Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual - Chapter 48

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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 48.

Lee Yeon-woo was a connoisseur and a gourmand. My disdain for the numbness of satiation had only sharpened my palate to an exacting degree.

“I never imagined the day would come when blood would suit my refined taste.”
“Hello?”
“I wonder if ‘hello’ truly befits someone who remains human….”

Lee Yeon-woo bit into another blood pack. This was already the thirteenth.

‘I feel like I’ve become a vampire.’

An unbearable wave of self-loathing crashed over me. Irritation and fatigue surged forth, yet the vivid taste of blood on my tongue cooled even those emotions into numbness. This contradiction repeated endlessly.

‘But perhaps this is inevitable. For my current body, fresh blood is undoubtedly the most perfect nutrient. Moreover, I harbor no revulsion toward consuming my own spilled blood—no instinctive rejection of self-cannibalism.’

The problem lay in how my blood magic sensitivity had grown so acute that the moment I drank, information about the blood flooded my senses. Details like a man in his sixties, or a woman in her forties.

Surprisingly, most of what was stored in this Refrigerator belonged to middle-aged individuals.

“Mm.”

It was repugnant. Being forced to acquire information I would have preferred to remain ignorant of proved quite troublesome.

‘Yet I cannot afford to abstain, given my circumstances.’

According to the records, oral blood consumption was an exceedingly elementary technique. But that hardly meant I wished to become proficient at such an act. I was trapped between two impossible choices.

“Still, overcoming my revulsion is preferable to enduring another death penalty. If I resurrect even once more in this place, I may lose the very form of humanity itself.”
“Blood pack. Blood pack.”
“When you emphasize that word, it sends a chill down my spine.”

Yet his words held merit. I set aside the empty pack—drained to the last drop—and retrieved a fresh one from the Refrigerator. Roughly thirty remained.

“My stomach doesn’t even feel full. It’s a strange sensation.”

It wasn’t consumption so much as absorption—in that sense, it was inevitable.

‘It spreads throughout my entire body, not just my stomach.’

Repairing a shattered and scattered body would require far more than a mere dozen or so blood packs. The culprit was my poor conversion efficiency due to my inexperience with blood magic.

It wasn’t simply a matter of swallowing blood and being done with it.

“It appears this will take some time.”
“Yes.”
“The conversion process is necessary.”

When ingesting another’s blood, there was a process required to fully convert it into ‘myself.’ Without that preliminary step, it was nothing more than temporarily storing someone else’s blood in the leather pouch of my body.

Whether it was my imagination or not, my head throbbed.

“Can’t this be automated?”

Once I obtain control of the Central Control Room, I’ll need to research this algorithm first. It was clearly a field requiring extensive study. Damn blood magic.

“However, I’ve had a thought. Coco, listen.”
“Yes.”
“Right now, when I drink blood, I can discern roughly what information it contains, can’t I? At minimum, I seem to distinguish age and gender without difficulty.”
“Yes.”
“As my proficiency in blood magic deepens, will I eventually perceive even more refined details? Underlying conditions like diabetes or gout, or perhaps specific personal information…?”
“Yes.”
“It seems convenient, but for now it’s regrettable.”

This was a clear violation of privacy.

Lee Yeon-woo resolved that he must refrain from direct blood-drinking from other people. In the first place, it would have been difficult to attempt if the blood hadn’t been in a processed state like blood packs.

“I should collect my own blood in advance.”
“Zing.”
“After all, I have a bedroom in the Manager’s Quarters, don’t I? If I extract only enough to avoid death, I can easily recover from anemia.”

Blood replenished itself with nothing more than a single night’s sleep.

“I need to determine the maximum extraction volume that doesn’t reach lethal levels. Since I’ve roughly gauged my limits through this event, it shouldn’t be difficult. Then I’ll prepare the phlebotomy equipment….”

Wait, blood collection equipment?

“…?”

Did such a thing even exist?

“No.”
“It’s not in the interface shop either?”
“Correct.”
“I asked because I don’t remember it either.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”

This had become a problem.

“At this point, how I extract the blood doesn’t matter, but if I store blood outside without vacuum sealing, it will definitely spoil or degrade. Even refrigeration has its limits.”

No matter how transformed my blood had become through conversion, it couldn’t escape biological deterioration.

“And it’s summer now… Of course, the Hotel itself maintains a pleasant temperature at all times, but this doesn’t seem like a problem that can be solved that way.”
“Yes.”
“This isn’t something I can just willpower my way through.”

Lee Yeon-woo rose to his feet with a pack still in his mouth. He adjusted his disheveled gloves. The hand that had been severed was already perfectly restored.

“….”
“Yes?”
“Mm.”

Coco somehow understood the affirmative murmur despite the pack in his mouth.

‘While I’m at it, I’ll take the blood collection equipment too.’
“Yes?”
‘Unless it’s being delivered to this address, just stay put.’
“Yes!”
‘It can be done?’
“Yes!”
‘But that’s still a problem.’

Who else are you trying to kill? A delivery driver? Lee Yeon-woo could not accept this.

* * *

….

….

…That is the core nucleus constituting the consciousness of blood transference, functioning as a fixed point that determines the direction of restoration within the consciousness structure.

It exists not as a mere caster or priest, but as the very structure that blood has chosen to remember—often mistranslated as the master of blood itself.

This corresponds to the First Memory Pillar in the restoration point zone of the structural formula. All blood consciousness initiates recursive restoration with this memory as its origin. Riedmar’s blood operates as a circulatory medium that refines the path, emotion, and directive information of that recursion.

