WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 49: Interlude, Time for a Fun Hearing

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 19

Current Location: Level 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 2]

Huff... Huff...

I woke with a dizzy sensation.

What on earth had just happened? I met the ‘Lord.’ The hotel notification warped. Like during Animal Farm? No. It was different.

Looking back, the change during Animal Farm had merely felt as though the hotel had changed the name on its own when we moved on to the next stage, so to speak, Phase 2.

This time, it was warped as though it had been hacked. Something like this had clearly never happened before.

What on earth... had I seen? A heavenly throne. The master of the world.

And then, golden light seeped into me. Light. Light. Light.

A storm of light raged inside my head. I clutched my head in both hands and trembled.

Someone took my hand.

“I don’t know what happened, but don’t think about anything for now.”

“A-ri... You got out.”

“You can’t imagine how hard it was. I was going to hit you again the moment I got out, but seeing the state you’re in took the anger right out of me.”

Someone else took my hand. A refreshing sensation washed over me. It was like dipping my head in cold water and pulling it back out, and the headache began to ease.

“Oh my, how did you do that? Is it the bracelet’s ability?”

“What would you do with that information, A-ri?”

“...”

“Thanks, Song-i. I’m curious too. What did you do to me?”

“It wasn’t so much that I did something. Your senses, Ga-in... they were a little warped, so I straightened them out. I don’t know what that means medically, though.”

“I guarantee that’s a far more incredible power than medicine.”

As the confusion gradually faded, I got up and looked around. Besides Song-i and A-ri, everyone else was watching me with worried expressions.

Perhaps because they were concerned about me, they all quietly headed to Room 105.

Even as we walked, spasmodic headaches and confusion hit me at regular intervals. Each time, Song-i continued to steady my mind.

How long was I going to keep going through this?

By the time we reached Room 105, a question came to mind. Were the others all right? It was a little late to wonder, but hadn’t they all met painful deaths too?

“Are you all okay? Seung-yeop’s out of it, sure, but Jin-cheol and Song-i must’ve died after fighting pretty hard too.”

“I don’t know. I’m more puzzled by your condition, Ga-in.”

“Huh? You’re completely fine, Jin-cheol?”

“Think about everything we’ve been through. Taken individually, it’s been a series of horrific pain and deaths that would leave most people traumatized for life. Yet everyone’s normally fine. I figured the hotel automatically fixed trauma and PTSD too.”

“I honestly thought the same as Jin-cheol. Nobody says it, but didn’t you all feel it? Even when we died in sickeningly horrible ways, once we got out of the hotel room, it felt like it hadn’t happened to us. Like all that remained was the feeling of reading words written in a book.

“Of course, they aren’t pleasant memories, and I don’t want to think about them, but I’ve never had severe symptoms like yours.”

“I think I might have an idea.”

A-ri.

It wasn’t surprising. A-ri and Grandfather Mook-seong were the only ones who could answer questions about supernatural phenomena like this.

“The Management Bureau has obtained information from hotel survivors several times. They all said the same thing as Jin-cheol and Eun-sol. ‘No matter how horrible the experience was, once we got out, it only came back to us as a string of words. PTSD and other mental aftereffects didn’t remain to any great extent.’

“The hotel sends doctors to treat every injury, even if someone loses limbs or has their organs crushed. It even revives people who die in Curse Rooms, so it should be able to heal mental injuries too.

“So... Ga-in isn’t like this because of trauma he suffered in the hotel.”

“Then what’s causing it?”

“I think you have some idea yourself. I’ll be honest. Since earlier, I’ve felt a terrifying amount of power surging from you. What did you gain?”

I gained something. That was the cause of these episodes.

‘I have bestowed light upon you.’

With those words, light had seeped into me.

“Okay, okay. Let’s stop there for now. It looks like Ga-in himself doesn’t know, so we won’t get a convincing answer by asking him right now. Looking at the time, it’s just before dinner anyway. Let’s talk while we eat something.”

