Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Chapter 356 - Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (27)

Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (27)

 

“Alright. You go up this way. And you, over there.”

 

I found Ilmiho in the kitchen, where Georges’ bathwater was heating up.

 

While the water was boiling in a large tub, Ilmiho was standing next to it, grabbing the tails of the mouse spirits and moving them to one tub as he pleased. If the mice tried to escape from that tub, he would move them to another one.

 

‘Bad taste.’

 

Thinking that, I called out to Ilmiho from behind him.

 

“Ilmiho.”

 

At my call, Ilmiho turned around.

 

He smiled at me as if he had been waiting.

 

“Ah, I didn’t expect you to faint. Was the future I showed you that shocking?”

 

“Are you saying that was really the future?”

 

So Ilmiho’s ability is to see the future.

 

“Yeah. From the moment you said you were setting up a hotel here, I saw the future. Do you know how many people have died here? There’s no way a hotel could succeed in this historic graveyard. This place has been a resting spot for the dead for generations.”

 

“But.”

 

“But?”

 

I stepped closer to Ilmiho. And I tipped over the tub where he had put the mice.

 

Then the mice cheered and all disappeared somewhere.

 

Seeing that, Ilmiho’s face contorted.

 

“But why didn’t you tell me beforehand?”

 

“W-what…”

 

“The part about the hotel I’m running failing. You didn’t like me running a hotel in Liber from the start.”

 

“Of course I don’t like it. If it’s a hotel, it’ll be bustling with humans…!”

 

“…Bustling with humans? I clearly remember you saying in the future you showed me that it would close down because there are no guests.”

 

“…!”

 

Ilmiho’s eyes widened.

 

Only then did he realize the contradiction in his words.

 

I thought something was strange.

 

If I run a hotel and it fails, there’s no reason why Ilmiho wouldn’t have shown me this fact in advance.

 

And if Ilmiho basically hates hotels because they’re bustling with people, there’s no reason for this hotel to fail.

 

‘Either way, it doesn’t add up.’

 

In other words, there’s a high probability that the future Ilmiho showed is not a fixed future.

 

Hypotheses on time travel largely fall into two categories.

 

First, the moment time travel occurs, the future is fixed, and even the act of time travel itself is included in that fixed future.

 

In this case, the past, present, and future cannot affect each other.

 

Second, returning after time travel affects the present, causing the future to begin changing.

 

In this case, the future affects the present, and the present affects the future.

 

So the future Ilmiho just showed is closer to the latter.

 

A future that can be changed by the present. And a present that can be changed by the future.

 

“W-whatever it is! I’m saying I can help you if you don’t want the hotel to fail!”

 

“I thought you wanted the hotel to fail.”

 

“Hey, I just want there to be no people in Liber.”

 

“Why?”

 

At my words, Ilmiho looked around.

 

Naturally, there was nothing around. Because Ilmiho had tormented them so much, the mice weren’t even showing their faces.

 

There was only the sound of water boiling in the large tub.

 

“Because I hope the mice don’t complete their ‘task’.”

 

Again.

 

Talk about a task again.

 

I furrowed my brow.

 

“What is that task?”

 

“You don’t need to know what it is. It’s not important to you either. The important thing is that in order to not complete that task, you and the mice shouldn’t get any closer. You keep bringing people into Liber, which used to be quiet…”

 

“So if the mice let their guard down around people, they get closer to the task.”

 

I took Ilmiho’s words and completed the sentence.

 

Right. It was somewhat as I expected.

 

When I pondered why the spirits’ growth was related to their affinity with me, the first hypothesis that came to mind.

 

Could that affinity not be related to ‘me’, but affinity with ‘humans’?

 

Could it be that the mice, who always just made wine in the dark, form relationships with humans and grow through those relationships?

 

So right now, Ilmiho had practically confirmed that my hypothesis was correct.

 

“Actually, the mice aren’t any help in running the hotel at all. If anything, they’re just an interference. Didn’t you see the guest in Room 201? He freaked out and tried to leave again when the mice came out. In fact, isn’t it better for you too if the mice are chased back into the basement?”

