WETRIED TRANSLATIONS
The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth
[Translator – Aren]
Chapter 93 - At a Hotel with My Girlfriend (5)
[Awaken, my slumbering sister!]
Purple light rose from the right hand and reached Seol Suyeon, spreading outward in rippling waves.
But Seol Suyeon didn’t so much as twitch.
Looking slightly flustered, the right hand tried again.
[Awaken! Sister!]
The purple light emitted from her fingertips grew even stronger. She had drawn out more of her power.
But even this time, Seol Suyeon’s eyelids didn’t twitch.
[……What in the world is this?]
The right hand’s telepathy was clearly tinged in bewilderment.
Watching from the side, Park Minho instinctively sensed that something had gone wrong. A sudden chill ran down his spine.
"Ohohohoho!”
At that moment, the tongue let out a laugh as though she were having the time of her life. Everything was under her control.
"How unfortunate! You must have been so confident, thinking you could subdue me with the eyes.”
The tongue elegantly walked across the carpet with her fan spread open. Anomalous crimson flames flickered in every footprint she left behind.
"It may be difficult to admit, but it seems your simple mind is utterly incapable of grasping the situation. Very well, I’ll explain it to you. Ohohp.”
Behind the fan concealing her mouth, her eyes curved brightly with the intoxication of victory. Only then did Park Minho realize that they were nothing more than an illusion.
'It looked completely convincing at first, but now that I look closely, the gleam is fainter than in Seol Suyeon’s eyes.’
As expected, only the mouth and tongue were real body parts. The rest of Princess Cavaletto’s body was merely an elaborate illusion. Her eyes lacked the anomaly that made Seol Suyeon’s violent eyes feel as though they might suck him in.
“This was my plan to lure you out from the very beginning. The human was bait, and you were the fish flopping around after taking it.”
[I already know that. But why won’t the eyes awaken? They should rise when their sister calls.]
"Did you think I would simply sit back and do nothing? I knew this would happen, so I took precautions. They will no longer hear you call.”
The tongue proudly extended her fan before her. A deep smile rested on her face.
"This tiresome game of tag ends today."
At that declaration, the right hand fell silent.
[......]
She had arrived brimming with confidence, only to be completely outplayed. Her own foolishness was almost unbelievable. The problem was that desire had narrowed her vision.
'Then I’ll have to take responsibility.'
Once she made her decision, the right hand became calm again. Then she revealed her power.
Brilliant violet light burst from the hand. The light gathered together, taking on a distinct outline and form. Then the figure of a beautiful woman appeared upon the carpet.
It was Princess Cavaletto.
She looked identical to the tongue’s illusion. Flowing blond hair, deep violet eyes, and milky-white skin gave her the appearance of an elven princess.
However, the color of her dress and her entire atmosphere were completely different.
Where the tongue wore a flamboyant crimson dress, the right hand’s was a subdued, weighty shade of deep purple.
[Park Minho. Now that I have revealed the full extent of my power, I can no longer flee into the paintings. While I restrain the tongue by any means necessary, awaken the eyes.]
"How am I supposed to do something even you couldn’t?”
[You can. Now that I look more closely, the eyes have assimilated with that human woman far more deeply than I imagined. So do not try to awaken Princess Cavaletto’s eyes. Try it with the intention of waking your woman.]
The tongue cackled upon hearing that.
"Hah! Now you’re even spouting utterly pointless nonsense! Do you really think that will work?”
However, the right hand ignored her and stepped forward while offering Park Minho advice.
[Think about what your woman cares about most. What makes her most like herself?]
"What...?"
Wasn’t she leaving out far too much context? But there was no time to continue the conversation.
The two body parts of Princess Cavaletto, having unleashed their power through their illusory forms, had begun confronting each other with their anomalies.
"So you’ve finally shown your face, right hand. What a truly nostalgic sight."
The right hand replied coldly.
[You’re the only one who felt nostalgic, you arrogant creature. I know perfectly well that you don’t feel that way because you love us, your sisters. We are nothing more than tools and stepping stones to you. Do you not believe that you alone are the true Princess Cavaletto?]
"Did you peer into my heart or something? Then you must know exactly what I want!”
With that, the tongue stomped her foot and unleashed a crimson aura.
-Boom!
Anomalous power exploded. The entire carpet was ripped up and overturned, while the luxurious furniture in the room shattered and was hurled against one wall.
-Ruuumble! Crash!!
The right hand quickly spread a violet barrier. Thanks to it, Park Minho and Seol Suyeon remained unharmed behind her even as the collision between the two lights generated a gale-like force.
While the two body parts of Princess Cavaletto battled, Park Minho desperately tried to wake Seol Suyeon.
"Suyeon!”
-Smack!
Even when he slapped her cheek and shook her, she showed no sign of waking.
