Chapter 220

Lee Yeon-woo had been adopted at a fairly late age.

Young as he had been, his memories of that time were hazy. One thing was certain, though: even to the eyes of the Lee Yeon-woo of back then, Lee Yeon-ho had been a thoroughly no-good human being.

"How did you come to adopt me?"

"You consented in writing yourself, you know."

"Forgive me, but you seem like a false listing."

"Drop you in the middle of a desert and you'd walk right out."

"That would depend somewhat on the type and scale of the desert."

"Yes. Including parts like this…."

Even after learning that Lee Yeon-ho was a lunatic beyond imagining, he had no particular regrets.

"If I may be so bold as to ask,"

That was because the underage Lee Yeon-woo was a no-good human being himself.

"In a household where the madam — whom I presume to have been its de facto leader — has vacated her seat, does it not worry you what becomes of your children, who, a father evidently not being enough, have now been saddled with two whole bombs?"

"You talk too long."

"Please bear with me."

"You're going to drive me mad."

Lee Yeon-ho nodded.

"There were several points I wanted to take up, but I'll let them go."

"If it is a bother, you may simply say it is a bother."

"It's a bother. And I don't know why you're pretending to stand on ceremony at this late hour."

"I venture, cautiously, that it may mean I worry about my brother's and sister's futures more seriously than their father does. As I have said again and again, please take a little more interest in and affection toward your children."

"The sort of bastard who'd sell sand in a desert. I think it every time — you've a fair skill with that tongue."

He was often impressed.

"Usually a temper like yours comes out in words with sharp corners."

"Is it not the way of things that a person with nothing turns round?"

"I feel that is a slightly different matter…."

Lee Yeon-ho had lost a wife, and the brother and sister had lost a mother. It was that sort of time.

"How did a man with so little will to live come to take an interest in me?"

"You take after my wife."

"I did not expect to be leaving in search of a new family quite so soon."

"Calm down."

It did sound insane to anyone who heard it.

"If one calls the police on a prosecutor, does he get arrested?"

"The odds are low, but if you want to try, I won't stop you."

"In consideration of the courtesy of being fed and housed, I shall endure until 6:30 p.m."

"Five minutes — no. Only four, is it. Before the time's up, if I may offer my own excuse…."

The gist was this.

"Because it was hoped that someone would fill this seat."

"And who is the party doing the hoping?"

"Me. And your brother and sister."

It was his wife who had shaped no-good Lee Yeon-ho into something roughly resembling the form of a person. Once she was gone, Lee Yeon-ho became three times the lunatic he had been.

Left as it was, this household would be ruined. So he had judged.

"Hmm."

Having heard that much, it seemed to Lee Yeon-woo that Lee Yeon-ho's manner in speaking of such a future was less prediction than confirmation. Which made him curious.

"Am I a substitute?"

"Not particularly, no."

Just this.

"The seat simply happened to be empty."

And he had merely happened, by chance, upon a person who fit that empty seat.

"If I'd never come to know you, and if you children hadn't grown close to one another, I'd have left this seat empty in the end. I'm not a man with passion enough to go hunting for a substitute…."

"You do indeed look it."

"That's a shame."

But Lee Yeon-woo liked Lee Yeon-ho too — indolent, no-good, and a liar.

"So live however you like."

"And how do you know what a mess of a person I will grow into?"

"Because neither the honest you nor the invented you can be said not to be you."

He sanded down Lee Yeon-woo's corners, and Lee Yeon-woo kept hold of his life.

"Even from that peculiar vantage of yours, seeing the world that way'll make it a good deal easier."

"Thank you for the advice."

Dry as it looked, it was not a relationship that crumbled easily, and at some point the two of them became family. It happened without either of them noticing.

"And yet the man himself — why does he live the way he does?"

"It turned out that way."

"That does not sound like grounds valid enough to accept."

"Won't you live a little loosely, for once."

"Did you think I would sit and watch that happen?"

"A Dokkaebi of a bastard…."

"If you are an adult, kindly behave like one."

Probably Lee Yeon-woo, and Lee Yeon-ho as well.

Both were satisfied with a life like that.

