Chapter 79 |
"......"
"...Hello?"
Yeon-woo's body, seated against the iron door, began to stir.
"...Ah...."
He raised his head and swept his gaze across the countless monitors. And saw the lump of something between them. Covered in mechanical things like wires, and something biological with pulsing blood vessels.
His vision was too blurred to see clearly, but something like that was probably there beyond.
"...Ugh,"
SPLATTER—
Blood came pouring out.
Only now did the horrific pain catch up, and his broad shoulders buckled. The large hand that braced against the floor to support his collapsing body had veins standing out as if they'd burst.
It was a sensation he'd endured many times, but today it was worse.
'Then again, this is a body that gets dizzy just from standing up.'
In this state, he'd run through chase sequences that weren't even defined in the game, multiple times. Being half character and half human apparently took its toll like this. Once everything was over, he might come down with something awful.
He entertained that idle thought for a moment.
"Ah...."
He was sick of it.
'In this sorry state, I have to endure the Central Control Room cutscene... in my right mind.'
His body wouldn't move as he willed. His emotions wouldn't settle as he wanted. His clothes were disheveled and his health was anything but fine. Pain made his head swim and his vision was as cloudy as his reason.
The sheer fact that he was being buffeted by mere physiological reflexes scraped mercilessly at his nerves. There were no positive defense mechanisms like courage or hope, and now everything was horrifically ruined.
"Ugh, haagh...."
"Hello, hello...."
"Gkh,"
Blood rose like hiccups.
Surging stress and revulsion at his own incompetence mixed together, and rough breath leaked between his teeth. Hands with knuckles jutting out clawed at the blood-pooled floor until it seemed they'd shatter.
"...Phew...."
He drew a breath through his teeth.
'Calm down.'
No. 14, which he'd been clutching tight so they wouldn't get lost, had to be expelled again. He sensed them panicking as they were tossed to the floor, but he didn't have the luxury to respond gently.
'Calm down, you can do this.'
His mind was signaling its limits.
'You have to do it anyway—what did you run around like that for? After all that suffering.'
Perhaps because he'd reached a safe place, the delayed shock was setting in.
'Coming this far and then thinking such pathetic thoughts....'
He'd had to dissolve into liquid blood one more time to shake the Watchers. Now he was running low.
"......"
...A terrible thirst arose.
'...I think I understand roughly how the vampires in movies felt.'
Perhaps he could even understand The Guest Without Taste. Of course, even if someone were standing right in front of him, Yeon-woo wasn't mad enough to harm them.
He bit down hard on his lip.
"......"
His head throbbed past the point of splitting—it felt like it would burst or melt. His throat stung as though scoured with sandpaper. The places where Watchers had torn and caught him no longer regenerated.
Naturally. All of Yeon-woo's regeneration was a product of his own calculation and sculpting.
"To be honest about it, yes—it hurts. Considerably... difficult."
"Yes."
"Not something I'd do twice."
"Yes."
"I don't even have the energy left to calculate, so what am I supposed to do?"
In this state, merely maintaining his brain and heart was all he could manage.
Cracks were forming in calculations that needed to be flawless. If he relaxed his guard even slightly, this Mass of Liquid Blood body would turn into an uncontrollable monster. That fact was what made it most unbearable.
"I'd rather not become someone who can't act their age, like The Guest Without Taste...."
"Hello?"
Coco asked, and Yeon-woo answered a beat late.
"...Yes, of course...."
Yeon-woo roughly wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve, let out a labored breath, and hauled himself to his feet.
"I'm fine."
No, I'm not fine.
'Everything's a wreck.'
'I'm tired and struggling, I want to rest.'
'This is terrible.'
But he truly was fine.
'I know it will be fine soon.'
He had done well.
"Almost there."
"Yes."
The summit was right in front of him.
***
The 14th Floor, one of Hoone's 'Non-Existent Floors.' Once you gathered every item and entered the 'Central Control Room' there, the first thing you saw was an uncountable number of monitors.
And one lump, taxidermied before the largest panel.
"......"
Yeon-woo staggered toward 'it.'
"......"
"Hello?"
"...It's alive, clearly."
A horrific sight, in a different way from No. 14.
"......"
"......?"
