### Chapter 388 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream (4)
—
– Park Seungyub
Monsters suddenly started popping out from everywhere!
Fortunately, Room 105 was close by, so we managed to escape in a hurry, but the crisis was far from over.
As time went on, the entire room began to shake, and then—Room 105 itself collapsed!
Thanks to that, our comrades, who had been catching their breath in their own 105s, started to appear here and there.
“Ugh, ugh! What on earth is happening?”
The grandfather shouted with a serious expression.
“Looks like the monsters are tearing the hotel apart outside!”
When Kain accepted the descent, and when Peero got so excited he ripped off the door, that’s when Room 105 started to crumble.
Once the hotel is damaged beyond a certain point, Room 105 can’t hold up anymore.
—Clunk!
Just when it seemed the door was twisting, a giant covered in glistening scales burst through!
“First it was a ghost, and now what—a troll?!”
The grandfather quickly moved towards the door and fought back the giant’s entry with his powerful arms as he repeatedly pulled the trigger of his gun.
Seeing that scene, Elena kneeled and was immediately consumed by ominous thoughts.
I was…
“Ugh! Arksha’s—”
“Seungyub! Stop messing around and check on Songee! Now!”
“… Okay.”
Songee was barely able to stand on the bed, and it looked like she’d broken a bone from debris falling from the ceiling.
“S-Seungyub…”
“Sister!”
“Take me to the door.”
A moment later, a flash from the bracelet made the monster that was rampaging at the door vanish.
She murmured in a weak voice.
“This is just buying a little time. I’m too weak…”
The grandfather quickly surveyed the surroundings.
“Where’s Ahri? Where’s Miro? Where did they both go?”
“Room 105 collapsed, and those two haven’t shown up. That means—”
“Neither of them was in Room 105! With monsters everywhere outside, how could this happen?”
“Maybe they couldn’t get in?”
“Oh no!”
—Boom!
This time, a tentacle covered in glistening green slime burst through the wall!
“What the heck is this thing?!”
I deeply empathized with the grandfather’s scream.
First, ghosts, then a giant with black scales, and now green tentacles.
It was like every monster in the hotel was about to burst out!
The moment the wall broke, the outside landscape revealed itself, leaving us utterly dumbfounded.
A massive plant writhed near the desk, spreading its roots in all directions.
Toward the fountain, a mass of flesh, covered in red rice-shaped eyeballs, rolled around.
The very same ghosts that first appeared were still flying in the sky, and the being that broke down the wall of Room 105 was a gigantic green starfish monster.
“W-What the… is happening?”
“…”
It was a hell beyond description.
While we were catching our breath in Room 105, this chaos was already underway outside.
—Rumble!
The tentacled starfish that broke through the wall writhed and looked our way.
Was it really looking at us?
I couldn’t tell since it had no eyeballs.
Just as the wriggling mass was about to pounce on us—
“I am now death, the destroyer of worlds.”
A streak of light pierced through the corridor.
“Teacher!”
“Seunghyun? No, you were definitely outside the hotel earlier—”
“Time Lease! Miro!”
Sure enough, on the opposite side of the corridor were Ahri, Miro, and the teacher.
The grandfather quickly began to carry Songee and started to run, while Elena and I followed close behind.
“This way!”
As Ahri gestured for us, Miro waved to send the teacher back and called for Jinchul.
“What’s the situation—”
He realized monsters were everywhere and instead of questioning, grabbed the enormous wolf lunging at him with both hands.
“What kind of mess is this?!”
At that moment, just as Elena finally completed her ‘charging,’ she stood up.
“Burn everything!”
In an instant, flames erupted and began consuming the first floor entirely.
In the chaos, even the monsters were scrambling to escape the flames.
And then—
“Ahhhh! The fire is coming this way!”
Elena calmly replied.
“The fire doesn’t have eyes, so what can you do?”
The grandfather shouted in disbelief.
“Why the heck did you start the fire?!”
“I was reminded of a great fire after seeing the devastated hotel…”
Ahri urgently shouted.
“To the elevator!”
“The elevator?”