***

It was, she thought, an utterly enthralling place.

'So soft….'

The child was sitting on the bed.

A plump, soft white owl was gathered in her arms, and two black foxes with red cloth wound about their necks were pressed tight to her on either side.

They were personages the Fox God, who had brought her to this place, had set at her side.

'And no tension goes into my shoulders.'

It had never once happened while she was in the village. There she had to keep one ear open even in her sleep. Even at meals she had to watch whether the Fox Den would turn spiteful again.

But now she did not have to do anything at all.

'There is no pressure.'

In the mountain and in the village, something had always borne down on her shoulders.

When she stepped where she should not step, when she started to say what she should not say, the nape of her neck would go cold and her body would stiffen of its own accord. That thing that pressed down on her shoulders was not here.

'This is not that mountain — it is a domain governed solely by the Fox God….'

From the moment she entered this domain she had known that this was the inside of the Fox God. His belly. But it was not damp and grieving the way the Fox Den was. No spectre snatched at her ankles.

It was simply clean.

'How immaculate He is.'

It was just about then.

"…!"

Knock, knock.

The door opened.

'The Fox God's own hands and feet…?'

Every one of them a fair face wearing the same smile. The things that came in made no sound as they walked, and were neatly dressed in black. The garments were similar in form to the ones the Fox God wore.

"……."

They were ones with no neok.

'They must be the same sort of being as those Offered to the Fox Den.'

Recalling the auntie and the previous Chief, it was easy enough to understand.

'Then do these ones work for the Fox God as well? To fill His belly, the way the Fox Den does?'

But the chill lasted only a moment; the things raised a silver tray and held it out before the child. Brightly colored confections and finely steeped tea came into the child's view.

Without a word, it lifted the tray a little higher.

"?"

"Yes?"

Did it want an answer? It smiled politely and offered the tray once more, angling what lay on it so that it fell squarely within the child's line of sight.

"?"

"Ah…."

Only then did the young Chief understand what it meant.

"Ah, no, I am quite all right."

She declined as courteously as she could, and, embarrassed for reasons she could not name, flushed a little.

'I understand this is a place where speaking is permitted, but there is no telling whether eating is permitted too. When you are inside the belly of a god, they said, be most careful of what you eat and drink.'

At that, the hollow things looked at one another and quietly withdrew.

"Pardon the intrusion."

And soon after, something else came into the room. This visitor's footsteps made a sound — deliberately, it seemed. She was a black-haired beauty whose eyes curved fox-like and fondly.

"Might you not be hungry?"

"Th-that is not it, exactly…."

"Our Master instructed us to look after you with particular care. It is not that I fail to grasp what worries you, but do please take just one bite. They are nothing but very sweet confections."

"It is only that…."

"I have been slow to introduce myself to so honored a person."

The woman curved her eyes into crescent moons.

"It is an honor to attend the Chief of the fox village. They call me 'the Fox Sister.'"

"Fox?"

The child's voice cracked as she spat out the word.

'Now that she mentions it, her presence is somehow….'

She was not hollow the way the ones from before had been. Similar in shape, but her expressions were far more varied, and her self looked vivid.

'A fox is speaking with a human face.'

And the instant they heard the words 'the Fox Sister,' the black things pressed to either side of her twitched their noses.

"Kong."

"Yes, my younger siblings. Truly adorable, are they not?"

"Kong-kong."

"And so very fluffy."

The woman laughed.

'The Fox Sister, and her younger siblings….'

Something quietly clicked into place inside the child.

These foxes were the ones she had met so often in the Fox Den. Two shadows that kept watch at the god's side. They were here, and their elder was here, and they called the owner of this house Master.

'So He truly is the Fox God.'

Vaguely believing a thing and actually knowing it were different. Only now could the child be certain. Her shoulders eased a little further, and her mouth opened more lightly than before.

"Um, ah, there is something I must tell you."

"As much as you like."

"One of your honored younger siblings was gravely hurt. By the executioner's blade. He looks perfectly well now, but what becomes of that? It happened because of me…."

"Do not worry yourself so."

The woman's voice settled over hers.

"Those children dwell, gloriously, inside the Master's shadow. He has swallowed them, so even if He spits them out, He need only gather them in again."

