WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 452: Rest Day - ‘Kingdom of Dreams’ (2)

──────

- Kim A-ri

“Mr. Ga-in, filming's about to start, so let's go upstairs!”

“What?”

Elena casually talked about filming starting without showing the slightest surprise at seeing Han Ga-in in her dream.

It didn't take long for me to realize what that meant.

She'd often dreamed about Ga-in on her own!

“Ah! E-Elena, you really!”

“W-What is it?”

“Get over here!”

I quickly shoved Ga-in behind me and stepped forward.

Elena looked completely baffled.

“Uh... Huh? A-ri? Right now, we're-”

--- Grab!

I grabbed Elena's upper body and shook her back and forth.

“Get a grip! This isn't a dream-”

I was about to say it wasn't a dream, but it was a dream, wasn't it?

It was Elena's dream, and we'd barged into it without permission.

As I hesitated, Elena had a strange reaction.

Rather than getting angry or flustered, she looked like she'd just thought of something fun!

Wasn't this a bit of a crisis?

--- Rumble!

A moment later, Ga-in and I were literally overwhelmed by the sight before us.

The broadcasting station vanished like an illusion, and an enormous building rose from the empty plain.

In an instant, dozens, even hundreds of people bustled around in every direction in a lively atmosphere.

With a mere thought, she had reshaped heaven and earth. She truly looked like a creator.

Of course, everyone was a god in their own dreams.

“W-Where are we...?”

“The university district?”

When I turned around, Ga-in was somehow wearing a K University varsity jacket.

“I got accepted and came here to look around a few times, so I know it well. This is exactly what a university district looks like. It's probably a university district Elena saw when she came to Korea- Ack!”

--- Smack!

Ga-in and I both fell silent at once because Elena was acting differently than usual.

She looked a little younger, and there was a mischievous air about her.

More than anything...

“Hey, Han Ga-in! What are you doing standing around like an idiot?”

“E-Elena.”

Her usual careful way of calling him “Mr. Ga-in” had vanished without a trace.

“Hurry up. If we're late, the wait will be crazy long.”

“Huh?”

She spoke to him with the easy familiarity of a childhood friend.

Seeing that made all sorts of complicated thoughts cross my mind.

Had she secretly disliked the lingering awkwardness between them, even after spending so long together in the Hotel?

“Ugh! Hey! A-A-ri! Help me!”

Ga-in panicked at Elena's changed attitude and called for help. It was a little funny.

Still, we needed to put an end to this awkward atmosphere-

--- Woof! Woof!

?

--- Grrr... Woof!

???

“A-riii!”

“Ga-in, we'll be late. Let's go.”

A Golden Retriever as big as Seung-yeop suddenly jumped out from behind me, bit my clothes, and dragged me backward.

This wasn't a coincidence, was it?

Wasn't it one hundred percent some dream guardian Elena had summoned?

“Don't worry about that weird kid. The police will take care of it!”

Elena even stuck her tongue out at me as she said that.

I felt like I'd been had somehow, but the situation was so childish that I couldn't get angry. It just made me laugh.

Ga-in seemed to finally understand what was going on.

“Elena! Let's go to a coffee shop first! A coffee shop! There's one nearby, right?”

“Huh? There is, but-”

“And get rid of that dog!”

“...”

“I have a phobia of dogs!”

“...”

Elena didn't react when he told her to get rid of the dog, but she did react to his absurd lie about having a phobia.

--- Whine!

The Golden Retriever that had looked ready to devour me just moments ago suddenly turned into a tiny puppy.

Holding the puppy up with one hand, I thought to myself.

I really must have lived a long time.

I was having every bizarre experience imaginable!

* * *

Once we arrived at the coffee shop, Ga-in and I quickly realized something.

“... Mr. Ga-in.”

“Yes, Miss A-ri.”

“Mr. Ga-in, I don't think it'll be easy to wake Elena up.”

“Miss A-ri, I was thinking the same thing.”

It had been the same in the Gate Room's Perfect Life. Elena didn't wake easily from dreams like this.

“Miss A-ri, wasn't that way of speaking kind of fun?”

“... Don't look at me. Lady Elena might be displeased. I'm only a part-time café worker.”

“Ah, right. Elena, there's something I need to tell you-”

Dream Elena didn't like Ga-in and me speaking comfortably to each other.

Because of that, we had to return to our strange way of talking before the now giant Golden Retriever could swallow me whole.

“Ahem! ‘Lord Ga-in.’ I don't know whether this is fun for you, but shouldn't you quickly tell ‘Lady Elena’ what you need to say?”

“E-Elena, let me introduce A-ri.”

“Who is that?”

“... A psychiatrist?”

“A doctor? There's no way a doctor could be that young! More importantly, she looks like someone I know-”

I quickly shook Elena by the shoulders and insisted.

“Don't discriminate!”

“Huh? What?”

“Thinking only older people can be doctors is discrimination!”

I just forced the issue.

“N-No, it's not discrimination. At your age, there's no way you could've graduated from medical school-”

“Thinking you have to graduate from medical school to become a doctor is discrimination!”

Ah, had I taken that too far?

Ga-in covered his face with both hands and sighed before-

--- Bang!

He suddenly slammed the table!

“Hey! Elena! Just listen for once!”

“... O-Okay.”

Wow! Being forceful worked?

Should we have just done this from the start?

Ga-in then explained everything carefully.

He'd heard Elena praying in Room 206, and the Sacred Sun had judged Elena to be one of its “followers.”

He even explained that the Sacred Sun was, by nature, an Inheritance that devoured its followers.

