WETRIED TRANSLATIONS
The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth
[Translator – Aren]
Chapter 92 - At a Hotel with My Girlfriend (4)
Park Minho didn’t completely trust everything this mysterious entity, which had appeared as nothing but a hand, was saying, but he had no other choice right now.
'At least once I’m out, I might get another chance.'
He wasn’t going to get anywhere inside this cage.
In the end, Park Minho decided to escape with the help of the unidentified entity that called itself Princess Cavaletto’s right hand.
"Fine. I’ll cooperate with you. Can you do something about the cage?”
The right hand crooked its index finger.
[Something like this is nothing.]
"Really? Even summoning the grinder didn’t work.”
[That’s because you tried to solve it through purely physical means. It is not difficult if you manipulate reality. Step back first. If you are caught up in the Reality Manipulation, there will be no way for me to save you.]
When Park Minho pressed himself against one side of the cage, the right hand snapped its fingers.
-Snap!
At the same time, the bars turned brown like rusted powder and crumbled away. The cage that hadn’t even been scratched despite all the havoc he had caused with Cutting vanished in an instant.
"Wow…That’s incredible.”
The right hand replied cynically.
[Do not merely look at the phenomenon itself. The fact that I can use Reality Manipulation within this space is precisely what proves that I am Princess Cavaletto.]
Apparently, the only one capable of manipulating reality within this subfloor was Princess Cavaletto.
[Had you been capable of manipulating reality as usual, you could have dealt with it just as easily.]
"How come only Princess Cavaletto can manipulate reality on this floor?”
[There is no need to overthink it. It’s because the original owner of this endlessly stretching restaurant was the original Princess Cavaletto.]
"Princess Cavaletto before she was split into pieces?”
[Correct.]
Like the Hanged King, Princess Cavaletto was also a being from outside the Backrooms.
However, she possessed private property within the Backrooms as well, and that property was Le Soupir.
"Is she something like the owner of this floor? If so, it wouldn’t be strange for her to determine its rules.”
In that regard, the same was true for Park Minho. He wasn’t an entity, but he possessed an entire floor. Floor 8.
Of course, unlike Princess Cavaletto, he hadn’t imposed a condition preventing anyone besides himself from manipulating reality. Even so, he had acted as its owner in his own way, such as granting intelligence to the miners and attaching continuous tracks to the minecarts.
"But where are we supposed to go? You said this entire world is the tongue’s territory.”
[We can escape into the painting. We’ll make the necessary preparations there.]
"I can go inside too?”
It was difficult to imagine a flat, two-dimensional world.
[Of course. With my assistance, it will not be difficult.]
"There won’t be any problems, right?"
[You worry too much. Actions speak louder than words.]
With that, Park Minho’s vision was sucked into the canvas.
* * *
The first thing Park Minho felt inside the world of the painting was the solid ground beneath his feet.
The inside wasn’t merely a flat plane but a three-dimensional space in which everything depicted in the painting had been brought to life.
Before him was the woman sitting elegantly in a chair, just as she had appeared when viewed from outside the painting.
"...!"
When she saw Park Minho suddenly appear and gave a startled look, the right hand gestured that everything was all right.
[He is my guest. Do not act rashly.]
The woman quietly bowed her head.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Curious, Park Minho asked,
"You two must know each other pretty well.”
[I have been here for a long time. I’m on friendly terms with most of the paintings hanging in Le Soupir.]
Apparently reassured by the right hand’s words, the woman in the painting remained seated without moving. She looked like an NPC in a game before the player initiated a conversation.
[Come and sit.]
The right hand pointed toward a nearby table and chair.
[Before confronting the tongue, there is something we must do first.]
"What’s that?"
[Modify your rope so that it can be used within this space. I will also add another function to it.]
The right hand had been the executioner who pulled the lever of the gallows, but in life, she had also been an artisan who ceaselessly created things.
She possessed enough skill that Nicola would have worshiped her as a god had he seen it, so modifying the King’s Noose in Park Minho’s possession would be more than possible.
"You can make it usable inside Le Soupir?”
