Chapter 140

Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual

Rawi shot to his feet the moment he saw Seome at the entrance.

"Where the hell did you go? Why do you look like that, where'd you lose your sword? And why was the receiver...."

Rawi's words trailed off. Seome's face was ashen. She looked like someone who'd overheard a secret they never should have, or someone consumed by a shock beyond their capacity.

"Sunbae-nim?"

"I don't know where to start."

"Anything's fine, just spit it out."

"Mr. Yeon-woo is dead."

Silence fell. Seome's dry lips parted.

"The Lover of Dawn bewitched me and dragged me to the rooftop. Mr. Yeon-woo was consumed in my place."

"Consumed? By what?"

"I told you. The Lover of Dawn."

Seome muttered as if her soul had left her. Her words that 'he won't be entirely dead' and 'given this hotel's structure, there must be a way' looked more like she was brainwashing herself.

"But you still need to get out alive. You're human."

Just then.

Ding-dong--

"...What...."

Following the chime, a steady knock came: tok, tok, tok.

"Who is that?"

"After all that commotion, maybe it's staff, or something."

"Nobody should be coming here."

"I'll go check."

Rawi stopped her before that anxious face could reach the door.

"Stay here."

Rawi pried Seome away and approached the door. Pressing his eye to the peephole, he saw a golden iris with a pitch-black pupil staring dead-on through the lens.

[Pardon the intrusion.]

A voice that filled the space with calm. An unhurried, courteous tone.

[This is the General Manager. An unforeseen disturbance has occurred within the hotel, and I am making rounds to confirm the safety of our guests. Should you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to share them.]

"......"

[If you don't mind, may I come inside?]

Through the lens, the face of 'Lee Yeon-woo' was visible.

[Please open the door.]

Yeon-woo's warnings flashed through Rawi's mind.

"The one who told us never to open the door for an entity that meets your gaze through the lens--that was Mr. Yeon-woo himself."

[You remember well.]

The man's eyes curved narrow like a fox's.

"You also said that any being that casts no shadow through the door crack isn't a person."

[That is also correct.]

"You said that letting in something non-human would turn this into an Open Room. So which side are you on right now?"

[A wise judgment.]

Instead of answering, the man smiled.

[I'm pleased to see you enjoying our hotel.]

"......"

[Should you require anything, please direct your requests to the Front Desk at any time. We will attend to every detail so that our guests' requests are promptly addressed. I wish you a comfortable remainder of your stay.]

His heart beat heavy.

[This was General Manager Lee Yeon-woo.]

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

***

"Oh deary me, what's all this now."

Master Nakdo let out a theatrical lament at the sign blocking the road.

"The earnestness of that 'do not enter' is really something. Usually, stuff like this is practically an invitation daring you to try. It just begs the challenger's instinct, you know~...."

When he cleared the sign away with a flourish, the steep mountain path gaped open again. Nakdo eyed the unpaved, dust-billowing road and scratched his brow with the muzzle of his gun.

"Has it been a week already, going round and round here? They say there's a Fox Den in Gapyeong, and it must've been around here after all. Supposedly most mages go missing before they can even get close--so how's our Inspector friend doing? Still in one piece?"

When Hyeon Si-gyeong gave no answer, Nakdo chuckled.

"If you don't want to talk, just say so, man. Anyway, the path that wouldn't open no matter what we tried has finally cleared. Should I take that to mean whoever's inside is finally ready for guests?"

"It was waiting for the right moment to accept."

"Oho, our Inspector friend's chatty today. I'd love to tease you about being excited, but I'm even more pumped so I can't talk. About time I got to see this damn hotel."

The car rattled and climbed the mountain road once more. After a long ascent, an imposing building emerged beyond the dense forest. 'Hotel One.'

Nakdo chewed the name slowly.

"Does it mean 'one'? Or 'the first'?"

"Neither is wrong."

"Then?"

"It borrows the pronunciation."

Nakdo's eyes narrowed at Hyeon Si-gyeong's answer. A labyrinth that originated in Europe and took root in Korea.

'Won, as in Resentment.'

Won and Han. Unlike Han--grief that had settled and hardened--Won was hot and active. A sharp emotion that took aim like an arrow and screamed. Nakdo twisted his lips into a grin.

A fitting name for labyrinths that were always looking for someone to blame.

"If it were Hotel 'Han,' the vibe would've been too depressing to enter, but 'Won'? Now that's got some bite. Spiteful--exactly my taste."

"Entering now."

"Right, right, let's go... but could I get just a teensy bit more time to mentally prepare?"

Jingle--

A bright bell rang.

***

> You have awakened in an unknown guest room.

"--Haahh,"

Kwon Do-heon gasped for breath and opened his eyes.

'Where did that bell sound just come from....'

Had it been an auditory hallucination? His entire body was already drenched in cold sweat. He felt as though he'd had a nightmare, but couldn't recall the contents.

Then, a beat too late, he realized this wasn't the time to worry about dreams.

"......?"

The first thing that registered was an unfamiliar ceiling.

Elegant molding in dark wood and an ornate chandelier hanging from its center. Do-heon sat up in a daze. A heavy velvet comforter rustled and slid off.

His head throbbed like it was splitting.

'Yesterday, I was definitely....'

Fragments of last night's memory surfaced.

He'd screamed himself hoarse fighting with the father who was always trying to push him around. 'You treated me like a monster's spawn all this time, and now you want to play father?' Unable to contain his anger, he'd slammed his bedroom door and collapsed face-down on the bed. That was his last memory.

