Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Chapter 340 - Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (11)

Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (11)

 

It felt familiar. 

 

I frowned faintly, feeling something subtle twist in my chest.

 

There were only three people in this world who had ever given me this specific sensation of being teased like this.

 

Alex. Merlin.

 

And Owen Black.

 

All three shared one thing in common—they were reptiles who had learned human culture from extremely questionable sources.

 

Which meant, deductively speaking, this guy must be one of those middle-aged men who learned social media in strange corners of the internet.

 

I quickly typed into the chat.

 

Guest Junghyo

 

This is Lee Junghyo. The one who agreed to manage the castle in your place.

Is the winery owner doing alright?

 

The winery owner must know about those rat spirits’ true nature, right?

 

At this point, I grew curious about who the winery owner really was.

 

What if he was the real reptile here—or not one at all?

 

Host SereneNorthernFrenchCoast……

 

Oh, Ms. Lee Jeong-hyo. Actually, I’m at the hospital right now. They say he needs a few more tests. The winery owner is quite elderly, you see. I think I’ll have to stay by his side until his children arrive…. Would it be okay to ask you to manage the castle for a few days?

 

Manage the castle?

 

Entrusting a centuries-old fortress to a random East Asian woman you met once.

 

He seemed quite reckless, but— 

 

‘But lucky for me.’

 

For someone who needed to learn the wine-making secret immediately, this was pure fortune.

 

Host SereneNorthernFrenchCoast……

 

I’ll give you all the lodging fees!

 

Guest Junghyo

 

Understood. Please send me the reservation list.

 

I typed the message while glancing at the rattan basket, which was glowing with a 3% affinity rating. 

 

That night, after the folklore club members had all gone to bed, I opened the basket.

 

Gray popped out, flushed and breathless.

 

It spun in place excitedly.

 

“They said the wine was delicious! They said it was delicious!”

 

I asked, slightly puzzled,

 

“Have you been in this castle for a thousand years?”

 

“A thousand years…? I don’t really understand human time. Time is money, yet humans waste it recklessly!”

 

“Then you’ve just been making wine all that time? Without ever seeing how people reacted to drinking it?”

 

“Well… humans don’t like it when we come out….”

 

Gray muttered.

 

As he hung his head, looking strangely bashful, Han Woo-hyun and I exchanged looks. 

 

I feel kind of bad for him…. 

 

Just then—

 

Other mice began to swarm around Gray. 

 

They were all holding little stick-like objects and glaring at me.

 

“Let the spirit go! Bad human! Wicked human!” 

 

“…?”

 

“Are you not afraid of our power?!”

 

Which part of this is scary?

 

I easily blocked a toothpick-like projectile tossed weakly at me and looked at Han Woohyun.

 

He no longer seemed wary of them either.

 

Suddenly—

 

Gray kicked one of the advancing spirits.

 

The rat spirit slammed into the wall.

 

“…?!”

 

Both the struck rat and Gray widened their eyes at that unexpected force.

 

“W-why… why….”

 

“Listen to me! This human isn’t hurting me!”

 

“Then what?! Why is a human interfering in our duty?!”

 

‘Duty…?’

 

Is making wine their duty?

 

I grew increasingly curious about the winery owner’s face. I was also curious about his relationship with the owner of this castle. 

 

Did these humans know what the rat spirits endured? Without proper compensation? For a thousand years?

 

“This human is curious about our wine-making secrets.”

 

At Gray’s words, the rats murmured loudly.

 

“A mere human?”

 

“How dare a human try to take our ‘duty’!”

 

“It’s the end of the world, the end of the world.” 

 

I thought the same when I heard rats talking…….

 

I swallowed the remark and stepped forward.

 

“Hello, spirits.”

 

When I spoke with a smile, the mice’s eyes turned round.

 

Some mice were so flustered they even hid behind the tiny toothpicks they were holding.

 

‘Do you really think that’s hiding you…?’

 

Trembling with frightened eyes, they shouted toward me.

 

“What do you mean, ‘hello’!”

 

“I won’t let you get away with this!”

 

“Smash smash!”

 

…They weren’t scary at all. 

 

I barely suppressed a laugh at the contradictory sight of the mice hurling harsh words at me while shivering uncontrollably.

