Our Hotel Is Open for Business as Usual Chapter 53

It wasn’t as if he could stay inside forever. Even if he wanted to wait out, the situation didn’t allow for it. Having completed the event, Room 14 was already contorting and collapsing. 

 

Lee Yeonwoo straightened his clothes with an unwavering posture and naturally stepped out through the door. As soon as he took a step, the door to Room 14 vanished without a trace.

 

“….”

 

What a stingy hotel.

 

‘This perfectly cuts off my retreat, though.’

 

…Surprisingly, the ‘Guest Without Taste’ didn’t rush him immediately.

 

“…Thank you for visiting our hotel. How may I help you?”

 

“May I eat it?”

 

“Oh.”

 

Maintaining a soft and polite smile, Lee Yeonwoo looked down at the guest’s hand. The thing the ‘Guest Without Taste’ was holding up as if to show him was a gloved hand.

 

To be precise, it was Lee Yeonwoo’s own severed hand.

 

‘The part I lost while entering Room 14.’

 

Just in case, Lee Yeonwoo asked.

 

“May I ask you a question for a moment?”

 

“Please, go ahead.”

 

“Would the reason you were following me happen to be because of that hand, guest?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Aha.”

 

The Guest Without Taste is an erosion-type monster that devours human emotions. There is a specific detail that when emotions are completely exhausted, it drinks the target’s blood and licks up every random bloodstain in the hotel.

 

If the owner of the blood is alive and someone worthy of respect, it repeatedly asks for permission, saying, “May I eat it?” As time passes, the pressure behind it grows stronger.

 

‘That’s why if you let this guest into the hotel, it’s difficult to immediately identify when a bloody incident occurs.’

 

Lee Yeonwoo asked again.

 

“Am I correct in understanding that you followed me to ask if you could eat that?”

 

“Oh, of course.”

 

“I see.”

 

Ah.

 

‘I didn’t expect you to play it like this.’

 

This guest was lying right now.

 

* * * 

 

[Vision] 

‘While its gaze holds your severed hand, it does not actually stare at the hand.’ 

‘The pupils show none of the contraction and tension that appear when prey is captured.’ 

‘The focus of its gaze flows subtly over your shoulder.’

 

It was watching Coco. If it had truly wanted to eat Lee Yeonwoo’s already severed hand, there was no need for that. The subject from whom it needed permission was Lee Yeonwoo, the prey, not Coco.

 

If it were to focus its gaze, it should have been directed at the hand it was holding or at Lee Yeonwoo himself. The direction of the pupils and gaze was inconsistent with the objective. In other words, the hand was likely just a pretext.

 

[Touch] 

‘Your severed hand is still sensorially connected to you.’ 

‘However, the pressure gripping the hand is not an obsession to avoid losing a target, but merely the indifference of holding it lightly.’

 

Even if it is a detached body part, it still exists as ‘me.’ He could feel it from the hand that had been torn away. He could tell from the ‘me’ that the opponent had previously consumed.

 

Those two were telling him. What the opponent ultimately wanted was not ‘Lee Yeonwoo’s severed hand.’ The hand was merely a snack and a step in the process. The reason it obsessively pursued Lee Yeonwoo did not lie with that hand.

 

[Sixth Sense] 

‘The purpose felt from it is leaning toward something other than the hand.’

 

Therefore, the Guest Without Taste lied.

 

“….”

 

Lee Yeonwoo tilted his head.

 

It seems what you want now is me?

 

* * *

 

“It’s likely because I am blood.”

 

The Manager’s Quarters. A whiteboard had appeared once again in the middle of the living room. Lee Yeonwoo stood before the board and nonchalantly adjusted his glasses.

 

“I thought as much. That it was coming to eat me. The Guest Without Taste has a habit of drinking up bloodstains scattered within the hotel at its own will.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Appearing at the scene immediately when a bloody situation occurs is also a characteristic in the same context. The fact that the target is the General Manager’s blood wouldn’t make it an exception.”

 

Lee Yeonwoo wrote ‘Blood-sucking’ on the board and circled it.

 

“Just because it asks several times and seeks permission doesn’t mean it patiently endures every time. There’s no way such a benevolent monster guest would come to this hotel.”

