WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 458: Room 206, Curse Room - The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days Re (20)
──────
- Kim Sang-hyeon
Ominous.
Black, red, murky, and reeking of fish.
The space itself was ominous, but the being at its center looked as though the very concept of ill omen had been molded into human form.
“Mister, would you like a cup of coffee?”
“...”
Like the countless fake companions I had seen so far, the fake Ga-in before me at least resembled the original in appearance and voice.
That only made me more uncomfortable.
“Wow! You look really tense. But you've made it this far, so the hard part's over.”
“...”
I took a deep breath and prepared to fire Final Flash at any moment.
“Whoa! That's pretty scary! Mister, go easy on me. Even I'd die instantly if that hit me.”
In the previous run, Ga-in had turned into a half-mad god because he couldn't control the Sacred Sun.
Final Flash had reduced that mad demigod to ashes in a single strike.
Seeing that had convinced me.
Unless it was at least a Prisoner, there were probably very few beings capable of withstanding Final Flash.
“Now, now, relax. You see this, right? This! The Cult people call it the Holy Grail.”
The Holy Grail?
It was a laughable name, but the cup the young man held up certainly gave that impression.
A black liquid sloshed inside like ink.
“You just have to drink this.”
“Will it give me supernatural abilities like the Cult's leadership?”
“That's right. The Cult believes this is the Demon King's choice.”
“... Did all the elders arrive here after undergoing trials?”
“Not trials like yours. At most, they got abbreviated trials lasting four or five days. You get the Demon King's special trial!”
“...”
--- Ting!
“It’s something like cola, so go ahead and drink.”
“...”
A Holy Grail that granted supernatural abilities.
It was impressive, but it meant nothing to me.
Why had I entered this place in the first place?
To receive the Demon King's choice and gain great power?
That wasn't it.
What was I supposed to do with fake blessings and fake Inheritances the Demon King created inside this room?
I only wanted answers.
What kind of being was the Demon King, and what secret did the Cult hold?
“I think what I want is something you have, not some cup like this.”
The young man smiled slightly.
“You have a lot of questions about the Cult, don't you?”
That was why I had entered.
“It's strange, isn't it? From our experience fighting it and from the Order's records, the Demon King was clearly a storm-like being with no real rationality.”
“...”
“How could a Cult have formed around such a being? Why worship it at all?”
“...”
“Let's learn about the Cult's history to understand that. Oh, and let's skip over what kind of organization the Order of Reason was and why it built Paradise. Why? You already know that!”
“...”
I felt it again.
The being before me knew far too much about us.
Was that because it was connected to the Demon King?
Setting the Demon King aside, what exactly was this thing?
“Why did the Demon King Cult form? The Demon King devours humans. What kind of insane deer worships a wolf?”
“... I'll listen.”
“One day, a Demon King fragment suddenly fell from the sky. The peaceful world was ruined that very day.”
“...”
“Before the Demon King fell, the Order of Reason was a secret organization! Ordinary humans had no real idea how many monsters lurked beneath the surface of the world, or who subdued those monsters.”
“It sounds like our world.”
“Earth is similar no matter how many cycles it goes through.”
“What?”
“Ha ha! Let's move on. In the unprecedented crisis of the Demon King's fall, the Order literally held out with everything it had. It twisted time and spent human lives like bullets! These people were quite something too.”
“...”
“Mister, shall we change our perspective a little?”
Change our perspective.
“You're already superhuman. I don't know how you see yourselves, but you're closer to members of a secret organization that upholds the world than ordinary humans.”
Whether we saw ourselves that way or not, we were closer to Management Bureau agents than ordinary citizens.
“How do you think ordinary people viewed the Order's heroic struggle against the Demon King?”
“I never thought about it.”
“Think about it now.”
“They probably had trouble understanding the situation.”
“What part of it would have confused them?”
“...”
How would the moment of destruction have felt to Person A, an ordinary office worker?
One day, a meteor suddenly fell from the sky, and the world began to change in strange ways.
Then strange people calling themselves the Order appeared out of nowhere and made the world suffer.
“...”
They kidnapped countless people and offered them as sacrifices.
They forcibly built cities in harsh lands where humans couldn't live, then drove people into them.
How many people must have died in that process?
“The Order must have seemed like the villains.”
“Interesting, isn't it? To all of you, who know everything, the Demon King is the villain, and the Order only gritted its teeth to protect humanity. But to ordinary people living through that era, it was completely different.”
“...”
To ordinary people, the Order had suppressed the Demon King somehow, so they had no way of knowing how horrible it truly was.
The Order, on the other hand, was the villain offering their families as sacrifices to strange flames right before their eyes.
“That was when the first Demon King worshipers were born.”
They did not worship the Demon King because they believed it was benevolent.
They worshiped it despite knowing it was an unidentified cosmic disaster, a monster by its very nature.
Because it fought against the Order they hated even more.
Because it was the enemy of their enemy, and because it was an incredibly powerful being.
“Does that answer why the Cult formed?”
“... Yes.”
I understood.
I understood why insane deer served a wolf like a natural disaster as their god.
“The next question is this, right? Why does the Demon King act like a real god?”
My breath caught.
This was what I, what all of us, had wanted to know most.
Probably the greatest secret of Room 206.
Something even stranger than deer worshiping a wolf.
The wolf had begun acting as though it were the deer's god.
