Chapter 143: CHAPTER. 7 Branch Point (1)

Su-myeon humored Alice as much as possible, giving cooperative answers to keep her in a good mood.

“As expected, you’re someone who gets it.”

Apparently pleased with Su-myeon’s attitude, Alice burst into a delighted giggle.

At her response, Su-myeon immediately threw out the question he had been waiting to ask.

“Actually, there was one thing I wanted to ask you.”

Su-myeon continued as though he were simply making ordinary conversation.

But in truth, he wasn’t asking this because he was genuinely curious either.

“Why did you specifically ask to see me again?”

At Su-myeon’s question, Alice rested her chin on the table and looked at him as though she were enjoying herself.

“Why do you think I wanted to see you?”

“I was the one asking the question.”

“That’s true. But whether I answer or not is up to me.”

Su-myeon hated moments like this the most.

Those damn ghost-story bastards seemed to absolutely love word games.

Was it because they were born from stories?

Things that lived inside rules seemed to enjoy finding loopholes in the most pointless places.

“I thought of about two reasons.”

The one who wanted something had to talk first.

Su-myeon casually listed the reasons he had considered.

“Because I know your rules. Or because I have far more causality than other people?”

That was about all Su-myeon could think of.

He had considered not mentioning the first reason at all, but saying it directly once seemed like it might have value.

The masters of ghost stories weren’t idiots.

After watching him clear one ghost story after another, they must have noticed at least that much.

If anything, at this point openly saying it and turning it into a bluff might be even more effective.

“That’s right.”

Alice smiled with her chin propped in both hands atop the table like a flower.

“To be precise, the second reason is a much bigger part of why I like you.”

The advance information he had about ghost stories.

Alice continued, saying that was closer to being merely the reason his causality kept growing.

“I think I could have fun with just you for a good thousand years.”

Like some nearly perfect natural power plant for ghost stories.

An interesting piece of prey.

Seeing the greedy look in the girl’s eyes, as though she were staring at an enormous strawberry cake, made Su-myeon feel sick.

After thinking for a moment, Su-myeon carefully took a dagger from his inventory and lightly cut away part of his own shadow reflected on the table.

[Peter Pan’s Dagger]

[If the user stabs and cuts out ‘their own shadow’ from the floor, the shadow separates into an independent servant possessing three-dimensional physical force.]

The shadow slid down and dropped lightly beneath the table.

It was the shadow of Su-myeon’s upper body.

Watching his own shadow slowly crawl along on its arms and hide under the table was deeply unpleasant, but it would definitely be useful if something happened.

Still, that wasn’t the main point right now.

It was insurance in case of emergency.

He was still waiting for the right timing.

If he could just get a little closer, if he could hold Alice’s interest a little longer....

“So, I never had any intention of letting you leave.”

That much Su-myeon had expected.

Of course you didn’t.

He had agreed to the conversation partly because he already knew she would never simply let him go without using some excuse.

The first time, Alice had probably been caught off guard and hadn’t properly responded.

But this time, they had even set a one-month deadline before visiting.

Wouldn’t Alice have made plans of her own?

Even so, what happened next was something he hadn’t expected.

“I enjoyed our conversation.”

“...!”

In an instant, the tile beneath the chair he was sitting on flipped over.

Literally as easily as turning over a hand.

No, this wasn’t part of the plan....

Mu-yeon, who had been sitting quietly in the next chair, barely managed to leap in and bite down on Su-myeon’s sleeve.

“...!”

The last thing he saw was Han-su staring at him in shock.

Then, along with his completely overturned field of vision, his body was hurled down to the floor.

It was only thanks to Mu-yeon managing to shield his head that things weren’t worse.

“Ugh....”

Groaning, Su-myeon pushed his upper body upright.

What he saw was a strangely damp carpet, old yellowed wallpaper discolored with age.

And guest rooms stretching endlessly onward....

“Damn it.”

It was definitely the lowest floor, the one with the ordinary guest rooms.

Alice’s interest was actually very simple.

It wasn’t Su-myeon himself.

She wanted the causality he possessed.

And in that sense, Alice had no reason to take a risk and keep him on the top floor.

‘So she didn’t mean she was keeping me around because talking to me was fun?’

Had thinking that been a little too self-important?

Feeling oddly embarrassed and irritated, Su-myeon checked his Heartphone.

[23. The VIP lounge has an emergency exit! There is a special passage that sends you directly back to the guest rooms, so please make frequent use of it in emergencies!]

Seeing a new rule appear, he clicked his tongue.

At least one fortunate thing was that, while he hadn’t expected this specifically, he had left part of his shadow behind up there.

“Grrr....”

Mu-yeon approached Su-myeon with a worried expression.

He didn’t seem injured anywhere and only appeared concerned about the situation, so Su-myeon reassured him by scratching under his chin.

“Thank you for coming with me. Please keep an eye on the surroundings for a bit.”

I’m fine.

Somewhat relieved by Su-myeon’s words, Mu-yeon sat down with his rump pressed firmly against Su-myeon’s side.

It was fortunate that Mu-yeon had come with him, but that meant Han-su had been left alone....

‘......Not completely alone, I guess?’

Either way, Su-myeon was worried about Han-su, who had no one he could rely on.

