“Your checkout has been completed. Did you have a comfortable stay?”
“......”
“You possess the qualities of a VIP at our hotel. Therefore, we will issue you a ticket to our hotel, so please visit us again whenever......”
“There’s...... one thing I want to ask.”
Hm.
Until a moment ago, her eyes had been like those of a dead fish.
Now, a strange light had returned to them.
“Yes, what would you like to know?”
But those eyes looked just like the ones she had shown me yesterday when she asked me to become her dad.
“You said this place would grant what I want.”
“......If it is possible within the hotel.”
“Can you let me meet Dad and my friends again?”
Well now.
“Regrettably, it is impossible to summon the soul of someone who died in another dimension, not within the hotel.”
As I had said, even though this hotel seemed omnipotent, there were surprisingly many things it could not do.
It could not locate the coordinates of souls that had vanished somewhere into a dimension,nor could it summon the souls of the dead.
“You said you could do anything for my comfort.”
“Well, it isn’t that there’s no method at all.”
Should I tell her this or not?
I did have to think about it for a moment.
“If you truly wish to meet those who have died, there are two choices you can make.”
“What are they?”
“One is to learn black magic, dark arts, deification, spirit-command arts, or the like, which allow you to handle necromancy or possession.”
There were more abilities capable of meeting and conversing with the dead than one might think.
Not as many as the number of dimensions, but close to it.
“Is something like that...... possible?”
“It will be difficult with your dimension alone. But through our hotel? Yes, it is possible.”
I moved my hand and created a virtual monitor.
Then I displayed the scenery of the hotel’s fiftieth floor upon it.
“What I am showing you now is the library located on the fiftieth floor of the hotel. It is a place prepared for guests who wish to seek knowledge.”
Naturally, every kind of book was prepared there.
There were books for beginners in magic, such as <The Basics of Mana>, <What Is Mana?>, and <Introduction to Basic Magic Studies>.
There were also books related to sacred power, such as <How to Sense Sacred Power>, <A Discussion on the Existence of Gods>, and <Prayer Methods That Are Super Strong Anyway!>.
The library on the fiftieth floor was where the knowledge of all dimensions had been gathered and stored.
“There is one thing in our hotel that you can take with you without paying a price, and that is knowledge.”
It was a small loophole created by the rule that memories were preserved in full.
“At least one of them should suit your aptitude. If you learn and master that power, you may be able to summon spiritual bodies.”
Naturally, it would not be easy.
Everything had a thing called aptitude.
And aptitude and compatibility were areas even I could not do anything about.
“......What’s the other choice?”
“It is a more difficult path than the first. In truth, I would like to tell you to forget about this one.”
It was not something that could be resolved depending on one’s own effort, because it depended largely on the element of luck.
“Tell me.”
“......Our Dimensional Hotel crosses time and space. At times, it even crosses concepts.”
“What?”
Hm, was this too difficult an explanation for a child?
“To put it simply, as you use our hotel, you will meet many guests. And.”
Although the probability was truly, truly low,“if you are lucky, someone from a time in the past may come here.”
Or perhaps it could be that dimension itself, where the concepts of life and death had been reversed.
Either way, it was an absurdly impossible probability.
In a single dimension, there was usually only one person born bearing the fate of that dimension.
Even if the timeline differed, the probability of encountering another person from the same dimension was extraordinarily low.
It was as faint as waiting for someone who had departed beyond dimensions.
Even so, it was not zero.
Even if the value converged toward zero, it was not zero itself.
“If you are lucky, that is.”
“I...... see.”
“In most cases, it is impossible. The time of a dimension and the time of the hotel flow separately, so they may come while you are not here.”
At that point, the only way to explain their missing each other would be to say that fate had refused their meeting.
“Was that explanation sufficient?”
“......Yes!”
“Then, I shall now......”
“Mister!”
......Phew. She was a VIP.
Endure it.
“Do you still have something you are curious about......?”
“I want to work here!”
Should I not endure it?
Pressing against my throbbing temple, I answered calmly, as calmly as possible.
“I do not know by what reasoning you reached such an answer, but I refuse.”
“Why?”
“Because our hotel does not need to hire new employees.”
Most of the hotel’s work was automated through clones.
Cleanliness and maintenance were also handled automatically by the spells placed throughout the hotel.
Even if I hired more employees here, there would be no work to assign them.
“So please give up and be satisfied with visiting often......”
“That won’t be enough. If they come while I’m not here...... I won’t be able to see them.”
Phew.
Perhaps the problem was that I had been too honest with her.
“If I can’t work here, I’m going to die as soon as I leave.”
Oh, my God.
A guest who was bargaining with her own life.
She had worked that little head of hers diligently and come up with a fairly cunning idea.
“Dear guest, are you serious?”
“I’m an important person, aren’t I? Right?”
......Tsk.
I had felt it while spending a day with her, but she was certainly quick-witted.
Was it because she had lived in the difficult world of an apocalypse?
She knew what card she had in hand, and how to use it most effectively.
Of course, whether it would work well was another matter.
“It is true that you are special compared to other guests.”
I raised my head and looked at the clock hanging above the front door.
The time the clock indicated was 1 hour, 34 minutes, and 25 seconds.
Over thousands of years, I had met countless guests, but only now had it barely passed one hour and a little over half of another.
Yet now, a guest who had moved the minute hand by ten minutes had appeared.
What that meant, and what kind of influence it would have on me going forward, even the current me could not gauge.
