Chapter 3

Surely I heard that wrong.

Hoping desperately that she had, So-hee slowly turned around.

Forget taking pictures—she couldn’t stay here any longer.

She wanted nothing more than to run away, but her legs wouldn’t move, as though someone had tied stones to them. The area above her knees began to tremble violently.

Just as she finally managed to grab the entrance door handle—

“So So-hee, the granddaughter of So Young-ho…”

“AAAAAH!”

She didn’t even have time to think.

When she heard the voice clearly a second time, So-hee flung the door open and bolted outside.

“AAAH!”

In her frantic escape, her foot caught on the entrance steps, and she fell hard onto her backside.

The impact shot through her body, making her head spin.

“Ah… it hurts. I’m dizzy.”

She needed to run somehow.

But with her head buzzing, she couldn’t even open her eyes properly. She simply sat there, clutching her injured lower back.

I’m scared. Somebody, please help me…

So-hee trembled as she covered her head with both hands.

She couldn’t bring herself to look up.

She could only imagine that some terrifying entity that had tried to call her name was glaring down at her from right in front.

“Hurry… that’s…”

“Today… more than I expected…”

“No… it could…”

She could even hear faint murmuring.

At this point, So-hee was genuinely on the verge of tears.

Since she was hearing voices that weren’t there, she had clearly been possessed by something.

How could everything possibly go this wrong?!

It wasn’t merely an old motel.

It was a haunted motel!

The muffled sounds, as though they were coming through a telephone receiver, gradually became clearer.

Soon, she could distinctly hear people’s conversations and the ordinary noises of daily life.

The overwhelming fear pressed down on her.

Ah…

So-hee’s consciousness gradually became hazy.

Her head spun as though the world were rotating, and her stomach churned.

Cold sweat poured down her body like rain.

At this point, So-hee couldn’t endure it anymore.

The extreme stress seemed to be making her body shut itself down, as though someone had simply switched off the power.

No more…

The noises around her gradually grew distant.

Her consciousness was fading into darkness.

“So So-hee!”

So-hee’s eyes snapped open as though she had awakened from a dream.

“……?”

She froze.

A wide-open street stretched before her, filled with countless people coming and going.

No matter how hard she tried to understand what she was seeing, her eyes and brain simply couldn’t come to an agreement.

“New motel manager. So So-hee.”

Someone called her name in a mechanical voice, almost like an AI.

Startled, So-hee spun around.

“Uh… uhh…?”

With a gasp, she clapped both hands over her mouth.

Where the motel that had been on the verge of collapsing should have stood, there was now a dazzlingly bright building.

“The motel… was pink?”

So-hee rubbed her eyes again.

Nothing changed.

…There’s no way this is my motel.

The sign was practically falling off!

Her gaze naturally shifted toward the sign.

“‘Love’s… Reincarnation Motel’?”

At both ends of the horrifyingly named sign were two enormous red hearts, loudly proclaiming their presence.

So-hee stared blankly at the sign.

There was only so much one could do to try to understand something.

This had gone far beyond that point.

“Hey, could you move? Some of us are trying to get through.”

“Huh? Oh, yes.”

…Huh?

So-hee naturally stepped aside, then suddenly snapped back to reality and stared at the person in front of her.

A foreigner wearing armor was walking past with an axe resting on his shoulder.

Beside him, someone dressed in a black robe flew past as though gliding through the air.

And next to that person, a beautiful red-haired woman wearing an elaborate dress walked by.

They speak Korean really well…

No, that’s not the point!

Only then did So-hee properly look around.

There were people wearing hanbok and traditional gat hats.

Women who were obviously disguised as men.

Beautiful and handsome beggars.

People dressed in royal garments.

People wearing every imaginable kind of clothing that she had either encountered once before or read about in novels.

All of them were walking around the streets.

“Alright, everyone. Stay in line and follow closely. After you register your identity, you’ll have some time to look around.”

A long line of people followed behind a man wearing a black robe and a traditional gat.

“Hey now! This is the village in front of Wicheon. The dead should go over there!”

“Grim Reaper! There’s someone here who hasn’t come to their senses.”

“I told you not to eat random things you find!”

People hurried past one after another.

Not a single one paid any attention to So-hee.

She alone stood there in a daze in front of the now completely bubblegum-pink motel.

“…How… how is this…”

And she came to one conclusion.

“I must have finally gone insane. I went crazy from stress!”

So-hee shuddered and abruptly turned toward the moon jar.

“Why did you suddenly call my name in such a scary way?! Every time I think about that day, my heart still pounds!”

“Your heart naturally poun. ds.”

“Then what about my back?! Do I really have to suffer from back pain at twenty-five?!”

So-hee groaned and repeatedly patted her lower back.

