WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 657: Room 301, Curse Room - ‘The Origin of Species’ (4)
──────
- Yoo Song-i
After arriving in downtown Gangneung that morning, I spent a long time wandering around.
A beautiful young girl (no doubt about it!) with a parrot on her shoulder, and a middle-aged man carrying a cat carrier in one hand.
The two of us wandering aimlessly through Gangneung made for a truly bizarre sight.
Just as Eun-sol said, Manager Kim seemed to be an extremely tight-lipped person.
He only spoke for the first time after putting up with two full hours of what must have seemed to him like completely pointless wandering.
“Miss Song-i, what exactly are you looking for?”
“The house where the cat used to live.”
“Other than the fact that it was in Gyeongpo-dong, Gangneung, do you have any leads? As you know, there are several apartment complexes nearby.”
“The cat might recognize it?”
“...”
Manager Kim fell silent for a moment, as if at a loss for words, then cautiously asked, “Even if we passed by the house, does a cat have the intelligence to recognize it?”
This cat does.
...
It does, right?
Why hasn’t Gray reacted at all so far?
“Um... As for other leads, the cat’s owner was named Park...”
“Park?”
“I think it was one of three names: Park Jin-ho, Park Ji-ho, or Park Ji-hoo.”
“It might be quicker to simply ask around for that name.”
I’d thought of that much too.
Still, openly asking people about someone’s name felt...
Dangerous.
Why dangerous?
Even if someone asked, I couldn’t say exactly why.
Just a feeling? A sharp instinct?
I wasn’t sure.
At times like this, I missed Ga-in and A-ri, who could turn my instincts into concrete logic.
If I had to put it into words, the other person would realize we were looking for someone?
“...”
Why did only Eun-sol and I come in the first place?!
Was this really Heavenly Luck’s choice?
Maybe Seung-yeop had just made a bad draw?
“Whew... Fine. Let’s do that.”
Once we changed our search strategy, it took less than twenty minutes to get the person’s exact name and address.
“Park Jin-ho? Park Ji-hoo? I don’t know those names, but if you mean Park Ji-ho, his house is on the main road behind Pyeonghwa Restaurant over there...”
“Thank you.”
* * *
While walking down the street, I instinctively stopped.
“...!”
An indescribable sense of wrongness made me look around, and Manager Kim looked puzzled.
“What is it?”
“... Didn’t you just feel an odd gaze?”
“I’m afraid I didn’t.”
Was I imagining it?
After taking a few more steps, I stopped again.
An impossible-to-describe wrongness, or perhaps a chill.
It felt as though a centipede with dozens of legs was crawling over my skin.
Was this the heightened sense Ga-in sometimes talked about?
This time, Manager Kim reacted first.
“Did you feel something again?”
“...”
“Miss Song-i, I originally served on the presidential security team. I held a fairly senior position as well.”
It wasn’t strange for someone close to a chaebol family to have worked in presidential security.
“What are you saying?”
“Even I, someone who protected the president, can’t sense anything.”
“...”
“But you’re an agent, aren’t you?”
He completely believed Eun-sol’s lie that I was an agent.
Wait. Now that I thought about it, it wasn’t entirely a lie?
After we dealt with the Moon’s problem in reality, the Management Bureau gave all of us agent status!
I really was a Management Bureau agent. Just not an agent assigned to Room 301!
“What do you mean?”
“I may not know, but if you sensed something, Agent, then there must be something there. It may be supernatural surveillance.”
“...”
“What would you like to do? If you believe it’s dangerous, we can withdraw here and request support from headquarters.”
Withdraw and request support from Management Bureau headquarters.
It was probably a reasonable judgment from Manager Kim’s perspective, but there was one serious problem.
All my companions were outside, and there was no support from Management Bureau headquarters!
“... If you want to catch a tiger, you have to enter its den.”
“If that is how you feel, then let’s go.”
* * *
When we reached an old detached house, Gray reacted for the first time.
--- Meow! Meow!
Manager Kim slowly nodded, walked to the front gate, and rang the bell.
--- Ding-dong!
“Is anyone home?”
Soon, a woman in her early fifties with a somewhat irritable expression came out.
“Who are you?”
“Is this Park Ji-ho’s home?”
“Who are you, and why are you looking for Ji-ho?”
I’d sensed it from the reactions of the nearby residents earlier, but this woman’s reaction made it certain.
Park Ji-ho was still alive, and was even living a normal social life.
Then what exactly was the consciousness of Park Ji-ho, trapped in Gray’s body?
I gestured to Manager Kim and walked closer.
“Hello! Um, I’m Song-i, one of Ji-ho’s university classmates.”
Considering his age, he was probably in his first or second year of university, right?
Anyway, the woman, who had seemed very tense around Manager Kim, became much more welcoming toward a teenage girl like me.
“Oh my! Oh my! A university classmate?”
“Yes. We were supposed to meet nearby today, but Ji-ho isn’t answering his phone. Oh, and this person is...”
“Oh dear! I’m so sorry! I can’t believe he kept such a cute student waiting!”
I was about to make something up about Manager Kim’s identity, but before I could, the woman made a huge fuss and rushed away.
“Hey! Park Ji-ho! What are you doing? Get out here right now!”
Manager Kim sounded amused.
“I believe that woman thinks you are Park Ji-ho’s girlfriend, Miss Song-i.”
“...”
“Though it does seem as though you wanted her to misunderstand.”
“...”
“What do you intend to do when Park Ji-ho comes out? You should at least give me some warning so I can respond appropriately.”
