WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 434: Party Time (5) – Afterword

──────

- Han Ga-in

The moment I stepped outside the hanok, cool air brushed against my skin.

KD's appearance, which had been obscured inside the dark country house, naturally came into view as well.

He had a sturdy build and a masculine face.

Something about him vaguely reminded me of Grandpa Mook-seong.

Of course, only the impression was similar. He was a different person.

“What did you want to say?”

Instead of answering, the man let out a quiet sigh and muttered.

“Your name is Han Ga-in, right?”

“Yes.”

“It sounds kind of like a girl's name, doesn't it?”

“... Then what does KD mean?”

“Nothing special.”

“What is it, then?”

“My name is Kim Do-hyeon. I took the initials, KDH, but for some reason, people started leaving off the last H.”

What a pointless reason.

“Nothing special, right?”

“It really isn't.”

“That's just how life is. The reasons behind things that seem meaningful are often completely trivial.”

“Couldn't the opposite be true too?”

“Right. Sometimes something that seems meaningless turns out to have a profound reason behind it.”

After that, silence settled over the area for a moment.

“Oh, and you don't need to worry about cleaning up this incident.”

“What?”

“We'll deal with the curse tied to the jar and the property so nothing happens to your parents or relatives. Your younger sibling will forget everything that happened too.”

“...”

The Management Bureau was an organization that handled this sort of thing, so it was only natural. There was no reason for him to tell me personally.

If he had brought only me outside, he clearly had some special purpose for me...

What could it be that he was dragging this out?

“If you have something to say, just say it.”

“...”

“If you don't, I'm leaving.”

“Isn't it strange?”

“What?”

“Neither you nor the Elder explained anything to me, right? Yet I know everything that happened in this house.”

That certainly was strange.

“It is. How did you do that?”

“Kid, have you heard about the Management Bureau?”

“A little.”

“Have you heard this before?”

“What?”

“The upper ranks of the organization know the future. Isn't that truly strange?”

“...”

There was an entity in the upper ranks of the Management Bureau that could see the future.

It was something I'd heard from A-ri before.

‘We only came here after hearing a Revelation.’

‘Let's just say there's a Prophet.’

‘A being that could be called the beginning and entirety of the Management Bureau.’

Back then, I thought it meant there was literally someone with the supernatural ability to see the future.

Now, after so many years, I think the Management Bureau's meaning of ‘prophecy’ differs from what we thought prophecy meant.

“... Prophecy.”

“Strange, right? I can't say I know everything about the Management Bureau either, but knowing the future is such a mysterious...”

“Isn't it different from knowing the future? It's closer to the opposite.”

Sensing the end approaching, I looked at Kim Do-hyeon.

He looked back at me with a complicated expression.

“... You're not an ordinary kid after all. Do you think it's safe to say something like that in front of an agent?”

“I think it's fine. What you said doesn't sound like something an ordinary person should hear either.”

Prophecy.

It was one of the Management Bureau's greatest secrets.

A-ri only told me after things had reached the point where she thought we would all die in an internal conflict and become trapped in the Hotel.

The moment Kim Do-hyeon began mentioning that word, I had suspected it.

“I'm sorry.”

“...”

--- Squeeze!

A rough, strong hand clamped tightly around my throat.

This man had never intended to let me live!

“A Directive concerning you came down from above.”

“Ugh!”

“The reason... I'm sorry. I don't know either. That's just how this job works.”

As my consciousness blurred, I looked into Kim Do-hyeon's eyes.

They held unmistakable remorse and guilt.

“I'm truly sorry. But...”

--- Crack!

“Death is the end for ordinary humans. But I think you may have more chances.”

That was my final memory of ‘A Family with Deep Roots.’

* * *

[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 379

Current Location: Level Basement, Museum

Sage’s Advice: 3]

- Han Ga-in

“...”

I regained consciousness.

The first thing I did after waking up was check my Status Window, and another day had passed in the meantime.

Eun-sol had used Greedy Hand to seal off the upper floors for three days on the morning of Day 376.

“What time is it now? Have the upper floors opened already?”

The white-haired girl, smiling broadly, the Painter, answered.

“It’s morning by Hotel time. There's about twenty minutes left until seventy-two hours have passed.”

“I see...”

I looked around, but no one was there.

“Looking for your companions? Everyone else went outside.”

