WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 665: First Escape, Meeting (2)
──────
- Yoo Song-i
Late at night.
I was lying on the bed in my private room in Room 105, rolling around.
It wasn't as if I was the only one lazing about.
Everyone else was resting in their own private rooms in Room 105 too.
Yesterday, we hadn't resolved Room 301. We'd only escaped, and since we had to go back in tomorrow, we needed to rest.
“...”
The general discussion had ended a while ago.
We'd shared the information each of us had gained in Room 301 and discussed how to proceed with the next attempt as thoroughly as we could.
I thought we'd done the best we could for now.
“This is so frustrating! You feel it too, right?”
As I whispered while petting Pero's head, the arrogant parrot bit my finger without hesitation.
“Ow!”
The moment I pulled my hand away, it closed its eyes and pretended to sleep as if nothing had happened.
Was it telling me not to bother it because it was sleepy?
“You were no help at all in Room 301, yet you act so full of yourself... Don't bite me!”
After playing around with Pero for a while, the sleep that had already refused to come vanished completely.
Would taking a walk help?
* * *
After I stepped into the hotel corridor and walked a few paces, I heard a clack!
Someone seemed to be fiddling with the whiteboard near the refreshment table.
Soon, I saw a familiar face.
“Ga-in?”
“It’s late. Shouldn't you be resting?”
“You're awake too.”
“I guess I am.”
Even while making pointless small talk, he never took his eyes off the whiteboard.
He must have been thinking deeply.
When I approached, I saw the list that had exhausted everyone throughout the meeting.
* * *
Party Assignments
Resolution Party - Entry Register
1. Fixed Members: Yoo Song-i, Lee Eun-sol
2. Additional Members: Kim A-ri, Kim Mook-seong, Elena
Escape Party - World After the End Times
1. Mi-ro, Seung-yeop
* * *
Seven names were written there.
We'd already decided that much during the evening meeting.
Opinions had remained divided until the very end over where to place the remaining three: Kim Sang-hyeon, Cha Jin-cheol, and Han Ga-in.
“I had a thought during yesterday's meeting.”
“...”
“I think we'll be worrying about party assignments throughout Level 3.”
“Yeah. Party assignments on Level 3 after Sealing on Level 2...”
“Sealing was easier in a way. The Hotel decided it for us.”
The Hotel decided who would be Sealed, so it wasn't something we had to worry about.
“Party assignments are harder because we choose them ourselves.”
To resolve the room, we had to send several strong members to the resolution party.
The problem was that if we failed after doing that, we'd be doomed.
If the escape party lacked strength, they might all be wiped out the moment the Duke appeared.
Ga-in muttered, “It comes down to whether we prioritize resolution or escape in this attempt.”
“Right.”
I looked at Kim A-ri, Kim Mook-seong, and Elena, listed as additional members on the Entry Register.
Seeing the three helpers brought back what we'd discussed during the evening meeting.
Ga-in seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he naturally began explaining.
“How should we proceed with the next attempt? Three things are important. First, we need to act more discreetly.”
“The Management Bureau's lower ranks have suffered Corruption, and Daeyang Group has plenty of informants planted by the Yith Kin too.”
“Right. It'd be a problem if you ran around everywhere with a cat again like you did in the first attempt.”
“Wow, are you blaming me right now? You're saying I ruined the first attempt because I was stupid!”
For a moment, Ga-in looked like he had no idea how to react.
“I'm joking.”
“... A-ri and you both say startling things out of nowhere sometimes.”
That made me laugh immediately.
“Do you know why we do it?”
“I don't.”
“Because it makes us want to act in ways you can't predict.”
“What?”
“After gaining Insight, you sometimes look at us quietly as if you're about to see through the entire universe.”
“That’s because...”
“I know you do it because you need to. Still, going through all this puts us under stress too.”
“...”
“Maybe not stress. More like a little pride? Hey! Han Ga-in, are you really that amazing? Do you know everything I'm going to do? What about this? Did you read this too? How about this one? Did you predict that too?”
Ga-in opened and closed his mouth like a fish before finally speaking.
“If that was your goal, then I'll tell you that you succeeded. You win, Song-i.”
“Pfft! That's enough joking. Let's get back to the important part.”
“Sure. Second, the Daeyang Group chairman likely knows quite a lot.”
“Definitely.”
“Eun-sol and her helpers need to get information from the Daeyang Group chairman.”
The information we needed came immediately to mind.
“Are you really a Regressor? You're connected to the Management Bureau, right? When did you join hands with the Yith Kin? What made you decide to betray humanity?”
“... It'd be better to phrase that last one less directly.”
“I was just saying it. Eun-sol will be the one questioning the chairman anyway.”
“Third, we need to contact the Management Bureau. But there's a high chance its lower ranks have suffered Corruption, so we need to find the people who are still uncompromised.”
“You mean I have to do that?”
“Yeah. Eun-sol is the Daeyang Group chairman's daughter, and there are already lots of Management Bureau or Yith Kin informants around her.”
