WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 514: Room 207, Gate Room - Third Trial ‘Miskatonic University’ (16) Fin
──────
- ???
As you go through the Hotel’s trials, you come to realize just how wonderful the conveniences of modern society are.
Computers, the internet, phones, washing machines. There are so many that I’d run out of time if I listed them all one by one.
Transportation is another good example.
In the twenty-first century, even with plenty of time to spare, you could fly from America to Europe in a day.
Unfortunately, it’s 1897 now, before the Wright brothers have even built the first powered airplane.
Thanks to that, Fortuna and I have been aboard a passenger ship for ten days now.
...
It was a little boring, but I did get something out of it.
Talking with Fortuna answered several questions.
For example?
I considered it an incredible coincidence that Seung-yeop had survived for so long after the first trial and, thanks to that, reunited with Aedia after she returned to Egypt.
In other words, Fortuna’s very existence was the product of coincidence. How had he become the boss of the second trial?
“Aedia exposed lots of people other than you to the Mirror?”
“Yeah. But people kept killing themselves, so she stopped after a while.”
“... Killing themselves?”
“I guess people with families found it hard to endure. And most of them didn’t gain any supernatural powers or anything.”
“...”
The Mirror could distort ordinary humans as well as special beings like Aedia, Seung-yeop, and me.
It had also been underground near the border between Spain and Portugal since ancient times.
Finally, the setting of the second trial had been Spain.
Put simply, this was what it meant.
Maybe the boss of the second trial hadn’t been Fortuna, but someone distorted by the Mirror.
The fact that someone had become Park Seung-yeop was truly an absurd trick of fate.
“I had a dream last night.”
“...”
“There was a really big older guy, a beautiful blonde older sister who sparkled, and a girl with a cynical expression who walked around with a parrot on her shoulder...”
“Anyone else?”
“There was another older sister, and a pale girl who looked a lot like her. Oh, and there was a strange older guy who always said things like riddles.”
“A strange older guy? Well, Ga-in is a little strange.”
Since I was a Twisted One too, I had been able to gain Fortuna’s trust. As I used Old Blood to touch his mind and soul every day, he gradually began to remember us.
Naturally, the person he remembered most wasn’t one of us.
“... Sis, maybe I had a girlfriend.”
“Wow, congratulations. I mean that sincerely.”
“She was really, really pretty and smart. I don’t think she liked jokes the way you and the others do. If I had to describe her, she was kind of cynical and cold?”
“That does sound like her.”
“...”
“What’s wrong?”
“Will I be able to see her again?”
Would Seung-yeop be able to meet Yumi again?
By the Hotel’s standards, Yumi wasn’t a Participant. She was treated as part of the Inheritance contained in the Soul Box.
Right now, the one inside the Soul Box wasn’t Yumi, but Seung-yeop himself.
“...”
It didn’t seem easy at all, so I held my tongue.
All I could do was hope the Hotel would show us mercy.
...
As time passed, Fortuna gradually changed.
Whenever I put him into a trance, Seung-yeop would awaken again.
In that state, the boy vaguely recognized reality and despaired over the fact that he had attacked not only his companions, but Yumi as well.
As for all this emotional stuff, I wasn’t sure.
“There’s no need to blame yourself. A transcendent being close to the Buddha distorted you, and that’s why this happened. Lots of people have attacked their companions in situations like this.”
“But, Sis.”
“I fired a laser with one click in Room 203 and melted Elena. I’ve killed several other people too.”
“You must have suffered from guilt too. Thank you for telling me-”
“Guilt? I didn’t feel anything like that.”
“What?”
“Why should I feel sorry when it wasn’t my choice? Even legally, I’d be innocent. If you have a problem with it, you should’ve dodged the laser better.”
Seung-yeop, who had been lying there blankly, stared at me with a startled expression.
I could only hope a little shock therapy would help him.
Of course, that was also my completely honest feeling!
Everyone, next time, dodge the laser or Spatial Slash yourselves. Got it?
...
On a day when a light rain was falling, we arrived in Spain.
* * *
The Holy See in Room 207 was nothing like the Holy See in reality. It was closer to the Management Bureau, if anything.
Its core facilities were even located in Spain rather than Italy.
Probably because the Mirror, which could be called the root of every problem, was underground in Spain?
“If something like the Mirror exists in reality, would it be in Spain too?”
“Hm?”
“Never mind.”
Fortuna was undeniably the Holy See’s second-in-command, and once we reached Spain, everything went smoothly.
Some of the Holy See’s priests questioned the identity of an unknown being like me, but they all backed down the moment Fortuna gave them a look. It couldn’t have been more convenient.
Around evening, I finally met the Holy Mother.
My first impression was: ‘She’s pretty, but what is this gaudy outfit?’
I could overlook clothes that looked like they had been fashionable during the Roman Empire.
The Holy Mother had lived for thousands of years, so fashion from the Roman Empire might have been the latest trend by her standards.
But weren’t the ornaments covering her from head to toe a bit excessive?
Her head must be heavy. Really heavy.
“...”
Fashion aside, the moment we saw each other, she and I realized it at the same time.
We were both Twisted Ones.
“Oh my. Fortuna has brought us a precious guest.”
“Yes. Aedia, she is one of us as well.”
“...”
“Oh? How could this be? We had the Mirror here under complete control.”
The girl spun around for a moment, then smiled brightly.
“Ah! A fragment was left in America? How interesting. I didn’t think a fragment would have survived until now.”
She hadn’t thought one would survive until now.
“You must have destroyed Yumi’s Mirror when you killed her, right?”
