Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Chapter 369 - Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (40)

Webtoon Side Story: Welcome to Dungeon Hotel Branch 4 (40)

 

Run through time?

 

Doesn’t this mean you can go see the past?

 

“You can go see the past?”

 

“T-that is…?”  

 

“Are you saying you can just see the past, or can you intervene in the past as well?”

 

I lifted the wine with a dumbfounded face.

 

At those words, Grey glanced around and pouted.

 

“Originally, intervention should be possible too, but seeing as there’s a time limit, I don’t know to what extent intervention will be possible…”

 

At Grey’s words, my face contorted.

 

So the ability that arises when that affinity increases is—

 

“The ability of this wine increases…”

 

“Because that is our ‘task’.”

 

It wasn’t something I hadn’t expected to some extent.

 

The squirrels dedicating themselves to aging oak barrels, saying they had to achieve their ‘task’.

 

The mice being moved by the sight of people drinking wine, talking about their ‘task’.

 

On top of that, the fox spirit who was displeased with the mice achieving their ‘task’.

 

I thought the task and the wine were somewhat related, and that the wine’s ability might be quite a bit more dangerous than I expected, but—

 

“This is way more dangerous than I expected.”

 

I muttered.

 

If Owen Black had seen this wine during his villainous phase, he would have stepped up declaring he’d destroy humanity immediately.

 

It’s a matter of course.

 

Humanity has encountered a major event called the Great Cataclysm that didn’t exist in the past and suffered much damage, but they’ve also gained a lot of dangerous power as a result.

 

If humans with such power were to use this wine to meddle with a few major events of the past, something terrible could happen to humanity.

 

“What were you trying to do using this?”

 

I glared at Grey.

 

Then Grey flinched and pulled his body back.

 

“W-what do you mean ‘do’. Our ‘task’ is just to make wine that runs through time!”

 

“Exactly! What were you trying to do by making that wine!”

 

When I shouted, Toto, who was in my arms, also climbed onto my shoulder with an angry face.

 

“You arrogant housekeeper! The Boss is asking, why can’t you answer?!”

 

“What is this rabbit doing…”

 

“Rabbit?! Call me Concierge!”

 

Toto struck Grey’s face with a fierce hind leg kick.

 

Holding onto the railing, Grey collapsed on the spot and looked up at me with a pitiful face.

 

“We are just good mice who only make wine…”

 

He looked so pitiful that I unwittingly flinched.

 

Toto seemed to have felt a similar sentiment. The guy, who was catching his breath on the railing after delivering the hind leg kick, looked back at me.

 

Toto quickly returned to my shoulder and whispered in my ear.

 

“What shall we do, Boss.”

 

It’s just my illusion that ‘What shall we do, Boss (사장님/Sajangnim)’ sounded like ‘What shall we do, Boss (보스/Boss)’, right?

 

I want to say, handle it like a Boss, but…

 

I walked over to Grey, who was sitting on the floor.

 

Thinking about the guys who rejoiced watching guests drink wine, I didn’t think it was a lie.

 

Because they looked too pure and innocent for guys dreaming of destroying the world through wine.

 

“…Get up for now.”

 

I held out my hand to Grey.

 

Then Grey widened his eyes and grabbed my hand.

 

“Boss… please believe me. We’ll do everything exactly as you tell us to! We really just make wine!”

 

“Yeah. I suppose so.”

 

‘You guys’ do.

 

I don’t know about the fox spirit or the original owner of the Liber Hotel.

 

I swallowed those words and said,

 

“So, what happens to you guys if you complete your ‘task’?”

 

“We won’t need to achieve our ‘task’ anymore! Because we’ll be able to make wine with the ultimate taste!”

 

“…?”

 

That sounds a bit strange?

 

If you achieve the ‘task’, you won’t need to achieve the task anymore?

 

That’s all the reward is?

 

“I heard that the taste of the completed wine is so delicious that everyone seeks it out. I’m so excited for it!”

 

“…W-wait a minute.”

 

What is he talking about?

 

“Then that means you guys get nothing?”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“No, I mean… what you guys get is…”

 

“We’ll be the ones making the Liber Hotel’s best wine!”

 

Grey thumped his chest with a face full of pride.

 

He looked so firmly brimming with pride that I couldn’t bring myself to say it.

 

‘So basically, you guys are living as slaves to the food service industry for a thousand years…’

 

…Since it’s a voluntary state of labor, I guess you can’t call it slavery.

