Chapter 136
There are many hotels in Seoul. That was only natural for the capital region. As a city visited by dozens, maybe even more, tourists every day, the number of hotels was considerable. The quality wasn't spectacular, but there were plenty that were decent enough.
A peculiar industry whose ceiling was absurdly high, even if its floor wasn't all that low. It was a natural phenomenon in a country where reviews carried more weight than in others.
I didn't know what hotel staff thought about it, but from the consumer's point of view it was nothing but a good thing. Foreigners especially liked it.
“Oh, is this Cha Bum's country?”
“Korean penguins are still wearing padded jackets even though it's spring. So cool.”
Foreigners who came to Korea were usually tourists, and most tourists wanted to stay in good hotels. Even if it cost a bit more, they'd rather pay extra than feel uncomfortable on their trip.
Thanks to that, high-quality hotels that took in a lot of money had dedicated foreign-guest departments. Basic English wasn't a problem because most lobby staff could handle it, but Spanish, French, German, and the like required professional interpreters.
So the Grand Piolaine Hotel in the heart of downtown Seoul also employed staff with a variety of foreign-language skills.
Among them, a French interpreter was currently handling a guest from France.
“I’ll check your reservation for you, ma'am. Your name?”
“Mariang.”
The woman who introduced herself as Mariang had rather delicate features.
A sharp face, more catlike than doglike. Her blue eyes and light brown hair harmonized so well that, no matter how you looked at her, she gave off the impression of a beauty.
But... the clothes she was wearing were viciously gnawing away at that outstanding appearance.
A dress commonly called gothic lolita. She wore that outfit, one even modern people rarely wore unless it was cosplay, with a perfectly unconcerned expression. The parasol she held had a black rose painted on it, and the hem of her ankle-length skirt bore a faint stain, likely from brushing against her shoe heels.
“The room is on the top floor, a suite.”
She said that while stroking the parasol with a snow-white gloved hand. The employee swallowed the question, 'Where on earth did you get clothes like that, and why the hell are you wearing such a ridiculous outfit?' and professionally checked Mariang's reservation.
“Mm, confirmed. You're staying long-term. Two weeks.”
“Yes.”
“Would you like us to carry your luggage for you? Since it's a long stay, I imagine you brought a lot.”
“No, I'll carry it myself. Could I just have the key?”
Mariang casually held out her gloved hand. Her slender, elongated hand somehow felt faintly sensual. As expected, pretty people could still carry an aura even while wearing that stupid outfit and gloves.
“Here you are. You can use the elevator over there.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Mariang took the key card between her thumb and forefinger and smiled faintly. Seeing her smile, the employee blushed and cleared her throat.
“Yes, yes. Thank you for using our hotel, and please feel free to call us if you need anything.”
“I understand. Then may I ask one thing now?”
“……? Yes. Go ahead.”
As the employee smiled kindly and spoke, Mariang answered while staring at the key card.
“Has there been a foreigner named Eddie staying here by any chance? An Englishman.”
“…Th-that's difficult, since we can't provide information about other guests. I'm sorry.”
“Can't you?”
Mariang let only her eyes slide toward the employee. In that instant, the strength drained from the employee's pupils, and her shoulders sagged.
“Please.”
“…Ah… p-please, ju-just a moment. I-I'll check r-right away.”
The employee muttered awkwardly and typed on the keyboard as if possessed.
A moment later, she looked up at Mariang with a nosebleed.
“Uh, there isn't. N-no one named E-Eddie has ever stayed at the hotel.”
“Tsk. So the records were already erased. Looks like the Administration Bureau got involved for sure.”
The moment she heard the employee's answer, Mariang turned away without a trace of lingering attachment and walked toward the elevator.
Thud!
Behind her, she heard the sound of someone collapsing and people screaming, but she paid no mind and casually summoned the elevator, flicking her parasol.
A short while later, an empty elevator arrived. Mariang stepped inside, pressed the floor where the suite was, and quietly closed her eyes.
Ding.
[15th floor.]
The elevator doors slid open to the side when it reached its destination. Scraping the floor with the tip of her pointed parasol, she stepped into the hallway.
The use of mystery had left one of her eyes terribly dry, but she endured it by keeping it more or less closed. It was no big deal; if she poured in a whole bottle of artificial tears later, it would get better.
'This was the room Eddie last stayed in.'
Mariang walked down the hallway, looking for the room number written on the key card. And so she found the suite.
The room's exterior looked utterly ordinary. All you could see was a single door, and there didn't seem to be anything strange about it.
Yes, at least on the surface.
“…….”
Mariang was about to hold the key card up to the reader on the door when she stopped at the strange sound coming from the gap around the doorknob.
A skittering rustle, as if something were crawling. As if antennae were trembling and several legs were scratching across the floor as they moved away.
No matter how you looked at it, it was the sound of an insect. But it wasn't a normal insect.
There was no way a bug small enough to slip through the gap around a doorknob could make that much noise, and there was no way it would linger by the knob like it was scouting before hiding inside the instant it spotted a person.
An insect is an insect. No matter how impressive its intelligence, it couldn't surpass the limits of its species.
If such a species existed, it wouldn't be an ordinary insect but a monster insect.
Monster insect.
It was the term used for insects born from mystery. Their very existence was hostile to humans, and there were even crazed specimens that tore people apart and ate them alive. Most people didn't know it, but there were also companies that specialized in hunting and cleaning up these monster insects.
And there was even a school of magic that dealt with monster insects, one that originated in Germany.
“Tch.”
Mariang clicked her tongue and raised the parasol.
