WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 478: Party Time - Who Will Be the Owner of the Next Inheritance? (3)
──────
- Elena
When I came out of Room 105, I could already tell something boisterous had happened.
“Elena! You’re out?”
“Eun-sol, things seem a little chaotic?”
Eun-sol gave me a bitter smile.
About ten minutes earlier, Ga-in had woken up first. The moment he came out, he saw Grandpa Mook-seong and Mi-ro, staggered as he broke out in a cold sweat, then went back into his room.
“It’s probably because of the new ability he got. The mental strain might be considerable.”
“Somehow, Ga-in only ever gets powers that give him headaches, whether they’re blessings or Inheritances.”
“Haha! You’re right. What did you get this time, Elena?”
When Eun-sol turned the conversation toward me, the others sitting at the table waiting for breakfast also looked my way.
Thankfully, my ability was easy to explain.
“It’s called ‘Justified Self-Defense.’ Justice’s biggest weakness is how demanding its conditions are, so I guess it makes that part a little easier?”
Eun-sol smiled faintly, looking interested.
“I can get the general idea just from the name. If an enemy attacks you first, you can strike back under justified self-defense? Without judging whether the other person is good or evil?”
“Something like that. But it’s weaker than actual Justice. Sort of like a simplified version of Justice?”
“I get it!”
Then the doctor spoke with a serious expression.
“Which country’s standard of justified self-defense does it follow?”
“Huh?”
“The standards for justified self-defense differ far more between countries than people imagine.”
“Um...”
“For example, in the United States, if an intruder enters private property without the owner’s permission, that alone may qualify as justified self-defense.”
“I-Is that so?”
“On the other hand, in Korea...”
I was only briefly impressed by the doctor’s broad knowledge before A-ri reacted like lightning.
--- Smack!
“Ah, ah!”
“Why are you talking about something pointless? Is Elena Korean?”
Mm, right.
I wasn’t Korean, after all.
“... I nearly made a mistake.”
After violently stopping the doctor from giving a detailed explanation of South Korea’s standards for justified self-defense, A-ri smiled brightly at me.
“Elena.”
“Y-Yeah?”
“You only need to understand Russian standards for justified self-defense.”
“... What are those?”
“In Russia, you can shoot someone just for making eye contact with a menacing expression. If someone trespasses on private property, you can immediately retaliate with a rocket launcher.”
“...”
“Just remember that much.”
What nonsense!
There was no way my homeland was such a bizarre country...
Kim Mook-seong: Meanwhile in Russia
Out of nowhere, Grandpa started flooding the Chat Window with strange images of unknown origin.
“...”
A picture of an ordinary road, except a private car with a mounted machine gun was driving along it.
A bear waving from the right-side seat of a taxi.
A woman carrying a log that looked like it weighed fifty kilograms all by herself.
A bear riding a motorcycle.
A middle school classroom where people were drinking in the back.
A bear dancing next to its owner, who was playing the guitar.
“Half of these are bears! What kind of country is this?”
“Elena, you fled the country when you were young, so you don’t know, but Russia has always been a mysterious country. Every household keeps at least an RPG-7 for self-defense.”
“That’s a lie!”
“Bears in Russia are like Jindo dogs in Korea. Just a slightly rough animal.”
“You think I’ll believe that?”
“Hah, do I need to send more images before you come to your senses?”
That was how breakfast ended.
No matter how I thought about it, everyone seemed to be making fun of me.
What country had bears riding in the backseats of taxis?
* * *
Around lunchtime, Ga-in came out again.
They said he had been a little strange in the morning, but he already seemed calm now.
He was wearing a blindfold, though.
“Please excuse this until I adapt to my ability.”
Everyone only smiled awkwardly, with nothing much to say.
“R-Right. Where’d you get the blindfold?”
“Eun-sol ordered it for me.”
“You asked big sister to order it for you.”
Everyone naturally gathered around the refreshment table and stared at Ga-in’s mouth.
“...”
Silence stretched on.
Then Ga-in spoke as if he had finally realized something.
“Ah, are you all waiting for me to talk?”
“...”
We had all been watching his mouth, but he hadn’t noticed because of the blindfold.
“Ahem. Come to think of it, something happened this morning, so you must all be curious.”
Of course we were.
“The power I received is called ‘Insight.’ What kind of power is it? It’s a little hard to explain.”
Insight.
“It sees the possibilities of people or objects? Highly developed intuition? It reads possible futures from the past and present?”
I understood, but not quite.
Wasn’t there an easy word for this kind of ability?
Right. Usually, people called it Foresight.
“Did you get something like Foresight?”
“Foresight... I understand why you thought of that word, Elena, but it’s a little different.”
“How is it different?”
“Foresight creates something from nothing. Insight derives a larger result from a smaller clue.”
“Huh?”
That seemed to need further explanation.