“Eun-sol is right. Besides, we should get the order right. I think someone else should answer before Ga-in does.”

Tension filled the room. Since leaving the ranch, Song-i had always made a point of keeping A-ri in check. Now I felt the same way. In a hotel where trials repeated endlessly, I wanted to avoid anything that could cause conflict between us, but we had reached our limit. Covering things up any longer would only break trust.

The other six naturally turned their eyes toward A-ri and Grandfather Mook-seong.

It was like two against six. A subtle tension hung in the air.

“Hehe. What’s with this atmosphere? I was planning to come clean about everything today anyway, so don’t stare at me so frighteningly. Shall we go in and talk while we eat?”

“Yeah. Let’s talk while we eat something. We aren’t trying to fight, are we? We just want to learn what we need to know about each other. Let’s go.”

Thankfully, Eun-sol chimed in, and the tension eased.

* * *

Eun-sol felt that this hotel pacified all the participants’ complaints with food.

They could curse the hotel thirty times a day, but their complaints vanished at every meal. How could every dish be so delicious?

The hotel’s meals sometimes offered a mix of each person’s favorite foods, while other times they followed a single theme. Tonight’s dinner had a barbecue theme. Various meats were grilling on a huge rotating grill that cooked them automatically, so all they had to do was eat.

They had also picked up quite a few tricks during the weeks they had spent in the hotel.

For example, how to make use of the Shy Employee.

At first, when they didn’t know any better, if they ran out of food or drinks, they would ask those nearby for permission and leave the room together.

At some point, they realized everyone didn’t need to go through that inconvenience. The cup or plate only needed to leave everyone’s sight. If they wanted a refill, they just had to lower a cup or plate beneath the table for a moment and bring it back up.

After spending quite a while devouring lamb chops that were crisp outside and soft, pink, and medium-rare inside with mint jelly, Eun-sol found herself impressed all over again.

Being born the daughter of Daeyang Group, she thought she had experienced plenty of fine food in her life. Yet the quality of the food served by this hotel was truly exceptional.

Everyone’s tension had eased because of it. What a relief. Eun-sol had always thought they would eventually need to have an honest conversation with the two Chaos Disaster Management Agency agents.

But that conversation could never lead to ruin. The hotel was far too dangerous a place.

Their division alone would be a serious problem, and the two agents possessed unknown reserves of strength. They were people who had to be drawn in somehow, not opposed.

Now seemed like the perfect time. Good food made people happy. Difficult conversations went more smoothly when the food was delicious, didn’t they?

“Now that everyone’s getting full, how about we talk a little about the things we’re curious about?”

As if waiting for that, A-ri put down their spoon.

“Hmm. Is Grandfather’s and my hearing starting now?”

“A hearing? Let’s not call it that. Are we choosing ministers here? We just want to be honest with each other.”

“Fine.”

And so, the hearing began.

* * *

A-ri spoke first.

“I think it’d be best if I laid it out myself first. Then you can ask questions. What are you curious about? Aren’t there three main questions? First, who am I? Second, what is my purpose? Third, what power do I possess?

“First, I was born in the hotel.”

...

The bombshell from the very beginning left everyone speechless.

“My mother was chosen by the hotel a long time ago, and she gave birth to me here. You don’t need to get strange ideas. It was her choice. I grew up here, gained various... powers, escaped, and came back.

“Why did I come back to this hopeless place? That answers the second question. I want to free my mother from the hotel. If possible, I want to revive her. If that’s impossible, I at least want to free her from her painful cycle of reincarnation and bring her peace.

“Third. You’ve already guessed my ‘blessing,’ haven’t you? Everyone knows what hypnosis is. It has various effects related to the mind, and I need to use my blood to produce stronger effects. Someone over there has already drunk my blood twice.

“I think that covers it. Does anyone have more questions?”