And now he'd opened his eyes to a place like this.

"...What is this, medieval Europe?"

The antique room was excessively large and luxurious.

He considered whether his father might have thrown him somewhere in a rage, but this scale was far too overwhelming for that old man's taste. Do-heon pressed the back of his hand hard, testing for reality.

A tingling pain rose.

'This isn't a dream.'

In a feeling of snapping disconnection from reality, he climbed out of bed and approached the window.

> Heavy blackout curtains. Would you like to draw them?
[Yes / No]

When he drew the curtains, floor-to-ceiling glass appeared. He opened the section that could be opened, and a damp, chilly wind and rain rushed in.

"......"

The view outside was beyond baffling--it was outright bizarre.

'What the hell....'

Korea could only be so big. The apartment complexes and familiar city lights that should have been visible were nowhere to be found. Beneath a gloomy navy sky that churned as though a storm were raging, the vast landscape sprawling before him was utterly alien.

Endless, rugged mountain ranges blocked his view like folding screens.

"I've never seen a place where you can't see anything like this."

He'd always been confident in his eyesight, but no matter how hard he strained, he couldn't find a single trace of civilization.

'Why does this feel so eerie?'

A thoroughly isolated landscape. Do-heon looked up at the sky. Murky navy clouds, their depth impossible to gauge, spiraled and churned.

Beyond the pouring rain, shapeless forms seemed to flicker.

> Like a scene from a masterpiece.

For natural scenery, it was far too ominous.

"...Insane."

Clack,

Do-heon hurriedly shut the window.

'Am I actually in my right mind?'

He patted himself down. Thankfully, his limbs were all attached. Determined to find some answers, he moved toward the hallway and caught a glimpse of himself passing a mirror, then backed up.

"...Huh?"

> An antique full-length mirror framed in ornate gold.

"Something's a bit,"

His reflection looked unfamiliar. A scar running vertically across his lips. He was definitely eighteen-year-old Kwon Do-heon, but beneath the surface, an inexplicable dissonance churned.

"Why do I look so... haggard?"

A face that looked worn down by fatigue and wariness. Impossible to believe it belonged to the ordinary high schooler he'd been just yesterday. Puzzled, he absently brushed his lips, then looked down at his hand. His brow furrowed.

> For the ordinary hand of a high school student who used to grip a pen, the palms and every joint are lined with tough calluses, as though he'd been gripping rough metal for a long time.

"...Did I always have this many calluses?"

A subtle mismatch between yesterday's self and today's body.

He turned away with an uneasy expression at the disconnect between memory and flesh. As he walked to the center of the room, the overwhelming sense of space hit him fresh.

'What kind of hotel is this big? You could play soccer in here.'

Even the chaebol mansions in dramas wouldn't be this grand.

'And it's not just big, either....'

Kwon Do-heon was the owner of an unusually sharp intuition.

"......"

He muttered.

"I don't like this."

> Luxurious, yet devoid of human warmth.
> The gaps between the arranged furniture are too wide, as though this space was meant for 'one more person.'

"Ugh."

A baseless emptiness. Do-heon rubbed his own arms.

"It's this bright and it still feels like a haunted house."

He wanted to find any clue that could explain this situation. Do-heon rolled his eyes. They stopped on the king-sized bed he'd been lying in moments ago.

> Aside from the spot where he rose, the bedding is perfectly, crisply pressed without a single wrinkle. As if someone had laid an unconscious person down with extreme care and precision before leaving.

"...Someone laid me down and left...?"

Seeing wasn't telling him more, and before he knew it, Do-heon scrunched his nose. An unfamiliar smell was tickling his nostrils.

> From the pillow, a faint, unidentifiable fragrance mingles with... a subtle smell of blood.

'Blood?'

He hadn't noticed at first, but Do-heon quickly realized. This was the smell of blood.

"What the hell kind of place is this?"

He stepped back. The bizarre traces--a mixture of someone's fastidiousness and devotion--left him with a deeply unsettled expression.

'I always thought it was ridiculous when people in movies yelled "Is anyone there?"'

Right now, he was more than willing to try it himself. Is anyone there? Where am I?

"This is insane...."

In the frighteningly, flawlessly arranged luxurious room, only his own voice echoed.

***

[Operating normally.]

"Eeing."

[Ah, my apologies.]

The General Manager chuckled low and apologized to Coco.

"Is this level sufficient?"

"Confirm. Confirm."

"It seems Rawi still can't see the guide windows."

The result of utilizing this place's system--the Five Senses Stats.

"I put considerable effort into lowering the perceived difficulty, but it appears some adaptation time is needed."

Coco climbed smoothly onto his shoulder and settled in, as if in agreement. On the Central Control Room's screen, he gazed at Rawi--no, the young man who should now be called Kwon Do-heon.

"Hello?"

"Yes, this is a delight."

Though his game development experience was precisely nil, it didn't matter.

"Finally, this game has a player besides me."

"Fun?"

"These are testers I've carefully welcomed. As a co-owner of this hotel, I have an obligation to provide the finest service so that our new Human Guests don't suffer unnecessary stress."

"Heehee!"

A deep satisfaction swelled as the design he'd poured his heart into finally found its user. It was the conviction of a successful service launch from the administrator's perspective.

"They will, without a doubt, enjoy themselves."