Automatic Maintenance turned on by itself.
'Does it turn on when a guest arrives?'
I tilted my head and looked around the lobby.
The dirty floor was gradually becoming clean.
The spot where the fox had been.
Something gleaming caught my eye among the disordered first-aid kit and blanket.
When I went closer, I saw a round, shining bead.
"So this is a Fox Bead."
The moment I picked up the bead.
【 Lodging Fee Settlement Details: Fox Bead 】
【 Estimated Value: Fox Bead - Cannot be converted. Insight 】
Insight?
'How do I use this?'
Just as I was wondering how to use the Fox Bead, it smoothly melted away.
An ice-cold liquid seeped into my skin.
【 You possess Spirit Sight. 】
【 Insight is reacting with Spirit Sight. 】
【 Soul Insight ability has been unlocked. 】
In an instant, cold energy gathered in my eyes.
Pain like my eyes were being squeezed.
"Urgh...!"
The pain was brief but intense.
Tears streamed from my eyes.
"Haah... I thought my eyeballs were going to burst."
I wiped the tears away with my sleeve.
The pain was gone, but it felt as though cold still lingered around my eyes.
Just then, Min-jae was coming down the stairs. He startled and ran over.
"Boss! Is something wrong? Why are you crying?"
I pushed Min-jae back with one hand as he approached and said,
"It's nothing. I think something got in my eye."
But Min-jae came even closer instead.
"You shouldn't rub your eyes when that happens. Let me take a look."
"Hey, it's fine. I told you I'm okay now."
Even so, Min-jae leaned his face in.
Why does he keep shoving his face so close? It's uncomfortable.
The moment our eyes met.
"......!"
【 Soul Insight 】
The ability activated on its own.
My mind flashed white, and at some point, an unfamiliar place appeared before my eyes.
'What the... a funeral hall?'
# In front of the memorial portraits of a young man and woman.
A young Min-ju and Min-jae were crying.
Then a woman appeared and took the children's hands.
"Come with Auntie."
Soon, my vision twisted, and the place changed.
# The siblings were no longer little children.
The woman they called Auntie shouted at them.
"How much do you think your mom and dad's insurance money even was?"
"You said you'd give it to us."
"I spent it all raising you. There's nothing left!"
The place changed once again.
# This time, it was a hospital room.
'Was this not long ago?'
A doctor approached and removed the bandage wrapped around one of Min-jae's eyes.
Min-jae spoke in a trembling voice.
"Doctor. I can't see very well...!"
The scene abruptly cut off there.
My vision darkened, then brightened as I returned to reality.
'So this is Soul Insight?'
At that moment, Min-jae leaned his face in again.
"Boss, I told you I'd take a look."
I pushed Min-jae away and asked,
"Min-jae, did you feel anything strange from me just now?"
"The strangest thing is that you're crying, Boss."
The scenes I'd just seen had felt like they lasted at least thirty seconds.
But Min-jae hadn't noticed a thing.
Remembering what I'd just seen, I asked,
"Min-jae, that surgery you had recently. Was it on your eye?"
"Did my sister tell you? One eye is blurry. I can barely make out light and dark."
Min-jae added with an awkward smile,
"After getting hurt, I realized how important your eyes really are. Boss, if your eyes keep hurting, make sure you go to the hospital."
"I'm fine now."
So that was why Min-jae had reacted so sensitively.
I'd thought he was making too much of it for no reason.
'Tsk, I feel a little bad now.'
Does Insight activate when I make eye contact?
It would be inconvenient if it happened every time our eyes met.
I needed to practice controlling it.
***
I tried using Insight while looking in a mirror.
"It doesn't work."
I needed to practice.
Apparently, a mirror wouldn't do.
Just then, Song-i entered the room with Hwanggeum.
Song-i ran over and wrapped her arms around my waist.
"Daddy, Daddy! Hwanggeum is clean now."
I bent my knees and scooped Hwanggeum up.
"Really? Let's see how clean you got."
I met Hwanggeum's eyes.
I relaxed my eyes and murmured inwardly.
Just a little.
Let's really only look a tiny bit.
【 Soul Insight 】
The ability activated.
This time, scenes flashed before my eyes like a panorama.
# Hwanggeum wandering through a forest.
# Hwanggeum digging up the ground.
# Blue flames flying around Hwanggeum?
Unlike with Min-jae, the scenes appeared only briefly.
So I could control it to some extent.
'But what were those blue flames?'
I met Hwanggeum's eyes once again.
The blue flames.
Show me those.
【 Soul Insight 】
The ability activated once more.
# Blue flames floated around in front of the fireplace.
The flames went out, and smoke rose.
The smoke gradually gathered together and began forming a shape.
