Chapter 34
Lee Seonhae, who had been standing blankly, finally moved her feet.
“……”
Hoo—
She steadied her breathing.
Then opened the door.
“……”
A changing room and a shower room came into view.
‘…If I go out from here….’
When she opened another door, a corridor appeared.
She checked the signs where Korean and English were mixed together and turned her body. So it really was the Aqua Park where I had been, she thought, and walked along the path. The route was not complicated. The signs were also well placed.
She pressed the elevator button. Soon the doors opened.
“……”
Ding—
Reaching the first floor took only an instant.
Was it just her imagination? The lobby seemed to have more people than before. Even if one counted, it was still only a handful, but the increase itself was certain.
‘…Are those people monsters too?’
Were they born human and became monsters, or were they monsters from birth?
She did not try to meet anyone’s eyes. Even though she made no attempt to look at them, she could still feel gazes landing on her. It reminded her of the feeling she had inside the Aqua Park.
Lee Seonhae looked toward the counter.
“……”
Only employees with identical expressions were standing there.
The neat face she remembered was nowhere to be seen. The young face that was clearly that of a student, the bloodless pale skin, and the eyes that would curve slightly whenever their gazes met.
Even the fatigue behind it and the dry, expressionless face that she had somehow grown used to in just a few days.
“…Right.”
Lee Seonhae muttered reflexively.
‘He said I wouldn’t die.’
As if persuading herself, she turned her head and pushed open the lobby’s main door. The first thing she heard was the sound of raindrops.
“……”
“…Oh.”
A black sedan belatedly entered her sight.
“This is surprising.”
“……”
“I didn’t expect you to come out so completely alive. Then again, you’ve always had luck in situations like this since you were little. And talent as well.”
An elderly man with a healthy body. His hair was fully white and his skin was wrinkled, yet his physique remained sturdy.
“…My respected uncle…”
“I was going to ask if I could purchase some of your belongings as relics, but it seems there’s no need for that.”
“Why are you here?”
As though caring for his beloved niece, the old man personally opened the rear door of the sedan.
“Get in.”
“You seem to know quite a lot?”
“I thought you had long passed the age where you’d feel joy standing in the rain.”
“I’ve seen kids die a few times.”
Lee Seonhae muttered.
“I’ve even seen them die because of me…”
“……”
“This is the first time I killed someone so that I could live.”
“……”
“…It’s a bit…”
“Are you tired?”
“Yes.”
“You’re indulging in luxury that doesn’t suit you.”
“Seriously.”
You really—
She swallowed the rest of the words and spoke with a weak smile.
“This is why I dislike you.”
“That too is meaningless.”
“Haha.”
Lee Seonhae stood there for a moment.
A few minutes later, she got into the car.
Congratulations, General Manager.
You have successfully completed the Beginner Administrator Course.
A portion of this hotel’s authority has been transferred to you.
Tutorial Results
Customer Service: ★★★★★
Room Management and Cleaning: ★★★★★
Staff Management: ★★★★★
Security and Safety Management: ★★★★☆
Facility Operation Management: ★★★★★
Overall Rating: S
New Feature Unlock Notice
Full Interface Activation
Management System Module Unlocked
Sensory Expansion
Entity Detection Enabled
Area Unlock Notice Open Version Exclusive
25F Rooftop Garden
23F Aqua Park
22F Sky Lounge and Dining
3F, 5F–6F Lifestyle Zone
2F Grand Ballroom and Buffet
B1 Staff Rest Area
B5–?? Hunting Grounds
Status Change Summary
Manager Rank Lv.1 → Lv.763
External Observation Attempts 0 → 3
Resource Accumulation ■■,■■■,■■■
Play Time Elapsed Total 1,770 Days
Tutorial Reward Acquisition
Nightmare Assets ×300
Random Box ×1
Staff Recruitment Tickets ×10
Explore the hidden floors and reach the dark truth of this hotel.
From this point forward, every decision you make will determine the fate of this hotel.
“……”
The system window filled his entire field of vision.
Lying on the bed with a frown between his brows, Lee Yeonwoo muttered.
“…Things I already know….”
He had played this game for twenty-six years. If he didn’t know it by now, that would be stranger.
He blinked slowly with stiff eyes. The sensation of sleep deprivation. It was an unpleasantness he knew well. He raised his upper body and stared blankly at the translucent window floating before him.
“…Hmm.”
To be honest, what he felt first was technical awe.
‘I wondered how the interface would be applied, and indeed. So this is how they implemented it.’
Within the knowledge he possessed, it most closely resembled augmented reality technology. It wasn’t his field of expertise, but the level of completion was overwhelming enough to shock anyone in the industry.
‘What principle is this based on? If there were some kind of device attached to my eyeball or brain… no, that alone wouldn’t explain certain parts. It’s not a HUD method either. If the medium is air, achieving this level of resolution and stability would be physically almost impossible….’
At that point, Lee Yeonwoo closed his eyes and cut off the tail of his thoughts.
“……”
He wiped his face.
“…If my thoughts are drifting like this, is it because of sleep deprivation?”
