WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 462: Rest Day - The Second Sentence
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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 551
Current Location: Level 1, Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 3]
- Han Ga-in
The third escape from Room 206.
That made Room 206 the room we'd attempted the most since Room 101.
Maybe everyone was exhausted in body and mind. Every companion walking down the corridor looked worn out.
Was that why?
A notice appeared on the display along the wall, telling us that tomorrow would be a rest day.
Eun-sol reacted first.
“Oh. Room 206 has given us a rest day twice already. Is it because it was such a difficult room?”
I thought it was less about the difficulty and more about its length.
Some rooms took two or three days per attempt, but Room 206 lasted for months.
At least, that was true for those who stayed in Paradise.
For the people who went down to Deep Paradise, it probably ended before even a day had passed.
“First, everyone did well. Let's start by talking about what each of us experienced.”
We naturally gathered around the refreshment table and began chatting.
This time, the party had been split into three groups.
1. Me, Yoo Song-i, Lee Eun-sol, and Kim Mook-seong
2. Kim Sang-hyeon
3. Kim A-ri, Elena, Cha Jin-cheol, Park Seung-yeop, and Mi-ro
Our group ruled the city and spread “Ga-in Faith” under the guise of Progenitor worship.
Because of our role, we hadn't obtained any particularly remarkable information.
That didn't mean we had nothing to show for it.
“Ga-in, have you finished charging the Sacred Sun?”
At A-ri's question, everyone looked at me expectantly.
I answered with a slight nod.
When I first received the Sacred Sun, the faith and souls of 144,000 people had felt impossibly distant.
I'd filled it completely.
“Brother, does that mean you can do something amazing now? Like fly through the sky?”
Seung-yeop looked so excited that he was rather cute.
It was a little childish, but he was still a young boy.
Part of me wanted to indulge him, but not now.
“Sorry. It's a rechargeable Inheritance, so if I use its power carelessly, I'll have to charge it again.”
Fortunately, this guy was just incredibly stupid. He was good-natured, though.
“Ah, right! I definitely want to see it next time we need it.”
“Sure.”
Seeing the faint admiration in his eyes made me feel even better.
If I had the time, I could turn him into someone useful.
Wasn't such a useful ability wasted on a woefully inadequate kid?
Inefficient.
In any case, those who had gathered all sorts of information spent quite a while exchanging opinions.
Sang-hyeon spoke about the mysterious events he had experienced in the Sacred Domain and his contact with an incomprehensible being presumed to be the Ipsissimus.
While explaining, he suddenly looked at me and asked,
“By the way, that being said this to me. Why does the Demon King act like a true god? What does that mean?”
“...”
“You, Kim Sang-hyeon, are not qualified to hear any more. But your companion already knows the answer.”
“Already knows the answer...”
“I think that companion meant you, Ga-in. Does anything come to mind?”
Why does the Demon King act like a true god?
If the answer were simple, we all already knew it.
The Demon King was originally an entity that responded to human imagination. People worshipped it as a god, so it merely responded to that.
Of course, Sang-hyeon wasn't looking for such an obvious answer.
“...”
“Haha, I'm only guessing, so please ignore it if nothing comes to mind. It doesn't seem directly related to solving the room. It's closer to personal curiosity.”
Why does the Demon King act like a god?
The question should be changed.
Why does a god act like a god?
Why would it grant the wishes of weak, insignificant beings so far beneath it?
People didn't protect every ant they saw by the roadside, so why did gods cherish their believers?
I knew the answer.
Because I was experiencing it myself.
“... Because they can't distinguish between them.”
“What?”
Where did I end, and where did the outside of me begin?
Humans were bound by the shackles of the flesh.
My body was me, and anything outside my body was not me.
Then what about exalted beings freed from such trivial restraints?
To them, the boundary between self and non-self was exceedingly vague.
If they considered all things to be themselves, or something that could become part of themselves.
If they felt that everything was being drawn into the immense pull of a black hole.
“...”
For those who had attained the Ultimate Self, the distinction between “god” and “believer” was meaningless.
It was like how humans didn't regard each individual cell in their body as another being.
The Demon King, the “I,” hadn't granted a believer's wish. It had merely fulfilled its own desire.
“No. Let's move on to the next topic.”
A-ri, Elena, and the others shared the information they had learned after releasing Mi-ro's Sealing in Deep Paradise.
As we listened, we realized something.
“The information is similar.”
The information hidden by the Demon King Cult and the information obtained through Mi-ro both pointed to similar solutions.
“... That means it's more credible.”
As A-ri said, it was a form of cross-verification, making it more credible.
“We found the same solution through different routes. Changing the Demon King into a less dangerous entity through Demon King worship.”
After a brief silence, A-ri murmured as if organizing the situation.
“At this point, I think this is the solution the Hotel prepared. The specific method was in the control device in Deep Paradise too.”
At that moment, I lowered my head.
I had to cover the expression twisting across my face with both hands.
A-ri, a Management Bureau agent older than she looked.
Someone who had gained incomparable experience outside the Hotel.
Yet this disgusting method was the only solution she could think of?
Once it started bothering me, memories of the past came flooding back.
Come to think of it, A-ri had repeatedly opposed entering Room 104 in the past, hadn't she?
Because of that stupidity, my growth had only been delayed.
“Everyone, please listen to me for a moment.”
With patience etched in my heart, I opened my mouth.