“It’s safe there!”
Indeed, as the elevator doors closed, the chaos subsided like a fairy tale.
“…”
“…”
Everyone sat on the elevator floor in a daze.
Songee, who’d been moaning for a while, fainted.
Miro, who had pushed the Time Lease to its limits, leaned against Ahri’s shoulder after sending Jinchul back.
Elena, the grandfather, and me—none of us were any different.
A moment of silence passed.
Soon, the grandfather muttered as if he’d realized something.
“The entire first floor has been wrecked, and Room 105 has collapsed, yet the elevator is safe.”
Ahri replied.
“The first and second floors are essentially different worlds, and the elevator connects those two places.”
“Is the elevator itself located in some sort of space-time gap?”
“I don’t know. I’m just glad it’s safe.”
I asked the question that everyone must be wondering.
“Why on earth did this hotel go into chaos?”
The grandfather’s expression turned gloomy.
“I think I know. It must be Eunsol.”
“Sister Eunsol?”
“That girl must have gotten caught up in a dream. Wishing for things that can’t be fulfilled in reality, wishes that can only be hoped for in dreams.”
“…”
“Without considering our situation, she used the hands of greed at full strength.”
“Things like that…”
Ahri sighed.
“Well, since she was probably half out of her mind, we shouldn’t blame her. Let’s just say Eunsol has joined the ‘Dark Hotel Party.’”
“Dark Hotel Party?”
“A kind of inner circle only some of us can be a part of…”
“What on earth is that?”
“It’s for those who have killed—or nearly killed—their comrades. By the way, Songee is the founding president.”
“…”
The grandfather sighed again.
“Stop with the nonsense and tell us what we should do now? The first floor is already wrecked. The second floor… isn’t normal either.”
“What can we do? Just wait it out in the elevator. We’re out of power.”
“In the end, the problem is how to end this dream. Once we wrap this up, this chaotic situation will also disappear.”
“Seems about right.”
“However, thinking carefully, everyone who can wake up has already woken up.”
“Hmm….”
“Songee and I went to the Sanctum of Blessings, so Seungyub didn’t get dragged into the dream since he didn’t drink.”
“That’s true.”
“Elena and Miro also somewhat confessed and woke up.”
At those words, Elena was struck with shock.
“I, I didn’t do anything!”
The dazed Miro quickly emphasized.
“I got kicked!”
“… Alright. Let’s say you both did that. Ahri, you woke me.”
Ahri replied.
“I don’t know where she is, but Eunsol must have woken up by now since she used the hands of greed to get something.”
“Right. The issue is Jinchul, but he’s likely not the type to cause major trouble.”
“Probably.”
“So, it seems we have managed to settle the rest of us.”
“…”
To summarize, the situation is as follows.
People not caught in the dream: Kim Mooksung, Yu Songee, Park Seungyub.
Those who opened up and woke: Elena, Miro.
People whom the grandfather woke: Kim Ahri
Circumstantially awakened: Lee Eunsol, Cha Jinchul
In other words, the eight people remaining in the hotel are somehow nearing the end of the chaos.
The problem lies with the other two.
“The two who went outside are the problem. Seunghyun and Kain. We can’t wake these two… what do we do?”
There was a heavy silence since no one had an answer.
—
*
“There’s never a dull moment in the world!”
Kim Pilho, an older gentleman in a suit, thought to himself sincerely.
Four years ago, he was fired from his job in his late fifties.
Like many retirees in South Korea, he had no sufficient savings to ensure a comfortable retirement.
His meager savings had been quickly consumed by his wife’s ovarian cancer, which came out of nowhere.
He didn’t suddenly start resenting his wife.
Nobody chooses to get cancer, and she had been faithfully by his side all her life.
Instead, he grew bitter towards the world.
After dedicating his entire life to the state and society, was this the unfortunate reward?
Just as everything seemed to be falling apart, individuals in black suits reached out a helping hand.
By ‘helping,’ they meant landing him a job with over six million won monthly.
The only requirement from this employer was straightforward.
Every morning, arrive at a laboratory filled with gray walls and quietly sit in a peculiar room.
