WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 675: Room 301, Curse Room - ‘The Origin of Species’ (19)
──────
- Lee Eun-sol
“Find out whatever secret is hidden in the chairman’s head. Now!”
For a moment, the words over the phone left me speechless. Several thoughts flashed through my mind at once.
Why was Grandfather suddenly giving an order without considering the consequences?
Because he was planning to turn back time!
Why was he suddenly trying to turn back time?
The answer became clear when I thought of the unidentified roar that had echoed throughout the world just moments ago.
Something absurd had happened on Song-i and A-ri’s end.
Had things fallen apart to the point where turning back time was the only option?
Once I understood that much, I answered.
“You’re going to use One More Chance, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I understand that you want me to get the information without worrying about what comes after. But you know I’ll lose my memories if you turn back time. What about that...?”
Should I at least make a call before One More Chance was used?
It looked like a catastrophe was about to happen at any moment. Would there even be time for that...
“Eun-sol! It seems everyone on Song-i’s side is already dead! Ga-in or Sang-hyeon will be watching only you anyway!”
“Ah, I understand.”
I see!
If the companions outside were watching me anyway, there was no need to worry about passing on my memories.
Even if I forgot everything, Ga-in or Sang-hyeon would tell me afterward based on what they observed.
* * *
--- Bang!
When I threw open the chairman’s office door, Father looked up from the documents he was reviewing, his eyes widening.
“Eun-sol? If this is because of that strange sound outside...”
“I’m sorry.”
Butterfly Dream immediately opened, filling the chairman’s office with a mysterious light.
At the same time, the Flute of Rest appeared in my right hand.
Father soon muttered with a dark expression.
“That’s... the Magical Artifact that extracted my memories last time, isn’t it?”
“I need more information.”
“Even if searching through my memories by force brings danger?”
“Sometimes, you have to take risks. Isn’t business the same?”
Father’s next words caught me slightly off guard.
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never taken risks in business.”
“What?”
“I only got involved in ventures guaranteed to succeed.”
“...”
I had forgotten. Father was an incomplete Regressor.
He wasn’t someone who had built his business by taking risks.
As I stood there speechless, Father gave a bitter smile.
“How could I stop you? I only hope you’ve thought this through.”
He didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping me.
--- Whooo...!
Slowly, I played the flute.
Then...
“Urgh...!”
The “security measure” an unidentified agent had performed on Father’s head twelve years ago vanished like foam before the Flute of Rest.
“Please endure this for a moment.”
Soon, I became a butterfly and entered the past of the Daeyang Group chairman.
The memory began where the scene I had seen before had ended.
“Be silent. Forget. Obey. I shall give you three chances.”
* * *
- Lee Seok-hwan
Half out of my mind, I returned to my home in Seoul.
My wife was horrified when she saw my clothes soaked in cold sweat and blood, but I didn’t even have the strength to explain.
All I could do was calm my wife down when she said she would call the police right away.
After that, I spent the entire night curled up in bed, trembling as I prayed endlessly to someone unknown...
The next day, then the day after that, and the day after that.
One day, two days, three days, and still, even after a week had passed, there was no contact from the Management Bureau.
Did that make any sense?
An incomprehensible Chaos experiment had caused a major accident, with mass casualties, and they had no response at all?
Shouldn’t they at least have summoned me to investigate what happened that day?
What if the situation was so bad that even normal cleanup was impossible?
The thought terrified me so much I could barely breathe.
I had always resented the Management Bureau for dumping every kind of chore on me, and I had been angry at that secretive group for never properly telling me anything...
But after this happened, I realized something.
I had been psychologically dependent on the Management Bureau!
The Management Bureau might be a pack of bastards, but I had still believed it was an organization that protected the world!
...
Unable to bear the anxiety any longer, I contacted them first.
Having served the Management Bureau faithfully for over ten years, I had personally exchanged contact information with some agents and knew many employees well enough to reach out.
I arranged to meet Agent K in a secret location with decent security. He was called K for the simple reason that his surname was Kim.
He was a cheerful-looking young man in his twenties whom anyone would find likable, though as with every agent, his apparent age meant nothing.
“Agent, it’s been a long time.”
“Haha! Was the last time we met six years ago? You helped me a great deal back then.”
“Not at all. I’m the one who has always been grateful to you.”
For an agent, K spoke remarkably kindly.
He might have looked down on ordinary people inwardly, but at least outwardly, there was nothing unpleasant about his manner.
As we exchanged the usual pleasantries, I watched his reaction.
At least on the surface, K behaved as though nothing had happened.
The moment we sat at the square table, he asked me to get to the point.
“Chairman, we’re both busy people, so let’s get to the point. Why did you suddenly ask to meet? If you have a request, you should contact Headquarters instead of reaching out privately.”
“...”
“Or do you have some personal favor to ask me?”
“...”
“Haha! We’re not strangers. If it’s reasonable, I’ll listen. What, is your young son acting strangely? You’re afraid reporting him to the Management Bureau will lead to his Disposal, so you want me to handle it without hurting him too badly?”
“I take it you receive many requests like that.”
“Isn’t that it?”
