Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Chapter 354 - Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (25)

Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (25)

 

Georges quickly washed up, dried his body off, and hesitantly came downstairs.

 

To think this is the Dungeon Hotel.

 

Georges was a Hunter himself, and as someone who frequented the internet, he was well aware of what a Dungeon Hotel was. 

 

However, this place was vastly different from the Dungeon Hotel he had imagined. 

 

There was no luxurious lobby, nor was there a beautiful sea.

 

Here, there were only dreary corridors where ghosts might appear at any moment, and a fiercely crashing sea that was far from beautiful, only terrifying.

 

And to top it off, mice.

 

Just thinking of the mice that spoke human language made Georges want to run out of this hotel immediately.

 

To Georges, mice weren’t just mice.

 

Every night when he closed his eyes, mice crawled across his ceiling and floor.

 

They coveted Georges’ food and slept inside his clothes.

 

To him, mice were uninvited guests of his daily life that he couldn’t chase away, and they were demons that kept him awake every night when he was already exhausted from overwork.

 

‘To encounter mice even after coming to the Dungeon Hotel. I really have bad luck.’

 

Georges furrowed his brow at the thought. 

 

When he left his immature mother and violent stepfather to start his life in Paris, he thought he could do anything.

 

But he soon found out.

 

For someone with nothing to his name and no education, there was no future to dream of. 

 

Those who could enjoy a glamorous life in Paris were those who already had things in the present.

 

People who could find a decent job and, by working hard at that job, could afford a home to return to.

 

People who had lovers, friends, or family to confide their hurt feelings to when they heard hurtful words at work.

 

A youth without such things was neither particularly valuable nor radiant.

 

Just like now, experiencing the Dungeon Hotel—a place everyone wants to visit at least once—in such a dreary old castle of all places.

 

His youth was twisted beyond belief.

 

Of course, meeting the legendary Holy Knight… no, the Dungeon Hotel Owner, was quite a fascinating experience, but still.

 

“Shall I show you around the inside?”

 

Pitch-black hair and eyes just as pitch-black.

 

With those eyes shining, the woman approached him.

 

Lee Junghyo.

 

‘Compared to what I saw in the photos…’

 

She’s cute.

 

He genuinely thought that.

 

In the photos, because she was an unprecedented non-combat ranker and was introduced along with her achievements, she gave off a strong charismatic impression, but not now.

 

She just looked like…

 

‘Like a black cat with a hidden agenda.’

 

He somehow thought that as he looked at Junghyo’s sparkling eyes.

 

Of course, his intuition was correct. 

 

The part about having a hidden agenda, at least.

 

Because Junghyo currently wanted to use him to somehow update the AirCnC reviews.

 

“Show me around the inside?”

 

“Yes. We’re drawing your bathwater, but it seems it’ll take a bit of time.”

 

She spoke with a face that looked somewhat troubled.

 

It was true.

 

Liber had no proper water supply and drainage system. The toilet was somewhat usable despite being a bit old, but drawing water into the bathtub was impossible.

 

Because an unspeakable amount of rusty water came out.

 

She had wanted to solve it by purchasing items, but even that was impossible.

 

Automatic Filter Faucet

 

—Automatically dispenses clean water no matter how dirty the tap water is.

 

—Unlockable from Lv. 3.

 

It was because of this damn level.

 

Left with no other choice, Junghyo gave up on the faucet and decided to use the water from the winery, which was relatively clean.

‘…So it’s natural pomade.’

The water used for making wine was clean.

 

To have to fetch water, heat it up, pour it into the bathtub, and then use it.

 

She felt it required way too much labor, but now wasn’t the time to be calculating such things.

 

Fortunately, just the mention of being able to take a bath noticeably brightened the guest’s face.

 

“A bath… It’s been a while.”

 

“A while?”

 

“Yes. There’s no bathtub in the house I live in. And the rusty water from the showerhead is so bad that I only wash my hair about once a week.”

 

Saying that, he smoothly pushed his hair up with his hand.

 

Then, miraculously, his hair stayed fixed exactly in the shape he had held it.

 

‘…So it’s natural pomade.’

 

Thinking that, Junghyo laughed awkwardly.

 

“I heard you live in Paris. The rent must be expensive, right?”

 

At her question, Georges grumbled.

 

“There are plenty of young kids living in houses more expensive than mine. A friend who worked at the same restaurant as me lived in a place twice as expensive as mine. Yet, they could buy whatever they wanted to eat and wear as they pleased…”

 

Georges’ brow furrowed.

 

“It’s just me who has bad luck. Even after awakening as a Hunter, I’m only an E-rank, and it’s not like I have anything I clearly want to do… So, I clumsily chased after money, rushed into a dungeon, and ended up stranded like this.”

 

“…..”

 

Somehow, the conversation wasn’t flowing the way she wanted.

