Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual - Chapter 37

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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 37.

“So, wouldn’t you explain things to me now?”

After finishing her meal, Lee Sun-hae lifted her teacup and asked.

“It’s already been several days since I arrived here, and you haven’t explained anything to me.”
“Have I not?”
“At this point, I’m starting to feel a bit neglected. Our elder here certainly has quite the playful streak, doesn’t he?”
“It’s hardly a jest—you simply weren’t in the proper state of mind to hear my explanations until now.”
“Ah, I’ll admit that one stings a little. Fair point.”

It had been five days since she’d returned to Seoul under his guidance.

For the first two days, Lee Sun-hae hadn’t set foot outside her room, and the remaining four days had been spent in consultations with a doctor he’d summoned.

There was no denying that she was finally regaining her clarity of mind.

“So I waited patiently, as you can see. Admittedly, I was in a daze myself, but more than that, Baek Mu-jin has been far too busy for me to even get a word in. You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”
“I do.”

Her uncle, Baek Mu-jin, set down his cup. A pungent herbal aroma wafted from it. As a child, Lee Sun-hae had always wondered what lay within that teacup.

“Very well then. What is it you wish to know?”
“…Is it alright for me to know?”
“Ordinarily, it would be difficult.”
“And why would that be?”
“The reasons are manifold.”

With his fingers interlaced, he continued his explanation with measured calm.

“In the first place, you can’t see it, your senses are limited, and there are institutional problems too. Most importantly, even if you tell people about this, they’ll just think it’s fiction….”
“No, wait, wait a moment.”
“Even if I explained it to you right now, you wouldn’t understand.”
“What?”
“You have talent, but ultimately you never awakened it. So there’s no problem with me answering your questions, but you’ll struggle to survive in this society.”
“The ‘society’ Uncle is talking about right now, so that means….”

Lee Sun-hae’s mind raced. If I translate his words into the most comprehensible terms possible, then yes.

“Is there like a magical world from Harry ○tter existing in reality? Really?”
“There was such a movie?”

He seemed to be considering something, then opened his mouth. It was an affirmation.

“In some respects, you could say it’s similar.”
“Really?”
“Though very many aspects would be different.”
“How are they different?”
“Cruel, barren, and crude.”
“That’s….”
“Let me put it simply.”

Baek Mu-jin picked up his cup again. The scent of herbal medicine wafted forth.

“This world has no concept of human rights.”
“…No concept?”
“You might understand the meaning, but in practice, it doesn’t exist.”
“…What you just said about being cruel, surely you don’t mean….”
“You don’t value life and ethics very much, do you.”

He admonished his niece with composure.

“That’s precisely why it’s not a place suited for you. It’s not somewhere you could endure, so I’d hoped your interest would remain merely curiosity.”
“But you’re explaining it to me right now.”
“Because then you won’t recklessly set foot in that place on your own.”
“Didn’t you say I can’t even see it and my senses are limited? What difference does it make if I enter out of curiosity? It’s a place I can’t reach anyway, isn’t it?”
“That was true before.”
“Before?”
“Your circumstances have changed now.”
“I….”
“Yes, you.”

He nodded.

“It’s because you’ve been to the Labyrinth.”
“That Labyrinth… what exactly is it?”
“I could describe it as one grand theatrical performance.”
“A theatrical performance?”
“In modern times, we scholars have come to understand the Labyrinth’s structure in this way.”
“What do you mean, scholars?”
“Stage, script, actors.”
“….”
“…In the past, it was also called setting, narrative, and existence.”

Lee Sun-hae’s face contorted in confusion.

“…I don’t understand.”
“It would be unfamiliar to you. So I don’t intend to explain everything. Simply put, you’ve entered and returned from a den that our society rates as quite high in danger level.”
“A den? But it was far too splendid for that, wasn’t it?”
“As I just said, it’s a theatrical performance. It’s another world that continuously repeats history and narrative. Did it seem like a naturally existing space in reality to you?”
“No, it… didn’t.”

