Chapter 130 |
When a Monster Guest enters the Contract route, that Monster Guest continues to stay at the hotel. They become, literally, an 'employee.'
And this hotel's employees are connected to one another.
'That's probably how they could sense Seome and Rawi's conversation.'
"......"
'But even so,'
He hadn't expected to confirm that The Drenched One was included.
'She doesn't seem to know things as granularly as the existing mute staff, but....'
Yeon-woo looked at the pale arm dangling limply.
"......"
'Grotesque to look at, grotesque in behavior.'
A pallid arm extending from the pool had its sharpened nails sunk into Yeon-woo's ankle. There was a distinct sense of deja vu.
'Wasn't it just days ago, right here, that she destroyed my ankle?'
Blood had been trickling steadily into the pool for a while now, and Yeon-woo lodged a complaint.
"Pool water quality management is quite costly. Especially when my blood has seeped in — will the guest be covering the filter replacement costs?"
"Don't call me 'guest.'"
"Very well, friend. So, are you paying or not?"
"I'm being serious right now."
"And when was I not? If you think I wasn't being serious—"
The Drenched One, displaying the character befitting a Water Ghost, welled up at the merciless billing pressure from a facilities manager devoid of any romantic sensibility.
"You thought about leaving first!!"
SPLASH!!
She burst from the water.
The Water Wraith, launching herself above the surface, screamed in fury.
"Why do you think I stayed! Why do you think I made this cramped place my home!"
"Do not attempt to shift responsibility onto me."
Yeon-woo replied evenly.
"Your decision to remain here was entirely your own."
"I'm a child too, so I'm allowed to throw tantrums!!"
"You really are high-maintenance...."
No matter how he looked at it, his luck with people was poor.
"I'll indulge your whims, but do not cross the line."
Yeon-woo was not the type to be swayed by a child's obstinacy or to lecture at length. He merely glanced once at the water surface, where his own red was blooming.
"See? The water's gotten dirty."
"Heartless."
"Let go of my ankle."
It wasn't separation anxiety — he had no idea what this behavior was meant to accomplish.
'In the game, she was always depicted as an adult in both image and description.'
Was this 'children count too' remark another sign that reality and game differed? As he thought this, in the span of a blink, The Drenched One had returned to the appearance of a whole young woman.
"Don't go...."
"......"
"Stay with me."
Even in moments like these, he felt it.
'She really can't be called human.'
The true mark of a Water Ghost — always trying to pull you underwater. Taking the form of a 'minor,' which she'd judged Yeon-woo most vulnerable to, was another tell.
After a single sigh, Yeon-woo wordlessly sat down at the pool's edge. His pressed trousers absorbed water and swayed with the ripples.
Cold, and damp.
"......"
"Heh."
The Water Wraith smiled and rested her head on Yeon-woo's lap. Watching in silence, Yeon-woo gently, slowly stroked the wraith's head with a cold hand — as though waiting for a younger sibling to fall asleep.
White hair, vivid red eyes....
"This look is quite similar to Lover of Dawn."
"I could tell you pitied that mad woman."
"Albinism?"
"I don't know about that~"
"As if you don't."
"Fine, I do. I know everything."
Enjoying the soft petting, the wraith curved her red eyes into a smile.
"You too, friend. You don't act out of pity."
"I'm sorry you see it that way."
"Whether it's that woman with no form left, clinging to shapeless memories, or those foolish little rats who keep meddling despite nearly dying every time... you can't stand it."
"Can't stand what?"
"Things with defects."
Pause.
Yeon-woo's hand stopped.
"Quite an exhausting personality, isn't it?"
The wraith's gaze fixed on Yeon-woo.
"When broken, precarious, incomplete things are left neglected before your eyes, you can't rest until you've fixed them. It's that arrogant compulsion that made you willingly adapt to this hotel."
"......"
"You grind yourself down to heal the hurting things... dress it up as rationality, but in the end, the first one to dive into the mud and take the wounds on their behalf is you."
Looking down at the wraith, Yeon-woo could only let out a small sigh. Rather than justify himself, he simply patted that cold head once more.
"You're making me out to be far grander than I am."