The Demon King truly granted supernatural abilities to its worshipers, and when a false prophet appeared, drew attention to the false prophet.
When its followers wished for it, it created imitation Curse Rooms, even establishing a structure of trials and rewards.
Those were godlike actions.
At least to the people of the Demon King Cult, the Demon King really was like a god.
They treated it like a god, and it began to act like one.
Why did that happen?
Could this phenomenon be expanded further?
Could the Demon King be made to act like a god even toward ordinary humans?
“Remember.”
“Remember what-”
“The Demon King was not worshiped because it was a god. Worship came first, and godhood came after. Think about what that means.”
Suddenly, I realized the other party's way of speaking had changed.
The tone didn't matter, but I had trouble understanding exactly what it meant.
It didn't act like a god and earn worship. It came to act like a god because it was worshiped?
When I turned my head to ask for a more detailed explanation-
“Urgh! You bastard-”
You no longer have the right to hear any more.
The right? I didn't have it?
The moment inexplicable pressure swallowed me, I realized.
This thing had not wanted me!
Your companion already knows the answer.
They just don't realize it's the answer.
They already knew the Demon King's secret, the answer?
“You bastard! Even if you're going to kill me, at least explain it properly first-”
No, you will not die.
* * *
- Kim A-ri
--- Whoosh!
The scenery around us changed rapidly with the sound of wind tearing past.
“Argh!”
“Quiet! You'll scare it if you make strange noises!”
“Hold on tight!”
Seung-yeop's screams drifted over from afar, along with Elena trying to calm him down and Jin-cheol trembling as he clung tightly to the living cloud.
Everyone was suffering from the wild flight of the monster Elena had created.
Naturally, that had nothing to do with me, since I was using Wing Boots.
--- Squeak!
“...”
It had nothing to do with this rude parrot that had somehow climbed onto my shoulder either.
The Wing Boots were basically made for one person, but apparently a parrot didn't count.
“I wonder how much time has passed in Paradise by now...”
According to what we had learned from the Director, the time distortion created by the Ruler of Time was irregular.
That meant there was no clear ratio, like one hour in the depths equaling three hundred hours in Paradise.
It differed depending on the place and the time.
So there was no way to know exactly what day Paradise was currently on.
It would have been different if Ga-in had come down.
Still, one thing was certain.
Things were progressing far faster than in the previous run, incomparably so.
We could already see the Research Lab!
“Over there!”
The others had spotted the Research Lab as well. They straightened up and prepared to fight if necessary.
Then-
--- Bang! Bang!
“S-stop! Aah! I-I'll shoot if you come any closer!”
The soldiers pointed their guns at us with frightened expressions when the monster appeared.
Some couldn't hold back and pulled the trigger.
For just a moment, I considered it.
If one of us got shot here, could Elena use Justice?
For example, if Seung-yeop got shot and died-
“...”
We had confirmed it in the previous run. There was no need to choose the painful path.
These people understood the words Airavata and Kadyrov.
“We came from Paradise! I'm Airavata's successor!”
“... Airavata's successor?”
* * *
By the time we entered the Research Lab, the monster Elena had created had vanished without a trace.
The soldiers still couldn't hide their fear. They surrounded us and led us inside the Research Lab.
The air was taut with tension, as though a fight could break out at any moment.
Their reaction was different from when I had come alone in the second run.
There were several of us, and we had ridden a monster from the sky. Of course they would be afraid.
Either way, the Director soon appeared.
“Hmm... You really are Airavata's successor? You came earlier than I expected.”
My companions exchanged furtive glances, silently discussing when to begin.
We had already experienced this, hadn't we?
There was no need to waste time chatting with the Director.
--- Clap!
I immediately clapped my hands to signal them.
--- Screeeech!
As if it had been waiting, Grotesque roared and threw the soldiers into confusion. Cha Jin-cheol rushed at the Director like lightning.
“Argh! W-what is this-”
A watch flickered over the Director's flustered body-
“I knew this would happen! Take it!”
The instant the watch appeared, Cha Jin-cheol snatched it away and threw it to me!
Wow! I had thought Time Lender was the most overpowered Inheritance, but it could be neutralized this easily.
Was it because, no matter how great the equipment was, the Director using it had no athletic ability?
“S-sis, stay behind me!”
“Huh? Seung-yeop, it's okay. You should protect Yumi instead-”
Elena looked flustered when Seung-yeop said something so brave and out of character.
There was no way a kid like Seung-yeop could protect Elena in the middle of a chaotic fight-
“I-if I get shot and die first!”
“???”
“T-then you can use Justice-”
...
If I die, Elena can use Justice!
That sounded just a little cool.
Had I become strange for thinking something so crazy was cool?
In the meantime, Cha Jin-cheol subdued the Director before anyone could blink.
“Done. A-ri!”
“Keep holding the Director!”
I quickly took out a syringe, drew blood, and poured it into the Director's mouth.
“Mmph! Y-you! Disgusting! Bastards! I will definitely-”
“Don't use bad words.”
“You disgusting bastards!”
The Director had quite a foul mouth.
I met the Director's furious, trembling gaze and entered the Director's mind.
...
It was time to wake Mi-ro.
Considering the significance of Sealing on the second floor, waking Mi-ro must have meaning as well.
There was something more in this Research Lab.
Footnotes:
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