An Unannounced Guest (3)

**

[Hotel Guidelines]
We sincerely welcome all guests to our TOWER Hotel!

This is a five-star hotel boasting some of the finest facilities in all of South Korea, and we are always committed to ensuring your comfortable stay in every way possible.

Please read the information below and familiarize yourselves with the hotel’s guidelines and rules.

1. Our hotel fully guarantees your safety.
   This space has been provided for the comfort and convenience of our guests.
   There are absolutely no entities here that will cause you harm.
   For any reason whatsoever.

2. A wide variety of dishes is available in the Dining Room at all times.
   Meals prepared daily with fresh ingredients are served buffet-style.
   Please visit whenever you wish and enjoy as much food as you like.
   However, pasta-style noodle dishes are not provided.
   If you truly wish to eat some, we recommend using the ingredients in the kitchen to prepare it yourself.

3. Every guest is provided with a Private Room.
   Please enjoy a comfortable rest in your own private space, furnished with top-quality amenities.

4. Our hotel has designated sleeping hours.
   Sleeping hours are from 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM.
   During this period, every area of the hotel except the Private Rooms will undergo a complete blackout.

5. Please refrain from leaving your room during sleeping hours.
   If you wander around the hotel during the night, you may encounter something shocking.
   Rest assured that it will never cause you any harm…
   However, depending on the individual, the encounter may result in psychological shock or trauma.
   Unless absolutely necessary, we recommend remaining inside your Private Room.

6. Murder, attempted murder, and equivalent acts between guests are prohibited within the hotel.
   Any such conduct discovered will be severely punished.

7. Your stay at the hotel will continue until you reach the top of the Tower.

Our TOWER Hotel is always committed to providing our guests with comfortable and refined service.

Please observe the above guidelines so that your stay may remain a safe and satisfying memory.

We will always strive to provide you with nothing but our very best.
Thank you.

++

“It’s strange, right? Isn’t it strange?”
“Yeah, definitely…”

After reading the Hotel Guidelines, I let out a low hum. Though I was surprised for a different reason than Gyeong-ah.

‘These really are just guidelines.’

I’d expected some bizarre, grotesque rules or something…
But there was nothing like that. They were simply rules.
You know…
Napolitan horror?
There were one or two unsettling details, but overall, none of the rules themselves seemed particularly dangerous.
I’d been a little tense, but now I felt much more at ease. According to the guidelines, the hotel was safe.
It matched the system description that had appeared when I first entered Floor 1.

A Residential Area…
As a rule, the system didn’t lie. It had even given me information I hadn’t known before.
Now I was certain.
Taking the Hotel Guidelines into account as well, Floor 1 was safe. It provided an ideal environment for people to live in.
Meanwhile, Gyeong-ah shook her head in bewilderment.

“How does this place even function…?”
“Anyway, about Rule 5 here.”

I pointed to Rule 5 in the Hotel Guidelines. It was easily the most unsettling one listed.

【5. Please refrain from leaving your room during sleeping hours.】

It said you might encounter something shocking if you wandered around at night.
That sounded awfully familiar.

“That’s probably talking about the thing you saw that night, right?”

Only two days ago, unable to sleep, she’d been patrolling the hotel at night when she witnessed something bizarre.

A severed right arm hanging from the doorknob to my room…
It was horrifying enough just imagining it. I couldn’t imagine what it had been like to see it in person.
Terrified, Gyeong-ah had run away, found the elevator, and gone down to the basement.

‘And after that…’

She’d burst into tears like a little kid the moment she saw me.
I’d been sleeping peacefully in the middle of the night, only to open my eyes and find Gyeong-ah there.
Then she’d suddenly started sobbing, and I’d broken into a cold sweat trying to comfort her without even knowing what was going on.
Anyway,

“Luckily, I guess it wasn’t anything dangerous. Maybe it’s just something that naturally happens every night.”
“There’s absolutely nothing natural about that sentence!”

Han Gyeong-ah grumbled.
After everything that had happened, she seemed somewhat resigned to the impossible.

“According to the guidelines, it looks like we’re supposed to climb all the way to the top of this Tower…”
“Then we’ll just do it.”
“Easy for you to say!”

She shook her head.

“Anyway, we decided to discuss whether to go to Floor 3 again a little later. Everyone just came back from Floor 2 and must be exhausted, so we agreed to rest for now…”

Fair enough. We’d been through a lot.
She’d had to take care of me immediately after escaping Floor 2 too.
She’d even prepared food.
Gyeong-ah casually held out a paper bag.

“You haven’t eaten anything, so you’re hungry, right? I brought this from the Dining Room. Eat something first.”
“Ooh.”

I’d been starting to feel hungry anyway. I took the bag containing the meal.

Huh.
Unlike usual, the bag was surprisingly heavy. When I opened it, I didn’t find my usual meal inside.
Where was that brick-hard bread no sane person would eat unless they were starving to death…?

‘This is…’

A lunchbox.
Inside was a three-tiered lunchbox stacked high. I could hardly believe today’s menu.
Had she brought the wrong food?

“Normally, I would never do this for you… but circumstances are different right now.”

I hadn’t even asked, yet Gyeong-ah immediately started making excuses.

“You need to eat properly if you want to get your strength back! And stop collapsing like you did earlier!”

I see.
She wasn’t showing it openly, but apparently my collapse had been bothering her.
Did she think it was because she’d always fed me so poorly…?
She’d given me a calorie-packed meal so I could recover my strength and not collapse a second time.

