WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 620: The Stolen World (35) -> [Unknown Arc] (1)
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「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 229
Current Location: Management Bureau Special Conference Room, Seoul
Sage’s Advice: 3」
- Han Ga-in
Three days ago, the decision was made to dismantle the Young Ark and restore the Management Bureau.
Two days ago, an agreement was reached between the Hotel Party and the Pillagers.
And today.
At last, A-ri was freed from her long suffering.
The Silent awakened from Hibernation, meeting the minimum quorum for a conference. The first motion they passed was as follows.
‘Suspend the judgment of Kim A-ri and Oswald, members of The Silent.’
Because the Stone Tablet existed to monitor and punish deviations by The Silent, it apparently followed the conclusion of an official meeting with a quorum.
Unfortunately, not everything was positive.
The next thing The Silent did was interrogate me.
“Young Wisdom! Can you truly resolve all this chaos?”
“Young Participant! You can’t possibly imagine the aftermath of dismantling the Ark!”
“Why won’t you tell us the specifics of your plan? If you have some evil scheme, we’ll make you...”
A-ri sighed and tried to calm everyone down.
“Come on, everyone. Calm down.”
“A-ri! I never thought you’d be so bound by the connections you made at the Hotel! To think you’d cooperate with this madman...”
“It wasn’t because of personal connections. It was a rational decision.”
“Enough!”
“I regret suspending your judgment!”
What was the name of that bald person who’d been threatening A-ri this whole time? Cervantes?
“Then let’s hold the meeting again.”
“A-ri, you...!”
“Cervantes, please shut up.”
“Han Su-ho!”
“What are you planning to accomplish by arguing over something that’s already happened? We don’t have time to build another Ark anyway.”
Was Han Su-ho the one who spoke somewhat rationally?
Either way, I succeeded in persuading everyone before evening.
As Han Su-ho said, now that the Ark had already been dismantled, the Management Bureau had no choice but to face the Moon.
* * *
The rooftop of an unnamed building where I had just met with The Silent.
I leaned against the railing when Grandpa, who had been there before me, approached.
“What are you doing somewhere so dangerous? You’ll fall.”
“If I fall, I’ll just fly.”
“Oh? Showing off because you’ve got the Sacred Sun?”
“I’m not showing off...”
“How did the meeting end?”
“It was a mess. They asked who would take responsibility if things went wrong.”
“And?”
“I said I would.”
Grandpa’s eyes widened.
“You’ll take responsibility? How?”
“Why worry about what comes after we fail? There won’t be anyone left to hold me accountable, or anyone left to be held accountable.”
“... Right. Now that you mention it, asking who’d be responsible was stupid from the start. So what’s the conclusion?”
“The Management Bureau says it’ll cooperate with the plan.”
“And the Pillagers?”
“They sent word through Elder Wisdom. They said they’ll cooperate as well. The date is three days from now.”
Day 232, when our battle against the Moon would begin with the aid of the Management Bureau and the Pillagers.
“That soon? They’ll need time to prepare too.”
“I told them we couldn’t delay any longer. Because...”
“Ah, is Day 233 the day Mi-ro wakes up inside the Moon?”
“Yes. We need to begin before then.”
The freezing effect maintained by the Hourglass protecting Mi-ro would end on Day 233, so we had to begin by Day 232 at the latest.
I’d have liked to start sooner, but the Management Bureau and the Pillagers needed at least some time to prepare.
“Ha! Hearing that makes it feel real at last. There isn’t much time left until this is settled. Right?”
“That’s right.”
A brief silence followed.
“...”
“...”
Judging by his expression, Grandpa had something to say.
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
“... I’m still not sure about this.”
“Go ahead.”
“Right before, or right after, time was turned back, I heard something strange.”
“Something strange?”
“Participant Kim Mook-seong, with this, all your desires have been fulfilled. Yet you remain one step away from Ascension.”
Just as Grandpa said, it was strange.
“All your desires have been fulfilled... The words themselves are unusual, but the timing is even stranger. What does using One More Chance have to do with your desires?”
“... Maybe it does have something to do with them.”
“What?”
Grandpa’s eyes clouded slightly. The wistful look in them made me realize something.
