Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual - Chapter 73

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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 73.

How long had it been?

“….”

The black eyes beyond the Mirror settled with quiet composure.

Raw terror and revulsion surged upward. Stress that seized my mind made my entire body scream in silent anguish, yet I carved those cacophonous emotions into fragments with sharp reason and buried them in the depths of my consciousness.

‘…Allowing emotions to sway my actions—that’s hardly befitting someone of my years.’

Though it was not what I desired, I still bore the role of Hotel General Manager. Only that logic could propel me forward.

‘A blade at my back serves better than vague hope.’

I had always preferred clarity.

* * *

Research, by nature.

While circumstances may vary, it generally consists of problem recognition, hypothesis formation, verification attempts, and the repetition of refinement and re-verification. No one knows the answer from the beginning.

If that is at least what research truly is.

“….”

The moment of verification had simply arrived.

“….”
“….”

In the gaze that met mine.

‘…Yes, truly.’

I grasped the hunting dagger without donning gloves.

‘Going to such lengths just to survive.’

I could only hope I possessed the talent of an actor.

* * *

From the Young Man’s perspective, Lee Yeon-woo covered his mouth whenever he found himself in difficulty.

When irritated or bewildered, he pressed his thumb against his temple; when fatigued, he pressed the bridge of his nose. Should his appearance become disheveled, he would periodically adjust his clothing as though his life depended on it, and he moved with soundless footsteps.

‘Longer and sharper than expected….’

Did he smile so distinctly like a crescent moon because he was aware of the sharpness in his gaze?

‘Certainly not a face that appears particularly sociable.’

The smile vanishes just before he adjusts his glasses. Unlike the eye corners that rise when his strength wanes, his eyebrows descend in an inverted V. Then once more, he smoothly curls the corners of his mouth upward.

He possessed a skilled knack for understanding how he appeared and controlling his body as he desired.

‘That is why he is human.’

Human habits.
Human actions, and
human thoughts.

If he were human rather than a Monster, there was no reason not to hunt him.

‘His actions are solid, so breaking him would be difficult, but the fuller something is, the more easily it shatters….’

At least, that was what the Young Man thought.

“….”
“….”

This was indeed a situation I hadn’t anticipated.

His skin remained pallid, but it was precisely because of this that the reddened eyes stood out all the more starkly. Those eyes, once so sharp and defined, were now swollen, and tear tracks still glistened across his face.

“Have you been crying?”

I spoke without any particular intention, and I watched his body stiffen in denial. Those shoulders, always held so rigidly straight, now curved inward—he looked like some herbivore cowering away.

The sight was so incongruous that I found it almost amusing.

“I didn’t think you would do such a thing. How surprising.”

That was what I had consumed.

“To leave so coldly before my eyes, and yet…”

Humans are multifaceted, and their emotions carry flavor. And Lee Yeon-woo’s ‘positive emotions’ were not something shallow like mere hope or goodwill. They were extraordinary, dignified, commanding.

“Ah, do you perhaps need comfort?”
“….”
“If so, I could help you.”
“….”
“To make things easier for you….”

A sense of duty? A sense of responsibility? That self-assurance sufficient to act according to reason, or that will to draw boundaries for another’s sake. Something bright and pristine, founded on self-control.

It was like hard candy that would not melt. Like a warm appetizer that was somehow uncomfortable to consume. His positivity was less an emotion than a decision, and because of that, I wanted to savor it all the more.

“I will help you.”

So then.

“Why don’t you stop doing such foolish, incomprehensible things?”
“Why.”
“It’s not as though I don’t know how to ask questions.”

I was the one who wanted to ask.

“Why?”

What? Like this… all of a sudden?

‘Truly?’

Don’t you find this utterly absurd?

At the sight of Lee Yeon-woo pressing a blade to his own throat, the Young Man abandoned his smile entirely, making no effort to conceal his bewilderment. All this time he’d simply watched, waiting for blood to spill from that room.

It made no sense whatsoever.

“Even a third-rate theatrical production maintains better narrative coherence than this.”

A man who had only moments ago spoken of noble conviction and restraint now stood center stage, collapsing into tears. Of course, human emotion does swing about with such reckless abandon….

‘Yet there wasn’t even a hint of warning?’

He continued speaking even as he retraced his memories, searching for any overlooked clue.

“This is most displeasing to witness.”

