WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 592: The Stolen World (7)
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- Mi-ro
The moment Elena's eyes blazed blue, the hem of Dominion's robe began to flutter.
It was a moment away from disaster!
--- Raaah!
Elena struck first, sending out a golden wave.
The wave of power, moving too fast to see, lashed Dominion, and the hood Dominion wore fluttered again!
“Huh?”
Dominion took a direct hit from Justice's power, yet not a single hair was harmed?
It was as though Dominion's entire body had turned into an opaque illusion instead of taking the blow!
I-is that Dominion's Inheritance?
“Calm down! There's been a misunderstanding!”
Dominion hurried to explain, but Elena gave them no chance to speak. She poured out her power again and again, forcing Dominion to flee in a panic.
Even as Dominion's fluttering robe absorbed Justice's power, Dominion never stopped defending themself.
“If you have any sense, think about it. Do you truly believe I molested Mi-ro?”
“Shut up!”
“This is humanity's last hope, so don't use excessive force. I don't know what your Justice is, but surely it isn't something like this...”
That Dominion bastard!
They're explaining themself in the middle of a fight?
They know Justice's nature, so that's how they're responding.
Proving their innocence could weaken Justice itself!
Then Elena suddenly grabbed me and moved at incredible speed!
By the time we left the Containment Zone where Foresight's glass case had been, Elena set me down.
I could no longer feel Justice's power from her.
“Mi-ro, you used a trick.”
“A trick?”
“You said they tried to take off your clothes, but your clothes are completely fine. It was strange from the start that someone would suddenly lose control of their desire in a place like this.”
Damn it!
Why was Elena only sharp when it was completely unnecessary?
“Try to fool me better next time.”
“Huh?”
“Take off your top entirely. Or hurt yourself and say you were assaulted.”
“...”
She wasn't telling me not to lie, but to lie well enough that she couldn't catch me?
E-Elena had changed quite a lot too!
“Ugh...”
“Elena?”
Instead of answering, Elena gave a weak groan and dropped to her knees.
Without Justice's protection, she couldn't even endure Ark's Voice for ten seconds!
Panting, she whispered, “Justice was much weaker than usual. Even aside from your trick, the opponent might have won if it turned into a drawn-out fight...”
“Elena!”
“Run. Run for about thirty seconds, then call Ga-in.”
After saying that, Elena curled up and began to speak strangely.
“It's cramped and suffocating. Why am I trapped in a place like this? No one can understand this pain -”
Ominous Imagination!
A bleak voice and atmosphere that could make anyone depressed spread through the area like a plague.
Before I got swept up in it too, I ran as fast as I could and counted the seconds.
One, two, three... thirty!
--- Click!
The hands of the clock turned, and this time Ga-in appeared!
I hurriedly explained what had happened. Before I could even finish, Ga-in summoned the Sacred Sun, grabbed me with one hand, and flew up.
“Eek!”
“Let's go. There's no way that person is the only fighter in a place like this.”
He held me with one hand while wildly waving the other through the air.
“Are you writing something in the Status Window?”
“I need to let the others outside know that we're having a fight in Ark right now.”
“W-where are we going now?”
“Eun-sol. Then Jin-cheol and Seung-yeop.”
I understood!
He was going to find Eun-sol first and secure the Flute, then use its power to protect Jin-cheol and Seung-yeop while he did something!
As expected, I was the only one who could read Ga-in's mind!
--- Whooom!
We moved so fast that the air itself roared!
Thanks to that, I learned for certain that Ark was unbelievably huge.
Then a voice came from Ark's pure white ceiling.
「Stop. You were chosen to protect Ark, so why are you committing such violence?」
“Shut up! You kidnapped us against our will, and now you-”
「You have been saved. Your lives after the End Times have been guaranteed, so there is no reason for you to stand against us. Return to the right path. If you do, I will not hold your violence against you.」
“Don't lie! You're planning to brainwash me with Ark's Voice and use me-”
“Mi-ro, don't react to every word. Look ahead instead.”
At Ga-in's words, I looked forward and realized the corridor was completely packed.
“Huh?”
“Ark's passengers are blocking the door.”
“The door?”
“Our companions are beyond that door.”
“...”
The Time Lender's power alone wasn't enough to take control of Ark.
That was why we needed to wake our companions, including Lee Eun-sol, Cha Jin-cheol, and Park Seung-yeop.
Seung-yeop was especially necessary because he could recreate Fortuna's power once.
But the other passengers were blocking the entrance to the place where our companions slept.
“...”
Their eyes were all unfocused. It looked like Ark's Voice had enthralled them.
There was no point trying to persuade them to move, since they wouldn't listen. Using Voice wouldn't mean anything either.
What if Ga-in used the Grimoire?
He could quickly get rid of any number of ordinary people, but Ark's Voice and the Grimoire were currently in a clash. We couldn't easily be sure of victory.
That meant there was only one way to easily strip away that ‘Veil of Humanity.’
“...”
Terrifying energy gathered at Ga-in's outstretched fingertips!
「Do not cross the line. Even war has its rules.」
“If you're going to talk about rules, don't use human shields.”
「I did not place them there. It is Ark's survival instinct, wary of your violence. This is the will of all.」
Ark's instinct or not!
You put hostages in my way, then acted like you were the good side!
“Ga-in! Just burn them all! Don't waste time-”
- Flash!
- Crackle!
A strange clash of power.
An unknown opaque wall appeared and blocked Ga-in's laser.
But the laser hadn't been aimed at the hostages from the start!