“I thought I had, but apparently not. It seems a tiny fragment remained.”
An inexplicable, strange atmosphere filled the room.
The contents of our conversation and the situation itself clearly meant we should be hostile toward each other...
But it wasn’t easy.
I felt an indescribable sense of familiarity with her, and she seemed to feel the same.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“I’d like an iced Americano.”
“Pardon? What’s that?”
Mistake! Iced Americanos didn’t appear until after World War II, right?
“Just give me whatever you’re drinking.”
After a cup of hot coffee was served, the Holy Mother spoke first.
“Let’s call it payment for the coffee. I’ll ask the first question. Do you have the remaining Mirror Shard?”
Before asking about my identity or the purpose of my visit, she asked about the Mirror Shard first.
It showed what concerned her most.
“Yeah.”
“Could I have it back?”
“Have it back? That’s a strange way to put it.”
“The Mirror was originally mine.”
“No way. It was originally underground in Spain, wasn’t it?”
“How did you... Never mind. Either way, I found it buried underground, so I own it.”
“You found it, so it’s yours? By that logic, I found the Mirror Shard on Lucas’s corpse.”
Fortuna, who had been standing behind me, quietly interjected.
“Technically, you didn’t find it. You killed him and searched his corpse-”
“I searched his corpse and found it.”
The Holy Mother gave a short, incredulous laugh, then asked again.
“Do you even know what the Mirror is, to covet it? Just a divine artifact connected to an unknown god?”
“...”
“If you want powerful Magical Artifacts, I’ll open the Holy See’s treasure vault for you. Take whatever you like. There are plenty of items that are far safer and easier to use than the Mirror.”
“Let me ask you one thing too. What exactly is your goal in using the Mirror?”
What had the Holy Mother realized after discovering the Mirror underground on the Iberian Peninsula thousands of years ago?
The moment she heard my question, the Holy Mother declared without the slightest hesitation.
“The salvation of the world.”
“What?”
Her eyes and tone changed.
“My child. You truly know nothing.”
“...”
“You must see me as a crazed murderer. But this world is a far more terrible place than you can imagine.”
“...”
“I fought a demon that emerged from the end of a Nightmare.
“I witnessed madness beyond hell manifest in reality.
“I gave rest to victims who suffered eternally in an otherworld where even the flow of time was distorted.
“I banished a being whose very sight melted the brain.
“I burned a fiend that exhaled toxic miasma so foul that lungs rotted just from breathing it.”
I was speechless.
At that moment, she seemed less like the adversary of Room 207 threatening us and more like a great hero who had upheld human history for five thousand years.
“But all that effort was not enough. Because the circumstances we were given were fundamentally too unfair!”
“Unfair...”
“The test itself is terrible, so what meaning is there in solving it diligently? There is only one answer. We have to change the test itself! I think I’ve said enough about why I need the Mirror. Let’s stop playing around.”
Several rebuttals came to mind.
I wasn’t some magical girl who had happened to obtain the Mirror, as the Holy Mother seemed to think. I was a veteran Management Bureau agent.
A weak world that could shatter like glass in an instant.
People supporting a fragile Model Garden through suffering.
Those were things I knew well too.
Still, could my experience possibly compare with Aedia’s as she was now?
So rather than arguing back, I showed humility.
“Holy Mother. No, Senior.”
“Hm?”
I rose from my chair and bowed my head deeply.
“... What kind of joke is this-”
“Thank you. This is the minimum courtesy a junior should show a senior.”
That much was my completely sincere feeling, without a trace of falsehood.
“I think that’s enough.”
The Holy Mother’s final words from our conversation just now.
‘We have to change the test itself!’
I made my decision too.
“What?”
The moment I felt a heavy weight in my clenched hand, I shouted the signal we had agreed on beforehand.
“Seung-yeop!”
The boy who had been acting as the loyal Fortuna until moments ago had eyes that flashed ominously as sharp sword energy pierced the air.
At the same time, the power of the Irregular Polyhedron engulfed the Holy Mother!
“Fortuna...!”
Ignoring the Holy Mother’s cry, the Black Knight thrust out his sword.
Even the Holy Mother couldn’t hide her surprise at that moment.
Yet she too was a being who had endured incalculable time and accumulated power.
The ornaments covering the Holy Mother’s body began to emit flashing light!
--- Rumble!
...
...
...
At the end of a bloody battle that brought everything down...
I lost much, and gained something commensurate in return.
「Miskatonic University, Fin」
* * *
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day ---
Current Location: Room 207, Gate Room
Sage’s Advice: 3]
- Han Ga-in
--- Clatter! Clatter!
How long had it been since we passed the third station?
It seemed about time to arrive at the next one.
--- Clatter! Clatter!
Thoughts. Thoughts. Thoughts.
So many thoughts filled my head that it was enough to make me dizzy.
I had worked to change a cruel future.
Like I was some Zhuge Liang, I had sat still and orchestrated the future.
Even I thought it was inhuman behavior, so someone might see the current me as an unfathomable being.
Yet there was one fact I knew better than anyone.
Omniscience. Omnipotence. I was never such a being.
Even the Hotel, the closest thing I knew to an omniscient and omnipotent being, sometimes acknowledged that something had happened beyond its expectations.
How could someone like me design every endlessly changing possibility?
Many parts of my predictions were surely wrong.
My plans would have fallen apart, and the situation would be strangely twisted.
That was fine.
I only had to set things right from now on.
--- Screech!
「The fourth trial will now begin! Participant Han Ga-in, please prepare yourself.」
It was time to harvest the seeds.
Footnotes:
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