[Correct. I will imbue it with a portion of my power. Of course, it will still be far weaker than what you normally use, but right now we cannot afford to overlook even the smallest variable. Now, place the noose on the table.]
Park Minho pulled the King’s Noose out of the shadow that served as its holder and placed it on the table. The end of the Noose’s rope continued into the depths of the shadow.
"How are you going to modify it? You’re not going to break it, are you?”
[Had I possessed the power to break this, I would have dealt with the tongue long ago. The modification will be performed by retying the noose’s knots. This is a mass of anomalous energy arranged in a specific configuration. Changing the shape and direction of the knots will also alter its function.]
"That sounds kind of like coding.”
[It’s almost the same concept. The only difference is whether it is digital or analog.]
The right hand began moving intricately around the noose. Purple light rose from every spot her fingertips touched. The strands of the rope repeatedly unraveled as though exploding, only to gather together again moments later.
The complicated work continued for some time, and Park Minho watched as though mesmerized. However, he couldn’t understand the principles behind it.
It felt similar to zoning out while watching videos of intricate and astonishing modern manufacturing processes on YouTube.
After tinkering away for quite some time, the right hand finally finished her work. Several knots that hadn’t existed before were now tied into the modified noose.
[It is done. The noose will now function inside Le Soupir as well, although not at full strength.]
"Then was there really any point in modifying it?”
[To improve our odds, even if only slightly. Furthermore, I added an additional function. In truth, that is the real reason.]
"What is it?"
[From now on, whenever you use the noose, you will be able to transfer the damage caused by being strangled for 30 seconds onto someone else.]
Park Minho’s eyes widened in shock.
"Seriously? That’s possible?”
If that was true, it was an incredible function. Until now, he had been unable to use Reality Manipulation freely because of the way the noose strangled him.
He had been forced to endure it with the Adrenaline Pump trait and activate his ability in a frantic rush as though something were chasing him.
Reaching the intermediate Awakened rank had given him a little more leeway, but being strangled was still being strangled.
"30 whole seconds?”
30 seconds could be short or long, depending on how one looked at it.
'Even so, that should be enough time to use Reality Manipulation once or twice, right?’
Even better, it could also be used both offensively and to subdue an opponent. Only someone who had experienced it knew how agonizing it was to be strangled by the noose.
If someone was suddenly subjected to the noose’s constriction for 30 seconds, all but the strongest opponents would inevitably collapse.
Being strangled by the noose while also being attacked through Reality Manipulation would leave anyone on the receiving end cursing their head off.
Park Minho realized that this brief modification had improved his ability by leaps and bounds.
"But this still won’t be enough, will it? You said the tongue was the strongest.”
[Of course. I have a plan.]
The right hand’s solution was simple.
[Princess Cavaletto’s eyes are inside Le Soupir, are they not? If we can persuade the eyes, we can create a two-on-one citation against the tongue.]
In other words, Park Minho, the right hand, and the eyes would join forces to fight the tongue.
"Won’t that cause problems for Seol Suyeon?”
[It will be fine. I know what you are worried about. The eyes are currently asleep. Once awakened, they will coexist with Seol Suyeon. After we deal with the tongue, they can return to normal by falling asleep again.]
"And what are you planning to do with the tongue?”
[Seal it. Once the tongue has been subdued, I will take control of this floor.]
Suspicion began to rise within Park Minho.
"Then what guarantees you won't become another tongue? For all I know, you could be planning to resurrect your current personality in its place.”
In truth, the right hand had already anticipated such doubts. That was why she presented the offer she had prepared in advance.
[I will give you the sealed tongue. You will possess both the eyes within your girlfriend’s body and the sealed tongue, meaning you will control half of the remaining body of the great Princess Cavaletto. Can you still not trust me after that?]
* * *
"I have a report. The human escaped with the right hand’s assistance, Your Highness.”
At the mannequin Faceling servant’s report, Princess Cavaletto’s tongue opened her fan and concealed her smiling mouth behind it.
"Good. Understood. You may leave.”
"Yes, Your Highness.”
Once the mannequin Faceling had left, the tongue burst into shrill laughter.
"Oh, right hand. How unfortunate. I already know exactly what you’re thinking.”
