Chapter: 2
— Han Kain
As I headed towards the dining room, I found three others already seated, excluding me and Eunsol.
There was a boy who looked much younger than me, probably a middle schooler.
Then there was an adorable girl around my age, nervously glancing around, her cute demeanor radiating discomfort.
And lastly, a foreigner with an astonishingly beautiful appearance that I had never encountered in my life.
I’m not joking—seeing her felt like being hit in the back of the head.
Her golden blonde hair flowed like melted gold over her shoulders, and her eyes sparkled as if crafted from emeralds. The sight of her physique, which seemed to exude kindness, left me utterly speechless.
Isn’t someone like this only found in movies?
After what felt like five seconds of me gawking like an idiot, she responded with an awkward smile, which made me suddenly aware of my rudeness.
Flustered, I lowered my head and scurried to the dining table to sit down.
Shouldn’t I at least offer an apology?
I forced an English sentence out of my brain.
“I’m so sorry, but….”
“It’s okay! I’ve been living in Korea for six years, so I speak Korean well. Besides, I’m neither American nor British.”
“Oh. I’m sorry….”
“You were lying on the bed, right? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
“No, no. I just got tired and accidentally fell asleep.”
“We all dealt with some tiring stuff. It’s the first time I’ve experienced anything like this in my life. Also, thank you for calling us to Room 105 earlier.”
“U-Um, it’s nothing. That muscular guy was doing a great job holding off the situation when I got here.”
“Indeed, Jinchul did save us all. I’ll have to thank him again later. My name is Elena Ivanova, but you can just call me Elena. And you are?”
“I’m Han Kain. Uh, we probably need to introduce ourselves again since I was dozing off.”
“I’m Yu Songee,” said the other girl.
“I’m Park Seungyub,” announced the young boy.
Clack! The door swung open, and the man I had seen earlier walked in.
His bleeding arm was tightly wrapped with a soft cloth he must’ve found somewhere.
As he approached, I realized he had an impressive build.
At least 190 cm? He looked even taller.
Not only was he tall, but he was built like an athlete.
With a physique like that, does he have what it takes to fight a monster?
While I marveled, a deep voice broke the silence.
“I’m Cha Jinchul. Uh, is it okay if I speak informally? You look like a student.”
“Sure, that’s fine. Just call me Kain.”
“Great! Kain, thanks for letting us know about this room. Those damn monkeys were a pain! They didn’t go down no matter how many times I hit them on the head, and they wouldn’t even run away. Who would’ve thought I’d end up looking like this after just dealing with two stupid monkeys?”
I was a bit taken aback when he casually called me “Kain,” but whatever, I’d rather not argue with someone who surely would’ve been aiming for royal power had they been born a few centuries earlier!
And besides, I was the one who told him to speak informally; no harm done.
The moment we finished our introductions, a status screen flickered and appeared.
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 1
Current Location: Floor 1, Room 105 (Room of Rest)
Teammate Information (!)
Sage’s Advice: 2]
Teammate Information?
Having experienced it once before, I felt a bit at ease looking at the status screen. I thought, “Open!” and, voilà, a new window popped up.
[1. Han Kain (20) – Wisdom
2. Cha Jinchul (31) – Courage
3. Yu Songee (17) – Affinity
4. Elena Ivanova (23) – Justice
5. Park Seungyub (14) – Fortune
6. Lee Eunsol (32) – Wealth]
The first entry must be names, and the numbers following are ages, right? But what do the words like Wisdom and Courage even mean?
Curious, I decided to talk to the cute girl who seemed the easiest to chat with.
“Yu Songee, are you 17 by any chance?”
“Yep! How did you know?”
“Oh, can you see the number next to your name on the screen? I just wondered if that was your age.”
As soon as I finished speaking, everyone, including Yu Songee on the other side of the table, looked puzzled.
Realizing they were all glancing at the direction I pointed at, it struck me.
Only I can see this screen.
“Ah, this must be a screen that only I can see.”
“A screen? Are you seeing something weird? You suddenly gazed into thin air, and I was wondering what you were doing. Does it have our ages or something?”
“Uh, let me explain.”
After sharing some short conversations, I clarified that this bizarre status screen only appeared for me, showing the situation, date, location, etc. With the circumstances at hand, I figured it was probably tied to the “Wisdom” I mentioned earlier, and this prompted them to finally start chiming in.
“Wisdom, huh? So, the blessing of Wisdom grants you a kind of knowledge? I think I received something similar too; it’s called Courage on my end, right? I think it makes my body a little stronger.”
“Stronger? How so?”
“Well, I guess I’ll have to find out. I was surprised myself while fighting those monkeys. I did some workouts, but my arms were way beyond what I expected—ridiculously strong, honestly. Moreover, I didn’t even feel tired after over 30 minutes of fighting. I think my strength and stamina have improved. Oh, and judging by my arm, I think I’m recovering quicker too.”
“Do I have something as well? I have no idea what Affinity even means. I don’t see any screens or have any powers,” said Songee.
“I think I might know what yours is.” Eunsol spoke up.
“Did you see something, Eunsol?”
“When those monkeys attacked us, Songee, you were just lying down next to a tree, right? I was scared you might die at any moment, but weirdly enough, the monkeys didn’t attack you. I thought it was just luck at the time, but looking back, that’s probably what Affinity is.”
