WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 471: Room 206, Curse Room - The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days Re (30)
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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 571
Current Location: Room 206, Curse Room - ‘The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days’
Sage’s Advice: 3]
- Han Ga-in
The Ipsissimus knelt as though a knight were pledging loyalty to me.
Of course, their appearance had become far too inhuman.
[Advice: 3 -> 2]
‘Should I accept this person’s offer?’
[At the very least, it will not harm you.]
That answer brought a tangle of thoughts to mind in a fleeting instant.
The Sacred Sun, my second Inheritance and an unbelievably powerful treasure.
When I obtained the Sacred Sun, I made a contract with the Lord. Its terms were as follows.
The Lord would not consume Han Ga-in’s mind.
Han Ga-in would place 144,000 souls within the Sacred Sun.
“...”
Looking back, it had been close to a scam contract.
I’d agreed to it because I didn’t understand the true nature of the Lord or the Sacred Sun, not only when I made the contract, but even by the time Room 104 ended.
The First Sentence was meaningless.
The Sun’s Encroachment did not mean that the Lord resided within the Sun, binding me every night and consuming my soul and mind.
Encroachment was my choice.
I’d realized I could gain endless power through the Sun, and I was simply walking the path of a mad god of my own will.
Since obtaining The Second Sentence of the Grimoire, I’d been able to look at myself objectively.
“It won’t harm me...”
“Ga-in, what do you mean?”
The Ipsissimus I’d met in the Sacred Domain pleaded with me with the utmost desperation.
They asked me to become our salvation.
To become an Ark that could carry us clear of inevitable destruction.
The reason the subject was “us” rather than “me” was because the souls they wanted me to place in the Sacred Sun did not belong to them alone.
“For a very long time, I have gathered the souls of loyal citizens.”
“You gathered the souls of Demon King worshipers?”
“Haha, that is correct. For a very... very long time.”
“...”
“It was painful. Like building a sandcastle on a beach where endless waves crash in.”
“...”
“It is a number you cannot even imagine.”
Just how many could there be?
It seemed like far more than 144,000.
“Gathering souls. Is that your original power as the leader of the Order of Reason? Or a power you gained as a Demon King worshiper?”
“Does that distinction matter at this point?”
“...”
“I guarantee it. Our souls will become tremendous strength for you.”
“This may be a little late to ask, but how do you know about my Sacred Sun? That it can hold souls...”
“Haha! Because you placed more than a hundred thousand people inside it in Room 206.”
“...”
Just as they said, I had used the Sun rather conspicuously over several loops.
The Demon King must have noticed, then passed that information on to the Demon King’s priest.
A lot of thoughts came to mind.
Adding more souls to the Sun wouldn’t make it infinitely stronger.
The figure of 144,000 the Lord had mentioned was the Sacred Sun’s capacity for producing power at maximum output.
It would let me use that power for longer.
Putting a larger magazine into a gun wouldn’t increase its power, but it would let you fire it longer.
So this offer brought me no disadvantage at all, and the Owl had said the same.
I’d been placing souls in the Sacred Sun even before the Ipsissimus made their request.
But.
Being placed inside the Sun was never a peaceful salvation.
I didn’t know exactly what happened inside, but it was probably closer to falling into hell than being saved.
What the Ipsissimus wanted, a true life outside the Hotel, was made possible not by the Sacred Sun, but by the Soul Box.
...
Unable to hold back, I spoke.
“The Sun is very different from the salvation you imagine.”
In the past, I might not have told them.
I might have smiled and gladly swallowed countless souls.
Now?
I didn’t want to deceive someone who longed to save countless members of their own kind.
“I have guessed as much. But you are the only one who might send not just me, but everyone outside this cursed place. A painful future? I believe painful survival is better than empty extinction.”
Had only two or three minutes passed since we began speaking?
It wasn’t objectively a long time, but in this place, it was longer than expected.
--- Rumble!
Perhaps because of that, the depths began shaking as enormous explosions rang out.
The human sacrifices on the surface had clearly stopped.
The Demon King’s Awakening had begun.
“Argh! Hey, Han Ga-in! Hurry up and decide already!”
At A-ri’s urgent voice, I went to check the Status Window-
[Date: Day 571]
It had been Day 553 when we entered, yet nearly twenty days had already passed.
Seeing the date gave me an idea.
‘Will the Ipsissimus’s offer benefit me?’
[In the grand scheme, it is clearly the beneficial choice.]
‘In the grand scheme? Does that mean there may be smaller risks?’
[Can there be any choice in the Hotel that carries no risk at all?]
I used Sage’s Advice twice in quick succession, then took a deep breath and waited.
“Ga-in? There isn’t much time-”
“Wait, wait!”
[Advice: 0 -> 3]
The date changed!
‘What is the Ipsissimus’s purpose? Do they truly believe being placed in the Sacred Sun and leaving this place is salvation?’
[It is true that, at its core, they seek survival and salvation.]
‘At its core? Does that mean there is another purpose in the details?’
[You know I cannot tell you every little thing, do you not?]
What?
Did the Owl’s tone feel slightly different?
‘Come on, be a little more specific-’
After using Sage’s Advice hundreds, even thousands of times, I received a type of answer I had never gotten before.
