WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 588: The Stolen World (3)
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「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 185
Current Location: Hotel Delight, Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul
Sage’s Advice: 3」
- Han Ga-in
Our goal was to prevent the End Times.
I was also certain that the Ark itself was a trap, a scam, or at the very least, the wrong answer.
Ryan's goal was to seize the Ark.
Our ultimate goals differed, but at the very least, we shared an interest in preventing the Management Bureau from completing the Ark.
Thanks to that, things progressed quickly over the next few days.
Of course, there were a few minor conflicts along the way.
For example, Patrick showed up with the Book of Covenants to reach an agreement, then furiously demanded to know where Lee Eun-sol was.
From what I heard, Eun-sol had used Greedy Hand during her escape, and Patrick had been somewhat injured in the process.
“Grrr! Where is that woman? I lost both legs because of her, so one of your companions needs to give up a leg to make things even!”
“You were injured a little.”
“A little? You bastard!”
“Come on. Will getting revenge make your missing legs grow back? Forget the past and think about the future.”
“You little bastard!”
After that, Ryan began tossing us various pieces of information as though he were paying friendship dues.
“Once completed, the Ark is something like an artificial god, but while it's still being built, it's more like a structure. I don't know precisely when construction will be complete, but...”
I thought I knew.
The Hotel had given us time-related hints: six months and one year.
Perhaps the Ark would begin gathering passengers at the six-month mark, then be completed after another six months had passed.
“Young man, you can find the Ark's location, can't you?”
If I tracked Mi-ro's location through the Status Window, the Ark would be there.
It was currently in the skies above China. It seemed the second Selection would begin there.
“There's something I don't understand about the Ark.”
“Go on.”
“One of my companions summoned a strange being while escaping the Otherworld...”
“The being that cut off Patrick's legs?”
“Patrick called that being an Ark as well.”
“...”
“My companion said that facing the Ark felt almost like facing a Prisoner. Can the Management Bureau create such a godlike being?”
“I wonder about that myself. The Management Bureau creating an entity on the level of a Prisoner? Looking at it simply...”
“Looking at it simply?”
“The core technology may have originated unimaginably long ago, when humanity was far more advanced than it is now.”
What if it had been a civilization capable of conquering space, like Room 203?
As Room 103 had revealed, a civilization at that level could subdue even Prisoners and use them like livestock. Maybe it could create one too.
“So they're reusing the technology now without understanding it?”
“That's my hypothesis.”
It sounded plausible.
Still, accepting that hypothesis made my heart feel a little heavy.
If our ancestors had been that great, how far had we declined by now?
Of course, this was only Ryan's hypothesis.
“... Does your superior know the exact answer?”
“Calling him my superior is a little unpleasant, but it isn't wrong, so that's sad. Elder Wisdom might know.”
Not that he knew, but that he might know?
“Isn't there a severe lack of information-sharing between companions?”
His answer was genuinely unexpected.
“You seem to misunderstand something about us. Elder Wisdom and I aren't from the same party.”
“Huh?”
“My real companions were the ones who escaped with me. There were six of us, and three died.”
“... Is it alright to tell me that?”
“You haven't experienced a Loop yet, so I suppose it doesn't feel real to you. We'll keep seeing each other even after the End Times. Do you think there's any point in hiding this much information?”
“...”
Half of that was probably meant to lower my guard, but the other half wasn't entirely wrong.
Even if I killed Ryan, I could meet him again in the next world.
“Then is Elder Wisdom older than you?”
“Much older! I guarantee the gap between him and me is wider than the gap between you and me.”
After Ryan's group left, we talked among ourselves about rescuing A-ri.
“Shouldn't we save A-ri before we charge into the Ark?”
“That's right! You said you saw A-ri while you were unconscious, didn't you?”
I agreed that we had to save A-ri before making a big move, but I had no idea how.
Elena asked carefully, “Doesn't A-ri have Kingdom of Dreams?”
“She does.”
“Then couldn't A-ri come join us herself...?”
“I mentioned this before, but A-ri told me about the information she obtained through her promotion using metaphors.”
I believed the information A-ri had given me helped me gain more information through Insight on Jeju Island.
Insight wasn't the power to create something from nothing. It was the power to infer greater information from small clues.
The Sponsor's intervention was probably the biggest reason, though.
“A-ri received Punishment for that.”
Grandpa continued, “The Silent are apparently obligated to keep secrets. All Management Bureau agents have that obligation, but...”
“For the Silent, what's unusual is that violating the obligation brings retribution from the Stone Tablet.”
The Stone Tablet of Silence.
We had gotten information about it from Ryan, but Ryan himself had never seen the Stone Tablet and didn't even know where it was.
“A-ri's location still shows as being searched.”
“A-ri's location? Honestly, why does that matter? A-ri has Kingdom of Dreams. Normally, she could just come to us herself.”
As Grandpa said, since A-ri had Kingdom of Dreams, her location itself wasn't important.
What mattered was why A-ri couldn't join us.
According to the vision Owl showed me, A-ri was currently on the body of some strange, unidentified god. Judging by the circumstances, even the Stone Tablet couldn't interfere there.
Put another way, if A-ri rashly joined us, the Stone Tablet might immediately kill not only A-ri, but us as well.
“So the Stone Tablet is the problem.”
“That chunk of rock is the problem.”
“I wonder if we should fire Final Flash at it the moment we find it.”