The blood-red slime tilted its head. How that was possible when it had no head, he couldn't say, but that was how it felt. Yeon-woo turned his gaze from the little droplet.
'...Not someone I know, then.'
Right—it had been a person.
'Once upon a time.'
Yeon-woo didn't even have expectations anymore. Partly because such emotions had vanished, but also because, objectively, it was simply so. Every story in this game had become real history.
And so the 'this' before his eyes now was no different.
"The Archive said... it was one of the researchers."
"Yes."
No. 14 flinched violently at the word 'researcher.' Trembling, it leapt and immediately clung to Yeon-woo's ankle. It seemed to think it was hiding.
"It's all right."
Yeon-woo wiped the blood running from his eyes. He felt the absence of his unused glasses.
"It's okay—this thing..."
"Yes."
"It can't do anything to you anymore."
In a sense, the entity was likely enduring suffering on par with what No. 14 had experienced.
Wires crawling across its entire body like snakes or worms. A face visible between them. Eyes that only watched the panel. Without so much as a twitch, it had already become part of this Central Control Room.
"This is the fate I would have met if I hadn't collected all sixteen records."
And perhaps.
"Perhaps, if my luck runs out... I'll end up like this too."
Ah.
"I really don't want to do this."
"Mm...."
"But I know I have to."
In game terms, there was no issue. He'd arrived at the Central Control Room and gathered all the required items. But whether his own body could withstand that cruel cutscene was the question.
'Pain is still perceived as information.'
It hurt, that was true, but it was true in the purely literal sense.
'But I can't help finding it revolting.'
When reading a cruel novel or watching a horror film. Some people cried or screamed. It didn't hurt them personally, but they empathized, or the information alone was terrible enough.
Yeon-woo's condition was worse. He merely received it as information—it wasn't that there was no pain. Because, as he'd just said, it was 'fact.'
"......"
Pain was pain.
'Not good for mental health, either.'
Having swept his hand down his face, Yeon-woo looked at the 'lump' once more.
"...Who was this person?"
"No?"
"You don't know either?"
"Yes."
No. 14, still clinging to Yeon-woo's ankle, acted as though it didn't recognize a thing. He understood. Yeon-woo looked down at the little droplet, then carefully lifted it and placed it on top of Coco's head.
"Yes?"
"Yes."
"Yes?"
Coco objected, but Yeon-woo said.
"I'm counting on you."
"......"
He set Coco down on the floor as well, then approached the lump.
"......"
The taxidermied figure's face held no expression.
'But the explanation said it endures horrific agony inside.'
A detail absent from Hoone, but the face was that of a Westerner. He couldn't tell which country. Whether because of his blurred vision, the features didn't quite register.
'If they were a researcher, they must have been qualified enough to enter here... how high-ranking were they?'
How many people had they killed?
'How many people had they tormented and made to suffer?'
But one thing was certain.
'I don't know if this is information I can only perceive because I'm a Velmareth, but....'
Just like when he'd seen the 'Room 14 monster,' this, too, felt like a living creature. Even if it had been a devil wearing a human skin, that was how Yeon-woo perceived it.
"...Hah...."
He was truly sick of it.
'I don't know.'
He was neither a prosecutor nor a lawyer. Much less a police officer. He was certainly no hero or good person, but there was one thing he knew.
That 'he' must not change, regardless.
"That's how it is."
He had resolved to remain 'Lee Yeon-woo' until the end, hadn't he?
"I don't know everything."
"Hello?"
"I've decided."
Yeon-woo glanced at No. 14, then answered Coco.
"I'm going to try not to destroy it."
In other words, this 'lump' was the Central Control Room's authority holder.
A being who had obtained this Central Control Room's authorization before Yeon-woo. But because they hadn't been as prepared as Yeon-woo, they'd been devoured and taxidermied instead.
In this cutscene, the player could make a choice.
'Either destroy and remove this predecessor entirely.'
Or simply release it from its taxidermied state.
'In the latter case, they become a specter that wanders the 14th Floor.'
Neither option could offer complete salvation.
'I don't especially want to go that far anyway.'
The reason he'd made this choice was No. 14's reaction. No. 14 had reacted to the word 'researcher,' but showed no recognition whatsoever of this being whose face was in plain sight.
