Chapter 549 – Hotel Delight (2)
—
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 0
Current Location: Searching
Sage’s Advice: 0
—
– Han Kain
As the elevator was going up like it was on a caffeine buzz, it suddenly came to a screeching halt.
Just like when the power goes out, the display went fuzzy, and the last thing I saw was ‘27.’
Of course, that level doesn’t exist in this hotel.
“… Current location.”
“Hey, Kain?”
“Hold on a sec.”
Just to be safe, I checked my ‘teammate location info’ too.
Teammate Location Info
Lee Eunsol: Searching…
“Oh no.”
“Did you check the location?”
“Neither my location nor Noona’s is showing up normally.”
‘Searching…’ What does that even mean?
This is the first time I’ve seen this kind of location status.
“What did it say before?”
“It said ‘Delight Hotel, Yeongdeungpo, Seoul.’”
— Ding! Clang!
At that moment, the door opened.
With a subtle air of tension, I peered ahead, just to see a somewhat dark space.
— Tick! Tick!
Eunsol kept hitting the button for the first floor repeatedly.
But if the elevator completely lost power, how was it even able to function?
“It seems the power’s gone out.”
“Are you kidding? The door just opened!”
Logically, if the power was out, the door wouldn’t have opened.
Of course, if we started weighing logic, it’s already impossible for the elevator to have moved above the 21st floor.
“Should we check outside?”
“What about Seungah?”
“Leaving her behind feels a bit wrong, doesn’t it?”
“… What if she’s not there when we get back?”
“Have you already gotten that close after waking up today?”
“By her standards, she’s been with me for 6 years.”
Whoa!
Looks like the hotel pumped in another one of those ‘set-up memories’ again.
Anyway, Noona’s fainting secretary was still knocked out cold.
I could wake her up, but then she’d probably freak out again when she realizes our current situation.
Helpless, I morphed Fero into a grotesque form and placed her on my back.
“Let’s go.”
*
An imaginary floor of Hotel Delight.
The corridor was shrouded in darkness.
The small lights on the wall flickered faintly, making my eyes feel like they’d rather have no light at all.
— Thud!
Did the outside wind just sneak in?
I could vaguely hear the sound of a door opening and closing.
“… I’ll order a flashlight.”
‘Order?’
Soon, Noona fiddled with her phone and heard a soft ‘tap’ from behind.
Curious, I went over to check, and sure enough, there was a flashlight.
“Can we use HP Market in reality?”
“Apparently.”
“Before, we could only use it in the hotel, and it was useless in the cursed room.”
“Since this isn’t the hotel!”
Fair enough, if we couldn’t use it outside the hotel, then it wouldn’t have made sense to restore Noona’s ‘wealth.’
— Tick!
With visibility improved, it was much better.
Even as a non-existent floor, there were still room numbers like 2701 and 2702 lining the corridor.
— Swoosh! Swoosh!
Creepy sounds were coming from inside the rooms.
Looks like there’s a ‘guest’ inside, but I didn’t really want to open the door.
“Yikes… This is -”
“Sorry, but sleep some more.”
Seungah had recovered her senses, blinking dully, but Noona quickly put her back to sleep with a sudden spell.
In a whispering tone, Noona asked, “Wanna go to the window and jump?”
Jumping from the 27th floor sounds crazy, but hey, I can fly!
Thinking positively, Noona stepped ahead in a brisk manner.
Soon, we encountered a spot similar to an observation deck.
“This is a place to view the Seoul nightscape; the pride of our hotel… but…”
The place was filled with transparent glass.
Normally, we’d admire the stunning Seoul skyline, but out of this ‘27th’ floor, the scenery was bizarre beyond belief.
“What… is that?”
It felt like I had wandered into the nightmare of a lifelong depression patient.
A swirling, dark blue vortex made an awful sound.
A creature resembling a violet manta ray flapped its wings, flying around.
And I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted a hideous creature with three glowing eyeballs.
Thanks to that, Eunsol immediately summoned her flute.
“Ugh… What kind of hell is this?”
After escaping Hotel Pioneer, I felt trapped in the equally bizarre Hotel Delight.
I almost laughed at the absurdity of it.
“Seriously, Noona, out of all the businesses, why a hotel? What a stroke of bad luck…”
“Did you think it would be like this?”
“Who could’ve guessed?”
“Let’s think calmly.”
“I am thinking.”
“We’ll investigate the terrible secrets of Hotel Delight later when we have time, but for now, we need to get out of here.”
Looking at the outside, which resembled some alien planet, smashing through the wall was definitely not the way to go.
“Is it a hotel here?”
“Cause, it is a hotel.”
“No, it feels more like Hotel Pioneer.”
“… Good point.”
Noona nodded, elaborating, “Outside the first floor is the sky of Korea, and outside the second floor is inside the snow globe of a house. Similarly, up to the 21st floor of Hotel Delight is reality, but from the 22nd floor up, it’s something like an alien planet.”
“That’s true.”
“The elevator connecting the alien-like 22nd floor and below the 21st was the way to go… Shall we ride the elevator again?”
“I think we need to.”
“But— the elevator had stopped before, remember? Should we go back and see how to operate it?”
That seems right.
Having concluded to return to the elevator, we walked back as quietly as possible.
It felt like quite a long trip.
At one point, the secretary lady had woken up and started walking on her own.
When we finally got back to the starting point, everyone was speechless.
“…”
“…”
— Beep!
The elevator was still down!
Thinking about it, it isn’t that strange.
A famous hotel elevator, constantly used by people, wouldn’t just sit there.
“… Was this the escape method?”
We shouldn’t have exited the elevator.
No matter if the power’s out or whatever, we should have just waited inside.