“Uh, don't, don't immediately start thinking about firing Final Flash. I think...”
“Sir, I was joking.”
After some thought, I summarized the situation appropriately, thoroughly concealing the existence of Kingdom of Dreams, and relayed it to Ryan.
“To save your companion who became one of the Silent, you need to do something about the Stone Tablet?”
“That's right.”
He was unexpectedly cooperative. It seemed that the fact A-ri was one of the Silent, rather than just another companion, appealed to him.
“If one of the Silent joins our side, the operation against the Ark will be as good as already successful.”
“Of course.”
So help rescue A-ri too.
“I don't know what we should do once we find the Stone Tablet, but shouldn't we find it first?”
“Right.”
“You're getting too casual again... Forget it. You said you've seen the Stone Tablet, right?”
“I didn't see the Stone Tablet itself. I saw it trying to punish my companion.”
I'd seen enormous chains attack the Administrator inside Kingdom of Dreams, then try to kill A-ri.
“That might be enough...”
“Enough for what?”
Ryan's next words were completely unexpected.
“I have a companion who's better than anyone in the world at finding things.”
“Huh?”
“The owner of the blessing, Clairvoyance.”
* * *
- Mi-ro
I woke up in bed.
“... Ugh!”
Strange music came from somewhere.
It was too quiet to hear clearly. Maybe the speaker was far away.
“Wake up.”
I lay in a pure white bed covered in soft feather blankets.
Looking around, not only the bed but the entire space I was in was blindingly white.
“Mi-ro, wake up.”
“...”
A person wearing a hood.
The voice sounded like an older man's, but I wasn't sure.
“Who are you?”
“Huh...! I heard you'd lost almost all your memories of the past, but it really is true?”
The man sounded disappointed, then suddenly pulled back his hood.
Underneath, he was an East Asian man who looked to be in his late thirties or early forties.
“I received reports, but I never expected you wouldn't recognize me at all... I have deep ties not only with you, but with your daughter as well.”
“My daughter? A-ri?”
“I'm the one who guided A-ri.”
“Guided her? Where?”
“It would be difficult to tell you that much. You are not one of the Silent.”
“...”
“Isn't that something to be happy about? Your daughter, your creation, has reached a realm even greater than yours.”
It felt like he knew who I was before coming to the Hotel, and he seemed to be one of the Silent.
He even said he had met A-ri.
“Relax. Aren't we already inside the Ark? There's nothing to worry about.”
At least on the surface, he treated me very kindly.
But I can't let my guard down!
Before I lost my memories, I had apparently concluded that I needed to wipe out all the Management Bureau's leaders.
“Come with me. I have something to ask of you.”
* * *
As we walked down a long corridor, he told me this was inside the Ark.
The corridor was completely white too, bright enough to hurt my eyes. Were all Arks like this?
After about a minute, he suddenly stopped.
“Mi-ro, you gained truly incredible power at the Hotel!”
“Huh?”
“Can't you feel anything at all?”
“Feel what? Do you mean the ticklish music?”
“Ha ha! Ticklish? Look around you, Mi-ro.”
“Everyone is kneeling.”
“They are all praying.”
“Praying?”
“To gather their consciousness into a single point.”
“Gather their consciousness? Why?”
“Even after hearing this much, you still don't understand. You really have forgotten everything, haven't you?”
“...”
“I am not criticizing you. There is no place as harsh as the Hotel. Escaping at all was a stroke of luck. You have no idea how happy I was when I heard you had returned.”
He was kind enough to make me uncomfortable.
If this attitude wasn't an act, maybe he considered the Mi-ro from before entering the Hotel a companion or a loyal subordinate.
“They are all listening to Ark’s Voice.”
“Ark’s Voice?”
“A god not yet born. A god soon to be born. Everyone's hope and salvation.”
“...”
“But Ark’s Voice does not reach you. It must be because of your Inheritance or blessing.”
It's because of Immutability!
According to Ghost Story Mi-ro's memories, even the Management Bureau had no information about Immutability.
That meant no one besides me had escaped after gaining Immutability!
So I was the only owner of Immutability in this world.
I had maintained a complete blessing that hadn't weakened!
For some reason, I felt good.
“Mi-ro, do you know why agents can withstand a Loop?”
“No.”
“There are several reasons, but the greatest is their large spiritual mass. The same principle is why Hotel escapees become Regressors. Their souls expand as they climb the Hotel.”
“I see!”
“The reason mortals fade away within a Loop is the same. Their souls are too weak to endure the wave called the End Times.”
“I understand.”
“Then what if we gathered those weak souls together and made them strong?”
“What?”
“This is the fundamental principle of the Ark.”
He casually told me an enormous secret.
“The first Ark was created while researching Regressors.”
“What?”
“It was the result of people who were not chosen researching those who were.”
The unchosen and the chosen.
Several ominous thoughts came to mind, making my chest feel tight.
I felt like I had heard a similar story before.
Then I noticed something strange.
Normally, everyone here should have lost their senses and been praying because of Ark’s Voice, right?
Then why was this person perfectly fine?
“What about you? Are you alright?”
“I am.”
“You have a blessing too? Ah, or an Inheritance?”
“A blessing.”
“Can I ask what blessing it is?”
I thought it was a sensitive question, but he answered kindly again.
“Dominion.”
“... Where are we going now?”
“To meet mad Foresight.”
Footnotes:
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