‘Her opinion of me really has changed a little.’

She could be fussy all she wanted. I liked this side of her.

“Thanks. I’ll enjoy it.”

When I thanked her, Gyeong-ah quickly turned her head away. Beside her, Kang Se-rim glared at me disapprovingly.
At long last, I’d escaped my life of eating nothing but hard bread. I pulled out the lunchbox and opened it, and my jaw dropped.

‘Whoa. What’s all this?’

Rolled omelet, braised short ribs, steaming hot rice, even seaweed soup…
There was all kinds of food.
Ever since taking over this body, I’d eaten nothing but hard rye bread. This was the first proper meal I’d seen.
I started salivating like Pavlov’s dog. Before I knew it, my eyes had gone wide and I’d taken a bite.

‘Holy shit…’

My mouth was in heaven.
Right. Food was supposed to have flavor…
I’d only just remembered something I’d somehow forgotten.
It was so delicious I could’ve cried.
I became completely absorbed in devouring the lunchbox.

Then Gyeong-ah watched me closely and suddenly spoke up.

“Hey, you! Stop being picky and eat your vegetables too!”
“…Do I have to?”
“Eat all of them! You’re a grown man, not a child…”

Of course she’d noticed me pushing all the carrots into one corner.

“If you’re going to leave food behind just because you don’t like it, I’ll bring you your old meals again starting tomorrow.”
“Fine, I’ll eat them…”

So strict.
Reluctantly, I shoved a carrot into my mouth. Its appearance, taste, and texture were all terrible.
Kang Se-rim looked at me like I was pathetic as I chewed.

“Are you a fucking child?”
“What am I supposed to do if they taste bad?”

And so I finished the entire lunchbox, vegetables and all.
There had been one very minor problem, but for the first time in ages, I’d had a proper meal.

“Thanks for the food. But next time, leave out the carrots.”
“Of course. Since I’m thinking of you, I’ll make sure to put in plenty starting tomorrow.”

I could hardly wait for tomorrow.
We spent the remaining time resting, recovering from the exhaustion we’d accumulated on Floor 2.
I was still under surveillance, but since the only real restriction was that I couldn’t go outside, it wasn’t much of an inconvenience.

‘I’ve already lived like this for days.’

Compared to the underground prison, this was heaven. It was almost too comfortable. I was perfectly happy.
Something else bothered me more. Kang Se-rim was stuck right beside Gyeong-ah.

“You don’t need to worry about me. You can go relax if you want…”
“It’s fine, unni. There’s nothing else to do here anyway.”

She showed no sign of peeling herself away, clinging to Gyeong-ah like gum. She was actively inserting herself between Gyeong-ah and me.
Was she trying to protect her innocent unni from being manipulated and seduced by some sleazy bastard?
How admirable.
I could practically see the sparks flying.
Just as she shot me another glare,

Knock, knock-

someone knocked at the door.

“One moment. Who is it?”

Gyeong-ah headed for the door.

“Coming!”

A moment later, she returned with visitors. Joo Bada entered with a lively greeting.

“Excuse us~”

She strode inside and immediately looked for Kang Se-rim.

“Where’s Se-rim?!”

With a delighted cry, she pounced before Kang Se-rim had any chance to escape her natural predator.

“Are you feeling okay? Did you get plenty of rest?”
“I-I’m fine…”
“You ate properly, right? You’re still growing, you know.”

Despite her fierce personality, Se-rim couldn’t put up much resistance now. Joo Bada played with her like a favorite doll.

“Let go of me…!”
“Oh my, do you not like your unni?”

She pinched Kang Se-rim’s soft, mochi-like cheeks.
Meanwhile, the plain-looking man behind her stepped inside awkwardly.

“Sorry for suddenly dropping by while you’re resting…”
“No, it’s fine!”

Shin Nam-jae bowed apologetically, while Gyeong-ah waved it off and invited him inside.

What did they want?
Joo Bada and Shin Nam-jae, the two we’d briefly met in the lobby earlier, had come to see us.

“What brings you here?”
“I was bored, so I came to see how my cuties were doing! Do I need a reason to come see your pretty faces?”

Joo Bada beamed with a playful smile.
Her naturally friendly air only added to her charm.

“We also have that conversation from the Dining Room to finish, and…”

She glanced at me.

“there’s something I’m curious about?”

…So that was the real reason.
It was obvious what they wanted.
Kim Yohan.
They’d come to meet the unwanted guest who had barged back onto Floor 1.

‘I collapsed from exhaustion earlier, so we never got to have a proper conversation…’

Was that why they’d come here themselves?
Joo Bada and Shin Nam-jae looked at me at the same time. I met their gazes directly.

“…”

An awkward tension settled over our second meeting. Joo Bada was the first to speak.

“This greeting is pretty late. I never imagined we’d meet again… Have you been doing well?”

Her tone was gentle, but there was a faint edge of hostility beneath it.
Which was only natural. She was wary of Kim Yohan.
Shin Nam-jae was the same, except he didn’t bother hiding it at all.

“You bastard…”

Their opinion of Kim Yohan couldn’t have been worse. Considering what he’d done in Chapter 1, that was only fair.

‘What do I do now?’

What came next was important.
I felt like I was standing on the execution block.
I fell into thought, wondering how I was going to survive this crisis.