Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual - Chapter 139

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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 139.

The Outdoor Staircase was far from short, yet my pursuer clung to my heels with a perilous closeness. Above, the navy sky churned like a gathering tempest, and any moment now, rain would begin to fall.

“Hah, hah…!!”
“Seme, Semeeeee―!!!”

A thick, cloying scent of poppies washed over me from behind, sending a chill down my spine.

“Damn it.”

Crash―!! Boom, bang!!
The sound of the stairs I’d already descended crumbling and collapsing.

‘Damn it, insane. This bastard is truly insane…!!’

Rawi’s crude language must have rubbed off on me—curses spilled from my lips unbidden. Even as I bounded down the meticulously maintained Outdoor Staircase, I dared not glance behind. All I could do was avoid a misstep.

Lee Yeon-woo was likely struggling to seize control from within the Monster’s belly, but this was the obsession of a vast Labyrinth spanning from the sixteenth century onward. It could not be severed by a single Blood Mage in one swift stroke.

“Where do you think you’re going!!”
“Seme, Seme, where are you going! Don’t leave me! Don’t abandon me again!!”
“You were always so selfish!!”

Amid the shattering of glass and marble, curses poured forth—

“Please, I love you. You know how much I cherish my sister…!!”
“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts…!!”
“Just look back once, please embrace me!!”

Shrieks and confessions of love cascaded down upon me.

Dozens of layered, grotesque voices poured down like a waterfall from above. Without thinking, I glanced back—and there it was, the Monster draped in pristine funeral shrouds, scattering white feathers in its wake…

Like something plummeting from the sky, it pursued me.

“Love me―!!!!”

A deafening roar tore through the air, and my breath caught in my throat. Blood tears streamed down my face as my eardrums swelled painfully, ringing with a shrill tinnitus. The thick stench of Black Magic made it impossible to think clearly.

’22nd Floor, 22nd Floor, 22nd Floor…!!’

But it wasn’t as overwhelming as before.

Ordinarily, a classical Labyrinth of this caliber would be devoured in a single breath—yet the fact that I could engage in a full chase against such a colossal Dokkaebi was proof that Lee Yeon-woo was protecting me.

Beyond the non-existent ■■ Floor, the door to the 23rd Floor came into view.

“Ugh,”

My feet instinctively faltered at the threshold. Beyond that door lay the Aqua Park—the territory where The Wet Person dwelled, that vicious and formidable Su-gwi, as Lee Yeon-woo had mentioned.

‘If I avoid that and move directly down to the 22nd Floor Guest Rooms…!’

But the moment I turned toward the landing that led to the 22nd Floor,

Crack, crackle!!

“―Gasp!!”

My breath froze. The path ahead twisted grotesquely, and blood-red poppies tangled with pristine white feathers like threads, completely blocking the way downward. It was spatial corruption from Black Magic.

“Hah, ugh,”

Flutterflutterflutter―!!
Above my head, struggling to steady my breathing, came the sound of wings beating.

“…!!”

Sharp talons of a bird of prey descended, nearly snatching at my head. There was no choice. Seme kicked open the only accessible door to the 23rd Floor and threw myself inside.

Slam―!!

‘A place to hide, evade the Su-gwi, and lose this pursuit all at once…!’

The damp, briny scent of water struck me sharply. The sprawling expanse of the Aqua Park lay before me in full view, and at its center, the massive Main Pool seized my attention with an almost unnatural clarity.

“Seme!!!”
“…!!”

Through the narrowing gap of the closing door, a bone-chilling shriek tore through the air as The Witch’s colossal shadow engulfed the Aqua Park entrance. It was the very instant her bestial claws were about to pierce through Seme’s shoulder.

Whoooosh――!!

“…?! What, what is—”

The tranquil surface of the Main Pool erupted violently.

A colossal tail, its scales a deep crimson and black, burst through the water’s surface. Emerging with the force of a tidal wave, it wrapped around Seme’s entire body without hesitation and dragged him into the depths below.

The cold, crushing weight of the water pressed down upon me.

“….”

Beneath the rippling waters, there was a woman with hair cascading like waves. She gazed down at Seme with an arrogant gleam in her eyes, as though human regard meant nothing to her.

“Pathetic.”

Seme’s body stiffened in shock, but the woman paid no mind, her gaze fixed beyond the water’s surface. The White Raven, who had charged all the way to the pool’s entrance, now stood motionless at the water’s edge.

Eyes hollow and vacant, blooming with crimson poppies, stared coldly into the depths.

“…Ah,”

Even though Seme also possessed the Water attribute, he felt as though his breath was stopping in the Water—a gaze that couldn’t be explained by mere resentment, anger, or the words of such a person. In that deathly silent stare, a rippling mockery soon spread across his face.

“Still burning. Submersion would extinguish it.”
“Merely a phantom mad with love.”
“I’m just a ghost driven mad by love.”

