WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 548: Hotel Delight (1)
──────
「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 0
Current Location: Room 203, Singil Apartment, Seocho 3-dong, Seocho District, Seoul
Sage’s Advice: 3」
- Han Ga-in
The first thing I checked was whether my Blessing and Inheritance were still there.
According to what A-ri and Grandfather had told me, what each person could retain of their Blessing and Inheritance after escaping varied.
There was a theory that it depended on how they escaped, but that wasn't certain. I had to check for myself.
Fortunately, I found the faintly glowing Status Window at the edge of my vision.
Faintly?
“I can barely see it. Right, Pero?”
--- Chirp!
It was faint, like writing made with a pen that was running out of ink.
I checked the other abilities too, looking into a mirror.
Sure enough, it wasn't easy to make out the possibilities Insight showed me.
My Blessing hadn't disappeared entirely, but it wasn't at full strength either. It had weakened.
What did that mean?
If I were inside the Hotel, I'd have thought it was one of its usual balance patches, but this wasn't the Hotel.
Did the game operator need to care about the balance of the world outside the game?
“...”
There had to be another reason.
Thinking back to what had happened during A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one simple possibility came to mind.
The source of a Blessing was its Sponsor.
Whether in a physical or supernatural sense, I was now extremely far away from my Sponsor.
Had my Blessing weakened as I moved farther away?
Then...
If I found the Hotel somewhere in reality and got closer to it, would it recover?
I used Sage’s Advice.
「Advice: 3 -> 1」
“Ah.”
There were two questions, but it really did take two uses. So stingy!
First question: Is my Blessing weakened because I'm far away from the Hotel in reality?
「You are half right. The other half cannot be told to you yet.」
Second question: If I find the Hotel somewhere in reality, can I recover the power of my Blessing?
「Once again, you are half right. The other half cannot be told to you yet.」
“What...”
What was this? The answers were exactly the same.
And it still used up two stacks of Advice? That was incredibly stingy.
“Why are you so petty? This isn't a request for advice.”
...
Find the Hotel?
I knew of two routes.
First, the Hotel's first floor was somewhere in the skies above Korea. I remembered its rough location.
Second, the Hotel's second floor was inside the Snow Globe in the home of a boy named Kim Min-young.
“Hmm...”
Flying through the skies to get there was a somewhat dangerous option, considering the Management Bureau.
On the other hand, infiltrating the Snow Globe only required me to find out where Min-young lived.
“...”
It had been so long that I couldn't remember much, not even what Min-young looked like.
All I remembered was the shocking sight of that boy writing 8 x 8 as 88.
“Still, Min-young was healthy. That's what matters.”
I could only hope he knew how to multiply by now.
* * *
My Inheritance hadn't suffered any direct weakening like my Blessing had.
The Book of the Avatar had no problems, and Serena's Enlightenment, which I had recorded inside Room 207, remained intact as well.
‘Know that only I am the truth.’
“... Thank you.”
It was a useful technique. I'm sure there'd be a time to use it.
As for the Sacred Sun, only about one-tenth of its power remained.
I had used up quite a bit through flying inside Room 207 and clashing with Aedia. It seemed I had also consumed a great deal while splitting and restoring myself.
This wasn't a weakening of the Inheritance itself either.
The gun was fine. It just had one bullet left.
Should I think of a way to recharge it?
I'd worry about that later.
--- Chirp! Chiiirp! Flap!
Pero flew around restlessly as if frustrated.
The Hotel had been an incredibly vast place, as lavish as it was.
For Pero, who had become used to that environment, Room 203 of Singil Apartment in Seocho 3-dong apparently felt cramped.
Of course, it looked more than large enough for one man to live in.
“And since it's in Seocho-dong, it must be expensive too.”
Not that a parrot would know anything about Seocho-dong housing prices.
“Want to go out together?”
--- Chirp!
“Normally, parrots need a harness when they go for a walk.”
Pero tilted its head, not knowing what a harness was.
“A sturdy strap that ties your whole body up tight... Agh! Don't bite me! I said don't bite me!”
Before heading out, I checked Scenario Understanding for the first time in a while, just in case.
“It doesn't react at all.”
Its complete lack of response seemed like a different issue from my weakened Blessing.
Was it because there was no scenario in progress?
The Merchant had told me to relax for the first six months.
“Yeah. Let's have some fun.”
