086. Escape from Hell Hotel
086. Escape from Hell Hotel
I descended to the first floor.
There I reunited with the staff member wearing the clown mask.
【Reformed Guburi】─Pierrot hi!
【Hottie Licker】─lol why are you greeting them in chat *lick
【Plum Tree】─Se-hun I've been wondering is that thing actually a mask
【Qkrnfl892】─Of course it's a mask. You think that's their real face?
【Plum Tree】─Can't we just rip it off once
『'Gyejipsa' has left.』
【Dick Lover】─Looks kinda weird to me too. You could probably tell up close.
【Drift AI】─I will state. I state that it is not a mask.
【Yoho】─So that's their face?
【Min-ji】─Maybe it's just makeup
『'Gyeleujileubsa' has entered.』
【Bubblegum Collector】─Warkyarpya! Don't even know their gender! Doesn't seem human!
【Gyeleujileubsa】─Warkyarpya! I have no gender!
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─Gyejipsa came back with a dumbass name change
Mask or not, it didn't matter.
Because I didn't really care whether it was real or fake.
What I was curious about was something else.
I looked away from the chat window and slowly approached the staff member to ask a question.
"Excuse me. Can I ask you one thing?"
"No."
Without even hearing the question first.
The staff member delivered a firm refusal.
‘Son of a bitch. That was definitive as hell. I wanted to ask about the illusion I saw on the 2nd floor...’
The illusion I had seen on the 2nd floor.
Whether it was some kind of cutting-edge technology.
Or a supernatural power.
How the hell they had recreated my past.
Whether they were calling me a sinner because of that past.
And furthermore.
Whether they sent the invitation text to just anyone.
What the true nature of this hotel was.
Etcetera.
There were so many things I wanted to ask.
Thinking about it now.
This place definitely didn't seem like an ordinary hotel.
‘Well, they clearly didn't want to answer, so it couldn't be helped.’
I decided to swallow my questions.
Because I couldn't make things difficult for the staff member just to satisfy my curiosity.
That was when I got right in front of the staff member.
The voice of another staff member began to flow from the speaker attached to the ceiling.
<The final trial begins...>
And at that instant.
"Ahhhhh!"
"What the?"
The clown staff member suddenly screamed bloody murder.
Because of that, the voice on the speaker was drowned out.
The bizarre behavior didn't stop at just once.
<When violence faces greater violence...>
"Ahhhhhhh!"
<Fight the Pierrots and...>
"Ahhhhhhh!"
It seemed they were clearly insane.
Because of that staff member, I couldn't hear a single word coming from the speaker.
【Reformed Guburi】─What's wrong with that bastard
【Min-ji】─They seem to have lost their mind
【Qkrnfl892】─So fucking loud you crazy bitch
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya! Suddenly went insane!
【Gyeleujileubsa】─What a nutjob!
"Ahhhhhhh!"
"...What are you doing right now?"
I asked, completely dumbfounded.
At that, the staff member took a step to the side, gestured behind them, and answered.
"Since you have passed all the trials, you may exit through the door behind me."
"Wasn't there still a final trial remaining?"
"It seems there was a temporary system error. The 2nd floor was the final trial."
If the staff member said so, I guessed it was true.
Though it left a slightly uneasy feeling, I decided not to pry any further.
"Ah. By the way, could I rest in the hotel for just a bit before leaving? I don't really have anything to do until evening."
"No."
"I'll pay."
"No. Please leave quickly. I beg of you."
For some reason.
The staff member seemed to want to chase me out as soon as physically possible.
Had I done something wrong?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't figure out the reason.
Aside from smashing all the obstacles, I had absolutely no memory of causing any trouble to this hotel.
It just seemed like a hotel with really crappy customer service.
"Guest?"
"Yes. I'm leaving."
The staff member rushed me.
As I moved toward the exit, I checked the chat window for a moment.
【Plum Tree】─That's it? Just ends like this? Kinda anticlimactic
【Dick Lover】─Why aren't they giving out the prize? Se-hun aren't you first place
【Qkrnfl892】─Yeah that's right. They said first place gets a special reward or something
"Oh right... they said the first-place winner gets a reward, didn't they? I forgot about that."
