Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Chapter 302

296. Reptile Tamer

 

When Black’s eyelids briefly closed as he savored the cake.

 

He was looking into the past.

 

“Those were the good old days.”

 

“Father, everyone says that—no matter the era, no matter the country.”

 

“But look at the world now. At this rate, it’s headed for destruction. There are no young men left in France. They all died clutching their wet feet in the trenches.”

 

“That’s…”

 

The woman, who had been absentmindedly playing with her curly hair, suddenly stopped in her tracks.

 

The woman glanced discreetly at Owen Black, not at her own father.

 

It was only then that Owen Black realized he was sitting in Monsieur Vincent’s small garden.

 

Wearing a hat that sat awkwardly on his head and a scarf around his neck, he was holding a fork, about to eat the cake the woman had given him.

 

‘…A memory I haven’t thought of in a long time.’

 

He felt puzzled.

 

Hearing words like trenches and wet feet, it was clear—this memory must have been from one of his most dreadful moments.

 

Because that was where his faith and affection first began to twist.

 

But why would a moment like that come to mind while eating something as sweet as cake?

 

“…Owen. Don’t worry too much. Father tends to be a bit insensitive.”

 

The woman sitting across from him gave a faint smile.

 

She was the daughter of a fairly wealthy family, had received as much education as the era allowed, and had even worked as a teacher.

 

While working as a teacher in the countryside, she secretly poured her own effort into teaching children who couldn’t afford tuition—those who were abused at home and taught only farm work, or who worked as errand boys.

 

And one of the children she taught was none other than Owen.

 

To be precise, it was “Owen” in disguise as a farmer.

 

The Black family had entered this world and was living under falsified identities.

 

Likewise living in France under a false identity, Owen was sent to the military as soon as he entered adolescence.

 

But trench warfare was no place for a “hero destined to save the world” to do anything meaningful.

 

An ordinary soldier was nothing more than a disposable object.

 

He lost one of his legs in that wretched battlefield and returned to his hometown.

 

To create a new face, a new name.

 

‘Maybe this time, I’ll become a revolutionary leading an anti-war movement.’

 

Around that time, he was staying in France, entertaining such thoughts.

 

Then he learned that the teacher who had once taught him French long ago had returned to their hometown—and he was invited to her home.

 

The teacher who had baked him the cake now had, after a brief career in teaching, soon married through a match arranged by her family.

 

Since her husband was a diplomat, she soon moved with him to a distant land.

 

But then… why did she come back?

 

Rumors had spread throughout the village that Vincent’s daughter had been divorced.

 

Is that true?

 

To be honest, Owen wasn’t particularly curious about her life’s path.

 

He didn’t care much about anything that wasn’t the “fate of humanity,” after all.

 

“Who can’t say that France will fall and the world will collapse? Rather than waiting around for the end of the world, I’d rather wait for something else, Dad.”

 

The woman, having almost called him “Father” before correcting herself, muttered softly.

 

“What on earth are you waiting for? What!”

 

But Vincent ignored her and went inside.

 

She didn’t seem too pleased to be sitting across from Owen—once a poor farmer, now missing a leg—drinking tea together.

 

The woman sitting across from Owen responded to her absent father with a subtle expression on her face.

 

“…Things that come back.”

 

Owen observed her face intently.

 

Had she suffered a lot in Paris? He heard she even met the king.

 

The bright, floral, and refreshingly cheerful expression she once wore had now mostly faded into gloom and darkness.

 

Perhaps this was always the fate of the weak in the end.

 

She was kind and warm, but ultimately a fragile being—one who could never possess the strength to change the world.

 

Her path in life had already been set by marriage, and if she was cast aside by her husband and divorced, she would likely spend the rest of her days trapped at home with that stifling Vincent.

 

Owen felt as if he could read the rest of her life—yet to unfold—as clearly as if it were written in a history book.

 

But what she said was quite surprising.

 

“I’m going to sail away tomorrow night, Owen.”

 

“…Yes?”

 

Leaving? Where?

 

Weren’t you supposed to wait quietly in Paris for your husband to come find you?

 

“I was worried no one at my house would offer you any milk if you came over. So, Owen…”

 

“Yes, please tell me.”

 

“Aren’t you going to steal our calf?”

 

“Yes?”

 

The woman’s eyes widened into crescent moons.

 

“It’s okay. Everyone will just think I took it with me when I ran away in the night. Tomorrow night, I’ll leave the barn door open—steal the calf and run. My father will be fine. He keeps money hidden in the jar.”

 

“Teacher…” 

 

Was this really something a so-called teacher should say… no—something she was even allowed to say?

 

Owen frowned. Of course, she probably said it out of concern for a former student with no job and only one leg…

 

Owen asked worriedly.

 

“Are you getting divorced? Are you… thinking of doing something reckless?”

 

After all, he was supposed to be a simple 17-year-old boy from the countryside.

