WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 526: Room 207, Gate Room - Fourth Trial ‘The Fallen King’ (12)
──────
- Kim Min-a
...
My consciousness slowly returned.
The first thing I felt upon waking was shame.
I'd meant to prove myself as an agent of the Holy See, but Bishop Hong Go-hak's Aberrant Waves had subdued me in an instant.
I'd known for some time that he possessed a strange power, but I'd planned to deal with him in a gunfight before he could use it...
“Ugh!”
Through my blurred vision, I saw Ga-in watching me with worried eyes.
Was the fight already over?
“Are you okay?”
“... Yeah. What about Hong Go-hak?”
“He's already dead.”
I looked in the direction he pointed and saw the corpse of an old man with his head blown apart.
From his posture, it looked like suicide, but considering Ga-in had the power to control people, it wasn't exactly surprising.
As I got up, I apologized.
“Sorry. I wanted to help, but it feels like the only thing I've done so far is drive.”
“No. That's really not true. You helped a lot.”
“What empty reassurance...”
--- Click, click!
I gave a bitter smile and was about to ask about our next plan when I heard someone's footsteps.
I immediately turned around and saw a small figure in a hood.
“Who are you!”
“It's okay. It's someone I know.”
“What?”
“You asked who I was talking to earlier, right? It's her.”
The person who had killed the monsters around us as we traveled from the church to the park?
Ga-in had said I knew her well too.
--- Click, click!
She slowly approached us.
The curves visible beneath the hood showed that she was a woman.
I felt a little awkward saying this, but she was remarkably voluptuous for someone so small.
--- Click, click!
I felt uneasy to an absurd degree.
According to Ga-in, she had been my companion in the past, but every step she took made my chest tighten.
When she finally stood before me and removed her hood...
I realized the inescapable fate awaiting me.
“Ah!”
That one sound contained every realization I had.
I also realized that Ga-in had deceived me a few days ago!
The scenes I'd brushed aside despite slight suspicions flashed through my mind like a panorama.
How Ga-in had cleverly avoided answering when I asked whether A-ri was my name.
How he'd told me to choose what he would call me.
Even the dirt on the hem of his pants!
There had been plenty of suspicious details, so why had I been fooled?
Because I desperately wanted to believe.
I wanted so badly to overcome the confusion caused by my incomplete identity that I'd turned a blind eye to every suspicious detail.
And when Kingdom of Dreams displayed its mysterious phenomena, I'd been overwhelmed by that mystery like any ordinary person.
Could even Kingdom of Dreams have been a trick?
“Ga-in, you...!”
The young man answered with an unusually apologetic expression.
“I'm sorry. This, um, couldn't be helped. So...”
“You don't need to apologize.”
Her voice was utterly calm.
A soft hand slowly reached out and caressed my face.
I couldn't move.
At that moment, I was like a deer meeting a tiger's gaze.
“Ah... Hngh...”
I couldn't even think of resisting as I let out a weak moan.
In contrast, the being standing before me was someone destined for greatness from the moment she was born.
For the first time, she spoke to me.
“Don't be afraid.”
“Hngh...”
“Your name was Min-a, right? You aren't dying. You're simply returning to being one again.”
“... One?”
“Yes. We were one from the beginning.”
Slowly and unhurriedly, A-ri's face drew closer.
Dismantling.
Disassembly.
Recombination.
A coin was tossed.
I woke up in Kim A-ri's body.
* * *
- Han Ga-in
--- Thud!
The moment Min-a's body collapsed to the floor, I flinched without realizing it.
Even though I knew it was an empty body now, I felt as though I should apologize for something.
Perhaps my flustered expression amused her, because A-ri snickered.
“What's wrong? I told you that you didn't need to apologize.”
“That's what you think. Min-a might not have felt the same...”
“Min-a's thoughts are my thoughts now.”
“...”
“I told you when we met briefly a few days ago, didn't I? The real Kim Min-a had been as good as dead from the moment she accepted one of my Fragments decades ago.”
“You did say that.”
It had been a very short conversation, but I had heard the explanation about Min-a.
Decades ago, whether by chance or through the Holy See's intentions, she had acquired one of A-ri's Fragments scattered throughout the world.
That Fragment had now returned to A-ri.
“Other than the Fragments that can no longer be recovered, this was practically the last one. I couldn't retrieve it because I was wandering overseas to escape the Holy See's pursuit.”
As I fell into thought, A-ri lightly bowed her head toward Hong Go-hak's body.
“... What are you doing?”
“My own way of showing respect?”
“...”
“I heard what your duplicate said before killing himself. I think he truly reached a great realm.”
“...”
“Something that can't be compared to magic... Wasn't it a truly lofty spiritual state? Maybe not a Buddha, but at least a bodhisattva?”
