"For ordinary guests, we administer a minor asure, but...."
"A asure."
"It doesn't seem necessary for you, sir. You don't appear to have had nightmares."
"Indeed not."
"I see."
The General Manager personally assisted with Baek Mu-jin's checkout.
"Your signature, please."
What he was handed was a guest register in a classical format. Baek Mu-jin took the pen and wrote his na.
He deliberately held the register's edge, but the texture under his fingertips was frigid, as though it had been stored in a freezer. Only the spot the young Dokkaebi had been holding was distinctly cold.
"......"
Its body temperature was remarkably low. Unlike most Dokkaebi.
'Like a corpse pulled from the water.'
It never removed its gloves. It coughed as if dying from ti to ti, and whenever it did, the sll of blood followed. It seed to hear phantom sounds, looking elsewhere. Before a large pool, it stopped breathing.
And then it gazed at the deep water as though it desperately wished to drown.
'What a vicious curse.'
A water wraith's curse, and therefore an expression of affection. That was how Dokkaebi without tradition always behaved. Baek Mu-jin knew this curse had been incurred in the process of saving Seon-hae.
Becoming a water wraith's object of attachnt, trading one's own wellbeing for another's life.
'Whether that was the only option or whether it simply suited its temperant, it's not sothing any sane being would do.'
But it was effective. And efficient. This being would not crumble under a curse of that caliber.
He valued that highly.
"...You seem quite fond of this hotel."
"Did it appear that way?"
"Had you not been, you would have grown weary far sooner. It wouldn't have been strange had you already collapsed."
"Your observation is correct, sir."
"Quite a lot seems to have happened in this place."
Even a cetery couldn't compare.
"Sin upon sin stacked...."
Traces of resentnt and suffering more vile than a plague-ridden mass grave perated the place. It was enough to give him a headache just from looking.
"This hotel didn't make for a particularly restful space, I'm afraid."
"Were your eyes fatigued?"
"That too, among other things."
For Baek Mu-jin, whose stamina was no longer what it once was, this place demanded far too much seeing, hearing, and feeling.
"But I do think it's a good hotel."
A Labyrinth of high value.
Worth preserving.
"Unless you wish otherwise, I will never speak of this hotel."
"I appreciate your discretion."
"Have you any thought of coming outside?"
Whether this being retained mories from when it was human—if asked that directly, a clear answer was difficult. It behaved quite humanly most of the ti, yet would occasionally reveal a vivid inhumanity.
Baek Mu-jin added his personal assessnt: that alien inhumanity might itself be a form of 'lost humanity.'
'In that case, it may have inherited its mories only in fragnts.'
If so, adapting to human society would be no easy feat. There were too many rules that couldn't be understood from fragntary information alone. Above all, nothing good would co of a young Dokkaebi revealing itself in this era.
"If you do co outside, please use the business card Seon-hae gave you to reach . Should you wish it, I'll arrange matters on my end to ensure you don't get entangled in anything troubleso."
"Would that be a thank-you gift for helping Director Lee Seon-hae?"
"No, the thank-you gift was the death row prisoners I brought...."
"......"
Baek Mu-jin raised an eyebrow.
'How thoroughly it likes humans.'
More precisely, it treasured life. Every ti he encountered this aspect, he thought it unexpected—though separately, it was a very young and very traditional Dokkaebi-like attitude.
"...Well, then...."
He found himself saying things he didn't need to say.
"You appear quite young, so allow this old man to leave a few more trifling pieces of advice."
"I'll listen gladly."
"Rember this. You are not the one that gets eaten—you are the one that eats."
"Not the most welco advice."
"Heh."
In monts like these, he could unmistakably feel that this was a Dokkaebi—and a young one. A courteous fra was maintained, yet there was a streak of mischief.
"Whether you like it or not, that is your instinct and your fate. No matter how humbly you clasp your hands and pretend to be prey, it will eventually be found out."
"Pretend?"