'In other words, there isn't even a witness.'
So Yeon-woo knew nothing about this person either. Even in the game, they were merely described as a researcher. How much they'd sinned, and in what manner—Yeon-woo didn't know.
'Much less when I'm nobody at all.'
What reason on earth was there to dirty his own hands over something he didn't even know?
"...I'm a very selfish person, so...."
"No?"
"I want to live as cleanly as possible."
The fewer responsibilities one shouldered, the easier life was to live.
"This hotel alone is more than enough to drive me insane."
Yeon-woo approached the console. At once, his body operated the console on its own. Thinking through the haze in his mind, the cutscene seemed to be starting.
[Do you wish to share authorization?]
[Yes/No.]
"......"
[Yes.]
The sound of clicking came from behind. He knew which scene it was. The lump, the predecessor, being released from its taxidermied state. Yeon-woo didn't bother to look.
What lay ahead was already horrifying enough to think about.
[SESSION #14-ROOT]
[Operator: N/A]
[Connected Subject: LEE, YEON-WOO]
[Authorization initiation conditions met]
A clink of something grotesque, followed by a dull crash as though something had collapsed. Only then did Yeon-woo look back. The 'someone' who had been entangled in all manner of machinery until just moments ago lay crumpled on the floor.
'...Looks just like a corpse.'
Though there was still life in the eyes for it to be called a corpse.
'It'll become a monster now and wander the 14th Floor....'
That was a story for after all the cutscenes ended.
Yeon-woo walked past the collapsed stranger and leaned against the chair-shaped console left vacant by his departure.
A thin breath escaped him like air through a narrow passage.
"......"
"...Hello?"
"If this fails, what happens?"
He'd done his best to prepare, but with positive emotions excised, only the worst variables circled his mind. The compulsion over the unknown was inescapable.
"Do I get taxidermied too, or... do I die?"
Either way, an unpleasant ending.
"I don't even have objective data on whether I can endure it."
"......"
"Right, of course not. Even without data, it's clearly not favorable conditions."
"......"
"I acknowledge that I've overexerted myself."
Without so much as a common noise, the apparatus moved smoothly.
As his spine met the backrest, cold metal seeped along his vertebral column. Thick, clean belts reflecting blue light slowly coiled around his neck, wrists, and waist, locking them in place.
"But, as I said before... I didn't want to repeat this madness twice."
As the chill pressure wound tight, the hand that had habitually moved to scratch jerked against the restraining belt. Whether it was the constriction at his throat or the terrible anxiety, his voice trembled.
"...If I don't do it now, I felt I never would...."
This was no chair. In his estimation, it was no different from an operating table.
"This is maddening."
"......"
"I'm asking again—if I die or get taxidermied, what happens?"
Being killed would be one thing, but being taxidermied simply meant the end. He could operate the hotel remotely but couldn't move the Playable Character. Ultimately, a new file would have to be started.
If that happened.
"......"
"Would it be all right?"
For me.
"For you all, too...."
"No."
"Dear me."
A neurotic, empty laugh escaped.
"That's unfortunate."
***
Every panel lit up simultaneously.
From the console, microelectrodes and subcutaneous needles emerged in chains. The needle tips vibrated finely, their surfaces dripping with conductive gel like a creature's saliva, designed to transmit electrical signals.
"......"
A fast, sharp pain spread. A slow, dull pain followed, screaming. As a needle pierced the jugular vein and entered the large vessel beneath the clavicle, his brain burned as though adrenaline had been injected.
"......"
His heartbeat spiked and peripheral vessels constricted. The taste of iron spread across the tip of his tongue.
When a chest electrode tapped his sternum, a faint mechanical hum was heard. A thoracic retractor. A device that spread the ribs to expose the interior. It dug into the costal cartilage and pried his chest open.
The sound of creaking. The sound of being ground apart. Delicate in strange places, and brutal in others.
"...Hh...."
[BIO-IO LINK ONLINE]
[Blood: Flow secured / Acid-base: Normal range]
[Spinal interface: Connection attempt]
Sound tried to recede as though sinking underwater. The edges of his vision narrowed to black as if adjusting to darkness. Consciousness tried to separate from the body.