“A bodhisattva...”
In his final moments, he had seemed to transcend not only his hatred for me but even his desire to survive.
That sight must have left a deep impression on A-ri, because she continued speaking with her head bowed, an attitude unlike her.
“I can say with certainty that even the Practitioner beyond the Veil didn't expect this much.”
“Practitioner?”
“A strange god beyond the Mirror. I call it the Practitioner.”
The topic made me somewhat uncomfortable, and we didn't have much time, so I changed the subject.
“I realized something just now while recalling the memories I got from Hong Go-hak's body. I think the Sacred Sun is with Sophia. Didn't you know? You said you stayed in regular contact with Sophia.”
“I didn't. I was busy running from the Holy See's pursuit, and...”
“And?”
“My relationship with Sophia wasn't the kind where we told each other every secret.”
“...”
“More precisely, it could have become that kind of relationship, but things got tangled along the way. I'll explain later.”
“If we find Sophia, we can find the Sacred Sun too. A few days ago, you said...”
“I know where Sophia is. She's in Korea. Let's leave right away.”
“Okay.”
“From now on, it'll be dangerous.”
I'd used several tricks on Min-a, but it hadn't been a lie that her very existence was a trap.
The Holy See would soon realize that Kim Min-a had vanished from the world.
We had to retrieve the Sacred Sun before then.
“... Is this the course the Hotel arranged for us?”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I organized everything that had happened so far in my mind.
1. Recover the Grimoire from a girl who had happened to obtain it at Hotel High, then form a cooperative relationship with the Holy See agent at the school.
2. With the Holy See agent's help, confirm the existence of Kingdom of Dreams and recover it.
3. Contact A-ri, who had been hiding inside Kingdom of Dreams, and find the missing Pontiff Sophia with her help.
4. Recover the Sacred Sun from Pontiff Sophia.
A lot had happened along the way, but we had almost reached step four.
What would happen next?
Just before we left, A-ri snickered.
“You still can't drive?”
“...”
“That's funny. Great Ga-in the Horus, who sees the future, can't even drive a car...”
“L-let's go.”
Seeing A-ri naturally recall the memories of her Fragments, I felt both embarrassed and a little happy.
So her words about Min-a not dying hadn't been entirely a lie.
--- Vrooom!
* * *
The roads were still utterly chaotic.
The Holy See's army was eliminating monsters here and there, but it didn't look as though they could clean everything up anytime soon.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, that allowed A-ri and me to travel down the roads without much interference.
The Chaos Entities swarming everywhere didn't spare us just because we were us, but A-ri easily dealt with that problem too.
--- Slice!
No, seriously, wasn't that incredible?
She could drive while cutting down approaching monsters with the Irregular Polyhedron at the same time?
Her long stay in Room 207 had clearly improved her proficiency with the Irregular Polyhedron.
--- Whoooosh!
Once we left Seoul, there were hardly any monsters in sight. Instead, wind and rain began to lash down.
It seemed like we had a little breathing room, so I quickly asked a question.
“A-ri, can we talk now?”
“I've been waiting.”
“I have a lot to ask about what's going on.”
“...”
“What state is Sophia in? Is she okay? It seems like she used the Sacred Sun.”
“...”
“And I want to hear what happened during the past trials.”
“Anything else?”
The final question had come to mind during my conversation with Hong Go-hak.
“Yes. The Holy See has apparently concealed the world with the Veil. What exactly does that mean?”
“...”
A brief silence followed.
A-ri needed time to organize her thoughts too, so I didn't press her.
“I can answer two of those questions. I don't know much about the other one.”
“Really? Then start with what you know...”
“Before that.”
Her voice was firm.
“You have a lot of questions too, but so do I. And I've waited over a hundred years for answers. Can I ask first?”
“Go ahead.”
“Ga-in. Why did you save Aedia?”
My first answer was simple.
“What are you talking about? What did I do to Aedia? I saved her?”
“...”
Apparently, this question required some background explanation.
* * *
--- Whoooosh!
Through the pouring rain, A-ri explained several facts.
First, Aedia, the Holy Mother and leader of the Holy See, had lived since the days of Ancient Egypt.
Second, over a long period of time, Aedia had become Room 207's greatest problem. Not only Seung-yeop and Yumi, but Elena, Eun-sol, and even A-ri had clashed with Aedia.
Third, according to Yumi's memories, the person who saved Aedia was me from the past.
“Can I hear the reason now? I truly... wondered about it for a very long time.”
Why had the me from the past saved Aedia and created such an enormous butterfly effect?
It was a question that had tormented A-ri for the last 120 years, and one that had tormented Yumi and Seung-yeop for more than ten times as long.
