WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 484: Room 207, Gate Room - First Trial - ‘Eternal Life and Resurrection’ (2)
──────
- Park Seung-yeop
A threatening sound suddenly came from behind me!
When I turned around, I saw unknown men cloaked in black slaughtering the slave hunters without hesitation.
“... Hrk!”
A groan slipped out before I could stop it.
It felt like only a minute or two had passed, but every hunter who had been tormenting the children was already dead.
The men in black had been watching me as well, so I couldn't even think of moving.
“...”
After killing only the hunters, they began loading the children, half out of their minds from the bloody spectacle before them, onto the cart they had brought.
It looked like the children had been their target. But why?
Just as several men approached, clearly prepared to capture or kill me, I realized this was the moment.
--- Click!
The box opened.
Delicate features, flowing brown hair, brown eyes, and a white dress.
A mysterious young woman appeared, completely out of place in the silent desert filled with sand and dust.
“Ah...”
Yumi had strange powers that we called magic. She could use them to cause biological mutations or shape a body itself.
Maybe that was why her appearance felt a little different each time she created a body....
That was what made Yumi feel new every time, and seeing her always took my breath away.
“Uh, um, uh...”
“I'll handle this.”
She must have grasped the situation from inside the Soul Box, because she remained calm.
A girl dressed in clothes utterly unsuited to the desert had appeared out of thin air.
I'd gotten the clothes from the Hotel, so of course they didn't suit the desert. Still, whatever the reason, it only made her seem more mysterious.
Her appearance alone was supernatural, and the men in black looked flustered.
“Gasp! You... are you a magician? Or a priestess of the Great One?”
Instead of answering, Yumi clasped her hands and spoke in a beautiful voice.
“O Great Han Ga-in, your daughter is in danger. Your...”
“No, you've misunderstood! I, um, am Taio! Priestess, we have no intention of fighting you.”
They must have thought that this mysterious magician was about to perform some miracle.
Taio quickly gestured and backed away with his subordinates.
“We only came to take the children. We didn't even know someone like you existed. Let us each go our separate ways.”
Soon, the surroundings fell quiet.
“...”
“...”
Should I send Yumi back?
The problem had been solved more easily than expected, so there was still plenty of time left on the Soul Box's limit.
This was it!
With the atmosphere like this, maybe we could finally talk for the first time in a while...
“What was that just now? O Great what? Ga-in? You can do magic like that too...”
“Hehe.”
My heart skipped at Yumi's laugh.
W-was there something weird about what I'd just asked?
“Idiot. Of course I was joking.”
“Joking?”
“The moment I appeared like a genie from a lamp, they showed fear. I just pretended to be a mysterious magician.”
“... You called him Great Ga-in, so you startled me.”
“Well, that part wasn't entirely a joke. You seem to think of him as a companion, but the way I see him...”
When Yumi brought up Ga-in, my chest tightened without me realizing it.
Because the Witch of Room 107, who could be called Yumi's original, considered Ga-in...
“...”
“I don't know. He feels too far away for me to make any firm judgments.”
Even someone as oblivious as me could tell that Yumi's reaction had nothing to do with affection.
Wasn't it more like the attitude a Witch would take toward a demon or angel beyond her ability to deal with?
To begin with, Yumi was only a trace left behind by a Witch from long ago. She hadn't inherited that Witch's personality or memories.
In practice, that meant she was a different person.
For some reason, that put me at ease.
“What do we do now?”
“Should we follow them from a distance?”
“The people in black?”
“Yeah. They killed the slave hunters, then took the children with them. Why do you think they did that?”
“... I don't have any tracking skills or anything.”
“I do.”
With that, Yumi smiled softly, stroked my head, and took my hand.
At some point, Yumi had become incredibly kind to me.
From then on, I couldn't control my feelings anymore.
“...”
My heart pounded wildly again.
At the same time, someone in my heart, the slightly smarter Seung-yeop the Hotel had raised, whispered.
She, no, this thing, fundamentally loved no one.
* * *
- Kim Sang-hyeon
The current pharaoh was named Omar.
Before entering Room 207, I had collected materials on Ancient Egypt from the Library that had appeared underground, as though it were telling us to study.
A pharaoh had as many as five names: the Horus name, Nebty name, Golden Horus name, throne name, and birth name.
I didn't know which of those Omar was, but everyone called him Omar.
He was a truly great pharaoh.
They said he had protected Egypt through repeated victories against the black devils of the south, who were likely Black people from ancient Nubia, and subjugated barbarians who crossed the sea.
I was Omar's personal physician.
“Sang-hyeon! Omar is looking for you.”
“...”
It was time to leave.