I worried whether dream Elena could understand a conversation that sounded like it belonged in the Hotel.

“Hmm... I understand what you're saying, but why did that happen?”

Interestingly, Elena understood the conversation and gave us an even more interesting answer.

“It's true that I, um, rely on and trust Ga-in!”

After saying that, Elena's face reddened for a moment. Ga-in looked embarrassed too, which made even me feel embarrassed watching them.

“But I've never thought he was something like a god. I'm not an idiot. Why would a being like God be suffering in the Hotel?”

“...”

“I did feel incredible charisma when you used Descent, but...”

Elena gradually trailed off, and the coffee shop fell silent.

In the midst of my complicated thoughts, I recalled Elena's current state.

The way she treated Ga-in like a friend, unlike usual.

The considerable jealousy she'd openly shown when I treated Ga-in like a friend.

Right now, Elena was being excessively honest.

There was no need to hide anything in a dream.

That meant her claim that she didn't think Ga-in was a divine being was half true.

Rationally, that was what she believed.

So Elena's problem wasn't one of reason, but instinct.

“W-Why did you pray?”

“To ask you to kill Patrick? I didn't know you'd heard that. I only did it playfully because it was funny seeing a companion act like some cult leader...”

Ga-in was momentarily at a loss for words.

He'd wanted to warn her about the dangers of Faith, but she'd answered that she'd never thought of him as a god in the first place.

There was nothing more to say.

“Ga-in, no, Lord Ga-in. Let's go outside for now.”

“Y-Yeah, let's do that.”

We needed to go outside and talk again-

The moment a chilling voice pierced my ears, the world turned black and white in a single breath!

The dream's genre was literally changing from romantic comedy to horror!

“Argh! O-Open up! Sesame! Sesame, open already!”

“Why are you so slow!”

--- Rumble!

* * *

I woke up alone in Room 105.

That immediately made me realize a few things about the Kingdom of Dreams.

Ga-in and I had clearly entered Elena's dream together, but my location hadn't changed.

It seemed only the person who first used the painting in reality “moved.”

Also, if someone passed through several people's dreams, they seemed to wake up beside the last person.

Which meant the place Ga-in woke up was probably...

--- Click!

When I opened Room 105's door and stepped outside, Ga-in was standing in front of it with a flustered expression.

“You woke up in Elena's room, right?”

“... Yeah.”

“What about Elena?”

“I came out carefully so I wouldn't wake her. She probably doesn't know.”

“Phew...”

It was already dawn in reality.

Fortunately, the Hotel had given us a Rest Day at its own discretion, so we didn't need to enter a Curse Room today.

As we walked toward the front desk, Ga-in muttered.

“Elena's dream was really scary. At the end, that dog's head split into three-”

“Stop telling gruesome stories.”

“Okay.”

After a moment of silence, Ga-in muttered again.

“About the Sacred Sun trying to devour Elena.”

“I'm listening.”

“I think it operates in the realm of instinct and emotion rather than reason.”

Elena didn't rationally think Han Ga-in was a god, but the problem was that she'd been overwhelmed by the transcendent charisma Descent gave off.

Just as I was about to say we should talk to Elena once she woke up, Ga-in's eyes lit up.

“We can use this phenomenon.”

“What?”

Use what?

“Don't you get it? We've realized something very important about the Sacred Sun!”

“What are you talking-”

What had we realized?

“It means the Sacred Sun's criteria for judging someone a ‘follower’ are incredibly broad! They don't need to attend Han Ga-in Church every weekend, get baptized, or listen to my sermons regularly.”

“...”

“A memory of being overwhelmed by supernatural charisma created by an Inheritance. That alone is enough!”

“...”

“Ah, though maybe they do need to pray? Elena prayed too.”

I understood what Ga-in was getting at.

The conditions for the Sacred Sun to “devour” humans were broader than expected.

If we used that, it would be easier and faster to devour a great many people.

“...”

“Wow! That's an unexpected gain. If we apply this next run, we'll be able to charge the Inheritance much more efficiently.”

For a moment, complicated thoughts filled my mind.

Like Elena, I believed this man was fundamentally a good person.

Sometimes, I was confused about whether that belief was truly my own judgment.

“Yeah. That's a useful realization.”

It was better to stop worrying about things that had no answer.

“Ga-in, lend me the Kingdom of Dreams.”

“Hm?”

“There's a dream I want to see.”

“Huh? You? Can I ask whose it is?”

“Mi-ro's.”

“Mi-ro's dream? I-I'm curious too-”

“Wow... Aren't you seriously shameless?”

I lightly teased the young man, who looked thoroughly flustered.

“You're going to enter the heart of a young girl who has an unrequited crush on you and do what? Tease dream Mi-ro all you like until she can't resist you-”

“Argh! I'm not going in! I said I'm not going in!”

“Then hand over the Kingdom of Dreams.”

“... Okay.”

“I’ll put it to good use and give it back.”

“...”

Ga-in returned to his room with a slightly sulky expression.

That childish side of him, and the somewhat chilling side he'd shown while talking about the Sacred Sun.

There was no telling which one was his true nature.

...

“Chilling, huh...”

What a joke.

Someone who stirred my heart?

Someone with a super-rational side that wasn't bound by human morality?

A complex personality where the qualities of a good person and an evil person were mixed together?

Wasn't there someone far more extreme than Ga-in in all those respects, in the worst possible sense?

The being who had shaped me through a wish.

My Creator and my origin.

And...

“My love.”

Murmuring that hollow word, I gripped the painting tightly.

To see “her” once more.

Footnotes:

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