Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual - Chapter 78

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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 78.

Pitter-patter.

“…Yes….”

Pitter-patter-patter.

“No….”

Peek.

Pitter-patter-patter…!

“…Yes, no, yes….”

Coco wandered through the corridor with three cards clenched between her teeth.

Her short, plump legs moved with frantic urgency, her tail rigid with tension. Her large, round eyes darted about as she repeatedly ventured in and out of different corridors, her head swiveling to survey her surroundings.

Like water droplets trickling through the cracks of a shattered glass, drip. Drip.

“No, no….”

Then, at some point, something fell from the ceiling.

―Splash!

“…! Yes!”

Coco, tumbling into the blood, had found the answer.

Her stubby body pivoted with a flutter, and she straightened herself before bolting forward. Coco’s black eyes scanned the doors all around her.

“Yes. Yes….”

A massive door unlike anything found elsewhere. And walls of considerable thickness. Though aged and covered in dust, it gleamed with the unmistakable sheen of solid steel—undoubtedly the Central Control Room that Lee Yeon-woo had been searching for.

Coco’s gelatinous body stretched and bounced excitedly.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Her short frame couldn’t reach the card reader. Even stretching her body to its maximum length, she couldn’t insert the card into the slot. Splish-splash—the monstrous cat bounced with each attempt, sending ripples across the blood-soaked floor.

“Meow.”
“….”
“Meooow….”

Coco glanced around restlessly, searching for a solution.

“…!”

A box caught her eye.

Coco grabbed the edge of the box with her mouth and dragged it to the door. The height was perfect—just enough to reach the reader mounted beside it. Once positioned correctly, she released the box and climbed atop it.

“Yes.”

Beep—
The first card inserted.

“Yes.”

Beep—
The second card inserted.

“….”

Done.

“Meow.”

For the final card, Coco held it in her mouth without inserting it, her ears twitching slightly. Her gelatinous form settled firmly on the box. Her gaze was fixed toward the Left Corridor.

It wasn’t yet time to insert the third card.

“….”
“….”
“…?”

Coco tilted his head.

“….”
“May I eat it?”

A massive frame, two hands clasped as if in prayer. Eyes curved like a crescent moon.

His voice was gentle and perfectly pitched, clean as a bell, yet the intent behind that smile was fundamentally corrupt. He cast no shadow, and he was the master of all the blood that saturated this place. Even the blood flowing down the walls welcomed him.

That thing, mimicking glory, asked again.

“May I eat it?”
“No.”
“Can I?”
“No.”

Gulp.
Coco swallowed the card.

“No!”

Then he immediately burrowed into the box.

* * *

“….”

Herding beasts was originally work for servants.

“…Oh.”

The Tasteless Guest had arrived where a blade should have been first.

“It must be cramped in there.”
“No.”
“Wait with me for the master.”
“No.”
“You, a monster wearing the form of a beast. I am a devil whose face you do not know….”
“No.”
“….”

I tapped lightly atop the box. How had the master of this place captivated it so completely?

“Do you not know that you are not a soul suited to him?”

Perhaps it was only natural. Clear water is easily soiled, so those as filthy as us are drawn to what is pure—such is the way of things.

“How pitiful he must be. Is not a devil the loneliest of souls? Having built such a vast mansion, it must be divine providence that he suffers all manner of demons within it.”
“No.”
“You should have simply pretended not to know.”

That day, the Tasteless Guest witnessed it.

“When he was driven into that dead-end corridor, it was none other than you who summoned me.”

I also saw the fate of the monster, so deeply entwined with this place, who always perched upon the master’s shoulder.

“When your master crouched in that narrow box, holding his breath. You insisted on casting forth fragile scraps of blood as bait, deliberately drawing this starving vampire before him—that was surely your will. Though afterward, for some reason, you confused me with your capriciousness….”
“….”
“For you, it would be a rightful privilege and utterly natural instinct.”

To overlook danger and guide despair through deceptive counsel. To make prey walk willingly into their own demise. That was not malice—it was instinct.

