WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 78: What A-ri Went Through (2)

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“Penguin!”

I was tired. Did Mom still not know basic word-chain etiquette?

Should I scold her for starting with a word like that?

...

On the fifth attempt, the terrifying notifications that had appeared at the start showed up again.

[The adversaries have detected the participant’s intrusion.]

[The power of the curse grows stronger.]

[You cannot escape.]

They gave me chills for the first time in a while. I drew on my strength, expecting Mom to rush me the moment it began.

... But nothing had changed.

What was going on?

Those notifications couldn’t be meaningless. I didn’t feel like “Kim Sang-min” was attacking me at all, and the curse’s power hadn’t grown stronger either.

Was it because I was in the “hotel,” a place cut off from the outside world?

Then how had Mom been infected by the curse in the first place?

I understood less and less. All I could do was wait blankly for the surrounding space to collapse and the resolution to appear.

Hang in there, everyone!

“Penguin! Answer already!”

Whatever. We’d decided to go to the broadcasting station tonight anyway, so I’d ignore her.

Mom would break down the door and come in eventually. Maybe she’d come to her senses at the broadcasting station.

.

.

.

A long time seemed to have passed.

Mom still hadn’t come in, and the resolution hadn’t appeared.

That was strange. Mom wasn’t this patient.

I opened the door and stepped outside, if only to see what she was plotting.

I left Room 103 and walked down the corridor toward the hotel’s main entrance. Only then did I see Mom.

Something was wrong with this atmosphere.

Mom wasn’t the type to stand there quietly and admire the scenery.

...

Questions that had lingered in my mind ever since entering Room 101.

“How did Mom become infected with the curse in a hotel with no way to communicate with the outside?”

“Why hadn’t anything changed for me when the fifth attempt began and all those penalties appeared?”

And Mom’s strange behavior as she stood over there.

It felt like lightning struck inside my head, and realization came.

An answer that pierced through every question I’d had surfaced at once.

“You! Who are you?”

“I’m disappointed.”

“What?”

“Isn’t this your second time at the hotel? I didn’t expect you to be so slow to catch on.”

“...”

“At first, you didn’t know what carried the curse, so I can understand being fooled. But even after learning that media was the curse’s medium, you continued to be deceived. Where in this hotel is there any media connected to the outside world? Wasn’t it obvious that another entity had infected her with the curse?”

“...”

“That hardly matters. More importantly, this scenery. How mysterious. Is this the deep sea? There are several interesting fish.”

“Show me your true form!”

“Gladly. I was already bored stiff waiting behind your mother’s childish ego.”

At the same time, Mom’s body split vertically in half.

I knew she was fake, but the horrifying sight still sent a burst of rage through me.

A tall man emerged from Mom’s divided body.

Forties? Fifties? He was gaunt and wore glasses.

No, an appearance like that probably meant nothing. If my guess was right, that thing wasn’t human to begin with.

“So you were this room’s ‘prisoner.’”

“Prisoner? Is that what the Management Bureau calls us? Well, it’s not exactly wrong. This place is my prison.”

“Were you the one who gave power to ‘Kim Sang-min’? ‘Director’?”

“He was a pitiful child. He suffered cruel bullying from his peers for no particular reason and developed a mental illness. After that, the illness itself made him a target for reporters, and he was branded for it. Isn’t that tragic? He deserved one chance to repay the world for what it did to him.”

“Did you really feel that kind of sympathy?”

“Of course not. Still, wasn’t it entertaining? To think a single stone could make the world this interesting! Your Management Bureau should have thanked me.”

“Then why did you appear here? My companions went to eliminate ‘Kim Sang-min.’ Soon, the resolution will appear, and every space in Room 101 will collapse. Did you come to enjoy one last supper before that?”

...

The Director looked over the hotel scenery for quite some time, his expression almost wistful.

“How mysterious. Do you understand how mysterious this hotel is?”

“...”

“Of course you don’t. If a puppy followed its owner into a building, would it understand how advanced the architectural engineering behind that building was? It’s the same with you. You cannot understand even one facet of how transcendent and magnificent this hotel is.”

“Did you show up just to brag?”

“It isn’t bragging. I am vastly superior to you. I’m simply better.”

“...”

“Isn’t it truly mysterious? This entire world of all creation is, when you get down to it, nothing more than the inside of Room 101. Yet when you participated, another hotel formed inside Room 101. A hotel within a hotel. Could you progress through this hotel within a hotel as well? You never considered entering any room besides the Rest Room. Such timid behavior. Let me tell you something remarkable. In this hotel within a hotel, Curse Rooms, Gate Rooms, and everything else have all formed.”

“That is interesting.”

“It’s pathetic that your crude mind can dismiss such an immense miracle as ‘interesting.’ Let me explain through the lens of ‘human knowledge’ so you can understand. You know what a black hole is, don’t you? When a star several times larger than the sun reaches the end of its life, gravitational collapse creates a black hole. A black hole’s gravity is so strong that not even light can escape.”