Many voices spread like water mist, but the White Raven could not set even a single foot into the Deep Waters. Only then did Seme recall the principles and common sense of the Labyrinth Organization.

“….”

Dokkaebi instinctively recoil from crossing deep rivers and seas. They possess an innate awareness of what lurks in those depths. In other words, what stagnated in this swimming pool was no mere Su-gwi, but….

“Know that you have grasped great fortune, little raindrop.”

Even the Labyrinth, born in the sixteenth century, stood powerless before the “Water” that had existed since the dawn of creation. Above all, for a specter bearing the nature of fire, water cradling the abyss was an insurmountable opposing force.

“Ah….”

From that colossal frame, from those crimson lips, a delicate voice spilled forth.

“How sorrowful.”

From the start, The Young Lady—who bound countless places within my own body—made further pursuit impossible. I too required rest. Eventually, the shadow that had prowled beyond the pool’s edge withdrew, leaving only petals in its wake.

Where white feathers had dissolved, nothing remained.

“….”
“….”

The Pale Woman, her interest exhausted, cast a glance at Seme before losing form and scattering into the water. Before Seme could even regain his senses from the restraint’s release, a violent current thrust against his back.

“Ugh!!”

Splash—!!

“Gack, argh!!”

Thud, tumbling—!!

Swept beyond the pool’s edge and striking his head against the tile floor with a crack, Seme clutched his skull between both hands. His brain throbbed.

“Ugh….”
“You seem rather prone to dramatics.”
“―!!”

Lifting his head, he found before his eyes a pair of polished leather shoes, utterly dry.

“And your tongue is sharp as well.”

The Young Man added softly.

Black hair swept back in a neat arrangement, a pale face graced with a gentle smile. Yet within those eyes flickered the murky heat peculiar to a predator.

It was the Tasteless Guest I had encountered in the Dining Area.

“A combination of metallic scent and the reek of water—not a flavor I would ordinarily prefer, but I shall graciously indulge it. Your little performance was quite the spectacle.”

Seme breathed heavily, glaring at the Young Man. And the answer came swiftly.

“…It was you. Both that Su-gwi just now and you now. Lee Yeon-woo sent you both.”
“How disappointing that you only realized it now.”

The Young Man laughed lightly. He withdrew a pristine white towel from within his coat and offered it.

“Might I have the honor of escorting the lady?”

Seme accepted the towel with a deflated expression.

“…So my secret has become public property, then….”
“You had hoped otherwise?”

* * *

The Vampire led Seme to the Guest Rooms.

“So the escort wasn’t mere flattery.”
“Falsehoods are the specialty of corpses, but this time is an exception. My role today is to see you safely to your room.”

It was protection, pure and simple. At Seme’s suspicious gaze, a metallic smile played at the Young Man’s lips.

“Soon we shall work beneath the same roof. Perhaps you might set aside that insolent expression.”
“The same roof?”
“It means you shall soon find yourself meeting face to face daily, contributing to the operations of Hotel Management.”

The employment contract Lee Yeon-woo had extended. The fact that the Vampire knew of it made Seme’s feelings decidedly complicated.

“There was a transaction of sorts.”
“I’d very much like to hear it.”
“If Lee Yeon-woo does what he desires, he promised to positively consider yielding the 22nd Floor Restaurant space. He also said he would overlook the previous rudeness as a ‘friend.'”
“It seems Su-gwi holds the same position.”
“That’s likely the best approach Lee Yeon-woo could manage.”

Seme fell silent at the fact that the word Lee Yeon-woo had chosen to accommodate monsters that harm people was merely ‘friend.’ Even in this pandemonium, Lee Yeon-woo had secured through negotiation both an escape route for Seme and a shield to protect him.

After walking alongside the Vampire for some time, Seme asked quietly.

“May I ask a question?”
“By all means.”
“You seem somewhat warmer than before.”
“My disdain for the fact that I am alive remains unchanged. I never expected to personally escort a lump of flesh like yourself.”
“You might as well curse at me.”
“But soon you’ll shed that cumbersome flesh and become a blessed form, won’t you? I can only envy that. Thinking of it that way, I can endure this much.”

The man’s black eyes curved like a crescent moon. It was an uncanny fervor—whether mockery or sincerity, impossible to discern.

“So, is that all your questions?”
“I’m curious whether Lee Yeon-woo truly has the authority to yield the Restaurant space to you.”
“This Hotel loves him.”

It was a difficult statement to comprehend.

“It has been so from the beginning, and it will be even more so going forward. Now this Hotel cannot be sustained without Lee Yeon-woo, and the reverse is equally true. It is a choice he made of his own will.”
“If we call a choice made at the cliff’s edge still a choice.”
“From his perspective, even death would have been an attractive option.”
“Then that person,”

Seme hesitated before casting his final question.

“Is he the Hotel General Manager?”

The Vampire stopped walking and turned to face Seme.

“Depending on the circumstances.”

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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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