Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 542

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 541: Room 207, Gate Room - Fourth Trial ‘The Fallen King’ (27)

──────

- Harrison

It had been about four years since everything began.

I leaned against a table, taking in the late autumn atmosphere.

Was I able to enjoy this leisure because I had seized victory?

...

Sadly, it was the opposite.

I had lost.

I had lost to someone like me, but better.

--- Rustle!

Footsteps sounded in the distance.

The other person was small, so the footsteps were quiet.

I should at least greet her.

Even if she had come to hunt me down.

“Could you wait a moment?”

“...”

“Even if I'm leaving, surely there's time for a cup of black tea? Would you like one too?”

‘She’ tilted her head, looking slightly puzzled, then answered simply.

“I like cola.”

“Ha ha! Just like a Yankee! Of course, I have cola too.”

As I drank a warm cup of black tea, I looked back on my defeat one last time.

Why hadn't I been able to overcome this American girl?

Because she had started in a more powerful country?

Because its larger population meant more Fragments, making it easier to grow stronger?

“Whew...”

No. That wasn't it.

The very way we used our power was subtly different.

I had scattered my consciousness across hundreds of thousands of bodies, becoming something like a hive mind. This young lady, on the other hand...

“Don't stare at me too much.”

“My apologies.”

She had condensed her consciousness into a single point and formed a firm Absolute Self.

Put simply, I had lost ‘myself,’ while she had retained ‘herself.’

“I didn't know you could use your power like that.”

“You could say it's the result of thinking about the future.”

“Thinking about the future?”

“Prince, have you ever thought about this? When all the pieces come together and the Great One awakens, can we still call it ‘us’?”

“... I'm not sure.”

“I want ‘me’ to remain even after that final moment. That's all.”

It was a strange concern.

Yet, in a way, I could understand it.

“You look young, but you have deeper thoughts than I expected.”

“Because I'm smarter than you!”

“My, you're a young lady who knows no humility.”

“I've never met anyone better than me yet.”

Her utter arrogance made a wry laugh escape me.

“I finished my cola.”

“My tea still has quite a lot left.”

“So what? I finished mine. I'm busy, so let's end this here.”

For a moment, a fierce fighting spirit boiled within me.

If I could somehow use my power and take Serena's body!

“... Hah.”

“Oh? Weren't you going to use your power one last time?”

“I am English royalty. Even as I leave, I should do so with dignity.”

At that, Serena smiled and clasped her hands together.

“Prince, that was pretty cool.”

As I watched the hand approach my forehead, I had one final thought.

I may have lost, but I hoped someone would put this arrogant little brat in her place and teach her some manners!

--- Crunch!

* * *

- Serena K Wilde

About three months had passed since I recovered the Fragment Harrison of England possessed.

When had I started to feel it?

The brutal slaughter that had raged across the world for nearly five years was finally coming to an end.

Looking back, ‘we’ were like magnetic fragments scattered across a beach.

At first glance, it seemed impossible for all 348,000 Fragments to ever come together. Yet, because we were drawn to one another, the pieces were bound to form clusters before long.

“...”

As I walked near Moscow, I could feel eyes watching me from all around.

Those who didn't know better might think Russia still had a major Fragment, but that wasn't the case.

The General Secretary of China had swept up the Fragments in this area long ago.

That meant the watchers were probably his agents as well.

“...”

I had defeated and absorbed most opponents without much trouble, but I wasn't confident I could beat Jin Mok-gyeong.

Unlike me, who had become aware of the Book's power, he had gained the power of Light.

I had heard that, after gathering the loyalty of hundreds of millions of Chinese people, he had become less a man than a phoenix.

Possession or bodily manipulation probably wouldn't work against someone like that.

Just as the pressure began to make it hard to breathe, someone approached me.

An assassination attempt?

What a joke.

An ordinary human would fall just from meeting my eyes...

--- Thud!

“... What?”

Before our eyes even met, the person dropped flat onto the ground.