That was genuinely it.
Of course, there were several stringent demands.
Wear the same outfit and hairstyle every day.
Do not step out of that room for eight hours.
Maintain the same posture as the elderly man in the photograph.
On top of that, there were countless smaller stipulations to meet.
Through the years of working in this job, the old man had learned a few additional things.
In the workplace, there was a family photo depicting an elderly couple, a daughter-in-law, and grandchildren.
The elderly man in the photo remarkably resembled Kim Pilho, to such a degree that if he donned the company’s uniform and a bit of makeup, no one would be able to tell them apart.
Also, whenever the old man reported to work, a woman resembling the elderly lady in the photo would be waiting for him, and when he left, someone resembling the daughter-in-law would turn up.
In other words, three people, looking remarkably like those in the photo, rotated through to guard the picture around the clock.
…
Realizing this, the man understood the identity of the ‘company’ that hired him.
There was only one organization that dealt with such bizarre occurrences in the world.
“I’ve been hired by the Administration Bureau!”
In this way, he led a peaceful daily routine until one day, catastrophe struck.
Even the elderly couldn’t pinpoint the reason behind it.
Perhaps it was due to the warmth of the spring sun?
Suddenly, a flood of chaos clouded the old man’s consciousness.
—Beeing!
At that moment, the camera keeping watch over him emitted a warning sound.
“Ugh, uh! D-Did I doze off?”
Startled awake, the old man realized the people in the photograph were staring at him.
“What the heck?! What’s going on here—”
As the astonished old man tried to flee from his workplace—
—Click!
The door locked.
*
“Gaaaaaarrrgh!”
The horrifying screams that echoed beyond the camera painted a picture tenfold more gruesome.
There wasn’t anyone with a delicate enough constitution to be shocked by such a sight.
Such incidents were an everyday affair.
A man in a white lab coat reported in a nonchalant manner.
“Containment breach in Area 26! Requesting response!”
Soon, signals emerged indicating that a strike team armed with bulletproof and stab-proof gear was dispatched.
The man who’d just reported sighed wearily and said to his colleague beside him.
“This host only lasted four years…”
“Well, Pilho’s getting on in years. It’s not a big deal. We have five replacements lined up, so send out a staff member.”
With those words, the man typed away on his keyboard, submitting a ‘modification request.’
“‘Family With A Happy Photo’
Serial Number: C-0362
Danger Level: D
Discovered in 2013, in a household in Busan.
The family depicted in the photo behaves calmly when they are nearby but shows violent tendencies, such as □□ and □□□, when they are absent.
Management Procedure: Containment
The actual family is deceased, but it calms down when people resembling them are nearby.
However, if the designated person does not maintain the same posture as in the photo, it enters a state of danger.
In this case, sacrificing the designated person stabilizes it for about 72 hours.”
“Modification Request: Prepare for situations where the designated person might fall asleep. Administration of B-grade stimulants necessary.”
“Is this sufficient…?”
Just then, a ruckus rang out from above.
– An announcement! A new chaotic entity secured! Please check the messenger and familiarize yourself with the content immediately.
“Again?”
“No, how many monsters can fit in this tiny country?”
“Don’t mention it. I caught the fifth reincarnation of Jesus.”
“Any Muhammads yet?”
“I found someone claiming to be a bodhisattva.”
The man chuckled bitterly as he clicked on the file sent through the messenger.
“‘The College Educated Parrot’
Serial Number: C-0237
Danger Level: D
Highly intelligent and capable of fluent human speech.
Claims to originally be ‘Han Kain,’ a K university student, and lists several acquaintances.
Upon verification, none of ‘Han Kain,’ his family, or friends exist.
Threatens to escape with a ‘grimoire.’
Whether such a tool exists is unconfirmed.
Management Procedure: Containment
Keeping it in an electrified birdcage suffices.
+ Note: As this is a provisional file, there is plenty of uncertain information!”
“Good grief! Now we have a talking parrot?”
“Dude, what do you think parrots do? They talk!”
As always, a day at the Administration Bureau was peaceful.
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