 

“Hahaha. Owen, hearing you worry like that—looks like you’ve grown up. But… hmm… it’s not that. Actually, I feel more at ease now. Because I’m leaving.”

 

“Leaving? Where to…?”

 

“No, not leaving—going back. To where I was always meant to be.”

 

She quietly looked into Owen’s eyes. A strange feeling stirred within him.

 

He felt as though he had seen something—something unfamiliar—on the face of a woman who seemed the very image of a typical French country girl.

 

“There’s someone waiting for me there. They said they wouldn’t… but deep down, they are.”

 

“That faraway… eastern land, you mean?”

 

As Owen spoke, he thought.

 

Could it be that the eastern land they were talking about here was Joseon?

 

He didn’t know if he had simply forgotten because it was an old memory, or if it had been lost amidst the shocking events that followed and the countless tangled timelines.

 

“Yeah. Here, countries fight each other, waging wars to defend what they’ve taken. But over there, there are people who’ve lost their homeland—and people trying to take it back. They’re waiting too. Waiting for the right time.”

 

“Time to reclaim that fragile country?”

 

Owen said curtly, as if he’d forgotten about the “settings.”

 

The woman’s eyes widened again, crescent-shaped at the sight of Owen.

 

The moment she parted her lips, a gentle breeze blew across her hair.

 

Her hair whipped wildly in the wind, but she made no effort to hold it in place. Instead, she simply faced the breeze and smiled even more brightly.

 

She had a cool expression.

 

“Waiting for a time better than now. But really, it’s okay even if things don’t get better. Just trying—that alone is enough to make you feel a little lighter.”

 

“….”

 

“Actually, waiting is like that too.”

 

She said, rising from her seat.

 

The wind blew, sweeping the clouds from the sky, and sunlight broke through.

 

Brilliant sunlight spilled into the teacup in front of her.

 

“Now, shall we go?”

 

“Where…”

 

“If you’re going to be a barn thief, then act like one—you should at least take a look at the calf.”

 

“Please speak with some sense.”

 

Owen completely forgot his 17-year-old persona and scolded her—but she wore a face that said she didn’t care in the slightest.

 

In the end, as if bewitched, he stood up and began plotting the absurd theft with her.

 

Owen’s dear accomplice had left a fire poker propped near the barn door—for him to use as a cane while leading the calf away.

 

“Come find me someday, Owen. Let’s wait together for the day those people reclaim their homeland. Then maybe you’ll understand—whether it’s a leg or a country you’ve lost, sometimes what you think about afterward matters more than what you lost.”

 

The wind blew again, and clouds gathered.

 

The weather worsened, as if the sunshine had been a lie.

 

That night, Vincent’s only daughter vanished, and Owen—the farmer who lived next door—was said to have fallen into despair over his lost leg and put a bullet through his own head.

 

The memory of planning the calf theft with his childhood teacher that day was buried beneath layers of overlapping time and eventually faded from Owen Black’s mind.

 

* * *

 

He opened his eyes. And when he did, an empty cake plate sat before him.

 

“Did you enjoy it, Guest?”

 

A patissier had come to clear the empty plate and now stood before him. His expression was tense, as if he were waiting—hoping—for Owen to say something.

 

Could it be that he was expecting something like this?

 

“It was delicious.”

 

“….!”

 

When the bellboy standing nearby translated Owen’s French, the patissier’s eyes widened in surprise.

 

A sparkle flashed in his eyes.

 

It was because he was moved by the praise from a guest who had genuinely enjoyed the very first cake he’d ever made in such a grand hotel—but Owen had no way of knowing that.

 

All Owen knew was—

 

“This tastes exactly like the cake someone made for me back when I was struggling and poor.”

 

The truth was—he had never told Juliette Delphie, the teacher who had served cake to the farmer Owen that day, that it had tasted good.

 

Why couldn’t he have said that?

 

Thank you for serving cake to a poor farmer. I never stole the calf, but I understood what you meant. And I truly hope your long, weary waiting will one day come to an end.

 

Why, had I let every moment slip by?

 

Was it because I thought the unfinished moments were useless?

 

But now I knew.

 

Gyeongseong Hotel

 

That damned memory had still endured—and in the end, it came full circle, finding its way to him and to Junghyo.

 

‘Waiting for a time better than now.’

 

That waiting ultimately came full circle and reached its conclusion.

 

Things might get worse again, but for now—at least today—is better than that worst moment.

 

Unconsciously, he touched the tip of his nose. Feeling something damp, and realizing what it was, a spear appeared above his head.

 

100

 

Junghyo looked at the sight and thought,

 

‘What kind of forced emotion is this…?’

 

Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the achievement “Even the Demon King Was Our Guest” and earned a new title.

 

With the new title “Reptile Tamer,” the hiring cost for reptile spirits drops to 0G. All employed reptiles will obey the Hotel Owner’s commands without question.

 

‘…No, this is the perfect ending.’

 

Junghyo smiled gently and opened the status window.