WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 87: Party Time (9) - Strategy Meeting (2) (Final), Room 102 - Re-entering the House of Horror

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- Han Ga-in

In the end, the others started giving me looks, so I erased all the lines I had drawn on Grandfather.

Only then did the mood turn serious again. We had two concerns about re-entering Room 102.

Interpreting the hint and figuring out how to escape.

I gave my opinion first.

“First, let’s reinterpret Room 102’s hint. ‘Abandon the prejudice that you need to go toward ___.’ This hint has two meanings.

“First, the phrase ‘abandon the prejudice’ means we have a preconceived notion that we need to go somewhere specific.

“Second, that place’s name has two syllables. We came up with candidates like the mansion, the library, the church, and the lake.”

A-ri suddenly raised a third point.

“There’s another issue we need to consider before discussing the hint or how to escape.”

“Another issue?”

“The scenario itself could change. Room 102 is different from the other rooms. The characters themselves changed after our first attempt, didn’t they?

“Grandfather and I were members of the mansion during the first attempt, but now we’re party members. That hasn’t happened in any other room.”

The scenario itself could change. It was a possibility I had not considered.

I had only thought they might add new NPCs as a maid and a butler.

Had A-ri experienced something like this before?

“Have you experienced a scenario changing before?”

A-ri fell silent for a moment before speaking.

“As you all know, the hotel has the Resurrection Room. During the hotel’s first run, the party at the time used the Resurrection Room to revive an NPC from a Curse Room they were progressing through.

“I remember the hotel did not simply add a new NPC then. It changed the scenario itself.

“It was not a completely different scenario. The overall framework was similar, but it shifted into a different time period.”

Eun-sol asked a question.

“A different time period?”

“I think we went into that scenario’s future. I don’t remember clearly.”

“Hearing about the Resurrection Room made me curious. What happens when you revive an NPC through that room?

“Do they become participants like us? Do they recover the Inheritance or blessings they had before becoming NPCs?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t remember. I’m not hiding anything. It was a very long time ago, and I really was young then.

“My memories of the first run are extremely vague. Even what remains is mostly memories of my mother.”

I understood. Unlike A-ri’s suspicious behavior now, A-ri must have truly been just a small child during the hotel’s first run.

More importantly, we needed to consider the scenario changing.

A-ri said that when an NPC was revived while progressing through a particular room, that room’s scenario changed. It was strange, but what did that have to do with us?

“Is there any similarity between that case and what we’re going through now? We haven’t even found the Resurrection Room.”

A-ri answered.

“At first, I didn’t think there was any similarity either, so I didn’t mention it. But after thinking about it these past few days, I found an important common point.”

The situation A-ri experienced in the past, when an NPC was revived. Our current situation, with the agent team having joined our side.

The common point was that NPCs had joined the party as allies in both cases.

“Why did the hotel change the scenario when the NPC was revived in the first place? Because of information.

“It’s information the participant party normally could not know, or would have to make great sacrifices to learn. When an NPC joins as an ally, the participant party ends up learning too much, don’t they?”

I was starting to understand.

Unlike our first attempt at Room 102, A-ri and Grandfather Mook-seong had gone from being “characters in the mansion” to joining our side.

Naturally, they possessed a huge amount of information that participants would normally have had to make great sacrifices to learn.

For example, Room 102’s escape method, “prevent the Elder from offering six sacrifices,” was information A-ri had told me through the card game. There had to be much more than that.

From the hotel’s perspective, we had gained information for free that we normally would have had to learn through great sacrifice, all because NPCs had joined our side.

So, to adjust the difficulty, it might change the scenario’s time period.

My thoughts deepened. If the scenario itself changed, how were we supposed to deal with it?

“If the scenario’s time period changes, does that mean we’ll go into the past or future?”

“We should keep both possibilities open. Sigh. Do we need to completely rework our escape plan too?”

Grandfather Mook-seong brought up something slightly hopeful.

“If we go to the future, even I cannot know what awaits us. But if we go to the past, perhaps we may gain some helpers.”

Helpers?

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember the church and the mysterious Bell? The church, of course, was older than the mansion itself, as I recall. But the Bell was a holy relic brought in from outside.”

“Outside? Who brought in such a mysterious Bell?”

A-ri answered this time.

“Around the time the mansion’s Elder began to fall into corruption, a group resembling exorcists came from outside. I remember that they brought the Bell too.”

Exorcists?

“No, if a group like that came, why couldn’t they punish the Elder? Was the Elder already too powerful?”

Grandfather Mook-seong answered again.

“According to the information remaining in my head, they could not find any evidence.”

“Evidence?”

“Around the time the exorcists came, disappearances were taking place in that village. The mansion’s Elder was suspected, but the exorcists failed to find evidence.”

A village? Had there been one?

“Was there a village around the mansion?”

“According to the butler’s memories that remain with me, there was originally a village. That was why the church was built as well.

“But countless terrible, inexplicable incidents occurred. Many people died or fled, and in the end, only the mansion remained. Those terrible incidents began with the disappearances.”

The House of Horror we had experienced. Its past was simple.

This was probably the early days of the Elder’s corruption.

Terrible incidents began occurring throughout the mansion and the village. Exorcists were dispatched from outside and investigated the Elder, the most likely suspect, but they could not find evidence and left.

