WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 613: The Stolen World (28)
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「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 242
Current Location: Searching...
Sage’s Advice: 3」
- Han Ga-in
I stared at the blurry illusion, lost in thought.
「4. Control and Management
According to T. Albert’s research in AS 4731, a Stage 2 Ark can also be controlled through the ‘Crown.’
This hypothesis was verified through the Mars experiment in AS 4738...」
The Crown, the Moon’s finally revealed weakness and a control device for a Stage 2 Soul Convergence Entity!
All I had to do was figure out a way to deal with it, then turn back time. Right?
My mouth went dry at the thought that I was almost there.
But how was I supposed to find the Crown?
「Advice: 3 -> 0」
‘Is there a way to obtain the Crown?’
「Seek the help of someone who knows the Moon better than you do.」
I wasn’t surprised that all three pieces of advice had disappeared.
The Crown was a primal weakness that must have existed from the moment the Stage 2 Soul Convergence Entity was born. It probably hadn’t been easy to answer.
Still, who knew the Moon better than I did?
“...”
Elder Wisdom or the Pillagers?
They knew less about the Moon than I did now.
They’d be shocked just to learn that an object like the Crown existed, never mind where it was.
Search with A-ri’s Compass?
Even setting aside the fact that A-ri couldn’t possibly know more about the Moon than I did, it would be impossible because I didn’t know what the Crown looked like.
Was there even anyone who knew more about the Moon than I did right now?
Even if someone had somehow learned about the Crown, the Moon wouldn’t let them live...
There was one.
Someone who had been in contact with the Moon longer than I had.
Someone who always called the Moon Prince.
Someone who could find the Crown’s location, and whom the Moon would tolerate even if she knew.
Holy Mother Aedia.
The advice meant I should win Holy Mother Aedia over and learn the Crown’s location from her!
“... That’s impossible.”
Could I really win over the Holy Mother, who had faithfully served the Moon for thousands of years at the very least?
* * *
- Mi-ro
Song-i suddenly grabbed me and sent us flying at incredible speed!
--- Whoosh!
I-I think I’m going to throw up!
“Eek! Nom!”
I couldn’t hold it in anymore, so I bit Song-i’s hand.
“Ow! Are you really a dog? Don’t bite me!”
“Where are we even going?!”
“I told you. The Holy Mother? We’re going to where that woman is.”
“W-What are we going to do when we meet her?”
“I said there was something I wanted to ask.”
“What is it?!”
A faint white flash slipped through my wildly blowing hair, and glowing words appeared before me.
She was showing me an illusion through Diverse Perspectives because she was afraid the Moon might hear us!
「We might be able to persuade the Holy Mother to betray the Moon.」
That was ridiculous!
Someone who had worshipped the Moon for so long wouldn’t betray it!
Certain that this stupid high school girl couldn’t be trusted, I bit Song-i’s hand hard.
“Nom!”
“Aah! Stop biting me! What are you, a person or a damn dog?!”
“I’m sending you back right now!”
“Go ahead!”
As Song-i and I were having this serious, grave conversation, cotton-candy-like clouds suddenly filled the sky around us!
“Huh? Wh-What is this?!”
Instead of answering, Song-i smacked the top of my head!
“Eek!”
“You really are hopeless. I should’ve dropped you from the sky!”
“I-I’m asking what these clouds are!”
The answer came from somewhere else.
“I made them.”
That voice was Aedia’s!
“You were flying too fast, so I had to stop you.”
Aedia descended from the clouds as she answered calmly.
Maybe because Ga-in wasn’t here, her tone was a little sharp.
To the Holy Mother, we were probably no more than people she wouldn’t harm because we were the Holy Son’s companions.
“Hello!”
“...”
What had happened so far:
I opened the front door, and there was a subway. Song-i broke through its ceiling and flew at incredible speed.
Now Aedia had descended from the clouds to stop us?
It felt like some surrealist movie!
Only now was I starting to understand what Song-i meant when she said this was a world inside a dream.
Aedia looked faintly annoyed as she spoke.
“You have an ability that summons companions?”
“... Yeah.”
“Is that why the Holy Son brought you here? Fine, but how did you find me?”
“Huh?”
“I asked how you found me.”
Song-i grabbed me, and then whoosh!
Fortunately, Song-i answered.
“I have a power somewhat like that, one that lets me find whoever I want.”
“Ah, your ability, young lady? You must have something like Clairvoyance.”
That was a lie!
Song-i, you don’t have any ability to find people!