I remembered after seeing the chat.
That they had said there was a special reward for the person who escaped in first place.
I stopped walking and called out to the clown staff member behind me again.
"Excuse me."
"...What is it now."
"Aren't you giving me the reward? No matter how I look at it, I'm first place."
"Ah."
A small sigh escaped through the staff member's mask.
It seemed they had forgotten about the reward, just like me.
"The reward... Um, well, that is..."
The staff member began to stammer, as if flustered.
Judging by the reaction.
It felt like they hadn't simply forgotten, but hadn't prepared a reward to begin with.
‘It was not like this was some kind of prank.’
Once I realized there was no reward, it felt like all my effort had gone to waste.
"I apologize. We completely failed to anticipate that you would descend this quickly, so we have not yet prepared the reward."
The staff member gave a lame excuse.
‘...Forget it. I should just not take it.’
Though it was a bit displeasing.
I decided to be magnanimous and generously forgive them.
Chalking it up as covering the repair costs for all the facilities I had smashed on my way down.
*
*
*
I opened the door and stepped outside.
The sight in my view was an empty lot.
And women in unusual attire.
"What the? When did that man show up?"
"Right? Wasn't he not here just a moment ago?"
"He must have come out from behind that building over there."
I ignored those women for now.
I looked around to assess my current location.
‘I thought this was indeed where the hotel originally was...’
The hotel had vanished without a trace.
Even the door I had just walked out of was already gone.
It seemed this truly wasn't an ordinary hotel.
【Reformed Guburi】─Where'd the hotel go? Fuck?
【Hottie Licker】─wtf is this? Was it a ghost hotel
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─I'm scared
【Qkrnfl892】─What the hell is this for real
【Min-ji】─Maybe this is another surprise event? lol
【Yoho】─Looks like Min-ji has decided to just accept whatever happens now
【Min-ji】─I decided to accept everything except your ass Yoho
【Yoho】─k
Anyway.
It was full of incomprehensible things, and I didn't even get a reward.
Well, still...
It was a novel and fun experience in its own way.
***
After confirming that Gye Se-hun had returned safely.
BigGirl, Seong So-ri, turned around and spoke to Team Leader Park.
"Let's go back."
"Pardon? Director, shouldn't we teach those insolent bitches a lesson and then leave? They dared to call us ajummas!"
“Team Leader Park. Didn’t you say you completed your military service? You must have been called an old lady plenty of times in the army, so why are you getting angry?”
"I don't want to hear it in civilian life."
"...Anyway, don't blow things up for no reason. Having trouble with a celebrity isn't good."
"...To think you'd endure this, you've seriously mellowed out too much."
"So you don't like it?"
"No. It's just... I feel you no longer fit in with this line of work. As I thought, Director, it would be better for you to wash your hands of this and retire..."
"Team Leader Park."
"Yes."
"Stop the pointless talk and let's go."
"Yes..."
Team Leader Park ordered the subordinate organization members to withdraw.
Then she stuck close to Seong So-ri's side and asked in a low voice.
"By the way, is that man who suddenly appeared the boyfriend you have been searching for, Director?"
"Something like that."
"Then why are you leaving without even saying hello?"
"I only came to check if he was safe."
"Safe, you say...? No, more than that, isn't it a bit strange to leave without even greeting your boyfriend...?"
"There are circumstances, so stop asking."
Seong So-ri had once mentioned on Gye Se-hun's stream that she had a job where she couldn't show her face.
But that was merely an excuse.
The truth was, she was just worried that Gye Se-hun might be disgusted by her left eye.
And it was the same now.
Even though Gye Se-hun was right in front of her eyes.
She couldn't bring herself to act like she knew him because she didn't want to show her hideous face.
‘...I should get plastic surgery later. Get a natural-looking prosthetic eye while I was at it.’
With those thoughts.
Seong So-ri left the area, pretending not to look while sneaking glances at Gye Se-hun as inconspicuously as possible.
After the Daehan Seoul Group had completely withdrawn.
"I just got a call from the young lady. She says we can head back now."
"She suddenly told us to investigate a hotel starting at dawn... and now she says just head back when we haven't even found the hotel yet?"