K had no idea why I had asked to meet him. That made it all the more bizarre.
It was as though he knew nothing at all about what had happened in Gangwon Province!
“... Agent, some time ago, I purchased a 10.6-acre tract of land in XX County, XX Township, Gangwon Province, under orders from Headquarters.”
“Really? If the purchase price was so high that it caused management problems...”
“No.”
Even after I openly mentioned Gangwon Province, he still acted as though he didn’t understand what I was saying.
In the end, I spoke more directly.
“Agent, do you really not know? Or are you pretending not to know?”
“Pardon?”
“Th-that day! Didn’t a horrific massacre take place in Gangwon Province?”
“...”
“I saw it clearly with my own eyes. I remember it vividly. Didn’t an unknown monster escape from a glass container? The researchers at the site, along with Agent T, fell victim to that monster...”
Just as I tried to explain, drenched in cold sweat...
--- Ting!
K smiled.
“Agent?”
“You’re remarkably oblivious.”
“W-what...?”
“How do you expect to survive in this harsh world?”
The moment I realized even his way of speaking had completely changed!
--- Scrape!
Startled, I jumped to my feet and pressed myself against the wall.
That tone, that attitude, that presence!
My breath caught at once, and cold sweat began pouring down my face.
“Y-you...!”
The young man smiled as he stood and approached me.
He was K, but he wasn’t K.
Someone had already devoured K!
“Did I not tell you only a week ago? Be silent, forget, and obey.”
“Gasp! Gasp!”
“You seem terribly forgetful.”
Just as in Gangwon Province, the figure did not directly harm me this time either.
The figure simply smiled, held up three fingers, and folded one down.
“I gave you three chances. One of them has already vanished.”
“Ugh...!”
With that, the figure walked away with a light step.
...
When I stumbled out onto the street, half out of my mind, a world without common sense greeted me.
Ten people stood frozen in front of my car like dolls.
The moment they saw me, they suddenly opened their mouths wide, shoved their hands down their throats, and began pulling out their own tongues!
As if warning me never to speak carelessly again.
“Gah!”
The revolting sight made me collapse onto the ground in horror. Then I noticed something even more terrible.
“...”
It was broad daylight, in the middle of Seoul.
Naturally, the streets around me were filled with Seoul citizens living their ordinary lives.
Yet no one was surprised.
Ten pitiful people, controlled by a devil, were tearing out their own tongues in broad daylight, and everyone simply walked past as though nothing was happening!
It was the same. Exactly the same!
It was as though everyone except me had agreed that nothing was wrong, that the world was peaceful!
* * *
‘What a revolting sight.’
‘Did it control the minds of thousands of people around it simultaneously? If the other party is a Prisoner, it’s possible, but... impressive.’
‘What exactly is impressive? You can control people too...’
‘Controlling that many people at once is difficult enough. More importantly, it’s impossible to carry out a mass killing in broad daylight and clean it up as though nothing happened.’
‘I understand why the chairman became so disgusted.’
‘Another thought occurs to me. Even after putting on this troublesome show, the other party still hasn’t killed the chairman or directly touched him.’
‘...’
‘The King of Yith must have a reason why directly touching the chairman would be problematic.’
* * *
It happened during the year I turned forty-nine.
By then, I understood far more than I had eight years earlier.
For instance, I could feel that the lower ranks of the Management Bureau were gradually changing.
I could sense the presence of an “unknown monster” behind every employee or agent I met.
Would this be how it felt if some unknown evil spirit suddenly possessed the body of the lord I served?
Even after realizing it, there was nothing I could do.
I simply served the unknown monster wearing the mask of the Management Bureau and cooperated with all sorts of bizarre acts I couldn’t understand.
There was only one thing I learned during that period.
The monster seemed to need a great many humans.
As for what it needed humans for, well, I chose not to think about it.
At some point, even the guilt I felt stopped being much of a problem.
...
One day, after living like that day after day, I got into my car after work and found a different being in the driver’s seat.
“You are Lee Seok-hwan, chairman of Daeyang Group, correct?”
“Yes. Are you from Headquarters...?”
Before I could finish speaking, a pale mist rose from the unidentified being’s hand.
I didn’t even have time to wonder what it was.
The mist rushed into me in a frenzy and made my mind spin.
“Ugh...!”
I felt my consciousness growing hazy.
I also knew that whatever it had just done made it impossible for me to lie.
It seemed the other party intended to interrogate me.
“W-who are you?”
“In terms you can understand, you may call me the Count.”
“The Count?”
“Answer according to what you remember. Based on what I have learned over the past few months, you are the last Mortal to have made contact with the King.”
“T-the King?”
“The King has disappeared. The Dukes have even conveyed the unbelievable claim that the King has ‘ceased to exist.’ Do you know anything?”
Under the pressure of a question I could not resist, I asked because I truly did not understand.
“Who... who has ceased to exist?”
* * *
‘When the chairman was forty-one, the King of Yith arrived on Earth and carried out something. Then the King suddenly disappeared eight years later? After that, the Yith race came to Earth and began searching for their missing or vanished King?’
‘It looks like we’re about to learn the secret behind the King’s death or disappearance.’
Footnotes:
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