Chapter 194

The hidden reverse side of the hotel was truly vast.

"To be honest, for the version of me that is not in 'General Manager' mode, computing the full structure of this place is next to impossible. It does not seem to be a volume of information I can handle."

Much the same way one cannot recall, one by one, the number of capillaries inside one's own body.

"Even so, I can sense the approximate location of our guests."

"Yes! Possible!"

"Shall we, Coco?"

"Coco likes!"

"If you are pleased, then I am glad."

Patting Coco as it settled into its familiar spot on his shoulder, Lee Yeon-woo raised the lamp in his other hand. Each time the dim light pierced the darkness, surreal shadows stretched long across the walls.

"This is not an especially pleasant environment for me."

Whoosh—

His hair stirred.

A damp, chill wind gusted up from the pitch-black abyss below. A faint scent of ash and poppies grazed the tip of his nose.

'She must be somewhere nearby.'

Down there, beyond the black dark, the "Lover of Dawn" lay hidden.

This was a blind spot existing between the hotel's walls—wall and wall's gap. A cavity so vast and deep that a single human's frame felt infinitely small.

'Quite the feat, making it this far in.'

The structure was tangled as intricately as a living creature's circulatory system. Along the walls, which were packed in like the organs of some great animal, pipes of every thickness wound on like a nest of serpents.

It was a sealed zone that even Lee Yeon-woo could not have reached had he never been in "General Manager Mode."

"Quite remarkable, is it not?"

"Pardon?"

"It truly looks like a living creature. Even when I became blood and flowed through the plumbing, even when I preserved my body's circuits into this system, even when I was switched to 'General Manager Mode'—I kept thinking the same thing."

Lee Yeon-woo came to a halt at the edge of the expansive piping above. A small chip of concrete, nudged by the toe of his shoe, sank soundlessly into the dark below.

Well—was this even truly "concrete"?

"……."

Had he seen it while in "General Manager Mode," something different might have been visible.

"It is plainly an artificial building, yet it imitates the forms of a living thing. I said it myself, but it is genuinely illogical and absurd."

He gazed down impassively into the dizzying vertical shaft below.

"But the 'General Manager' would ordinarily never come all the way to a remote corner like this."

"Yes."

"Even if a defect or malfunction arises in the facility, inspecting and repairing such dusty sites is entirely the work of those 'below.'"

"Correct."

"Which is why our guest chose to hide here."

Lee Yeon-woo's current physical durability was no better than acorn jelly.

It was not as bad as during "General Manager Mode," where penalties and status ailments pressed down on him in real time, but even after months of physical improvement research, his body remained fragile enough to break in a breeze.

'But in the end, the "me" in General Manager Mode is simply another version of myself.'

This meant that the authority and techniques the General Manager wielded were not entirely forgotten when Lee Yeon-woo switched modes.

'In effect, I've gained the opportunity to learn from myself.'

A little magic that lets one walk on air, for instance.

"Let us go down."

"Hello?"

"Yes, it is all right."

Tap—

He stepped off.

"I am not prone to acrophobia."

Magic was ultimately a discipline,

and Lee Yeon-woo was the studious type.

* * *

Lee Yeon-woo descended, stepping from pipe to pipe, lower and ever lower.

The law of acceleration, which should rightly have applied, had been stripped away; he left only the faintest sound of friction as he landed lightly on the final pipe.

'In truth, this is probably not really the final pipe.'

Sentiments aside, the fact that this was his destination was clear.

"……."

"Rude guest!"

"Well, I am not entirely sure what to do about that."

Having gently patted Coco calm, Lee Yeon-woo strolled along the great pipe, lamp still in hand. With each step closer, a strange current stabbed at his lungs.

'A sinister wind laced with cold, dead ash….'

And then, deep in that long, deep darkness, pure-white feathers began to emerge.

"Margareta."

Margareta.

"I came to see you."

Lee Yeon-woo asked dryly, addressing the woman whose countless feathers puffed out with a rustling hiss.

"Why are you so frightened?"

"No."

"How fresh for you to deny it. When the one who hunted me and devoured me multiple times was you."

"No."

"Do not run."

He lowered the lamp and extended a hand clad in a white cotton glove, slow and deliberate.

"I told you I would prove it."

"No!!!"

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—!!

A storm of white feather-blades engulfed that pitch-black space in an instant. Caught off guard by the violent wind pressure, Lee Yeon-woo staggered.

"Ngh—"

"You are not my ■■■!"

"Margareta."

