Chapter 149 |
And just like that--
"--Cough, kkhack...."
Only after fully stepping into the Operator's Quarters did Yeon-woo's form, which hadn't shown a single crack, crumble. The Guest Without Taste sighed and approached.
"You played so nicely with those meat-lumps, and now you collapse in front of me. How embarrassing."
"Kekh, khhh."
"Same as when I visited the Central Control Room last time."
When he visited was his own business, but per hotel rules, he could go anywhere 'blood had been spilled.' The vampire bent to check his condition.
"Reaching your limit, it seems?"
"Urk...."
"Warning. Warning."
"What kind?"
> [SYSTEM WARNING] System overload due to unauthorized loop computation.
> [SYSTEM WARNING] The Connected Subject's physical data has been critically damaged.
"Oh."
The vampire stroked his chin in admiration.
"So this is what it feels like? If the guidance is this thorough, even meat-lumps could escape the witch."
"Cough, speak... nicely...."
"Yes, you prefer 'White Crow.' I remember."
"Bleurgh...."
"Oh dear."
What spilled to the floor was no mere fresh blood. Amid the dark-red blood, geometrically shattered pixel fragments and incessantly glitching error data--unrecognizable from their original form--poured out like vomit.
The recoil of data collisions, as though bones and flesh had been ground away hundreds of times. An inhuman degree of pain that would have burst an ordinary human's cerebral vessels from Shock Death long ago ravaged his entire body.
"......"
But the sentiment that left Yeon-woo's lips once he'd straightened up was utterly dry.
"...Hah."
He wiped his mouth with a blood-soaked gloved hand and muttered.
"I'm tired."
"......? No other comment?"
"What more do you want?"
Pain was simply numerical sensory data plugged into the brain. His blank-slate mind, stripped of emotional cushioning, perceived the twisted sensation in full while omitting the subjective complaint of 'it hurts.'
Instead, only a naked displeasure riding the thin remaining thread of emotion surfaced unfiltered.
"I'd rather be the one asking. How did I look? Rather like a third-rate villain?"
"I say this again: it was a rather fine performance, General Manager."
"Honestly, I was a bit mortified."
"You have gotten candid."
The Guest Without Taste, leaning on his cane, looked down at Yeon-woo with interest. His jet-black eyes leisurely traced Yeon-woo's flickering, fracturing body.
"I wondered how you'd managed to turn those massive clockwork gears, and to think you went so far as to grind yourself into fuel to save those pathetic mice. Never imagined."
"Could you pick one register, formal or casual."
"Isn't that my line?"
"Calling it 'grinding into fuel' is dramatic. I merely used the hotel's resources."
The General Manager was indeed part of the hotel, so technically, but anyway.
"I overwound the spring too many times and the system overloaded. It's not that extreme a situation, so I'd appreciate no misunderstanding between us."
Even as he answered calmly, Yeon-woo's brow crumpled hard. Irritation that he'd have socially suppressed in the past punched through his thinned emotional layer without filter.
"And I hadn't expected you to take such a keen interest in my workload."
"Are we just any two people?"
"Victim and perpetrator, sure."
"Could also be friends and master-student."
"At best, the current relationship amounts to employer-employee."
The irritation subsided as quickly as it had flared. People really should say what's on their mind to avoid stress. He continued as the General Manager.
"Allowing Human Guests to die in my hotel on my watch is a clear dereliction of duty as an administrator. I'm simply doing what I ought to. Please take your undue interest elsewhere."
"How could I not be interested, when the feast before my eyes is slashing its own shelf life?"
"You've no intention of eating anymore, yet here you are running your mouth."
"Oh dear, caught?"
"Do I need to get angry again?"
This was approaching genuine bewilderment.
"Regretfully, your feast won't spoil, so rest easy. Now I'd very much like you to stop talking. I might throw up--my stomach isn't cooperating."
[Sixth Sense]
'Your tenant protests the overheated water temperature.'
"Complaints from every direction."
"You must enjoy being popular."
"Have you lost your mind?"
Did this look enjoyable?
Yeon-woo pulled off his bloodied gloves. The blood-slime fragments of No. 14 squatting inside his body were diligently bailing the water flooding his lungs, so at least he wouldn't die from hemoptysis.
'This solution has its limits, though.'
"No. 14. Help."
"And that's precisely why you shouldn't bully No. 14, Coco."
"Coco. Regret."
Coco flopped at his feet in a display of dejection.
"......"
"You've grown quite fond of it."
"......? Have I?"
"You're the only person in the entire world who kneads the belly of a devil like bread dough."
"Isn't the texture pleasant?"
"I've never been granted access to that jet-black belly, so I wouldn't know."
"How unfortunate."
Cradling the squishy monster cat, he organized his thoughts.
'The Clock is running stably.'
The single correct answer, carved out through hundreds of deaths and failures. All that remained was for the users he'd placed on that blood-paved path to experience the thrilling, safe story for themselves.
"......"
Before long, the General Manager, fully restored to form, spoke while still kneading Coco's belly.
"On a related note."
"I'm not sure what the relation is, but go ahead."
"How long do you intend to stay here?"
Disturbing his precious rest time--what a wicked vampire indeed.
"I'm filing a stalking charge."
"I think I know how a child feels when their comfort toy is taken."
"If you're using a person as a comfort toy at your age, you need therapy."
"I don't think you're in a position to say that...."
The vampire wore a rare expression of disbelief.
"If you hadn't force-fed me humanity in the first place, things wouldn't have gotten this bad."
"You gained vocabulary from that blood-lump body and now you're complaining?"
"You think I wouldn't? This is part of humanity too."
"In the end, it was your choice to eat."
