WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 553: Alone at School (3)
──────
- Park Seung-yeop
A world where no one existed except Sophia, a dying old man, and me.
Honestly, it wasn't easy enduring in that shack with the old man.
The stench coming from him?
That wasn't the problem.
Of all the human senses, they say the sense of smell tires the fastest.
No matter how awful a smell is, if you keep breathing it in, you eventually stop noticing it.
But I couldn't get used to the gloomy atmosphere the old man gave off!
--- Haaah...!
“Ugh!”
An eerie sound came from outside, and the old man reacted at once.
He covered his mouth with both hands, afraid of making a sound, but he couldn't hide the terror on his face.
“Agent...”
“Yes.”
“Aren't you cold?”
“Not really.”
It was a little chilly, but this much was nothing.
I was a martial arts master!
“Hmm.”
Still, judging by the old man's reaction, there seemed to be a monster outside. I couldn't tell for sure.
When I got off the Gate Train, I threw away most of my memories of Room 207.
Thanks to that, I returned to the “pure me” and lost a lot of my martial arts, but I hadn't lost all of it!
Cheonseung Sect Arcane Arts Technique: Sharp Senses activated!
...
There was no particular movement outside.
I couldn't sense any sign of an evil monster.
Of course, the enemy could be something like a ghost, so I couldn't let my guard down!
‘Cheonseung Sect? Arcane Arts Technique? What kind of setting is that?’
“Should I take a look outside?”
“N-no!”
His voice was desperate.
The old man was still terrified.
“O-outside is dangerous!”
“I know. But we can't keep staying in a dump like this. We'll starve to death.”
“... Food is periodically restocked in the refrigerator on the first floor.”
“The refrigerator? Ah, the one in the staff room?”
Food was periodically restocked in the staff room refrigerator?
So that was why there was so much trash on the rooftop!
“... Agent. Aren't you getting cold now?”
“I said I'm fine.”
Either way, my experiences at the hotel had taught me something.
Sometimes, you had to take life-threatening risks.
When staying still meant certain death, even dangerous actions gave you a chance to survive.
The moment I tried to stand, a cold hand reached for me.
“I-I said stay still!”
The old man suddenly tried to grab me, so I instinctively smacked his wrist aside.
The frail old man immediately rolled across the floor.
--- Crash!
“Oh!”
T-this wasn't intentional, it was an accident.
It was the instinct of a Martial World master!
“Ah! I'm sorry. You tried to grab me from behind out of nowhere, so you startled me.”
“...”
“Are you okay?”
“Ugh... I'm fine.”
Just before I left, the old man asked again.
“Aren't you cold now?”
“I'm fine. You seem cold, Grandpa, so I'll bring back something to warm you up.”
“...”
His eyes strangely lost focus.
“You need a little more cold...”
What a strange thing to say.
Feeling unsettled for some reason, I stepped out of the shack.
* * *
I came out ready to bring Sophia out and fight if needed, but there was no exciting battle.
The mysterious monster the old man feared so much was nowhere to be found.
Instead, the school was filled with a chilling cold.
“Whoa... Someone would think it was the middle of winter.”
Wasn't it only early autumn?
Then again, there was no point worrying about the season after waking up to find everyone had vanished.
As I headed toward the staff room refrigerator where food supposedly reappeared, Sophia, who was inside the Soul Box, voiced her opinion more strongly than usual.
‘Let's kill that old man.’
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
‘Didn't you feel it? I guarantee that old man is either a demon or someone possessed by one.’
“I don't know about that.”
‘How could you not know? Didn't you feel that creepy atmosphere?’
“Is it because he smells so bad? Idiot! He's just been stuck in a strange place like this with a frail body for too long. Of course his health is bad.”
‘Seriously! Even if you're stupid, how can you be this emotional...’
“Sophia, try having a warmer heart. Don't suspect and try to kill everyone you see!”
We argued for a moment.
Maybe she was disappointed by my attitude, because Sophia went quiet.
“Sophia?”
‘...’
“Sophia? Don't tell me you're sulking?”
‘...’
The more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable it was for both Sophia and me while she remained inside the Soul Box.
When the time came, it would be best for Sophia to get out of the box with help from the Management Bureau.
--- Click!
“Found the refrigerator! Whoa, it's really packed with food?”
Who restocked all this food?
Was something supernatural happening to the refrigerator too?
‘Hmm...’
* * *
I thought about going straight back up, but changed my mind.
The school was as cold as if a sudden cold wave had swept through, and the food was cold too.
It was natural for bread and sandwiches from a refrigerator to be cold, but eating them in this weather would be miserable.
“Is there any way to start a fire?”
I checked the alcohol lamps in the science room just in case, but every one of them was empty.
Maybe the old man, who had endured here for so many years, had used all of them.
「Feel the Pale Breath. Know that your hands will crack, your food will freeze solid, and you won't be able to drink even a sip of water.」
“Why would you say something like that?”