A game befitting your system, a pure collection of misfortune, and a rightful authority that only you could exercise in this castle. You must have ensnared the master in such ways countless times before.

“Why do you now block this door? Why have you cast aside that absolute authority and lowered yourself to help a mere human, dragging yourself down to this shallow, base place where something as filthy as I can lay hands?”

The Tasteless Guest’s eyes narrowed at the absurdity of it.

“It would have been better had you remained aloof.”

A spring-clear abyss now mimics the pretense of life and death.

“You understand, don’t you? You must. The moment you set foot on this filthy land and accepted a human’s request… you are no longer free from all those dangers.”
“Yes.”
“On just that single word.”
“Yes.”
“You call that faith.”

Make me believe in it.

“What foolishness is this.”

Faith itself ultimately rests upon reason. Those who have abandoned restraint cannot even trust one another.

“Do you truly believe he can endure this far? That he can remain noble for how long? I would not. It is far too foolish, too hollow a thing.”

Once he crumbled, the entire narrative would become meaningless.

“Ah, of course I understand. As a pure demon, you won’t be easily wounded. But what matters is that your foot has touched this earth.”
“No.”
“In the end, the logic of this world is simply the eating and the eaten, is it not?”
“Yes.”
“….”

The Tasteless Guest withdrew his hand from the box. Then he tilted his head.

“…Knowing that, why did you do it?”

You,
and your master too.

“Why would you do such a thing?”
【I couldn’t say.】

―Splash!!

In that instant, what had seemed to be blood erupted from the floor as a towering column of clear, crystalline water. Su-gwi’s violent spray of mist forcibly obscured the Tasteless Guest’s vision in that fleeting moment.

“…?!”

―Whoosh!!

“Are you curious?”

Lee Yeon-woo burst through the spray of water and blood, gripping the hunting dagger [Noble Mercy] with dried blood clinging to its blade.

“I’ll provide that answer.”
“….”
“Right now.”

He drove the coldly gleaming blade down into the Tasteless Guest’s throat.

[Noble Mercy]
[It is beneath dignity to chase a fleeing beast for long. When the prey’s breathing grows ragged, nobility approaches and severs the breath. Whose blood is it? Does it belong to the one who wields the blade, or the one who bleeds?]

“You were ‘blood’ too, weren’t you?”

[Upon attack, temporarily inflicts status abnormality ‘Excessive Hemorrhage’]

Thud—!!!

* * *

….

…—Yet why does this horrifying sensation persist, as though I were lying upon a plate?

‘What nonsense. What a stupid thought.’

Lee Yeon-woo exhaled irritably.

“Sigh….”

If they’re going to be that discourteous, I need to prepare countermeasures.

“Are you alright?”
“….”
‘Are you in acceptable condition?’

Lee Yeon-woo, emotions severed, asked Coco.

“Yes! Hello!”
“Soon….”

Soon I would reach the trap.

The Watchers would make this grueling, but that wasn’t what mattered now. What I needed to focus on was the whereabouts of the Tasteless Guest—who had vanished from sight the moment the Watcher arrived.

So where would that bastard be now?

“The Central Control Room.”

He would be waiting in front of the Central Control Room. Which meant.

“Won’t you help me?”
“…What?”
“We’re running out of time.”

It wasn’t just a matter of the Watchers. The burden wouldn’t be nothing, but if it became blood I could shake off, then so be it. If this changed from compulsion to choice, I could endure it for a moment.

But the time needed for a door to open and close—six seconds. Within that window, I had to subdue the Tasteless Guest blocking the doorway. To do that, I needed to draw his attention.

How?

“The door needs to be opened beforehand.”

Only then would the Tasteless Guest’s focus turn that way.

Lee Yeon-woo handed me three cards from around his neck as he ran. I was too preoccupied dodging ahead and crouching low to notice much, but I felt my body compress under the weight of the thickened cards.

Only two at most.

“….”
“Please… I’m asking you.”

