Chapter 215

There were things Lee Seon-hae had liked ever since she was small.

"This one's too scary. It's for grown-ups only."

"It isn't scary at all…."

"No. Shall we pick something else? How about this one?"

"Boring."

Deep things, heavy things, things brimming with thrill.

"Can't I watch this one?"

And it did not show itself in her taste in films alone. When she had grown a little more, the senior directors said,

"Hey, don't. You're seriously saying you'll go to Mexico?"

"Somebody ought to shoot it and bring it back, don't you think?"

"You keep that up and you really will die."

"Why? Sounds fun to me."

Lee Seon-hae was an intensely hedonistic Artist, one who gladly set foot into every perilous atrocity the world had to offer and named it 'curiosity.'

"Who else is going to show the world something like this."

"And if it wrecks your life…."

"I'm only putting it on a screen."

At the same time, she felt a deep moral duty toward the pain and safety of others.

"Somebody has to let people know places like this exist."

Lee Seon-hae was a person as contradictory as that.

This double identity produced dissonance of an extreme order in the course of facing 'Lee Yeon-woo,' General Manager of 'Hotel One' and master of the Labyrinth. That day, when she was dragged to the Aqua Park on the 23rd Floor.

In that cold space, she witnessed Lee Yeon-woo reassembling his own body.

"……."

That miraculous and ghastly restoration called something to Lee Seon-hae's mind.

Dante Alighieri's great epic 《The Divine Comedy》 — in particular, the illustrations of 'Cocytus,' the Ninth Circle at the very bottom of the Inferno.

A space of torment where souls guilty of betrayal and deceit are trapped in a vast lake of ice, wailing.

'Ah.'

The souls in those illustrations lost their identities in eternal despair. The Lee Yeon-woo she saw that day gladly expended himself for others. The hell in the illustrations was wrought by destruction and punishment; the Lee Yeon-woo of that day….

Was a being in whom death and birth coexisted.

'He's so magnificent.'

Lee Seon-hae ends up thinking it.

'He's the opposite of hell.'

If a true paradise existed, might it not take this form?

Lee Seon-hae felt a primal 'beauty' and 'awe' at that scene of destruction and restoration. She ought to have felt pity and sorrow, watching the atrocity endured by a being as good as Lee Yeon-woo, and yet,

"……."

Lee Seon-hae had appreciated that moment of tragedy like a work of art, and felt exhilaration.

'Surely this isn't right?'

That was what made her unable to bear it.

***

Had Lee Seon-hae gone on perceiving Lee Yeon-woo as some vast, mysterious divine creature or savior out of a story, she would not have been able to control herself on her second visit to the hotel.

Knowing that, 'the Hanged Man' let down an 'anchor' that would keep her from degenerating as an Artist.

"In that case, he may still be 'alive.'"

"……."

"If he has become a 'Dokkaebi,' that is."

There is no telling how much that meant to Lee Seon-hae, driven as she was to the edge of anxiety and worry and self-reproach.

The clue Hyeon Si-gyeong tossed her became a Cognitive Anchor that resolved her dilemma in a single stroke. And so Lee Seon-hae began to see Lee Yeon-woo as a 'young child.'

'Mr. Hyeon Si-gyeong says so, and Mr. Kwon Seung-jae, and even that Baek Mu-jin man.'

What they had said was not 'young child' but 'young Dokkaebi' — but Lee Seon-hae did not go out of her way to understand that.

'Young is young, then.'

She had to castrate her awe of Lee Yeon-woo. She did not want to consume another person's pain. Above all, she did not want to see Lee Yeon-woo as something other than human. Did she not know how hard he was trying?

Even by such means, she wanted to see Lee Yeon-woo as a person, and to help him live as one.

"……."

It was because Lee Seon-hae was an ordinary human being.

***

A kitchen where the scent of red wine spread faintly inside a clear decanter.

"You're good at this sort of thing too, Mr. Yeon-woo."

"I am a hotel's General Manager, am I not."

Lee Yeon-woo opened the packaging of the jamón he had taken from the refrigerator. Having already adapted perfectly to room temperature while the wine sat in the decanter, the jamón showed off an oil so soft it seemed it would melt at a touch.

"Naturally I ought to manage plating of this order."

"I don't think you were good at it from the start."

"I was not without some grounding in food even before I opened my eyes in the hotel."

He held a thinly shaved slice of jamón up to the light.

"The fat being translucent and ivory-colored — it will not match a piece freshly cut, but this is quite a decent jamón. A good jamón weeps its fat moist like this after only a moment at room temperature."

