Chapter 18
After seeing the guests off, Lee Yeon-woo thought to himself.
“Am I screwed?”
“Yes.”
“You wicked cat.”
“No.”
“Are you being sincere?”
It was utterly shameless.
Lee Yeon-woo had seen it. On the first-floor lounge, outside the line of sight of Director Lee Sun-hae and Writer Hong Gyeong-yeon. Behind them, staring intently at the three of them, the monstrous cat. That anxious gaze.
Absurdly enough, it looked as if it were saying, “You’re really going to leave me behind?” Those watery eyes.
“You’re hardly in a position to run away anywhere, so you can drop that look. I’m the one whose feet are tied to this hotel. Where exactly do you think I could go?”
“Yes….”
“Trying to smooth things over by acting cute? You’ve already made things sufficiently troublesome for me.”
“Yes….”
“Yes.”
He picked up Coco. As if it had never been sulking, the cat purred and rolled around in his arms. It was infuriating that it looked adorable. This must be Stockholm syndrome.
“…….”
Anyway, fine.
“…At least I left a minimal warning. I can only hope they’ll exercise restraint.”
He had been taught that giving people the benefit of the doubt was a virtue.
“The problem is less them and more me.”
What was he supposed to do with this walking general hospital of a body?
“If only I’d chosen my words better earlier, those two might have worried less.”
“Yes.”
“Though it wasn’t an entirely unfounded misunderstanding.”
“Yes.”
“What should I have said back then for it to be the right answer?”
Their reaction had clearly been along the lines of, “Are you being subjected to some kind of human rights violation somewhere?” If Lee Yeon-woo had been in their position, he would have reasoned similarly, given the same information.
Then again, who would believe that a place you stumbled upon after driving into the mountains and getting lost was actually inside a horror hotel management simulation game?
Even if it was a game, once it became reality, objectively speaking it was a problematic situation. He swallowed a sigh.
“Let’s go rest.”
“Yes.”
He had to do something about this status ailment of Stamina Decrease.
“This has become quite troublesome.”
Objectively speaking, Lee Yeon-woo was not in grave danger. It was true he was being subjected to involuntary confinement, but no real threat held validity for him.
Because it was a game.
He was aware that such a mindset was somewhat dangerous.
“But I remain vigilant about that as well. The calm I feel now isn’t delusion born of a lack of reality. It’s a perfectly logical relief derived from a situation that poses no tangible threat.”
Psychological pain? Certainly it existed. The bleak future, the pitiful anger at being unable to manage even his own body.
But physical pain? It had been cleanly erased, as though he had been anesthetized. He had even resurrected here after death.
“It’s not that it’s fine simply because it’s a game. There are many conditions that make it inevitably fine. The fact that it’s a game is just one of them.”
He was confined, yet he still had the goal of escaping. He was neither resigned nor dulled.
“Above all, entering a game I carried with me for twenty-six years has given me, however one-sided, a strong sense of familiarity. That contributes greatly to this stable mindset.”
The dot graphics had become reality. He felt excitement and fondness at seeing them in person, not fear. If he were frightened by horror elements, he would never have played a horror game to begin with.
At present, the only psychological pain factor was the presence of human guests. Please, just don’t get hurt. Leave alive. Other than that, the maximum of his own emotional suffering was irritation.
“So I’m fine, but….”
He pressed the operator elevator button firmly.
“Objectively speaking, it is not fine at all.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, I admit it. It’s a complete mess.”
He had been confined in this horror hotel for months now. The monster guests were eccentric, status ailments lingered even after optimal management, and he was frequently injured or killed. There were few people to talk to.
“On top of that, my body has transformed into that of a nineteen-year-old playable character. I can understand their reaction.”
If he were in the guests’ position, he would have worried about the General Manager as well. A youth who looked barely of age, in such an ominous hotel, possibly being abused.
“…….”
The elevator arrived at the lodging floor.
“But it would be troublesome for them to learn this hotel’s true nature.”
“Yes.”
“I agree.”
Lee Yeon-woo gently set Coco down.
“That said, I cannot simply leave their doubts and curiosity unattended. Especially if those feelings stem from a desire to help.”
Those people were not game data.
“They are not like NPCs within Ho-won whose behavior patterns were fixed. They can act unpredictably, beyond my common sense. Unlike the monsters, I do not have their predetermined routes memorized. If I grow careless, an unforeseen variable will surely arise.”
He wished to avoid variables beyond prediction as much as possible.
“Therefore, I must narrow the range of their actions. Paradoxically, that means resolving a minimal amount of their doubt and curiosity. That will make their behavior easier to anticipate.”
“Yes!”
“Then I must frame this hotel in the most realistic way possible….”
And information that framed the hotel in a realistic manner was already prepared. Left alone, they had prepared it themselves.
“A secretive, high-end psychiatric ward for morally bankrupt elites.”
“Yes.”
“I see. If that is the setting, then the bizarre presence of both myself and this hotel becomes somewhat plausible. It is an extreme hypothesis, but preferable to creating unnecessary dissonance.”
“Yes.”
“Though in that case, I cannot even begin to imagine how pitiful they must think I am.”
He supposed he should at least be grateful he was not suspected of being allied with the monster guests.
Being mistaken for the perpetrator versus being mistaken for the victim.
If forced to choose, the latter was preferable. His consistent goodwill had borne fruit. And this youthful face must have played a considerable role. Obvious enough.