“... I’m not sure either.”
“Pardon?”
It struck me again that I’d come here without thinking enough about what to do.
I hadn’t come with a plan. It felt more like I’d come here to make one.
That was why I couldn’t give a proper answer when asked what we should do.
If Ga-in were watching this situation, he might find it pretty frustrating...
Then Manager Kim calmly said, “You lack confidence in yourself.”
My next words were somewhat impulsive.
“I usually don’t make the plans. Someone else often does.”
“Is it difficult because you are taking on a role you are not used to?”
“... Yes.”
“Then focus on what you are good at.”
“Pardon?”
“Why not concentrate and devote yourself to improvising?”
--- Creak!
At that moment, a fairly neat-looking young man approached from a distance.
He was tall and had a reasonably decent face.
He probably hadn’t had much trouble getting girlfriends in his life.
Still, he wasn’t as good-looking as Ga-in... Ah, but Ga-in had struggled with getting a girlfriend, hadn’t he?
Just as I was about to speak, the other person smiled first.
“Song-i! Hi.”
At that moment, both Manager Kim and I stiffened.
“... He knows my name.”
“What are you talking about? Weren’t we supposed to meet today?”
“...”
“Ha ha! Sorry, sorry. I overslept. To apologize, I’ll treat you to everything today. Mom was scolding me while smacking my butt, you know? She said it was outrageous to keep such a pretty girlfriend waiting.”
--- Beep...!
Pero made a sound full of vigilance.
“Huh!”
Manager Kim let out a low sound and looked around.
“...”
Only then did I realize what the strange feeling I’d sensed on the road really was.
Crows in the sky, cats in the alleyways, dogs by the roadside. At least dozens of animals were sending chilling stares at me from every direction.
No wonder even someone who had protected the president said he couldn’t sense anything at all!
He had probably never paid attention to the gazes of animals in his life!
Trying my best to look relaxed, I said, “What are you, the king of animals?”
The other person’s attitude changed at that point.
The relaxed eyes and playful voice vanished as if washed away. An inorganic gaze that gave away no emotion fixed itself on me.
An unknown entity that had imprisoned the real Park Ji-ho’s soul in a cat, then taken over his empty body.
“I’m not an animal. You know that too.”
Suddenly, I noticed that the surroundings had grown quite dark even though it was not yet noon.
Something like an unidentified black cloud had appeared in the sky.
“Speak honestly. What are you? An agent?”
“...”
“I know that’s a lie. You aren’t an agent. They wouldn’t intervene now...”
Manager Kim flinched beside me at the words that I wasn’t an agent.
More importantly, why was it so certain the Management Bureau would not intervene?
“What are you really? Why did you come before me this recklessly? Ha ha! Do you know who I am-”
In the blink of an eye, its manner of speaking changed again, becoming that of a playful young man.
Manager Kim trembled, perhaps because that shift gave him an eerie feeling.
Was that why?
I remembered the advice I’d heard just moments ago.
“Then focus on what you are good at.”
“Concentrate and devote yourself to improvising.”
“I didn’t know anything about you until now, but I do now.”
“... What do you mean?”
My next words slipped out before I knew it.
Maybe it was instinctive improvisation brought out by the sense of danger!
I hoped so.
Taking a quick step closer, I spoke in a whisper.
“How do I look to you?”
From now on, you will love me.
「‘Beloved One’ activates.」
* * *
“The situation is extremely confusing. Ga-in, can you see anything?”
“It was such an impulsive action that it’s difficult to predict either her intent or the result.”
“What is this development? Song-i! What are you thinking right now?!”
“Ha ha! A-ri, don’t you still get it? It was my mistake to think she had a plan. She’s just doing whatever comes to mind!”
“What?”
“She got some information, so she went in regardless of whether it was dangerous or not.”
“And then?”
“She saw that the other side was a Chaos Entity inhabiting a human man’s body, so she used her ability first!”
“Whew! Since she has no head for planning, this is becoming a complete mess.”
“Well, if you change your perspective, perhaps something will come of this approach with no foundation. The foundation of having no foundation?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know either... Huh!”
“What is it?”
“Eun-sol’s side is in trouble too.”
* * *
- Lee Eun-sol
Around noon, I called Song-i and Manager Kim because I was wondering how things were going.
“... Why is neither of them answering?”
I couldn’t reach either of them.
Could something have happened to both of them already?
“...”
It felt as though everything was racing toward ruin in an instant, leaving me breathless!
At this point, my fear of the Management Bureau was outweighed by the thought that I should seek their help, even if I had to.
At the very least, wouldn’t the Management Bureau try to stop a Chaos Disaster?
They wouldn’t suddenly kill the youngest daughter of Daeyang Group’s chairman!
In the end, I took out my phone and entered the direct Management Bureau number that ordinary people could not access.
“...”
If I pressed the call button, I would immediately be connected to an internal employee.
--- Clatter!
As I hesitated for roughly three final seconds, a book in the office suddenly fell to the floor.
“What the...”
--- Clatter! Clatter!
Before I could even stand up, a “Young Business Leader Award” trophy I couldn’t remember receiving and a plaque from some unknown association fell one after another.
“...”
What?
What? What?
Why were poltergeist-like phenomena happening the moment I tried to report this to the Management Bureau?
“Whew...”
Ha! I got it.
Whatever this was, it was trying to scare me so I wouldn’t report it to the Management Bureau, right?
Did it think I would fall for a trick like this?
--- Beep!
I immediately pressed the call button.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
