Chapter: 12
Chapter 12: Rest, Hotel Basement – ‘Living Pool’ (1)
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 3
Current Location: Basement, Billiards Room
Sage’s Advice: 3]
“Seriously, can’t you even push your cue stick straight? I showed you how! Grab it tightly with your right hand, keep the tip steady with your left, and just push it straight!”
“Hyung, I told you I’ve never played billiards before…”
“How can a college student not have played billiards? From what I heard earlier, you basically don’t even play games? What exactly do you do with your life?”
I felt unfairly accused. Honestly, there are so many things to do besides billiards and games, yet Jinchul-hyung has been lecturing me for 20 minutes for not being able to do either. Thankfully, while wandering around the facilities, Sage’s Advice hadn’t activated. What did it say when we tried to go down to the basement on the first day? “It’s dangerous to go down now!” So why was it okay today?
Thinking back to the difference between day one and today.
On the first day, there were monsters attacking the front desk. Those monsters vanished at some point… maybe they were lurking in the basement. There’s still so much we don’t know about this hotel.
Eunsol-noona’s prediction about the facilities turned out to be spot-on. They looked almost identical to guest rooms from outside. From the outside, it seemed impossible for anything like a pool or a zoo to fit in, yet once you opened the door, it was all there, like a tall tale.
At this point, it’s too late for us to be surprised by such things. So we all scattered off to enjoy ourselves wherever we wanted.
Eunsol-noona headed to a bar for cocktails, Songee went to the zoo, Elena found her way to the pool, and Seungyub to the PC room.
I was the only one left out. I wandered around, pondering what to do, until I was grabbed by Jinchul-hyung. This hotel had everything, almost, except for one thing—there were no other people besides us, and you can’t play billiards alone!
“But you know… everything is nice, but with just the two of us, it feels a bit awkward to play.”
“True that. I wonder if Eunsol-noona is having fun at the cocktail bar alone. The zoo should have animals at least. Does Seungyub even have anything to do in the PC room?”
“The game he plays doesn’t exactly need a buddy beside him.”
“I know that too. Who doesn’t know League of Legends? But, it feels like the internet isn’t working, right? The phones are dead, for crying out loud, and they definitely don’t seem keen on letting us connect with the outside world.”
“Hmm… it feels off. Maybe it’d actually be more fun if we all gathered together.”
Tap—
My cue soared through the air and thwacked the corner of the table next to the ball. Seeing that, Jinchul-hyung dropped his cue and stood up.
“Hey, hey, let’s stop. What’s the point in playing billiards with someone who can’t even hit a ball? It’s no fun for either of us. Let’s just go find the others.”
Thank heavens!
So where should we go? A particular location popped into my mind right away. I’ll be honest here; I bet 95% of all guys in the world would think the same way: the pool!
I was seriously ready to toss this cursed cue aside and dive straight into the pool! Any man would feel that way—even Jinchul-hyung! I was 100% sure of it.
“Hyung! How about hitting the pool? We’re not learning a new game or anything, and I’ve never even tried cocktails. Definitely not the zoo!”
“The pool…? I don’t have a swimsuit.”
“Miss Elena went in without a swimsuit and hasn’t come out yet, so don’t you think the swimsuits are all available here? Even the billiards room has cues and everything!”
“Well, yeah, of course, there are cues in a billiards room… but how could they have swimsuits? They don’t even know our sizes, do they?”
“Hyung, that’s standard for any hotel. Every time we’ve eaten or drunk something, it has always perfectly matched our tastes, so why wouldn’t they know our swimsuit sizes?”
Something felt strange. How could he be so unwilling to go to the pool in a situation like this? I thought he’d share the same excitement since he’d always been grinning when talking to Miss Elena. Either way, I had to convince him; there was no other place to go!
As we left the room and moved along, I spotted Seungyub and Eunsol-noona across the hallway.
“Ah, you two are out too.”
“Oh, did you find it a bit odd to be by yourself, noona?”
“Well, to be fair, I was just wondering what the heck I was doing drinking cocktails alone in a bar without a bartender and came out. I found him out here already.”
“There’s no internet… The computer is spectacular, but what are you supposed to do with a computer that has no internet?!”
“I was thinking of heading your way, but you all came out too. Was billiards not fun?”
“Noona, don’t get me started. This guy can’t even hit the ball with his cue. Ugh, what on earth has he been doing?”
Ahahaha “So where are we headed next?”
“Let me guess. You all came out wanting to go to the pool, right?”
