Ch.202202. Cleaning Time

“If you were truly an invited guest, your room should have been between 107 and 110.”

With that final statement, a heavy silence settles over the restaurant. Han So and the Necromancer’s gazes pierce into the Dark Spiritmaster, as if asking if she has any rebuttal.

The Dark Spiritmaster merely raises the corner of her mouth slightly, ignoring their stares while looking at me.

“I thought the rules of Mongmajeon were stupid, but they’re actually tripping me up like this?”

She wasn’t wrong.

The biggest problem with these rules was that no one knew what penalties existed for breaking them.

Guests were permitted up to the 3rd floor.

Considering there were no restrictions when we went up to the 4th floor, you could tell how flimsy the system was.

“Y-you, really. Were you really the 27th uninvited guest?”

Han So exclaimed dramatically, but the Necromancer merely nodded once.

Simultaneously, six corpses poured out. They began to surround the Dark Spiritmaster with bizarre movements.

“Ha, you think you can kill me?”

Despite everyone in the restaurant suddenly becoming her enemy, the Dark Spiritmaster remained calm.

No, rather, she coldly raised her purple eyes like a predator that had just stretched and risen.

“After cowering and speaking so respectfully to me.”

Purple mana began swirling around the small staff she held, and the mana soon transformed into screaming evil spirits.

“A Spiritmaster is j-just like me. Without corpses, you have to grovel.”

The Necromancer clearly acknowledged that she had been running away in fear of the Dark Spiritmaster, while declaring that things were different now.

The situation was about to explode into battle between the two.

I poured wine into a glass on the table and warned them.

“The day is about to end. Fight moderately.”

Both Black Mages looked at me in disbelief, but I savored even those stares as I downed the wine.

I don’t particularly love alcohol, but the wine here was a rare delicacy difficult to taste even in royal courts.

Mongmajeon was full of such things.

Outside, precious and splendid items rolled around like pebbles on the ground.

Living here for just a few days would make one lose the concept of luxury.

“Y-you! Shouldn’t we fight together!”

“With whom?”

Han So raised his Maengcheonmubong staff dramatically and stupidly stuck his head out, taking a sharp breath.

At my question about who to fight, he looked back and forth between the Dark Spiritmaster and the Necromancer, falling into contemplation.

According to Rule 27, we should fight the Dark Spiritmaster.

But the Necromancer had killed all the guests except us, and would probably kill us too.

An unpleasant choice between two options.

That’s why I was just planning to tilt my glass and watch the two fight.

KWANG!

While Han So was deliberating, the first attack came from the Dark Spiritmaster.

[KYAAAAAAAA!]

The evil spirits she controlled pushed back the corpses while venting their resentment. For a moment, the Necromancer seemed to be pushed back, but…

“Th-that’s why I said the corpses here are good.”

The quality of the corpses was simply too excellent. The Necromancer’s killing method must have played a part, but fundamentally, all the guests who came to Mongmajeon were big shots.

Her corpses were holding their own against the Dark Spiritmaster’s evil spirits.

An evenly matched situation.

Whoever introduced a variation would win, and the Necromancer was the first to try.

The Necromancer pulled out a white dagger and crystal skull in both hands. The dagger was something I had gifted to Luanes, and the crystal skull was a tool that looked exactly like something a Necromancer would love.

“Rewards obtained from attacking guests!”

I wonder if she chose those two because of Rule 14.

-14. You may only possess 2 items obtained as rewards.

But that also meant these items suited the Necromancer well.

Seven-colored magic shot from the white dagger, flying between the corpses.

The Dark Spiritmaster hastily cast a protective spell, but the seven colors emitted by the dagger possessed quite powerful destructive force.

KWANG!

Though the protective spell didn’t break, the Dark Spiritmaster was pushed back significantly and ended up hitting the wall, dropping to one knee.

At the same time, her evil spirits screamed and spread in all directions.

“Hee, heehik! Spiritmasters are just like me.”

The Necromancer giggled while biting her fingernails, clearly pleased.

“When the main body is attacked, it’s over. No matter how strong the evil spirits are, if you lose control over them, you’re just an ordinary mage.”

The Dark Spiritmaster had lost control of her evil spirits with that one strike. The evil spirits that had been rampaging around the restaurant now flew toward her to attack, but…

“You bastards.”

Instead, the Dark Spiritmaster reached out to the approaching evil spirits and began to regain control over them.

Even I was impressed by her remarkably precise and swift magic manipulation.

Though she was 18, she was still a Dark Spiritmaster.

“Eek!”

Seeing this, the Necromancer stomped her foot on the ground and raised the crystal skull.

I wanted to take a look at that item since I’d never seen it before, but there didn’t seem to be time for that.

“Do you want to live?”

I asked, putting down my wine glass and walking toward the Dark Spiritmaster.

The Necromancer became wary at my sudden participation, and Han So followed behind me blankly.

“What?”

The Dark Spiritmaster asked irritably, so I deliberately repeated myself.

“I asked if you want to live.”

“You’re asking a Spiritmaster about death? We’re always ready to die!”

It was quite a cool answer, but her eyes told a different story.

She might be a Spiritmaster, but…

She was also just 18 years old.

“…Damn it.”

Receiving my gaze, the Dark Spiritmaster whispered softly but honestly, trying to maintain her dignity.

“Y-yes.”

That’s why she was struggling so hard.

At her added comment, I nodded with satisfaction and demanded:

“Tell me all the other rules you know.”

“What?”

The Dark Spiritmaster seemed confused. I felt I needed to explain further, or she would keep pretending not to understand.

“I know you’re hiding some rules. Do you remember our conversation when we first met in this restaurant?”

The Dark Spiritmaster tried to recall our conversation, wondering if she had made a mistake, but the urgent situation seemed to make it difficult for her.