Unfortunately, the scene shown by Soul Insight ended there.
'It looked like Goblin Fire.'
I felt like I could have seen the Goblin itself if I'd watched just a little longer.
Disappointed, I tried a few more times, but I couldn't see the Goblin's form.
"Daddy, Hwanggeum is nice and fluffy, right?"
Song-i smiled proudly.
'Oh, right. Song-i was here too.'
When I used Insight, I couldn't forget what was happening around me.
If I focused only on the scenes in front of me, it would be easy to lose track of reality.
"Yeah. Nice and fluffy."
I met Song-i's eyes and thought,
I'm not going to look.
I'm not using Soul Insight right now.
.......
Soul Insight did not activate, following my will.
'What a relief.'
So I could control it according to my will.
I had to stay conscious of it, but it wasn't difficult.
I was curious about the parts of Song-i I didn't know, but I was relieved that nothing appeared.
"Daddy, when will it be a special day?"
"Huh? A special day?"
"I want to eat the marshmallows you roasted for me."
"So you've been waiting for a special day because of that?"
"Yes."
"Hmm.... Since today is a special day because a fox guest came to the hotel, should I roast some for you?"
"Really?"
And so, for the first time, I lit the fireplace.
The rain that had fallen all day was gradually letting up.
"It's warm."
Song-i smiled as she hugged Hwanggeum on the soft rug spread in front of the fireplace.
The chilly mountain air warmed up.
I roasted marshmallows while listening to the crackle of burning firewood.
Song-i, who had already devoured five marshmallows, hummed a song.
"Marshmallows~ so yummy~ Marshmallows Daddy roasted for meee~!"
"Woof! Woof!"
Hwanggeum sat beside the fireplace and barked along with Song-i's song.
My eyes, which had felt cold ever since I gained Soul Insight, seemed to warm up.
'But how am I supposed to clean the fireplace?'
Do I just clear out the charcoal?
If I could turn Automatic Maintenance on and off whenever I wanted, the fireplace would probably be maintained automatically too.
If it wasn't a status window or a system, then what was it?
"A management window?"
Flash—!
As if reacting to my words, text appeared before my eyes.
【 Accessing Goblin Hotel Management Window. 】
'No way. It really was a management window?'
So it hadn't appeared because I'd been barking up the wrong tree this entire time.
I'd shouted "status window" over and over....
Is this my fault?
Yeah. It is.
It's my fault for lacking creativity.
I should reflect on myself.
Of course a hotel administrator would have a management window.
Once I figured out how to use the system, I felt much more at ease.
Yeah. Right now, I'm ready to embrace anything.
There were four categories in the Management Window.
【 Hotel Facility Management 】
【 Guest Status 】
【 Employee Management 】
【 Spiritual Power Points 】
First, I pressed the 'Hotel Facility Management' category and checked it.
"There it is."
The Automatic Maintenance setting I'd been searching for all this time was there.
【 Automatic Maintenance - Automatically ON when contamination is 50% or higher ]
【 Consumes 100p Spiritual Power Points 】
【 Automatic Maintenance in progress. 】
【 Lobby Purification 94% in progress... 】
【 Guest Room Cleaning 97% in progress... 】
【 Landscaping Maintenance 88% in progress... 】
【 Would you like to manually turn OFF maintenance? 】
I didn't know what Spiritual Power Points were.
But apparently, Automatic Maintenance required them.
Before the contamination level reached 50%, I could also turn it on or off manually.
Since I didn't know how to collect Spiritual Power Points yet, I'd have to conserve them for the time being.
【 Guest Status: Room 201. Checked In 】
The 'Guest Status' category contained information showing the guest's current condition.
【 Guest Details 】
*Room 201:
White Fox
Hind leg injury
Recovering
It even showed the guest's current condition.
That would be useful in the future.
【 Employee Management: Kim Min-ju, Kim Min-jae 】
Next, I checked the Employee Management category.
【 Employee Details 】
*Kim Min-ju:
Good health
Trust 92/100
Spiritual Power – 0p
*Kim Min-jae:
Right Eye Vision Loss
Frail
Trust 94/100
Spiritual Power - 0p
Min-jae's condition caught my eye.
'Frail?'
I'd have to start by improving Min-jae's constitution.
Should I get him some herbal tonic or something...?
But is that Trust their trust in me?
I mean, I am naturally a trustworthy person.
Still, seeing it this high made me proud.
I never would've known without the Management Window.
A system that could manage not only the hotel facilities, but also guests and employees.
"This is fucking sweet."
At the very bottom of the Management Window.
I saw an unfamiliar combination of words that stood out.
【 Spiritual Power Points: 4,320p 】
"So the Spiritual Power Points were here."