In that moment of confusion, Ga-in muttered, “As expected, it was a bluff.”
“Huh?”
“They put up hostages to threaten us. They don't actually want passengers to die in large numbers either.”
Then Ga-in looked at me with clear eyes.
“Mi-ro.”
“Yeah?”
“Blocking the entrance with hostages never meant anything to me in the first place.”
Seeing him tap his shoulders, I remembered.
Ah!
Ga-in didn't use it often, so I'd forgotten about the Teleportation Tattoo!
“The laser was only meant to see how they'd react. Wait a moment. And...”
Just before he ignored the hostages and teleported to where our companions were, Ga-in whispered to me.
“That didn't sound like something you would say. Always be aware of your other self.”
* * *
After its bluff was exposed, the unknown opponent stopped using passengers as hostages.
Rescuing the other companions was quick after that, but the struggle to take over Ark was only beginning.
--- Rumble...!
Violent tremors came from every direction!
I staggered from the shaking for a moment, then Jin-cheol, who had just woken up, picked me up.
“Ugh! What is this?”
Seung-yeop shouted as he bounced around, trying to keep his balance.
“Can you feel the shaking? I-I think something huge is approaching!”
“Do we have to fight? Sis -!”
“Stop calling me, my mouth hurts! Ga-in, hold me up!”
Even now, Eun-sol's arms trembled as she periodically blew into the Flute, though I honestly couldn't hear a proper sound from it.
Still, Jin-cheol and Seung-yeop were fine, so the Flute of Rest was a truly strange item.
“Ugh! D-did it stop now?”
“I don't think it stopped. I think it arrived!”
Unfortunately, Seung-yeop was right!
A chilling movement came from beyond the corridor. A writhing shape rapidly plunged the light-filled Ark into darkness!
Seung-yeop's face had already gone pale, but he gritted his teeth and stepped forward anyway.
Then...
Someone finally appeared.
A bizarre figure, inexplicably dressed in a suit.
Its build was impossibly huge, and its clothes writhed without pause.
It was as if something beneath them was constantly trying to break free!
“I find this difficult to understand.”
It was the voice that had come from the ceiling until just moments ago!
When using hostages didn't work, it came out in person?
Who was it?
It wasn't Dominion.
Was it another member of The Silent?
“I can understand the unchosen ones thrashing like fish out of water. Yet you have already earned the right to become residents of the new land, so why do you act so violently?”
“I told you, we don't want to go to a new land!”
“And what will you do if you refuse to go?”
“What-”
“Do not shout. Listen. I believe you do not know what is about to happen.”
Eun-sol, who had been playing the Flute nonstop, frowned and lowered it for a moment.
“What don't we know? A strange voice suddenly came from the sky, and we were kidnapped.”
“It was not kidnapping. It was Salvation.”
Ga-in, who was supporting Eun-sol, spoke calmly.
“It isn't Salvation. It's a trap.”
“A trap?”
“And nothing more than a repetition of meaningless escapes.”
The opponent shook its strangely twisted head from side to side and muttered to Ga-in.
“You seem to know quite a lot about Ark already, but I am truly curious. How did you reach that conclusion?”
“...”
There was a slight delay.
The opponent probably thought Ga-in was considering his answer, but I could vaguely sense it.
Ga-in was communicating with the Ga-in outside through Status Window Communication!
“You're trying to persuade us.”
“Ark needs you. You have been chosen as humanity's Guardians. I ask again. Why do you think Ark is a trap?”
“First, running away to Ark doesn't make the source of the End Times disappear. If our opportunities aren't infinite, we'll inevitably reach a limit someday.”
“That is not entirely wrong. What is your second reason?”
Ga-in's next expression was close to pure curiosity.
“I don't understand it.”
“What?”
“Based on what I've learned so far, Ark is a being on the level of a god.”
“That is correct.”
“How did the Management Bureau create a god?”
“...”
“I have power similar to Ark's. Power I gained from the Hotel that can gather people's souls. Even with that power, I can't do what Ark can.”
Ga-in's second question.
Something the Sacred Sun couldn't do, Ark could.
How could the Management Bureau create such a godlike being?
Then...
The writhing being raised an arm, or perhaps a ‘lump,’ upward.
“I can only hope this will be enough of an answer to your question.”
--- Tiiing!
A clear sound rang in our ears.
It was the sound of an enormous sheet of glass vibrating!
We had heard that sound many times in Room 207.
“The technology forming Ark's foundation has already been forgotten. We too only repeat it without knowing its principles. But there is a great treasure that forms the fundamental principle of that technology...”
--- Shhhh!
The unpleasantly bright light faded, revealing one of Ark's secrets.
“This was excavated by ancient humanity beneath the Iberian Peninsula-”
“Yaldabaoth's Mirror!”
“How did you know?”
A Mirror so immense it couldn't be taken in at a glance formed the entirety of Ark's ceiling!
* * *
「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 224
Current Location: Northern Territory, Australia
Sage’s Advice: 3」
- Han Ga-in
While I was constantly communicating with another version of myself through Status Window Communication, surprising information came in.
“Ah...!”
“What is it? What?”
I stared blankly at the old man pressing me for an answer and muttered, “They say there's a Mirror in Ark.”
“What?”
“They say it's much larger than the one Aedia made on the Moon.”
“Don't we already sort of know about the Mirror? How did they make Ark with that?”
“...”
The Sacred Sun and the Mirror.
Once I connected the two, I felt like I vaguely understood Ark's true nature.
I also felt like I understood why Ark could do something that was impossible even for the Sacred Sun.
Footnotes:
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