WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 50: The One Who Descended from Heaven

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 19

Current Location: Level 1, Room 105 (Rest Room)

Sage’s Advice: 2]

“The whole hotel------”

“Mother-----”

“The one who grabbed my throat----”

I could vaguely hear people muttering.

They were talking about something. I couldn't hear them. I couldn't see them either.

From somewhere far away... I could hear a hymn.

To endure, I wrapped myself in the Status Window's filter, closed my eyes, and covered my ears. The hymn grew a little quieter.

My head felt foggy. My body was here, but it felt as though my soul were being seized and dragged somewhere far away.

Something, a voice, could be heard. A being was trying to convey its will to me. Yet I couldn't make it out clearly. It felt as though white noise had cut in, blending with the voice until I couldn't distinguish one from the other.

A great deal of information seeped into me in vague fragments. No one had told me, but I knew.

Some kind of “negotiation” had taken place at a heavenly table.

The negotiation was over.

?? : ?

Des? : ?

Descent : ?

Descent : 3

[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 19

Current Location: Level 1, Room 105 (Rest Room)

Sage’s Advice: 2

Descent: 3]

Let there be light.

And there was light.

* * *

A vortex of light poured down like a storm.

To Elena, the sight before her was more unreal than anything she had witnessed in her life.

‘Am I watching someone become an angel?’

An inexplicable wave radiated from Ga-in's entire body.

She couldn't see his face with the naked eye. It was, quite literally, a halo descended from heaven. It went beyond beautiful or handsome. He was sacred. Someone who had fallen from heaven stood before her, beyond the reach of human standards of beauty.

Tears welled in her eyes. Countless hardships from her life filled Elena's mind. A prosperous, happy childhood. Then a tsar came to power in her homeland, and her family had no choice but to flee. Poverty and danger followed them wherever they went, and whenever she grew close to someone, they had to wander from country to country like locusts once again.

Ah. All that suffering had been a process meant to bring her before this person.

Every pain she had endured in the hotel had been nothing more than thorns on the path to salvation.

The old sorrow and despair in her heart faded, and tears poured down her face.

She fell to her knees and prayed.

* * *

My consciousness returned, and I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was my companions.

Every one of them had collapsed. Some were rolling on the floor, while others were kneeling and praying to me.

Only then did I realize it. I had stepped outside the realm of humanity.

How could I become human again? I didn't know, but one thing was certain. I needed to get away from my companions.

I scrambled to my feet and threw open the door to Room 105.

The door exploded.

Before I could even be surprised, I ran frantically.

With every step, the corridor burst apart. When my incredible leaping power sent my head into the ceiling, my head was fine, but the ceiling shattered. I flailed my arms in panic, and the walls were ripped away.

Only then did I start moving while using as little strength as possible.

What was I supposed to do? Was I going to stay like this forever?

I could see colors I had never been able to see. I could hear sounds I had never been able to hear. I felt the dust floating through the air. I felt the movement of stone fragments flying from the shattered walls.

A chandelier fell in the distance. I heard the movement of the air it created, and the symphony of the world born from that moving air.

Ah. What a tiny world humanity was trapped in. What a tragedy it was that they couldn't perceive the countless changes taking place in the world.

Only today did I learn that every human was blind and deaf.

Even so, I desperately prayed to become human again.

Then, the “advice that had become kinder than usual” sent a notification.

[Stay still. Once all the power has settled into you, you will return to being human.]

It was different. Sage’s Advice was clearly different from before. It used to be called Sage’s Advice, but it only tossed me a few words whenever I was on the verge of death. Now, it felt like real advice.

I stayed still, as instructed. Every time I moved, I destroyed everything around me, so I was afraid to move anyway.

To put it childishly, I was afraid of myself.

Had about ten minutes passed? The light around my body died down, and the limitless power that had surged like an active volcano gradually faded like a drying stream.

Once I finally relaxed and looked around, the scene truly resembled the middle of a battlefield.

The corridor had been gouged with craters at every step I took, as if land mines had exploded. A chandelier twenty meters away had fallen after I headbutted the ceiling once. Every decoration on the walls had become debris, while the well and trees around the front desk had been obliterated as though missiles had struck them.

The area had been completely devastated just because I had run over in a panic and crashed into things here and there.

Then, the final “kind advice” of the day appeared.

[You can now use Descent only three times. But remember, there is no free lunch in this world...]

* * *

When I returned to Room 105, whose door had now disappeared, my companions had thankfully regained their senses.

They all stared at me with blank expressions.

“...”

“...”

“Um... Ga-in. Won't you explain what that was?”

Where should I start? I should probably begin with what happened in the Old School Building on the last day at school.

Slowly, I explained everything to them. How I had infiltrated the Old School Building alone. How I had found an opening and ambushed Aurelia, then been taken to the Lord. How I had received something from the Lord, and how my Status Window had warped.

And then, what had just happened. The “Descent” that had appeared in my Status Window.

Silence filled the room.

The first person to speak was, as expected, the agent most familiar with this kind of thing, Grandfather Kim Mook-seong.

