WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 603: The Stolen World (18)
──────
「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 229
Current Location: Jungdong Jungang 3-gil, Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province
Sage’s Advice: 3」
- Han Ga-in
“I understand the Ark and the Pillagers now. So what about the Moon?”
“That is another very long story. It is connected to everything we have discussed so far.”
After taking a deep breath and a sip of water, Aedia continued.
“I will explain it in chronological order. The First Ark was created after research into Regressors. Regressors existed before the Ark.”
“I figured.”
“They say the world at the time had a rigid class system. Regressors were regarded as members of the Royalty chosen by heaven.”
Regressors had been treated as members of the Royalty chosen by heaven?
It was interesting, but easy enough to understand.
The Management Bureau now controlled information, so ordinary people did not even know Regressors existed. That made it difficult for them to become members of the Royalty, but what if there had been no such control?
To ordinary people, a Regressor would be an immortal demigod.
“Members of the Royalty also held authority over the Ark, just as The Silent controls the later Arks.”
“I understand.”
“They say the Ark integrated with the next world without major problems the first few times. Then, for the first time, an incident occurred.”
“An incident?”
“A rebellion broke out. A war on an unimaginable scale erupted, and many records were lost. In that process...”
Listening to Aedia made me feel strange.
One day, a group of humans with advanced sci-fi technology descended from the sky and conquered the entire world.
When there was no power to resist, the people would have bowed their heads obediently. But would they have truly been loyal from the bottom of their hearts?
Calling a clash between Ark factions and native factions a “rebellion” was purely the Ark faction’s perspective.
From the natives’ perspective, it would have been an independence movement.
“Based on the circumstances, it seems the rebels wanted to obtain technology related to the Ark.”
They hated the Ark faction, but they still coveted the Ark’s technology.
It was only natural. Colonies oppressed by empires throughout history had coveted the empire’s weapons too.
“They destroyed the souls of most of the Royalty, leaving only one young boy alive.”
“...To control the Ark?”
“Exactly. Then they began reverse-engineering the Ark...”
“Wait, wait!”
The moment I heard that much, memories of what I had seen on Jeju Island months ago flashed through my mind like a panorama.
Insight was whispering to me to connect “two pieces of information”!
* * *
‘We built an Ark to preserve the world’s continuity.’
‘There were people who appeared late.’
‘They killed everyone already aboard, then took the empty seats for themselves.’
‘Were the people who seized the Ark evil?’
‘What if something like this seemed likely to happen again in the future?’
‘Let’s say there was one final survivor.’
‘That survivor grew up knowing absolutely nothing about what happened in childhood.’
‘Only after becoming an adult did they learn about the past. How would they act?’
* * *
“Holy Son? Are you all right?”
“...Give me a minute.”
“Yes.”
The information I gained on Jeju Island had been an allegory for this very event!
The First Ark and the people of the next world.
The people of the next world slaughtered the Ark faction and reverse-engineered the Ark.
They could not be called evil.
From their perspective, it had only been an independence movement!
Conflicts between invaders from the previous world and native factions must have happened countless times afterward.
There had been one final survivor from the First Ark, a member of the Royalty.
He was used by his enemies after forgetting everything about the past through brainwashing and other means.
What would he think if he regained his memories at some point?
“I’m fine now. Please continue.”
“The rebels succeeded in obtaining the Ark’s blueprints through the young member of the Royalty and placed him in Containment. They probably did not kill him just in case.”
“And then?”
“Pfft!”
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because it is funny that you are asking me this.”
“...”
“The rebel faction took on the grand name of ‘Management Bureau.’ There was a Researcher ranked among the Bureau’s top three at the time, you see?”
“...”
“For reasons no one could understand, that person released the member of the Royalty.”
“...”
“The freed member of the Royalty eventually reclaimed the Ark, and after a long time passed, he even unified the Ark and the Moon.”
From that point on, the First Ark became the Moon.
