Chapter 301
### Chapter 301 – Room 204, Mission Room – ‘Hotel Cinema’ (23)
—
– Lee Eunsol
Sweet and refreshing. The rich flavor surpasses even the finest wines, and the energy it injects into my entire body is incomparable to any energy drink.
This is about blood.
Unable to suppress the intense impulse boiling within me any longer, I ended up drinking the blood I had stored in the abandoned house. It sounds ridiculous, but the experiences from the hotel party, where I occasionally sipped on Ahri’s blood when needed, comforted me.
Honestly, I can drink human blood! Right? Since I’ve already done it, let’s just pretend it’s all good.
As the droplets of blood trickled down my throat and reached my stomach, hunger and thirst gradually subsided. Of course, this is just a temporary fix.
For a man-eating monster, blood is like a soft porridge. When you’re starving, you might need to eat porridge to regain your strength, but nobody can live off porridge forever. Eventually, you need ‘meat.’
“Sae-rom.”
“Unnie?”
“Just one question.”
“What’s that?”
“Why do you want to become human?”
“….”
“A gumiho has a very long lifespan, you know? Humans live, at most, for a hundred years. Your beauty and glamour? Once you become human, that won’t last long. At best, ten years? Nowadays, with good skin care, maybe twenty? Even then, it’s short compared to a gumiho’s life.”
“….”
“The magical powers will also diminish significantly. Humans can still wield some mysterious powers, but it’s just a shadow of what they had as a gumiho.”
“Why do you want to be human? It’s quite curious and, to be honest, a bit enviable.”
“What?”
“The fact that you even have that question means you’re getting closer to being human.”
Is having such a question proof of becoming more human?
I found it hard to understand. Sae-rom noticed my puzzled expression and began to explain slowly, as if speaking to a child.
“There are difficult explanations and easier ones.”
“Start with the difficult one.”
“Have you heard of the term ‘First Cause’?”
“Isn’t that a concept from Christian theology?”
“They say Aristotle was the first to mention it. Everything has a cause for its existence, which in turn has another cause. If you trace back these causes, you’ll reach an original cause with no preceding cause, the First Cause. That’s the gist of it.”
“That First Cause is God! I understand it’s used as a logic to prove God’s existence.”
“Exactly. Logically tracing the causes of everything leads to an original cause that has no preceding one, which closely resembles the concept of monotheism. Although, we’re both man-eating monsters, so I’m not suddenly trying to bring up God or anything.”
Sae-rom calmly ate a piece of red meat. My heart skipped a beat for a moment, but I sighed it off.
“Modern science has identified the First Cause of humans as genetics. The reasons behind all human behaviors and impulses can be traced back to the blueprint coded in our genes. So, what would the First Cause for monsters be?”
“….”
“It would be the myths or legends that created us. Therefore, when you ask, ‘Why do you want to be human?’ based on the First Cause theory, the answer could be either ‘Because the mythological gumiho wants it’ or ‘Because humans have defined us that way.’”
“Humans defined gumiho that way…”
“There’s an easier explanation too. It’s simply because I want to. That’s all.”
I felt a bit dazed.
Having lived a lifetime as a human, I had never cared about how monsters viewed themselves. The very conversation surprised me. Is it okay for this kind of plausible reasoning to come from a monster?
“Seriously, where did you even hear of such terms like First Cause? Do high schools teach stuff like this nowadays?”
Sae-rom looked at me with wide eyes, as if questioning my sanity, then confidently replied.
“Unnie! I graduated from Ewha!”
“….”
I was left speechless by the solid argument of this gumiho, or rather, seven-tailed fox.
*
Late at night, I exited the abandoned house and wandered through the shabby alley in darkness. Maybe because I had drunk plenty of blood? I could now think rationally since my hunger and thirst had slightly subsided.
During our late-night chat, I realized something about Sae-rom. This creature called gumiho isn’t devoid of love. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. With so few kin in this wide world and the long time spent together, our bond is stronger than mere family ties among humans.
Honestly, I suspect my real family’s affection put together wouldn’t match what Sae-rom feels for me now.
Recognizing that made me question whether my earlier ‘decision’ was reasonable.
Just as humans eat pigs, gumiho eat humans. Is there a moral dilemma here? When tigers or lions attack humans, people don’t discuss the evil nature of tigers or lions.
Of course, that doesn’t mean they get to live.
Quietly, I entered the abandoned house. Perhaps because there were no prying eyes, Sae-rom transformed entirely into a fox and snuggled up like an adorable puppy. As I sat beside her, the seven-tailed fox curled up against me.
Taking slow breaths, I informed my ‘companions outside.’
Dear comrades outside,
Especially Seungyub, Ahri, and Kain, I’m sorry. I can’t bring myself to kill and eat 28 ordinary folks.
Yeah, all of this is just a movie, after all. Maybe it’s appropriate to think of it like dealing with game characters, killing and consuming 28 people. But… now that I’m inside, I can’t think that way. If I had known this would happen, I should have played more games outside!
Giving up!
I can’t kill people, nor do I know another way to become human. At least, the knowledge I possess as a gumiho shows no other route.
That doesn’t mean I’m saying I’ll end it all meaninglessly. I’ll find out what’s needed and leave. Sorry.
My right hand darkened as it turned black, and my nails became as hard as obsidian.
I reached out, slowly stroking the fox’s back, gripping a suitable spot delicately. Sae-rom, thinking I was just petting her, nuzzled closer.
— Crack!
… The painful time didn’t last long.
Grandpa Mooksung had already told me when he was directly blasted with a fire extinguisher, right? Even for a gumiho, we aren’t particularly physically strong unless using special magical powers.