Though modern enough to function without inconvenience, it resembled a classical Western hotel. Even the Hotel General Manager had summoned staff using a bell.

“So that was… what… a dungeon?”
“A dungeon?”
“You know, like in games. Where you hunt monsters and such.”
“…You likely wouldn’t be able to hunt them, but yes, if you think of it as a creature’s habitat, it might be a reasonably apt comparison. Think of it in whatever way is easiest for you to understand.”

Baek Mu-jin set down his glass. A servant standing nearby approached and refilled it with practiced grace.

“…?”

Sun-hae, standing in bewilderment, suddenly recalled the Hotel staff members. Their movements possessed an uncanny precision. A chill crept down her spine. Unable to restrain herself, she spoke.

“Could it be… those people… the household servants… could they be from the Labyrinth? Monsters, or…?”
“Calm yourself.”
“Yes?”
“There’s no need to worry. Unlike what you saw in there, they are unmistakably human. I’m not so poor in judgment as to invite a Dokkaebi into my home.”
“A Dokkaebi?”
“The creatures you witnessed.”
“No, what I saw was… ah, do you call the monsters inside the Labyrinth Dokkaebi? Is that what it is?”
“You’ve grasped it well enough.”

He swirled his glass lightly. Baek Mu-jin continued, his gaze fixed upon the rippling water surface of the car.

“There exists a Labyrinth that has acquired selfhood. A Labyrinth that is simultaneously stage, script, and actor by its very existence. We call such things Dokkaebi.”
“…Then all the staff members I saw inside the Hotel were…?”
“No. Based on your account, I would judge that nearly every staff member there was part of the Labyrinth. The Dokkaebi and the Guests who visit it—”
“What about the Hotel General Manager?”
“Yes, only the master of that place.”

He took a sip of herbal tea before elaborating further.

“A Dokkaebi dwells within an already existing Labyrinth. It’s as though one Labyrinth has taken dominion and remains nested within another. Whatever form of contract exists between them, I cannot say.”
“…I did suspect that the Hotel had two owners.”
“It’s not unheard of for Labyrinths to combine their strength. They are, after all, closer to concepts than living beings. When a greater narrative emerges, the smaller one is inevitably consumed.”

Depending on the form, nature, and manner of the concepts they possess, instances of ‘combining strength’ manifest in diverse ways. Equal cooperation, employer and employee relations, slave contracts. There were even cases of absorption.

“You mentioned remembering that the two masters held differing opinions. That itself is proof that the Hotel and the Hotel General Manager are separate Labyrinths. Had they been one, their operational policies could never have conflicted so drastically.”
“….”
“But what intrigues me most…”
“…What is it?”
“The fact that you emerged alive.”

Baek Mu-jin’s gaze fell upon Sun-hae. His grey eyes swept across her as though appraising an artifact.

“Not a single wound on you, your voice hasn’t been taken, your eyes see clearly. If your mind had been shattered, recovery would’ve been impossible, but to see you restored in just five days….”
“Are you really cursing your beloved niece by saying she died and came back to life?”
“Of course not. I’m simply astounded.”

He sipped his tea.

“Who wouldn’t be shocked if a corpse climbed out of its own coffin with their bare hands at a funeral home?”
“Was it really that bad?”
“A labyrinth within a labyrinth. And you—an ordinary person with no tools to resist, utterly defenseless. How could an infant possibly survive a tidal wave crashing down?”
“The Hotel General Manager helped me a great deal, keeping me out of danger.”
“That’s precisely what makes no sense.”

Baek Mu-jin blinked, and the waiting Secretary immediately presented a folder. Lee Sun-hae regarded her uncle with confusion, while he simply nodded silently, gesturing for her to examine it at her leisure.

“….”

Lee Sun-hae opened the folder. Her face twisted in revulsion.

