Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual - Chapter 77

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 77.

Some time ago.

“You’ll need certainty.”

It was likely in the Kitchen, shortly after I had served the Tasteless Guest the Memory of the Hunt.

I rubbed my chilled hands inside my gloves. I had just made a blunder—a self-inflicted mistake. Beyond the system screen I’d just pulled up, the Tasteless Guest’s location flickered in my awareness.

“The guest’s reaction upon being served was ambiguous, but still….”

That too was a variable I had anticipated.

“The Tasteless Guest is a cautious type. For someone so arrogant, he’s remarkably careful—likely influenced by Belmarés’s failed ritual in the past. He’s not merely a hungry vampire, but closer to an analyst determined never to repeat failure.”
“That’s right!”
“I’m pleased you agree.”

I was fortunate the situation hadn’t deviated significantly from my expectations.

Before serving the meal, I had focused on one crucial point: my opponent was not a simple predator, but a perfectionist nobleman. Know your adversary, and you know the breakthrough.

“I presented three distinct facades.”

What I had revealed before the Tasteless Guest was this.

“Weakness, compliance, and equal exchange. Which one did he respond to?”
“The third.”
“As expected of a sharp mind. Correct. What he desires is not mere prey, but Belmarés itself—something worthy of absorption.”

Weakness holds no meaning. If I’m not more perfect than him, there’s no reason to risk it, and even if I transcended flesh, Riedmar loses in blood hierarchy regardless.

Cooperation is the same. To someone noble to the bone, it means nothing, and even exploiting goodwill and compliance would never allow Riedmar to consume Belmarés.

“May I eat?”
“Hearing those words in your voice is quite unsettling. In any case, yes—as you may recall, the Tasteless Guest’s choice ultimately came down to that alone.”
“Permission.”
“That is also correct. No hunter asks permission from their prey.”

My head spins in disarray.

“I’ve been thinking about this since I stole those memories, but from the perspective of a Blood Mage, it all comes down to… a struggle for dominance. A desire to seize authority.”
“Yes.”
“That Master who taught Blood Magic certainly imparted something valuable.”
“Hehe.”
“Amusing.”

In truth, it was.

I did it intentionally.

“…”
“Are you there?”
“…I had to know.”

Ignorance is the most dangerous thing of all.

Better to drag the opponent’s thirst to the water surface. To demonstrate, as an equal, that they were worth hunting, and to show through logic that success was possible.

Had I done nothing—left things as they were—the Tasteless Guest would have succumbed to impulse and devoured Lee Yeon-woo. Caution aside, patience was never their strong suit.

“My recipe proved useful, at least.”
“…”
“Living this long, I’ve done every foolish thing imaginable, walking willingly into my own demise.”

Lee Yeon-woo flexed his hands roughly, then pulled on latex gloves instead of cotton ones.

“My hands trembled throughout. Exposing my weakness so openly, even revealing the timing of the hunt—I knew he wouldn’t rush in immediately because of his cautious nature, but it was still a gamble.”
“Mm.”
“With this, he must have realized I am an unstable Belmarés. All that remains now is for him to verify his hypothesis. Only the time until he becomes certain is left.”

It was not without difficulty.

“The Tasteless Guest clearly reacted to the meal.”
“Yes.”
“It’s not merely intoxication from flavor—it means his cognitive circuits have begun tangling in complexity as he weighs the option of ‘friendship’ I offered against the gravity of ‘equality.'”
“Indeed.”
“Perhaps his thirst has deepened as well.”

And then.

“It was as anticipated.”
“Hello?”
“That doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“Ugh.”
“I suppose I need to struggle a bit harder now.”

Already stretched thin, I was about to become even busier.

“I can’t complain—this calamity was of my own summoning.”

Lee Yeon-woo had studied Blood Magic as well. I couldn’t say how its quality and depth compared to other disciplines, but I’d absorbed enough of the fundamental knowledge and relationships among Blood Mages.