That was the trap we'd fallen into during the first attempt.
Eun-sol must not contact the Management Bureau.
There were already too many informants around her.
I had to do it.
Inside Room 301, I was just an ordinary person, so I had much more freedom to act.
To sum it up, that was the broad outline of the second attempt.
Eun-sol and the helpers on her side would question the Daeyang Group chairman, while I and my helpers would contact the uncompromised faction within the Management Bureau.
The party assignments had been made to fit that plan.
“A-ri and Agent Mook-seong will help you. You can't simply report it to the Management Bureau. You need to distinguish which parts have suffered Corruption and which parts are still uncompromised.”
“That'd be difficult for me to do.”
“Right. A-ri and Grandpa need to do it. And...”
“And?”
“... Grandpa said this through a Personal Chat Window.”
“Then wasn't it something he only wanted you to hear?”
“I think you should hear it too. Grandpa will be keeping a close eye on your parents.”
“...”
Eun-sol's father, the Daeyang Group chairman, had many suspicious things about him.
Then what about my parents, who held a position equal to Eun-sol's in the scenario?
Were they really ordinary people who knew nothing?
Was there really no secret beyond them being a pair of veterinarians preparing to divorce?
“Don't be surprised if Grandpa seems to be watching your parents.”
“Okay.”
“Elena will help Eun-sol. Aside from her combat ability, she has Lie Detection. It'll be a great help when questioning the Daeyang Group chairman. We also considered her appearance.”
“Her appearance...”
Since I knew what he was about to say, I deliberately used a suggestive tone.
“Elena's looks are too striking. It'd be difficult for her to move around secretly. If she's beside Eun-sol, her presence would seem natural.”
Elena drew attention even when she was doing nothing, so acting secretly would be difficult for her.
That was why we'd assigned her as one of Eun-sol's helpers.
If Eun-sol was the youngest daughter of a chaebol family, it wouldn't be strange for her to be friends with one or two celebrities or aspiring celebrities.
But then!
“Hmm... Ga-in! About what you just said.”
“What is it?”
“It'd be a problem if Elena were beside me? Because unlike Song-i, she'd stand out too much?”
Only then did Ga-in realize what I was getting at and flinch.
“No...”
“Striking Elena isn't suited to moving secretly, but Song-i is? Because unlike Elena, she doesn't stand out?”
“Hey, hey!”
“Ha... This is really too much. I'll have to tell everyone tomorrow.”
Ga-in let out a long sigh, then started ignoring me.
“That concludes the resolution party. It's confirmed that A-ri and Agent Mook-seong will help you, while Elena helps Eun-sol.”
Next was the escape party.
“Mi-ro and Seung-yeop are going into the escape party, right?”
There were reasons those two needed to be in the escape party.
“Mi-ro will be in the escape party this time.”
“Because she's the only one who can copy Eun-sol?”
“That’s right... No, calling it copying is a little strange.”
The Yith Kin possessed the ability of Possession, from high-ranking individuals to low-ranking ones.
In practice, that meant every one of them was on the level of a Hotel Participant.
Wasn't that why they were called the Great Race?
The escape party had gone through such a chaotic battle that we'd reached a conclusion.
The single most complete countermeasure to the enemy's Possession ability was the Flute of Rest.
The other countermeasures, such as the Book of the Avatar, Old Blood's Suggestion, Primordial Human, and Clear Mirror, Still Water, were all inferior to the Flute of Rest.
They could only save the user, had weaker defenses, made the user half lose their mind, could only restore clarity once, or had other problems.
The next best solution after the Flute of Rest was the Time Lender, which could summon the Flute of Rest for an hour.
Since the real Eun-sol was a fixed member of the resolution party, Mi-ro, who could summon her, had to be in the escape party.
Then Ga-in spoke cryptically.
“Actually, I considered a completely different list too.”
A completely different list?
“Not this time. If we fail again, I'll bring it up then. I don't want to confuse everyone else needlessly.”
Hearing that only made me more curious.
“I understand Mi-ro, but I didn't expect Seung-yeop to go into the escape party.”
Ga-in was the one who suggested putting Seung-yeop in the escape party, but what happened next was a little strange.
Naturally, Seung-yeop asked why, but Ga-in subtly dodged the question.
What was even stranger was that A-ri, Eun-sol, and the others actively agreed and immediately wrote his name down.
“What was the reason? It felt like we weren't supposed to ask, so I let it go. I thought Luck would be really useful in the resolution party.”
“Heavenly Luck can't be used anyway.”
We'd used Heavenly Luck to decide the members at the start of the first attempt.
Among the Hotel Party's various abilities, Heavenly Luck had one of the longest cooldowns alongside Greedy Hand, so it still couldn't be used.
“Still, even without Heavenly Luck, Seung-yeop is lucky...”
“Being lucky is always useful, whether he's in the resolution party or the escape party. But...”
“But?”
