Chapter 217

Would you believe it if there were a sinkhole wider than the Earth?

"The Golden Grotto, you know."

Cha Do-hyeon said as he approached a cliff of dizzying height.

"Isn't it a bit sickening every time we come?"

"There's no worksite like it, though, Boss."

"It puts me off, thinking this space was made by people swarming together like ants."

"Shall we tidy the surroundings up sometime soon?"

"About time for a shakedown, is it?"

CLUNK — as an old lever was pulled, the sound of gears turning came through.

"What do you think."

"I'll put up a report."

"Fuck. There's always filthy heaps of work."

Down a rail stretching thin as a capillary along that vertiginous slope, a small personal capsule train, shaped for him and him alone, came sliding without a single sound of friction.

When the door opened, the air that came in through the reinforced glass was nothing but damp.

"What are you doing. Get in."

"Yes, Boss."

Cha Do-hyeon stripped off a leather glove and laid his bare hand on the biometric scanner. When the reader's fine needle jabbed his fingertip, the console recognized the fresh blood that welled out and blinked a blue light.

Having confirmed its master, the system closed the door and moved off along the rail, rattling.

"Sometimes I think about chucking it all and coming over to the Gaps for good."

"Wouldn't you regret it?"

"I'd regret it, which is why I'm doing this."

Beyond the window, the outskirts swept past at speed — rotting away in resignation amid a fog and a contamination that seemed to gnaw at the brain. Cha Do-hyeon fixed his gaze on that hollow, dark world.

"I do like filthy things…."

An arrogant curve was drawn slanting at the corner of his mouth.

"But strangely, when it's too filthy I don't like it either. Why is that?"

"I'd guess every man has his own water to swim in."

"You're right about that."

He put a cigarette in his mouth and jerked his chin.

"Go on."

"Excuse me."

TICK,

fire catches at the cigarette's end.

"Hoo—…."

"Boss, if it's all right with you."

"Have one each, you lot."

"Thank you."

"Mm."

Cigarette smoke began to fill the small train.

"……."

"Shall I report?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Boys."

The Chief of Staff blew smoke low, then stubbed his still-burning cigarette out directly on his palm. At a light jerk of his chin, the men who had been silently smoking in the shade all did as the Chief of Staff had done, then drew their postures tight.

One of them approached without a sound and held out a thick document envelope.

"Here you are."

"Go stand back over there."

"Yes."

"First I'll report on the Land's situation."

He scanned the papers inside the envelope and went on.

"To be precise, it concerns the laundering line. The protection fees and usury assets collected last quarter from the outer camouflaged safe zones have all been matched cleanly against agency film-production expenditures."

Cha Do-hyeon flicked a finger lightly and knocked off his ash. White dust scattered feebly onto the swaying floor of the train. At the wordless prompting that came back instead of an answer, the Chief of Staff went on.

"It was processed legally."

"I think it's funniest when talk of law comes up in the Gaps."

"At the very least there's nothing likely to catch the eye of the central district or the Sensitivity Bureau."

"Legal assets. Not bad."

Reflected in the glass, the corner of Cha Do-hyeon's mouth twisted into a curve.

"Coloring things in is the one thing we're confident about, isn't it?"

The game of powdering bloodstained money white was pleasant to hear about no matter how often.

"How's the win-rate management on the Land's machines going."

"It's applied per the 'script' you passed down last quarter."

"Honestly that one makes me a bit nervous, boys. How are the customers reacting?"

"The reactions are that it's considerably conscientious."

"This is why the Gaps is such a good place to do business."

Cha Do-hyeon knocked his head against the window.

"Rig the odds and they'll still run for it so long as they take something home once…."

"Outside society isn't much different, is it?"

"That's true. In the end a business like this hangs on the customers' mood. Wait on them properly so their feelings don't get hurt. And when a whale comes in, keep them protected so nobody stirs them up."

