WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 654: Room 301, Curse Room - ‘The Origin of Species’ (1)
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「User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 2
Current Location: Room 301, Curse Room - ‘On the Origin of Species’
Sage’s Advice: 1」
- Han Ga-in
.
..
...
I woke up in a lavish room.
The other companions around me all wore confused expressions.
Jin-cheol spoke in a flustered voice.
“Has it already started? Does everyone entering Room 301 start from the same place?”
“...”
For a moment, I thought Room 301 had already begun and this was my starting point, but I was mistaken.
“I don’t think so. Not yet.”
“Everyone, look at this!”
There was a small table in the center of the room. A-ri was pointing at something on top of it.
“There’s an Entry Register.”
An Entry Register.
It was a clear enough term for everyone to understand at once.
Only the people who wrote their names in that register could enter.
Grandpa nodded as he spoke.
“They said that from the third floor onward, we could choose who enters, so that’s what they meant... Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Look. There are already two names written here.”
As Grandpa said, two names were already written at the top of the register.
① Yoo Song-i
② Lee Eun-sol
Our gazes met. Then Eun-sol voiced the thought that had occurred to several of us.
“We expected it after seeing the number of rooms at dawn. It seemed like at least two people’s wishes were intertwined to make up a single scenario. The first room...”
Song-i picked up where Eun-sol left off.
“It looks like my wish and yours are intertwined, Eun-sol.”
“Yeah. I didn’t expect this. Was there some connection between our stories?”
“Um... A connection between the youngest daughter of a chaebol family in danger and a talking golden retriever?”
“That makes even less sense. Ga-in, did a room title appear or anything?”
“Yes. It’s ‘On the Origin of Species.’”
On the Origin of Species.
It was the title of the book written by Charles Darwin, the founder of evolutionary theory, so it was very famous.
Of course, that alone made it difficult to guess the scenario.
“On the Origin of Species? I’m getting more and more confused. Ah, enough of these vague discussions. Let’s start thinking about whose names to put in the register.”
The question of whose names went into the Entry Register was the question of who would enter Room 301.
Sang-hyeon brought up a reasonable point.
“Given the circumstances, only the people absolutely needed should enter, rather than everyone.”
“That seems right. The Manager also told us to consider the appropriate number of people.”
“Wouldn’t Ga-in be essential? Both because of his strength and his ability to figure out the scenario.”
“That’s true, right? Should we write Ga-in’s name first?”
Just as they were about to write down my name, a sense of unease came over me. I waved my hand.
“I don’t think it’s that simple.”
“Hm?”
“If only a set number of people enter, what happens to everyone else?”
“...”
“They just wait outside, eating and playing around?”
Everyone immediately shook their heads.
No matter how I thought about it, the Hotel was not that kind of place.
“I really don’t think so.”
“The people left behind must have a role as well.”
“... I think I get what you mean.”
This was a matter of assigning people.
We had to divide the group between those who would enter Room 301 and those who would remain outside to perform another role.
It would be a problem if I entered Room 301 simply because I was a useful resource.
What if I was more useful outside?
“How do we decide?”
Song-i looked at me as if she had a headache.
“Oppa, should we use the last piece of advice now?”
I considered Song-i’s suggestion for a moment, then shook my head.
“No. Even if we use Sage’s Advice in a situation like this, we’ll only get an answer that plays with words.”
“Huh? Ah, because we have too little evidence?”
“Right.”
I remembered what Owl had told me long ago about the nature of Wisdom.
“Making the right choice from ignorance is not Wisdom. Even a wise person needs a minimum amount of information to make a sound judgment.”
Getting a lucky guess in a situation where we had almost no information was not Wisdom. There was another ability for that.
My eyes naturally turned to Seung-yeop.
“Seung-yeop, come here.”
“Hyung?”
--- Riiiip!
I tore off the blank paper at the bottom of the register, then divided it into eight pieces.
I wrote the names of the eight companions other than Yoo Song-i and Lee Eun-sol, whose entry was already confirmed.
By then, Seung-yeop understood what I was doing, but he looked a little uneasy.
“You want me to use Heavenly Luck and draw lots, right?”
“Yeah.”
“... Hyung, you know this, but Heavenly Luck has a really long cooldown.”
“I know. Usually more than ten days. Sometimes it can be almost a month.”