“You told me that if you find rules, you can get rewards, and one of them is escape.”

– That’s right, if you find rules, you can get prizes. And the biggest prize is escape from this place.

“Ah?”

Han So nodded as if understanding. This was precisely the issue.

When we suggested forming a team, Han So had said:

– Hmm, there seem to be some strange ones among the guests who came together. What do you think? Should we join forces and escape together?

He talked about escaping, not finding rules. As if rules weren’t a priority for them.

So something felt off.

Finding rules was equivalent to escaping.

Why did Han So treat the two as separate things?

I easily reached the answer.

Han So and Luanes didn’t know that finding rules would allow them to escape.

Only the Dark Spiritmaster knew.

Then…

The Dark Spiritmaster hadn’t told us all the rules she knew.

“……”

After this explanation, the Dark Spiritmaster bit her lip tightly. Han So also looked around nervously, and the Necromancer, sensing something was amiss, lowered her hands and eavesdropped on our conversation.

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue at the Necromancer, then looked back at the Dark Spiritmaster.

“I understand you didn’t tell us all the rules you know. If they were just ordinary rules, I wouldn’t have cared much.”

“Huh?”

Han So exclaimed, wondering what I was talking about. It was getting annoying; I wished he would shut up.

“The important thing is that the rule you’re hiding is likely connected to escaping this place.”

To quote the Dark Spiritmaster again:

– That’s right, if you find rules, you can get prizes. And the biggest prize is escape from this place.

The Dark Spiritmaster, now realizing her slip of the tongue, hung her head. Was it because we were both Spiritmasters that she had been so open?

Or was it because I was her type from the beginning?

Whatever the reason…

“How did you know that escape was one of the rewards?”

Nowhere was it written what the rewards were. Yet the Dark Spiritmaster knew that rules and escape were bundled together.

This meant that among the rules she had hidden from us was a clue to escape.

“……”

“Speak.”

As I urged the tight-lipped Dark Spiritmaster, she retorted with tears slightly welling in her eyes.

“Aren’t you clever? So very clever! Were you waiting for me to be in danger, then appear to save me so I’d tell you?”

“……”

“I can see right through you! You said you’re my future disciple? How could I ever take someone like you as a disciple!”

“……”

“Are you asking me to weigh my life against the rules?”

“It’s actually the opposite.”

I slowly turned toward the Necromancer and answered the Dark Spiritmaster.

“I’m pressuring you because I don’t want to kill you to get the answer.”

-22. A deceased guest leaves behind the rules they know.

If not for this urgent situation, the Dark Spiritmaster would never reveal the rules she knew.

If she wouldn’t speak, I would have to kill her to find out.

I didn’t want to kill the Dark Spiritmaster, so I was using somewhat aggressive persuasion.

“Ah.”

I could feel the Dark Spiritmaster’s blank stare on my back.

The Necromancer’s corpses gradually began to move. She must have realized she could learn the rules by killing the Dark Spiritmaster.

“Number 30.”

Perhaps my sincerity had reached her somewhat.

The Dark Spiritmaster began to speak the rule, but…

“Only the last person remaining can escape Mongmajeon.”

Her answer only made our fate more explicit.

“Hee, heehee! So I was right to kill everyone!”

The Necromancer moved her corpses more violently, excited.

A Black Mage who couldn’t control souls.

That was me right now, so naturally the Dark Spiritmaster couldn’t defeat the Necromancer either.

Han So hesitated, watching us carefully, and the Dark Spiritmaster remained silent with tightly pressed lips.

I slowly picked up the wine glass I had placed on the table.

“Haah.”

Then I threw the wine glass to the floor with a sigh.

CRASH!

Glass shards scattered, and the fine wine inside splattered on the floor like blood.

“Spiritmasters are quite crude until their dying moment, aren’t they?”

The Necromancer had completely changed from when we first met, when she spoke politely.

I’ve seen many people change after gaining power, but this was an extreme case.

“Are you going to beg for your life? Will you lick the wine spilled on the floor?”

The Necromancer snickered, but my gaze was fixed solely on the spilled wine and glass shards.

“Isn’t it fascinating?”

“What?”

“In Mongmajeon, all management happens automatically. It’s as if it’s trying to restore itself to its original state, like how we wash our bodies.”

“……”

The Necromancer felt a chill with each word I spoke and tried to control her corpses with a gesture, but…

“Huh?”

She looked at her corpses in bewilderment as they didn’t move.

“W-what is this! What’s going on!”

Watching the Necromancer shouting about why her corpses wouldn’t move, I couldn’t help but click my tongue at her foolishness.

“You exploited Rule 24 in reverse, yet you still haven’t figured out what’s happening?”

-24. When a guest dies, their room opens. Until then, entry is prohibited even with the room owner’s permission.

The Necromancer had used the corpses of guests, not actual guests, to kill everyone in the other rooms.

In other words, dead guests were no longer considered guests.

“How foolish.”

DONG!

A bell rang from the clock near the entrance, signaling the end of the day.

Without daylight, it was hard to tell, but I figured it was about time.

“There are no servants here.”

-28. There are no servants in Mongmajeon.

“And meals are replenished daily.”

-21. Meals are replenished daily. Please enjoy them without hesitation.

As if responding to my words…

The food we had eaten was instantly refilled.

It was a bizarre scene like a mirage in the desert.

“And…”

The broken glass on the floor gradually began to disappear, and the wine that had soaked the floor vanished without leaving a stain.

“Cleaning is done daily, I hear.”

“What? Cleaning?”

“No need to bother removing annoying things like corpses.”

Looking at her corpses gradually fading away, I couldn’t help but sneer at the Necromancer.

“Something to be thankful for.”

-17. Cleaning is performed daily.