WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 4: Exploring the Hotel (2)
──────
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 1
Current Location: Level 1, Hallway
Sage’s Advice: 1]
Finally, after walking for about ten minutes from the front desk in the direction opposite the main entrance, we came across an elevator.
“Ah, this gives me a bad feeling. The guide said the elevator was broken. What if some absurd monster pops out because it’s broken?”
“That makes sense. Ga-in, you’ve been sharp since earlier. Everyone, hold on a moment. I’ll go grab something.”
Everyone knew this one man accounted for roughly ninety percent of the group’s combat strength, so nobody objected. Before long, he returned carrying something... impressive.
“Huh? Hyung, what exactly is that? A spear? They have something like that here?”
“Yeah, Seung-yeop. I spotted it while walking around earlier. It looked like some kind of decorative flagpole. Take the flag off, and it’s an iron bar.”
“Um... Jin-cheol-ssi, isn’t that heavy? Just looking at it, it definitely seems to weigh more than ten kilos.”
“What’s with this ‘Jin-cheol-ssi’ business? Just call me hyung too, Ga-in. Didn’t I tell you at lunch? I normally couldn’t swing something this brutish around. But I think I can now. That’s what it feels like. It’s probably because of the Blessing of Courage. Calling me Superman would be a bit much... but I feel like Captain America?”
“Ah. Then I’ll call you hyung. Either way, that’s reassuring. If you hit them with something that brutal, even most monsters would be startled.”
Captain America. It somehow suited him perfectly. Since he was Korean, should he be Captain Korea? For just a moment, I wondered if this hyung had become more of a monster than most actual monsters.
With the person in charge of the group’s combat strength becoming far more dependable, we headed for the elevator with more confident steps than before.
Clunk-
We opened the elevator doors. Fortunately, there were no monsters inside, and it was surprisingly clean. Looking at the panel, we understood what it meant by saying some functions had been disabled. The buttons for the second and third floors were unlit. Song-i immediately pressed one just in case, but there was no response.
“Can’t we go to the second or third floor yet? Then the basement? Should we check that out?”
“Let’s just go! We should check everywhere we can reach and see what’s there. What could possibly happen to a group with Captain America in it?”
Eun-sol sounded noticeably more confident as she declared that, and Jin-cheol smiled awkwardly beside her. Just as Song-i was about to press the basement button-
[Going to the basement now is extremely dangerous.]
Thud-
I reached out and grabbed Song-i’s arm, almost as if I had moved on instinct. It was so sudden that everyone froze. Unsure how to react, they could only stare at me with confused noises, while Song-i trembled like a rabbit.
“I’m sorry. But I just got... a notification. The ‘Status Window’ notification I mentioned at lunch.”
“The thing only you can see? The one that told you to go to Room 105?”
“That’s right.”
“What did it say? I can guess, but...”
“It says that going to the basement now is extremely dangerous.”
“Damn it. Everything in this damn hotel is dangerous.”
“Then let’s do what it says. It told us about Room 105 too, so it should be trustworthy. And Ga-in? I think you can let go of her arm now. Hold on any longer and Song-i might faint.”
“Ah, sorry. I was startled too.”
“N-No, it’s okay...”
“Ga-in-hyung, based on what you explained earlier, how many uses of that ‘Sage’s Advice’ do you have left?”
[Sage’s Advice: 0]
“It says zero.”
“Zero? Did it decrease when it told us not to open the main entrance earlier?”
After a brief silence, Eun-sol, who had naturally taken on something like the role of leader, spoke up.
“Then let’s stop exploring for today. It seems... far too dangerous to wander around this bizarre, deadly place with no uses of Ga-in’s ‘notification’ left.”
“Is there any way to refill those uses?”
“Hyung, isn’t it standard for that kind of thing to refill after a night’s sleep? Sleeping at an inn restores all your mana and health. That’s just how games work.”
That was definitely a gamer mindset, but we had no other ideas. I also had a feeling that would be the case. Everyone agreed that exploring without Sage’s Advice was too dangerous, and soon we all returned to Room 105.
“So the moment we go in here, we’ll automatically be separated? Then we’ll show up again at dinner, like we were teleported?”
“That seems likely.”
“Then let’s all go in and rest for now. It’ll be mealtime again in about an hour. We can rest, wash up, and all that. We’re done looking around for today anyway... Honestly, I still don’t know what we’re supposed to do.”
“I don’t think we’ll need to worry about that for long.”
“What do you mean?”
“Haven’t you all felt it since earlier? Whether it’s a person, a monster, or a ghost, something is constantly ‘managing’ us. The drinks appeared exactly as needed, and now that I think about it, the food probably matched what each of us liked. I don’t think something that goes this far to ‘manage’ us will just leave us alone while we have no idea what to do. It’ll probably tell us to do this or that again, with some ‘dear valued customer’ nonsense.”
