Chapter 4: Getting on and off (2)

“The… the stairs are gone!”

“What is this?!”

The surroundings became chaotic.

Upon discovering that the stairs they had descended were gone, everyone was flustered and began touching the space, which had now turned into a wall, with their palms.

“Hey, hey! Don’t be scared!”

As the noise grew louder, a man in work clothes calmed everyone down.

“There are search teams around, so just follow their guidance—”

The man in the work clothes couldn’t finish his sentence.

The men in suits, who had been firmly trusted as the so-called search team, were clearly panicking and talking amongst themselves.

“What’s going on?!”

“T-There weren’t any anomalies…?”

“…Shit, this is bad…?”

Only then did foul language slip out from the man in work clothes.

I, too, felt like cursing just like the man.

We had been interviewed because the probability of encountering anomalies was low.

This was not a workday, but the day of the interview, and this was the situation.

“…But what’s that?”

At that moment, a middle-aged woman among the interviewees carefully raised her hand and asked.

As everyone turned their attention to her, the middle-aged woman pointed with her finger.

There was a large hole, and a number was written above it.

[0/20,000]

“What’s that number?”

“1”

While others seemed unaware, I had a vague intuition.

The quest that had just appeared in front of my eyes.

[Fill the specified amount and escape.]

If I combined that quest statement with the hole, several horror games that were similar came to mind.

The kind of games where you gather items in a scary place, then calculate and escape.

I had a feeling that it might be a similar mechanism.

“What about the other search teams?”

“We can’t contact them…”

“Damn…!”

In the midst of the search team also panicking, a man finally stood up in frustration.

“We can’t just sit here. Shouldn’t we check out the hotel desk over there?”

He was a man whose rugged appearance had stuck in my memory.

Some people agreed with him, but there were still many who were too terrified to move recklessly.

“The… the stairs might reappear, right?”

“Right… If we move around and run into anomalies…”

The opinions were divided, and the decision-making slowly shifted to the search team.

Just then, the most terrified-looking college student pointed with a trembling voice toward the far-off hotel entrance.

“D-Don’t you see something?”

Her finger was pointing to the hotel entrance’s information desk.

On top of the desk was a thin piece of paper.

“…I’ll go.”

One of the men from the search team, sensing something, lowered his body and carefully walked over to grab the paper and came back.

The paper said “Hotel Guide” on it.

He swallowed nervously and began reading the guide aloud on behalf of everyone.

“According to this guide, there are items with check marks all over this underground hotel. If we find those and put them in the hole we saw earlier, the ‘Settlement Hole’, they’ll be converted into points.”

His gaze turned to the hole with the [0/20,000] number hovering above it.

The hole was large enough that any item could fit.

“If we collect 20,000 points… the stairs that disappeared will reappear, and we can escape. And…”

He hesitated for a moment.

“…It also says we should avoid encountering ‘hotel staff’ or ‘guests’ inside the hotel, as they could be dangerous.”

‘Hotel staff’, ‘guests’.

These were most likely euphemisms for the anomalies.

The guide’s explanation was clear, but it was also hopeless.

In the end, it meant we had to search the dangerous hotel, possibly filled with anomalies, find items, and collect points.

“Are you crazy? You want us to rummage through that monster’s lair?”

“I-I don’t want to… Is there no other way? Does it really have to be the items with the check marks? This watch of mine is expensive!”

Once again, the crowd fell into confusion.

But this time, things were a little different.

When clear goals and methods were laid out, some people’s expressions began to change.

Survival instincts had emerged in the midst of fear.

“Damn it! Then are we going to stay here for the rest of our lives? What do you think, is there any other way?! Have you all never seen anomalies before?!”

The man in work clothes, who had brought the interviewees here, finally cursed and stood up.

Everyone turned to the search team, who also seemed to have no other solution and nodded, supporting the man in work clothes.

“…There’s no other way. We’ve tried contacting the outside, but…”

“Damn it! You guys said we wouldn’t encounter anomalies!”

“Ugh… no… I want to leave…”

Everyone just looked at each other with mixed expressions of confusion and fear, unable to come up with any concrete solutions.

It was clear they also had no other choice.

In the end, the opinion shifted toward carefully searching for the items.

