Of course, he had ant to send them away.
“What kind of hotel is this, and yet ordinary people... people who look as though they know absolutely nothing about Hoone... people in a place where they could lose their minds or die at the slightest misstep, and I, of all people, ha....”
The cat mumbled,
“Yes, no, yes, no... hello... yes....”
“Was it you?”
“Yesno?”
“Where did you learn sothing so awful?”
“Yesno?”
“One of us is very clearly insane.”
This was no joke. This hotel truly killed people. Across tens of thousands of playthroughs, he too had killed many guests. More precisely, he had failed to protect them from the hotel’s malice.
But that had been fiction beyond a monitor, while this was reality delivered through all five senses.
‘My intention was to receive them politely and then send them away, but the words would not co out.’
It was as though not only his speech, but the circuit of thought itself, had been paralyzed. In front of guests, Lee Yeon-woo was a diligent Operator. In that instant, he had not even been conscious of becoming one.
It resembled ntal contamination, yet differed from it in kind. It was a coercion of another sort. As though he himself had wanted to receive those guests, so “sothing” had betrayed his will.
“Why?”
There were parts he could guess at.
“Because before it is reality, the foundation of this place is still a ga?”
In Hoone, there was no function for rejecting guests in the first place. The weight given to guests rely changed according to one’s playstyle. And right now, nearly every authority remained locked behind the tutorial.
“You really must be mad.”
This was inflexible to a ridiculous degree.
‘If this truly were nothing more than a ga, I would have accepted it.’
He had clung to one small scrap of hope until the very end. Even if Coco had called them “people,” perhaps they were advanced AI, or exquisitely made NPCs.
‘But they weren’t.’
The mont he faced those “human guests” at the front desk, he had no choice but to accept it.
‘Ever since the monster guests began showing reactions beyond the scope of the ga, I had already guessed half of it. Even so, it is now certain: the guests who co here cannot be dismissed as re data.’
Those were faces he had seen ti and again on various channels and in articles beyond the screen. Not clumps of data, but real people whose pulse beat and whose warmth could be felt.
Director Lee Seon-hae and Writer Hong Gyeong-yeon.
“No matter how closely one looked, they did not resemble ga characters in the slightest. The reaction they showed the instant I asked about the film they had made was far beyond anything one could get from rendered ga resources.”
But still.
“...How can anyone simply let living people walk into a place like this?”
“…….”
“Coco?”
“No....”
“Do you have any intention whatsoever of giving
even the slightest logical answer to that question?”
“No....”
“Good, good. Debating with a wall is hardly to my taste either.”
Lee Yeon-woo’s emotional response was useless as things stood. re emotional discharge did nothing at all to improve the situation.
Had he not already known that his counterpart was neither human nor a proper cat?
‘It is not even clear whether Coco possesses the authority to answer.’
In a situation like this, what would improve by pressing Coco harder? To hound a child still clumsy with language was not sothing a sensible man past forty ought to do.
“…….”
He cald himself.
“...It shas
to say it, but I was briefly agitated. I apologize.”
“No!”
“Whether you caused this fiasco, or whether so outside will interfered, we can settle that later. Right now, imdiate cleanup matters more than identifying the culprit. It would be a waste of ti to debate which side is the greater piece of trash.”
“Yes.”
“What matters now is how to get those people out of here. I need to think about whether this hotel even possesses anything resembling a sensible escape route.”
“A sensible escape route.”
“The speed at which you acquire language is astonishing. Excellent. I only hope that learning does not return later as a disaster upon humanity.”
“Yes.”
“So what I need to do is....”
The answer ca to him at once.
“Food.”
“Yes.”
“That is certainly important. It was also sothing the guests themselves asked about first, so if I do not return an answer imdiately, it may only invite needless suspicion. On the other hand, I cannot exactly serve them sothing unverified.”
“Food.”
“The safest course, from their perspective, would be to guide them to solve that outside the hotel. No, before that... where exactly is this hotel located right now?”
He paused to think. A rough inference was possible.
“They said they ca by car.”
“Yes.”
“They also said they had gotten lost. A downpour so fierce that a short walk from the car to the hotel entrance was enough to drench them, with mountains hemming the place in on all sides....”
“Yes.”
“If people in this day and age are willing to believe that a little rain was enough to cut off all signal, that ans this is a remote wilderness. Whether it’s so mountain hamlet in Gangwon Province or not, at the very least there are likely no convenience facilities within this radius that I know of.”
“Yes.”
“The cleanest solution would be for
to go out and fetch sothing myself, but my range of action is bound by this hotel’s system. Which ans I may have to consider offering them ingredients from within the hotel after all....”
He rolled his eyes dryly.
“The problem is that I have no idea whether those ingredients are actually suitable for humans with ordinary biological structures.”
“Yes.”
“...Did you just state that they are suitable, Coco?”
“Yes.”
“…….”
Lee Yeon-woo chose not to calculate the probability that Coco might be lying.
“Very well. Let’s try it.”
Because becoming the control group himself was the faster and simpler path.
“I’ll eat it first.”
“Yes.”
“The fact that I can eat it does not guarantee that others can as well... but it is still a more rational choice than standing by idly and watching the stomachs of our nation’s masters dissolve away. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Rational?”
“At tis like this, I miss the body of a healthy adult man.”
“Yes.”
“It may be a little old to call the most standard specin, but there was no database more suitable for use as a clinical sample with peace of mind. People say you never notice what’s there until it is gone. Truly....”
“Yes... yes?”
Coco, who had been answering him, faltered and looked up at Lee Yeon-woo. eting that round gaze, Yeon-woo gave a calm nod.
