Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 590

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 589: The Stolen World (4)

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(In this chapter, all of Jin Yeo-hwa's speech, including her first line, is in Chinese. Ga-in understands it through a translator.)

- Han Ga-in

Human beings are truly complex. You can't know everything about someone from just a few fragments of who they are.

Song-i no longer takes ordinary people seriously, and she doesn't bother hiding that attitude.

Yet the way she treats us is genuine. She practically considers the Hotel Party her real family.

Recently, I realized that Ryan Reynolds and Song-i have rather similar dispositions.

Of course, I'd never said that to Song-i.

Ryan doesn't take ordinary people seriously either. He probably views even his son and daughter-in-law as tools for managing his base.

Still, just as Song-i has us, Ryan has a “true companion.”

* * *

── Rustle!

“We're here.”

“Chirrrp!”

“...”

When I made a bird sound as a joke, Ryan looked somewhat uneasy.

His expression said, ‘I've brought him all the way here. He hasn't turned back into an ordinary parrot, has he?’

My companions wouldn't have fallen for the joke, but Ryan didn't know me that well.

“Chirp!”

“... Don't fool around.”

I wanted to keep teasing him, but this was enough.

“Fine. Is your hidden lover somewhere nearby?”

“I told you, she isn't my lover. As I said, Yeo-hwa was married before, so don't say strange things.”

“Ha ha! Are you that nervous?”

“Nervous, my foot!”

Ryan was usually quite sly, but all his composure had vanished now.

Jin Yeo-hwa, the Former Participant who owned Clairvoyance, had almost no combat ability.

That was why Ryan wanted to hide her location, and why I had to come here inside Pero's body, confined in a Birdcage.

── Flap!

“Don't shake your wings.”

“My body's a little itchy...”

“Are you planning to scatter feathers around and track them later?”

“...”

Wow. Talk about suspicious!

Had he actually experienced something like that before?

While I stared at him in disbelief, Ryan even picked up every one of Pero's feathers that had fallen to the floor and put them back in his bag.

── Knock!

“Yeo-hwa! I'm here.”

── Flap!

“You little...”

In Chinese, “Don't do anything useless. Come in.”

* * *

Naturally, reality had no automatic translation system like the Hotel's.

Ryan was fluent in Korean because his base, The World That Cannot Be Remembered, was in Korea, but Jin Yeo-hwa wasn't.

Fortunately, we'd brought a high-performance AI translator from the Management Bureau, so communication wasn't much of a problem.

The Birdcage soon opened.

“Huh? Can I come out? Earlier, you told me not to drop feathers.”

“... She says to come out. She says not to make such a fuss.”

As soon as I came out, I casually looked around.

It wasn't a city, but what looked like a detached house near a major Chinese city.

Jin Yeo-hwa looked to be in her mid-thirties, a fairly beautiful woman with dark brown hair braided up. Her eyes, though, had a slightly irritable edge.

“You keep looking around just like Ryan.”

“Ha ha! Hello. It's not easy getting a chance to see you in person.”

“With that gift of gab, you'd get a hundred million subscribers if you appeared on YouTube. You belong in a zoo more than the Hotel.”

“What did she say just now?”

“... She says you're a very mysterious bird.”

“That definitely wasn't it. She said something about YouTube, didn't she? She's speaking too fast for the translator to keep up.”

“Yeo-hwa, speak more slowly. And you, explain your memories in detail once again.”

It made me a little uncomfortable, but I had to save A-ri, so I obediently explained what I remembered from when the Stone Tablet tried to kill A-ri and me.

After listening, Jin Yeo-hwa touched my head for a moment and began concentrating.

“What happens if you crush a parrot's head? Does it die?”

“Don't act on impulse. He's a formidable powerhouse.”

“I can understand you now, so watch what you say.”

Could she really find the Stone Tablet's location from an explanation like that?

No. If all she needed was an explanation, Ryan wouldn't have brought me here despite being so anxious.

There had to be another condition.

Did she need someone directly connected to the Stone Tablet, the target of her search? Someone like me?

Or perhaps...

“I think I've found it.”

Already?

My surprise lasted only a moment before Jin Yeo-hwa quickly wrote a string of unfamiliar numbers on a piece of paper.

They looked like coordinates, and Ryan tilted his head after seeing them.

“It doesn't seem to be aboveground?”

“The entrance is near a large desert basin in central Australia. You won't be able to reach it by ordinary means.”

“What does that mean?”

“Figure out the rest yourselves. Let Mr. Formidable Parrot tear up the desert's surface if he has to.”

The entrance to the path leading to the Stone Tablet was in the Australian desert!

Judging from the specific coordinates, she seemed to have found its exact location.

I couldn't help admiring her incredible tracking ability, something none of us could imitate.

“That'll do. Ryan, I'll release Possession and return to Korea, so take Pero and...”

Then Jin Yeo-hwa suddenly approached me.

“Do you have something else to say?”

“...”

Her eyes spun strangely.

She was probably trying to see something with that damned Clairvoyance...

“Ryan, leave.”

“What? Yeo-hwa! You seem to have forgotten, but that guy is...”

── Clap!

Jin Yeo-hwa lightly clapped her hands as if annoyed.

Then Ryan vanished as if by magic.

“...”

Had she sent Ryan away?

She supposedly had no combat ability. What kind of trick was that?

“Is there something you want to tell only me?”

“Ryan is my companion.”

“I heard.”

“One Who Is Nowhere isn't.”

“One Who Is Nowhere?”

“The guy Ryan has followed for some time now. An old man who's been playing strange tricks in the real world for a very long time.”

