Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual - Chapter 7

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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 7.

The Writer checked the time in response to the Staff Member’s question.

“It’s just past six, so it’s about the time when darkness falls.”
“Isn’t that dangerous then? The sky was already overcast, and now that the sun is setting, it’s getting even darker.”
“…Truth be told, I’m starting to feel uneasy myself. Did we depart too late?”

They were in a remote area, far removed from Gapyeong Town Center. The downpour obscured their surroundings into a murky haze, and the air inside the vehicle hung thick and stifling.

“…This is rather….”

The Writer looked toward the Director.

“We’ll arrive well after dark.”
“Good grief, I was greedy and booked lodging at a distant location, and now this problem arises. We could have simply waited and departed tomorrow morning instead.”
“The terrain in this region is so rugged that it naturally takes longer to traverse.”
“The atmosphere will certainly be good to capture, but… this is still problematic.”
“In any case, we deliberated together and selected that lodging. The location was appropriate.”
“Since we need to survey the private villas thoroughly, accommodations near there were indeed ideal.”

For the shoot, they had secured seven private villas located in Gapyeong. To obtain filming permits from the owners, they needed to finalize the candidate locations quickly.

“These are all results I obtained through my connections, so be grateful, understood?”
“I believe I’ve heard that remark at least thirty times already.”
“That’s precisely how difficult an opportunity this was to secure. Do you have any idea how particular those people are? I exhausted every connection I had, both active and dormant, just to barely obtain seven locations.”
“The fact that you managed to secure seven such exceptional venues is truly remarkable.”
“What good are the relationships in my contacts if not to use them at times like these?”

Yet it was an opportunity obtained solely through connections. There was nothing to gain from wasting time. One misstep could offend those particular owners.

That was why they had pushed forward with a schedule that took them into such rugged terrain. They had assumed departing directly from Seoul would be quick, and even accounting for summer traffic, they believed it manageable.

The result was their current predicament.

“…Ugh….”

Rain pouring down in torrents.

The Director’s artificially raised voice quickly faded beneath the downpour.

“My ears are killing me, absolutely killing me.”
“I couldn’t agree more, sir.”
“Was the schedule too tight?”
“Not particularly, no….”
“Should’ve waited for the rain to let up before heading out?”
“We’re fine, really. Please don’t worry about us.”
“Yeah, well, sure. Let’s chalk it up to that.”

The Director laughed without conviction.

“But seriously, isn’t the atmosphere incredible? Look, look—what do you think of this backdrop?”

The Staff Member laughed along in agreement.

“Perfect weather for a serial killer spree~”
“I may have started it, but that line is genuinely creepy, isn’t it?”

The car jolted relentlessly over the unpaved road, dense vegetation surging like waves on all sides. The sky, overcast since departure, was being swallowed whole by encroaching darkness as the sun began its descent.

“Say, you two….”

That was when Director Lee Sun-hae opened her mouth awkwardly.

“Yes, Director?”
“I think we’ve taken a wrong turn….”
“…Pardon?”
“I just realized. Sorry about that.”

The Director glanced sheepishly at the navigation system. The vehicle marker was planted squarely in the middle of a mountain.

“I thought this was a mountain pass road, but the more I look at it, the less it seems like one. We just keep climbing higher—there’s no sign of descending anywhere.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Ugh, I should’ve updated the maps beforehand. The navigation’s gone haywire. We’re just spinning in circles on this mountain—what do I do about this?”
“Huh, what… No, why is this happening? I thought we were making good progress since the car was moving, but… navigation systems are affected by signal strength too, right? Maybe we went too deep into the mountains?”
“We’ve wasted time cutting through these complicated mountain roads for nothing. If it were a properly paved road, there’d be signs, but there’s nothing here. Did I bring divine punishment upon myself by trying to take a shortcut?”
“Who exactly would take offense to that? Is taking a shortcut really something deserving of divine punishment?”
“How should I know? Anyway, living this long, you encounter days like this. My navigation’s never gone this wrong before. I brought a larger vehicle just in case, though….”

