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A wise child, your behavior was truly commendable. Not just in this room, but the entire hotel is rigged with eavesdropping devices.

A low voice whispers into my ear.

No, it feels more like it’s whispering inside my head…

This place is at least bearable. In ordinary guest rooms, there’s even a CCTV installed, so indeed, the public security here has treated you with a sort of special care just because you are foreign celebrities.

It feels as if the words are being directly transmitted into my mind.

It’s too vivid to be an auditory hallucination, and I’m not immobilized as if being pressed down…

Chaine quickly realizes that this voice is genuinely audible to her.

But oddly enough, it’s a disturbing sensation…

Bone conduction headphones.

I’ve worn headphones that deliver sound through vibrations in the bone and skin while broadcasting music, and this felt just like that.

However, unlike that moment, the sound I hear now feels like it truly originates from inside my body and travels through my bones to my ears in a perfectly natural way.

It’s enough to make me question if it’s really talking directly into my mind.

…Or could this be what telepathy feels like?

I might not know.

Chaine hasn’t experienced it firsthand, but perhaps the telepathic communication used by warriors or the messaging magic used by wizards feels like this.

But she instinctively knows this sound is different from any of those.

“…But, dear child. Being trapped here indefinitely, isn’t it quite frustrating?”

Though you can see the outside scenery, you can’t mix with it. You can breathe, but the air is disconnected from the outside. You can eat, yet it’s not as good as eating outside, and you can reside here, but without the freedom to go outside, what’s the difference from being in a prison?

People don’t admire those imprisoned, saying, “How splendid it must be to eat and sleep in such a lovely place!” Even if that prison is adorned with gems and serves gourmet meals. Because in those places, what is most crucial to a person, the freedom to go wherever one wants, has been taken away, hasn’t it?

Locking a guest in a single room, no matter how safe it may be, is just as if you are stripping a traveler of their purpose, like trying to capture a star and keep it in one place. Therefore, how can it not feel suffocating?

A bound traveler wishes to move and stars long to return to their homeland, doesn’t it make sense?

So, dear child…

The voice gently speaks to Chaine.

“Follow my instructions. If you lend me a little help, I shall grant you freedom.”

“It’s nothing grand or burdensome. The reward for you obtaining freedom would be more than enough.”

It’s a sweet temptation that promises escape from this place.

The voice suggests that with a little effort, it could be done immediately.

Chaine seems to contemplate the voice’s offer, briefly closing her eyes and murmuring ever so softly.

Almost like a sleep-talker, yet clearly responding to the “voice’s” proposal.

“…No.”

And then, as if to signal she wouldn’t listen any further, she throws the blanket over herself and closes her eyes.

“If the owner is truly treating the guest well, then the guest shouldn’t betray the owner.”

…

…

…

The voice fell silent.

* * *

“Indeed, how wise.”

Park Jinseong chuckled as he watched Chaine reject his offer.

Despite being turned down, he wore a smile as if the situation didn’t bother him, resembling Chaine’s thoughts as she pulled the blanket around herself.

“Indeed. Guests should not betray their host, much like a host shouldn’t betray their guests.”

A universal unwritten rule that exists anywhere.

Even if they are foes, when they visit as guests, they should be treated well, and nothing should be done to harm them. And the same applies to the guests; one should not seek to harm those who treat them with respect.

In a world where guests become hosts and hosts become guests, such betrayal is like shaking the foundations of trust and law, and it could reach the level of a taboo.

The golden rule.

Treat others as you wish to be treated yourself.

Though Chaine rejected Park Jinseong’s proposal, she firmly adhered to this golden rule.

She maintained the appearance of a guest who would not betray her host until the end.

“Then I must find another way.”

Causing trouble in the hotel would be the simplest solution.

Currently, Chaine is housed in a luxury room.

In other words, it’s at the upper section of a high-rise building.

If she caused a commotion up there, things would have moved along easily.

If Chaine had cooperated, he would have used her to construct an altar for the ritual of magic and employed the parasites he had previously infected her with, along with the insects introduced into the hotel, to elevate Chaine to a position akin to “Park Jinseong’s representative.”

Then he could have twisted the summoning ritual, summoned his avatar there, and infiltrated the hotel with ease.

Of course, Chaine would have to bear the cost of the ritual, but it wouldn’t be anything grand. At worst, a week of suffering with full-body muscle strains or a high fever… As Park Jinseong mentioned, it wouldn’t be a bad trade for escaping from China.

Yet, Chaine rejected that outright.

Not even bothering to listen.

“Haha. It’s delightful to see virtue once in a while. Yes, guests should respect their hosts, and hosts should respect their guests. Indeed.”

With a satisfied feeling, Park Jinseong erased the hotel from his target list.

How could he harm a place where those deserving respect resided?

For there is fidelity and those who know etiquette shall be well treated.

However, there existed those who stood in stark contrast to them.

“But those who rob the powerless to fill their own bellies are indeed greedy, aren’t they?”

They lack faith, know no propriety, and have no compassion. Can such beings truly be called human?

Thus, they should not complain no matter what befalls them.

Park Jinseong naturally moved his feet.

“Stop!”

Until the public security guys, appearing to be men, blocked his way.

“You can’t just barge in here. Turn back!”

Park Jinseong feigned a somewhat frightened expression at the sight of the public security officers who were holding him back, as if he were an ordinary person who had unwittingly stepped into a place marked as ‘danger.’ Then, nodding his head with a slightly fearful look and glancing at the luxurious mansion and the public security officers before him, he wore an understanding expression.

Then, slowly raising both hands as if to show he held no weapons, he initiated the movement of the insects within his body.

With an unseen twitching sensation, the flying insects gathered towards his arms.

If the arms filled with the flying insects were to explode under Park Jinseong’s command, they would burst forth like balloons, decomposing into countless insects that would swarm and bite them. The poison they inject could quickly incapacitate or kill the public security officers.

“I—I must have taken a wrong turn. I’ll leave immediately…!”

Park Jinseong quickly blurted out in panic.

And at that moment when the public security officers had let their guard down, just as he was about to unleash his plan…

“Huh?”

A subtle sensation brushed past him.

“This is… magic power?”

Being composed of insects, he felt the energy more distinctly.

A powerful feeling of magic was emanating from the luxurious mansion.

“…Although it’s known that a high-ranking officer is here, this feels… out of place for security.”

It’s not just any magic.

It smells of blood, thickly saturated with intent to kill.

Even the feeling that had been hard to perceive at first was now amplifying…

“Haha. How interesting. Thanks to that girl, I’ll cross paths with someone intriguing again.”

Park Jinseong muttered slowly.

The words were too clear to be considered a mere aside, and too vague to be directed at anyone in particular.

And then—

Kwaaaaang—!

As if answering his words, the surging magic split the luxurious mansion in half.

 

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