Zombie Hotel Grand Opening
The zombies exploring Zombie Hotel [Amazon Resort] brought back a pamphlet they found. As expected, the island turned out to be where the creatures that attacked users on the Equator were staying. The pamphlet detailed all the entertainment options available to them and how the “festival” was conducted. Reading it, I realized one thing.
“Ah? Crocodiles aren’t sea creatures, are they?”
I had assumed the staff and the attackers were the same group of enemies. The reality was slightly different. During the Equator event, the guests had been the ones attacking users; the staff were merely hosts. Once I grasped the situation, everything made sense. According to the pamphlet, the guests’ “festival” was run like a surprise event. Normally, they would sink random ships on the ocean and let the guests swarm in to hunt. Even though the event had moved to land, the organizers weren’t about to change their traditions.
“In that case… this could work.”
If the organizers didn’t reveal our location or appearance, the guests wouldn’t be able to tell us apart from the staff. That meant we could proceed with the grand opening as planned. Clear the sandbags, open the doors, and welcome the guests. The Zombie Hotel was ready to open for business and stock up on sea-creature zombies.
Ding-ding-ding— Someone was furiously ringing the bell at the front desk. Baengnae, who had been in the staff room, waddled out with her mouth still full of the snack she had just made.
Baengnae swallowed everything in her mouth and announced, “Om nom nom, Baengnae working.”
The two guests with crab heads stared at the small child in disbelief. One of them clacked its mouthparts and spoke.
“We’re here to check in. This is a hotel, right?”
“Madda, Baengnae working.”
The crab-headed guest tilted its head, but at its partner’s tired look that said “just let it go,” it gave up and made an ordinary request.
“Give us one double bed.”
“Aratta.”
Baengnae handed over a random key and pointed to the door on the right. The crab paying the fee suddenly grew angry.
“Who the hell put this idiot at the counter? We asked for a double bed, and you gave us a single! And if it’s Building 3, it should be on the left—why are you pointing right?!”
“Madda.”
Baengnae handed over another random key. This time it was the key to a suite. Only then did the crab-headed guest break into a satisfied grin.
“See? You only understand when someone spells it out. Yeah? Let’s get along.”
Just then Park Seona, who was supposed to be manning the counter, came running in a panic. She had only stepped away to the restroom for a moment. Seeing the commotion, she asked what was going on.
“Baengnae, what are you doing here?”
“Guests came.”
The crabs hurried out of the lobby. They had just scored a suite from the idiot; the last thing they wanted was to run into a competent employee and lose it for a double bed.
“W-we’ll be going now.”
“Just a moment…!”
“No need, you’ve already helped enough. We’re busy!”
The crabs rushed toward Building 2. What they didn’t know was that no matter where they went, the ending would be the same. Every room had zombies stationed inside, ready to pounce on any guest and turn them into one of us.
“Business is booming.”
Sitting in a lobby chair and watching the whole scene, I grinned. Sea creatures were walking right into our trap. On the first day I had been half-convinced it would work. Once we hid the sandbags and left the main doors open, guests started showing up. I stayed alert in case the organizers had changed the festival rules, but there was no twist. Every visitor was a genuine guest, and by nightfall they had all become zombies added to my legion.
Following that, I assigned staff to each position. We had to look like a normal hotel. Only then would more guests, enjoying the festival on the island, drop by our hotel. There was one problem, though. If the island ran out of prey, the guests would eventually notice something was wrong. Someone might even start suspecting us. So I scattered bait. I still had quite a few fish-human zombies left from the Golden Lord. Every three hours I sent them out to roam the island and drop a few bodies before returning. Thanks to that, the guests never questioned the hotel’s operations and kept visiting.
“Turning fish into sea creatures, huh.”
Even while the hotel thrived, I hadn’t forgotten the event’s true objective. The ultimate goal here was to uncover the Equator’s secret and eliminate whatever core it possessed. I had already found a lead. After thoroughly exploring the island, I noticed every hotel bore the same logo: three dolphins. After kidnapping a staff member and interrogating them, I learned the island was run by three pink dolphins. Excellent news. According to the community posts about the Equator, the event involved moving red reefs to run ships aground. That meant the three pink dolphin brothers possessed the ability to control the red reefs. In other words, we could steal it.
The biggest headache I faced in these waters was the sea itself. My legion was powerless underwater. But if I obtained the power to control the red reefs, the ocean would no longer be an ocean. The red reefs would become our new battlefield.
