Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 474

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 473: Room 206, Curse Room - The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days Re (32)

──────

[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 573

Current Location: Room 206, Curse Room - ‘The Demon King Who Revives After 100 Days’

Sage’s Advice: 3]

- Han Ga-in

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fu-”

“Isn't that rather vulgar of you?”

“Shut up!”

The plan was riddled with logical gaps. There was no way to know how it would unfold!

I never imagined I'd end up as bait, luring in the Demon King!

--- Raaaaa!

A grotesque, discordant roar, enough to sear my eardrums, filled space.

The Demon King, the ultimate predator tormented by eternal hunger, rose from Earth.

“You should hurry. At this rate, you'll be caught.”

“H-How am I supposed to get away?”

“Can't you just fly?”

“You idiot! Do you think I can move faster than the Demon King?”

“Oh! Are you slower?”

For a moment, I couldn't breathe as something dawned on me.

This idiot was strangely similar to Progenitor May!

To Ipsissimus, I must have seemed like a bodhisattva or an angel until now.

An omnipotent being capable of anything a mortal could imagine, someone closer to a god than a human.

Ipsissimus was even connected to the Demon King and vaguely knew what had happened in the previous iteration, so Ipsissimus knew that I had fought the Demon King with Descent in the first iteration.

That was why Ipsissimus had pushed things toward this situation the moment Ipsissimus heard about the Scorched-Earth Strategy.

Ipsissimus thought that even if I couldn't defeat the Demon King, I could at least escape!

To a chick, even a fox was an ultimate predator. It simply couldn't understand how vast the gap was between a fox and a tiger.

In other words, there was nothing more to gain from talking to this idiot. I had to find the answer myself.

Thought one.

The Sacred Sun had incredible endurance, but in sheer output, no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't compare to my previous Descent.

Even Descent had only bought a little time against the Demon King. Escape from the Demon King using the Sacred Sun's power?

There was no answer, even if I died and came back to life!

Thought two.

If this became a contest of raw ability, a fight over whether the Prisoner or I was stronger or faster, I could never win.

I needed a fundamentally different method. In other words-

“Y-You said your companions are alive on the ground, didn't you? I heard what you said earlier. Isn't there something you can do?”

“...”

If Ipsissimus was a chick and I was a fox, then the Demon King was a tiger.

And the Hotel was a dragon, or something of even higher standing.

Even a fox could handle a tiger if it used a tool bestowed by a dragon.

Even the Demon King couldn't do anything before an hourglass the size of a fist.

“...”

Floating through space, I closed my eyes and stretched out my body.

“Aah! A-Are you insane? Are you taking a nap right now? The Demon King is-”

With the Sacred Sun beside me, I was ‘half’ a god.

A god was an omniscient, omnipotent being, wasn't it?

Even a half-god could do about half of anything.

That included taking a nap in space while the Demon King bore down on me.

--- Flutter!

The Kingdom of Dreams unfolded.

* * *

[User: The first god in human history to nap in space

Date: <-- This is meaningless too.

Current Location: Space Stone Bed

Sage’s Advice: It seems like you're really in trouble]

The moment I woke up, I saw a man looking around in a daze.

An ordinary face, one that looked like someone you might see once while walking down the street.

I'd never seen him before, but I knew who he was.

He was Ipsissimus.

He had been twisted by the Demon King for so long that he'd lost his human form, but here in the dream, he had returned to his original self.

“So this is what you looked like.”

“Where is this place?”

“...”

“This is truly, truly fascinating. When you suddenly lay down in space and the dark vortex called the Demon King erupted like a volcano, I thought everything was over...”

“...”

“Then a painting suddenly unfolded in the air, and we entered a strange hyperspace.”

The Kingdom of Dreams wasn't simply a world entered through dreams. It was a kind of Teleportation tool.

That was probably how it looked from the outside.

As my extreme tension eased, harsh words slipped out before I could stop them.

“You, did you really think I could contend with the Demon King? You only partially became part of the Demon King and lived that way for so long, and you still don't know how powerful it is? You're not some ordinary person either. You used to be the head of the Order of Reason-”

“Was my judgment wrong?”

“No, didn't you understand what I said? Even if I fly as fast as I can-”

“You escaped the Demon King's grasp just now.”

“...”

For a moment, I had nothing to say.

“I didn't know what method you would use, but I knew you could somehow buy time against the Demon King.”

“...”

“You seemed capable of at least that much. My prediction was correct.”

In the end, I had escaped by using the Kingdom of Dreams, so he wasn't exactly wrong.

“This is the first time I've used the Kingdom of Dreams like this.”

“Like this?”

I'd thought it was only a tool for looking into my companions' inner thoughts or teleporting to their locations.

But from another perspective, the world inside the painting itself was a kind of hyperspace.

--- Squirm!

“Gah! W-What is that now?”

“...”

Ever since I first obtained it, there had been a ‘strange passenger’ in this painting.

I turned my attention to my companions.

The companions protected by the Hourglass had no dreams at all.

Their consciousness had probably vanished in the first place.