Looking around, he spotted a piece of reddish-brown cloth hanging from a doorknob not far away.

“.......”

Of all places, he had really been returned to exactly where he had first arrived in this hotel.

If his memory was correct, using the room where the shaggy-haired man had died as the reference point, the room directly in front of him now....

This was the room Su-myeon had first opened the door and stepped out of.

‘......I’m never going back in there.’

Not that he had any reason to.

Around then, Su-myeon shook off his stray thoughts, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

Another view, seen through his shadow, formed inside his mind.

***

“Where did you send him?”

Anyone could see that Han-su had lost his composure.

Only his characteristic stoicism was keeping his body planted in the chair.

He radiated such savage pressure that he looked ready to jump up, grab Alice by the collar, and slam her down at any moment.

But Alice merely laughed and swung the tips of her dangling little feet.

“Why don’t we enjoy our own tea time?”

Su-myeon’s shadow quietly moving across the floor beckoned with one hand within Han-su’s field of vision.

“.......”

After noticing it, Han-su tried his best to remain calm.

It was a relief to know Su-myeon was safe, but he was still furious that Alice had sent him off somewhere alone.

At least this meant he didn’t need to awkwardly pretend to be angry.

Without realizing that he himself was the one who had truly been left alone.

Watching the thoroughly enraged Han-su, Alice giggled and sipped her black tea.

“Like I said earlier, I want all of you. So... think of it as....”

Alice rolled her eyes as though choosing her words, then answered brightly.

“Think of it as me sending him on a little hotel tour. Don’t worry so much. You know too, don’t you? He’s not the kind of person who would die easily down in the basement.”

Not that I intend to let him.

Alice continued cheerfully.

“If all of you are detained here, then who knows? Wouldn’t your companions want to come rescue you too?”

The causality possessed by each of them individually, after going in and out of ghost stories so many times, was hardly insignificant either.

Causality possessed by a person—or anything else.

It was essentially the power to affect the world.

“An individual’s experiences, knowledge, memories.... All of those things are power. When it comes to extraordinary experiences, you don’t actually have that much less than Han Su-myeon, do you?”

As Alice said that, the corners of her mouth stretched into a wide grin.

“Of course, you’re an idiot who can’t do anything by yourself.”

That was why Alice hadn’t bothered dropping Han-su all the way to the bottom.

Even if Han-su stayed here alone, he didn’t seem likely to be much of a threat.

“Now then. While our clever Su-myeon wanders around underground and we wait for him, why don’t we play a game?”

Alice spoke as though she were preparing to play house.

“It’s more fun if there’s something at stake. How about I wager one body part from that guest, and you wager one part of your own body?”

Alice proposed it with sparkling eyes.

At that moment, with childish squeaks and boings like the sounds of a child’s toy, the surroundings began to change.

[24. A casino area has been newly established in the VIP lounge! High risk, high reward! Enjoy thrilling gambling without hesitation!]

Han-su looked at the Heartphone that suddenly chimed.

Alice was writing a new rule right now.

***

Su-myeon opened his eyes after watching up to that point.

The proposal obviously looked like a trap, but recklessly refusing it probably wouldn’t be wise.

If Alice dropped Han-su somewhere different from him, they would only waste even more time trying to find each other.

And even if Su-myeon tried to give him some kind of advice, he might only reveal the existence of the shadow.

‘I have no choice but to trust him here.’

Even if Han-su didn’t make the best possible choice, he wasn’t someone who would do something completely absurd.

Now that things had turned out this way, the answer was for Su-myeon to get back there as quickly as possible.

At least overhearing that conversation had allowed him to realize one thing.

Alice clearly didn’t know about this pen.

[The Red Queen’s Pen]

[A ballpoint pen capable of establishing rules within Alice Hotel. A premium item made by dissolving someone’s causality into ink.]

If she had known about it, she wouldn’t have separated the two of them like this.

She would have scattered everyone into places that made it far more difficult for them to find one another.

In that case, the answer was the straightforward approach.

Su-myeon immediately took out the pen he had received from the Red Queen.

[24. Between the guest-room doors on Basement Level 9, there is an elevator leading directly to the VIP lounge. If you have any questions, please come straight up and ask.]

Su-myeon wrote the line in wording that matched the atmosphere of the ghost story well enough.

He hadn’t planned to use it this way, but any item had to be used when there was a chance to use it.

‘Like hell I’m climbing all the way back up one floor at a time.’

No matter how well Han-su held out, climbing eight floors again was far too reckless.

As Su-myeon wrote the sentence on the wall, the letters began sinking deeply into it, as though they were being engraved there.

Along with the letters changing as though they were seeping into the space itself, the door in front of Su-myeon began to transform.

The door to the room Su-myeon had first arrived in.

It gradually changed with smooth, almost computer-generated naturalness into an antique....

No, more precisely, an old-fashioned, worn sliding door.

Apparently, everything generated here automatically conformed to the hotel owner’s aesthetic tastes.

[Under Inspection]

The message blinked on the small display above the door, as though it were still constructing the new feature.

It seemed to require a little more time than Su-myeon had expected.

After pacing anxiously in front of the door for a moment, Su-myeon sat back down in the same spot and closed his eyes again.