A banquet upon silver platters.
Artfully garnished dishes and pies, sugar sculptures glittering like jewels under the light. On the table, linen cloths embroidered with gold thread and silver candelabras. The scent of flickering scented candles brushed the tip of the nose.
Clink, Clink.
A roast peacock, taxidermied alive. Veal tenderloin topped with cream sauce made from luxury ingredients. Venison stained red from a wine marinade. A boar's head with rubies set in its eyes.
Clink,Clink.
Carp soup gleaming with the luster of strong tal. The aroma of saffron and wine. Oysters and lobster, rushed in fresh from the sea, stead. Salmon jelly with herbs and gold leaf in a clear gelatin broth.
Clink....
Fruits preserved in sugar. White wheat bread and butter rolls. A cheese platter. Marzipan and fruit tarts. The king's wine, the wine of kings. Spiced, warm. From the Rhine, no. No. No.
No.
"......"
This was not a al. It was theater.
In this place, one always found oneself lost in deep thought. Found oneself acting as though human. The appearance of the dishes, the aroma, the texture, the plates on the table and the candlelight. Every elent was a device designed to beguile human senses and make one feel power.
Before all of that, how cumberso an existence was I, who had lost my sense of taste?
What am I? What am I?
I am.
"......"
Clink.
Clink.
Clink....
***
Clink.
"To summarize the situation...."
Yeon-woo set down his spoon.
"The Guest Without Taste is a form born from the desperate wills of those who beca taste-blind. A crystallization of deprivation -- the conviction that they would do anything if only they could taste again."
"Yes."
"The deeper their attachnt to taste, the deeper that deprivation would have been, so within him there must be a significant share of the self-identity of gourmands and chefs as well. I am curious whether the current Guest Without Taste -- not the ga version -- is the sa."
"Hm?"
"Is that not so?"
Yeon-woo was now certain. This place was the result of ga and actual history intertwined. If so, The Guest Without Taste, too, would have his own unique narrative.
"That I must negotiate an appropriate compromise with him is already a foregone conclusion. Just as with The Drenched One, simply leaving things alone solves nothing."
"Yes."
"That is why I wish to understand the opponent."
The reason Yeon-woo had been able to rescue the film crew from The Drenched One in the past was because he had clear information. All the more so now, when the situation was full of variables that made ga knowledge unreliable.
"Approaching carelessly will invite a variety of penalties. Not as fearso as The Drenched One's, of course, but troubleso all the sa. Losing one's emotions is...."
"Humanity."
"I am glad you rember. Indeed -- for one in the position of maintaining humanity, it is far from welco."
A single day was enough to break a person.
"When it was a ga, it was not a major issue. The General Manager losing emotions did not cause significant operational damage. But now, the story is different."
"Yes."
"To avoid that, I need ti to assess the opponent...."
Yeon-woo finished his thought.
"I am not certain I can endure for that long."
"Hm?"
"My body has grown too weak."
"Hm."
On top of that, there was now a monster friend living inside him as a tenant.
"At least this one is quiet, so it is not terribly uncomfortable."
The volu had been too large to bring everything along, so he had brought only the essential fragnts. Fortunately, the environnt within him seed to have eased the pain and despair that had tornted them, and the monster was quite content with the current situation.
'If I had to describe it, it's in a deep sleep.'
It felt as though they were catching up on all the sleep they had been denied.
For Yeon-woo, who had read their mories, it was sothing to be grateful for. Simply housing them inside his body was enough for them to tend to their own well-being.
'My stomach does feel a bit bloated, though.'
"......"
"...Did you hear that?"
"Yes."
"I have no intention of spitting them back out."
"Hm."
"What a heartless cat."
There were tis when things got difficult. It was because of Coco's distinctive tendency to refuse to tolerate Yeon-woo suffering any loss outside the ga system.
"......"
"......"
Their gazes locked in a prolonged stare.
"...Coco."
Feeling the pressure, Yeon-woo added dryly.
"Can you not see these pitiable souls who are finally managing to rest?"
"Yes."
"Now you are even lying. Truly befitting of Hotel One's Co-owner. Not an ounce of conscience."
"Hmhm."
"My, you dislike it that much...."
Yeon-woo took a sip of warm tea. He felt the monster inside him register faint joy. How pitiful.
"I would rather not mistreat these humble friends who find happiness in the warmth of a cup of tea."
"No."
"Are they not endearing?"
"No!"
"How resolute."
He understood why Coco was acting this way. Was it because sothing else had taken up residence inside him? A wave of nausea rose, rooted in the squirming. No matter how docile they were, the effect on him was not entirely absent.