“If you know nothing at all and suddenly learn what will happen in the future, that’s Foresight. If you have a small clue and can read a specific possibility from it, that’s Insight.”
It was still a little confusing.
“For example, this morning, I saw Grandpa Mook-seong nailed to the Spire and dying in agony. The reason I was able to see that scene...”
“Achoo! Pffft!”
“Ah!”
“W-What was that all of a sudden?”
... Wow.
That just gave me chills.
Ga-in, please don’t casually say shocking things like that.
Grandpa was so startled that he spat out all the water he had been drinking.
“Han Ga-in, you bastard! If you saw such a horrible scene, you should’ve told me beforehand! Were you planning to wait until I got nailed to the Spire, then say, ‘Oh, yeah. I saw this yesterday’?”
“... That’s why I’m telling you now. If I had received Foresight, I would have seen that scene without any clue whatsoever.”
“A-And?”
“Insight is different. When there is a small clue, it shows the possibilities that can stem from it.”
If Foresight was seeing something out of nothing, Insight was seeing a specific possibility from a small clue.
That meant evidence for a future where Grandpa died miserably nailed to the Spire already existed in the present.
“... Hiss.”
Grandpa swallowed, summoned One More Chance, and rolled it over his palm.
“Is it this after all? The Price of Defying Heaven?”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“I don’t know the exact cause either. Still, please be careful.”
“...”
This was difficult.
Just because we knew of an ominous future, it wasn’t like Grandpa could refuse to use the Inheritance he had earned through so much hardship.
Then Mi-ro stood up with a pale face.
“What about me?”
“...”
“Ga-in, you were startled when you saw me too!”
“...”
“W-What did you see? Mi-ro nailed to a cross? Me lying on the barbarians’ grill with chili paste smeared all over me? Getting hit by a truck and sent flying to another world...”
“Easy, easy. It wasn’t anything like that. There was no chili paste.”
“Argh! Then was it soy sauce or ketchup?”
“... Easy. I said it wasn’t like that.”
Ga-in smiled awkwardly as he calmed Mi-ro down, then gave her an answer somewhat different from the one he had given Grandpa.
“I’ll think about yours a little more before I tell you.”
“What? Why only me? You told Grandpa right away!”
“... I’ll think about it a little more.”
Was there a reason he had told Grandpa immediately but not Mi-ro?
Did he not understand what he had seen in connection with Mi-ro?
Or had he decided that telling her would be more dangerous?
There was no way to know.
--- Clap!
“Let’s leave that there for now. We need to talk about the Inheritance too.”
Who would receive which Inheritance through the third Ticket?
It had been discussed since the first day, and Ga-in had said they should ask the Sponsor before deciding.
It seemed he had reached some kind of conclusion.
“Oh, Eun-sol, A-ri.”
“Yeah?”
“What?”
“The conversation you two had yesterday... No, was it two days ago? Anyway, that conversation.”
A-ri believed they would need both Inheritances from Room 206 to save the world.
Eun-sol believed they did not necessarily need both Inheritances from Room 206, and that one of them would be enough.
Who had been right?
“The Sponsor told me about that. I think Eun-sol was right.”
“Ah?”
“The issue isn’t what we choose, but who uses it. That’s the answer I heard. They said something similar when I met them directly.”
“...”
The issue wasn’t what they chose, but who used it.
That implied which Inheritance they chose was not particularly important.
“Fine, if the Sponsor said so, that part must be right. There’s no reason for them to deceive us over this. Was there anything else?”
“I want to ask everyone something about the part where it matters who uses it. If we chose Indomitable Reason, were you planning to have me use it?”
Everyone nodded, and Jin-cheol answered.
“That’s right.”
It was something they had discussed during the Time of Choice.
Unless it was Ga-in, who could carry Sacrifices with the Sacred Sun, Indomitable Reason would be difficult to use effectively.
Ga-in wore a slightly complicated expression before suddenly telling us about what he had experienced in the latter half of Room 206.
A universe of absolute zero filled with emptiness.
A shining angel crossing a pale world while scattering worshipers who had become one with him.
The Enlightenment that came after exhausting the soul and power contained within the sun.
Everyone listened with wide eyes.
Some of them seemed so moved that they were on the verge of tears.
... That was my story.
“Too much is as bad as too little, they say. Mi-ro, thank you.”
“Huh? Huh? All of a sudden?”
“You were the one who told me that.”
“...”
After a brief silence, he made his intentions clear.
“There are already too many powers entangled with me. The sentence remaining in the Grimoire, the issue of the Sacred Sun that will continue forever. Even the Insight I received this time.”
“...”
“I feel like I haven’t even sorted out half of the power I’ve already been given. If I add anything more, that’s overeating. Indigestion.”
He did not want any more Inheritances.
Had receiving Insight as the price for suffering in Room 206 been enough for him?
Or perhaps he simply did not want any more worries.