‘... I didn't say it.’
“Hah! You still don't know who I am? Nothing is impossible for the Greatest Martial Artist Under Heaven!”
After boosting my confidence, I grabbed a nearby book and tore it into strips.
‘What are you trying to do?’
Cheonseung Sect Arcane Arts Technique: Samadhi True Fire.
--- Scrape!
“Hiya!”
‘...’
--- Rub, rub!
“Hiiiya!”
At that moment, Sophia came out.
“Don't tell me you're trying to start a fire by rubbing books together?”
“Yep!”
“Th-that is Samadhi True Fire?”
“Yeah! I saw it online. If you rub paper together like this...”
--- Snap!
Sophia snapped her fingers, and the paper immediately caught fire.
“...”
“How about that? A Great Mage's Miracle: Starting a Fire?”
“... I could've started a fire without your help.”
“Let's say you could. By the way, what is the Cheonseung Sect?”
* * *
A small campfire blazed in the middle of the empty circular area between the staff room, administration office, and first-year classrooms.
Sophia had made the spark, and since this was a school, there were plenty of books that could be used as firewood.
“Ahh! Nice. Oh, this is a Korean history textbook?”
Straight into the fire.
“You burn a Korean history textbook the moment you see it. You're not really Chinese, are you?”
“I'm burning math books too, so it's fair. You watch the fire. Make sure the food next to it doesn't burn!”
“Are you planning to bring the old man here?”
“He'll be cold.”
“...”
The moment I stood to head back to the rooftop, I heard something dragging across the floor.
A moment of tension.
Fortunately, I relaxed when I saw the shadowy figure coming down the stairs.
Actually, my nose caught the stench before my eyes saw anything.
“You came? I started a campfire, so come warm yourself.”
Strangely, Sophia disappeared as soon as the old man appeared.
Did she really hate the smell that much?
“The bread and milk are warm now, so have some.”
“... Thank you, Agent.”
“Don't mention it.”
Warm bread and warmed milk.
It felt as if the warm food was warming my heart too.
I couldn't feel the cold anymore.
The old man's condition must have improved a little too, so should I gather some information?
“Grandpa, how did you end up trapped in a place like this?”
“...”
“Grandpa?”
“It happened when I was young. Hiking in the mountains whenever cold winds blew was my hobby.”
“Was that so?”
“People usually think winter hiking is dangerous and cold... But Agent, have you ever shouted from the top of a mountain in winter?”
“I don't think so...”
“The chills in your heart, the cold air filling the deepest parts of your lungs! The release you feel when one shout drives that cold away! That's the thrill of it.”
Did this have anything to do with being trapped in the school?
I supposed I'd have to hear more.
“Then, one time... I got stranded.”
“Oh dear. That must have been hard.”
“I still remember it vividly. First comes the itching. Your fingertips start to itch, then the itching turns into pain.”
Was he describing frostbite?
“The truly terrifying part isn't the pain. At some point, even the pain disappears. Your hands vanish. You still have hands, but all feeling leaves them. Then your feet, then your wrists and ankles. By then, your ears are long gone.”
“... That's horrible.”
“I was cold and afraid. I thought I was going to die in that terrible cold... I only breathed out Pale Breath.”
I understood that he'd suffered, but I had no idea what it had to do with being trapped in the school, so I cut in.
“Ahem! But you survived, right? It sounds like the rescue team arrived in time.”
“... Back then, they did.”
“Back then?”
“Agent, aren't you cold?”
“There's a campfire right in front of us.”
“It will go out soon.”
“There are plenty of books...”
“At most, they'll last two or three days. You can't leave the school, can you? Soon, the fire will go out, and you'll be in unbearable cold...”
--- Clap!
I felt like his depression was starting to affect me too, so I clapped my hands lightly.
“Grandpa, I'm not an ordinary person. You know that, right?”
I wasn't an agent, but it was true that I wasn't ordinary.
I was a martial arts master!
“This much cold is nothing, and even if I go hungry for a while, it'll be fine. You said food appears in the refrigerator regularly. Don't worry. Soon, we'll either find a way out, or the rescue team...”
“Lies!”
The old man's voice suddenly turned harsh.
“We will freeze to death here, yet you try to deceive people even in the face of death!”
“I-I said we won't die...”
“Death! Cold! You will die, and I will die. There is no next time for us. The luck that saved me on that winter mountain will never come twice...”
--- Bang!
I lightly punched the wall.
It sounded like someone had struck it with a hammer, and the old man's eyes widened.
“...”
I tried to calm him down nicely, but that wasn't working.
I remembered something a doctor had told me before.
Acting like a kind Santa toward someone who was mentally unwell didn't always help.
Sadly, people often mistook kindness for weakness.
Sometimes, to lead fragile people, you had to show them that you stood above them.