“I, I am Mok Seong-jun. T-the Secretariat of the People's Republic of China...”

“Jin Mok-gyeong's subordinate?”

“... I came to convey his words.”

“Go ahead.”

“Read them yourself.”

“What?”

What was this?

“Even if I explained his intentions at length, you would not readily believe me, would you? So obtain the information directly from my body.”

I was a little taken aback.

I had fought countless Fragments, but this was the first time I had encountered anything like this.

All kinds of thoughts crossed my mind.

“Fine.”

On a quiet Moscow street beneath the night sky, I received Jin Mok-gyeong's intentions from the ‘living letter’ he had sent.

The contents of the letter were truly unexpected, and it ended with this message.

“‘Do not leave Moscow. Wait there. If you leave, I will consider it a rejection of negotiations’...?”

* * *

Three days passed.

I had thought about it countless times before today.

What idiot would stay put just because an enemy told them to remain in Moscow?

“...”

Yet, I ultimately waited in Moscow.

The General Secretary's proposal was simply too appealing and persuasive.

Toward evening, the plane carrying the General Secretary arrived in Moscow.

I had heard he could fly on his own, but perhaps he didn't want to waste strength on something pointless.

That didn't matter.

What really puzzled me was why the General Secretary wanted to meet me in person.

“...”

The moment I saw him approach the airport waiting room, I felt overwhelmed.

Maybe it was because he had come alone, even though he could have brought an enormous security force if he wanted.

Then again, he must have known as well as I did that ordinary humans meant little in a fight between ‘us.’

The instant he spotted me, he got straight to the point.

“You must be Miss Serena. Let us call a truce.”

A truce.

“This is rather sudden...”

“I already conveyed the reason. You must have understood it as well.”

“...”

Ever since receiving a Revelation about four and a half years ago, I had fought day after day without rest.

I believed the only fate given to the god's Fragments scattered across the world was to die or to kill.

When had it started?

A single ominous thought had taken root deep in my heart.

Suppose I absorbed every other Fragment and became the final victor.

Would that victor truly be ‘me’?

Or would it be some unknown Demon God, born after devouring me?

Because I recognized that ominous fate, I used every means I could, including strengthening my mind. Still, the fear never went away.

“There are few meaningful pieces left in this world. What will happen when they all come together?”

“...”

“Unification may be our death. So we can stop fighting here and go our separate ways.”

He spent a long time explaining his proposal.

You remain in America, and I will operate in Asia.

Europe or India can serve as meeting points when we need to negotiate, and so on.

--- Tap!

I set down my glass of water.

“I understand everything you said. I think the truce proposal is reasonable. I'm willing to accept it.”

“Really?”

“But there's one thing I don't understand.”

“Speak.”

“Why did you come all the way here to meet me?”

“... In case of the unexpected.”

“What?”

At that very moment.

“Excuse me.”

--- Boom!

Jin Mok-gyeong suddenly reached out, grabbed me, and pulled both of us flat to the ground!

I was only briefly startled by the lightning-fast movement before...

--- Rumble!

An incomprehensible force instantly destroyed the building!

When I looked toward the General Secretary, my eyes alight, he was already prepared for battle.

“Serena. Prepare to fight. For the moment, we are on the same side.”

Countless thoughts flashed through my mind.

Why had the General Secretary come all the way to Moscow to meet me?

To fight alongside me!

There was no way I would go to China just because he called, so had he come himself?

Why hadn't he fought in China, where he held absolute power?

Could he not trust even his own subordinates?

--- Rumble!

Another invisible attack came flying toward us.

Once again, he protected me with lightning-fast movements.

Naturally, I didn't stay still either.

“Haah!”

My consciousness expanded in every direction at once.

The consciousness I had scattered among Moscow's citizens responded, and so much information began pouring in that my head felt ready to burst.

“Ah?”

The moment I learned the attacker's identity, I was deeply shocked.

Not because I didn't know her, but because I knew her too well.

Wasn't she frequently shown in the media and on television alongside Jin Mok-gyeong?