Park Minho thought hard. He tried to determine what was most characteristic of Seol Seuyeon and what might stimulate her consciousness bruised deep within her.
The first thing that came to mind was her job.
"Suyeon. Your stream is ruined.”
He whispered it into her ear just in case, and unexpectedly, she reacted immediately. Seol Suyeon’s limp body twitched.
"Uugh......"
She even groaned as though in pain. As expected of a streamer, she must have carried a deep-seated pressure about broadcasting.
For an office worker, it was the equivalent of hearing, “Time to work,” so of course she couldn't help trembling. It was a trigger aimed directly at Koreans enslaved by their jobs.
"You haven’t gone live or even posted an announcement, so your reputation has completely tanked. Your viewers are absolutely furious, and the gallery is in an uproar trashing you. Are you still going to keep sleeping?
"Uuugh......."
It was definitely working. However, it wasn’t enough to wake her completely.
He needed a more powerful trigger.
'What could it be?’
He considered her strongest desire or determination. Then one possibility came to mind.
'No way, right?'
What Park Minho thought of was the very thing that had continued creating tension between them ever since they arrived at the Liminal Grand Hotel.
'I don’t know whether it’s right to think about that in a situation like this.'
But hadn’t Seol Suyeon clearly told him that she was just as conscious of it as he was?
With light and explosions raging beyond the barrier, this was exactly the time to try anything he could.
"Suyeon. Are you really just going to sleep?”
"We came all this way, and I’m disappointed. I guess I was the only one looking forward to it.”
"Uuugh......"
This time, she twitched even more violently. It was clearly more effective than before.
"Feels like I can wake her up if I keep pushing."
Still, he needed something that would make Seol Suyeon feel even more desperate. Soon, he thought of something that could pressure her from every direction at once.
"Suyeon, they say we have to leave in an hour. Our time in the suite is over. We slept in, so we even missed breakfast.”
Even in her sleep, Seol Suyeon seemed shocked.
'What? We’re leaving in an hour? But we haven’t done it yet!'
They hadn’t even eaten the hotel breakfast, taken any pictures, or so much as dipped their feet in the hot spring. They had gotten into a suite they might never have another chance to visit, yet they had nothing to show for it.
Seol Suyeon couldn’t understand.
She could have sworn she had only just entered the room with her oppa, so why was it already time to leave?
A sense of injustice welled up inside her, and she eventually snapped her eyes open, determined to at least plead her case with the hotel somehow.
"...!"
The moment Seol Suyeon opened her eyes, she drew in a deep breath.
"Hah!"
It was as though she had been submerged underwater and had finally broken the surface to breathe. Then she hurriedly shouted,
"Hotelier-nim! This isn’t fair!”
However, the hotelier was nowhere to be seen, and she was being held in Park Minho’s arms.
"O-Oppa? What in the world is going on?”
Having only just awakened, Seol Suyeon was completely bewildered. But there was no need to explain.
[Now! Awaken!]
In the midst of her battle of anomalies, the right hand fired a beam of violet light behind her. It struck Seol Suyeon precisely, awakening Princess Cavaletto’s eyes.
It hadn’t worked before, but now that Seol Suyeon was awake, the situation was different.
But at that moment, a tremendous explosion erupted.
-Kaboooom—!
Realizing that something had gone wrong, the tongue drew out every last bit of her power and attacked.
The barrier was torn apart in an instant, and a massive explosion engulfed the area.
-Ruuuuuumble! Boom!
The wall of the room shattered, and Seol Suyeon was blasted through it. Thick smoke billowed in every direction.
"Uuugh......."
As her body trembled from the excruciating pain, a voice she had never heard before echoed inside her mind.
[…Hello?]
Seol Suyeon knew instinctively that it was the eyes speaking to her.
"Could you be the Princess’ eyes?”
[That’s right. Now, get up. It’s time for you to fight.]
"What? Me?”
[Don’t worry. I will lend you my power.]
"Couldn’t you fight yourself, Princess?”
[Sorry, but there is no other way. I have assimilated with you considerably. I’ve become a part of you. And I have no intention of taking over your body. Therefore, you must move it yourself.]
Seol Suyeon realized that a power she had never felt before had taken root within her body. She also instinctively understood how to wield it.
* * *
The tide of the battle shifted drastically.
The two-on-one situation the right hand had wanted so badly had finally been created.
No matter how powerful the tongue was, she gradually began to lose ground against the two of them at once.
However, whenever a threatening attack came her way, she closed her mouth. The tongue concealed inside the mouth was invincible, and no matter what they tried, they couldn’t damage it.
"How did you wake up?! How?!”
The eyes didn’t answer the tongue’s question. Seol Suyeon was the only one they communicated with.
The same was true even for the right hand, who had awakened them.
The right hand shouted at Park Minho.
[Use what we prepared!]
