Our Hotel Is Open fo Chapter 63

"......"

In the anti, could Yeon-woo have passed through the 14th Floor without coughing up blood even once?

"......"

He could not have.

Following Yeon-woo's blood, the guest saw more blood. He saw screams. He saw corpses. He saw the sordid instrunts and records that had treated human beings as less than livestock.

A vampire centuries old could not possibly be ignorant of this place's na. A sham foundation that cults had built in the na of paradise....

"......"

There, he understood.

The absence of arrogance.

The unfamiliarity with ceremony.

The obsession with humanity.

And that... rejection response.

He understood.

"...Oh."

I will win, he thought.

And so a certain vampire reached that conclusion.

***

Hunting and fellowship were not fundantally different. Both ant keeping the other within one's line of sight and erecting a fence from which they could not escape. What ultimately mattered was information about what kind of being the opponent was.

'How far will he let

in?'

'Where will he draw the line?'

'Where is the line I will be permitted?'

Why did he not refuse entirely? Why did he not cut things off? Why did he invest such effort in serving als?

"May I have so?"

That was all there was to it.

"......"

"May I have so?"

"Haha...."

Thinking he could win.

"No."

"Oh, I see."

He had done so.

Without any 'special reason,' as always.

Truly, rely....

"......"

rely.

Because I know you.

***

Standing before the mirror, Yeon-woo adjusted his necktie and swallowed a sigh.

"No guest ever makes things easy."

"Yes."

"I had tried to buy ti, but instead I seem to have given him the conviction to hunt. In the end, all that remains is the question of who achieves their objective first."

Having finished putting on his gloves, Yeon-woo adjusted his glasses.

At his age, fighting was juvenile, but he had not the slightest desire to lose.

"Let us move imdiately."

"Yes!"

"......"

Fellowship and hunting were startlingly alike.

Keeping the other within one's own territory and building a bond from which they could not escape. What ultimately mattered was an understanding of what kind of person they were.

"All the sa...."

Yeon-woo had finished putting on his gloves.

"Nothing but exhausting work."

When the eyes behind his lenses t their own reflection in the mirror, they curved slowly. A reflexive smile. Confirming it, Yeon-woo headed straight for the elevator.

He had read it in the guest's eyes.

'Inferiority.'

Worship and jealousy, and awe.

'So he must want to defeat .'

He was a person born arrogant. That was why he did not want to live clinging to Yeon-woo's goodwill. If it had been a bomb that could go off at any mont, this was preferable.

"......"

Yeon-woo was weak, and the opponent was strong.

Yeon-woo was complete, and the opponent was broken.

They were both desperate to consu the other. And Yeon-woo, too, was soone who would not lose to anyone when it ca to pride.

DING--

"We have arrived."

He did not wish to yield ekly this ti, either.

"Shall we?"

"Yes!"

Perhaps one aged in reverse when one drifted from society.

"......"

"...? Hello?"

"Ha, well now."

Yeon-woo dragged a hand down his face and murmured softly.

"If I could just walk down one street that slls of people, I'd have nothing left to wish for...."

He missed society.

***

"Well, well, our Tarot friend, how have you been?"

"......"

PEEP--....

A listless whistle.

"Splendid, then!"

"Director, are you quite certain you interpreted that correctly?"

"Of course. As if I wouldn't know that much."

The number of soup-and-rice bowls she had bought to maintain this connection alone was staggering.

"......"

"This is our Section Chief Yun! Have I introduced her before?"

"You do not appear to be terribly interested in ."

PEEP.

"Isn't that an affirmative?"

"By a stroke of luck, you guessed correctly this ti."

The dry, vacant gaze of the man in the fluorescent vest made the Director sheepishly rub her nose.

"Well, I was hoping to get so advice."

PEEEP....

"Section Chief Yun, our Inspector here says he's hungry."

"How on earth do you two communicate, Director?"

Despite the section chief's reaction, the man plodded off. Judging by the direction, it was the soup-and-rice shop they had passed on the way. The one the Director had said to rember because 'he will absolutely co here.'

Section Chief Yun turned to the Director.

"......"

"You lot always see

as a blowhard, don't you?"

"I would have squeezed more out of him."

"His favorite food is soup and rice, so what can you do?"

"Coming all the way out on a tropolitan business trip and eating soup and rice...."

"That place is good, kid."