“...”

Mi-ro was dead.

At this point, the body capable of controlling the various control devices in Deep Paradise and the Ruler of Time was gone.

It wasn't a major problem.

I had planned for this in advance.

“A-ri is alive. If she'd stayed in space, she would've suffocated.”

Had she flown back with the Wing Boots?

She was alive, but A-ri's mind looked extremely weakened.

She might have tried desperately to return to Earth, only to fall somewhere like the sea and slip into a coma.

“Wow! Your companion is something else too.”

“...”

For a moment, I wanted to go to A-ri and help her, but I stopped myself.

The Demon King had chased me into space. What would happen if I went to A-ri's side on Earth?

The Demon King would return to Earth too, so I absolutely couldn't do that.

“... I have to go back out.”

I couldn't return to Earth.

Nor could I stay here.

There was no telling how the Demon King, which had followed me beyond Earth, would act if I did.

So I had to open the door I came through and return to the empty void of space.

Before I went back, I had to think.

How could I get the Demon King as far away from Earth as possible?

Simply flying away wouldn't work.

The Demon King would be far faster than me.

“I've got it.”

“Oh? As expected! Did something come to mind?”

As I walked toward the door I'd entered through, I recalled something from not long ago.

Worried about the Sacred Sun's mental corruption, I had sought out Mi-ro's dream.

I had sensed that she would be in Mi-ro's dream when I saw A-ri, who had entered it before me.

A pitiful being trapped in an eternal nightmare, not knowing who she was or where she was.

She seemed like she would know the answer to my problem.

For a different reason than mine, she had experienced having her mind twisted several times.

Her first piece of advice had been Containment.

If I placed the Sacred Sun in Containment within another consciousness created through the Power of the Avatar, the other side would be able to avoid Encroachment.

It had worked fairly well.

Thanks to that, I could objectively observe myself slowly going mad as a third party.

But it wasn't enough.

The balance of power still tilted toward the Sacred Sun, especially in terms of my mind.

The second piece of advice: Too much is as bad as too little.

“...”

「‘Isn't this ultimately a problem caused by the Sun's power being too strong? They say excess is just as bad as lacking something.’

‘What am I supposed to do?’

‘Reduce it so it isn't excessive. Bring it down to a level you can control. You said it's consumable, right? Then use up its power somewhere appropriate.’」

I knew how to handle the end of Room 206.

And at that end, I knew what would happen to me.

“What a shame.”

“Pardon? I don't understand what you mean.”

Standing before the door I'd entered through, ugly memories from the past flashed through my mind.

The me who had just obtained the Sun and immediately vowed to fill it with 144,000 souls in Room 206.

The me who, the moment I lost the Status Window's protection, rushed up to Paradise and devoured souls.

The me who wasn't satisfied with NPC souls and coveted even Elena's soul.

The me who listened to voices praying to me and looked down from ‘above’ at those ‘below.’

Things that had never existed in me before I entered the Hotel, or even before I obtained the Sun.

The childish madness of a newborn god.

Another memory surfaced.

The me who pitied the believers exhausted by their painful lives in Paradise.

The me who granted the wish of a woman praying for help.

The me who wanted to cure the illness of a believer gasping on their sickbed.

And the emotion and joy of the moment I was born human and rose into space with nothing but my bare body.

Moments I could never forget.

“...”

“Could you tell me what your plan is? Even someone like me, who served the Order of Reason for so many years, cannot possibly fathom your thoughts...”

One last time, I looked back at Ipsissimus, the pitiful man who had regained human form in the dream.

A person who had gone beyond being a Demon King worshiper and only partially become part of the Demon King.

A person who had realized because of that that he was trapped in the Hotel.

A person who had despaired after learning that unavoidable destruction awaited, no matter how things ended.

He wanted to remain alive, even if that meant becoming a part of me along with the other believers.

That was why he'd suddenly made me bait for the Demon King.

No matter what happened, he probably thought he could leave as part of me only if we resolved the room.

“Ah, I understand now.”

“Pardon?”

The Revelation of Heavenly Secrets about Room 206.

A three-way conflict, a common theme in fiction, checking the date.

The common theme in fiction referred to time regression, us who had undergone Possession, the Progenitor who had lived through reincarnation, and the Demon King's existence.

Checking the date meant that the flow of time hadn't been constant.

I'd figured out that much quickly, but what exactly was the three-way conflict?

At first, I thought it meant the Demon King, the Order of Reason, and ‘us,’ but that was a little strange.

If we counted ourselves as a separate party, every Curse Room was basically a three-way conflict.

“Maybe it was hinting at your existence.”

“Pardon? What have you been talking about this whole time?”

One side was obviously the Demon King.

Another was the descendants of the Order of Reason, who opposed the Demon King.

And then there was this.

“It's been a while since I've met an NPC like you.”

A being that knew about the Hotel before we told him.

The head of the Order of Reason and a Demon King worshiper, a contradictory position, yet someone who said both identities were ‘meaningless’ because he knew the Hotel's truth.