“... Elder Wisdom?”

“Yes. I don't like him.”

“Is that why you're living in seclusion in a place like this?”

“I heard about you from Ryan. A companion you escaped with was promoted to one of The Silent, then violated their duty of secrecy and is being pursued by the Stone Tablet, right?”

“That's right. That's why I asked you to find the Stone Tablet.”

She thought deeply for a moment, then said something unexpected.

“I married one of The Silent a long time ago.”

“I see...”

“He died in the previous Loop. The very essence of his soul was shattered, and he was extinguished forever.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.”

“From here on, it's paid content.”

“...”

“I guarantee it will be information that helps you.”

She had additional information to tell only me.

But she wanted a separate price for it.

“What do you want?”

“If you ever come into conflict with One Who Is Nowhere...”

“If I do?”

“He may use Ryan as a pawn and try to kill you.”

“That seems likely.”

“When that happens, spare Ryan once.”

“...”

“I don't care whether you boil or roast that old man, Elder Wisdom. Just spare Ryan once.”

I realized something anew.

Ryan, who seemed like he had no humanity at all, had been wary of me approaching Jin Yeo-hwa.

That meant he cared about her.

Likewise, this woman cared about Ryan.

Since she had married someone else, it was probably closer to camaraderie than romantic love.

“I'll decide after I hear it.”

“...”

“I need to see the product before I put a price on it.”

“The Management Bureau's leadership, The Silent, always has exactly nine members.”

“Exactly nine?”

“When my husband died in the previous Loop, one seat became vacant. Your girlfriend filled that seat.”

“I understand.”

“... I learned one strange fact during my husband's death. Their decisions are made through a strict majority vote.”

“Isn't that normal?”

“It is a majority vote enforced by an extremely powerful compulsion. If five support something and four oppose it, the four cannot explicitly refuse, even if they fiercely oppose the majority's decision. If they openly refuse, they are punished and die.”

She had learned this during her husband's death...

It seemed Jin Yeo-hwa's husband had opposed the majority, then been punished to death by the Stone Tablet.

“The Stone Tablet's punishment?”

“Probably.”

“Hmm...”

“Do you understand what I'm saying?”

“...”

“If you want to change the Management Bureau's direction, you need exactly five votes.”

“...”

“Your girlfriend will be on your side, so you've already secured one vote, haven't you?”

Girlfriend...

Anyway, I understood what she was trying to say.

“So if I persuade or threaten four more people, I can make the Management Bureau do as I wish.”

“There's another way. Reduce the number of members.”

“...”

“Well?”

“Is that all? This is worth about 0.7 of a Ryan's life.”

“... To save your girlfriend, you need to do something about the Stone Tablet, don't you?”

“That's right. That's the difficult part. My companion said destroying the Stone Tablet would cause problems. Ah, did your husband figure out how to avoid the Stone Tablet's punishment before he died?”

“If he had, he would have lived.”

“True.”

“But...”

“But?”

“I can't guarantee this either. It was a method my husband failed at.”

“Well, even if you're wrong, I'll count it as 0.3 of a Ryan. Think of it as a discount.”

“... After the End Times.”

“Excuse me?”

“He said you only needed to endure until the End Times. If you endure until then, you can become free of the Stone Tablet.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don't know either.”

As our conversation came to an end, Jin Yeo-hwa looked steadily at me.

She seemed to want a definite answer about Ryan.

“I'll count it as 0.99999 of a Ryan.”

“What...”

As I flew out of Jin Yeo-hwa's house, I thought about it.

Was 0.99999999... equal to one or not?

The answer was whatever I said it was!

* * *

- Mi-ro

At the place reached following Dominion's guidance, there was a transparent glass wall.

Beyond it was a young girl with unfocused eyes. At most, she looked twelve or thirteen.

She looked much younger than me.

Well, since she was a Hotel participant, she might really be twelve hundred years old.

“Foresight has been unable to communicate normally for a very long time.”

“What are that glass wall and those machines?”

“Equipment for sharing consciousness with the being inside.”

“You use that equipment because you can't speak with Foresight?”

“Correct.”

Foresight had lost her mind and become unable to speak, and this facility had been made to communicate with her.

“What do I do now?”

“Approach Foresight.”

“... Is it dangerous if I approach her?”

“You will be fine. Approach her.”

The moment I heard the voice, I felt a strange pressure.

It felt as though something terrible would happen if I disobeyed it.

“That won't work.”

“...”

“Was that just now your ability?”

“My apologies. Come to think of it, my words naturally carry power. It isn't intentional. Still, this conversation has made me more certain. You can endure Foresight's madness.”

“... What should I ask her?”

“I believe she will answer on her own. We have already asked countless questions.”

I was anxious, but for now, I had to trust the power of my Immutability.

More than anything, I was curious too.

Even Ga-in, who had gained Foresight's power as a sort of bonus, had shown us a fragment of greatness we could hardly endure. How great would a true owner of Foresight's power be?

The moment I entered the glass enclosure with that thought...

“...!”

Amid pain that even Immutability could not fully endure, incomprehensible information flooded into me!

I saw writing.

I heard a voice.

I felt the Transference of consciousness.

I knew I had met the Prophet long ago.

I was speaking with the Prophet now.

I knew my fate to meet the Prophet in the future had been determined.

Since I was speaking with the Prophet now, the Prophet of the past knew she would meet the future me.

Because I had seen the Prophet of the past speaking with the future me, my fate to speak with her now had been determined.

Then when did my conversation with her take place? In the present, the past, or the future?