WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 70: Room 101, Curse Room - ‘Common Sense-Altering Media’ (4)
──────
[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 23
Current Location: Level 1, Corridor
Sage’s Advice: 3]
After breakfast, everyone gathered in front of Room 101 with resolute expressions.
This was already the fourth attempt.
It was about time to bring this to an end. Things would “get strange” from the fifth attempt onward. I was curious what that meant, but there was no need to risk our lives finding out.
Didn’t everyone want to finish this time?
Jin-cheol kept checking the Red Pill in his pocket. It looked like he planned to take it and wake up if things went wrong.
* * *
Fourth Attempt
* * *
- Han Ga-in
By now, I was used to it. The moment it began, I covered myself with the Filter and found an excuse to lock myself in my room by claiming I had to enroll in classes.
I immediately started searching on the computer. New World Hospital, Lee Hyuk-jin, Kim Sang-min.
What on earth had happened?
...
About forty minutes passed.
I came to understand a tragedy that left a weight in my chest. The story behind the nightmare that had consumed this entire setting had begun with a small sorrow that could have happened anywhere.
I didn’t understand everything. Still, I thought I knew who the villain was.
They must all be waiting.
Searching for information and piecing together the scenario had taken more time than I expected. Unlike the others, who would travel by Teleportation, I planned to take a taxi with my family.
I’d probably arrive quite late. Time to go. There was a lot I needed to tell everyone.
* * *
- Lee Eun-sol
I had only learned the rough outline of what had happened. It was more clichéd than I expected.
I didn’t know how they had ruined the world, but I had a rough idea of who had done it. It was time to leave.
I recalled the meeting from last night. Teleportation.
Who could have imagined a method like that? If I followed that plan, I could ignore every danger in this irritatingly huge house and reach the broadcasting station.
Still, no plan was perfect. We had found a flaw in the Teleportation plan.
After becoming infected with the curse, “another me” could change my schedule.
To prevent that, I’d spent the morning busily creating a detailed broadcasting station schedule on my smartphone and notifying my secretary and the directors.
It felt as though even casually using KakaoTalk on my phone could spread the curse. How vicious.
This should be enough. I had told my secretary, the directors, my family, and several others about my plans, officially establishing my visit to the broadcasting station.
That should do it, right? Now I just had to pray that future me would make it to the station.
I opened the door. People were approaching from across the hall.
... I felt my consciousness growing hazy.
...
“Executive Director!”
* * *
- Cha Jin-cheol
After lightly pushing Mother away, I put some distance between us and told her I had an interview at the broadcasting station.
Would this be enough? Once I became infected with the curse, I’d probably go to the station for my interview, right?
Just in case, I texted the head of my dojo as well.
I had told several people where I was going, so even after becoming infected, I’d most likely follow through with it.
I approached the fake Mother.
... I felt my consciousness growing hazy.
...
“Jin-cheol!”
* * *
- Elena
...
It was dark. I could barely hear anything.
That was only natural. Since the third attempt, I had started with Song-i’s Sensory Block already affecting me.
Thanks to that, even though I could feel my sister right beside me, my sanity was still holding on.
Sadly, I couldn’t look up any information.
I started beside my sister, so I had no choice but to begin with Song-i blocking my senses. I couldn’t use a computer or smartphone if I couldn’t see.
I pulled clothes from the wardrobe and began changing.
...
This was difficult. Choosing clothes and changing by touch alone was harder than I expected.
I told my sister that I would soon be leaving for ABS. I couldn’t hear her answer. I appeared on broadcasts fairly often anyway. A plan like this should proceed naturally.
My sight and hearing gradually returned. I began to see.
My sister was tearing apart and eating something grotesque.
... I felt my consciousness growing hazy.
.
.
.
I came to.
Startled by the sudden jolt, I looked around. Someone patted my shoulder.
“Have you come to?”
“Grandfather?”
“I’ve been waiting. You arrived quite early.”
“Have the others arrived too?”
“Miss Song-i should be here soon. She’s started using the Chat Window, so she must be almost here.”
“Then we only need Ga-in, Jin-cheol, and Eun-sol to arrive!”
“Ga-in will probably take quite a while. He decided to take a taxi with his younger sibling. As for Miss Eun-sol... I don’t think she’ll be able to come.”
“What?”
“Turn on your smartphone and check the news. The world of this stage is in chaos right now.”
I hurriedly turned on my phone. The top news articles were all about the Daeyang Group chairman dying during a Human Hunt.
... A Human Hunt?
If he did something like that, good riddance.
No one said it outright, but we all knew one another, more or less. I had heard that Eun-sol was the Daeyang Group chairman’s daughter.
She wouldn’t be able to come in this situation. No matter what her schedule was, everything would be canceled now.
Thud.
Something heavy struck the ground.
I turned toward the sound and saw Jin-cheol appear.
...
I think we were doomed.
Jin-cheol hadn’t come alone.
The moment I saw the elderly woman beside him, probably the “Mother” he mentioned so often, I couldn’t breathe.
Grandfather Mook-seong groaned and clutched his head.
“That goddamned boar bastard! What was he thinking, bringing his mother here?”
What were we supposed to do? If a family member stayed beside him like that, Jin-cheol’s curse wouldn’t be lifted.
The situation kept getting worse.
The mother and son naturally began walking toward the waiting room.
What do we do? That woman would make all of us lose our minds!
