WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 435: Party Time (6) - Final Meeting
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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 379
Current Location: Level 1, Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 2]
- Han Ga-in
Thanks to that bizarre painting, I came to the lunch meeting without having had a proper rest.
The other companions weren't in particularly good spirits either.
“Check the meeting agenda!”
Even in the middle of all this, Eun-sol called out energetically, so I looked over the items written on the whiteboard.
「Meeting to Prepare for Room 206
1. Ga-in's new Inheritance
2. The blessing enhancement Mi-ro obtained
3. The Painter's rewards
4. The Soul Box and Yumi
5. Proceeding through Room 206」
Looking at the board made it feel like I'd gotten a job at some giant corporation.
Was I supposed to report to Director Eun-sol soon?
Funny enough, not one of us seemed to have experienced normal office life.
Eun-sol had been the second daughter of a conglomerate family, so normal life was probably far removed from her too.
“If no one has anything to say, we'll go in this order.”
Since the first item was about me, everyone's attention naturally turned my way.
“Ga-in, don't you have anything to say about the Sacred Sun? Didn't you discover a new way to use it?”
“No.”
I'd gotten tangled up with the Painter the moment I received it and gone through that strange event. When was I supposed to discover anything?
For some reason, Eun-sol looked slightly disappointed.
“Well, you were busy getting swept up in memories of that country house.”
“Even if I'd been awake, it would've been the same. Like I said before, the Sacred Sun needs to be charged, and it's empty right now.”
“Really?”
Then A-ri asked me a question.
“Charging it... You said it requires believers' Faith or souls, right?”
“Yeah.”
“That makes it difficult to use in a lot of ways. So are you going to charge it first in Room 206?”
“Probably?”
“Will you be able to? As you know, Indomitable Reason suppresses supernatural powers the moment Room 206 begins.”
“...”
The first problem with item one came from A-ri.
The Sacred Sun only worked after being charged with believers' Faith or souls.
In other words, I had to establish some kind of religious organization in Room 206.
I thought we could probably make that work if we considered Room 206's setting carefully enough, but the next part was the problem.
Even if I established one, would I be able to charge it?
Charging it was clearly a supernatural phenomenon.
“Maybe it would work if I held religious ceremonies outside Paradise.”
“Think that part through carefully.”
That was enough to wrap up the first topic.
“Next! Mi-ro, how's the power you gained?”
Mi-ro smiled slightly under Eun-sol's gaze, pressed a Dagger to her arm, and showed off her supernatural power again.
“Everyone, look! If I do this!”
The Dagger stabbed deeply into her skin, then came back out without a single drop of blood falling.
Even seeing it again, the power Mi-ro had gained this time at the Sanctuary of Blessings was quite remarkable.
“That's enough. We have to enter a Curse Room tomorrow, so don't use up all your Power of Immutability or whatever it is.”
“Okay.”
At A-ri's words, Mi-ro stopped showing off her ability.
Immutability Stage 2 was an ability where a force called Power of Immutability took attacks against Mi-ro's body in her place. As long as she had Power of Immutability left, Mi-ro herself wouldn't be injured.
Simply put, it was similar to the shields that often appeared in games.
Once Mi-ro finished showing off, Eun-sol asked her a question.
“It looks similar to what you showed us last time. You didn't discover any additional uses, did you?”
“Huh? Additional what?”
“Let's move to number three. The Painter's rewards, the two paintings. Ga-in, did you find out anything?”
I took out the two paintings in front of my companions.
“I used one use of Sage’s Advice to ask whether the painting had a secret, and I found something out.”
“You already used one?”
“Yes. The purple door painting had a separate title. Look.”
I turned the painting over and rubbed the lower-right corner hard with my finger.
Soon, an unknown string of letters appeared in response to the heat from the friction.
‘Somnium regnum’
“It doesn't seem to be English. Does anyone know it?”
Eun-sol shook her head with a flustered expression.
