Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 592

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 591: The Stolen World (6)

──────

- Elena

Ever since the Ark began causing Rapture across the world in earnest, order in the real world had begun to collapse completely.

“Repent! Repent!”

“I am a sinner!”

“Lord... Please do not abandon us!”

The moment you opened a window, wailing echoed from every direction.

Some people whipped themselves as they desperately begged forgiveness from a god they did not even know where to find.

A few sought out the Management Bureau amid the unprecedented chaos, but what would that accomplish when the Management Bureau itself was the group that created the Ark?

It was the apocalypse itself!

“Ga-in, are you all right?”

“Hm?”

“I mean Sunrise, the company Ictus is running. You were replenishing the Sun with their help, weren’t you? Half the world has fallen apart, so the company must be-”

“It’s doing better than ever.”

“What?”

“Why would a religious organization collapse during an End Times crisis? I heard Ictus has even started openly holding rallies lately.”

“...”

I'd heard it had changed from a religious organization into a pyramid scheme, but now that the world was like this, it seemed to have gone back to being a religious organization preaching the apocalypse.

What a flexible doctrine. What a free-spirited cult leader.

“It was a good thing we joined hands with Ryan. Without that guy’s help, even getting on a plane would’ve been difficult. We might’ve had to fly here using the Sun’s power.”

“Thanks to him, getting to Australia was easy.”

An apocalyptic mood was spreading through the world like a plague.

Even pilots and flight attendants had quit their jobs to seek salvation, so catching a flight was not easy.

Ryan's faction had prepared as though they had foreseen all of this.

Well, they were Regressors, and they must have already experienced things involving the Ark several times. It was only natural for them to prepare.

Thanks to that, we'd made it to Australia without trouble.

“Thinking about what comes next gives me a headache...”

“We've almost found the Stone Tablet's location with Clairvoyance, haven't we? We just need to deal with the Stone Tablet and save A-ri!”

Weren't there ultimately three key parts to the plan ahead?

1. How to save A-ri.

2. What to do about the Ark and the Management Bureau.

3. What to do about the Moon in the end.

4. A happy ending!

Ga-in gave a bitter smile.

“We need to figure out how to do all that.”

The problem was figuring out how to do the how?

Ga-in seemed to have a lot on his mind, but I was not worried.

“I believe in you, Ga-in.”

Would thinking about it get me an answer anyway?

All I had to do was trust the person who could find one!

“... Thank you.”

Just as everyone was gathering their resolve to make a move in Australia!

“Ah, ah!”

“Elena?”

“Stop! L-Let’s go in after half a day, no, a day or two!”

At my urgent cry, not only Ga-in but even Ryan and Patrick, who had been striking poses at a distance, tilted their heads.

“G-Ga-in!”

“Elena? What is-”

“M-My power of Justice is, somewhere-”

Before I could finish, Ga-in placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Your Status Window is very busy right now too.”

“What does that mean?”

“It seems Mi-ro is doing something far away. She summoned Elena, then summoned me shortly afterward. The me over there is busy writing something.”

* * *

- Mi-ro

“I'll tell you the third story. It’s about your unrequited love.”

“...”

The instant I heard the words “unrequited love,” I flinched.

F-Foresight! This is a story from the present, right?

It’s still closer to unrequited love for now!

Don’t tell me you saw the future and there was not a single possibility where my feelings were returned or-

“Sorry.”

“Argh! W-Why are you apologizing?”

“As far as I have perceived, who knows?”

“What do you mean, who knows?!”

“Right. This is not the time to talk about that.”

Then don’t bring it up in the first place!

And this story is super important too!

“The problem involving the Moon is ultimately connected to Ga-in’s sin.”

Apparently, Ga-in had been a Regressor even before entering the Hotel.

There was also speculation that he might have committed a great sin a very long time ago.

Was Foresight going to explain that?

“Tell me in detail!”

“What is happening now is the process of atonement or repair for the sin Ga-in committed in the past.”

The present was the atonement or cleanup for the trouble Ga-in caused in the past?

“Seriously! Explain it so I can understand! I know strange things happened in the past. You have to tell me what happened!”

Foresight’s eyes clouded over again.

“I've seen it many times... but I don't know for sure.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“If I explain it in terms you can understand, he was in a position similar to a high-ranking Management Bureau researcher long ago.”

“Huh?”

Only then did something plausible finally start to emerge.

“He released a Chaos Entity the Management Bureau had kept in Containment into the world, pulling the trigger on everything.”

“D-Did Ga-in release the Moon?”

“No. The Moon at that time was ordinary.”

Right, Ga-in said the Moon in his memories was an ordinary Earth satellite.

“Then-”

“But it would not be wrong to say he set the Moon’s transformation into a demon in motion.”

“...”

Ga-in had been a high-ranking Management Bureau official in a past life he had forgotten?

From that position, he released an incredibly dangerous Chaos Entity and created the circumstances that turned the Moon into a demon?

Honestly, that did sound like a crime worthy of being killed by the Management Bureau three hundred times over...

...

It felt like I almost understood.