“Apparently, the being called the ‘Lord’ that was trapped in the Curse Room has made some sort of investment in you.”

“Can a being trapped in there influence the outside?”

“I don't know either. But hasn't the Devourer already confirmed that an absolute being trapped in a Curse Room has some grasp of the hotel's workings? The Devourer also understood the workings of the hotel and created a lackey within the stage whose ego it controlled directly.”

“Why did it invest in me?”

“It may not have invested in you alone.”

“You mean it may have invested in someone before me?”

“That's only a guess.”

“Let's leave it at that concerning the Lord. We don't even properly understand the hotel, so there's no point trying to understand the intentions of a transcendent being trapped inside it. More importantly, just from what we saw, it looks like you've gained absurd strength and some incredibly surreal charisma... Is there some kind of condition?”

“My Status Window says three times. I think I can only use it three times.”

And there was the first truly sage-like advice I had received.

‘There is no free lunch.’

The room fell silent again, and Eun-sol continued.

“Mook-seong and A-ri probably have more experience with this kind of thing than the rest of us. What do you think Ga-in should do?”

“Speaking as a Management Bureau agent, he should live the rest of his life as though he doesn't have this unknown power. Where is anything in this world free? That's why I called it an ‘investment.’ The Lord will demand payment from you someday.”

“Speaking as a Management Bureau agent? Do you have a different opinion?”

“Speaking as someone who fell into the hotel, it would be extremely foolish to seal it away because you're afraid of the price of power given to you in the hotel. If you're too afraid of the price to use the power you have, then everyone fails in the end, and we all become resources for the hotel. In that case, use what you've been given promptly whenever you need it, and worry about the price when the time comes.”

“No... Elder. Those are two completely different pieces of advice.”

“It means the choice is yours.”

“Then do this.”

“A-ri, what do you think?”

“Don't ever use it under normal circumstances. Save it, and save it again. Then only use it at the very last moment. When everyone but you is dead, or when losing means total annihilation for all of us. That's when you should use it.”

A trump card for the final moment.

I gave serious thought to that being the purpose of the power I had gained today.

As I walked around while thinking, I noticed Elena and Song-i shrinking back or avoiding me whenever my gaze fell on them. Come to think of it, both of them had prayed before me...

It was awkward.

In the end, I left my companions behind and headed somewhere secluded, using the excuse that I needed time alone to sort out my thoughts. It seemed I had a lot to think about today.

* * *

“...”

“... Ga-in's gone, so I'll ask. What did you all think when you saw him earlier?”

“Sacred? Like an angel?”

“Unbelievably handsome? Like he could save the whole world? I had thoughts like that. It makes no sense.”

“Song-i and Elena felt much the same as I did.”

“I think it'll be really awkward to see Ga-in tomorrow.”

“I feel the same way.”

“Me too. Even if it was only for a moment, he felt like a being completely different from ‘us.’”

“Well, it's not really the mood for more food... And there aren't even ten minutes left until mealtime ends. Let's all rest. We'll disappear into our separate spaces in ten minutes anyway.”

“Will that happen today too?”

“What do you mean, A-ri?”

After gesturing toward the door with their chin, A-ri continued.

“Even with Room 105's door destroyed, I wonder if its system will still operate normally.”

A-ri's question became reality.

That day, every function of Room 105 stopped. Even after mealtime ended, they all remained there in a daze, in a space that looked like ruins after a war.

In the end, they had no choice but to gather their few belongings and head somewhere they could at least try to sleep.

* * *

“A-ri.”

“Sis? Didn't you say you were sleeping by the refreshment table?”

“I am, but I wanted to say something.”

“Something to say? Why didn't you say it earlier?”

“Because I wanted to speak with you alone.”

“...”

“I'll be honest. I don't care what your past is, where you were born, or what your goal is.

I've worked at the company since I was young. When you're working on a huge project, all kinds of people get involved. Countless people have other things on their minds, but a leader's job is to grit their teeth, carry even those people along, and get results.

But there's one condition for that.

At the very least, everyone needs to cooperate on the ‘project.’ Even if everyone has their own schemes and does their own thing, as long as they all cooperate on the ‘project,’ it can keep moving forward.”

“You mean we should cooperate toward the big goal of ‘escaping the hotel’? I was planning to do that anyway.”

“That's what I thought, so I'm going to let this go instead of pressing you about it. No matter what, none of us intend to live trapped in this strange hotel forever. I trust you understand that much.”

* * *

The next day.

As soon as morning came, the hotel's display blared noisily.

/Major Construction!

All employees of Hotel Pioneer regret to deliver disappointing news today.

Last night, a violent troublemaking guest's rampage devastated the hotel's facilities, causing our valued guests considerable inconvenience.

Regardless of who is responsible, we, the employees of the hotel, offer our deepest apologies.

The hotel will be closed for today. All hotel facilities will cease operation, and guests are requested to use the underground campsite.

The hotel will close within one hour. All guests, please proceed to the campsite./

Footnotes:

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