Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 565

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 564: The World That Cannot Be Remembered (3)

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「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

My memories were manipulated

Be suspicious

Sage’s Advice: 3」

- Han Ga-in

I woke up in a soft bed.

The moment I opened my eyes, I saw the ominous message written in the Status Window.

My memories had been manipulated?

I leaned against the wall and thought for a long time, but I couldn't figure out what was wrong.

Should I use Advice?

“...”

There was no point.

The Owl was the one who had told me not to resist and to accept it in the first place. Would he tell me how to resist if I asked?

More importantly, I must've written that message in a hurry.

I'd written directly over the Status Window instead of enlarging the blank space beside it, so I couldn't see the date or current location.

So I erased it.

「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 38

Current Location: Reynolds Research Lab

Sage’s Advice: 3」

Day 38?

A whole day had passed.

My current location was listed as Reynolds Research Lab.

Was Reynolds someone's name?

“...”

No matter how hard I thought about it, most of my memories didn't feel wrong.

Of course, the person who manipulated them might have been skilled enough that I simply hadn't noticed.

Still, one thought came to mind.

This probably wasn't broad memory manipulation on the level of reconstructing my identity.

If the damage had been that severe, the Owl wouldn't have told me to accept it.

A small, simple piece of information.

But something incredibly important.

It seemed only that one thing had been twisted.

* * *

When I stepped outside, I found Grandpa drinking tea in an old-fashioned mansion.

It looked like he'd woken up before me.

“Oh, you're up?”

“Yes. Did anything happen?”

“I met the guy who owns this mansion.”

“... Is he a Former Participant?”

Without saying a word, Grandpa tapped the air twice.

Someone who didn't know better would ask what he was doing, but that was where the Chat Window appeared in Grandpa's field of vision.

“Hmm...”

“Don't let your guard down.”

“Of course.”

“More importantly, don't be surprised. It seems part of our memories has been edited.”

“Grandpa, you noticed too.”

I'd known immediately because I'd written it in the Status Window, but Grandpa had noticed too?

This showed he hadn't earned the title of former agent for nothing.

“The date changed. I don't know exactly how many days, but...”

“One day.”

“Ah! I'm glad you're here after all. We entered this place yesterday afternoon, and it's morning now... So half a day's worth of memories is unclear?”

“Hmm...”

“Anyway, because of that, I've lost a very important memory.”

“What is it?”

“Sorry. I don't know how to leave this place.”

“Ah...”

This was an Otherworld, a place that couldn't be entered or exited by ordinary means.

Had the memory Grandpa lost been how to get out?

What had been changed in my memories?

...

I calmed myself down.

What could I do about memories that were already gone?

If it came down to it, we could get outside and ask Eun-sol for help.

A-ri had promised to come rescue us if we didn't return for a long time, so we had a backup plan.

“It's okay. It's not like we have no backup plan.”

“Phew... Right.”

A brief silence followed.

Then an uninvited guest appeared on the railing above us.

“You're both awake.”

He was a white man who looked to be in his mid-forties.

He was about my height, in the mid-to-upper 170-centimeter range, and judging by his build and the muscles visible through his clothes, he seemed well-trained.

As for his other physical features...

“You're looking me over rather openly, aren't you?”

“You tampered with my memories and my companion's. Of course I have to be suspicious.”

“Hah! Let's get one thing straight. This is my home, and you're intruders who barged in without so much as a word.”

“...”

Come to think of it, he wasn't wrong.

Then Grandpa pulled out a pistol behind me and aimed it at him.

“Hah! Kid, cut the nonsense.”

“... You're a rude man.”

Wasn't pulling a gun on him from the start a little excessive?

Had the two of them gotten into some kind of argument before I woke up?

--- Bzzzt! Clunk! Creak!

This time, it was the middle-aged man's turn.

The moment he gave Grandpa a chilling glare, mechanical sounds began to echo through the mansion.

Gun barrels emerged from the railing, beneath chairs, inside flowerpots, beside paintings, and various other places, all aimed at us.

“You going to shoot? You think you win just because you have more bullets? You've only got one head, you know. One bullet would be enough.”

“...”

At that moment.

--- Creak!

“D-Dad! What's going on?”

A door on the second floor suddenly opened, and a white boy spoke in a frightened voice.

“No! Joshua, I told you to stay there! Dad will handle it!”

“Sniff!”

A startled woman's voice, followed by another child's sobbing.

