My name is No. 100.
As the one hundredth clone created, I inherited part of Master’s memories and reason.
My primary role is the overall management of the hotel.
“Eleven seconds. Twelve seconds. Thirteen seconds.”
From the perspective of my role, there was currently one headache that could not be easily resolved.
Calling Master, my creator, a headache was an act of considerable irreverence.
But it was an unavoidable truth.
“Seventeen seconds. Eighteen seconds. Nineteen seconds.”
The sight of him sitting inside the counter, staring at the clock and muttering,was a rather chilling scene for guests who came to the counter.
Especially from the perspective that many guests felt awe toward Master.
With a little exaggeration, he looked like a grim reaper checking how much lifespan someone had left.
I apologize to the grim reapers who visit us.
At any rate, what mattered was that Master had been continuing to do that at the counter.
Ever since he finished remodeling the floors.
If he continued to remain like that, talk would arise not only about the hotel’s reputation, but also about Master’s dignity.
Tearing the mouths of those irreverent people was something Master would do.
However, managing the hotel’s reputation was my responsibility.
In other words, managing Master’s mental state right now also fell within my capabilities.
After finishing a guest’s check-in procedure, I quietly approached Master.
“Master, are you all right?”
“Oh, I’m fine. But why is this little one not coming back? It has already been 4 days, 12 hours, and 24 seconds.”
“......She will return soon.”
It had not been that long since Miss Yun Hye-rin left the hotel.
Compared to guests who returned only decades later, or Master, who had lived through eons, it was a time close to an instant.
However, to Master, that time seemed to feel quite long.
“Nothing happened to her, right?”
Master had said he merely considered Miss Yun Hye-rin a special variable.
But from a perspective close to that of a third party, it was different.
It was clear that he cherished her more than any other guest.
“You stamped the contract, did you not? If anything happens, she will return to the hotel.”
“Yes, I know. I do know, but is it not around the time the emergency rations in her bag run out?”
“We packed a month’s worth of emergency rations. In most cases, she will not starve......”
“A month’s worth? Did you think the little one would be gone for an entire month?”
“Hiiik!”
“......We merely prepared with plenty of leeway. Please do not frighten the guest.”
When Master opened his eyes wide, the newly entering guest flinched.
In many ways, Master was also an object of fear to the guests.
“I will help you check in.”
“Uh, uh. Th-that is all right, yes?”
“Yes. He simply has many thoughts right now. Please do not worry, and I hope you have a comfortable stay.”
After gently guiding the lightly trembling guest, I glanced back.
Master had already gone back to staring at the clock and counting the passing time.
What I could do for such a Master was, in truth, not much different from what I had done until now.
I could only make various suggestions.
“Master, how about going to your room and resting?”
“To my room? Even if I go there, I will be bored. It is not as though I sleep.”
“Then how about some alcohol? There is deep-sea wine that the Merfolk King provided before.”
“Those three Murim old men drank all of it.”
I listed things that might draw Master’s interest somehow,but not one of them managed to catch Master’s attention.
Should I try a different strategy?
“Master, could you help with check-in procedures?”
“You do that well. Why would I? The guests all dislike it.”
“Then how about guard duty at the boundaries between floors?”
“The 200 series is doing well.”
Mm, so this did not work either.
Turning his attention through work had also failed.
Then, in the end, what remained was......
‘Prayer.’
There was nothing more I could do.
At most, I could place Master where he would be out of the guests’ eyes as much as possible, and wait for Miss Yun Hye-rin to return quickly.
Please do not call it giving up.
I had done my best in my own way.
So,‘Please come back quickly, Miss Yun Hye-rin!’
***
It had already been ten days since the little one returned.
There was still no sign that she would come back.
The one fortunate thing was that there was no sign of the contract activating either.
The fact that she was not in a situation where she might get hurt was good news, but as time grew longer, worries continued to arise.
‘She will not die.’
Each time that happened, I chewed over the contract and calmly organized my thoughts.
No matter how threatening the situation was, the little one could survive.
When I thought that way, my worries were reduced by half.
However,“Phew. No. 100.”
“Yes, Master.”
“It seems this will not do.”
“Master?”
“I will have to cross dimensions briefly and return......”
“You must not.”
How firm he was.
“If you leave the hotel, you will have to pay a great price. You know that, do you not?”
“If things come to that, I can bring the one confined below.”
“That is not a part you agreed on with him. Most of all, if he comes out......”
“Good grief, yes. If that bastard comes out, only we will become more troubled.”
Then I had to slip out without his help.
Something worth paying the price with......
Click, click.
That was the moment.
The dimensional clock hanging above the front door began moving on its own.
It was not a great amount of time.
At most, only around two seconds.
However, considering that clock almost never moved, it was clearly a special situation.
And this was surely.
“Master, perhaps......”
“Yes, I know too.”
Something related to the little one.
What that was, ah.
“Oh no.”
One contract attached to my soul began emitting heat.
The subject of the contract was the little one.
And now, the safety device for that contract was just about to activate.
It seemed there was no helping it anymore.
“I will go and return.”
“Master! You must not!”
“Offer the things in the storage as the price.”
“I said you must not!”
No. 100 clung to me and tried somehow to stop me from moving forward.
Though with no strength, he could only be dragged along, his will alone was certain.