Fear, like fruit, carries its own narrative arc. So how absurd was it to see him pressing a hunting dagger—adorned with jewels and gold—against his own throat? He must be misjudging something.

‘They say the native spirits of this land are peculiarly human in nature.’

Finding the jest excessive, he deliberately reproached the young spirit.

“The thick scent of blood suggests a well-maintained blade.”
“Yes, I… found it with great difficulty.”
“….”

…Was that not a lie?

“It appears to belong to the Nobility.”

Though his voice remained gentle and seemingly composed, the tendons in his jaw tightened visibly, blood vessels bulging with strain. The sensation he’d suppressed beneath bewilderment finally creaked into motion.

‘This is, by my sense of it… perhaps too genuine to call a lie.’

Even as his mind warned otherwise, an instinctive intuition struck him all at once.

Hands that twitched spasmodically from fear, self-recrimination born from reason he couldn’t quite abandon—all of it was visible to me. Since sorrow flowed endlessly, I could understand that exhaustion.

He looked like someone about to do something decisive, or perhaps someone already too worn to think straight.

“….”
“…This is quite insulting.”

Was it not? For a being with the right to hunt to damage itself was akin to violating that right. For the Nobility, the ‘finish’ meant something like that. Lee Yeon-woo was doing exactly that now.

“Do you wish for me to be angry?”

It was a sincere question, but what emerged in response was a voice cracked and hoarse.

“I’m frightened.”
“…I misspoke.”

Veins bulged across the back of his hand as if about to burst. Fear had consumed him, robbing him of control over his own body, yet he despised it and forced strength into his trembling limbs.

“You need not say more.”
“If I break down further here….”
“I told you to stop.”
“Perhaps,”
“Close that mouth of yours.”

Words I did not wish to hear.

“I had hoped you would be somewhat wiser… more dignified.”

I wished for him to remain noble until the very end.

“Yet you do this?”
“Are you angry?”
“Oh, that’s cheating.”

Sacrilege. I could not bear the displeasure. Irritation twisted through me, my insides churning.

“I should never have begun if this was to be the end.”

I wanted to kill Lee Yeon-woo. To consume him whole, to make even his death part of my own narrative. Yet here he was, slitting his own throat?

It was an act of theft—taking what was mine. That much was certain.

“You….”

I had tasted your emotions.

‘That nobility.’
‘That strength.’
‘And that will.’

For such a being to debase itself—to willingly squander what I had so eagerly savored—was an insult directed at me.

“That’s not something you should do.”
“Why not?”
“Because I know you.”
“You’re mistaken.”

He continued, his face hollow and crushed beneath despair, as though it might shatter at any moment.

“I’m human. How could I not go mad?”
“Ha.”

A pitiful sacrifice, stripped of all dignity and utterly undone.

That trite, contrived narrative of collapse perfectly satisfied the arrogant tastes of a vampire who cherished classical ruin—and yet, simultaneously, a strange revulsion washed over me.

He spoke again.

“I won’t pretend this is the first time I’ve seen such a thing.”

I had seen it countless times. There had been no shortage of such prey. When only negative emotion remained, humans descended into madness with ease, and death followed swiftly after. They sought to abandon everything.

For silence was preferable to suffering….

“…Ah.”

Thunk—!!
A dagger driven deep into the throat.

Blood cascaded down behind the dagger as it withdrew smoothly.

“….”
“….”

A wet, gurgling sound accompanied the ragged coughing that followed.

“Hack, ugh….”
“….”
“Cough.”

With a sickening squelch, the shoulder split open, and tendons snapped with a grinding crack. The sternum followed, splitting with a nauseating crunch. Blood poured forth in an unrelenting torrent, pooling across the floor.

‘What is this….’

I could not tear my eyes from that vivid stream of crimson.

‘He has no reason for this.’

No—if he had reason, then this is what he would do.

‘Why? What does he gain by spilling blood like this? What scheme is this?’

Perhaps the banquet was poisoned. Does he truly intend to settle this with blood? But now, of all times? Or could it be that he is far more fragile than I imagined….

A pathetic creature, falling short of my expectations.

‘Yet it is intoxicating.’
‘The metallic scent that pierces the nostrils.’
‘Sweet, sacred blood.’

It rendered all this confusion powerless.

‘Was he not perfect?’

Intoxicated by the moment of ‘completion’ that had arrived unbidden—dreamed of yet never desired—I could not hide my revulsion before this sordid spectacle. And beyond that, above all else, I was utterly bewildered.