“I understand the first and second points. I hope you succeed. I pray you can save your mother. But I don’t think you explained the third point well enough. I clearly remember you flying over and grabbing my throat. Unless I don’t know what ‘hypnosis’ means, I can assure you flight isn’t part of it.”

“Think of it as a trump card of my own.”

“Who said you get to wrap it up like that?”

“Then are you planning to tell us everything you can do whenever your bracelet proficiency increases? Even when you healed Ga-in earlier, I don’t think you ever said you could perform a miracle like that.”

“Why are you suddenly turning this on me? I’m not deliberately hiding anything. I just haven’t been able to say it because I’m still learning as I use the bracelet in real time, so what the-”

“Why should I tell you all my powers in the first place? Have I ever deliberately threatened you?”

-------BANG!

“Waaaaait! Song-i, A-ri, both of you, quiet for now! We aren’t talking because we want to fight. We’re doing this to share what we need to know so we can trust each other more!

“Please, everyone, don’t forget. This hotel is hell, and we’re eight sailors in the same boat. It’s hard enough to survive hell when we stick together, so what are we trying to accomplish by fighting?”

Silence settled over the dining table.

“Ahem. The atmosphere has grown rather chilly. A-ri spoke harshly, so I’ll apologize to Miss Song-i on A-ri’s behalf. I don’t want you to misunderstand. A-ri hasn’t been hiding things because A-ri intends to harm any of you.

“Our Management Bureau is an organization that inevitably has many secrets, and our agents’ abilities naturally fall among those secrets.

“If you find it hard to trust us, trust the Management Bureau. At the very least, we’ve made a major contribution to calming the world’s chaos since the Great Disaster.”

“I’d like to say something too. I understand Eun-sol’s point in broad terms. We must never fight here. But it’s hard for trust to grow when everyone has so many secrets. Mook-seong, you should open up too.”

“Gladly. That’s easier for me too. Like A-ri, I’ll go in order: who I am, what my purpose is, and what powers I have.

“Unlike A-ri, I wasn’t born in the hotel. I simply lived an ordinary life, then somehow ended up joining the Management Bureau and working for it.

“My purpose, I’ll state it plainly and without hiding anything. I came under the Management Bureau’s orders. Unlike A-ri, I have no separate personal goal. In other words, my purpose is the Management Bureau’s purpose and position.

“The Management Bureau discovered that this hotel possesses a force that stabilizes reality, and they dispatched us. We don’t know whether it’s an Inheritance, a blessing, or something else. My goal is simply to obtain it somehow.”

“A force that stabilizes reality? What is that?”

“I told you I don’t know. I’m not hiding it. The Management Bureau doesn’t know either. All I can say is that there was a... prophecy that this power would be immensely useful to us.”

“The more you talk, the more it feels like we only learn about things we don’t know.”

“And my ability. I’ll be honest about that too. I have none, other than the Chat Window you all know about.”

Unlike with A-ri, everyone seemed willing to accept that. Eun-sol replied.

“To be honest, I thought that might be the case. While I was working with you in that school... I observed you regularly.”

“A young lady was stalking me? How embarrassing.”

“... Especially on the day we escaped. When I saw you drop dead the instant someone showed up with a gun and shot you, I remember thinking, ‘Ah, this person doesn’t seem to have any special powers.’”

“That’s a little sad. Are you saying the reason I’m not suspicious is because I’m incompetent?”

“Could you stop twisting my words?”

“If I may defend myself, no, this feels strange. Why does it feel like I’m defending why I’m incompetent? In any case, I should mention that people with special powers like A-ri are actually the minority in the Management Bureau. Most are ordinary people with a great deal of knowledge and appropriate training.”

“Um. There’s something I’ve wanted to say.”

“Go ahead, Seung-yeop.”

“Ga-in looks strange.”

Only then did everyone’s attention shift from A-ri and Mook-seong to Ga-in.

There stood a boy emitting a soft glow from his entire body.

Footnotes:

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