The Director turned to look behind him.

“Sleeping outdoors is fine, right?”
“Director, please… You promised you’d let us sleep in beds with blankets.”
“Ha, I brought plenty of blankets for this very reason. Don’t worry.”
“You said we’d sleep on soft, comfortable bedding, Director…!”
“Ah, I was just joking. Sigh, what am I supposed to do about this?”

The Director looked troubled.

They were all Seoul residents. None of them knew the roads around Gapyeong. In other words, they were lost. Until the navigation regained its senses, they’d remain in this predicament.

“Being deep in the mountains with rain on top of it all makes it worse. No matter how I look at it, the GPS seems completely dead. Does anyone have a phone with a working map?”
“…My location isn’t pinpointing well either.”
“Ugh, tsk. If we had a paper map or something, we could figure it out. Hong could tell me the directions from the side, and I’d just follow the route he says.”
“The map still displays, even without location services.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. Ah, wait a moment—the data connection is weak….”

After a considerable time, the resolution of the online map improved enough to be readable. The Writer adjusted his glasses. He squinted, scrutinizing the map meticulously.

“Is the navigation stopped here right now? Is this where we are?”
“At minimum, it should be close, right? I was driving really well up until now. I only just realized the navigation was acting strange, but… it’s probably in the ballpark.”
“…Ah, I see roughly. We’ve been climbing this road for quite a while now, haven’t we?”
“About ten minutes?”
“Then I think we’re here. This should be our location.”

The Writer showed him the map.

“As you can see, if we continue ahead, the road is blocked. Did they abandon the road construction?”
“Wouldn’t they usually tunnel through if they were going to open a road?”
“That’s up to Gapyeong’s discretion. Anyway, it seems like they either abandoned some construction project, or there’s an open lot somewhere… something like that.”
“Ah, there’s an open lot? Yeah, there is one. That’s a decent amount of space, right?”

The Director’s expression brightened.

“Man, I was really at a loss about this. This car is just so solid and sturdy…. The road’s so narrow, I wasn’t sure how to maneuver it back down. Since we’re here anyway, it’d be better to drive further up, turn the car around, and then head back down.”
“Won’t that take too much time, though? Looking at the distance, it seems like it’ll take quite a while to drive up. The place we have a reservation at is a guesthouse, so if we’re that late, there might not be anyone there to check us in.”
“Either way, we’d be sleeping rough anyway. We didn’t bring much luggage, so there’s enough space for four people to sleep comfortably. The trunk is—what? It’s incredibly spacious, isn’t it?”
“It puts a camper van to shame.”
“This is why I love big cars.”

The Director chuckled.

“There might even be a house up there.”
“A house in a place like this? Suddenly?”
“A mountain lodge, maybe? All those locations we were planning to scout beforehand were in places like this, weren’t they? Staying quietly in someone’s vacant home and then leaving.”
“…Isn’t that similar to our film’s story?”

The Staff Member asked uneasily.

“I like fictional stories, but I don’t want them to become reality.”
“My, the film crew is being timid. Isn’t our job to bring fictional stories into reality?”
“But that reality and this reality are different.”
“The probability of there being anything up there is low anyway. There weren’t any warning signs blocking the way as we came up, so it’s naturally difficult to expect a mountain lodge, and it’s obvious there wouldn’t be any other buildings either.”
“I suppose that’s true, but this is….”
“Even if there really is a villa or something like that, trespassing is illegal.”
“Right.”
“I have no intention of entering an unoccupied place. I was just joking, so relax.”
“When you say things like that, Director, it really doesn’t sound like a joke.”
“That’s one of my charms.”

The Director started driving again.

The road remained terrible. The downpour blocked the view through the windows entirely. Despite being a single lane, he kept tapping the brakes and hesitating.

There had been more than ten near-accidents due to poor visibility.

“….”
“….”

The longer the uncomfortable drive stretched on, the deeper the silence within the car became.

