WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 660: Room 301, Curse Room - ‘The Origin of Species’ (7)
──────
- Kim A-ri
Great Race of Yith.
The moment I heard those words, I had a strong intuition that we had found an incredibly important keyword.
The problem was that no one here knew what they meant.
“Does anyone know? A-ri?”
“I've never heard of it.”
“Same here.”
“Me neither.”
As my companions said one after another that they didn't know, Ga-in looked disappointed.
“There must be information about it somewhere. What kind of group the Great Race of Yith is, what their goal is, and why they take over human bodies. That must be the key to Room 301.”
“That sounds right. Maybe the Daeyang Group chairman knew?”
“You may be right. But if your guess is correct, A-ri, that means the Resolution Team needs to find out about the Great Race of Yith.”
“Right.”
“Then how are we supposed to escape? What is the Spark of Hope that Scenario Understanding mentions?”
A brief silence fell before Jin-cheol muttered,
“Wouldn't it be taking down the leaders of the Great Race?”
“...”
“Is that impossible? Well, they are an alien race that swallowed Earth in an instant.”
“Setting aside whether it's possible, I don't think that's the right approach.”
Jin-cheol tilted his head, and Mook-seong beside him elaborated.
“Think about what happened on the first and second floors. The key to escaping is survival and avoidance, not fighting. The situation's already a disaster, so the important thing is somehow staying alive.”
“Hmm...”
“Doesn't the word ‘escape’ itself put the emphasis on avoidance?”
Unexpectedly, Sang-hyeon took Jin-cheol's side.
“But Agent, the world has already ended. Where and how are we supposed to avoid them?”
“Even if not avoidance, survival...”
“If survival is the goal, does that mean we escape just by staying still?”
“I-I don't think so.”
“Intuitively, I think Jin-cheol has a point too.”
Separate from the collapse of human civilization, the tiny number of Human Zoo Residents had survived for decades.
In other words, if survival were the key to escape, simply hiding and keeping quiet should trigger our escape.
Sang-hyeon thought that couldn't be right.
In the end, Mook-seong waved a hand and sighed.
“Ah, this is hard. Does anyone know anything?”
Just as everyone sat in silence, racking their brains,
“Huh?”
Cha Jin-cheol suddenly looked up at the ceiling.
“What is that?”
Around then, I began hearing a strange sound too.
--- Hummmmm!
It sounded like some kind of motor.
N-no way!
Then the Chat Window activated.
Han Ga-in: Keep talking as if nothing happened. Mi-ro, summon Eun-sol.
Following the instruction, Elena raised her voice.
“The Great Clan's tyranny is getting worse by the day! What should we do to stop them?”
Mook-seong naturally continued from there.
“It truly is a grave concern. Food in the Protected Zone is dwindling by the day as well!”
As meaningless chatter continued, Eun-sol's Summoned Entity appeared beside Mi-ro.
The point in time stored within the Time Lender was from before Eun-sol entered Room 301.
She looked confused for a moment, then instinctively summoned the Flute of Rest.
She didn't know what was happening, but she seemed ready to use the Flute first.
Then the Chat Window blinked again.
Han Ga-in: Do not use the Flute before my signal. Eun-sol, get behind me.
Kim Mook-seong: What are you talking about?
Elena: What?
Lee Eun-sol: OK
He had called Eun-sol over, yet ordered her not to use the Flute right away.
Some of my companions were confused, while Eun-sol, despite not knowing what was going on, simply followed Ga-in's instructions.
Soon, the Chat Window activated again.
Han Ga-in: Everyone, 1
Kim Mook-seong: 1
Han Ga-in: 1
Kim Sang-hyeon: 1
...
Everyone entered 1.
“We need a solution. If it comes to it, we'll protest to the honored ones themselves!”
“Protest? What kind of protest! Do you think that'd work? Would those damned ghosts even listen to us?”
“Watch your mouth, old man! If not for the honored ones' grace, we'd have starved to death long ago!”
Meaningless conversation continued, and the Chat Window blinked again.
Kim Mook-seong: 2
Park Seung-yeop: 2
Lee Eun-sol: 2
Elena: 2
The 2s appeared one after another, but one person's 2 never came.
“Let's all consider this. Maybe the Count sent enough food, but there was a problem during distribution...”
Sang-hyeon, who had been smoothly carrying on the conversation, suddenly stopped.
As though he had sensed our stares and the change in the atmosphere!
“This is unexpected.”
Kim Sang-hyeon looked around at everyone with a bizarre, amused smile.
Jin-cheol, standing beside him, was the first to react to Sang-hyeon's changed gaze.
“Hi-yah!”
The moment Cha Jin-cheol lunged like a beast to subdue Kim Sang-hyeon, Seung-yeop ambushed him from behind with a cry of “Hah!”
Before we could even take a breath, Seung-yeop had been controlled too!
Mook-seong tried to restrain Seung-yeop, but Seung-yeop curled up and slipped away.
A knife-hand strike shot out like lightning, forcing Mook-seong back.
“Ugh! What kind of movement is that...”
I couldn't help letting out a hollow laugh.
Why was Seung-yeop only this quick and strong when someone else was using him?
Within seconds, Seung-yeop and Jin-cheol faced off.
The two exchanged glances in an instant, while Jin-cheol settled into a serious stance.
It was a childish thought, but I wondered who would win if Jin-cheol, the party's symbol of martial strength, fought Seung-yeop, the self-proclaimed Martial World master.