"Does being grand in expression change the substance?"
"Sizing up a friend is not a good habit."
"What good things do I have?"
"Let's call it an occupational hazard. Let's not exhaust each other with analysis."
Yeon-woo added.
"It was simply something I was able to do."
"You could be so much more vicious."
"What kind of villain are you trying to turn me into?"
Insane, apparently. He looked down at The Drenched One with a sour expression.
"I've exercised plenty of restraint. No amount of effort can make anyone perfect — not me, not anyone else. I already know that well."
"And yet...."
"I'd like to think it's just my imagination, but it feels as though everything around me is trying to make me the villain."
Why?
"......"
Because it would benefit this hotel's operations?
'...Absurd.'
He refused to become that wretched for such a petty reason.
"Lover of Dawn is certainly a guest who weighs on my mind. She's so precarious and unstable I can't look away. Considering the guests I've seen so far, something must have happened to her too."
"You should be on my side."
"And this is how you treat people?"
"Urk."
Yeon-woo pinched The Drenched One's nose.
"She attacked me."
"You know it wasn't that."
Honestly speaking.
"......"
Yeon-woo was weak to the students. Especially women.
"...I really would like to go home at least once...."
"Don't go."
"The people there aren't the most self-sufficient, so I wonder how they're doing."
"Stay with us."
The wraith pulled Yeon-woo's hand and whispered.
"The family on land that you miss so."
"......"
"I could become your little 'sibling,' or the 'older brother' who coughed from a weak body, or mimic a 'father' clumsy with love."
A truly Water Ghost-like sweet whisper, but—
"Where do you get off trying to pull this on me??"
"Urk."
Yeon-woo seized the wraith's hair the way a certain cooking rat handles its human partner.
"No matter how I think about it, you're far too clingy to substitute for my family."
"I died by drowning, so what do you expect... have pity...."
"There are better things to pity."
"You mustn't leave here."
Yeon-woo let out a short laugh at that.
"You act just like a child."
Yeon-woo kneaded the wraith's cheeks instead of her hair.
"Do not try to imitate my family."
"But you like it."
"I simply wish the ones I left on land are safe. I'm not so frail as to seek comfort in some cheap copy you'd produce."
Isn't that what family is?
"As long as they're alive and well, that's enough."
"You really won't weaken easily...."
"You look disappointed, friend."
"I am."
Still holding hands, the expressionless face tilted.
"If only you were a little weaker, I could have pulled you under."
Yeon-woo rolled his eyes.
"Who's the heartless one, exactly."
The pot calling the kettle black.
The Drenched One, who seized every chance to drown him, was the heartless one — even though they'd become 'friends,' chaotic as the process was.
'But....'
Yeon-woo shook the hand still held captive and asked.
"Still anxious?"
"You mustn't leave here."
"Because I'm alive, and you think I'll eventually slip into the crowd of the living?"
"Let us sink together."
"I don't think that's likely, but, well."
He pulled his hand free and met her eyes.
"Shall I die with you?"
"......"
Yeon-woo smirked at that stupid face.
"You don't want it unless you've hunted it yourself."
Watching him, Yeon-woo proposed.
"How about this."
"What."
"Just as I became your friend by dying with you that day, let's make another promise like that."
"What kind of promise."
"If pitiful lives should fall into your depths, don't torment them — breathe life into them instead. You already know it well, but...."
He spoke in a near-whisper.
"Quite a few wraiths are afraid of your depths, aren't they?"
"I thought you were too young and foolish to know."
The wraith blinked.
"Now you know quite a bit about the outside."
"Not really."
"Then how did you know?"
"Lover of Dawn avoids you."
"Your blood told you?"
"Then who else would have?"
"You want me to protect those detestable creatures?"
"Just leave them be. That's all."
"Why should I?"
To that question, a nonchalant answer.
"If you do, I'll gladly offer one of my lungs as a place for you to dwell."
"One lung."
"As part of me, which you've so longed for."
"Ah...."
Those eyes curved, spinning.
"You really are heartless."
"And?"
"And merciful."
The pretty face crumpled.
"You damned hypocrite."
"Haha...."
