WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 529: Room 207, Gate Room - Fourth Trial ‘The Fallen King’ (15)
──────
- Han Ga-in
As I watched the world split open, I thought:
Was this the final problem we had to prevent, the Light That Calls the End?
The Light That Calls the End wasn't merely a trial in Room 207. It was the end of reality we would someday face.
It was also the greatest problem A-ri, Grandpa, and the Management Bureau wanted to solve.
It might be what awaited at the end of the long journey we had experienced in the Hotel.
...
No, probably not.
I had seen the Light That Calls the End once during the Dinner Party, and it looked nothing like that.
Back then, there hadn't been any dramatic omen like the sky opening.
Then what the hell was this phenomenon?
A moment later, the entire world answered my question.
Raindrops began pouring from the sky.
Drops made of sharp iron nails fell from above!
“Argh!”
The first victim had their shoulder pierced by a nail. A-ri, standing behind me, was the first to react.
“Haah!”
She stretched out her hand toward the sky, and an invisible wall sprang into existence, blocking the sharp objects.
--- Clatter! Thunk! Ting!
Countless nails piled up in midair in an instant!
Before long, terrified believers began rushing toward me in a panic.
“L-Lord Horus!”
“Eek!”
“S-Save us!”
Order in the crowd collapsed at once. Just as it seemed they would trample one another to death before the nails could kill them...
“I stand here before you. What is there to fear? Maintain order.”
As I spoke, releasing the Sacred Sun's supernatural presence as intensely as possible, the terrified people began obeying again.
But this was only the beginning of the crisis.
The dirt suddenly writhed, and a centipede the size of a car burst out!
I incinerated it with a blazing heat beam, but then a three-headed hawk swooped down and began pecking at people's heads.
The believers were half out of their minds, and my companions were no less confused!
“G-Ga-in! What do we do? Th-The monsters just keep coming!”
Mi-ro was glued to A-ri's side. She had already summoned the Time Lender, but the pocket watch couldn't stop her fear.
“...”
A-ri was already sweating heavily.
Blocking the iron nails falling from the sky seemed to be pushing her to her limits.
Grandpa instinctively summoned One More Chance, but he must have set the return point to right after he woke up, so it was meaningless.
That was only about ten minutes ago. What would returning ten minutes into the past accomplish?
Then Sophia's expression hardened.
“You need to leave this place!”
“... Sophia.”
“This phenomenon isn't happening across all of America. It's only happening within a radius of about thirty kilometers around here.”
“...”
“We just need to leave. Or are you going to fight a battle of attrition against the monsters pouring out here forever? If you do that...”
The Sacred Sun's power was consumable.
Sophia knew that too. That was why she said it.
Yet beyond Sophia stood thousands of trembling people.
Honestly, it wasn't some noble thought about sacrificing myself for them.
The problem was that quite a few people had brought cameras to take photos with Horus and film “Horus fancams,” uploading them to the internet in real time.
What would happen if a god abandoned his believers and ran away?
The Cult would practically collapse, and I'd have to give up on charging the Sacred Sun from now on!
“I've made my decision.”
“I'll give the order to retreat at once...”
I looked down at the eight thousand terrified believers and spoke calmly.
It might have sounded as though I were talking to myself, but with the Sacred Sun's power, everyone would hear me.
“This entire land touched by the sun's radiance is our Paradise. Where, then, would we go? I shall greet tomorrow's sun alongside my believers. This is the great destiny foretold since the beginning...”
I tried to make staying behind with the believers instead of running away sound as cool as possible.
What do you think, Sophia? Pretty cool, right?
Gods need to know how to stretch “Gods don't run” into something grand and dramatic. That was what a sermon was.
The moment Horus's noble decision was made, Sophia's brow furrowed sharply.
“No, Horus... Hey! Are you actually insane?”
“Sophia, that's not how a Pontiff should speak to a god.”
“Are you out of your mind, you bastard?!”
This time, I whispered so only Sophia could hear.
