WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 612: The Stolen World (27)
──────
「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 242
Current Location: Searching...
Sage’s Advice: 3」
- Han Ga-in
Day 242.
Two days had passed since I locked myself in the laboratory.
When Insight first discovered the existence of the “Control and Management” category, I thought I might achieve something significant within a few hours.
I was wrong.
「4. Control and Management」
This was all I had found so far.
Judging from the circumstances, the Moon had probably deleted every document dealing with the control and management of Soul Convergence Entities.
That meant I was trying to infer the contents of deleted documents from the material that remained.
Progress was much slower than when I had searched for Categories 1 through 3.
Finding information related to Control and Management was important, but if I wanted to keep deceiving the Moon, I also had to learn about “how to grow.”
If I kept failing to produce results, the Moon might lose patience and consider turning me into a floating brain again or extracting my soul. Time was running out.
Come to think of it, I had already learned one weakness.
Soul Convergence Entities were inherently vulnerable to the Mirror, and the Moon was probably no exception.
That led to the plan of extracting the Mirror from the Management Bureau’s Ark and destroying the Moon alongside the Pillager.
It was Elder Wisdom’s approach, and the so-called thirty-point answer I had come up with before coming to the Moon.
Still, if that were enough, wouldn’t a third-floor Hotel or School for Elder Wisdom have appeared?
“...”
Arks were vulnerable to the Mirror because they had been created to be split apart by it from the beginning.
They had been made to be split, so naturally they were vulnerable to the means of splitting them.
What about the Moon?
The first thing I learned from the laboratory records was this.
Not a single document mentioned the Mirror or anything similar.
The Moon was not created to be split apart.
It was born during research meant to create a god.
Therefore, the Moon was not as vulnerable to the Mirror as the other Arks.
That might be why the Moon was ultimately the final victor in the future Foresight had seen.
「The greatest characteristic of a Stage 2 Soul Convergence Entity is the difficulty of controlling it.」
If the Mirror was not the answer, what could possibly control a Soul Convergence Entity at Stage 2 or above?
--- Thud!
I set down the stack of documents I had been rifling through.
Leaning all the way back, I settled into a comfortable position.
“Let’s change directions.”
The research had stalled because the Moon itself had edited the material.
There was no way to obtain the original documents at this point.
“...”
Several pages covered in complex numbers lay on the table.
Someone might think those numbers were what had caught my attention.
They were not.
The blank space beside them, the faint illusion visible only to me, was what mattered.
「A life that began as a bug, I swore would not end as one.」
A scribble left by my past self.
Above it was another line.
「On a day of raging storms, I realized something while examining ancient research material beneath Containment Zone C-213.」
My past self had researched this material too.
My past self must have seen the original, unedited by the Moon.
There was no way to obtain the original documents again.
Still, I could learn what conclusion the person who had seen them reached.
What decision had my past self made?
I released a member of the Royalty, the Prince, a boy from the First World whom the Management Bureau had kept in Containment.
Why had I released the Prince?
Just from that scribble I left behind, I could vaguely guess what kind of person my past self had been.
It definitely was not out of pity.
Foresight, which had observed me, had said something similar.
The Prince had been essential to the plan I came up with at the time.
“...”
Then what happened to the Prince in the end?
The Holy Mother did not distinguish between the Moon and the Prince, but that was strange when I thought about it.
They said the earliest human society called Regressors “Royalty” and served them.
Not every Regressor could have been Royalty.
Even now, the Management Bureau’s upper ranks were called The Silent and distinguished from those below them. It must have been similar in the past.
The Prince was one human who had truly existed in the past.
The Moon was a Soul Convergence Entity formed from countless souls gathering together.
Had the Prince undergone Unification with the Soul Convergence Entity?
If one of the souls making up the Moon belonged to the Prince, then I could understand identifying the Moon and the Prince as the same being.
“Hmm...”
That might have been a natural conclusion for the Holy Mother, but it felt a little strange to me as the owner of the Sacred Sun.
The total number of souls devoured by the Moon was not in the hundreds, or even the millions.
It was at least tens of billions.
Suppose the Prince’s soul had been mixed into that vast mass.
Would dropping a single drop of black dye into the sea turn the sea black?
