Meanwhile, Lee Yeon-woo—
"Mr. Yeon-woo."
"Yes."
"Once you're out, you contact me without fail, all right?"
"I've committed it to memory."
"I gave you my business card back then, remember."
"I still have that as well."
They'd repeated this exchange some five times now.
"As soon as the hotel business wraps up, I'll see to it that I contact you."
"Director, Mr. Lee Yeon-woo will handle it himself, surely."
"I'm being a busybody, aren't I? I know it's excessive, but I just feel so uneasy."
"I do understand, but…."
Hong Gyeong-yeon looked as if he wanted to say something more, yet he didn't deny Lee Seon-hae's point outright. It was, indeed, a reaction fitting the only civilian among them.
"……."
Hong Gyeong-yeon, who'd been watching Lee Seon-hae as though something nagged at him, asked Lee Yeon-woo,
"This hotel business you have to wrap up—could it, by any chance—"
"There won't be any problem of the kind you're worried about."
"My worry is whether Mr. Lee Yeon-woo's limbs and mind will remain unchanged."
"That part would be hard for me to promise."
"Please, I'm begging you."
At Hong Gyeong-yeon's words, Lee Yeon-woo wore his particular smile.
"But as I said earlier, we'll be able to meet before long."
The two of them going this far was because Lee Yeon-woo had revealed to them that he was now in a state where he could leave the hotel. Until now the reason Lee Yeon-woo had stayed in the hotel was the safety of the Human Guests.
There were a few other reasons besides, but….
"To mention a few things,"
it wasn't a story worth bringing up now.
"The 'Lover of Dawn' has fled with its spirit broken, but not all the hotel's affairs are over yet. And among that 'closing business' is checking all of you out."
"That's all well and good, but."
Cha Do-hyeon cut in.
"So why exactly do you snub me so, General Manager?"
"Well now."
Lee Yeon-woo pondered it rather seriously before opening his mouth.
"With respect, you have an ill-omened face."
"In all my years, this is the first time I've been dumped over my looks."
"Yours is a face I'd rather not make eye contact with."
"I didn't mean for you to explain it in detail."
"Regrettably…."
"You're the one making me regret things right now, General Manager."
Listening to the two of them, Hong Gyeong-yeon gave a wistful smile and looked over at Cha Do-hyeon.
"So it wasn't just me he found distasteful, after all."
"You had that much complaint about my face, and you still cast me?"
"You act so well that there was no other alternative…."
"Is that really something to say so wistfully?"
At last even Dan-cheong's gaze landed on Cha Do-hyeon.
"Cha the actor, you skip out on your taxes?"
"Where would you find a more dutiful taxpayer than me? Wow, I'm truly wronged here."
"Usually, when a being like young master Yeon-woo takes an unusual dislike to someone, you ought to suspect it at least once."
"You'd turn a man into a criminal over that?"
Cha Do-hyeon looked at Hyeon Si-gyeong as if flabbergasted.
"When the real mastermind of this whole episode would've been over here??"
Dropping the whistle he'd been holding in his mouth with a tak, Hyeon Si-gyeong answered flatly.
"The aim of my scheming was, to the very end, for the greater cause and for peace."
"So I'm what, not that?"
"You are not."
Right about then, Kwon Seung-jae and Rawi stepped off the elevator.
"Well now, what's all this racket about~"
"We're here~"
At the sight of Rawi grinning like Kwon Seung-jae and waving his hand back and forth, Lee Seon-hae feigned exaggerated alarm.
"The student Do-heon's been tainted by an assassination consultant…."
"Well I'll be, whatever's our director going on about now. Our nephew's always been like this by default."
"Our sweet, dutiful student Do-heon!"
"Like I keep saying, this is his real self."
At their exchange, Rawi grinned even as he rubbed his neck, looking a touch abashed.
"Sorry we're late—I was collecting my memory. You didn't wait too long?"
"Phew, what a relief. So he really is a sweet, dutiful student at heart."
"No, it's not quite that far…."
Presently Rawi's gaze reached Lee Yeon-woo.
"So…."
"……."
When Lee Yeon-woo crinkled his eyes into a foxlike smile, a white owl came flying from somewhere. Onto his outstretched hand, the owl staff member Seome alighted softly.
Seome opened his beak, looking at Rawi.
"Hoo."
"Like I said, say it in human words."
Rawi let out a flabbergasted little laugh, but soon that laugh too faded.
"Senior… does that mean you'll have to stay in this form for a while, then?"
"Until a way is found, yes. That's how it'll be."
"Well, it's not much different from when you were human."
"Does it look that way?"
"In that you're tiny."
"Oh?"
Seome swooped in like a shot and pecked Rawi.
"Ow! Ah! Ah, that hurts! Ow! Ah!"
"Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoot."
"But I wasn't even wrong…!!"
"Hoo-hoot!!"
"Did I shrink your height, Senior?!"
At the sight of the two of them, Hong Gyeong-yeon muttered,
"Kids will be kids."
"Fitting for a high schooler, isn't it."