"There will be nothing that damages our Land's value."

"Right. There'd better be no rumors going round that it's run by a pack of ill-bred thugs."

At that the Chief of Staff slipped in a question.

"Aren't we thugs, though?"

"Who told you to speak the truth in front of me."

"My apologies, Boss."

"And tell me if you think the 'script' is being applied too strongly."

Cha Do-hyeon drew on the still-lit cigarette and swallowed slowly. Eyeing his own dry gaze reflected in the train's narrow window, he murmured low.

"If you lot touch it, it'll come to nothing. They're pleased we do business conscientiously, so we ought to do business conscientiously, hadn't we."

"I'll contact you if anything comes up."

"Next."

"It's the market supply-chain matter…."

"Ah, that's important."

"It's our company's meal ticket."

Turning the page, the Chief of Staff went on.

"The market side finished inspection just yesterday. The new ones were sturdier than expected. We've confirmed they made it safely down to Floor 100."

"Those Gapyeong lot?"

"Yes. Thanks to them it looks like we'll be able to hold an exclusive line in Sector B-291. The paperwork is due to close within a few days, but I'll put the approval up today."

"The new ones worked hard."

He blew out cigarette smoke.

"How many lived?"

"Thirty percent as of now."

"Thirty percent crawled out? That's unexpected. The supplier must have taken care to give us healthy ones?"

"The local magnate we've joined hands with this time is a fellow you can talk to. I looked into the busiest sector among the Gapyeong Gaps and made contact, and he was clear about what he wanted too."

"What a provincial magnate wants is obvious~"

Cha Do-hyeon curved his eyes drily.

"Wants to expand his worksites, does he?"

"Yes. For now we've proceeded verbally, but…."

"Well done. Then let's have a look at the situation."

And if it comes to it, sink him.

"If he really is a fellow you can talk to, we hand him a seat. You know?"

"Yes, Boss. I'll get it arranged."

"Complaints from the new ones who crawled in?"

"Just one of them had a fierce look in his eye."

"Usable? Or sink him."

"I think five turns or so will give us an answer."

"Then proceed that way."

Cha Do-hyeon propped his chin.

"And what are our political elders up to."

"I nudged the Sensitivity Bureau lot's attention aside a little, timed to this crackdown season."

"Dan-cheong isn't the sort to be easily caught up. How about the other regions."

"Fairly smooth. Excluding some areas, on the whole…."

"Funny how the further out into the provinces you go, the more vicious the people you get."

The curve drawn by Cha Do-hyeon's mouth grew a little more distinct.

"Provoke them a bit more. The rain will be stopping soon, so gather up some water ghosts before it dries out, why don't you. A few disasters in the waters and they won't have the capacity to come looking for our line."

"The figures who've eaten a bit of our money seem to be doing a fine job as shields."

"Just right for keeping them rolling along at a middling clip."

He drew the cigarette from his mouth and asked,

"How are things outside."

"If you mean overseas, it's still somewhat unsettled."

"That damned 'hotel' again, I suppose…."

Having rattled entirely clear of the mire, the train shrieked dully and came to a stop. Between the friction sounds of the frame locking together, Cha Do-hyeon murmured.

"That fellow simply doesn't add up."

Grinding out the burnt-down stub on the train seat, Cha Do-hyeon rose from his place.

HISS — as the door opened with the sound of escaping steam, the outskirts' distinctive fishy reek of blood and acrid machine dust rushed over them. Cha Do-hyeon straightened his clothes and went on.

"I do covet him, but there's nowhere to put him to good use right now."

"Does a Dokkaebi with a good nature even exist in this world?"

Following his back like a shadow, the Chief of Staff prodded insinuatingly.

"They say he's still young. How about breaking him in from the very bottom, while you're at it?"

"He's not a breed that bows its head from a bit of handling."

Cha Do-hyeon stroked his chin with a rough hand.