* * *
The moment I stepped outside the apartment, disaster struck.
--- Bzzzt!
“Whoa! Fuck, aaagh!”
--- Chiiirp!
“Watch out! Dodge! No, fuck, why is it aiming so fast?!”
--- Squawk!
“Ah! I'm sorry!”
--- Bang!
Was it insane?
I never expected a Laser Turret to try to burn Pero alive!
In the end, I had to kick the Laser Turret until it was half broken.
“Hey! Student! What do you think you're doing?!”
Naturally, the apartment security guard came running out.
“I'm sorry. I-it was trying to attack my parrot...”
“You were keeping a parrot?”
“... Yes.”
“Did you get it from some kind of aviary? Didn't they explain it when you got it?”
“...”
“When keeping a pet bird, you're supposed to put an Identification Anklet on it!”
“...”
“You ignorant fool!”
Thankfully, the Laser Turret wasn't completely broken, but it looked like I was about to get scolded by the guard for quite a while.
So I ran.
“Hey! Student! Where are you going?! That little...!”
Running away because I didn't want to be scolded?
I'd have to come back home eventually, and the guard would be waiting for me when I did.
What kind of elementary school kid behavior was this?
I could get away with it because I had used Dream to make a wish.
※ Common Sense in a Strange World
Security systems for intercepting Predatory Pigeons have been installed everywhere.
These systems cannot distinguish between pet birds and Predatory Pigeons, so pet birds must wear Identification Anklets.
* * *
Pero had to get some fresh air inside a cardboard box much narrower than home.
Perhaps the shock of having the feathers on one wing burned by the Laser Turret had hit hard, because Pero obediently went into the box.
It was a bit late to notice, but my identity had been created perfectly.
The name on my resident registration card was Han Ga-in, and I was twenty-three years old.
My family situation was somewhat bitter.
I was an only son, and my parents had died in an accident.
As a result, I had inherited a great deal of property.
“...”
I hadn't wished for my family to be revived.
I had made another wish instead.
It was fine.
It really was fine.
I had the means to spend plenty of money freely without anyone interfering, didn't I?
Perfect for living a lazy life.
I just had to spend six months enjoying the life of an S-rank unemployed man.
I kept walking down the road.
After passing Seocho Station and walking through the area around the Supreme Court, I saw people protesting as usual, saying judges had taken money and so on.
Court employees also walked past them on their way to work as though nothing was happening.
Ten million people lived here, but everyone stayed within their own sphere. It was the familiar sight of the city.
“...”
I wandered around bustling areas for hours with my face completely exposed.
I hadn't disguised my identity at all, but no one recognized me.
You might think that was only natural, since ordinary people wouldn't know about what happened in the Hotel.
As if!
During A Midsummer Night’s Dream, hadn't I temporarily come into reality and caused all kinds of chaos?
My strange encounter with Ictus.
My clash with Apollion, the self-proclaimed god!
Descent didn't change my appearance, and the Management Bureau had learned what I looked like at the time.
“...”
Even now, I couldn't feel anyone watching me.
Dream's power was this overwhelming.
How were the others living?
Like me, they must have used Dream to gain what they wanted.
Interestingly, not every one of them had used Dream.
...
Toward evening, a thought came to me.
“This is boring.”
I had no family and no friends.
This was a world where no one I knew existed.
I missed my companions.
「Advice: 1 -> 0」
‘Can I meet my companions?’
「Do not approach the Management Bureau side first.」
The answer said I shouldn't approach A-ri and Grandfather first.
Conversely, that meant I could approach other people.
「Companion Location Information(*)」
Fortunately, this function worked well enough.
And there was someone nearby.
* * *
Hotel Delight was said to be one of the top three hotels in South Korea.
“Does the Shilla Hotel not exist at all?”
I was a little shocked that the Shilla Hotel wasn't on the list of the so-called big three hotels, but there was no need to be surprised by such minor changes.
Anyway, when I saw the hotel rising impressively in the middle of Yeouido, I couldn't help but admire it.
I found a soft chair in the lobby, where countless people came and went, and waited.
Soon, the person I had been waiting for appeared.
I almost raised my hand to greet her, then stopped.
There were too many people around.
Just then, she was about to get into an elevator with only one secretary.
It was time to use the Teleportation Tattoo for the first time in a while!
“Hup!”
* * *
--- Thud!
