stolen a jar the rich man cherished and been caught while running away with it.

My father looked like he would burst into tears if someone so much as poked him. It left me flustered.

“Grandfather... I-I’m sorry. Ga-in... Why would he do something like that...?”

“That’s what I’d like to know. He was always such a clever, good child...”

I was clever and good when I was little.

“Why would he suddenly do this? I don’t know what to make of it either... Look, there are so many witnesses here.”

The employees around us all nodded.

They had seen the boy running away with the jar from the storage room with their own eyes, so there was no room for doubt.

Just then, Uncle Jeong-ho, a relative standing nearby, quietly stepped in.

“Ha! Look at those shameless eyes. How can a thief be so brazen? Grandfather, they say you can tell what the parents are like by looking at their child, don’t they?”

“...”

“Why else would Ga-in’s character be so twisted? It’s obvious that Min-seok-”

“Ahem!”

Everyone might have been competing over the inheritance, but it was deeply unpleasant to hear him say my character was twisted.

I was clever and good when I was little!

“Jeong-ho! If Ga-in turned out this way because of Min-seok, then Min-seok turned out that way because of his father, and his father was strange because of me. Is that what you’re saying?”

“W-what? No, sir!”

“Go tend to the garden!”

“...”

“Are you not going?”

“I-I’m going!”

After sending the relative spouting nonsense to the garden, I looked back at my father, who was still on his knees.

“Grandfather...”

“Min-seok. First, you need to have a good talk with Ga-in. When the boy seems to have calmed down, send him over.”

“Y-yes, Grandfather.”

My father immediately glared at Han Min-sang as if lasers might shoot from his eyes.

The first thing awaiting an evil spirit who had emerged from a jar after seventy years was a loving beating.

* * *

--- Smack! Smack!

“Argh!”

“Han Ga-in, you brat! Won’t you be quiet?”

“W-what gives you the right to treat me like-”

“This brat still hasn’t had enough punishment!”

--- Smack!

“Agh! D-Dad...”

“Shut your mouth, you lunatic!”

--- Smack!

“Waaah!”

“Dear.”

“Don’t stop me! You need to punish theft harshly the first time it happens-”

“No, the switch broke. I’ll get you a new one, so keep punishing him properly.”

Mom was scarier than I’d thought.

Anyway, listening to the loud sound of the switch outside and Han Min-sang’s voice, which had become obedient before I knew it, made me grin.

Come to think of it, that was my body getting beaten. Why was this so fun?

Was it because I wasn’t the one feeling the pain?

“Ha... A switch really is the best medicine for a disrespectful brat, isn’t it?”

“Ha ha... Ga-in will learn a lot from being punished this time.”

Attorney Park, the man standing before me, had apparently served my great-grandfather for many years.

Unlike the other employees, he knew that my great-grandfather had worked for the Management Bureau when he was young.

“There’s something strange going on. I need to contact the Management Bureau.”

From the future’s perspective, the hundred-billion-won fortune had vanished somewhere, the relatives never questioned it, and nobody remembered anything related to the jar.

The Management Bureau was the only organization capable of that kind of cleanup.

“Elder, as you know, the Management Bureau operates official reporting channels and a website.”

“I want this handled as discreetly and flexibly as possible.”

“...”

“You know what I mean, right?”

“Flexibly... Elder, shall I contact KD?”

I didn’t know who KD was, but KD was probably a Management Bureau contact my great-grandfather knew personally.

“I’ll leave that to you.”

“What date would you prefer?”

“Tomorrow or the day after should be enough.”

“Understood.”

Attorney Park respectfully bowed his head, then hurried out.

The jar was in my hands, Han Min-sang was being caned under the watch of several people, and I had called in the Management Bureau to handle the cleanup.

Now, the most important thing remained.

I had to get my body back.

* * *

Around noon, the employees brought a trembling Han Min-sang into my room.

“Elder, we’ve brought Ga-in.”

The moment I saw Han Min-sang’s face, I burst out laughing.

“Heh heh heh! Grandson! Did you cry?”

“... You bastard-”

“Oh? What’s with that way of speaking? Haven’t you had enough punishment?”

“...”

“Seung-chan! Bring the bamboo switch-”

“G-Grandfather! I’m sorry!”

Before I could even finish, Han Min-sang dropped politely to his knees with tears in his eyes. As his legs bent, drops of blood began to fall from his calves.

“Oh dear... What’s with all that blood? Did your father beat you badly?”

“...”

“That must hurt! It must hurt! This is serious.”

It really was serious.

Those were my calves, after all!

“That’s why you shouldn’t steal and should live a good life.”

“... Just what...”

“Just what?”

“Just what do you want-”

“‘You’?”

“W-what do you want, Grandfather?”

What did I want?

I was a man with a hundred billion won.

I was someone dwelling in the body of an old man who didn’t have much time left.

That meant there was nothing under the heavens for me to fear, but this bastard had made me rather angry.

“Seung-chan.”

“Yes, Elder.”

“I heard you used to be a drill instructor in the military?”

“That’s right.”

“You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?”

Seung-chan nodded with determination.

“I’ll make him the most obedient child in the world.”

“Don’t think of him as my great-grandson. Think of it as correcting the rotten heart of a disrespectful brat from the root.”

“I’ll remember that.”

Before long, wailing started up again in front of me.

“Get down!”

“G-Grandfather, please-”

“I said get down!”

“Aaagh!”

Watching someone take over my body and scream in pain left me with complicated feelings.

Thinking that my body was suffering was unsettling, but...

I had to admit, part of me found it incredibly satisfying.

As Han Min-sang’s cries filled the room like music, I gave an order.

“Bring the jar.”

“Pardon? Ah, yes.”

What was the fundamental reason I could turn things around after losing my body?

There was no rule in the Name Tag Snatching Game prohibiting repeated attempts.

There had been no such rule among those my great-grandfather had discovered over the years, and there was no reason for such a restriction to exist in the first place.

The jar was a Magical Artifact made for human sacrifice, created for an evil purpose.

It might take issue if no sacrifice was offered, but why would it take issue with receiving sacrifices often?

I looked down at Han Min-sang, who was breathing heavily.

“Grandson.”

“Huff... Huff...”

“You’ve become a little better behaved now, haven’t you?”

“...”

Seeing the despair in the boy’s eyes made me smile.

At the same time, a sharp tension ran through my old body.

One final variable remained.

--- Click!

The “real Han Jin-seong” was inside the jar, and he was the tagger in this game.

There was one thing I wanted to ask my great-grandfather.

“Grandson. Let’s play another round with Grandpa.”

Footnotes:

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