Chapter 99

Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual

When the meager rest ended.

Lee Yeon-woo returned as he always did, trailing a scent of blood that was unmistakably his own.

"Are you feeling alright now?"

"My body's, well. Yep."

"I'm fine."

Having confirmed their responses, Lee Yeon-woo spoke.

"I have a proposal for the two of you."

And it was a rather unexpected turn.

"A proposal?"

"Yes."

Lee Yeon-woo 'advised.'

"Would you consider boarding the elevator?"

That they had returned from the Hunting Grounds' outskirts to the city center was a natural progression.

***

Around the time they began moving toward the city.

"You'll recall that I previously told you the place was dangerous."

"Oh, yes."

As if he'd been weighing something all this time. Lee Yeon-woo raised the subject again at an unexpected juncture—quite naturally, for someone who had spent all this time dragging them around without a word of small talk.

"That elevator connects to dozens of floors, but the deeper you go, the more uncontrollable variables there are. Simply put, the difficulty increases."

"What do you—"

"Sub-Level 7, where you two are now, is actually on the quieter, safer end of things."

"......"

Of course, a natural delivery didn't make the content any easier to swallow.

"...The safer end? This place?"

"Yes."

"And there are dozens of floors like this below...."

"If you'd arrived through a different floor, I likely wouldn't have been able to find you."

"Should we call that fortunate?"

"You don't look particularly fortunate."

Was that something he should be saying? Seome thought inwardly.

'For someone associated with the labyrinth, his objectivity is calibrated to human standards.'

Around the time Seome was thinking that, Rawi asked.

"If you call it Sub-Level 7, there must be more above, right? Are there dozens of floors upward too?"

"No, upward there are fewer than thirty floors total, starting from ground level."

"Then if we go up instead of down, would it be safer than here?"

"Most of the ground floors are more dangerous than the Hunting Grounds."

He added in a parched voice.

"At least for uninvited people."

Rawi clamped his mouth shut.

"......"

"...Excuse me."

Seome asked in Rawi's stead.

"You came by that elevator, didn't you, Mr. Lee Yeon-woo? From the ground floors."

"The place takes the form of a hotel. It's where guests like The Drenched One, whom you encountered before, come to visit."

"Ah, I see...."

Did that make any sense?

'A hotel where Dokkaebi stay?'

Was that a thing? Shouldn't that not be a thing...?

As Rawi shot Seome a look that said 'that's really a thing?' and Seome returned one that said 'how would I know?', Lee Yeon-woo glanced at Seome's oxygen mask and added an explanation.

"I can't predict what disadvantages you might face when you arrive at the first floor as unofficial guests. But the probability of survival should be higher than the odds of finding an exit down here with the oxygen you have left."

"Why?"

Lee Yeon-woo turned to look at Rawi. Seome did the same.

"......"

"I mean, well...."

Seome's eyes, brimming with silent pressure, fixed themselves on Rawi's mouth. Rawi sheepishly covered his own mouth with one hand in defense. Then fumbled out some breezy deflection.

"I figured, since we've got ourselves a Q-and-A window, might as well ask~...."

"You're truly brave and truly a nuisance."

"I'd appreciate it if you'd chalk it up to my charm."

"I'd rather you not waste your oxygen like that."

"The phrasing sounds a bit ominous, sunbae-nim."

But once again, Lee Yeon-woo offered neither excuses nor explanations. He simply swept his gaze over Rawi once with a stare as transparent as a mirror, as if the question wasn't worth answering, then turned away.

"I'd recommend listening to your senior."

"......"

"Save the idle chatter for after you've boarded the elevator alive. This way."

As he walked through the mist as though he could see clear through it, his footsteps were, as always, barely audible. It meant he was controlling his body to near-perfection.

Watching the retreating back, Rawi swallowed an empty breath.

'...He never did answer.'

Why he was helping them, that is.

Rawi shrugged, wistful.

'I wanted to hear it~....'

Rawi scratched the scar by his mouth with a gun muzzle and smiled as he faced his 'senior.'

But Seome merely turned his gaze aside.

***

And so—

"—Fuck!!"

A pursuit began out of absolutely fucking nowhere.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, why so suddenly?! No, seriously, why so suddenly?!"

"Please shut up."

Seome spoke through gritted teeth, but it wasn't enough to stop Rawi's mouth.

"Is there no professional ethics left in this world?!"

The moment they stepped out of the harbor and into the city. This place transformed into a hell of survival. And it wasn't merely because of the monsters that began shrieking keening as if they'd been waiting.