[You have a strangely twisted side. If I tell you every detail, you will suspect that I am trying to control you this time. I am only an adviser. I am not an existence that thinks or decides in your place.]
“Huh?”
“What? Did you decide?”
“...”
Honestly, this was the first time I’d received an answer like that.
Using Advice one after another like a conversation in such a short span seemed to have annoyed it a little.
It also felt like it had used the excuse of giving advice to say something it had always wanted to tell me.
“A strangely twisted side...”
The depths shook again with a great roar.
The Ipsissimus wore a desperate expression, and A-ri looked at me urgently as well.
“...”
Let’s think about this rationally.
There was no disadvantage to me, and more importantly, this was this person’s last hope. Would I reject it?
They might suddenly do something strange.
--- Whoosh!
Holding the flames of the collapsing underground city in my hand, I spoke.
“Do as you wish.”
“Gladly.”
* * *
- Park Seung-yeop
Gulp!
I stood on the roof of a fairly tall building that gave me a view of everything happening in the city.
Below the Floating Mansion, thousands, perhaps even more people had formed a mountain of corpses while trying to climb the pipes as though possessed.
Where the apartment buildings had stood, only devastation remained, as though a nuclear missile had struck.
It was Grandpa and Doctor’s slaughter.
And this was only the beginning.
The floating monster jellyfish, carrying Elena on its back, harvested humans without rest.
When a muscular giant appeared among the people praying in the plaza after suffering from hunger and thirst, light from the Otherworld shot out in every direction.
Elsewhere, I saw Eun-sol using dozens of butterflies to make people collapse one after another.
“...”
My breath caught in my throat.
We had planned this outside. I knew this would happen!
But seeing it with my own eyes made me want to throw up.
Then soft hands wrapped around me.
“Now you can’t see anything! Peekaboo?”
Song-i hugged me.
“Sis. I’m not an elementary schooler.”
“Peekaboo?”
“Seriously!”
Why was that so annoying?
There wasn’t even much of an age difference between us!
Song-i stepped back and put on a serious expression.
“Seung-yeop, you don’t need to force yourself to watch.”
“...”
“No one is telling you to get caught up in ethical worries over an apocalyptic tragedy. Maybe the answer to a problem with no answer is to stop thinking about it.”
Stop thinking about problems with no answer.
Was that Song-i’s own lesson from the Hotel?
Then Yumi’s voice, far colder than Song-i’s, reached me.
“We all have our roles, and so do you. Focus on yours.”
“...”
As though defending me, Song-i replied.
“Yumi, are you stupid? Seung-yeop shouldn’t focus! Seung-yeop, just goof around. How about a game of League in a world that’s ending?”
“...”
“Welcome to Summoner's Rift!”
“What is that supposed to be?”
“I was trying to make you feel like you’re playing a game. Was that the right line?”
You were trying to defend me, right?
...
Everyone had a role.
I had something no one else could do for me.
The Progenitor had lost control over Paradise in its chaos, and Indomitable Reason had stopped functioning.
That meant the Demon King would rise before long.
My companions were carrying out ‘euthanasia’ on as many survivors as possible before the Demon King descended.
Even so, when the Demon King truly descended, everyone had to be safe.
It was a matter of timing, that exact timing.
The precise moment when my companions had to stop the survivors’ ‘euthanasia’ and hide from the Demon King.
The moment just before the Demon King twitched a finger and devoured them all!
When was that exact critical window?
I didn’t know.
No one knew, and there was no way to find out.
So, in a way, the most important task had been given to me.
--- Woooooo!
A nightmarish cry shook the city.
Song-i, who had been pretending to stay calm for my sake until just moments ago, looked at me with a desperate expression. Yumi’s eyes went wide too.
“Uh, uh! R-Right now-”
No.
It wasn’t the right time yet.
I told my companions the same.
Park Seung-yeop: Not yet, so keep going.
Kim Mook-seong: OK.
Cha Jin-cheol: That sound is unsettling... OK.
--- Rumble!
A deafening crash, like the sky itself was collapsing at the end of the world!
As though it had been waiting, a choir of angels sounded from the sky.
Of course, there were no angels in Room 206.
“Argh! I-Isn’t it now? Is now-”
“No.”
Not yet.
More people had to be euthanized.
We had to reduce the food the Demon King could devour as much as possible.
Park Seung-yeop: Still not yet. Keep euthanizing them.
Kim Sang-hyeon: This is getting genuinely scary.
Lee Eun-sol: Still not yet?
More.
More.
More.
...
The sky opened.
Paradise’s sky, which had been hidden by the dome enclosing it, opened.
The few survivors who remained stared blankly at the sky.
When the Jesus of this mad world proclaimed that the Second Coming was near, people began floating gently into the air!
At that exact moment.
[Heavenly Luck Activated! The energy of the universe protects you!]
The ground collapsed ‘appropriately,’ making me lose my balance. My tightly clenched fist opened.
At last, the Hourglass revealed itself.
My blessing was Luck.
Luck meant making the right choice even in the absence of Wisdom.
--- Click!
The moment ultimate evil rose from the abyss of the stars, the Hourglass turned once.
I shouted at the Demon King.
“Fuck! Look! This is what a one-click carry looks like! Demon King, you fucking idiot-”
Now that’s League.
...And then I lost consciousness.
Footnotes:
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