WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 486: Room 207, Gate Room - First Trial ‘Eternal Life and Resurrection’ (4)

──────

- Park Seung-yeop

It had been about five days since I’d been dropped into Ancient Egypt, a place I’d only ever seen in movies.

“...I want some cold water.”

“Me too.”

For once, Mi-ro and I were thinking the same thing.

It was only natural, given where we were, but the days were unbearably hot. There were no refrigerators or air conditioners, either.

Back in this era, cold water was probably something you could only have in winter.

Just endure it.

Considering we were riding in something like a carriage pulled by servants and camels, wishing for cold water was a luxury.

“Here. Aedia gave this to me to eat on the way.”

“...”

Mi-ro handed me the bread Aedia had given her.

It obviously wasn’t because I looked hungry and she was being kind. She just really didn’t want to eat that bread.

When you chewed Ancient Egyptian bread, an unbelievable number of hard particles crunched between your teeth.

They weren’t grains added for nutrition, of course.

They were grains of sand.

Maybe it was inevitable when bread was made in the desert?

“You eat it.”

“No, you eat it.”

“...”

If even the Pharaoh’s daughter ate food like this, there was no need to imagine what ordinary people had to eat.

These days, I had only one wish.

Please let my turn end so I can go back to the train!

“Huh? Huh? What is that? What’s that?”

Before Mi-ro came back to life, I’d thought she would be a terrifying Management Bureau agent. In reality, she was so childish that she’d disappointed me more than once.

She probably saw a scorpion or spider and was making a fuss again-

“You idiot! Look outside! It suddenly got dark!”

It really had gotten dark?

Startled, I stuck my head out of the carriage and saw everyone staring blankly at the sky.

When I looked up as well-

I went blank too.

* * *

- Kim Sang-hyeon

As always, a crisis came suddenly, without warning.

At the same time, the stopped clock in Room 207 began spinning like mad.

A cool breeze had been blowing in the evening when the sky suddenly darkened, so I thought an eclipse had begun.

If not for the ghostly wails ringing out from the sky, I might’ve thought so.

A skull sigil laughed wildly in the darkened sky.

Every person walking down the streets dropped flat to the ground in terror, while some fell to their knees and began praying to Malkab.

Once this happened, I could vaguely guess what was going on.

The sick Pharaoh and the high priest who had offered to make him Malkab’s Apostle.

When the Pharaoh accepted that offer, incomprehensible things began happening.

If this was bound to happen, should I have killed the Pharaoh beforehand?

A hollow laugh escaped me.

I didn’t even know who the boss was or how the scenario was progressing, and I was supposed to kill someone without warning?

In Room 206, hadn’t the mayor we thought was an enemy turned out to be suppressing the Demon King through human sacrifice?

“Phew...!”

This wasn’t the time.

* * *

As I headed toward the temple on the outskirts of the city to meet Song-i, I ran into some unexpected people.

“Teacher!”

A splendid carriage-like vehicle pulled by camels and servants, along with people dressed in impressive clothes.

Normally, it would have been a procession the city’s residents watched with curious eyes.

Right now, everyone was too busy screaming and praying in panic.

“Seung-yeop? Yumi is up ahead. Ah, Mi-ro is here too-”

“What? How do you know my father’s personal physician?”

‘My father’s personal physician.’

In just those words, Aedia revealed that she was the Pharaoh’s daughter. We exchanged glances at her puzzled expression.

--- Hahahahaha!

“Argh! Malkab’s cries again-”

“Damn it, this isn’t the time for that! Everyone, this way!”

This was no time to worry about Aedia noticing anything.

I joined the others without hesitation and explained the situation.

“S-So the Pharaoh became the Apostle of some strange god?”

Mi-ro turned pale, while Yumi thought it over seriously.

“Oh no! We were planning to bring Yumi to heal the Pharaoh!”

Seung-yeop stamped his feet in frustration, and I felt my breath catch as well.

As he said, if Yumi had joined us just a day or two earlier-

“Enough. This isn’t the time to dwell on what can’t be undone. Right now-”

At that moment, the woman who had been watching us cut in.

“Right now, we should go to the palace and check on my father.”

“...Aedia.”

“This is suspicious. Mi-ro, things have seemed strange ever since you suddenly saw this person and went, ‘Yumi?’ Now I’m sure something is wrong.”

Mi-ro looked awkward.