She had indeed twisted it slightly when she fell in fright that day.

Of course, it had healed long ago.

“…I prepared a top-of-the-line chair for you. A premium signature model from a luxury brand that costs more than six million won according to current Korean pri. ces.”

So-hee leaned back into the soft, comfortable leather chair.

The expensive chair was far more comfortable than any bed she had ever slept on in her previous life.

“An ergonomic chair. I even purchased it separately with my own mo. ney. Benefits no other manager has ever received…”

“I know, I know. That’s why I’m letting it slide.”

So-hee nodded playfully and stroked her chair.

She kept talking about her back, but her actions made it extremely obvious just how much she loved the chair.

Patience.

I must endure.

Three times the word ‘patience.’ Three times should be enough.

The moon jar swallowed its irritation again and again.

Whenever that annoyingly young girl rubbed him the wrong way, he reflected on himself.

Perhaps I still lack enough spiritual cultivation.

The moon jar—in other words, the actual owner and long-standing resident of the motel—had settled here when Wicheon first came into existence.

Wicheon had existed since the distant past, from the era when ‘stories’ were passed down orally before people even had written language.

He had therefore lived here for an extremely long time.

Whenever he became bored, he would slightly alter his outward appearance.

At present, among the countless objects he could inhabit, he happened to like the form of this moon jar and had settled inside it.

I should have recognized what she was like from the day we first met.

Over the years, he had met countless characters and numerous motel managers.

He had trained them, educated them, and eventually watched them leave.

He had encountered more kinds of people than he could possibly describe and experienced all sorts of strange events.

Even so, So So-hee was different.

On the very first day she arrived here, So-hee burst into tears.

“I suddenly got dropped here without warning! How am I supposed to live if I can’t even feel comfortable?!”

She had scratches all over her body, presumably from blindly searching through the mountains when looking for the motel.

Her hair was a mess, her clothes were covered in dirt, and worst of all—

her body was thin and frail, like a half-burned fire poker.

Seeing her sobbing uncontrollably while looking like an abandoned kitten, the moon jar eventually gave her permission to make herself comfortable.

It had been a perfect mistake on his part.

He had failed to realize just how shameless the ego inside that seemingly pitiful girl actually was.

I told her to make herself comfortable.

I never told her to forget her manners.

Considering the life she had lived, it would have been understandable if she had developed a timid personality.

Yet whenever she needed to stand her ground, she never lost her nerve—not even in front of customers.

She wasn’t even afraid of him, the long-standing owner of this place.

If she were incompetent at her work, I would have to give her some serious discipline.

The moon jar looked at the ledger So-hee had carefully filled out.

A mad scientist’s notebook of ideas.

A sacred stone belonging to a candidate for high priest.

A jade hairpin belonging to the king’s third wife.

A knight’s second sword.

A crystal ball that could see the future of a mage who had failed to awaken.

So far, she had successfully completed the reincarnation and transmigration of five people and received quite valuable items from them.

Unlike her grandfather, So So-hee seemed to possess a certain talent for this work.

But there was one major problem.

Most supporting characters and extras didn’t want to undergo reincarnation and transmigration in the first place.

“Then promotion should come first!”

So-hee decided that her initial goal would be to properly introduce the motel to people.

And her first promotional method was extremely straightforward.

「The last chance to fix a life filled with regrets! Personalized one-on-one consultations available! Come inside and talk to us!」

A standing sign written in an old-fashioned calligraphic font was placed right at the motel entrance.

From the moon jar’s scholarly sensibilities, it was embarrassingly blatant and commercial.

But So So-hee simply raised an eyebrow and replied,

“This doesn’t even count as proper advertising. We have to get supporting characters interested, even just a little. Who doesn’t have a moment in their life they’d like to change?”

“It’s useless. For insignificant characters, dissolution is a much better deal. It benefits them in their next work.”

“…Are you seriously saying that to me? What are you going to do about the taxes I have to pay in just two months?!”

So-hee flung the motel door wide open, hoping that perhaps someone had finally come.

As expected, nobody came.

“Taxes are a headache both in my previous life and here. They keep taking money every quarter without giving us anything in return. Then at least loosen the requirements for supporting characters to undergo reincarnation and transmigration!”

So-hee’s irritated gaze naturally settled on one particular place.

Across the way, some distance from the motel, people were constantly coming and going.

That was the Reincarnation Hotel, where the protagonists of fictional works could go.

The hotel’s manager welcomed people with a relaxed smile while guiding customers inside.

Then, by chance, he glanced over in So-hee’s direction.

Chun-rok, the manager of the Reincarnation Hotel.

When he gave her a subtle smile, So-hee couldn’t sleep that night.

After that, she began throwing herself into promotion with an almost obsessive enthusiasm.

…I should have stopped her back then.