Chapter 9. No Refunds
Chapter 9. No Refunds
As the guys crawled out of the parking lot on their bellies, the door to Room 105 opened and the guest ran to the counter.
The man saw the unwanted visitors crawling around in the parking lot on the screen, and his face hardened.
“Eui-gi Sang-in realm… I truly didn’t realize you were this level of master.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
I didn’t understand what the guest was saying, so I asked back.
“Ah… you’re hiding your identity, aren’t you? Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone that you’re a master of empty-hand object retrieval and an Eui-gi Sang-in expert. Can you even use Sword and Self as One, or Energy Sword Control?”
“.........”
The man bowed his head deeply, spouting nonsense I didn’t understand.
Eui-gi Sang-in, Sword and Self as One, Energy Sword Control, empty-hand object retrieval… I should look them up.
The guest seemed to think I had taken out those unwanted visitors, but officially I had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Those men were simply injured outside the motel and left.
It had nothing to do with me.
“Days ago, one of our members made a drug distribution contract with vicious guys from the Incheon faction without permission. After taking the down payment and the drugs, he ran, then killed himself at this motel. He’s the guy who died in Room 310. We tried everything to find the cash and the drugs so we could cancel the contract with the Incheon faction, but we couldn’t find the goods anywhere. So today we tried to settle things with them directly, but they were far more brutal than any normal organization. Half of the brothers who went with me lost their lives, and the rest barely escaped. Just now, ten minutes after I contacted a brother I thought was safe, they found me again. I think I need to change hiding places.”
He poured out his situation at length, but I answered with a troubled expression.
“We don’t do refunds.”
“Huh?”
I rejected the guest’s refund request firmly.
Maybe regular hotels refund, but motels do not refund under any circumstances.
If a refund happens because of unavoidable circumstances, the owner docks it from the employee’s pay.
I already processed the full lodging payment for Room 105.
If I refunded it now, I would have to pay it myself.
Two employees had quit over this problem.
“Ah, no… I mean, if I stay here, I think I’ll cause trouble for you, benefactor.”
“Even if dozens of times more people come, it’s not a problem.”
I had to keep this guest here no matter what.
Covering a refund with my own money…
That was impossible.
From what he said, he seemed to want to leave because he was worried vicious men would come looking, but that wasn’t a big issue for me.
The only problem was when I wasn’t on shift…
If I expanded my telekinetic field to cover the entire motel, it wouldn’t matter.
The severe privacy violation against other guests bothered me, but if I kept my mouth shut, no one would ever know.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be safe while you’re staying here.”
When I said it with a serious face and strong certainty, the man looked like he was about to cry.
He was handsome, but the scar made his impression harsh—seeing him so moved made me feel oddly proud too.
What I had just promised felt like it crossed the line beyond normal service, but…
So what.
He had helped me a lot too, so I should repay him at least this much.
The guest kept repeating his thanks and went back to his room.
Now I sat quietly and started training.
Today, I thought, what if I strengthened my bones instead of my muscles?
After reading basic anatomy books for several days, I realized the body’s real foundation was bone, not muscle.
I applied pressure to both shinbones.
At about forty-seven times the pressure I normally applied to muscle, my shinbones sent back a signal that they couldn’t endure any more.
It felt like they would crumble at any moment.
I took a long breath, sent all the energy in my body to my shins where the pressure was concentrated, and endured.
The unstable bone density stabilized.
I slowly increased the pressure.
Forty-eight times.
Forty-nine.
Fifty.
At seventy-five times, it felt like I couldn’t hold out any longer, so I gradually reduced the pressure.
I repeated that ten times, then tested other bones in the body.
Each bone had a different strength threshold.
Some couldn’t even endure twenty times, while others endured up to a hundred times.
The strongest bone was the skull.
As I strengthened bone and muscle all night, I wondered if I should strengthen nerves next.
I checked the time—10:15 a.m.
It was past the time Chanhyeok hyung was supposed to arrive, but he was late.
Yesterday, he looked like he’d been badly shaken because of the guest in Room 105…
He wasn’t seriously not coming, was he?
But even after 10:30, he still didn’t show.
I pulled up Chanhyeok hyung’s number and called.
“The phone is powered off and cannot receive calls.”
That was the response I got.
The last shift partner had held out for quite a while.
But I didn’t expect him to quit like this…
Looks like for a while, I’d have to work a permanent stretch again.
Near 11 o’clock, the manager came in and looked surprised when he saw me.
“What? Chanhyeok didn’t come?”
“No. His phone’s off. I think you’ll need to hire someone.”
“Unbelievable… kids these days have zero responsibility. If you’re quitting, you should at least say so. He knows everyone else will suffer if he disappears like this… that’s selfish to the extreme.”
“Are you going to hire someone right away?”
“Of course. You think a guy who turns off his phone and vanishes is coming back? This is all because of those gangster bastards yesterday. Chanhyeok’s a timid guy—he must’ve been terrified to the point he ran. If I see those bastards again…”
Just then, the guest from Room 105 stepped out in slippers, heard what the manager said, and cleared his throat.
“Ahem… perhaps because of us…”
“AAAH!”
The manager, who had been red-faced and fuming, shrieked in shock.
“He paid for a long stay last night. He’s the guest in Room 105.”
At my words, the manager’s face turned pale.
“Do you need anything?”
