Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual - Chapter 111

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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 111.

Even a rural village in the Gap wasn’t entirely devoid of beauty.

Isolation, when viewed differently, meant we were bound together with unshakeable strength.

Each morning, mist descended in hushed silence. The village was always as generous and welcoming as a mother’s embrace. The mountains encircling us served as a steadfast windbreak against the outside world.

“Seme, let’s go out!”
“I’m still sleeping….”
“You have to play with me!”
“Ugh, seriously.”

The village air always carried a pleasant fragrance.

The earthy richness of damp soil mingled with the warm scent of quilts dried under the summer sun.

Every morning, Seme and my younger sibling greeted each other in that mist-laden air.

“Look, there are killifish over there.”
“Those won’t even make a decent side dish.”
“What if we gather a bunch and roast them?”
“I suppose there’d be something to chew.”
“Right?”

Like the clear water pooling at the rice field ridge, in the early dawn, pale steam rose from the water’s surface—as if the village itself were breathing—and blanketed the fields in gentle wisps.

When the rooster crowed at dawn, people opened their doors and asked after one another’s well-being.

“Oh my, our little treasures are out and about! Such diligent children.”
“The sun is beautiful today!”
“Is it? Better light than yesterday, that’s good.”
“Can we go to the fields with you, sir?”
“Of course, just don’t get hurt.”
“Yes!”

The diligent villagers bent their backs, pulling weeds from the fields.

“Ser-sang, look at this.”
“Ugh, an earthworm.”
“I should cover it back up.”

Through my fingertips touching the soil, I felt the firm yet gentle texture of life itself. That was the very proof of the peace this village possessed.

After running about the village for quite some time, twilight descended.

“Ah….”
“Let’s head home.”
“Yeah.”

The village roofs slowly stained themselves golden. The clay tiles and earthen walls became one and the same color. The entire village looked like a single mass of sunlight.

Children’s laughter echoed from beyond the Rice Field Ridge, then faded away at length, swallowed by the distant lowing of cattle. It was just like a bell announcing the end of day.

Lower and slower than anything else….

“What do you want for dinner?”
“Grandmother gave us vegetables.”
“I’m tired of vegetables….”
“She said she’ll slaughter a chicken tomorrow.”

On the way back, chickens were always visible. Some approached right to their feet, pecking at the soil with indifferent eyes, gazing up at the setting sky.

Children from other houses ran off clutching handfuls of wildflowers. Their fluttering skirts and upper garments stained themselves in the glow of sunset. Amid the warm breeze, the scent of night mingled in.

At the wind blowing down from the mountain, the rice stalks bowed in unison.

“….”
“…Ser-sang?”
“Fireflies.”
“Ah.”

Faint lights drifted within waves of luminescence.

“It’s truly peaceful.”

The Elder muttered to himself.

The distant barking of a dog. Above it, the overlapping chorus of grass insects flowing together. Before the moon rose, the sky deepened into a rich violet, and every color in the village became beautiful.

“So peaceful….”

Birds in the trees left their final songs and returned to their nests, while people began lighting their lamps. The smoke from lanterns blooming in every house mingled with the sunset.

“….”

I swear it.

In that memory, Seme was happy.

With my younger sibling.

“I was too.”
“….”
“….”

With the Unknown Elder Woman?

“…who are you.”

Who are you to make me dream like this.

He only smiled at my question with affection. I felt a faint fragrance from the approaching hand.

Over the sharp, peppery sensation that made my nose tingle, the scent of earth flowed—or perhaps it resembled almonds or vanilla. Mingled with that sour and bitter grass smell, as if burnt sugar, a sweetness like dried fruit….

And.

“Seme.”
“….”
“It’s me, Ser-sang.”

And, once more.

The acrid smell of ash seemed to linger.

* * *

“….”
“…Senior?”
“Yeah.”
“Uh….”

Rawi, stirring awake from sleep, caught sight of Seme sitting on the sofa.

“When did you wake up?”
“I have no idea.”
“If you don’t know, who would?”
“Right?”
“….”

Rawi gazed at Seme with a listless expression, then at the expansive window he faced.

“…It really does rain endlessly here, doesn’t it….”

Rain fell—quietly, yet with no intention of ceasing.

Water droplets clung to the vast window pane and streamed downward. Beyond the immaculately clean glass, the landscape appeared vivid, as if pressed against our very eyes. The forest lay drenched in mist.

The trees trembled faintly. Following the wind, raindrops slid diagonally down the pane.

Fragmented light rippled gently across the wall.

“…Senior.”
“Hmm?”
“Did you have a bad dream?”
“I had a good dream.”
“You don’t look like it.”
“Maybe so.”
“Why are you suddenly like this?”

Still, nothing could be heard beyond the wall. Yet that scene possessed an oddly serene quality.

“….”

I really didn’t want to pretend I knew.