Locking Park Minho inside the cage in the first place had merely been a ploy to draw the right hand, that little rat scurrying from painting to painting, out into the open.
She had tried for many years to capture the right hand as it fled through countless paintings, but every attempt had ended in failure.
That seemingly eternal game of tag was finally drawing to a close with the appearance of Park Minho and Seol Suyeon.
"She will probably try to awaken the eyes.”
The tongue stroked the face of Seol Suyeon, who lay unconscious on the sofa.
The eyes possessed a noble disposition, so they would undoubtedly oppose her plan and help the right hand. Had everything proceeded as they intended, the tongue might have been caught off guard and sealed away.
But now that she had already seen through their ploy, there was no chance she would fall for it.
"All I have to do is prevent the eyes from awakeneing……”
The tongue used a powerful skill on Seol Suyeon. Something resembling fine grains of sand drifted down around her eyes.
-Fssssh.
This was something the tongue had developed solely to put Princess Cavaletto’s body parts to sleep.
Because its target was so limited, it was exceptionally effective against those few specific opponents. No matter how hard the right hand tried to awaken the eyes, now they wouldn’t stir.
* * *
The right hand lightly hopped onto Park Minho’s shoulder. Park Minho couldn’t help flinching at the sensation of a severed hand resting there.
[The preparations are complete, so there is no reason to hesitate. We will go directly to the tongue.]
"Yeah, got it.”
[We will be crossing through the paintings. Hold tightly onto your senses.]
Because they would be passing rapidly through many different worlds, she warned that if he let his mind wander, he could become caught up in the anomalous nature of one of the paintings.
[When you experience the anomalies of many worlds in rapid succession, you begin to lose track of where you originally came from. Eventually, you may come to believe that the world inside a painting is your true world.]
"That’s terrifying.”
[Then do not forget who you truly are.]
With those words, the world inside the painting rippled and shook, and Park Minho’s body was soon sucked into the world of another canvas.
Afterward, he experienced all kinds of painted worlds. A storm-tossed sea, a simple still life of a banquet table, a battlefield, and even senses from great myths.
At first, it was fascinating, like watching a movie unfold directly before his eyes.
But after passing through dozens of paintings, the anomalous effects began causing problems, just as the right hand had warned.
It happened when they entered the space belonging to an old gardener in the next canvas.
The rich scent of earth from the neatly trimmed boxwood hedges filled his nose. Park Minho felt at peace and found himself wanting to rest beneath the garden’s gentle sunlight.
"Why am I so tired?”
He couldn’t tell why. All he could think about was how nice it would be to sit on one of the garden benches.
At that moment, sparks flashed before his eyes.
-Smack!
The right hand had slapped Park Minho hard across the cheek.
[I told you not to let yourself be assimilated!]
Startled back to his senses, Park Minho barely managed to collect himself before the right hand dragged him onward once more.
[The next one is the last.]
He was so disoriented that he didn't even register the final painting. Park Minho simply repeated over and over in his mind who he was and what he was going there to do.
-Ripple.
With one final sensation of the canvas swelling outward, Park Minho and the right hand perched on his shoulder fell into an opulent room somewhere within le Soupir.
"Ugh!"
Pain shot through his knees and elbows as he rolled across the floor.
When he pushed himself up, he saw a beautiful woman in an elegant dress seated with her back to him before the fireplace.
It was Princess Cavaletto’s tongue, using an illusion modeled after her original body.
She didn’t appear particularly surprised even after seeing Park Minho and the right hand rolling across the carpet.
"So, you’ve arrived?"
Park Minho rose and looked around. Seol Suyeon lay sprawled across an antique sofa.
[Did you know we were coming?]
At the right hand’s question, the tongue stood and turned around. Her bewitching beauty was dazzling to the point of being almost unnatural.
"Yes. It’s good to see you again, sister. Why have you been avoiding me for so long?”
[How could I not avoid you when you were trying to devour me, you greedy thing?]
"But does that mean things are different now?”
[Yes, I am no longer alone!]
With that, the right hand invoked a miracle art to awaken the sleeping Seol Suyeon.
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