Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Chapter 364 - Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (35)

Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (35)

 

Vincent Jourdan.

 

This was the name written in antique cursive on the guest ledger.

 

Vincent wasn’t a guest who made a reservation for today, but there was absolutely no reason to turn away a guest who sought out the Dungeon Hotel.

 

Even if he was another Ghost Story Club member…

 

“A higher floor offers a better view, but since an elevator hasn’t been installed in the hotel yet, I recommend a lower floor. The room condition is equally good everywhere.”

 

Hearing my explanation, Vincent seemed to hesitate for a moment.

 

Behind him, a man who looked like his chauffeur brought in a few of his bags.

 

“Here are the trunks, sir.”

 

“Right. You may leave.”

 

“Yes. What time should I come the day after tomorrow?”

 

“What time is check-out?”

 

“It’s 1 PM, but since we are not fully booked right now, we can offer you a late check-out for free if you wish. Late check-out is at 3 PM.”

 

“You can come at 3 PM then.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Hearing Vincent’s answer, the chauffeur bowed politely and left through the door. It seemed he wasn’t planning to stay together.

 

Anyway, to have a chauffeur—

 

‘Is he someone with a lot of money?’

 

Come to think of it, I remembered there were quite a few wealthy people on ghost story sites too.

 

I heard the administrator of a famous ghost story site was wealthy enough to buy abandoned houses himself.

 

Don’t they say people who have a lot sometimes feel a sense of emptiness?

 

Perhaps they fill the emptiness that cannot be filled with possessions through the sensation that there is still something unknown left in this world.

 

“Which floor is the room where the ghost was seen in this video?”

 

Vincent fumbled to take out his phone and showed me a familiar video.

 

It was the Ghost Story Club’s XTube video.

 

So he came after seeing this.

 

“I mean the room this person mentioned.”

 

And the person Vincent pointed to was Matthew.

 

At those words, I unwittingly stepped down hard on the foot of our bellboy, Ilmiho, who was sitting sullenly.

 

Things turned out like this because of you, punk.

 

“…!”

 

Ilmiho glared at me with a pained face, but I ignored him and answered.

 

I mean, who told him to sleep in a tapestry for a thousand years and then wake up absurdly?

 

“It’s Room 505.”

 

“Then I will check in there.”

 

“You’re going to climb all the way up there with those bad knees?”

 

Ilmiho spoke as if it were absurd. I stepped on the top of his foot one more time. Then his words became a little more polite.

 

“…Consider your knees, sir.”

 

“Thank you for your concern, but I’ll take Room 505.”

 

Vincent spoke to me, showing no particular reaction to Ilmiho’s potentially rude remark.

 

“It’s possible to check into Room 505, right?”

 

“Ah, yes. Fortunately, the room is empty right now.”

 

I handed him the key to Room 505.

 

And calling Grey 1 and 2 instead of Ilmiho, I said.

 

“Housekeepers, this is the guest for Room 505. Please carry his luggage and assist him so he has no discomfort going up to the 5th floor.”

 

At my words, Grey glanced at Ilmiho and asked in a low voice.

 

“What is the bellboy doing?”

 

“The bellboy has some things to move from the basement.”

 

I answered with a bright smile.

 

“M-me?”

 

“Yeah, you.”

 

Before I could say anything more, a dark hand snatched Ilmiho from behind.

 

It was Han Woohyun.

 

Having watched this entire situation, Han Woohyun subdued the resisting Ilmiho with one strike and took him down to the basement.

 

Encountering the manager halfway, he briefly explained the situation to her as well.

 

“I’m going to conduct employee training.”

 

“…Ah, fighting.”

 

The manager gave a short reply as if she understood.

 

Quietly observing that sight, Vincent chuckled and said to me.

 

“You have a good relationship with your employees.”

 

“A good relationship?”

 

I had no choice but to reply with an awkward smile.

 

Should I say it’s a relief that we seem to have a good relationship…

 

“Please come this way. I will guide you to your room.”

 

* * *

 

“This is Room 505.”

 

I introduced it while opening the door to Room 505 for Vincent. Vincent looked around Room 505 and made a quite surprised face.

 

“So this place has changed like this.”

 

Changed?

 

I mulled over the meaning of that expression and suddenly realized.

 

“Ah, it’s different from the video, isn’t it?”

 

Back then, it was before we officially opened for business, so we hadn’t been able to clean properly, nor did we have a water supply system.

 

It was literally no different from a haunted house.

 

But now is different from then.

 

The window frames have been renovated so they no longer rattle severely in the wind, the old lights no longer flicker, and above all—

 

‘Warm water comes out.’

 

I unwittingly clenched my fists tightly.

 

‘But isn’t this closer to managing a haunted house rather than managing a hotel?’

 

It was because Ilmiho’s words came to mind.

 

What kind of haunted house has warm water coming out.

 

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

 

Vincent answered briefly and took the trunk Grey had brought up.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Vincent took a 100-euro bill from his pocket and offered it to Grey.

 

Seeing that, Grey’s eyes widened.

