Chapter 106 |
To Lee Yeon-woo, The Drenched One was rather special. That remained true even now, with his emotional big data gone. She was his first contract holder, after all.
"I focused on cakes this time. How is it?"
"What's this?"
"A cake called an opera. It's characterized by espresso or coffee liqueur—I used a generous amount of coffee syrup. It looks quite sweet."
"It is."
"I'm glad my intention came through."
Her speech had become far more audible, but nothing had changed. The Drenched One still ate Lee Yeon-woo's desserts submerged in the deepest pool of the Aqua Park.
"......"
Today, she wore the form of a young man about Rawi's age.
"Whichever's best."
"That's a vague standard."
In other words, it was pure whim.
'Very Drenched One, indeed.'
[Yes.]
Coco was in coat form again. After The Guest Without Taste's incident, the Monster Guests had become able to perceive Coco. The Drenched One had been fussing over it so much that its shape was temporarily altered.
Unlike in the Sub-Level 7 Hunting Grounds, the coat was thicker this time. Did the type of coat change with each transformation? The only constant was a black as deep as Vantablack.
[Coco. Cake.]
'I put some in the refrigerator.'
[Hello?]
'I'll make extra for you.'
[Pass.]
"Hmm...."
Patting the coat draped over his shoulder, Lee Yeon-woo spoke.
"So,"
he asked.
"Has your anger subsided?"
"As if."
"I made you six full-sized cakes."
"Barely a drop in the bucket."
"That freewheeling speech of yours hasn't changed."
"'We' are talkative, after all."
"Water Wraiths are the talkative type?"
The myth that Water Wraiths lured people to drown came to mind.
"I'm suddenly curious—is it true? The bit about dragging the living into water."
"Comparing me to such petty things is quite rude."
"The scale and depth may differ, but you're in the same line of work."
"You're the only one who'd crack that joke to a Water Wraith, friend."
The Water Wraith swallowed a sizable chunk whole and continued.
"There is basis to the story, though. Those things are mere handfuls of water droplets, but they're drawn to the loathsome warmth of the living, same as me."
"Drawn?"
"Yes, yes. Pulling a living person floating in water downward, growing stronger on rainy days, relentlessly tormenting those they bore grudges against in life."
The Water Wraith waved the fork in her hand.
"Going mad if they don't receive offerings."
Eyeing the absurdly large chunk speared on the fork, Lee Yeon-woo asked.
"Was this also part of an offering?"
"Isn't an Eastern offering ceremony just an event where you feed the dead?"
"Among your 'we,' there are Westerners too, as I understand it?"
"Being born in the West doesn't mean one doesn't eat, does it?"
"That's true enough."
Lee Yeon-woo removed his glasses and pressed the corners of his eyes.
"......"
"What?"
"...I have a peculiar feeling."
What exactly this feeling was, he couldn't say.
"Next time, I'll bring a proper meal instead of dessert."
"I like sweet things."
"Pardon me, but I'm rather uncomfortable."
He'd been feeding her nothing but sweets because she liked flavors opposite to tears and the sea. If she called this an offering, then what did that make him?
"You aren't my ancestor, but I feel like a failure of a Confucian."
"Every person worldwide who drowned by water is me, and you manage to bring up Confucianism?"
"No, wait—some of my ancestors might actually be included...."
There was no guarantee none of Lee Yeon-woo's ancestors had died from water-related causes. He grew even more uncomfortable.
"Do you like a five-dish table setting?"
"Ugh."
"Is there any reason to dislike it this much?"
"Not sweet."
"Shall I pour sugar in the rice?"
"Ugh ugh."
"I thought that was an abomination too."
Appearances aside, The Drenched One ate only delicious things. A terribly picky ghost.
Lee Yeon-woo tidied the wet young man's hair. It looked uncomfortable to eat with.
"From now on, please have three meals a day."
"Too much trouble."
"You really won't listen."
"You don't eat either."
"I have a physiological aversion to ingestion itself, so the situation is rather different from yours."
Lee Yeon-woo smiled.
"Still, if you'd like, I can set an example and dine with you."
"Won't it taste like blood?"
"After imprinting my body's circuitry into the system, there's no way such an error would occur."
"Ruthless thing."
"Don't try to use me as your excuse."
"Aaahh...."