“I’m curious about your relationship, but I won’t press you further. We need to go to the imperial palace and see my father at once!”

Seung-yeop and Mi-ro looked at me in alarm. Yumi did too.

Many of my companions were used to following decisions rather than making them, so I had to choose our direction.

Aedia seemed to read the mood and looked at me as well.

--- Caw! Caw!

“Daughter of the Pharaoh, let me confirm one thing. Is that thing in the sky truly Malkab’s symbol?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t Malkab a god of Egypt? In other words, wasn’t Malkab the god you worshipped? Why would such a god do this?”

“The relationship between Malkab and us isn’t as simple as you think. The people don’t know much about it, but...”

“Not simple?”

“...”

“We don’t have time.”

“When the great Menes unified the entire Nile River region, the Malkab Cult resisted until the very end. In the end, they compromised. The Cult would serve Menes, while Menes would recognize Malkab as the state religion.”

As I drove my brain to its limits, a plausible explanation came to mind.

An Evil God faction that had resisted the superhuman emperor until the end.

Neither side could achieve a one-sided victory, so they joined hands and formed a kind of joint ruling class where politics and religion were united.

Perhaps the Cult’s claim that it had “offered immortality” to Menes was the result of that compromise.

When Menes was still active, the Pharaoh’s family must have held the advantage.

As time passed, the superhuman Pharaoh lay sleeping in his sarcophagus, and lesser descendants succeeded him.

Then, just as the balance was tilting back toward the Cult, Omar, weakened by illness, finally gave in to Malkab’s temptation?

“Please... Doctor! This isn’t the time to think! Let’s go to the palace and see my father!”

Ominous sounds rang continuously from the sky.

I didn’t know exactly what was happening, but it was clear that something terrible had occurred.

The cause had to be Omar, who had become Malkab’s Apostle. We had to either kill him or return him to normal.

Either way, we first needed to meet Omar.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

When we arrived at the palace, Song-i was there, oddly enough.

There had been no need to head for the outskirts of the city looking for her.

Still, we had met the other companions in the process, so it hadn’t been a waste of time.

“Hespercia had me dance and sing, then-”

“So you performed some kind of ritual?”

“At some point, Omar started muttering strange things while looking at the sky, then suddenly turned into a monster! That lunatic-”

“Hey! Even if you’re a priest, show some respect to my father!”

“Who’s this?”

“She’s the Pharaoh’s daughter!”

“Oh my.”

Once we entered the palace, a true hellscape unfolded before us.

“Guh...! Hah!”

“Please... Please kill me!”

“Grrrrr!”

The soldiers who still retained their senses could barely control their living, rotting bodies as they begged to be killed.

Far more soldiers had already lost consciousness and were turning into an army of the dead!

Before we could even meet the Pharaoh, soldiers who were half corpses surrounded us.

“Gasp! W-What is all this?”

--- Clang!

“...Malkab, who is said to eternally guard the world of the dead-”

“Hey! Daughter! Tell us how to get rid of these things!”

“I don’t know! Aren’t you a priest of Malkab? Why are you asking me?”

“Oh dear. I don’t think I can do much against these. There’s barely any intact flesh left on their bodies.”

Things were already serious enough, but Yumi calmly announced that she couldn’t use her power from here on out. Everyone’s expressions darkened at once.

Yumi had trouble using her power against enemies without flesh.

Song-i’s bracelet wasn’t suited for destroying an army of corpses like this, either.

Since Final Flash had such a long cooldown, I couldn’t use it on this mob of ordinary soldiers.

That left only one option.

Mi-ro soon grabbed my wrist with a firm expression.

“Teacher!”

We understood each other without needing to say more.

“Time Lender? Summon the right person immediately!”

“Time what? What’s that?”

There was no longer any reason to worry about Aedia seeing this.

--- Click!

The air rippled, and a girl who looked remarkably like Mi-ro appeared.

“...”

As always, A-ri acted immediately without wasting time.

There were corpse soldiers everywhere, so there was nothing to deliberate anyway!

“Everyone, get down.”

Everyone immediately dropped to the floor-

“What? Why is everyone doing that?”

“Ugh! Daughter! You get down too!”

Song-i and Mi-ro forced Aedia down as well, and A-ri grabbed the “empty air” with both hands.

“Haah!”

An ominous polyhedron floated in the air, radiating a strange aura.

The instant everyone’s gaze was drawn to the polyhedron as if entranced-

--- Slice!