Swallowing back the blood that had refluxed, he continued.
"I would appreciate so concession. My body has rely grown sowhat sluggish; there is no major issue. And it so happens that The Drenched One, who had been lingering in my lungs, has departed for the Aqua Park...."
Coco hung its head.
"Hm."
"Coco."
Only when he called its na did Coco finally offer an affirmative response.
"Yes."
"Thank you for understanding."
"No?"
"Ah, naturally."
It had not actually understood.
'What a wicked cat indeed.'
It had no regard whatsoever for anyone's well-being but Yeon-woo's.
"In any case, our friend's issue aside."
"Hm?"
"Must you dislike it that much? I did not call them 'friend' out of genuine sentint; it was rely a pronoun of sorts. Since I am currently in a position of protecting them, I consider this level of familiar address to be the minimum social courtesy."
"Hm?"
"...Then again, The Drenched One probably would not be fond of that title either. Yes, I will be mindful. More importantly, to return to the original subject."
What mattered now was The Guest Without Taste.
"What should I do?"
In the ga, no contingency existed for a situation like this.
"The Playable Character during a Hoone playthrough was, at the very minimum, not a Mass of Liquid Blood like I am now. Every foundational premise has been twisted from that point onward."
"Yes."
"It is clear I can no longer rely solely on the rules of the ga system."
They could serve as reference, but the limits were apparent at the application stage. Especially now that he knew The Guest Without Taste was connected to the Crimson Core Comntary.
'Normally, The Guest Without Taste is a relatively manageable type, at least when no Human Guests are around.'
In truth, it was much the sa even with Human Guests present. The worst he did was start by stealing the pleasure of a al. It was only after the range of pilfered emotions expanded that he ultimately drained all the blood.
"......"
At the foundation of every transaction lies a 'purpose.'
"Let us search for a 'commodity' I can offer."
"Yes."
From there, he could begin to negotiate.
***
The first thing Yeon-woo checked was the records.
"Let us see."
The records of attending to The Guest Without Taste.
"Today's al was...."
"Hm."
"Lavish, as expected."
"Yes."
"Usually a two- to three-course composition, it seems."
Beginning with delicate dishes, progressing to weightier fare, and concluding with dessert.
Multiple dishes were placed on the table at once for each course -- a thod closer to French service rather than the Russian service familiar to modern diners.
"The Guest Without Taste has always been like this. For soone who claims to taste nothing beyond blood, he enjoys remarkably extravagant als."
Whether he truly enjoyed them was unknown, but Yeon-woo sank into thought.
"...The upper classes across Europe favored this style of dining."
"Pardon? Yes."
"It is difficult to pinpoint a specific country or era, but... shall we look further?"
Yeon-woo murmured as he scanned the records.
"France, Austria, England, Poland.... Dishes of this nature overlap with upper-class dining across Europe generally, so they do not serve as a distinctive clue. The composition of silver tableware, ats, and seafood is common enough."
"......"
"...Ah."
The boar dish.
"Let us check the earlier records as well."
"Yes."
The Guest Without Taste primarily frequented the dining area. Particularly when no Human Guests were present, he was often seen in the dining space where more specific orders were possible.
After reviewing the records from the past several days, Yeon-woo nodded.
"Every main course is based on ga."
"Pardon?"
"We are a long way from actually hunting and distributing ingredients on our end, but that is beside the point. Historically, these are dishes based on hunted ga. From an ingredients standpoint, that is."
Deer, roe deer, boar.
"And mouflon."
An animal that appeared in Hoone as a ga but also existed in reality.
The mouflon, a wild sheep found in Europe and Western Asia, had been introduced to Europe as a hunting quarry around the seventeenth century. At the ti, it was distinctly a nu item exclusive to the nobility.
"Rabbit, red squirrel, badger, pheasant, goose, duck, pigeon.... As you can see, these are all classic ga animals. A point of departure from the ga version."
In the ga, The Guest Without Taste simply enjoyed extravagant banquets. But now that it had beco reality, this fixation on ga at as the centerpiece of the main courses was a notable change.
"Ga at."
"......?"
"...Ga at was typically butchered and used the sa day, was it not.... What did he drink? Wine. Ah, the beer consumption is not insignificant either."
"......?"
"But what was primarily consud in the dining area was wine. Beer was for daily use, perhaps. The consumption zones... the cooking side... yes, the sauces... heavy and rich were preferred."
"......??"
"He seems to prefer elaborately garnished dishes. Not exactly symbolic of anything specific, but hmm...."
Sothing did co to mind.
"...Was it the German sphere? Or Austria?"
"Hm?"
