Chapter 10
Of course, I intended to let them leave.
“This hotel… what kind of hotel is this that a civilian… people who seem to know nothing about Hotel One… might go insane or even die with a single misstep, and I…”
The cat muttered.
“Yes, no, yes, no… hello… yes…”
“Was that you?”
“Yes?”
“Where did you learn such terrible speech?”
“Yes?”
“Clearly, one of us is insane.”
I wasn’t joking. This hotel genuinely kills people. He had, over countless playthroughs, seen countless guests die. To be precise, he had failed to protect them from the hotel’s malice.
But that had been fiction beyond a monitor. This was reality transmitted through all five senses.
‘I intended to respond politely and let them leave, but I couldn’t even speak.’
More than words, it felt like his thought circuits themselves were paralyzed. In front of the guests, Lee Yeon-woo was a diligent manager. He hadn’t even realized the moment he became that.
It was a compulsion similar to mental contamination but of a different nature. As if some ‘something’ had betrayed his will, making him want to accept these guests himself.
“Why?”
He had a hunch.
“Because before reality, the foundation of this place is a ‘game’?”
Hotel One had no function to refuse guests. Only the significance of each guest differed depending on the play style. Even now, almost all permissions were locked in this tutorial period.
“You must be insane.”
Such inflexibility.
‘I would have been fine if this were just a simple game.’
He had held onto that faint hope until the end. Even if Coco had referred to them as ‘people,’ maybe they were just advanced AI or elaborate NPCs.
‘But they weren’t.’
The moment he faced ‘human guests’ at the front desk, he had no choice but to accept it, whether he liked it or not.
‘I already suspected from the reactions of the monstrous guests that they were more than game characters. Sure enough, guests here cannot simply be reduced to data.’
Faces he had repeatedly seen through various channels and articles beyond the screen. They weren’t data bundles, but real people whose pulse and body heat he could feel.
Director Lee Sun-hae and writer Hong Kyung-yeon.
“No matter how I looked at it, they didn’t seem like game characters. The immediate reaction they showed when asked about the films they made couldn’t have been produced by rendering game resources.”
But still.
“…How on earth can they just let real people into this place?”
“…….”
“Coco?”
“No…”
“Are you even willing to provide a logical answer to my question?”
“No…”
“Fine, fine. Debating with a wall isn’t really my style anyway.”
Lee Yeon-woo’s emotional response was useless here. Mere venting wouldn’t solve the situation.
He already knew the other party wasn’t fully human, nor completely a cat.
‘It’s unclear if Coco even has the authority to answer.’
What good would pressuring Coco do in this situation? Trying to rush a child with limited language skills was not the action of a sensible man over forty.
“…….”
He calmed himself.
“…Embarrassingly, I got a little agitated. I apologize.”
“No!”
“Whether this disaster was caused by you or by some other intervention, we’ll figure that out later. Right now, the immediate priority is handling the aftermath. Arguing over who’s trash would be a waste of time.”
“Yes.”
“What’s important now is how to get these people out of here. I need to consider whether there’s any sensible escape route in this hotel.”
“Sensible escape.”
“Your language acquisition speed is impressive. Excellent. I just hope this learning doesn’t become a future disaster for humanity.”
“Yes.”
“So what I need to do is…”
The answer came immediately.
“Meals.”
“Yes.”
“Certainly the crucial part. It’s also a matter the guests have already requested, so failing to respond immediately would only arouse unnecessary suspicion. Yet we can’t provide something unverified either.”
“Meals.”
“Encouraging them to resolve it outside would be safest from their perspective. No, originally… where exactly is this hotel located?”
He paused to think, but could roughly deduce it.
“They said they came by car.”
“Yes.”
“And they said they got lost? Just a short move from the car to the hotel entrance and they were soaked by heavy rain, surrounded by mountains all around…”
“Yes.”
“If one believes that rain alone could cut off communications, this must be a remote location. Maybe in a secluded area of Gangwon-do, but at least within this radius, there are hardly any convenience facilities I know of.”
“Yes.”
“Going out to procure supplies myself would be the cleanest solution, but my movement radius is bound to this hotel system. So eventually, I might need to consider using ingredients already available here…”
He rolled his eyes dryly.
“I’m not sure if these ingredients are suitable for humans with typical biological structures.”
“Yes.”
“…Did you just say ‘suitable ingredients,’ Coco?”
“Yes.”
“…….”
Lee Yeon-woo decided not to consider the probability of Coco lying.
“Let’s try, once.”
It would be easier and faster if he became the control group himself.
“I’ll try it first.”
“Yes.”
“Just because I eat it doesn’t guarantee others can, but it’s more rational than standing by and watching the stomachs of our homegrown masters melt away. Isn’t it?”
“Rational?”
“I always miss the body of a healthy adult male at times like this.”
“Yes.”
“Though a bit older than the standard, it’s still the best clinical sample I can comfortably use. They say you forget the occupied seat but not the empty one… truly.”
