WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 582: Eve of the Storm - The Dreaming Wanderer (1)
──────
- Han Ga-in
My head hurt.
My consciousness was hazy.
Scorching heat filled everything, making it difficult even to stay clear-headed.
I could barely move a finger, and an unrelenting headache assailed me every moment.
What was worse than the physical pain was the loss of sensation and information.
I could barely see or hear.
I didn't know whether it was because of my condition or the Punishment, but I couldn't even properly check my Status Window.
All I could do was think in the darkness.
Whenever a companion came by, I forced my mouth open and blurted out whatever information came to mind.
“...”
That day, I tried to recall my memories from before I entered the Hotel on Jeju Island.
The result was far too successful.
I hadn't merely recovered a few images. I learned what had happened that day through something closer to a short film.
Even as I obtained the information, I wondered, Is this right?
Insight had never shown this much power, even when my blessing was intact. It was strange that it performed like this after it had weakened.
Sure enough, the moment the event ended, I immediately became incapacitated, and the following notification appeared.
「Rule violation detected!」
「Punishment: Revelation of Heavenly Secrets」
「Participant Han Ga-in coveted forbidden knowledge and shared that information with others. Participant Han Ga-in will be unable to act for an extended period.」
“...”
It was funny to argue about it now, but wasn't the Owl the one who broke the rules, not me?
I never expected to watch some profound short film on Jeju Island!
Then again, the Owl was probably being punished in its own way.
Maybe it was trapped in a birdcage.
The phrase “an extended period” was meaningful.
Since it didn't specify a duration, I had no way of knowing exactly when the Punishment would end.
Still, I could vaguely guess.
When we left the Hotel, the Merchant said there were six months left. Now, wasn't there just over a month remaining?
It seemed like the Punishment would end around then, and I'd be able to act again.
They probably used the phrase “an extended period” because they didn't want to tell me the exact date.
“Hnnngh...”
“Are you all right?”
Someone's voice.
It sounded like a companion, but my condition was so terrible that I couldn't even tell who it was.
Either way, my companions took turns visiting me almost every day.
Since this was a Punishment imposed by the Hotel, having them beside me wasn't much help...
Still, it comforted me greatly.
“It looks like someone needs to change your wet towel, but there isn't anyone nearby.”
“...”
If nobody was nearby, then who was speaking right now?
“Do you really not know?”
The Owl was beside me.
Had it appeared in physical form?
Or was it only sending me its voice?
Either way, how was this possible?
“Birds can go anywhere.”
Birds could, but I didn't think you could.
I'd assumed you were being punished too.
“I'm fine. Secret used just as much power as I did in what happened on the island.”
Secret? A-ri's Sponsor?
Why had he stepped in so actively when he wasn't even my Sponsor?
“Though he isn't your Sponsor, Secret is his domain. And... that one is quite anxious.”
Secret's Sponsor was anxious?
“He wants you to save his participant.”
I understood the situation.
What happened on Jeju Island had been a joint effort by the Owl and Secret. Since the responsibility was divided between them, it seemed neither had received such a severe Punishment.
“Your Punishment became this harsh not simply because you saw the secret, but even more because you revealed it to others the moment you saw it.”
Revealing it to others was a bigger problem than discovering the secret.
So that was why my charge was Revelation of Heavenly Secrets.
“Therefore, they said most of the responsibility lay with you.”
?
“They also said the Punishment was your problem to bear.”
??
“So I'm perfectly fine.”
???
What the hell was this bird talking about?
“You have a bad habit of becoming foul-mouthed whenever someone tells you the truth.”
I was about to curse in disbelief, but its next words shut my mouth.
“Stay quiet for a while now. It will be hard for you to move anyway.”
A thought suddenly came to me.
Was I really awake right now?
With my Sponsor beside me and talking to me, this didn't feel like reality.
Was I speaking with my Sponsor in a dream?
“You only realized that now?”
