Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: #005_The Hotel Abyss
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1.
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The moment I read the dying message, my memories surged back.
Round 1.
After spending a hot night with the eight-foot widow Ceres, in the bedroom.
‘I wasn’t planning to give you this much… but you made me happy.’
‘It’s been a while since I had this much fun. I’ll add a tip on top of your sister’s fee.’
Ceres placed the shimmering Universal Currency in my hand.
I giggled like an idiot and headed to the BigDick Agency, where my throat was slit and I died.
Round 2.
SSR Joker, God’s Dropped Pouch. Slum apartment.
‘Kyaaahoo!’
‘All this is Universal Currency? Best decision ever coming to this world!’
I pulled the Universal Currency from the pouch and kissed it over and over.
Beaming, I hoisted Arbel over my shoulder and crossed the viaduct, only to get brutally murdered.
Yeah.
In both Round 1 and 2.
About three hours after I got my hands on the Universal Currency, that woman came for me.
The puzzle pieces in my head clicked together, forming the connection.
I’d been wrong all this time.
It wasn’t Ceres snitching or Isis’s holy blade.
The grim reaper came after I obtained the Universal Currency.
And the dying message to me: ‘Throw away Universal Currency’.
“Bullshit, if you don’t know, you gotta learn the hard way?!”
No trap could be this exquisitely vicious.
Stashing the Universal Currency in this stinking sewer is a death flag?
My life was already fucked, but I had to resist picking it up to survive?
Even if a hundred Lee Dae-hos who lost everything came charging with bats, I’d still try for a stolen base.
No joke.
“Whew….”
I forced myself to calm down.
I still didn’t know the gimmick.
Whether just touching the Universal Currency spells doom, or if having it nearby lets them track my location.
But the latter probably isn’t it.
Still, it’s not all bad.
Logically, objectively, quantitatively—it scores about average.
Even so, without the dying message, I would’ve kept overlooking that ‘Universal Currency = one-way ticket to the Jordan River’?
Cutely put….
‘Wow! It’s Universal Currency! Now I can eat warm food with this!’ -slash- ‘Oof! Someone snitched on me!’ Maybe four times like that.
More than anything, no time to feel wronged.
Arbel’s coming to the apartment in a week.
Prime Arbel needs prompt handling—she spoils three days after delivery.
To keep her lifeline intact at minimum, I need to scrape money and visit Isis by then.
“Status check first.”
Relics first.
‘Sturdy Disguise’ ‘Laplace’s Eye’.
Still there post-regression, in the relic display era.
Joker.
Truth Coin Toss (2/3), Polite Speech Coupon (1/1), copy of Mysterious Insect Scripture (1/1), Evil Ward Talisman (4/5).
Modern items unchanged except Chapagetti and smokes, but Hero and Armani coat that weren’t in inventory vanished.
Remaining points: a measly 12pt.
Refill Fixer’s Symbolic Coat, Hero, Hero bullets generously? Basically 0pt.
“Driving me insane.”
The bleak situation weighs down.
But I recalled the glittering Universal Currency pouch in this room last round, and that bitch who butchered Arbel right in front of me.
An unquenchable flame of vengeance burns in my chest.
“I’ll let it slide for now, but next time we meet.”
I’ll get hypnotic apps or whatever and fuck her up.
Got the Polite Speech Coupon too—surely there’s a Common Sense Alter app?
Wash up clean and wait.
I’ll show you how far human dignity can crumble….
“No, hold up.”
As I steeled my resolve, I realized a major contradiction this round.
1) Universal Currency acts as a transmitter somehow.
2) Need Universal Currency to treat Arbel.
Combining these yields one key question.
Q: Does just treating Arbel with Universal Currency summon the psycho bitch?
A: Uh.
Yeah.
If Arbel’s a tracking target too, and her tracking requires Universal Currency….
Treatment’s basically impossible, right?
But ditching Arbel’s too wasteful.
All the effort sunk into this baggage so far—just cut losses here?
No way in hell!
Arbel’s just undervalued now; fundamentally, she’s a promising stock primed for a massive rebound.
A fragment of my ideal paradise.
So, infinite averaging down and hold.
Thus, this round’s goals….
1) Point grind. Ideally, achievement that gives relic coupons too.
2) Treat Arbel till she wakes, gather intel on psycho bitch.
3) If possible, treat Arbel with Universal Currency, verify if bitch shows.
These three.
“Fuck it, let’s do this.”
You still have four free deaths left from God.
2.
It started the same as last round.
Bought the coat with remaining points, refilled Hero and Hero bullets.
Wandered slum alleys, turning robberies into reverse muggings for seed money.
“9th-grade fixer registration?”
“Yeah.”
“Name.”
“Guts.”
“Five thousand Bios.”
“Here.”
“Nice coat.”
Used that to register as 9th-grade fixer.
Tweaked the name to fit this round’s playstyle.
John Wick vibe felt a bit weak.
-Bang!
“THIS IS DEMOCRACY!!!!”
“What the fuck!”
“Long time no see! Still playing poker, you two?”
Pictured door-breaching to take over GetMoney Agency.
Naturally, Akit and Arong didn’t remember me, so they turned hostile.
-Bang!
“Hey, you two work for me starting today.”
“Yes, sir, as you command….”
“Boss, what now…?”
Overwhelmed by Hero’s firepower, they flipped bellies and acknowledged me as number one.
Same as last round up to here, but divergence starts now.
Won’t take backroom gigs this round.
“We’re going rift.”
