WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 69: Room 101, Curse Room - ‘Common Sense-Altering Media’ (3)
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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 22
Current Location: Level 1, Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 0]
By the end of a single day, we had completed all three attempts.
When I came out and looked around, everyone looked confused.
I could guess why. Aside from Grandfather Mook-seong and me, nobody had even made it to the ABS broadcasting station.
They had all tried to investigate in their own ways, but they’d clearly hit a wall without learning anything.
“Let’s call it a day and go to Room 105. I think there’s a lot we need to explain.”
When I made it clear that I’d learned something, everyone got to their feet, looking a little relieved. As we walked, I narrowed the discussion down to three topics.
First, the information we’d uncovered. ABS, the hospital, the students, and so on.
Second, the method Grandfather Mook-seong and I had found for getting to the broadcasting station.
Third, how people without resistance to mental contamination could take part in exploring the station.
If we settled those points and got some rest, that should be enough for tonight.
* * *
Unfortunately, we’d spent too much time on the third attempt, so dinner at Room 105 was already over.
We had no choice but to return to the front desk and gather around the refreshment table.
Fortunately, it was always stocked with snacks and drinks, so we could at least fill up.
Eun-sol started the meeting.
“Right. It feels like Ga-in or Grandfather found something out. Tell us. I was on the ‘rest team,’ so I just took it easy. I’ll listen.”
... She still seemed upset.
First, I told them what Grandfather and I had learned.
I started by telling them that our internet searches had revealed we needed to go to the ABS broadcasting station.
From their expressions, it seemed some of them hadn’t even figured that out. Others might have, but had no idea how they could possibly get there.
Next, I told them what we’d discovered while exploring the station’s basement. The horrific scene in the security office. The ‘precautions.’ What we had seen after breaking them.
The hospital. The nurse-shaped monsters. The grotesquely transformed students.
It felt like we’d learned a great deal, yet none of it fit together.
The others seemed to feel the same way.
“It’s a mess. We have all sorts of information, but it feels like we haven’t found the thread that ties it all together.”
“I think there are three major groups of information. The ‘broadcasting station,’ the ‘hospital,’ and the ‘school.’”
“The school would be those high school students who became masses of flesh?”
“Yes.”
“I feel like searching terms such as ‘New World Hospital,’ ‘Lee Hyuk-jin,’ and ‘Kim Sang-min’ online might turn something up.”
“During the next attempt, let’s each search those terms on the smartphones or computers inside Room 101. Then the people who make it to the broadcasting station can share what they find, and those who don’t can leave the room and tell us afterward.”
During the next attempt, we would each search those keywords on the smartphones or computers inside Room 101, then gather at the broadcasting station.
Second.
How could we get to the broadcasting station?
“I got there using a difficult method. I took my little brother, who was infected by the curse, with me. My original plan was to keep my distance using COVID as an excuse, but I had to take a taxi along the way, so even that was impossible. It’s practically impossible without a Filter or bracelet, so I think the Elder should explain a method that everyone can use.”
“The method I used was the one you all used when you first entered Room 101. Teleportation.”
The Elder briefly explained his method.
1. While still sane, make plans in advance to go to the broadcasting station’s waiting room.
2. After being infected by the curse, teleport to the broadcasting station’s waiting room.
3. Wake up alone in the waiting room.
Everyone’s mouths fell open in amazement.
As they discussed the method, Song-i found a problem.
“Grandfather, I think there’s a risk with that method. What if we change our plans ourselves?”
Changing our plans. I hadn’t considered that.
“Even if we make plans while sane, saying, ‘Let’s go to the broadcasting station,’ is there any guarantee we’ll keep them after being infected by the curse?
“It’s not like we become robots without egos when we’re infected. We just become another version of ourselves with twisted common sense.
“The more I think about it, if we decide we don’t want to go to the station, then that’s it. We just end up cursed.”
A-ri pointed out another problem.
“It’s similar to what Song-i said about changing plans, but what if my family follows me when I teleport? I... I think Mom would try to follow me no matter where I went.”
I’d wondered about this ever since hearing about A-ri’s mother. What kind of being was she?
Was she so strong that A-ri was certain she could never beat her, and so possessive that she would follow her daughter wherever she went?
I understood less and less.
The problem with Teleportation.
What would happen if the ‘other self’ that emerged after being infected changed the plan? What if that self decided not to go to the broadcasting station at all, or worse, arrived with an infected family member?
The former would only mean dropping out alone, but the latter would put everyone else in danger because of that infected family member.
...
I made a suggestion.
“Teleportation seems pretty risky too, so instead of everyone using the same method, let’s each try a different way. Is there anyone who can go with a family member, like I did?”
As I spoke, I looked at Song-i. After all, only Song-i and I could endure traveling for a long time with a family member infected by the curse.
As expected, Song-i nodded.
“ABS is only a fifteen-minute walk from my house, so I’ll take a family member with me like you did, Ga-in.”
“Huh? You lived near ABS?”
It seemed she hadn’t made it to the broadcasting station during the third attempt because she hadn’t known she needed to go there. If ABS was only fifteen minutes away on foot, Song-i’s family must live somewhere incredibly expensive.
For a moment, I felt like some ordinary guy.
When I looked around, everyone seemed to agree.
The only methods we’d found for reaching ABS were going with a family member or teleporting. Only Song-i and I could bring a family member, so everyone else would have to try teleporting somehow.
At A-ri’s words, we finalized everyone’s plans.
“Sorry, but I’ll give up on teleporting too. I could probably go, but Mom would definitely follow me.”
1. Escape Team: Park Seung-yeop
2. Advance Team (Teleportation): Elena, Kim Mook-seong, Cha Jin-cheol, Lee Eun-sol
3. Advance Team (With Family): Han Ga-in, Yoo Song-i
4. Complete Withdrawal Team: Kim A-ri
We moved on to the final topic.