"Let's leave it here."
"Let's."
The two decided to end the conversation before more wounds opened. A mature decision.
***
"Something about all this bugs me from the start."
Seung-jae rubbed the stiff back of his neck as he looked around after stepping off the elevator. This was the twelfth-floor corridor where Room 1209--where Do-heon had found the owl--and their assigned Room 8 were located.
Whether he'd heard his uncle or not, Do-heon was staring at the guide window.
> [SYSTEM WARNING] Status ailment [Madness Contamination] begins to affect all party members!
"...A bad time...."
"Hm? What?"
Red noise was creeping in from the edges of his vision.
"Uh... nothing, I just feel uneasy."
"That's par for the course in labyrinths."
Seung-jae nodded understandingly and glanced at Hyeon Si-gyeong.
"More importantly, why's our Inspector friend been like this since earlier? Broken down again?"
Where Seung-jae's gaze landed, Hyeon Si-gyeong stood. Ever since encountering the 'General Manager' in the lobby, he'd been frozen stiff with the whistle still in his mouth.
"......?"
Do-heon turned to look at him too.
> [Optional Observation: 'The Hanged Man' Hyeon Si-gyeong]
> Completely unfocused Sanpaku eyes stare fixedly at a single point in empty space.
> Only the rhythmic friction of faint breath leaking through the silver whistle in his mouth can be heard. He shows no response to any external stimulus.
"Hey, Inspector? Your eyes are completely gone? Seeing something fun without us again?"
Seung-jae waved his hand in front of Hyeon Si-gyeong's face, but the man's eyes didn't so much as flicker. Yet Do-heon showed no surprise at the sight, and remarked as though it were obvious:
"Leave him. The cop guy is always like that when he's focused. Leave him alone and he follows on his own."
"Hmm? Always?"
Seung-jae asked, puzzled.
"I thought today was the first time you met our Inspector friend? What do you mean 'always'?"
"Uh...."
Do-heon's words died.
'Right?'
It had slipped out on its own.
'How do I know this person well enough to say that like it's obvious?'
But that small question was soon smeared and faded from his mind, erased by the red noise gnawing at the edges of his vision.
"Hoo--"
"Ah, um, who knows?"
The white owl on his shoulder gave a short cry and tilted its head toward the deeper end of the twelfth-floor corridor.
"Let's get moving. That insane flock's owner could show up any second, so let's go find whatever that weird guy was talking about."
Do-heon left the blank-faced Hyeon Si-gyeong alone and turned around. Before properly surveying the corridor, he absentmindedly adjusted a bag strap slung over his shoulder--and froze.
"......"
> Inside the bag, alongside the [revolver], the pockets are stuffed with miscellaneous items you don't recognize.
"...Was I carrying a bag?"
"Hm? You've had it on this whole time."
"I guess so."
Do-heon fished out a handful of rustling objects.
> [Item check!]
> [Charred sage leaves and a worn lighter]
> [Beeswax earplugs]
> [Purification Sample (small syringe)]
Charred scraps of leaves, crude earplugs that looked molded from candle wax, and a small syringe filled with an unidentifiable translucent blue liquid.
'When did these get here?'
He tilted his head. He had no memory of the bag or its contents. Since entering this hellish hotel, all he'd done was flee and tumble.
'When did I pack this stuff?'
"What's this? Can I look too?"
"Nothing special. Just, I don't know, odds and ends...."
"They do give off an odd feeling."
"To me it's just odd, period."
Normally he'd have tossed them as junk, but strangely, Do-heon's hands were tucking each item back into the bag's depths with practiced, careful familiarity.
'A bag should always have something in it.'
***
Rawi hadn't packed them unconsciously.
Originally, there had been no bag, and it hadn't been this full.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, seriously...."
"AAAAAAGH!!!"
"Seriously, please, Uncle, get a grip."
Those were items collected in previous loops to stop a party member's madness episode.
"AAGH, grrk, urk...!!"
"Why is everyone breaking down except me...."
Back when Yeon-woo was still fully himself. Prepared because he didn't trust who he'd become after turning into the General Manager--a failsafe for Rawi.
They were a collaborative product, built through multiple loops by Rawi and Yeon-woo together.
***
'My head does hurt a bit....'
The red tinge at the edges of his vision, seeing too much of everything--his condition was off.
"Let's start by looking around here."
"Hm? Sure, sure...."
"Going in."
> An old arched doorway leading to the 12th-floor promenade. Enter? [Yes / No]
> [SYSTEM] You have entered the 12th-floor guest-exclusive indoor promenade.
"......? Insane."
Despite being indoors, the ceiling soared impossibly high, and dazzling light poured down like midday sun. The floor was laid with manicured artificial turf, vibrant flower bushes, and exotic trees arranged at perfect intervals.
"What is this place? This is seriously well-designed."
"......"
"Okay, this is actually pretty incredible."
Outside, rain poured. In here, it was a clear outdoor day.
"If it wasn't for the insane monsters, this would be an absolutely unreal hotel...."
Do-heon breathed in admiration, then frowned.
"And also kind of,"
> Visually a perfect rest space, but his instincts are warning him. The air carries damp mildew and a faint metallic tang instead of fresh greenery.
'Where?'
"Hoo-- hoooh--"
"Ah."
> [Optional Observation: Red Rose Vines]
> Red rose vines blooming profusely beside a bench. The petals are unusually deep and dark red.
> Leaning close, the scent of rotting blood rushes up beneath the artificial floral fragrance.
"......"
It helpfully reported the stench even without putting his nose close.
"...Of course it's not a proper hotel."
The space, incongruously peaceful and artificial, somehow dizzied both eyes and mind.