The Director followed the traffic police inspector in the fluorescent vest to the restaurant. Having ordered three extra-large boiled-pork-and-rice soups, she ignored Section Chief Yun's "I can't eat all that" and opened her mouth.

"I always feel bad asking questions after buying nothing but soup and rice. Want anything else?"

"A pork cutlet set, please."

Section Chief Yun internally thought, 'called it.' A crisp, clear bass voice.

"The rice here is good."

"Ah."

"The at is good, too."

Then added.

"The water is also good."

Sanpaku eyes, and a face as expressionless as a machine. Brows and eyes that descended without emotion.

"In such a place, karma shows itself clearly."

"......"

"And the soup and rice is good."

She had almost misunderstood. Section Chief Yun nodded inwardly. He simply liked soup and rice.

As befitting a Korean fast food, the soup and rice arrived promptly, and what the remark about 'good water' ant beca clear when a tea kettle arrived alongside the water bottles. The Director added.

"It's not tap, not filtered -- it's separately sourced water."

"What does 'separately sourced' an?"

"This restaurant receives Sensitivity Bureau support."

"Ah."

The owner appeared to be an artist or a mage.

Even without that, there were civilians connected to the Gaps. Rare, but not nonexistent, and sotis they ford communities like this.

"Then...."

"Spring water from sowhere in the Jiri Mountains, they said."

"I see."

A shaman... type, then?

'The atmosphere is similar, but I don't see any enshrined deity.'

Section Chief Yun stopped her thoughts there. The other party was an Arcana mber -- nothing good could co from pretending to know. Whether she showed it or not.

Eating quietly, neatly, and slowly, the Inspector made the al last quite a while.

"Thank you for the al."

The Inspector began speaking only after consuming five extra-large soups and three pork cutlet sets. Sohow, that was more than she had heard. Normally it was three bowls at most. Section Chief Yun thought to herself.

Having regarded her briefly, the Inspector continued.

"Have you co to weigh?"

"Ahh."

He ant whether she had co again to use the 'Scales.' The Director shook her head.

"No, no. I ca to ask about evil spirits."

The Director, who referred to Dokkaebi as evil spirits. Section Chief Yun had already been briefed on the way: 'That person dislikes calling Recognition Species by the na Dokkaebi, so be careful.'

"Our friend's Scales don't detect evil spirits."

"Their sins are not sin-karma."

"Right, exactly."

The Director continued.

"To get to the point... I ca to ask whether a new Labyrinth has appeared on the Korean Peninsula, or if so other factor has erged. Sothing special enough to draw in that many evil spirits."

The man possessed insight keen enough to treat even his own emotions as subjects of observation. He saw how energy flowed where and how across the entire board.

Simply because he was good at it, accustod to it, and comfortable with it.

In a word, he was an expert.

"The thing is, I'm not asking you to do anything. I know our Tarot friend's backside is glued to his chair. I just figure after eating this much soup and rice, you could give us a teeny bit of advice as paynt."

"I am not a shaman."

"I know, I know. So?"

"I'm not sure."

"Aha."

The Director brightened and nodded.

"Oh, thank you so much, our dear Tarot friend! Let's have a group dinner with the Gangwon Province Bureau soti."

"I will be taking my leave."

"Look at him, not even pretending to listen to the end. What manners."

The Inspector left the restaurant as he was, and Section Chief Yun, who had been trailing him with her eyes, turned to the Director.

"I don't think I properly understood the situation."

"That fellow doesn't talk much."

"I could tell that just from his face."

"You have to be careful what you ask, and the questions have to be specific."

"So what you're saying, Director...."

"And above all, he accepted paynt. In food."

"He said himself he's not a shaman."

"Since when are shamans the only ones who take offerings?"

"Normally...?"

"Just hear

out."

The Director lightly scraped the empty earthenware bowl.

"He received a question, and he received compensation. If he knows sothing, he gives a clear answer."

She added.

"Because he's 'that kind of person,' validated by the Tarot."

"If the compensation you're referring to is the soup and rice, isn't the order reversed?"

"He already knew what question I was coming to ask, so he took paynt first. Eight bowls."

"So that was indeed the price corresponding to the weight of the question? But...."

Section Chief Yun tilted her head.

-- I'm not sure.

"...I believe he said he was not sure."

The Director shrugged.

"It ans the odds are fifty-fifty."

"Fifty-fifty."

"A fifty percent chance a new Labyrinth has truly ford, and a fifty percent chance it is so other external factor."

