Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual - Chapter 1

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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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Chapter 1.

When I opened my eyes, I was standing before the front desk.

“….”

The first thing I perceived was an exaggerated opulence, coupled with a neatness so meticulous it felt almost alien.

A landscape too refined to be reality. I defined this place as a “familiar Hotel Lobby”—a classical style rarely seen in the modern world, yet unmistakably a hotel in its essence.

“…?”

…I detected an inconsistency.

‘That judgment lacks logical foundation.’

My consciousness sharpened rapidly.

‘Why did I think it was familiar?’

Even in the unconscious, every judgment has its reason. This time, divorced from emotion, I accepted the visual information before me without embellishment—and that alone became my answer.

“….”

I felt a sense of familiarity from things I had never encountered before.

Marble tile flooring, for instance.
Classical columns and walls.
Not a single person in sight anywhere.
An enormous chandelier.
Vases and potted plants.

‘And… a cat.’

Wait.

‘A cat?’

A mass of shadow sprawled across the front desk.

Eyes unnaturally round, a mouth curved like a crescent moon. Too dark to be called a cat, its form was amorphous, its expression grotesquely exaggerated.

I knew what it was—the Co-owner, sharing ownership of this hotel with the operator.

“Coco.”

Official designation: Coco.

It tilted its head halfway in response to my call, smiling. The movement was unnatural—not the head following the gaze, but the gaze dragging the head along by force. A discomfort tinged with wrongness permeated the air.

The thing that wasn’t quite a cat answered.

“Yes.”
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“….”

The answer had come.

‘This is a hotel inside a game.’

Horror Hotel Management Simulation Game, 【Hotel One: Eden Within the Nightmare】.

‘Abbreviated as Hotel One.’

Why was I dreaming of this game now, of all times? And was this place truly a dream to begin with? As if answering that question, the previous exchange flashed through my mind.

―We’re close, aren’t we?
―Who are you?

“….”

[Update in progress]
―Excuse me?
[Restarting game]

“….”

It seemed this was no mere dream, after all.

Therefore, I arrived at a singular conclusion: I had been kidnapped.

“…conversation….”
“Yes.”
“Let us have a conversation.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”

* * *

The world spins on carelessly, pretending otherwise.

Lee Yeon-woo’s life was no exception. His carefully laid plans had always been disrupted by countless unforeseen strokes of fortune or misfortune. Yet this was true not merely of him, but of all humanity.

Lee Yeon-woo called these disruptions variables.

“And unless my memory fails me,”
“Yes.”
“A variable, by definition, refers to an element that can change according to circumstances or conditions. It describes unpredictable factors or mutable situations.”
“Yes.”
“Therefore, life cannot proceed as intended, no matter how meticulously one plans. I understand this well. My own existence has always been shaped by countless variables, both great and small, layered upon my will and foresight.”
“Yes.”
“My words have grown lengthy, but what I wish to convey is this:”

I posed the question to the cat.

“Even accounting for all that—isn’t this taking things too far?”

Coco, the cat of Vanta Black, answered.

“Yes.”
“It’s not that serious?”
“Yes.”
“Are you willing to have a conversation?”
“Yes.”
“I’m starting to worry I’ve lost my mind.”
“No.”

Day 44 of being trapped in the Horror Hotel within the game.

Lee Yeon-woo had just failed his 172nd attempt at persuasion.

* * *

A researcher in his forties wakes up to find himself a nineteen-year-old hotel CEO in a game.

“….”

…Anyone with a shred of sanity would recognize how utterly absurd that sentence was.

On day one of the hotel confinement, upon grasping this impossible reality, Lee Yeon-woo seized his feline partner Coco and bombarded her with countless questions.

“Surely business registration is impossible for anyone under nineteen. There are no legal issues with this arrangement?”
“Yes.”
“What of potential protests from Human Rights Organizations regarding incidents and accidents occurring in this hotel? The conceptual resources utilized here likely violate the Narcotics Control Act and Medical Law.”
“No.”
“The horrific phenomena occurring here could constitute negligent homicide and assault. Furthermore, this building fails to comply with the Building Code and Fire Safety Law, and violates labor regulations, does it not?”
“No.”
“Do you believe your authority exists above modern law?”
“Yes.”
“I suppose I’ve gone mad, haven’t I?”

Never had I encountered such an incorrigible cat.

True to the Horror Hotel’s nature, her perspective on the world was audaciously uncompromising. Naturally, my objections were disregarded entirely.

And so I became a criminal. It was among the most bewildering circumstances of my life.

“To drag someone here who would’ve lived comfortably without interference, and now this… what in the world is happening?”

The cat simply stared at him without answering.

