WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 648: The First Wish (4)
──────
- Kim A-ri
Let’s just say that what happened next was too painful to watch with my eyes open.
If you took a step back, it wasn’t anything especially unusual.
A hot-blooded middle school boy confessed his innocent feelings to a girl his age and got rejected?
Wasn’t that something everyone went through at least once in life?
“...”
Seung-yeop trembling all over as he approached her.
Seung-yeop stammering as though he didn’t even know what he was saying.
Seung-yeop finally confessing his feelings, then staring at the ground like a prisoner awaiting the judge’s sentence.
Every one of those scenes passed before everyone’s eyes.
Soon, the judge’s cold verdict came down.
“Sorry. I have a boyfriend.”
Unfortunately, it was a death sentence.
“If, if you two break up, then next time-”
Oh, seriously! Seung-yeop!
What are you even saying?
Was he really asking her to date him after she broke up with her boyfriend?
The moment I clutched my head, a sharp voice rang out beside me.
“Oh, come on! If she rejects you, just give up!”
“Mi-ro, don’t shout so loudly.”
Feeling dizzy, I looked around and saw Ga-in calmly observing the surroundings.
“... That really is impressive.”
It was a reasonable attitude. There could be information hidden within the illusion.
It was just hard to stay that composed in a situation like this.
After a little more time passed, the entire illusion slowly began to fade.
This seemed to be as much as the Hotel would allow us to see.
Mi-ro looked dumbfounded as she asked me, “A-ri, so what was in that ridiculous memory?”
“... Seung-yeop’s depressing day?”
“Th-that’s it? After going through all that for an entire day, did he at least look up at the sky and make a wish or something?”
--- Drip!
With the sound of a water droplet falling, the illusion ended.
* * *
The first thing that happened when Seung-yeop regained his senses was Mi-ro charging at him.
“Idiot! You’re such a damn idiot!”
“Huh? Huh? Why all of a sudden-”
“Shut up!”
As though she’d been holding it in for far too long, Mi-ro repeatedly smacked the back of Seung-yeop’s head.
Seung-yeop was thoroughly flustered, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of dodging.
“W-what’s going on right now?”
He didn’t seem aware of anything that had happened just before.
Honestly, that was probably for the best.
“... Seung-yeop.”
“Noona, what on earth-”
“You should leave first. Run over there.”
“Pardon?”
“Get out!”
“Yeah!”
“Mi-ro, you leave too.”
“Huh?”
“Just go.”
After sending the two children away, I was hit by a sudden wave of exhaustion as I walked over to Ga-in.
“Let’s go to the next person. Eun-sol, Song-i, and Elena are left, right?”
“...”
“Seung-yeop really... I had my doubts, but I didn’t think it would be this ridiculous-”
“Didn’t you notice anything strange?”
“Did you notice something?”
My eyes widened without me realizing it.
Could some extraordinary secret have been hidden somewhere in that embarrassing memory of a teenage boy?
“The situation around him...”
“The situation?”
“It felt like things were going far too conveniently.”
“What?”
“I need to think about it more. We can discuss the details outside. For now, let’s look at the next person’s dream.”
“Okay. Eun-sol’s dream is right next to his.”
* * *
Eun-sol’s dream took place in an office.
A gleaming marble floor and an antique mahogany desk.
Expensive-looking paintings and sculptures completed the atmosphere.
It certainly looked like the office of a chaebol family’s daughter.
Eun-sol, dressed in a suit, sat in her office chair and looked out the window. Soon, a voice spoke.
“You both came in together?”
I looked around, wondering if she was speaking to someone else, but only Ga-in and I were there.
Like some of our other companions, Eun-sol had already regained consciousness.
“You’re already awake, Eun-sol.”
“Well... yes.”
Ga-in briefly explained the current situation to her.
“The First Wish.”
“Does anything come to mind?”
“Sometimes, I wanted to escape that suffocating family of mine. It might sound ungrateful, but my family relationships weren’t exactly smooth.”
Wanting to get away from her family alone didn’t seem connected to Blessing - Wealth.
Perhaps that was why Ga-in asked again, looking as though that answer wasn’t enough.
“Is that all?”
“Well, I did think that I wanted to run my own business.”
“Hmm...”
This time, I asked, “What memory is this?”
Eun-sol’s expression darkened at once.
It clearly hadn’t been an ordinary day.
“... My father.”
“Your father?”
“The day he scolded me harshly.”
That was unexpected.
Based on everything I had experienced so far, Eun-sol was quite capable.
It was hard to imagine her disappointing someone enough to be scolded.
“That does make it a strange memory.”
“Do you remember why he scolded you?”
After a brief silence, Eun-sol began telling us something odd.
“I used to know. No, I thought I knew.”
Ga-in immediately asked, “What do you mean?”
“... When I was young, I thought Father expected a great deal from us.”