"You cannot be my la■y…!!"

She must know, herself, that the very denial was a contradiction. The wraith, having taken the form of a white crow, bared sharp teeth in the ink-black darkness and spoke as if moaning.

"There is no way I found my lady."

WHOOSH!! CRASH—!!

A single stomp from the great bird sent the steel pipe screaming and lurching.

"……."

"……."

"…Hah, I'm going to lose my mind…."

Coco stared at him with mouth agape. Feeling his exhaustion double under that affection-laden gaze, Lee Yeon-woo mechanically straightened his ruined suit.

Thanks to a physical durability no better than acorn jelly, every organ and every inch of skin had been shredded ragged, yet his expression remained as impassive as ever. Recovery was not impossible, nor was pain something he felt.

"Just as I thought—you're frightened."

What a tender-hearted friend, really.

"No!"

"Calm down."

"No! Rude guest! Kill! Kill!"

"I said calm down."

"Kill!!"

"Coco."

All that bluster, and in truth she was frantic beyond measure. Personally speaking, this wicked cat was every bit as frail and tender-hearted as Margareta.

"Then let us return to the quarters."

"Eeing."

"She will be registered as a new member of our family before long, so please do not look upon her too unkindly."

"Eeng."

As Coco rubbed its squishy body against him in passive protest—

"…? Hm?"

Beneath Lee Yeon-woo's feet, his jet-black shadow rippled like liquid, and out of nowhere four little cotton-puff paws popped out with a "poof!"

'Paws?'

As though burrowing up from a den, small forepaws pushed past the shadow's boundary and poked outside. The fur, without a single speck of mixed color, was pure black with a silken sheen, and the tails that followed were fluffy and cloud-soft.

"Kong."

"Kong-kong."

Lee Yeon-woo looked down at the small noses busily twitching at the tip of his shoe.

"Foxes?"

Two foxes, each a bit larger than his forearm.

"Kill."

"One moment."

Lee Yeon-woo had to calm Coco first.

Already put out by Margareta, and now—on top of the Room 14 tenant—unidentified creatures attempting unauthorized entry into his own shadow, Coco was being anything but generous.

The two foxes, for their part, were remarkably brazen through it all.

* * *

"Oh dear, nephew."

Kwon Seung-jae trailed after Kwon Do-heon as though it were a nuisance. His gait had its usual laid-back ease, but the solid weight of the gun hidden inside his coat was unmistakable.

"What on earth are you planning to do, prowling about at this hour~…."

"I just need to check one thing."

"You had a nice chat over the room phone—what more do you need to confirm in person?"

"How do I know that was really 'Lee Yeon-woo'?"

At Kwon Do-heon's stubborn retort, Seome, gliding above his head, let out a cry. It sounded like a sigh at a younger sibling's senseless stubbornness.

"Sigh."

"Fine! Honestly, I just wanted to see his face for myself!"

In the end, Kwon Do-heon admitted his defeat outright, shouting.

"I don't know why, but I feel uneasy right now!"

Why his heart was pounding so, even Kwon Do-heon himself could not say. He only knew that sitting idle in the comfortable guest room left a dull ache at the base of his sternum.

The voice that had come through the old-fashioned dial telephone had stimulated a sense of familiarity beyond anything he'd imagined. As though a previous version of himself had once turned it over and over in his mind.

"He might just up and die on us if we leave him alone…."

"Would you look at that—writing novels now."

Dan-cheong, who had accompanied them as escort, peered at Kwon Do-heon with the drooping eyes of someone observing a bizarre creature. Scratching roughly at her chin, she clicked her tongue.

"I understand your attachment's unusually strong given your circumstances, but if anyone in this labyrinth is going to 'up and die,' the odds are overwhelmingly higher that it'll be you, kid."

"You don't understand how I feel, Director."

"Good heavens, look at this brat. Coy as the sky is high."

"Adults don't understand my feelings!"

"Right, right, I don't, so please just lower that wonderful volume of yours. You'll get scolded for making noise in the corridor."

They rode the golden elevator down to the first-floor lobby, but the General Manager, who should have been at his post, was nowhere to be seen. Only the usual uncanny stillness lay quietly over the lobby.

"What? He's always standing at the Front Desk."

"Standing there all the time, his legs must ache, and he'd get bored too."

"Beta test or not, having the game's core NPC suddenly vanish like this seems wrong."

"Being this nitpicky over a game that hasn't even launched—bit much, don't you think, kid?"