“You have a car, right? Let's get out of here by ourselves, fast.”
“... Excuse me?”
Sophia, suddenly polite again, looked completely confused.
At first, I had said I would stay with the believers until the end. Then I was telling her we should run away by ourselves.
Even I thought it was an incomprehensible, bizarre order.
But it was possible for me.
* * *
--- Vrooom!
A massive off-road SUV drove through the damp mud as though it were solid pavement.
After driving for over an hour, clear skies finally came into view.
“... Looks like we escaped.”
“It isn't raining nails here. There are no three-headed birds or monkeys eating human flesh either.”
Everyone had escaped the cursed land filled with monsters, curses, and carnage!
Of course, by “everyone,” I meant the Hotel Party survivors and a very small number of people, including Sophia.
Thousands of people were packed into a forest full of monsters straight out of a horror movie, and reaching safety required a long drive.
How could we possibly get thousands of ordinary people out?
If I used the Sacred Sun's power without holding back, maybe it wouldn't have been impossible...
But I thought there was a “better solution.”
Unable to bear the gloomy mood, Mi-ro cautiously asked, “Ga-in.”
“Yeah?”
“So... um, what condition is your duplicate in? Is it still protecting the believers?”
“Soon, everyone will be with me.”
“...”
For some reason, Mi-ro looked frightened and hid behind A-ri.
A-ri asked calmly, “You're controlling two bodies at once right now, aren't you? Your real body escaped in the car, and...”
“It wasn't escaping. It was a tactical decision.”
“... You made a tactical retreat, and the duplicate using the Sacred Sun is still in the forest?”
“That's right.”
“Then are you aware of both sides at once? Doesn't it give you a headache?”
“I'm fine.”
“When are you planning to retrieve the duplicate?”
“Very soon... Huh? Ah! Stop, stop the car!”
--- Screech!
Grandpa slammed on the brakes and looked at me in surprise.
At the same time, A-ri and Mi-ro, along with Sophia, who had been silently listening, all stared at me with wide eyes.
“W-What is it?”
“...”
“Lord Horus?”
“Ga-in?”
“You scared me while I was driving, you punk!”
I told everyone the shocking news.
“Aedia just appeared in front of my duplicate.”
* * *
- Han Ga-in
If the hell sinners fell into after death truly existed, it might be a place like this.
A forest filled with demons born with hatred for life in their hearts.
There, I embraced the weak and pitiful.
Come to think of it, not everyone here was a faithful believer.
Some were thoughtless boys who had come to see a celebrity once.
Some were independent livestreamers hoping to make money by filming “Horus fancams.”
Some were pastors who had come to drive out demons.
They were a truly varied group of people.
But when unavoidable destruction descended upon them, they all became one.
“My children, come to my side. I have prepared a Paradise for you.”
At first, many of them were so frightened that I truly seemed like a demon to them, and they backed away.
I didn't stop them.
The moment they stepped outside the sacred territory I had created, there was only hell.
There was nowhere for them to flee after abandoning me.
“Come. I truly wish to lead you to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.”
“Ah...!”
In the end, both the faithful and the unfaithful accepted their fate and gathered around me.
One, two, three.
Before long, nearly eight thousand people were slowly placed into a single vessel.
Suddenly, I wondered how this scene would look to people around the world through their cameras.
I hoped it looked like believers heading toward Heaven.
I had saved them from the hands of demons.
It was only natural for good deeds to bring rewards.
The sun's power became even more abundant.
That was when a pale figure appeared before me.
“What a shame. Is this the only answer you have as well?”
I had clearly never met this being before, but the instant I saw her, I knew.
It was Aedia, the Holy Mother!
“Who are you?”
“My name is Aedia. Though you already know that.”
“...”
“When I removed the Veil, I secretly hoped you might have something that could end this suffering... It was a vain hope. If you had driven out the demons and saved the people with endless power, I could at least have acknowledged that strength.”
“...”