“Yes.”
“I thought this body was designed not to be affected by sleep time.”
“No.”
“Well, I suppose there will be time to study that later.”
He had just returned from death. Resurrection itself was a familiar procedure, but this time another person’s life had been at stake as well. Yet right after overcoming that ordeal, here he was worrying about the operating principles of the system.
‘I should get my mind straight first.’
With a deep breath he raised his head, and only then did something resembling rationality return.
“Did Director Lee Seonhae leave the hotel safely?”
If the bug had worked properly, she should have been able to leave without any separate procedure. Still, the Wet Person in the Aqua Park had been in an ambiguous state, so he had been quietly worried.
If things went wrong, he had even been considering personally escorting the director out of the hotel.
Coco, who had been staring straight up at Lee Yeonwoo, lifted its head sharply and repeated his words.
“Left safely.”
“…Ah, good.”
Lee Yeonwoo smiled faintly.
“That’s a relief.”
It was a good outcome. No one had died. Whatever the process had been, it was the result he wanted.
“How many days has it been since I died during the event?”
“Days.”
Coco bounced three times on the bed.
“Ah, three days.”
“Three days.”
“I thought I taught you how to count numbers and dates.”
“You did.”
“Are you pretending not to know on purpose, or did you forget already?”
“No.”
“What exactly do you mean by no….”
Lee Yeonwoo picked up Coco. It was squishy, lukewarm, and soft. The texture and volume were excellent.
“……”
It was over.
‘My career as well.’
A dry laugh escaped him at the absurdity of the situation. At this level, how many years of prison would he have to serve? He had always prided himself on living a fairly honest life, yet now he would have no face to show the world.
“Even if I claim it happened against my will, it won’t matter.”
“No?”
“No.”
After all, he had been the one leading the situation, and he couldn’t deny that he had failed to immediately release the people.
Lee Yeonwoo closed his eyes for a moment and organized the situation.
‘I was a kidnapping victim, but in the end I cooperated with the operation.’
In other words, he had knowingly allowed someone to remain in danger.
“Article 32… Article 33… If I’m lucky, maybe Article 30….”
“……??”
“Simply participating in a criminal organization is likely to result in imprisonment. If I emphasize that I was kidnapped, I might manage to negotiate it down to probation or a short sentence.”
Coco tilted its head. Judging from its restless movements, it seemed somewhat flustered. It appeared to have even learned fairly humanlike gestures.
“……”
How eerie.
As if cutting off his thoughts, Lee Yeonwoo grabbed Coco’s cheeks and squeezed them. The soft texture pressed between his fingers.
“What principle is this texture based on, anyway….”
“Of course, these are worries for when I can fully return to society.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
Suddenly an uneasy feeling crept over him.
It felt as though a great many things had changed.
“—Cough.”
Ah, honestly.
Bad premonitions never miss.
“Cough, kgh! Ugh…!”
Blood dripped from his mouth and nose, and even from his ears and eyes. He tried to block it with his hand but soon gave up. It didn’t take long to realize it was meaningless.
‘At this rate, I might die.’
Only after repeating several rounds of harsh breathing and violent blood-spitting coughs could he finally raise his head. His hunched back slowly straightened.
“Haa….”
Coco circled anxiously beneath his ragged breathing.
“…I’m fine.”
“No, no, no.”
“To be precise, this situation seems not fine at all, but strangely enough my mind is calm. Have I finally gone insane?”
“No….”
“Why are my brain and my mind moving separately?”
It was clearly a serious situation. He was used to dying and getting injured as a game character, but he was far calmer now than he had been then. In fact, it almost felt like nothing serious was happening.
‘How should I explain this.’
Ah, right. It felt exactly like that.
‘Like the time I got a nosebleed after researching until seven in the morning because of consecutive overtime shifts….’
…Wait. Then that means it’s definitely not okay.
“…Anyway, it’s certain that a major change has occurred in this body.”
“Yes.”
“Yes. Even before this my durability was incomparably miserable, but now even the system that guaranteed minimum survival seems unable to function properly. Otherwise I wouldn’t feel like my lifespan is decreasing just by breathing.”
“Yes.”
“I must be insane. What exactly went wrong? There are too many possible causes to pinpoint the exact one. If this continues, basic survival itself will become difficult….”
His body was continuously collapsing. His mind was also cracking and blurring.
Lee Yeonwoo lowered his head and looked at the fingertips of the hand where he had thrown off his glove.
“…The color has already changed.”
One of the penalties that followed when making a contract with the Wet Person. In the game’s terminology, it was called Terminal Cyanosis. It meant the ends of the hands and feet turned blue and became extremely vulnerable to impact.
“With this, I can’t even dream of walking around barehanded anymore.”
Wouldn’t it attract too much attention?
“How very unfortunate.”
“……”
“…Cough, kh—!”
“No! No! No!”
Another coughing fit erupted. It was a semi-permanent penalty with no way to avoid it.
