WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 534: Room 207, Gate Room - Fourth Trial ‘The Fallen King’ (20)
──────
- Han Ga-in
An agreement was reached, against all odds.
Sophia, perhaps overcome with self-loathing after agreeing to accept Fortuna, sat on the sofa with a gloomy expression.
Smiling brightly, I walked over to him.
“I'm glad things worked out. Shall we go outside and check the Guardian's location?”
“Check its location? You need to bundle up, so I can go out alone...”
“There's something I want to say.”
“Ah, all right.”
I took the slightly flustered man outside.
Back in the hotel room after the two of us had left, ‘another me’ appeared shortly afterward.
“Huh?”
A-ri and Grandfather looked slightly startled.
Sophia's eyes widened.
“Wha...”
I mouthed, ‘Be quiet,’ and everyone fell silent. Afraid Mi-ro might make a mistake, Grandfather covered Mi-ro's mouth himself.
Soon, A-ri nodded and gestured.
“It's done.”
“...”
“I put up transparent walls around us, so no sound can get out.”
“It'd be strange if no sound got out at all. Take down the walls and talk among yourselves for a few minutes. I'll lead him far away.”
About ten minutes passed.
With this much distance between us, even a martial arts master wouldn't be able to hear us.
--- Clap!
Everyone turned toward me as I lightly brought my hands together.
“Something felt strange at the end.”
“At the end?”
“When he offered to send Sophia to Heaven.”
“Uh... Huh?”
Watching A-ri belatedly realize the problem, I asked Sophia again.
“Sophia.”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell anyone around you fifty years ago that you wanted to go to Heaven?”
“Absolutely not. I never told anyone besides you.”
“I only told the people here. So how did that guy know?”
The room fell silent with tension.
“Someone unknown gave him information about us. That means there was interference. And...”
“And?”
“Sophia, you said you turned Fortuna into a lump of flesh fifty years ago, right?”
“Th-that was my own decision, but...”
“You don't need to make excuses. You killed him beyond recovery, didn't you?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did he recover? You said yourself that you didn't use the Soul Box.”
“Hic!”
Mi-ro hiccupped in surprise.
“There's one more thing that bothers me.”
A-ri seemed to have vaguely guessed it. Her expression hardened.
“None of us besides you realized what you pointed out until after we'd moved away from Fortuna.”
Three problems.
First, Fortuna knew the goal Sophia had told only me, and I had told only A-ri, Mi-ro, and Grandfather.
Second, Fortuna had revived without using the Soul Box.
Third, the others only realized the first two points after moving away from Fortuna.
“A very convincing hypothesis came to mind.”
“Let's hear it.”
“Yaldabaoth brought Fortuna back. It was also the one that passed along information about Sophia.”
“H-how did Yaldabaoth know? Does it know everything happening on Earth or something?”
“That isn't impossible, but there's a simpler possibility.”
“What?”
“Sophia, you always keep the Mirror Shard as your trump card.”
“Ah.”
A-ri asked, “Like how it made people love and hate each other, did it give Fortuna some kind of hypnotic ability too?”
“...”
“So that we'd accept Fortuna without suspicion?”
“Probably.”
“B-but even if we know, that's still a problem.”
“...”
“We need Fortuna. Who else could face the Guardian?”
I quietly stared at A-ri, who had gone back to calling the man Fortuna.
“What is it?”
“...”
“Ga-in?”
“I think I understand one of Yaldabaoth's traits now.”
“What?”
“There's no reason I can't use a fine sword made by someone else.”
Before long, the duplicate who had been walking around the hotel room disappeared.
* * *
- Han Ga-in
At some point, the relationship between my companions and me had subtly begun to change.
Even if I had saved Aedia, would they really trust that one act and let Aedia push them around for hundreds or thousands of years?
My old companions wouldn't have done that.
They would've said, ‘Well, look at Ga-in! He's kind of an airhead, isn't he?’ and treated my choice as a mistake, then killed Aedia.
A great deal had changed after I gained Insight.
Not even the Grimoire or the Sacred Sun had changed things this much.
From my companions' perspective, that meant the pressure Insight exerted was tremendous.
It was probably the same for the other side.
“Seung-yeop, could you stop for a moment?”
“Huh?”
I thought about it one last time.
Could Yaldabaoth have told this man that I no longer had Insight?
The answer lay in the conversation I'd had with Aedia.
Until I mentioned Wisdom, Aedia hadn't even known it existed.
And when I acted as if I had Insight despite not recovering my Blessing, Aedia hadn't doubted me.
“I think there'll be an accident up ahead in about thirty seconds.”
“W-wha? All of a sudden?”
“It's hard for me to step in carelessly, so you'll have to stop it.”
--- Screeeech!
“Aah!”
“W-what's going on?!”
Out of nowhere, a bus spun around wildly and charged toward a building.
The bus driver had been controlled by an unidentified magician from the start, but there was no way even a martial arts master could have noticed that much.
Just as everyone stood frozen, expecting a terrible accident...