“Blood Magic is ultimately a battle of the self. I’m well aware I cannot defeat a centuries-old vampire on the board he’s presented.”
“Yes.”
“But precisely because he’s arrogant and cautious, instead of indiscriminate slaughter, he’ll test my self and tap the bridge carefully. That much time, at least, I’ve gained.”

And during that time, Lee Yeon-woo couldn’t simply remain idle.

“First, I must secure authority over the Central Control Room. If successful, even under attack from the Tasteless Guest, I’ll emerge victorious. It’s the most certain method.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes.”
“Second, I must cook.”
“Pardon?”
“Yes.”

Lee Yeon-woo pressed my temples and spoke into the void.

“If I can’t win through A, then I’ll win through B.”

If the self won’t work, then humanity will.

It wasn’t merely about making the goose that lays golden eggs grow fond of me. It was about making him choose again.

Moreover, every choice carries responsibility with it.

“The Tasteless Guest isn’t a monster who evades responsibility, after all.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Exactly. That’s precisely it.”

When humanity is stirred, context emerges rather than mere emotion. Relationships form instead of mere objects. Judgment arises instead of simple reaction.

What this means is that his question of “May I eat this?” gains weight. Humans are, after all, social creatures.

“And… he desires to consume something superior to himself. But if his humanity is awakened, my superiority won’t appear as a medal—it will manifest as an attitude.”
“A medal? An attitude?”
“Respect, courtesy, responsibility, endurance—things of that nature.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Simply put, it will no longer appear as something ‘absorbable.'”

Consuming it offers no guarantee he’ll actually obtain it.

“He can swallow ego and blood. But humanity cannot be replicated or absorbed.”

It would vanish the moment he consumed it.

“That would appear as a clear loss, not an elevation of status.”
“Tasteless. Calculating.”
“Better calculating than anything else.”

Had the mind of one possessing such power been empty, he would have been far more difficult to contend with.

“Above all, what he truly desires to become is a perfect human. He never hunts without meaning. He’s quite the disagreeable character himself, after all.”

Lee Yeon-woo believed in the power of humanity. Had he not, the one who became Belmarés would never have chosen this difficult path.

“The moment humanity intervenes, the simple hunt he desired becomes corrupted in meaning and weighted with consequence.”
“Ah.”
“I’ll awaken the fatal contradiction within his arrogance to become a god—the desire to become human—and force him to inscribe endurance and restraint upon his own body and spirit.”
“Ah?”
“Making him weary of me, and of himself.”

Lee Yeon-woo’s expression grew sheepish.

“Is it petty?”
“No? No? No?”
“That’s right. My nose is three feet long, so debating pettiness is childish.”
“Exactly!”

Of course, the plan wasn’t entirely without risk.

“For one, there’s no guarantee my ‘hospitality’ will effectively stimulate the other’s humanity….”
“Hmm?”
“I’ll need to deploy the ‘recipes’ I’ve organized in sequence, but I’m not certain we’ll have the time and circumstances for it.”
“Openly?”
“I can’t force-feed him, and even if I could, he’s not the type it would work on.”
“That’s true….”
“And even if everything proceeds successfully, there are inevitable side effects.”

I feared the backlash of infusing ‘humanity’ into a vampire who had maintained a mineral state all this time.

‘If the software of a centuries-old senile elder shifts emotionally, it could become catastrophic.’

He was never sane to begin with, and the thought of him having a hysteric episode made my head spin. Especially considering I still don’t know the limits of his power.

“….”
“….”
“…But that’s a problem for future me to handle.”

In any case, as long as the outcome is ‘survival’, that’s all that matters, isn’t it?

“Ideally, the best result would be if the Tasteless Guest comes to view me favorably through this hospitality and treats me like a goose that lays golden eggs… but who knows, Coco.”
“….”
“What do you think?”
“Hmm.”
“A pity.”