“That makes sense. There isn’t really anything else we can do.”
“Right. And... I want to tell everyone this, just in case. There might be times today or later when you don’t feel like eating. Even then, don’t go somewhere else instead of having a meal. Come to the dining room at mealtimes and show your face. In a strange place like this, I think we need to regularly make sure everyone’s still alive.”
Mealtimes. Come to think of it, communicating with one another in this place was much harder than it seemed. Room 105 was the only space that could be called safe. Once we entered it, there was no way to meet one another except during the three daily meals. In the real world, we could have just used KakaoTalk, but our phones had stopped working long ago.
We needed to meet together regularly.
“I’d like to make a suggestion too. Once we enter Room 105, there’s no way for us to meet. Our phones don’t work, and we can’t see one another outside of mealtimes. But I think we need to share information and, as Eun-sol said, confirm that everyone’s alive at times other than meals. So, how about coming outside once every hour on the hour until we go to sleep? For today, aside from dinner from seven to eight-thirty, I think we should all come out at six, nine, ten, and eleven, at least once each, to check whether anything happened and whether there’s something we need to do.”
Song-i and Elena were unexpectedly the first to respond.
“I think that’s a really good idea! Honestly, being alone in the hotel this morning before breakfast was so... so scary. I think it would be good if we checked in with one another, even briefly.”
“I agree. Honestly, privacy doesn’t matter in a weird place like this. I wish they would just let us stay together. Let’s meet often, even if we have to force it.”
Everyone naturally agreed to the suggestion, and we established two rules for daily life.
Even if we were not eating, we would come out and confirm that we were alive.
Every hour on the hour, we would gather in front of Room 105 to check on one another.
After setting those rules, we all went through the single entrance and returned to our own rooms.
* * *
The bedroom was as splendid as it had been that morning, part of an absurdly enormous mansion. Even a chaebol heir would find it difficult to live in a house like this. I had this outrageously luxurious mansion all to myself, and the food was unbelievably delicious. Wasn’t this practically paradise on earth?
I tried to force myself to believe that, but it did not work. Paradise on earth would not have man-eating monkeys or extreme danger.
What terrible thing had I done to be trapped in this unknown hell...?
Confusion, fear, worry, anticipation for adventure? As countless emotions swirled within me and I laughed helplessly, I noticed that my Status Window had been flashing for a while. Sage’s Advice was at zero, wasn’t it? Looking closer, I saw that it was not Sage’s Advice.
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 1
Current Location: Level 1, Room 105 (Rest Room)
Companion Information (*)
Sage’s Advice: 0]
With the same sensation as before, I stared at the field while strongly thinking, Open! The window popped open with a snap. The moment it did, an enormous amount of text flooded my vision. Ah, pressing this in an urgent situation would be a disaster.
Come to think of it, there had been no flashing at all while I was exploring outside. It seemed some functions only activated when I was somewhere safe.
This was everyone’s profile, summarized in a few short words.
1. Han Ga-in (20) - Wisdom. Freshman at K University
2. Cha Jin-cheol (31) - Courage. Former combat sports athlete
3. Yoo Song-i (17) - Affinity. Raises numerous animals.
4. Elena Ivanova (23) - Justice. Child of an exiled diplomat. Aspiring actress
5. Park Seung-yeop (14) - Luck. A boy in the throes of adolescence
6. Lee Eun-sol (32) - Wealth. Third daughter of the chairman of Daeyang Group
Ah. It felt as though it was showing me the impressions I had formed of my companions today, along with facts related to those impressions. In that moment, I understood something about the nature of the Blessing of Wisdom. It turned incomplete information I had gained into certain facts, or warned me when unknown danger approached.
[You have gained some understanding of your Blessing!]
The notification appeared as though it had been waiting, confirming that I had understood correctly. My thoughts on my companions were mostly along the lines of, Ah, that figures. Though some of it surprised me.
Jin-cheol, who had been compared to Terminator and Captain America, had indeed been a former combat sports athlete.
Song-i, who had been briefly flustered during our conversation earlier, really did love animals. Elena being an aspiring actress felt completely natural.
If I had been born with a face like hers, I would have had that dream too. As for Seung-yeop, weren’t all boys that age in the throes of adolescence? It stated the obvious.
Eun-sol, though, genuinely surprised me. Daeyang Group was one of South Korea’s leading conglomerates, known to everyone in the country. To think she was the third daughter of a family like that... She was even richer than I had imagined.
At the same time, I honestly wondered what it meant. What did being a chaebol heir or being poor matter in a hotel where monsters appeared? The most meaningful qualification was probably being a former combat sports athlete. Thinking that I should get closer to Jin-cheol, I eventually fell asleep in a daze.
Ah, I should have set an alarm before falling asleep...
Fortunately, aside from being a little late for the next meal and getting mildly scolded for it, nothing else happened, and the long day finally came to an end.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