“…I heard this place is called Gapyeong when you leave. Is that where you stayed?”
“Why do you think that?”
“You reacted when I mentioned Lee Yeon-woo.”
“This is why I can’t stand Scholars.”
“I made an effort to open up to you, and you’re being cold about it.”
“The Gap, you see…”

Seme gazed vacantly through the window as he spoke.

“It feels alive.”
“In what way…?”
“Many people compare it to a forest or the sea. Spiritual energy fills the air instead of oxygen, and it exists as an illusion between real spaces.”
“But forests and seas aren’t illusions.”
“The Gap is narrow if it’s narrow, and vast if it’s vast.”

He looked like someone lost in a dream.

“It’s a concept created by necessity for magicians, not actual land and sky that truly exist. That’s why the more provincial areas become, the more isolated villages appear.”
“….”
“Because it’s a space made for them or by them… in truly exceptional cases, exchange between villages becomes difficult unless proper techniques or plausible opportunities arise.”
“….”
“The truly unlucky villages never encounter another village, not even until their fate ends.”

Even without being in those exceptional cases.

“Someone needs to forge a path, but no one does.”
“….”
“Unable to become forest or sea, it doesn’t flow—it simply stagnates.”

He continued in a whisper.

“Like an uninhabited island.”

As if he were staring at that uninhabited island right before his eyes.

“It’s really hard to think differently in there. It feels like what I see is everything, and there’s nothing beyond it. Everyone just looks ordinarily good.”
“…Usually when people say that, it means they’re not ‘ordinarily good.'”
“But what if they really were ‘ordinarily good’? Just… everyone was so ordinary, so terribly ordinary, that….”

Seme turned to look at Rawi.

“They were just stupid.”
“….”

Seme smiled faintly at Rawi, who gazed back in silence.

“I should sleep now.”
“But you were sleeping until just a moment ago, weren’t you?”
“I was, but I woke up.”
“The way you speak, it’s as if you’re going to sleep for the first time today.”
“I’m exhausted.”

Seme murmured this as he retreated into his room.

“Exhausted.”

Left alone in the Living Room, Rawi

“….”

…sensed that something was going wrong.

* * *

Rawi’s eyesight wasn’t particularly good.

‘In other words, my vision isn’t especially sharp.’

What he “saw” was a kind of atmosphere.

When observing something, there was an intuition that arose from it. It would be like this, or like that. Perhaps it might unfold this way.

When he looked upon the Rooftop Garden, what he felt was a vast emptiness.

“….”

Was it a sense of dread?

‘…This Hotel is truly strange.’

Perhaps because it was a place where Dokkaebi came. No matter where I looked, everything felt cold, grotesque, yet magnificent. With limited experience, Rawi couldn’t precisely identify what was causing these emotions.

But ever since seeing those ‘flowers’, something stirred whenever I looked at Seme.

“…Senior, are we really going?”
“We need to know the method so we can find Lee Yeon-woo when something happens.”
“That’s not wrong, but….”

A feeling that this small ‘senior’ would soon become like those ‘flowers’.

“…No, it’s just that I worry a lot….”

Perhaps they were quite similar to each other—that was the feeling.

“I seem to be talking too much.”

…Seme was becoming increasingly strange.

‘What should I do in a situation like this.’

I couldn’t even pinpoint what exactly was changing. Like many artists, I relied on intuition. I could sense that something about Seme was shifting, but I couldn’t diagnose it clearly.

‘Has their tone or atmosphere changed? They weren’t like this when we first met. Is it simply exhaustion? Or could it be the erosion I’ve only heard about?’

While inside the Labyrinth, it’s said that individual tolerance thresholds vary greatly. But if one stays too long, they go mad and eventually become ‘eroded’—merging with the Labyrinth itself.

‘I heard it was a matter of mental fortitude….’

Rawi glanced at Seme.

“….”
“….”

There was no response.

‘…The person who sensed everything clearly when we were in the Basement?’

Because of this, Rawi had no choice but to suspect Lee Yeon-woo.

‘Ever since that person appeared, the responses have been terrible. Things started feeling genuinely strange once we came up to the Hotel. I want to know the specific cause.’

They say Dokkaebi enchant people simply by existing. Could Lee Yeon-woo be such a being? Even if he harbors no malice, why do they call Dokkaebi a disaster in themselves?

‘An experienced Mercenary opening his heart so quickly to someone like Lee Yeon-woo is also, somewhat.’

Yet Rawi, who felt the intuition that it could be fine, was restraining himself with reason.

Was this Lee Yeon-woo enchanting him, or was Rawi, being an Artist, reacting sensitively? Or perhaps this entire environment was weakening Seme.

“…Senior.”
“Hmm?”
“Don’t you think this is enough?”

Rawi stopped Seme in his tracks.

“Even if we’re looking for Room 4, there’s no need to go much further, is there?”
“I was thinking of trying the 13th Floor.”
“Anyway, this time we’re just checking whether the method that person taught us is effective.”
“That’s true.”

