Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual - Chapter 2

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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 2.

“No.”

Day 11 of my confinement in the Hotel.

Having adapted sufficiently to this new body, I began the tutorial. It was not easy, but for a 26-year veteran player like myself, it was far from impossible.

First: understanding the building’s layout.
Second: greeting guests.
Third: cleaning.
Fourth: managing staff.

Fifth was learning how to operate the Power Generation Facility….

“Not a single aspect of this Hotel operates within legal bounds.”
“No.”
“My small partner certainly has generous standards. Which part isn’t illegal, then? If you’ll forgive me, it appears to be a blatant violation of labor laws to my eyes.”

I wasn’t referring to my own work. The operator—myself as owner and general manager—was unavoidable. What truly horrified me was the reality: the monsters classified as ‘staff’ working ceaselessly without rest.

“I’m the owner of such a company? What a tasteless joke.”

It was a black company straight out of a painting.

“No?”
“Perhaps you haven’t grasped that this is reality, not a game.”

Or perhaps you have, but simply don’t care.

“Of course, when it was a game, this was natural. The developer of this game wasn’t generous enough to implement rest sequences for every single NPC. But what I’m saying is that this… is reality.”

If I hadn’t truly fallen into a coma, then perhaps.

“To apply the game mechanics directly to such a prestigious Hotel without any flexibility—it’s utterly rigid. From where I stand, this isn’t work; it’s exploitation. Surely you have some solution to propose?”
“No.”
“A company with no answers.”
“Yes.”
“I’m amazed you’d admit that.”

Coco tumbled about in Lee Yeon-woo’s arms as if none of this concerned her.

The cat was both infuriatingly and endearingly cute, purring with that grating rumble. Coco’s fur was soft as carpet, her body yielding like slime to the touch, and that lukewarm warmth of hers was simply exquisite.

“My mind is quite unsettled.”

Lee Yeon-woo, having candidly acknowledged his own position, emerged from the Power Generation Facility.

“Despite being a co-operator in name, there’s nothing I can actually do. My situation has become rather awkward.”
“No.”
“Surely you don’t think my circumstances are entirely manageable, do you?”

This Hotel had high entry barriers for certain situations and domains.

The Power Generation Facility was one of them—merely breathing there corrupted the mind, raising the operator’s suicide probability significantly. When I couldn’t even manage my own survival, there was no way to consider the staff’s working conditions.

“…I’ve made a shameful complaint.”

First, I needed to secure enough breathing room to at least observe my surroundings.

And so, day twenty-seven of Hotel confinement.

“….”

Lee Yeon-woo had finally reached an impasse.

“The door won’t open.”
“Yes.”
“At my age, managing hotel operations in a minor’s body—work that isn’t even my specialty—shouldn’t I deserve some recognition? Especially unpaid. So what if I forgo the wages? Couldn’t you at least open the door?”
“No.”
“Now that’s intriguing. Let’s be precise about this, partner.”

He gazed down at the four-legged creature and asked dryly.

“Is it that you won’t, or that you can’t?”
“Hello.”
“Pardon me, I’ve phrased the question incorrectly again. Is it that you won’t?”
“No.”
“Ah, indeed….”

Lee Yeon-woo rolled his eyes without much reaction.

“…Even my only friend willing to converse with me lacks the authority to open this door. What a catastrophe this is. And now I, having become a co-operator by extension, must wonder where I should go to negotiate….”

I had long since completed the entire tutorial.

I had done everything asked of me. I had grown quite familiar with the Hotel’s functions.

‘Even though it’s become reality, the flow hasn’t differed from what I remembered. It seems the game’s bugs have been reflected as-is—I’ve even received monster guests with difficulty levels that shouldn’t appear in the tutorial.’

Yet there was precisely one stage I had failed to complete.

“…Coco.”

He summoned the monster whose form he could sketch with his eyes closed, so familiar had it become.

“Bringing actual humans here presents considerable problems.”
“No.”
“I’m not unaware of what process the tutorial must undergo. I remember that learning how to attend to human guests comes after monster guests.”
“Yes.”
“I know that, but I mean it’s not right from a human perspective. And I am human. If one is human and not a beast, there are certain lines that must be observed. Do you understand morality and ethics?”
“No.”
“Indeed, was today the third day I’d die of hypertension?”
“No.”
“That was merely talking to myself.”
“Yes.”
“….”

The beings who visited or resided in this Hotel came in various types, but ‘guests’ could be broadly classified into two categories: ‘monster guests’ and ‘human guests’.

And human guests were, quite literally, just… human.

“Shall we sit down, Coco?”
“Yes.”
“Let us have a conversation.”
“Yes.”
“I have no intention of bringing new people into this place besides myself. There are certain things possible because it was a game, and this game amplifies such aspects even more. Why would I bring people here to catch someone?”
“Yes.”
“You stated that bringing people here to catch someone was the right approach?”
“Yes.”

Fine, I’m not eager to compromise, but let’s say I’ve conceded a hundred, a thousand times over.

“Then can that person be resurrected as well?”
“No.”
“Let me confirm something additional, teacher. Is that person closer to a game character I know? An NPC? Or are they an ordinary human—someone who wakes in the morning, goes to school or work, eats their meals, and endures the day with average emotions?”
“Yes.”
“You’re saying that an ordinary person like me, who can’t even be resurrected, must come here and stay at this Hotel? That’s part of the tutorial? I must learn how to handle such people?”
“Yes.”
“Push unrelated strangers down a path of thorns for my sake?”
“Yes.”
“I must be insane.”