She was fluent not only in English but also French and Spanish, but apparently it was neither of those.
A-ri and Grandpa, who both had extensive knowledge in this area, also said they didn't know. Unexpectedly, someone else recognized it.
“It's Latin. The first word means dream, and the second means kingdom. In other words, ‘Kingdom of Dreams.’”
It was Teacher.
The title of the second painting the Painter had given me was ‘Kingdom of Dreams.’
“Latin? Come on... It isn't even the Vatican. Why would the Painter use a confusing word like that?”
Eun-sol sounded incredulous, and I agreed.
“What's the Vatican, sis?”
Song-i didn't even understand the word Vatican, which was a little strange.
Didn't the Vatican show up in the news often enough?
“You don't know the Vatican? You know the Pope, the head of Catholicism, right? It's a city-state packed with the Pope and cardinals...”
“Didn't Catholicism get rid of the Pope and cardinals?”
“...”
The room fell silent.
We all knew that we'd lived in completely different worlds.
Still, moments like this could be startling.
“Ahem! Let's leave the Vatican discussion there. The important thing is that we learned the painting's title. Ga-in, do you have anything else to say about Kingdom of Dreams?”
“Ah, Kingdom of Dreams is a living painting.”
Surprisingly, none of my companions looked shocked.
This was the Hotel. Even if a person jumped out of a painting, this was the sort of place where that could happen.
“While I was sleeping, the door suddenly opened, and this monster-like eye came out. It stared at me closely.”
“Did it do anything strange?”
“I stared back because I wanted to see what it was, and it suddenly slammed the door shut and disappeared.”
“... It seems rather shy.”
There wasn't much else to say about Kingdom of Dreams.
Eun-sol asked as if confirming something.
“What about your portrait, besides Kingdom of Dreams? Was there anything?”
“The Painter said this one was an ordinary painting. I don't think the Painter was lying.”
“That makes sense. Let's move on.”
Number four, the Soul Box and Yumi.
“Seung-yeop, summarize what we've discussed over the last few days.”
It seemed that while I'd been caught up in the Nightmare, my companions had exchanged opinions about Yumi.
“Ahem! You all felt it after talking to Yumi, right? She's kind, so...”
You all felt it after talking to her?
I couldn't let that one pass.
“I don't remember properly talking to her.”
“Huh? Uh? Ah, hyung, you spent your time with the Painter...”
“The point of topic three is whether we should allow Yumi to make a body for herself, right?”
“Yes.”
“Did everyone else decide to allow it?”
When Seung-yeop hesitated, Eun-sol summed it up simply.
“In the end, we all agreed. She wanted it so desperately.”
“Hmm.”
Then A-ri casually pulled out a thermos.
Since it had remained near A-ri until now, the blood, flesh, hair, and other things inside were still very fresh.
“Blegh!”
Mi-ro reacted with disgust the moment she saw it, and Song-i frowned slightly too. That confirmed it.
“Seung-yeop, take it.”
“Oh! Ooh!”
Seung-yeop happily accepted A-ri's thermos.
“There could be physical problems, so go back to Room 105 and tell Yumi to make herself a body.”
“Yes!”
“You know the freshness-preserving effect disappears the moment the thermos leaves my hands, right? Go immediately.”
“Thank you.”
Seung-yeop left the meeting room looking almost as happy as if it were his own business, and I had a strange feeling about it.
My companions reacted as expected.
Not only Eun-sol and A-ri, who tended to think deeply about things, but even Song-i and Elena, who usually just ate snacks during meetings, wore slightly uncomfortable expressions.
I cautiously opened my mouth.
“Um... It seems something unexpected happened while I was gone.”
Everyone stayed quiet.
“I'm only asking just in case, really.”
Eun-sol gave a bitter smile.
“Just say it. You were going to ask whether Seung-yeop likes Yumi, weren't you?”
“...”
A-ri let out a light sigh.
“It isn't that big a problem.”