We had found the path of “Demon King worship,” which clearly seemed to be the answer prepared by the Hotel. Why shouldn't we take that path?
Fortunately, I could think of a way to persuade my companions.
People like Eun-sol and Jin-cheol visibly felt repulsed by the phrase “Demon King worship.”
So when I emphasized how unethical that path was, how it meant consigning humanity to enslavement by a demon, they quickly came around.
Elena and Mi-ro were even easier. For them, the fact that I opposed it seemed enough.
Song-i and Seung-yeop looked like they had no thoughts of their own to begin with.
They seemed like the type to just say yes and follow whatever everyone else decided.
Didn't they already seem half contained in the Sacred Sun without even being put inside it?
For the two Management Bureau agents, I emphasized that we already had half a Ticket and should, if possible, complete the other half in Room 206.
“A-ri, don't forget. You know Room 206's Inheritance is ‘a means to save the world,’ right?”
“... We did get that information at Hotel Cinema.”
“Based on the circumstances, Indomitable Reason and either One More Chance or the Ruler of Time are candidates for the Inheritance. Which of them do you think can save the world?”
“...”
“You don't know exactly, do you? I think it's both. We need both. So finding a ‘better solution’ isn't optional. It's necessary. You think so too, Grandpa, right?”
“H-huh? I, I suppose so. Your opinion is quite firm today, Ga-in.”
“Because this is a problem with an answer.”
Lastly, Sang-hyeon raised both hands before I could even speak.
“Let's do that.”
“...”
“You've already persuaded everyone else, Ga-in. Listening from the side, I thought your argument was quite logical. I'll follow that direction too.”
* * *
The meeting continued until late at night, and every kind of bullshit came out.
Finding an answer other than the one arranged by the Hotel was this difficult.
“Damn it! If there's nothing to protect, we don't even need to fight the Demon King! Just wipe out humanity with the control system!”
That was Song-i's opinion, from our ever-responsible mayor.
“Let's build a spaceship the moment we enter, abandon Earth, and get out of there!”
“... You're not saying we should find a spaceship the Order already built. You want to build one?”
“Even after looking through all the Director's memories, there was nothing about a spaceship.”
“Miss Mi-ro, a spaceship isn't something you can throw together in a hundred days.”
Mi-ro's spaceship plan was immediately rejected by the former astronaut.
“Can't we just kill everyone, then, um, turn back time and bring them back?”
“... Hey, A-ri already explained why that's impossible. People sacrificed to Indomitable Reason won't come back even if time is reversed. She said it wouldn't work with the Ruler of Time either, not just One More Chance.”
“I, is that so?”
Despite being so young, Seung-yeop seemed to have a memory that came and went, bringing up the same idea twice. Jin-cheol scolded him for it.
Like that, we spent a headache-inducing stretch of time racking our brains.
“Ugh... My head hurts. Everyone, be quiet!”
Maybe she was tired. Eun-sol suddenly summoned her Flute.
--- Tootle~!
It sounded like an elementary schooler playing a recorder.
The Inheritance was in the form of a Flute, but Eun-sol had never learned how to play one.
“Ahh~! Why isn't it working?”
“Sis, isn't getting a headache from thinking too much a natural thing?”
“Seriously! This stupid Flute is surprisingly useless.”
“Hey! You should be grateful you have an Inheritance!”
“Isn't there only one person here who doesn't?”
“W-what?”
Everyone traded light jokes among themselves, easing their fatigue.
And then...
“...”
My mind snapped awake.
It felt as if someone had scooped cold water from the depths of the sea and poured it over me.
“Sis.”
“Hm? Ga-in?”
I spoke as casually as possible, as though I were joining in the joking mood.
“Haha, I learned the flute when I was little, you know? Try playing it again. I'll help you get the posture right.”
“Wow~ Ga-in grew up so cultured!”
As the sound of the Flute spread once more, the same thing happened.
No, it was worse because it had happened twice in a row.
It felt as though icy water, mixed with chunks of stone-hard ice, was striking my head without pause.
Then the “me” that had been watching everything from behind the Veil awakened.
...
If “I” had only just awakened, then who in the world stood before the Veil?
“Ugh!”
“What? What's wrong?”
“... I, I'll go rest for a moment.”
“You must be tired. Sure, tomorrow's a rest day. Go get some rest.”
The moment I reached Room 105, I braced my near-collapsing body against the wall and asked.
[Advice: 3 -> 2]
‘What in the world is happening?’
[You have lost your balance. It is time to resume what you have put off for a long time.]
Lost my balance?
“...”
A thought that had quietly occurred to me in the Curse Room.
Could the Owl have led me into this entire situation?
‘Was it you?’
There was no answer.
As if it refused to answer a question like that.
“...”
What I had put off for a long time.
Strangely, the moment I heard those words, I knew what I had to do.
If one side of the scale had grown too heavy and thrown the balance off, shouldn't I make the other side heavier?
Soon, a book appeared.
As if it had been waiting for this moment, the Book opened by itself the instant it appeared.
--- Flip!
The First Sentence I had understood long ago.
There is no unchanging self.
When I grasped that truth, I learned that I might no longer be “one.”
And then...
「If what belongs to another can be yours, then could you not also be another?」
“... What the hell does that mean?”
--- Crack!
Sparks flew.
Lightning split me apart.
In that moment, I knew I had taken an irreversible step.
Footnotes:
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