Yet Lee Yeon-woo made countless attempts to escape this place. Trusting in his rejuvenated body, he did not hesitate to try fleeing through windows or onto the rooftop.

“Huh?”

But he could not physically break free from this place.

“Could it be… the windows won’t open because the tutorial hasn’t ended?”
“Yes.”
“If I may ask a few more questions—once I complete the tutorial requirements like in the game, will the doors of this hotel open?”
“Yes.”
“Does that mean I can permanently escape from this hotel’s conceptual and physical boundaries?”
“No.”
“Do you hold a grudge against me?”
“No.”
“Then what’s the problem?”

Even if I scraped together every ounce of karma I’d accumulated, something like this should be nearly impossible. Perhaps the universe itself had conspired, adding the karmic debts of past lives I didn’t even know about.

“….”

But it didn’t end there.

The Horror Hotel Management Simulation Game was a merciless teacher. It was a game where you learned through death and resurrection. Standing beside Coco, who was the hotel itself, I died and revived countless times.

“…I’m not old enough to be losing my mind yet.”

Staking the honor of my Research Laboratory on it, I was slowly going insane.

By this point, I’d grown suspicious for the eighty-ninth time whether I’d fallen into a coma or developed cognitive impairment. Rejuvenation followed by resurrection—none of this made any sense.

‘But this situation has transcended the realm of delusion entirely.’

What infuriated me was that I could not deny this vivid reality perceived by all five senses.

“If I escape from here, I’m contacting NASA immediately. There’s no way this is possible without extraterrestrial technology. I need to contribute to humanity’s progress and etch my name into history.”
“No.”
“Did I really die from overwork? Or have I fallen into a coma? Unless I’m a vegetative state dreaming this absurd nightmare, there’s no way to explain my current situation.”
“No.”
“I hope at least a missing person report has been filed. I’d like to call the police for rescue, but I can’t make a single phone call right now, and since I’ve somehow reverted to nineteen years old, it’ll be difficult to reintegrate into society immediately.”

No matter how much I thought about it, the situation was absurd—so absurd that words barely formed.

“Do you wish to fight me?”
“No.”
“If you don’t want to witness me dying from hypertension, I’d appreciate more sincerity in your responses. I’m beginning to feel like I could genuinely die from blood pressure alone.”

And on the fourth day of hotel confinement, Lee Yeon-woo learned that a human could genuinely die from blood pressure alone.

“….”
“….”

As a human being, I was too ashamed to speak for half a day.

“….”
“Hello.”
“….”
“No, no. Hello….”
“….”
“Hello….”

For a cat, it was an exceptionally feeble cry.

“Hello, yes, no, hello….”

Coco paced anxiously around the stunned Lee Yeon-woo, circling restlessly.

Though her face still wore that Cheshire cat grin, the fidgeting movements and the way her four paws padded nervously revealed the monstrous cat’s anxious state of mind.

Like a child reading the room. Lee Yeon-woo soon returned to his normal composure.

“…It’s true I was caught off guard by an unexpected situation, but there’s no need to worry. I simply needed time to comprehend a situation that defies common sense.”
“Hello.”
“That’s a question asking if I’m alright, isn’t it?”

Your concern is appreciated, but to be honest, it wasn’t particularly helpful.

‘I question whether such a fragile organism should even be classified as human.’

If I had to compare it to something, it would be acorn jelly.

Unlike ordinary organisms, this body absorbs external impacts entirely without resistance. Internal impacts were no different. The fact that I endured four days under the threat of vascular rupture with such a body was almost admirable.

‘But… when I act like a game character, there are no functional problems.’

For instance, dying from the horror elements of this hotel. Walking or running at a consistent pace. These are natural scenarios for a character in a game.

In such cases, there is no pain, and my stamina and strength don’t deteriorate.

‘But when I perform actions not defined in my settings, problems arise.’

Crouching falls into this category.

The game has ‘crouching’ defined, but ‘standing up from a crouch’ is not. It’s a function that doesn’t exist.

And so, whenever I crouched down and stood back up, my body would spin with vertigo.

“….”
“Yes, no, yes, no… hello….”
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“Is there a reason why my body’s durability is in this state?”
“Yes.”
“No… I apologize. My question was poorly phrased.”

Coco knew very few human languages.

“In other words,”

The most plausible hypothesis is that ‘an anomaly occurred when the body of human Lee Yeon-woo and the body of operator Lee Yeon-woo merged.’ Without that explanation, there was no way to account for how I could be alive and breathing in such a body.

“So if I act like a game character, at least I won’t get hurt, right?”
“Yes.”
“Is that so… Thank you for the kind answer.”
“Yes.”
“I’m starting to find my kidnapper endearing. I must be losing my mind.”
“No.”
“This must be Stockholm syndrome.”

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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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