Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 514

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 513: Room 207, Gate Room - Third Trial ‘Miskatonic University’ (15)

──────

- Kim A-ri

Sometimes, even when you see something with your own two eyes, you cannot tell what you are looking at.

The Mirror Shard now in my hand, a fragment of the transcendent power that had granted Lucas an absurd forbidden secret art, was a good example.

“...”

I considered my actions.

Why had I killed Lucas and seized the Mirror Shard?

Simple.

It was clear from the circumstances that Fortuna was the boss of the second trial, while Lucas was the boss of the third.

Therefore, both had to be defeated for the trials to end successfully and reduce the danger Ga-in would face in the fourth trial.

Mook-seong had been flustered by my sudden actions, but I had no other choice.

There had been no time to explain everything in such a desperate situation. More than that, Mook-seong’s attitude had troubled me.

Perhaps because he had personally experienced the Holy See’s massacre before turning back time, he had become subtly sympathetic toward Miskatonic University.

Lastly, I wanted the Mirror Shard for myself.

Naturally, Lucas would never have handed it over willingly, so I had no choice but to kill him and take it!

...

What was Fortuna?

To answer that, I first had to answer the question: What is a mirror?

A mirror reflects something.

It was easy to overlook because it was such an ordinary tool, something we saw at the sink every morning, but a mirror did not show a person exactly as they were.

The me in the mirror was a reversed version of me.

In other words, mirrors inherently reflect us after changing us slightly.

Fortuna stood before us, yet in a certain sense, Fortuna was a resident of an entirely different world.

Fortuna regarded us as something other than humans, as monsters or Chaos Entities.

Before reading Fortuna’s memories, I had thought Fortuna was a being who protected humans and hunted Chaos Entities under orders from the Holy See, but that was completely wrong.

Within Fortuna’s perception, the entire world was practically a Chaos Entity.

Fortuna only harmed Chaos Entities and left ordinary people alone because Aedia had asked Fortuna not to kill just anyone.

Explaining the result was easy. What mattered was the process.

What process had Seung-yeop gone through to become the monster called Fortuna?

I intended to find that answer now.

--- Bzzzt!

As though it had read my mind, the small Mirror Shard gave off a mysterious light.

Then an urgent voice rang out.

“No!”

“Sophia.”

“I don’t know what you’ve been thinking this whole time, but Master told me. What you’re holding right now is the most dangerous thing in the world-”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

I had just killed Lucas, Sophia’s fellow disciple of many years.

Yet Sophia was worrying about me instead of resenting me.

Why?

Because her mother, who could see the future, had told her to trust Mook-seong and me.

Because she had prophesied that Mook-seong and I would be her most important companions.

Thank you, Eun-sol.

“Sophia, I’m sorry. But I have no choice.”

“A-ri...”

Sophia was right. The Mirror Shard truly was an incredibly dangerous item.

If there was anything more dangerous than it in Room 207, it would only be the larger Mirror Shard in the Holy Mother’s possession.

What I was about to do was an enormous gamble, but it was one I had to take.

Why?

It was something I had been thinking about at the Hotel before the third trial began.

Why had Mook-seong and I entered the Hotel?

Of course, Mi-ro’s resurrection was one reason, but strictly speaking, that was my personal goal, not the Management Bureau’s.

We had come to prevent destruction.

One day, a strange light would descend from the sky, and everything would end.

What was the cause, and how could it be resolved?

According to Ga-in, the setting of the fourth trial was twenty-first-century Korea, and the trial resembled the End Times occurring in reality.

According to the Prisoner of Room 103, the Devourer, Curse Rooms were dramatizations of events that had truly occurred somewhere in the universe.

Then what world’s events was Room 207, which formed one overarching world, dramatizing?

Reality.

Room 207 was a stage dramatizing reality!

In Room 207, we were learning in advance about the cause of the real world’s destruction and its solution.

That was why I had to learn more about the Mirror, even if it killed me.

Of course, I’ll admit that One More Chance, which gave us additional opportunities, was part of what allowed me to make this decision.

Can’t gamble when you’re out of Coins~!

--- Crackle!

I gripped the Mirror tightly.

Then the distant being beyond the Mirror reached out to me.

* * *

Upward, higher still.

An endlessly towering Higher-Dimensional Space, so high that it was difficult to imagine the very concept of above any further.

There was someone, or something, within that realm.

One who sought enlightenment without end at the center of that infinite Higher-Dimensional Space.

It looked remarkably like the Buddha.

When I saw the other Prisoners, my retinas melted and my mind collapsed, but that thing was completely different.

Instead, I felt calmer than ever, and peace settled within my heart.

What was it?

The true form of Yaldabaoth, whom Lucas had tried to summon?

It looked strangely like the Buddha, but-

It reached out to me.

“...!”

In an instant, everything that made me Kim A-ri began to twist!

Alone in a distant realm where reality and unreality, soul and body, could not be distinguished, I screamed soundlessly.

I was marble and clay in a sculptor’s hands.

...

I looked upon the shattered fragments of me.

Among them was a small jewel shining beautifully.

The distant sculptor examined the jewel with profound eyes, then shook its head and set it down again.

As if it were beyond even its power to do anything about it.

...

I felt sorrow.

I could not tell whether it was the emotion I felt as I suffered, or the emotion of the Great One sculpting me.

An insurmountable limit.

The inescapable fate of an imitation.

A being closest to perfection, yet ultimately imperfect.

...

It was a distant being beyond all description, but it had not reached the ultimate.

A being that had fallen ever so slightly short of the ultimate realm.

Measured in steps, the difference was no more than a single step, yet I vaguely understood.

Some gaps could never be closed, even with eternity to try.