This had to do with Grandpa’s “real family.”
The people who had died, the originals of the family he had created with Dream.
“It reminds me of the old days.”
“What?”
“It has nothing to do with the coming battle. Once our fight with the Moon is over, we’ll have a chance to talk.”
“...”
“It looked like Eun-sol had something she wanted to tell you.”
* * *
Eun-sol was looking over several documents in an office inside the Management Bureau.
“Ah, Ga-in, you’re here.”
“I heard you had something to tell me.”
“Yesterday, we all stopped by Room 105 together for the first time in a while, right?”
“We did.”
“I opened the drawer and found a Ticket.”
“...”
The reward for clearing the second floor, the Ticket.
“What do you think? We could use it right away and make something happen.”
“What do you think?”
“I...”
“...”
“I want to save it. Because...”
“Because you think someone might die?”
“Yeah.”
The Ticket had many uses.
We could make a wish in the Mirror Room, or obtain another Inheritance.
Still, its greatest use was resurrection.
“I, I know that’s ominous to say!”
“...”
“Someone might die while we’re fighting the Moon.”
“Let’s do that.”
“Great! Actually, everyone else already agreed.”
“Haha! Looks like you held a meeting while I wasn’t there yesterday.”
“That’s right.”
“Is that all you wanted to say?”
“It looked like Jin-cheol had something he wanted to tell you too.”
* * *
Oddly enough, Jin-cheol had spread several sheets of paper out in front of him and was scribbling something down.
When I stepped closer and took a look, it seemed to be a document organizing his thoughts on the question, “What kind of person is Cha Jin-cheol?”
“What do you think?”
“Pardon?”
“You were looking hard. What kind of person do you think I, Cha Jin-cheol, am?”
“Uh... Strong.”
“Strong?”
“A brave, righteous, dependable older brother?”
“Hah, saying things you don’t mean...”
“Haha! I mean it. But why are you suddenly reflecting on yourself?”
He wore a complicated expression for a moment, as though he had fallen into serious thought.
“Ga-in, I...”
“Yes.”
“I wanted to grow at the Hotel.”
It was something I’d heard from him often.
“Is that so?”
“Looking back now, I haven’t grown as much as I’d hoped.”
“...”
“Of course, none of the others have grown as much as you either.”
“Hmm.”
“What do you think I’m lacking the most?”
It was a somewhat sudden question, but the answer came to me right away.
“You’ve grown a lot with your blessing. Instant is an especially powerful ability.”
“That’s what I think too.”
“Your Inheritance... hasn’t changed much since you obtained it.”
“You think so too?”
“...”
Since it had come up, I thought over all the Inheritances my companions had obtained.
Many of them had become far stronger than they were when first acquired.
The Book of the Avatar had grown around its three sentences.
Old Blood had manifested various abilities, including limited flight, superhuman strength, hypnosis, and recovery.
Ominous Imagination had found increasingly bizarre uses through Rooms 203 and 206.
Diverse Perspectives had also improved, with its illusions becoming more precise and lasting longer.
The Sacred Sun had been charged rather than grown, but it was still stronger than before.
On the other hand, several Inheritances seemed no different now than when we first obtained them.
“Quite a few Inheritances have barely grown so far.”
“That’s true.”
“Some might not have anything to grow in the first place. The Flute of Rest, for example.”
“That isn’t certain.”
“Right. It’s only my guess.”
Inheritances that didn’t seem to have been designed with growth in mind.
The Flute of Rest.
Final Flash.
They seemed to operate at full capacity as soon as they were obtained, but had nothing further to grow into.
Both had been offered alongside alternatives with growth potential.
Queen Rudah, which could have been chosen instead of the Flute of Rest.
Unknown Cells, which could have been chosen instead of Final Flash.
So perhaps the lack of growth potential was also a participant’s choice.
Or perhaps not.
“There are also Inheritances that seem capable of growing, but are blocked.”
“...”
“When we acquired them, the original demonstrated 100 percent, but we’re only using a fraction of that.”
“The Irregular Polyhedron comes to mind first.”