 

It is true that it values ‘permission.’ However, the number of times it seeks permission varies for each target set as prey. It means that whether it will endure once or ten times is different for everyone.

 

“It’s easy to overlook because its speech is slow, but the Guest Without Taste is a type proficient in deception. It even knows how to steer a situation in its favor without telling an outright lie.”

 

“Yes!”

 

“To think you’d give such an active affirmation, it seems I was right not to grant permission for the matter earlier.” 

 

“Yes!”

 

Lee Yeonwoo had refused the question of whether it could eat his severed hand. Right in front of the guest who asked for the reason, Lee Yeonwoo had consumed his own hand. Then, the guest marveled with an “Oh” and turned back obediently.

 

As seen here, if one merely presents a ‘valid reason,’ it accepts it readily.

 

“When it was a game, I remembered it as just a bothersome guest rather than a difficult one, but….”

 

The strategy is simple. Just keep refusing until the end. The Guest Without Taste ‘respects’ the General Manager enough and doesn’t just stay at the hotel long-term for no reason.

 

It means all one has to do is repeat, ‘No,’ ‘I don’t like it,’ and ‘Don’t do it’ throughout the duration of the stay.

 

“That’s why it’s a guest limited to the Open Version.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“The problem is the current situation where the conditions have changed from when it was a game. As I keep saying, the fact that I’ve become blood itself makes this quite a task….”

 

“Yes….”

 

“That’s what happened.”

 

No matter how much the Guest Without Taste likes blood, it also distinguishes between a ‘person’ and ‘blood’ at the very least. It perceives a human as a blood bag and considers the blood inside as food.

 

That would be why it proceeds with the hunt through that tedious process of ‘permission,’ but….

 

“My current state isn’t appropriate to buy time by taking advantage of that point like before.” 

 

Lee Yeonwoo wrote a few words on the board.

 

“What exactly am I to the Guest Without Taste right now? Prey? Or just food? It seems I am receiving ‘respect’ thanks to my rank as General Manager, but….”

 

“Yes.”

 

“No matter how hopefully I try to look at it, it is an undeniable fact that I am closer to blood than a regular human. I consider the threshold of respect to have dropped significantly lower than when I was the General Manager in the game, so dragging out time seems to be of no good whatsoever.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“But if I don’t drag out time, what can I do? Eviction? I haven’t met the conditions. Repeat refusals? If I get eaten while doing that, it’s over. Prepare my heart? Ah, do I really have to pick a day to die?”

 

“Ing.”

 

“I feel like crying myself.”

 

The guests here are extremely difficult to subject to check-out measures. 

 

“I could force them out, but it’s a loss in the long run. It has a huge impact on the hotel’s reputation.”

 

If the reputation drops, the difficulty of serving monster guests skyrockets, and the hotel system becomes even more violent. Above all, a guest who was evicted haphazardly becomes impossibly difficult to handle upon their next visit.

 

“And I shouldn’t just look at it as a systemic problem.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I had a strange feeling… ah.”

 

[Sixth Sense] 

‘Someone deeply reveres you, Belmares.’

 

“No sooner do I speak than this happens.”

 

Lee Yeonwoo clicked his tongue dryly.

 

“Belmares. It’s a word I recognize as well.”

 

“Belmares!”

 

The center and pillar of the Crimson Core ritual. The subject of the ritual that replaces the physical body with eternal blood—simply put, it refers to the first caster.

 

“Everything else was referred to by the name ‘Ridmar.’ Existences that work and are sacrificed for the birth of a Belmares. If a Belmares is the master, a Ridmar seemed closer to a servant.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“All cases of Belmares ended in failure, while at least there were successful cases for Ridmar. The records were dominant that most people who challenged to become a Belmares fell to being a Ridmar.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“It might be that only biased records remain due to the nature of the book I read… but I see.”

 

Lee Yeonwoo took off his glasses and wiped his face with a tired look.

 

“…Thinking about it now, this was quite a serious matter.”

 

In Room 14, he hadn’t been able to grasp it because he was so distracted. The fact that the Guest Without Taste was involved with the Crimson Core was not a matter to be overlooked lightly.