Lee Seon-hae shrugged.
"I'd meant to have a chat if there were a moment to spare, but…."
Dan-cheong clicked her tongue and flung her blade into the air, whereupon it abruptly vanished from sight.
"For now retreating's the better choice, wouldn't you say?"
"As you've said, the hotel is going to be busy for the next few days."
Lee Yeon-woo wore his particular neat smile and continued.
"Then, now that everyone's gathered, allow me to help you all check out."
He slid a register across to them.
"Your signatures here, please."
"The hotel's 'resources' have been amassed in plenty."
Hyeon Si-gyeong abruptly asked,
"And yet a 'contract' is still necessary?"
"Forgetting may well be the more comfortable choice."
"You already know memory is a part of a human being."
"Even so, the procedure must be followed."
"Understood."
Hyeon Si-gyeong told the others in a flat tone,
"Whether you leave your memory here as this place's resource, or keep it and take it with you, is your choice. Choose, for your checkout."
"Mr. Hyeon Si-gyeong is right."
Onto Lee Yeon-woo's shoulder climbed the jet-black cat, Coco. When he held out a hand, Seome once more alighted upon it. From beneath the front desk, pop, pop, two black foxes poked their heads out.
Lowering his hand to set Seome on the desk, Lee Yeon-woo looked at the guests and asked,
"Did you have a bad time at our hotel?"
"……."
Presently, Rawi answered.
"No."
"A pity."
They had chosen to embrace their memories of the hotel.
Over Lee Yeon-woo's face spread, faintly, not the General Manager's contrived smile, but the genuine smile that had remained in Rawi's memory. He offered his farewell.
"Do have a good day."
It was the end of a long story.
***
In this hotel there is a thing called a 'Meta-cognition Guest.' It refers to a special Monster Guest that ignores file initialization or the reset process, permanently remembers the player's existence, and perceives them continuously.
The conditions for satisfaction differ by Monster Guest, and as Lee Yeon-woo recalled, the 'Lover of Dawn' had, by a hair's breadth, failed to meet the conditions of a 'Meta-cognition Guest.'
"……."
The hotel's rooftop garden, washed clean by the rain.
The blue of dawn stained the border between the corridor and the rooftop garden in a blur. Within that cold wind, a woman white as if stripped of all color—the 'Lover of Dawn'—was curled up tight.
She looked for all the world like a grieving child, head buried between her knees.
"……."
"Hello?"
"Yes."
Pausing a moment before the elevator, Lee Yeon-woo answered Coco's concern.
"It's all right now."
Regular footsteps cut through the garden's stillness as he approached the 'Lover of Dawn.' From him—having taken on the whole of the 'lady's' fragments through the old vampire's spite—the scent of poppies faintly rose.
'This too can be tidied away before long.'
Even so, Lee Yeon-woo stood before the 'Lover of Dawn.'
"Guest?"
"……."
"That's right."
For however little he might trust his future self, he was not so heartless a person as to leave an unstable guest before him abandoned and alone. From very long ago, he had resolved to take responsibility for this person.
"Greta."
The body, hunched tight like a child who'd done wrong, gave a start. Lee Yeon-woo looked quietly down at it, then knelt on one knee to meet the small, huddled guest at eye level.
"The 'lady' cherished you."
"……."
"I by no means consider that way of hers healthy or right, but within that deception there was an attachment toward you. By now you must know that well too."
He continued in a soft, murmuring tone.
"You were deceived by the word 'love.' Do you remember what I said when we were together? A relationship between people is a far more trivial thing than you'd imagine."
Coco came down from Lee Yeon-woo's shoulder and plopped down beside the 'Lover of Dawn.' Lee Yeon-woo's voice went on, calm all the while.
"I can become a haven for you, I can remove any discomfort at all, and I can remember everything for you. To be your most perfect lover until morning comes, and…."
"……."
"to become your protector—that much is my role."
He reached out a cold hand and stroked the woman's white hair. Like a parent keeping watch by a child's side until sleep comes.
"So say what you wish to say. I'm listening."
"Truly."
The 'Lover of Dawn,' who'd been weeping all the while, raised her raw, reddened eyes and looked at Lee Yeon-woo.
"Can you really not forget me, and give me your all?"
"Of course."
"Can you become my haven?"
"I will do so."
"Prove your love to me."
"So then."
With the hand that had been tucking her white hair behind her ear, he covered her eyelids.
"Let's make a contract, Greta."
"……."
"I've come to return your eyes."
And so the 'Lover of Dawn' became a Meta-cognition Guest.
***
Just as the 'Drenched One' had, right after its contract with Lee Yeon-woo.
She recalled the 'General Manager' who had died for her countless times and given up his memories. To the 'girl' who made up the 'Lover of Dawn,' there could be no clearer proof of love than this.
Lee Yeon-woo, who knew that was merely a game record, objected, but was overruled.
"Why on earth?"
It was a pity.