“Olivia! Take the children and go back inside!”

“Arthur!”

“...”

Arthur?

Was that his name?

Either way, this really was his home.

It seemed Arthur, whom we believed to be a Former Participant, had gone into seclusion here with his family.

Once I realized that, Grandpa and I were in an awkward position.

To anyone watching, we were armed robbers who had barged into an ordinary family home.

“...”

Grandpa and I met each other's eyes, sharing the same thought.

There was no need for this.

People from the Management Bureau had infiltrated The World That Cannot Be Remembered, lost only their memories, and returned alive.

Arthur wasn't violent enough to kill intruders without warning, and his family lived here.

--- Click!

Grandpa silently lowered his gun.

Soon after, Arthur stopped the mansion's security system with a single gesture.

“Sorry about that.”

“Let's both mind our manners from now on.”

“I'll try.”

At this point, it was nearly certain that Arthur was the mansion's owner and a Former Participant, but I checked one last time just in case.

Han Ga-in: Arthur, we didn't come here to fight.

If he was the owner of Communication, he should be able to answer.

I hope so as well.

“...”

Just like yesterday, the speaker's name didn't appear.

Even when I focused, all I saw was the meaningless word, “Searching...”

Suddenly, I understood how this man might have abused the Chat Window while climbing through the hotel.

* * *

The moment we stepped outside the mansion, Arthur spoke.

“I don't like the outside world.”

“...”

“It's a place where hideous things happen without end.”

I agreed to some extent.

Reality outside the hotel was far too different from the peaceful world I remembered from long ago.

“Do you know what the worst of those places is? The Management Bureau.”

“...”

“That's the lesson the hotel taught me.”

It was strange.

Leaving aside what we were discussing, it felt fresh simply to speak with another hotel participant who wasn't one of my companions.

“Is that why you went into seclusion here with your family?”

Arthur gave a slight nod.

“Olivia is my wife's name. She's my true bond.”

“A true bond?”

“I mean she isn't an illusion created by a Dream! I don't love some ridiculous toy made by the hotel. I...”

It sounded like he meant his wife and son weren't Dream-created illusions produced through reality manipulation, but his real family.

I understood what he meant, but Arthur and I weren't alone here.

Wasn't that an extremely unpleasant thing to say in front of Grandpa, who had revived his family through a Dream?

“Don't make me laugh. Anyone would think you had a Dream and chose not to use it. You escaped by luck at the very beginning of the second floor!”

“Even if I had obtained a Dream, I wouldn't have made a false family.”

Had Arthur progressed through the early part of the second floor, then used an Escape Tool to get out?

Either way, I'd known their relationship was bad from the moment Grandpa pointed a pistol at him, but now I understood why.

The two of them must've talked about their families while I was unconscious, and the subject of Dreams had come up.

Even so, Grandpa was more emotional than usual.

Was it because of his family and Memory Editing?

Or was this simply too sensitive a subject?

“Let's calm down. Grandpa, we came here for information, not to fight.”

“...”

“Arthur, Grandpa told me he forgot how to leave this place.”

“...”

“Since you stopped us from leaving, you must have something to discuss with us.”

A short silence passed.

I made the first suggestion.

“Let's introduce ourselves first. My name is Han Ga-in.”

“Arthur. This wasn't an arranged meeting, but I hope we can both gain much from it.”

“I have many questions about this place and about you. I'm sure you feel the same. Let's ask questions in turn. And...”

--- Flutter!

When the Grimoire appeared, Arthur visibly tensed.

“... An Inheritance.”

“Let's not lie to each other. Isn't that a waste of time?”

It was a bluff, as though I could use the Grimoire to tell when he was lying.

It wasn't entirely wrong.

If I used Possession, I could find out.

Of course, that would be another matter if he had an Inheritance that protected his mind.

After a brief silence, Arthur asked the first question.

“Did you really clear Room 207?”

Was he that curious?

Judging from his argument with Grandpa, he seemed to already know, but perhaps he wanted confirmation from me.

First answer.

“Yes.”

“Haa... That's incredible.”

His voice held a low groan and honest admiration.

“As that old man said, I escaped at the beginning of the second floor. I won't argue if you call me a coward.”

“I have no intention of doing that.”

First, his family had suddenly appeared. Now he was putting on an act of weakness, saying that unlike me, who had cleared Room 207, he had escaped at the beginning of the second floor.

Boasting was unpleasant, but this act of pretending to be weak made me uncomfortable too.

