Chapter 20
“The depth of the guestroom bathtub is abnormally distorted. The water surges endlessly, and the body sinks. It will never rise again.”
“…….”
It was a cutscene line from the event Beneath the Shallow Water.
“The intervention condition is for the user to personally pull the soaked person out of the bathtub.”
As expected, it was an event where attention could be drawn.
In exchange for temporarily blocking the bathtub’s erosion, a penalty inevitably followed. A fixed occurrence of Drowning Nightmare at 100 percent probability. The persistent hallucination of being submerged underwater.
On top of that, a rapid deterioration of lung function and a drop in oxygen saturation. During sleep, a 90 percent chance of sleep apnea attacks. A 30 percent increase in command error rate due to system instability.
The worst possible conditions. Yet if luck was on his side, he could raise the Victim Conversion Flag. The probability that the user, instead of the guest, would become the abduction target would activate.
If that flag functioned properly, the human guests would fall into a relatively safe zone.
“Instead, I’ll be the one who dies.”
He felt nothing in particular.
Lee Yeon-woo looked at the large hand protruding from the bathtub.
“…….”
Patting it lightly, he sank back into thought.
“If pulmonary edema overlaps in this state, my organs won’t endure it. In the main game, there would at least be recovery items. But in the tutorial, that’s unlikely.”
It was practically telling him to die.
“No, if I’m lucky, I might not die.”
Still dangerous. But if he ignored it?
“The soaked one will designate this room as a permanent habitat.”
An unrecoverable penalty to reduced health and continued malfunction of room devices. In other words, his health bar would shrink and Room 703 would have to be abandoned. It would then be designated as an Entry Prohibited room.
Like in horror games. The kind of room the staff warns you never to enter. It would turn into exactly that sort of cliché space.
“That would be troublesome.”
He stopped patting the hand.
“…….”
“…?”
For a moment, the corpse’s hand seemed to twitch.
Lee Yeon-woo stared at it quietly, then spoke.
“I find this rather unfair. I am still adapting to this unfamiliar order, yet our monster guests have already perfectly internalized the hotel’s principles. I am reminded of my inadequate understanding at every turn.”
“…….”
“It seems you enjoyed our time in the bathroom quite a bit before. Triggering events in such succession suggests considerable interest and attention toward me. I am not certain whether you retain such ‘emotions,’ but…”
He wished they would leave the fragile human guests alone.
“I understand.”
He curved his lips into a professional hotelier’s smile.
“If my old friend wishes to play, there is no reason to refuse.”
He grasped the cold hand. In game terms, he had selected the option Hold the Hand. Perhaps because of that, despite a body as durable as overripe persimmon, he could exert a strong grip.
“I needn’t have worried about my health. Complaining in front of such a sensitive guest was unnecessary.”
Whether his body had turned into persimmon pulp or pudding, it adjusted automatically. It was not a body capable of such strength. Another privilege of the game system, perhaps.
Privilege might not be the right word.
“Shall we pull you out?”
The result, incidentally, was random.
If unlucky, he would be dragged into the deep sea.
“…Ha….”
Hong Gyeong-yeon was on the seventh floor.
“What am I even doing here?”
Indeed.
“No, get a grip.”
This was no time to stand dazed. He had to either flee or search the room thoroughly. His heart raced.
“Should I tell the director? Or do something myself? Is it even my place? He looks young, but Lee Yeon-woo is the general manager and a professional. Wouldn’t it be better to leave it to him rather than create a variable like me…?”
Leave that kind of thing to him?
“…….”
Was that right, as a human being? Shouldn’t he do something?
“…I don’t know.”
He did not even understand how this hotel operated. Acting rashly could cause a greater disaster. He had to restrain himself.
“Stay within the line.”
At least then, he would not become a variable.
“A guest wouldn’t kill the general manager, right? That wouldn’t happen. If I interfere and end up making things worse… that would cause even greater damage.”
He felt disgusted and ashamed at having to convince himself this way.
But agonizing changed nothing.
“…Right.”
Calm down first.
“I’m not rational right now.”
Maybe it was because of old memories.
Impulsive choices always led to regret. Hong Gyeong-yeon decided to return to his room. He needed to speak with Lee Seon-hae.
Yes. That was what he should have done.
Splash.
Something falling into water.
His head snapped toward the sound.
It came from Room 703, its door slightly ajar.
“Ah.”
His luck must be terrible today.
“Astonishing.”
Not only consecutive events, but losing a 50 percent probability gamble as well. Someone was clearly siphoning off Lee Yeon-woo’s luck. Coco and the hotel itself were prime suspects.
“Enough escapism.”
He looked ahead.
“Terrifying.”
It was the face of a fairly handsome young man.
“Hypocrite.”
Still blaming others whenever he opened his mouth.
“Warm hypocrite. Don’t live. Don’t live in front of me.”
