Rewinding ti slightly, before he arrived at the Hunting Grounds.
It was just after he had finished his long research in the Operator's Quarters, descended to the 14th Floor Central Control Room to complete the Circuit Imprinting, and stepped outside.
"—Cough."
Thick, blood-tinged water seeped between his lips.
For sothing he'd spent eight months painstakingly imprinting his body's circuitry into the system, the result was utterly dismal. The water-affinity penalty imposed during the tutorial was a problem that even the Maintenance Function couldn't fully resolve.
"No!!"
"Calm...."
"No!!"
"Calm down."
Lee Yeon-woo gazed down at the blood pooling on the floor with indifference, then wiped the corners of his mouth with a gloved hand.
"...For eight months' worth of maintenance, the finish quality is rather poor."
The unpleasant sensation of his shirt being soaked was sothing he couldn't help. But pain was rely blocked information, and the fact that flesh no longer tore loose as it had before could be considered progress of a sort.
He waved away the staff who had rushed to support him, straightened his crumpled sleeves, and added:
"I'll pass on the patient treatnt."
"Eee."
"Coco, you step back as well. You'll get blood on you."
When he flicked his hand, the blood on the floor turned to ash and scattered.
'It works far better than expected.'
After confirming that his clothes and the floor were clean, he swept his gaze over the staff again.
"If you have complaints about my health, file them in writing later. It's been so long since I've seen people that it's beco rather overwhelming—I'd prefer to avoid unnecessary contact for now."
Maintaining a asured distance, Lee Yeon-woo got straight to the point.
"So, were there any incident reports that piled up during my absence?"
"......"
"......?"
The staff's expressions were peculiar. No—more than expressions, the atmosphere around them felt unfamiliar.
It was around then.
'...I can hear it.'
More precisely, he felt it—what they wanted to say.
'An effect of the Physical Improvent Research, perhaps.'
It seed to be a consequence of spending months overhauling the central system. The staff's thoughts flowed directly into Yeon-woo's neural network, now synchronized even more tightly with the hotel. Their selves had beco a little more... distinct.
He let out a dry, sardonic scoff.
"Lively reactions. That's good."
It wasn't sothing worth smiling over, yet his lips traced an arc. Perhaps an aftereffect of his emotions vanishing—sothing this trivial made him laugh. Proof that his immunity to 'amusent' had disappeared.
"There were no major issues on the interface, but... if you're reacting this strongly, it seems a rather irritating variable has appeared."
"......"
"...Ah, contaminants."
The staff's thoughts sward against his mind.
'Contaminants.'
'Dregs.'
'Sources of corruption.'
Revulsion, as if they had witnessed rotten pus crawling in. A turbid repugnance emanating from the sheer filth of an existence. Ugliness seeping in through corrosion and cracks.
And a blind killing intent, yearning to excise it all at once and restore perfect control over the zone....
"Your choice of words is rather blunt."
"Coco. Agreed."
What exactly it was agreeing with was unclear, but setting Coco aside.
'Too troubleso to leave unattended.'
Lee Yeon-woo's eyes narrowed.
"Where is it?"
"......"
"Sub-Level 7—I see. The Hunting Grounds where The Drenched One is still presud to reside. I have been preoccupied, haven't I."
His brow furrowed slightly. If the 'contaminants' the staff spoke of turned out to be people who hadn't entered through an authorized route, there was no ti to waste.
'Let's see....'
Rolling his eyes, Lee Yeon-woo pointed to two staff mbers.
"You, and you."
"......"
"You two will accompany as escorts. The remaining personnel will continue their current duties."
The two designated staff mbers pressed their foreheads to the back of Lee Yeon-woo's hand in turn, then silently took their positions behind him.
'The etiquette toward the General Manager has been upgraded considerably.'
"That is correct."
'Is this also an effect of the synchronization?'
"Yesn't?"
"......"
Swallowing a sigh, Lee Yeon-woo shrugged and scanned his surroundings. He could feel the gazes of Monster Guests beyond the Front Desk, waiting for an audience with the 'General Manager,' but he turned his back without hesitation.
"Consultations can wait. Right now, the Hunting Grounds issue takes priority."
"Very well."
"But this is troubleso... that area is a blind spot where the Maintenance Function doesn't apply."
"That is correct."
"Not even giving ti to change clothes—isn't that a bit harsh?"
A white shirt and trousers. He'd been working nonstop, so his appearance was a ss. Lee Yeon-woo surveyed his reflection in the mirror with a dry gaze, then swept his hair back.
"eting a variable looking this disheveled isn't my preference."
"Hello!"
"......?"
It wanted to help?
'How, exactly?'
The next instant, Coco—which had been sitting on his shoulder—rippled and then burst outward like ink.
"......"
[Hello?]
A warmth as soft and lukewarm as silk. The black mass that had obscured his vision took shape, and before he knew it, it had settled into a pitch-black trench coat draped perfectly over Lee Yeon-woo's shoulders.
Rather than showing surprise, Lee Yeon-woo absently ran his fingers along the collar's texture.
"...Useful. Defense aside, it's not bad for keeping up appearances."
[Hehe!]