“…! Ugh.”
“What do you see?”
“What is—I just ate, you know.”
“I’m aware.”
“Why is there such gore… Wait, is this actually a photograph?”
“You were fortunate.”
“Pardon?”
“For something touched by a Dokkaebi, there were traces left at all.”

The photograph was grotesque.

The body had vanished, yet the surrounding wallpaper was stained with the color of viscera. The furniture was twisted into bizarre arrangements as if mimicking the victim’s final posture, and one wall was folded as neatly as a burial shroud.

“Humans touched by a Dokkaebi often leave no corpse behind. They’re absorbed into structural gaps, or erased like errors that don’t fit the design.”
“….”
“Even when a corpse remains, it takes such forms. Not truly a corpse, but a structural failure. The shape persists, yet anatomical order collapses entirely—dozens of arms sprouting, hearts splitting into four, brains growing from the chest, expressions repeating across the entire body….”
“…Ugh….”
“Sometimes the skin appears human while the interior is hollow. Organs vanish, leaving only empty space, or are reassembled entirely. I’ve witnessed spines transform into wind chimes that sing, and victims trapped in eternal repetition of their final moments.”
“Wait, please….”
“You’ve endured two labyrinths yet seem ignorant of what they truly are. Your body and mind escaped far too intact. That’s why I wanted to show you—the true danger of what you faced.”

At his gesture, the Secretary gathered up the documents and withdrew. Lee Sun-hae’s face had already drained of all color.

“…This….”
“Dokkaebi do such things. It may appear as though they damage the non-human world. Those who encounter them don’t die as humans—they become structural errors instead.”
“Ah….”
“Distortions arise in the place of the dead. A single person vanishes, yet the door that stood there disappears, or an entire day evaporates, or the senses of those who remember that person begin to misalign. If not that, then a stigma remains.”
“A stigma?”
“Warping left behind in an otherwise pristine Office, or a bell that continues ringing at the end of a Corridor—a bell that never existed. Or perhaps a Room where no one remembers who died… such things.”
“….”

Lee Sun-hae exhaled slowly.

“…So it’s not just death.”
“Which is why those victims in the photographs you just saw—those fortunate enough to leave behind even a corpse—are considered lucky. And if even they are called ‘lucky,’ what of you?”
“…Is it a miracle?”
“A miracle indeed.”

At Baek Mu-jin’s gesture, a Servant approached and set down a cup. The same cup as his, the same tea.

“Drink.”
“…You wouldn’t let me drink it when I was young?”
“Those who belong wholly to the surface world fall ill if they drink it, so I had no choice then. How I wish I could have brought you to this world simply by having you drink a cup of tea back then.”
“No, wait, no….”
“But you’ve already set foot in that place. How fortunate—you had the talent for it from the start, which made it far easier for you to endure.”
“….”

Lee Sun-hae recalled what had happened at the Hotel.

Meeting those enormous eyes in the depths of the Aqua Park Swimming Pool. When she’d mentioned it, Lee Yeon-woo had reacted as though surprised she was still alive.

He must have known about all of this from the beginning.

“…You kept mentioning talent, talent, so I thought it was a talent for making films. Our elder was always using the word ‘art’ so much.”
“And what do you think now?”
“My talent… could it be something like survival? Something like that…?”
“I’m glad you understand, even now.”
“This is driving me mad.”
“On this side, we call it ‘strong resonance.'”

A world that ordinary people could never perceive, let alone set foot in. Yet through various circumstances, there are cases where people find themselves straddling this realm. The numbers are far from negligible.

“You were originally a child with the talent to enter this world. Watching you survive places where you should have died, I thought as much. Unfortunately, it seems you never awakened.”
“Awakened? You certainly have a grand way of putting things. So what would change?”
“Shall I explain simply?”
“Yes.”
“You would become a person with supernatural abilities.”
“….”