I was stronger than you.
I was greater than you.
So trust me and follow me.
“See this strength?”
“...”
“I'm not you. I'm not someone who whines after getting stranded on a winter mountain and waits for a rescue team!”
“...”
“Cold? Cut that crap out. I'd survive even if I got dropped in Antarctica.”
I could probably survive for a day.
“Hungry? I'd be fine even if I went without food for a month!”
That was a complete lie.
“So don't mistake me for you and talk nonsense! I'll never die. And if you listen to me, you'll survive too, unless something really terrible happens! Got it?”
“...”
--- Bang!
“I said, got it?”
I decided to be even ruder.
“Are you not going to answer? Does being old make you special? Is your age some kind of title, you bastard?”
“I-I'm sorry! Agent, I was so, so foolish.”
“... From now on, I'll count to sixty.”
“What?”
“You said it earlier, right? That luck can't come twice?”
“That was...”
“It comes twice. Not just twice, but three times, four times, ten times, twenty times. Because I am luck itself!”
“Uh...”
“One! Two!”
「Heavenly Luck: 1 -> 0」
Click!
“Six!”
“Siiiiii-”
“...”
“iiiiix-”
“...”
“Teeeee-”
Seriously!
Something, anything, needed to happen! I'd used Heavenly Luck!
Was it weaker outside the hotel?
“eeeeeen!”
--- Whoosh!
Just as expected.
Again.
Like always!
Luck was on my side.
--- Thud!
The front gate, which wouldn't open no matter what I did, opened at once.
Beyond it was someone I had missed terribly.
“A-ri!”
“Ugh, it's cold. I brought a bunch of hot packs, so take some. You too, Grandpa, take some!”
The hot packs flying toward us were luck and hope.
“Let's go.”
* * *
Beyond the school gate, which had finally opened, was a car that seemed to belong to A-ri.
“A-ri, where is this? I woke up and suddenly everyone was gone.”
“... It's a kind of Containment Zone.”
“A Containment Zone?”
If it was a Containment Zone, something had been contained?
What was it containing?
“Don't worry about it. What you need to worry about is your parents outside.”
“Argh!”
“They were both shocked. Go persuade them properly. Make up a decent excuse, or say you skipped because you hated class too much.”
“... Dad is going to scold me so badly.”
“If it's only a switch, just take it.”
“Ugh! If I use Cheonseung Sect Arcane Arts Technique: Vajra Indestructible...”
“Cheonseung Sect? What is that?”
As we talked, A-ri kept turning the steering wheel without pause.
The car moved around in a dizzying pattern, like it was drawing on the schoolyard.
It didn't seem possible to leave by simply walking in a straight line.
A-ri knew this exact “escape method.”
“Did the Management Bureau create this space?”
“Who knows.”
So that was a yes.
Then had I accidentally entered a Containment Zone created by the Management Bureau?
Just as I tilted my head, unable to understand the situation, the car finally escaped that strange world.
“Ah... It's already evening outside. Oh, what about Grandpa?”
The old man was asleep in the back seat.
He had been frail to begin with, and maybe my forceful behavior had shocked him a little.
“Don't worry.”
“Yes?”
“We'll send him to his family. He went through something unfortunate, so he should spend the rest of his time peacefully. We'll make sure he's cared for, so there's nothing to worry about.”
“Ah! That's a relief.”
--- Screech!
The car stopped.
“Um, then I'll go.”
“Okay.”
My phone, which was somehow working normally again.
--- Ring! Click!
“Uh, um. Mo...”
“YAAAAAAH---!!!!”
“...”
“PARK! SEUNG! YEOP!”
Ah.
“You! Without saying a word! What in the world is this?!”
I'm so fucking screwed.
The martial arts of the Greatest Martial Artist Under Heaven meant nothing against this opponent!
“Mom... Hah! Do you know how worried I was...! Sob!”
Sophia, please!
What was I supposed to do now?
‘Who knows.’
Help me!
‘I realized today that you don't seem to need my help. Trust yourself.’
“Hey!”
At that moment, I would rather have had a monster clown appear right in front of me.
* * *
- Kim A-ri
“S-sorry! Mom, I can explain everything...”
Seung-yeop's flustered voice carried all the way over here.
By the way, Seung-yeop's mother really had a loud voice.
He would handle it himself.
He was her precious son. It wasn't like she would beat him to death.
“...”
I was alone in the car.
Someone might ask what I meant by “alone” when there was an old man in the back seat, but I was alone.
“Ugh...”
“You're awake.”
“I’m... coming to. Where has the agent gone?”
“Agent? If you mean Seung-yeop, don't worry about him.”
--- Vroom!
I pressed the accelerator again.
“... Where am I going?”
“Your home.”
Seung-yeop's matter was over.
Mine was not.
The Containment procedure for Pale Breath was still underway.
Footnotes:
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