WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 677: Room 301, Curse Room - ‘The Origin of Species’ (21)
──────
- Lee Eun-sol
“Eun-sol.”
Aah!
Half out of my mind, I staggered backward in a panic!
What? What? What? What?
My, my mother isn't human?
Not merely nonhuman, but an alien god so exalted it made my head spin?
Then what am I?
Don't tell me I'm a member of the Yith race too!
Just as the horrible thought filled my head and threatened to paralyze my mind, a cold voice spoke from somewhere deep inside, born from the immense experience I'd gained at the Hotel.
A-ri, a veteran agent, had never once suspected I wasn't human.
Song-i, who could tempt Chaos Entities with Affinity, had never charmed me either!
Then what am I?
A human touched by a Prisoner?
I don't know... I don't know!
As I desperately tried to calm my boiling mind, ‘Mother’ spoke in an even voice.
She was looking at Dad, not me.
“You ended up using all three chances.”
The assimilation caused by Butterfly Dream ended, separating my mind from Dad's. He had regained consciousness long ago as well.
Of course, only his consciousness had returned. Dad was already out of his mind.
“Gasp! Hah! Ah, ah... H-how could this be...”
Just look at Dad's face. He had practically lost his mind.
At that moment, I genuinely pitied him.
His wife was an unknowable demon, and his children were incomprehensible beings that demon had fashioned.
Everything he believed to be true love was nothing but an illusion created by a cosmic demon.
Unable to accept that truth, Dad had chosen to forget.
Now that forgetfulness had been undone, and the demon stood before him once more.
“You must now pay the final price.”
“Ah... Please... Please...!”
Dad couldn't even ask what that price was.
He had already lost his mind. All he could do was despair, then despair again, tormented by his unfathomable fate.
‘Mother’s’ next words were less an expression of emotion than a sentence handed down by destiny.
“The most valuable thing I bestowed upon you shall be shattered...”
The most valuable thing Mother had given Dad!
The moment I heard it, I knew what his final price would be.
Me. Us.
My siblings and I!
The next moment, an incomprehensible force began choking my throat like a brutal shackle.
“Urk...!”
I couldn't resist.
Neither Butterfly Dream, nor an Inheritance, nor a blessing could save me now. No power could.
Would it have been different if my companions were here?
Of course not! I should be grateful that I'm the only one here.
Just as I prepared myself to meet the death that was about to come, an even voice spoke.
“Calm yourself.”
“...”
“Do not think like a Mortal. You still have another Next Chance, do you not?”
“...”
“Your throat may hurt, but you still have time to think.”
There was something strange about the way ‘Mother’ seemed to be advising me.
She was the reason I was dying right now...!
The first thought that came to me through the pain was the Prisoner.
There were hardly any cases where a Prisoner could act without restrictions in a Curse Room.
If that were possible, normal progression would be impossible from the start.
The reasons differed by room, but Prisoners were generally restrained.
Yet Prisoners were intelligent beings far beyond humanity.
They often attempted to overcome those restrictions.
The Lord in Room 104 had prepared this strategy: “Resolve it. If you obtain the Inheritance, that will be my victory.”
Adravita in Room 203 had prepared this strategy: “If a participant's death ends the room, then I will never kill them.”
Then what was Mother’s strategy?
...
This situation itself.
The reason I was dying?
It wasn't because Mother was acting to kill me right now.
Think of the curse-like Command Dad heard when he first met the King of Yith long ago.
“Be silent. Forget. Obey. I shall give you three chances.”
This arrangement was now in effect, after Dad had broken his promise three times.
Once a Curse Room began, even a Prisoner couldn't act carelessly.
That was why Mother had planted a land mine long before the game began.
Perhaps my very existence was part of her design.
A design for a game where the arrangements she had prepared, in the place and at the time she wanted, fell perfectly into place.
“Do you think you understand now?”
I felt her gaze looking down at me.
Ridiculously enough, I realized something too.
I didn't know Mother's name.
I didn't know what she looked like either.
Even as I met her gaze, I couldn't perceive her.
If I looked at her while using the Flute, would I see her true form?
Then again, seeing it might be even more dangerous.
Through the pain, I forced my mouth open and whispered.
“... No matter how great you are, you're still in Buddha's palm.”
The words held despair, dizziness, and a little defiance.
Her answer was simple.
“I know that too.”
“...”
“One Who Cries Out for the Three Thousand Worlds clings to an utterly futile dream. Yet he is truly the most exalted being in the universe.”
“...”
“Anything else to say?”
Even opening my mouth was becoming difficult, but I forced myself to speak.
“What happens from here?”
I hadn't expected an answer.
Yet, surprisingly, one came.
“Not Ascent, but Descent.”
Descent?
The final realization that came to me through my fading consciousness.
The strange emotion in Mother’s “expression,” though I didn't know how I could perceive it.
Regret.
Sorrow.
Disappointment.
“This isn't what you wanted...”
Those were my final words.
* * *
--- Crackle!
As though the power had been cut, observation of Eun-sol was forcibly interrupted.
Observation of Song-i had already been cut off at the Gangwon Province Underground Ruins.
In the end, Ga-in sighed and raised his head from the telescope.
“For now, there’s no one we can observe.”
Mi-ro immediately spoke, urgency on her face.
“If we wait longer! You said Mook-seong might turn back time! Then...”
“Then Song-i and Eun-sol might revive, and observation might start again? That could happen. Either way, not yet.”
“...”