Lee Sun-hae rubbed her chin. She muttered softly.

“Like Harry Po○….”
“Don’t go around calling yourself a wizard wherever you go.”
“Why not? Is it embarrassing?”
“Well.”

Baek Mu-jin gestured silently, and Lee Sun-hae drank the tea.

“….”

It was a flavor and aroma I had never experienced before.

“…The sensation is….”
“How is it?”
“Warm yet refreshing? Savory and rich? But somehow light? What is this?”
“There seem to be no adverse effects.”
“What happens if there are adverse effects?”
“You begin to see things you couldn’t see before.”
“You gave something dangerous to your niece whose mental state is already on the verge of breaking. Wait, things I couldn’t see before? Like spiritual sight or something?”
“You could think of it that way.”
“I’m seriously going to lose it. So ghosts really do exist?”
“That’s why Shamans exist in Korea.”
“I’m losing my mind, I swear.”
“And why Shinto shrines exist in Japan.”
“Sigh….”
“Of course, most of them are charlatans. Frauds or fakes. Don’t assume all Shamans are genuine just because you’ve heard this. If you ever need one, it would be better to conduct business through your Uncle.”
“….”
“So.”

Baek Mu-jin set down his cup. The soft clink of porcelain against porcelain shattered the silence.

“Have you calmed yourself?”
“…Yes.”
“Then I must hear more about this Dokkaebi.”
“What are you planning to do?”
“I owe a debt of gratitude.”

He continued speaking in a measured, toneless voice.

“Establishing a connection with such a Dokkaebi can only prove advantageous.”

* * *

“…You intend to visit in person?”

Baek Mu-jin nodded at the question posed by the man who had entered the office.

“What use is sending a proxy for something like this?”
“Chairman, it seems you’re thinking of a traditional Dokkaebi.”

His remark was premised on the fact that meaningful interaction with an ordinary Dokkaebi was nearly impossible.

“Otherwise, how could Sun-hae have survived? That fragile, weak thing.”
“That may not be the case.”
“Everyone in this world knows that the lineage of traditional Dokkaebi has dried up in Korea.”
“Aside from the two territorial guardians, I believe there cannot be another Dokkaebi in Korea. There hasn’t been any major incident recently that would give birth to one.”
“A Dokkaebi doesn’t need to be born from an event visible to our eyes. Especially not the traditional ones. Isn’t that right, youngest?”

Baek Mu-jin donned his overcoat.

“I heard you were planning to move to an affiliate company soon.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“Soon is what they call it, but it seems it will take considerable time to arrange things as you wish. Have you grown so weary of this world?”
“I’m no different from Sun-hae, sir.”
“With just a little effort, it’s a world you could easily step into.”
“I don’t wish to go.”
“Children these days are all so ungrateful.”
“My apologies, Chairman.”
“Insolent fools.”

He approached the floor-to-ceiling glass wall. As he tapped the glass surface lightly with his cane, the smooth glass shimmered and gave way to an endless black void.

“No one knows exactly what kind of being helped Sun-hae. Whether it’s a young Dokkaebi, a Dokkaebi from the Labyrinth, or something else entirely….”
“….”
“Perhaps even a human.”

Baek Mu-jin pushed his body into the black void as he added his final words.

“We’ll know once we see.”

Soon his figure vanished completely.

The young man left behind in the darkened office quietly vacated his seat as well.

* * *

And Lee Yeon-woo was.

“….”

Crawling on all fours into the Hotel.

“Did I nearly die just now?”
“Yes.”
“I must be insane.”

My clothes were already ruined with blood. With each step, blood sloshed inside my shoes. The absurdity of it all overwhelmed any sense of disgust.

Perhaps that’s what made it so appetizing. The Blood-Loving Guest approached me with a subtle murmur.

“May I eat it?”
“No.”
“What will you use it for?”
“I’m going to eat it.”
“Oh.”
“Yes.”

This is mine.

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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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