Cha Jin-cheol's physical abilities were incomparably greater, but Seung-yeop's technique was better, wasn't it?
Though if it was Seung-yeop rather than Fortuna, perhaps Jin-cheol was better in that area too?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, the look in Cha Jin-cheol's eyes began to change as well.
Right, of course!
This situation had nothing to do with which of Cha Jin-cheol and Park Seung-yeop was stronger.
Before the Great Race that had taken over Kim Sang-hyeon's body, neither Cha Jin-cheol nor Park Seung-yeop could resist at all!
“...”
First Kim Sang-hyeon, then Park Seung-yeop, and now Cha Jin-cheol.
In less time than it took to drink a mouthful of water, three people had lost control of their bodies to the Great Race.
It was hard to call it fortunate, but the number didn't increase any further.
Was three the maximum number of people they could control at once?
Soon, Kim Sang-hyeon's voice rang through the room.
“What an incomprehensible situation. What exactly are you people? Could you be part of humanity's crude Chaos management organization...”
At that exact moment.
Han Ga-in: Flute!
With that firm order, Eun-sol, who had stepped back, quickly gripped the Flute.
--- Looooo...!
A mystical melody rang out. Park Seung-yeop and Cha Jin-cheol's bodies trembled, then their eyes returned to normal.
“Where did you get such a sacred relic...”
With those words, Kim Sang-hyeon's whole body began shaking as well, and soon all my companions regained their senses.
“Gasp! W-what happened? What is this...”
Before Sang-hyeon could finish, Ga-in shouted and moved like lightning.
“Keep playing the Flute!”
It was hard to tell which had been faster, activating the Teleportation Tattoo or using the Sacred Sun!
Ga-in crossed the enormous conference room from one end to the other in less time than it took to blink. With a crash, he smashed through the door and ran outside.
“Huh? Huh? What is...”
“Let's go after him! Eun-sol, keep playing the Flute!”
When we hurried outside, Ga-in had one man in shabby clothes by the collar.
By then, everyone understood what had happened.
The man in shabby clothes had to be the first host controlled by the Great Race!
It had used that body to approach the conference room, then taken over Sang-hyeon's body, which had been relatively close.
Ga-in radiated an overwhelming presence, the blazing white Sacred Sun surrounding him like a halo.
An ordinary human wouldn't dare meet his eyes, and within seconds, they would usually be kneeling and praying without being told.
This opponent was different.
Though the flesh was that of a lowly human, its soul and mind belonged to the Great Race!
The man in shabby clothes muttered with interest,
“It's been a long time since I've had a day as fascinating as this. I will ask for the third time. What exactly are you people?”
The outstretched finger first pointed at Eun-sol's Flute.
“That is surely a sacred relic of the Great One.”
Next, it pointed at me.
“You appear to belong to humanity's crude Chaos management organization.”
How did it know I was an agent?
Everyone else was technically an agent too!
Finally, it met Ga-in's eyes.
“You... I don't know. May I ask, could you perhaps be a Duke concealing your identity, Your Grace?”
“...”
“Of course, I know there is no way someone of Your Grace’s rank would be in a place like this...”
Instead of answering, Ga-in summoned the Grimoire.
--- Crackle!
An eerie sound, as if lightning had struck from a clear sky.
For a moment, a clash of Chaos unfolded in a realm none of us could comprehend.
“Ugh...!”
The powers of nightmarish demons clashed, using an ordinary human body as their battlefield. How could it endure?
Soon, the man in shabby clothes spat bubbling saliva and began bleeding from his eyes, nose, and mouth.
“... Damn.”
Ga-in frowned, dropped the corpse to the ground, then stared steadily ahead.
As though he were considering something he couldn't easily decide.
About ten seconds passed like that.
My companions tilted their heads, wondering what Ga-in was doing, until Elena spoke.
“Ga-in! Is it over?”
“... It's over.”
Soon, Ga-in shook his head as if giving up on something and turned back.
“What happened? Since it's dead, it looks like you won.”
“I did, but it doesn't mean much. That body was a puppet anyway.”
“The real body...”
“The real body, huh... We need to see more, but I think the opponent has transcended the very concept of a physical body.”
“W-what does that mean?”
“A drifting Wraith, a mental entity that transcends reality. That is its true nature. It has already escaped.”
Cha Jin-cheol shouted worriedly.
“The whole race is made of ghosts? How are we supposed to kill something like that?”
“There is a way.”
Seung-yeop brightened and asked,
“As expected of you, Ga-in! How...”
“There just need to be no nearby bodies it can possess.”
“Huh? I-if we all stay within the Flute's range...”
“The Flute's range has limits, so that won't be enough. We need to remove all bodies it could possess.”
“Remove the bodies?”
“We don't need to destroy insects or plants. It can't possess those. Humans, or higher creatures capable of something like thought. We just need to kill all of them.”
“C-can we do that?”
“... Let's all think about it.”
Watching Ga-in silently return to the conference room, I realized it.
A moment ago, when Ga-in had stared ahead so steadily...
He had been considering whether to slaughter every survivor in Humanity's Protected Zone!
Why had he given up?
Was it guilt over excessive slaughter?
Or did he think he couldn't kill them all before the enemy escaped?
Either way, there was no need to tell the others what Ga-in had been about to do.
Still, I thought about it too.
“...”
That being which had clashed with us had addressed Ga-in as “Your Grace.”
That meant it wasn't even high-ranking within its own race.
In other words, the Great Race of Yith was so powerful that even beings equivalent to commoners or minor nobles among humans were like this.
Footnotes:
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