“In bodies in the latter part of adolescence, interindividual variability still remains in tabolic and hormonal factors, so certain indices may fluctuate. Ordinarily, unless one is studying pediatric illness or there is no substitute sample, minors are not used as specins. In theory, that is.”
“Yes?”
“Of course, since I do not know the exact chanism by which this body operates, it is difficult to regard it as a true nineteen-year-old body. But that, in turn, introduces another uncertain variable....”
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
Lee Yeon-woo adjusted his glasses without expression.
“The conclusion is that this body is a poor specin for experintation.”
What an untrustworthy sample.
‘Securing food itself would not be difficult.’
Even in this horror hotel, the concept of service still existed.
Not only human guests, but even monster guests of uncertain form often complained of hunger. Perhaps because it was one of the most basic services, even in the tutorial the minimum rationing function remained unlocked.
‘Though my range of action and authority are restricted.’
The kitchen was inaccessible. Nor could he use any cooking tools.
“A hotel without a cook. Its state of managent is truly a spectacle.”
“No.”
“I know. Later on, I’ll have to hire a cook too. That sounds like a very distant story.”
After staring dryly at the empty lobby, Lee Yeon-woo clicked his tongue.
“Even so, within this nonsensical system, it should at least be possible to summon the end result requested by a guest.”
From where?
“…….”
From the corridor.
“…….”
“Yes?”
“Let’s try it.”
On either side of the guest-floor corridor stood small service elevators called dumbwaiters.
Ordinarily, the proper sequence was for food prepared in the kitchen to be sent up through them, after which the waiting staff would transfer it onto trays and carry it to the guests.
‘But at present, this is a tutorial stage in which much is missing.’
Now that it had beco reality, he did not know what kind of structure kept it running, but at this stage Lee Yeon-woo could only receive the finished output called “food” from the dumbwaiter.
“...Do you really believe this thod will work for human guests as well?”
“Yes.”
“True enough. Even when it was a ga, this hotel’s food never posed any problem to ‘human guests.’ But whether that remains true now is another matter.”
“No.”
“At tis, I almost envy your optimistic attitude.”
The problem was that even this rigid system preserved at least a minimal procedure.
Under the tutorial frawork, the Operator had no authority to proactively push a service onto the guests at his own discretion. The dumbwaiter only functioned if the guest made a clear “request.” It was a passive system.
“Then I’ll have to ask the guests what sort of al they prefer.”
The system rely supplied the choices, and Lee Yeon-woo was skilled at selecting the nearest thing to the optimal answer from among those crude options. That was one of the social skills he had built as a human being.
If there was a possibility, he had to move.
***
While they were in the middle of talking, the phone rang.
“A phone?”
“Is it from the front desk?”
“It’s not as though anyone else could possibly be calling us.”
“At this hour, what could it be...?”
The director picked up.
“Hello?”
—Excuse , sir. This is the front desk. I hope I haven’t interrupted your rest.
A kind and dignified tone. The voice that ca through the receiver felt like the very silhouette they had seen in the lobby, recast as sound.
‘You can tell who it is just from the voice.’
A faintly awkward laugh escaped her. Gentlemanly, courteous, refined. Not rely a voice that spoke well, but one that sohow made the listener straighten their own posture.
‘If I only heard the voice and never saw the face, I’d think he was so deeply seasoned hotelier... but no matter how I think about it, his age....’
As she unconsciously imagined the history held within that voice, the director asked,
“Ah, yes. What is it?”
—I am currently reviewing possible arrangents regarding breakfast service tomorrow morning. May I ask whether you have any preferred cuisine?
“Ah... so als are possible? I had thought they might be difficult.”
—Nothing has been finalized yet, but I am in the process of coordinating the best solution available. For reference, the party in Room 2102 has requested Western food. If you would tell
your preference, I will do my best to prepare sothing as close to it as possible.
“Ah, then... one mont.”
The director turned to the writer.
“Darling, is there anything you want for breakfast? Korean, Chinese, Western...?”
“...Korean, perhaps?”
“Mornings should be easy on the stomach. All right, received.”
She pressed the phone back to her ear.
“I think anything Korean would be fine.”
—Thank you. Is there anything else I should take into account? For instance, ingredients you cannot eat?
“No, nothing like that. But if possible, sothing like soup or porridge would be nice. My stomach doesn’t do well in the mornings.”
—Thank you for such valuable guidance. For the sake of your comfort tomorrow morning, I shall prepare sothing within our ans with due care.
“Wow, thank you.”
—Not at all. It is I who should thank you for answering. I also regret contacting you so abruptly at such a late hour. I hope you have a peaceful night.
“Yes. You too, Manager.”
The call ended soon after.
“What is it? They’re giving us breakfast?”
“A buffet or anything like that will probably be difficult, but after saying this much, I imagine they will give us sothing.”
“I was already thinking that if it ca to it, we’d have to drive out a fair distance tomorrow.”
“Even if the guests all bring their own food, the staff must be living and eating here, right? I assu he ans they’ll make use of that.”
“Then wasn’t al service possible from the beginning?”
“If they use ingredients ant for the staff’s own als, there are bound to be guests who would dislike that. I suppose you’d have to be at least that fussy to avoid upsetting guests who are eccentric on top of everything else.”
“What kind of strange guests does this place even have?”
“There are plenty of impossible people in the world who don’t want to eat the sa food as the staff. By that standard, it isn’t even especially unusual. Strange, yes. But not unusual.”
“No matter where you go, impossible people are always the problem.”
“That’s simply how the world is.”
That was the conclusion they reached.
In any case, the staff here had to eat too.
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