***
[Management No.: GW-178467]
[Grade: Gap (Class-A) / Top Secret]
[Jurisdiction: Republic of Korea Sensitivity Bureau, Gangwon Branch]
[On-site Chief Reporter: Gangwon Branch Chief, Dan-cheong]
[Subject Classification: Other]
[Subject — Phantasmal Species]
[Registered Name: Lee Yeon-woo]
[Courtesy name (ja): none]
[Art name (ho): none]
[Detailed Classification: Republic of Korea native Dokkaebi]
[Subject — Labyrinth]
[Registered Name: Hotel One]
[Designated Alias: 'Our Hotel' (U-ri Hotel)]
[Detailed Classification: Attunement-type Symbiotic Labyrinth]
[Summary and Recommendations]
[This Labyrinth is an entity that absorbed and integrated the design data of 'Eden,' which the former Foundation pushed forward on the brink of its own destruction. It has been confirmed that, using the personality partition of the managed subject 'Lee Yeon-woo' as a medium, it subordinates and controls multiple high-ranking Labyrinths under strict discipline.]
[The area in question is currently under the jurisdiction of 'Baeksan,' with all access fully restricted. Accordingly, any and all military or forceful attempts to enter this Labyrinth are officially prohibited, and it is strongly recommended that a business-cooperation framework be established through a formal pledge, so that the subject may fully equip itself with human-friendly rules.]
***
Cha Do-hyeon, reading a report that an inside connection in the Sensitivity Bureau had smuggled out, opened his mouth.
"You know, the thing is."
▶ [Ne■ product data loa■ing… 59%]
"Why do I feel so uneasy about this?"
To that question, the man playing the role of chauffeur said,
"They say Phantasmal Species have divine powers, don't they."
"You think we've been made?"
"He may have known what you're up to, sir."
"He didn't quite seem to have that read on it, though…."
Cigarette clamped in his mouth, he propped his chin and looked out the window.
"Well, he might've caught on at least that I'm not a human worth getting close to."
He rolled his eyes dryly.
"Bastards filthy from head to toe, like me."
"Young beasts have good instincts."
"Told me I've got an unpleasant face."
Cha Do-hyeon cackled. Shifting the cigarette to between his fingers, he blew out a puff of smoke.
"Said I've got a face he'd hate to make eye contact with—isn't it funny, a little brat talking like that?"
"A numinous creature is a numinous creature, no mistake."
In this line of work, the 'eyes' are the window that reflects the soul. Whether it was said on purpose or not, that Dokkaebi called 'Lee Yeon-woo' clearly warranted close watching.
Cha Do-hyeon crushed out the long cigarette butt.
"Oddly tempting, though…."
Why was that.
"Then again, how common could a whelp of a Dokkaebi living in a Labyrinth that size be."
"Shall I do a little quiet work on it, without it showing?"
"Forget it. There's more than one or two heavyweights watching that 'hotel' right now. Baeksan and even the Sensitivity Bureau are in on it. With reactions coming from overseas too, one slip and it's our own wallet that gets cleaned out first."
"I'll warn the boys to take care."
"Ah… still, it's a bit of a shame…."
Cha Do-hyeon made a show of furrowing his brow and swept back his disheveled hair.
"I thought I'd get to sink big sister Dan-cheong with this chance."
It was Hyeon Si-gyeong who'd sent her the 'invitation,' but the one who'd forged that 'invitation' was Cha Do-hyeon.
"You've no idea how much that Count bastard mocked me at that 'banquet.' Tch, nothing ever goes my way."
"She is the Sensitivity Bureau's Director, after all."
"True enough, no easy mark. And really, who'd have guessed it'd be such a benevolent Labyrinth."
"Another chance will come. I'll keep the kids from letting their guard down."
"Yeah, yeah, the Tarot bastard caught on."
He clicked his tongue.
"Can't for the life of me figure what he's thinking, turning a blind eye like that."
Tarot Card No. 12, The Hanged Man—Hyeon Si-gyeong.
"That man really doesn't sit right with me."
"A person with much on his mind that never shows tends to be unnerving."
"That's how all the Tarot bastards are, but I can't even tell since when he's known."
"And what would he do even if he knows?"
The chauffeur continued.
"He's nothing but a mercenary outfit of the Gaps."
"That's what I'm saying~"
Flicking away the dead cigarette with a tik, Cha Do-hyeon grinned, eyes crinkling.
"You look into the Gapyeong turf?"
"It's a country backwater, so it's crude."
"Refined would only be a headache. I just want to play a little land-grab, and the moment some bastard shows up flapping his tongue and grinding his brain, that's when it really splits your skull."
Whose skull would split, though, was a thing you couldn't know till the very end.
"Ssss, tempting, really…."
Cha Do-hyeon slowly stroked his jaw.
"You said you'd studied up on it?"
"Yes. Give the word and I'll deploy the kids."
"Among the ones running businesses there, if there's a usable bastard, put me in touch."
"I think I can report back by tomorrow."
"Too slow."
"I'll see you sometime this afternoon."
"That's more like it."
He gave a small laugh.
"Let's have ourselves a taste too."
Just like the honorable civil servants.
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