Therefore, it was forever an imperfect Creator, one that could never become the Buddha.

And an imperfect sculptor could never create a perfect creation.

* * *

- ???

When I woke, Sophia was still standing in exactly the same position as before, staring at me.

Behind her was a confused Mook-seong, and behind him, Fortuna was slowly rising.

It had felt as though I had suffered for hundreds, perhaps thousands of hours at the hands of the distant being beyond the Mirror. Had only a few seconds truly passed?

“A-ri, are you all right? You suddenly grabbed the Mirror and closed your eyes-”

After hearing Sophia, then Mook-seong, I realized it the moment I looked at him.

What had happened to Seung-yeop had happened to me as well.

...

Mook-seong disgusted me.

His voice, his breath, his face, everything about him disgusted me so much I could barely stand it.

But the being quietly rising behind him was completely different.

Fortuna was immensely beautiful, incomparably magnificent, and above all, felt human.

The boy who felt the same way I did ran toward me with a dazed expression.

Startled, Mook-seong tried to stop him, but the difference in strength was too great.

“S-sis? Is that you, sis?”

“Of course. You saw me in the mental world, remember?”

“No, the thing that invaded my mind was a disgusting enemy-”

“Do I disgust you?”

The boy’s eyes widened.

“N-no! I never thought there would be another human in this world besides Aedia and me...”

“Aedia...”

Was the powerful bond felt between the Twisted Ones, those twisted by the Mirror, how Aedia could control Fortuna?

“Fortuna, could you go somewhere without people and stay there quietly for me?”

“...”

Confusion filled the boy’s eyes.

That was probably because Aedia had asked Fortuna to kill everyone from the university faction, while my request was the opposite.

I spoke more firmly.

“Are you going to ignore your sister’s request?”

“... No.”

When I turned around, Mook-seong and Sophia were staring at me in shock.

“Sophia, I have a favor to-”

Just making eye contact with her made me want to vomit.

I could not breathe, and I wanted to slice her apart with the Irregular Polyhedron right then.

At this rate, I would not be able to endure even a minute before tearing out Mook-seong’s throat.

This was not something I could overcome through willpower alone.

Even Seung-yeop, who had loved Yumi and trained in lofty martial arts, had buried his true self deep in his unconscious and become Fortuna.

For now, I was suppressing my instincts with reason, but that would not last.

Soon, my reason would endlessly find reasons to kill Mook-seong and Sophia, and then everyone else in the world.

I had to take drastic measures before that happened!

“A-ri?”

“Bring the Immortal Sarcophagus. You have it in your possession, right?”

The girl’s eyes widened in surprise.

“M-Master!”

“Yumi?”

“She said not to open the sarcophagus before Horus arrives.”

“I’m not going to open it completely. I just need to hear one thing. Then I’ll put her back to sleep.”

“Hear something?”

“Sophia, please. Remember what your mother said. Trust me and do as I ask.”

In the end, Sophia could not refuse my request and left to retrieve the sarcophagus.

...

After Sophia left, Mook-seong cautiously approached me.

“You are not in a normal state right now.”

“...”

“Judging from your eye movements, changes in expression, and the twitching at the corners of your mouth... You seem to feel intense emotions whenever you look at Sophia or me. Am I right?”

“...”

“Is even speaking difficult?”

“Let’s have our final meeting after the sarcophagus arrives.”

Sophia soon returned with the sarcophagus.

With my hand on its lid, I thought.

Was the being sleeping inside really the person I expected?

“Mook-seong.”

“Hm?”

“If the person sleeping in here is not Mi-ro, turn back time immediately.”

“... I will.”

--- Click!

When the sarcophagus opened, a girl lay inside, like Sleeping Beauty.

There was no longer any need to use One More Chance.

The remaining opportunity was likely for the next trial.

“It’s Mi-ro.”

“Wow! She looks exactly like A-ri!”

I stepped closer, reached out, and stroked the snowflake-like girl’s hair.

Slowly, savoring every moment, I exhaled.

...

I felt the hostility toward the world that had been boiling within me like a storm begin to subside.

It might sound childish, but love was the finest cure for hatred.

Something even the imperfect Creator could not touch.

The strongest fragment that made up my inner self.

My love for Mi-ro.

“Mm... Where am I?”

When Mi-ro finally woke, rubbing her sleepy eyes, I asked her for something.

“Mi-ro.”

“Hm? A-ri! What is it? Is the third trial already-”

“Tell me.”

“Huh? What?”

“Tell me with your own lips. Tell me directly.”

“What should I say-”

“Tell me not to forget who I am. And tell me you love me.”

Perhaps the sudden, somewhat embarrassing request surprised her.

The girl stared at me with wide eyes, flustered for a moment, then rose and lightly embraced me.

“Why are you acting like a child? All right. Don’t forget, you’re A-ri. You’re my... um, daughter, but I think I’ll consider you my sister. I love you!”

* * *

After my final meeting with Mook-seong, he cautiously asked me,

“If what you said is true, Fortuna is the boss of the second trial. So... for the trial to end successfully, does Fortuna have to die in addition to Lucas? Or is it enough that you can control Fortuna?”

“Who knows? We’ll find out soon enough.”

“...”

“I’m going to Spain with Fortuna. Sophia, get us tickets, please.”

Just before leaving, I thought about the three futures, or possibilities, Ga-in had told me about on the train.

Me in a shabby lecture hall.

That was me attending a lecture at Miskatonic University.

Me in a white dress, walking beneath a blue sky.

That seemed like an opening party. It probably was.

Lastly, me amid ruins that looked as though a meteor had fallen.

...

I felt the ending of the third trial drawing near.

I intended to meet Holy Mother Aedia one last time.