Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 567

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 566: The World That Cannot Be Remembered (5) Fin(?)

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「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 38

Current Location: Taebaek City, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province

Sage’s Advice: 3」

- Han Ga-in

It seemed that past me had learned through Insight that I mustn't possess Arthur.

Why?

It was over now that we were outside, but I should keep in mind that I might meet Arthur again someday.

「Advice: 3 -> 2」

‘Why mustn't I possess Arthur’s body?’

「Insight is based on the knowledge you have discovered. Therefore, the answer ultimately lies with you.」

“...”

Two thoughts crossed my mind.

First, a minor complaint that it could've just told me.

Second, the realization that it wanted me to look back on everything that had happened so far.

“What’s wrong? You look deep in thought.”

“... Ah, I was thinking about what we should do next.”

“What next? Didn’t you say we were going to Hotel Delight?”

I vaguely understood what the Owl was trying to tell me, as well as the bizarre truth behind everything that had happened.

The answer had been close at hand.

“That’s right. Let’s go.”

* * *

As expected of one of Korea’s finest hotels, Hotel Delight was comfort itself from the lobby onward.

While Grandpa sat on a sofa and marveled at how soft it was, I finished my call and returned.

“Oh! Where’s Eun-sol?”

“She said she’ll be down soon. We just need to wait.”

“Is that so? Come sit too.”

Grandpa looked so comfortable, as if he were relaxing in his own living room, that I smiled and sat down nearby.

“Come to think of it, what happened yesterday and today is still unbelievable.”

“We should tell the others too.”

“Right. Ga-in, you have everyone else’s contact information, don’t you?”

“Should I give it to you?”

As we chatted, Grandpa tilted his head in confusion.

“By the way, where the hell did all the employees at this hotel go?”

“Maybe something happened upstairs?”

“But there isn’t anyone on the first floor.”

He had a point.

If something urgent had happened to the point that a five-star hotel lobby had no employees at all, they should have stopped operating.

“Ha ha! Then shall I show you around instead?”

“You brat, always joking around...”

“Hello, welcome to Delight Hotel. How can I help you today?”

It was a simple English sentence.

Any employee at a five-star hotel should know that much, right?

Yet that simple sentence silenced the ‘white’ old man.

“...”

A brief silence.

Our gazes met.

I knew Grandpa’s greatest secret.

Grandpa knew that I knew his secret.

“Hah!”

“...”

“You’re a quick-witted kid.”

Looking back, there had been plenty of suspicious signs from the beginning.

First, the former holder of Communication had used the Chat Window while concealing his name.

It would make sense before introductions, but why hide it after revealing his name as Arthur?

Second, Arthur’s attitude had been unbelievably immature.

Openly exposing weaknesses like his family was the least of it.

He must have learned during the Loop that I had the power to control other people’s bodies, yet he still stood defenseless before me and ended up getting possessed.

An ordinary person might not know better, but he had been far too naive for someone who had escaped the Hotel.

Third, according to what past me had learned through Insight, possessing Arthur was a trap.

Yet someone had told me to possess Arthur and gather information.

It seemed that had happened more than once.

“Kid, when did you figure it out?”

“I told you, I’m too old to be called a kid.”

“Ha ha! You’re speaking more casually now, aren’t you?”

There was one simple answer to every question.

The Former Participant, the other holder of Communication, had not been Arthur. Arthur was no more than that person’s subordinate!

What had been the memory manipulated the moment I first entered the Otherworld?

A small, simple piece of information.

Yet it was incredibly important.

My memory of what Grandpa Mook-seong looked like!

The true enemy had been beside me from the moment I first entered the Otherworld.

“Who are you?”

At that moment, for the first time, the other person revealed his name in the Chat Window.

Ryan: Let me introduce myself again. My name is Ryan Reynolds.

The previous holder of Communication, Ryan Reynolds, had finally revealed himself.

--- Bzzzz!

Three spheres appeared behind Reynolds.

* * *

Time seemed to split one second into ten.

A battle unfolded in that fleeting realm where ordinary humans could not even react to what was happening.

The first thing I felt was confusion.

The scenery around me warped in an instant, filling my vision with dizzying, chaotic images while agonizing noise tortured my ears.

It was a terrible way to use the Chat Window!

At that point, leisurely thoughts like, ‘Can I save the Sacred Sun?’ vanished completely.

