Chapter 110 |
"Master."
The young man opened the car door and asked.
"Shall I burn it? Everything is prepared."
"What were you thinking this time?"
"I was going to disguise it as a gas leak."
"Oh, poor head chef."
Karel—the man—bowed his head and looked at his servant.
"Wouldn't she be sad to know her own brother was planning something like this?"
"Both myself and my sister are prepared to give everything for you."
From behind the deeply tinted windows, he gazed at the restaurant beyond the glass.
"The moment I lay a hand on them, their reason for existing disappears."
Normally, he would have killed them. Staged an accident, erased his traces. But the 'master' of the sanctuary he was about to visit wouldn't like that.
'If I want a decent room, I should at least show some effort to please.'
The servant beside him bowed his head.
"As you will."
"Ah, however."
He indicated with his eyes the gifts and photos in the servant's arms.
"Those should be burned."
"It will be done."
As if a doll's eyes were rolling, mineral, inhuman orbs scanned the car's interior. Something that could never be mistaken for human surveyed and dissected the future.
"Have all the disciples I've chosen gathered?"
"Yes, Master."
"Have their forms refined, and tell them to wait."
"It will be done."
"Perhaps they'll have the chance to appreciate your cooking."
"It is an honor."
"Then, shall we head to the Golden Grotto...."
The man's exterior—the exterior of The Guest Without Taste—shimmered like a heat haze.
Skin pale as though drained of every drop of blood. Ashen, curling hair that overflowed its tight binding, sticking out every which way. Slightly pointed ears, and between smiling lips, a glimpse of chilling fangs. And eyes the color of red wine, as though steeped in deeply aged blood.
Returned to his true form, he raised his hand and studied it.
"......"
"......"
The attendant disciple clamped his mouth shut, not daring to look.
"...■■...."
The predator's shape dissolved like paint on water, and then—smoothing his hair back neatly with one hand—he assumed the tidy form of an East Asian man.
A perfect disguise, tailored to suit the tastes of 'him,' who preferred things clean.
"...This should do...."
Perhaps he could even open a restaurant there.
'I hope that friend's offer is still good.'
Something along those lines.
"...Ha ha!"
A thoroughly shameless thought, and it made him laugh.
How appalled would he be?
***
Meanwhile, Lee Yeon-woo, who had come to the two guests' room.
'...Did I really forget?'
His thoughts seized as he stared at the bleeding ankle.
'No, this isn't just a case of forgetting.'
Lee Yeon-woo mechanically cross-referenced the trail of blood on the floor with his own state.
It was an undeniable fact that The Drenched One had torn into his ankle at the Aqua Park. He remembered stopping by the 17th Floor quarters afterward and changing clothes. But after that, getting on the elevator and....
"......"
The 'process' of walking the several minutes to this room simply did not exist in his mind.
'Even if pain is converted to sensory data, I walked here leaving a trail of blood without registering the hemorrhage?'
No—more fundamentally.
'Knowing I'd sustained this injury, I just changed clothes and moved on?'
A chunk of time, carved out. A revulsion like someone had forcibly scooped out a section of his brain crawled down his spine. In this hotel, there was exactly one guest who edited memories in this fashion.
'I got in the way. In front of their room... of someone's secret rendezvous.'
For some reason, since The Guest Without Taste's departure, the Lover of Dawn had begun formally lodging in the hotel. And now she had started ringing this room's doorbell, playing by the hotel's rules.
And if she was following the rules, Lee Yeon-woo couldn't easily exercise force either.
As General Manager.
"......"
"Um, Mr. Lee Yeon-woo?"
"...Hmm...."
...Then it made sense that 'I' hadn't repaired the ankle.
'The me at that time already knew the Lover of Dawn had begun her hunt. He left the injury as a cue so that a future version of me—whose memory she'd stolen—would notice the discrepancy.'
He tugged the corners of his mouth into a faint, composed expression. There was nothing to be gained from showing distress in front of an oblivious Rawi.
"Yes, I'm listening."
"You suddenly went blank and I was worried."
"I must have been more out of it than I thought."
He continued.
"I'm sorry for causing concern."
"You might not be well."
"I've recovered, so it's fine. It was an unrelated thought, not connected to the injury you saw. Please don't worry too much."
"But that looked, no matter how you slice it...."
"It's a hotel with ill-mannered guests."
His mind in turmoil, Lee Yeon-woo offered Seome a light reassurance. Intended to convey 'it wasn't as dramatic as it looked, so don't worry.'
'Thinking about my blood splattered around the hotel reminds me of The Guest Without Taste.'
Had he been present, it would have been a true disaster. The Guest Without Taste was sensitive to bloodshed within the hotel—especially Velmareth's blood.
But given how quiet the hotel was, he could newly confirm that guest's absence.
"......"
Wait.
[Sixth Sense]
'It seems The Guest Without Taste will be visiting soon.'
'I jinxed it.'
"Mr. Lee Yeon-woo?"
"Ah...."
He looked at Seome.
Even seated, Lee Yeon-woo's eyes were roughly level with Seome's. That was how small the body of the one who'd called himself sixteen was.
"...Please try not to get hurt."
The words came out on their own.
"That may not be something you can control, but among the guests who visit this hotel, there are those with a particular fondness for human blood."
"Dokkaebi-like, indeed."
"The best course is to prevent blood from being spilled in the first place."
"Speaking from experience?"
"Speaking from experience."
For credibility, Lee Yeon-woo affirmed without hesitation. The Guest Without Taste went without saying, and he'd experienced other guests through the game as well.
'Technically, it's a lie, but.'