 

Having gone to the grocery store in town… no, the nearby downtown center with the manager yesterday, Grey had just started to learn about the concept of currency.

 

‘Then this small piece of paper turns into those grapes? The grapes we pick all morning?!’

 

And he was knocked groggy by the greatness of the monetary economy.

 

Having his eyes opened to money like this, Grey looked as if he was about to shed tears of emotion the moment he received the 100 euros.

 

I mouthed to Grey to greet him first.

 

“T-thank you! My l-life…”

 

What kind of spirit is so greedy for money!

 

I quickly interjected between Grey and Vincent and said.

 

“If you haven’t eaten yet, we will prepare dinner. I thought it might be a bit complicated for you to come down from the 5th floor.”

 

Honestly, I said it out of concern for Vincent’s knee health, but I beat around the bush as much as possible just in case it offended the listener.

 

“I’m thinking of bringing the food up here for you.”

 

As if noticing my consideration, Vincent looked at me with a subtle expression.

 

“For the owner of such a dreary old castle, you are quite considerate, Boss.”

 

“I am trying to break away from being a dreary old castle.”

 

Is that a compliment…?

 

I tried to respond as positively as possible to the ambiguous remark.

 

But Vincent looked not at me, but at the tapestry hanging on the wall, and asked toward Grey.

 

—The disaster of time shall strike above your heads!

 

“Since when has this been hanging here?”

 

“Probably since a thousand years ago?”

 

He muttered while fingering the edge of the tapestry.

 

“For that to be the case, it is in surprisingly good condition.”

 

There was a story the mouse spirits told me regarding that.

 

That the items here are not bound by time and are maintained for a long time.

 

And that was why both the mouse spirits and the fox spirit could live for a thousand years.

 

But from the perspective of ordinary guests who don’t know this secret, that tapestry could seem quite suspicious.

 

I quickly changed the subject.

 

“It’s not certain whether it’s been a thousand years or not, but it is certainly as old as this old castle, sir.”

 

“Is that so?”

 

Vincent answered offhandedly and brushed his hand over the phrase in the tapestry.

 

Above and below the eerie phrase, a person could be seen wearing clothes that changed according to the era.

 

“But it seems true that it holds a thousand years of history, as if it really is a thousand years old.”

 

“Um… To recite the menu for you—”

 

“I heard there is a way to summon ghosts.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

Vincent said, holding up his phone screen.

 

I looked at the familiar phrases on Vincent’s screen.

 

1. Before midnight, check that the doors of all rooms are securely locked.

 

2. Also check that the windows in the corridor are securely locked.

 

3…

 

That’s that thing.

 

The hotel notice I posted on AirCnC that became a minor hot topic.

 

“Ah, this is… um… not a way to summon ghosts. It’s for the hotel’s fire prevention and crime prevention…”

 

My answer became increasingly lame.

 

It couldn’t be helped.

 

It was a post with impure intentions to begin with.

 

The impure intention of trying to boost the hotel’s popularity by marketing it even as an old castle where ghosts appear.

 

But trying to attach reasons like the hotel’s fire prevention and crime prevention to it couldn’t help but make my face burn.

 

“Then are you saying a ghost has never actually appeared?”

 

At that moment, Vincent’s face stiffened.

 

At those words, Grey 1 and 2 flinched and stepped back.

 

It’s right there, that ghost.

 

…I couldn’t possibly say that.

 

“Yes. It’s probably because our hotel wasn’t in a very clean state at that time, so guests might have mistaken cobwebs or beings like mice for ghosts.”

 

At those words, Vincent let out a deep sigh.

 

He sat on the edge of the bed with a disappointed expression.

 

I could see the satisfaction number above his head dropping drastically.

 

It originally started at a mere 10, but now it was approaching 0.

 

However, recalling Ilmiho’s words, it seemed the time had come to stop calling the mice to play haunted house.

 

At this rate, it could become a hotel where only Ghost Story Club members come, apart from Hunter guests.

 

It was true that I wanted Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 to have its own unique characteristics, but I didn’t want those characteristics to be a haunted house.

 

“But our hotel has excellent service. Perhaps we could provide satisfaction in other areas…”

 

“No. I do not desire satisfaction in other areas.”

 

At that moment, Vincent interrupted me and spoke firmly.

 

He took out a blank check from his wallet.

 

“…?”

 

“It might be rude of me to say this, but if you help me, I will give you 100,000 euros.”

 

“…Excuse me?”

 

“There is a ghost I absolutely want to see. A ghost I definitely want to take revenge on.”

 

Saying those words, Vincent’s face darkened.

 

Revenge?

 

Just as I was about to ask why he was seeking that revenge at our hotel.

 

I heard the sound of knees dropping to the floor behind my back.

 

“…?”

 

Turning around, I saw Grey 1 and 2 kneeling with servile expressions.

 

“Just say the word!”

 

No. That’s not it. You slaves of capitalism. You’ve lived longer than capitalism, so why are you acting like that!

 

Money truly was a scary thing.