True to her title as a Water Wraith, The Drenched One's obsession was relentless.

"Where would a Dokkaebi get professional ethics...!"

"They could have some!!"

With a being like Lee Yeon-woo out there, after all.

Every monster in this place was grotesque, horrific, and surreal beyond measure. And tearing through them at an insane speed was The Drenched One, no longer in the form of a girl.

An unmistakably adult male figure.

'So this is how she shows us it's no ordinary Water Wraith.'

Seome murmured inwardly and clenched his teeth.

"Yeon-woo, Mr. Yeon-woo...!"

He screamed as if his life depended on it.

"You said there was a sort of rule the Dokkaebi had to follow, didn't you?!"

"Yes. She broke it."

Was it just his imagination? Lee Yeon-woo's voice was as flat as that of a man dragged into a bothersome incident.

'Is he... angry?'

But that was a problem for later.

'For now, at least a defense...!'

As The Drenched One bore down in a visibly hostile, savage form—Seome reflexively reached for the blade at his waist.

Lee Yeon-woo pressed down on Seome's hand as it gripped the sword.

"Do not draw your weapon."

He spoke as he shielded their rear.

"Just keep your eyes forward and run. Don't look back."

"Wait—you're not planning to stay behind alone...!"

"I told you."

CRASH—!!!

"Don't look back."

SPLAT-SPLAT-SPLAT!!

Wet, bursting sounds.

"Ugh...!!"

"It seems you need more time."

"No, no...!!"

"Then what are you doing?"

Amid the continuing noise, the horrific monsters that had blocked their path burst into chunks of meat before they could even make contact. Lee Yeon-woo roughly shoved both of them forward by the back.

"—Run."

More definitive than any explanation or reassurance—a result, and a command.

"...Thank you."

"W-waah!!"

Seome grabbed Rawi and sprinted forward.

"Sunbae-nim, sunbae-nim, sunbae-nim!!"

"I can hear you the first time, so please just shut up!"

"Where's the elevator, where's the elevator?!"

"At this point, aren't you an Artist of annoyance...!"

It didn't make sense.

'With Lee Yeon-woo's level of power, he should be more than capable of handling even that Dokkaebi.'

This wasn't just talk. That 'something' he'd seen. The technique Lee Yeon-woo was using now was miles from that. Why wasn't he using the technique he'd used days ago?

Or—

"......"

—couldn't he?

Seome recalled the golden eyes as vivid as the sun, the perfect smile that had matched them as if on cue, and the time Rawi had said 'it looked like something just draped over him.'

He couldn't pinpoint exactly what had triggered the memory, but right now it surfaced.

SQUELCH—!!

"......"

"Uh,"

"...Don't look."

SQUELCH, CRACK, CRUNCH...!!

SCREECH, THRUST. SPLAAASH!!

"No, that—"

WHACK! SQUELCH, WHACK! WHACK WHACK WHACK! SLICE SLICE! SPLATTER! CRUNCH! SNAP! STAB! THWACK! CRACK! CREEEAK...! SWISH! SQUELCH! SPLAATTER...! SPLAT! GURGLE, GURGLE! CRACK! THWACK! SQUELCH! SLICE SLICE, WHACK WHACK WHACK! SPLAT!

"Sunbae-nim, that—"

"Don't listen either."

WHACK! SQUELCH! SQUELCH! STAB! STAB STAB! SNAP! CRACK! THWACK! THRUST! SPLAATTER! SQUELCH SQUELCH! CRUNCH! THWACK! SPLATTER! CRUNCH CRUNCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SPLATTER! SPLAT! SQUELCH, SQUELCH! SPLAT! WHACK WHACK WHACK! SQUELCH, SPLATTER! SNAP! CRUNCH...! CRACK! THWACK! SLICE SLICE! CRUNCH!

"It's been happening the whole time we weren't looking."

SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH SQUELCH! SPLAT! SPLATTER! CRACK CRACK! GURGLE! SPLAATTER! WHACK! WHACK WHACK WHACK! STAB! STAB STAB STAB! THWACK! WHACK! SQUELCH, THRUST! WHACK, CRUNCH, WHACK! SPLATTER! CRUNCH! SNAP! THWACK! CRACK, CREEEAK...! SWISH! SQUELCH! SPLAATTER...! SPLAT, GURGLE! GURGLE! CRACK! THWACK, SQUELCH! SPLATTER! SPLAT!

"There's nothing we can change by worrying now."