How did she really find the Holy Mother?
The Holy Mother and Song-i continued talking.
“My name is Yoo Song-i. I’m the companion of Ga-in oppa, the Holy Son.”
“I know. It seems you were resurrected.”
Resurrected? Ah!
The Holy Mother thought I had summoned a resurrected Song-i from somewhere.
That was what she meant when she asked if I could summon companions.
It was an understandable misunderstanding. She had just seen the Time Lender and couldn’t possibly understand how it worked.
“I came to ask you something. I can’t stand leaving questions unanswered!”
“... What is it?”
“What is this place?”
A rather strange question, followed by a clear answer.
“The World of Salvation created by the Prince.”
“The World of Salvation? Paradise or Heaven?”
“Something like that. Everyone here can live the life they want.”
Aedia stretched out her hand, and the scenery began changing again.
Cotton-candy-like clouds filled the sky. The ground turned into soft earth, then golden fields of barley appeared in every direction.
It was so beautiful, like something I might see in Heaven, that my mouth fell open without me realizing it.
“Wow...”
Maybe seeing my reaction eased her anger, because the Holy Mother smiled faintly.
Her tone softened again as well.
“What do you think? Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Y-Yeah!”
“What about this?”
The Holy Mother made another gesture, and pure white birds descended and began chirping.
“It really is like Heaven!”
Song-i asked another question.
“Will everyone live in this place forever?”
“... What do you mean?”
“It’s ultimately a space like an illusion, isn’t it? It doesn’t seem real.”
“So?”
“I mean, when the Prince wins someday, will everyone live inside this illusion?”
The Holy Mother gave a short laugh.
“Is that what you’re worried about? Everyone lives in the Prince’s embrace only because we haven’t taken the world yet.”
“What does that mean?”
“When the Prince drives out the usurper, all those who were abandoned will receive new lives.”
“...”
“The world that will be born anew will resemble this place. A Paradise where everyone can achieve their dreams... It is the blessing the Prince promised the saved.”
If the Moon won, the dream world inside it would become reality.
Every soul the Moon had swallowed would receive a new life in the process.
That was why Aedia served the Moon.
Song-i’s expression darkened slightly.
“Holy Mother, you’ve always been a kind person.”
“What?”
Unlike the confused Aedia, I understood what Song-i meant.
Just as she had been in Room 207, the Holy Mother was righteous in the real world too.
“Does the Prince think the same way?”
Aedia’s expression hardened slightly.
“I’ll assume you said that because you don’t know better. I’ll forgive it once, but there won’t be a second time.”
“I apologize if I offended you.”
“The Prince’s promise to create Paradise is one he announced to everyone. It is as unshakable as bedrock.”
My breath caught.
Why?
Because I had seen a future where the Moon won, with Foresight’s help aboard the Ark!
Apocalyptic memories filled my mind.
A crimson Moon illuminating a dark sky.
An empty land where not even traces of intelligence capable of pain, sorrow, or despair remained.
In that world of complete silence, there was not even a trace of anything that could be called Paradise.
Even Foresight, as mysterious as it was, had only knelt in prayer and waited for final mercy.
Then an illusion created by Diverse Perspectives appeared before me.
「Aedia is being deceived somehow, right?」
I nodded slightly.
That’s right. Every promise the Moon made was a lie.
If the Holy Mother learned that, she might come over to our side!
「How do we persuade her?」
“...”
Right. How were we supposed to persuade her?
Would the Holy Mother believe us if we said we had seen the future with Foresight’s help?
She wouldn’t betray the Moon she had been with for so long just because people she wasn’t even close to said so.
Even I could figure that much out.
Even Seung-yeop, who was dumber than Pero, could think that far.
When Song-i and I fell silent, the Holy Mother smiled lightly.
“Is that all you wanted to say?”
“...”
“You came because you were curious what would happen if the Prince won? Well, it’s natural to be curious.”
Now that I thought about it, Ga-in had probably considered persuading the Holy Mother at least once.
Making an enemy’s closest subordinate betray them was a strategy famous throughout history.
Why hadn’t Ga-in tried it?
He must have thought it was impossible.
He probably thought it would be more troublesome if we said something pointless and made Aedia hostile toward us.
Then Song-i politely bowed to Aedia.
“I’m sorry for wasting your precious time, Holy Mother.”
Eek!
Was she giving up this easily?
“... It’s fine.”
“As an apology, I’ll let you hear some good music.”
Music?
“Music?”
“I heard there’s a big war coming.”