Normally, there should not have been even a trace of the Prince’s personality among the Moon’s completed “selves.”
Yet the Prince’s ego was strangely clear.
I could see it in the way the Prince treated me, and the Holy Mother sensed it too.
When my thoughts reached that point.
--- Rumble!
Thunder rumbled inside my mind.
That sensation of realization striking the back of my head like lightning descending from the sky!
The fragmented pieces of information snapped into place, and one shocking conclusion surfaced.
“...!”
The control method for Stage 2 Arks, prepared by the civilization that first created Soul Convergence Entities.
There was no way they would let an ordinary human touch something like that.
Royalty.
Only First World Royalty could obtain the means to control a Stage 2 Ark and control it.
My past self knew that, which was why I released a member of the Royalty.
And!
The Prince had not undergone Unification with the Moon.
Even now, at this very moment, the Prince existed as a single human being.
Just as The Silent controlled the Arks, the Prince was controlling the Moon!
As that thought came to me, Insight finally obtained the next sentence.
「4. Control and Management
According to T. Albert’s research in AS 4731, even a Stage 2 Ark can be controlled through the ‘Crown.’
This hypothesis was verified through a Mars experiment in AS 4738, and -」
The Crown.
At last, I knew what I ultimately needed to obtain here.
* * *
- Mi-ro
Two days had passed.
During that time, Ga-in had not returned home even once.
Thanks to that, I’d become incredibly depressed.
And just so we’re clear, I wasn’t depressed because Ga-in wasn’t beside me!
I’m not a child, you know?
It’s not like we’re on a date. We’re fighting the Moon, so of course he might not come if he’s busy.
That isn’t why I’m anxious.
What exactly am I supposed to do here?
Am I really supposed to laze around in my room and eat snacks?
There’s no way they brought me here just for that!
“What do you think? Isn’t it weird?”
Summoned Entity Song-i had been staring blankly ahead ever since I told her about my worries.
“I said, isn’t it weird?”
“... I think it’s weirder that my future self is already dead.”
“Hey! Don’t obsess over such a trivial problem!”
We’d just turn back time, and she’d come back alive anyway!
“They say a person is a microcosm. Then the universe of Yoo Song-i has been destroyed...”
Why was she obsessing over such a trivial problem?
“Ugh! You’re no help!”
“Why did you summon me in the first place? You said you stored A-ri’s and Ga-in’s time too.”
“A-ri said it would be dangerous to summon her carelessly on the Moon. Also, we can’t waste Ga-in’s time.”
“A-ri is dangerous, and Ga-in’s time needs to be saved, so I was all that was left?”
“Yeah. After you, Eun-sol!”
“Even if you say that, I still don’t understand. Isn’t this version of me from a long time ago?”
“That’s true...”
“You said it was in the middle of a New Year’s gathering? I closed my eyes once, opened them, and suddenly I was inside the Moon. Of course I’m confused.”
“Phew... Well, it’s not like an ordinary high school girl like you could help decide the fate of the world, so... Aah!”
Song-i suddenly grabbed my cheeks and pulled them sideways!
“She does this every chance she gets.”
“Mmph! If you keep doing this...”
“What are you going to do? Ga-in isn’t nearby, and neither is A-ri.”
“...”
“Wow! Your cheeks stretch like mozzarella cheese!”
“...”
“Oh my! You’re not crying, are you?”
Song-i lowered her hands, apparently flustered, then began speaking seriously.
“Ahem! Ga-in didn’t bring you here just to eat waffles, did he?”
“... Then what should I do?”
“Didn’t Ga-in give you specific instructions?”
“He just told me to stay in this room. I guess it’s dangerous outside.”
Song-i leaned against the wall and thought for a while before saying something unexpected.
“I think.”
“Yeah!”
“Ga-in knew through Insight that you needed to do something important, Mi-ro.”
That was why he gave me the Living Camera and the Hourglass!
I already knew that much.
“I know.”
“But even Ga-in doesn’t know exactly what that important thing is.”
“R-Really?”
“So don’t heed Ga-in’s instructions.”
W-Was that really okay?
For some reason, I felt uneasy when Song-i said it!