--- Fwoosh!

Scorching heat filled the area, and I dodged the bluish beam flying toward me from one of the spheres at a speed too fast to leave an afterimage.

“Ho! You’re not so easy to deal with...”

I had evaded the opening attack. Now it was my turn.

Light flashed from my fingertips, and a destructive heat ray struck Reynolds.

No, it tried to!

- Click!

The instant Reynolds flicked something like a Zippo lighter at lightning speed, the old man’s body vanished.

--- Bzzzz! Boom!

The heat ray, having lost its target, half-destroyed Hotel Delight’s exterior in a single blow.

“Aaaah!”

“Ugh, aah!”

The people outside finally realized something absurd was happening!

I had secretly contacted the hotel in advance and evacuated its employees, but I didn't have enough time to deal with everyone outside.

Besides, if I evacuated everyone, this crafty bastard would have caught on beforehand!

A mocking voice rang out.

“Ha ha, Ga-in! You should watch where you’re attacking...”

I knew the location just by hearing him.

About twenty-four meters to the right, near the revolving door.

--- Crack!

The moment I pushed off the ground, Hotel Delight’s expensive tiles exploded beneath my feet as I rushed forward.

“What kind of speed is that?!”

His baffled voice was followed by another click.

The old man vanished again, then appeared near the stair landing.

His movements were beyond human, but they were noticeably slower than mine while I was using the Sacred Sun.

Still, that lighter, which allowed him to use Teleportation wherever he wanted with every click, was a problem.

A Blink Lighter!

Was it an Inheritance?

No, probably not.

It was a powerful tool, like the Protective Suit or Wing Boots.

The Inheritance was the three spheres that had appeared when the battle began!

--- Bzzzz!

I sensed a chilling presence behind me.

The moment I recognized the three bluish beams approaching from different angles...

“Hyah!”

My body moved with an acrobatic grace that amazed even me, escaping the paths of the beams.

When I landed, Reynolds revealed the jealousy he could not hide.

“Hey, you bastard! What kind of Inheritance is that?”

“Jealous?”

“Hah! Noble Guardian is an excellent Inheritance too.”

Noble Guardian. So that was the name of those spheres.

“First you fire lasers, then you move at impossible speed, and now you dodge attacks coming from behind?”

The Sacred Sun possessed such a wide range of abilities that it was difficult to compare it to other Inheritances.

In exchange, it required the complicated process of charging.

“There’s no way an Inheritance like that has no restrictions, right?”

The old man grinned.

Like a Hotel Participant, he had seen right through the fact that the Sacred Sun had limits.

“A time limit? Reduced lifespan? Or...”

I grinned slightly and stretched out my hand.

“You should worry about yourself.”

“What did you say? You’re getting way too casual...”

“How much fuel is left in your lighter? You’d better conserve it.”

Reynolds’ expression hardened.

Yes, that was it.

The Sacred Sun had the restriction of charging. There was no way an incredible tool like the Blink Lighter had no restrictions!

--- Crack!

I crushed the floor beneath my feet and charged at him again.

Watching the old man press the lighter with a pale expression, I knew.

You’ve already used it twice, right?

This is the last time, or at most you have one use left.

Without that lighter, Reynolds couldn't hold out against me!

Just as I sensed victory...

--- Bzzzz!

One sphere flew toward me.

「Advice: 2 -> 1」

「Evade immediately!」

I already knew, so stop wasting Advice telling me useless things!

--- Kaboom!

The sphere exploded.

--- Rumble!

And Hotel Delight was wrecked.

* * *

There was no way the area could remain quiet while a war was breaking out in the middle of Seoul.

I looked outside from the half-ruined hotel lobby and could only sigh.

A word slipped out before I knew it.

“Sis, I’m sorry.”

I focused my mind as I sighed lightly, and sensed movement only thirty meters away.

Teleportation through the lighter seemed limited to around twenty to thirty meters at a time.

I knocked aside chunks of falling concrete as I moved and found the man standing still in an open space.

“You’re not running?”

“Even if I ran, I couldn't keep up with your speed.”

“Looks like your lighter ran dry. Only three uses?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

The old man readily admitted it and spread both arms.

Now that the Blink Lighter had run out of fuel, there was no way for him to escape me.

He should have been in terrible danger...

Yet the old man had not lost his composure.

“Kid, you’re quite calculating. And you’re damn good at fighting.”