How would we explore the station?
“Based on what Elder Mook-seong and I learned while exploring it, even gathering everyone at the broadcasting station would be a problem.
“I was able to look around the mostly empty basement by myself, but if we want to search the upper floors, I think it’ll be impossible without mental immunity. Grandfather Mook-seong?”
“I only followed behind Ga-in. I can say this for certain. It’s absolutely impossible. I pride myself on having undergone all kinds of training, but I could never endure it. The curse’s power isn’t something you can withstand through willpower alone.”
Song-i spoke up.
“Then should Ga-in and I explore by ourselves while everyone else waits on the first floor?”
“Hmm. Ga-in has already looked around once. What do you think?”
“If there’s no other way, the two of us will have to do it. Does anyone have any ideas?”
...
Nobody spoke. It was a difficult situation. Since A-ri had given up even on joining through Teleportation because of her mother, nobody besides Song-i and me could endure the mental contamination.
Eun-sol, who had been deep in thought, spoke up.
“This is our fourth attempt anyway, right? You said things get strange from the fifth attempt onward, so we should aim to finish it this time if possible. Why doesn’t Jin-cheol just take the Red Pill?”
“...”
Wasn’t that a good idea?
I’d been thinking about the number of attempts too. It would be best if we could resolve this on the current attempt. Yet Jin-cheol, the person who would have to take the Red Pill, looked lost in thought.
“Hmm. You’ve got something on your mind? Then just say it.”
Even after the Elder spoke, Jin-cheol looked as though he might say something, then finally opened his mouth.
“What I’m about to say might sound really stupid. It’s something I thought of after hearing about Teleportation. The world inside Room 101 is one where common sense has been twisted, right? I’m thinking maybe we should act even more irrationally.”
“You’re damn frustrating. Just tell us exactly what you want to do.”
“Let’s kill everyone as we go.”
“...”
“...”
For a moment, nobody could speak.
“Come to think of it, during the first attempt, I went all the way to a deadly fighting tournament with my mind broken.
“Ga-in said that at a college freshman welcome party, more than a hundred people die playing Russian roulette as if it’s some kind of test of courage, right?
“Would murder even be a crime in a world like that? Would the police even function normally in the first place?
“Let’s go to the broadcasting station and kill every employee with guns or whatever weapons we have.”
...
It was insane, but he had a point.
Now that I thought about it, my fake little brother openly hacked a taxi driver to death with an axe on the street, yet the police never came...
In a crazy world, crazy plans might work. A world where deadly fighting tournaments were held, people ate humans on food shows, and Russian roulette was played at freshman welcome parties.
Would it really matter if we killed some broadcasting station employees? Maybe it wouldn’t matter at all.
If we went through the station shooting every employee, we wouldn’t have to worry about mental contamination or anything else!
“Ha... They say a two-eyed person is the abnormal one in a world full of one-eyed people, but in a world full of idiots, a boar like you becomes a genius!”
“Why am I a boar again?”
“I said you sound like a genius, you brat! That plan feels like it might work. If this were a world where you went to prison for killing a few people, everyone in it would already be in prison.”
With that insane conversation, our plan for the fourth attempt, which would begin tomorrow, was complete.
1. Search using smartphones, computers, and so on from each person’s starting point.
2. Arrive at the broadcasting station at an appropriate time through Teleportation or by going with family.
3. Search the upper floors while killing all the staff.
With that, we ended the meeting and returned to the bedrooms in Room 105 after a tiring day.
* * *
...
Late at night, after everyone had fallen asleep.
Kim Mook-seong came outside Room 105. A-ri was there.
“A Personal Message at this hour? Do you have something to say privately?”
“I got a strange feeling during the meeting earlier.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Don’t you think Ga-in is acting a little strange?”
“Isn’t he becoming more dependable? It’s quite useful that he can think rationally even after seeing such horrific things. He’d be more than qualified to be selected as an agent right away.”
“That’s what’s strange. How long has it been since we arrived here? We’ve gone through so much, and time inside the rooms passes however it wants, so it’s different for everyone, but... it probably hasn’t even been a month for Ga-in himself.”
“That’s true.”
“Mook-seong, think about the ‘ordinary people’ you’ve seen outside. Most people scream at the sight of a single corpse. If they saw someone who died miserably covered in excrement, or students who were tortured until they became masses of flesh, it would be normal for them to collapse and lose their minds.”
“...”
“No matter how much someone has been through, can they develop superhuman mental strength in just one month? He feels like an agent with thirty years of experience. Like us.”
“Now that you mention it, there is something strange about it. The change is excessive even compared to the others. Jin-cheol still has an innocent side to him, and Eun-sol, Song-i, and Miss Elena would also find it difficult to act calmly in scenes that gruesome.”
“He began changing this rapidly after learning how to use the Filter at Hotel High. That was when he started using his blessing far more often.”
“Do you think the ‘Owl’ is changing his mind?”
“Probably.”
“Even if it is, can we say that’s a bad thing? The ‘Owl’ is ultimately on his side, at least in the bigger picture. In this brutal place, that kind of superhuman mental strength would be a great help.”
“Only people are ever on people’s side.”
“...”
“...”
“Is that an insight you gained through your long years of experience protecting the world, Senior?”
“... It’s been a while since I heard you call me Senior. It gave me chills.”
“Sometimes, I feel sad that I’m the only one growing old.”
“Don’t talk so formally in such a creepy way. Anyway, Ga-in still seems to suspect me, so I hope you can steer him a little more toward people.”
“Well, I’ll keep an eye on him, thinking of it as helping a future junior agent.”
Footnotes:
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