“Master, please wait just a little longer. Miss Yun Hye-rin is safe due to the contract.”
“We have to consider the child’s mental health too. What if she sees something awful and is in a dangerous situation? Ah, I should have written the contract with that in mind too. That damned apocalypse environment really is like shit.”
“Please calm down! Truly, she will be all right! It might even be a good variable.”
“That is why I am saying I will go out and take a brief look. What, am I saying I will destroy a planet? Distort a dimension?”
“Do not place such things on the scale. Just wait one more day. Please? Damn it, everyone up to No. 150, assemble in the lobby!”
Oh?
No. 100 used his position as overall manager to gather the clones.
The one who had been cooking, the one who had been acting, the one who had been doing interior design.
The clones, who had my face but each held their own roles, lined up and blocked the entrance.
They were going to build a human barricade.
“Block him, all of you! Master must not leave.”
“Hey, is your superior him or me?”
“I said block him, you bastards! Block him!”
“Do you think you will be seeing him longer, or me longer?”
“Me longer, right? Do you want to get rolled through your entire working life?”
The wavering clones repeatedly gathered and scattered.
“Haa.”
So they were making me use force in the end.
“No. 100. We talked enough, yes?”
“Masteeeer—aaagh!”
After grabbing No. 100 and lightly throwing him away, I looked ahead.
Now that the most troublesome one had disappeared,“Move.”
Step!
At a single word, the clones displayed the miracle of Moses.
What obedient bastards.
As I passed by those whose discipline had been drilled into them, No. 100, who had quickly returned, grabbed my trouser leg.
“I cannot just send you!”
“Hey, No. 100. You......”
“Miss Yun Hye-rin is precious to you? I know. But it would be troublesome if you forgot the order of priority, Master!”
Even as blood flowed from his broken forehead, he did not spare his loyal advice.
“It is true she is an important guest, but she is not a guest you should go that far for. Do you know how many steps you may retreat because of this?”
“......”
“A considerable portion of the time you have built up until now may turn to nothing!”
That bastard, No. 100.
Why did he have to say something similar to what my comrades had said?
“What matters is......”
“Yes, what matters to me is that person.”
At that time, it had been saving the world.
That was why I had to let go.
And that was why I had regretted it until now.
“One choice I regret is enough.”
“Master......”
“I am sorry.”
No. 100 gripped my trouser leg tightly before his strength slowly loosened.
“Everyone, return to your work.”
After sending back the remaining clones, I stood before the door.
How many thousands of years had it been since I left this hotel?
“Phew.”
After slowly exhaling, I gripped the doorknob and pulled.
“Ueng?”
But despite the grand resolve I had made,the little one was standing in front of me with a bag on her back.
With greasy hair, a face stained with soot, and clothes that were somewhat torn.
“Mister?”
“......Little one?”
“Hehe, it really is you, mister.”
The little one smiled brightly and ran to me.
I naturally lifted the little one into my arms.
Perhaps because she had not washed properly, there was a musty smell, but.
“I’m back.”
I smiled faintly.
“Yes, welcome back.”
The little one had returned.
Safely.
***
First, for the little one’s hygiene, I cleaned her whole body.
“I’m fluffy!”
“It is only a temporary measure. When you enter your room later, wash properly.”
“Hehe, okaaay!”
“Here is your milkshake.”
“Thank you, Mr. No. 100!”
No. 100, who had set down the milkshake, smiled faintly at the little one.
“Thank you for returning, Miss Yun Hye-rin.”
“Thank you?”
“Yes. When Miss Yun Hye-rin was absent, Master was so......”
“Ahem. No. 100? I said I was sorry.”
This bastard No. 100 was trying to take revenge like this.
How petty.
After glancing at me slightly, No. 100 placed cookies down as well and turned away.
Seeing him, he was firmly sulking.
It seemed it would take some effort to appease him later.
Well, for now.
“Kyaa, tasty!”
“Eat some cookies too, and tell me what happened. Why were you so late?”
What mattered was learning what had happened to this little one.
The little one put two cookies into her tiny mouth one after another and chewed.
“Mm, I had a lot to talk about.”
“Talk about? To whom?”
“To Dad, my friends, and my little siblings!”
It had taken time because she had many things to say to those who had already left.
If that was the case, I understood.
“Did you say everything you wanted to?”
“Yes. I also told them I wouldn’t be able to see them for a long time. And that I would definitely see them.”
“Well done.”
There was no such thing as never seeing someone forever.
If she wished for it, someday, she would meet them again.
“Ah, and.”
“Hm? And?”
“Hehe, I fought a monster.”
“......What?”
“I was really careful, but there was a differently shaped monster.”
A differently shaped monster?
When I briefly read her memories, its form was certainly a little different.
The one I had seen before resembled a wild dog, but this one resembled a bear.
It was more threatening, but.
“You ran away well.”
“You know, with Arrow? I shot the monster in the face and knocked it over! So I ran away!”
She properly used basic magic in actual combat?
This child definitely overflowed with talent.
“And then, you know?”
The little one excitedly told me of her exploits.
As if she wanted to show me that she had overcome the fear and terror of that moment.
The emotion I felt as I listened to her story must have been pride.
“So, what else happened?”
Yes, she was truly a remarkable little one.