I quietly checked the map in my head again.

The layout of the underground hotel was quite detailed.

There were rooms, hallways, a restaurant, and possibly facilities like a boiler room.

A multi-story hotel stretched out, with each floor connected in a long line.

Above it, red dots, indicating the anomalies, were still marked.

Fortunately, there were none near the lobby, but in the hallway with many rooms, several dots were blinking.

‘The item locations aren’t listed… So we’ll have to find them ourselves.’

My abilities would surely be helpful in finding or moving the items.

The ability to track the location of the anomalies through the map was also a huge advantage.

I thought I might be able to gather points quickly.

At that moment, the man in work clothes raised his voice again.

“…We can’t just keep sitting here! Let’s split into groups and move.”

One of the members of the search team nodded at his practical suggestion.

On the back of the guide, fortunately, there was a simple map of the underground hotel.

Based on that, we decided to divide the hotel into zones and split into groups to explore them.

I tried to blend in as discreetly as possible, slipping into a group that included the college student, whose fearful expression earlier was still clear, and a relatively calm middle-aged woman.

The leader naturally became me, the only man.

“Our group will start searching from this hallway. Let’s try to make as little noise as possible and not separate from each other.”

I spoke in a tense voice, and finally, we left the lobby and stepped into the left hallway of the hotel.

The flashlight beam illuminated the worn carpet and stained wallpaper.

The hallway was eerily quiet, and only our anxious breathing and footsteps echoed.

“Let’s check room 105 first.”

I whispered as I stood in front of the nearest room door.

I quickly checked the mental map in my head.

“…Ugh…!”

My heart dropped.

In the room next door, room 106, a motionless red dot was clearly marked.

“Dammit, right next door…!”

I swallowed hard.

Should I say something now?

But how should I explain it?

While I hesitated, the middle-aged woman cautiously turned the doorknob of room 105.

Creeeak…

With a chilling sound, the door slowly opened.

Several flashlight beams poured into the dark room.

The well-organized room was filled with expensive-looking furniture and fancy decorations.

However, not everything in the room could be accounted for.

Only items with check marks were the ones that could be accounted for.

“…Be careful.”

I whispered quietly.

The college student nodded, terrified, and the middle-aged woman calmly crept in and began shining her flashlight into the corners of the room.

I kept my guard up, keeping an eye on the mental map in my head.

The red dot in room 106 still hadn’t moved.

Was that person the type to never come out of that room?

“Hey, could this be it?”

The middle-aged woman said, holding out an object from the vanity.

It was a flashy jewelry box.

She carefully lifted the music box and showed me the bottom.

Faint, but clearly, a green check mark (√) was engraved there.

“Y-Yes, I think this is it.”

“Yes, it seems so.”

Anyone could tell that this was the right object.

It was our first find.

The faces of the college student and I brightened up.

Just then…

Thud!

Creeeeak—!

From the next room, 106, there was a loud noise, followed by the sound of the door opening.

“…!”

The three of us froze in place.

It felt like our hearts were about to leap up into our throats.

Since we had split into zones for the search, if the sound wasn’t made by us…

The only thing capable of making that noise was the creature.

The college student swallowed a scream, and since I had expected this a bit, I reluctantly moved my frozen body and quietly closed the door.

With a soft click, I locked the door and quietly signaled for the others to be silent with my finger.

The two of them nodded, covering their mouths with their hands.
Thud, thud.

The slow, heavy footsteps passed room 106 and headed down the hallway.

Thud.

It stopped right in front of our room, 105.

“…Cleaning service…!”

Clank, clank!

Bang, bang, bang!

The doorknob turned roughly, and someone began banging on the door.

Thanks to the door being locked, the thing couldn’t open it.

Then, an unsettling thought crossed my mind.

“…Hide, everyone…!”

“…What?”

“Quickly…!”

I shouted, and though they were confused, the two of them quickly started to hide.

The middle-aged woman hid in the closet, the college student under the bed covers, and I hid under the table.

There was a reason I hid so quickly.

The “cleaning service” that the creature outside said in a clumsy tone.

If that thing was a staff member responsible for cleaning the hotel…

Clank!

Creeeak—.

I had a feeling there would be a way for it to open the door.