 

“Yes, I know. I’m aware. I saw it clearly while investigating Room 14. It seemed that the Guest Without Taste… likely wanted to become a Belmares himself through the Crimson Core ritual.”

 

“Ing?”

 

“Of course, that failed too. What he is now is merely something distorted by the aftermath of the ritual’s failure. If I had to categorize him, his current tendencies are strongly those of a Ridmar.”

 

Users of Blood Magic are strict meritocrats. They instinctively worship blood that is stronger and more noble than their own. The notification that ‘someone deeply reveres Belmares’ would likely be in that context.

 

“Even so, the longing to become a Belmares wouldn’t have disappeared. That would be one of the reasons it pursued my blood so much. Of course, that wouldn’t be all of it, but….”

 

One thing was certain.

 

“My blood must feel very special to the Guest Without Taste.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“It’s one thing after another.”

 

Things were going from bad to worse.

 

“There is one fortunate point, at least.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“It’s that the Guest Without Taste is approaching more cautiously than I thought.”

 

“Carefully?” 

 

“Since I am a lump of bloody water, he might as well try to eat me outright, yet it seems his recognition of this side as ‘someone to be respected’ remains intact. For his arrogant nature, he endures it miraculously well.” 

 

Of course, it wasn’t even that much of a relief. 

 

“To put it another way, it means it is watching for an opportunity that much more carefully. It’s actually easier to deal with those who rush in simply and ignorantly.”

 

“Hello!”

 

“Yes, but… the fact that the Guest Without Taste is an erosion type is what bothers me.”

 

It meant it knew the trick to gnawing away at one’s nerves. Like most monster guests of the Open Version, the Guest Without Taste was also a type skilled in feigning innocence and deception. It was an expert at acting polite and naive.

 

“Surely the Guest Without Taste’s stay duration was….”

 

“4 days!”

 

“Aha.”

 

That was welcome news.

 

“He’ll be leaving soon then.”

 

“Yes!”

 

“Then I can relax a little.”

 

“….”

 

“….”

 

A moment of silence ensued. Lee Yeonwoo brushed his hand over his mouth at an uneasy premonition.

 

“Could it be…?”

 

* * *

 

That “could it be” became reality.

 

“What a shame.” 

 

“Yes.”

 

The Guest Without Taste extended its stay.

 

“It’s an event I didn’t see many times even when it was a game.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I wonder if it’s right for it to appear at this timing. It must be crazy.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Of course, it was already a hotel that had gone mad.”

 

“No?”

 

“I believe I told you not to defend it blindly.”

 

An extension of stay. It is a system that rarely occurs unless it’s a monster guest limited to the Close Version. In other words, it is a variable that should only appear in the latter half of the playthrough.

 

‘And strictly speaking, this place is no longer a game.’

 

That’s just how the service industry naturally is. Lee Yeonwoo, the General Manager, was in a position where he had to respond with, “Yes, thank you,” when a guest expressed their intention to stay consecutively.

 

‘Because even a hotel like this is in normal operation.’

 

Even here, capitalism was alive and breathing.

 

“Whew….”

 

The temptation to just shut himself in the lodging briefly raised its head.

 

And for good reason—the Guest Without Taste does ask for permission first. And the more it is refused, the more strongly it applies pressure. In other words, if they don’t encounter each other at all, the probability of a problem occurring becomes extremely low.

 

However, that couldn’t be the correct answer.

 

‘If I shut myself in to avoid that man, when will I conduct the research to improve my body?’

 

No matter how monster-like Lee Yeonwoo had become, he couldn’t match the guests who were monsters by birth. One must not underestimate a monster officially recognized by this hotel. Neither the hotel nor the guests were pushovers.

 

‘My limits will come before theirs.’

 

His current condition was the worst. If he were unlucky, he could die just from breathing. Although he had brought blood packs and blood collection tools from Room 14 this time, those were merely stopgap measures.

 

‘In the first place, this is a situation where I mustn’t die.’

 

On the other hand, they had nothing to lose.

 

‘They have plenty of time, too.’

 

No matter how many times he thought it over, it wasn’t a matter that would be resolved by hiding in a room.

 

“…Since there’s no sharp answer for now….”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Shall we rest for a moment?”

 

“Yes.”

 

He was exhausted from dealing with two monsters at once.