As Kwon Do-heon scanned the lobby in frustration, at the far edge of his gaze he caught an out-of-place shape amid the splendid hotel lobby.

"Hm?"

A ball of fur, huddled in a corner near the main entrance on the marble floor.

"A dog."

"Good heavens, a mutt."

Kwon Seung-jae likewise scratched the side of his head with his gun barrel and turned his gaze that way.

"In a labyrinth where conscience is a vestigial organ, a critter sitting quietly—no way it's just an ordinary mutt…. Mimicry's remarkably well done, though. Well, well, aren't you cute."

"It's the first fluffy creature I've seen in ages and I kind of want to pet it, but I probably shouldn't?"

"Well~ if our precious nephew is determined to hasten his own demise today, his uncle can't exactly stop him~…."

"Oh, come on."

As Kwon Do-heon drew a little closer, the details came into focus. What met the two men's eyes was a medium-sized dog—the kind you might see absolutely anywhere—with brown-and-white patched fur.

Its coat, of moderate length, looked reasonably soft on the surface, though faint traces of dust and rainwater clung to it. Outwardly it appeared healthy, but its movements were noticeably sluggish, suggesting considerable age.

"……."

"…Tch…."

Its ears drooped limply, and its eyes—clear black—looked somehow exhausted and sad. Its tail showed no sign of movement either; it merely watched the two approach in silence.

Of the two Kwons, it was Do-heon who couldn't hold back.

"…A person can walk in here on their own two feet, so there's no reason a dog couldn't, is there?"

"Whether a labyrinth accepts animals as guests is ultimately down to the master's tastes, but~"

"It's already inside. Real or fake, the fact that a 'dog' as a creature is included in this labyrinth's tastes has to mean something."

"What a logical thing for you to say. This side doesn't have Detection eyes, so I can't be sure, but—see anything special, nephew?"

"If I had, I'd have said so already. No, it really just looks like an old dog…."

When their eyes met those clear, forlorn eyes, both men found themselves stammering involuntarily.

"Uh…."

"Er…."

"Is this… what, did you come to find someone?"

"Maybe one of Director Lee's or Writer Hong's group had a dog?"

"And it followed them all the way here? Nah, can't be. If it had, it'd be beside itself with joy. Old or not, it's still a dog."

"It looks so ordinary that it's actually more unsettling."

The crouching creature looked like any stray you'd find on a country road—perfectly, utterly ordinary.

"I feel a strange sort of guilt."

"Mountains this deep, there'd be more than a few abandoned dogs."

"Waiting for someone?"

It was at the very moment the questions chased one another's tails.

"Excuse me, sir."

"Uh…."

"Oh my."

The voice, inserting itself without a hint of presence, made both men flinch.

"That dog is one of our hotel's guests. As you can see, it is quite advanced in years. Excessive attention may cause unnecessary strain for both parties."

A man in a neat suit curved his eyes gently and smiled.

"Even should you be considering adoption."

Kwon Do-heon, drawing back and straightening up, looked the man in the face. And then his gaze was caught by the man's eyes.

'The eye color….'

Black irises with golden pupils.

"Is that understood?"

"Huh? Oh, yes."

This hotel's General Manager—"Lee Yeon-woo."

"Good."

He turned his attention to the "dog" lying in the corner. The creature, whose tail had been swaying languidly since Yeon-woo appeared, sat up neatly on its two front paws the moment his full gaze landed on it.

Studying the dog in silence, Lee Yeon-woo whispered low.

"You may stay here."

"Woof."

Having given a small, definitive answer, the "dog" lay back down.

Unlike its tightly huddled posture before, this time it stretched out in complete relaxation. Soon the sound of regular breathing announced it had fallen into a deep sleep.

Lee Yeon-woo guided the three a little further inside, gently widening the distance from the dog.

"…Hmm."

Then he smiled, looking a touch sheepish. A smile that was hardly different from the "General Manager's," and yet this time it was tinged with something unmistakably human in its warmth.

"I suppose I ought to introduce myself again."

"……."

"I am Lee Yeon-woo, the General Manager of this hotel."

He asked.

"If it is not too much trouble, might I ask for your help?"

* * *

Walking the corridor, Lee Yeon-woo continued his calm explanation.

"The guest you just encountered goes by the name 'The Dog That Went to Greet.' As you saw, it takes the form of a stray, though depending on memory and impression, it may rarely appear as a particular breed."

"So it really wasn't an ordinary dog…."

"A guest born from the longing and sense of loss directed toward dogs."

His low voice seeped softly into the long corridor.

