Basement Floor 50.
I looked at the massive door blocking the way ahead.
“Hmm......”
The malice and killing intent pouring from the door, along with the thick emotions that accompanied them, were nothing but unpleasant.
Even so, what could I do?
That too was me.
Clack, clack.
When I placed my hand on the door, the locking devices released in sequence.
They were meant to confine the one inside, but the locks had been set up from within.
Since he could come out whenever he wished, perhaps the word imprisonment did not actually fit.
However, “we” called it confinement.
Creeeak.
From beyond the briefly opened door came the sound of long breathing.
“You came personally?”
“It has been a while, hasn’t it?”
“It has. Around ten years?”
“About five hundred years.”
“Ah, is that so? It is hard to feel the flow of time here.”
I almost never met with him alone.
Because I knew it did not have a very good effect on either of us.
We had decided to speak only on truly special occasions.
Conversely, that meant this was one such special occasion.
“You came now because of that little child, I suppose?”
“Yes. It is about that guest.”
“Heh heh, she looked exactly like her. I was surprised when I saw her.”
“So you did that to surprise me?”
“You could say that. You like surprises, don’t you?”
“Bullshit.”
Whenever I talked to this bastard, good words never came out.
“That child will bring us to that person. Because she is special.”
“So?”
“I need help.”
The little one had to remain at the hotel.
For that, a price was needed.
From the little one, and from me as well.
“At any rate, everything troublesome, irritating, and difficult gets pushed onto me.”
“The essence does not change. No. 100 also pushes the troublesome things onto other clones.”
“Keke, true. Then.”
A hand pierced through the black mist and shot out.
A hand that looked exactly like mine.
Resting upon it was a white bead.
“No. 10. This should be enough.”
“As a price, it is large.”
“When investing, one must be bold.”
“Is that why every stock you bought went to ruin?”
“Kukuk, I certainly bought at the bottom. I just did not know there was a basement. Ah. Though I am in the basement now, am I not?”
I smiled faintly.
I received the bead from the bastard who was laughing foolishly.
The tenth clone.
It was the core of a clone made in the early days by splitting my soul.
In other words, a fragment of my soul.
It was the price I would put forth to leave the little one in this place.
“Judge well that we are not masters of investment. Unless you, too, wish to enter the basement beneath the floor.”
“This time will be different.”
“How much did you lose after saying those words?”
“That was your business, bastard.”
“It was your business too.”
The hand of the bastard who had been sneering flicked up its middle finger and vanished into the darkness.
“Work hard. Let us not see each other often. Your soul should remain clean.”
The door closed again.
Along with the sound of the locking devices operating once more, his presence vanished completely.
At any rate.
“Hold on well.”
After sending my regards to the one who had already gone far away, I turned around.
The plan was uncertain, but the important pieces had been prepared.
***
The next day, the little one woke up earlier than usual.
Almost an hour earlier?
“What is the occasion? You woke up this early.”
“Mm, I had a strange dream.”
“A strange dream?”
“A nightmare.”
As I lightly dried her hair, the little one spoke calmly.
“It was a dream where Dad patted my shoulder and went far away.”
“Is that so?”
“He didn’t come back even when I called him. Like he couldn’t hear me.”
From the little one’s perspective, it certainly was a nightmare.
Especially because she was a child whose affection for the person she called Dad ran deep.
“It was a dream. Your dad would not be the sort of person who would not turn back when you called him.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yes. There, it is done.”
When I neatly braided her dried hair, it suited her well too.
Was it that she looked good no matter what was done because her face was pretty?
“Hehe, it’s pretty.”
“I am glad you like it. Then, would you sit over here?”
“Huh?”
The little one, who had been about to go outside, flinched at my words.
Usually, we would have gone straight to class, but today was different.
Today, there was something important to discuss.
I created a table in one corner of the room and sat there.
“Is there anything you want to drink? Juice or honey water?”
“Um, something sweet!”
“Then...... yes. Try a milkshake. This is tasty too.”
After taking out something the little one would like and setting it down, I brewed coffee for myself.
As the faint coffee scent spread, my head felt clearer.
My heart settled more neatly as well.
“Mm! It’s tasty!”
“I am glad. Then drink as you listen.”
“What is it?”
“In three days, you will return.”
It felt as if she had not stayed long at all.
Yet time had already passed like this.
“The lodging period extended by the lodging tickets you earned in the last event ends then.”
The time for her to leave this hotel was just before us.
“Eeh, already? That’s too bad.”
“Yes, I think so too. There is still much left to teach you.”
She had quickly grasped Mana, but she was not yet at a level where she could use it skillfully.
She was only barely able to use a single basic spell, and she could barely handle one miracle.
Returning like this was quite worrying.
I did not know how the monsters would roam either.
“That is why I intend to make you a proposal.”
“A proposal?”
“Yes, a kind of contract.”
I took out the contract I had prepared in advance and set it down before her.
THUD.
“M-mister?”
“Contracts must be meticulous by nature. So as I wrote it, the content grew rather long. Read it carefully.”
I had been careful not to include any poisonous clauses, but one never knew.
Ah, and because I had written it to match a child’s eye level, the contents had become even longer.
“Read it slowly. Slowly. Do you want cake too?”
“Uuuu, is this studying?”
“It is similar. Think of it as social studies.”
At least in this hotel, there was nothing more important than reading and writing contracts properly.
The little one began slowly reading from the front.