It was only natural for the chairman of a conglomerate to expect a lot from his children.
He would have passed down excellent genes and spared no expense in supporting them.
Maybe he expected them to be accepted into the world’s top universities, possess exceptional work skills, be diligent and sincere, and maintain good relationships with others.
Yet Eun-sol’s tone was a little different.
“Father was always disappointed in us. He tried not to show it, but after watching him for a long time, it became obvious. We tried to earn his approval, and in the process, we...”
“The competition got fiercer too.”
“Yes.”
“It sounds like you see things differently now.”
“...”
Eun-sol was silent for a moment before answering in a grave tone.
“You said this is an illusion anyway, right?”
“That’s right.”
“I need to see Father, no, the illusion of Father. You two should come with me. If possible, watch him closely.”
She wanted us to carefully observe her own father...
What could that mean?
* * *
Once we left the office, Daeyang Group employees were everywhere.
Everyone was moving busily, but whenever they saw Eun-sol, they gave a small bow.
“Good morning, Executive Director.”
“Good morning!”
“Executive Director, about the Shanghai project from the other day-”
“Later, later.”
Only Eun-sol could perceive Ga-in and me, so there was no trouble moving around.
“At a glance, it looks like an ordinary company.”
“It does to me too.”
Eun-sol stopped in front of an elevator and gestured to the employees waiting there.
“I’m sorry, everyone, but could you take the next elevator?”
“Ah, understood.”
“Thank you for all your hard work.”
“Thanks.”
Then Ga-in tilted his head.
“Did you see something?”
“Eun-sol is throwing her weight around?”
“This barely counts as throwing your weight around.”
“Is that so? I’ve never worked at a company...”
“You had your time as Aleph.”
“Come to think of it, I did order people around with a tilt of my chin back then.”
--- Ding!
Soon, Eun-sol entered the elevator alone.
Of course, she only appeared to be alone to everyone else.
Ga-in and I had entered with her, of course.
Once there was no one watching, Eun-sol spoke to us again.
“The chairman’s office is on the sixteenth floor. Watch Father carefully, both of you.”
She was asking us to closely observe her own father...
What did she mean by that?
--- Ding!
“Executive Director, it’s been a while.”
“Secretary Park, Father contacted me. He’s inside, right?”
“You should be able to see him if you wait a moment.”
At that very moment!
--- Drip!
With that familiar sound, Eun-sol’s illusion began to fade.
“Already?”
“It ends here?”
“I thought it would show us more-”
Just as Ga-in and I frowned, Eun-sol moved like lightning.
“Urgent business!”
“Uh, ah-”
The elderly Secretary Park looked flustered, but didn’t stop Eun-sol as she rushed into the chairman’s office.
She wasn’t some ordinary executive director. She was the chairman’s daughter.
--- Bang!
The chairman’s office door flew open.
A middle-aged man with a stern expression was inside. His brows creased slightly, as though the disturbance outside displeased him.
“What kind of childish behavior is this? Executive Director Lee, this is a company, not a home-”
“Look! Look at him!”
Ignoring the illusion of her father, Eun-sol turned toward us and blurted out something unexpected.
“Does my father look human to you? Or-”
--- Drip!
Right after that, everything went dark as though someone had flipped a switch.
Eun-sol’s dream had been forcibly terminated.
* * *
“...”
“...”
Inside the Kingdom of Dreams, filled with gray mist, Eun-sol asked us again the moment she emerged from her dream.
“What did you two think? Does Father look human? Or m-maybe a Regressor?”
A Regressor?
“Wait, Eun-sol. I don’t think you understand yet.”
“What?”
“Only you can communicate with the people in the illusion. It’s your dream.”
“... What does that mean?”
I continued for him.
“Just as the people in the illusion can’t perceive us, we can’t clearly perceive the people in the illusion either.”
“...”
“If I had to compare it to something, it’s like a vivid movie.”
“So you didn’t feel anything?”
“No. He just seemed like a dignified East Asian man in his sixties. We can’t tell whether he has some mysterious quality just by looking at an illusion.”
“Ga-in, you too?”
“Yes.”
Eun-sol looked a little disappointed and began to explain.
“The reason I asked you to observe Father is-”
“Let’s talk about that outside.”
“Huh?”
“We still have people left. We’re going to have a long conversation outside anyway.”
“Eun-sol, sort through your memories one by one after you leave. It’ll make it easier to talk.”
Only two people remained, Song-i and Elena.
“Let’s go to Song-i first. She’s closer.”
* * *
Song-i’s dream took place in an ordinary house.
“At a glance, there’s nothing special here.”
“Judging by the situation alone, this seems like the most ordinary dream. The setting is a normal house, and the time is nighttime?”
“Seung-yeop’s dream also took place in a house.”
“Did you forget the game sounds we heard as soon as it started? His was the craziest dream of all!”