At that, Lee Seon-hae, leaning against the island counter, huffed a laugh.

"When you talk like that it really does feel like being at a fine restaurant. How do I put it — it's odd that this was even here."

"Cha Do-hyeon forced it on me and left. I did not expect to be putting it to use like this."

"That man is unexpectedly childish. You must have been tired — thank you for keeping us company."

"It was a meaningful time for me as well."

Lee Yeon-woo took up a long, fine pair of tweezers. He lifted a slice of jamón thin enough to see through and laid it on a matte black ceramic plate. One slice, then another.

Layered so as not to clump.

"It's like silk cloth."

"A good comparison."

He plated them to keep their volume, in the shape of a cloth folded naturally. The marbling made by red flesh and milk-white fat bloomed across the plate in elegant curves.

"How is it?"

Only then did Lee Yeon-woo let an easy smile loose.

"Rather good, is it not?"

"It's gorgeous. I really thought I'd walked into fine dining. The service beats a Michelin restaurant."

"The place I work is something close to that."

"You said you were the General Manager. Do you moonlight in the restaurant too?"

"Given the hotel's nature, there is no helping it."

Having finished plating the jamón, he took out cheese. A well-aged Parmigiano Reggiano, portioned. Lee Yeon-woo stripped its wrapping too.

"To speak frankly, Director Lee Seon-hae."

"Yes."

"I was not this practiced from the beginning either."

Lee Yeon-woo was part of the Labyrinth and a separate being from it both.

"The hotel told me how I ought to behave as General Manager, and how to handle the work I was given. If I did not move exactly as prescribed, my body hurt."

He meant the tutorial.

"Breathing was hard, no strength would come into my body, and standing up after sitting made me so dizzy. It would have been better had it simply forced my body, but as it was, stepping outside the set frame brought a penalty…."

"However I hear it, they're absolute bastards."

"Please calm down."

"I'll try."

"I am always grateful to you for being angry on my behalf."

Lee Yeon-woo picked up an almond-shaped cheese knife with a pointed tip. He drove the point into the cheese's hard surface and, with a light snap of the wrist, pressed.

"By now I have grown fond of far too many things to be angry."

With a pleasant crisp fracture, the cheese broke apart roughly along its natural grain.

"In its defense, some small correction was applied. It was made so that I could behave as befits a 'perfect General Manager,' inside my consciousness and out. This sort of miscellaneous skill was learned then."

"I'm not sure that counted as a defense."

"That is unfortunate."

Between the split faces of the cheese, things like fine white grains of sand could be seen, densely embedded.

"Personally, I like these crystals."

"Oh, I like those too. That crunchy texture is really something."

"They give a crisp savor the moment you bite down."

"I doubt there's anyone who eats cheese and dislikes them."

"A statement I sympathize with greatly."

He scattered the cheese pieces he had broken off with his fingertips across the empty space of the plate opposite the jamón, neatly, as if carelessly. The dull sound of the pieces tapping the plate's surface rang faintly.

"I believe there was some fruit. Grapes would suit well enough."

"You really are going all out. Shall I do that?"

"I could hardly let a valued guest wet her hands."

"Ooh, the service spirit."

"Haha…."

Lee Yeon-woo washed the grapes last, halved a few, and heaped them in a small bowl. Over them he added a little olive oil, pepper, and salt.

"Shall we have a taste, then?"

"Waah~ drink time~"

"I will pour for you."

He took the decanter by its slender neck. The clear crystal decanter had a strong presence in itself. Lee Yeon-woo turned it lightly, making a gentle whirlpool.

When the scent had strengthened, he tilted the decanter and let the wine run down the wall of the glass.

"Here you are."

"You're less a General Manager than the owner of a wine bar."

"I shall consider that line of business as well."

"How far are you planning to grow this hotel?"

"Since you have been good enough to give me the idea."

Lee Yeon-woo poured wine into his own glass as it was and sat down across from Lee Seon-hae.

"In truth…."

He wore, rarely, a sheepish expression.

"I am not on the side that cannot drink."

"So I really was the only one treating you like a kid."

"The hotel makes liquor of its own as well, and I served some when Mr. Baek Mu-jin came. And all food must have its condition checked before it goes out, must it not."

"That sounds a bit like an excuse."

"My words ran too long. To be caught out like this."

The two of them touched their glasses lightly.

"…Mm…."

Lee Seon-hae knit her brows faintly.

"Oof, that's strong. I grabbed one from the Uncle's cellar and it's aged far too long."

