13. Hotel Top Floor (2)
The staff member pressed the elevator button. I stood a short distance behind him.
The elevator doors opened, and the staff member stepped in.
Out of habit, the staff member moved to the left and stood in front of the buttons. I squeezed in against the right side.
As long as I don't touch him, it's fine. My presence can't be felt, after all.
The elevator doors closed. It was cramped. If the man suddenly stretched out his arms and spun around like a crazy bitch, he'd bump into me.
But there was no chance of that. During the brief ride up, he pulled out his phone to look at something.
Ding. The man pocketed his phone and stepped out as soon as the doors opened.
I followed the staff member out, scanning my surroundings.
The top floor was definitely different. For one thing, the hallway was luxurious.
The man headed down one side of the corridor, stopped at a door, checked his appearance, and knocked.
With a clack, the door opened just a hand's width. A brown-haired woman appeared inside.
She wasn't especially pretty. Being a foreigner made her even less appealing to me.
After confirming who he was, the woman closed the door, then opened it wide and invited him in.
The staff member follows the woman inside, and I follow right behind.
I brushed against the door, making a sound, but the woman and the staff member ahead of me didn't seem to hear it. Neither paid any attention as they walked on.
Presence Erasure, hail. Seriously, this skill is the best. Magnificent. Thrilling.
The suite was incredible. PSL, was it? It seemed to live up to its flashy name.
The woman and the staff member went over to the living-room TV and kept talking in English.
From what little I could make out, something wasn't working. They seemed to be saying they couldn't get it to work no matter what they tried.
The staff member fiddled with the remote, flipped through the channels, then checked the set-top box connected behind the TV.
He unplugs and replugs the cables a few times, turns the power off and on, then checks the TV again.
He pressed a few numbers on the remote to see if the picture they wanted would come on, and a foreign broadcast appeared.
The woman kept saying, 'Thank you, thank you.' He asked whether she needed anything else, and she said no.
The staff member heads back out, politely bows to the woman, and leaves the room.
Once he was gone, the woman called something toward the bedroom. Probably a name.
Then two women come out of the bedroom.
One was fairly pretty, with pink hair; the other was an ordinary-looking woman with black hair.
The three of them sit on the sofa and watch TV. The foreign broadcast was showing news about the current situation.
Unidentified message windows, the resulting confusion, military deployments, that sort of thing.
The three of them watch the footage with serious faces.
I watched the news for a while too, then lost interest and started studying the women instead.
The other two women weren't worth my attention. All I cared about was the one with pink hair.
She was strikingly pretty for an ordinary woman. That hair color alone said as much. It wasn't the sort of look just anyone could pull off.
She kept checking her phone even as she watched TV.
I moved behind her to see what she was looking at. Social media. After watching for a bit, I thought I knew what kind of woman she was.
A social media influencer. Something like that.
For one thing, she had a lot of followers. It said 3.2 million. That was quite a following.
I took out my phone. Since it's invisible along with me, looking at it like this shouldn't be a problem.
I searched for her account and looked through her photos.
There's a fair amount of risqué exposure, but nothing actually revealing. It doesn't seem like she has that kind of content for fans either.
I got a rough sense of the situation.
The other two women were probably her staff—a manager or employees.
The three of them came to Korea. I don't know why, but they must have had business. That part's none of my concern.
Seeing photos uploaded yesterday of her in a hanbok at Gyeongbokgung, it could just be sightseeing.
Or it could be an attempt to grow her follower count.
Anyway, they came here, and then the incident broke out. Thanks to that, they're isolated here like this.
If they'd had their way, they would probably have gone straight home.
But the fact that they're still here means it wasn't easy.
There were probably a lot of people like this. No matter how much money you have, it's meaningless if there are no flights.
So for now, they were staying here and keeping their heads down.
Man, what bad luck. What a pitiful situation.
And the worst part of their situation is that I'm in here like this.
They didn't seem to suspect for a second that I might be here. Completely defenseless.
The hotel room they thought was the safest place has become the most dangerous place.
And that's why I was thoroughly enjoying this situation.
This sense of superiority drives a person crazy. To a degree that's hard to put into words.
The three women watched the news for a long time, checking their phones every so often.
The other two women kept messaging someone on social media, and their expressions grew worse by the minute.
