Chapter 157

Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual

> [SYSTEM] Morning has broken.
> The room's darkness lifts, and dull light seeps through the window.

Click.

"...You're here."

The door to Room 1209 opened, and Do-heon poked out a fatigue-worn face. The white owl was still stuck fast to his shoulder, feathers brushing his cheek.

"You're up early."

"Hey there, sleep well~?"

Seung-jae and Hyeon Si-gyeong, who'd had to spend the night in Room 1208 due to the hotel's two-per-room rule, had come first thing in the morning to check on Do-heon.

"Let me see, let me see~ All four limbs are attached."

"Hah... just come in."

"You don't look like you're in good shape."

Seung-jae waltzed in cheerfully, but Do-heon, closing the door after Hyeon Si-gyeong entered, only stared up at him with hollow eyes.

"......"
"......"

Dark circles hung heavy beneath his eyes, and faint red marks lingered on his neck--perhaps phantom-touch from the night's events.

"Does this look like the face of someone who slept well?"

"Hmm, the attitude tells me you slept badly. What happened?"

When Seung-jae asked, Hyeon Si-gyeong likewise scanned Do-heon's condition from the entryway with a slow roll of his Sanpaku eyes. Do-heon scrubbed his face roughly and spoke.

"After you two left last night, I thought I was going to lose my mind."

"Slept alone and a ghost came out?"

"Fuck, if it'd been just a ghost, I would've at least shot at it."

"Memory or no memory, that temper's going nowhere. So?"

"No, I've been thinking about it all night. It's absurd...."

Do-heon pressed his throbbing temple hard. What he'd experienced before dawn was still branded into his skin as vivid sensation. Those cold hands that had sealed his airway.

"I woke up because I was cold."

"Cold? The shell looks this fancy--surely the hotel can manage temperature control."

"There was a puddle of blood-smelling water under my bed. And wet footprints led from the bathroom door crack all the way to my bedside. Footprints coming in, none going back."

"Oh my."

He couldn't not know what that kind of phenomenon meant in a labyrinth.

"A water ghost, huh. Definitely felt that kind of energy. What happened next?"

"So I opened the bathroom door, and there was a man with his face shoved in the sink."

"A Water Wraith? That's novel. Anything else unusual?"

"I think I heard ocean-type sounds too, but that's not the point. Some insane alert window said the room would flood if I left it alone, so I hauled the thing out and got a look at the face...."

"Seems like it was a face you recognized?"

"The General Manager."

At that answer, Hyeon Si-gyeong's eyebrow twitched--a remarkably human reaction by his standards. But Do-heon, too preoccupied to notice, continued.

"Not the polished version from the lobby."

"Please describe it in detail."

Hyeon Si-gyeong broke into the conversation--a rare occurrence.

"The General Manager currently functions as part of the system. If his appearance changed, it means a role corresponding to that form was assigned. Can you describe it?"

"Like a... drowned corpse... sort of feeling?"

Only then did Do-heon regard Hyeon Si-gyeong with a flat look.

"You've gotten weirdly livelier since yesterday."

"That is not important."

"Are all the people who gather in labyrinths this opinionated?"

"Generally, yes."

Exasperated yet compliant, Do-heon returned to the topic.

"It wasn't bloated-and-burst. More like... freshly drowned? Or maybe embalmed? Zero life in the eyes, water streaming from every opening on the face...."

Whether because the bathroom had been so dark, it had looked like black water or blood.

"And looking like that, it clamped its hands over my face."

"Clamped? Your airway?"

"Honestly, my memory gets a bit spotty around there, but it felt like the bathroom filled with water and water was pouring into my body, and I was suffocating... I thought I was going to die."

"But, by that reasoning."

Seung-jae tilted his head.

"It wasn't trying to strangle you to death?"

"...Probably not...."

Only the white owl gave a short "hoo--."

"...What is that person, really? I thought it was a nightmare, but it was too vivid."

Hyeon Si-gyeong asked.

"Were there any other notable features?"

"Notable features?"

"Differences from the 'General Manager.'"

"Just, the overall aura...."

"What about the physical appearance?"

After a moment's thought, Do-heon squinted and said.

"Come to think of it, the eyes weren't gold at that point."

"Hmm?"

"Oh, or were they? I think the pupils were gold and the irises were black...."

"Really?"

Seung-jae tilted his head.

"That's a bit of a problem. It could be a fundamentally different entity from the General Manager."

"Huh? Why? The color just changed...."

"Recognition Species don't pay much attention to it, but east and west alike, eyes are critically important for spiritual power and beings. I'm no expert on this stuff, but."

He gestured respectfully toward Hyeon Si-gyeong with both hands.

"This gentleman is the expert."

"Ah, the fortune-telling cop?"

"A very gifted shaman~"

Hyeon Si-gyeong answered.

"I am a police officer."

"You do look the part."

Ignoring Seung-jae's banter, Hyeon Si-gyeong continued.

"In Korean shamanistic belief, the eyes are regarded as the Spirit Gate through which the soul's energy enters and exits. They say the first thing to change when receiving a spirit is always the eyes."

"......? And you're saying you're not a shaman?"

"Similar cases can be found in soul-flight and possession studies. There are official records documenting how the pupil loses focus or changes color and the voice shifts."

"Official records, not just folklore?"

Hyeon Si-gyeong rolled his eyes.

"Furthermore, in Korean folk paintings and legends, golden eyes are a symbol of a spiritual creature, not a human."

"Now we've got spiritual creatures."