“Then, what do you think mine would be?” Seungyub asked.
“For you, I’m not sure. It’s ‘Fortune.’ Did anything lucky happen?”
“If I were lucky, I wouldn’t be in a monster-infested place!”
“True….”
“Hmm. For now, it seems I’m ‘Justice.’ I have no clue what that could be. Maybe I’ll get some hero-like powers later. Eunsol, you have ‘Wealth’—any idea about that?” asked Elena.
“Well… not really. If it just means having a lot of money, I’m not poor, but right now, that doesn’t seem relevant. Maybe I’ll grow a Midas touch—turn everything I touch to gold?”
As Eunsol said that, she playfully patted Songee, making her flinch like a turtle, possibly believing it would turn her into gold. Of course, she didn’t actually turn into gold.
“Seriously, what’s going on right now? I wanted to enjoy a few months of the happiest life of a senior just finished with college entrance exams, but I didn’t think something like this would happen. And there’s less than two weeks left until school starts.”
Eunsol appeared rather intrigued by my complaints.
“Two weeks? Is that for an overseas university?”
“Eh? No, nothing like that. I’m just a Korean.”
“Is there a university in Korea that starts right now? What kind of university is that?”
“What? They all start around early March, right?”
Once again, silence fell over the group.
A heavy voice echoed through the room.
“It seems like there’s a lot we need to discuss. So Kain, you’re saying you think it’s March for you? Just as a reference, I arrived here thinking it was November 24th yesterday.”
“Mine was May 3rd. I just finished midterms recently.”
“Mine was March 9th.”
“I got May 16th. But before we get further in, I’m curious, what year do you all think yesterday was? And looking at our outfits, shouldn’t we also ask about our last locations?”
In brief conversations, we confirmed a few crucial facts.
1. The “date” everyone remembers for yesterday is different. It’s clear we were all ‘kidnapped’ on different days.
2. The “location” we remember from yesterday is also diverse. Some woke up in hotels like I did, while others woke up at home.
What in the world is this? What happened to us? What are we supposed to do now?
A lengthy silence ensued.
A storm of questions swirled in my head, making it hard to think straight.
Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!
Songee blushed in panic at the sound.
“Ah! Aah! I’m sorry! Sorry! Why did it suddenly…”
“Heh heh. There’s nothing to be sorry about; it’s quite natural! Honestly, I’ve been starving since that brutal workout this morning. By the way, is this the button for food, right? Let’s eat something first. Eating will surely help us think clearer!”
“Right. Let’s see what we have. I’m curious about what’s on the menu and, more importantly, how will it be served? Do they actually have waiters bringing out food?”
“Then, I’ll press it.”
Elena, who was next to the button, pushed it. The button started flashing red. Yet, nothing happened afterward.
We all waited silently for five minutes, but there was no change. That’s when Seungyub noticed something.
“Hey, everyone, look at that display! There’s something new on it.”
/Welcome, esteemed guests, to Hotel Pioneer!
There are several guiding notifications, so please refer to them. Some notifications may be added, and you can see them at any display within the hotel.
1. Hotel Pioneer always loves our esteemed guests.
— However, the hotel staff are a bit shy, so they work diligently when you can’t see them.
2. The elevators are out of order, so please keep that in mind.
3. The hotel always respects guests’ privacy. Still, should we all eat together? Please do keep meal times!/
A new sentence appeared right underneath the first one.
“The hotel staff are a bit shy, so they work diligently when you can’t see them.”
What could that possibly mean?
I was blankly pondering when I lifted my head and met Eunsol’s gaze, who seemed to have the same thought.
“Noona, it suddenly hit me, but could this mean…”
“I think it’s telling us to step out for a bit. They can’t prepare food in front of us because they’re shy. Isn’t that what it’s implying?”
At that moment, everyone finally understood what it meant, but their reactions were filled with disbelief.
“Wait, what kind of restaurant refuses to serve food in front of customers because they’re shy? If they’re that shy, they might as well quit being in the restaurant business!”
“Well, nitpicking about this now won’t make it any better! This is starting to feel more like a play, and it’s a little fun. It’d be an interesting experience if not for the monsters, though.”
“Elena unnie, your Korean is really good!”
“Six years, you know? I’m practically half Korean now.”
“Alright then, how about we all step out for a bit? Sorry, but I’m really hungry as well.”
“Let’s do that.”
We all stood up, exited the dining room, and after closing the door and waiting for about ten seconds, we opened it again.
Like what Elena said, it felt like we were filming a movie.
As we re-entered the dining room, a collective gasp escaped everyone’s lips.
What kind of magical feast awaited us?
The entire table was filled with an array of colorful and delicious-looking dishes.
While it wasn’t nothing, it was clearly a smorgasbord from various nations—a true international banquet.
We spotted some familiar spaghetti, steak, and even stir-fried pork, alongside dishes I had never seen before, leaving me guessing the ingredients.
While everyone stood slack-jawed at the sight, Jinchul finally broke the silence.
“There’s plenty of food, and looking at the clock, we’ve only got about 40 minutes left for the meal. So, let’s each grab a plate and pile on whatever we want. Eating should help us regain some energy!”
On the first day after arriving at Hotel Pioneer, I uncovered one major perk of this hotel.
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