WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 522: Room 207, Gate Room - Fourth Trial ‘The Fallen King’ (8)
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- Kim Min-a
--- Click!
The sound of an antique fountain pen tapping against a wooden desk.
With that simple gesture, the middle-aged man before me made his displeasure clear. Kim Hak-yeon, head of the Inquisition Bureau's Korean Branch, spoke.
“Hmm... The report is rather lacking for all the commotion you caused.”
“I apologize. I thought there might be something in the relic repository, so I made a move, but it turned out to be little more than an art museum.”
“A previous agent who infiltrated it had already determined that. As I recall, we even concluded that the truly valuable items were being kept in the American Archdiocese...”
There was a good reason for the Korean Branch head to reprimand me.
As he said, another agent had already infiltrated the relic repository of the Korean Branch of the Church of Horus, and it had been established that the place was little more than a simple art museum.
From the Inquisition Bureau's perspective, Eun-ho and I infiltrating the relic repository had been needless trouble.
I had no choice but to bow my head deeply.
“I apologize. I suppose I was too eager. I thought it would be different if I went myself.”
Wouldn't it make sense for someone who had only just shed her trainee status to be eager?
I tried to push that angle.
“Hmm... Well, I'm not reprimanding you. As you said, there might have been something there. How could anyone work if we nitpicked every result that didn't turn up anything?”
“Exactly.”
He was letting it go more easily than expected.
Considering the Holy See's policy of ‘killing ten innocent people rather than letting a single criminal escape,’ I supposed it made sense.
An agent's work involved plenty of wild goose chases.
“I heard you've been keeping an ordinary student around.”
“He's quite capable, so I persuaded him to help out. I'm using him in a supporting role for now, and if he seems suitable, we can recruit him later as a new agent...”
“And if he isn't suitable, administer a Grade 2 or higher Memory Erasure Agent?”
Eun-ho had worried the Holy See would be suspicious of us working together, but that was only because he didn't understand.
There were barely any agents, and they handled every sort of matter across the entire country. How could they possibly do it all alone?
Using ordinary people after persuading them for one reason or another was incredibly common.
Conventional intelligence agencies tended to avoid drawing civilians into their work for security reasons, but we had no need for that.
If someone had potential, we could recruit them as a new agent. If not, we could simply administer a Memory Erasure Agent afterward.
What?
Grade 2 or higher Memory Erasure Agents caused mental illness at a meaningful rate?
The Inquisition Bureau wasn't the sort of organization that concerned itself with such trivial matters.
“That's right. I think he has some aptitude as an agent.”
“Understood.”
Even so, it was strange for him to leave it at a single “understood.”
If I had been another agent, he would have at least asked something like, ‘There are plenty of other capable civilians, so why use an ordinary high school student like Cha Eun-ho?’
...
I'd vaguely sensed it ever since my days as a Cleanup Agent.
The Holy See treated me somewhat differently from its other agents.
“That will be all for the report. Good work, and...”
“Director, I have a request.”
“Hmm?”
“Could I obtain a tool capable of lie detection? As you know, I'm disguised as a follower of the Church of Horus, and when I interact with the believers...”
“There is one, but hmm.”
“Is that difficult?”
“No. I'll authorize it. But be careful. A detector isn't a reliable tool. A sufficiently cunning con artist can fool it easily.”
“I'll keep that in mind.”
Just as I was about to leave after finishing my report, Branch Head Kim Hak-yeon tossed out a question.
“Agent Kim Min-a. Have you had any strange experiences lately?”
“Excuse me?”
“For example, has someone contacted you in a dream?”
“... I don't understand what you mean all of a sudden.”
“If you don't know, that's enough. You may go.”
* * *
When I returned to the safehouse where we had laid the unconscious Cha Eun-ho down, he had regained consciousness.
“You're awake?”
“Thanks to you.”
“Did you check the painting?”
“Yeah. It must've been hard to find. Thanks.”
As we exchanged brief pleasantries, I cautiously activated the lie detector hidden in my inner pocket.
They said it was a tool created through the combined achievements of scientific and occult research. I liked that it was small.
I felt a little disgusted with myself for bringing a lie detector while calling him a ‘companion,’ but I had no choice.
Eun-ho could be lying about my past.
I still couldn't trust this man completely.
“So, then... You used the painting, right?”
“Yeah. First, let's introduce ourselves again. My name is Han Ga-in. Cha Eun-ho is, well, a temporary alias.”
“... Pfft!”
“What?”
“Sorry. It sounds a little like a girl's name.”
“I hear that a lot.”
Han Ga-in.
The lie detector didn't react, but beyond that, I felt that this name was real.
The moment I heard it, something resonated within me.
Ga-in continued.
“I checked with the Kingdom of Dreams. There are currently three living companions.”
“Three?”
“A-ri, Mook-seong, and Mi-ro.”
The moment I heard the name ‘A-ri,’ I felt the same aching resonance as before.
Thanks to that, I didn't need to ask which of the three names was mine.
“‘A-ri’ is my name, right? Are Mook-seong and Mi-ro companions too?”
Ga-in smiled faintly.
“A-ri, Mook-seong, and Mi-ro. All three are my companions.”
The moment I heard those words, the murkiness that had gnawed at my mind for so long began to clear at once.