Ga-in smiled awkwardly as he looked around, then soon spotted Song-i.
“Wow... It looks like a dream from her childhood?”
“Yeah. She doesn’t even look eight.”
She looked about seven to me.
Then young Song-i looked in our direction and began tilting her head.
“Huh? Huh? Uh...”
“Looks like she’s waking up.”
“Yeah.”
“Ah! Ah!”
Some of our companions couldn’t wake up, while others awoke as if they were in a lucid dream.
Was there a special reason for that too?
Either way, Song-i soon regained consciousness.
“What...? What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain.”
Song-i soon nodded.
“The First Wish? That’s an interesting story.”
“Does anything come to mind? Was today a special day?”
“Um... I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“Oppa, look at me. I’m only six or seven years old at most, aren’t I?”
“That’s true. You’re really cute.”
Song-i shrugged, looking amused.
“So high school Song-i isn’t cute, only little Song-i is cute?”
“... What are you talking about?”
“I’m joking. Anyway, it happened when I was too young. There’s no way I’d remember.”
“That’s true.”
Ordinary people would have trouble vividly remembering something from when they were seven.
Still, we had to find something out, so I asked, “Where are your parents now?”
“My dad was a veterinarian at a fairly large hospital. He was busy until late at night.”
“What about your mom?”
“Similar. That’s why, when I was little, I was often left home alone like this...”
“...”
“Come to think of it, my parents were pretty awful too. Wouldn’t this count as child abuse in America?”
It felt strange watching Song-i grumble.
Her body had become younger, but her attitude and manner of speaking were still those of an adult, and the contrast was jarring.
Ga-in, who had been looking around, said, “There are a lot of animals in this house. A birdcage?”
“My dad liked animals. So do I!”
“Well, he was a veterinarian.”
“My mom liked them too. It was one of the few interests my parents had in common, even though they fought all the time.”
She had brought up her parents’ troubled relationship so naturally.
When we went through Room 107, Song-i had spoken of those memories with considerable pain.
Now?
At least on the surface, she seemed calm.
In times like this, it was better to pretend I hadn’t heard than offer pointless comfort.
“Happy! Happy! Come here! Wow! It’s been so long.”
Soon, a tiny white Maltese, small enough to look like a doll, ran up beside young Song-i and began playing around.
The sight of the doll-like puppy playing with young Song-i was so cute that I almost regretted not having a camera.
It was a picture-perfect scene.
That was why it felt strange.
If this was really just an ordinary day in the life of seven-year-old Song-i, with nothing happening at all, there was no reason for the Hotel to show it to us.
“Song-i, is there really nothing else?”
“I really don’t know...”
“If you don’t remember that day, even a general memory from this time would help.”
“A general memory?”
Still hugging the Maltese, the girl made an odd expression, as though she had finally realized something.
“Ah, um... This is a little embarrassing.”
“I guarantee that whatever you say won’t be a big deal.”
“Pardon?”
“We’ve already seen all sorts of things. So don’t worry about it. Just tell us.”
“... Oppa, have you heard of secret friends?”
“Like Secret Santa?”
“Not that silly school event. You know how children sometimes say they have friends who don’t exist?”
It wasn’t unusual for children to treat a favorite doll or toy as a friend.
There were probably all kinds of child psychology and education theories about it, but I had heard it was common among lonely children.
“You were like that too?”
“Hehe! I was little. I used to say my pets were my friends.”
“If they were dogs or cats instead of dolls, couldn’t they be friends?”
“Uh, well...”
“Tell us.”
“I didn’t just say they were my friends. I used to tell people that dogs and cats could speak like humans.”
“Ah?”
“I insisted that they spoke like people whenever I was alone with them. Dad and the adults just laughed it off, but the other kids at school sometimes teased me... It must have been auditory hallucinations.”
It seemed that young Song-i had truly thought of animals as people.
Ga-in nodded and carefully looked around.
“Could there really be something more?”
“I don’t know...”
The only sounds in the house came from the animals.
Time passed like the wind without yielding anything.
Ga-in and I grew a little anxious, but Song-i played with the Maltese in her arms without a care in the world.
--- Creak!
Everyone hurriedly turned toward the sound of the door opening.
“A dog?”
“Oh! Som-i! I forgot Som-i was here because it was so long ago!”
“Som-i?”
“A Golden Retriever. I raised Som-i when I was little, but Som-i died when I was in elementary school.”
An old dog with trouble moving shuffled toward young Song-i.
Seeing the dog she had parted with long ago seemed to make Song-i both happy and sad. A few tears welled up in her eyes.
“Som-i! It’s been so long. It’s just an illusion, but I’m really happy to see-”
At that very moment.
- Song-i.
“Huh?”
- Song-i.
“...”
Human words came from the dog’s mouth.
- I’m scared.
- It hurts.
- I’m suffering.
“...”
- Get me.
- Out of here.
Footnotes:
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