Chapter 22
Hong Gyeong-yeon laid out everything he knew.
“He looked very tired.”
It began with the conversation he had overheard behind a pillar in the lobby, between Lee Yeon-woo and someone else.
“He wasn’t smiling. His expression was completely different.”
For example, that face.
“He seemed like someone with the authority to run the hotel autonomously. But it felt like that authority had been given to him regardless of his own will, not something he chose voluntarily.”
“So not a helpless victim?”
“But he was being forced. There was a clear hierarchy and conflict between him and the one he was speaking to. Strangely intimate, yes, but the distrust seemed stronger….”
For example, his role and authority.
“He was trying his best to protect outsiders. He knows this hotel is very dangerous. It looked like he felt a sense of responsibility, maybe even guilt, about that.”
“Was it a desire to control?”
“…I can’t say it wasn’t that at all. But it felt more like he was willing to endure suffering himself if it meant protecting outsiders like us. So that no victims would be created.”
“Ah, I see. Protect.”
For example, his attitude toward them.
“He asked why it had to be him. Still, he said that compared to anyone else, it was right for him to be in that position.”
“He understands his role, but doesn’t accept it.”
“Yes. He said he understood.”
“He deliberately put that into words. Self-persuasion on the verge of resignation?”
“Whichever it is, it’s similar, isn’t it?”
“He’s in a position where he already knows and analyzes both this hotel and the system.”
Self-awareness. Self-mockery.
“He called it an event. It sounded like there are recurring patterned dangers in this hotel. Those are outside Lee Yeon-woo’s control.”
“Can that be included within the rules? Or is it a danger outside the rules?”
“I’m not sure. Since he called it a game, it feels like some kind of experiment… or entertainment-based system… but I don’t know exactly what.”
“Oh, a game? That’s chilling.”
And then, the structure of the hotel.
“And?”
“…When I went to the seventh floor, I heard a loud splash. Like something large falling into water.”
“So?”
“It came from Room 703. The door was slightly open. There was splashing, like something trying not to sink completely. I heard scratching against the floor tiles, hitting against the bathtub.”
“Obviously from the bathroom.”
“Then eventually, splash….”
“Fully submerged.”
“…It went quiet.”
Like the heavy sound of water he heard in front of Room 703.
“…After that, I tried to go call you, without making footsteps, heading toward the elevator. That’s when he came out. Holding a knife. And you saw it, didn’t you? There was blood on his clothes. How was I supposed to know who he stabbed with that knife?”
“There wasn’t blood on the knife.”
“But he came out of the bathroom. He could have washed it and brought it out afterward. His eyes… they weren’t sane. It didn’t seem like he would respond to words. And of all things, there was blood… on his mouth….”
“Blood on his mouth.”
“The inside of his mouth was red. His teeth were bright red, like blood was stuck between them. I thought maybe he had eaten something. I… I really… where would I ever see something like that? How was I supposed to stay calm?”
“Blood stuck between his teeth?”
“You don’t get like that just from drinking or touching it to your lips. You’d have to put it in your mouth and chew for it to look like that. No, I’m sorry. I don’t really know. I was too shocked… with drowning, with injuries… I thought Lee Yeon-woo might really be dead.”
“But he was alive.”
“…Yes.”
That was what he had been talking about.
“……”
Lee Seon-hae let out a breath.
“If this were a horror movie, we’d already be dead.”
“…Uh… yeah….”
“That’s how it usually goes. Guests lured in by thrills, a spectacular murder at a mountain hotel….”
“A classic thriller scene.”
“I suddenly feel apologetic.”
She let out a small laugh. It was self-mockery mixed with guilt.
“I guess living only in safe places dulled my instincts. Maybe I lost my sense of reality. Or maybe I became too complacent. Stirring things up without preparing anything properly, and in the end causing trouble.”
She remembered the day they found this hotel.
“It was a subject that would make people like us lose our minds, right? A mysterious hotel discovered by accident after getting lost… Isn’t that interesting?”
“……”
“A murder hotel in the mountains during the rain. In a movie, that’s an exciting premise. But when it becomes reality, all its ugly underbelly shows. It can’t just be entertainment.”
“I wasn’t unaware of that….”
“Maybe this was a kind of arrogance.”
“…I suppose so.”