"No, one mont. I was trying to recall which country and era this food culture belonged to."
"Food culture?"
"What The Guest Without Taste has consistently fixated on since arriving here is extravagant banquets, and these particular characteristics are the aspects that changed upon becoming reality. They rit close examination."
"Food culture...?"
"Germany and Austria are quite close together. It could be outside that region as well. But this alone is not enough to pinpoint a country or era. His attire is modern, too. However, if he was at a level where silver platters were used in daily life... hmm."
"Pardon?"
"...Sixteenth to eighteenth century? No -- the use of silver tableware with ga-centered cuisine... that would be late seventeenth to early eighteenth century. It also happens to coincide with the period when mouflon were introduced...."
After the mid-eighteenth century, the practical use of silver platters declined. From that point on, they were typically used for display or symbolic purposes. By the twentieth century onward, they were little more than commorative pieces.
"Every piece of tableware used was silver. It appears nearly every silver platter in our hotel has been requisitioned. Given his refusal to use porcelain to this extent, I estimate he was upper class from the seventeenth century at the earliest to the early eighteenth century at the latest."
"......"
Coco, who had been sitting on his lap and viewing the Interface alongside him, raised its head to et Yeon-woo's eyes. Yeon-woo blinked and asked.
"What is it?"
"...No."
"What?"
A peculiar unease lingered, but regardless.
"The fact that he embraces French-style coursed dining yet clings to silver tableware this strongly indicates he is not a figure from after the early eighteenth century. From the mid-century onward, ornate porcelain gained popularity as formal banquet tableware."
Yet his insistence on silver ant he was that much more old-fashioned a figure. Despite the modern attire that rendered it incongruous, it would not be wrong to call him a soul unable to escape the past.
"If we are looking at that region during this period, the Holy Roman Empire cos to mind, but ga and silverware alone are insufficient to narrow it down."
"......"
"The Guest Without Taste insists on silverware yet personally pours coffee into his own cup and even serves those seated at his table. Yet he does not partake in chocolate. In that case... the likelihood points more toward Bohemia than Vienna-centric Austria."
"......"
"The Prague nobility used silverware for a long ti, and while they quickly adopted coffee under Viennese influence, chocolate remained exclusively a luxury. Ga-based banquets, an obsession with silverware, and the attitude of treating coffee as a language of sociability."
Following that line of reasoning?
"Early eighteenth century. The quintessential image of a Bohemian nobleman."
In the end, it was rely one corner of the Holy Roman Empire.
"A loose confederation of hundreds of principalities, duchies, counties, and free cities under the Emperor. If, as an upper-class figure of that ti, he took silver tableware and ga-based banquets for granted... it is entirely possible he was the lord of a principality."
"......"
"......"
A brief silence. Yeon-woo murmured in a low, weary voice.
"...We have traveled far indeed."
But the work had only just begun.
"The food culture of an early eighteenth-century nobleman. Yes -- in those days, it was not re gastronomy. It was a ans of expressing identity, enough to represent a family's emblem through cuisine, and a symbol of the authority and hierarchy that could afford such extravagance."
The key here was the twin keywords of hunting and banquets.
"For the nobility of that era, hunting and banqueting were powerful ans of proving oneself. For soone who originally held genuine passion for gastronomy, the significance would have been all the greater...."
"......"
"One of the criteria that distinguished human from beast, god from devil in the Europe of that ti was reason. Temperance and refined senses were held in high regard. But the current Guest Without Taste destroyed all of that through the Crimson Core Comntary ritual."
"......"
"In aristocratic society, dining together was an expression of goodwill and trust. After this incident, he would have effectively ceased to be a nobleman, or even a human being. The result would have been political retirent or exile."
His attire had changed to modern dress, yet he clung to the banquet customs of that era.
"This likely ans his obsession with taste outweighs his pride as a nobleman. The fact that the sound of a convivial banquet accompanies The Guest Without Taste's movents is likely of the sa context."
"Yes. Yes. Yes."
"If he truly was a nobleman, his pride would have been considerable, and his insistence on silverware suggests a certain stubbornness. The shock of no longer being human must have been imnse as well. I wonder -- has he evolved since then, or regressed?"
Yeon-woo recalled The Guest Without Taste as he had known him when Hoone was a ga.
"Contrary to his simple speech and awkward movents, he is a rather perceptive guest. It is entirely different from feigning stupidity. The impression was stronger that his insight could not be matched by his body. Like a massive, unwieldy vehicle that is difficult to steer."
"Large vehicle."
"Indeed."
This ant:
"I can negotiate with him."
Genuine communication was possible.
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