Chapter 23. Give Me a Long-Term Room
Chapter 23. Give Me a Long-Term Room
The rooftop…
Why were so many people looking for the rooftop today?
Thinking that, I glanced toward Room 104.
As if my guess was right, the door to Room 104 opened and the red-haired woman stepped into the hallway. She took a cup of brewed coffee and sat on the sofa, watching this way with sparkling eyes.
“What building-code violation are we talking about? You said you’re from the district office?”
The manager came out of the office, looked over the documents the men held out, and asked.
“Hey. You people are something else. How can you put those modified containers up on the rooftop illegally like that? It’s all caught in aerial photos. You’re subject to an administrative fine.”
The “civil servant” held out an aerial photo of our motel rooftop.
“It was fine until now, so why are we suddenly getting fined? Who reported us?”
The manager frowned and pressed them hard, but the “civil servants” answered with annoyed expressions.
“What report? It got caught in a routine inspection. Anyway, we need to do an on-site inspection today and issue the fine, so open the rooftop door already.”
“Our rooftop door doesn’t have a lock.”
“……”
At the manager’s words, the “civil servants” hesitated for a moment, then headed for the elevator.
“Hey, you civil servants—hold on a second. Let me see you.”
Cheolmin hyung, who had been watching this from the office while sipping mix coffee, spoke.
“And who are you?”
One of the men, about to get on the elevator, blocked by Cheolmin, said with an irritated face.
“You said district office construction department? Does Section Chief Kim over there know about this?”
The men’s expressions turned sour.
“Wait. I know that section chief well, so I’ll give him a call.”
“You’re going to call our section chief?”
Ignoring the man’s urgent tone, Cheolmin hyung found the number in his contacts and dialed. He switched to speakerphone so everyone could hear.
The “civil servants” standing by the elevator started edging toward the entrance.
“Ah—don’t call. We’ll come back next time.”
But Cheolmin didn’t care. After the ring tone, he spoke to the person who answered.
“Hello, Section Chief. This is Choi Cheolmin. Yes… I have something to ask you…”
After a brief conversation with the person Cheolmin called “the district office construction section chief,” Cheolmin hyung ended the call and said,
“Yeah. They’re impostors. I know most of the district office employees’ faces, and I’ve never seen those guys. They looked suspicious.”
“Impostors? Those… sons of bitches. Are they scammers? We need to report this to the police.”
The manager exploded and grabbed the phone. But Cheolmin hyung caught the manager’s hand and asked me,
“Want me to send the guys to look into it?”
But I shook my head while looking at the red-haired foreign woman from Room 104, who was staring right at this scene from the sofa.
“It’s fine. It’s just annoying, that’s all.”
The culprit was right in front of me. There was no reason to waste effort on her underlings.
Lauren couldn’t believe what had just happened.
Things outside Lauren’s expected range didn’t happen often, but at this motel, everything from yesterday until now had been outside her expectations.
Ordering the investigator agency to impersonate civil servants had backfired.
She should’ve moved the real civil servants, even if it took a little longer.
Those containers on the rooftop really were illegal under Korean building law.
She thought that if she showed forged documents and aerial photos and pretended to be a civil servant, they’d buy it—but she didn’t expect it to go like this.
And now Lauren’s instincts were screaming.
That rubber tub on the rooftop was likely the exact object she was looking for.
She started planning her next move.
How could she get up to the rooftop?
She’d already been blocked multiple times, so there was no avoiding it—the employee suspected her now.
Even if she had to force it, did she have to go up by brute force?
Headquarters didn’t want agents in Korea causing trouble. They’d obviously hate it, even if it was “minor.”
At that moment, the man from Room 105 went back to his room, then came out changed into workout clothes. He was holding a wooden practice sword.
He bowed his head to the counter employee and said,
“I’m going up to the rooftop for a bit to swing my sword.”
Then the door to Room 102 opened, and the woman in the pink tracksuit came out holding a bag of snacks in one hand.
“Cheolmin going rooftop? Me too.”
Seeing that, Lauren was speechless for a moment—then anger surged up, and she marched to the counter and demanded,
“Hey! They’re going to the rooftop right now, aren’t they? They’re guests too—so why are you letting them up?”
The male employee smiled calmly and said,
“They’re long-term guests. This place is basically their home. So we don’t restrict them from using the rooftop as a resting space or exercise space.”
At that answer, Lauren glared for a second, then slapped down her card and shouted,
“Then give me a long-term room too!”
Maybe she thought she’d been discriminated against.
The red-haired woman already looked pissed. When she heard that “official overnight” was 120,000 won per night, she looked even worse.
But she didn’t argue. She handed over a black card and said to charge fifteen days of lodging.
“One thing you should know: if you pay for long-term lodging at our motel, there are absolutely no refunds. Are you okay with that?”
Even if you say that, guests still demand refunds. If it went legal, the motel would lose no matter what. But getting a firm acknowledgment upfront made things easier later.
“What kind of nonsense is that? If there’s a problem or my schedule changes, canceling is obviously normal.”
The woman, who had seemed friendly at first glance, suddenly bristled and came at me sharply.
“If you don’t want that, you can also pay day by day.”
No matter how I looked at it, this woman felt like the type who’d demand a refund midway through, so I suggested daily payment. If the owner tried to make me cover a refund later, I’d be screwed.
“If I do that, I can still go up to the rooftop, right?”
“Our rooftop facilities are only open to long-term customers. Daily-payment guests aren’t allowed under policy.”
“You’re making it sound like some luxury hotel facility.”
She sneered like that, but I didn’t budge.
“Charge fifteen days.”
