NOVEL WEB Welcome to Dungeon Hotel
Chapter 232
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“Heuk…heuk…heuk…” Deep within the mountains, only the sound of a woman’s ragged breathing echoed through the silence. The woman’s fearful eyes trembled wildly in the darkness, darting back and forth as if searching for an escape. An evil ghost was a vengeful spirit that died after being bitten by a tiger, and it was said that it possessed people in order to save its next person. “Kyaak—kyaak—” “Ugh!” The woman, highly sensitive to the sound of crows cawing, covered her ears and crouched down in fear. Tears flowed out of her tightly shut eyes. “Huuuh… Mr. Kim, you brat… I’m going to kill you.” She cursed her husband, then cautiously opened her eyes and glanced back at the mountain path she had climbed. The sun had completely set, and the mountain path was now filled with thick fog, making it impossible to see even a step ahead. She collapsed on the ground near a large rock. Isn’t this how I’m going to die…? All because of that wretched husband of hers. What kind of death is this? As she thought that, memories of her husband discovering ‘that place’ eight days ago flooded her mind. Her husband, Mr. Kim, who already had a tendency to be a carefree wanderer, had been drinking that day and got lost in the mountains. While wandering and wandering along the dark mountain path, what appeared in front of him was… ‘I swear, there was a really magnificent bridge and a tower! I’m not kidding!’ ‘Shut up! Can’t you see I’m busy with my sewing?!’ She scolded him, but Mr. Kim’s eyes were slightly turned around. He said that he had met ‘that thing’ there. ‘Shall we make a bet? If you win, I will give you all this gold and treasure!’ A strange monster wearing a mask who suggested that they play Go, offering enough gold to change his life. He said the eyes behind the mask were incredibly beautiful. Mr. Kim, who was always easily swayed, fell for the monster and played a game of Go, resulting in the loss of the ancestral land passed down through generations. ‘…But it was still a fun game.’ There was a scratch mark on Mr. Kim’s stomach, who was giggling as if possessed. When asked what this was, Mr. Kim only laughed and said, “I just gave my liver to the world’s most beautiful woman.” That crazy b*stard. As soon as she saw that, her brother got angry and ran away. Since it was obvious that he wouldn’t come to his senses even if he beat up Mr. Kim, he went to the goblin tavern in the mountains, which may or may not exist, with the intention of getting the money back first. . And it had already been three days since her brother came back. ‘There was never a goblin tavern, was there? You just gave the land deed to a gisaeng house?!’ Now, she couldn’t just sit still. She left Mr. Kim and started wandering the mountains. Whether her brother had gotten lost in the mountains, or had been attacked by a tiger, which she hated to imagine, she wanted to come down and find his body. So she searched for traces of her brother, and searched again. Without even realizing that the sun was setting. “Heuk… heuk…” She just kept shedding tears on the dark mountain path. Will both her brother and herself fall to the tiger’s prey? She shivered from the dreary wind that slowly covered her. And then. The expected voice flowed out. “Mr. Kim…Come here…” It was the evil’s voice. A gloomy and damp voice. Even her tears stopped. She leaned her back against the rock, holding her breath. But the voices didn’t stop. “Here… this is it… Mr. Kim…” “Hey. It’s not Mr. Kim. You’re a guest, a guest.” But the voices were not the same. “?” The woman was hiding behind the rock in fear. “That’s strange…I smelled Mr. Kim here…” “It’s not Mr. Kim, it’s a guest, you punk. Didn’t you hear what the boss said?” The two voices passed by the rock, muttering. The woman held her breath in fear. And how long had passed? The sound gradually grew farther away, and several minutes had passed since it had completely disappeared. The woman lifted her head above the rock to look around. At that moment, two white faces appeared before her eyes. “Welcome. Welcome to the Goblin Tavern…” “Welcome. Mr. Kim~!” ‘I’m going to die like this!’ The woman couldn’t even scream and simply fell backwards. “Oh, oh, oh~!” One of the ghosts supporting the fainted woman’s head looked up at another ghost and shouted. “You idiot! The boss said not to knock out the customers!” Both the shouting ghost and the one sulking in response were dressed in bright red clothing. “…Let’s take her first.” The two ghosts stared at each other and said. One ghost carried the woman on its back, while the other walked in front, illuminating the path with a lantern as they moved through the forest. A winding mountain path. As they continued to walk down the dark path— A familiar voice could be heard in the distance. “Welcome! This is the Goblin Tavern!” The two ghosts stopped in their tracks, and before them stood the ornate goblin tavern, with rows of ghosts in red attire waiting to carry the guests’ belongings. Above them, a six-story tower was illuminated, and the newly painted sign on the tower glowed with luminous dye. Goblin Tavern. Below the sign, several ghosts rushed toward the tower, asking questions eagerly. “Welcome! Which room shall we take you to… Wait, is this a guest or a meal?” At those words, the woman, who was being carried on the ghost’s back and pretending to be faint with her eyes tightly shut, flinched. ‘…Food?’ “Hey, you! What do you mean ‘food’? This is our first guest in two days! You can’t eat her. Quickly, take her to the ‘Buldong Buldong’ room!” “What do you mean by ‘Buldong Buldong’? It’s the front desk! Even after the boss taught you a hundred times, you still don’t get it.” “Buldong Buldong? Front desk? What is that? Is this some place where they’re going to roast me? Do ghosts not eat humans, or what?!” And the boss. It felt like these ghosts became oddly obedient and even softened their tone whenever the word “boss” was mentioned. So she guessed the identity of the boss like this. ‘Tiger…!’ Yeah. If there’s only one being that the ghosts would follow, it must be the tiger. Oh my, father. ‘This daughter is finally going to be with you!’ The woman closed her eyes tightly, lamenting her own fate, and then felt a hand snatching away the luggage she was carrying. “Guest. I will take your luggage up to your room.” The only thing in that luggage was snacks for her brother, and even that was taken away. Now it really is the end… “The guest passed out? I told you not to startle the guest.” …or so she thought, but a gentle voice reached her ears. A voice that seemed harsh on the outside but had a warm heart inside. There was a certain power in that voice. For some reason, the person with that voice seemed like a good person, someone who would help her. It gave her a strange feeling, making her want to ask for even the smallest favors, convinced that they would grant any request. She didn’t know it, but that was the power of the ‘front desk’ skill. The power that made her voice have the ‘vibe of the service industry’ when she used a sales smile. However, that feeling was only temporary. “I’m sorry, boss… But he did that!” “No, that’s not me, boss.” The moment the surrounding ghosts called out “boss” in response to that voice, her whole body stiffened. So the owner of this voice was a tiger! She slowly turned her head in fear. As far away from the voice as possible. And the moment she slowly opened her eyes. “Oh my, thank you. The food is really delicious. Delicious!” There sat a familiar face, enjoying drinks and snacks in a clean and tidy tavern. That face wasn’t her husband who always enjoyed drinks and women— “…Brother…?” Brother, it was Mr Hwang. She thought he was bitten to death by a tiger? Forgetting that she had been pretending to faint, she quickly jumped down from the ghost’s arms and rushed over to Mr. Hwang. “What are you doing here? Did you get caught too, brother?! You can’t be drinking here! If you eat the food offered by the tiger, you might never be able to come back down!” The woman screamed and made eye contact with the red-clothed nine-tailed fox who was serving her. The moment she saw the nine-tailed fox serving the blood-dripping chunk of meat, the woman collapsed. “…I was going to eat… your liver…” “Huh? This is the highest quality steak cooked rare…” Just as the woman was about to scream, a young man in red appeared before her. A sharp nose, upturned eyes like a cat’s, lips forming a soft curve. To be honest, the young man, who looked more like a woman than a man, was the one the ghosts had called boss earlier. ‘Tiger…?’ But it seems closer to a cat than a tiger? While the woman was thinking that, the young man reached out his hand to the woman who had crouched down. “Oh, you must be the younger sibling of the guest, Hwang Yonggu. Hwang…Kkotbun.” The young man smiled brightly while reaching out his hand to the woman. “What a pretty name.” At that moment, the woman’s face, no, Kkotbun’s face, smiled along with the young man without realizing it. What a pretty name. She had lived all this time as someone’s wife and had forgotten her own name. This handsome man called her name and said, ‘What a pretty name.’ Anyway, if she was going to die, she’d rather be devoured by this tiger than starve to death back in the village…! She made up her mind and grabbed the young man’s hand. “Please enjoy your meal.” “Yes?” The young man—no, Junghyo—tilted her head in confusion. And at that moment, a window appeared before Junghyo’s eyes. Current reputation of the Goblin Tavern: 0 Oh. It was the moment when Junghyo, after just two days of managing the Goblin Tavern, finally saw its reputation climb out of the negatives. With a delighted heart, Junghyo gently pulled the seated Kkotbun to her feet. She even slipped her hand around Kkotbun’s waist to support her as her legs gave way. Then, she pulled out a chair from the table where Mr. Hwang was sitting and whispered into gumiho’s ear. “Please prepare one more serving.” At that time, Junghyo didn’t know. Thanks to Junghyo’s dedication to remembering each guest’s name, the number of women deliberately trying to get lost on the mountain paths would exponentially increase starting a few days later. Hello! You can also buy the advanced chapter in Ko-fi now, just click the ko-fi button and look for the title of the novel in shop. Thank you for your support!
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