Having finally abandoned her Water Wraith tactics, the Water Wraith insisted firmly.
"Give me snacks. Snacks. I liked that fluffy white cake from last time."
"You mean the pavlova. I'll remember that, but I still think proper meals would be better."
"Ugh...."
"Are you a child?"
Or was there a legitimate reason she felt aversion only to regular meals?
"I really don't understand the physiology of a Water Wraith."
"Life's too short to eat only sweets."
"Yours isn't particularly short, but if you truly despise it, I won't insist."
He'd felt this with The Guest Without Taste too. Beings that had left humanity behind—whether through death, sorcery, or any other cause—possessed thought patterns that defied understanding.
The problem was that these were thought patterns twisted at the structural level. Just as a wild predator devouring prey was natural. They simply... faced the world that way.
"...This is something I've been curious about, too. You are...."
He chose his words.
"...a fish, aren't you?"
"That's right."
He answered readily. Deep, deep below the pool, a long tail undulated.
"I'm in water, so I'm a fish."
"Is that a Western influence?"
"Who knows."
"I see."
He understood.
'The concept of a Water Wraith is vague in the West.'
The water-horse Kelpie. Nymphs, said in lore to seduce and kill human men. The fairy in Die Lorelei, who bewitched sailors to their drowning. Sirens and mermaids of similar ilk.
'The closest Western equivalent to the Eastern Water Wraith might be Russia's Rusalka—said to be the spirits of drowned women....'
They sometimes took human form, but animal forms were common too.
'Some were outright mermaid-shaped.'
Thinking along those lines—
"......"
"What's with you, seriously?"
"...Such mature dignity...."
"I'm asking why you keep treating me like a child."
"Good question."
...The Drenched One must be a vast being.
'Leagues apart from an ordinary Water Wraith.'
Truly the aggregate of everything that had ever died by water. Such a being couldn't possibly be weak. That fluctuating manner of speech was likely influenced by historical entities within her.
"Do you have no concept of dignity?"
"Spend as long as I have lingering in purgatory, then tell me if you'd bother carrying dignity around."
"If it's everyone who ever died by water, you'd have existed since humans were born...."
"Exactly."
STAB—
A fork pierced the back of his hand.
"You're supposed to be on my side."
"......"
Lee Yeon-woo's gaze dropped to the fork embedded in his hand. Pain wasn't the issue—it was the uncleanliness of blood flowing down to stain his shirt that rankled.
This delinquent, again.
"...Damaging another's body without prior agreement—still as rude as ever."
"How novel of you to say such a thing now."
"Me handling what's mine and someone else handling me are entirely different matters. I'd like you to remember that I found this deeply unpleasant."
"Why do you need permission for me to touch you?"
The Water Wraith insisted.
"You're water too, in the end! We're one body!"
"If you'd like to stake that claim on my equity, start by drafting a legally binding lifelong contract."
Bring a lawyer. Communication would be easier with one.
"Honestly...."
Lee Yeon-woo sighed wearily.
"You say 'let's keep our friendship forever' in the most brutal ways, friend."
"......"
The Drenched One stared at him, then nodded.
"Can I eat it?"
"Must've lost your mind."
For an instant, The Guest Without Taste flashed through his mind and he got chills.
Without permission, The Drenched One sucked the blood off the fork. That gentle face, calmly lapping up someone else's blood. The physiological revulsion made Lee Yeon-woo's brow furrow.
"Why does everyone do this with my blood?"
"Because it's delicious...?"
"Perverts, the lot of you."
"Oh, I'm practically a saint by comparison."
If this was the saint, Lee Yeon-woo's future was surely pitch-dark.
"......"
Ah—had it always been that way?
Lee Yeon-woo stared at his bleeding hand with a sour expression.
"...Since it's come to this, let me ask—what does it feel like?"
"My blood?"
"Including that—this hotel, I mean."
"Oh."
"I haven't had the chance to ask."
This hotel received Monster Guest visits.
"Think of it as a customer satisfaction survey."
Borrowing the words of Baek Mu-jin and the two lost souls, beings presumably 'Dokkaebi.' Considering The Drenched One and The Guest Without Taste, they'd be among the stronger ones.
Why did such beings come to this hotel? What could possibly be so appealing?