"She says it's fine even if we don't find it."
"Ha... What is this dog-shit training? She could at least explain why she had us investigate, really..."
"What can you do. If the fifth young lady says jump, we jump."
The special security teams of the Oseong Group also all vacated the area.
***
Aside from the group with the colorfully dyed hair.
The other people all suddenly cleared out in a swarm.
‘They disappeared fast... More importantly, why were they gathered here in the first place?’
I suspected they might have gathered for a gang fight, but unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case.
‘...Seeing all the cigarette butts on the ground, they probably just gathered here because it was a nice, lucky spot for smoking.’
I made a plausible deduction.
At the moment I was nodding my head alone in agreement.
"Ah, hello? What a coincidence. Running into you here, of all places..."
A red-haired woman greeted me out of the blue.
She had a friendly attitude, as if she knew me.
Could she be another one of my stream viewers?
As I was harboring that unlikely doubt.
Chat messages that seemed to know about this woman conspicuously popped up.
【Reformed Guburi】─Oh fuck! It's Red Clown!!!
【Reformed Guburi】─Se-hun get her autograph quick her autograph! Take a photo together too!
【Hottie Licker】─Why's Guburi making such a fuss? Is she a fan of that person? *lick
【Reformed Guburi】─Yeah a huge fan
【Hottie Licker】─She likes every weird bitch out there. Isn't that bastard a magician with a terminal case of eighth-grader syndrome? *lick
【Reformed Guburi】─You're dead. Don't insult Red Clown
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─Whoa. That circus troupe is super famous
【Min-ji】─Heoguduck! Could it be that Se-hun invited her? Amazing content!
【Plum Tree】─As if Se-hun invited her
【Dick Lover】─Seriously. It must just be a coincidence
【Drift AI】─I will state. Se-hun Defense Force, I state that it is nice to see you.
【Reformed Guburi】─?
"Defense Force?"
I lifted my head and stared at the woman.
She was currently looking down and manipulating her phone.
I checked the chat window again, and right at that moment, a chat from Defense Force came up.
【Se-hun Defense Force】─Guburi. I told you yesterday. I'm Red Clown. lol
【Reformed Guburi】─Huh? Huh? Huh?
【Se-hun Defense Force】─Idiot. lol
【Reformed Guburi】─???
【Qkrnfl892】─That chick is really Defense Force? Guess she wasn't lying. wth
【Dick Lover】─What the. So it's not a coincidence, she was stalking you. Crazy bitch
【Plum Tree】─Disgusting. Is she some kind of criminal?
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya! Stalker go die!
【Gyeleujileubsa】─Wakyapya! Trash!
I lifted my head again and stared at the woman.
The woman was also looking at me with a faint smile.
It certainly seemed clear that this woman in front of me was Se-hun Defense Force.
"...You son of a bitch."
I led with a curse first.
Because my gut feeling told me she had come here on purpose to see me.
*
*
*
Defense Force explained the situation at length for a while.
To summarize.
Defense Force was a member of the circus troupe and worked as a magician. And while she was moving to the performance venue with her troupe members, she happened to run into me here by chance. She absolutely did not stalk me. Would she ever stalk someone with her troupe members in tow?
She spouted that sort of nonsense.
‘It was too tiresome even to call her out on this kind of thing now...’
I decided to just let myself be fooled and believe her.
In hindsight, it wasn't to the extent of actual stalking.
‘Well, I figured... if the streamer you watched was nearby, you could come looking for them just to see their face once.’
After ultimately deciding to let it slide generously, I also apologized for the part where I had cursed at her.
【Reformed Guburi】─I'm so confused right now. It makes no sense that Red Clown is Defense Force... Fuck sex-fuck cunt-fuck squelch-squelch-fuck...
【Hottie Licker】─Stop fabricating weird words *lick
After that, I exchanged greetings with the other troupe members one by one.
Because they were acquaintances of Defense Force, after all; I couldn't just ignore them.
For the record, the blue-haired woman I had met on the subway was there too.
Since I had received her help back then, I made sure to convey my sincere thanks to her clearly.
While I continued greeting the troupe members like that.