It won’t be dangerous enough to become a real problem. Even if it’s dangerous, we have experience. Like before, we’ll manage it well this time too.
Those thoughts.
“It must’ve been facing real dopamine for the first time in a while. Lost my head. Is there nowhere to report something like this? Like reporting a drug addiction? Maybe I should’ve kept going to counseling.”
“They say addiction isn’t cured. It’s endured.”
“Cigarettes, drugs, gambling, they’re all like that, aren’t they? Yeah, I guess so. Lived responsibly for years after quitting gambling, then the moment I held dice again, I lost my senses and rushed in.”
“When you put it like that, it’s embarrassing. Like we’re too old to act like this.”
“I always think this, but we’re not meant to be virtuous people. We never mature. I’m over forty and still think I’m young. It’s not an age where mistakes are tolerated anymore….”
“We needed more caution.”
“Still, if I’m being honest, I didn’t expect this hotel to be rotten all the way down.”
South Korea was, at least on the surface, a country where public order was maintained. There were places operating in the shadows, behind or alongside authority. But perhaps because the country was small, such places were relatively few.
“That’s why I let my guard down.”
She had not imagined something this vicious and complicated. She had not thought a place like this could exist unnoticed.
“……”
“Unbelievable….”
Fatigue pressed heavily on her shoulders. It was self-reproach.
“If it were a typical illegal cartel, I could at least pull some strings and try something. But I hate places like this the most. When people who move money decide to do something dirty, it’s hard to intervene.”
“…At least wars or criminal organizations are honest about their desires….”
“The bigger they look, the greater the profit.”
But this place was different. It lowered its body, shrank its scale. That way it could operate longer, extending the period of profit.
“…Right. Sleep.”
“What?”
“Sleep.”
She made Hong Gyeong-yeon lie down.
“In this situation, what are you—”
“Quiet. As if you did anything worth bragging about.”
“No, I….”
“Not that I did much better, but you’re worse.”
And then.
She picked up her phone.
“……”
Even though it was just before sunrise, the other person answered.
“…Yes, Uncle.”
“……”
“It’s been a while.”
The mountains beyond the wide window were beautiful in the sunlight. It was still drizzling, yet they only sparkled. An unexplainable discomfort pressed on her heart.
“It’s nothing much. I went to Gapyeong this time and found a hotel. Yes, a hotel. No, not like that… I got lost in the mountains and found it. Yes, yes.”
Lee Seon-hae sat on the sofa, gazing outside. The interior design radiated selfishness, built to monopolize nature and observe it conveniently.
“Right, there’s nothing around it. The staff here don’t talk much. Yes, probably… yes. There is a general manager. Looks about nineteen. The guests are a bit strange. Yes, well. Yes, all of them.”
The fatigue of sleeplessness came not as drowsiness but as pain. Her head throbbed, but she wasn’t sleepy. She answered with a habitual smile.
“…It’s a disease, I guess. You know how I go crazy over things like this. Can’t give up my beloved dopamine. But there’s a kid here. Looks barely twenty… This is a bit….”
“……”
“He gets hurt. A lot. I was shocked seeing him today. Yes, it looks like the guests are harming him. No, he really is the general manager. Seems like a co-owner. Yes, yes.”
“……”
Soon a short exclamation came through the line.
“You’re lucky you didn’t die.”
It was advice spoken with the affection of an uncle.
“Do just enough and get out, Seon-hae.”
“Should I?”
“It’s a miracle your body and mind are intact. That hotel owner seems to have shown you considerable consideration. For someone in that role to care that much… truly miraculous. If you don’t want your precious writer to die, don’t touch it anymore.”
“Ah, I see.”
“You won’t walk out safely just by using my name. Don’t be stubborn like last time. You know how much I worry about you.”
“Of course.”
After exchanging formal pleasantries, she ended the call. She collapsed back onto the sofa.
And then she laughed.
“Ah, seriously.”
It was too funny.
“This damn world.”
When she was young, she had been curious about the bottom of this world.
But even the places Lee Seon-hae had been allowed to see were few. And nowhere had she found an actual bottom.
She had wanted to see the end, yet admitted it was beyond her ability. A cherished colleague had returned home with trauma. Beliefs, wishes, and wounds.
“……”
They probably should not have opened the door to this hotel.
Regret would be too late now.
As a matter of basic human decency, she would at least try to clean up the mess.