 

‘It wouldn’t be good to drag out personal stories any further than this.’

 

Thinking that, Junghyo took him around various parts of the old castle.

 

Still, thanks to having looked around the inside of the old castle for nearly a week, explanations flowed out smoothly.

 

Though there were actually many things she didn’t know well.

 

“Liber is a thousand-year-old castle. It was originally built as a monastery, but I understand it’s being used as a hotel now. If you go this way, there’s a place that was used as a prayer room, and over here is a room that looks like a banquet hall—” “

 

“Why did you go out of your way to take charge of a place like this?”

 

It was then. Georges asked, interrupting Junghyo.

 

At those words, Junghyo abruptly stopped walking.

 

“A place like this…”

 

“A castle in such an old and remote place. Originally, the Dungeon Hotel was located in a place with a nice view and bustling with people, wasn’t it?”

 

“Ah…”

 

How was she supposed to explain this?

 

Junghyo recalled the day she first entered the Yeongchun Hotel.

 

The day she saw the interior of the hotel, which had cobwebs everywhere and was dirty and tacky.

 

Was that all?

 

The outside of the hotel was also an old building with peeling paint in places, and there were barely any shops around, making her wonder where on earth she was supposed to go grocery shopping.

 

She even tried taking a bus to a faraway five-day market.

 

Thinking back to that time, the current Dungeon Hotel Branch 1 was utterly unimaginable.

 

Because now, Junghyo owned most of the land in Yeongchun-myeon, and by allowing the locals to run businesses, it had become a sufficiently bustling place, even if not as crowded as a city.

 

Not to mention the inside of the Yeongchun Hotel.

 

“The original Dungeon Hotel was just as old as this place. There were hardly any people coming and going either. Still, thanks to the hard work of myself and the staff…”

 

“Isn’t that hard work only possible when you can see some degree of hope?”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

At Georges’ words, Junghyo looked up at him.

 

Georges had a serious expression.

 

“Even if it’s hidden, you awakened with a rare class, Boss. You naturally must have thought your future was guaranteed. That’s why you even took the risk of running Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 in such a uselessly old castle. How…”

 

“…?”

 

“It’s luxurious.”

 

With those words, Georges turned around.

 

He felt suffocated.

 

Hard work, my foot.

 

Then was it entirely due to his own lack of hard work that he hadn’t been able to escape his wretched life of living with mice?

 

Even though he knew in his head that Junghyo’s words weren’t criticizing him, irritation surged within him.

 

Nothing ever worked out for him.

 

There had been no real results from the raid he staked his life on, and now, once he returned, he would live as a failure both as a Hunter and as a human being.

 

And it wasn’t like he could lose himself in admiration of the beauty of this place and spend so-called ‘healing’ time like the other guests who had experienced the Dungeon Hotel.

 

He was simply wasting his time.

 

Just like always.

 

Following behind his turning back was his satisfaction number.

 

0

 

The number that had gone up slightly went back down.

 

Noticing that, Junghyo furrowed her brow. She was mulling over the conversation she had with Georges.

 

Someone’s voice rang in her ear.

 

“As expected.”

 

“…?”

 

Junghyo quickly scratched her ear.

 

It was because a ticklish breeze had blown into her ear along with the voice.

 

Where Junghyo looked up, Ilmiho was looking down at her with narrowed eyes.

 

“What do you mean, ‘as expected’?”

 

“As expected, humans truly don’t know what lies even an inch ahead of them.”

 

-83

 

Seeing the abysmal numbers on both sides, Junghyo pressed her lips tightly together.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it’s currently the time the guest has checked in, so you too…”

 

“I have to raise that thing floating above that guest’s head, right?”

 

At that moment, Ilmiho pointed at the number floating above the receding Georges’ head.

 

At those words, Junghyo abruptly stopped walking.

 

Right. The spirits of this hotel could now see the satisfaction numbers too.

 

“Shall I help you?”

 

“…How?”

 

He’s going to help?

 

What’s gotten into him?

 

Ilmiho’s thin lips curled up wickedly.

 

“If I help, what are you going to do for me? Are you going to let me eat a few mice?”

 

“You…!”

 

Junghyo nudged Ilmiho’s shoulder and stepped back.

 

The distance was too close.

 

“Why on earth are you so anxious to eat your fellow spirits?”

 

At her question, Ilmiho rolled his eyes around.

 

“Because. I don’t like them. Seeing them uselessly strive to complete a ‘task.’ I know everything.”

 

“Know what?”

 

“We can’t achieve something like a ‘task’.”

 

“So what exactly is that task…”

 

Just as she was about to say, ‘What is it,’

 

Ilmiho’s seductive eyes drew intensely close to her.

 

“I’ll show you. Our future.”

 

It was at that moment.

 

The tightly constricted pupil inside Ilmiho’s bright yellow eye expanded.

 

A pitch-black void washed over her.