“Yes… yes?”
Coco paused mid-answer and looked up at Lee Yeon-woo. Meeting that round gaze, he calmly nodded.
“The bodies of late adolescents have variations due to metabolism and hormonal factors. Normally, minors aren’t used as samples unless studying pediatric diseases or lacking alternatives. Theoretically, that’s how it is.”
“Yes?”
“Of course, we can’t be certain this body functions exactly like a 19-year-old, but even that introduces some variable uncertainty…”
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
Lee Yeon-woo nonchalantly adjusted his glasses.
“The conclusion is that this body is completely unsuitable for experimental purposes.”
What an unreliable sample.
‘Obtaining food itself isn’t too difficult.’
Even in this horror hotel, the concept of service existed.
Not just human guests, but even monstrous guests of unclear form often complained of hunger. Being a fundamental service, even the tutorial allowed at least minimal distribution.
‘Though my range of activity and permissions are restricted.’
The kitchen was off-limits. Cooking tools were unavailable.
“A hotel without a chef… the management is truly something else.”
“No.”
“I know. Later, a chef will need to be hired. Sounds far off.”
Lee Yeon-woo clicked his tongue while dryly observing the empty lobby.
“Still, I can at least summon the products the guests demand. Within this illogical system, at least.”
Where?
“…….”
In the hallway.
“…….”
“Yes?”
“Let’s try it.”
On either side of the guest room floors were small freight elevators called ‘dumbwaiters.’
Normally, dishes prepared in the kitchen would arrive via these, and a waiting staff member would transfer them onto trays for delivery to guests.
‘But now, in the tutorial stage, much is missing.’
Now that it was reality, he didn’t know the exact structure, but at this stage, Lee Yeon-woo could only obtain the outcome of ‘cooking’ from the dumbwaiter.
“…Do you think this will work for human guests too?”
“Yes.”
“Well, even in the game, the hotel’s food posed no problems for human guests. But whether that still applies now is questionable.”
“No.”
“Sometimes I envy your optimism.”
The problem was that even this rigid system had minimal procedures.
Under the tutorial, the operator had no discretionary power to provide service first. Only when guests made clear ‘requests’ would the dumbwaiter operate.
“I guess we need to ask what kind of meal the guests prefer.”
The system provided options, and Lee Yeon-woo was adept at picking the closest to the best among crude choices. That was the social skill he had honed as a person.
If there was a possibility, he had to act.
While they were in the middle of conversation, the phone rang.
“Phone?”
“From the front desk?”
“If not, no one else would contact us.”
“What could it be at this hour….”
The director picked up.
“Hello?”
―Excuse me, sir. Greetings from the front desk. I hope I’m not disturbing your rest.
A polite, gentle tone. The voice over the receiver seemed to perfectly echo the neat silhouette seen in the lobby.
‘I can tell who it is just by their voice.’
A slightly awkward chuckle escaped. Gentlemanly, polite, and dignified. Not just eloquent, but a tone that straightened the listener’s posture.
‘Even without seeing the face, this is the voice of a seasoned hotelier… no matter how I think about their age…’
Guessing the history in that voice, the director asked,
“Ah, yes. How can I help you?”
―We are reviewing options for breakfast service tomorrow. Do you have a preferred type of meal?
“Uh… meals are possible? I thought it might be difficult.”
―Nothing is confirmed yet, but we are adjusting for the best possible outcome. For room 2102, guests requested Western-style meals. If you specify, we can prepare something as similar as possible.
“Ah, then… wait a moment.”
The director glanced at the writer.
“Do you want anything for breakfast? Korean, Chinese, or Western…”
“…Korean?”
“You need something light in the morning. Okay, noted.”
He returned the phone to his ear.
“Korean would be fine.”
―Thank you. Any additional preferences? Ingredients you cannot eat, for example.
“No, not really. Just soup or porridge would be good. It’s easier to digest in the morning.”
―Thank you for the information. We will prepare it carefully within our capability for a comfortable breakfast.
“Wow, thank you.”
―Not at all. I am grateful for your response. Apologies for the sudden contact at this late hour. Please have a peaceful night.
“Yes, and you too, Manager.”
The call ended soon after.
“Why? They’ll give breakfast?”
“It might not be a buffet, but since they asked this specifically, I think they will provide it.”
“I even considered driving out tomorrow if necessary.”
“Even if the guests bring their own food, the staff will need to stay here. I think this is their way of using that.”
“So, from the beginning, it seems breakfast was possible?”
“The ingredients for staff meals can be used, but some picky guests wouldn’t like that. A little fussiness prevents upsetting eccentric guests.”
“How unusual are the guests here?”
“How many people don’t want to eat with staff? That’s common. So this isn’t unusual. Strange, yes, but not exceptional.”
“People are always troublemakers anywhere, huh.”
“That’s the way the world works.”
So they concluded.
Anyway, the staff would eat too.