“Is it okay to use it now?”
If we used Heavenly Luck now, we effectively wouldn’t be able to use it inside the Curse Room.
I understood Seung-yeop’s anxiety, but no matter how I thought about it, this was the most important moment.
“I think this is the most important moment. Does anyone disagree?”
Everyone nodded, seeming to agree with me.
Then a question suddenly came to mind.
“Should we write Pero’s name too?”
As if it had been waiting for that, the parrot on Song-i’s shoulder let out a shrill squawk.
Song-i lightly tapped Pero and shook her head.
“Doesn’t the Hotel classify Pero as an item? If we have to write Pero’s name in the Entry Register, we’d have to write things like our Protective Suits and Wing Boots too. That would be weird... Ah! Ah! Don’t bite me! I said don’t bite!”
“...”
“I wasn’t calling you an item! It’s the Hotel’s classification... Stop biting me!”
While Song-i wrestled with Pero, I spoke to Seung-yeop.
“All right, close your eyes and draw.”
“H-how many should I draw?”
A-ri spoke up from behind us.
“That should be up to you too!”
Grandpa added his own advice.
“Don’t overthink it. Just draw whatever your hand reaches for!”
As always, Seung-yeop approached the table with his eyes closed, looking uncertain.
“...”
Instead of drawing right away, he stood still for a moment.
He seemed to be wondering, in his own way, whether this was really right.
“Phew... I don’t know!”
“Yeah, just draw.”
“Okay.”
When Seung-yeop reached out, his hand swept through empty air.
“Huh? I’ll try again.”
--- Thump!
The next time, his hand hit the table.
Since he had closed his eyes from the beginning, he didn’t seem to know exactly where the slips of paper were.
Seung-yeop slightly furrowed his brow and was about to reach out again.
“Stop!”
Several voices burst out at once like lightning.
Our eyes met in that brief instant.
Everyone had come to a similar conclusion and knew the others had reached it too.
Luck had already made its choice.
If Seung-yeop forcibly grabbed a slip of paper now, it would only distort that choice.
“Huh? I got confused about where the papers were...”
“No, that’s enough. Come back!”
The boy returned, still looking confused as if he didn’t understand the situation.
Eun-sol, on the other hand, wore an extremely complicated expression.
“So the first attempt is for Song-i and me to go in alone, without taking anyone else?”
“Let’s do that.”
“... I thought we should at least take Jin-cheol.”
“Me, noona?”
“I thought we needed at least one person who could fight. Also, I’ve thought before that the combination of my abilities and Jin-cheol’s is pretty good.”
“Uh... That’s true.”
Lee Eun-sol lacked physical strength, while Cha Jin-cheol was vulnerable to mental attacks.
Their abilities certainly made a plausible combination, but it no longer mattered.
Luck’s choice had been to choose no one.
In the end, Eun-sol and Song-i stood before the Entry Register with anxious expressions.
“Do we just say it? That the two of us will enter?”
“Probably... The Hotel will be watching anyway.”
Song-i’s eyes trembled slightly.
Her expression was full of unease.
Watching Song-i, Eun-sol grinned.
It was as though she thought that, as the older one, she needed to put on a brave front.
“All right, let’s do this! Doesn’t the Hotel think the two of us are enough? Don’t be scared.”
“... Unni, your hands are still shaking.”
“Ah... I guess this is still too much for me. Um, Song-i. If you can’t trust me, trust the Ticket.”
One of the rewards we received for clearing the second-floor Gate Room in Room 207, the Wish Ticket.
It could be used in the Mirror Room to grant a wish or obtain an Inheritance we had given up.
More importantly, though, it could bring someone back to life.
Unlike the first and second floors, it was clear that not everyone would enter a third-floor Curse Room at once.
Maybe some people would die while others lived.
So unless something unusual happened, we had agreed to save the Ticket as a final form of insurance.
“The Ticket! Th-that’s reliable.”
“You can’t trust me?”
“No, that’s not what I...”
“We’re going in. We’re going!”
The moment Eun-sol declared that they would enter, a mysterious glow surrounded them. Then Eun-sol and Song-i disappeared.
The two of them had entered Room 301.
And then...
--- Boom!
A massive door appeared in empty space where there had been nothing before.
“...”
As though it were telling the rest of us to come this way.