Some of the words were occasionally difficult, but I had attached explanations immediately afterward, so she should not have great trouble understanding.
After reading for a long while, the little one looked up at me silently and asked,“Mister, so this means...... if I sign it, I’ll keep staying at your hotel?”
“That is right.”
From the moment she signed the contract, the little one would be treated as a long-term guest of the Dimensional Hotel.
Then the matter of how she would pay the lodging fees would remain.
I attached the condition that, later, the little one would take over part of the hotel’s management.
Perhaps this part was the most important.
“I have not told you why I run this hotel, have I?”
“......No.”
“I am looking for one person.”
Before I even knew of this hotel’s existence, there was someone who risked her life to protect a dimension.
The person who offered her soul, closed the dimension, and vanished.
“I am searching for that person.”
I had continued research related to dimensions, and barely managed to catch hold of this hotel’s existence and approach it.
That was fortune for me, and the beginning of an eternal hell.
“And I am waiting to meet that person while receiving new guests. Like you.”
I was still waiting,
waiting for that person, whom I did not know when I would meet.
But I was certain of one thing.
“When I eventually meet that person, I will leave this hotel.”
Even if an enormous amount of time passed,I would ultimately leave this place.
Because there would be no reason to remain here any longer.
“When that time comes, you will take charge of this hotel in my place. For as long as the period you stayed long-term.”
The little one would operate this hotel for as long as the period she stayed for free.
Hotel management required many abilities, but, well.
An enormous amount of time would be needed before we arrived at that eventual moment, and by then, this little one would have reached at least the tips of my feet.
It would be lacking, but it would be enough.
“What do you think?”
“Umm......”
“It is a difficult proposal, but I can promise you one thing. If you continue staying at this hotel, someday, you will face the moment you wished for.”
Because she wished for something similar to me, there was no reason for this little one to reject this contract.
Rather, it was right for her to welcome it.
After all, there were countless regular guests of the Dimensional Hotel who coveted the hotel itself.
‘Mm, later, I should add this part to the hotel management education as well.’
The little one looked down at the contract and squeezed her eyes shut.
She looked troubled, but I knew.
You will not be able to refuse this.
Right?
“Mister.”
“Yes.”
“I...... Can I think about it?”
“......”
But this little one was cautious.
As always.
“You can. How long do you think you need?”
“......After I return to my dimension once.”
“Huh?”
Wait.
The point of this was to make sure you could not go back to that dangerous environment called your dimension.
What use is the plan if you go back there?
“Would you consider giving me an answer before that?”
However, the little one was firm.
She shook her head vigorously, making her strong intention not to do so clear.
Well now.
“Going back is dangerous.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“I want to go back and say goodbye to Dad.”
Listening closely, I could hear that the child’s voice was full of tears.
“I’ll tell him...... that I’ll wait until I can see him again.”
She would make a grave and say her final goodbye there.
That was what she meant.
‘She seemed to be reading roughly, but she read the contract carefully.’
She had realized that if she made the contract, she would not be able to return by her own will.
“Good. Then do that.”
If she knew, then I could not stop even that.
No, I must not stop it.
Because I knew well how painful it was to never again be able to set foot in one’s homeland.
“Then instead, let us make one more contract.”
“What kind?”
“Do not worry. This is for your safety.”
I took a bag out of the storage.
It was a bag imbued with various spells, and its abilities as a bag, such as spatial expansion, time freeze, and will interpretation, were of the highest grade.
“I will lend this to you.”
In order to borrow an item from the hotel, one had to pay a price.
“When you come back, you must bring lodging fees equal to the value of this bag. The rental cost is around forty days’ worth.”
Because the bag’s effects were so special, I had no choice but to measure the rental cost at that level.
In fact, because it was a rental, it only ended at that amount. If she were to take it entirely, she would have to pay far more than double that cost.
“Uuu, it’s expensive.”
“Expensive? I taught you all the items worth bringing back from the 200th floor. You should be able to bring those back.”
“Still......”
“Do not regret it. This is necessary for you.”
Was it necessary simply because several support spells were placed on the bag?
No.
“If you ever come to a moment when you are about to lose this bag, or when your life hangs by a thread, you will return here.”
A contract was always fulfilled.
If the moment came when it seemed about to be broken, the binding force of the contract would activate in reverse.
If a truly dangerous moment came, the little one would be forcibly returned to the hotel.
“Mister.”
“I said it before, but I am on your side. I will not do anything that harms you. And I will do my best to protect you.”
Because you will bring me to that person.
......Even if that were not the reason.
‘Because you resemble her.’
“That is what this is for.”
The little one silently looked at the new contract I had taken out.
After carefully reading each and every sentence, she wrote her three-syllable name, Yun Hye-rin, at the end.
I smiled faintly.
“You learned the Korean alphabet well.”
“Uuu...... after you taught it so frighteningly!”
“That is how you remember things for a long time.”
The contract was engulfed in blue flames and blended into us.
“The contract has been established.”
“Heeh.”
“I will give you the bag when you leave. Keeping it now would only be inconvenient.”
In the meantime, I should slip in a few items that would be helpful.
Bottled water and emergency rations were within the margin of error.
“Then let us study hard for the remaining three days.”
“Hehe, yes! I’m going to use basic magic within three days.”
“You will be able to. With your skill.”
Well, for now.
Let us drink the coffee and shake first before thinking further.
Sip.
Sluuurp—!
“It’s tasty!”