"He swallowed them…?"

"Yes. Look. Are their forms not perfectly whole? It is all His grace."

The child chewed the words over twice.

That was the very thing the adults had left behind in their village. This place is His belly, so if He does not spit you out, you will never get out at all. Of all the sayings the child knew, it was the most frightening.

And now that saying had come back to her like this. He has swallowed you, so you will not be harmed.

'…Then I too….'

The child laid a hand over her chest.

Still she was not hungry and not thirsty. The red thing He had fed her must still be inside here. She could feel that 'the Fox Sister' was gazing at it too.

'And so I am already gathered into Him.'

Having thought that far, the child reached carefully toward the confections.

"Um, if it is all right, might I…."

"Of course."

'Given a vow and an explanation on top of it, to refuse any further would be rude.'

When she put the small round thing in her mouth, the scent of pine pollen rushed up. Sweet honey filled her mouth as the confection melted softly on her tongue. It was delicious enough to make her fingertips tingle.

Having eaten something sweet and soft, her eyes drifted of their own accord to the silver tray.

'One of those gleaming trays and our babies could….'

No. No.

"……."

The child stopped her reckoning.

'Because now is not the time for that.'

Instead she settled inwardly on two principles. Take only what has been vowed; for the rest, ask first, then take. What can be known by reading, read; what cannot be known by reading, ask.

"Do you require nothing further?"

"Ah, no. Thank you. That is plenty."

"The Master has stepped away; He has a small matter to see to. He will return shortly, so until then, please tell us whatever you wish, at your ease."

The woman added,

"He said to do anything for you, so long as it is not dangerous."

"Anything…?"

Flustered, the child's back went straight again.

When grace was that broad, there was no telling how far the permitted range ran. It was bewildering in the exact opposite way the Fox Den was. The Fox Den tightened; this place left everything loose.

'In the Den the lines were hidden, and stepping on one meant being Offered — but like this, rather… is the line not so far off that you might step on it without ever knowing you had?'

That felt a little frightening, so the child asked carefully,

"What time… might it be now?"

"Are you curious about the time?"

"I do not know how long it has been since I came here."

Only after saying it did the child realize how frightening that situation was.

Here the light did not change; it was exactly as bright now as when she had first come in. The child was a child who lived her days by the slant of the sun. When to wake the babies, when to spread the grain out — she knew it by that.

But like this, there was nothing inside this space she could count.

"I should like to ask just one thing."

The child climbed down from the bed.

"Is there anywhere here that the sun reaches?"

"Of course there is."

"Does that fall within the permission as well?"

The woman looked down at the child for a moment. Then she bent slightly at the waist and opened a hand toward the door.

"I shall escort you."

Stepping out into the corridor, the first thing the child did was count the ways. The door she had come in by, the door she would go out by, the places that were blocked. It was the habit of a child who had survived the Den.

"……."

"Hoho. Would you care to look a while longer?"

"Ah, yes, just a little…."

But there was nothing to count.

There were markings on the walls, and without being asked the one beside her pointed the way with a hand. That way lay the stairs, and these stairs ran both down and up.

'The Den hid its paths, but in His belly the things inside are telling me the way.'

A little more of the tension went out of her shoulders.

'It is different from the Den….'

***

Lee Yeon-ho looked once at the ceiling, once at the window, once at the door.

Then he touched his own neck.

"……."

It was attached.

"…You're skilled."

"Thank you."

"That wasn't praise."

A young man in black stood beside the bed. Beneath neatly swept-back hair, there was no red inside the golden irises. The hair had gone back to black as well.

Lee Yeon-ho raised himself up.

"Hoo…."

His bones creaked, but nothing was broken. That was so despite his remembering he had given up about three ribs. For the state of a man just out of a fight with a Dokkaebi of this caliber, it was frankly absurd.

"You worked on me."

"It is our hotel's policy."

"There's such a policy?"

"We do not leave a guest injured."

"Guest."

Lee Yeon-ho blinked.

"Me?"

"Yes."

The thing that had introduced itself on the mountain as the 'General Manager' bent at the waist.