 

“…..”

 

I pondered for a moment.

 

As if reading my hesitation, Ilmiho pushed even harder.

 

“You want the guest in Room 201 to have a good time at the hotel, right? That guest is currently despairing, thinking he has no future in his life. But that’s not true.”

 

Ilmiho pulled up his thin lips to form a long arc.

 

It looked exactly as if the face of a fox with a long snout had been drawn onto a human’s face.

 

“That guest, he does well later on.”

 

“He does well?”

 

Ilmiho nodded.

 

“He won’t become a hugely successful Hunter, but he’ll succeed in another way. Well, either way, you could say he’s a young man with a bright future ahead of him.”

 

Georges’ future is like that?

 

That was unexpected.

 

Looking at Georges despairing right now, his situation seems very bad, but to think there’s a twist in his future.

 

‘As expected, you can never tell what will happen in a person’s life.’

 

“If you tell him this, Georges, who is so upset right now, will definitely feel better and take away good memories from the hotel. Then the reviews for the hotel will improve, and there will be no reason for the hotel to close down.”

 

“…What if I don’t tell Georges about his future?”

 

“Then the future you saw becomes reality. Because the Dungeon Hotel closing down is the future when Georges still hasn’t learned his future.”

 

I see.

 

So that’s why Ilmiho said this in the illusion.

 

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

 

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

 

‘Be honest. You regret it, right?’

 

What was the expression of ‘me’ back then.

 

Was it an expression of regret?

 

The memory was blurry.

 

But there was one thing that was clear.

 

‘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.’

 

The me who gives up Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 in the future, and the me right now, are different people.

 

I just need to decide with my current thoughts.

 

I pondered for a moment before opening my mouth.

 

My answer was already decided.

 

“As expected, I can’t make that deal.”

 

“What?”

 

Ilmiho glared at me with a dumbfounded face.

 

“Whether it’s the future where Georges does well, or the future where our hotel fails, I’ll pretend I didn’t see any of it.”

 

“Don’t tell me, just because of the mouse spirits…”

 

“It’s partly because of the mouse spirits. Because the mice came out into the light trusting my words. I want to show those kids the sight of guests drinking wine and enjoying themselves.”

 

Those guys also have the right to see that.

 

Just as I feel happiness when I see guests resting comfortably in my hotel, they too have the right to feel such happiness.

 

“But more importantly, a hotel is a place to rest.”

 

“That’s why I’m saying he should rest. Since a good future is waiting anyway, he can put down his burdens and take it easy in the present—”

 

“Use it as a time to prepare for the future?”

 

“…..”

 

“Everyone has their own present that they must endure, and they move forward by enduring and experiencing it. But the future isn’t the finished form, is it.”

 

Movies and dramas always have a climax.

 

There’s a scene where they reach the climax, the main characters share the most intense emotions, and sad or majestic music plays in the background.

 

But there’s no such thing in reality.

 

Because in life, there is never a moment when you feel you are completed or finished.

 

That’s why the present is always the most precious and valuable moment.

 

“When there’s no such thing as a finished form, how can you say right now is an incomplete moment? I—”

 

I narrowed my eyes and approached Ilmiho.

 

The guy who was always sly flinched and stepped back when I actually approached him.

 

I spoke right in front of his nose.

 

“Even if our hotel doesn’t get bustling, and even if it ends up closing its doors as a result, I don’t want to ruin a guest’s present to prevent that.”

 

“…You, even if you act tough like that, you’ll regret it lat—”

 

Ilmiho tried to say something as if he were choking up, but was blocked by me.

 

I placed my hand on the lower cabinet he was leaning against.

 

“…!”

 

“And even if I end up regretting it, that’s something the future me will do, not something the present me should worry about.”

 

At my words, Ilmiho’s eyes widened.

 

His bright yellow eyes flashed.

 

The number above his head sparkled.

 

-60

 

No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem like you hate people.

 

I’ll get close to the mice, but I’ll get close to you too.

 

The bellboy of our hotel.