“The Management Bureau was far stronger than it is now, and the Moon was far weaker. That is why the Bureau of that era somehow succeeded in sealing the Moon inside the Earth.”
“...”
“Needless to say, the Researcher who released the member of the Royalty became a permanent target for extermination by the Management Bureau.”
A permanent target for extermination.
This was about me, murdered before reaching adulthood in countless lives.
“After that, many Loops passed until we reached the present. The Management Bureau declined without end, while the Moon became incomparably stronger than before.”
“...”
“Add in the story of the Pillagers I told you earlier, and that concludes our ancient history lesson! Any questions?”
Eun-sol was the first to raise her hand.
“I’m more curious about the way you speak than what you said.”
“The way I speak?”
“You sound like you are explaining information you read somewhere rather than things you experienced. Did you forget all of your Primordial Memory?”
“...”
“You were the one who first discovered the Mirror, Aedia. You must have already existed when the rebellion happened...”
Now that I heard it, it was a reasonable point.
Aedia sounded as though she was recounting historical records, not her own experiences.
Besides, the Management Bureau had supposedly destroyed the First Ark faction, souls and all. How had Aedia survived?
Aedia gave a bitter smile and pointed at me.
“In the same way that you avoided the Management Bureau’s attack.”
“The method I used... Ah.”
I understood.
“You were in the Hotel at that time.”
“When I returned after being taken by the Hotel, everything I have described had already ended. It took a great deal of effort to uncover the lost history.”
“...”
“Next question!”
A-ri asked the next one.
“There is something I have always wondered about since becoming one of The Silent. Even after hearing your explanation, I still do not understand it.”
“What is it?”
“Why was an Ark first created?”
Later Arks had been created to respond to invasions by the Moon Demon or the Pillagers.
Considering that the Moon and the Pillagers were also kinds of Ark, later Arks had effectively been created to escape the Arks that came before them.
Number one caused number two, and number two caused number three.
Then what had caused number one?
Aedia answered as if it were not difficult.
“Isn’t it obvious? There are many threats that could bring about the End Times besides the Moon and the Pillagers. You have contained quite a few of them yourselves.”
“That is true.”
There were many causes of the End Times unrelated to Arks.
Even considering only the Hotel’s Prisoners, none of them except the “Lord” in Room 104 had even mentioned Arks.
“They likely wanted to escape things like that.”
“Aedia, I know that much. What I’m asking is what became of that first cause.”
“...”
There was a first cause that had compelled humanity to build an Ark.
Even the civilization that reached such overwhelming heights that it designed an Ark, whose principles could no longer be understood, had not even dared to resist it.
The humans who fled could make Arks and endure the Loops, so that first cause could not have vanished.
Aedia answered honestly.
“I do not know.”
“...Thank you for answering.”
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
Perhaps the first cause was also connected to information we already knew.
We simply did not know what the connection was.
Finally, I spoke.
“I have a question too.”
“Gladly.”
“...Why did the Researcher release the last member of the Royalty?”
“Pfft!”
Aedia laughed happily and asked in return.
“May I ask you instead? Holy Son, what were you thinking when you released the member of the Royalty?”
Naturally, the others turned their eyes toward me as well.
“Right. Why did my past self release the member of the Royalty the Management Bureau had placed in Containment?”
A-ri nodded.
“Why did you make the Moon Demon come into being?”
Jin-cheol asked as if he found it fascinating.
“Why did you ruin the world?”
I had not ruined it yet.
It was only on the verge of being ruined...
Eun-sol offered her opinion.
“This is hindsight, but the Moon is stopping the Pillagers right now, isn’t it?”
That was not wrong.
“Also, the Pillagers in this Loop only attacked after the Management Bureau collapsed.”
“That is true.”
“I think the Pillagers sensed that the Moon’s Awakening was near too.”
“What do you mean?”
“They held back because if they attacked the Management Bureau recklessly and the Moon woke earlier, they would be in trouble. If they exhausted themselves fighting the Management Bureau, the Moon might sweep them away.”
“...”