"It's only five years as seen from outside — for all we know he rotted decades away in that Labyrinth alone. That a fellow like that still knows the worth of a person…."

"It wouldn't be easy."

"Right. Meaning he's a fellow no amount of effort on my part will work on."

His shoe heel ground harshly into a pit of dried-up dust. His dry gaze swept the 'sky' tangled with piping and gears, and tilting his head along with it, Cha Do-hyeon murmured low.

"He's a chicken's rib — too little meat to be worth gnawing, too good to spit out. Being such a precious body, it seems it would be good to keep him near, and yet he isn't the type to be grasped meekly. The odds of success are far too low to stake that kind of pot on, and besides, he's a sort that doesn't suit me in the slightest."

Silent a moment, the Chief of Staff asked,

"You covet him even so, it seems."

"Right? Why, I wonder. Keeping him close would only cost me."

Cha Do-hyeon let the outer corners of his eyes droop thin and smiled.

"Strangely, I want to have him."

And so, to grind him down without remainder.

***

Misfortune¿ was watching Cha Do-hyeon like that.

***

"Hello?"

"Coco."

"Hello."

The moment Lee Yeon-woo stepped out in front of the hotel, courtesy of Baek Mu-jin's consideration, Coco sprang up and stood on two feet.

"Hello!"

▶ [New Product Stocking Complete]

"Admirable Coco!"

"Oh."

"Responsibility! Shop! Purchase!"

"One moment."

Lee Yeon-woo turned his head and looked at Hyeon Si-gyeong, who had just gotten out of the car with him.

"Was this by any chance the help you offered…."

"No."

"I see."

It was regrettable.

"Shall we go in and check first?"

"Nnngh."

Lee Yeon-woo slipped a hand into the side of the two-legged Coco and hoisted up the monster cat, now stretched out long. Coco flapped its four short legs a few times as though whining.

"Nnnnngh."

"We ought not to keep a guest waiting over matters of our own alone, Coco?"

"Ngh."

"How would it be to check what you have prepared together with me, while I shake off the fatigue of the road?"

"Coco confirms."

Fortunately, Coco accepted.

"Thank you."

Lee Yeon-woo expressed his gratitude to Coco.

'Coco and the other guests both — they tend to accommodate me readily.'

From where he stood, he believed one must not harm others or commit discourtesy, but that was Lee Yeon-woo's personal opinion. Lee Yeon-woo had no authority to force 'rightness' on anyone.

When he entered the hotel, a familiar face greeted him.

"Did you have a good trip?"

"So that was the face you wore while I was away as well."

It was so familiar that for a moment gooseflesh nearly rose.

"Might I assert portrait rights?"

"If you happen to have any human rights remaining, by all means."

"You jab at a rather sore spot."

The 'Guest Without Taste,' who had now become this hotel's chef, still took the form of an Easterner whose face was the very image of Lee Yeon-woo's. Those eyes curved in a familiar shape.

"To come out and meet me like this — what an admirable disciple I have."

"I said I would take you on as chef. I never affirmed I would take you on as a disciple."

"You were this place's Head Chef before I came, so either way you would be my superior."

"A junior joining hardly makes one a mentor, does it?"

At which the 'Guest Without Taste' feigned hurt.

"None of the other family so much as came out, and rather than praise me you only berate me."

"That family has never once been apart from me to begin with."

Lee Yeon-woo could not hide his exasperation.

The contract holders, the 'Drenched One' and the 'Lover of Dawn,' were stuck quite comfortably to one of his lungs and to his back. There was no need to exchange reunion greetings with them as with the 'Guest Without Taste.'

"More to the point, I have brought a guest."

"The guest who has been spacing out wordlessly this whole while, you mean."

"Come to think of it, he has suddenly gone silent."

Lee Yeon-woo looked back at Hyeon Si-gyeong.

"Mr. Hyeon Si-gyeong?"

"……."

"……."

His lips pressed tight.