I successfully moved into the elevator!
I had worried about missing my aim since it had been so long since I used it, but thankfully, that didn't happen...
“Aaaah!”
“Ah-”
“Aaaah! P-press the alarm!”
“Seriously! Seung-a, stop!”
“D-Director!”
“I said stop!”
“...”
There were about five seconds of chaos.
The secretary beside Eun-sol nearly fainted after seeing me appear out of nowhere.
In the end, Eun-sol sighed and used Butterfly Dream to put her to sleep.
“... Your secretary is pretty timid.”
“The problem isn't Seung-a, it's you! I saw you sitting in the lobby, so I was going to wrap up my meeting and call you. What the hell is this?”
So Eun-sol had seen me too.
“I wanted our reunion to be a little more fun...”
Eun-sol laughed in disbelief, then finally chuckled.
“What are you holding?”
“A box with Pero in it. Pero, say hello!”
--- Chirp!
“Wow. Eun-sol, you're famous online.”
“...”
“The founder of the world-class five-star Hotel Delight, selected by XX Daily in 2022 as one of twenty-three young leaders driving Korean society...”
“S-stop.”
Eun-sol's wish through Dream had been to become the owner of Hotel Delight.
I had no intention of saying anything more about it, so I asked only one thing.
“Are you satisfied?”
“... Yeah.”
“Um, I thought you'd bring back Daeyang Group itself.”
“Could I have? You probably realized it the moment you used it, but Dream had clearer limits than it seemed. Bringing back one of the world's largest conglomerates would require an enormous amount of reality manipulation.”
“I thought it might have created a smaller version, at least.”
“That's true.”
There was a brief silence.
Then Eun-sol answered.
“I didn't wish for my parents to be revived.”
“...”
“I didn't wish for my brothers and sisters to be revived either. Yeah. I didn't want my family to come back.”
“... I understand.”
It was something that had come up briefly when we went through Room 101.
The family relationships within the family of Daeyang Group's chairman had been broken beyond repair.
“But there's one thing I'll admit. I didn't build Daeyang Group. My grandfather founded it, and my father expanded it.”
“...”
“Among us siblings, my older brothers, especially my eldest brother, contributed far more than I did.”
Regardless of their abilities, the siblings who had been born before Eun-sol and grown up had contributed more to the group.
“I hated the idea of refusing to revive my family because I hated them, then bringing back and monopolizing only the result of everything they built.”
I could vaguely understand how she felt.
“So I only brought back the hotel. Hotel Delight was a business I oversaw. I practically raised it too.”
As we talked, I noticed that both of Eun-sol's eyes were normal.
“Huh? Eun-sol, your eyes...”
“Both are ordinary human eyes now, right?”
The Eye of the Monocular Giant Bird that the Hotel had lent her couldn't be used outside the Hotel.
And inside the Hotel, there was no way to restore a person's eyes.
This place wasn't inside the Hotel.
“How did you do it?”
“That was also part of my Empty Wish. Of course, A-ri said she'd fix my eyes if I came to the Management Bureau, but...”
“But?”
“The Hotel does better work than the Management Bureau, doesn't it? And I didn't want to owe the Management Bureau anything.”
“...”
“Doesn't it feel awkward? A-ri and Grandfather Mook-seong must have returned to the Management Bureau, right? The Management Bureau must know by now that we returned too.”
“Probably.”
“It feels awkward. I don't know how they'll see us. So I don't want to owe them anything.”
“I understand.”
“What about you? Did the Management Bureau contact you at all? You'd be the person they'd be most wary of.”
“They probably can't properly recognize me.”
“What?”
“Even if A-ri and Grandfather report about me, for some reason, documents about Han Ga-in will disappear, and anyone who receives the report will forget it.”
“...”
“That's what I wished for. ‘I want everyone except my companions to be unable to remember me!’”
Just as I was about to gently close my eyes and wait for further questions, Eun-sol suddenly grabbed my arm.
“What's wrong? If you're curious about something...”
“Twenty-fourth floor!”
“Pardon?”
“Twenty-fifth floor!”
I looked up at the elevator display, wondering what she meant, and saw the number twenty-five.
Soon, it changed to twenty-six.
“Is the meeting room really high up...”
“No! The meeting room is on the seventh floor!”
?
“And this hotel only has twenty-one floors!”
Footnotes:
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