A mouth torn wide, sharp teeth, red eyes. Scales rising along the skin and hair drifting underwater. A textbook water ghost, as if pasted from an illustration.
According to the description, he was crying even now. Beneath the surface, endlessly.
The compendium had recorded it. Though unseen beneath the water, they were always crying.
Lee Yeon-woo reached out indifferently and touched beneath the creature’s eye.
“…….”
His senses were dull.
Because of the Cold status effect, his peripheral nerves seemed numbed. Yet it did not hurt. Even now, with his throat constricted and body forced underwater.
If a character drowned, the user outside the monitor felt nothing.
“If there were no human guests, I would have ended this quietly here. Unfortunate for both of us.”
Of course, strictly speaking, the other was not human.
“Perhaps because it feels real unlike the game. Strangely, there’s a human scent.”
Conceptual manifestations. That was the nature of the monster guests.
Yet facing such hatred and desperate struggle raised another thought.
Was this truly just a game’s shell?
“Later.”
He looked toward the surface.
“Don’t leave me.”
“…….”
“I’m lonely. You’ve closed your mouth. I can’t hear you. Let’s sink like this. Die. Don’t live. You mustn’t be too warm. I’m lonely.”
If only he had been slightly more agreeable, he might have been less lonely.
“No items. I need another method.”
One drawback of the tutorial bug. He could not obtain items tied to shared guest events. He had wanted to avoid the bathtub event.
“Lonely.”
“Let’s see.”
Without items, death probability stood at 99 percent.
Which meant death was not guaranteed. Even a 1 percent gap was enough.
“I have a cheat against death.”
He was glad he had learned blood magic. Better to feign death.
The cold hand choking his throat. Sharp nails digging into skin. He released his grip.
In game terms, he had selected:
Use Item
Resist
Give Up
“Take it.”
“Hmm….”
The wide window of Room 21.
“Still can’t see from this side.”
Too much time had passed.
Lee Seon-hae knew Hong Gyeong-yeon’s habits. The cigarette pack he took had been light. Three at most. Yet he had not returned.
A bad feeling crept in.
“…He didn’t go to the seventh floor, did he?”
She put on her outerwear.
Hong Gyeong-yeon had lingered before Room 703.
He heard splashing, resistance. The heavy sound of something fully submerging. Then silence.
His trembling hand hovered near the doorknob.
“…….”
In the end, he chose to step away.
“Ugh….”
He retreated.
“There must be a reason the seventh floor is dangerous.”
He understood that much. There might be worse.
Lee Yeon-woo was a professional. The probability of Hong Gyeong-yeon causing trouble was far higher than the general manager dying.
He moved silently yet quickly toward the elevator.
“I’ll tell the director. She’ll make a better judgment. Maybe contact his relatives. Or…”
Lee Yeon-woo needed help. But not his help.
He admitted he was panicking.
“She should still be awake.”
Then.
Creak.
“….”
“….”
Wet footsteps.
His breath stopped.
He turned.
“…Ah.”
A tall man, soaked through, stood holding a knife.
“….”
“….”
A kitchen knife.
Why was he holding it?
For what purpose?
Hong Gyeong-yeon checked for blood first. None visible. It could have been wiped away.
He stepped back. The other stepped forward.
Through disheveled hair, he saw eyes and lips.
He was smiling.
Bloodshot red eyes. Lips soaked in pleasure.
Why?
He was not a coward. Just ordinary.
He startled at gunshots. Feared blood. Screamed at insects.
That was all.
But when cornered, he lost reason.
“What are you doing?”
He valued his life moderately. If he valued it more, he would not have followed Lee Seon-hae around in his twenties.
“What were you doing? Why the knife? What was that splash? Did you summon Lee Yeon-woo? Did you go to a water festival? Why do you look so happy?”
Sarcasm slipped out.
“Is it fun, tormenting someone who can’t even resist?”
Must be fun.
“You pervert.”
He might be accusing an innocent man. But the knife—
“Say something. Can’t talk? Sorry about that part. Not sorry about the rest. Can I call the police? Probably not. This insane hotel.”
“Why the knife? Going to stab me? If I beg, will you spare me? No? Thought so.”
The man’s expression twisted.
That irritated him more.
“…You’re insane.”
Then he saw it. Red under the nails. Blood at the lips.
“…You’re really insane.”
His face drained blue.
“119… why is there no signal… I want to cry… why does it smell like blood….”
Silence.
“Physically I’d lose anyway… I should’ve come with the director…”
Silence.
“Go ahead. Kill me. You think only you can bite? I’ve got hands and feet and teeth too.”
Silence.
“Let’s all die together.”
And at that moment, Director Lee Seon-hae arrived on the seventh floor.
From inside the elevator, she heard her colleague declare mutual destruction.
“…What is this?”
She was following the exact line of doubt Hong Gyeong-yeon had formed in the lobby.