 

The spirit of the service industry, and the spirit of the food service industry… why are all spirits like this.

 

But Grey’s face as he said that looked so happy that I couldn’t shatter that happiness.

 

“He seems a bit strange.”

 

At that moment, Toto whispered in my ear.

 

It seemed to be a strangeness that made even a fellow spirit click its tongue.

 

Though it wasn’t much different from when I first met the spirits of the service industry either.

 

“B-by the way, Boss?”

 

Grey carefully pointed at the wine I was holding.

 

“That wine you’re holding right now has an expiration date, you know?”

 

“…Expiration date?”

 

At those words, I brought up the item window again.

 

Run Through Time, Run! Wine (B)

 

—If you empty the entire bottle, you can go see the past.

 

—Time limit: 5 minutes

 

—Expiration Date: 2 hours

 

Then, words that I couldn’t see earlier because I was too frantic came into view.

 

Expiration Date.

 

…What kind of item has an expiration date. Is it milk?!

 

“Hehe… Because it’s an item that received the blessing of the food service industry…”

 

Grey spoke, looking shy for some reason.

 

It was a face like a middle schooler introducing his drawing that won first place in an art contest.

 

It seemed he was quite proud of the wine he made himself.

 

“What happens if it passes the expiration date?”

 

“It gets discarded… Its ability stats drop drastically, and its taste drops even more…”

 

Grey became sullen as if just thinking about it made him sad.

 

“So I was agonizing over when to serve this wine all throughout dinnertime today, but you didn’t give me a chance…”

 

No wonder several housekeepers were hovering around the dining room. There was a reason for all of it.

 

I bit my lip.

 

Looking down at the wine, I fell into thought.

 

Wine that runs through time.

 

This truly is a dangerous item.

 

If someone with power intends to misuse it, that is.

 

For example, if someone who knows the future goes back to the past to take ‘revenge’…

 

‘There is a ghost I absolutely want to see. A ghost I definitely want to take revenge on.’

 

But is that ghost really the person Mr. Vincent wanted to take revenge on?

 

DAD

 

The subtle emotion felt through the brief, beeping mechanical sound.

 

I, too, once waited desperately for someone.

 

When you wait, that feeling can grow into resentment and anger.

 

If that’s the case—

 

Holding the wine, I looked at Grey. My eyes narrowed as I looked at him.

 

“You’re saying you want to make Mr. Vincent drink this?”

 

“Excuse me…? Ah, well, um… If I must say so…”

 

Grey scratched his chin, feigning ignorance, then answered hastily.

 

“Yep.”

 

“I’ll be the one deciding that.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“From now on, I decide everything that happens in my hotel. You just asked me to believe you. You said you’ll do everything I tell you to?”

 

“Uh… I-I did say that, didn’t I?”

 

Grey nodded as if remembering his own words.

 

“Are you going to do it or not? Answer properly, Housekeeper!”

 

Toto glared at Grey in a posture as if he would deliver a hind leg kick at any moment.

 

Then Grey quickly replied.

 

“I-I will do so!”

 

“Then I will decide whether to serve the wine to Mr. Vincent or not. Mr. Vincent is…”

 

I spoke quietly to Grey.

 

“He’s sick. He’s preparing for the end of his life.”

 

“…R-really?!”

 

Grey was startled by my words.

 

“He didn’t look like that at all…”

 

“It’s right to be careful about anything that might be strenuous for someone like that. Just exchanging Morse code with the ghost earlier made him tired, and also…”

 

If Mr. Vincent goes out of control for whatever reason and affects the past, that would be problematic.

 

But instead of saying that, I said to Grey.

 

“Achieving revenge doesn’t mean your heart will be at peace, Grey.”

 

As I said that, Grey’s eyes widened.

 

Grey’s pupils wavered.

 

His mind seemed complicated.

 

“…I-I see. The human heart is something I cannot understand.”

 

Grey muttered.

 

Soon, the number above his head went up.

 

77

 

Yes.

 

The human heart is something incomprehensible.

 

I gripped the wine tightly and walked towards Room 505.

 

It was when I knocked on the door of Room 505.

 

A faint groan could be heard from inside.

 

‘Don’t tell me…!’

 

Did he collapse!

 

I quickly opened the door with the master key and went inside.

 

Then, Mr. Vincent was looking at me with a surprised face.

 

Under his eyes, damp tear stains remained.

 

So he wasn’t sick… he was crying.

 

“Mr. Vincent.”

 

I called his name.