“It isn't?”
“He falls in love at the drop of a hat.”
“...”
Now that I thought about it, that was true.
“As I recall, at first... Ahem! It was probably me.”
She was talking about when we first entered Room 102.
At the time, A-ri and Grandpa had still been hiding their identities.
It was something everyone remembered, so we nodded, but one of the two companions who had joined more recently reacted.
“Whaaat! S-Seung-yeop l-loves A-A-ri...?”
A-ri sighed at Mi-ro's loud reaction.
“Don't make such a fuss. You're making it stranger. And it kept changing after that.”
“What?”
“Room 202? He seemed unusually interested in the Sea God's youngest daughter there too. What was her name?”
I answered.
“Riringanor.”
“Right. Riringanor! I think he liked her too. What do you all think?”
Elena, Song-i, and several others nodded with bitter smiles.
They said you could know the depths of ten fathoms of water, but not one fathom of a person's heart.
It apparently didn't apply to Seung-yeop. He was a remarkably honest companion.
Then Mi-ro tilted her head.
“Are you talking about when we did Room 202?”
“Yeah.”
“Why don't I know about this? I never heard anyone talk about that Ridinganol...”
“Riringanor.”
“Riringanno? Anyway, I never heard anyone talk about someone like that.”
“People who fall in love easily forget easily too.”
“...”
Talking about it made me feel like we were gossiping about Seung-yeop while he wasn't here.
Perhaps Song-i had the same thought, because she cleared her throat and defended him.
“Seung-yeop is young! People's feelings bounce around when they're young. Putting Seung-yeop aside and getting back to Yumi, I think we should make her body in the end.”
A-ri nodded too.
“Right. If we planned to keep suspecting her, we shouldn't have put her in the Soul Box in the first place. Over the last few days, we've shown her that we hold the initiative.”
We could take Yumi's body away or drive her out whenever we wanted.
Yumi herself must have realized that over the past few days.
Since we'd already put her in the box, we should give her at least a minimum amount of trust.
If she did something a mad witch would do, we could deal with it then.
Just as the discussion about Yumi was ending, Mi-ro suddenly brought up something unrelated.
“I feel kinda bad.”
A-ri tilted her head.
“Hm? Why?”
“You said he liked you at first?”
“...”
“Then, um, Ridingdingnori?”
“... Yeah.”
“Then why didn't he react to me at all? A-ri and I look exactly alike!”
For a moment, I was speechless at that absurd statement.
Which was stranger, that Mi-ro had such a ridiculous thought, or that she said it to us without hesitation?
A-ri looked endlessly depressed.
“Please... Don't ruin my beautiful memories of my mother.”
“What?”
“Take this!”
“Waaah!”
“Don't make weird noises!”
Unable to endure it any longer, A-ri smacked Mi-ro on the head.
I thought I understood why Seung-yeop didn't react to Mi-ro.
“... Be quiet. Let's talk about Room 206 now.”
...
...
...
By the time the meeting ended, both remaining uses of Sage’s Advice were gone as well.
* * *
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 379
Current Location: Level 1, Room 105 - ‘Rest Room’
Sage’s Advice: 0]
- Han Ga-in
After the meeting, I returned to my personal room.
My companions' opinions on how we should proceed through Room 206 left my head in a mess.
Let's take it easy.
Separate from everyone else, what I needed to do was fairly clear.
“...”
When I sat on my bed and looked at the wall, I saw my black-and-white portrait, already somehow familiar.
The Painter seemed to have drawn it in about five minutes, but it was quite good for something done that quickly.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to me, and I turned the painting over.
Just as with Kingdom of Dreams, the back of the black-and-white portrait was nothing but rough, stiff paper.
--- Scritch, scritch!
I rubbed it.
From the upper-left corner to the lower-right, I rubbed it wildly all over.
And then...
This time, instead of Latin, words appeared in a language I knew.
‘Save yourself from hell.’
“...”
Footnotes:
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