"With all due respect, that is sothing even I could say."

"Section Chief Yun, you would be saying 'could be one or the other' while knowing nothing. That's different. The Tarot person says so knowing everything there is to know."

"Aha."

She nodded.

"You an evidence for both scenarios has been observed."

"That's the gist of it."

Evidence of a new Labyrinth had been observed, but so had evidence of an external factor.

"If even one of the two had not been clearly observed, he would have sided with one."

The absence of sothing was also evidence at the scene.

"A or B. But it's too strange to be neither, given how bizarre things have been on our peninsula lately."

"Then why not just say so plainly?"

"Do not apply common sense to Tarot folk. They all have their own firm standards. Our Inspector in particular will never say he 'knows' sothing unless he himself has reached a conclusion."

"Ah, so that's why he said he didn't know...."

Section Chief Yun's murmur was t with a nod from the Director.

"By the way, Section Chief Yun."

The Director gazed at the ceiling, searching her mory.

"The most I ever treated him to was three bowls."

"Yes, even I...."

"That ti, I asked about changes in global sin levels."

"Ah, dear."

"Today he took five extra-large soups and three pork cutlet sets?"

Straightening her head, she looked at Section Chief Yun with drooping eyes and nodded.

"From this we can deduce that the Korean Peninsula is truly and utterly fucked."

"Director... please maintain so decorum."

"But you think so too."

"I always maintain decorum."

"Good grief, you cut ties faster than a Dokkaebi."

The ergence of an indigenous Labyrinth on the Korean Peninsula alone was no trifling matter. Unlike Russia or Canada with their vast territories, a single badly placed Labyrinth could reduce the peninsula to scorched earth.

And now evidence of an external factor had been found on top of that? This was madness.

"The bigger problem is that the possibility of those two cooperating has now erged."

"Ah, this. Ah... aah...."

That was also a valid point.

"Co to think of it, he was given a binary question about a single issue and chose both answers."

"Exactly. Two natural disasters have appeared on the Korean Peninsula, and those two have joined hands."

"To think the Korean Peninsula has co to this. Perhaps I should emigrate to France. With the classical Labyrinths -- the Crow and the Count -- having left Europe, it should be safer there."

"It's still the devil's country of origin, is it not?"

The Director cackled.

"You do rember that Europe has the most religious Dokkaebi of any landmass, Section Chief Yun? Go there and your head pops instantly. Rember, Mr. Lu-[redacted] is still watching."

"I truly despise Dokkaebi."

"Yeah, yeah, I understand that feeling completely... but you know, living in the Gaps, you do see folks who actually like them. Chin up."

"Those insane Gap people."

"There it is. This is why outsiders are too soft-hearted."

She scratched her chin roughly, her brows rising as though annoyed. Her drooping eyes scrunched with exasperation.

"But if a newborn Labyrinth and an external factor have converged, this is not a common case."

"I will look through the records when I return."

"Depending on the case, we may need to go back to the Joseon Dynasty. Who are the Dokkaebi we can contact directly in our country right now, Section Chief Yun?"

"By 'contact,' I assu you an traditional indigenous Dokkaebi -- there are none. Both have been confird as overseas on personal schedules, as of three weeks ago."

"Goodness, three weeks? What's kept them away so long?"

"Well...."

Adjusting her glasses, Section Chief Yun answered.

"One is at a dical device seminar, and the other is overseas for a business eting."

"You'd think they'd be more laid-back after living that long."

"Comparing real Dokkaebi who have been around since the Joseon Dynasty to humans only makes us look pitiful."

"It's not like we can contact beings who have little interest in human affairs."

Nor did they have the relationship for it.

At best, the Seoul tropolitan Bureau might be able to put in a call. As with all long-lived spirits, it was a blessing if they even pretended to glance at matters outside their interest.

"Since even the one hill we could lean on has walked overseas, we'll have to prepare on our own. Make sure the Special Team and the Cleanup Squad are well ard."

"I have ntioned before that saying things like that in public makes us look like organized cri."

"You think saying 'the Gaps' instead makes us look wholeso? Not a chance."

"The probability is low, but just in case...."

Section Chief Yun trailed off and pointed past the door. The Director waved her hand.

"Don't go there. Tarot folk are not to be prodded. Do not expect anything resembling help."

