Chapter 143

Kwon Mu-seop’s face as he murmured the forbidden name held a complicated light.

He seemed bewildered, and he seemed despairing.

Not as much as Kwon Mu-seop, but this situation made my head spin too.

Lee Seop, all of a sudden?

Had we really run into the Kwon Mu-seop team that had explored this place?

Then why was Lee Seop in that state from the start?

I could not exactly call that the real thing, but this was my first time seeing the person called Lee Seop directly.

A man around his mid-30s with an average build.

But even after looking at him, I could not tell what he looked like.

He too had both eyes pierced open like holes.

Leaving Kwon Mu-seop to stare endlessly at Lee Seop, I looked to the opposite side of the corridor.

There was nothing there.

It seemed the only dangerous entity that had appeared before us was Lee Seop.

Kwon Mu-seop spoke in a cracked voice.

“……Let us move.”

“I will wake the Director.”

I stood and briefly took my eyes off Lee Seop.

I think Kwon Mu-seop also glanced toward the Director for a moment then.

After that, when we looked back at Lee Seop.

“……!”

Lee Seop had raised one arm and was pointing somewhere.

Beyond the corner of the corridor where he stood.

What is this? Does he mean we should go that way?

“Did you see that thing move?”

“No…… It seems to have moved while we briefly took our eyes off it.”

So that thing only moved when no one was looking at it too.

“Do-un, do not look at that. Wake the Director. And keep him from making a loud noise.”

“Yes.”

At Kwon Mu-seop’s low instruction, I went to Director Go.

“Ugh……?”

Only then did Director Go wake, still half-asleep.

Even after helping the Director sit up, I did not look toward Lee Seop and waited for Kwon Mu-seop’s next instruction.

After some time.

“It does not seem to be moving anymore.”

At Kwon Mu-seop’s words, I glanced back toward Lee Seop.

Just as he said, Lee Seop was merely standing there while pointing toward the far side of the corridor.

“Should we try going once?”

“……I will go check.”

Kwon Mu-seop rose from his place.

Then, leaving me and the Director behind, he approached Lee Seop.

Step— step—

I kept close watch on Lee Seop, who could turn on us at any moment, and occasionally checked the opposite side of the corridor.

Step— step—

In the meantime, Kwon Mu-seop reached Lee Seop.

Even when he came within about 3m of him, Lee Seop still did not move an inch.

Kwon Mu-seop kept going with his body pressed against the wall.

He reached the end of the corridor like that and looked beyond the corridor Lee Seop was pointing at.

“…….”

A moment later, Kwon Mu-seop gestured to me.

Did he mean for me to come too?

“Director, please wait here for a moment.”

“No, I will go with you.”

When I got up, Director Go rose with me.

With Director Go trailing behind me, I approached the place where Kwon Mu-seop was.

After passing Lee Seop, who stood like a scarecrow, the bent stretch of corridor beyond entered my view too.

It was still an ordinary hotel corridor.

But large letters were written on the wall.

Stained letters, as if written in ash.

For some reason, I could read those letters at once.

-Save me.

“Save me……?”

I unconsciously read it aloud, then swallowed a large breath.

I remembered.

The dreams from last night.

All the dreams I had repeatedly dreamed, but completely forgotten once I opened my eyes, came back to me.

Sparks flying from the sky.

Gray ash.

Black feathers.

And beyond them, Lee Seop, existing there.

As if they had been waiting only for this moment, everything I had seen in my dreams surged up from my unconscious and invaded the realm of consciousness.

Ah, how did I forget this until now?

“What is wrong?”

“I remembered.”

“Remembered?”

“I had several dreams. Dreams where Lee Sol’s father asked me to save him.”

“…….”

Ah, really, why had I forgotten?

When every scene was this clear.

While I counted through the dreams I had seen, Kwon Mu-seop said nothing.

He only froze, pale, and I understood as I looked at his face.

What emotion Kwon Mu-seop had recalled when he found Lee Seop.

It was guilt.

An overwhelming guilt that erased every other emotion.

Kwon Mu-seop swept a dry hand over his face and forced himself to calm down.

I turned my eyes toward Lee Seop so I would not have to look at that.

“Uh……?”

But Lee Seop was gone.

Where did he go?

Startled, I looked around and found him again.

Lee Seop had moved to the end of the corridor at some point.

He stood at the end of the corridor we had newly entered, facing us.

His behavior was as if he were luring us.

“……Should we keep following?”

At my words, Kwon Mu-seop nodded heavily.

We stepped toward Lee Seop.

That was when it happened.

SHWAAAA—!

The sound of water suddenly came from behind us.

When I looked back, a massive amount of blood was surging toward us.

Blood rushed at us like a tsunami.

“Urgh……!”

We retreated in shock.

But then.

SPLASH—!

The blood that should have swept over us struck an invisible wall.

The blood surged upward as if blocked by a glass wall, then came back down and sloshed.

The space has been separated……?

“Isn’t that the dangerous phenomenon from 「Hotel Overflowing with Blood」?”

“That is right. It appeared once in the very first guest room too.”

This place, 「Hotel」, had undergone 5 resets so far.

And each time it was newly created, it had been given a name matching its characteristics.

Starting with 「Hotel-Type Special Management Zone」, then 「Hotel Overflowing with Blood」, 「Hotel Where Shadows Grow」, 「Civil War Hotel」, and finally 「Hotel That Selects the Real」.

And that vivid blood was a dangerous phenomenon that had only appeared in 「Hotel Overflowing with Blood」.