“R-Rift? We got backroom subcontracts piling up? Easy money—why go there?”
“Guts boss! That’s for real pros or starving losers!”
“Damn… you nailed it.”
Totally reasonable.
I don’t wanna go either.
Rifts are risky as hell despite juicy rewards—never stepped in before.
Conversely, untouched virgin snow.
Every crunchy step means challenges and achievements sticking.
Gotta farm points to gacha.
Still cringe thinking about puking without proper SSR….
[ 7 7 7 ]
[ JACKPOT!!!! ]
[ CONGRATULATIONS!!!! ]
[ SUPER SUPER RARE!!!!! ]
That rush tho….
“Shut up and grab tools.”
“Don’t wanna! Don’t wanna gooo!”
“Waaah, mommy, mommyyy!!! ”
Petty resistance, but gun barrel makes all equal.
Packed basic gear and headed out.
“Why rift of all places….”
“Don’t wanna die… waaah….”
“Quit crying! Bro’ll boil Chapagetti later.”
So what’s a rift?
Spaces engulfed in black dye warp extremely.
Time and physics twist, providence and cognition crumble into total chaos—called ‘Void’.
Why humanity huddles in ark cities or pioneered outer walls? Void’s fault.
Enter Void, even mages go mostly.
But occasionally, singularities spawn in Void with alternate ‘rules’, birthing pocket worlds….
That’s ‘rift’.
Complicated, but I get it as:
‘Void = buggy unfinished terrain. Players enter = NULL. High-levels dip in sometimes.’
‘Rift = Field dungeon with unique rules. Kill monsters for rice. Fixer shredder.’
Ways to rifts vary, but I headed to C-18 District hotel first.
Yeah.
Hotel.
3.
If C Sector’s identity is Unlucky Guryong Fortress,
C-18’s boils down to one phrase.
‘The Hotel Abyss’.
25-story hotel towers center, creating unease; all district commerce orbits this landmark.
Big agencies of high-grade fixers.
Ateliers crafting, selling, enhancing artifacts.
Mills refining ‘placer gold’—raw for Universal Currency.
Twilight Resource Development brokers for relics, bodies, spoils.
‘Cause The Hotel Abyss ain’t just lodging—it’s hub for portals to hundreds of rifts!
Horror hotel’s a masterpiece tho….
“Quit genre-skipping. Gallery next.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing.”
“N-No, sir.”
Smacked puzzled Akit’s noggin, pressed to hotel.
Closer to skyscraper, fixers looking badass everywhere.
Eyes, gear scream elite; cleanest rags too.
Even woman strutting in flashy qipao.
I averted eyes.
In this rapist city, qipao flashing thighs unscathed?
Either from ruling three families of Overnus Pharma, mage, or top brothel output with bulls lining up.
Flirt and generous 3-sec countdown to Arbel deep-kiss trip.
Sure enough, flapping hem embroidered Golden Carp Clan’s golden koi.
“…Hmph.”
Shrugged shoulders meek, eyes down demure.
Arrived at Western hotel entrance clashing with Chinese C Sector.
Stepped into lobby—jaw dropped.
“Wow.”
Looked ritzy outside.
Not taller than Ceres’ townhouse, but 20+ floors from ground? Skyfucker in Necropolis where most cap at 5.
But interior this otherworldly? Never imagined.
“Fuck, it’s baller.”
As I gawked around slack-jawed, Arong whispered.
“Guts boss, don’t tell me… first time at hotel?”
“Yeah, insane.”
“Sniff… fuck, we’re so screwed….”
Ignored, scanned lobby.
Seriously not my soul home London but shithole Necropolis?
Just one wing door past flea-market entrance—no smog throat-scratch, no rowdy yells.
Instead, gentle classic music flow.
Lemon oil diffuser citrus, well-kept furniture leather scent.
Gleaming brass accents everywhere, soaring ceiling with mega chandelier.
What’s the word.
Nostalgia hit.
London trip hotel.
1st floor 150-year steakhouse tradition, racist waiter never seats East Asians by window even if open….
That storied luxury 5-star.
Sophas clustered with fixers snapped me out—not England.
-Ding!
Alert popped.
======
::: New Area Entry (NEW!):::
Gateway to the abyss.
Necropolis’s oldest ‘rift’.
Welcome to ‘The Hotel Abyss’!
Mirror-shine marble floors.
Elegant flicker of giant chandelier from ceiling.
Courteous, well-trained veteran staff.
365-day flawless room condition, diverse lavish amenities!
Last haven and terminus for rift-bound souls.
Ah, check-in free, checkout not guaranteed—mind that.
Good luck, guest.
*** TIP ***
- Strictly obey Hotel Visitor Rules. Not optional.
======
Last line drew a sigh.
“Rules? Bullshit, what a mishmash.”
What world mashes settings so rootlessly?
Puke-worthy even for mutts.
“Arong, what’s rules?”
“You noticed—rift with ‘rules’ here too. Manual of no-nos.”
“Where?”
“There.”
Arong pointed to lobby concierge desk.
“But rules ain’t special, skippable?”
“Check anyway.”
Pulled thick rulebook from rack.
Then.
“……?”
Spotted desk staff—jolted.
Flawless neat suit. Concierge badge.
Angular nose-bridge glasses, curved horns.
Flat rectangular horizontal pupils.
“…….”
“…….”
How’d I miss this?
Hotel, duh—staff as backdrop.
But….
Bellboys hauling luggage, reception doling room keys.
Even demure bowed concierge right here.
All.
Goat-headed.