'Truly a type of person I have never met in all my life.'

"Throw him away?"

"No."

Lately, whenever Coco decided there was someone it disliked, it would ask whether to throw them away. Presumably Coco had judged it a more daily-use expression than 'Kill?'

Thinking that this was precisely why one must watch one's words in front of children, Lee Yeon-woo added,

"…In any case, this gentleman has expressed a wish to check in."

"How would it be to hand him to another employee and take your rest now?"

"He is a guest who came under my name, so I ought to take responsibility."

"How diligent."

Because Coco had returned to the form of a monster cat and was being held in his arms, Lee Yeon-woo's shoulder was bare; the old vampire covered it with a black suit jacket.

"What is this supposed to be?"

When Lee Yeon-woo looked up, the 'Guest Without Taste' smiled shamelessly.

"Can this hotel's General Manager go about in nothing but his shirt? It is the struggle of a lamb seeking your care, so please receive it generously."

"Your tongue seems to have grown longer while I was gone."

Having put the jacket on properly, Lee Yeon-woo stood behind the front desk.

"Then…."

Smiling brightly, Lee Yeon-woo looked at Hyeon Si-gyeong.

"Thank you for visiting our hotel."

"……."

"How may I help you?"

***

"Chief."

A child spoke hesitantly.

"The sprouts won't come up."

"All right. It's fine. Let's go and look together with the Chief."

"Mm-hm…."

"It's all right, I said."

The girl the child called 'Chief' took the child's hand and went out to the field. There, children younger than the 'Chief' were huddled together, every one of them looking at the field with a worried face.

The young Chief asked,

"The sprouts aren't growing?"

"Not one has come out. We did exactly as the grown-ups taught us."

"Have the buried crops rotted?"

"We didn't even give them that much water."

"They've rotted, then."

The young Chief's face clouded, then presently came back firm.

"For a while let us boil up a bit more tree porridge. There is still grain left in the storehouse. If we soak it in water and grind it together, we can lengthen the babies' lives."

"I'll tell the little ones to look around for whether any tender wood is left."

"And the 'heads of household' gather at the hall. We must talk about how to divide things."

The very young children each went back to their homes, and the children of about the Chief's age gathered at the village hall. It was a house cluttered here and there in the places small hands could not reach.

When the thin paper-panel door was shut, a boy spoke.

"Sister, there's no grain in the storehouse."

"I saw there was dried corn left. Boil it well and it will do. If we are frugal enough we can hold out."

"I saw that too, but hadn't mold grown on it? And there weren't many of them either."

"If the heads of household pool a little more strength, we can clean it enough that no one falls ill."

At which another 'head of household' said,

"That's right, the Chief is sunlight. Dry it in the sun and the mold stains all come off."

"Among us there's plenty of water, and wind too. If we join our strength we can make food for the babies."

"I-I'm sorry to say this, but…."

One girl among the 'heads of household' spoke up with a cowed air.

"If it's all right, could our babies be given theirs first? Their bodies are so weak I think they'll be returning to flowers soon. I'm boiling grass porridge and feeding it to them, but… their breathing keeps getting weaker…."

"Aren't there many babies like that?"

"I-it's really dangerous. The Chief would know if she saw them once."

The girl left with two babies was on the verge of tears.

"They're the most recently born children, and perhaps because they came in a hurry, they can't eat well even when porridge is boiled for them. I'm not simply asking to be given it… I'm a tree, so I can go deeper into the forest. I'll find tender wood and bring it back. So please…."

At that 'head of household's' words, the 'Chief' shook her head firmly.

"No. The Fox Den has grown too deep."

"Chief."

"But if what you say is true, it is right to see to the children who will soon return to nature first. I should look in on the houses once before today is out. I'll call in order of the houses with the most babies."

"Th-thank you. I'll tend the trees we have as best I can."

"That is enough."

When the young Chief nodded, the boy by the door asked,

"Could we not call the Fox God back again?"