Now was not the time to protect his own morality. He needed to instill vigilance by any means.
'If The Guest Without Taste arrives, things get truly dire.'
As if things weren't bursting at the seams already. And there were kids here.
"I'm telling you all this from personal experience. I know these words might sound like unwanted meddling, but I'd rather you didn't go through the same things I did."
For him, it had been a game he'd played and enjoyed, and even now he was half-game-character, so there was no issue. But for these young ones, this was stone-cold reality.
"I wish I could explain more coherently."
"Oh, no. This is already more than enough."
After a pause, Seome added.
"You're already helping us plenty."
Seome's expression as he said it was decidedly troubled.
'And once again, the distance has closed.'
The hypothesis that 'they might feel more favorable toward me when I'm injured' briefly surfaced. Before it could produce any conclusion, Rawi—who had been watching Lee Yeon-woo the entire time—spoke.
"Was that injury from The Drenched One? Given how you warned us about water the moment you arrived, she seems like the culprit. It looked like a bear had clawed you—the flesh was torn."
"I'd forgotten to continue that explanation. When The Drenched One is in water, she takes a form closer to a merman, and in that state, her entire body becomes a weapon. And...."
As he said this, something occurred to Lee Yeon-woo.
"......"
...Would it be better to explain this place as if it were a game?
'My brain's not functioning properly, so that approach might actually be easier.'
Lee Yeon-woo decided to change how he perceived these two. He would treat them as newbie users encountering this insanely difficult game for the first time. Immediately, things became much clearer than relying on vague emotion.
"...So...."
In that case.
"...If you have questions, ask anytime."
"Uh, isn't that how it's already been?"
"I meant don't treat me as someone unapproachable—think of me as a strategy guide."
He'd never actually played any game besides Hoone, but he'd heard things. In an insanely hard game, a 'newbie' who'd just entered needed to be handled by the 'veterans' like precious porcelain.
Otherwise they'd quit.
'And now that this is reality, quitting the game means death.'
That had to be prevented.
"My situation is different from yours. I recover quickly when hurt, and I know a great deal about this place. I've even gotten acquainted with some of the guests."
"......"
"If you could've left from the Hunting Grounds, that'd be one thing, but now... you'd best give it your all."
Lee Yeon-woo was even a user who could use cheats, however limited.
"To continue: The Drenched One is a being bound to this hotel. 'Bound' may be the word, but her range of activity is considerable. In human form, she uses a blade; in merman form...."
Lee Yeon-woo glanced at his now-healed ankle.
"Her entire body."
"So that's how your ankle ended up like that."
"I'm sorry if I frightened you, but it wasn't as serious an injury as it looked."
"For something not that serious, you looked pretty panicked when you first came in."
"Panicked, huh."
If suppressing the urge to shave someone's head bald counted as panic, then perhaps. Why that creature never bothered to hide its foul temper was beyond him.
"I'm not sure how to put this, but to start—I'm not as rational a person as you might think."
"You look plenty rational to me."
"Not as much as you imagine."
The antics of that damnable connection were enough to make the back of his skull ache with emotion.
Seome interjected.
"Excuse me, but you said The Drenched One takes a merman form only when submerged in water, correct?"
"Yes, as far as I know."
"Then why were you...."
"......"
Ah, that did sound suspicious.
'What business would I have going to the water?'
It might sound as though Lee Yeon-woo had sought out The Drenched One himself.
'Which is what happened.'
He'd gone to deliver a meal. Didn't want to be a negligent boss who didn't feed his staff.
But if he left it at this, he might be implicated as an accomplice. Given the behavior he'd shown so far and the fresh injury, it probably wouldn't go that far, but still—they'd notice a connection.
'This isn't the time to be seen as someone affiliated with that creature.'
As he agonized over what lie to tell, Seome asked.
"You said earlier we should be careful even around bathrooms and sinks?"
"Yes? Yes."
"Because The Drenched One can infiltrate through them?"
"You've understood well."
"......"
"......"
...Lee Yeon-woo suddenly realized what they were thinking.
'It wasn't me.'
That wasn't it at all.
For the briefest moment, Lee Yeon-woo considered—for the sake of his friendship with The Drenched One—simply saying 'I went to see her myself.' But he closed his mouth. He had no alternative explanation if he denied it.
'Fine, you can be the pervert who invaded my bathroom.'
That's what she got for not controlling her temper. This was what they called karma.
***
'The silence is long.'
A face as neat as if it were crafted, pale enough to look almost fragile.
'That's an affirmative, probably.'
Seome's gaze dropped to the hem of Lee Yeon-woo's trousers.
"......"
He recalled the blood that had vanished at a single gesture from the man.
Every last drop that had seeped into his dress pants had been brushed away. The shattered bones and torn flesh, the clothes—not a trace remained.
'...In The Gaps....'
It was a common 'sight.' Blood, bone, flesh.
'But all of them wanted to live.'
Clawing desperately to survive. Those who lived craved more. Many died, and many met fates worse than death, but it was never by choice.
Unless blinded by a living god or a strangling past. No one could live alongside death with this kind of composed reason. Not in their right mind.
'It shouldn't be possible.'
Were you actually mad, too?
"You said you're staying in Room 4."
"Yes, Mr. Seome."
"But I couldn't find a Room 4 anywhere in this hotel."
"I'll tell you how to find it."
"So it's not an easy room to locate."
"If you know the way, it's easy to find."
"Easy, you say?"
"That's how everything in this hotel works."
"Ah."
A guest residing within the rules.
"I see...."
...The one who should be fleeing isn't us. It's you.
That thought crossed his mind.
***
I missed you.
Seome, did you?