Fortunately, that blood did not cross over to our side.

However, the corridor was blocked, so we could no longer return toward the fitness center.

“Now we have no choice but to follow.”

Kwon Mu-seop muttered quietly.

It felt as if we were being herded by something, but for now, we decided to follow.

When we turned the corridor, Lee Seop was there too.

Instead, the Lee Seop we had passed had already vanished.

Lee Seop stood in the middle of the corridor, at the entrance to the stairwell.

Did this mean we should enter the stairwell now?

And on the wall of the corridor, more writing had been written.

-Everyone is watching you.

“Everyone”…… who?

And “you”?

For some reason, it felt like the words were being directed at me, and a chill ran through me.

But no way.

Damn it, what the hell does that mean?

I swallowed my impatience and took out my notebook.

While I copied down what had been written on the wall exactly as it was, Kwon Mu-seop opened the stairwell door.

-Golden Rule

There were large letters written on the stairwell wall too.

And I saw Lee Seop’s feet half-floating on the floor above.

SHWAAAA—!

When we entered the stairwell, the corridor where we had been standing until just now was submerged in blood as well.

Through the door we had not managed to close, I saw blood wildly sloshing outside.

But like before, that blood was blocked by a transparent wall and did not invade the stairwell.

Going downstairs in this situation would be stupid.

Moreover, Lee Seop was openly hinting that we should go upstairs.

The Director looked at us with anxious eyes.

This situation was equally hopeless to us, but we did not show it and climbed the stairs.

Every time we climbed a floor, Lee Seop went one floor ahead of us.

And on every floor, incomprehensible messages were written on the stairwell wall.

-Crow

-The chosen one

-Face the shadow.

“Do you understand what this means?”

“No, I do not.”

It felt as if we were falling deeper and deeper into a maze.

On top of that, blood was gradually filling the lower floors of the stairs we had passed.

For now, we had no choice but to keep going.

But on the next floor, we saw another new scene.

-They

For some reason, the message written on the wall had been half-erased.

It seemed like something had been written after “They.”

But it had been rubbed out violently and could not be read.

Moreover, Lee Seop stood beside that message.

His head crushed as if he had been struck with a hammer.

Though half his head was smashed, Lee Seop did not look pained.

He merely stood there silently, like a broken toy.

We watched that sight for a moment, then headed up again.

-January 23, 20XX.

This time, numbers were written.

It seemed to be a date, but I could not understand its meaning.

Kwon Mu-seop, on the other hand, flinched soundlessly.

I copied down that date and climbed to the next floor.

-whose secret was discovered

The latter half was erased again this time.

And Lee Seop’s head was crushed even further, drooping down to his shoulder.

-They

The state of the higher floor was the same.

Stains filled the wall as if something had hurriedly erased the writing, and now Lee Seop’s entire upper body was crumpled.

A sight almost as if he were being crushed to death by the 「Siren Sound」.

“Manager, this is just like…….”

“It seems like silencing him.”

At Kwon Mu-seop’s words, I nodded.

It seemed as if something was hastily erasing what Lee Seop had written.

Then, as if punishing or retaliating against him, it crushed Lee Seop’s head with all its might.

I did not understand what the hell was happening.

Could 「Crow」 really have gone out of its way to drag us into a nascent-phase Special Zone to show us this?

Moreover, even if it was an illusion, as his friend’s appearance grew increasingly horrific, Kwon Mu-seop’s face was quietly distorting too.

But Lee Seop did not stop.

Until he was crushed flat and sank to the floor, he tried to convey something to us.

-Great Angel

-Golden Calf

-Weeping Lion

-Bird That Guides Souls

-They

-They

-They

-They too

Lee Seop kept trying, and in the end, he failed every time.

Now Lee Seop no longer had a human shape.

Crushed flat like a tire, he barely held up only one arm.

As if trying to convey something to us.

But as if he lacked the strength, as if it was beyond him.

And when we reached the next floor.

Lee Seop was no longer there.

Only something the size of a human, with a siren for a head, stood there.

“……!”

We gasped and stepped back.

But blood had already risen on the lower floor, so there was nowhere to retreat.

It, with a siren head and a bony body, was no longer stopped in place and moved.

We grew even more alert, but it did not attack us.

CRACK—! THUD—!

The siren head tore the stairwell door off and went outside.

With blood rising behind us, we had no choice but to follow it.

When we came out of the stairwell, another luxurious hotel corridor appeared.

But the surroundings were packed with letters.

-Save me.

-Save me.

-Save me. Save me save me save me save me save me save save save save save save save save save save.

The words “Save me” were written densely across the hotel walls, floor, and ceiling, as if they were a pattern.

The siren head slowly crossed over them.

The siren head stopped in front of a large door.

Looking at that ornate door, Kwon Mu-seop muttered lowly,

“「Room 201」.”

We had climbed that many stairs, yet it was Room 201.

The sense of space was a complete mess, but there was no time to consider such things.

If it was 「Room 201」, it was one of the escape routes of 「Hotel Overflowing with Blood」.

But to escape through that room, one person had to die.

It was like a kind of sacrificial altar where, if the hotel floor was filled with one person’s worth of blood, the companions escaped.

At that moment, the siren head turned toward Kwon Mu-seop.

Then it lifted the area below its own head, exposing something like a heart lying between its collarbones.

“…….”

What it meant was clear.

That instant.

Kwon Mu-seop snatched my knife.

Then he cut the siren’s throat in a single stroke.

Together with the blood spraying like a fountain, a moment later, we returned to reality.