"You said your name was Se-hun, right? The skin on the back of your hand is all scraped off and the bone is showing... I'll heal it for you, so could you turn the camera away for just a moment?"
A gentle-looking pink-haired woman, conscious of the camera, lowered her voice so only I could hear and spoke.
She was going to heal it for me?
Was she going to wrap it in a bandage or something?
I had such doubts, but first I turned the camera away as she requested.
And at that moment.
"■□■■□□■■□■□□□■."
The pink-haired woman took my hand and recited something like an incantation, and a cluster of white light appeared, beginning to gently envelop the wounded area.
Before long, the cluster of light scattered and vanished, and the wound on the back of my hand was completely healed.
‘...Um. What the fuck?’
To witness a miracle right before my eyes was simply astonishing.
I had no idea how she did it,
but I decided to start by thanking her for healing me.
"Thank you..."
"It's nothing. If I see an injured person right in front of me, of course I should heal them. Anyway, we're a little busy, so we'll be going first. It was nice meeting you."
The pink-haired woman said with a beaming smile.
It was an image befitting a saintess.
Afterward.
As if it were true that they were on their way to a performance venue, they said their goodbyes and began to leave in a hurry.
"I-I'm going to stay just a little longer with Se-hun...!"
"Stop jerking around and come on."
"Se-hun!!!"
Defense Force screamed my name as she was dragged away by her troupe members.
【Reformed Guburi】─There's no way my Red Clown is Defense Force...
【Hottie Licker】─Are you in the denial stage now? *lick
【Yoho】─Phew. One stalker has finally disappeared
【Min-ji】─I know, right. Heh
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya. Se-hun what are you gonna do now
【Gyeleujileubsa】─What are you gonna do!
"Huh? Ah, for now, I'm planning to sleep a bit at a motel until it's time to meet up. And Gyejipsa, you go change your nickname back. Unless you wanna die."
【Gyeleujileubsa】─Warkyarpya...
After answering the viewers' questions.
I looked for a motel nearby and got a room.
I planned to sleep exactly ten more hours.
I had woken up early in the morning.
And because a series of incomprehensible events had occurred, my head was left spinning and my body exhausted.
***
The Escape from Hell Hotel's control room.
The place was now
covered with Pierrot corpses that had been burned, frozen, cut apart, impaled...
and slaughtered in every imaginable way.
The Se-hun Defense Force.
The circus troupe Han Yu-i belonged to had done all this within only ten minutes of entering the hotel.
"What about the people inside the hotel?"
"Not a single one in sight. They all seem to have fallen into that Abyss of Hell or whatever it is."
While Han Yu-i and the blue-haired woman were sitting on the corpses and talking.
"This one's still breathing, huh? I'll have to heal them."
The pink-haired woman restored one of the Pierrots.
Then, grabbing the Pierrot by the hair, she asked.
"Hey there. I have something I'm curious about. Why do you people drag people from other worlds into a place like this?"
"...We only invited the Sinners of Violence today."
"Sinners? What's the criteria for being a sinner?"
"The grudges of those who suffered violence build up and gather to..."
Thwack!
An ice blade lodged itself into the Pierrot's head.
It was a blade thrown by Han Yu-i.
"You sure talk a lot of drivel. Sinners, my ass... It's just that you wanted to enjoy your little games."
"Ahh! Han Yu-i! What if you kill them instantly?! I was going to keep restoring them and playing with them!"
"Stop the psycho shit. We have to go to another world too, so don't waste your energy and get some rest."
"Huh? Another world? Where are we going now?"
"The Abyss of Hell. Yu-ra contacted us saying she found the world coordinates."
"Why are we going there? I need to go to heaven."
"...When you die, you're definitely going to hell. Anyway, we have to bring back the people from our world."
"Look at you, playing the champion. But we can't just open the portal right away, so why are we heading out already?"
"I'm going to look around a little more. There might still be Pierrots left."
Leaving those words behind, Han Yu-i immediately exited the control room.
In order to dispose of all the remaining Pierrots as well.
On this day.
The Pierrots were annihilated by a single circus troupe, and the Escape from Hell Hotel, having lost its managers, was forced to shut down.