He nearly screamed from the pain, but unable to permit such a sight, he bit down hard on bloodless lips. Blood slid across his lips. His vision seemed to flash, then shook in confusion.
"Ugh, nngh."
Reality slipped away. Within it, he relentlessly discarded fear and put forth judgment.
His head was locked firmly in place and bilateral spikes pressed against the bone above his ears. A fine bundle of electrodes burrowed into the occipital lobe. How deep would they go? Reason was being forcibly clouded. The displeasure was enough to make him want to smash everything apart.
In that instant, a powerful urge arose to give up everything and collapse into liquid. If he stopped being himself, if he simply surrendered his ego to instinct, the sensations wouldn't be this vivid.
He could escape this horrific pain right now.
"Haah... shut... up...."
Yes—that was the ending Yeon-woo loathed most.
Surrendering the initiative of his existence to another, or to a system. Rather that, he'd prefer to chew through this horrific agony and swallow it. He used reason as a rope and lashed his scattering self together.
And so he repeated who he was.
Again and again.
Again and again.
"......"
"......"
"......"
***
Step 1. STRUCTURAL BASELINE INITIALIZATION
- Securing connected subject...
- Joint axis 6-point lock complete
- Biometric baseline recorded: Heart rate 92bpm / Brainwave alpha rhythm detected / Blood flow stable
Step 2. SOMATIC-ARCHITECTURAL INTERFACE
- Venous port connection... Complete
- Spinal canal electrode insertion... Signal secured
- Cerebral cortex access: Occipital lobe / Insular cortex / ACC
- Integration status: 74% → 100%
Step 3. BIO-STRUCTURAL DATA TRANSMISSION
- Organ function mapping initiated
- Liver enzymes / Electrolytes / Lactate levels extracted
- Cardiac output → Transmitted to power module
- Electromyography signals → Synchronized with elevator motors
Step 4. NEURO-ARCHITECTURAL SYNCHRONIZATION
- Sensory fusion in progress:
· Visual signals ↔ CCTV network
· Auditory signals ↔ Acoustic sensors
· Internal sensation ↔ Pressure / Humidity / Vibration sensors
- Result: Unified perceptual system formed
- Warning: Connected subject confusion rate 37%
Step 5. PSYCHIC CIRCUIT REWIRING
- Reward circuit severance: Attempted → Failed
- Dopamine response suppression: Resistance detected
- Fear circuit reassignment: Resistance detected
- Emotion module removal: Incomplete (stored data conflict)
- Thought pattern: Reorganization to administrator-exclusive logic structure... Error occurred
[ERROR CODE: MIND-RESIST-001]
[Connected subject's self-definition takes priority over system rewiring]
System recommendation:
→ Delete/taxidermy administrator candidate
→ Restart administrator protocol
[Override triggered: Self-definition maintained]
[Operator authorization redirected]
- Synchronizing hotel system to connected subject's pattern.
- Watcher protocol: Redesigned based on administrator disposition
- Authorization framework: Human-based → Administrator-based (LEE, YEON-WOO)
>>> UPDATE: HOTEL CORE REWRITTEN <<<
>>> Administrator: Operating per LEE, YEON-WOO profile <<<
Step 6. IDENTITY IMPRINT
- Self-definition input standby...
- [Vocalization / Respiration / Brainwave] triple-signature collection in progress...
- Root signature key generation: General Manager / Administrative authority
- Identity authentication rate: 100% match
Step 7. CORE TOKEN EXTRACTION
- Approaching sub-xiphoid region...
- Pericardial electrode insertion
- Heartbeat rhythm + Brain signal + Vocalization pattern → CORE TOKEN fusion
- Token registration: Synchronized with hotel root key complete
Step 8. TOTAL ASSIMILATION
- All zones: doors / elevators / Watchers = subordinate to connected subject's physiological signals
- Circulatory system ↔ Hotel plumbing / Neural network ↔ Hotel circuitry
- Heartbeat ↔ Hotel pump / Brainwave rhythm ↔ Hotel OS clock
- Status: Assimilated
>>> ACCESS GRANTED <<<
>>> NEW ADMINISTRATOR ONLINE <<<
***
[Your 6th Noble Choice has been confirmed.]
["You are always the same!"]
[An Unknown Guest watches you.]
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