"But it seemed docile—is it perhaps."

"I would like to assure you it is not dangerous, but I would not recommend approaching it."

Smiling first, as though he already knew what Kwon Do-heon was about to say, Lee Yeon-woo headed him off.

"It begins as simple curiosity. Before long, you feel pity, and the more you draw close, pulled by that compassion, the more you lose self-control."

"Self-control…?"

"Small pity turns to guilt, and guilt soon becomes obsession. The roles of dog and owner are completely reversed."

"Reversed…."

"When the roles are thus inverted, the human's ego is ultimately annihilated entirely."

Having recited this dreadful truth in a matter-of-fact tone, Lee Yeon-woo stopped and looked back.

"So as long as you do not give it your heart, a fleeting exchange in passing poses no problem at all. It is best not to draw any closer, but at present the two of you show no signs of having been affected, so there is no great cause for concern."

"Ah…."

It was around then. Dan-cheong, who had been silently observing the exchange, spoke up.

"Hearing all this, that 'guest' sounds quite mild by the standards of this world."

"You are correct."

Lee Yeon-woo nodded readily.

"Above all, that guest will be following me for the time being. So long as you do not approach first, no harm will ever come to you on account of 'The Dog That Went to Greet.' I ask that you please keep my request in mind."

"Was what you said earlier the condition?"

Dan-cheong's gaze turned to Lee Yeon-woo. The permission Lee Yeon-woo had granted—"You may stay here."

"It struck me as an unusual sentence to address to a dog."

"That guest simply needs a place to stay."

Lee Yeon-woo's characteristic even tone struck the quiet corridor walls and faded.

"This hotel is exceedingly spacious, and the guests who stay here are individualistic. Above all, the party in question is extremely quiet… there is simply no reason not to provide the space."

"Is that the purpose of this 'hotel' as a space?"

"Is a hotel not, by nature, a place where travelers stop to rest for a while?"

He smiled as though stating a self-evident truth.

"So long as a guest does not cause great harm or trouble to others, the hotel never turns a guest away."

"That it does not."

Dan-cheong rolled her eyes, surveying the walls, the ceiling, the "hotel" before her.

A being born with an overwhelmingly powerful spirit sight. A figure whose depth of shamanistic knowledge was beyond all compare—that was Dan-cheong.

In her intuition, "Lee Yeon-woo" read as an "Artist" or, at most, an "infant Dokkaebi."

'Out of nowhere, two Inari foxes tucked under his wing—I wondered what was going on.'

Dan-cheong stole a glance at the shadow stretching long from Lee Yeon-woo's feet as he walked ahead.

'Not a malignant being.'

Separate from the ominous aura of the foxes hiding in his shadow, toward the being called "Lee Yeon-woo," even the blade at her bosom revealed no hostility and slept in perfect quiet.

'This is a being who wears the shell of a machine for the sake of dominion over the space, shouldering a portion of evil's karma; at his core, he is the custodian of a neutral ground that soothes and shelters weeping souls.'

How practiced he is at offering himself as a human pillar.

'A pitiable spirit.'

Dan-cheong felt an inexplicable bitterness and smacked her lips. If he possessed a disposition this grotesquely upright, it would be a hundred times wiser to forge a friendly connection now for the sake of the future.

"By the way, I heard you were shot—is your body all right? You don't look well at all."

"Huh? Oh? Yes?"

Kwon Do-heon, who had been trailing behind and watching for cues, jolted with a start. It was, after all, the very source of the guilt that had been pressing on a corner of his heart.

Yet even at Do-heon's reaction, Lee Yeon-woo did not so much as look back, continuing forward and answering calmly.

"Thank you for your concern, but this is not entirely the result of Mr. Kwon Do-heon's actions. There was a small incident before I encountered you all."

"No, that's… I…."

"I am sorry."

Lee Yeon-woo stopped, turned, and looked Kwon Do-heon squarely in the face.

"It must have been hard on you."

"……."

A voice settled to a gentle calm.

That single line seemed to pierce something; for an instant Do-heon's words caught, and he bit his lip hard. Kwon Seung-jae beside him shrugged, and Dan-cheong swallowed a small sigh.

The mood turned oddly complicated for no good reason.

'…These young ones, being needlessly mature….'

Dan-cheong found herself, for the first time, understanding just a little of Lee Seon-hae's feelings—the woman who had wailed that this was a kindergartner, barely five years old.

* * *

Had Lee Yeon-woo known, he would have insisted with all his might that he was fifty.