WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 659: Room 301, Curse Room - ‘The Origin of Species’ (6)
──────
- Kim A-ri
A notification window appeared before everyone at the Observatory.
「You have failed to resolve it. Therefore, the ‘World After the End Times’ will begin!」
I had hoped otherwise, but it turned out those of us left at the Observatory had a role beyond watching events unfold like ghosts!
“Argh! W-what is this?”
“What the hell does that mean?”
As everyone cried out in shock, I focused and sorted through the situation.
First, let’s consider the information Song-i and Eun-sol obtained.
They hadn’t lasted long enough to grasp Room 301’s overall scenario, but they still found out quite a bit.
First, the talking animals were human souls trapped in animal bodies.
Then what happened to the human bodies those souls had left behind?
According to Song-i, an unidentified intelligent entity had occupied each body.
In other words, monsters stole human bodies, and for some unknown reason, the souls that had been in those bodies entered animal bodies.
That entire process was called Transference.
Second, the Management Bureau couldn’t be trusted.
The being Song-i encountered openly said the Management Bureau would never intervene, and Eun-sol got a Bad Ending the moment she reported it to them.
Third, Eun-sol’s father, Chairman Lee Seok-hwan, knew something about the enemy.
“...”
Was that all the information we had?
Then I looked at the notification window demanding my attention and found myself facing another problem.
World After the End Times.
We had already learned that keyword before arriving on the third floor.
I just hadn’t expected it to become real like this!
What did it mean?
Eun-sol and Song-i had failed, so Room 301 had reached a Bad Ending?
It seemed that from now on, we would enter the world after that Bad Ending and have to do something there...
It was all too sudden for me to understand what was going on.
At that moment, Ga-in suddenly shouted.
“Everyone, close your eyes!”
Had he learned something through Insight or a Danger Alert?
The instant I heard him, my gaze turned toward Mi-ro on its own.
I must have been worried that Mi-ro, who always acted like a child, might make a mistake this time.
In my imagination, instead of closing her eyes, Mi-ro grinned and asked, “Ga-in, whyyy?” before coughing up blood and collapsing!
...
Fortunately, Mi-ro had obediently closed her eyes without making a mistake.
I was the one who had messed up.
During that brief moment when I turned my head to check on Mi-ro, I realized why Ga-in had told everyone to close their eyes.
An endlessly empty, pure white space.
A pale line cutting across its center.
Everything.
“... Ah.”
I felt hot liquid run down my cheek.
Then darkness fell.
* * *
.
..
...
I woke with pain like needles piercing my eyeballs.
Forcing my eyes open made it hurt even more, but I could at least see faintly.
Then a soft hand rested on my head.
“A-ri! Are you okay?”
“Mi-ro?”
“Yeah! You were hurt as soon as we started, so everyone was alarmed!”
“...”
“What happened? Ga-in said it looked like you got hurt because you saw something you couldn’t handle.”
“... Mi-ro.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s your fault.”
“Eek?”
“If it weren’t for you, nothing would’ve happened.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“I’m joking.”
“Oh, come on! Don’t make weird jokes.”
As I drank the glass of water Mi-ro handed me, she gave me a rough explanation of the situation.
“How long was I unconscious?”
“About two hours?”
Thankfully, it hadn’t been that long.
“What about everyone else?”
“They all woke up in the same place. They’re outside now, looking into the situation.”
“Where are we?”
“A Protected Zone for humanity?”
“... What?”
What Protected Zone?
When I opened my eyes wide in confusion, Mi-ro shuddered and whispered.
“Doctor Teacher says it’s like a human internment camp.”
“... A human internment camp.”
An even more horrifying phrase came out.
“It’s a small area made up of a few apartment complexes and parks. They say it’s safe as long as you stay here.”
Mi-ro didn’t know much beyond that.
I would probably learn more once I met the others outside.
“Mi-ro, let’s go out for now. My vision’s still blurry, so help me.”
“Okay.”
* * *
The moment I stepped outside, Kim Sang-hyeon, who had been deep in thought, greeted me.
“You’re awake. Is your eyesight all right?”
“Doctor Teacher! A-ri says she still can’t see well!”
“Oh dear! Tell me how many fingers I’m holding up.”
“Eight.”
“What...”
“I’m joking. I can see your hand, at least, so explain the situation.”
Sang-hyeon laughed as if my joke was ridiculous, then began explaining.
“To put it simply, it seems that monsters from the Otherworld have conquered Earth.”
“That’s one hell of a start.”
“They are monsters that take over human bodies. And...”
“And?”
“Please don’t be startled. Earth has already been conquered.”
“So that’s why it’s the World After the End Times?”
“Most likely.”
This wasn’t the period when monsters from the Otherworld were invading.
Earth’s conquest had ended long ago. That was why it was the World After the End Times!
“Then what is this place? I heard it’s a Protected Zone for humanity.”
“I don’t know whether the history of South Korea you know is the same as mine, but...”
“You can skip the introduction.”
“It is where the descendants of pro-Japanese collaborators live.”
For a moment, I was speechless.
“What?”
“That is what we heard while questioning people in the area. Those who cooperated with the Great Race early on, along with their descendants, were granted the right to live in Protected Zones even after the End Times.”
“... Has it been quite a while since the world ended?”
“About thirty years. I am not certain.”