What did she mean by what they had prepared? Although the Noose’s knots had been modified, limited Reality Manipulation didn’t seem as though it would be of much help in the fierce battle unfolding before him.
Sure enough, the tongue burst into mocking laughter.
"What could a mere human possibly do?!”
But Park Minho soon realized what the right hand meant. She had to be referring not to Reality Manipulation, but to the ability to transfer the Noose’s damage to someone else for 30 seconds.
Park Minho immediately put on the King’s Noose. Then he couldn’t help but marvel.
'Unbelievable!'
Astonishingly, he felt none of the agony of his throat suddenly being constricted and his vision going black. Merely retrying the knots differently had truly altered the mechanism by which it worked.
"Incredible!”
He could even speak. Previously, whenever the Noose strangled him, all he could manage were grotesque groans, so the difference was enormous.
But he only had 30 seconds. Park Minho immediately used the force of the tightening rope to bind the mouth of their rampaging opponent.
"Mmph...!"
When the rope suddenly forced its way between her lips, she could no longer close her mouth. It was too thick for her to bite down around it, leaving the red tongue inside slightly exposed through the gap.
[Now.]
The right hand unleashed her power with a shout. Seol Suyeon, aided by the eyes, did the same.
-Flash!
The power generated by the two body parts surged through the opening in the mouth and exploded inside.
-Kaboooom!
With a deafening blast, the mouth concealing the tongue burst apart completely. The illusory head shattered like a watermelon and vanished along with it. At the same time, the red tongue, now defenseless without the mouth’s protection, fell from the air and rolled across the floor.
The tongue flopped about in place like a fish out of water, but the more it struggled, the more white dust clung to it.
The illusion surrounding her had collapsed completely, leaving behind nothing but a single pathetic tongue.
The right hand then pulled a pitch-black dagger from within her clothes and stabbed the tongue lying on the floor.
-Vrrmmmm.
The dagger’s power seized the tongue. The thrashing tongue stiffened like a mummy and ceased moving altogether.
"......Is it over?"
The right hand answered Park Minho’s question.
[Yes, it’s over. As long as the dagger is not removed, she will remain in this state.]
Once the battle ended, the right hand placed Princess Cavaletto’s tongue inside the special iron boy she had prepared. Then she used miracle art to seal it tightly.
[There. With this, the tongue has been neutralized.]
She soon asked Park Minho with apparent curiosity,
[But how in the world did you wake that woman? I didn't think it would be easy. It seems you knew exactly what she wanted.]
When Park Minho stared silently at her, Seol Suyeon turned her head away and feigned ignorance.
"Who knows…? If he knew me that well, I feel like something would’ve happened between us all the way back at the goshiwon.”
[What are you talking about? In any case, that isn’t what matters. It seems the eyes now depend upon you and have no intention of awakening again.]
Seol Suyeon spoke with the eyes internally for a moment before nodding.
"Yes. She says she doesn't oppose your plan, but she has no intention of actively helping either. Apparently, I’m the owner of these eyes now, after all?”
[I see……Understood.]
The right hand held out the iron box she was carrying to Park Minho.
[As promised, I will give you the tongue.]
This was a pledge showing that, unlike the tongue, the right hand had no intention of gathering Princess Cavaletto’s body parts and resurrecting with only her own personality intact.
"Thank you.”
Park Minho had no idea how he was supposed to use it, but as someone who needed to protect Seol Suyeon, he thought it was right for him to keep it.
However, the right hand warned him.
[As I have already explained, the King will seek to reclaim Princess Cavaletto’s body parts in order to lift his curse. Therefore, a confrontation with the King will ultimately be unavoidable.]
It wasn’t something he could avoid simply by wishing to.
That was because Park Minho also possessed the King’s Noose. There was also their previous grudge, so in one way or another, Park Minho and the Hanged King had begun a battle that could only end with one of them being annihilated.
Frankly, Park Minho had no intention of giving up his Reality Manipulation ability either. It was a painful and difficult ability to use, but the mere fact that a human could imitate the reality manipulation of a god-tier entity was revolutionary.
Then the right hand revealed something new.
[If our body parts fall into the King’s hands, they will become a means of lifting his curse, but if you possess them, they will become weapons with which you can fight him.]
"Is that so?"
The right hand’s illusion nodded.
[I was the one who pulled the lever of the King’s gallows. The tongue was also involved in the execution, as she was the one who pronounced that the King would be put to death. No matter how greedy the tongue may be, her very existence strikes the King’s most sensitive nerve.]
Princess Cavaletto’s body parts were tools for lifting the King’s curse in his hands but weapons capable of harming him in Park Minho’s.
With three of them currently before him, Park Minho could be said to hold a considerable advantage over the King.
Park Minho asked about the final piece.
"Then where exactly is the hair?”
_________________________________________________________________________
Join our Discord for updates on releases! https://dsc.gg/wetried