Flinch.
It was painfully true, but having it pointed out like this made me feel a little embarrassed. Four of us were out now, and between Songee’s “zoo,” which was a little iffy, we had no other option but the pool!
Seeing me flinch, Eunsol-noona was giggling and turned away.
“Ah, so cute~. Let’s make our way to the pool. Despite the many facilities, it’s surprisingly lacking in places to go.”
We all decided to head to the pool together.
“By the way… I think I was the first to come out, right? I was waiting and heard some strange noise. Did anyone hear that?”
“I didn’t hear anything. What kind of noise are you talking about?”
“You know how there’s a ding whenever something shows up on the hotel display? I felt like I heard that from far away. Maybe not?”
“Kain?”
“Hmm, there’s been no alerts or anything from the ‘Advice’ side.”
“Well, I think that means it’s okay. Every time things have seemed suspicious, the advice has popped up.”
During the monkey incident on the first day, at the main entrance, in the elevator, and in the cursed room, Sage’s Advice had always provided timely warnings whenever danger arose. There was no way it would backstab us now.
Seungyub awkwardly laughed, claiming he must have misheard, and all of us headed in the direction of the pool.
*
/Today’s Surprise Event! The Living Pool is now open!/
*
I quickly understood why Jinchul-hyung, who had spent the whole morning criticizing me about billiards, looked so hesitant about going to the pool. I mean, he should feel confident about his body, especially with that Elena swimming!
This guy was embarrassingly bad at swimming.
Huff, huff, huff…
Cough! Apuh-puh! Ptui, ugh!
A cacophony of chaotic sounds filled the pool.
“I’m pretty sure I heard someone say yesterday that he could do basic swimming,” Eunsol-noona commented.
Huh, huh, huh… “I definitely learned it when I was young!” he echoed.
“Are you talking about when you swam around in your mom’s womb?”
Hahaha, “Very funny!”
I was dead serious. I could see that Eunsol-noona was 100% serious too. How could this even be happening? You just take a deep breath, and a human body should naturally float! Shouldn’t he at least be able to move forward a bit? He was thrashing his legs with such power that it sounded like thunder, yet he couldn’t stretch them back at all!
It seemed he would float just by taking a deep breath, but instead, I watched him twisting his body and gradually sinking. His surprisingly “skillful” swimming—akin to a dolphin! (and I mean strictly swimming skills!)—was so impressive that even Elena’s graceful presence seemed to blur in comparison. We all leaned against the wall, captivated, watching Jinchul-hyung.
Seeing a massive man at 190 cm thrashing about while slowly descending underwater was, frankly, a sight worth the admission fee.
After being berated about not being able to hit a billiard ball all morning, watching this spectacle was even more entertaining. As we all chuckled, Songee suddenly emerged.
“Ah! You all were here! I checked the billiards room and the bar; nobody was around, and I was wondering where everyone was.”
“Songee, come join us! If you head into the second room with the clothing sign, your swimsuit will magically appear! If you can’t find it, just turn around once, and it’ll be there!”
Hearing that casually made it feel like we were truly in a bizarre place.
“How was the zoo? Was it fun? Any elephants?”
“Ah, Kain-oppa, the zoo… it might be one of those places we should all check out together someday. It’s a bit unusual; definitely not the zoo you’re imagining.”
By that time, Jinchul-hyung had resurfaced and chimed in.
“A strange zoo? Given that everything about this hotel is odd, I’m curious what you mean. Is it possible they lock up people just because they consider them animals?”
“Not at all! It’s just filled with creatures I’ve never seen before! Not your usual deer or fox… these are genuinely unusual animals.”
“Or perhaps it’s just you who doesn’t recognize the animals, Songee. I once watched this famous documentary about strange life on Earth, and let me tell you, there are some seriously bizarre creatures out there!”
“That could be true for a few. Though I didn’t see much of the zoo since it was vast, I actually spotted over ten different species, and I didn’t recognize a single one!”
“Then maybe instead of visiting together, we should ALL steer clear of it…?”
“Maybe?”
A strange zoo. I noted that down. It felt like the botanical garden would probably be similar as well.
A zoo packed with never-before-seen animals. Did they gather creatures that normal people wouldn’t know of? If that’s the case, then we’re lucky but…
What if, according to this hotel’s standards, these are “normal” animals? What if they’re just regular animals existing somewhere else?
Just as these unholy thoughts began to escalate in my mind,
Something unexpected happened.
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