"Thank you for the help."
Once he finished adjusting the collar and cinched the belt at his waist, the coat pleated in layered folds beneath it.
'Clinging to the ga era forever is a waste of energy.'
Better to use what was available. Accompanied by the two staff mbers in the narrow elevator, Lee Yeon-woo faced forward with an expressionless face. After a mont's deliberation, he spoke.
"Thank you for cooperating with the situation. Compensation will be arranged in due ti."
"......"
"...That sort of decorative taxidermy is sothing I'll have to decline...."
His expression stiffened slightly at the bizarre loyalty of wanting to permanently preserve his gift in the center of the lobby. As expected, his sense of humor didn't align with the hotel's people.
'That was humor... right?'
While such idle thoughts crossed his mind—
"......"
The elevator slid downward without a sound.
Inside the narrow box descending with unusual slowness, Lee Yeon-woo rely stared at the closed doors with sunken eyes. Fatigue and irritation roiled from the depths, but he suppressed them indifferently with a single shallow sigh.
There was no claustrophobia. No anxiety.
'This isn't difficult.'
Problems that arose simply needed to be solved.
***
And so, returning to the present.
"......"
Sub-Level 7. The harbor city.
"......"
"......"
"......"
In the taut silence hanging among the three people, Lee Yeon-woo assessed the situation.
'No reason to be flustered at this point.'
This was a variable he had accounted for ever since Director Lee Seon-hae visited and warned him that 'this hotel might be deeper and wider than he thought.' The possibility that a backdoor he didn't know about existed in zones beyond his control.
'That said, I didn't expect to confirm that security breach quite like this.'
[Kill them.]
'That's not the only way to resolve this.'
Rotten cat.
Absently adjusting the collar of the coat that was Coco, Lee Yeon-woo swept a dispassionate gaze over the two silhouettes huddled in the mist. A boy who hadn't shed his youthful look, and a similarly young man.
Their attire and weapons were of forms beyond his common sense, but they were unmistakably human.
'Not exactly welco news.'
The implications of this scene were clear.
'People have entered through a blind spot, not through an authorized route.'
[Unauthorized entities.]
'If they enter the hotel interior like this, the Monster Guests' reaction is predictable.'
[Correct!]
'The welco party would be quite drenched in blood.'
They weren't 'Human Guests' recognized by the hotel system. The razor-sharp killing intent radiating from Coco and the staff alone made the grueso fate awaiting these young ones all too vivid.
'No—even before that....'
"......"
Lee Yeon-woo's brow creased faintly.
'If an unregistered entrance has been left unattended in a zone beyond my control, I can't rule out the possibility that soone has already been torn apart in the Hunting Grounds without my knowledge.'
An unpleasant hypothesis.
[No.]
'What's done is done.'
Backups and debugging were problems for later. Right now, recovering the lost souls before him ca first. What caught his eye was the deathly pale skin on their young faces....
"......"
Ah.
"Over here."
Without looking, he beckoned the staff behind him with a lazy curl of his fingers. Only when they drew close did Lee Yeon-woo turn to the one on his right.
He gripped the staff mber's jaw and locked eyes with it.
"You're being tireso...."
"......"
"Aren't you?"
Grotesque killing intent and fanatical hostility.
'Have you lost your mind?'
[Yesn't?]
'Defending this—your friendship runs deep.'
[No.]
'No need to look so serious.'
After regarding the staff mber with a dry gaze, Lee Yeon-woo lowered his hand from its face and straightened its collar.
"Unfortunately, there is nothing here."
Lee Yeon-woo added.
"Might you have seen an illusion?"
"......"
A declaration uttered by Lee Yeon-woo—synchronized with the hotel's core—beca absolute law within this place. Once the 'General Manager' declared that 'there was nothing,' then nothing there was.
As the two staff mbers fixed their gazes on him, Lee Yeon-woo drew a firm line.
"This much is sufficient for an escort."
"......"
"I will attend to my own work. Return to your respective stations."
Lee Yeon-woo released the staff mber and clasped his hands behind his back.
In any case, no low-tier monster in the Hunting Grounds would dare challenge soone who held central control authority. There was no reason to bring along staff radiating needless killing intent and provoke those young ones further.
'Nothing's more exhausting to deal with than soone paralyzed by fear and acting on impulse.'
Of course, what he trusted most was the 'coat' he was currently wearing.
[.......]
[......?]
[Pardon?]
Ignoring the sharp cat's bewildered response, Lee Yeon-woo dismissed the staff without hesitation.
"Do not make repeat myself."
"......"
The mont his low voice fell, the staff retreated in dead silence and lted into the mist. However much more distinct their selves had beco, in the end, the system could not defy its administrator's control.
"......"
In the heavy stillness that followed.
With an expression steeped in ennui, Lee Yeon-woo slowly turned his gaze toward the two lost souls frozen in the darkness. His emotionless eyes took in their young faces.
Dry, mineral-black irises rolled, threading gold through their pupils.
"—......"
A shallow sigh scattered quietly into the folds of his coat collar.
And then, a voice—impeccably neat and arid—split the damp air.
"...Do you require assistance?"
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