 

Then I calmly began to explain.

 

“While touring this region, I noticed something. The locals really love this wine.”

 

“Of course they do!”

 

“Our wine is the best!”

 

“This isn’t brewing—it’s our duty!”

 

What even is this “duty”?

 

Anyway.

 

I waited for the clamor of the mice to die down before continuing. 

 

“So, what I’m saying is, if I help with the wine production, the speed could get much faster, more people could drink and enjoy it, and….”

 

I looked at Gray.

 

Gray still seemed entranced by the memory of hearing people praise its wine.

 

“You could increase castle visitors and show them drinking it. Don’t you want to see people enjoying the wine you made?”

 

“Enjoying the wine……?”

 

“They like our wine……?”

 

“We could see that……?”

 

Rats that looked just like Gray slowly lifted their heads.

 

Their pupils were slightly unfocused, as if what I was saying sounded like a dream.

 

It almost felt like soft background music would swell and cherry blossoms would begin to fall.

 

Affinity 1%

Affinity 1%

Affinity 1%

 

Those symbols rose above the rats’ heads one by one.

 

Even the rat that had been slammed against the wall stood up, whispering,

 

“Seeing them drink wine……?”

 

Affinity 1%

 

…I’m starting to feel that this is more like a satisfaction rating than affinity. 

 

I smiled gently at them.

 

“I’m actually very good at attracting hotel guests.” 

 

At my smile, the rats went blank again.

 

Watching them, Gray muttered to a nearby rat,

 

“That human smiles really weirdly…….”

 

* * *

 

“Wine brewing begins with harvesting the grapes! Liber’s wine becomes plump and sweet under our blessing!”

 

The next day, we were at the Liber Grape Orchard.

 

To think the recipe started with picking grapes.

 

I hadn’t expected that at all.

 

Isn’t this like being told you have to go harvest seaweed first to learn a recipe for seaweed soup? 

 

However, to avoid upsetting the mice—who were strangely fearful yet prone to anger—I decided to pick the grapes obediently. 

 

The work hadn’t started very willingly, but as I smelled the sweet scent of the grapes and picked them one by one by hand, I didn’t feel too bad. 

 

If anything, it felt… comforting.

 

Our process went like this:

 

The rats scurried between vineyard rows, gripping vines and murmuring solemnly.

 

Sometimes three gathered and circled a vine while sprinkling something like water.

 

I was clearly in France.

 

Yet the sight felt uncannily like a shamanic ritual.

 

After their chanting, the grapes before me subtly changed.

 

A faint sugary bloom dusted the tips of the sweetest grapes, and their fragrance intensified.

 

And most importantly—

 

Skill: ‘Hotelier’s Eye (A)’ activated.

 

Grapes Blessed by a Food-Service Spirit (F)

 

— Increases repurchase rate by 200%.

— If made into grape juice, recovery increases.

 

…This becomes an item.

 

‘They really are spirits.’

 

I picked grapes thoughtfully.

 

A food-service spirit.

 

As someone who had been worrying a lot about the F&B sector of my business, I couldn’t help but want to scout them. 

 

‘If only I can resolve this slightly uncomfortable feeling….’

 

Recalling the quest, I continued stacking grapes.

 

Nearby rats stared in awe.

 

“It’s so fast when a human does it!” 

 

“Our duty might actually finish early!”

 

“Yay! No more overtime!”

 

No. Guys. I told you, you’re nocturnal. 

 

I carried grape crates while listening to incomprehensible spirit logic.

 

We separated the grapes from their stems and crushed them into juice.

 

“Now stir!”

 

At Gray’s command, I stirred the juice with a long rod.

 

The rats washed themselves thoroughly and lined up around the vat with their toothpick-like sticks.

 

“You have to stir hard so the skins and seeds float.”

 

“…I see.”

 

Han Woohyun replied softly and whispered to me. 

 

“Have they really been doing it this way? If they used those things, they wouldn’t have been able to make more than a few bottles even in a thousand years….”

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

But regardless of what we thought, the mice were stirring the grape juice with solemn faces. 

 

Grape Juice Blessed by a Food-Service Spirit (E)

 

— Increases repurchase rate by 300%.

— Recovery increased by 150%.

 

…No, should I call this a potion instead of grape juice?