Even after that, Yun Hye-rin’s offensive did not stop.
The one fortunate thing was that,-Lord Luiard has currently secured the second prize.
in the end, the second prize hidden beneath the lobby counter was found by Luiard, the Red Dragon.
If the little one had found even that......
A claim would have been guaranteed.
No, considering she was already sweeping up lodging tickets, claims were on the verge of coming in.
The fortunate thing was No. 104’s quick response.
“I ordered the clones to scatter a few more lodging tickets. The participating guests should be able to find at least one or two.”
“Well done.”
He had been clutching his head, but he had used it rather well.
‘At this rate, perhaps we can pass without major dissatisfaction.’
Although we would suffer some loss through free lodging, it was a far better result than public sentiment falling into the abyss.
“Still, is it not all right since she has not found the first prize?”
At those words, I merely stared silently at No. 100.
The fellow forcibly avoided my gaze, then soon planted his head on the floor of his own accord.
Good grief.
“Get up.”
“Yes.”
“We cannot change the first prize, can we?”
The first prize No. 100 had suggested, the right to use Ryu Hwi-jae for one day.
It was an outrageous suggestion, but No. 100 had said it would certainly work.
In reality, several of the participants were wandering around looking only for the first prize, so......
“If they stumble onto the first prize, I truly, truly will hate it.”
“The fortunate thing is that warp to Basement Floor 400 is impossible, is it not? They have to go on foot, and considering the time remaining, it is physically impossible.”
“Most of all, they are below Basement Floor 50, are they not? It is impossible even to enter.”
Physically impossible.
So it would be fine.
There was roughly one hour and a half remaining until the event ended.
With this much time, no matter how remarkable the little one’s instinct was, she could not reach it.
So it would be fine.
......It really would be fine, right?
***
Yun Hye-rin could not erase the strangely uneasy feeling.
“Umm, I feel like something big is still left.”
She instinctively knew that there were three big things hidden.
One had been found by her, and another had been found by someone else.
However, the most important one had yet to be discovered.
She knew where it was, but she could not sense how to reach it.
She only felt an inexplicable sense of being at a loss.
“Ummm.”
“Why do you look like that?”
“There’s one wayyy over there, but I can’t get to it.”
“You mean below?”
“Yes.”
Looking at the floor Yun Hye-rin pointed to, the two martial artists stroked their chins.
Because of what the child had shown them until now, they did not think for even a moment that it was a lie.
“Does that mean it is hidden between floors?”
“No. It’s just wayyy down there.”
“......Underground.”
The moment the two martial artists heard that, they smacked their foreheads.
“Hoh, so the Proprietor had no intention of giving out the first prize from the beginning.”
“We should have known from the moment the first prize was so outrageous.”
At the word underground, the Heavenly Demon and the Alliance Leader immediately gave up the search.
At their judgment, which differed from until now, Yun Hye-rin asked,“What’s wrong with underground?”
“Have you ever gone underground?”
“No.”
“Mm, you have only been here for a few days, have you not? It is only natural that you do not know.”
The Heavenly Demon stroked his chin, then carefully began speaking.
“Child, listen well. This hotel can raise its floors as much as the Proprietor wishes.”
“I think I heard that.”
“Then there is no need for the concept of underground. There is no reason to make it.”
Every floor could be quickly traveled to and from, and the floors could be increased infinitely.
Even so, why did the concept of underground exist?
“That place is a space the Proprietor has hidden away. A space where he buried past mistakes and hid his failures.”
The Heavenly Demon had once entered that place.
Drawn by curiosity.
However, he had completely erased that memory.
That, too, had been the Heavenly Demon’s choice.
“Of course, not every part of the underground is like that. Some places were made to manage the hotel.”
“He means places like the pantry or storage rooms.”
“That is right. It is as the Alliance Leader says. However, those are exceptions. What matters is that it is a place you must never enter.”
The two drew a clear line.
In any case, they had obtained a sufficient number of lodging tickets.
Therefore, there was no need to aim for the first prize.
However, that fact instead ignited Yun Hye-rin’s heart.
“I want to go in.”
The child stuck out her lips, thought for a moment, then moved her feet.
“Little one?”
“Hye-rin!”
“I’ll be back!”
The two martial artists tried to catch her, but Yun Hye-rin swiftly dodged their hands and ran.
***
“Umm—”
She still did not know exactly how to get there.
But she wanted to go.
‘I’m curious.’
She already knew that the mister treated her differently from others.
After all, one needed to read the room in order to survive.
However, she pretended not to know, in moderation.
Everything he taught her was helpful, and being with him was fun.
She liked that he personally dried her hair before she slept, and she was happy that he stayed beside her until she fell asleep.
It felt as if Dad had returned, so every one of those moments satisfied her.
But what if,what if she touched the wrong thing and that time ended?
That was why, even though she was curious, she had to force herself to hide and conceal it.
But the thought that seeped in like a drizzle could not be erased.
At such timing, the proposal from the two grandpas could only seem quite tempting.
Because perhaps she might be able to learn the reason the mister cherished her.
“It’s dark.”
She had only walked down the stairs a little, but unlike above, the underground was dark.
At most, there were only a few lights hanging on the walls.
Even the air was eerie, and she did not want to stay here for long.
Goosebumps rose slightly along her arms.
But she brushed them down with her hand and hurried her steps.
She had come this far, so she could not return without gaining anything.
She could only continue forward.
She did not know how many floors she had passed, nor did she know what the black doors that appeared here and there meant.
She merely took one step after another, led by instinct.