“I keep saying this, but while I do not feel a tangible threat, objectively speaking I am indeed the victim.”
“No?”
“Regrettable.”
It did not appear they were about to scoop him up and run off with him. Perhaps they feared complicating matters further. If so, things could proceed as they were.
They would leave once their stay ended. Until then, he needed only to make it clear he had no intention of leaving this hotel and block any impulsive actions on their part.
“So the immediate top priority… is to make them believe there is nothing seriously wrong with me.”
In the worst case, presenting himself as allied with this wicked hotel was not an entirely bad option.
If they clearly understood that there was no one here to rescue, there would be no reason to risk themselves by staying.
“But that would also deal me a blow. For now, I will observe. There is no need to incur losses prematurely.”
Lee Yeon-woo sat on the bed.
“However, there is something I am curious about.”
“Curious.”
“What exactly did Writer Hong Gyeong-yeon imagine to make that expression?”
A pale face. A look of disbelief. Hong Gyeong-yeon was known for vast knowledge, strong memory, and imagination.
He had postponed the thought earlier to end the conversation smoothly. Now, back in his room, he reopened it. The clues given were few.
“The call this morning. Let’s begin there.”
“…….”
“Visual and auditory impairment that developed within a few hours. Cognitive anomaly. Sensory integration problem. A guest who likes water. A dangerous hotel. A dangerous guest. Perpetrator… victim… operator, manager, staff….”
“…….”
“Higher-order sensory recognition disorder… TBI, traumatic brain injury? No external signs. TLE, temporal lobe epilepsy? No corresponding symptoms. FND, functional neurological disorder… similar conditions perhaps… Or HIBI, hypoxic-ischemic brain injury? Cerebral hypoxia due to suffocation? No marks on the neck… Hard to confirm….”
Various neurological terms spilled from his lips. Which one had she diagnosed him with?
“…….”
“Water? Right, I did say… HIBI… sensory avoidance, dissociation. Dissociative perceptual detachment… Water, hypoxia, sensory separation… Ah.”
“Yes.”
“Ah, ah… wait.”
Perhaps he had briefly lost his mind. It had been a while since social interaction; maybe his brain had rusted. Even considering that, it was foolish.
Even in confusion, he should not have made such a mistake. Regret surfaced belatedly.
“I shouldn’t have mentioned the guest who likes water.”
If he hadn’t, they might have detained him longer. The situation might not have ended smoothly. Even without that clue, they could have imagined other possibilities.
Still, he shouldn’t have said it.
Water torture was far too frightening a word.
“Water torture?”
The expression vanished from Director Lee Sun-hae’s face.
“Did I hear that correctly?”
“I’m not certain.”
“Fine, tell me this uncertain assumption. I’m listening.”
Hong Gyeong-yeon explained at the table.
“It could have been simple distraction. But that possibility is low. The space was quiet and empty. With minimal environmental stimuli, sensitivity to external change should increase. You raised your voice above average. He should have recognized it auditorily.”
“I suppose.”
“You entered his field of vision. Moving figures should be detected. At that time, Mr. Lee Yeon-woo did not appear immersed or stressed. At least outwardly, he seemed composed.”
“So?”
“External stimuli should have entered consciousness more easily. Yet he failed to recognize human presence. That suggests a medical or psychological malfunction, either of which is serious.”
“You’re my personal encyclopedia.”
“Oh, stop.”
He was no doctor or detective, but as a genre writer he had researched extensively and witnessed extreme crime situations. The accumulated data was not negligible.
“I considered three possibilities.”
“Three? I was just worried about the poor kid.”
“First, higher-order sensory integration disorder. Second, sensory dissociation. Third, selective perceptual blocking.”
“I don’t understand that.”
“Selective perceptual blocking is failing to recognize specific people or conditions. But that seems unlikely here.”
“Right.”
“That leaves sensory disorder and sensory dissociation.”
He explained further.
“When blood flow to the brain decreases sharply, aftereffects can remain. Ten seconds of strong pressure can cause fainting. Thirty seconds can damage brain cells. Two to three minutes may result in long-term impairment. Cognitive disorder, aphasia, sensory loss, even death.”
The director leaned back.
“So you’re saying…?”
“If this were the case, voices and faces could be unconsciously erased from awareness. Sensory impairment would align as well.”
He swallowed.
“Occipital and temporal lobe damage could cause failure to recognize people visually and auditorily.”
Silence followed.
“And you think that happened?”
“If he visited the seventh-floor guest and said he ‘played’ with a guest who likes water… and if symptoms developed within hours… then the likely suspect would be that seventh-floor guest.”
“And?”
“Underwater extreme survival experience.”
“Meaning?”
“Repeated hypoxia. Suffocation. Intentional submersion. In other words… water torture.”
Silence fell heavy.
Director Lee sighed deeply.
“This hotel really is exhausting.”
Meanwhile, in the operator’s quarters.
Lee Yeon-woo, pondering how far his image had fallen, fell asleep — only to be forcibly awakened while still under the Stamina Decrease status.
“…….”
An event occurred.
“…Room 703….”
The Wet Person. The second event.
He sat up. Coco, stretched beside his face, rose naturally, as if accustomed to company policy. Not even pretending to be startled.
He checked the cat, the clock, then the mirror.
In a cracked voice, he muttered,
“Have I gone mad?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“Please let me sleep.”