The pink-haired woman's name was Chloe Collins. That was her real name, and her stage name was PinkHex.
So that's why she dyed her hair that color.
Sure, it is striking. It might look a little cheap, but it's effective enough.
Anyway, after a long while, Chloe said something, and everyone turned off the TV and stood up.
She probably said she was going to sleep. That's why they all wait on her like that.
They each head to their rooms. Chloe goes into the biggest room, and the other two women go into their own rooms.
Should I have gone in beforehand? If she locks the door like that, it'll be a bit of a headache.
While I was thinking that, the door opened and Chloe came back out.
She seemed to be getting ready to take some medicine. There was a packet in her hand.
Thanks to that, I was able to slip through the open door.
Wow. Lucky me. Not so lucky for her, though.
But after getting inside, I had a slight question.
They say my presence is erased, but wouldn't the sound of me opening the door and coming in still be heard?
That probably isn't the case. It probably only erases the presence coming from my body. That has to be right.
The problem is there's no way to confirm it. Not right now, anyway.
Anyway, I came into the room like that and stood in one corner.
And Chloe, after taking her medicine, comes back into the room and locks the door.
See. That could've been annoying. Quietly opening that and coming in would've been hard. It definitely would have been.
Anyway, now that I'm inside the room, I have nothing to worry about.
All the annoying parts are basically handled.
Once inside, Chloe took off her top and unhooked her bra.
Thanks to that, I got to see her fair skin, slender waist, and pink nipples.
Damn. She lives up to the name. How are her nipples that color? Did she put something on them?
Probably because her skin is so pale, they look even more like that. The color seems lewder too.
Chloe changes into comfortable clothes, plugs her phone into the charger, turns off the light, and lies down on the bed.
Then she lies there for a long while watching videos.
The funny thing is, she kept checking her own social media in between.
Reading comments and checking her follower count.
Well, that's her job, so it's only natural she'd do that.
Though it is a little strange that she's checking that stuff even after the world has turned into this.
Right. That was the problem. I couldn't understand it.
Why is it that in their heads, the option of killing people doesn't even exist?
This woman is like that, and so are the hotel people.
Why do they try to hold on to their daily lives? From what I've seen, the world has already gone way off course.
This isn't something human ability can set right.
We have no choice but to be played however these message windows want. Without any resistance.
Is it wishful thinking? Some kind of belief that things can go back to normal?
Or is it that they have too much to let go of?
I don't know. And the fact that I was thinking about this again made me laugh. Now isn't the time to be saying this kind of thing.
I took out my phone. And turned on the AI.
It's a relief that communications are still up. That means I can use a translator like this properly.
I took the gun out of the bag and set it on the floor. The moment the bag leaves my hand, it'll be visible to her too.
But since she's lying down, she won't notice a bag suddenly appearing. The lights are off too.
I approached Chloe. Then I covered her mouth with my hand, pressed down firmly, and released the invisibility.
"Scream, and I'll shoot you."
If you scream, I'll shoot. Was that the right way to say it? The AI had said it was, so I supposed it was.
Anyway, Chloe, completely frozen, stares at me with trembling eyes.
That look. That's what drives a person crazy.
Blue eyes you rarely see on a Korean, looking at me in terror—it naturally makes my cock stand straight up.
"Don't move."
I said that and used invisibility again. Because invisible fear is greater than visible fear.
Now invisible, I took my hand off Chloe's mouth.
Will she scream? Does she know it'd be useless anyway?
Fortunately, she didn't scream. She just trembled.
Influencer or not, she's just a powerless woman.
So she had no choice but to freeze up, unable to do anything at this surreal sight.
I picked the phone out of Chloe's hand and tossed it beside the bed.
Chloe looked at the phone and slowly turned her head back.
But there's nothing for her to see. She can't see me.
This time I pulled back the blanket. She flinched and curled up.
When her loose top was pushed up, she flinched again and grabbed it with her hands.
So I punched Chloe in the stomach.
The woman opened her mouth and gagged. I spoke to her again.
"Don't move."
But can she hear this? Can she hear what I'm saying?
"If you understand, nod."
When I told her to nod if she understood, Chloe nodded. Still trembling all over.
So she can hear me. Is it because I made the sound intentionally? Does that not count as presence?
That's a relief. I won't have to drop and reapply invisibility every time.