‘Until the elevator gets called from the lower floor!’
“Yikes…!”
“Seungah, shhh.”
Noona calmly pressed the button for the lower floor repeatedly, but there was no response.
It wasn’t just delayed; there were no subtle vibrations or sounds from the elevator moving at all.
The one connection between the floors below 21 and above 22 was gone.
I thought it was similar to Hotel Pioneer, but in this aspect, it was totally different!
Had I ever experienced something like this in a hotel?
… Oh yeah.
“I’m reminded of a similar place.”
“Got it. Was it Room 101? 102? The hospital of Common Sense Renovating Media -”
“That place was similar, but so was Room 206’s ‘Par Room.’”
“The Par Room? Ah, the one Fake Ahri made?”
“I heard there’s a Par Room in reality too.”
“Is this it?”
“Well….”
It’s similar, but I can’t say for sure.
“Hiccup!”
Seeing the secretary’s face as if she’d burst into tears made me feel anxious too.
“…”
My heart was pounding a bit.
I thought I’d be fine, claiming I was someone who fought numerous arch-devils in the cursed room.
But oddly, my heart felt cold.
Why?
In reality, there’s no resurrection like in the cursed room.
If I die, there’s no coming back thanks to the comrades I passed through.
“Relax, it’s okay!”
“…”
“Ahri said, even if you die—”
“You wake up in the next ‘loop?’”
“…”
Let’s not think further down that ominous path.
Instead, a realistic possibility crossed my mind.
“Noona, you bought a flashlight with HP Market, right?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Can you use the Hand of Greed?”
“Are you suggesting to use the Hand of Greed to call the elevator?”
“Let’s do that.”
“…”
“There’s another way too. I could take you all down the escalator passage directly.”
“Do you think we can reach below the 21st floor that way?”
“I can’t be sure, which is why I’m opting to call the elevator.”
Noona’s expression darkened a bit.
“You know, if we use the Hand of Greed to create an event—”
“It could lead to something bad for us, except for Noona.”
“… It’s just you around me.”
“That’s got to be better. Let’s do it.”
Soon, Noona gently closed her eyes.
And then—
— Whooooosh!
The elevator made a ‘going up’ sound again.
The elevator from reality was headed towards the bizarre Hotel Delight on the 27th floor!
— Ding!
At the moment the door opened, everyone hurriedly stepped inside.
“Phew…”
Even now, no matter what button we pressed, the elevator still wouldn’t respond.
But now I know what to do.
“Let’s wait.”
Just wait.
Until the elevator gets called from below!
The door closed, the lights went out, a moment of silence passed,
— Ding!
The elevator started moving again!
With that moment, everyone finally exhaled.
Not just me and Eunsol, but the secretary lady who’d never experienced anything like this.
“Whew…! We made it! We made it! But who is this ‘rare’ lady here?”
I guess I didn’t seem like an ordinary person, as I was instantly dubbed ‘rare’, which made me chuckle.
“I’ll explain outside.”
Even while giggling, I kept my focus firmly on the top of the elevator until the last moment.
26, 25, …, 22—
“Uh?”
“Kain?”
Current Location: Searching -> Ah –
“…”
Current Location: Delight Hotel, Yeongdeungpo, Seoul.
What stellar timing!
It’s almost as if someone is playing a prank on me.
Just as I was about to figure out the strange place beyond the 22nd floor, the elevator skipped right to the 21st floor.
“Ah…”
“Ah?”
The identity of this bizarre world starts with ‘Ah.’
I figured this out.
If I go again, I’ll probably find out right away?
Is it even necessary to go?
— Ding!
We reached the first floor!
Finally exiting the elevator, the familiar lobby of Hotel Delight appeared.
Hotel staff busily moving around, happy families mingling in the warm atmosphere.
In this cozy scene, the three of us leaned against the wall like our souls had been sucked out.
“Ha, haha!”
“Aha!”
“Hehe!”
Like fools laughing uncontrollably.
Guests and staff would glance our way for a second but didn’t seem to care about our antics.
— Zing! Zing!
My phone buzzed frantically.
Noona, who’d been giggling, checked her phone and suddenly burst into laughter again.
“They’re asking why I didn’t show up for the meeting.”
“Didn’t they say we were supposed to have a meeting on the 7th floor?”
“It’s already over.”
“Are you okay?”
“What does it matter? This is my hotel! If they don’t like it, they can quit!”
What a ridiculous statement, but she’s not wrong.
Isn’t Eunsol the owner or CEO of this hotel, after all?
In any case, if she said she wasn’t feeling well today, what would everyone do?
And just like that, the bizarre event concluded.
…
I thought it was all over.
*
Sitting down at the top-floor restaurant of Hotel Delight, enjoying a 270,000 won gourmet dinner.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed like crazy.
“Huh? Noona? What’s—”
“Kain! Something big has happened!”
“Yeah?”
“The Hand of Greed! Did something bad happen to you?!”
“…”
That had already been on my mind since earlier.
Isn’t the Hand of Greed meant to mean there’s no such thing as ‘free’?
Thanks to its ability, Noona should be fine, but for me standing right next to her, I’d be in serious trouble if anything went down.
I had prepared myself mentally, but the fact that nothing happened until dinner was over left me puzzled.
“Nothing has happened yet—”
“People have gone missing!”
“What?”
“Four family guests haven’t returned! They took the elevator but never came back! The time they disappeared—”
— Clang!
A flash of realization struck me like lightning.
Just like always, the Hand of Greed provided no free rides.
Having summoned the elevator to the 27th floor, someone had to pay the price, and it was surely going to impact those around us.
In reality, that ‘someone’ might not even be a hotel companion!
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