WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 60: Mission Room Reward, Luck Shooting Event

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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 21

Current Location: Level 1, Corridor

Sage’s Advice: 0]

Instead of the usual notification that was something like the hotel’s “evaluation,” I was dropped straight into the corridor.

Dizzy, I looked around. The others who had been dropped into the corridor around the same time were getting to their feet, clutching their lower backs.

Everyone stared blankly at one another.

Then, overcome with happiness, we all embraced and spent a while caught up in the moment.

* * *

“Ah, this is so damn embarrassing. There were seven stages, and I got trampled to death in the first one?”

“How could anyone have known bulletproof glass would suddenly appear there? It wasn’t your fault, Grandfather. I couldn’t do anything either. I just got blasted into the sky and died. I thought I’d finally get a chance to put my bracelet to use.”

“I’m even more dumbfounded. I thought we’d cleared the whole thing, so I was already wondering what the next mission would be, then that bastard showed up! I’m still pissed off.”

“Well, at least you didn’t make a mistake from the moment we entered the mansion. If you had, we might’ve had to fight every monster in that mansion.”

“Ah, I died flying through the sky with Song-i too, so I’ve got nothing to say. How did you die, Seung-yeop?”

“A rock fell on my head the moment I got on the train. What makes it worse is that my Luck was exactly 98% then! Seriously, it’s so unfair! If it had activated, I could’ve dodged everything with my footwork.”

“Well, it’s at 100% now, so that’s good. You’ll find a time to use it if you save it.”

“Come to think of it, A-ri, can you heal injuries with your blood often?”

“Are you planning to keep sucking my blood from now on?”

“...”

“I’m kidding. I can’t heal injuries often, unlike simple stamina recovery. When I’m nearly dead, my blood tries to heal my body on its own, and that gives it healing power. So if you want your injuries healed in the future, just smack me over the head and draw some blood.”

“...”

“I’m kidding.”

“I’ve never heard a joke like that before...”

“Ah, but I’m really disappointed too. The person reflected in the mirror kept changing, so I avoided it because I thought it was the strangest mirror. I can’t believe that was the answer.”

“It was really hard to get Miss Elena to trust us.”

“I don’t know. I think the answer was simple, but you went out of your way to avoid it.”

“Huh?”

“If Ga-in had just shown up himself, I think I would’ve trusted him instead.”

What did that mean? Startled, I turned my head.

“Now, now! We’re in a good mood, and we’ve more or less eaten! Let’s answer the one question that must be on everyone’s mind. Where exactly is the reward for the Mission Room we went through all that hell to clear?”

“The bracelet was already on my wrist as soon as we cleared the room last time. What happened to the actual Mission Room reward?”

“Ladies, don’t be so tense. The hotel wouldn’t cheat us out of our rewards. Let’s finish eating at our leisure. The display will tell us what to do soon enough.”

Elder Mook-seong’s prediction was right.

Once we finished eating, a notice appeared on the display.

/Dear guests! Congratulations on clearing the Mission Room.

All Hotel Pioneer staff are sincerely delighted that you have taken another step forward.

Of course, there must be a reward after such hardship!

A reward event awaits you at the front desk!/

Not a “reward,” but a “reward event.”

So they weren’t just going to hand us the reward?

The moment we reached the front desk, everyone was speechless.

“You! You bastard!”

“Ha ha! Hello, everyone. I believe we met recently, yet here we are again so soon. It’s such a pleasure.”

“You’re in charge of the reward event too?”

“This hotel is such a terrible workplace that it can’t be helped. I’m busy enough selling goods, and now they make me handle events too! Still, for all of you, I’ll gladly devote myself to the task.”

The Merchant who had appeared at the underground campsite was standing there again, only dressed differently.

Honestly, the moment I saw the Merchant’s face, I became deeply uneasy.

I started to suspect that this “reward event” wouldn’t be normal either.