The way he kept avoiding an answer only made me more curious.
“Just tell me. Seung-yeop isn't here anyway.”
“... Song-i. Don't misunderstand me. This is something I've realized through several experiences.”
What was he trying to say?
“I've noticed Seung-yeop seems to become several times stronger only when someone else is controlling him.”
“...”
“Whenever someone else controls him, he suddenly becomes smart and terrifyingly strong.”
“...”
“If Seung-yeop goes into the resolution party, I somehow feel like the Duke will control him.”
“He'll be controlled by the Duke and cut off Eun-sol's and my heads? He'll become the greatest martial artist under heaven only when he's being controlled?”
“...”
“Did you see it through Insight? Seung-yeop cutting off our heads?”
“It's not like that. It's just a feeling. A-ri kind of agreed too.”
If Seung-yeop heard this conversation, he'd probably be really hurt.
The problem was, once I'd heard the reason, I understood it too.
What were we supposed to do?
We'd all experienced Fortuna!
Ga-in smiled bitterly and muttered, “It's not just a feeling. It's because of the nature of Seung-yeop's abilities.”
“...”
“His combat power is considerable because he mastered Aksha's Soul to its extreme, and when Luck is added on top of that, his ceiling is incredibly high.”
“... But normally, his childish mental state gets in the way of that ceiling.”
“When an enemy controls him, that mental problem disappears immediately. Only his ceiling remains. The only real countermeasure is Primordial Human, and we used that for quite a while during the first attempt.”
“Wow... What even is this?”
As I felt dumbfounded, I suddenly tilted my head.
“But does putting him in the escape party solve that problem?”
“...”
“The Duke is still in the World After the End Times too. Wouldn't it be just as disastrous if Seung-yeop suddenly killed Mi-ro?”
“Because of the nature of the World After the End Times, everyone starts in the same place. No one will be acting alone.”
“Ah, so Seung-yeop won't be wandering around alone and get controlled?”
“Right. When we're together, we can summon the Flute of Rest at any time, so the odds of him being controlled go down too.”
Around then, I voiced a little regret.
“You remember, right? I wanted you in the resolution party too.”
“I'm still deciding where I'll go.”
“That's why I'm giving my opinion. You saw us from outside, remember? Without you there, it was so hard to judge what we should do.”
“It looked that way.”
It had been a long time since I felt just how great the absence of Wisdom, Advice, and Scenario Understanding was.
“The resolution party is more important in the end, right?”
“Right. Only the resolution party can finish Room 301.”
“More of our strength should go to the important side.”
“...”
I said that, but I understood Ga-in's worries too.
What if Ga-in wasn't in the escape party?
The instant the Duke appeared, it would be the end.
There was a one hundred percent chance everyone would be slaughtered without even getting the chance to breathe.
Just like the Mi-ro from the past and the Doctor, we'd all be trapped in Frozen Hell.
“This is hard.”
“Yeah.”
It made me think again.
The Hotel was such a contradictory place.
At times, it pushed Participants to keep one another in check and fight, yet once a single person became too powerful, it made progressing through Curse Rooms difficult.
Level 2 had Sealing, while Level 3 split progression in two.
In the end, the imbalance in our party's growth was becoming a problem too.
There was no one who could replace Ga-in.
If we put Han Ga-in in one, two was left empty. If we put him in two, one was left empty.
Since there was no answer, I eased the mood with a joke.
“Ah! So A-ri is the problem in the end.”
“What?”
“You and A-ri are the only ones who have two Inheritances! So why are you so weak?”
“...”
“Think about it. A-ri has two Inheritances! She's the oldest, and she has the longest career as an agent. Yet she can't live up to her Inheritances, her age, or her experience!”
Ga-in gave an awkward laugh, then suddenly looked at me closely as if he'd realized something.
“Most of what we just talked about was covered during the meeting.”
“...”
“I think there's something else you really want to say, Song-i.”
Something I'd consistently felt for some time.
Ga-in's intuition was sharp enough to be a little frightening.
He'd always had that side to him, but after gaining Insight, it felt like he was constantly using mind-reading.
Even the way he used Insight seemed to have changed.
At first, he couldn't control its output, so he saw through things excessively and often wore an eyepatch because he couldn't endure it.
It also felt like he was strongly influenced by the scenes he saw.
“Tell me. It seems like something difficult to say to other people.”
He got even that right.
As expected, was it impossible for me to beat him?
“Ga-in. It's something I felt the moment we first entered Room 301.”
“Yeah.”
“My parents, they were both real.”
“Hm?”
“They were real. They weren't fakes created by Dream...”
I flinched as I spoke.
The phrase “fakes created by Dream” was something many of our companions could never accept.
That was why I couldn't say it in front of the others.
Ga-in, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered at all as he asked back.
“What does it mean that they were all real? The parents you remember from reality appeared in Room 301 exactly as they were?”
“...”
“Or was the entire world of Room 301 the world you lived in?”
Footnotes:
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