So that I could abandon this flesh, position myself behind the Tasteless Guest, and ultimately squeeze out as much blood as he had consumed from his victims. So that we could overcome this moment together and tomorrow could be better.

In a way only Coco could hear.

“….”
“….”

Lee Yeon-woo made his request.

* * *

Of course, to be honest,

even The Wet Person, who had overheard everything, lending his aid was truly beyond my expectations.

It must have meant I should stake my own share in that ‘trust’….

‘…Territory marking….’

Truly no different from a beast.

As if I would lease my lungs to him.

* * *

Time turned in that manner.

“―Venting spite on a child, no less.”

That day, Lee Yeon-woo already knew that Coco had summoned the Tasteless Guest. After twenty-six years, and then five more spent together in this Hotel, I could not possibly be ignorant of its malice.

Yet I chose to believe nonetheless.

“Coco!!”
“Yes!”

Beep―!!

At Lee Yeon-woo’s cry, Coco ejected the card and inserted it into the reader.

The door, massive and heavy as it was, opened slowly. It would be fully open in three seconds, then close again three seconds later. Within those six seconds total, Lee Yeon-woo had to keep the Tasteless Guest detained. It was not a difficult task.

Because this one possessed curiosity that surpassed even his own life.

I couldn’t bear it without asking.

“Why?”

One second.

It thrashed beneath the curse of the hunting dagger, one that forced the [Excessive Hemorrhage] condition upon its victim.

As Su-gwi’s spray of water clung sluggishly to my ankles, buying time, I—Lee Yeon-woo, perched atop—seized his ash-grey hair and met his eyes, tears of blood streaming down his face.

“How could you…?”
“Listen carefully.”

Two seconds.

His composed facade crumbled, and blood gushed uncontrollably from his throat where the blade was embedded. As the Old Vampire lost blood, the advantage shifted to me, Lee Yeon-woo.

When I suppressed his resistance completely with my own blood and the fierce water pressure, a cry of anguish tore from him.

“Why me? Why am I…!!”
“You’re not different.”

Three seconds, then four.

Devouring each other, yet controlling what was mine, I spoke.

“….”
“Not at all.”

And five seconds.

“You’re not different at all.”

I rose and vanished through the crack in the door.

Boom―!!!

“….”
“….”
“….”

* * *

“….”
“Hello?!”

I was momentarily dazed.

“…Yes….”

Lee Yeon-woo, slumped against the door, answered.

“…Hello.”

By this measure, I was in far better condition than anticipated.

Perhaps it was the Game’s mechanical nature at work. Having surrendered my body and escaped that place, evading the swarm, I could no longer sense even a trace of those clamorous Watchers.

This place was supposedly some kind of bunker.

‘So all I needed to do was enter a separated zone.’

Having reached that conclusion, I blinked slowly through my clouded vision. My head throbbed as if fever-stricken, my back drenched with cold sweat born of terror, my fingertips trembling faintly beyond my control.

“Damn, what a mess….”

I irritably wiped my face with a dry hand.

My true nature, carefully buried beneath layers of restraint, had surfaced without filter—a consequence of depleted stamina and the precipice I now stood upon. Confronting one’s own limits was always an unpleasant affair.

I forced my ragged breathing under control and opened my mouth, my voice hoarse.

“…Coco.”
“Yes!”
“Coco.”
“Yes? Yes!”
“Coco.”
“…?”
“….”

Lee Yeon-woo pulled the soaked cat into his embrace.

“…Thank you for your hard work.”
“….”

Lee Yeon-woo forced strength into his trembling arms, holding Coco a little tighter. It was gratitude toward a partner who had willingly seen their collaboration through to completion for my sake.

Then I added once more, my voice dry.

“You’ve been incredibly helpful. More than you know.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”

Whether it was friendship, trust, or hope—those soft and warm things didn’t need to be felt right now. The sense of solidarity that had been torn away could be reassembled again based on this result.

‘In the end, I can rebuild it all again with these memories.’

That was enough.

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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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