Where had these 4,320p even come from in the first place?
Was Spiritual Power the same spiritual force I knew about?
It seemed to be expressing that as points.
To learn more, I tapped the 'Spiritual Power Points' category.
【 Spiritual Power Point Enhancement Categories 】
-Manager
-Employees
-Hotel Facilities: Locked
-Barrier: Locked
Spiritual Power Points could be used to enhance the hotel or employees.
At the very least, it was clear they would help with running the hotel.
Hotel Facilities and Barrier were locked, so I couldn't spend points on them.
No matter how many times I pressed them, the same message appeared.
【 Unlocks when conditions are met. 】
When I pressed the Manager and Employees categories, a different message appeared.
【 Use Spiritual Power Points to enhance? 】
I still didn't know how to accumulate points.
If I spent them blindly without even knowing how to earn more, I might regret it.
'I'll think about it a little more before spending them.'
I closed the Management Window.
When the text in front of my eyes disappeared, I saw Song-i and Hwanggeum rolling around in front of the fireplace.
"Song-i, Daddy is going to check whether the fox is okay."
Song-i's round eyes sparkled.
"Daddy, I want to go see the fox too."
"Hmm... the fox is sick today, so let's go tomorrow, Song-i. Daddy will be right back."
"Hiiing...."
"Go brush your teeth carefully first."
Song-i lowered her head with a dejected expression.
"Okaaay...."
***
Guest in Room 201. White Fox.
Its rain-soaked, stained fur and listless eyes had been bothering me.
Knock, knock, knock.
There was no response.
"I'm coming in."
After knocking, I slowly opened the door.
The smell of wet fur and the faint scent of blood entered my nose.
The soft light from a lamp illuminated the fox lying on the bed.
The fox raised its head and looked at me.
"I came to check whether your wound is okay."
"......."
I approached and crouched beside the bed.
"How did you get hurt?"
Our eyes met.
【 Soul Insight 】
# It was a mountain in the rain.
A white fox with three tails was running through the rain.
'Three tails.'
Grotesque black masses covered in many eyes were closing in behind the fox.
'What are those hideous things?'
The fox was being chased.
It ran as hard as it could, but eventually, one of the black masses pounced from behind.
The fox leaped aside and dodged.
But a black hand grazed its hind leg.
"YELP—!"
Blood streamed down the fox's leg.
# The fox, its white fur stained red, ran desperately through the rain.
The scene changed.
# The fox saw a building with its lights on and dragged its injured leg toward it.
'That's our hotel.'
Fortunately, the black shapes were gone.
The fox tried to climb over the wall, but ultimately collapsed in front of the gate.
When the gate opened, the fox's tails curled back into its body.
The scene stopped there.
After Soul Insight ended,
my eyes stung as if cold had settled over them.
"Phew...."
When I took a deep breath, the cold seemed to weaken.
I took several more deep breaths.
— You saw something, didn't you?
A voice echoed inside my head.
I asked the fox,
"Was that you speaking just now?"
— That's right.
"I received the Fox Bead."
— It's payment for treating me and allowing me to enter this place.
I recalled the scene I'd just seen through Soul Insight.
There had definitely been three tails.
"Are you a Three-Tailed Fox?"
— Yeah. Though right now, I'm more like a Two-and-a-Half-Tailed Fox.
The tails hidden at the Three-Tailed Fox's rear emerged.
Two long tails and one short tail.
When I'd seen them through Soul Insight, all three had been long...?
— It's because I used up my Spiritual Power to form the bead.
"Ah.... I took quite a lot for a Lodging Fee."
— It's the price of my precious life. I should pay with something precious.
"How's your leg?"
— Recovering.
Just as the Management Window had shown.
If it wasn't an ordinary fox but a Three-Tailed Fox, maybe it recovered faster too.
I looked at the Three-Tailed Fox and asked something I didn't want to ask.
I truly didn't want to know, but I felt like I needed to.
"What were those things chasing you...?"
— Spirit Aggregates. They're things formed when small spirits gather together and gain power.
"Spirit Aggregates? Are they like Lesser Spirits?"
— Originally, they were even weaker than Lesser Spirits. Then they gathered together.
And suddenly entered my territory.
"Your territory?"
The Three-Tailed Fox stretched its head forward and looked out the window.
— Over there. That way. Samyeongsan Mountain.
All I could see in the direction the Three-Tailed Fox indicated was the moon illuminating the darkness.
— Could I stay here until I recover my strength?
I'll pay an additional Lodging Fee.
To hear the words "Lodging Fee" come from a fox's mouth.
This really was a strange hotel.
Still, as long as it paid an appropriate price....
"Guests are always welcome."
And just like that, the Three-Tailed Fox became a long-term guest.