“Elena! Get against the wall! Put as much distance between yourself and those idiots as you can, and hold on. Song-i will be here soon. If Song-i uses her hallucinations well, she can separate those two.”
We immediately pressed ourselves against the waiting room wall.
Jin-cheol and his mother entered. They were a close-knit mother-and-son pair. I could hear them talking about interviews and getting a job.
Hold on. Hold on. Song-i will come and do something.
...
Mother spotted me.
“Oh my! Oh my! Aren’t you that young lady from Bi** Talks?”
Ah. I had only been on that show about four times, but she recognized me.
Normally, I would have been grateful. Of all places and situations, she recognized me here.
Mother hurriedly pulled out a sheet of paper and approached me.
...
She was even a fan. Oh, thank you. There couldn’t be many people in the world who were my fans, yet somehow Jin-cheol’s mother was one of them.
Thank you so much. Thanks to you, I felt like I was about to lose my mind.
I tried moving left and right while keeping close to the wall, but this wasn’t some athletic field. There was nowhere to run.
I could only wait for what was coming.
Click.
With a cold metallic sound, everything in the waiting room stopped.
I looked at Grandfather in alarm. He had drawn a gun. What was he planning to do?
“Grandfather! Who are you going to shoot?”
“I’m sorry, but I have to kill that boar bastard’s mother.”
“What if Jin-cheol gets worked up? He thinks that fake mother is his real mother right now!”
“We have to endure it. If we kill only the mother, there’ll be no one around Jin-cheol but us, so he’ll come to his senses soon. We only have to hold on for a few seconds.”
Grandfather’s face had gone completely rigid.
Even with a gun, could anyone really hold out for a few seconds against a superhuman who could smash concrete walls with his fists?
“Grandfather. Wouldn’t it be better to shoot Jin-cheol instead?”
Something that had become clear through several attempts was that, regardless of Jin-cheol’s incredible strength, bullets could not bounce off his body.
“It’ll be hard to continue if we kill him too, so we have to try to keep him alive and make him come to his senses.”
...
Grandfather aimed his gun at Mother.
The “Mother” approaching me saw it and suddenly did a handstand.
Bang!
Blood sprayed from “Mother’s” shoulder.
...
“Aaargh!”
Jin-cheol’s roar rang through the entire first floor of the broadcasting station.
Ah, we really were doomed.
* * *
- Cha Jin-cheol
Was this a dream? A nightmare? This was supposed to be an interview for the start of a new life.
Mother had followed me, saying she wanted to support me. I strongly objected, but there was nothing I could do. In the end, I told her to at least have a meal at the broadcasting station before leaving.
We entered the broadcasting station and headed toward the waiting room.
There seemed to be two people farther inside, but they were pressed against the wall for some reason, so I could barely see them. I decided not to pay attention.
“Oh my! Oh my! Aren’t you that young lady from Bi** Talks?”
“Excuse me? Who are you talking about?”
“That young lady! Oh my, I need to get an autograph.”
The moment Mother hurried toward the young woman, a thickset old man in a suit stepped forward. He was holding a pistol.
What the...
Before I could react, blood sprayed from Mother’s shoulder.
...
Heat surged into my head.
I leaped at the old man with every ounce of strength in my body. I closed ten meters, maybe even more, in an instant, and heard him curse.
The gun pointed at me. A chill ran down my spine. Was this how it ended?
...
“You boar bastard! Please come to your senses!”
The old man said something I couldn’t understand and lowered his gun.
My fist flew toward him. He took a stance and, at the right moment, tried to twist my punch aside with his palm.
No. He tried to.
It was pointless. With “only this much strength,” there was no way he could alter the path of my arm.
Even so, the old man twisted his head aside and made my fist slam into the wall.
Bang!!!
The waiting room wall of the broadcasting station was badly damaged, as though it had been struck by a hammer.
At the same time, the old man pulled out his gun again with an almost resigned expression, and...
I had no intention of giving him a second chance.
I immediately kicked the old man, knocking the gun from his hand. One kick crushed his leg. He rolled across the floor, groaning.
Good. Now that I’d beaten this crazy old man, I could take Mother to the hospital...
Click.
I heard the gun again. Startled, I looked up.
...
The foreign woman Mother had said appeared on Bi** Talks.
... For a moment, I was stunned.
She was unbelievably beautiful. A foreigner? Since we were at a broadcasting station, was she an entertainer?
Still, perhaps she had picked up the gun that had flown away earlier. There was a gun in her hand.
The young woman aimed it at “Mother.”
What was going on? Why was this madness happening, with a celebrity trying to kill my mother after that crazy old man?
Bang! Bang!
... They both missed.
Unlike the old man earlier, it seemed the young woman couldn’t shoot a pistol well. The bullets didn’t even get near Mother and ricocheted in random directions.
Even so, I needed to take the gun away.
...
The young woman was crying.
Something... A strange feeling that I was making a terrible mistake washed over me.
What was this? Mother and I were the victims, so why did I feel this way?
Bang!
A bullet grazed past me.
She really couldn’t shoot. Still, if I got hit by a stray bullet, it would be a problem.
I kicked off the ground and flew forward again. Just as I was about to snatch away the gun with one motion and lightly strike her unconscious...
Someone entered the broadcasting station. A high school girl? She was wearing a school uniform.
The student’s arm flashed, and an ominous radiance brushed past me.
The moment I felt a dizzying force swallow me up, everything around me disappeared.
Footnotes:
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