"I apologize for not having briefed you beforehand, as you were asleep, but your check-in has already been completed. Prosecutor Lee Yeon-ho, you have been registered as a formal guest of our hotel."

For a moment Lee Yeon-ho said nothing.

"That is… very kind of you."

His mind turned over.

'A highly refined Labyrinth.'

It had a self, it had rules, it had the concept of a guest. There was generally only one way a Labyrinth with a system developed that far kept hold of a person.

Lee Yeon-ho asked dryly,

"The price."

"You leap to a distant subject already."

"A hotel this lavish isn't going to be free. I know the going rate too."

He threw off the blanket and, still seated on the bed, set his feet on the carpet.

"What are you taking?"

"A prosecutor indeed."

The General Manager smiled — a slow curve, that fox's face of his.

"And your body cannot even be whole yet."

"I happen to be the diligent sort."

"We have already taken it."

"This sort of development is a little troublesome."

"We took something the guest will not miss."

He asked,

"How many children do you have in all?"

"There are two, but that's a price I'd miss rather a lot."

"Then you are quite all right."

"……."

Lee Yeon-ho stared at the man. The man did not change his expression by so much as a hair.

"…Doesn't anyone tell you that you do business strangely?"

He had wondered whether it was a threat holding his family hostage, but there was no sign of that. Nor did the man look inclined to say any more about what he had been hinting at.

For the record, Lee Yeon-ho had no intention of asking further either.

"For a bastard running a hotel this size, you talk in metaphors."

"Appearances aside, I hold the operating rights, so no one has spoken ill of it."

"A swindler, then."

"How regrettable."

The door opened and the soundless things wheeled in a tray.

Lee Yeon-ho recognized at once that they were Husks with no neok. Then he switched off his interest. The table was laden with steaming food.

The buckwheat jelly salad caught his eye especially well.

"……."

Without a word, Lee Yeon-ho picked up his chopsticks.

"You must like buckwheat jelly."

"It was what you gave me that day, as well."

"Is that so."

"Are you not curious how it was made?"

"Not curious."

"I thought you might be a little curious."

"What would I do with knowing."

Lee Yeon-ho picked at the food indifferently.

The texture giving way on his tongue, the clear flavor, and the aroma. To an Artist's intuition, this was no illusion the Labyrinth had manufactured. Which meant it was not bait serving as a medium for an Offering, either.

'Real food, then….'

So where were the 'hotel's operating costs' being drawn from?

'For a Labyrinth of this scale, the way it is run is unusual.'

It puzzled him, though he was not exactly dying to know.

Lee Yeon-ho knew that once he began paying attention to a thing, he would have to watch it for a very long time. That was his temper, and he had little wish to do it.

The General Manager looked down at the sight for a moment.

"Is it to your taste?"

"Mm."

"I shall have more prepared."

"No need."

"There is liquor as well."

"I am fine."

"We could move you to another room. The floors above the one you are using have a better view."

"This one's fine."

"Clothing?"

"This will do."

He refused nothing, and he wanted nothing.

"Is there nothing that discomforts you?"

"Nothing."

"Anything you need?"

"Nothing."

"…Anything you want?"

Lee Yeon-ho set down his chopsticks.

"Not particularly."

"……."

The smile hung at the corner of the General Manager's mouth froze, just for an instant, exactly as it was.

This person was empty.

'It is not that he is enduring….'

There was nothing there to begin with.

***

"And yet the man himself — why does he live the way he does?"

"It turned out that way."

It was a dull face, with no will in it at all.

"That does not sound like grounds valid enough to accept."

"Won't you live a little loosely, for once."

"Did you think I would sit and watch that happen?"

"A Dokkaebi of a bastard…."

But he had looked at ease.

"If you are an adult, kindly behave like one."

Because the 'Lee Yeon-woo' inside it was smiling too.

***

"……."

The General Manager flipped past the memory like a file.

It had been a thing of barely ten-odd years. No abilities, no assets; all it possessed was a skill with its tongue. And that thing had caught this man's sleeve and hung on and dragged him to the next day, and the day after that.

So it was fine.

'That clumsy little thing managed it.'

So how could I fail?