Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 450

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 449: Room 206, Curse Room - The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days Re (14)

──────

- Yoo Song-i

「“Mayor, come out!”

“How is Kadyrov going to clean up this mess?”」

On the screen showing Paradise, an enormous protest crowd could be seen.

This was already beyond the point where the Enforcers could resolve it with a forceful response.

A considerable number of Enforcers had joined the protesters in the first place.

“This is bad... What do you think, Elena?”

Elena wore a bitter expression.

“I don't think those people are the real problem.”

She was right.

The protesters were only the result. The real problem was the supernatural disaster beginning to overturn the entire city.

「“Aah! S-save me!”

“A m-monster! A monster came out of the TV-”」

The screen showed something straight out of a B-grade horror movie.

An alligator the size of a car burst out of a manhole and swallowed someone nearby in one bite.

When a snake thicker than a log coiled around an entire car, the vehicle crumpled and red liquid flowed out.

“Doesn't that look like a pizza?”

“What?”

“You know, when you roll up a pizza and squeeze it in your hand, tomato sauce comes out-”

“... Don't say weird things. Aren't you getting a little too into playing mayor?”

Getting too into playing mayor?

I flinched at Elena's words.

Come to think of it, wasn't that pizza comment a little too much like A-ri?

I didn't need to be overly sensitive, but I didn't want to turn into a Management Bureau agent either.

“Phew... How did our plan get so tangled up?”

“Seriously.”

What had the original plan been?

The people who went down to Deep Paradise were supposed to gather information, then the people on the surface would use that information to escape.

The plan had fallen apart once more than two months passed without a single person returning from Deep Paradise.

“Ga-in went to Deep Paradise a week ago too.”

“And Ga-in's gone missing as well.”

What could have happened in Deep Paradise?

There were so many things I wanted to ask if we somehow managed to escape.

“Haven't you heard from the Doctor?”

“We lost contact three days ago.”

The Doctor had stayed with the Cult after Ga-in left, then we lost contact with the Doctor.

That left only Elena and me.

「“Kadyrov, come out! You irresponsible-”」

Elena flinched at the harsh shouting in the distance.

Of course, I had no intention of going down there.

“Where else can you find a ruler as responsible as me? If you don't like it, come up here yourselves! The mansion is full of well-maintained turrets-”

--- Click!

Then a slight girl suddenly appeared in the Floating Mansion.

I wasn't surprised. She was someone I had expected to show up eventually.

“May! Why are you only here now?”

“...”

The Progenitor stared at the screen with a vacant expression.

Had the sight of citizens suffering at the hands of monsters appearing everywhere stirred her emotions?

I thought it every time, but the Progenitor wasn't like a Management Bureau agent.

“... Kadyrov.”

“Yes?”

“A little while ago, the Order of Reason gave me its final command.”

“What?”

Out of nowhere?

The Order of Reason's final command?

Hadn't she said it had been over a hundred years since they lost contact with the forces in Deep Paradise?

“That expression tells me you have many questions. Hold them in for now. Time is short, so I'll explain as we go.”

“... Okay.”

I did as the Progenitor said and held back.

Questions could wait until our survival was assured.

“I've already selected most of them. Young in years, kind in character, and exceptionally gifted. Children suitable in every way to become the Adam and Eve of the next generation.”

Selected what?

Adam and Eve of the next generation?

Holding back my questions was getting way too difficult.

“There was one concern about you.”

“Me?”

“I thought your character was far too vicious.”

“...”

Was it okay to say something like that while looking someone in the face?

It was subtly, no, openly insulting.

“Your willingness to use any means necessary for the greater good may be needed as well. Come along.”

Elena could no longer hold back.

“What have you been talking about this whole time? What do you mean, you selected-”

“You should come too.”

* * *

After arriving at the shelter the Progenitor had prepared over countless years, Elena and I understood the situation.

Calling them the Adam and Eve of a new world wasn't figurative. She meant it literally.

“So... We don't know the exact reason, but we've reached the point where stopping the Demon King's resurrection is difficult?”

“Yes.”

“So you're going to offer everyone in Paradise as a Sacrifice?”

“Not only the people of Paradise. We will offer the entire planet, including every human in the cities outside Paradise.”

The survivors across the entire Earth.

I didn't know the exact number, but there had to be at least a billion.

They intended to offer every one of them to Indomitable Reason and suppress the Demon King, whose Awakening was imminent, once again.

Elena's and my mouths fell open at the same time.

The scale was too enormous.

It went beyond the limits of imagination, so it did not feel real at all.

Elena let out a quiet groan.

“That’s why... That's why we started in Paradise! This place has a way to control the cities across the entire planet!”

“Started in Paradise? What does that-”

“Don't worry about it.”