Normally, I would've figured it out immediately, but the headache and dizziness were too severe. That was why it took me so long.
“You'll be bored for a long time, so I'll help you have an interesting dream.”
Flap!
The sound of wings beating reached me.
My consciousness drifted upward as well.
* * *
The first place I arrived was a secret meeting room.
Song-i, Elena, Sang-hyeon, and Grandpa Mook-seong were gathered there.
The meeting room seemed to be inside the rebuilt Hotel Delight, but Eun-sol wasn't there. Was she busy?
With this group, I expected Sang-hyeon to do all the talking while everyone else listened. Instead, Song-i was at the center.
She was the one I had passed the information to before I became incapacitated on Jeju Island.
Come to think of it, giving Song-i that information was what added “revealing” to the charge and made my Punishment harsher.
“Did you all understand the three stories?”
Sang-hyeon nodded.
“The first was whether someone remains responsible for the sins of a previous life after reincarnation. The second was the tragic history related to the Ark. The third was... Heaven? Is that right?”
“Yes.”
Elena's eyes widened.
“I'm surprised. Ga-in was a Regressor even before he came to the Hotel?”
Grandpa corrected her.
“He wasn't a complete Regressor like the agents. If he had been, his memories and personality would have carried over, but Ga-in wasn't like that before he came to the Hotel.”
“It seems similar to Mama, whom we mentioned before. He vaguely recalls memories from before the Loop, but he doesn't think of them as memories from a previous life.”
“He thinks the contradictions in his memories are simply because he's confused.”
“Isn't that what a normal person would think? It would be stranger to suddenly consider an explanation like a Loop.”
Elena raised another question.
“I understand the stories themselves, but I don't know how this connects to our current problem.”
“I think the first story is information about Ga-in personally. Does someone remain responsible for the sins of a previous life after reincarnation? That concerns whether they are the same person before and after reincarnation...”
“It has nothing to do with Management Bureau agents. Their memories and personalities are perfectly carried over, so of course they are the same person.”
“That's right. It is an ethical question that arises when someone is an incomplete Regressor like Ga-in. It is information about Ga-in personally.”
As Song-i listened to Grandpa and Sang-hyeon, she muttered with a somewhat uneasy expression.
“Um... then does that mean the ‘young Hitler’ in the story is Ga-in?”
Everyone fell silent.
... Calling me young Hitler was too much, no matter what.
“Ahem. Let's move on to the next story. The one about the Ark. This seems directly connected to reality.”
“I agree. Isn't the keyword ‘Ark’ itself familiar? We've already heard it several times.”
Song-i emphasized it as though she had remembered something.
“Ga-in muttered that the Lord might also be a kind of Ark!”
“Come to think of it, Eun-sol said something too. When she was dragged into that strange domain on the Esper, she met a divine being called an Ark.”
Sang-hyeon stroked his chin.
“It seems an Ark is something entirely different from the ship we normally imagine. Perhaps it refers to a divine being that protects Mortals during a Great Disaster...”
“Or it could be the divine being itself.”
Grandpa's words made the room fall quiet.
Everyone vaguely understood what that meant.
“... The Lord is also an Ark. Ga-in's Sacred Sun is a small Lord.”
“The Sacred Sun gathers people's souls.”
In the end, Elena showed fear as she muttered.
“If you gather the souls of people throughout the world and shape them into a divine being, that becomes an Ark?”
“I think that is a strong hypothesis.”
Now that they had interpreted the Ark, they needed to interpret the part where those who arrived later stole it.
“I think it is an ancient story.”
“Ancient...”
“A very long time ago. Ga-in is probably the one among us from the earliest Loop, but this happened far earlier than even him.”
An event so old I couldn't imagine it.
“It is a kind of ancient history.”
“... Then who is the ‘last survivor’ from that story?”
“At first, I thought it was about Ga-in.”
“And now?”
“Doesn't something seem strange if we think that way?”
Who was the last survivor?
Me?
That didn't square with the earlier story.