“Let’s go. It looks like we have something to do over there.”
“Yeah.”
A familiar space lay beyond the door.
“The Observatory?”
“It is the Observatory.”
--- Clank!
There was a loud sound as though the door had locked.
Jin-cheol ran to the entrance of the Observatory with a disbelieving expression, but as expected, the door would not open.
“It’s locked.”
I understood the basic structure at this point.
“I see roughly how the third floor works. Only those whose names are written in the Entry Register go inside. Everyone else remains in the Observatory.”
“Can’t we leave the Observatory while the Curse Room is in progress?”
“That’s right. That’s why it has everything, including bedrooms, bathrooms, toilets, and a table that produces food.”
A sound rang out as if it had been waiting for us.
--- Whiiir...
Sang-hyeon stared at the telescope in the center of the Observatory with a meaningful expression.
“Doesn’t that sound like something adjusting its focus?”
“... It does.”
When the sound stopped, I slowly approached the telescope.
This time, no Danger Alert appeared telling me to stop observing.
* * *
- Yoo Song-i
A soft bed.
I woke to Happy licking me.
“...”
When I glanced down, I saw the unbearably adorable Happy.
“... Good morning, Happy.”
- Bark!
Happy looked exactly like a fluffy ball of cotton candy.
The moment I instinctively reached out to hug Happy.
‘I’m scared. It hurts. I’m suffering. Get me out of here.’
“Eek!”
Remembering that chilling phantom voice, I shoved Happy away without thinking.
- Bark?
Happy watched me carefully, looking puzzled. Seeing that made me feel a little sorry.
“... Sorry.”
Yoo Song-i, stay calm, especially at a time like this!
I took a deep breath and looked around.
I was in Unit 203, Building 8 of Seocho Blue Damien Apartments, the home where I had lived since childhood.
I looked mostly the same as usual.
In the dream related to the First Wish, I had looked about six or seven years old, right?
I had worried that I would be that helpless age in the Curse Room too, but thankfully, that was not the case.
Next, I hugged the dog and concentrated.
“Happy, stay still.”
- Bark! Bark!
Happy squirmed as if frustrated, but that was all.
I couldn’t hear any voice in particular.
“... I’m sorry, but your big sister needs to make absolutely sure.”
I stuck a finger into the struggling Maltese’s mouth.
If Happy could talk, Happy might have said, ‘That crazy bitch has finally lost it!’
Happy simply clamped down instead.
“Ow! Ow! Open your mouth!”
It hurt like hell, but I was sure now.
Telepathy, which allowed me to read the intentions of Chaos Entities, wasn’t working.
Happy had bitten my finger without hesitation.
Affinity wasn’t working.
In other words, Happy was still an ordinary dog.
Then I heard a familiar voice outside.
“Song-i! Is something wrong?”
“...”
“If you’re awake, wash up and come out for breakfast!”
“... Mom.”
Feeling an indescribably complicated emotion, I went into the bathroom and washed up quickly.
The melancholy I felt as soon as I heard Mom’s voice grew stronger when warm water from the shower ran from my neck down to my waist.
“Ah.”
My reflection in the mirror looked as though something was slightly missing.
The Dream’s effect didn’t extend into the Curse Room?
“... Stop thinking pointless thoughts.”
* * *
- I’ll smash it all!
As soon as I came out into the living room after washing up, I heard a beast’s voice.
Thankfully, it wasn’t some strange phenomenon related to the scenario.
Pero sometimes said things only I could hear anyway.
Pero was trapped in a birdcage among ordinary parrots, or exceptionally dim-witted parrots in Pero’s eyes. Judging by the noise, Pero looked ready to transform into Grotesque and smash the birdcage within a minute.
It would be fine, right?
Pero was only saying that.
Pero was smart enough to tolerate being cooped up briefly.
- If you don’t open it right now, I’ll smash everything!
It was fine, right?
Then a voice came from behind me.
“Song-i, I told you to come eat if you’re done washing up. What are you doing in front of the birdcage?”
I turned around at those words and met Mom’s eyes.
“...”
I froze.
The moment our eyes met, I simply knew.
This person, this woman...
“You’re real.”
“What?”
“Y-you’re my real mom!”
“Oh my, listen to you. Is there a fake Mom too?”
Footnotes:
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