The hotel wasn't a place where people became strong just because they had progressed further.

Past Mi-ro had been eliminated in the middle of the second floor, yet her individual strength had surpassed almost every companion.

This man might be the same.

Who knew whether he might have schemed, claimed a substantial number of the first floor's Inheritances, and monopolized the means of escape?

Second question.

“My turn. What is the purpose of this place?”

“Didn't I tell you? It's for me and my family to live in seclusion...”

I brought out the Grimoire again.

“Let's stop the pointless mind games. I saw the Mirror when I entered.”

“...”

That meant simple seclusion couldn't be the purpose.

Arthur gave an awkward smile and corrected himself.

“You know about the Mirror.”

“...”

“I'm not lying. My goal truly is to live safely with my family. If you doubt me, you can check with that book.”

“...”

It didn't seem like a lie.

“Then what is the Mirror for?”

“My father's goal.”

His father?

“Was your father's name Reynolds, by any chance?”

Arthur's eyes widened.

“How did you...! Does the Management Bureau still have information on my father?”

“...”

It had nothing to do with the Management Bureau. I only took a guess because the Status Window said my current location was Reynolds Research Lab.

“Was Mr. Reynolds a former agent? Was this place built to research the Mirror?”

“... Yes.”

Second answer.

This place was a research lab built by Reynolds, a former agent and the father of a participant.

Then Grandpa spoke as if he couldn't believe it.

“Hah! Arthur. If what you're saying is true, then Reynolds shoved his own son into the hotel?”

“...”

“Hahaha! What a respectable father. Is he still alive?”

“He is no longer a normal person. The Mirror...”

Arthur trailed off with a complicated look in his eyes, but I didn't need to hear more.

Room 207 had shown us several times that the Mirror could grotesquely twist people.

“Now it's my turn. The Management Bureau has sent countless people into the hotel to prevent the End of All Things.”

That was what A-ri had told me.

“And you escaped. Did you achieve your goal?”

“...”

“I'm asking whether you gained the power to stop destruction from the hotel.”

Third question.

Had the Hotel Party obtained the power to stop the End Times from the Hotel?

It was the Management Bureau's goal, and the question a Former Participant living in seclusion in a secret place wanted answered.

“Probably.”

We had obtained it.

And both items were here.

I had the Hourglass, and Grandpa had One More Chance.

Excitement filled Arthur's eyes when he heard my answer.

“Can you show me? How much I...”

“They aren't here.”

First lie.

At the very least, it was best to hide what he desired most until the end.

“With your companions?”

“That's right. We don't carry valuable items around carelessly.”

“That makes sense.”

Now it was my turn again.

“Do you know how many participants there are in reality?”

“Fewer than twenty, as far as I know.”

Fewer than twenty? That was far too few.

I glanced at Grandpa in surprise, and he tilted his head too.

“Does that make any sense?”

“Why do you find it strange?”

“We both know enough about this, so let's be honest. The hotel must have repeated countless times across space and time. There were probably many cases where no one escaped, but...”

“There must have been many escapees too. Once they escaped, they could endure the Loop, so they wouldn't die easily. That's what you're going to say.”

The conversation was easy because we both knew so much.

“You're overlooking one important point.”

A fact I had overlooked?

“The third floor.”

“...”

Hotel Pioneer had a third floor.

It didn't feel real now that we were in reality, but wasn't it a problem that would come someday?

“As you said, there were far more than twenty escapees. But many of them died in reality, either at the hands of demons or the Management Bureau. And...”

“And?”

“A small number of the very strong leave for the third floor. Those who leave never return.”

People who left for the third floor never returned?

“What does that mean?”

“I don't know.”

“...”

“Please tell me too if you find out.”

“...”

“Those of us who remained on the ground because we weren't outstanding enough call those who left for the third floor Ascendants, half jokingly and half seriously.”

Ascendants.

That was what participants who remained in reality called those who departed for the third floor.

I'd gained information about the third floor in an unexpected place.

That alone meant this trip hadn't been pointless.

Then a gentle voice called out.

“Would you like some coffee?”

It was Olivia, Arthur's wife, whom I'd seen earlier.

With an anxious expression, she looked at Grandpa and me as she placed three cups of coffee on the table.

A cup of coffee to clear our heads during an important conversation.

It was fitting.

It felt even more fitting now that we seemed to have built a minimum amount of trust.

That was why I was suspicious.