In the earlier story, I was supposedly baby Hitler or something.
Wouldn't the last survivor avenging their clan's resentment be revenge with its own justification?
It felt somewhat strange to call that a sin worthy of falling into the Hell Realm, or to call them baby Hitler.
Of course, even if the revenge was justified, perhaps they would still fall into hell if they killed too many people along the way?
I didn't know.
“Still, when we compare the information Ga-in obtained with the information A-ri gave us, there is a strange difference.”
The difference between the information from Jeju Island and the information from A-ri.
“The story about regression and the story about the Ark roughly overlap. But isn't one part completely different?”
The story A-ri emphasized, the Demon King of reality, was completely absent from the information from Jeju Island.
Instead, it contained a story about Heaven that A-ri had never even mentioned.
“Well... the information sources must be different.”
Then Song-i offered a sharp observation.
“The information Ga-in got on Jeju Island was very old, right? Ancient history!”
“That's right.”
“What A-ri gave us is recent information. So the Demon King of reality, or the Moon Demon...”
“Didn't exist before Ga-in entered the Hotel?”
That made sense.
The Moon I remembered was Earth's satellite, shining in the night sky. It wasn't some ancient demon or cosmic disaster.
After that, my companions launched into a heated discussion.
There were quite a few points that were interesting, yet also made me wonder whether this was right.
Time would gradually reveal which interpretations were accurate.
My consciousness floated away again.
It seemed the Owl didn't think the rest of the meeting was worth much.
* * *
The next place I arrived was a school at night.
With the light from their phones behind them stood Mi-ro, Seung-yeop, and Jin-cheol.
Was Eun-sol alone somewhere?
“You all understood what I said, right!”
Seung-yeop and Jin-cheol smiled awkwardly at Mi-ro's spirited declaration.
“I understood. So, the Ghost Story Mi-ro dwelling inside you...”
“Darkside Mi-ro is in danger!”
“...”
“I heard it from Song-i, but Darkside...”
“Sorry, but I'd rather you call her Ghost Story Mi-ro...”
“No! When Black Dragon Mi-ro disappeared at the end, she said, ‘I was getting close to my limit too!’”
“I heard.”
“I didn't understand what that meant then, but I do now. The amount of time Black Dragon Mi-ro can stay sane is short!”
“...”
“She spent almost all that time talking to Ga-in, right? So I think Black Dragon Mi-ro has gone a little crazy.”
Seung-yeop looked uneasy.
“Th-then why did you call me here to tell me that?”
Mi-ro answered with a proud expression.
“Because Black Dragon Mi-ro is dangerous!”
“Y-you called me because she's dangerous?”
“You two have to deal with dangerous things. After she goes on a rampage once, Black Dragon Mi-ro will calm down. Now I'll summon her...”
“Argh!”
“Hey! C-calm down!”
No matter what Seung-yeop and Jin-cheol said, Mi-ro didn't care in the slightest. She put her hand over the paper on the teacher's desk.
An O and an X were drawn on the paper.
“Begin! Bunsinsaba!”
“Calm down, you idiot!”
“Seriously! Are middle schoolers all like this these days?”
“Hyung! I've never done anything like...”
If all middle schoolers were like Mi-ro, the world would have ended five times over by now.
“Bunsinsaba! Bunsinsaba! Please come...”
...
The real Mi-ro sure knows how to have fun.
I often felt this way, but without A-ri and me, nobody could control Mi-ro.
Then again, it was hard to say whether what Mi-ro was doing was wrong.
It must have been absurd for Jin-cheol and Seung-yeop, but if I were Mi-ro, I probably would've called my companions together to solve it like this too.
My consciousness floated away once more.
Ah, Eun-sol.
I had wondered where Eun-sol had gone off alone, but she was here.
She wasn't alone.
“Mother, it's been a long time.”
“...”
Eun-sol began to break out in a cold sweat, unable even to take a deep breath.
Footnotes:
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