WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 5: Exploring the Hotel (3)

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 2

Current Location: Level 1, Room 105 (Rest Room)

Sage’s Advice: 3]

What a relief. I had gone to sleep wondering about it, but thankfully, Sage’s Advice had refilled to three uses. Just as Seung-yeop said, it seemed to be a system that refilled after sleeping and waking up. What time did it refill, exactly? If I ever had to stay up all night, I would have to check.

After washing up, getting dressed, and finishing my preparations in time for breakfast, people began “appearing” from all over, as if they had been waiting. I exchanged light greetings with the familiar faces and arrived at the dining room, where I heard another piece of good news.

“I found out what my blessing is yesterday at dawn. Seriously, ha! It was kind of ridiculous once I figured it out.”

“What! What is it, Eun-sol? Did you get some kind of superpower too?”

Eun-sol shook her head and suddenly held out her smartphone. A smartphone? Ever since we had arrived at the hotel, none of our phones had worked properly, so everyone had been leaving them lying around. Yet Eun-sol held hers out before us as though she had something to show, swiped across the screen a few times, and pointed to an app none of us had seen before.

HP Market

“HP? Don’t tell me... Hotel Pioneer?”

“Probably. Just in case, did anyone else get this too?”

Everyone hurriedly fetched their phones, but as expected, there had been no change to anyone else’s. Only Eun-sol’s phone had gained the strange app.

“What does it do?”

“I couldn’t exactly test it out at dawn, so I just opened it and looked around. Basically, it’s like Coupang. The market sells all kinds of things. The strange part is... there are no prices.”

“Huh? Does that mean everything’s free?”

“There aren’t any prices, but there’s a purchase limit. You can only buy up to three items a week in total, no matter what they are. And it says delivery is immediate.”

“Immediate? I already think delivery in Korea is so amazingly fast that I sometimes wonder whether I should keep living in Korea, but... even Coupang couldn’t manage instant delivery.”

“Hahaha, every man in Korea would be happy if Elena said she was going to keep living in Korea. Well, this hotel isn’t exactly normal. Anyway, I was about to buy something right away, but there was a limit, so I held off for now. We should buy something when we’re sure we really need it.”

“Then I think we absolutely need weapons. Are there guns, maybe? Even if there aren’t, getting something useful would be better than me carrying an iron bar around every day.”

“Jin-cheol, I thought of that yesterday too. But the products in this market are surprisingly ordinary. Just think of it as Coupang. Coupang doesn’t sell guns or longswords. Still, I found plenty of things that could serve as weapons. Baseball bats, for one. There were kitchen knives, telescopic self-defense batons, Tonfa, and things like that.”

“That alone would be much better. Honestly, I overdid it yesterday, but that iron bar was definitely... tiring to carry around. A baseball bat wouldn’t be bad, but if you know how to use one, a Tonfa is pretty good. Um... I’m not trying to brag, but I trained in martial arts outside of here. I learned Tonfa for about two months just for fun... I think that’d be good. What do you all think?”

No one objected. After Eun-sol tapped her phone a few times, the Tonfa was ordered. The next moment, a clear ding-dong rang out.

“Um... I think your package is outside, Jin-cheol.”

“I’ll get it. Ha, I’m kind of looking forward to this. You really do experience everything in this place.”

A moment later, we heard Jin-cheol opening a box outside, and then he appeared holding the Tonfa. He gripped the handle and set the long section against his forearm before throwing several punches through the air as if demonstrating martial arts.

I knew nothing about fighting, but there was undeniable force in the sight of a 190-centimeter mountain of muscle wielding a weapon and throwing punches.

Clap clap clap~

At some point, Eun-sol had started clapping with delighted eyes. It somehow felt like everyone should join in, so we all applauded. Jin-cheol’s face reddened with uncharacteristic embarrassment, and he sat back down at the table.

It was the first enjoyable meal we had shared since arriving at the hotel.

As everyone began getting ready to leave after eating, a notification appeared in the guide window at what had now become the expected “perfect timing.”

/Dear valued customers! Did you enjoy your meal?

Hotel Pioneer always finds great joy in preparing meals for its customers. But dear customers, did you know that countless treasures are hidden throughout the hotel? Beauty, nobility, great value, magnificence. Endless treasures containing all these things, blessings, perhaps even love, are waiting for you!

Of course, treasures are only given to those who deserve them. Doesn’t a little danger make a treasure all the more beautiful? Do not worry! We know well that all of our customers are more than qualified.