"All the more so for anyone with keen instincts. When the ti cos, a clumsy act of playing the docile young master won't fool anyone, so you might as well... learn to moderate it in advance."
"Is that advice?"
"If you truly can't stand hearing it, feel free to take it as nagging."
Baek Mu-jin clicked his tongue.
"But you already hold the leash of this hotel, do you not? When the one seated at the top possesses at least a minimum of self-righteousness, only then does all balance find stability."
"It sounds as though you're encouraging
to beco a tyrant. You might get along well with my partner."
"That's not it."
"No?"
"I happen to like your approach."
It suppressed all manner of unwholeso things. Persuading, captivating, and at tis oppressing them to steer them in the direction it desired. Where else could you find violence this gentle and this tender?
'It doesn't seem entirely unaware of its own disposition.'
Could there be another Labyrinth like this in the world? A space with two Dokkaebi, where the self-righteous sacrifice of one had forged peace. Such a Labyrinth was found nowhere else.
'All the more so when one of the two was an offering.'
Baek Mu-jin simply hoped that this value would remain unhard.
"Do you like what is good?"
"A universal preference, I'd say."
"Then you were born under an ill star."
"Ah, what a painful thing to say."
"It can't be helped. When you harbor sothing this ferocious, no matter how hard you try, how could people not be frightened?"
"I suppose I'll have to aspire to be a harmless haunted house."
"A haunted house—now that's an amusing notion."
This Labyrinth still craved blood, suffering, and screams. And yet, it had refused the death row prisoners. To refuse such a gift while residing in such a Labyrinth was, truly, a remarkable thing.
Let alone the fact that you....
"......"
...He'd been rambling. Baek Mu-jin shook off the idle thoughts and changed the subject.
"You'll live long."
"Is that a prophecy that I'll be widely cursed?"
"How astute of you to catch that."
To have grasped even human irony—rather impressive.
"I doubt it will co to that, but don't take it too much to heart."
"Taking it to heart."
"Yes, yes. This old man worried for nothing."
"Surely not."
"With things as they are, even the advice I just gave is no longer a gift."
"It was more than sufficient."
"Since I'm having trouble gauging your tastes, won't you tell
directly?"
"What do you...."
"What do you want?"
It would be faster to simply ask.
"Is there a gift you'd like?"
"...Many."
"Oh?"
"......"
The Dokkaebi did not answer for a long while. He saw a fatigue as arid as an old dead tree.
***
'A gift.'
Chairman of a major conglorate. A man of power who appeared well-versed in the workings of 'a certain world.' The cards Baek Mu-jin could offer him were virtually limitless.
'...How is Father doing? And my youngest sibling?'
He wanted news of his family. Whether they'd forgotten him, and if so, what their lives looked like now. Whether a place for him still remained there.
'And that idiot?'
He was curious about the friends he'd gotten into every kind of trouble with. They'd all been too busy making a living to even gather, and he'd been dragged here without so much as a proper farewell.
'My job? My identity? How is the world turning without ?'
He wanted to see his family. He wanted to know how his friends were. Above all, he desperately needed a way out of this place. A figure of Baek Mu-jin's stature might hold a clue to this predicant.
The deliberation was short.
"......"
This hotel, and he himself, were both unstable.
"...Could you block the road?"
"The road?"
Baek Mu-jin echoed in a flat tone. Yeon-woo continued calmly.
"This hotel draws people in."
"And?"
"Just as Director Lee Seon-hae did, another person may one day be drawn to drive here as if bewitched on a rainy day. In this world... there are those who are especially drawn to dangerous things, are there not?"
"Such dispositions exist."
"I'd like you to block that path."
He couldn't leave right away, after all.
Even if he could, what could he do out there? Was he planning to beg his family and friends—who might not even rember him—to recall who he was?
That was not Yeon-woo's best move. He knew that so opportunities, once missed, could never be recaptured. This hotel had been one such case, and so was his current condition.
He had no desire to squander an opportunity on sothing so foolish.
