Erosion
A cup of iced Americano after an all-night gaming binge, while watching the sky at dawn? There was no way I could resist that.
“Ahh... that’s cold.”
The coffee machine I’d bought for 300,000 points had been worth every last one of them.
It was a budget model, sure, but the aroma and flavor were worlds apart from instant coffee.
Drinking coffee on the open rooftop while looking out over a ruined world brought all the thoughts I’d been putting off back to the surface.
“What should I do about guests?”
This random-encounter way of having guests show up wasn’t bad.
Maybe it was the fact that I never knew what kind of person would walk through the door that made my heart stir a little.
Yu Ha-rin dragging those thugs here had been nerve-racking, but even that had its own strange thrill.
“... Am I crazy?”
That hadn’t just put Yu Ha-rin in danger. It had put me in danger, too.
And yet I found myself thinking it wasn’t such a bad kind of stimulation.
“... The apocalypse really does make people weird.”
No. I should shake that off.
“More importantly, maybe I should adjust the rate table.”
For Yu Ha-rin, I’d charged one low-grade mana stone, or about 50,000 points, for one night.
The system had decided that was a proper rate, but considering she’d thrown in six extra mana stones on top of that, it definitely seemed like I could raise the price.
Besides, I’d added the game machine and coffee machine to the lobby, and now there was a Dimensional Stabilization Room in the basement. It seemed fair to charge a little more.
“Hmm... maybe just two low-grade mana stones?”
Just one step up. About 100,000 points.
I’d learned while browsing the shop that these points, while not perfect, did map onto the Korean won.
So for the one-person single room Yu Ha-rin had stayed in, that came out to roughly 100,000 won.
Should I charge about one and a half times that for the newly opened room, the two-person standard? About 150,000 won.
“That’s expensive for a weekday rate, but not really if you think of weekend prices. Seems about right.”
Motel prices varied wildly by area and time even in normal times, but considering this was the apocalypse, it felt more than reasonable. Weekdays and weekends didn’t even mean much anymore.
“Next is the Dimensional Stabilization Room. How much should I charge for that?”
Letting motel guests use it for free didn’t make any financial sense.
Yu Ha-rin had opened an silver-grade cube and walked away with things worth more than 500,000 points, including high-grade mana stones and a spatial pouch.
“Then maybe around 250,000? Let’s not gouge them.”
If that wasn’t appropriate, I could always fix it later. For now, I set it at roughly that amount.
I revised the system’s suggested prices.
That way, if I accepted something other than mana stones, the system would judge whether its value was appropriate.
“Good. Next is... huh?”
A tiny flicker of light caught my eye in the distance, still dim with the last traces of night.
There was nothing around here except the small hill behind the motel, so it was visible from far away across the empty plain.
“A person?”
There were still people out there. Could they be coming to our motel?
“Would be nice if they were headed here.”
A guest meant a new event.
“If I have a choice, I’d rather it be a good guest than a headache.”
And hopefully a rich one, too.
So I emptied my cup and watched the light draw nearer and nearer.
***
A guest has arrived.
By the time the sun had fully risen, the message that a guest had arrived appeared.
I quickly finished cleaning the motel and went to sit at the front desk.
Ding-a-ling.
The bell attached to the front door rang to announce the guest’s arrival.
“Welcome.”
When I turned toward the entrance, I saw four people coming into the motel: two men and two women.
One of the women was clearly badly hurt, because she was being carried on one of the men’s backs.
“Is this the place?”
The man in front spoke first. Is this the place? What exactly was that supposed to mean?
“Well... if you mean a motel, then yes.”
“We need help. Our companion’s erosion has progressed severely. We’ll pay. Can we receive proper medical assistance?”
It certainly looked that way... but I didn’t have medical expertise or anything close to it.
“I’m sorry, but this is a motel, not a hospital.”
When I answered a little firmly, the man’s expression darkened.
“I see...”
“But if there’s anything I can do to help, I will. I’ll charge for it, though.”
“Really?”
The man brightened visibly.
“Yes. What kind of help do you need?”
“It’s the erosion symptoms. If we don’t do something soon...”
“Erosion?”
There really was such a thing.
If you were exposed to the gray rain falling outside, you could be infected.
At first it came with fever and chills, then gray crystal-like growths started appearing on the body, and later the victim turned into a monster.