'I considered whether it was because they could torment Human Guests, but no. From their perspective, the hotel actually has more restrictions than the outside.'
So harming humans couldn't be the purpose.
"Surely I can ask a former guest—now my employee—for at least this much of an impression?"
"An impression—even if you ask like that, I'm not sure what to say, but...."
Having cleared all five cake platters, he tilted his head.
"It's paradise."
"......"
Clink.
Gathering the empty plates, Lee Yeon-woo asked again.
"Paradise?"
"It's comfortable."
"What is?"
"That depends on each 'guest.'"
"Fair enough."
"For me...."
The Water Wraith gazed at Lee Yeon-woo.
"When I'm here, the loneliness is less."
"Why might that be?"
"Beats me. I truly don't know."
She rolled her eyes sideways.
"Heavy things feel lighter, and dirty things feel washed away."
Saying she liked that, The Drenched One held out the fork.
"Put this away too."
"Such mature dignity...."
"Walking on land is heavy, you know."
"I imagine so."
Lee Yeon-woo smiled.
"We also find it quite the ordeal cleaning up the waterways you leave behind."
He handed the cleared plates and fork to a staff member on standby nearby. A staff member stationed at the Aqua Park. The hotel was gradually running smoothly.
"Not that we can wring all the water out of a fish."
"'We' like it here for that reason."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
The Water Wraith leaned against the pool's edge and smiled.
"When I'm here."
"......"
"A little...."
"......"
"......"
...She didn't finish the sentence. She simply closed her mouth.
But Lee Yeon-woo already understood what came next.
***
When I'm here, I feel alive.
***
"Sunbae-nim, sunbae-nim."
"I'll at least hear you out."
"This bed is insane."
That was the first thing Rawi said upon rolling off the bed and getting up.
"I want it."
"If you're confident you can handle those terrifying staff members' wrath, go ahead and steal it."
"I'm not that far gone."
"You said you wanted it, so I figured you might have some bad habits."
As he said that, Seome was standing by the window, where rain pattered down.
"It was dark last night so I didn't have a good sense, but we're in the middle of a forest in the rain."
Rawi came to stand beside him.
"I couldn't really hear the rain, though."
"Me neither."
"...? Even with a water attribute?"
"That's what I'm saying."
Seome placed a cautious hand on the floor-to-ceiling window.
"Either it's that thoroughly sealed from the outside, or the entire scene beyond is an illusion."
"Could be both."
"Could be."
Water was right there, just a single pane of glass away, yet he couldn't sense it. For Seome, whose water attribute was strong, this was unfamiliar. Not being able to feel water that was visible to the eye.
"A call came to the room earlier."
"I have a feeling I don't want to hear this."
"Asking how we'd like to handle meals."
"Oh, that's actually hotel-like...."
"It is a hotel."
Seome murmured.
"Even if it's a hotel that Dokkaebi visit."
The voice on the phone had been distinctly mechanical. The 'staff' here were conspicuously silent—perhaps they couldn't produce voices and resorted to such means.
Rawi asked.
"What did you tell them?"
"That we weren't hungry, sorry but no thank you."
"I'm hungry, sunbae."
"Who knows what would happen if we ate the food in a place like this?"
Seome shook his head and stepped back from the window.
"You should avoid consuming labyrinth food whenever possible."
"I know—they said you could become bound to it."
"If you're unlucky, it goes further than that. You could end up treated as an offering."
"Uh...."
Rawi looked at Seome.
"Not just bound but an offering?"
"Yeah, you outright become an object that's been dedicated."
"That's a new one."
"You're a Surface person, so you wouldn't know many examples of offerings."
"Guess I've got a lot to learn."
"Hmm."
After a moment's thought, Seome looked up at Rawi.
"That kind of case is particularly common in Japan. If you steal and eat an offering prepared for a god, you yourself can become the offering."
"Wow, creepy."
"There's no shortage of Western examples either. Just as in the myth where Persephone ate a pomegranate and became bound to the underworld—eating a labyrinth's food carries significant meaning."
"So should we just wait to starve to death?"
"Not a bad way to go."
Seome shrugged.
"Kidding."
"That sounded dead serious."
"We'll need to ask for advice."
"Advice...."
Rawi, who had been staring at the room's door, grinned.
"Understood."
DING-DONG—
The bell rang.