"It suits my palate well enough."

"You're unexpectedly strong with alcohol, Mr. Yeon-woo? Do you know your limit, then?"

"As I have never been drunk, I cannot say for certain."

"That's what heavy drinkers say."

"How embarrassing."

Setting his glass down softly, Lee Yeon-woo rolled his eyes and went on.

"In fact, when I first met all of you, I wanted to ask you to please get out."

"I still feel sorry about that."

"I was unable to say it."

"……."

Lee Seon-hae asked, a beat late.

"…Was that the hotel's doing too?"

"I exist as the 'General Manager.'"

Lee Yeon-woo went on in his measured way.

"Which is why I have no authority to refuse the hotel's guests. To put it more precisely, that hotel does not possess the function of 'refusing a guest' at all."

Which is why he cannot say it.

"It is not even easy to have the thought occur to me."

"That sounds like being brainwashed."

"I should like to deny it, but even that is difficult."

Hesitating, Lee Yeon-woo went on.

"I have no memory of the span from being a person to becoming a Dokkaebi."

This much, it seemed, he ought to disclose.

"And I have no way of knowing whether even my present memories are whole."

"Do you remember what sort of person you were?"

"It feels impossibly distant, but I am certain I was a dull one."

Lee Yeon-woo smiled awkwardly.

"Just…."

Rarely, he trails off.

"……."

Even in a moment like this, Lee Yeon-woo could not disclose everything. If his situation truly was connected to the Foundation, then he could not even assert that the memories of 'the researcher Lee Yeon-woo' were true.

And even were they true, there was the danger that those memories might harm everything he loved.

"…I am not sure."

"There's no need to sort it all out right this moment, is there?"

"I think so too."

Lee Yeon-woo gestured at the jamón with his eyes.

"I went to the trouble of laying it out prettily. Will you not try it?"

"When you put it like that I can't very well not have a bite."

Lee Seon-hae laughed a small laugh and chewed the jamón.

"That's good. Senior Cha bought us something expensive."

"Thanks to which I ended up stopping by a department store."

"A department store — your impressions?"

"There were so many people that I felt uneasy."

Lee Yeon-woo smiled sheepishly, weariness in it.

"Cha Do-hyeon tells me to have confidence, but how am I to know what sort of disaster alarm I might set off once I have confidence?"

"I don't think screwing yourself down that tight is the only answer."

"For the time being at least, I think there is no helping it."

Lee Yeon-woo was conscious of his own specialness.

"If I am a hedgehog, I ought to know that leaning on someone will prick them with my quills."

"That isn't self-deprecation, is it?"

"It was only a figure of speech; I have no intent to torment myself. If I adapt and learn little by little, I will surely find a way that suits a hedgehog. In the end, is the human not an animal of adaptation?"

Listening quietly, Lee Seon-hae asked,

"Isn't it hard?"

"A time of hardship comes to everyone."

"So it is hardship."

"That is also true."

Feeling sheepish, Lee Yeon-woo curved his eyes.

"So there was something I wanted to ask you, Director Lee Seon-hae."

"Mm, I think I know what you're about to ask."

Lee Seon-hae asked with an awkward laugh,

"Something like my impression of you, Mr. Yeon-woo?"

"I am always grateful for your undeserved kindness."

"Aaah, I'm sorry. Ah, I'm really sorry."

Lee Seon-hae scrubbed her face with both hands. Her face, flushed bright red, did not seem to owe it to the alcohol alone. Under the rush of embarrassment, even opening her eyes looked difficult for her.

"I treated you far too much like a child."

"I have never once thought myself a child, but even setting you aside, Director Lee Seon-hae, there is no shortage of people who treat me as one, so I do not think you need be so embarrassed."

"Those people probably just took it as information."

Ah, this Dokkaebi hasn't been born long.

"Haa…."

Taking her hands from her face, Lee Seon-hae pressed the side of her head and let out a hollow breath.

"Ever since I was small, I've liked things that aren't common."

"Personally it feels to me that you are drawn to revolting things."

"I don't know if 'revolting' is quite how I'd put it — things that pose a slight threat to life and sanity, maybe? And I enjoyed the gap when you sink all the way into them and then come back out to reality."

"So there was a reason you were drawn to me and to my hotel."

"You,"

The words come out as though an awkward breath had burst.

"You looked far too magnificent a being to me."

Lee Seon-hae faced Lee Yeon-woo with a grimacing smile.