Finding monster insects here wasn't strange. After all, wherever a magician died, monster insects were bound to show up.
But the number of them was strange for naturally occurring monster insects.
Normally, monster insects appear in groups. If the thing in the gap by the doorknob wasn't being controlled by someone and had appeared on its own, then there should have been dozens, hundreds of them swarming at once. But the sound she'd just heard was clearly from a single insect.
A mistake?
Like she'd transplanted an eyeball with hypnotic powers, and even ripped out an aberration's ear and grafted it in place—an illusion?
Impossible. Mariang immediately gripped the parasol like a spear and rammed it into the door.
KWAANG!
The pointed tip of the parasol pierced straight through the door.
Blood splattered. A tiny insect hanging from the end of the parasol was torn apart and scattered everywhere, and Mariang shoved her hand through the hole in the door and ripped the whole thing off. Scales like a lizard's sprouted on her arm.
“Wow, you actually ripped it off.”
Beyond the forcibly opened door.
In the living room stood a man wearing a suit. He had a mask over his face that looked like it belonged in a tokusatsu show, and its design resembled a mantis. Mariang stared at him with cold eyes, then stepped into the suite and spoke.
“This is the room I reserved. Who are you to set foot in here?”
“What are you talking about? French? I only speak English and Korean. English, please.”
The man replied breezily and snapped his fingers. Then cockroach-like things with saw blades where their wings should have been crawled out from the gaps in the ceiling. Mariang frowned.
“Creepy bastard…….”
“Oh, I'm fine, thank you.”
“Insect mage, did you kill Eddie? What's your purpose in coming here? And how exactly did you get in?”
“Finally speaking English. I shall answer you personally.”
Sssshhk.
The lower jaw of the mantis mask trembled. Something grub-like crawled out from inside his ear canal.
“First, I didn't kill Eddie. Second, I came here to collect insects. Third, I don't really know where I came in from either. Looks like I have amnesia.”
Mariang's face twisted at the openly mocking answer.
“……do you want to die?”
“Seems to me you're the one who wants to die. You, Mariang, right? Gothic lolita, brown hair in buns, blue eyes. A spear-like parasol. Your features are so well known it'd be harder not to recognize you.”
“…….”
“The reason you came here is obvious. So instead of your purpose, I'll ask you something else.”
The man chuckled and drew a butterfly from between his sleeves.
“Were your parents tasty after you tore them apart and ate them?”
“Tch.”
Mariang didn't answer. Instead, she opened her parasol and thrust her scale-covered arm deep into the wall.
The man stepped back and snapped his fingers. Then the cockroaches covering the ceiling all at once spun their saw blades and fell toward Mariang.
Sssshhk, KWAANG!!
A deafening roar erupted from the hotel's upper floors.
*
The morning after the rookie mage who picked up the grimoire appeared.
Ian lay quietly in bed, looking at his phone.
[Newbie! A real newbie! Unlike that rapidly rotting secondhand newbie who came into the gallery and immediately posted some sword-like thing, this is a real, bona fide newbieee!]
(Wizard, come here! meme)
I’ll pile on hard. I’ll cram in all sorts of knowledge you don't know and make your neurons pregnant.
[Comments]
-Average wizard, don't talk like that, you fucking bastard. Come back with a fixed username.
ㄴAre you saying I should post something like this with a fixed username right now?
[Newbies, read this]
[Taming Master]
(A front-facing photo of a frog)
Hi? I'm the leader of the "We Love Weird Things So, So Much" squad. Let's get along, okay?
[Comments]
-Kim Ari: Yes! Please take care of me too!
ㄴTaming Master: ? What is this, a real-name warrior?
ㄴKim Ari: Huh?
[Am I not supposed to use my real name here? It's my first time on a community like this ㅠㅠ]
[Kim Ari]
(A photo of light coming from a finger)
If I use my real name, are there penalties or something? Ms. Dolores didn't teach me about that ㅠㅠㅠ
The photo is the first spell I ever succeeded with…….
[Comments]
-No, it's fine even if you use your real name. It just means your identity is exposed.
ㄴKim Ari: Ah, I see! Thank you for letting me know! Then it's okay to use it as is!
ㄴFuck, your tone. Don't use honorifics. That's definitely banned. Only obnoxious roleplay freaks use polite speech.
ㄴKim Ari: Ah, really? Then should I just speak casually?
ㄴYeah.
ㄴKim Ari: Got it.
ㄴFuck, are you Malphite?
ㄴKim Ari: What's that? ㅠㅠㅠ
ㄴYou're done for.
ㄴKim Ari: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Congratulations on successfully casting magic. But don't go around telling people what your grimoire is, and don't say you have a grimoire either. You'll become a target for hunters.
-Kim Ari: Got it! Thanks for the advice!
ㄴFuck, this is the taste of a newbie. You see this, you goddamn secondhand newbie bastard? If you're watching, make a fixed username, fuck!
-Serious Magic Addict: Welcome to the world of crazy magicians. Check the notices first, and if there's anything you don't know, post a thread. There are plenty of people here who can answer you.
ㄴKim Ari: Okay! Thank you!
ㄴSerious Magic Addict: When did you start talking casually?
ㄴKim Ari: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
ㄴSerious Magic Addict: (wizard joke meme)
Ian watched the nonstop flood of posts and comments unfold in real time, then casually left a comment himself.
-Anon: If you don't know anything, send me a DM. I'll explain everything in detail hehe
ㄴFuck, I'm telling you to make a fixed username.
Still, I can't resist a newbie pile-on.