This kidnapper was now trying to make him a murderer.

‘So the monster cat truly has no conscience whatsoever.’

Naturally, Lee Yeon-woo had no intention of actually dealing with real people.

In the end, he abandoned any pretense of righteousness. Life held too many variables, and finding another way to survive was better than becoming a murderer.

‘There must be a way even without clearing the tutorial.’

And so time passed—the 34th day of Hotel confinement.

“I find it unpleasant to realize I’m adapting.”
“No.”

It was livable enough, all things considered.

“It will be worth seeing what happens once I clear the tutorial.”

Ho-won operates differently from typical games in its progression system. A proper interface doesn’t even appear until after the tutorial ends. With such an unusual system comes an abundance of bugs.

Lee Yeon-woo’s current situation was a perfect example of this.

‘If I just leave it alone, resources will accumulate without limit.’

Normally, this game’s tutorial ends in four days at most. But if you deliberately drag out this short period for more than thirteen days, the system becomes overloaded and several critical bugs manifest.

The first is the type of guests. High-difficulty monsters that should appear gradually according to user level instead flood in from the beginning. It’s hardly a welcome development in an already punishing game.

‘And the second is resource accumulation.’

The amount of resources that can be stored depends on the Hotel’s grade.

But during the tutorial phase, there’s no interface, so there’s no upper limit on resources either. It’s like having no warehouse while items pile up indiscriminately.

For a veteran player, it’s something you can adapt to, but….

“…Without an interface, I can’t determine the exact figures.”
“Yes.”
“But the amount won’t be insignificant.”

Resources far exceeding the tutorial average must already be pooling in this Hotel.

‘I wonder if that will be reflected too.’

Normally, excess resources accumulated this way are reset when the tutorial ends. The problem is that Ho-won’s error-handling code is poorly implemented.

The system forcibly converts all non-deleted resources into experience points to process them.

‘I’ve actually reached level 666 all at once using this method before.’

With normal leveling, you must consume special items and perform a ‘Limit Break’ every five levels. But this bug bypasses that process entirely and causes levels to skyrocket.

And naturally, various side effects and conveniences follow.

‘In this situation where that game has become reality, those aspects will matter even more.’

How high will my level climb this time?

“Since it’s just the two of us, I’m being quite candid—and I must admit, I find myself looking forward to this. Yet that very anticipation disgusts me. Twenty-six years of attachment is clearly clouding my judgment.”
“No.”
“The fact that living this way isn’t as terrible as I expected makes me despise myself. One would have to be thoroughly mad to actually enjoy such an absurd situation….”
“Yes.”
“….”

He regarded Coco with an indifferent gaze.

“I sometimes suspect that you, Coco, are deliberately signaling your desire to quarrel with me. Of course, you’ll deny it.”
“Yes.”
“I shouldn’t be growing accustomed to this. I’ll reflect on it.”

A game I’d been playing for over twenty years. When the service shut down, I inquired about the rights and even obtained the copyright transfer. Haven’t I now entered a world within that cherished game, which had become so integral to my daily existence?

‘I must acknowledge that I harbor genuine affection for it.’

There’s no mortal danger here, no threat to my livelihood. Though technically held captive, I could generously regard this as a retreat if I chose to.

‘It’s not entirely unpleasant. My game—which never received merchandise or updates—has entered an immersive studio someone created in secret. It’s no different from that.’

If I thought of it as staying in a theme park or a haunted house, it was rather tolerable.

“Still, I do wish to return to my former life.”
“No.”
“How resolute. But I understand what you mean—expecting to reclaim my old life while looking like a nineteen-year-old piece of wet mulberry paper would be difficult, even if I escaped from here.”
“Yes.”
“Can I truly live an ordinary human existence? Will the National Intelligence Service come after me? Will people recognize this suddenly youthful appearance? Though truthfully, I have no way of knowing.”
“No.”
“Hearing that only makes me more uncertain. If this was an attempt to keep me from wanting to leave, I’d have to say it’s been rather effective….”

He murmured softly.

“…When will that door finally open?”

And so time passed.
Day fifty-two of my confinement in the Hotel.

“Come now, follow my lead.”

Lee Yeon-woo painted a smile across his otherwise austere expression—the kind that seemed drawn on with deliberate precision.

Facial expression management was one of his specialties. As always, the corners of his mouth rose smoothly and naturally.

Then he spoke in a tone that was pleasant to the ear.

“Hello.”
“Hello.”

Lee Yeon-woo nodded at Coco’s response.

It was a signal of mutual understanding. I had just taught her the language of society itself.

“You’re doing well. Remember that human language can express so much through intonation alone. Since you understand my words, I’m certain you’ll pick up the nuances of tone quickly.”
“Yes.”
“In that case, nodding your head would convey understanding more definitively. For reference, when I say ‘head,’ I’m referring to the part above the neck—specifically the chin area….”

Lee Yeon-woo had begun genuine interaction with Coco.

Since Ho-won had become reality, there was no reason I couldn’t aim for something beyond a mere game. More than anything, the boredom of having nothing to do was the real motivation.

‘The fact that the tutorial feels tedious means I’m in a comfortable enough situation. That’s something to be grateful for.’

If I had entered the main game, I would have been swamped—attending to guests, managing the Hotel, with no time to breathe. But that wasn’t the case now.

I still hadn’t completed the tutorial.

“Hello!”
“Excellent work, Coco.”

I could never become a murderer for my own sake.

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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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