Chapter 108

Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual

Lee Yeon-woo led the two to the elevator. After pressing 22, he offered a brief piece of advice the moment the doors closed.

"From now on, please take all meals exclusively at the 22nd Floor Sky Lounge dining. I'd recommend avoiding the 1st Floor buffet and room service."

"Uh...."

Rawi scratched his chin with the gun muzzle and asked.

"Wouldn't the buffet or room service be more convenient? Just earlier, we got a call to the room asking if we needed room service...."

Lee Yeon-woo didn't bother explaining. It was naturally Seome—well-versed in Gaps society—who read the meaning of that silence.

"A buffet with food already laid out means a high risk of your path crossing with other Monster Guests. And with room service, who knows what could be done to the food while it's being carted up."

"Ah... true, when you put it that way, dining—where the staff cook right in the kitchen and serve it directly in front of you—would be the safest option. I understand."

Seome, having nodded at Rawi's words, turned to Lee Yeon-woo.

"So the dining food is safe to eat?"

As Lee Yeon-woo regarded him, Seome hesitated before adding.

"I'd heard it's safer to avoid consuming labyrinth food...."

"The ingredients here are harmless to the human body."

He added.

"I've tested them myself, so there's no need for concern."

"Oh... I see."

Seome thought the nuance was a bit odd, but let it pass.

"I'd assumed meals here would be more of a 'phenomenon' than actual food, but from the way you put it, it really is 'real food.' That's rare."

"Are there fake foods, then?"

"If you're asking about that... you'd need to understand labyrinth structure first."

To Rawi's question, Seome drew a circle with his finger as he explained.

"Labyrinth food is typically an illusion. You could call it a model that replicates taste and form without any actual cooking process. Eat it carelessly and you become bound to the labyrinth."

"Bound?"

"But if the dining food is safe, that means it's the real thing—properly cooked through a genuine process."

Having explained that far, Seome paused and looked at Lee Yeon-woo.

"Ah... sorry, I overstepped."

"Not at all."

He continued dryly.

"You're quite knowledgeable. Saves me the trouble of a lengthy explanation."

Seome opened and closed his mouth, then managed.

"...Yes, thank you."

"Ooh, sunbae-nim got a compliment."

"I have ears."

"You must be so pleased~"

"Junior. Zip it."

"Yep."

Seome felt slightly embarrassed at the strange comfort he'd drawn from it.

'From praise that sounds like it's from a child....'

With Seome covering his face with one hand and Rawi smirking behind him, Lee Yeon-woo guided them and gestured to a table.

"Shall we sit?"

"The view from the window seat is insane."

"I'm glad it wasn't a bad choice."

Beyond the glass, rain still fell.

"......"

"......"

Watching it, Rawi spoke.

"...When we looked around the lobby yesterday. There was a front entrance."

"As you've likely guessed, you can't walk out through it right now."

"My bad feelings really are never wrong...."

Rawi asked, looking drained.

"So if we did go out that way, what would happen? Where does it lead?"

"Somewhere in the mountains of Gapyeong, Gangwon Province."

Seome murmured at that.

"Gapyeong?"

Steady, but low and heavy.

"...Sunbae-nim?"

"No, it's nothing."

"Oh, okay."

It clearly looked like something, but Rawi didn't press. He didn't want them to become the kind of pair that shared that much.

As Rawi turned his head, the staff brought out food.

"...! Insane."

"I figured you'd be overwhelmed, so I ordered on your behalf."

"This is amazing."

"I'm glad to hear it."

Lee Yeon-woo nodded.

"Shall we eat first?"

***

After the meal, Lee Yeon-woo led them to the 25th Floor Rooftop Garden.

"Wow...."

"Incredible."

A marble promenade embroidered with delicate floral fragrance and gem-like shimmering lights. The place looked like a secret paradise in the sky—quiet and resplendent, as though noise had never once passed through.

Lee Yeon-woo absently surveyed the garden and said.

"After committing this scenery to memory, I'd recommend refraining from visiting the rooftop in the future."

"You tell us not to come and then bring us here anyway? Make up your mind."

"In the worst case, if you find yourselves being chased, knowing the terrain should prevent the foolish mistake of risking your life over idle curiosity."

"That's subtly biting...."

Rawi thought privately.

'His personality shifted again.'

Just now at the dining, he'd been warmly showing them to their seats. Now he was acting like a jaded Gaps mercenary. With that straight-laced face producing words like those, it was impossible to know which beat to follow.

While Rawi smiled sourly, Seome surveyed the rooftop and his expression hardened.

"There really aren't many places to run."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Sometimes I wonder how you got hired by the intermediary."

"Luck and connections."

"Fair enough."

Satisfied, Seome explained.

"It looks wide open, but the escape routes are actually blocked. It's the top floor, a dead end. If Monster Guests swarm in and block the stairs or elevator exits, you're a rat in a jar."

"Already scary."

"A perfect trap for cornering and bewitching prey."

Lee Yeon-woo nodded at Seome's assessment.

"And one more thing."

His eyes moved to the outdoor staircase attached to the building's exterior at the garden's edge.

"You should be cautious of that staircase as well."

"Now that I look, there are two staircases?"

"The emergency stairwell and the outdoor staircase serve different purposes."

"Ah, an ornamental staircase...."

Listening in, Rawi scratched behind his ear with the gun muzzle.

"The open layout looks better for escaping, doesn't it?"

