WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 626: The Oldest Wish (7)
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- Lee Eun-sol
The Moon called this place the Plain of Sinners.
In other words, the wraiths filling every direction were “Sinners” in the Moon's eyes.
“Most of the souls inside the Moon are survivors left behind in worlds where the End Times were confirmed after the Ark departed.”
Even after the Ark departed, at least several billion survivors remained in the world.
The Moon's history was one of devouring them without rest.
“They’re probably not survivors from recent Loops.”
I didn't know exactly when it began, but before a completed Ark left a Loop, it began slaughtering the survivors on Earth with the Light That Calls the End.
It was a little funny to think about now, but A-ri and Grandpa entered the Hotel believing they had to stop the Light That Calls the End, right?
Neither of them had been part of The Silent at the time, so they didn't know the truth.
Maybe the Management Bureau expected the omniscient Hotel to understand exactly what its agents needed, whether they knew it themselves or not, and provide the right Inheritance or tool.
“From the Moon's perspective, most survivors are souls abandoned by the Management Bureau. In other words, they are victims and targets of Salvation.”
The Moon pitied most survivors.
To purify them through the Eternal Dream and have them reborn as followers of the Moon Church.
It looked like hell to us, but the Moon saw the process as purification and rebirth, in other words, Salvation.
Of course, it probably wanted to grow in the process too!
“Then who are the Sinners?”
With that, Ga-in glanced at A-ri. She seemed to realize something as well and sighed.
“... The low-ranking Management Bureau staff who were abandoned.”
The Management Bureau was an organization that ruled the entire world.
There were very few agents, but an enormous number of employees.
There must have been countless low-ranking staff members who belonged to the Management Bureau but couldn't board the Ark because they weren't considered valuable human resources.
To the Moon, they were Sinners.
A-ri muttered with a dark expression.
“They were all trapped inside the Moon and became targets of eternal retribution.”
“Not eternal retribution.”
It was the Holy Mother's voice.
It seemed the Flute's help had let her regain a little clarity.
“What?”
“It isn't retribution but rightful punishment, and their sentences have a finite term. Once they pay for their sins, they too can be saved and become members of the Moon Church.”
When everyone's gaze turned to the Holy Mother, she hurriedly added as if making an excuse.
“... That isn't what I think. That's how the Moon thinks.”
With a jolt, I realized the Holy Mother had changed.
She remembered the Moon's perspective and explained it.
She realized how her explanation would sound to us, then tried to excuse it.
At first, she had followed our words like a child, without any resistance. Now she was far too clear-headed.
The Flute I had used earlier probably had something to do with it.
I remembered what Ga-in told me at the beginning.
“Don't use the Flute.”
I'd never forgotten the warning.
But the situation earlier had been too urgent!
The Holy Mother had been crushed beneath the tides of nightmares flooding in from every direction, to the point where she could have fainted at any moment.
If the Holy Mother collapsed completely, the elevator would vanish forever.
That was probably why Ga-in didn't stop me from using the Flute, even while watching.
“...”
It had been another unavoidable choice, but seeing how normal the Holy Mother had become made my heart pound.
Would she be all right?
What was the Holy Mother thinking now?
--- Kiiiiirk!
A chilling sound scraped against the outer wall.
Then Mi-ro's frightened voice rang out.
“E-Enough with the explanations! What do we do? There are even more wraiths now!”
Mi-ro was right.
It didn't matter how harsh and terrifying the Plain of Sinners was.
What mattered was how we dealt with it!
“Those things are beasts with only instinct remaining. They are closer to wild animals than people, beasts driven mad.”
I couldn't hold back and shouted, “So?!”
--- Grrrk! Kiiiiirk!
“Should I go out now? I'm ready! With the power of a Star Fragment, I can...”
Cha Jin-cheol shouted, eyes wide, looking ready to summon the Star at any moment.
“You must not think about fighting them! If you try to fight, they'll be far more difficult to deal with than the Holy Mother.”
That much I understood.
The Holy Mother was powerful, but she was still one person. The Sinners were wraiths too numerous to count.
“We have to lure them with the Flute!”
Lure them with the Flute.
The moment I heard that, I understood Ga-in's plan.
Then Ga-in looked at me.
Ah...
I see.
It was my turn this time.
“Noona.”
“Ga-in, do your best and come back!”
Smiling, I headed for the elevator entrance, which was about to disappear.
“I'm going with you.”
Opaque footholds had appeared outside the entrance.
When I looked back, A-ri was following me.
“We have to do this together. Eun-sol, can you fly?”
“No.”
This was a space where imagination became reality.
A world of dreams created by the Moon.
As an individual, the Holy Mother was unquestionably the best at handling dreams.
But one person could not contend with ten.
Before the nightmares of countless wraiths, even the Holy Mother's dreams collapsed in seconds.
If A-ri didn't create a stable area with the Irregular Polyhedron, I wouldn't be able to endure outside the elevator.
* * *
In a place filled with hellish dreams, it was far too difficult for the Holy Mother to restore the elevator!
Someone had to draw the Sinners' attention from outside the elevator.
Who could draw their attention?
Me!
Sinners were wraiths who had lost their reason in endless suffering.
There was only one thing they desperately longed for: rest.
Unfortunately, even the Flute's power could not return them to the healthy forms they had in life.
They had gone far beyond a shattered plate. Burned, crushed, melted, and mixed together, they had become lumps of clay.
They had come too far to be restored.
Still, it could stop their pain for a while.
There could be no greater temptation for the Sinners.
Plain of Sinners, first stage of the strategy.
“Canary in a Birdcage.”
“What's that?”
“The name I gave the operation.”
Hell, filled with nightmares boiling up like foam.
Inside the tiny birdcage created by the Irregular Polyhedron, I held the Flute.