She said that and held out her passport, but I just stared blankly because I didn’t know why she was offering it.
“You don’t even check passports here?”
“Do other places?”
At my question, she looked at me like I was ridiculous, then took the receipt and went straight up to the rooftop.
Thanks to the telekinetic field extending to the rooftop, I could see her movements clearly.
I really wanted to confirm whether she was targeting my money.
If she really was after my money, I had no intention of letting her off, even if she was a guest.
It’d be time to sever a brain vessel for once.
On the rooftop, she flinched when she saw Cheolmin swinging the wooden sword fiercely with his shirt off. Then she crept under the awning and examined the rubber tub.
She pulled out her phone, checked a photo, and inspected the rubber tub closely.
She was completely incomprehensible.
After watching for a while, she even opened the lid, shoved it around this way and that, then sent a message somewhere.
Bella, curious about what she was doing, walked over and asked,
“What are you doing? What’s in there?”
But the red-haired woman frowned like Bella was a nuisance and kept staring at the rubber tub without answering.
China’s intelligence service, MSS.
Inside, reports and countermeasure meetings were in full swing. A plan they had invested in for years had unexpectedly derailed, and the Chinese government and intelligence apparatus were in extreme confusion.
“Almost all U.S. agents who can move are currently gathered in Korea. We suspect there are also many black agents we don’t know about. The movements of the agents whose identities are exposed have been focused on intelligence collection, with no special operations.”
“Why is the U.S. making a move like that? Is the analysis unit’s guess right after all?”
“At first the credibility was low, but given the U.S. movement, the likelihood is increasing. The prediction is that it wasn’t the U.S. who stopped the North Korean nuclear missile and shelling, but a secret force within Korea. We’ve verified from multiple angles that the Korean government has no involvement, so it’s presumed to be a private secret society.”
“But does that make sense? We know the situation inside Korea inside and out. Who the hell would have that kind of technology?”
“It seems the U.S. side also has no clue yet. If you look at how they’re scattered everywhere without structure, collecting information…”
“Korea… this damn country is always a thorn in our side. First, restart the operations that got halted because of the North Korean nuclear issue and throw Korean society into chaos. Disrupt the public with drugs and biased information so they can’t be consolidated, and take control of politics through lobbying. Corporate operations might irritate the U.S., so put that on hold for now, and instead run multiple operations to smash that cultural sector I can’t stand looking at lately.”
The section chiefs gathered there bowed their heads and answered.
“Yes, understood.”
“And as much as possible, our intelligence agents should only direct from behind the scenes. For the front line, use groups like the triads. So if the U.S. makes an issue later, we can deny everything. And provide some support—enhanced soldiers and weapons—to the triads.”
“Enhanced soldiers? Weapons, maybe, but enhanced soldiers could provoke the U.S.”
“How are street gangs supposed to face elite agents? We need to support them at that level to get results.”
When the director shouted irritably, everyone quietly accepted the order.
The Pentagon, United States.
“We found it. That’s the rubber tub.”
Two weeks after deploying a large number of agents into Korea, the U.S. intelligence community finally received its first meaningful report.
“What the hell is it?”
“After precise analysis of the photos the agent sent, it’s a 100% match with the rubber tub that was floating overhead that day. The tiny exterior scratches are perfectly identical. The agent on site says they can’t find anything unusual about it at the moment.”
“Secure the tub and bring it back to the homeland. Then run a detailed analysis. There has to be something.”
After getting no results for so long, U.S. intelligence was suddenly energized.
When the woman finally came back down to the first floor after standing in front of the rubber tub for a long time, the displeasure from earlier was gone from her face. The red-haired woman smiled brightly and spoke in a friendly tone.
“The rooftop view is really great. My gut was right. I had a feeling this motel would fit my taste perfectly.”
“I’m glad you like it. If you have any inconveniences during your stay, please tell me.”
Our rooftop view wasn’t that great because of the surrounding buildings…
Was she into city views? Except at sunset, it wasn’t much.
“Then I have one favor to ask.”
“Yes? What—”
“There’s a rubber tub on the rooftop. I think it’d be perfect for my work. Can you sell it to me?”
“That isn’t an item for sale, so that would be difficult.”
I didn’t know how long that tub had been up there.
It had been there since I started working here, so the owner or the manager probably bought it.
But the manager, who had been sitting in the office listening to this, came out and said,
“Miss, what do you need that rubber tub for?”
“I’m an installation art artist. And I think it would fit a piece I’m preparing these days. I’ll pay you several times the price, so please sell it to me.”
“You could just buy a new one—why would you pay extra for that?”
Listening to the manager and the red-haired woman talk, it sounded like the rubber tub was going to be sold today.
It was something I’d wanted to use occasionally for flights to change my mood, so it was a shame to part with it.
I didn’t understand why an artist would pay a high price for an old rubber tub, but I still felt like I should clean it thoroughly before handing it over, so I used telekinesis to remove all the debris inside.
I cleaned out every last hair or tiny flake of skin I might have left behind from climbing in, leaving not a speck, and since lots of people had handled it, I scrubbed off all the built-up grime too.
“Thank you.”
While I was cleaning the rubber tub that was about to be sold off, the negotiation wrapped up. The manager happily stuffed a few fifty-thousand-won bills into his pocket.
A little later, a black Starex pulled into the parking lot, and a few men went up to the rooftop and carried the rubber tub down.
If they really intended to use it for an important art piece, they acted the part—wearing latex gloves and carefully loading it into the vehicle before driving away.
I felt relieved that I didn’t have to drop a guest with a stroke. My suspicion that she might be after my money had just been my misunderstanding.
She was just an ordinary foreign artist.