“What’s with that look? Are you anxious because I said it instead of A-ri or Ga-in?”
“...”
“Hey! If you’re going to ignore me even after I tell you, why did you summon me in the first place?”
“...”
“Anyway, sometimes I felt frustrated watching Ga-in and A-ri.”
This felt kind of like gossiping behind their backs...
“They’re both pretty secretive, aren’t they? Honestly, don’t they sometimes make an easy problem difficult by going around in circles?”
“...”
“You were like that too.”
“Huh?”
“More accurately, you used to be. Ah! Now that I think about it, you’re the biggest problem.”
“Huh?”
“Your gloomy obsession with secrecy got passed to A-ri, then on to Ga-in! You’re the problem.”
“...”
In the brief time we had been talking, I realized Song-i seemed to say whatever came into her head...
The difference was huge after talking to A-ri and Ga-in, who only said what needed to be said.
“What does any of that have to do with my situation right now?”
“Oh, right! The Holy Mother!”
“The Holy Mother, all of a sudden?”
“I only heard about the Holy Mother for the first time today.”
“Yeah.”
“But something felt strange after hearing your explanation.”
“What?”
“According to you, this place is something like a ‘Heaven’ made by the Moon? And the Holy Mother serves the Moon because she dreams of realizing Heaven?”
“Yeah.”
“Absolutely not.”
“What...”
For the first time, something that actually sounded plausible came out of Song-i’s mouth.
“After obtaining Diverse Perspectives, I can overcome information distortion from hallucinations, dreams, and delusions.”
“Ah?”
“Mi-ro, do you know what state our surroundings are really in?”
“...”
“Let’s go meet the Holy Mother now.”
“...”
“See? Easy, right?”
“Th-That’s a little...”
“What’s the problem?”
“Ga-in told me not to leave the house!”
Song-i shook her head.
“Sorry, but I think I know this space better than the Ga-in oppa you trust so blindly.”
“W-When did I ever call him Ga-in oppa...”
Before I could finish, Song-i suddenly rushed over and pulled me toward her!
“Eek!”
“You’re so light! I’m a little jealous.”
Standing with Song-i in front of the door, I felt like my breath would stop.
“S-Stop! He told me not to go outside...”
“Why?”
“Uh...”
“What, is something nightmarish going to happen? Or will other people’s imaginations get mixed together?”
Other people’s imaginations getting mixed together.
I had never heard anything so strange.
I didn’t even understand what it meant.
“He didn’t even explain that much? As expected of someone so secretive! Try doing things my way for once. You were just eating waffles in your room anyway.”
--- Crash!
The door flew open before I even had time to breathe!
Outside the door was...
“Huh?”
--- Clank! Clank!
“A-A subway?”
How could opening the front door lead to a subway?
I stood there with my mouth wide open, overwhelmed by confusion, when the eyes of countless people inside the subway turned toward me!
“Ugh!”
An indescribable sense of dread.
Wraiths worn endlessly thin by a vortex of eons and infinite pain -
“Mi-ro, why do you only think so much at times like this?”
“Huh?”
“You don’t like the subway? Just close your eyes.”
Song-i suddenly thrust out her hand.
--- Boom!
The subway ceiling suddenly blew away, and the sky opened above us.
Even the Wraiths, who had been approaching with an ominous air, stared at the sky in surprise.
“A-A-Ah...!”
Now I really had no idea what was going on!
“W-What is this supposed to be?”
Song-i gave a simple answer.
“This is a kind of world inside the imagination. Things happen however you think they will.”
“Then if I think I want coffee right now, coffee will appear?”
“You can’t do that.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ve never made coffee appear that way. Deep down, you think something like that is impossible.”
“... How can you do it?”
At that moment, wings appeared behind Song-i.
Song-i answered simply.
“I’ve always lived by seeing what I want to see and feeling what I want to feel.”
An angel took my hand and flew up into the sky!
“W-Where are we going?”
“I told you earlier.”
“What...”
“Let’s go to the Holy Mother. There’s something I really want to ask that woman.”
“W-What?”
“Does she really think this place is Heaven?”
“What is this place, then?”
“A giant...”
“A giant?”
“Human Ranch.”
Footnotes:
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