The corpse soldiers were cut in two.

As though an invisible sword had cleaved the world horizontally!

The Irregular Polyhedron could be used like this too?

I thought it could only create invisible walls to block enemies from approaching.

In an instant, my cursed curiosity came up with several theories.

Had she swung an invisible wall like a giant sword?

Had she slightly twisted the space above and below it?

Or-

“What do we do now?”

Right!

This wasn’t the time for pointless thoughts.

A-ri didn’t understand the current situation.

“You can, um, deal with the Pharaoh together with us.”

“D-Deal with him? No! I’m sure I can persuade my father-”

“If you ignore my orders one more time, your upper and lower body will be separated.”

“...”

The words of a demigod who had wiped out dozens of corpse soldiers with one gesture carried an authority that couldn’t be resisted.

Thanks to that, Aedia, who had been making a fuss this whole time, went quiet as a mouse.

“Let’s go. If we rip off the head of that Pharaoh or chieftain or whatever, things should work out somehow.”

“Hic!”

* * *

What followed was only a repetition of what had happened so far.

After we defeated at least a hundred corpse soldiers, the current Pharaoh, Omar, appeared in splendid robes. A-ri cut him apart regardless of Aedia’s screams.

The difference between Omar and the other corpses was that he didn’t die even in that state and began regenerating.

Omar regenerating without dying even after being scattered around as chunks of flesh was disgusting enough to make Seung-yeop and Mi-ro gag.

Ironically, that disgust swept away Aedia’s feelings of love for her father.

“...This isn’t my father. He’s just a monster.”

“Glad you finally realized that. Right, you’re the Pharaoh’s daughter. How do we get rid of this thing?”

“...”

Aedia fell into deep thought at A-ri’s question, then Mi-ro offered her opinion.

“Now! Jin-cheol is inside the clock!”

“Morning is me, noon is Ga-in, and evening is Jin-cheol?”

“Right! D-Don’t you think the power of the Star Fragment could kill this?”

“It makes sense, but I don’t think it would mean much. Don’t waste Jin-cheol’s time for nothing.”

“What?”

Instead of replying to Mi-ro, A-ri came over to me.

“Omar, was it? I don’t think that thing is the boss.”

“Because he’s too weak?”

“I took him down in one hit with Space Cleave, and now he’s just an immortal lump of flesh. Something like this isn’t the boss.”

“Then-”

“Malkab? From what I’ve heard, that bastard seems to be the cause of all this. Where is Malkab?”

“...”

I didn’t know either.

Fortunately, there was someone who could answer that question.

“What are all of you...? Are you another god’s kin? It doesn’t matter. I know where we need to go.”

“Where?”

“The Royal Tomb! The great Menes sleeps there!”

“Menes? Can that guy solve this situation?”

“...Probably.”

“Probably?”

Aedia herself didn’t seem certain.

After thinking about it for a moment, I understood how Aedia had reached the conclusion that we should awaken Menes.

Long ago, when the great Menes unified Egypt, the Malkab Cult had supposedly surrendered by offering Menes a sarcophagus.

What could that mean?

It meant that Menes had the power to restrain even Malkab, who could place a skull sigil in the sky and cover the palace grounds with a curse in an instant.

“...”

Looking at it the other way around, awakening Menes to restrain the rampaging Malkab might be like calling in a tiger to stop a wolf.

At that moment, instincts honed in the Hotel told me something.

This was a desperate crisis and a crossroads of choice.

In other words, this was the very “most important moment” Ga-in had mentioned!

--- Flap!

“What’s this? An envelope? It’s Ga-in’s handwriting?”

“...”

There were two sheets of paper inside, which caught me off guard.

Fortunately, each sheet had a number, one and two, written on it.

When I unfolded the sheet marked one, the following words appeared.

「1. Please respect the course of history as we know it.」

“...Respect the course of history? What on earth does this mean, Ga-in?”

“Sang-hyeon, let me see that.”

A-ri carefully examined the note, then gave everyone an order.

“Let’s go to the Royal Tomb. We need to awaken Menes. Mi-ro, stop using my time here and send me back.”

For a moment, I was confused.

How did she interpret the contents of this letter and reach the conclusion that we should awaken Menes?

Then Aedia reacted.

“Is this... a document containing a prophecy? A revelation given by the god you serve?”

“...”

No one could answer that.

For a moment, I thought Aedia had made a very sharp observation.

Footnotes:

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