“What? Why?”

“You remember when you entered the body of a ninety-year-old man, right? Things got tangled up because you kept pausing the Dream there.”

“That's right.”

“They said they probably failed because they kept interfering too. They thought if they watched, they'd intervene again out of sympathy.”

“...”

Thanks to that, I was the only one who learned of the shocking final development.

I couldn't tell whether that was a good thing or a bad one.

The Painter looked intrigued as she asked me a question.

“How was it?”

“...”

“Wasn't it a shocking development?”

“Was that what you wanted to show me?”

I asked reflexively, but it was an unnecessary question.

The Painter's expression, like she was dying of amusement, was answer enough.

“I'm asking how it felt to see such a shocking memory from your childhood.”

“...”

“Doesn't it drive you crazy with curiosity? Did you really die then? If you did, what are your memories of graduating middle school and high school afterward? What are those?”

“...”

“Or did you survive? A Management Bureau agent snapped your neck. There was no one to save you. You survived?”

“...”

I was too deep in thought to answer.

Soon, the Painter spoke again.

“Aw, that's a little disappointing. If you'd found me earlier, that scene would've been quite a shock.”

“...”

“You've already been outside, so you know quite a bit about the Management Bureau's secrets, don't you? You can roughly guess what happened to your past self, right?”

“...”

“Say something. I look like a weirdo talking to myself.”

“... When I first came to the Hotel, I thought this place had nothing to do with reality.”

“Oh? The Hotel and reality have no connection?”

“The place I needed to return to was reality, where the people I loved were waiting. I thought this place was a hell detached from reality.”

“And now?”

“At some point, I began to realize it. The various things I learned in the Hotel, the countless mysteries, all pointed toward the reality outside...”

Apparently pleased with my answer, the Painter giggled.

“Ha ha! It's enough that you've realized that. Take just one more step, and you'll learn the greatest secret.”

“The greatest secret?”

The white-haired girl waved her hand through the air, and a glowing number seven appeared.

“There's not much left now. Once you cross the sixth great mountain, it's seven. In the Hotel, seven means conclusion and answer.”

“...”

“Just hang in there a little longer.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the Painter clapped her hands lightly and shouted.

“Come in, everyone! It's all over now!”

Soon, the Museum doors opened, and the companions who had been outside came in looking half-asleep.

“Yaaawn! Ga-in, did it go well?”

“Bro, how did you clear it in the end?”

Mi-ro yawned while Seung-yeop looked curious.

“Didn't you say you were just an ordinary middle schooler outside? What kind of middle schooler is this?”

“Ga-in probably forgot too. It seems the Management Bureau erased his memories.”

“Looks that way. He sure lived an eventful life.”

Grandpa was flustered by the past I hadn't even known about, while Teacher added a plausible interpretation.

“So, what's the reward for finding you?”

“Ga-in did most of the work, so isn't it probably a reward for him personally?”

A-ri and Eun-sol were already talking about the reward.

“Good work! But how did you really solve it? It was different from the way I did it, right?”

“Sis, now that I think about it, wasn't wrapping thread around the kids' necks a bit much?”

“W-Well, it was, but there wasn't another way at the time...”

Elena and Song-i were curious about how I had solved it.

“Have some water. Oh, eat a sandwich too.”

Lastly, Jin-cheol remembered that I suffered from thirst and hunger whenever I woke from a Dream.

The Museum grew loud the moment my companions came in.

The Painter and I didn't mention the shocking final memory of the Nightmare again.

As if we had promised to leave this part as Han Ga-in's secret.

“It went reasonably smoothly. There were two key points. First, my great-grandfather's body could wield tremendous authority, and second, there was no limit to the number of times the Name Tag Snatching Game could be played.”

When I briefly explained how I had actually solved it, everyone began expressing admiration.

“Ooh! That's broadly similar to what we guessed outside!”

From Jin-cheol's reaction, it seemed my companions had thought of a similar approach once they had time to discuss it calmly.

A-ri, though, had a slightly different opinion.

“That was interesting. But wouldn't the real middle schooler Han Ga-in have used a more passive method than the one you described?”

“A more passive method?”

“Didn't Han Jin-seong intend to do something similar to what you did anyway?”

In the end, that was true.

“So in the real history, wouldn't Han Jin-seong, after regaining his body, have been the one to report it to the Management Bureau and call in an agent, not you?”