"However, I expect the work won't be simple. As I recall, this hotel's domain encompasses a significant portion of the forest road connected to the main gate. Resistance from the hotel's side may be considerable."
"Raising it strong, I see."
"Indeed."
"I see, the road...."
Baek Mu-jin gave an affirmative answer.
"Consider it done."
"Thank you."
"It may take so ti."
"I can only ask."
The world was composed of countless variables. Ti flowed, and humans were creatures that ultimately couldn't help but regret. That was why Yeon-woo strove to give his best at every mont.
That was 'him.'
"I wish you a truly pleasant day."
That was the 'Lee Yeon-woo' he knew.
***
"Chairman."
The man opened the car door.
"Please, get in."
"I wonder if this is how our Seon-hae felt."
"...Did sothing happen?"
"How strange."
Baek Mu-jin added.
"It was quite an enjoyable experience."
Though not a comfortable one.
Baek Mu-jin sank deep into the back seat.
Once the man took the driver's seat, the car began gliding down the rutted slope. Beyond the darkly tinted windows, moisture-laden forest rushed past.
"I'm relieved there were no particular problems."
"You went through a lot, driving all the way out to Gapyeong."
"Thinking of the resignation letter I'll be writing soon, this is nothing."
"Insolent thing."
"I understand you've already approved it."
"Every useful person is leaving."
"If you'd invested a bit more in raising your children, the situation would be better than this."
"I recall investing quite a bit."
"......"
In the familiar silence that settled, Baek Mu-jin asked. His tone was offhand.
"Going to say 'you misunderstand' again?"
"Yes."
"I trust we can keep it under three on the drive to Seoul."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Baek Mu-jin always looked at history and value. The sa applied to his own bloodline. What was precious deserved corresponding treatnt. That was why Baek Mu-jin tolerated such insolent conversation.
The object was worth that much, so he extended that courtesy.
"The road needs to be blocked."
"...The road?"
"The Dokkaebi requested that I block the road as its gift."
"Then there'll be less fodder for the Labyrinth."
"That's what it wants."
"Is it hoping to starve to death?"
"It seed to be mulling over a solution."
"For a Dokkaebi of that disposition, it might be better to just...."
"The door cannot be closed."
Baek Mu-jin opened his tumbler himself. A peculiar herbal scent filled the car.
"All manner of unwholeso things converge on that building. What good would closing the door do?"
"And if the door were forced shut?"
"The spirits with nowhere to go would scatter in every direction. Chaos everywhere."
"Isn't that too heavy a burden for a young Dokkaebi to bear alone?"
"How can I dissuade soone who says they want to do it?"
That impossibly stubborn creature.
Baek Mu-jin felt he understood the Dokkaebi's character. Its energy was so clear and pure it rivaled that of a Taoist sage, but had it not exerted such effort, it would certainly have beco a madman who ruled the world.
"Had it truly wanted out, it would have died."
In all sincerity, with everything it had, it would have sought a way out of that position. It had been born under the star of a tyrant but was by nature a wise ruler, and so had beco a walking contradiction.
"Then it truly was an offering?"
"Yes. It seems soone who originally belonged to the background was swept up in the creation process and trapped. Yet in the midst of all that, it beca a Dokkaebi and still never abandoned its humanity."
Whether it had been unable to abandon it, or whether it had erged along the way.
"It would have been easier had it been fully consud and lost its sense of self."
Neither dead nor alive. Unlucky to an extraordinary degree, and the world called even that a miracle.
"Every part of it was a masterwork."
"I understand what you an, Chairman, and I know what you intend to do. However, I...."
"It is of high value, so leave it be. It is a predator that can find its own way without being touched—it is not for a tender-hearted child like you to try to coddle."
"......"
He could see the veins standing out on his precious youngest son's temple. This family and their tempers.
"Are you angry because I've slighted you so?"
"You misunderstand."
"Two left."
"I'm keeping count, Chairman."
"I wish I could have seen that much of it in person."
