Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Chapter 355 - Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (26)

Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (26)

 

‘Boss…! What do you mean we’re closing down…!’

 

‘It can’t be helped. I’ve thought about it carefully too.’

 

The wavering silhouettes of two people.

 

Even though it was seen from afar, anyone could tell that one was a beautiful youth with grey hair—Grey.

 

And the other—

 

‘That’s me.’

 

‘There’s no future for Dungeon Hotel Branch 4.’

 

‘Since when did you start this thinking there was a future!’

 

‘No, more than that…’

 

A woman with pitch-black hair tied back tightly.

 

That is, me, looked down.

 

She seemed to be agonizing over something.

 

‘…Even so, a hotel has to be able to receive guests. With the situation like this… they have no interest at all…‘

 

What’s going on?

 

With those words, I looked around.

 

Is this really Liber Monastery?   

 

Then are we really closing down?

 

Because there are no guests?

 

I didn’t know exactly what this situation was right now, but seeing another ‘me’ over there made my heart ache.

 

‘Wow, have you finally decided?’

 

At that moment.

 

Ilmiho came down the stairs, smiling broadly.

 

Ilmiho arrogantly swept up his bright red hair and laughed.

 

‘See, lady, I told you. Leaving this old castle is the answer. If you didn’t want this, you should have listened to me.’

 

What is he talking about?

 

‘That boy named Georges. I told you I’d show him his future.’

 

That boy’s future?

 

At those words, I suddenly recalled what Ilmiho had said.

 

Right before this illusion began, he had said this.

 

That he would show me ‘our future.’

 

Then could this illusion possibly be the ‘future’?

 

‘Be honest. You regret it, right?’

 

Ilmiho turned his broadly smiling face not toward the ‘me’ in the illusion, but toward the real ‘me.’

 

As if a camera were zooming in, Ilmiho’s face spun around and drew closer to me.

 

‘Humans are finite beings, you see? Time once past never returns.’

 

Bright yellow eyes, bright red hair, and Ilmiho’s pure white skin.

 

Those colors began to entangle splendidly.

 

Over those colors, scenes flashed by endlessly.

 

Surprisingly, I was there.

 

‘Waaah!’

 

Me, as a newborn baby.

 

‘Ah… ppa?’ (T/N: Dad)

 

‘Doesn’t it sound like she just said ‘Dad’?’

 

‘Well… I think she just said ‘ppa’.’

 

‘No, she definitely said ‘Dad’!’

 

Me, starting to babble.

 

‘Aunt, you absolutely must not let go!’

 

‘Okay, I won’t let go. I won’t!’

 

‘You’re not letting go, right?!’

 

‘…Look behind you, Junghyo!’

 

‘Uwaaah! What am I supposed to do if you let go!’

 

Me, learning to ride a bicycle for the first time from Aunt Misoon only when I became an upper grader in elementary school.

 

‘…We will now begin the university entrance ceremony.’

 

Entering university.

 

‘It’s a present to congratulate you on getting a job.’

 

‘Wow, you’re the best, sis!’

 

‘Is this mine?!’

 

Getting a job for the first time.

 

‘Welcome to the Dungeon Hotel!’

 

Starting the Dungeon Hotel.

 

Meeting Han Woohyun.

 

Finding my dad.

 

The “me” within the time that flowed bit by bit like that. .

 

Getting wrinkles, the family growing and then shrinking, maturing, and before I knew it, growing old.

 

It felt strange, as if I had accidentally read the last page of a novel I was enjoying prematurely.

 

Time that I couldn’t grasp, like the flowing wind, was endlessly brushing past me.

 

It was scary.

 

And…

 

Lonely.

 

Thinking that, I squeezed my eyes shut again.

 

* * *

 

“…!”

 

When I opened my eyes, I wasn’t in the corridor where I had been talking with Ilmiho, but lying in a bed in a room.

 

I raised my body from the bed equipped with a worn-out canopy.

 

Then, something pressed down on my forehead.

 

“….”

 

Brown eyes came close.

 

It was Han Woohyun.

 

Han Woohyun.

 

Han Woohyun had brought his forehead to rest against mine.

 

The forehead pressing against mine was cool.

 

“…You have a slight fever.” 

 

I heard him mutter.

 

I instinctively burrowed into his arms. I wrapped my hands around his waist and buried my nose near his collarbone. 

 

Han Woo-hyun’s scent washed over me.

 

His bodily scent seemed to pull me back to reality.

 

My dizzy head settled down a little.

 

It was a relief.

 

How long had I been catching my breath like that? My head started to clear.

 

It was when I straightened my back to let go of the hands I was holding Han Woohyun with. Han Woohyun gently wrapped his arms around the back of my head.

 

My body leaned back into Han Woohyun.

 

“I don’t have a fever, though.” 

 

When I muttered, Han Woohyun nodded.

 

“I know.”

 

He let out a deep sigh.

 

“But why did you collapse?”