However, it was clear that she would bring about a positive variable.
The term VVIP was not even enough.
“But that is not enough reason for me to hire you.”
“Then!”
“If you threaten me again, you will never be able to set foot in this hotel again. Do you understand?”
Hm.
This seemed like it would be more effective.
“Then you, dear guest, will be deprived of the very chance to meet your dad or your friends again.”
“Still, still...... Hic.”
The guest plopped down on the floor and began shedding tears.
Well now.
Had I spoken too harshly?
I knelt on one knee, brought my eyes level with the guest’s, and asked again.
“Are you worried that they may come while you are not here?”
“......Yes. Then I won’t see them.”
That would be something one might consider fate’s refusal.
Even so,“Then let us do this.”
It was the final service for a VIP.
I lightly placed a finger on the guest’s arm and engraved a small tattoo in the shape of a hotel door upon it.
“This is our hotel ticket. Whenever you think that you want to come, you can return.”
Then I drew a small bell on the door of the tattoo.
“And if there is a guest looking for you, I will contact you separately. Would this be enough to satisfy you?”
It had to satisfy her.
Because if she was not satisfied with even this, there was nothing more I could do for her.
“......Really?”
“Yes. This is a kind of contract. Therefore, it will certainly be upheld.”
It was a verbal contract, but a contract was important.
This contract would certainly be kept.
“Would this be enough to satisfy you?”
The guest quietly looked at the tattoo on her arm, then nodded.
Good.
“Then I will see you again nex......”
“Mister.”
Ah, damn it. Truly.
Now I was genuinely sick of it.
As I looked down at the guest with a slightly irritated gaze,she took something out of her pocket and held it out to me.
“This.”
“Hm?”
I wondered what it was, and it turned out to be a bracelet made from woven cloth.
It was on the verge of tearing, caked with dust and tattered, but I could see it.
This was an item of considerable value.
“With this, can I sleep here for a few more days?”
“Let us check.”
When she handed it to No. 100, he immediately took out the scale and placed the bracelet on it.
The number on the scale climbed steeply.
“......Twenty-four days’ worth.”
It was not merely twenty-four days.
It was an entire twenty-four days.
For a single object to yield this much lodging fee was truly, truly rare.
But if an object she just took out was worth twenty-four days, then this guest truly was a VIP.
“Dad gave it to me. He said it was a bracelet that makes wishes come true.”
“......”
Just how deep a heart had it held to have this much value?
It was difficult to fathom that heart with ease.
“Are you certain you are all right with paying this as your lodging fee? It is a precious object.”
It was good for me, but I did not want to accept an item she would later regret giving.
Perhaps realizing what I meant, the guest clasped her hands tightly and nodded.
“It’s okay. When I meet him later, I’ll give him one myself. I’ll make a new one.”
“Mm.”
“Because I’ll be able to meet him.”
--the sun!
I smiled faintly.
A belief like that.
I did not dislike it.
“Understood, dear guest. I will help you check in for a consecutive stay of twenty-four days.”
***
“Your check-in is complete. Your room has been assigned to the same place as before, so please use it comfortably......”
“There’s something I want to ask.”
“What is it?”
The guest pointed to herself and said,“Please call me by my name. Not guest. And speak casually too!”
“That is not difficult. Miss Yun Hye-rin.”
“Just Hye-rin.”
“......Understood. Hye-rin.”
“More casually.”
“Haa.”
This made the sense of distance far too close.
“All right, Hye-rin.”
Yet I could not simply push away this little one as she approached.
“Hehe.”
Seeing her smile made me feel as if I had done the right thing after all.
“And there’s one more thing.”
“Say it.”
“Please teach me how to study.”
“All right. My clones are in the library and study room. If you go through them......”
“I want you to teach me personally, mister.”
A private tutor?
This was something I had never expected in my life.
“What if I refuse?”
“But I’m a VIP.”
“......Tsk.”
“Can’t you?”
“If you pay a bit more in lodging fees, I’ll do it.”
“That’s petty.”
“Then forget it.”
“Fine! Here, this!”
The little one rummaged through her pocket and took out a bead.
It was a glass bead with a slight crack in it, and even at a glance, it looked to be worth roughly eight days’ lodging fee.
Well, look who had turned out to be rich.
“How is it?”
What did she mean, how was it?
“Don’t forget. In this hotel, you must not go against my mood. It would be a mistake to think everything can be solved with lodging fees.”
I lightly flicked Hye-rin on the forehead.
“Ow!”
“And precious things are not something you should hand over so carelessly as you please.”
“Hmph.”
“It is late today, so go and sleep. Lessons will begin tomorrow, so come down to the lobby in the morning.”
Since ancient times, the most revered guest at this hotel had always been the guest who paid lodging fees lavishly and without hesitation.
A customized tutoring service for such a VIP?
I could do it this once.
“Yes!”
“Just know that I can’t do it when I’m busy.”
“Okaaay! Thank you!”
The little one bowed and pattered off at a run.
So she did know how to say thank you.
“What an interesting guest.”
At that moment, No. 100 approached from the other side.
“Master.”
“What?”
“You seem a little different from usual.”
“......Ah.”
I smiled faintly.
“She resembles someone.”
-Mister, are you my dad?
Her voice.
-Our daughter is so pretty that it would have been a disaster if she’d been born into a wicked world.
Her appearance.
-Hehe, I love you, Dad!
And her smile.