Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual Chapter 51

In the beginning, someone hoped.

 

‘People will notice that I’ve been dragged here.’

 

Soon, many people made wishes.

 

‘The police will surely investigate.’

 

‘It’s okay, it won’t take that long to find me.’

 

‘If I handle myself well, I can return home in one piece.’

 

Next came the questions. 

 

‘How long is this pain going to continue?’

 

‘Why isn’t anyone looking for me?’

 

‘Surely I don’t have to stay here forever?’

 

And then, they prayed.

 

‘Please let today end quickly.’ 

 

‘Let this pain be finished within this day.’

 

Finally, they realized.

 

‘Ah.’

 

No one is coming to save me. It was a despairing truth.

 

But that was not the end. There was no end in sight for these unknown tortures and rituals, and eventually, it reached a point where the pain simply never stopped.

 

Those who have not experienced it will never know how horrific that is.

 

‘It hurts.’

 

‘It’s painful.’

 

‘Please.’

 

Gradually, they lost their human forms.

 

‘No.’

 

‘Help me.’

 

No.

 

‘Kill me.’

 

They had already resigned themselves. It had been a long time since they abandoned the hope that they could get out alive, or that things could get better than they were now. Even though they had abandoned it, it was still horrific.

 

At the very least, shouldn’t it be a situation better than this? Pitiably, they had relinquished survival, relinquished their normal daily lives, and relinquished even hope itself. 

 

At least better than this.

 

“….”

 

“….”

 

…And yet, why could they not lose their sanity?

 

‘Why.’

 

It would be better to just go mad. How happy would they be if they could only lose their minds?

 

If they could escape from this pain, from this despair, from this terror for even a few seconds, they would do anything.

 

But they could not. They were not permitted even a moment’s peace.

 

There was a commotion.

 

Even so, unable to die, we are trapped.

 

‘Please.’

 

We are here.  

 

‘We are right here, so why did you close the door?’ 

 

Kill me.

 

If even that isn’t possible, let me out.

 

It’s too narrow and suffocating here….

 

This was not merely a single space. 

 

ndlessly connected rooms. Air settling heavily in every single one. Ceilings hung low, and the gaps between walls were narrow. Even extending arms as far as they would go offered no escape. 

 

Open a door, and a new room appears. But they are all the same. Nothing changes. Am I wandering in the same place, or is it just a succession of identical rooms?

 

‘It hurts.’

 

We are continuously in pain. 

 

‘It hurts so much.’

 

A heat that feels like it will evaporate my blood.

 

A cold that splinters my joints.

 

Light that burns the skin and darkness that blinds the eyes.

 

Amidst the severing of hope, there was one thing that was the most horrific of all.

 

They were never alone. An existence that was neither a single entity nor separate individuals. In a narrow, cramped vat, multiple existences are broken and mixed.

 

Clumped together into a single form.

 

‘It’s suffocating.’

 

‘It’s narrow.’

 

‘I can’t breathe.’

 

Arms and legs are tied to each other’s bodies. Heads grow from places other than a torso. Flesh and bone are always wet with sweat, blood, and a foreign mucus.

 

Someone wailed. Someone was busy gasping for breath without a sound, and someone endlessly scratched the wall with their fingernails. No matter how long the scratching lasted, it could not create an exit, yet they could not stop.

 

In that cramped vessel, the agony didn’t end with just one person. 

 

‘It’s agonizing.’

 

‘Please.’

 

The pain of one existence flows into another. The sensation of muscles tearing. The sensation of bones twisting. The sensation of lungs bursting mixes and circulates. It is a circulation that never breaks.

 

The sense of time has collapsed. A sealed room where not a single blade of grass nor a single ray of sunlight, let alone the sky, can be seen. Without being permitted death, they were pushed endlessly from room to room.

 

‘This time?’

 

‘Could it be this time?’ 

 

Every time the door opened, the thought of “maybe” occurred, but horribly enough. There was always only a new pain waiting for them. Only endless circulation and pressure exist.

 

‘But you never know.’

 

No one ever told them that this pain would never end.

 

No one ever told them that there was no exit somewhere in this room. That was why they repeated despair and pain as they moved.

 

Perhaps this time. Could this time be different? They wondered. Since this place was, after all, the stomach of eternity. 

 

‘Ah.’

 

Voluntarily suffering.

 

Living in despair like that.

 

The door opened.

 

“….”

 

Fumbling with hands.

 

Stretching out arms.

 

Moving the body.

 

‘It’s this person.’

 

I grabbed that ankle.

 

“…!!”

 

‘Please.’

 

You mustn’t run away. You mustn’t run away. You mustn’t run away.

 

“Ugh, wait…!!”

