Chapter 139

Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual

The outdoor staircase was by no means short. Yet the pursuer clung to Seome's back at a razor-thin distance. Beneath the navy sky that churned as though a storm were about to break, rain seemed ready to fall at any moment.

"Haahh, hkh...!!"

"SEOMEEEEE--!!!"

The dense poppy fragrance gusting at her back sent a chill down her spine.

"Fuck,"

CRASH--!! BOOM, THUD!!

The sound of the stairs she'd already passed crumbling and collapsing.

'Fuck. Insane. Truly insane bastard...!!'

Whether Rawi's foul mouth had rubbed off on her or not, the curses came on their own. Even as she pounded down the well-maintained outdoor staircase as if to shatter it, she couldn't bring herself to look back. Not making a single misstep was the best she could do.

Yeon-woo must be trying to seize control from inside the monster's belly, but this was the obsession of a massive labyrinth that had persisted since the sixteenth century. There was no way a single blood mage could sever it in one stroke.

"Where, how dare you!!"

"Seome, Seome, where are you going! Leaving me! Leaving me alone again!!"

"You were always so selfish!!"

Amidst the sounds of glass and marble shattering, it poured curses--

"Please, I love you. You know how much your sister treasures you...!!"

"It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts...!!"

"Just look back once, please, hold me!!"

--and screams and love confessions.

Dozens of layered, grotesque voices cascaded down from above like a waterfall. When she turned to look despite herself, the monster draped in a snow-white shroud was scattering snow-white feathers and--

--plummeting, as if falling, in pursuit.

"LOVE MEEE--!!!!"

A deafening blast that threatened to split her ears choked her breath. Blood-tears streamed from the shape's eyes, her eardrums swelled until they seemed about to burst, ringing with a high-pitched whine. She couldn't think straight through the thick scent of Black Magic.

'22nd floor, 22nd floor, 22nd floor...!!'

But it wasn't as bad as before.

Normally, a classical labyrinth could snatch and devour something like her in an instant. The fact that she could even sustain a 'pursuit' against such an enormous Dokkaebi was proof that Yeon-woo was helping her.

Past the non-existent ■■th floor, the door to the 23rd floor came into view.

"Ugh,"

Her feet, which had reflexively moved to enter, faltered. Beyond that door lay the Aqua Park--the territory primarily inhabited by the Drenched One, that ferocious and mighty Water Wraith. Yeon-woo had told her as much.

'If I avoid that and go straight to the guest room floor on the 22nd...!'

But the moment she turned at the landing leading to the 22nd floor--

CRUNCH, CRACK!!

"--Haahh!!"

Her breath stopped dead. The path ahead warped grotesquely as blood-red poppies and snow-white feathers tangled like loose thread, completely blocking the way down. Black Magic spatial contamination.

"Hkh, hhh,"

FLAP-FLAP-FLAP--!!

Above her straining breaths, the sound of wings.

"...!!"

Sharp raptor talons closed in, near enough to snatch her skull. There was no choice. Seome kicked open the only unlocked door--the 23rd floor--and threw herself inside.

CRASH--!!

'Somewhere to hide--somewhere I can dodge the Water Wraith and shake this pursuit...!'

The dank, fishy smell of water hit her full in the face. The wide-open expanse of the Aqua Park spread before her. And for some reason, the massive main pool at its center seized her vision with startling clarity.

"SEOMEEEE!!!"

"...!!"

A shriek that threatened to tear through the closing door gap slammed in, and the witch's enormous shadow engulfed the Aqua Park entrance. At the very instant those bestial talons were about to pierce Seome's shoulder--

WHOOOOSH--!!

"...?! Wh-what,"

The still surface of the main pool erupted like an explosion.

A massive tail covered in red-black scales burst through the surface. Generating a tidal wave in the pool, it gave Seome no time to resist before coiling around her entire body and dragging her under.

Cold, crushing water pressure bore down on her.

"......"

Beneath the rippling water, a woman with hair trailing long as a wave. She looked down at Seome with haughty eyes that held no regard for human gazes.

"Pathetic."

Seome stiffened in bewilderment, but the woman paid her no mind and fixed her stare beyond the surface. The White Crow, which had stormed all the way to the pool entrance, stood still at the water's edge.

The hollow eyes where red poppies bloomed glared coldly into the water.

"...Ah,"

Resentment, fury--a gaze that defied description with such human words--left Seome breathless in the water despite being a water attribute herself. After a silence as still as a dead mouse, a sneer rippled across like a wavelet.

"Stupid thing. Pitiable, too."

"Still burning, are you? Plunge it into water and be done with it."