“I told you, I’m too old to be called a kid. I’m older than I look.”

“You brat, I’m older than I look too!”

“You look old already.”

“I’m even older than that... Hey, you’re pretty good with words too.”

The old man laughed as if he found it absurd, then spoke as though delivering an ultimatum.

“Ga-in. It may be hard to believe now, but I never intended to harm you.”

“...”

“It’s true. Kim Mook-seong is still alive too. I only intended to linger around you all and see what sort of people you were.”

Was he threatening me by saying that if I killed him, I would never find out where Grandpa Mook-seong was?

“...”

The Sacred Sun vanished, and the force that had felt as though it would burst my blood vessels faded too.

“Oh, now that we’ve had our fight, you’re finally willing to talk...”

Talk? Negotiate?

The moment this crafty bastard tampered with my memories and disguised himself as Grandpa Mook-seong, I had no intention of doing either.

I had only sent the Sun away because I wanted Reynolds to let his guard down.

--- Slash!

The old man, Ryan Reynolds, was split in two.

Even as his head separated down the middle, he failed to react.

「Companion Location Information(*)

Kim A-ri: Hotel Delight」

* * *

“Wow! A-ri, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you in person...”

“Who are you?”

“...”

“Go die, you Chinese scammer!” A-ri snapped in Chinese.

It seemed she still held a slight grudge over the time I had treated her like a phone scammer.

Either way, I was glad to see A-ri again after so long.

“Where’s Grandpa?”

“I already rescued him.”

That was why I had brought Reynolds all the way to Hotel Delight even after realizing he had been disguising himself as Grandpa Mook-seong.

I needed time to secretly contact A-ri so she could rescue Grandpa before he became a hostage, and to give her time to join me.

Reynolds had probably followed without much suspicion because he thought he would meet another one of my companions.

“I checked the records. Ryan Reynolds, a former agent and a Participant. He’s presumed to have left the Management Bureau at some unknown point in the past.”

“... As expected.”

“The records had an extremely high security classification, so they were hard to check. I could only force it through because I’m about to get promoted. Anyway, I’ll take this bastard’s body and...”

--- Twitch!

I sensed movement from the vertically split corpse.

A-ri and I met each other’s eyes for an instant, then reached the same realization.

“This bastard...!”

“He’s still alive? Does he have another Inheritance that grants immortality?”

A-ri looked dumbfounded, but immediately pulled out a camera from her waist.

“I’ll seal him first and think about it later!”

“Take the picture now!”

Just as she was about to press the shutter.

“...”

An aurora? Or a haze?

A pale light shone down on us.

--- Click!

“...”

--- Click!

A-ri pressed the camera shutter again and again, but nothing happened.

Her expression hardened. This time, she held out her hand and used the Irregular Polyhedron...

Again, nothing happened.

Should I summon the Grimoire?

What about the Sacred Sun?

“...”

It would be useless.

A-ri and I had encountered a similar phenomenon before.

“Indomitable Reason...!”

“The Soul Furnace!”

Different words referring to the same Inheritance.

This light looked far too much like the one in Room 206 that had suppressed all supernatural power!

‘That’s enough from both sides.’

An unfamiliar voice.

It was different from both my voice and A-ri’s, as well as Reynolds’ voice.

That was right.

Just as I had a companion named A-ri, Reynolds had a companion too!

‘It would be best to stop here. Continuing this fight would be a loss for both sides.’

A-ri laughed as if it were ridiculous.

“Don’t make me laugh! We’ve already experienced power similar to this light, you know? What happens if Ga-in and I use our Inheritances at the same time?”

Even the suppressive force of Indomitable Reason had limits.

Like A-ri said, what would happen if the two of us activated four Inheritances at once?

Yet the next words made both of us flinch.

‘Don’t do that. Didn’t the Hotel tell you when you escaped? It told you to behave yourselves for at least six months.’

It was true.

‘It’s still all right. Things can still be cleaned up at this point, but if you go any further, all that awaits is everyone’s defeat.’

Everyone’s defeat.

Just as the person said, the Hotel had told us to behave ourselves for at least six months.

Why exactly?

I had made all kinds of guesses, but I still did not know the clear answer.

It seemed the other side knew it.

“If you want to persuade us, shouldn’t you tell us why? Why would a conflict now lead to everyone’s defeat?”