What was this? What was he doing? As I merely watched in a daze, my opponent drew closer, step by step.

“….”
“….”

Within that paradoxical silence, the dying Lee Yeon-woo slowly turned his gaze toward the Young Man.

“….”

In that instant, the Young Man felt something profoundly unsettling.

The shell of the “fragile, pitiful victim” that had enveloped his prey mere moments before evaporated in a heartbeat, as though it had never existed at all.

The trembling shoulders settled into an unnervingly composed stillness, and where fear and despair should have contorted his features, only cold, serpentine eyes gleamed with caustic mockery.

This was not the face of one driven mad by terror.

“…not….”
“…what?”

In that fleeting moment, words whispered forth.

“―…not eating?”

―Crunch!!!!

“!!”

With a sharp sound, a blood collection needle pierced the Young Man’s throat.

“It stings a bit.”
“What the—”
“I know the feeling.”

Ordinarily, such a thing shouldn’t have been able to attach itself at all. Something was wrong—deeply wrong. From the moment he drove it into my throat, my mind went blank, my body took on substance, and this cursed instrument drew my blood.

My body no longer obeyed me.

“What is this—”
“Ahahaha!!”

To my utter bewilderment, Lee Yeon-woo fled.

That cheerful laughter bore no trace of the despair that had consumed me mere moments before. It had evaporated without leaving even a shadow behind. His receding footsteps were disturbingly light and buoyant.

It was almost childlike in its spirit, yet—

‘What is he doing…?’
‘He shouldn’t be capable of moving like that…?’
‘He’s lost considerable blood.’

Was this the latent power dwelling within the Facility? Was it lifting that body—one that should have collapsed at any moment—and allowing him to run while laughing?

‘No, so this is…’

This is…

“….”

Ah,

‘Indeed.’

With a sharp click,
I freed myself from the blood collection needle embedded in my neck.

Then I recalled that voice, spoken with subtle triumph as it had probed me.

―…You won’t eat?
“Ha.”

Damn it all—I’d been tested, and I’d fallen for it beautifully. Caught in such an absurd trap.

“So that’s how it is….”

Of course it is.

* * *

“There’s no way he could be anything less than a perfect human!”

* * *

A stifled laugh escaped between Lee Yeon-woo’s lips as he sprinted down the corridor, blood dripping in steady rivulets. Whether it was the aftermath of losing positive emotions, or simply that absurd situations made laughter difficult to suppress, I couldn’t say—but the mirth came nonetheless.

“Success, then.”
“Yes! Excellent!”
“When I heard the words ‘third-rate theater,’ I thought we’d been discovered.”

All that effort rubbing my eyes raw had been worth it.

“And even after going this far, the creature showed no inclination to feed, not even a hint of restraint.”

Standing before the vampire, I’d tested it methodically—’Will you ignore this? What about this? Then this?’—until my entire body hung in tatters. Viscous blood welled from my neck and upper torso, yet Lee Yeon-woo paid it no mind, sealing the fissures as they opened.

“Surprisingly… emotional, for all appearances.”
“Good audience!”
“If I’d known we’d connect this well, I should have tried some tears.”

Lee Yeon-woo needed to know whether his gamble held any chance of success. That’s why he’d pierced his own body methodically, observing the creature’s reactions. And unmistakably, the Tasteless Guest was no hunter.

Even if one made excuses about ‘perfect hunting,’ well—

“There’s no clearer evidence than that suddenly talkative mouth.”
“Coco. Guarantee!”
“My thoughts are rather numerous, I’m afraid.”
“Complex.”
“Precisely so.”

That’s why the laughter came.

If I were caught this time, it would consume my ‘negative emotions’ next. After that came ‘all the blood in my body,’ so my margin wasn’t as generous as all that. And yet, observe.

The creature had crumbled so thoroughly over merely a few meals and some positive sentiment.

‘I will win.’

That was precisely what I’d just confirmed.

* * *

“….”
*Cough, hack.*
“….”
“Ugh… gag….”
“….”
“Haa….”

I felt like I was losing my mind.

“Ah….”

The second game of tag ended with my defeat, yielding one ID card and fourteen closure records.

If only I’d obtained just one more.

“May I eat?”
“Your luck is truly abysmal.”
“….”
“Three penalties stacking consecutively—what misfortune.”
“….”
“…Haha!”

Yet part of me felt relieved.

“Let’s try again.”

This is the last one.

The final chance.

—————
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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