Thankfully, Elena did not need to make an excuse for her slip of the tongue.

--- Rumble!

Because the end of everything was approaching.

...

“E-Elena? Elena!”

That was my final memory of Room 206.

* * *

- Han Ga-in

“I hereby execute the death sentence of the 2.34 billion people who have survived until this point. We will begin everything anew...”

The moment I finished the activation phrase I had discovered by searching through the Director's memories, a flash too bright to open my eyes swallowed the entire world.

That was my last-

「What is this?」

The moment that incomprehensible thought occurred to me, I realized I no longer had a body.

Under the Hotel's rules, I was no longer a Participant after losing my body, so I couldn't even see my Status Window.

The human known as Han Ga-in had already vanished from this space.

But wasn't there a famous quote Descartes had left behind?

Cogito, ergo sum.

I think, therefore I am.

I still existed. How was that possible?

It wasn't a difficult question.

If something supernatural had happened to me, it had to be either a blessing or an Inheritance. My blessing was gone, so the Inheritance had to be the cause.

The Grimoire couldn't cause a phenomenon like this, either.

The culprit was the Sacred Sun.

...

A space filled with light.

As I drifted without purpose, I heard voices pulling me strongly ‘upward.’

- Lord... Have the End Times come upon us?

- I beseech the Father in Heaven, grant Salvation to us foolish ones.

- Please! I've lived long enough, but Kevin is only seven!

Prayers.

The intense voices of the believers pulled me ‘upward.’

I had to answer their desperate wishes.

That was the duty I had been given.

「Therefore, neither the most evil Demon King crouched in the abyss nor the arrogance of the Order of Reason, which seeks to protect the world with foolish hands, can stop me.」

...

My consciousness gradually moved ‘upward.’

* * *

(1:1) As I rose amid the approaching End Times, those gathered in the wilderness numbered fully fifty thousand.

(1:2) The innocent lambs all knelt and wailed, and it was unpleasant to hear.

(1:3) Little, little children, what is it that you fear so greatly?

(1:4) The lambs replied, “Demons are everywhere. What are we to do?”

(1:5) I bestowed warmth upon the pitiful.

(1:6) Then all forgot their fear and sang praises, and only then were they pleasant to behold.

(1:7) At that time, there was a goat living among the sheep, one who knew not obedience.

“Ga-in, is that you? C-can you understand what I'm saying?”

(1:8) As I wished to grant Salvation to all in the wilderness, I asked why the goat had no faith.

“... I'm your companion, not one of your believers. I never expected things to turn out like this.”

(1:9) Finding those words amusing, I asked what the goat's plan had been. The goat looked flustered.

“I intended to stir up the believers' fear, um, and strengthen their Faith. I thought charging the Sacred Sun would help you, but this is a little different from what I expected.”

(1:10) Only then did I understand why this was happening.

(1:11) Though this goat knew not obedience, it was useful.

(1:12) Thus, I told it that I would take it aboard the Ark in the final moment as well.

“Take me aboard the Ark? What does that mean?”

(1:13) Once more, I spoke to the sheep gathered in the wilderness, telling them not to fear, for they had received Salvation.

(1:14) I kindled a glorious flame to save them all.

(1:15) Soon, the little, little children wept sorrowfully and threw themselves into the flames, and it was truly beautiful to behold.

(1:16) Ah! Was this not like a chicken plucking out its own feathers and climbing into boiling water?

“Aah! W-what is this? Is this how charging it was supposed to work?”

(1:17) I told the goat that the body was bondage in this empty world, so it need not regret losing it.

(1:18) Therefore, I declared that today was a truly joyous day.

(1:19) The weak one knelt and trembled, and the sight was quite amusing.

“I... I think I made a mistake. I never imagined you'd lost your body, Ga-in! Once you lost your body, the Status Window's protection disappeared. With so much Faith gathering while you're in this state, you can't control the Inheritance!”

(1:20) I sighed, for I did not know where to begin correcting this foolish thought.

(1:21) I comforted it again and again, telling it that unlike the goat, I had known from the beginning that this would happen.

(1:22) I told it not to fear, for everything was proceeding according to plan.

(1:23) Then a soul greater and more brightly shining than any sheep gathered in the wilderness approached. It was someone I knew well.

“... Th-this is! Elena?”

(1:24) Good, good! Truly good! This soul differed at its root from the little things spread across heaven and earth, for it had been refined countless times in the furnace known as the Hotel.

(1:25) I declared that it could not be compared to the little chickens of this false world.

(1:26) Then the foolish one lamented.

“I'm sorry. Let's discuss this outside. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

--- Flash!

* * *

[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 479

Current Location: Level 2, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 0]

- Han Ga-in

I woke up.

The familiar second floor of the Hotel. Nearby companions wore exhausted expressions.