“Haah!”
The martial arts master flew forward with a shout and settled the situation in an instant.
People gathered around him, seemingly impressed, thanking him.
The man, who could no longer be called a boy, smiled awkwardly and hurried back to me.
“Hyung. Let's go somewhere far away.”
“Why? Everyone's calling you a hero.”
“It's embarrassing! If you think about it, you did most of it by noticing beforehand.”
“...”
Late at night, beneath the dark sky, I walked beside him and watched quietly.
At first, he smiled as if it were amusing. At some point, though, that expression turned uneasy.
Even after thousands of years had passed...
The young man and the Holy Mother were still intimidated by Insight.
“W-what is it?”
“Come here.”
There was a beautifully decorated fountain.
I plucked an unknown light-purple flower growing beside it, then scattered its petals into the wind for a long time.
What was that supposed to mean?
I didn't know either.
Whenever a mysterious scene came up in movies, petals suddenly started flying around.
Considering lotus flowers supposedly flew through the air whenever Buddha gave a sermon, this had to be a feeling shared by all humanity.
“...”
“...”
Next, I dipped my hand into the flowing water and lowered my voice.
“It's just like our lives.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
I didn't know, but Taoist immortals in Chinese movies always said things like that out of nowhere.
After that, I spent time putting on all sorts of ‘mysterious performances.’
Until he saw me less as a hotel companion and more as some mysterious demigod.
Eventually, unable to bear the pressure any longer, the young man spoke.
Even his manner of speaking had subtly changed.
It was as if he no longer had the strength to maintain the boyish demeanor he had shown in front of me.
“Did you see something in me?”
“Who knows.”
“Can't you just tell me?”
“Is there any need? The person who knows you best is yourself.”
“...”
“When you have too many worries before a great battle, your body is bound to grow sluggish.”
Soon, a somewhat hollow aura began to emanate from him.
“When I woke up again, I had this thought.”
“...”
“Who am I? Am I really Park Seung-yeop?”
“...”
“The original Seung-yeop always saw an opaque window with numbers on it. It was a kind of Status Window that told him when he could use Heavenly Luck again. I can't see it.”
“...”
“Heavenly Luck is gone, and so is Primordial Human. Actually, saying they're gone is strange. I never used my Blessing in Room 207.”
“That's an interesting story.”
“The power I use isn't a Blessing granted by the Hotel. It's something the Great One Beyond the Mirror imitated after seeing the traces of Luck left in my body.”
“The Demon King did something similar in Room 206. A Prisoner could imitate a Blessing too.”
“After losing my Blessing and having my sense of self distorted... am I really Park Seung-yeop?”
At that point, I vaguely understood his worries.
“You think you're not Park Seung-yeop. You think you're a separate being born in Room 207, Fortuna.”
“...”
“If you see it that way, clearing Room 207 isn't an escape for you. It's the opposite, death. This room is your reality.”
“Isn't it?”
Was this Yaldabaoth's intention?
Would Fortuna, believing that clearing Room 207 meant his own death, go berserk at the final moment?
“When I used Insight on you, I saw two possibilities.”
“Two possibilities.”
“One was a future where your relationship with your companions fell apart. Some people said you had to be driven out, while someone said your Corruption needed to be ‘purified.’”
“...”
“The other possibility was completely different. Like always, we laughed and talked while eating delicious food at a table. Eun-sol joked that your sword stabs hurt too much, and you bowed your head to apologize. Then everyone laughed together.”
Both possibilities showed events outside Room 207.
In other words, while pretending to tell him about his future, I tried to plant a single realization.
‘You won't die in Room 207, and there is something afterward. Fortuna and Park Seung-yeop are the same being.’
“W-what about Yumi? Was she beside me?”
It seemed better not to give him the answer he wanted most.
That would only make him yearn for it even more.
“Sorry. I couldn't see that far.”
“Ugh...”
“A possibility is only a possibility. Look, I saw various possibilities through Insight too, but didn't I use every trick I could think of to bring about the one I wanted?”
“...”
“What matters is your choice. Which possibility will you choose?”
With those words, I turned around.
...
I watched the man fall into endless self-reflection.
Ironically, those worries and that conversation proved something once again.
A-ri, who had returned from beyond the Mirror, was still helping us of her own will.
‘Another me,’ who had gained power greater than mine, had chosen suicide of his own will.
When Yaldabaoth distorted its creations, it didn't take away their free will.
What did that mean?
Perhaps we would face Yaldabaoth at the final moment.
* * *
- ???
Early in the morning, as the sun rose, A-ri came over.
“Seung-yeop, you understand the whole plan, right?”
“Yes.”
The plan was ridiculously simple.
Sophia and I would do something crazy in downtown Florida, draw the Guardian's attention, and fight it.
While that happened, Ga-in would take A-ri to the Moon.
“Can you do it?”
“I'll have to try. I'm Park Seung-yeop, the Greatest Martial Artist Under Heaven, aren't I?”
“Pfft!”
