Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 600

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 599: The Stolen World (14)

──────

- Cha Jin-cheol

Unit 203, Building 8, Seocho Blue Damien Apartments.

I'd heard it was a luxury apartment complex, renowned even in Seoul, where housing prices were famously high.

--- Ring!

For a place like that, the phone connection was terrible.

Well, that was probably less the apartment's fault and more because the world had gone to hell.

“Ah, I wondered who kept calling internationally. Rookie Cha!”

“It's been a while. We worked together in Busan once before, remember? I meant to contact you afterward, but-”

“Forget the greetings! What is it? Need a favor?”

After our brief exchange, I could hear the ease in the other person's voice.

It was hard to find anyone like that in the world these days.

Wasn't this the time when the Ark that had suddenly appeared in the sky was causing the Rapture?

It was the realization of an apocalypse you'd only ever see in fiction, and the whole world had long since fallen into chaos.

Still, the person on the other end was an agent and a Regressor like me.

Whether the world ended or not, whether they boarded the Ark or not, they believed there would be a next life. That was why they weren't afraid.

“Senior, did you see the text I sent?”

“Yeah! Aren't those the addresses of ordinary people living in Texas?”

“Please kill all of them by the end of today.”

“...”

After a moment of silence, they asked, “It's not a difficult job... but can I ask why?”

“You know a member of The Silent recently emerged from the Korean Branch, right?”

“I heard they went missing-”

“They came back. You know I'm close to ‘that person,’ right?”

“... Is this ‘that person's’ order? All right. Anything else you want to say?”

“This is personal advice. Once you're done, you should kill yourself too.”

“... I don't know what's going on, but thanks.”

“Don't mention it.”

--- Click!

The call ended.

“Heh!”

It was kind of funny, talking about A-ri as ‘that person’ and all.

The person I'd just called was Agent Lee Seok-hyeon, one of the many agents I'd met while working for the Management Bureau.

Honestly, we weren't that close.

I only called because Lee Seok-hyeon was the only agent I knew who was currently in America.

It was funny enough that I'd suddenly called someone like that and asked them to kill people, but the fact that they immediately agreed wasn't ordinary either.

It probably wasn't because they trusted rookie agent Cha Jin-cheol.

They must've thought it was an order from ‘Kim A-ri of The Silent,’ someone known to be close to me.

Moments like this made me realize how important A-ri really was.

Anyway, I seemed to have succeeded in “evacuating” Sang-hyeon's family and Agent Mook-seong's family too.

I'd roughly finished what I had to do outside, so it was time to head back-

--- Crackle!

Huh? I hadn't even touched the remote, so why was the TV suddenly-

「Emergency Disaster Alert!

...

Other instructions to follow are-」

--- Crackle!

「Emergency Disaster Alert!

...

Other instructions to follow are-」

“...”

The moment I saw those mysterious alerts bursting out one after another, I realized it.

The real End Times event had begun!

“Why does this have to happen now?”

Ga-in had said that the Moon would soon begin preparing to slurp up all the souls in the world.

This had to be it.

Had the Moon corrupted the warnings from the remaining Management Bureau forces that had sensed something was wrong?

If I went outside, would the Moon shake ordinary people's minds from the sky?

“Hey! Even I can figure out this much! Do you really think I'd be fooled into going outside?”

I spoke confidently to someone whose whereabouts I didn't know, but my head was already throbbing.

What if I didn't leave?

Was I seriously trapped alone in this creepy apartment?

Why did this have to happen when I was separated from my companions?

Still, it was much better than getting brainwashed while I was outside.

My luck sucked, but considering the circumstances, I should count myself lucky.

Either way, all my strength drained out of me, and I sat on the sticky bed.

--- Creak!

“Ah, come on. They say these apartments are expensive, couldn't they buy a decent bed- Sorry. Why am I even saying that?”

Was the problem not the bed, but the fact that I was too heavy?

With a sigh, I slowly thought over what to do next.

Then-

--- Boom!

“...”

--- Boom boom boom boom boom boom!

Someone was knocking on the door like crazy.

“Who is it!”

Confused voices answered as if they had been waiting.

“Haha! Mister in Unit 203! Come out!”

“What are these people doing, staying inside like that?”

“Didn't you hear the emergency disaster alert telling you to come outside?”

It had been less than ten minutes since the alert appeared. Had they already all been entranced?

--- Boom boom boom!

“Unit 203! Unit 203! I said come out!”

“What stubborn people! Everyone else came out right away!”

“Who lived in Unit 203 again?”

“The doctor, their spouse, and their high school daughter-”

“Not a doctor, a veterinarian!”

“But was the veterinarian's voice always that deep?”

It was incredibly loud, and there were all kinds of voices. There had to be more than ten people gathered outside the door.

--- Crackle!

Then the TV lit up again.

“What? I even unplugged it-”

As if to prove this was a wealthy neighborhood, the enormous hundred-inch TV displayed a news desk. At its center sat an announcer with an eerie gleam in their eyes.

「Unit 203, Building 8, Seocho Blue Damien Apartments.」

“Wow, you even know the address? Impressive.”

「I'm saying this for your sake. Come outside. Come and accept salvation-」

The announcer, who had been babbling on, suddenly flinched and shut their mouth.

“What's wrong?”

They'd clearly looked like something out of a ghost story, yet now they only rolled their eyes around in silence.

“Weren't you trying to say something?”