“This entire calculation only works because there are three sides. Imagine there was no Moon, only the Pillagers and the Management Bureau. Would the Bureau have endured?”
Imagine five or ten Pillagers appearing over centuries and attacking the present world.
Could the Management Bureau have stopped every invasion?
No chance.
The Bureau’s system had endured this Loop, or perhaps the past several Loops, because the Pillagers held back.
Why had they held back?
Because it was not a two-sided conflict. It was a three-sided conflict.
Because they feared the Moon even more than the Management Bureau!
It was a plausible argument.
Still, it was an argument based on hindsight.
Aedia was the first to object.
“That makes no sense. Holy Son, releasing the member of the Royalty was not recent. It happened a very long time ago.”
“Right?”
My past self released the member of the Royalty and the Moon was created. That was before the Moon Demon was even born.
It was also before most Pillagers existed.
“You created a three-sided balance in advance to prepare for Pillagers that did not even exist? What are you, some cosmic precognitive?”
“...Maybe I had precognition.”
I felt sorry for Eun-sol as she shrank back, but I agreed with Aedia.
I could say that for certain because Insight was a form of pseudo-foresight.
Predicting and preparing for a problem that would arise not a hundred years in the future, but after the world ended and restarted dozens of times?
Even if I had the Owl sit beside me and do it personally, it could not.
It was beyond even a god of foresight.
The three-sided balance was the result, but this situation itself could not have been intentional.
A-ri showed a similarly uncertain reaction.
“Even if you knew everything, you created the Moon because you feared the Pillagers? That is like...”
A-ri watched Aedia and stopped there, but I could guess the words she left out.
Hadn’t Foresight already told us through Mi-ro?
The end of the three-sided conflict between the Management Bureau, the Pillagers, and the Moon!
Unless there was a special change, the Moon would be the final victor, and that meant a future without hope.
Creating the Moon because one feared the Pillagers was like raising a tiger because one feared a fox.
“Okay. I guess this is not it.”
Eun-sol lowered her head with a sigh, and Aedia said something a little sentimental.
“I have faith.”
“What kind of faith?”
“Faith that the Holy Son chose justice with an upright heart!”
“...”
“In the past, you examined the rebels’ records and uncovered the primordial truth.”
“...”
“It must have been a righteous decision to return fate to the world’s firstborn, its rightful owner. That is what I believe.”
“Th-that could be it.”
I would bet a hand and every cent I owned that this was not what really happened.
I thought again about what Foresight had told Mi-ro.
* * *
‘At first, I thought it was sympathy or an ethical reason.’
‘As time passed, I changed my mind.’
‘His character was similar across his many lives. He was someone who did not care how cruel the process was if the goal was just.’
‘There was another purpose, not sympathy. A reason only he could know, beyond the reach of an observer.’
* * *
They said my character had been similar in the past and present.
Then whatever my past self had thought must be something I could think even now.
...
One frightening possibility faintly passed through my mind.
A thought I could have now.
A thought I had already had once.
A thought I...
A-ri asked me.
“What do you think it was?”
“...”
“Looks like you don’t know.”
“We have to leave again tomorrow, so let’s get some sleep.”
I did not know.
Or perhaps I did not want to know.
* * *
Late at night, after everyone except me had fallen asleep.
The moment I quietly got up, a voice immediately spoke.
“Holy Son, you’re still awake?”
“...I have a lot to think about.”
Why was she staying awake to watch us?
Instead of just calling me Holy Son, she should put a little faith in me.
“I’m going outside to check the situation for a moment.”
“What? At this hour? If you go too far, you could get caught in the Pillagers’ Encroachment...”
“You don’t trust me?”
“...”
“You don’t trust the Holy Son? Is that all the Faith you have?”
“N-no.”
“I’m going.”
Have some faith in me already!
The moment I stepped outside, I summoned the sun and rose straight into the sky.
This should make it harder for Aedia to watch me, right?
--- Flap!
A single painting unfolded before me.
Please work!
Footnotes:
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