WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 641: The Path of Ascension (3)
──────
「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 358
Current Location: Hotel Delight, Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul
Sage’s Advice: 3」
- Han Ga-in
--- Rumble!
The instant a sound like an enormous hammer striking Hotel Delight rang out, something utterly incomprehensible happened.
“Ah! Th-the colors around us...!”
Red, blue, green, yellow. Every color in the area vanished, leaving behind only shades of black and white.
“... It’s like the whole world has become a black-and-white film.”
At the same time, every Management Bureau employee filling the hotel froze like stone.
As if people like them had no right to hear the conversation that was about to begin.
And then...
--- Thud!
Someone approached with a heavy sound.
“...”
It stood right before us, yet I couldn’t see its face.
It stood right before us, yet I couldn’t tell how large it was.
Put bluntly, it felt as if reality itself had glitched.
“What is this...?”
“Please calm down.”
The Prince had pulled a similar trick inside the Moon.
I’d forgotten the memory itself when time was reversed, but I learned about it through the Status Window records.
“... That being isn’t actually in front of us.”
“What?”
When I underwent Unification with the Prince, I understood the principle behind that trick.
If the brain were a computer, it was like deliberately feeding it incomplete information.
We had received the information that something was here, but details such as its appearance and size were blank.
The next moment, a notification window flashed before my eyes.
「Greetings. I am the Third-Floor Manager of Hotel Pioneer. I have descended in response to your request for information, dear customers.」
“The way it speaks is polite...”
“It isn’t speaking in its own voice, either.”
As I waited calmly and took a deep breath, the companions scattered throughout Hotel Delight soon gathered around us.
Everyone watched the Third-Floor Manager tensely as another notification window flashed.
「Under Hotel regulations, information concerning the third floor cannot normally be revealed in the Lower Realm. The same applies even if you borrow the power of a blessing such as Greedy Hand.」
“What does that mean?”
「However, you are heroes among heroes who have defeated the despair that threatened the Lower Realm for ages! How could ordinary principles be applied to you? No matter how firm a rule may be, there are times when exceptions must be made.」
Put simply, neither Greedy Hand nor Advice could normally provide information about the third floor. But because we had solved the problems of the Moon and the Ark, it would acknowledge our achievement and show us this kindness.
Just as my companions were beginning to brighten after roughly understanding the situation, a strange notification appeared.
「Isn’t it funny?」
“Hm?”
「The source of the disaster was the inferiority complex of that vermin, Wisdom, from the very beginning. Even casting him into Avici Hell and punishing him for eons would not be enough, yet we speak of a reward. It is truly absurd.」
“...”
Wondering what that was about, I glanced around.
The others were only staring at the Third-Floor Manager’s form with tense expressions.
It seemed that notification window had appeared only to me...
As I stood there, unsure how to react, another notification appeared.
「Sentient beings who have not attained Liberation are bound to endlessly accumulate evil karma. In the long cycle of rebirth, who could possibly remain without stain?」
“...”
「He has broken the chain of grief that seemed destined to remain unbroken for eternity. This is truly a deed of merit for all living things. That, too, cannot be denied.」
A moment ago, it had blamed the disaster on the inferiority complex of that vermin, Wisdom. Now it was speaking of merit for all living things.
Its attitude flipped in an instant. It didn’t feel like the same being at all.
Or perhaps it truly wasn’t the same being.
「Therefore, I will permit exactly three questions.」
This notification appeared for everyone.
At that moment, Sang-hyeon raised his hand, unable to hide his trembling.
“I’ll ask the first question!”
Seung-yeop and Mi-ro nodded, but A-ri and the others frowned slightly, apparently thinking he was being hasty.
“I...”
As if by magic, Sang-hyeon’s words stopped.
His blinking eyes and mouth frozen like stone made it clear that he hadn’t stopped on his own.
「Once, and only once, I have shown kindness. There will be no second time, so bear that in mind.」
“K-kindness?”
Grandpa’s flustered voice. Sang-hyeon touched his mouth in shock.
It had cut off his question, and called that kindness?
I understood the situation at once and gestured to my companions.
“Stay calm. This isn’t the first time we’ve gotten information from a Sponsor or an NPC, is it? There’s a limit on the number of questions, and there’ll also be a limit on how much information it can tell us.”
We needed to ask questions that were absolutely necessary.
A-ri nodded.
“Right. I was surprised when Sang-hyeon suddenly opened his mouth too.”
“The question he was going to ask...”
“It considers it useless. So it sealed his mouth to stop us from wasting an opportunity.”
A-ri’s eyes narrowed slightly. Sang-hyeon, who had only just understood the situation, bowed his head with a bitter smile.
It was probably because the matter concerned his family that he had lost his composure.
「For a wicked devil, you are not entirely clueless.」
This notification was visible only to me again. It was probably best to ignore it.