Then no one could stop the Elder. The village fell into ruin, many people died, and a long time passed. The future we reached when we first entered Room 102 was that point in time.

“If we enter the House of Horror’s past, should we help the exorcists?”

Eun-sol, who had been listening closely, answered.

“It sounds like we need to help the exorcists find evidence and punish the Elder, unlike in the actual history.”

Jin-cheol, who had been listening in silence, joined the conversation.

“Let’s stop this discussion here. We do not even know for sure whether the scenario will progress into the past, do we?”

That was true.

Once we considered the possibility of the scenario changing, it became difficult to continue the meeting.

There were practically endless possibilities before us.

Eun-sol returned to the basics.

“Like Jin-cheol said, let’s stop talking about the scenario’s time period changing. If we keep talking, it’ll just be speculation.

“Instead, let’s discuss what we originally meant to talk about: escape.

“First, let’s set aside suicide. Depending on how the scenario changes, escape through suicide seems too likely to be changed or blocked.

“What about leaving the mansion?

“If we wake up in the car on the way to the mansion like last time, the rest of us can continue while one person turns the car around, leaves the mansion grounds, and secures an escape.”

That seemed reasonable.

One thing we had learned while progressing through Curse Rooms was that escape was relatively easy compared to finding a solution that seemed hopelessly difficult. It felt like the hotel would accept any method as long as we somehow got out of the current crisis.

Wouldn’t it count if we simply ran away from the mansion?

There was some more discussion afterward, but the meeting’s overall conclusion remained the same.

1. Since NPCs from the mansion have joined our side, there is a possibility that the scenario’s time period will change.

2. Once we begin, one person should drive out of the mansion grounds to secure an escape.

That brought Day 4 of Party Time to an end.

The next day.

As promised, everyone spent the final day of Party Time resting comfortably. After checking our plan one last time, we prepared for the next room.

* * *

[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)

Date: Day 28

Current Location: Level 1, Room 102 (Curse Room - House of Horror)

Sage’s Advice: 3]

“So, Sister Eun-sol, how certain are you that your older brother, Lee Se-hyeon, has fallen into corruption?”

“Father, my brother has been curious since childhood. Back then, everyone thought it was the innocent curiosity of a child and found it endearing... but even then, I would sometimes sense madness in him.”

“As you know, those experiences alone make it difficult for us to be certain.”

“My brother eventually began associating with strange foreigners from Africa and Europe.

“I’m not a foolish woman. They were never people of the world of light.

“My brother gradually fell under their influence and began collecting strange objects and strange books. Especially books! He brought back a book I could not understand from somewhere.

“That book is truly incomprehensible. I felt it the moment I saw it from a distance. It is something that should not exist in this world.”

“Hmm. So your order believes that book is the Book of the Avatar?”

“Cardinal Mook-seong, that is correct. Our order received a prophecy that the Book of the Avatar, which has spread darkness through the world for the past four hundred years, is somewhere in this country, on the Korean Peninsula. This region is also one of the candidates.”

Beeeeeeep----------!

...

The second time I heard that broken-radio sound, I “came to my senses.”

Everyone stared at one another in shock. Only then did I realize.

“We weren’t meant to help the exorcists...”

“We’re the exorcists! Is this hotel seriously insane? I don’t know a single line of the Bible! What kind of priest doesn’t know the Bible?”

“Ahahaha! So, what do you think, Grandfather Mook-seong, our only ‘Cardinal’?”

“I’m going to make a run for it. I’ll drive the car and escape quickly, so you all figure it out.”

Everyone fell apart in an instant.

... It was not enough that the scenario had shifted into the past. The exorcists we expected to be our helpers were actually us!

There was no group coming to help us! As exorcists, we had to expose the lies of the mansion’s master, Lee Se-hyeon.

Jin-cheol said something stupid.

“Either way, this Lee Se-hyeon bastard is the culprit, right? Why don’t we just go over there and beat him to death? Doesn’t that solve it?”

Eun-sol let out a deep sigh.

“Please, Jin-cheol. Please. Has using such a stupid approach ever solved anything even once?”

Elena spoke up.

“Where are Seung-yeop and A-ri?”

Only then did I look around the car. Seung-yeop was gone again. A-ri was gone too. I looked at Eun-sol.

Eun-sol looked surprised as well.

“Huh? This time, we didn’t receive any information saying they were in the mansion.”

Song-i, unusually proactive, began sorting out the situation.

“Everyone, calm down. We all received information about our roles, right? Let’s share it. Seung-yeop and A-ri must be somewhere, either in the mansion or the village.”

I immediately said what came to mind.

“The Bell! Do we have the Bell? I’m searching through my memories right now, and it has an incredible name, the Bell of Saint George. It’s apparently a holy relic with the power to destroy magical power. Who has it right now?”

“I have it. I’m a Cardinal, so I should be the one holding something that precious.”

“You call yourself a Cardinal, yet your first thought is to run away?”

The car was filled with confusion.

I could not help sighing.

Sigh... We’re screwed! This party!

A priest who did not know a single line of the Bible, a Cardinal who had never even attended church. What a fucking disaster!

Room 102 was obviously going to be no joke either. I could not help sighing.

And now that I thought about it, my role was a “deacon” again.

If they were going to make someone who did not know the Bible a priest anyway, they could have made me a Cardinal too. What the hell was a deacon supposed to be?

Footnotes:

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