WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 455: Room 206, Curse Room - The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days Re (17)
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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 486
Current Location: Room 206, Curse Room - ‘The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days’
Sage’s Advice: 3]
- Han Ga-in
I sat in the cozy office, carefully organizing the plan.
During the second run, my role had been to charge the Sacred Sun by running the Cult.
What about the third run?
It was similar.
The Sacred Sun still wasn't fully charged.
There was one major change, though...
“Ga-in Kadyrov.”
I was no longer the secret leader of the Demon King Cult. I was now a member of the Kadyrov Family.
“The speech begins in three hours. Have you finished preparing?”
“Ah... Don't worry. The twisted flow is being set right, and all shall return to their proper places.”
The man in the suit bowed deeply and left.
The moment no one was watching, Song-i, who had been sitting so properly, immediately relaxed her posture.
“Ga-in, what did that just mean?”
“I don't know.”
“... You said something about a twisted flow.”
“It sounded convincing, didn't it? Cool, right?”
“...”
While Song-i was briefly at a loss for words, I looked around the lavish, cozy room.
“Wow! Song-i, you were living somewhere nice.”
“...”
“This house is mine now.”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
During the first run, I had suffered as a mine worker before starting a revolution. During the second, I had moved into a decent house with Elena's help.
“Yesterday, the mayor informed the council that you're Kadyrov's hidden blood relative.”
This run, I had gained an incomparably greater status: Ga-in Kadyrov.
This was possible because the power of a dictator who ruled the city was beyond comparison to that of a mere famous actor.
For reference, the mayor believed I was an Order of Reason survivor who had escaped from Deep Paradise.
More precisely, he believed I was a descendant of the Order who had gained bizarre powers after coming into contact with the Demon King.
He believed such a being had taken over the body of an unfortunate Paradise mine worker.
The reason I'd changed the plan so completely was simple.
Charging the Sacred Sun required a large number of followers, and during the second run, I had solved that by taking over the Demon King Cult.
To take over the Cult, I had to kill its upper ranks because they would realize I was a fake.
That created a problem.
This run, we had decided to study the Cult, so I couldn't go around killing its leaders.
While looking for a way to gather followers apart from the Cult, I came to a somewhat absurd conclusion.
Come to think of it, Paradise had something akin to another religion besides the Demon King Cult: Progenitor worship.
Of course, the people of the city didn't consider the Progenitor a god.
But hadn't Elena proven it?
The Sacred Sun's standards for judging someone as a follower were broader than expected.
They didn't have to believe I was an omnipotent being who could cause the Big Bang with a flick of my hand.
It was enough for them to be overwhelmed by the charisma created by the Inheritance and pray to me for things they couldn't achieve themselves.
This run, I would play the role of Kadyrov's hidden heir and the Progenitor's reincarnation.
This plan required the cooperation of two people. The mayor was already helping me.
And there was one more person.
--- Flutter!
With the sound of curtains billowing, she appeared. The real Progenitor.
“... Leon contacted me.”
“...”
“I'll ask directly. Show me proof that you came from the Order!”
“How laughable, Airavata. What rank did you hold in the Order? At most, weren't you Hierarchy 3 or 4?”
“Hah! You're going to argue over rank in an organization that wasn't even functional and has already fallen apart?”
She wasn't wrong.
The world had ended, and the remaining forces were trapped in Deep Paradise. The Order was a fallen organization.
Still, if I really were an Order survivor, I felt like I would have spoken in this high-handed tone.
Management Bureau agents, who were similar people, also had a considerable sense of superiority.
“Unacceptable. How can you say the Order has fallen when you and I are both alive? If you would deny the Order, why have you suffered all these years to protect this city?”
The group that had ordered the Progenitor to sustain the city was the Order of Reason.
At the suggestion that she would deny her own roots, the Progenitor hesitated in confusion.
I quickly rose from my chair.
I had shown a domineering attitude once and emphasized our bond with the words “you and I.” Now it was time to show respect.
“Still, if you believe I have disregarded your role, then I apologize. Airavata, I thank you for your devotion to humanity. Even among the heroes recorded in the Order's history, few have served for one hundred and fifty years as you have.”
What happened next went somewhat beyond my expectations.
The Progenitor clutched the curtain and trembled as if in a daze. In the end, she even shed a single tear.
She no longer questioned whether I was truly from the Order.
After that came a peaceful period of persuasion.
The seal on the Demon King in Deep Paradise had reached its limit, and the Order had also been unable to avoid destruction.
The Order had created the Sacred Sun as its last resort, a tool that gathered human minds to gain tremendous power.
Stopping the Demon King with the Sacred Sun was our last hope.
After listening closely to me for a long time, the Progenitor naturally reached the following conclusion.
“So you're going to pretend to be my reincarnation or successor and gather power in the Sacred Sun?”
“That's right.”
“... And use that power to stop the Demon King?”
“Exactly.”
The Progenitor looked up at the sky for a moment, then muttered as if whispering.
“This is a strange con.”
“Isn't it similar to what you've been doing?”
“... It is. We're becoming worse and worse liars.”
“There's a big difference.”
“What difference?”
My final remark was somewhat impulsive.
The Progenitor might have forgotten, but this was my second long conversation with her. Perhaps that was why the realization came to me.
The Progenitor was exhausted.
“Set down your burden. From now on, I will carry the lies that have caused you pain.”
At those words, she looked at me blankly, then suddenly vanished without a trace.
I took that as permission.