When she had descended close to fifty floors that way,“Huh.”
The stairs vanished, and in their place stood a giant door before her.
It was, how should one put it,not a door, but like a massive wall.
It was the sort of door one hesitated even to touch, yet her instinct whispered.
To reach the place she wanted, she had to pass through here.
And the whisper of her instinct had always been right.
When she wanted to live, it guided her to the path.
When she said she wanted to hide, it showed her a safe place.
That was how she had been able to keep living.
“Phew.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, then placed her hand on the door.
Clack, clack.
Creeeak.
The seals placed beyond the door were released, and the locked door opened.
At that moment,“What an amusing guest.”
Nothing could be seen through that small opening, but from within, where a darkness like an abyss sat, a voice was heard.
“So he was preparing a new project. It was because of a guest like this.”
It was certainly the mister’s voice, but the atmosphere was different.
“Still, it seems many new guests have come. That must be it, right? It had better be. The reason I am here is for that, after all.”
As she stood frozen stiff, a hand extended through the slightly opened gap in the door.
“Here, take it. You came for this, did you not?”
It was a ticket that shone more intensely than any ticket she had discovered until now.
She could say with certainty that this was the first prize.
“He will dislike it, but teasing him a little would not be bad either.”
The being inside chuckled and lightly shook the ticket.
“It is all right. Nothing will happen that harms you.”
“......Mister?”
The voice was still cold, but she could feel that he was thinking of her.
Only that point was the same as the Ryu Hwi-jae she knew.
Hye-rin received the ticket and opened her mouth.
“U-uh...... thank you.”
“Go back up now. If you stay longer, he will get angry.”
The hand that had released the ticket lightly waved and went back into the darkness.
“It was nice meeting you.”
“See...... you again.”
“We will see.”
“I’ll come again.”
“When you return, ask him to tell you an old story. It will be fun.”
A chuckling laugh.
The slightly opened door closed again.
The door, firmly shut tight, did not move at all now, unlike before.
It felt as if its business had been completed.
Yun Hye-rin held the ticket in her hand tightly and climbed the stairs.
She had only been there for a very short time.
But perhaps it would become a time she could not easily forget.
***
The treasure hunt event ended with the first, second, and third prizes all discovered.
Fortunately, every guest found lodging tickets worth two to four days, making it an unprecedentedly profitable event.
The several guests who had not participated in the event only continued regretting it.
From my perspective, it was painful.
“This event secured 920 days’ worth of lodging fees...... however, the lodging fees secured by the guests amount to 1,042 days.”
Very much so.
“Does it make sense that we were supposed to earn lodging fees, but instead lost them......?”
“The unexpected variable was too great.”
“Phew, yes. I truly never expected this.”
Because it had been an entirely different side from what the little one had shown until now.
There had been nothing to be done.
Yes, we only needed to do better next time.
“No. 104, use this failure as fertilizer and plan a better event next time.”
“Understood.”
“Write up and submit a report of apology.”
“......Understood.”
Even if it had failed because of a variable, a mistake was still a mistake.
Rewards and punishments had to be thorough.
Yes, thorough.
“Hye-rin.”
“Yes!”
With the event over, the child had returned to her original appearance.
She seemed disappointed that she had returned to being young again, but
later, she would grow even if she disliked it.
“Congratulations. You found first and third place.”
“Hehe, I got lucky!”
“That is not something that can be answered with the word luck, though.”
When she brought the first-prize ticket I had thought she would absolutely never be able to bring back, I nearly experienced fainting for the first time in several thousand years.
‘What a fickle bastard.’
It was utterly clear who the culprit behind this incident was.
However, because I understood his intention, I decided to silently overlook it.
We would not touch each other.
For that, we had been separated, and he had imprisoned himself underground.
“The third prize is a ten-day lodging ticket. I will add that to your current lodging period. And about the first prize.”
The one-day usage ticket......
‘Phew.’
Yes, I should make No. 100 write a report of apology too.
Only then did I feel as if this headache would ease a little.
“What will you do?”
The little one sat on the chair and swung her legs.
The child, filled with excitement, thought for a moment before opening her mouth.
“Later, you know. Please be my dad for just one day.”
“......That thing you asked when you first came?”
“Hehe, yes. But not with Dad’s face. With your face, mister.”
“I do not think that would be being your dad.”
“Hehe, it’s similar.”
Even if she pretended to be mature, she was still a child, so it was quite a small request.
“All right, well. I can grant that much. No, tell me whenever you want. I will do it.”
“Yay! I like it.”
The little one smiled, then quietly looked back at me.
“But mister.”
“What?”
“Can I ask something I’m curious about?”
“What is it?”
“Your old stories, mister.”
......I knew such a question would come from this child’s mouth one day, but
I thought she would not ask.
Because she was a quick-witted child.
‘Even so, the fact that she asked is probably because of that one underground.’
Good grief.
It seemed he had gotten restless after staying there for so long.
I should go talk to him sometime later. Good grief.
For now,“There are too many old stories for me to tell you all of them.”
“Ummm.”
“Instead, I will answer one thing you are curious about.”
I already knew well what the little one was curious about.
I had merely pretended not to know.
“I am on your side.”
The little one’s eyes blinked several times, then widened.
Why I treated her well, why she was special.
I knew she had many thoughts like that.
However, the thing she most wanted to hear was not the answer to such questions.
“I will not leave you, and I will never become a threat to you.”
What this tiny young child needed was simply
“You do not need to worry.”
a firm belief.
“......Hehe.”
The fragile life smiled brightly.