“…Why does it feel like the rain is getting worse….”
“…I’m genuinely starting to feel frightened.”
“Hong writes far worse things than this—why are you getting scared over something like this?”
“Is writing the same as experiencing it firsthand? Am I not allowed to be afraid?”
“In all conscience, shouldn’t the original author be the one with the strongest nerves?”
“That’s not how it works.”
“Look at you being so squeamish.”

The mountain’s steep incline meant the road twisted and turned endlessly, and above all, it was long. The fact that the vehicle was too large to turn around only made the passage of time feel like an eternity of regret.

And then, it appeared.

“….”
“…Why is there light?”
“Wait, what is that….”
“Is that a building?”

Through the rain, a massive silhouette emerged. An overwhelming high-rise structure piercing through the darkness.

“…Hotel One?”

Hotel One.
An enormous hotel.

“Why is a hotel this size in a place like this?”
“….”
“Writer, say something.”
“…I’m truly frightened now.”
“So I’m not hallucinating?”
“I’ve never experienced anything significant enough to cause hallucinations.”
“This is really out of nowhere….”

A private villa would have made sense. After all, every location they had planned to survey was situated in places like this—secluded retreats belonging to the wealthy, difficult to stumble upon by chance.

But this wasn’t some two- or three-story mansion. A large-scale lodging facility deep in the forest like this? Who would possibly come here? And it was a high-rise hotel that could rival the landmarks of major corporations.

It was strange. Suspicious, even. Very much so.

“I just had a thought.”
“What is it?”
“What if we’ve come to a place we shouldn’t have?”
“…Turn the car around….”
“….”
“Director?”

Hong detected something amiss. No—it was closer to danger. It was pure survival instinct.

“Director, Director. We need to leave.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
“The front yard is spacious—let’s turn around and get out of here.”
“I know, I know….”
“You know? Then why are you acting like this?”
“Aren’t you curious, honestly?”
“Please don’t do this.”
“Hong.”

The Director looked at his partner with a solemn expression.

“What are we?”
“Don’t suddenly lump us together like this.”
“Fine, then what am I and what are you?”
“A director and a writer….”
“And what did a director and a writer come all the way here to do?”
“…Make a film….”
“Whose film is it?”
“…Our film.”
“Besides, we came here specifically to see things like this.”

The Director’s face was remarkably confident.

“Danger and suspicion. Strangeness and discord. Eerie dread and dizzying thrills—that’s what we do. Our mission is to deliver sensations and fantasies that audiences could never experience in reality, isn’t it?”
“….”
“You’re thinking right now, ‘Do we really have to risk our lives for this?’ But think practically. If this isn’t a hallucination, then it’s a real hotel. And what actual danger could exist in such a massive establishment?”
“There could be.”
“Exactly. Nothing in this world is absolute.”
“So?”
“But I’m just curious.”

The Director parked smoothly.
Then she stepped out of the car.

It was all very natural.

“….”
“…haha.”

The Director laughed benevolently at the bewildered group.

“W-wait a moment.”

Before the Writer could even snap to attention and stop her, Lee Sun-hae had already disregarded him, dashing into the rain and shouting.

“I’m sorry, everyone! I need to know what this place is!”
“Director, please!!”
“I’ll just take a quick look!”

The original author is the one, yet why is the Director being so reckless?

The Writer and the two Staff Members scrambled after her. But naturally, it was Lee Sun-hae who opened the Hotel’s door first.

The door swung open with an unnaturally smooth motion. The moment her hand touched the handle, the door glided inward with such lightness that it seemed to pull her inside.

As if it had been waiting.

“….”

The instant I stepped inside, the air struck my senses—utterly different from the humid world beyond.

A dryness and coolness beyond mere comfort. A perfect silence as though nothing living existed here at all.

‘…The atmosphere feels rather peculiar.’

Lee Sun-hae hesitated before speaking.

“Um, over there….”
“….”
“…Is anyone here?”

And then.

“Welcome.”

Antique and ornate decorations adorned the space.

At the center of it all stood a young man with an innocent face.

“Thank you for visiting us.”

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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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