"That area is frequented by the hotel's pranks."

"What happens then?"

"You get lured to the 24th Floor, or the path itself closes off."

"Hmm, hold on."

Rawi turned to Seome.

"Doesn't this place not have any floors with 4 in them?"

"That's how I remember it too."

"But he just said it leads to the 24th Floor...."

"Probably a bewitchment—Dokkaebi love that sort of thing."

"But the space itself exists?"

Rawi murmured, puzzled.

"Then shouldn't it exist?"

"It must not."

Lee Yeon-woo added.

"Not for Human Guests."

"That's...."

Rawi looked at Lee Yeon-woo.

"......"

As expected, he looked accustomed to this.

'How long has he been here?'

He knew the number and characteristics of every guest. Even for a normal hotel, that wouldn't be easy. Above all, this was a place that was 'hard to see through' even for Rawi.

Which raised the question.

'I don't understand why he'd go this far.'

Was it really because he was the kind of being Seome described?

If Rawi were in Lee Yeon-woo's position, he'd just want to kill them. That would be far simpler and tidier.

'He doesn't strike me as someone who'd tolerate insignificant variables like us....'

While Rawi's eyes rolled, Seome asked Lee Yeon-woo.

"Is the garden itself dangerous?"

"Of course—at times, it bewitches people."

His gaze swept the garden. He might have been looking at the flowers and trees, or at nothing at all.

That gaze returned to Seome and Rawi.

"That's this hotel's specialty."

"So the Monster Guests can bewitch us too. Leading us somewhere, or stranding us in the wrong place.... Is there any way to resist such a 'specialty'?"

"Individual differences aside, it would be difficult without my help."

"Ah...."

When he put it that plainly, there was nothing to be done.

Examining unfamiliar flowers—or perhaps simply unable to stop 'looking' even now—Rawi's attention had wandered. Unable to stop seeing even in this situation. A true Artist.

"Incidents and accidents must be common."

To Seome's words, Lee Yeon-woo gazed at a red flower blooming in the garden and said, as if tossing it out.

"There are many times death feels like a luxury."

"......"

Seome blinked and asked.

"...People die?"

"That was a slip of the tongue."

He slowly shook his head.

"No one has ever died."

Then?

'Isn't he talking about himself?'

A rooftop too beautiful to call a mere garden. Seome studied the vibrant flowers closely. Looking, and looking again.

But he couldn't sense a drop of moisture anywhere.

'Like artificial flowers.'

Despite being so full of life.

"Um, Mr. Lee Yeon-woo."

"I'm listening."

"You seem to know a great deal about this hotel."

"Yes."

His answer was perfectly composed.

"There's no one who knows this place better than I do."

"That's...."

Was that okay?

"Well...."

Didn't he know all of it precisely because he'd been through all of it?

"......"

"...Mr. Seome?"

"I'm sorry, I was about to say something."

"Yes."

"I forgot what it was."

There was no point in saying it. The answer that would come back would be just as meaningless.

But then.

"What is this hotel?"

Could he at least ask something like this?

"I understand it's a hotel where Dokkaebi—Monster Guests—come and go. I still don't know whether they truly need something like a hotel, but... even so...."

"Yes."

"But at the very least, you don't seem like the one who created it. You might be entangled with it, somehow. I have no proof, but you don't strike me as someone who'd build this place."

"......"

"...Then?"

Then who on earth.

"Who did this?"

Back in Sub-Level 7, when he'd saved Seome from the jellyfish monster—the 'something' he'd seen. At first, Seome had thought it was Lee Yeon-woo's. Because he wielded it so skillfully, as if it were his own.

But now, he thought he might know otherwise.

'It was simply draped over him.'

Perhaps that 'something' was the hotel itself.

'The thing that keeps holding this person called Lee Yeon-woo captive, caging him....'

Seome asked.

"Since it's a hotel—a General Manager? Or an Owner? Could someone of that stature have created it?"

"That is... an interesting thought."

"A hotel this large would need at least a General Manager showing up for work."

"In fact, there does exist a person who is both General Manager and Owner of this hotel."

"Then perhaps he's the one who created this place."

"I only hope you'll never have occasion to meet him."

What kind of feeling would that be?

Having something draped over you that won't let you live or die, gradually becoming one with it. Being treated as one and the same.

Lee Yeon-woo, who had been looking down at Seome, spoke.

"Mr. Seome."

"Oh, yes."

"Do I look pitiable?"

"......"

Having read Seome's wavering gaze, Lee Yeon-woo let out a small, wry breath.

"I see."

He neither cried nor grew angry.

"I may look that way, but please don't occupy yourselves with what isn't yours to bear."

"I'm sorry."

"No—I'll accept the sentiment itself with gratitude, but... you already know that worrying about me isn't the same as making wise decisions."

Not a shred of sentimentality or self-pity was mixed in.

"The more you learn about this hotel's inner workings, the harder it becomes to guarantee your lives. Better to spend the time you'd use worrying about me looking after your own safety."

"I know that."

"Good."

Lee Yeon-woo met Seome's eyes squarely.

"There is no way out right now. So if something comes up while I'm away—if you have questions or face a crisis you need to flee from—find 'Room 4' on any guest floor."

"Room 4."

"I promise I'll leave the door open."

His voice was firm.

"So you can safely leave this hotel, away from the General Manager."

***

Said the General Manager.