‘Terminal cyanosis. Chronic hypothermia. Drowning-type coughing fits. Automatic breathing suppression in front of large bodies of water. Auditory distortion from water. Re-experiencing drowning syndrome. Obsessive impulse toward waterfronts….’
Wasn’t it astonishing? Seven penalties in total.
Such was the terrifying prestige of the monster guest shared by both versions. Even while coughing as if his organs might spill out, the future looked pitch dark.
‘Not overcoming it. Enduring it.’
That was how this game was played.
“Hup… haa….”
Only after vomiting for quite a while did Lee Yeonwoo lean his body back against the chair.
“…Ha….”
His body and mind were in tatters. Like a rag.
“…Instinctively I can feel that the fact I’m still alive right now is nothing short of a miracle. What a peculiar sensation. The system, the blood ritual, the bug, and the contract penalty are all tangled together, somehow maintaining the shape of a human… barely.”
“……”
“It feels like a Jenga tower full of holes… something like that.”
A Jenga tower that would collapse if even a breath hit it wrong.
‘The only consolation is that the materials are tangled together heavily enough that it won’t collapse easily.’
He probably wouldn’t die just from breathing, but it was certain that he had become someone who had to be extremely careful.
“If my memory isn’t mistaken, coughing blood or vomiting blood is not included in the Wet Person’s penalties.”
“Yes.”
“It’s probably the influence of the Red Heart Sinking Blood Ritual.”
“Yes….”
“If it’s not pneumonia or a stomach ulcer, and this is simply occurring because the internal organs have softened, that would at least be fortunate.”
No. He corrected himself.
No, it absolutely was not fortunate. Let’s not deceive ourselves.
‘Still, being able to guess the cause is relatively fortunate. Few things are worse than being unable to grasp the situation at all.’
There was something he suspected.
One of the penalties. Drowning-type coughing fits.
A symptom caused when the internal organs fill with water.
The lungs, closer to blood than organs, would cause it to look like vomiting blood.
In other words, I had just coughed up the blood that functioned as my organs—
“……”
“Hello….”
“…I was just thinking for a moment.”
“You were thinking?”
“About what fatal impact picking up and eating that vomit again would have on my dignity as a human.”
“What?”
“Yes.”
No. Impossible.
‘I truly have the worst possible synergy.’
The Red Heart Sinking Blood Ritual had turned his entire body into something equivalent to bloodwater, and the drowning ghost contract penalty was now draining that blood outside.
There was no way to avoid anemia like this.
‘No. This isn’t something that can be described with a refined word like anemia.’
This was no different from dying in real time.
‘In normal terms, every time I cough, part of my organs is falling out in chunks.’
The Red Heart Sinking Blood Ritual. A ritual that turned humans into eternal bloodwater.
In this body, every single drop of blood was not simply liquid but the only physical asset he possessed.
“……”
Whether it was his blood,
or someone else’s.
“…And as long as I remain contracted with the Wet Person, I must continuously spit out this asset. Unless I switch to a new save file, I cannot cancel the contract.”
“Yes.”
“So this means… this cannot be solved simply by vomiting. It means that to guarantee my survival, I must solve the inevitable anemia problem by using another method.”
Suddenly the records of the Red Heart Sinking Blood Ritual came to mind.
“According to the records, every test subject of the ritual became a monster that craved blood. Drinking blood, chewing raw flesh, enjoying cannibalism.”
“Yes.”
“I do not feel that kind of impulse. Perhaps it’s because I succeeded in the ritual unlike them? That’s fortunate, very fortunate, but even without the impulse… doesn’t this mean I’ve also ended up in a situation where I must obtain blood from outside?”
“Yes!”
Lee Yeonwoo looked down at Coco sitting on his knees.
It wasn’t difficult to read what Coco was thinking. This cunning cat, honestly.
“You were just thinking of a way to take blood from human guests.”
“No?”
“We cannot accept human guests.”
“No?”
“There is a limit to turning someone into a criminal. Now you intend to make me a cannibal beyond a simple murderer? Just how far do you plan to drag me down—cough—!”
“……!! No! Hello! No! No!”
“Stop, I’m… fine… ugh…!”
“Hello!!!”
Blood ran down from his mouth. Coco circled frantically beside the collapsed Lee Yeonwoo.
This absurd chaos and blood-vomiting only subsided after two hours.
Yes. A full two hours.
“…Even in the game, there were sections where coughing fits were frequent.”
The timing of contract penalties was usually random.
Or sometimes constant.
“How unfortunate.”
“Yes….”
“With this, am I even human?”
Lee Yeonwoo stared at the bloodstains scattered across the marble floor.
‘How ridiculous.’
The pool of blood was too thick and wide to merely call it a trace.
The blood that had fallen from his body lay silent, yet Lee Yeonwoo could feel that it was still alive.
The pool was not dead liquid. It was still connected to him as part of himself.
His pale fingertips quietly brushed over his solar plexus.
‘Something…’
…felt empty inside.
“…At this rate….”
I might never be able to remain human.
“……”
“……”
After a long silence, Lee Yeonwoo added in a low voice.
“…Let’s find a way.”
Any way at all.
A way for me to remain myself.