“But this feels like I’ve heard of it somewhere... Ah.”
The Dimensional Stabilization Room.
That was supposed to prevent erosion.
Dimensional Stabilization Room: suppresses dimensional pressure, contamination, erosion, and spatial distortion from unstable substances to the extreme.
That was definitely what it had said.
“Would you come this way for now? We have suitable facilities in the basement.”
I was about to guide them to the Dimensional Stabilization Room.
“Wait. Are you really sure this is okay?”
That was when the woman cut in. With an axe and a sword at her waist, she looked like the group’s combat specialist.
“I’ve seen this kind of thing before. Luring people in and fleecing them.”
That was a fair suspicion, but from my side of things, it was a little irritating to hear.
“We had no other choice. You agreed too, and now what are you saying?”
“No, it’s just too suspicious. I didn’t expect this place to be this flashy.”
“Is that really the issue right now? Seoyun is about to die.”
“That’s true, but... Chief Kim, what do you think?”
She asked the middle-aged man carrying the injured girl on his back. His name seemed to be Kim Gijun.
“... For now, we have no choice but to trust him. Like Taeho said, there’s no other option besides this place. Even if we went to the nearest settlement, Seoyun wouldn’t hold out, and there’s no guarantee she’d get proper treatment there.”
Gijun sided with the man named Taeho.
“... Fine. But if anything seems even slightly off, I’ll cut you all down.”
The woman glared at me as she spoke. Pretty vicious.
“Then follow me. We’ll take the elevator.”
At that, the group frowned.
“An elevator. You haven’t ridden one before?”
“Ah, no. Let’s go.”
Taeho hurried into the elevator first.
The others followed after seeing him get on.
We went straight down to the second basement floor.
Passing through a short concrete corridor, we were greeted by the white metal door of the Dimensional Stabilization Room sliding open smoothly.
“What... is this place?”
The suspicious woman muttered under her breath.
“The Dimensional Stabilization Room. It should help prevent contamination and erosion. Please lay her here.”
I directed them to place the girl inside the faintly glowing circular pattern.
Taeho hesitated, but only for a moment, before laying the girl on the floor.
“Ugh...”
The girl let out a small groan.
Her fever was severe, and her breathing was ragged. She was trembling shallowly, as if chilled to the bone.
And now that I was seeing her properly, gray crystal-like growths had formed all over her body.
This... isn’t good, is it? She looked like she was right on the edge of turning into a monster.
No. Why even think about it? I couldn’t chase them out now, and if I said, “Isn’t she about to turn into a monster?” in front of them, I might end up getting stabbed.
“Ahem. I’ll go grab a blanket for the moment. You can wait here, or in the lobby. What would you prefer?”
“Ah, we’ll wait here.”
Taeho answered for the group.
“Understood.”
I went upstairs and fetched a clean blanket and pillow.
Since I was already up there, I also brewed three cups of coffee, loaded them with the blanket onto the cleaning cart, and headed back down to the basement.
“At least spread this out first. The floor’s hard.”
“Thank you.”
Gijun took the blanket, laid it on the floor, and placed the girl on top of it.
After only a short while, she visibly improved.
Her breathing steadied, and the fever seemed to subside as well.
Seeing that, the others seemed to relax a little.
“Is the patient feeling any better?”
“Yes. I’m not sure what sort of place this is, but it definitely seems to be working.”
Taeho said with obvious relief.
“Good. And this is on the house. Have a cup each.”
I offered them coffee.
“Co... coffee?”
Gijun looked genuinely surprised.
“Yes. Coffee. If you prefer mix coffee, I have that too.”
“Ah, no. It’s just been so long...”
Gijun took the paper cup, inhaled the aroma, and then took a sip.
“Sir! You don’t even know what’s in it...”
The suspicious woman chided Gijun.
“Ah, right. Fair point...”
Only then did Gijun seem to realize his mistake.
“Still, isn’t this fine? Coffee. Real coffee? I’d be fine dying after drinking this.”
“Sir, seriously...!”
“I’m joking. Can’t even make a joke?”
The middle-aged man seemed relaxed enough now to joke around.
“And this is a place that was recommended by that woman, so I think you’re being a little too wary, Yura. Isn’t it okay to trust them a bit?”
Gijun said that to the woman named Yura. So the suspicious woman’s name was Yura.
“That woman?”
Was he talking about Yu Ha-rin?