"......"

"So shut up and run."

Being a Dokkaebi's 'offering' meant that.

It didn't end with a few stab wounds. The more deeply a Dokkaebi's nature leaned toward the hunter, the worse it got. They craved human ruin and suffering—whatever form it took, they wanted negative sensation.

Of course, knowing that and being able to calmly accept seeing and hearing it directly were two different things....

"It happens sometimes even in The Gaps."

"And you're telling me to, ugh, get used to it...?!"

What exactly was happening back there? Just from the sounds alone, Rawi wore an expression that said he was about to lose his mind from the horror.

Seome, a water-attribute mage, couldn't bring himself to describe the 'state' Lee Yeon-woo was in. After a moment's hesitation, he added.

"Getting somewhat used to it is... for the better...."

Surface people sometimes entered The Gaps.

The lucky ones were Artists; the unlucky ones were mages. People who'd been living on the Surface and found themselves dragged in by unavoidable circumstances. They died within days—gone in an instant.

Because they never imagined The Gaps could be this much of a hell.

'Of course, it's very different if you're an Artist.'

He looked at Rawi, running with a pallid face.

'You'd receive the goodwill of nearly every mage.'

But precisely because of that, this much acclimatization was advisable. It wasn't as though listening to 'that' was a pleasant affair for Seome either, but he bit his lip and grabbed Rawi's arm.

"Run. Faster."

"What good does running faster do?!"

"At the very least, we can hear less of that noise!!"

He was upset, and his voice rose.

"Do you not understand the situation?!"

The Dokkaebi had broken the rules.

Why, she didn't know. How, she didn't know.

But if a Dokkaebi could break the rules of a labyrinth this powerful, then—as had always been the case—they couldn't withstand even an instant of it. And so Lee Yeon-woo was absorbing it in their place.

"He won't die at this point, he won't! Not after everything so far! But fuck, if we don't want to hear that noise, we need to get on the elevator and get out of here!!"

Only then.

"Only then can that stop!!"

Seome released his grip.

"So, please. Shut up."

"...Ha...."

"Run."

Rawi clenched his teeth and wordlessly picked up speed.

Remnants of drowned corpses and corroded rebar littered the ground. A vicious stench surrounded them, the impossible humidity soaked even their brains, and monsters of horrific shape lunged at them.

But every monster that blocked their path burst apart ahead of them.

"Fuck."

And so they reached the elevator.

"Fuck, honestly...."

"—Board."

CRASH—!!

Shoved hard from behind, they tumbled inside.

"......!!"

Through the slowly closing elevator doors—

"...Yeon—"

With a blade lodged in his neck,

Lee Yeon-woo was visible.

[Go up.]

Perhaps because the blade in his neck robbed him of even his voice, he gave a brief command with only the shape of his mouth.

Behind him, the Dokkaebi raised the blade once more. Until the doors closed completely, Lee Yeon-woo held his composure and did not avert his gaze from them.

And just like that.

"......"

"......"

...The doors closed.

"...Ah...."

Beyond the elevator doors, rising at the press of a button, nothing could be heard.

***

As expected, there was no 'pain.'

'Only sensation.'

Having touched his neck, Lee Yeon-woo ignored the gurgling blood and pulled up an interface screen in midair. To confirm that the two guests were ascending safely.

'The elevator is clearly hotel territory, so I should be able to see them now.'

And there, entering his field of vision—a single dot.

"......?"

Lee Yeon-woo's bleeding eyes narrowed minutely. He was certain he had pushed two people into that elevator—Seome and Rawi.

'Are they being counted as one group? No—Hoone's Human Guest system doesn't work that way.'

If there were two guests, two dots should appear. Then was it a system error, or....

"......"

The face of Seome—unusually perceptive and precocious for sixteen—flickered through Lee Yeon-woo's mind. But he had no room to dig deeply into that unsettling dissonance right now.

Pressing his neck, he slowly opened his mouth.

"A conversation...."

"......"

"Let's have a conversation."

Seizing the head of one foul-tempered Water Wraith came first.

"Have you perhaps lost your mind?"

"......"

"No?"

As if that were possible.

Lee Yeon-woo gripped The Drenched One's head with a straight face. The fact that she'd let herself be grabbed so easily made him angrier. She even bent at the waist to make it easier—which doubled his fury.

The one with her head in his grip was grinning in circles. Truly insane.

"The fact that you look genuinely proud is extremely unpleasant."

"......"

"Ha."

Did she really want to do this, at her age?