 

‘Please.’

 

Don’t run away.

 

Only he could open and close the door just this once. 

 

‘Please, look at us.’

 

There are people here.

 

There are so many people here.

 

If you pass us by like this, if you leave me here, I just have to be trapped forever.

 

‘I am here.’

 

‘Please look at me.’

 

‘Please look here.’

 

Pulling at him from so far away. Dragging him inward as much as possible. 

 

And then they begged. Desperately shrieked. They sought to make themselves known to the new owner of this place. Yet all that came out was a horrific weeping sound. 

 

There were those who realized it, and those who did not. Nevertheless, they cried out with one voice, shrieked, and shouted.

 

‘There are people here!!!’

 

Please.

 

‘Save me…!!!’

 

Because they had failed to go mad, because they still could not die. 

 

They wanted to live. 

 

Ah,

 

We missed him. 

 

‘….’

 

‘….’

 

‘….’

 

No.

 

They hammered desperately on the door, but it was not easily breached. 

 

They sought to grasp him in their hands once more, but the room was too vast. Where, where? Where is he? Where could he be? It can’t go on like this. At this rate, he will walk out to the outside alone. 

 

Leaving us behind.

 

Leaving us, right here. 

 

* * *

 

In the pain of my body burning away, I reached out my hand through that waterway.

 

Their eyes were not wrong. He called even monsters friends. He calls the collection of all sorts of things that fell into the water friends as well. They held onto hope. At the same time, they harbored jealousy. Why only them?

 

‘We are monsters too.’

 

‘We were in more pain.’

 

‘We were lonelier.’

 

Why only them?

 

‘Ah.’

 

‘Ah.’

 

‘No, no, please….’

 

‘Don’t leave like this.’

 

‘Don’t leave me behind.’

 

‘Don’t go.’

 

‘I’m scared.’

 

‘It hurts….’

 

He opened the door. He is trying to go out through it.

 

* * *

 

“Setting everything else aside for a moment.” 

 

Coco asked back.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Ah, my mistake. Allow me to correct myself. It is a situation where nothing is going well.” 

 

Let’s change the phrasing then.

 

“Setting everything else aside, this is a matter involving the survival of both myself and this hotel, so I need clear certainty in order to proceed with our plan.”

 

“No?”

 

“Yes, my plan.”

 

Do you know what the most important thing in the research process is?

 

“Research consists of problem identification, hypothesis formulation, verification attempts, and a cycle of revision and re-verification. No one knows the correct answer from the start. At least, if it truly qualifies as research.” 

 

I threw a blood pack onto the floor. It was a bone-dry, empty pack with not a single drop of blood remaining.

 

“Whether a hypothesis holds true can only be proven through various experiments. A logical prediction might be possible, but confirmation is ultimately only possible through data and experience.”

 

“Yes? Yes.”

 

“But ultimately, this too is a repetition. It’s because there are too many variables for a single attempt. Do you know what this means?”

 

“No?”

 

“It means that as samples accumulate, we can reduce errors and secure consistent results.”

 

Failure is also a result. Therefore, it is an achievement.

 

“Even a failed attempt becomes a vital research asset because it tells us ‘what doesn’t work.’”

 

Research is not a path walked while knowing the right answer. It is drawing lines on a blank sheet, remembering the blocked paths of a maze, and fumbling through the darkness. The process itself of finding the right answer through multiple trials and errors….

 

That is the essence of the act called research.

 

“So, Coco.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Do you know which stage we are at now?”

 

“No?”

 

“We’ve passed problem recognition and just finished the stage of hypothesis formulation.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“That’s how it is.”

 

Lee Yeonwoo pulled out one of the ‘blood collection tools’ he had brought along. 

 

“I’m glad I brought it.”

 

Coco, still hanging on, asked once more.

 

“Yes?”

 

“There were times I questioned if it would actually be useful, but in the end, all objects are made to be used. Even if it’s ended up a bit far from its original purpose.”

 

“No? No? No?”

 

“Why are you being like this? Keep your dignity as a mysterious NPC in a rated 19+ horror hotel simulation game. Are you getting cold feet now? Didn’t we already agree to follow my opinion?”

 

“Didn’t we!!”

 

“I’m not listening.”

 

Lee Yeonwoo continued speaking. 

 

“The living body is truly miraculous. It does not carelessly release any internal foul odors to the outside. My case was slightly different, but unless the skin is cut, it stands to reason that the scent of blood does not leak out.” 

 

“N-N-No…!”

 

“And the monster of Room 14 can only be lured by ‘fresh blood.’”

 

The massive monster pounces on it, absorbs it, and then rushes toward the player again.