"Nothing but a love-crazed specter."

Countless voices spread like water mist, yet the White Crow did not set a single foot inside the water. Only then did Seome recall the natural order and common sense of labyrinths.

"......"

Dokkaebi are loath to cross deep rivers and seas. They instinctively know what lurks at the bottom. In other words, what pooled in this swimming pool was no mere Water Wraith, but....

"Know this, little raindrop: you have seized a great fortune."

Even a labyrinth born in the sixteenth century was powerless before 'water' that had existed since the beginning. Above all, for a specter of fire's nature, the abyss-bearing water was an insurmountable counter.

"Ah...."

From that enormous body, from those blood-red lips, a fragile voice spilled.

"How sorrowful."

From the start, pursuit beyond this point was impossible--the 'lady' restraining every corner of her body from the inside saw to that. She, too, needed rest. The shadow that had been pacing outside the pool eventually withdrew, leaving behind nothing but scattered petals.

Where white feathers had dissolved, nothing remained.

"......"

"......"

The woman cast Seome a bored glance, then lost her form and scattered into the water. Before the freed Seome could even gather her wits, a fierce current shoved her back.

"Uwagh!!"

SPLASH--!!

"Gakh, agh!!"

Thunk, tumble-tumble-tumble!!

Swept out of the pool and onto the tile floor, Seome cracked her head against the ground and clutched it with both hands. Her brain hummed.

"Ughhh...."

"More of a crybaby than I expected."

"--!!"

She looked up to find a pair of immaculate leather shoes, utterly dry, before her eyes.

"And quite the foul mouth."

The man added gently.

Black hair swept back in a neat style, a warm smile spread across a pale face. But within those eyes, a predator's murky heat flickered.

It was the Guest Without Taste, whom she'd encountered in the Dining.

"A fishy stench mixed with the reek of water--a combination I'd rather decline, but I'll graciously tolerate it. I enjoyed watching your little performance."

Seome glared at the man, breathing hard. And quickly found her answer.

"...It was you. That Water Wraith just now, and you right here. Mr. Yeon-woo sent all of you."

"How disappointing if you're only realizing that now."

The man smiled lightly. He produced a snow-white towel from within his coat and offered it.

"Would you allow me the opportunity to escort a lady?"

Seome accepted the towel with a dazed expression.

"...My secrets are practically public property at this point...."

"Were you hoping otherwise?"

***

The vampire led Seome to her room.

"So that escort offer wasn't just lip service."

"Lying is a specialty of corpses, but this time is an exception. Delivering you safely to your room is my role today."

An escort in the literal sense. Beneath Seome's suspicious gaze, a faintly bloodish smile hung at the man's lips.

"We'll be working under the same roof soon enough. How about putting that insolent expression away for now?"

"Same roof?"

"Meaning we'll be facing each other daily before long, contributing to the hotel's operations."

The recruitment ticket Yeon-woo had offered. The fact that the vampire knew about it left Seome with a complicated feeling.

"There were some deals."

"I'd love to hear the details."

"If I do what Mr. Yeon-woo wants, he'll favorably consider giving me a spot in the 22nd-floor restaurant. He also said he'd overlook my previous rudeness as a 'friend.'"

"I assume the Water Wraith was on the same page."

"That must be the best Mr. Yeon-woo can manage."

The word he'd chosen to accommodate people-harming monsters was merely 'friend.' Seome held her tongue at that. Even in this pandemonium, Yeon-woo had prepared an escape route for Seome and a shield to protect her through negotiation.

After walking with the vampire for a while, Seome asked quietly.

"May I ask one question?"

"By all means."

"You seem a bit... friendlier than before."

"The fact that I despise living things hasn't changed. I never expected I'd be personally escorting a lump of flesh like you."

"You might as well just insult me."

"But aren't you soon to shed that cumbersome flesh and receive a blessed form? How enviable. Thinking of that, I can tolerate this much."

The man's black eyes curved like a crescent moon. A peculiar heat--impossible to tell if it was mockery or sincerity.

"So, is that all for your questions?"

"I'm curious whether Mr. Yeon-woo actually has the authority to grant you a restaurant space."

"This hotel loves him."

Difficult words to grasp.

"It always has, and it will only grow more so. This hotel can no longer sustain itself without Mr. Yeon-woo, and the reverse is also true. He chose this himself."

"If you call a choice made at the edge of a cliff a choice."

"From his position, even death would have been an attractive option."

"Then that man,"

Seome hesitated, then posed her final question.

"Is he the General Manager?"

The vampire stopped walking and turned to face her.

"Depending on the occasion."