A past I couldn't remember.
A family that existed nowhere.
A workplace that hid so much from me.
This world had always been a place full of question marks, but the thing I understood least of all was none other than my own past.
Just before my heart could settle, the Korean Branch head's warning crossed my mind.
‘A detector isn't a reliable tool.’
‘A sufficiently cunning con artist can fool it easily.’
Gasp! Not yet.
Ga-in's words, and the detector's judgment that those words weren't lies, weren't enough.
If there were something like undeniable physical evidence...
“Come here and touch it.”
“Huh?”
As if he had read my confused thoughts, Ga-in smiled.
“You found the painting, so you should check it out. From the looks of it, you haven't even touched it once.”
“I thought it might be a dangerous Magical Artifact.”
“I'm right here.”
I ignored Ga-in's words, which sounded vaguely like a cheap pickup line, and approached.
When I touched the Kingdom of Dreams as he instructed, the surface of the painting rippled strangely and began pulling me in.
“Up you go!”
Before the Kingdom of Dreams could drag me in, Ga-in pulled me back into reality.
“You saw it, right?”
“W-What did I see?”
“The painting reacted to you.”
“...”
“I told you, didn't I? Only my companions and I can use this painting. That's why the Church of Horus only hung it on the wall, and why the Inquisition Bureau agent who infiltrated the relic repository couldn't find anything unusual about it.”
“... Right.”
“The Kingdom of Dreams is reacting to you.”
A mysterious painting that only Han Ga-in's companions could use had reacted to me.
It was physical evidence I truly couldn't deny.
“Ah...”
The tension drained out of me, and I leaned against the wall as though collapsing.
Soon, Ga-in began telling me about the ‘other companions,’ something he would never have done in the past.
“When you use the Kingdom of Dreams, you can enter a companion's dream and use Teleportation by waking up together.”
“I understand.”
“But this requires one condition. They have to be dreaming.”
Apparently, the other companions weren't dreaming right now.
“Do we have to wait until night to meet the others?”
“No, that won't be enough.”
He continued, sounding somewhat regretful.
“Based on the circumstances, Mi-ro isn't in ordinary sleep. She's in an extremely, extremely deep sleep. Even the minimal subconscious activity needed to produce dreams is asleep.”
“It sounds like she's in Cryogenic Sleep or something.”
“It probably is something similar.”
“... What about Mook-seong?”
“He isn't asleep as deeply as Mi-ro. This one is more like...”
“More like?”
“... I think he might dream briefly if we wait, but it's a matter of timing.”
I asked Ga-in an important question as he considered how to reunite with the other companions.
“Then we have time before meeting the others.”
“That's right.”
“Tell me about my past.”
“Hmm...”
Silence.
“...”
“...”
Unable to bear it, I asked again.
“What is it?”
“What should I call you from now on? Min-a? A-ri?”
“... Call me A-ri. I need to get used to my name.”
“Okay. A-ri, this may upset you, but listen carefully. I think your very existence is a trap set by the Holy See to lure me in.”
“...”
“You worked as a Holy See agent for so long that even you don't know how long. Think of the photograph from the eighties that you showed me. The Inquisition Bureau probably...”
“At least three times. They reset my memories.”
“Right. Several measures have been taken against you without your knowledge. For example, isn't it possible the Inquisition Bureau will notice the moment you regain your memories?”
The moment I heard Ga-in's view that the Inquisition Bureau was suspicious, I remembered the strange question the Korean Branch head had asked me earlier.
‘Have you had any strange experiences lately?’
‘Has someone contacted you in a dream?’
“Oh no!”
“What is it?”
“The Inquisition Bureau knows you can travel through dreams!”
“...”
“I wondered what the Branch Head's warning meant! He was checking whether you, after recovering the Kingdom of Dreams, had contacted me.”
“Hmm... That's strange. They couldn't recognize the Kingdom of Dreams hanging in the relic repository, yet they know that I can travel through dreams?”
“Th-That's true.”
Now that I thought about it, it was strange.
They couldn't recognize that the Kingdom of Dreams was a special painting, yet they knew Ga-in could enter his companions' dreams?
It was like recognizing King Arthur's power while failing to recognize Excalibur itself.
They had information, but it was full of holes.
Either way, remembering my conversation with the Branch Head made it impossible not to strongly agree with Ga-in.
The other companions, Mi-ro and Mook-seong, currently couldn't even dream properly.
Therefore, the only person who could recognize the ‘me of the past’ and restore my memories was Han Ga-in.
As he said, I might be a trap meant to lure Ga-in in.
“Wait a little longer.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Church of Horus. A powerful ability of mine is hidden here. It's probably the Sacred Sun. It would be useful for expanding the church's influence.”
“What changes if we find that? If I remember my past, the Inquisition Bureau will still track us down...”
“It makes a huge difference.”
“What?”
When I looked up, I saw a young man wearing a confident expression.
“Once we find the Sacred Sun, there'll be no need to fear the Inquisition Bureau's pursuit. From that point on, it'll be an all-out war anyway.”
Our next objective was the Sacred Sun.
...
Just before we parted ways, I noticed dirt on the hem of Ga-in's pants.
He should have been lying in bed the entire time, so where had it come from?
Footnotes:
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