“Just seeing your face is exhausting. Give us the reward already. What is it? An Inheritance?”

“Excellent question. The answer is, nobody knows!”

At that point, Jin-cheol raised his fist, then put it back down.

“Ha ha. That guest is always so rough. Since the atmosphere is getting ominous, I’ll explain right away.

“The rewards are random! You get five chances! Shoot the balloons with the gun I provide.

“What will come out of a balloon? Nobody knows. But the balloons do have ranks.

“Naturally, better rewards will come from higher-ranked balloons, right?

“There are one hundred balloons in total.

“One golden balloon, nineteen silver balloons, and eighty bronze balloons.

“For your information, one bullet can pop only one balloon. Sadly, penetration is impossible.

“Now! Let’s begin.”

As soon as the Merchant finished speaking, space danced as it did whenever we entered a hotel room, and everyone was moved to a shooting range. A rifle sat on a table while one hundred balloons began flying around near the targets.

We stood there as a group, dumbfounded as we tried to process the situation.

Then Eun-sol, unable to bear it any longer, pointed the rifle at the Merchant!

“Every time I meet you, something horrible happens. Can’t I shoot you in the head first?”

“You may. Shooting me will also use up one of your chances.”

She couldn’t bring herself to pull the trigger.

This was unbelievable. After coming all this way, we had to draw prizes?

We cleared that mission after all that suffering, after everyone had literally died, and the reward came down to luck?

“You’re really going to give out rewards based on luck? What the hell...”

“Luck? It’s a matter of shooting skill. You only need to hit the golden balloon. You can see it over there, can’t you?”

We could.

The golden balloon was the size of a bean!

Ridiculously, it was the smallest and fastest balloon.

While everyone stood there speechless, Elder Mook-seong picked up the gun.

“I believe I’m the best shot here, so I’ll give it a try. What do the rest of you think?”

I had nothing to say.

Other than Jin-cheol, who had served in the military, nobody had even handled a gun. We had tested the handgun a few times after getting it, and Elder Mook-seong’s shooting skill was far superior to Jin-cheol’s.

Eun-sol ran over to the side, clasped her hands, and shouted a prayer.

“Elder, please! Please! Even if it’s not the golden one, please hit a silver balloon!”

“Don’t put so much pressure on me. The silver balloons look damn hard to hit too.”

Just as he said, hitting a silver balloon didn’t look easy at all.

The silver balloons themselves were about the same size and speed as the bronze balloons, but eighty bronze balloons constantly moved around and blocked them.

Elder Mook-seong raised the rifle.

Everyone got on their knees and prayed together.

Please, God, Buddha, Allah, Zoroaster, whoever, just give us a silver balloon at least!

Bang!

As if by a miracle, a silver balloon popped.

“Wow! Nice shot, Chairman!”

“Why are you calling me Chairman? Honestly, keep it down.”

Something appeared as the balloon burst.

A letter? It read as follows.

< Hint for Resolving a Curse Room >

Not bad. It felt worth a silver balloon. We had to enter Curse Rooms again soon to obtain Inheritance, so getting a hint wasn’t a bad outcome.

As the mood lifted, another gunshot rang out.

Bang!

A bronze balloon.

...

Silence fell over the shooting range.

A note came out of the balloon.

< Three-Day Rest Voucher >

Better than I expected. It wasn’t complete garbage, at least.

We had all pushed through difficult trials for a long time without getting proper rest. I wanted to take a vacation without worrying about anything, at least once. Three days of rest wasn’t bad.

I tried forcing myself to see it positively. There was a limit, though.

Rest wasn’t bad. Still, we needed something that would help us more directly.

Bang!

A bronze balloon.

A small plastic box dropped out of it.

< A Completely Delicious Sandwich >

Everyone lost it.

“You son of a bitch!”

The Merchant flew through the air. Jin-cheol must have thrown him.