"The most representative example is the tiger's eyes. One of Korea's Dokkaebi, a certain Lord of the Mountain, also possesses golden eyes."

"A tiger...?"

Do-heon blinked.

"...More like a fox, though? Especially when smiling...."

"Fox spirits, too, reveal such radiance when showing their true form."

"I'm even more confused now. You said Dokkaebi, so why are tigers and foxes coming up?"

"Korean Dokkaebi fundamentally follow the path of animals."

Seung-jae chimed in.

"Just let it wash over you. You won't understand all of it anyway."

"You know me too well and it genuinely pisses me off."

"Of course I do, I know all your grades...."

"You must've shared a lot in that one year."

Ignoring both, Hyeon Si-gyeong continued his explanation.

"Moreover, in the study of physiognomy--consulting the Maiyi Physiognomy and the Sangli Hyeongjin--the pupil corresponds to the Water Wheel, which is intimately tied to the essence of the spirit, while the iris surrounding it is regarded as the Wind Wheel...."

"I got between a 3 and a 5 on my school rankings."

"......"

Hyeon Si-gyeong nodded.

"How forthright."

"What's with the sudden compliment?"

"I'll put it simply."

"Excuse me?"

He continued.

"The pupil is treated as the sovereign or master, and the iris serves the role of minister or guest."

"Okay?"

"The pupil is more important than the iris."

"Ah. Got it."

Sensing considerable effort, Do-heon nodded.

"Therefore, if the colors of the iris and pupil have swapped, it signifies insubordination. Or it could be called a textbook case of 'the guest usurping the host.'"

"So what you're saying is...."

Clink,

Seung-jae propped his chin on the gun muzzle.

"A state where the ruler was bright and the minister loyal, keeping the spirit concealed and inner equilibrium maintained, has been flipped by this role reversal? The contained spiritual energy has lost control and burst outward, degenerating into a malevolent force... roughly summarized, something like that?"

Do-heon stared at his uncle with unfamiliar eyes.

"What's wrong, you brat."

"Betrayal."

"I had good grades~"

Don't lump them together.

"In summary, a coup happened inside the body. So whatever power had been pressed down tight by sheer willpower has broken loose and is running rampant."

Having said that much, he blinked.

"Hm, but following that logic."

"Your reasoning is correct."

Hyeon Si-gyeong nodded.

"It is highly likely that the one with black irises and golden pupils is the primary personality."

Darkness (black irises) enveloping light (golden pupils) means reason is controlling immense energy. The power is gathered inward rather than leaking out, allowing deep insight and maintained equilibrium.

"Considering this hotel's operational ethos, that would make sense."

"But some event caused an energy overload?"

"An amount of power ill-suited to the small vessel the primary personality had crafted."

"Lost control and became the current General Manager. Something must've triggered that."

Seung-jae looked at Hyeon Si-gyeong.

"Nothing else you want to share?"

"......"

"Guess not. Cold as ever."

Meeting silence, Seung-jae folded his arms.

"But a Water Wraith... Did the primary personality die by drowning? Could be repeating the state of its first death. The Foundation's methods were always outlandish, so there'd be no shortage of ways to die...."

Having heard all that, Do-heon, who'd been standing blankly, spoke flatly.

"I don't understand a word of this."

"Oh dear."

"Do dumb people die in The Gaps?"

"They tend to~"

"I'm fucked."

***

"......?"

The General Manager, mid-scolding of the Water Wraith, blinked.

"...I hadn't expected such a complex theory to be applied to what was simply a color swap during the coding process."

"It's more or less accurate, wouldn't you say, friend?"

"Whether it's a settings error or not, it seems to have diverged from the settings I was aiming for. How vexing."

"Which is why I keep telling you, come into the water with me."

"With all due respect, friend."

He looked down at the Water Wraith in the main pool, whose collar he was gripping. His eyes curved.

"I am the General Manager of this hotel."

At which the Water Wraith smirked.

"Surprisingly... this isn't bad either...."

"Is that so?"

"You're still you."

Yeon-woo.

"As long as you haven't changed, that's enough."

"My blood runs thick."

Swapping one mode didn't make him frail enough for his personality to be overwritten.

"......"
"......"

"But you still play favorites. I'm going to throw a fit."

The Water Wraith said. The General Manager smiled.

"You are the most unhinged Water Wraith I've ever met."

"Then behave better before I go unhinged."

"You came in already unhinged from the outside, so why blame me?"

"We're one, so we share the responsibility!"

"Persuade me like an adult, with a proposal and a PowerPoint."

"Come into the water...!!"

"You absolute--"

SPLASH--!!

It was summer.

A bit past its prime, but still.

***

"......"

"...So, well."

Director Lee Seon-hae smiled awkwardly.

"I was wondering if maybe our uncle could help."

"How unusual."

He removed his glasses and looked at the child he cherished.

"So you want to Awaken as an Artist."

Baek Mu-jin asked.

"Have you grown that attached?"

"They say the thing trapped in that insane psych ward is five years old--how could anyone stay sane hearing that?"

"You have talent, Seon-hae."

His characteristically low voice continued.

"And that talent... the five-year-old Dokkaebi you speak of would surely welcome it."

Seon-hae's expression turned complicated.

"I don't know what you mean."

"I'm saying I have no reason to refuse."

Baek Mu-jin closed his book and rose from his seat.

"Follow me."

"Where are we going?"

"The study."

He added.

"There's no place where knowledge is more useful than in The Gaps."