The imnse power radiating from that being was in a class apart from any other existence. An aura reminiscent of a mystical spirit creature and the unpredictable hotel managent alike proved its extraordinariness.
That neat black hair, the pristine expression, and beneath it all, those feral, elongated eye corners....
"Its behavior is that of a fox, but those eyes belong to a man-tiger."
"......"
"Its energy sinks into the abyss like an ice-cold lake, yet its presence is overwhelmingly beyond compare. And still, the deanor it puts on is eerily gentle and composed."
Admiration crept into Baek Mu-jin's voice.
"And yet it considers itself a person and seeks to live as one. How such an alien being wearing a human mask could do so... it is truly a specin beyond all standards."
"......"
"Ah, and quite shaless, too."
Baek Mu-jin held up a wine bottle. The man spoke in a restrained tone, as if suppressing a sigh.
"If it has a human form and a human way of thinking, then ultimately it is human."
"A person."
"Nineteen years old."
"Its body appeared so."
"And its mind?"
"I'm not so omniscient as to determine that."
"Has it been trapped in there its entire life?"
"From that perspective, it wouldn't be strange to call it a child."
Trapped in repeating ti, dying and reviving countless tis while retaining the sa body. A being that had never once had the opportunity to experience the passage of ti in society. Who could dare to guess the age of such a thing?
"Even so, it knew how to conceal its true nature and mingle with people. Putting on such a sedate front that any hot-tempered observer would be infuriated."
"Could it function in society?"
"Child."
Baek Mu-jin admonished his dear youngest son.
"If you force a dog or a cat to stand on two legs and dress it in clothes, would it be comfortable?"
"...It wouldn't, but. The hotel's master considers itself human."
"It may soon co to learn."
"Learn what?"
"Well—that humans aren't worth that much?"
In the end, it would arrive at that conclusion.
"Weak and pathetic."
They claim desire as a right and mistake convenience for freedom. They bla chains they chose for themselves on compulsion, and sell tomorrow's possibilities for today's pleasure.
"'My life is this way because of fate,' they say, taking cowardly solace in evasion. They flee from pain but refuse to give up their shackled lives. They grumble while bound, without the courage to untie a single knot—that is what humans are."
"......"
"More talk than any other creature. They cry for freedom yet have no intention of paying its price. They even hypnotize themselves with 'I had no choice' and 'this is the wise path,' and delude themselves into believing that a devil shaking their leash is a road to salvation."
The man asked with a sour expression.
"...A remarkable perspective. I didn't expect soone who understands the value of talent better than anyone to hold humans in such low regard."
"Naturally, these aren't my views."
"Whose, then?"
"The Devil's, I'd say."
"The... Devil?"
"And so."
Baek Mu-jin asked.
"What do you think?"
"Father."
"Do you think differently?"
"......"
The man spoke. His tone was asured.
"No."
"Yes, yes...."
Baek Mu-jin nodded as though soothing him.
"That one cannot beco human, and must not."
He scrutinized the wine bottle Yeon-woo had given him. The neatly packaged bottle glead with a dark, smooth luster. But inside, it would be filled with the clear, pure wine he had tasted.
"A tiger may hide its claws, but does that an its fangs are hidden too?"
"......"
"And if that were possible—well, that would be quite unjust in its own right."
In this world, there were assuredly beings born as predators, for whom devouring was the natural order.
"Let's see how long the tiger can graze on grass."
"Your hobbies are deplorable."
"Now that a being of that magnitude has revealed itself, whether it wishes it or not, its na will be heard before long."
"I sincerely hope that happens after my affairs are all settled."
"If only you had an ounce of initiative, this old man wouldn't have had to drag his aging body out in person."
"I don't want to evolve."
"Insolent thing."
Setting down the wine bottle, Baek Mu-jin whispered into the empty air.
"...I should have asked whether it was carrying a card."
***
"...Soone...."
Yeon-woo murmured.
[Sixth Sense]
'Soone spoke while looking at .'
"It feels like soone just cursed
to beco the villain."
"Yes."
"Yes?"
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