 

“I collapsed?”

 

“Yeah. That strange spirit brought you here.” 

 

He replied with a face that said just thinking about it put him in a bad mood.

 

I felt the same.

 

Ilmiho brought me? That’s giving the disease and offering the cure.

 

I shook my head from side to side.

 

“Because of him, I saw something weird. That…”

 

Then I stopped talking.

 

How could I explain the weird thing I saw?

 

‘The future.’

 

If what I saw was the future…

 

I unwittingly stroked Han Woohyun’s smooth cheek.

 

‘You were there too.’

 

With an older face than this.

 

“…?”

 

Han Woohyun looked at me with his cheek stretched out by my fingers. The way he blinked his eyes made him look like a gentle puppy.

 

“Why are you staying still?”

 

“…About what?”

 

What do you mean, ‘what.’

 

This, right now. This.

 

I tried to pull my hand away from Han Woohyun’s cheek but was caught by him again shortly after.

 

“…Touch me more.”

 

I wasn’t touching him; I was pinching him. 

 

Anyway, my hand ended up trapped between his large hand and his cheek.

 

It’s… a bit weird, though.

 

I said, without removing my hands from his cheeks, 

 

“Was I lying down for a long time?”

 

“No, about an hour?”

 

“Then what about the guest in Room 201…”

 

“I think he’s resting for a bit while the bathwater is being prepared. He must have been tired.”

 

That’s a relief.

 

So there’s no disruption to the hotel’s operations.

 

While feeling relieved, I still felt a lingering discomfort in a corner of my heart.

 

It was because of the future Ilmiho had shown me.

 

‘That guy, they said he’s an ancient spirit, so he has a weird power.’

 

Foresight.

 

He had the ability to see the future.

 

Just as Geumdong had strong physical power and Toto could cast illusions, this guy also had power.

 

And quite a powerful one at that.

 

What Ilmiho wanted to show through the future was one thing.

 

‘Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 will fail.’

 

Well, it’s not like I wanted to start with the certainty that the hotel would do well, but hearing that it would fail didn’t feel good.

 

It felt as if the hope that I could somehow manage well had disappeared.

 

But why did this conversation come to mind at this moment?

 

‘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…’

 

‘…?’

 

‘Extravagant.’

 

Georges’ bitter face flickered before my eyes.

 

He hadn’t seen the future, so why did he have such a face?

 

“You know. What do you think it would be like if your future was bad?”

 

“…For instance?”

 

“Um, failing to clear the dungeon in the raid next month?”

 

His expression became ambiguous.

 

It was a face that said such a thing was impossible.

 

…Well, that’s true.

 

It wasn’t an exaggeration; he really was a top-tier S-rank Hunter in the combat division. 

 

“Then suddenly failing in stock investments?”

 

“I don’t do stocks.”

 

“You don’t even have Hanwoon Guild stocks?”

 

“…Do I?”

 

His face became subtle.

 

Isn’t it weirder not to have any?

 

It’s a national stock that more than two-thirds of adults in South Korea probably own.

 

Seeing that despite his immense worth, he only owns an apartment without any stock or real estate investments, I couldn’t tell if I should call him frugal or simple.

 

“Ah, then what if you break up with me next month?” 

 

“…….”

 

At my words, his expression rapidly deteriorated. Deep wrinkles formed between his brows, and his eyes grew large like a cow’s, filled with sadness.

 

“Do you want to break up with me?”

 

I waved my hands frantically.

 

“No. No. It’s not that….” 

 

I bit my lip.

 

“I’m asking how it would feel. If a terrible misfortune were guaranteed in your future, would you give up on the present right now?” 

 

“Does that unfortunate future never change?” 

 

At his question, I thought for a moment.

 

I had a similar thought.

 

Is the foresight shown by the spirit truly eternal and unchanging?

 

It’s not certain.

 

But what is clear is—

 

“At least at this point in time, it is. And since there are external factors, it probably won’t change.”

 

Because whether guests come or not isn’t something only I decide.

 

For example, it’s like this.

 

Achieving something through my hard work mostly involves the intervention of my free will, so the probability of it diverging from what was seen in the foresight is high.

 

But something like the future fact that it will rain tomorrow does not change. 

 

Then what is the probability of the future where Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 fails changing?

 

‘Even I had an almost despairing face…’

 

It’s probably somewhere between the former and the latter.

 

“Assuming it won’t change—”

 

Han Woohyun didn’t think for long.

 

His pinky finger hooked around mine.

 

As if making a promise.

 

His answer came out immediately.

 

“I still won’t give up. I’ll stay with you until you abandon me. Because the me who breaks up with you in the future, and the me who wants to be with you in the present, are different people.”

 

His brown eyes sparkled brightly.

 

His steadfast face looked at me without wavering.

 

As expected.

 

I kissed his cheek.

 

With a peck, his face turned red.

 

“I was waiting for you to say that.”

 

Because I thought you would say it like this.

 

I smiled.