* * *
On the way to the pharaoh's palace, I had an unexpected encounter.
Hespercia, Malkab's high-ranking priest, was heading to the palace with several lower-ranking priests. Malkab was the god of the underworld.
In this country, which was effectively a theocratic state, being a high-ranking priest was synonymous with being a high-ranking noble.
That meant that even as the pharaoh's personal physician, I had to show proper respect.
“Greetings, Hespercia.”
“...”
At that moment, an image appeared at the top of my vision.
「Look behind you!」
“...”
Among the lower-ranking priests Hespercia had brought, I spotted Song-i.
There were too many eyes around us to acknowledge her, but I sharply tapped the floor with my foot to let her know I had seen her.
--- Tap!
Then Hespercia, who had seemed ready to pass by, turned toward me.
“You.”
“Did you have something to say?”
“What exactly is Omar's condition?”
Last night, with no idea what was going on, I had been summoned by the pharaoh and examined him.
“It isn't good.”
“...”
When I answered with the gravest expression I could manage, Hespercia looked somber and resumed walking toward the palace.
Omar's condition really was serious.
Without modern medical equipment, it was difficult to make an exact diagnosis, but from what I had confirmed, more than five illnesses were eating away at him.
Why was he calling for a priest at a time like this?
Could Malkab's priests really possess divine powers?
That was entirely possible in the Hotel.
* * *
The place was so splendid that it was hard to believe the setting was Ancient Egypt.
Paintings celebrating Omar's great achievements covered the walls, and sculptures made of pure gold stood everywhere.
Yet there was misery that even such splendor couldn't hide.
“Ugh.... Hk...! Hrk!”
A middle-aged man whose chest rattled with phlegm every time he exhaled.
He wasn't old enough to be called elderly, at most in his early to mid-forties.
Even though he couldn't properly rise from his bed, his limbs were still muscular, and his build remained sturdy.
He surely had never dreamed something like this would happen to him.
Maybe he had been confident that he would at least live past sixty.
That was why the present situation must have been even harder to endure.
A great pharaoh born into the highest rank in the world, who had accomplished deeds that would go down in history.
A blessed life that anyone would envy.
Could anyone abandon such a life after only forty years?
“Sang-hyeon...! Come here!”
“Yes.”
For an instant, I felt uneasy.
In Joseon, royal physicians were often punished when the king died. But this was Ancient Egypt!
Would I be sentenced to death if this guy died?
“Tell me the truth! Cough! Don't hide... huff! Anything!”
“...”
I explained the results of my examination in detail before the panting pharaoh.
His esophagus, lungs, and stomach were all damaged, and to make matters worse, he had a fever.
Even with modern medical care, this wouldn't be easy to treat.
“Then... How much longer do I have?”
“...”
“Tell me!”
“A year at most, I think.”
Honestly, even a year was optimistic.
Omar seemed shocked by my answer and said nothing for a while.
“... Hespercia.”
The next person he called was Malkab's high-ranking priest, whom I had met on the road earlier.
“I have something to say to you.”
“Great Omar, Son of the Sun. I, Hespercia, shall gladly listen to your words.”
“I... I have given everything for this land. I slew the devils of Nubia and burned the cruel forest. Cough!”
Omar coughed incessantly as he stressed how many great achievements he had made for Egypt.
It wasn't a story that resonated with me much, but it seemed to be different for everyone else present.
Soon, even the loyal guards around us and Hespercia were unable to hide their tears.
“Omar, ah, great Omar....”
“Hespercia, do you pity me?”
“How could I, how could I dare say something so outrageous as that I pity you? I only, I only....”
“Huff.... Hespercia, I have a request.”
“Please, say anything! If it is something I can grant, I will certainly...”
“Long ago, your people gave Menes eternal life.”
At that moment, the surroundings went silent.
According to the setting, Menes was Omar's ancestor and the pharaoh who had unified Egypt, effectively its founding ancestor.
That much I understood....
But Malkab's followers, servants of the god of the underworld, had given Menes “eternal life” long ago?
What did that mean?
“O-Omar. I do not quite understand what you...”
Hespercia was painfully bad at lying.
“Do not hide it from me. Menes himself left behind records. Your people promised him eternal life!”
“...”
“The sarcophagus, the sarcophagus! The Immortal Sarcophagus!”
“...”
A troubling term had appeared.
The Immortal Sarcophagus?
“Hespercia, must I cut off a hand before you will obey? Guards!”
At Omar's signal, the guards rushed forward without hesitation and leveled their spears at Hespercia's neck.
“... Omar. No matter who you are, this is unacceptable.”
Hespercia wasn't some slave. They were a high-ranking priest in a theocratic state, so even a pharaoh would cause controversy by doing this.