Seme stopped walking and met eyes with the painting hanging in the Corridor.

“….”

Flicker.
Flicker.
Flicker.
Flicker.

Four times in total.

“…Well then, shall we take a walk around?”
“I’m not sure if this will actually work.”
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Seme led Rawi down the stairwell as he spoke.

“There’s no harm in trying.”

* * *

This Hotel has no Room 4.

“Uh… that sounds just like the Neapolitan ghost story….”

That’s an amusing joke.

“It wasn’t meant as a joke.”

In that case.

“Pardon?”

The Guest Room Floors of this Hotel span from the 7th to the 21st Floor. Should you find yourself below the 7th Floor or above the 21st Floor, yet the surroundings still appear to be Guest Room Floors, that would constitute a clear anomaly. In such circumstances, evacuate immediately via the Emergency Stairwell.

“But to go so far as to spin an elaborate ghost story like this?”
“When you consider what kind of place this Hotel is, it might not be a joke after all.”
“Please tell me it isn’t true.”

I hope there’s never an occasion to use this information.

“Is that actually true?”

To return to the main point—this Hotel has no Room 4. However, if you follow the proper procedure, you should be able to locate it without difficulty within the Guest Room Floors.

Find any Guest Room Floor Corridor where no guests pass through.

“And then….”

Simply repeat the same action exactly four times.

“The same action, 4 times?”
“Does the type of action not matter?”

The type of action doesn’t matter, but as I mentioned, it must be precise.

“So you’re saying there can’t be even a hair’s breadth of error.”

The level of accuracy required is that of a programmed command. If you move like a character in a game or an industrial machine, satisfying the condition shouldn’t be difficult.

Then smaller, simpler movements would be better than large ones.

“For example….”

Your eyes.

Blinking.

* * *

“….”
‘After doing that, step away briefly into one of the Emergency Stairwells at either end of the corridor. If another guest passes through that hallway, you’ll need to wait until it’s completely empty again.’
“….”
‘Once you’re certain the corridor is completely vacant, exit the Emergency Stairwell and check the room numbers one by one. It doesn’t matter whether you start from Room 1 or from the opposite end.’
“…Ah.”
‘Then you should soon find Room 4.’

Seme’s lips parted.

“Found it.”

Room 444.

“What an oddly random number.”
“It suits this Hotel quite well, though.”
“It is rather eerie.”
“Indeed.”

It was no different from the doors on either side, except for one thing.

“The license plate looks a bit different.”
“It’s definitely… gleaming.”
“Is this really gold?”
“You’re an artist—shouldn’t you recognize something like that immediately?”
“I’d need to have actually seen real gold before….”

The room number plate shimmered with an elegant golden luster.

“I checked from Room 1 onward, and I was worried what would happen if Room 4 didn’t appear.”
“He said there’s no particular penalty if we fail, so we can just try the process again.”
“Still, doesn’t checking each room number one by one create a strangely tense atmosphere?”

Lee Yeon-woo had explained that verifying each room number incrementally heightened the probability of manifestation after conditions were met. It wasn’t an absolute requirement, but it would prevent innocent people from getting caught up in it.

And that door.

“…opens.”

It simply swung open.

“It really doesn’t look inviting to enter.”
“That’s disrespectful to the guest staying in this room.”
“Are you more concerned about the Dokkaebi than your pitiful junior right now?”
“A generous heart makes life easier.”

With those words, Seme stepped into the pitch-black space.

“Let’s go.”
“….”

Rawi sighed and followed him.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Kitchen, Lee Yeon-woo.

“…quite late.”

Through the interface, I learned that someone had visited Room 4. Since only the Two Students would be entering there, I calmly confirmed it.

He removed his apron.

“Shall we change clothes first?”
“Yes!”
“Either way, I’ll arrive first.”
“Yes!”
“Why are you so excited?”

Rather than answer, Coco stretched expansively and wrapped around Lee Yeon-woo.

“Mm….”

What flowed down like ink soon transformed into clothing.

“Black, as expected.”
[Yes.]
“You seem to be enjoying yourself.”
[Hehe!]

This time it was a jacket. Below the waist cinched with a belt, the dry fabric rustled, creased deeply. Lee Yeon-woo’s expression turned peculiar as the outer garment covered even his neck and the backs of his hands.

“This isn’t really my taste….”
[No?]
“Don’t impose your preferences on me.”

How did you even know about clothing preferences in the first place?

‘Asking won’t get me an answer anyway.’

Lee Yeon-woo removed his glasses and handed them to the Staff Member waiting nearby. With his other hand, he lightly swept his hair back, then exchanged his white cotton gloves for black leather ones.

The smile he’d been wearing vanished, and a sense of stability emanated from hands now shielded from external stimuli.

“….”

I was aware of my own tiresome nature.

“…Then let’s go.”
[Yes!]
“First, the Central Control Room.”
[Huh?]
“Yes.”

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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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