Some of it seemed connected to information I'd heard before, yet some of it seemed to subtly clash with it.

I also thought I understood what future Foresight meant when she said we could suppress the Moon if we went back to the ancient past.

Did she mean that if we returned to before Ga-in caused that incident, we could prevent the Moon from becoming a demon in the first place?

It was already too late now.

Then I suddenly wondered something.

“Why? Why did he release it?”

Why had Ga-in from long ago released the Chaos Entity?

“... At first, I thought it was out of compassion or for ethical reasons. Perhaps he understood the circumstances of a trapped being and pitied it.”

“From the way you say he understood its circumstances and all that, it must have been a pitiful being?”

“Yes. It was certainly pitiful.”

“...”

“As time passed and I saw more, I began to wonder something. This time, you answer me, Mi-ro.”

“Huh?”

“What kind of person is the young man you love?”

“What-”

“Does he seem like someone who would hear a demon's story, say how pitiful and tragic it is, then release it?”

“...”

I had nothing to say.

Thinking back on Ga-in's actions I'd seen and heard about in the Curse Rooms...

When necessary, he had filled the Sacred Sun to the brim with souls without the slightest guilt.

He said he held himself back in reality, but when a crisis came, he eventually used his servants to establish a Cult again.

I liked Ga-in, but...

Liking him was one thing. Objectively speaking, he honestly did not seem like the kind of good person most people imagined!

Would someone like that be swayed by compassion and release the source of a catastrophe?

I could see why Foresight was confused.

I really did need to make Ga-in kinder.

“From what I have observed, his character was similar across many lives. He is someone who does not care at all about the cruelty of the process if the purpose is justified.”

“...”

“His nature resembles that of an exalted person who clings eternally to an unattainable dream and does not care about the hell along the way...”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think he had another purpose, not compassion. A reason only he could know, beyond the reach of an observer. Yes, this is enough.”

--- Rumble!

At that moment, another loud sound came from the sky.

My third and final conversation with Foresight was coming to an end.

At that moment, what came to mind was not anything about Ga-in's sin!

“Foresight!”

“Do you have something to-”

“Y-You don’t know either!”

“Hm?”

“You don’t know everything! That’s why you failed.”

I had seen Foresight praying with a despairing expression at the moment of the End Times.

“Yes. That's right.”

“You want us to do what you couldn’t, so don’t decide how things will turn out for us!”

“... Mi-ro, I do not know what you're trying to say-”

“My love isn’t unrequited! I’ll achieve everything I want!”

At that moment, Foresight's eyes widened.

She clearly had not imagined I would say something like that in this situation!

“See? You didn’t know I’d say that either!”

The girl who had been opening and closing her mouth like a fish suddenly smiled.

“Yes, Mi-ro. You are right about everything. I hope you achieve everything you want.”

--- Rumble!

Darkness covered the surroundings in an instant.

Foresight's consciousness, which had temporarily regained its clarity, returned once more to distant chaos.

This was my final memory with Foresight.

* * *

A sudden flash jolted me awake.

This was the Ark's-

“Do not fear. Approach.”

“...”

“Mi-ro, you should be able to endure Foresight's madness. There is no reason to fear.”

Amazingly, back in reality, I had not even entered Foresight's glass case yet!

Or had I?

Had I entered, seen everything, then returned to the moment before I entered?

“...”

I suddenly wondered which one was further in the future, the Foresight inside the glass case or the Foresight at the moment of the End Times.

At first glance, the one at the moment of the End Times seemed like the future, but since the world was repeating, I could not necessarily conclude that-

Forget it.

Just thinking about this any longer did not seem good for my mental health.

--- Beep!

A mechanical sound suddenly came from the glass case.

“Huh? Wh-What is going on?”

Dominion looked around at the nearby devices in shock.

“F-Foresight is dead! Mi-ro, what in the world happened?”

Instead of answering, I looked at the glass case and bowed politely.

It was out of respect for the Former Participant who had come closer to the realm of gods than anyone I knew.

“Mi-ro!”

“She is not dead.”

“What-”

Foresight was not dead.

She had already gone somewhere beyond the Boundary between life and death long ago.

The only reason she had left traces in reality until this point was to meet me.

“Mi-ro, what exactly did you do? Could it be... Did you already hear something from Foresight? If so, tell us-”

Dominion had acted strangely familiar with me ever since I woke up.

At first, I wondered if Dominion had truly been close to me before I lost my memories from my days as an agent.

But past me had intended to kill every member of The Silent!

It was a lie.

Dominion was only pretending to be close because they lacked the confidence to endure Foresight's madness and wanted me to do something dangerous instead!

What did I need to do now? Summon a companion?

Remember this!

This was the Ark, a place where the Voice that never stopped made people pray.

There was no point in summoning companions without mental resistance.

Ga-in, Song-i, or...

Elena after Justice activated!

“Hyah!”

Rocket headbutt!

When I suddenly charged and rammed Dominion, they were greatly startled.

“Why are you suddenly doing this? Could it be Foresight has driven you mad too-”

“Grr! Chomp!”

I bit down hard on Dominion's hand without mercy!