“A Completely Delicious Sandwich? It sounds tasty! I was hungry. If I eat that, I’ll go home, right? If someone eats something completely delicious, won’t they go to heaven? It’s a sandwich that’ll send me to heaven, right?”

Eun-sol started talking nonsense.

Elder Mook-seong sank down and began lamenting his shooting skill.

As for me...

By the time I came to my senses, I had punched the Merchant about five times.

Even then, the Merchant barely reacted.

When Elder Mook-seong somehow got back up and picked up the rifle again, A-ri grabbed his arm.

“Wait.”

“I’m sorry. I did my best to focus, but...”

“Grandfather. I’m not blaming you, so put the rifle down first.”

“?”

“Seung-yeop. Your blessing is fully charged, right?”

“Yes.”

“You shoot.”

“Me? A-ri, I don’t know how to shoot a gun.”

“I know. Just trust your blessing and try it. Close your eyes if you have to. You’re not the one shooting anyway. Think of it as your blessing shooting, not you. Activate your blessing.”

A glimmer of hope.

People who had been half out of their minds pulled themselves together and gathered around.

“Does it make sense to leave it to someone who can’t shoot at all? If he can’t shoot, he might not even hit a balloon.”

“Just do it. The blessing is called Luck. If it doesn’t come through now, when will it?”

In the tense atmosphere, Seung-yeop raised the gun.

“Did you activate your blessing?”

“Yes. It just appeared. It says, ‘Your Luck is 777!’”

“777. I’ll trust it.”

“Um... A-ri.”

“Go ahead.”

“Wouldn’t I do better if you encouraged me somehow?”

Before he could even finish, A-ri tightly hugged Seung-yeop, then let go.

I didn’t care. Even if the two of them acted out a sitcom for a month, I could cheer them on!

Ple ase gol den bal loon Ple ase gol den bal loon

Bang!

A silver balloon burst.

At least it wasn’t a bronze balloon.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Seung-yeop had fired without even being able to follow the balloons with his eyes, yet he had hit a silver balloon.

So this was where Luck came in.

A very small box dropped from the balloon.

What was it?

Everyone approached the box that had fallen from the balloon, curiosity clear on their faces.

The moment Seung-yeop turned around, unable to contain his curiosity,

Bang!

The final bullet fired.

The shooting range froze.

“Huh! Huh! Huh! Huh! I-I-I-I-I didn’t shoot it!!! I just turned around to look at it!!! Why did it fire?! Mister Merchant! Please, load one more bullet!”

“Quiet, Seung-yeop. Just stay quiet.”

A-ri kissed Seung-yeop on the cheek. Seung-yeop went blank.

The golden balloon burst.

“Today, I have witnessed a precious sight. I am in my eighty-seventh year of service at the hotel, and this is the first time I have seen a golden balloon burst. My sincere congratulations.”

The Merchant and the shooting range disappeared.

Something...

An unfamiliar, rounded oval object rolled toward us.

* * *

Everyone gathered around the snack table on the first floor, still dazed.

“Let’s sort through the rewards. Oh, and Seung-yeop, you really did great. We shouldn’t forget this whenever there’s another game based on luck. Seung-yeop gets the chance, no matter what.

“At first, we mistook it for a game of shooting skill, but how were we supposed to hit a golden balloon we could barely even see? It was a game of luck after all.

“First, the Curse Room hint.

“Second, the Three-Day Rest Voucher.

“Third, A Completely Delicious Sandwich.

“Fourth, the Red Pill.

“Fifth, the Golden Egg.

“That’s what we got.”

The item from the fourth balloon, which was silver, was a tiny red pill and an instruction sheet. The item from the golden fifth balloon was none other than an egg.

“I think there’s a lot to examine about each reward. We have no idea about the Golden Egg, supposedly the best reward, since it doesn’t even have something like an instruction sheet. The rest have fairly detailed explanations, though.”

And so, we began analyzing the rewards.

Footnotes:

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