Collar seized—
"High praise indeed."
SPLASH—!!
With a hollow laugh, he was dragged into the sea.
"—...! Yeon-woo!!"
"......"
"......"
......?
"......??"
Wait.
'Did I mishear?'
Why were those two here?
***
Rewind a little.
The Water Ghost was the type to hold grudges for a disgustingly long time.
'So unfair.'
Conversing with her friend in the Hunting Grounds had helped her let go to some extent. But just because the Water Wraith had drawn a blade didn't mean she'd sheathe it without tasting blood. She'd been eyeing the two living ones at every opportunity.
If only Yeon-woo hadn't sniffed it out and kept up his guard, she'd have had at least one bite by now!
"......"
...That was where The Drenched One's dilemma began.
'He's excessively diligent.'
Yeon-woo never sat still for a moment.
And the efficiency of it all made the hotel gleam. It always had, but now — the staff, the guests.
Everything was brimming, sparkling. It truly churned her guts.
'He's my friend, isn't he?'
You contracted with me, right? 'The Drenched One,' right?
'I even offered to help him scare those two, and he ignored everything.'
Other 'guests' aside. She could overlook him fussing over the two living ones. But on top of already being on edge because her friend was wandering about on land, these strangers had been added to the mix.
'This is an intolerable insult.'
Her temper thoroughly twisted, The Drenched One finally resolved to cause trouble. Because.
"My friend likes that sort of thing."
There were, of course, other opinions.
"Doesn't he hate it?"
"But in the end, he always looks the hardest at those things."
"Isn't that liking?"
"That's a fair point too."
The conclusion was the same, though.
A Water Wraith composed of many things drowned sometimes had differing opinions, but generally agreed. Water divides easily, but it gathers just as easily.
Yet she fell back into deliberation.
"I don't want to be hated."
"Let's not go that far."
"My friend plays favorites...."
It was natural favoritism on Yeon-woo's part. He'd obviously care more about people with futures ahead of them than about a vicious criminal. The two introducing themselves as 'mercenaries' notwithstanding.
In this situation, with Yeon-woo's warnings and guard making approach all but impossible, after enough time had passed to make her sharpened blade embarrassing, an idea finally emerged.
'If we can't go to them, make them come to us.'
It was quite far removed from their usual hunting methods, but so what.
'Better than letting them go without even a prank.'
'Of course.'
'Let's do it.'
They already knew what tormented those two.
"A bit heavy on the spite, perhaps, but it's only a prank."
Her friend would forgive this much.
"We won't kill them."
"Right, a prank."
"Just a scare."
"So...."
***
"—This is insane...!!"
Rawi, having sprinted over, skidded to a halt at the pool's edge.
"Fuck, what do we do? Do we go in?"
"You'll die if you go in, snap out of it!"
"What happens if Yeon-woo dies right now!"
"Well...!"
It was obvious.
"......"
If this hotel was truly the 'hotel' that had researched the Clock, there was a high probability Yeon-woo would revive. But that alone was the problem.
In the end, the massive chemical reaction of 'resurrection' couldn't leave him unaffected by the labyrinth. And if that happened, Yeon-woo would, though she didn't know the exact numbers....
"...Move one step closer to the labyrinth."
"...That sounds like you're saying he'll be offered."
"If he dies now, it's dangerous. He was already in a precarious state."
"Could this one time finish the offering entirely?"
"That it's entirely possible is the problem...."
After a moment's hesitation, Seome unbuckled the sword from her back.
"I'll go in."
"Have you lost your mind?"
"I told you, I'm water-attribute."
"That...."
Rawi turned to Seome with a bewildered look.
"...Sorry for not asking sooner, but what does that actually mean?"
"In the end, I'm closer to water than to human."
Seome, having shed her outer garment and shoes, smiled awkwardly.
"To be honest, going in this deep isn't something I'm used to."
Because the one who had lived as water was not her but 'Seosang.'
"Like you said...."
"......"
"Let's give it a try."
***
So, in the end.
"......"
If there was one thing the Water Wraith had failed to account for.
It was that that 'small body of water' would have the courage to leap in after her.
"...What?"
How dare?