“What? That's your secretary! She can do something like this?”

“A secretary. She is far more frightening than that.”

“A frightening person? No, why is she attacking us...?”

The next moment, the opponent, who had seemed to be at least several hundred meters away, suddenly flew through the sky!

“... That woman! Her shoes...!”

The General Secretary frowned and stretched out a hand. Vermilion heat rays flashed and streaked through the air.

Yet the opponent's movements were so skillful that he couldn't hit her easily.

Just as I tried to focus my consciousness again...

“Don't take over her body directly!”

“What?”

“If you enter A-ri's body with the Book's power, an incomprehensible force will consume you. Just disrupt her movements...”

“What exactly is your secretary?”

She flew through the sky and swung an invisible sword.

Her movements were so fast that the human eye could barely follow them, and I was told I would be consumed if I possessed her directly.

Was that even human?

Wasn't she a monster worse than us?

Jin Mok-gyeong muttered as if lamenting.

“Exactly. What could that woman's true identity be?”

Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow had been reduced to ruins in an instant.

On one side of it, a girl with looks so unreal that she seemed to have stepped out of a comic book landed on the ground.

“...”

She was so beautiful that people often said she was the General Secretary's lover.

Naturally, I had believed it too, but today I learned the truth.

Far from being lovers, they were bitter enemies!

Her first words were simple.

“I'm disappointed, Jin Mok-gyeong.”

“...”

“A truce... I'm truly disappointed.”

“What disappoints you so?”

“I bet on you because you had the temperament of a dictator.”

“...”

“I thought you'd rampage like a tyrant to the very end and gather every Fragment, but you're suddenly saying you'll stop? What's gotten into you? Did you hear something strange from Seo Il-do and achieve Enlightenment?”

“... As expected, you were never my ally.”

“That's a misunderstanding. I'm still acting for your sake.”

“Ha!”

Jin Mok-gyeong's eyes glinted ominously.

“You cunning one! I knew long ago that you had tricks up your sleeve. But do you think you can defeat us alone?”

“Us? Does Miss Serena intend to fight me too?”

“...”

I didn't answer.

Still, judging by how things were going, it seemed we had to deal with that woman first.

“Pfft! Ga-in is a disappointment too. I thought if I stayed back and watched, you would settle things among yourselves, but now you're suddenly trying to stop fighting...”

“Ga-in?”

A cell phone suddenly flew out from inside A-ri's clothing. A-ri was the girl publicly known as Jin Mok-gyeong's secretary.

“Everyone has a phone, right?”

“What...?”

“Take them out. You came here secretly to maintain security, so neither of you could have checked. There's some interesting news.”

As the General Secretary frowned, I calmly took out my phone.

“Serena! Don't fall for that woman's trick...”

“I'll at least check some interesting news.”

“You're easy to talk to.”

Sure enough, the moment I opened the international news section, I saw a shocking headline.

“... This really is worth seeing.”

「General Secretary Jin Mok-gyeong of the People's Republic of China Announces His Resignation!」

「Who Is Li Huo-peng, His Successor?」

「The Beginning of a New Era, or the Beginning of Another Period of Turmoil?」

The General Secretary, no, the former General Secretary, looked through the article in apparent confusion and muttered.

“What does this mean?”

“Mok-gyeong, I told you before, didn't I? Accept that you are a god who takes atheism as scripture. But until the end, you were satisfied with the position of General Secretary. A position can be taken away by others.”

“...”

“Now that the people's loyalty is no longer directed at you, you cannot gain any additional strength.”

“Ha! So you played a clever trick. It changes nothing. Even with my remaining strength, I can kill you, and I only need to return home and reclaim my position!”

“That's true. If you return, that is.”

Then...

--- Click!

Footsteps sounded from behind us.

Just as we weren't alone, A-ri wasn't alone either.

“...”

It was strange.

‘The newly appeared girl’ looked exactly like A-ri.

* * *

- Third

Dim lighting.

An old, dark hospital room.