Lee Yeon-woo shared the same sentiment.

“There’s not a soul in this world worth trusting.”
“Yes.”

Then what, truly, is humanity?

“Mm.”
“Haven’t we discussed this before?”
“Yes.”
“How resolute.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes.”
“Please, compose yourself.”

I wasn’t about to rehash that tedious conversation again.

“This is about addressing a practical problem.”
“A practical problem.”
“Someone who yearned to become a perfect god comes to this Hotel and deliberately craves human ordinariness and comfort. A person who wishes to find peace cannot possibly be without weakness, can they?”

The self is the entrance through which my opponent hunts me down. But humanity—humanity could become a trap that binds their ankles and drags them into the mire.

“So we delay the hunt as much as we can.”
“Food.”
“Precisely. We must prepare and serve food with the utmost care.”

Like a Trojan horse of sorts.

“No matter how I think about it, I doubt I can reach that level.”
“Yes.”
“…But if I do well enough, perhaps a Trojan pony might suffice….”
“A pony!”
“…The word is far too cute for the situation, isn’t it.”

* * *

After that, Lee Yeon-woo remained diligent. As my opponent observed me, I observed them in turn with equal consistency, and with the Hotel’s assistance, I gathered information about the Tasteless Guest.

Based on that foundation, I devised recipes. Leading with a kindness neither of us would believe, I whispered that this was the only chance to taste it, and made them swallow poison knowingly.

‘That was successful.’

As Belmarés, Lee Yeon-woo was certainly being worn down, yet I was not shaken as easily as one might expect, and that alone was enough. I had bought sufficient time.

To one who knew no hunger, I gave desire.
To one grown cold, I gave warmth.
To one who believed in eternity, I gave time.

‘I gave what I could give.’

Though recipes remained untested, I bestowed what I could without courting death. And as intended—or perhaps as hoped—the Tasteless Guest followed my lead.

Because Lee Yeon-woo understood what he truly wanted.

‘So I don’t wish to say that coming this far means all my efforts were wasted, or that they backfired instead….’

Lee Yeon-woo finally opened his mouth.

“―Really,”

Truly, genuinely.

“Damn,”
“Yes!”
“You’re really damn petty.”

Look at him suddenly pulling out a cheat just because he’s in a hurry. Lee Yeon-woo wore an expression of exasperation at the legion rushing toward him. How could anyone who’d lived centuries look like that?

‘He’s definitely not the type to earn respect anywhere else.’

You only get this kind of treatment because you happen to be a guest at the Hotel I operate. That’s not how you’re supposed to age.

As various frustrations welled up inside, Lee Yeon-woo drew the deepest breath he could manage.

“Haa―….”

Still, his breath came in stutters.

To be fair, he hadn’t blindly trusted the information he’d known.

‘Of course I thought it could change.’

Since I’d instilled humanity where none existed before, I’d already made peace with that possibility. Besides, the Tasteless Guest’s demeanor had transformed completely from how he was in the Game. There was no point obsessing over that.

‘I’d even predicted the possibility that my opponent would show such an agitated reaction.’

No.

‘But even accounting for that, isn’t this excessive?’

Affirmation, negation, and even with a ‘self-shaking’ wedged in between—originally, the shell came after all that. This was like someone who’d sampled it once and was now rushing in to hoard it.

How could anyone lack such refinement.

‘A creature without a shred of manners, yet he struts about calling himself nobility.’

Lee Yeon-woo leaped over The Watcher’s hand extending from the corner as he spoke.

“I’ll buy something—anything.”
“Yes!”
“Something better than what I have now, and I’ll wield it.”

Just let resources accumulate, and I’ll show him what a proper attack looks like. His eyes were bloodshot.

“I won’t let any of this slide.”

Clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter!!!

‘…He hates running, yet he’s making such a racket.’