The Chief Researcher had used the Irregular Polyhedron to freely create all kinds of hyperdimensional spaces, but A-ri was nowhere close to that level.
It would take A-ri a long time to reach the Chief Researcher’s level.
“There’s also the Time Lender.”
The Mi-ro of the past had used the Time Lender in far more varied ways.
Its core seemed to be placing one’s own time inside the Time Lender, but Mi-ro had yet to demonstrate such power.
“It feels like the Soul Box has more to it as well.”
The prevailing opinion was that the Soul Box possessed the ability of Possession, but Seung-yeop had never displayed that ability even once.
It felt as though it would take Seung-yeop a very long time to comprehend Possession.
Maybe it would remain impossible forever.
After all, Seung-yeop had no interest in something like Possession.
“Ga-in, the clearest example is the Otherworldly Star Fragment.”
An Inheritance that seemed to have growth potential, yet was blocked.
An Inheritance whose original had shown far more in the Curse Room.
The Otherworldly Star Fragment.
“That’s right.”
“Why can’t I use the Otherworldly Star Fragment properly?”
“... In my opinion.”
“In your opinion?”
“You need to find that answer yourself.”
“Right, right. You’re right. I need to find it myself.”
“...”
“Recently, I’ve begun to approach a realization, though I still can’t quite grasp it.”
“Recently?”
“I saw other beings.”
Why had Jin-cheol recently begun approaching a realization he could not reach on his own?
“I saw Elder Wisdom. And I heard you talk about the Prince.”
Because he knew of Elder Wisdom and the Prince as examples.
“Does that have something to do with your realization?”
“It does. They’ve both strayed far from being human, haven’t they?”
“...”
“I’ve been thinking. Maybe the Otherworldly Star Fragment...”
“...”
“Maybe it’s an Inheritance that can’t display even a tenth of its ability while you’re confined within the framework of being human.”
“...”
“Do you remember its original user? Kim Sang-min.”
“He turned into a monster.”
“It was an ugly form. But he could wield far greater power than I can now.”
“...”
“Of course, I have no intention of becoming slime like Kim Sang-min.”
An Inheritance that couldn’t be properly used within the framework of being human?
At that moment, I felt a subtle unease.
The realization Jin-cheol had reached did not seem normal.
“As it happens, I still have my tenth Dream.”
“...”
“Perhaps the Hotel planned this for this very moment...”
A turbulent rush of emotions, unease and anticipation mingling together.
“What do you think? I wanted your advice one last time. If possible, um, I’d like to hear something from the Owl too.”
“...”
“Is that too much to ask? If so, I’m sorry...”
“No.”
The words telling him not to do it caught in my throat.
I wanted to tell him not to try something strange.
If it was an Inheritance that couldn’t be properly used within the framework of being human, I wanted to tell him to give up here.
Then another thought came to me.
I had studied the Book of the Avatar and the Sacred Sun to my heart’s content, gradually becoming stranger myself. Was there any point in stopping someone else?
What standard could possibly distinguish the normal from the abnormal?
This was a world where the difference between becoming a monster and becoming the Great One was as thin as a sheet of paper.
「Advice: 3 -> 2」
‘What do you think?’
「As long as they live, human desire does not stop. No matter what you say, the conclusion has already been decided.」
The moment I heard the Owl’s answer, all the strength drained out of me.
Jin-cheol’s conclusion had already been decided.
As long as he desired Ascent, he would conduct the research he wanted no matter what I said.
He could summon the Star Fragment, his means of Ascent, whenever he wanted, every day of the year. Could he resist the desire to grow?
It was impossible.
No one in the world could stop him.
So I offered different advice.
“I hope it will be a choice you don’t regret.”
“Thank you.”
I could only hope it would bear fruit.
* * *
「Date: Day 229 -> Day 232」
The day of the final battle dawned.
My heart had been pounding wildly since morning. When I looked outside, the area was in an uproar.
Enormous beings had begun appearing in the sky.
The Pillagers had revealed themselves in reality.
Soon, they would join forces with the Management Bureau and prepare for the battle against the Moon.
And, for the first time in a while, Scenario Understanding activated again.
「Scenario: The Stolen World -> The Oldest Wish」
Footnotes:
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