A-ri’s eyes shone as she asked, “I’ll ask the first question. What do you think about asking about the strange issue with our numbers? We’ve talked about it a few times already.”
Once everyone agreed, A-ri raised her hand.
“First question! Given the nature of the third floor, there’ll often be cases where not everyone goes up, right? Can things proceed normally like that?”
--- Bzzzz...!
A strange sound, as if it were choosing an answer.
Soon, a brief reply came.
「There are advantages to having fewer people, and advantages to having more. The appropriate number of people is a matter of choice.」
Silence followed for a moment.
A-ri tilted her head and asked the others, “What do you think that means? Is it talking about some kind of balance adjustment?”
“If it’s balance adjustment...” Jin-cheol muttered cautiously. “Does that mean the fewer people enter, the easier the room becomes, and the more people enter, the harder it becomes?”
“Wouldn’t that be strange? The contents of the rooms are decided from the beginning.”
“Hmm...”
It was hard to make sense of.
More than that, the next sentence bothered me.
“A matter of choice.”
“Ga-in?”
“We can choose the appropriate number of people.”
Eun-sol’s eyes widened.
“Oh? You’re right. It isn’t like before, where everyone has to enter?”
“...”
“Then what do the rest do? Just hang around outside?”
That couldn’t be it.
Those who didn’t enter would surely have roles of their own.
“Let’s discuss the details later. For now, let’s prepare the next question.”
“R-right!”
I looked calmly at Sang-hyeon and Seung-yeop.
Perhaps Eun-sol sensed something from the way I looked at them, because she carefully stepped in.
“Um, wasn’t Sang-hyeon trying to ask about his family earlier?”
“That’s right.”
Sang-hyeon, whose mouth had been sealed, nodded as well.
“... That thing stopped the question. It seems to think it’s meaningless.”
A-ri smiled bitterly.
“Well, it’s a Hotel employee. Human families probably feel meaningless to it...”
“No, that’s not it.”
A-ri looked at me as if asking what I meant.
“It’s true that, from its point of view, Sang-hyeon’s worries are meaningless. But it’s not because it thinks human families are insignificant.”
A spouse and children.
They might seem trivial to distant Hotel employees, but not to us.
The Hotel understood at least that much, too.
That was why it granted us the reality-altering power called Dream, allowing us to bring family members and others back to life.
“Then why?”
“Because it’s genuinely a meaningless question. It sees Sang-hyeon and Seung-yeop as worrying needlessly because they know nothing about the third floor.”
“...”
Sang-hyeon and Seung-yeop looked confused.
They were both worried about the families they would leave behind in reality if they departed for the third floor.
I understood those feelings well enough.
We had heard it from one of Ryan Reynolds’s subordinates before, hadn’t we?
Those who left for the third floor never returned to reality.
Whether they couldn’t return or simply saw no reason to return...
I didn’t know the exact truth, but Ascension might mean an eternal farewell to reality.
If we wanted to bring the two of them to the third floor, we needed to resolve their concerns.
We needed to change the question.
A question that could resolve their worries while also providing meaningful information.
It was time to use Advice for the first time in a while.
「Advice: 3 -> 0」
‘What question would be appropriate?’
「Ask your question at the right time.」
“... The right time?”
I had asked how we should phrase the question, but the answer told me to choose the right moment.
In the Owl’s view, the content of the question wasn’t what mattered. The timing was.
“What? You just used Advice, didn’t you? Your eyes stopped in midair...”
“Wait.”
I lightly gestured for my companions to stay calm as I waited.
After hearing the word timing, something came to mind.
「Once an apple begins to rot, it will rot again even if the bad part is carved away. Young Wisdom must be cast into the Hell of Extreme Heat even now!」
A notification window calling me a rotten apple and demanding I be cast into hell.
Once again, only I could see it.
「He has washed away his corrupt personality through eons of rebirth and accumulated merit for all living things. He is worthy to enter the Way...」
「Washed it away? Really? He is a devil who uses the Sacred Sun even while knowing its evil!」
A voice condemning me.
A voice defending me.
A voice demanding I be cast into hell.
A voice praising me to the skies.
I could vaguely feel it.
The being before us was a Terminal, and there was more than one unknown being on the other side.
If so, the Owl’s advice was quite simple.
Ask the question when a being favorable to me was holding the microphone.
「It is merely a fleeting, minor evil. He is a vessel destined to reach the ultimate.」
I raised my hand at once.
“Second question! I want to know the relationship between the third floor and reality.”
--- Bzzzz...!
Gulp!
The sound of people swallowing came from all around us.
「A good question. What is the relationship between the Upper Realm and the Lower Realm? Water flows from above to below, never from below to above. The relationship between above and below is the same. Therefore, your worries are truly groundless.」
Footnotes:
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