「...」

“Ah, is it because the place is a little messy? It used to be clean.”

「...」

--- Boom! Crack!

A tremendous sound came from the door.

It sounded like they had brought hammers or blunt weapons and were smashing the door down.

“Why are those bastards so determined to drag just one person outside?”

These days, people didn't even know who lived next door to them. What was with this?

When I went over to the door in disbelief, there really was a large hole punched through it.

“Hahaha! Unit 203, Unit 203! We're coming in soon!”

“Didn't we tell you not to stay cooped up inside?”

“We-”

--- Ring!

So I just opened the door.

They hadn't expected it to open so suddenly. The person tearing the door apart with some strange tool looked flustered.

“Uh, uh-”

“Come on in. You sure seem eager to look around the place.”

The people entered with dazed expressions.

Once the door opened, I could hear the sounds outside. What was happening in Unit 203 was happening throughout the entire apartment complex.

In short, the entranced people were forcibly dragging out those who hadn't been entranced.

“So, how's the place?”

“Uh, uh, th-this...!”

The people who had been speaking in crazed voices moments ago looked around Unit 203 as though their souls had left their bodies.

“Ah, is it because there are some corpses on the floor?”

Unit 203, Building 8, Seocho Blue Damien Apartments.

The address of Song-i's home that I'd heard before.

The corpses lying on the floor were Song-i's parents.

After evacuating Seung-yeop's parents first, I had sent Song-i's parents somewhere safe as well.

To someone who didn't know the situation, I probably looked like a serial killer right now.

But after listening to Ga-in's explanation earlier, I understood.

Ah...!

The sun had set and the Moon had risen, so the standards of right and wrong had been reversed.

The safest place in the world was the Afterlife, and killing people was the same as saving lives.

“Gasp!”

“Why are you so shocked? Is this your first time seeing a corpse? People can kill people sometimes. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?”

“M-murder!”

“Murder?”

“A c-crazy killer murdered the veterinarian couple in Unit 203-”

--- Bang!

The head of the man at the front exploded.

“H-how does anyone have a gun in Korea-”

“My job is a little unusual.”

--- Bang! Bang!

The heads of the people behind him burst one after another.

Soon, the number of corpses in Unit 203 had grown to seven.

“...”

My heart pounded violently, gripped by instinctive guilt.

In contrast, my mind kept whispering the cold truth.

I wasn't killing people, only sending them somewhere safe.

“...”

If I stayed mostly within the apartment complex and remained careful, I thought I could avoid being entranced by the Moon.

--- Creak!

“Huh? Who-”

--- Bang!

I should save my bullets from now on.

I was evacuating civilians to the absolute safe zone the Moon couldn't reach, the Afterlife.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

At some point, I stopped counting.

...

To move through a world being consumed by the Moon's madness, mental protection abilities were essential.

The companions who remained at Hotel Delight had Eun-sol's Flute, the Status Window, Immutability, Clear Mirror, Still Water, and more. They should be fine, right?

It would be difficult for me to leave this apartment complex right now.

What should I do?

--- Creak!

I returned to Unit 203 and moved in front of the screen, which was still glowing brightly.

The strange announcer looked at me with exhausted eyes.

“Hey, are there more people in the apartment complex?”

「...」

“You can move around through TVs, inside and outside them, right? Send them all to me.”

「...」

“Can't you hear me? You bastard! Do I need to go where you are and make you do it? Just because you look like a woman, do you think I can't hit you?”

As I peacefully conversed with the ghost story announcer beyond the TV-

「You devil- Kyaak!」

“Uh, huh? What is that?”

Something strange was happening again!

“What the-”

The announcer, the Moon's servant, was being attacked by something?

* * *

「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 227

Current Location: Hotel Delight, Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul

Sage’s Advice: 3」

- Han Ga-in

The world had begun to go truly mad.

The excited voices of people entranced by the Moon's madness and occupying the streets echoed from all directions.

“Salvation has come! Salvation has come!”

“Maitreya has come to save us!”

I had come up to the rooftop of Hotel Delight alone.

Against the dark night sky, a faint crimson light source glowed.

The Moon had not descended completely yet.

“...”

I watched the Moon while blocking my vision with the Status Window. It felt like looking at the sun through polarized film.

Just as film could not block all sunlight, the Status Window could not block all of the Moon's magical power.

Well, that was why I had come out here.

The voices I had heard before spoke again.

「Teacher」

「Researcher」

「Mage」

The Moon was speaking to me.

「Coward」

This time, one word that hadn't been there before had been added.

“Coward? Why?”

「I know. The real you is inside the building.」

I was a Summoned Entity Mi-ro had called forth with the Time Lender.

Once it became too difficult to endure, all I had to do was write an exclamation mark on the Status Window, and Mi-ro would immediately initiate Dismissal.

“I'll admit it. I'm a bit of a coward. Still, can you tell at a glance that I'm a Summoned Entity?”

「Traitor」

「Arrogant one」

I had vaguely sensed it before, but hearing it again confirmed it.

There wasn't just one voice coming from the Moon.

Countless voices were mingled together at random, making them hard to understand.

Quite a few of them also sounded like immature children.

Had their consciousnesses failed to merge properly?

「Teacher」

“...”

The story Mi-ro had told me.

Long ago, the ‘Researcher’ released a certain Chaos Entity that had been under Containment by the Management Bureau.