Only Song-i and I remained in the office again.
“Doesn't it feel good? Things are going well... I'd better stop before I jinx it.”
“What you just said.”
“Hm?”
“That you'd carry the Progenitor's burden. You said it because she looked exhausted, right?”
“Yeah.”
“... I should use it too.”
“What?”
“Leon looked exhausted too.”
“...”
A little later, word came that people had gathered in the plaza.
“Time to go. One last question. What do you think of the speech? I spent all night writing it!”
Song-i's impression after reading the speech I had written all night to win over the public was simple.
“What is this even supposed to mean?”
“Good! That's enough, then!”
“Pardon?”
“I got some strange inspiration last night.”
“Inspiration?”
* * *
The moment I stepped onto the podium in the plaza, I was honestly dizzy.
How many people were there?
There were so many that I couldn't see them all at a glance!
I thought I had grown used to saying nonsense in front of crowds during the second run, but this was nothing like that.
It struck me anew that the Demon King Cult had been less than a handful compared to the city's entire population.
This run, wasn't I the heir to a royal family approved by Paradise's dictator and the Progenitor's reincarnation?
Hoo...
After taking a moment to steady my breathing, I began in earnest.
“Greetings, my most beloved citizens.
“Today, I wish to share mysterious words delivered through vibrations that seep from the heart of the universe, through the voice of heaven.
“What universe, what world do you live in?
“Do you know of the endless cycles unfolding throughout the universe?
“When heaven and earth first opened, gas gathered together and the first stars were born.
“They were hundreds of times larger than the sun.
“When those stars reached the end of their lives, they became black holes, quasars, and galaxies. Through death, they became the parents of countless worlds.
“They are the Pangu of the universe, who gave birth to the world through their corpses.
“This principle also unfolds in smaller places.
“The sea: unfortunately, none of you have likely seen the sea in your lives, but there are lakes larger than any land in the world. They are called seas.
“There live creatures that resemble fish, yet are larger than buses and as huge as small ships. They are whales.
“When a whale dies, its corpse scatters across the endlessly vast, deep sea and becomes food for a million lives.
“Do you understand?
“Then let us all consider this.
“Before the laws of the universe, how could humans alone be an exception?
“When a person dies, countless lives grow by feeding on the corpse.
“What about the reverse?
“In this empty universe, might there not have been someone who became the origin of all people?
“A being who became the parent of all through death!
“A being whose flesh and spirit, once gathered at a single point, were scattered across an entire star, giving birth to billions of humans!
“This is not the product of empty imagination.
“It is the law of the universe that a great mass gathered together scatters, giving birth to countless small lives.
“Therefore, if scattered humans exist, isn't it obvious that there must have once been something gathered together before them?
“Let us reverse our thinking once more.
“Whales swallow countless smaller things in order to grow larger.
“Gas and matter gather together, and new stars are born.
“Then couldn't people gather into a single point as well?
“Could we not use this to create the parent of all things with our own hands once more-”
I paused the speech.
... Wasn't this a little strange?
“...”
The crowd wore confused expressions.
Had the power of the Sacred Sun enthralled them?
That couldn't be it.
This was inside Paradise, a place where Indomitable Reason suppressed all supernatural phenomena.
More importantly, I hadn't even summoned the Sacred Sun!
And yet, people looked at me with dazed expressions, as though they had been entranced.
“...”
I finally took a deep breath and finished the speech.
“L-let us all pray! I believe our lives shall know boundless glory!”
Whatever the reason, the speech was an immense success.
Originally, I had planned to somehow bring the citizens outside Paradise and expose them to the Sacred Sun.
There was no need for that.
* * *
- Kim Sang-hyeon
“Hoo...”
I took a deep breath and recalled the act I had put on with Miss A-ri the night before.
Last night, after pretending to interrogate me, A-ri reached a strange conclusion.
Kim Sang-hyeon really was a spy sent by the mayor.
But though he had begun as a spy, he now seemed to possess true faith in the Demon King.
After she reached such an odd conclusion, the Cult members began to look confused as well.
It was a ridiculous story, but unlike Paradise, a rigid class-based society, the Demon King Cult didn't discriminate against people.
It was the same principle as Christianity, born in ancient Rome, a status-based society, emphasizing human equality.
Therefore, even a Second-Class Citizen and former inspection agent could become a follower according to their doctrine.
Still, no matter what their doctrine said, how could the Cult members trust me?
So Miss A-ri declared once more.
“You may know ten fathoms of water, but not one fathom of a person's heart. How could we, mere humans, possibly know every corner of this person's heart?”
“Ah, Apostle A-ri! Even so, we need to reach a conclusion-”
“Let the Demon King decide.”
Since we didn't know, we would let the Demon King decide directly.
From the outside, this would sound like complete bullshit, but it was a very reasonable choice for a religious organization serving a god who truly existed.
So the Cult's upper ranks brought me to a strange room.
They said that if I survived for a week, it would mean I had been chosen by the Demon King and was innocent.
“...”
They said this room was a Sacred Domain the Cult's upper ranks had received through a Revelation from the Demon King.
In the past, we believed that because the Demon King was an entity we couldn't communicate with, the Cult must also be fake...
The Cult wasn't fake.
So there was something in this room.
--- Uoooooh!
A bizarre cry echoed from somewhere.
“What the hell is this?”
It had definitely been a room before I entered.
But the moment I opened the door, there was an absurdly vast world beyond it.
I knew a place very much like this one.
The Hotel.
Footnotes:
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