In the long span of time, a girl dreaming of becoming human after eating hundreds of people, the gumiho who graduated from Ewha’s breath stopped in less than five seconds.
*
As I walked down the shabby alleyway, I thought.
Will the information I am about to uncover reach my comrades intact? Unlike the previous films, horror movies reflect in real-time for insiders, but the comrades outside watch an edited version.
With the structure of having four short stories in one film, each short is at most around 40 minutes long. Most of what I experience will likely be edited down to just 30 or 40 minutes worth that my comrades will see.
The conversation I had with Sae-rom earlier might have been entirely glossed over. Maybe only the moment of my killing her will have shown up.
Therefore, I need to act grandly. I have to create a scene that cannot possibly be omitted—a highlight.
“I’ll have to cause a bit of chaos.”
As I left the alley and entered the busy street, buildings lit brightly late at night came into view. Are they working overtime? Good timing.
As I boldly entered the building, a security guard immediately tried to stop me.
“What? What are you doing here at this hour -”
“Is it not allowed?”
“… Please come in.”
The hypnotic powers unique to a gumiho became easier to wield once I began using them.
“Daewoo Corporation? Such nice and big buildings! But working your staff like this at this hour? You deserved a little punishment, don’t you think?”
My legs transformed into a dark hue, strong enough to crush rocks with one blow.
— Boom!
“Come here!”
The moment the office door burst open, chaos erupted inside!
“Ah!”
“What, what’s going on? Who is this crazy chick?”
“A girl student? What the security is doing -”
Now the fun begins.
*
Sitting on the rooftop of the building, I extended my glass. The middle-aged CEO, Cha Jinhun, visibly trembling from the sudden intrusion of a gumiho, poured liquor into my glass.
“Hey.”
“Y-yes!”
“Who am I?”
“You are the great gumiho!”
Across from me, a manager named Kim muttered thoughtlessly.
“Wh-what kind of monster is this!”
“You! Come here and kneel!”
“I-I’m sorry!”
“Do you know why I’m scolding you?”
The CEO and manager backtracked. Honestly, I didn’t even understand why such detailed ranks existed in such a small company, but the two men began blurting out anything as they trembled in fear.
“Because we failed to answer the gumiho’s question…”
— Thunder!
“Hey!”
“Whaaa!”
“Am I some crazy lady? Can’t you even answer my question without making you kneel and punish you?”
“I-I’m sorry!”
“Hey! Manager Kim!”
“Yes!”
“Have you ever gotten overtime pay?”
“….”
“Oh! I knew it! Just like employee Cha said earlier, you didn’t receive any overtime pay, did you?”
“….”
“If you’ve got something strange to say, just tell me. I’ll punish the CEO.”
Having revealed all nine of my tails, the Kim manager started showing a blank expression. Clearly, he was somewhere close to nirvana as he spoke.
“About the elevator.”
“What?”
“Employees are banned from using the elevators. I started using it since last year, by the way. Our office is on the 7th floor.”
In disbelief, I gestured to the manager.
“Hey, Manager.”
“…”
“I’m really curious, why are they banned from using the elevator?”
“… There has to be hierarchy in the company, right? And there are only two elevators -”
“Just keep lying down until I break your limbs.”
While the manager lay motionless, another employee on the opposite side finally spoke up.
“Um, I just joined last year.”
“And?”
“I… did pretty well in my studies.”
“Good for you.”
“So the CEO asks me to tutor his children every weekend.”
“… What about the tutoring fee?”
“He just said he would give it to me later…”
“Geez! Hey, CEO Cha!”
“Y-yes, gumiho!”
“When are you going to pay for the tutoring?”
“I-I definitely wrote everything down. I’ll make sure to pay it before my resignation -”
— Smack!
“Ugh!”
“Not before your resignation, idiot! You need to pay me now! Withdraw it right in front of me! You have a phone, right?”
“I-I’m sorry…”
“I even made you carry my moving boxes!”
“CEO, he keeps trying to touch my thighs!”
What kind of company is this? I just wanted to create a little noise, but what kind of ridiculous mess is this? Is this really the reality of K Corporations?
But… thinking back, isn’t the Daeyang Group’s owner family a lot like this too? What was my father’s usual saying to us kids?
“Make the underlings fight each other. You should always act as mediators among them.”
…
Sorry, dear employees of reality. I apologize on behalf of my father.
Around that time, an employee who had been outside finally returned with a bag full of fireworks.
“Let’s get ready!”
“… Are you really going to set all those off?”
“Yep.”
“At this hour in downtown Seoul? On the rooftop with all those fireworks?”
“What do you think I am?”
“… A gumiho.”
“Correct. But would setting off a few fireworks even be a problem?”
“Well, I guess not.”
“You guys go bring the fireworks up. And you, CEO Cha!”
“Y-yes!”
“Make a report!”
“Excuse me?”
“Report to the police or the Vatican, you idiot! Tell them a gumiho is rampaging, and you need saving!”
“…”
I set up boxes filled with fireworks all around, pondering.
The moment they explode, even the worst film won’t be able to edit this out. Right now, this moment must appear on the screen my comrades are watching.
“Set off the fireworks.”
“… Got it.”
In a world where the Vatican, the monster-hunting order, exists, if a man-eating gumiho is rampaging, there must naturally be movements to put an end to it.
So, I decided to show my comrades one last thing before my demise. The challenge of the 21st-century gumiho, the monster-hunting group!
— Fwiiiiing! Bang! Shiiiiiing! Bang!
I reached out under the dark night sky, and the light extending from my fingertips formed huge letters across the night sky.
「Gumiho makes her grand entrance!」
—
I promise to keep delivering regularly.