So, to summarize the situation:
A large number of unidentified monsters arrived, took over human bodies, and conquered Earth.
The surviving humans called the monsters the Great Race and submitted to them.
There were human traitors who cooperated with the enemy during the invasion.
They gained the right to live in Protected Zones without having their bodies taken, even after the End Times.
Humanity outside the Protected Zones must have met a miserable fate after losing their bodies.
“Based on what we saw at the Observatory, Eun-sol’s father...”
“Chairman Lee Seok-hwan of Daeyang Group.”
“That man knew about Transference. He even seemed personally acquainted with the monsters.”
“He was likely one of the human traitors.”
“...”
Eun-sol might be deeply hurt when she learned this after escaping.
“Ah! It’s Ga-in!”
When I looked in the direction Mi-ro was waving wildly, I was a little startled.
Ga-in was giving instructions to several people. Yet they were doing more than merely bowing to him. They had fully prostrated themselves before him.
“... What’s that? Did he start a cult while I was unconscious?”
Sang-hyeon snickered.
“There was no time for that. It is a simple deception.”
“A deception?”
“The people in the Protected Zone fear the Great Race, calling them Barons and Counts, but they cannot distinguish them by appearance alone.”
That made sense.
The enemy was made up of monsters that stole human bodies, so outwardly, they would look exactly like ordinary humans.
“Therefore, the power they wield is itself proof of their identity.”
“Ah!”
I understood.
The power that stole and controlled human bodies was the Great Race’s proof of identity. Ga-in wielded similar power, though its source was different.
Ordinary humans could not tell Ga-in apart from the Great Race!
“Ga-in is pretending to be one of the Great Race?”
“Correct. Ah, he is coming this way now.”
Once I understood that much, one question I had been thinking about at the Observatory was answered.
Why hadn’t Heavenly Luck assigned Han Ga-in as support for Eun-sol and Song-i?
I could guarantee it. Even if nobody else had gone, things would have turned out completely differently if Ga-in alone had been there!
Not only was he powerful in battle, he was also the best among us at understanding scenarios.
Now I knew why.
“... He would’ve been useful over there, but he’s even more useful here.”
“What did you say?”
“Ahh! It would be nice if there were two or three Ga-ins!”
“D-don’t say something so embarrassing!”
“Embarrassing? Mi-ro, don’t get weird ideas.”
* * *
Ga-in looked at me and nodded in relief, then called the nearby companions together again.
“There is almost no additional information.”
“Damn!”
“Huh...”
Everyone reacted with disappointment.
Ga-in nodded as if he understood, then continued.
“Ordinary people in the Protected Zone know almost nothing. Most believe that the Great Race rules the world, and that they live from day to day through the grace of those beings.”
“... They’re practically slaves.”
Ga-in reacted a little differently to my words.
“Slaves? At least slaves get put to work. That isn’t even the case here. They have simply been confined to a Protected Zone about half the size of Seoul and told not to leave. They are given food and other basic necessities, only enough to keep them from starving. That’s all.”
“You mean?”
“It is closer to a human internment camp or a human zoo than slavery.”
“...”
Neither option sounded desirable.
Elena carefully asked, “Ga-in, what about Scenario Understanding?”
“That is why I came back. Scenario Understanding activated while I was looking around.”
“What does it say?”
Soon, Ga-in looked into empty air and read the text only he could see.
“Scenario Understanding, On the Origin of Species. Ah...! Ruin has arrived. Humanity has been defeated, and its age of glory has ended. Earth’s masters are no longer human.”
That couldn’t possibly be all such a horrifying message had to say, could it?
“But even in the darkness of the End Times, there is a Spark of Hope!”
“I knew it! What’s next?”
“There’s nothing next. That’s the end.”
“What is this Spark of Hope?”
“I don’t know yet. We’ll have to find it.”
“...”
After a brief silence, Ga-in carefully muttered, “I think third-floor Curse Rooms are structured around a Resolution Team and an Escape Team.”
A Resolution Team and an Escape Team.
“The people who write their names in the Entry Register and go in first, Eun-sol and Song-i in this round, are the Resolution Team. If they solve Room 301’s problem, it is resolved then and there.”
The people who write their names in the Entry Register are the Resolution Team.
If they end it there, it counts as a resolution and they receive rewards.
“If the Resolution Team fails, the Escape Team comes next. The Escape Team starts after the End Times. Therefore...”
“Resolving it will be impossible.”
“Right. Resolving it is impossible. The golden opportunity has passed, and the tide has already turned.”
“...”
“Something will happen if we find the Spark of Hope. That may be the third floor’s escape condition.”
On the first and second floors, escape had meant temporarily delaying the End Times or getting out of that location.
Escape on the third floor seemed to be a somewhat different concept.
Since we had entered a point after the End Times, delaying it was no longer possible. Since the entire world had fallen, running away had no meaning either.
The Spark of Hope. That was the third floor’s escape keyword!
Once everyone understood that much, silence fell.
Then Ga-in suddenly looked at me and asked, “A-ri.”
“Yeah?”
“There is one additional piece of information we got from the survivors in the Protected Zone.”
“Ah?”
“But I don’t know what it means. I thought you might know.”
“Tell me.”
The next words were a term I had never heard in my life.
“... Great race of Yith.”
“What?”
“That’s ‘Great Race of Yith’ in Korean. Do you know what it is?”
Footnotes:
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