It was time to give her the answer.
“First, I don't remember the time Mi-ro summoned me. As you know, a Summoned Entity and its original body don't share memories.”
“Don't tell me! So you don't know the answer either? How could this...”
A-ri looked so faint that I hurried to calm her down. I was afraid we'd get into a car accident.
“No. I know. Or rather, I can guess. The summoning only lasts an hour at most, right? That's not enough time for my personality to become very different from what it is now.”
“...”
--- Screech!
“Ah!”
The car stopped.
A-ri turned to look at me.
As if she wanted to focus every bit of her attention on hearing this important answer.
Her expression was so desperate for an answer that my heart grew heavy too.
“Before entering Room 207, there was one possibility I feared the most.”
“...”
“It was the possibility that the stage would be ruined before my turn even began. I realized it while going through the Curse Rooms.”
“...”
“The world could break far more easily than I thought. Maybe the normal world I lived in had survived against incredibly low odds.”
“That's right.”
“So I gave Sang-hyeon a note. It said, ‘Please respect the course of history as we know it.’”
“You saw the reality you remembered as a kind of correct answer.”
“Because it had remained normal until then. I was asking him to follow that correct answer if possible.”
“I understand.”
“If a world that remains normal until the twenty-first century is the correct answer, then there's an essential element it needs.”
“...”
“An organization that kills Chaos Entities behind the scenes throughout human history. The Management Bureau. So...”
“I guessed that much. It seemed Yumi understood it from some point onward too.”
What A-ri and Yumi had guessed.
“After watching the world for so long, I came to understand something. Aedia is certainly an enemy of the Hotel Party. But she isn't humanity's enemy.”
Aedia was the Hotel Party's enemy.
That did not mean she was humanity's enemy.
“If anything, Aedia was humanity's greatest Guardian. She opposed us not because of a grudge from Ancient Egypt, but because she believed we were dangerous beings in her capacity as humanity's Guardian.”
“...”
“Sometimes, it was almost strange. In one sense, Aedia was someone who truly deserved the title Holy Mother. Unlike me, she held a love for humanity so great it was almost incomprehensible.”
One word caught in my throat.
“Unlike me?”
“At some point, I started wondering. Was that why you saved Aedia? Because you thought she was someone who could support humanity for thousands of years?”
A-ri and Yumi understood why the me from the past had saved Aedia.
The answer was that she was suited to become the founder of the Management Bureau.
One answer created a new question.
“Thinking about it this way brought up another question I can't understand.”
“... Ask.”
“Why did it have to be Aedia? Let's say those who started with the second Party onward began too late. Let's say Mi-ro was too mentally immature. Why couldn't it have been Yumi?”
By the standards of the first Party, Yumi was also capable of eternal life.
The question held by the current A-ri and the past Yumi was reasonable.
Why did Aedia have to become the founder of the Management Bureau?
Why couldn't Yumi, Mi-ro after she matured with time, or Seung-yeop do it instead?
“We had several chances to kill Aedia.”
“...”
“Yumi had opportunities, and so did I. We could have killed Aedia... but each time, we gave up.”
My companions had been able to kill Aedia many times, yet they had given up.
Because they didn't know why I had chosen Aedia.
A being who could see the future had chosen Aedia. What if they killed her on their own and ruined the scenario?
Unable to bear that possibility, they let Aedia go every time and suffered because of it.
“I even thought this sometimes. In one sense, Aedia is your apostle, your angel.”
“An apostle, an angel...”
“Do you know? Aedia half believes that herself. ‘Your god chose me, so why are you trying to kill me?’ That's what Aedia said to Yumi.”
At some point, I felt an undisguisable resentment in A-ri's voice.
She had suffered for over 120 years because of my choice, so it would have been a lie to say she held no resentment at all.
“A-ri.”
“Tell me the answer now.”
“Aedia probably isn't human.”
“Isn't that obvious? She's already lived for hundreds, thousands of...”
“I don't mean that she isn't human now. Thousands of years ago, when the Ancient Egypt Party was conducting its trial, Aedia probably wasn't human from the moment she was born.”
“What does that have to do with...”
Then A-ri fell silent.
She was a smart companion too, so she understood the true meaning of my answer.
The me from the past had chosen Aedia because she was a being who had not been human from birth.
Because that matched the one and only correct answer I knew.
As if her soul had left her body, A-ri whispered.
“The founder of the Management Bureau wasn't human either. You knew that.”
Long ago, before entering Room 207.
I learned one shocking fact from a girl imprisoned within an infantile self.
A pasture where cattle lived could not be protected by the cattle themselves.
And a pasture where people lived could not be protected by people themselves.
Footnotes:
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