“Sea creatures are important, but seizing the power to control the red reefs matters more.”
Ding-ding-ding— While I was thinking, another guest arrived. I stood up the moment I saw who was ringing the bell. This time it wasn’t a guest.
I approached the crocodile pressing the bell—the same gardener I had met at the Amazon Resort.
“What brings you to my hotel?”
He gave an awkward smile.
“Good to see you. Could we… talk for a moment?”
“Sure, why not.”
We sat in a corner of the lobby. The moment he took his seat, he blurted out,
“I got fired.”
I had no idea how to respond. Honestly, my first thought was, “So what?” It sounded like we were old friends. Why come running to me just because he got fired? Still, I had a feeling he was hiding something worth hearing, so I nodded.
“Explain what happened.”
The crocodile began to talk. He had worked on this island as staff for a long time, enduring all sorts of menial tasks and humiliation until he was recently promoted to head gardener. Then he lost the Amazon Resort to me and got fired. Up to that point I was ready to just turn him into a zombie, but what came next was actually interesting. Thanks to his position as head gardener, he knew things about the pink dolphins that I wanted to know.
He hadn’t been fired simply because the resort was taken. He had served the youngest of the three dolphins—the general manager. It was he who had informed the youngest dolphin of our existence and planned the “festival.” But things spiraled out of control. When news spread that the festival was happening on land instead of the sea, guests flooded in. That woke the other two dolphin brothers from their slumber. The youngest, the general manager, was naturally the weakest of the three. Once the problem grew too big, he threw the crocodile under the bus, claiming the gardener had planned the festival on his own and even lost the Amazon Resort. That was how the crocodile lost his job.
So in the end, his request was simple: he wanted revenge on the manager who had abandoned him.
“A new breed of idiot?”
Reporting to the weakest of the three dolphins had been a mistake from the start. But what followed was even messier. From what he said, he was the one who had spread rumors among the guests and escalated the situation. Now he had come to me—the very person who took the resort from him—asking for help getting revenge because he got fired.
I couldn’t begin to understand what was going on inside the crocodile’s head.
“So… what exactly do you want me to do?”
“Take the hotel back!”
“Should I just kill him…?”
What benefit would stealing a hotel bring me? I already had the Amazon Resort. At this point he might be completely useless even as a zombie.
“Hmm…”
Still, thinking it over, our goals aligned to some degree. Besides, he had held a fairly high position. He would have more information I needed.
“You want to catch the dolphins, don’t you?”
“Exactly!”
“Fine. Then let’s do this. I came here to hunt the dolphins. I have zero interest in hotels. So if you help me catch them, I’ll give you every hotel on the island.”
“Ooh! Ooh-ooh! Wonderful!”
The hotels on the Equator fundamentally ran on the festival. If I captured the dolphins, the power to control the red reefs would most likely disappear as well. I had no idea what he planned to do with the hotels afterward.
“Do whatever you want.”
According to the crocodile, the dolphins usually slept beneath the volcano. That meant they were incredibly strong. Having an informant made a huge difference, so I decided to use him for now.
“Let’s start with the manager dolphin who fired you. Where is he?”
The crocodile spread out a map he had prepared.
“The manager spends most of his time in the private hot spring behind his residence. Unlike his brothers, he hasn’t reached adulthood yet and hasn’t awakened his abilities.”
I chuckled. Now I understood why the crocodile was so indignant. Compared to Earth, the manager dolphin was like the youngest son of a chaebol family. He lived off his genes while the crocodile, who had tried to ride his coattails, ended up flat on his face and came running to me.
“So the other two have abilities?”
“Yes. The second brother can raise red reefs, and the eldest can control intense heat.”
“Good. I’ll handle the hot spring alone. For now, I’m appointing you as the manager of this place. When guests arrive, take their money and assign rooms appropriately.”
“Ooh! Wonderful! I knew coming here was the right choice!”
The crocodile dashed to the counter, overjoyed. In a single day he had gone from head gardener to unemployed to manager.
“What an idiot.”
I smiled inwardly as I watched him. I wondered what face he would make once he realized the guests he was checking in were all turning into zombies in their rooms.
“I’ll give you the hotels. A promise is a promise.”
Whether any life would remain on this island by then was another story. After all, I intended to scrape this Equator clean to the very bottom.