“What is this? Are you devouring your believers' souls? Well, I suppose it's a little better than being torn to death by demons.”
“...”
“At best, it could be called Euthanasia. Nothing more.”
She wasn't wrong, so I didn't bother refuting her.
Believers were being killed by Chaos Entities nonstop across the world.
I couldn't recklessly spend the Sacred Sun's consumable power to stop it, so I had no alternative beyond Euthanasia.
On top of that, I could strengthen the Inheritance's power, so this was the wiser choice in many ways.
Of course, it was somewhat questionable whether the souls inside the Sacred Sun would truly be “at peace”...
“Did you come here to mock me? If so, I have nothing to say. Like you said, this is my limit right now.”
“Right now? Then what about later?”
Could there have been another way?
I couldn't be certain, but a vague thought had crossed my mind.
If I had Wisdom now, if I could read fate through Insight, perhaps I could have made a different choice.
“It might be different after I recover ‘Wisdom.’”
It was an answer without much meaning.
Aedia wasn't part of the Hotel Party, so there was no way she would understand the word Wisdom.
“Wisdom? Have you not yet recovered the power to see the future?”
I felt a little puzzled.
Aedia's attitude didn't seem like she had come to mock my situation or laugh at me.
“I don't know.”
“It's an important question. Please answer me.”
“...”
Aedia was polite in her own way.
Suddenly, I remembered Yumi's memories of Aedia, which A-ri had told me about.
‘The world we live in is truly strange.’
‘To save a hundred people, I burned five, drowned twenty, and hung thirty from poles.’
‘When I came to my senses, there was no being who had killed more people than I had.’
‘What should I do?’
She had sustained humanity for an immeasurably long time, endlessly staining her hands with blood in the process.
She wasn't someone who would criticize me over devouring a mere eight thousand souls.
‘The answer is to escape the crossroads where every path leads to hell. Build an entirely new order.’
‘Look! This is the answer to every problem in the world!’
When my train of thought reached that point, I finally realized why Aedia had come to find me.
“You're trying to remake the world's whole order with some kind of power, believing it will bring Salvation to the world.”
Aedia smiled faintly.
“But you aren't sure whether it will succeed or fail. That's why you came to ask me. Because I'm a being who can see the future, who can see possibilities.”
“If you have read my thoughts, then please tell me the answer.”
I didn't know exactly what the Holy Mother intended to do.
But I knew its outcome.
I had already seen the Light That Calls the End waiting at the end of Room 207 and reality itself!
“Aedia.”
“I am listening.”
“What awaits at the end of your choice is tragedy. The Light That Calls the End is waiting for you.”
“... Lord Horus. Is there another path for us?”
I didn't want to lie, and I didn't think it would work even if I tried.
She might not have Insight, but Aedia possessed some ability to read fate as well.
“I don't know.”
Despair filled her eyes.
“Then I will take a step forward. Even if destruction waits at the end of that choice with a high probability! Because, because...”
I could see it.
I could feel what Aedia was thinking right now.
“You believe that if you do nothing, this world is one hundred percent doomed. So even if your plan has over a ninety percent chance of failure, you have to do it.”
“...”
“It doesn't matter if I, Horus, warn you that it will fail. Because you don't believe Horus can read the future perfectly either. You think there may be a possibility of success that I haven't seen, don't you?”
The Holy Mother answered my words with a smile.
As her illusion slowly faded, she spoke one final time.
“You said you haven't recovered ‘Wisdom.’ Yet you are already wise.”
I was left alone in the hellish forest.
Surrounded by writhing monsters, I looked at the vast universe exposed overhead and thought.
“...”
Aedia, the great Holy Mother who had sustained Room 207's human history for thousands of years.
What exactly was the “Salvation of humanity” she had found?
I knew it was connected to the Mirror, but nothing beyond that.
Even if that attempt ended in failure, even if the Light That Calls the End waited at the end of every attempt...
I wanted to see the answer the Holy Mother had found at least once.
Footnotes:
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