"You felt like a god. A mysterious divine creature, or a savior. But if I felt exhilaration watching you strive and suffer to save me and other people, wouldn't that be deeply unpleasant?"

"Who can say."

Lee Yeon-woo stroked his chin.

"……."

"It does feel bad, doesn't it?"

"Bewildering, rather."

Lee Yeon-woo's expression turned strange.

"If I had to classify what you just said, it sounds like praise, and the feeling is quite peculiar."

"Same for me, so how much more for you, being the one it's about."

Bursting into an awkward laugh, Lee Seon-hae went on.

"So I think I tried to see you as a small being however I could. I wasn't conscious of it, but from the moment I accepted you as five years old, my mind really was at ease."

"Five years old…."

Taking off his glasses a moment, Lee Yeon-woo drew a hand down his face as if tired.

"Even so, surely not to that degree."

"Right? It was awfully rude to someone who holds his drink this well."

"I understand it was a method of protecting both yourself and the person that is me, Director Lee Seon-hae."

"That's right. And once I 'understood' it that way, you stopped frightening me."

That hotel too, and the Monster Guests inside it.

"I'm sorry."

"Why would you apologize?"

"I suppose I was a person who had to do it that way."

An ordinary person, not a great one, who therefore had to go mad in one sense or another.

"So I wanted to apologize."

"I do not wish to hear an apology for doing your utmost."

"Won't you take it anyway? As a way of celebrating my growth?"

"That much is not difficult."

Lee Yeon-woo smiled faintly.

"Then how do I look to you now?"

"Honestly, you still don't look all that much like an adult to me."

"That is unfortunate."

"It's the situation, isn't it — and your face value is on the young side."

"I will not deny it."

"But there's one thing I feel I have to make certain of."

Lee Seon-hae looked straight at Lee Yeon-woo.

"That you're a special… person."

"……."

"That you have to be defined as that kind of being."

Lee Yeon-woo's smile softened.

"That too is unfortunate."

Out in the world, Lee Yeon-woo was not a 'young child' but a 'young Dokkaebi.'

The difference was larger than one might think. A child must without fail be protected, whereas a Dokkaebi can be a Disaster by its mere existence. In the end, Lee Seon-hae had to acknowledge that Lee Yeon-woo was a dangerous being.

At the very least, if she meant to go on living in this unfamiliar world.

"Even allowing for that, though, you did overprotect me rather badly."

"Aagh, I'm sorry."

"I am not so immature as all that."

"Aagh…!"

***

"……."

Hong Gyeong-yeon looked at Lee Seon-hae as though looking at something bizarre.

"…Director, did you perhaps drink too much last night…."

"What, do I look like someone steeped in a hangover?"

"Somewhat."

"Did you really need to have an eye that good?"

"Do you honestly regard this as a judgment that requires any eye at all?"

"Oof, my head…."

At Lee Seon-hae's groaning, Hong Gyeong-yeon let out a sigh and laid out the porridge and medicine he had gathered up on the table.

"I think you drank too much because today's shoot is off."

"I went a few rounds with Mr. Yeon-woo yesterday."

"Excuse me?"

Hong Gyeong-yeon asked with a shocked face.

"Is Mr. Lee Yeon-woo allowed to drink?"

"It's a great comfort that you're no different from me."

"But he's a minor…!"

"They say you've got no aptitude as an Artist? I think you might, though."

"Why are you suddenly cursing me?"

"That's really too much."

"I'm joking."

Having deftly brought out side dishes as well, Hong Gyeong-yeon sat down across from Lee Seon-hae.

"You were the one shielding Mr. Lee Yeon-woo so thoroughly, weren't you."

"If you knew, you might have said something."

"It's only that I'm shocked you drank with someone you genuinely saw as a child."

"Call it a resolution of my own…."

Lee Seon-hae smiled awkwardly and went on.

"A resolution to adapt a little better to this insane society?"

Hong Gyeong-yeon said, as though it were a pity,

"I don't think you need to make that sort of resolution."

"I went a round with Mr. Yeon-woo yesterday and it gave me confidence."

"I would rather you did not have confidence."

"Hey, this porridge is good."

"I ordered extra abalone."

"No wonder it's chewy."

It was a peaceful morning.

***

"……."

"Tweeet—…."

And here, there was also a person who was not particularly peaceful.

"Mr. Hyeon Si-gyeong?"

"Tweet."

"Would you come away from the window?"

"Tweet."

"This is maddening…."

So it was for Lee Yeon-woo, whose eyes had met those of Hyeon Si-gyeong dangling from the window.