“Hmm. I respect your wishes, Ga-in, but it would be difficult for anyone else to properly use Indomitable Reason.”
That had been the point from the beginning.
“No, I’m similar now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I won’t charge the Sacred Sun excessively like before. The contract to offer one hundred forty-four thousand has already been fulfilled, so there’s nothing left that can force me to do it.”
“...”
“Haha, don’t misunderstand. It’s not like I’ve suddenly become some Chinese emperor saying, ‘I will not offer the world up for one person.’”
“...”
“I just mean I probably won’t sacrifice an entire run like before and devote myself solely to charging an Inheritance. Well, that isn’t even possible now, because there are no Curse Rooms left on the second floor.”
“Is that so...”
After a moment of silence, he said something that made everyone tense.
“Lately, I sometimes think about this.”
“Yes?”
“If I finally lose my mind, I hope someone can stop me. Not for anyone else, but for my own sake.”
If Ga-in could no longer endure and broke down, we had to be able to stop him, even for his own sake.
So it was dangerous for only him to become endlessly stronger.
Perhaps it was a judgment he could make because he had experienced the most mental disturbances among us.
“... Understood.”
Everyone fell into thought for a while.
Based on everything discussed so far, it seemed difficult to choose Indomitable Reason.
First, the Sponsor had said that which Inheritance they chose was not particularly important.
By that logic, they did not have to choose Indomitable Reason to save the world.
Second, the only person who could properly use Indomitable Reason was Ga-in, and he now had two Inheritances along with Insight, a power just as formidable.
He said he did not want any more worries.
A-ri cautiously offered an opinion.
“Then... the Irregular Polyhedron?”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t care anymore.”
A-ri had wanted Indomitable Reason because she thought it would be essential to overcoming the crisis in reality.
Now that the Sponsor had told her otherwise, it seemed she had no reason to insist on it.
The doctor spoke.
“The Irregular Polyhedron, the Inheritance from Room 201. My memory is hazy, but I heard it requires very high intelligence.”
“That’s right.”
“The original user, the Chief Researcher? I heard that person was one of the greatest geniuses on Earth.”
“That’s right.”
One of the greatest geniuses on Earth!
Just hearing that made my heart race. I had never lived a life like that, so I was incredibly jealous.
What did someone like that think while living in the world?
Did everyone except them seem like chimpanzees?
“... Can we properly use an Inheritance like that?”
“Well, it’s an Inheritance, not the original. The user probably doesn’t need to be a genius remembered in human history. Still, they do need to be smart.”
“So someone intelligent is the candidate.”
Something about this atmosphere was strange.
Then what did that make the people who weren’t candidates?
Stupid people?
Blockheads?
Idiots?
I didn’t think I was some kind of genius.
Still, if they openly excluded me in this situation, I would probably feel pretty bad!
Perhaps sensing the strange tension in the air, Eun-sol chuckled and joined in.
“This is awkward. Ga-in, you suffered so much at the end of Room 206 that if you said you wanted to receive something, everyone would’ve understood.”
Now that someone else might receive it, everyone seemed to feel a little strange.
“Tell us what you think, Ga-in. It looks like you already have a suitable candidate in mind.”
Could it be?
The person Ga-in considered the smartest aside from himself!
“Uh, um. Don’t misunderstand me, everyone. The atmosphere is getting strange, but I’m not ranking you all by intelligence or anything...”
Seung-yeop, who had been feeling some unknown pressure for a while now, suddenly panicked.
“Don’t lie! I’ve completely disappeared from your mind, haven’t I, big brother?”
“...”
--- Screee! Chirp! Screech-screech! Flap!
Everyone looked at Pero at the sudden clamor, including the unexpected cries.
It was practically the first time Pero had made a sound during a meeting.
Then Song-i translated the parrot language.
“Pero says if you’re going to give it to him, you should give it to Pero instead.”
That was a critical hit.
It would have been better if Song-i had not translated it. She was subtly mischievous.
“... Pero probably can’t receive an Inheritance. Probably.”
“Argh! So Pero is smarter than me? This stupid parrot! The dignity of the lord of all creation...”
“Ugh! Someone shut this idiot up!”
Seung-yeop, sorry, but this really was not your moment.
Even this reaction alone was not a good sign.
In the end, Jin-cheol held Seung-yeop back while Song-i restrained Pero, calming the atmosphere.
“...”
The mood around us had subtly heated up.
It was less about wanting the Inheritance for myself and more about becoming absorbed in the question of who was the smartest.
Where did I rank in Ga-in’s mind?
Honestly, I probably wasn’t near the very top, but there had to be at least a few people below me.
Seung-yeop was there, at least!
As everyone watched, Ga-in opened his mouth.
“Looking back, my experience in Room 206 was helpful. I found someone there who could use the Irregular Polyhedron well.”
In Room 206?
Footnotes:
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