A-ri laughed it off.
As always, she was so pretty that, for a moment, my heart almost skipped a beat before I realized it.
Not anymore!
I have Yumi, remember?
“Just in case, about Sophia and, um...”
“It's fine.”
“...”
“We won't fight. Even if Sophia loses control of her emotions and curses at me, I'll just ignore it.”
“What if Sophia giggles and says killing Yumi was fun?”
Sophia, who had been standing far away, reacted to that.
“A-ri! What do you take me for, a psychopath?”
Just before we parted ways, A-ri asked one final question.
“Seung-yeop. Last night...”
“...”
“I heard you talked with Ga-in.”
“Did he tell you what we talked about?”
“He only said you had a lot on your mind. Did you resolve it?”
To reassure everyone, I put on a bright expression.
“Of course. I got a clear answer. The Greatest Martial Artist Under Heaven can't be shaken by stray thoughts before a great battle.”
“Always with the Greatest Martial Artist Under Heaven!”
* * *
About thirty minutes later.
Sophia and I stood in the center of downtown Jacksonville, a city crowded with countless people.
Now we just had to go on a rampage and draw in the Guardian.
“...”
“...”
There was an awkward tension between us.
Sophia murmured cautiously.
“Um... should we start now...”
“Sophia. Let me ask you one question.”
“A question?”
“Is Ga-in watching me through you right now? Did he use Possession on part of your consciousness? Or are you communicating through some magical means?”
“... I don't know what you're talking about.”
The answer was perfectly calm.
But it wasn't enough to fool the eyes of the Greatest Martial Artist Under Heaven.
“I had my suspicions, and I was right. This hurts a little.”
“W-what are you...”
“Ga-in, listen. I spent all night thinking about this.”
“...”
I spoke calmly.
The conclusion I had reached after thinking until dawn.
The realization of the Greatest Martial Artist Under Heaven.
“I am not Park Seung-yeop. When I first looked into the Mirror because of Aedia, or even if not then, when I revived after dying, Park Seung-yeop was as good as dead.”
Sophia's eyes widened in shock.
“I told you yesterday, didn't I? From that point on, I gained a strange power disguised as a Blessing. And this morning, I carefully sounded Mi-ro out. She said the Kingdom of Dreams no longer even considers me a companion.”
“... That careless girl again!”
“Don't scold Mi-ro too much. There may come a time when her innocence becomes her strength. Besides, if you think about it, you're the same.”
“Lord Horus...”
“Tell Sophia to be quiet.”
“...”
“From now on, I'm speaking not as Park Seung-yeop, but as the Greatest Martial Artist Under Heaven. Horus, what kind of companions deceive and watch each other?”
“...”
“You don't see me as a companion yourself, so how can I believe that I'm Park Seung-yeop?”
Sophia, or ‘Horus,’ was left speechless.
Looking at one person, or perhaps two, I took out the Soul Box.
“This is...”
“Congratulations. You're going to Heaven now. You'll see the mother you've longed for again. Eun-sol will probably be surprised, though!”
At that final moment, the girl who had gained new immortality watched the martial arts master race toward his end.
“W-what are you going to do now?”
“Last night, once I became certain that I wasn't Seung-yeop, I was terrified.”
“What?”
“I was afraid of death. Even after living for thousands of years, I had rarely suffered from the fear of death... but I was terrified all night.”
Looking into Sophia's confused blue eyes, I thought of an old concern.
I had trained in martial arts far longer than Yi Ja-seong, yet I had never glimpsed the pinnacle.
I believed it was because I lacked talent.
I thought that because I didn't possess unparalleled talent like Yi Ja-seong, no matter how long I trained, I could never take that final step.
The Soul Box, which granted me immortality, was my greatest weapon.
It was also my greatest limit.
...
Gradually, I drew out my power.
I erased every stray thought and left only a single conviction.
Before long, the being that sensed the disturbance approached.
A great gaze that looked down on all things.
The Guardian of a world created by the false Creator.
“I'm scared.”
My skin tingled with fear, but I smiled.
“Belief in the Next Chance makes us weak.”
“...”
“Because there's always a Next Chance, because we can give up this time. That's why immortals always choose to flee before a powerful foe, hoping for another chance.”
“...”
“We need an end.”
“Is that advice for me?”
For the first time, Horus spoke through Sophia's mouth.
“At the most important moment, I hope you won't retreat either. I believe there are walls in this world that can't be overcome in two or three attempts, walls that can only be crossed on the very first try.”
“... I'll keep that in mind. Let me ask you something. If you're not Seung-yeop, why are you helping us?”
The answer was very simple.
“Because Yumi can only come back to life if you all win!”
“I promise.”
“You promise?”
“I'll do everything I can to save her.”
“I'll believe you.”
Before long, starlight settled at the tip of the sword in my hand...
--- Whooooom!
“Ah, this is my final question. No matter how much I think about what you said yesterday, I don't understand what it meant. Just how great was that realization?”
“... Sorry.”
Footnotes:
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