"My apologies. He seed more approachable than I expected, given that a few bowls of soup and rice yielded advice. I must have been thinking too lightly."

"What is this, treating a person like a Dokkaebi? Granted there are similarities, but it's not simply a matter of them being eccentric or hard to get along with."

"I see."

"I told you."

His expression turned sour.

"Tarot folk all have their own firm standards."

"Yes, so you said."

"Cross those and there will be consequences."

"So he is a shaman after all?"

"What god would a Tarot person enshrine? The god couldn't handle it."

They were abilities of a similar vein, but practically a different field altogether.

"You know the Tarot depicts a single human life across its cards."

"Enough to pass the Sensitivity Bureau exam, yes."

"Right. Starting from number zero, 'The Fool,' and concluding at number twenty-one, 'The World.' And an Arcana mber is the person on this planet who best fits each card."

"I've always been curious -- has there actually been a person called 'The Fool'?"

"You think so? It's a taphor, surely. Archetypes of human experience."

In a word,

"It is destiny."

Not impossible to escape, but exceedingly difficult. The person in question might think nothing of it, but the people around them especially.

"I don't know the details myself. Whether genuine destiny exists, or sothing called causality, or whether those damned relics called the 'Major Arcana' did sothing... or perhaps it's all the result of a ticulous formula by the artists who first created those relics."

"......"

"But what small fry like us need to know is simple. Rember that everyone who tried to pry an Arcana mber from that frawork and use them as they pleased ca to a bad end. Five years ago, the card-holder with an overtly ominous frawork -- like that devil -- ca to an especially bad one."

That devil ant number fifteen, 'The Devil.'

"And since the mbers were chosen in the first place because they most closely match their corresponding card, they have absolutely no desire to leave that frawork themselves. Do you follow?"

"It seems you are advising that they are beings of a dangerous caliber, that contact should be avoided where possible, and that if one must make use of them, one should first understand the card-holder's rules."

"Exactly."

She looked at Section Chief Yun.

"You've seen over the past year or so -- I placed you as section chief because I coveted your administrative skills. And you've more than pulled your weight. I appreciated having you take on administrative duties in lieu of fieldwork, helping as much as two people...."

These Gap-born people were sothing else when it ca to rough edges.

In this manner, artists who ca from the outside to join the Sensitivity Bureau were promoted quickly relative to their experience and tenure. In the Gaps, that was what being an artist made possible.

"If your heart is soft, at least keep your mind sharp."

"...It was soft, then...."

"You understand what I an?"

Precious artist personnel with talent were promoted quickly, but given a proportionally long adjustnt period. Due to the nature of the Gaps, fieldwork could easily break and ruin that 'righteous will.'

"You're smart, so you get it. Just rember that things can't stay as they are. Section Chief Yun, you would do well to better understand how the Gaps operate."

"I do not wish to change my convictions."

"Then cross every other line. I'm telling you to tear down everything except the pillar that holds you up. Because an outsider artist joining a regional Gap Sensitivity Bureau at this point ans you need to make that possible."

"I will study harder."

"We're all here because we have our reasons, and we die proportionally fast."

She rolled her eyes sideways.

"Section Chief Hong was not the type to go out like that, but he got his head popped just for making one report to his superior."

Those pitiful Envoy bastards, grinning as they went. This was why people with convictions were so much harder to deal with than the wishy-washy ones. They died on their own terms, satisfied.

"In the end, all that's left are petty old curmudgeons like ."

"That is not true."

"Don't die too fast. I'm lonely, you rascals."

Section Chief Yun did not look like soone who would last long, either. Throw her into the field and she would last three years at best. People who had convictions more important than their lives went that quickly.

"......"

"No answer, you rotten bastards...."

Perhaps because it was a Sensitivity Bureau-supported restaurant, none of the surrounding patrons noticed anything odd about their conversation. The only sounds were the murmur of conversation and the clink of tableware throughout the restaurant.

After a brief silence, the Director looked at Section Chief Yun.

"Let's be good to each other while we're both alive."

"Yes, Director."

"If there's sothing you want to do, be that much more careful in everything. Whatever it may be."

"Understood."

"Right. Anyway, if the word 'don't know' ca out of that Inspector's mouth...."

The Director tilted her head.

"I suppose the rice is almost done?"

Whatever it was, he was waiting for the 'right ti.'

TL Note -

Section Chief Yun's gender was not specified when the character first appeared. This chapter confirms Yun is female.