“Let's wait. I think the telescope will make its focusing sound when time turns back.”
The Observatory fell quiet for a moment at Ga-in’s words.
Soon, Sang-hyeon, who had been pacing silently, muttered.
“This is shocking.”
“...”
“I can't even remember the last time I was this surprised. I thought I'd experienced so much in the Hotel that nothing could make me bat an eye anymore...”
“...”
“Is Eun-sol not human? Is she a being conceived by a Prisoner? A member of the Yith race?”
“I don't know. Eun-sol didn't seem certain either.”
“You don't know?”
“For now, the Yith race are beings not bound by physical bodies.”
“Then Eun-sol’s body itself must be human. What about her soul?”
“Think of the first attempt. Didn't Affinity work even on members of the Yith race who had taken over human bodies?”
“There has never been any indication that Affinity works on Eun-sol, correct?”
“If there had been, Song-i would have known.”
“Hmm...”
The situation was too confusing to draw any conclusions.
Ga-in soon brought up something else.
“Right before observation was cut off, Eun-sol said something interesting.”
“Something interesting?”
“She said, ‘This isn't what you wanted...’”
“Huh?”
At that moment, Seung-yeop, who had been looking through the notes Ga-in had organized for each shift, spoke.
“Here, here! Ga-in, look at this!”
The passage Seung-yeop pointed to read as follows.
「At last, the chance has come.」
「It is regrettable that it is not the child I prepared from the beginning, but this too is fate.」
「Thus, everyone shall attain a glorious ending.」
“These were the words Song-i muttered right before observation was cut off.”
“Given the circumstances, Song-i repeated words she heard from the Prisoner. Of course, they were meant for us to hear.”
Ga-in thought for a moment, then looked intrigued.
“The story Song-i heard, and the story Eun-sol heard. When we put them together, an outline emerges.”
The other three turned their eyes toward Ga-in.
“Why did the situation deviate from the King of Yith’s intentions? Because Song-i went underground in Gangwon Province instead of Eun-sol.”
“Hmm!”
“Let's think from the Prisoner’s perspective. What did she arrange to lead a participant underground in Gangwon Province? The chairman’s past memories.”
No one objected when Ga-in naturally referred to the chairman's past memories as “the Prisoner’s arrangement.”
“That chairman also happens to be Eun-sol’s father. In other words, she placed the right clue right beside Eun-sol.”
At this point, Sang-hyeon nodded.
“She intended to guide Eun-sol underground in Gangwon Province.”
“But our actual progress differed. Once Eun-sol learned there was a sealed portion in the chairman's memories, she decided she wouldn't leave him.”
“Song-i went underground in Gangwon Province instead.”
“Not even a Prisoner could have accounted for that. Why? Because it was a variable involving another participant whose existence she didn't even know about when she made the arrangement. That is her limit.”
The Prisoner’s arrangement. The Prisoner’s limit.
At those words, Mi-ro opened her mouth slightly, looking dazed.
“The King of Yith has limits...”
“There are still many mysteries in Room 301, but at least learning what course of events the Prisoner wants is a major gain. The King of Yith wants Eun-sol to come underground in Gangwon Province. Song-i goes instead? She isn't pleased and starts something anyway, but...!”
“She will fail.”
“She will fail. By the time she spoke with Eun-sol, she had probably already failed.”
After finishing his explanation, Ga-in added one final sentence.
“But we should all keep this in mind. This entire scenario is the ending the King of Yith wants. Whether that is a positive ending for us too, well, we'll need to see a little more.”
As Ga-in finished, Sang-hyeon unconsciously opened his mouth slightly. He soon realized Mi-ro beside him had reacted similarly.
Ga-in himself did not seem particularly aware of it...
But to Sang-hyeon and Mi-ro, Ga-in’s attitude of discussing a Prisoner’s limits as though it were natural was, in another sense, just as dizzying.
“Either way, let's wait. As you know, the Curse Room is still in progress.”
* * *
- Kim Mook-seong
--- Vroom!
As I sped wildly through Seoul, I thought it would probably be difficult to meet Eun-sol.
“Phew...”
Song-i and A-ri had gone out of contact underground in Gangwon Province.
Elena had also split off while escaping that place.
I couldn't contact Eun-sol anymore either.
Jin-cheol, who had been with me until the end, got out of the car around ten minutes ago to deal with an unknown attack.
From the looks of it, I was the only one left, running away.
--- Whoooooom...!
That bizarre roar rang throughout the entire world again!
“...”
This time was different from before.
Rather than merely erupting as a sound, a wave that seemed to brush against my skin swept through the area.
Soon, absurd things started happening everywhere.
--- Crash! Rumble! Aah!
Cars that had been driving normally suddenly crashed into one another, mounted the sidewalk, and struck people.
I even saw a bus smash straight into a building.
The city had become a hellscape of utter chaos!
“This should be enough, right?”
I spoke out of habit, then realized too late that no one was around me.
Still, this seemed like the right timing.
The people watching from outside must have figured out quite a lot by now, right?
Thinking that, I opened my left hand.
“...”
A coin emitting a mysterious light: One More Chance.
With a “click,” I could begin the second attempt again.
But one fear swept over me.
“... The Price of Defying Heaven.”
How would the Price of Defying Heaven manifest in this Curse Room?
I didn't know.
But I had to accept it.
--- Ting!
Let there be light.
Thus, a second chance was given to all things under heaven.
* * *
「Kim Mook-seong (Communication) -> Kim 〿seong (Commu〿)」
Footnotes:
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