“That’s right.”
“It’s an Inheritance one of my companions obtained. It has an ability that strengthens companions.”
Music, then companion enhancement?
I’m getting more and more confu-wu-wused!
Couldn’t she just explain it simply?
Was she doing this because the Moon might be listening?
Song-i looked at me.
“Mi-ro. Send me back, summon Eun-sol unni, and have her play the Flute.”
Suddenly, I remembered what Song-i had said at the beginning.
That she could see through dreams and hallucinations with the power of her bracelet.
That this place was a giant Human Ranch.
I felt like I was starting to understand.
The mansion, subway, sky, and clouds were all illusions created by the Moon, not their true forms.
Song-i was ignoring the illusion and seeing through to the frightening truth.
That was why she had found the Holy Mother so easily in the first place!
「I can’t persuade the Holy Mother with my Inheritance, Diverse Perspectives. I considered forcing the ‘true form’ I see into her mind, but she’d only think I was deceiving her.」
“...”
She was planning to use Eun-sol’s Flute to strip away the illusion the Moon had created.
Wouldn’t the Holy Mother think even the Flute was a trick?
Maybe, as the Holy Mother, she could tell the difference!
--- Click!
Song-i disappeared.
The Holy Mother looked at me curiously.
--- Click!
Eun-sol appeared next.
Maybe because she rarely came out through the Time Lender, Eun-sol looked a little flustered.
“The Flute, the Flute!”
“Um, I don’t know what’s happening, but I understand.”
The Flute naturally appeared in her hand.
The Holy Mother seemed to find the situation amusing by now and even smiled.
“You really have a fascinating Inheritance. Fine, let’s see how impressive this enhancement is.”
The sound of the Flute tickled my ears.
Nothing happened.
“...”
“...”
The Holy Mother and I remained silent.
Eun-sol, still not understanding the situation, kept blowing into the Flute.
Unable to bear it any longer, the Holy Mother asked.
“What enhancement? I can’t feel anything at all. And you’re not very good at playing, either.”
Eek! Even the Flute didn’t work?
The Flute of Rest was an incredible item that could affect even a Prisoner’s mind!
Why...
For an instant, a chilly voice sounded from beyond my consciousness.
‘The Flute’s sound isn’t getting through.’
“...”
‘If we are on a painting, the Flute is an eraser. Right now, the glass over the frame is covering the painting. That’s why the eraser can’t reach it.’
An easy-to-understand analogy.
Then what should I do?
“The glass... needs to break.”
“What?”
The Holy Mother looked puzzled.
Dark blue-black mist poured from my body!
The Holy Mother’s eyes widened, and Eun-sol, who had been playing the Flute, jumped in surprise too.
As my consciousness faded, I saw the Spear of Mortality in my hand.
The Holy Mother’s expression hardened as she prepared to fight, but it was meaningless. ‘I’ had no intention of fighting her in the first place.
--- Crack!
The spear stabbed into empty air.
A pinprick-sized hole opened in the hard glass of the frame.
By itself, it was a tiny hole that meant nothing.
Nothing more than a small gap the Moon could restore in an instant if left alone.
The Flute’s power seeped through that gap.
In that instant, the false Paradise vanished, revealing the incomprehensible.
The Eternal Prison.
* * *
「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 242
Current Location: Searching...
Sage’s Advice: 0」
- Han Ga-in
“Ah, this is really hard. Good grief!”
I should at least make an excuse to the Prince.
“Prince, as you know, research doesn’t end in a day or two. If you give me just a little more time, I can find something - Huh?”
--- Bzzzt!
I heard a strange sound.
- Flicker!
The entire world disappeared, then reappeared.
“...”
That was strange.
It had only flickered, as though there had been a brief power outage.
It had only lasted an instant, like one second had been divided into countless fragments.
It was a short time, yet it also felt incredibly long.
“...”
Someone’s voice suddenly rang out.
「A world filled with light, a land the living cannot reach!
The most loathsome space in the universe!
Not everyone needs to know what I have discovered.
It is enough for only those who must know to possess truly terrible wisdom.
There is no need for Han Ga-in to be among them.
I will grant myself a Paradise of Ignorance.」
It was my voice.
Had I ever thought something like that?
“...”
Without realizing it, I reached out and touched the Status Window.
I didn’t know what made me do it.
Only that something shocking had appeared before me.
「* Companion Location Information
Lee Eun-sol: ---
Kim A-ri: ---」
Two people who had never even come to the Moon were dead.
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