My ears ached from the noise pouring down from above and below, from all sides without distinction. Laughter and screams mingled into auditory hallucinations. Severed wires lay submerged in the blood pooling on the floor, and with each step, my ankles tingled.

I was focused on that sharp sensation for only a moment,

Then that instant.

“….”

The presence that had been chasing close at my back, strangling my breath, suddenly cut off.

Lee Yeon-woo’s eyes rolled inexpressively.

‘He didn’t lose me.’

But that doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned the hunt.

‘Then the conclusion is….’

They’d sensed my destination and cut me off at the pass ahead of time. That’s precisely why the Tasteless Guest wasn’t visible among all those countless Watchers.

What could I do about this terrible sensation—as if I were lying atop some enormous plate, waiting to be cooked?

Lee Yeon-woo exhaled irritably.

“Ha….”
“Hello?”
“….”
“Yes! Hello!”
“Soon….”

It would’ve been easier if physical combat were an option. I could manage striking something wearing a human shape. But there was no way I could wield a weapon in this body.

Especially not against so many Watchers.

“The Central Control Room.”

I spoke to Coco, hanging from my neck.

“Will you help me?”
“…Pardon?”
“We’re running out of time.”

The Central Control Room’s door doesn’t simply open. You have to insert three ID cards and wait three seconds. The door closes three seconds after it opens. If I just rushed in, the door would be sealed, and I’d be caught.

“You need to open the door beforehand.”

And I had limits to my running speed. There was no way I could evade all these creatures fixated on me and reach the interior of the Central Control Room safely.

I ran while handing over the three cards hanging from my neck. Focused on watching ahead and ducking to dodge, I felt Coco’s body compress under the weight of the thickened cards.

“….”
“Please, I’m begging you.”

He knows Coco won’t help him play the Game. But.

“It’s already deviated too far to be called a Game.”
“….”
“This isn’t a Game. If you wanted to claim it was a Game, all those people shouldn’t have died. It stopped being a Game long ago, and you’re no longer a guide within it.”

Crash―!!
A panel crumbles, blocking the path ahead.

Monsters, monsters, terrifying and grotesque monsters filled the space before me. They crawled forward like a horde of the undead. Gritting my teeth, Lee Yeon-woo tore away the shattered door beside me.

I drew a sharp breath.

“….”
“I…!!”

Flinging back the Watchers that surged toward me with the decrepit door, I screamed.

“Just let me trust you!!”

In that instant, a faint weight vanished from my shoulder.

“―…!!”

In the corridor thick with the stench of blood, a sudden, murky smell of water crashed through.

A violent column of water erupted from between the pools of blood on the floor. Icy spray scattered in all directions, and grotesquely swelling puddles of water writhed like serpents.

They mercilessly coiled around the ankles of the Watchers that had been charging forward.

“…Hah….”
“Aaaahhh…! Aah… Ah! Aaahhh!! Aaaahhh!!”

The screams of the flailing monsters filled the corridor.

It was an absurd, miraculous situation born from the meddlesome interference of the Wet Person, who had crawled down from the 23rd Floor unable to bear boredom and descended into the Hunting Ground.

“….”
“―Aaaaaahhhhh!!”
“…In any case, this wretched Hotel won’t even grant me a moment to savor the experience.”
“Aah… ahhh!! Ah! Aaahhh―!!”
“I’m losing my mind.”

Thump―!!

Lee Yeon-woo let out a dry chuckle as I effortlessly shoved the pipe into the Auditory Supervisor’s mouth to silence him. Between irregular gasps, parched murmurs leaked through.

The sensation of the still-empty shoulder remained vivid.

“At this rate, I can’t even sever ties.”

The chaos that had been spiraling toward total uncontrollability finally rolled into my calculations—a satisfaction that bloomed from that alone.

There was no joy, no overwhelming relief, only the gratification of having seized control of a handful of variables that had been careening dangerously off course, wresting them into my grasp with my own hands. Only that whispered to my mind.

―It was exhilarating.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————