“Yes, yes. She’s a merchant operating around here, and she’s famous for being highly trustworthy. She’s also a considerable fighter in these parts. She’s the one who told us about this motel.”
So that was it. I hadn’t expected Yu Ha-rin to spread the word for me. I’d have to give her excellent service next time she came by.
“In any case, you two should drink as well. It’ll get cold.”
I offered coffee to Yura and Taeho.
They both accepted, but Yura didn’t touch it, while Taeho took a cautious sip before promptly gulping the rest down.
And so a brief silence passed with coffee between us.
“Ugh... ughhh...”
Then the girl named Seoyun began to groan.
“Se, Seoyun?”
Yura rushed to her side first.
“Hrk... it’s raining... it’s raining... black rain...”
Seoyun muttered half-conscious.
“And there’s a door... a door... that won’t open...”
The others seemed used to it, checking on Seoyun’s condition without much reaction.
Meanwhile, Seoyun kept mumbling things no one could make sense of.
“Excuse me, what is she talking about?”
I asked Gijun.
“Ah, Seoyun sometimes sees hallucinations like that. They’re not completely accurate, but they’re usually close enough. It looks like she’s seeing something now, too.”
“Hallucinations?”
“Seoyun is an Awakened. Among the people who awaken after being exposed to the gray rain, some turn out fine, but there are also those, like Seoyun, whose erosion symptoms appear in a normal way. It’s ironic, really. The worse the erosion gets, the stronger the ability becomes. Of course, the downside is that they can turn into monsters, too.”
Exposure to the gray rain could lead to awakening, but it could also cause erosion. That much was common knowledge.
But I was hearing for the first time that the more severe the erosion, the stronger the ability became.
So the closer you got to becoming a monster, the more of a monster’s power you could borrow? Well, there was another thing learned.
“Boss.”
Taeho called out to me.
“Thanks to you, Seoyun’s condition has improved a lot. I appreciate it.”
He bowed deeply.
Seoyun seemed to have fallen asleep again.
“No need. I’m not doing this out of kindness, and I’ll be charging you properly. There’s nothing to thank me for. Besides, this is just stabilizing her condition, not treating her.”
“Still. Treatment isn’t possible, and it would be best if she could stay here, but the cost... No, even so, you’re her lifesaver. I’ll do anything I can.”
“No need to go that far. Let’s talk about the price upstairs first.”
“Yes.”
We left Yura behind with Seoyun and went back up to the lobby.
Then we sat on the lobby sofa and discussed the price.
“The fee for using the Dimensional Stabilization Room is five low-grade mana stones. I won’t charge separately for the bedding. You can also pay with something other than mana stones if that’s easier.”
At that, both of their faces darkened slightly.
“Chief Kim...”
“That’s cutting it close...”
Together, they scraped up the four mana stones they had on hand, along with various other belongings, and managed to make up 250,000 points. But anything beyond that was impossible.
“I wish Seoyun could stay here longer...”
Taeho muttered miserably.
“How about we leave Seoyun here and go out to earn more money? If we raid a nearby dungeon, I think we can cover the cost of staying for a while.”
Gijun seemed to be thinking about an extended stay for Seoyun from the start.
“Ah.”
A good idea came to me.
“How about reaching level 3 and unlocking the Infirmary?”
Infirmary: increases recovery rates against various illnesses, including erosion disease. Supports low-level medical treatment. Additional functions are unlocked when specialized personnel are assigned.
The Infirmary probably wouldn’t have the absurd performance of fully curing erosion disease, but it was worth hoping for.
Besides, it was a facility I’d have to unlock eventually anyway, so there was no loss for me.
Level 3 authorization locked - cumulative guest count: 3, total nights stayed: 3 or more
Three guests, and three nights.
Yu Ha-rin had already covered one guest and one night.
Which meant I only needed two more people from this group to stay one night each, right?
With one patient and one guardian already in the Dimensional Stabilization Room, if I took the two of them as official guests, the level 3 requirement would be satisfied.
Of course, there wasn’t any more money to squeeze out of them.
But I didn’t need to receive mana stones specifically.
Information, labor, or even credit.
Besides, Gijun was already planning to strip a dungeon bare, so there was no problem.
That would be enough.
“Guest.”
I called Taeho in a serious voice.
“Yes, boss?”
“How about spending one night at our motel?”
---