It was a convincing theory.

Of course, I'd already solved it and seen everything there was to see, so it didn't really matter.

That was enough talk about ‘A Family with Deep Roots,’ and together, we approached the Painter.

“All right...! What exactly is the Painter, the Hotel's fourth hidden NPC?”

“...”

“A secret being who appeared when the Hotel's second floor opened. A being you found disgustingly late because of the Hotel Party's vulgar tastes!”

Eun-sol looked dumbfounded at the comment about vulgar tastes.

“This kid sure talks carelessly.”

“Drumroll!”

“...”

“The reward is! A portrait of Han Ga-in!”

“...”

It was the black-and-white picture she had drawn before.

As everyone tilted their heads, wondering what this was supposed to be, A-ri asked.

“What is this? Does it have some special power? If you tear the painting, does Ga-in die or something?”

What kind of reward was that?

That would be a curse on me!

“No? It's just a painting.”

“...”

Heavy silence fell over the room.

“Why are you all reacting like that? Are you looking down on a painting by the Hotel's greatest painter? Did you expect a single painting to have magic cast on it?”

“...”

“Do you expect magic when you look at the Mona Lisa too? A painting is, by nature...”

“Five seconds.”

“Huh?”

“Four seconds.”

“Participant Kim A-ri, why are you suddenly...”

“Two seconds.”

A-ri floated slightly into the air and shot flames from her Wing Boots.

Her intent was perfectly clear. If the Painter kept spouting bullshit, she would smash the Museum to pieces.

“One second.”

“Aaah! You're all seriously no fun!”

The Painter finally grumbled, reached behind her back, and pulled out an unknown painting to show us.

Everyone focused on the second painting, the real reward.

“Is this a door?”

“The background is purple. Is it a room?”

“The floor looks like dirt...”

The painting depicted a room with an ordinary wooden door.

If it had been an Inheritance, I would have gained a basic understanding of how to use it the moment I received it. This wasn't an Inheritance, so it had no such convenient function.

“Painter, what is this? How do I use it?”

The Painter had already regained her mischievous smile. The moment A-ri saw it, she slightly furrowed her brow.

“It's a fun tool!”

“What?”

“Use it well!”

“So tell me how to use it...”

“It's a shame. It was something I cherished so much!”

“Hey! I told you to explain how to use it...”

Instead of answering, the Painter waved both hands in farewell.

“Goodbye! I hope we meet again someday!”

--- Bang!

“...”

All of my companions looked at one another with dumbfounded expressions.

The Painter had used a strange power to throw us out of the Museum without saying a word about the door painting!

Song-i burst out in irritation a moment later.

--- Bang! Bang!

“Hey! Open the door! Open it right now!”

The Museum door didn't budge, as though someone had locked it tight.

“No... Why isn't there a single decent person in this damn Hotel? Song-i, move aside. If I use a Star Fragment on this little Museum...”

“Stop it. Even if we force our way in, the Painter or whatever she is will probably be gone somewhere.”

After Grandpa stopped Jin-cheol from summoning his Star, we fell silent for a moment.

Then, for the first time in three days, a Hotel notification appeared.

「Special Event: The full-scale renovations on the first and second floors have concluded. You may now use the upper floors.」

As always, it was a timely notification.

* * *

The moment we returned to the first floor, Eun-sol spoke with a tired expression.

“Let's all rest first. Ga-in must be tired too, but we haven't rested properly for days while watching the country life of a tiny middle schooler.”

“Let's do that.”

“Ga-in, what day is it today?”

“Day 379.”

“Party Time started on Day 375... My god! Today's the last day!”

Everyone looked twice as tired at those words.

It felt like we had Party Time all the time, but I barely remembered getting any real rest.

“Let's laze around until lunch. We can talk about Room 206 after that...”

With that, everyone dragged their exhausted bodies back to Room 105.

Naturally, I kept both paintings the Painter had given me, my black-and-white portrait and the door painting.

I had no idea how to manage them, so I hung them beside my bed and decided to get some sleep.

...

...

...

--- Slide.

A strange presence.

An unpleasant gaze.

The vague feeling that someone was watching me.

Maybe.

Just maybe, I turned my exhausted body and looked at the paintings.

“... Ah, fuck.”

Right. The Hotel had always been this kind of place.

Footnotes:

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