An NPC who had designed the whole board, who confused us in some situations but seemed like an ally in others.

“... I truly don't understand. Your attitude is making me uneasy.”

“Goodbye.”

One last thing came to mind, a funny post I'd seen on the internet a long time ago.

How could you survive if you encountered a bear in the mountains?

You didn't need to be faster than the bear.

You just needed to be faster than the person beside you.

A simple, funny story about how the bear wouldn't chase you while it was busy eating someone else.

The Demon King had cast off the disguise it used to tempt humans and returned to its primordial impulse.

In a sense, it was like an endlessly powerful beast.

So...

Even the Demon King would have to stop for a moment while it ate.

[Advice: 3 -> 0]

‘Is my guess correct?’

The answer from Sage’s Advice consumed all three stacks at once, perhaps because this was extremely important and slightly crossed the line. It was very simple.

[That is correct.]

That answer was enough.

--- Creak!

The entrance to the Kingdom of Dreams opened, and I woke once more in the empty void of space.

* * *

--- Ooooooh!

The ultimate predator, confused when I had suddenly vanished, let out a roar of delight the moment I woke.

And I grasped ‘the most delicious thing in the world.’

- Ah, O God. O great Salvation!

- Are you truly abandoning us?

- Where are you going after abandoning us?

- Please, please! Do not do this...

I felt the souls scattering, the believers who had trusted and followed me.

Joshua, a Third-Class Citizen who had worked at a shoe factory all his life, had been a diligent man who loved his family.

Kevin, a Second-Class Citizen who was a doctor, had been a kind doctor who pitied those of lower rank and treated them at low cost.

Emily, a Third-Class Citizen who loved her daughter suffering from an incurable illness, may you be happy with your daughter if there is a Next Chance.

I laughed, and I cried.

In the truest sense, they were part of me. I was a father abandoning his children.

“I'm sorry. I guess I wasn't a real god after all.”

At the end of everything, all I could do was pray that they would find rest as well.

The countless souls gathered in the Sacred Sun gradually scattered into space.

The ultimate predator swallowed each one, as though it wouldn't allow even a drop of the universe's most delicious food to escape.

“Eat! This is my flesh and blood, bread and wine made from souls!”

I crossed the empty universe, endlessly pouring out souls.

To escape the Demon King, I didn't need to be faster than the Demon King.

It was enough to be faster than a Demon King that had to ‘stop and eat from time to time.’

* * *

[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 900

Current Location: --

Sage’s Advice: 3]

A long time passed.

According to the Status Window, nearly a year.

I flew through space, endlessly shedding flesh and blood made of souls.

It wasn't a comfortable time.

From time to time, the Demon King chased the golden-egg-laying duck, wanting to eat the duck itself instead of its eggs.

Whenever that happened, the Kingdom of Dreams became my refuge.

It wasn't all suffering.

The Owl was the only being I could call a companion as I flew endlessly, so I spoke with it three times a day, soothing my loneliness and curiosity.

“... How far have I come?”

Among the engines humanity created to venture into space was something called an ion engine. Its thrust was supposedly only enough to lift a sheet of paper.

How could a force that small move a spaceship?

Ion engines had the greatest fuel efficiency of any engine humanity created, and because space had no air, there was no resistance.

If thrust capable of lifting a sheet of paper was generated without stopping for a single minute or second, the spacecraft would accelerate forever through resistance-free space.

After several months, it could reach the tremendous speed of 140,000 kilometers per hour.

...

The same principle applied to me.

For nearly a year, I had continuously released thrust about as strong as a slightly slow airplane's on Earth. In space, where there was no resistance, I became faster without end.

How fast was I now, and where was I?

I didn't know.

At some point, though, I felt like my movement had surpassed the limits of the laws themselves.

“...”

The Sun had vanished from sight long ago.

The Status Window had stopped displaying my current location at some point.

“... It hurts.”

For the first time in a very long while, I felt pain.

At the end of that pain was a strange domain where illusion and reality mixed together.

I saw myself burning like a flame.

He had become a very small, young boy.

“Why... Why did you make this choice?”

“...”

“You used up all the Sun's power. I, we, were clearly making a great leap toward becoming great beings!”

“...”

“We've become lowly again. We've fallen back into insignificant ants!”

“Not that lowly. I was an amazing being even before I obtained the Sun.”

“Room 206 was a cradle for us to become gods! It was a means of reaching a domain in the Celestial Realm through the Sun's power! But if you use up all the Sun's power to resolve Room 206-”

“Pfft!”

I laughed.

Seeing that foolish boy, I couldn't help it.

Was it because I had placed the Sun in Containment according to Mi-ro's advice?

“No. Not at all.”

“What? What are-”

“Become a god? Ascension? Challenge the Celestial Realm? Since when was that kind of empty ambition my goal?”

“...”

It had never been.

An Inheritance was simply a reward from a Curse Room, a tool for progressing through the Hotel.

Yet I had tried to make the Inheritance itself the purpose of my life. How foolish was that?

It wasn't Han Ga-in's life. It was the Sacred Sun's life.