“Could I get some more towels? I also need more drinks and bottled water.”
“Yes. I’ll bring them right away.”
I took a few towels and drinks from the first-floor linen room and handed them over.
He accepted them politely.
I always felt it, but despite his first impression, this guest had good manners.
“Did something troublesome happen because of us?”
“Our employee missed his shift today, but it isn’t because of you.”
I said it with a smile.
Beside me, I saw the manager almost say something, then clamp his mouth shut.
“So you couldn’t even clock out.”
The guest in Room 105 fell into thought for a moment, then continued.
“Could I have that employee’s address and contact information? I may be able to help. I’ll send my younger men and have them persuade him to come to work.”
I felt happy hearing that.
It was true—if I didn’t have a proper shift partner, my workload increased.
And he was offering help like this…
Grateful, I handed over Chanhyeok hyung’s address and contact information from the employee roster.
The guest texted someone, then said,
“Most likely… he’ll come in today, even if late. Don’t worry, and go rest. But where is your home, by any chance?”
He asked carefully.
“My lodging is up on the rooftop here. Ah… and about your safety—I’ve already taken measures, so you can stay without worrying.”
“Could I have your contact information, benefactor?”
I gave him my number.
Then I reported an unusual item to the manager.
“Manager. Also, the guest in Room 102 says she wants to replace the bed and furniture.”
“Huh?”
“She says what’s there is uncomfortable, and she’ll buy it with her own money. Thinking about it, it doesn’t seem harmful to the motel, so I said I’d ask and get back to her.”
The manager looked like he was about to say something, then saw the face of the guest in Room 105 and shut his mouth again.
Why was he so terrified… I kind of understood, but even so, normal people’s minds were hard for me to grasp.
“Don’t worry. Go rest. I’ll talk to the young lady in Room 102 and handle it properly.”
The guest bowed to me like I was his superior.
Feeling reassured, I smiled and nodded.
After drinking himself into oblivion and falling asleep at dawn, Chanhyeok woke up to loud pounding on his door.
A small studio.
It was an officetel that cost a 10,000,000-won deposit and a 750,000-won monthly rent.
It was painful whenever rent was due, but Chanhyeok still liked this place.
And yet someone was hammering at the door of his precious shelter like they meant to break it down.
“Ah, fuck. Who is it?!”
He shouted and opened the door.
Three large men shoved their way inside.
Seeing the gangsters walk in without even taking off their shoes, Chanhyeok’s mind snapped awake.
“Lee Chanhyeok?”
They were the same gangsters who came to the motel yesterday.
“Yes… yes!”
Chanhyeok stood at attention and answered.
“Hey. Why didn’t you go to work today?”
“I… I was going to quit.”
“Quit on whose permission? Who told you to quit?”
“No, that’s not…”
Chanhyeok couldn’t understand what was happening.
Because of those gangsters, he’d drank all night yesterday.
At dawn, he’d decided to quit the motel and do package loading/unloading work instead.
But these gangsters were chasing him down like this—what grudge did they have against him?
“Stop talking bullshit and go to work right now!”
When one of them kicked his shin and yelled, Chanhyeok wanted to cry.
“From now on, if you don’t come to work diligently, and don’t work diligently, you get punished by me!”
Chanhyeok couldn’t understand why a gangster was demanding diligent attendance, but he hurriedly got dressed and headed to the motel.
When Chanhyeok arrived, the manager was in the middle of making checkout calls, saw him, and cursed.
“You little shit—!”
He felt like punching back—wasn’t it unacceptable to call someone that at work?
But when he saw the gangster boss sitting in the office beside the counter, Chanhyeok shut his mouth.
“Hurry up, go upstairs, organize the supplies, and come back down!”
“Yes!”
The manager must’ve known why he came in, because he didn’t ask anything—he just put him straight to work.
Cheolmin walked to the counter and called Room 102.
The manager and that guy named Chanhyeok stared, but they couldn’t say a word.
“You said you wanted to buy a bed and furniture yesterday, right? Are you buying online, or at an offline store?”
“It doesn’t matter. I want whatever arrives fastest.”
The woman in Room 102 answered.
“Then tell me the models. We’ll send people to buy them and bring them here.”
“Really? You’re kind. Then wait a moment.”
With that, Room 102’s door opened, and a slim blonde Russian beauty came out wearing only a robe.
Even in Russia, famous for beautiful women, she was the kind of beauty that stood out immediately.
She boldly walked into the counter area and sat down in the office chair.
The motel employee at the counter and the manager both stared, eyes wide, at the front of the robe.
“This. The bed. And furniture. And Korea uses something called a styler. That too, and a refrigerator. For now, I want these as fast as possible. Is this amount enough? If it’s not, tell me. I’ll give you more.”
The Russian woman showed photos of the items she needed from her phone album and handed the gangster boss a bundle of 50,000-won bills.
Looking at the cash, Cheolmin briefly wondered if this woman was the one who took the cash and drugs.
She didn’t look ordinary, so he should dig into her background.
He called one of his men and ordered him to buy everything on the list as quickly as possible and bring it to the motel.
“Oh, and please teach me how to use Korean shopping apps! And tell me the food delivery app too.”
She spoke innocently, and her expression looked truly pure.
Even Cheolmin, who wasn’t swayed by women, felt his heart waver.
Glancing over, he saw the manager and the shift worker standing there with their mouths open, staring blankly.