Don't Feed the Professor! - Chapter 77

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The explanation was brief, but I understood. The layout of Pinecreek Hotel was already stored in my mind.
Since Sarim Hotel and Pinecreek Hotel were designed identically down to the smallest tile, I could find my way even without any visual markers.
Considering only the VIP Area, it made sense that there’d be a floor hatch in a place like this. The maintenance ladder probably led past the casino’s partition wall below and down to Basement Level 2.
I hung up the phone and tied my sneakers tightly. Then I began descending the ladder.
Thud, thud—only the quiet sound of my footsteps echoed through the darkness.
‘I’m probably about halfway down by now.’
Even with my eyes closed, I could feel the space beneath my feet opening up. But the stuffiness peculiar to basements remained.
‘Around here, I think… there should be a maintenance catwalk.’
While hanging from the last rung of the ladder, I stretched my legs and swept them through the air. Thud—the tips of my feet caught on a metal mesh floor.
I slowly shifted my position and crawled up onto the passage, pressing myself flat.
I cracked my eyes open and looked around, but it was still pitch black. Sarim Hotel’s Basement Level 2 seemed to be an empty space.
‘If Broker hid something down here, it would probably be near this maintenance passage.’
Moving through darkness like this wouldn’t be easy, and besides, people don’t like to keep important things far away from them.
I traced along the railing slowly. Then—click—my fingertips touched something heavy beneath a ventilation duct.
‘…A Safe?’
I carefully felt it over. As expected, it was a small safe with a button-lock door.
‘There’s no key…’
That meant I had to try entering a code.
I crouched in the darkness, lost in thought.
I’d never met Broker before Manager took over my body, but from what Momo had told me, he seemed like a fairly simple person.
What number would a gambling-addicted Black Market dealer use as a safe code?
“Hmm… seven, seven, seven?”
Click.
“Ha, no way.”
As the door opened, a sensor light on the wall switched on with a click.
Inside the safe, various objects both large and small lay in disarray. Each had a tag with a date and initials, and one caught my eye.
“…This has to be it.”
I scanned through the items, but this was the only one that stood out. It was the only thing with a red tag bearing crude curse words.
The contents were wrapped in layers of paper, but it looked like a Ceramic Artifact about the size of a fist.
I placed it, ziplock bag and all, into my jacket pocket and stood up. I planned to check what it was after meeting with Mallo.
Just before I climbed back up the ladder, curiosity struck me.
So they left this entire Basement Level 2 empty? Even so, that seems like a waste, doesn’t it?
I felt around the safe’s sensor light and pried it loose. Fortunately, it had a battery, so I could use it to illuminate my surroundings a bit.
Leaning against the metal railing, I looked down below. When I shone the light, something glinted in the deep darkness.
I narrowed my eyes. And then…
I nearly dropped the light in shock. My gaze had met something down there.
But looking again, it was just my own reflection in a mirror. Or rather, it wasn’t just a mirror.
“…Why?”
The entire floor of Sarim Hotel’s Basement Level 2 was one seamless mirror.
I stared at my own reflection looking up at me from below, then stepped back.
And quickly turned away. For some reason, I felt deeply unsettled.
* * *
[On the rooftop :D]
“What’s with the emoticon…”
I smiled and closed the phone folder. Ding—as I stepped out of the elevator, a spiral corridor and a vertical atrium opened before me.
“Wow…”
I walked close to the railing. I’d always found it striking even at Pinecreek Hotel.
This unique structure, with an empty vertical space in the center of the building creating a spiraling ramp, was actually rare for hotels.
What a waste of space in a hotel where maximizing guest rooms would be profitable.
‘Still, it does look nice.’
Unlike Pinecreek Hotel, which had tall glass walls added for safety, I could see down to the lobby more easily here.
Looking at the lobby like this brought back memories of when I worked as a room maid.
The pay wasn’t bad, and the workload was lighter than other jobs—it was a place I would’ve wanted to stay if I could.
But somehow the loan sharks found me anyway. Starting with surveillance on my commute, then all manner of illegal collection tactics and threats.
Among my coworkers, unfunny rumors about my background circulated. Back then I didn’t have immunity to that sort of thing yet, so I cried a lot.
“Sigh…”
And here I am now.
Maybe this is the most carefree time in my life.
If my debts are truly erased, if I really do go back to the real world, then… what would be left for me?
Is there even one person in the real world waiting for me? Do Mom and Dad even remember who I am?
“…”
Then I suddenly remembered something Momo had said.
〈If you tell people you’re Great-Grandmother’s fourth granddaughter, they’ll know who you are. So if you ever feel like it, come visit.〉
Right, that’s true.
I had no real plan to go there, but still—Momo and I had become something like friends, so couldn’t I at least exchange messages with her sometimes?
Thinking this, I pulled the collateral back out of my pocket.
“…I did the right thing, didn’t I?”
Hoping she wouldn’t mind too much, I thought as I removed the tag with the curse words instead of a name. Momo wouldn’t feel good seeing something like that.
And the moment I flipped the ziplock bag over to put it back in my pocket, a small red cloth fragment fell silently to the ground.
‘What’s this?’
Without thinking much, I picked it up. On the worn, smooth fabric, black brushwork writing was inscribed.
〈To my most beloved granddaughter, Eun-ha: I wish that all the harshness of this world will pass you by. Wherever you go, keep your back straight and live with pride.〉
‘My most beloved granddaughter, Eun-ha’? My heart suddenly lurched.
‘I thought we were in similar circumstances…’
This beautiful name must be Momo’s real name. But had anyone ever called my name with such tenderness in my entire life?
Had I ever received even once a letter like this, or something close to a note, written with such affection?
No, wait—wait a moment. I shook my head.
Don’t let yourself get dark thoughts just because of a letter some other person’s grandmother wrote.
I folded the cloth fragment carefully back into the ziplock bag, but the chill that had settled on the nape of my neck wouldn’t easily shake off.
“The rooftop is… this way.”
I began walking along the gentle slope of the corridor. Sunlight filtered through the glass doors that led to the rooftop.
Now that I think about it, I’d never been up to the rooftop at Pinecreek Hotel either.
I’d heard there was a swimming pool and a bar up there, but as a room maid, there was no reason for me to go to a place like that.
Squeak—as I pushed open the door and stepped onto the rooftop, the intense sunlight forced my eyes shut.
An idea struck me, and I lowered the sunglasses I’d pushed up onto my head. A circular swimming pool spread out beneath the bright blue sky, its surface glimmering.
Where was Mallo? As I turned toward the bar area, the pool’s surface suddenly rippled and parted.
It was then that a dazzling figure emerged from the water.
“…Professor?”
Mallo walked slowly out toward the edge. The water grew deeper toward the middle.
I looked around awkwardly before moving closer to the pool.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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