"The God?"

"But…."

"You said yourself he was a good person when you met him."

At that another 'head of household' spoke doubtfully.

"That sounded very strange to me. The master of the Fox Den was so pitiless — why would he save the Chief now, of all times? While not even letting us go outside."

"I thought something similar. Perhaps it is a process of taming us, hoping we'll obey again. If someone treats us cruelly and then just once treats us kindly, how are we to bear it?"

As several children voiced doubts, the boy cut in.

"You said he took the shape of a grown man."

"That's right. He had pitch-black clothes and pale skin. There was a sun inside his eyes."

"And he said he had two small black foxes with him too."

Thinking it over carefully, the boy said,

"Could it not be a different Fox God?"

"A different… Fox God?"

"I mean the possibility that he's a being separate from the 'Fox Den,' at least. Didn't they say a name matters that much to a Labyrinth? The 'Fox Den' is the 'Fox Den' — it isn't called the 'Fox God.'"

At that the young Chief nodded.

"I thought of that too."

"But Chief, you said that even when you called him Fox God and begged for mercy, the 'Fox Den' didn't grow angry? If he were a separate being it would surely have reacted badly."

"Rather than an entirely different being, he could be a 'Fox God' that is part of the 'Fox Den.' Then the Fox Den would have no reason to be angry either, would it?"

"Th-then…."

The children shared uneasy glances.

"Can we call a god?"

"There isn't much time. There are children whose breath is short."

"Wh-what is it foxes like?"

One child said, tilting their head,

"Corpses?"

"What's a corpse."

"Something that comes out when a person dies, they say."

"We don't get anything like that even when we die."

"True…."

Listening quietly to that murmuring, the boy looked at the 'Chief,' who was now thinking hard about something.

"Chief, what are you thinking about so hard."

"Let us make an Offering."

"What?"

The boy's face crumpled hard.

"Don't talk nonsense. We were lucky this once and the 'Fox God' looked after you, but he isn't going to spit back out food that walked into his mouth on its own two feet — it isn't even livestock that ran away."

But the young Chief's mind was already set.

"I have met him, so I shall go."

"Chief."

"I told you — he once fed me a bead."

Ever since then she had been strangely free of thirst and of hunger.

"If he thought well of me, might he not give me one more chance?"

"That isn't certain. We don't even know exactly what that red bead he fed you was. What will you do if he bewitched you?"

"At this rate, the babies without the strength to hold out will be the first to leave."

At those words from the young Chief, many of the 'heads of household' had their faces harden.

"…Then let's boil porridge quickly. Chief, take at least that with you."

"That's right, don't eat anything else in the forest — take the village's food."

"The longer the Chief holds out, the better our chances of surviving."

The children each nodded.

"We boil porridge for the urgent babies first, and the Chief takes what's left. All right?"

"I don't tire easily, thanks to the bead the Fox God gave me."

"But the Fox Den is so cunning. Do you think our village grown-ups were made Offerings because they didn't know to not drink, not eat, and not trade words?"

The boy added,

"You can only scheme your way out of a fox's tricks on a full stomach."

"But…."

"Chief, listen to us. You have to be strong for us to live."

"……."

In the end the young Chief nodded.

"Let us do that."

***

"……."

"Guest?"

Lee Yeon-woo, showing him to his room, looked back at Hyeon Si-gyeong.

"Is something the matter?"

"You keep the door shut, ordinarily."

"When you say door."

"Then a problem arises."

Hyeon Si-gyeong stepped abruptly close to Lee Yeon-woo and, staring into his eyes, said,

"What a god must do is look after the safety of mortals."

"……."

"With your eyes and ears closed, prayers cannot reach you."

At those words, when Lee Yeon-woo blinked once,

"Kong."

"Kong-kong."

he could tell that someone was calling for him desperately.

"Aha."

It was from the direction of the Fox Den.