Certain blood-script commands function as declarative statements that make blood aware of this, and blood calls upon it first when attempting to protect itself. Do not allow the boundary between the two to collapse. Malfunction and coagulation must not be tolerated.

This is structure. You will remember it, and become it once more. Riedmar is emotion. Hold that blood within you and refrain from speech. This signifies not a qualification, but a seat in the circulation. Revere him.

From the moment you stand in that seat, blood no longer restores. It chooses for itself what shall be restored. You must remember this….

Remember….

….

“Ah.”
“Ah.”
“Ah.”

Huh?

“May I eat this,”

Teacher?

* * *

“…!”

Lee Yeon-woo suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around.

“….”
“Hello?”
“…sigh.”

Lee Yeon-woo, cradling Coco against his ribs with one arm, exhaled a sigh tinged with displeasure.

“The Blood-Loving Guest has drawn quite close.”
“What?”
“From consuming my blood so extensively, it seems I’ve begun to blend with that creature to some degree. I managed to read fragments of that Guest’s consciousness.”
“What?”
“If the synchronization rate has become this pronounced, the quantity consumed must be considerable. It appears they’ve swept through the remains I left in the Ventilation Duct Passage. I had hoped the blood I scattered as bait would capture their attention… regrettable.”
“Chirp.”
“I share that sentiment. Even for one so fond of blood, the Tasteless Guest’s appetite was never quite this voracious. With pursuit intensifying to this degree, they should have abandoned the hunt.”
“Chirp chirp.”
“I cannot fathom what aspect of my blood captivates them so.”

When I tasted it myself, the flavor was hardly pleasant. Whether that stemmed from the revulsion of self-consumption or from genuinely poor taste, I cannot say.

What is certain is that the Tasteless Guest pursues solely the scent of Lee Yeon-woo’s blood, advancing with precision in this very direction. I quickened my pace, cutting through the darkness.

“Within their memories, I glimpsed teachings concerning some ritual. They appear to have had a separate instructor—and from what I know, that was part of the Red Heart Experiment. The knowledge was far more refined and meticulously organized than the records kept in the Lodging.”
“Hello?”
“It’s less chaotic than expected. There is a clear awareness of danger, yet strangely, I lack a visceral sense of peril. Rather, an eerie confidence emerges—that I could simply consume the creature as it is. This warrants caution.”
“….”

Coco, nestled against my ribs, paddled their four legs as if swimming, swaying gently.

“No.”
“No?”
“Yes.”
“Your faith is excessive.”

I am not so robust an entity. Neither body nor mind. One misstep could allow fragments of the Guest’s essence to intermingle with my consciousness, causing irreversible contamination.

“This is not a pleasant sensation.”

A suffocating pressure emanated—narrow, oppressive, hot, and damp, as though trapped within constricted, moist flesh.

“My blood, too, and my grievances regarding it… are considerable.”

The arrogance clawed through my mind—a demand to tear away this tedious, presumptuous skin and devour every brain, heart, and nerve within it.

But that wasn’t my will. I suppressed the sensation.

‘To assume I could do anything while failing to properly assess my opponent—what foolishness.’

If the Guest had been easy prey, I wouldn’t be fleeing and suffering like this in the first place. The Guest was formidable, and my body was fragile enough to crumble at the slightest touch.

“Having thoughts and will diverge as if I’ve developed a split personality… is quite unsettling.”
“Hello?”
“I cannot say with certainty, but blood separated from the body appears to have such poor control. I can only vaguely hope this is something that might be improved through research or training.”
“Yes.”
“Sigh…”

Another’s memories flickered before my eyes like afterimages. A panorama of how that man—whose only weapon had been arrogance—had devolved into a monster played across my vision.

‘The game never contained anything like this.’

This too must be the Hotel’s influence manifesting reality.

“I understand the situation. However, at this rate, one monster may collide head-on with another. Coco, what is your assessment?”
“Yes.”
“As I thought.”

What pursued Lee Yeon-woo wasn’t only the Tasteless Guest. This Room 14 event had been a chase scenario from the start.

And I stood on the threshold of the first pursuit.

“…”

Click.

Lee Yeon-woo came to a halt at the edge of the cliff.

“…It’s far higher than what I perceived in the game.”
“Huh?”
“That’s what it appears to be from my perspective.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”

Far below, a dark crimson current churned in violent eddies.

“Quite swift, isn’t it….”

This was no mere contaminated water. Across the surface drifted unidentifiable flesh and organs like flotsam. The first pursuit would unfold right here, within these depths.

At the event’s outset, that Hand-Bearing Monster which had split apart beyond the isolation shutter would extend its limbs from holes throughout the Water System. To seize Lee Yeon-woo.

‘There’s no dying in this chase sequence, at least.’

There was only one route in this section where a player could perish.

‘Drowning.’

Asphyxiation by water.

But for me, now bound by contract to the Water Ghost, my body itself transforming into blood—suffocation was a distant concern. Since I’d come this far, I intended to exploit every advantage this environment offered.

I adjusted Coco in my arms, her round eyes gazing up at me.

“Will you be alright, Coco? The current will be quite strong.”
“Yes!”
“Then so be it.”

Without hesitation, I hurled myself forward.

“Let’s have a little swim, shall we.”

Splash――!!

* * *

“….”
“…Hello there.”

Submerged in nauseating waters, my voice emerged with perfect serenity.

“Friend.”

A long, enormous tail that seemed to fill the entire water channel consumed Lee Yeon-woo’s vision. Following that, a mouth tore open, revealing sharp teeth.

The fish trapped in the water mimicked Lee Yeon-woo’s words.

“Friend.”
“….”
“Hello?”

It was the Wet Person—someone I hadn’t seen in a long time.

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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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