“Are you going to lecture me on physics?”

“The fact that even light, the fastest thing in the universe, cannot escape means that a black hole is a place perfectly cut off from the outside. From one perspective, it could mean that the inside of a black hole is another world. That is why some say another universe exists inside a black hole. In a similar vein, some say that this universe, where all things exist, may itself be inside a giant black hole. Doesn’t that resemble this hotel within a hotel?”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”

“Think with that dull head of yours. What would happen if you progressed through this hotel within a hotel? Could you take the Inheritance you gained here outside as well?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t progress by myself anyway.”

“You can’t. But what if I progress? What if I destroy this hotel? What if I free every imprisoned entity?

“From your perspective, this is Room 101, isn’t it? Each room is ultimately a place that confines a single ‘prisoner,’ to use your words. Could it suppress all of its many prisoners?”

!

“My companions will resolve it before you can pull anything like that. All that awaits you is being trapped forever in a collapsing space.”

“You’re the type to trust and love your companions so deeply? That differs greatly from the memories of the body I borrowed. I can enter and leave this place freely. The deep sea may be a difficult environment for humans, but I could stop your companions from doing anything right now.”

“Do you think that bluff works on me? If prisoners like you, demons in all but name, could run wild inside hotel rooms as you pleased, it would be impossible to progress through any room. Isn’t even appearing before me and boasting like this putting quite a strain on you? You could only do it now because the restrictions were lifted during the fifth attempt.”

Had I hit the mark?

Judging by the man’s relaxed manner as he looked around, it didn’t seem like it.

Rather than that... this entire conversation with me seemed to bore him.

“You escaped the hotel in the past through sheer luck, yet your comprehension isn’t as low as I expected. As you said, I can only play around like this because this is your fifth attempt. In truth, I have no intention of interfering with your companions. If anything, I want them to resolve it quickly. I’ve taken care of the hospital as well. I made sure the nurses wouldn’t get in your way. Sang-min was making several pointless dolls, so I broke all but one. You should understand why I left one. It has to feel like a fight to be entertaining, doesn’t it? One of your companions, the big man, is currently brawling with a doll. It’ll be over soon.”

What did that mean?

Like the Devourer from before, the hospital Director spoke as though he was helping us.

“You look full of questions. Expressions like yours entertain me greatly. I have a kind nature, so don’t worry. The plan is already complete, so there’s no reason not to explain. When you ‘resolve’ the room, the entire world inside it, starting with the final battleground, will collapse. That includes this hotel within a hotel.

“Of course, as this hotel within a hotel collapses, the prisoners will naturally collapse as well. But I, having gained a little freedom first, intend to ensure they can endure that collapse, if only briefly. For a fleeting moment, at least ten ‘prisoners,’ including myself, will become free! Even if all the prisoners and I combine our strength, could Room 101 withstand it?”

I understood.

Once my companions resolved the room, the space inside it would collapse. At the moment this hotel within a hotel collapsed as well, he planned to destroy Room 101 alongside multiple prisoners.

Could an escape like that really be possible?

I didn’t know. This was so far beyond my understanding that I had no way to judge.

One fact was certain.

If not only the hospital Director, but a double-digit number of “prisoners” formed inside this hotel within a hotel escaped, wouldn’t Earth be finished in about ten minutes?

---Shwaaaaa!

A sound like an enormous wave rang out. A sound that reached even this hotel, where no outside sound should have been able to enter.

My companions had resolved it.

All creation began to collapse.

The hotel within a hotel slowly crumbled away...

The hospital Director, who had waited only for that moment, quietly lifted his gaze.

An indescribable radiance burst from his body.

Five colors? Seven colors? No, I couldn’t possibly describe that light with any color I knew.

Wrapped in a halo that could not exist in this world, the Director stretched his arms in every direction.

In an instant, dozens of hands erupted from the Director’s body.

Each hand flew toward one of the hotel’s rooms.

--Kugung!

The hotel doors melted away.

--Koooooo!

--Raaaaaa!

--Kyaaaaaak!

Great cries rang out from every room. The cries shook the entire collapsing hotel and spread through the whole world.

I could only stand there, dumbfounded amid the surreal scene.

What was I supposed to do? Would attacking that thing even mean anything?

Would a person stop construction because an ant bit them? Would they even notice?

As the hotel collapsed and even the individual rooms began to crumble away,

I saw countless prisoners, still holding their forms as they were grasped by the hospital Director’s radiant hands.

Each was an evil god that regarded mortals as insects.

The presence of those wicked gods, for whom even a star would be too small, shook heaven and earth.

The lofty heavens.

From the farthest edge of the distant sky, a “pillar” descended.

Footnotes:

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