“I don't care.”
Naturally, political repercussions meant nothing to a pharaoh who could die any day now.
“Omar. First, dismiss the others.”
Soon, the guards drove out the lower-ranking priests, as well as me.
* * *
I hurriedly sorted through the situation in my head.
A dying pharaoh, and a high-ranking priest of Malkab, god of the afterlife.
The eternal life Malkab's priests had supposedly given the Scorpion King long ago.
The Immortal Sarcophagus.
What exactly did this all mean...
Then glowing letters appeared in the air again.
「The Immortal Sarcophagus, a sacred relic of the Malkab Cult」
It was a message Song-i had sent through her bracelet.
「They say that if you sleep in the sarcophagus, you remain forever unchanged in that exact state.」
Oh?
「It is something from myth in the scriptures, but it appears to actually exist.」
I almost understood.
Even if it was an object straight from myth, it seemed to basically preserve you unchanged while you were inside it.
Would that mean much unless you planned to stay in there forever?
Unlike in the myth, did the real object have the power to cure illnesses too?
「Teacher, have you found the boss? What about Mi-ro?」
No more messages appeared after that.
The boss.
The adversary waiting for us at the end of the trial.
The boss had to be somewhere, but I hadn't found them yet.
“...”
Menes, the greatest pharaoh to unite Egypt.
The equivalent of King Taejo Yi Seong-gye for Joseon, or Zhu Yuanzhang for Ming China.
That was why people called him the Great Pharaoh instead of simply the pharaoh, and some called him the Scorpion King.
They said he wasn't human, but the son of a god, a superhuman who worked miracles as easily as breathing.
“...”
If the Malkab Cult had given him eternal life...
He might still be alive.
Suddenly, I remembered the envelope left by a companion who was becoming more incomprehensible by the day.
Ga-in had told me to open the small envelope hidden in my clothes from the beginning at the most important moment.
When would that be?
* * *
- Mi-ro
“Look! I got this bracelet as a gift. Isn't it pretty?”
“Yes.”
“When it's just the two of us, you can speak casually!”
“... Okay.”
“Huh? What's that supposed to be, Mi-ro? You think I said you could speak casually so you could drop honorifics? Have you lost your mind?”
“... Yes.”
“Are you ignoring me when I tell you that you can speak casually?”
“...”
My fists clenched.
In my heart, I had beaten this stupid girl in front of me about twenty-eight times already!
“Hmm? Hmm? You're not crying, are you? You better not cry~𝅘𝅥𝅮 You better not cry~𝅘𝅥𝅮”
In reality, I was being toyed with by this annoying girl.
Because this girl, Aedia, was the pharaoh's daughter!
And I was Aedia's friend.
“Can you pull out just five strands of hair for me?”
“Ow!”
“Wow! It's white. It's so strange every time I see it. You look like a grandma. When did it become like this?”
“... I don't know either.”
I seemed to be both a friend and a toy.
I might not have a Blessing, but I had an Inheritance!
No, I didn't even need to use the Time Lender. If I just used my Voice...
“You should respect me...”
“Another strange prank. It won't work, so stop it.”
“...”
“Did you forget? I, we, are descendants of the great Menes. Divine blood flows through us, you know?”
“...”
“This is why I like you.”
Avoiding Aedia, who smiled brightly and tried to hug me, I thought to myself.
I had assumed all that stuff about pharaohs being sons of gods was just a lie made up so they could wield power however they wanted.
I didn't know about real pharaohs, but divine blood truly flowed through the bodies of the pharaoh's family in this trial.
Then Aedia murmured worriedly.
“Mi-ro, what do you think about my father?”
“...”
“Tell me. I'm not joking this time.”
“... I heard he was ill.”
“Is that all?”
“...”
“You know, Mi-ro. My father is a really good person.”
“Is he?”
“Of course!”
Aedia went on for a long time about the good things she remembered about Omar.
How he had purged corrupt nobles early in his reign with as little bloodshed as possible.
How he had won battle after battle against invaders from the south.
How he had wept at the suffering of people facing famine and skipped meals himself.
It seemed that Omar, when he was young, had been a good and capable pharaoh.
“Father... At some point, he began acting strange.”
“...”
Did that mean Omar was the boss?
If I entered the palace with Aedia and killed Omar with the Time Lender, would that solve it?!
“Say something.”
“...”
Before coming in, I remembered Teacher repeatedly warning me not to do anything strange on my own.
So I decided to hold back.
“Lady Aedia!”
A sharp voice came from outside.
“Taio has arrived!”
Soon, a man dressed in black appeared.
Footnotes:
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