 

“Which means that to serve its role as bait, blood must be drawn. At the same time, we can directly conduct the verification attempt I just mentioned. If I am swallowed whole without preparation and end up losing right then and there, how could I handle the aftermath?” 

 

That would amount to nothing more than serving a meal to that monster friend. I must politely decline such an outcome. 

 

“So, experimentation is necessary.”

 

Indeed, even a single medicine goes through countless tests to have its safety verified. This time, I don’t even have to sacrifice innocent lab mice. I regenerate, and I resurrect.

 

What a merciful and efficient attempt this is.

 

“Whew….”

 

Lee Yeonwoo had to verify it. 

 

Whether, when ‘I’ am consumed, I will be able to overcome that entity. 

 

“….”

 

“I’ve had enough of a blood transfusion.”

 

It was closer to having drunk it, but anyway.

 

“Let’s begin the verification.”

 

He picked up the ‘blood collection tool.’ 

 

First, just one thumb.

 

* * *

 

They ran with all their strength. 

 

Disregarding their breaking body, they ran. 

 

Smashing through walls and passing through the horrific maze, they pursued his rear. Yet he was far too fast. They attempted to block his way with electronic devices, monitors, and the like, but it was too difficult. 

 

He was so certain. In fact, the paths he chose were correct. He knew the place where they had wandered for an eternity all too well.

 

As expected.

 

‘Ah.’

 

As expected, only he was the right answer.

 

‘Please.’

 

They desperately pursued the scent of fresh blood. 

 

‘He mustn’t leave like this.’ 

 

We have to catch him.

 

We mustn’t lose him.

 

If he goes out the door like this, it’s really over.

 

‘If you don’t take me with you, we will suffer forever.’

 

Must catch him, must catch him. Must catch him… 

 

They didn’t even know how threatening their own frightened and excited gestures were. They didn’t even consider that it was making the other person run away. They only wished to grasp the other person.

 

‘No, don’t go. Please don’t go. You mustn’t abandon me. I want to get out of here, please take me with you. Take us outside that door you see as well…!’

 

The scent of blood stops in one spot. Ah, what a relief. It’s not that far away. Enduring a tingling anxiety through their whole body, they run toward that place. Still, his scent remains stopped.

 

But he was not at the place I reached.

 

‘It’s blood.’

 

‘It’s a part of him.’

 

‘Right, it’s a part of him.’

 

‘But no.’

 

‘Yes.’

 

Opening their mouth. Instinctively, and stubbornly. 

 

‘It’s fresh blood.’

 

Crunch.

 

‘Eat it.’

 

‘I have to eat it.’

 

Lumpen lips bite into that part. It seeps through the whole body. I craved that blood greedily.

 

‘If I have this, I can run a bit more.’

 

‘If only I have this, I can catch him a bit faster.’

 

‘I can hold out longer…!’

 

I just need to hold out until I catch him.

 

That was what fresh blood meant to them. In the midst of stagnant blood, the only thing that circulates. The single stimulus that evokes life. A piece of comfort that will briefly soothe what is broken and ruined.

 

“….”

 

“….”

 

Something sweeter than anything.

 

‘It’s different.’

 

Tears, tears, tears flowed continuously. A sob flows through the gaps of the blocked mouth. This is different from what I ate in order to hold out. It was warm, cozy, and refreshing.

 

What is different? Is this blood? Was it blood? Correct, and.

 

‘This is him.’

 

But, but.

 

‘This isn’t him.’

 

A clamoring voice.

 

‘Ah.’

 

Ah, must run quickly. 

 

Moving the body once again as it creaked like something broken. The body that had stopped after tasting a part of him quickly regained its original speed. Amidst that long span of time, it was a minuscule comfort, yet simultaneously the very first solace received. 

 

It leaves them wanting more. It was so peaceful and soft, yet far too small. 

 

They wanted to receive something larger. 

 

‘Hurry.’

 

Where is the next scent of blood?

 

* * *

 

“….”

 

Lee Yeonwoo slumped down in front of the exit. 

 

“…Whew….”

 

“Hello?”

 

“No, I failed.”

 

The first test, attempted using a thumb as a medium, ended in a disastrous failure.

 

“What a pity.”

 

He muttered calmly, like a student reviewing an incorrect answer sheet. If the data this time points to failure, there is only one option left. He had to aim for the next step. 

 

“By the way, have we reached the exit?”

 

“Yes!”

 

“I can’t see a thing.”

 

“Yes!”

 

“By what principle am I even talking right now….”

 

“….”

 

“…As expected, partial regeneration is difficult.” 

 

I’ll need to study more.

 

With his entire body tattered, Lee Yeonwoo muttered as much.