In truth, all you need to do is open the gift boxes already prepared for you! Dear customers, let us go find treasure!

Oh, and the rooms containing treasures occasionally have former guests who are not very tidy. Please enter together whenever possible. If just one of you can make it out, there should not be a major problem for everyone./

Silence fell as we tried to understand the situation.

“So... I think I get one part of its intention. We’ve rested enough and eaten enough, so now it’s telling us to work.”

“What kind of wordplay is that? It sounds like it’s set up nothing but traps designed to get us killed. What? ‘All you need to do is open the gift boxes already prepared for you?’ Then put the boxes right in front of us. Isn’t opening them supposed to be the easy part?”

As Jin-cheol grumbled, Eun-sol began to analyze the message.

“The first three paragraphs can be summed up as, ‘Go find treasure.’ The last paragraph has quite a bit more to it. I understand that the treasure rooms are dangerous and that we should enter together, but what does it mean by, ‘If just one of you can make it out, there should not be a major problem for everyone’?”

If just one person could make it out.

My thoughts grew tangled. I could not help wondering if the hidden meaning was a declaration that the difficulty would be hellish enough for only one person to barely survive. What were we supposed to do? Should we go looking for these treasures just because the hotel told us to?

Just as my head began to throb, a notification appeared in my Status Window.

[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 2

Current Location: Level 1, Room 105 (Rest Room)

Level Information (*)

Room 101 (???)

Room 102 (???)

Room 103 (???)

Room 104 (???)

Room 105 (Rest Room)

Room 106 (???)

Room 107 (???)

Sage’s Advice: 3]

“Um... something else appeared. It says ‘Level Information,’ and it lists Rooms 101 through 107 underneath. Except for Room 105, there are question marks beside every room number. Room 105 says Rest Room. I think we need to check out the other rooms besides 105.”

“So there are things like monsters in those rooms, and treasures too? Something like that?”

“Looks like we’ll have a reason to use the Tonfa as soon as we bought it...”

“Hmm. Shouldn’t the rest of us have at least some kind of basic armament too? It’s a little embarrassing to say this in front of Jin-cheol, but I did some physical training while preparing for acting.”

“Haha, what’s there to be embarrassed about? I’ll do my best when it comes to using strength, of course, but everyone should prepare what they can. We’ve got another well-built, handsome friend here too. Ga-in, shouldn’t you prepare something as well? Do you know how to use a Tonfa?”

“Uh, sorry, but I’ve never learned martial arts or anything. I think I’m in decent shape, though. What would be good?”

“You don’t look unathletic, but it’s a bit of a shame you’ve never trained in martial arts. Still, with your build, you’ll have some power if you swing something heavy around. A Tonfa isn’t ideal if you don’t know how to use it. I think a bat would suit you better.”

“Wait, did you forget what I said earlier? Three a week. There’s a purchase limit, so don’t start ordering things recklessly. Let’s wait a little longer.”

“Huh. Does that mean we have to go in unarmed? That’s too much of a burden...”

“Um... I saw something earlier.”

I looked at Song-i, unconsciously thinking that Song-i always seemed to shrink into herself when speaking.

“When I was walking through the hallway, there were so many strange props hanging on the walls, like something out of a movie, right? One of them was a Dagger.”

A Dagger. Come to think of it, I remembered grabbing something like a silver candlestick on the first morning, intending to use it as a blunt weapon. I quickly stood up and jogged lightly in the direction Song-i pointed. Sure enough, there was an ornamental Dagger I had failed to notice yesterday because the hallway had been so long.

It was an exceptionally ornate object. I had no eye for these things, but surely it would start at ten million won if I sold it somewhere. I picked it up and returned to the table.

“This looks more like a work of art than a Dagger meant for actual combat. There are gemstones set into the handle. Something like this is probably not as durable as it looks. It wasn’t made to stab people with. Still, it’s ten times better than bare fists. It’s a shame there’s only one.”

There was only one Dagger. It felt awkward for me to take it for myself, so I asked the others.

“Can I take this? It’s the only thing even close to a weapon, so it feels a little awkward.”

“I think that’s fine. Elena says they trained a little, but Song-i, Seung-yeop, and I honestly don’t seem like we’d be able to fight just because we were holding something like this. The fewer weapons we have, the more sense it makes for someone stronger to carry one. Everyone agrees, right?”

No one objected. Naturally, I became the second person after Jin-cheol to have something resembling a weapon.

Once we had finished eating and equipped ourselves as best we could, we set off for Room 101.

Footnotes:

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