--- Roooo!
Compared to before, the sound of my Flute was quite smooth.
“You've gotten pretty good at the flute. Did you practice? Ah, you don't need to answer.”
Right. I practiced while watching YouTube videos.
“You don't need any playing skill to use the Flute of Rest, do you?”
That was true, but if it always made nothing but hissing sounds of air leaking out, it would be so uncool.
The Flute of Rest was an ancient treasure imbued with the Sea God's power.
“... There are more and more souls of Sinners.”
The number of wraiths rushing toward us continued to grow.
The scenery of the plain gradually became a vision of hell that no human mind could endure.
--- Screeech!
Nightmares swept in like waves and devoured the whole world.
A vortex of pain that would never end!
Countless forms that had lost even human shape wailed in grief.
Aah...!
I saw it.
I ended up seeing it.
The one who fashioned the suffering of all things!
We had to stop something like that?
Who would do it? Us? Ga-in?
“Calm down! Focus on the Flute.”
“... Thanks.”
I thought I'd built up quite a bit of nerve after all I'd experienced in the Hotel, but I still had a long way to go.
If A-ri hadn't cut in, it could have been bad.
--- Rooo...!
As I focused on playing, I forced myself to think of something else.
Memories from the past crossed my mind.
I'd drawn public attention since I was young.
It was only natural. I had inherited the blood of the chairman of Daeyang Group, one of South Korea's biggest conglomerates.
As soon as I entered middle school, articles came out about the relationship between the school's foundation and Daeyang Group.
It was common for magazines to call it a “chaebol family trend” whenever I changed my fashion a little for a change of pace.
Back then, it sometimes annoyed me to see the media watching every little thing I did...
But I should admit it.
I felt a little superior too.
Was I really that important?
I was born into such an incredible family!
...
Eyes.
Eyes.
Eyes.
Even now, countless eyes were on me.
Wraiths beyond count, old beyond measure, watched me.
What did I look like to them?
A steak dripping with fat, appearing before a Hungry Ghost that had starved for a thousand years?
“...”
Yes, look at me.
What is over there? Nothing, right?
I'm your succulent meat, your sweet wine.
So don't look at the elevator. Look at me!
--- Rooo...!
Souls too pitiful for words.
Abandoned by the Management Bureau in life, then subjected to the Moon's retribution in death.
Their fate was even more miserable than that of the Moon Church's followers.
The canary's song spread to the farthest reaches of eternal hell.
I hoped the souls exposed to the Flute's power could forget their pain, even for a moment.
...
How much time had passed? Five minutes? Ten?
My head had been throbbing for a while, so my sense of time was strange.
Huh? Time?
I felt like I'd just thought of something good...
Then a faint sound came from afar.
--- Clunk!
“The elevator has disappeared from this space.”
While I held their attention, the Holy Mother seemed to have restored the elevator and sent it off.
“It worked. Eun-sol, you did well.”
“...”
A-ri's voice was exhausted beyond measure.
Was it because we'd spent so long together?
I could roughly tell what she was thinking just from her voice.
We had succeeded in sending the elevator away, but she didn't think we could survive.
Why?
Because none of the power we had was infinite.
The birdcage A-ri had created with the Irregular Polyhedron.
The wraiths around us, stabilized by the Flute's power.
The small miracle created by the two Inheritances would end eventually.
--- Tap!
“Is it over?”
“Yeah. Even if I keep playing, there is no power left in the Flute.”
“Really? What do you want to do now?”
“... What do you think, A-ri?”
“Nothing much. Should we just kill ourselves?”
A blade of frost appeared at A-ri's fingertips as she smiled.
The power of Old Blood?
It felt like it had been a while since I'd seen that.
“If we kill ourselves here, won't the Moon swallow us?”
“Yeah. What should we do...?”
I spoke as A-ri gave a bitter smile.
“I have a plan.”
“What?”
“I don't think Ga-in thought this far ahead. I thought of it earlier. Pretty impressive, right?”
“... What's the plan?”
“It's very dangerous. There are a lot of variables.”
“It's dangerous now too. Every variable leads straight to hell anyway.”
“Then first.”
“First?”
“A-ri, use The Unremarkable Girl and run right now.”
“...”
“I said run.”
Would The Unremarkable Girl work against wraiths?
A-ri probably didn't know either.
We could only do our best.
As if she had realized something, A-ri silently began running out of the birdcage.
Before long, the birdcage created by the Irregular Polyhedron began to fade.
Once the last safety net protecting me from the dreams of hell vanished, nothing would stand between me and the wraiths of hell.
Eyes.
Eyes.
Eyes.
Madness rushed in like waves.
And before it, I...
--- Click!
I used Butterfly Dream, the precious brooch that had always guarded one side of my head!
Five, ten, twenty, thirty...
Dozens of Nightmare Butterflies began fluttering mysteriously.
This was nowhere near enough.
So...
[Greedy Hand: 1 -> 0]
“Maximum wish output! Even if it's only once, please make Butterfly Dream much stronger! And...”
T-This wish was a little shameless, but it might be possible!
“If you can, could you get rid of the Moon too?”
--- Rumble!
I made my wish.
And then...
[The latter is far too shameless. It certainly was greedy. The former has been granted.]
The blue brooch suddenly trembled, and an enormous swarm of butterflies poured out from within!
“H-Haha! Thank you!”
My skill at handling dreams could not compare to the Holy Mother's, but sometimes quantity overwhelmed quality.
As the storm of Nightmare Butterflies raged around me, I thought of another nightmare I wanted to create.
Souls that had lost their intellect were no different from beasts. They had to be ruled with a whip.
I would show the wraiths the nightmare they feared most.
A dream so terrifying that no one could come near me!
“...”
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