Welcome to Dungeon Hotel

I returned to the hotel with a man called Hwang Seongjin and his friend, whose name I later learned, Lim Hyunggeol. As soon as I entered, Geumdong saw me and came running.

“Boss…!” 

I glared at Geumdong and said urgently.

“Paladin… you’re back.” 

While Geumdong was looking at me with several question marks in his eyes, Toto, who was  quick-witted, bowed her head.

“Paladin, you have brought new guests.”

Then, Geumdong quickly stepped in with it.

“Paladin! This guest has passed out!”

Hwang Seongjin was already in a state of fainting, and Lim Hyunggeol was trembling and breathing heavily. 

“Hugh… Heukh…”

And I was immediately taken aback by two facts, one was that our hotel had never received group guests, and the other—.

“Paladin… sob… we have to go back to school… our homeroom teacher must be very worried about us…” 

It was due to the fact that these men were high school students. 

“W, wait. Are you a high school student?”

I threw off my Mountain Spirit, no, the Paladin cosplay and asked.

Then Lim Hyunggeol wiped away his tears and answered. 

“Yes.” 

“But our sanctuary costs money? It’s 150 gold per night.”

I decided to put aside the idea of why a minor entered a dungeon in the first place.

‘Actually, Han Woo-hyun also entered a dungeon in his 3rd year of high school. Even if he’s a bit special.’

The important thing was that it was easy to send these students upstairs and dispose of them once they became guests of our hotel. 

“I, I have. 150 gold. Is it per person?”

Lim Hyunggeol asked cautiously.

‘How did a student have 150 gold? I don’t think they belong to a guild…” 

I was puzzled. At that time, Geumdong, who was next to me, answered quickly. 

“It’s 150G for up to 2 people per room. You can use them together!”

Geumdong brought the key to room 202 with an excited face.

Room 202.

I hope it’s just my imagination, but it seems to be becoming a place for the hurt. 

“Then it would be nice to stay here. Student. It’ll be fine, right?”  

I handed the key I had received from Geumdong to Lim Hyunggeol. Lim Hyunggeol looked at his friend who had passed out and nodded.

As soon as Lim Hyunggeol picked up the key, a window appeared in front of me. 

Room 202 has been checked in.

150G has been deposited.

When the hotel reaches level 10, you can receive the ‘Hotelier’s Eye (A)’ skill.

Skill: ‘Hotelier’s Eye (A)’

—You can view additional information on facilities and items.

—You can view the guest list.

…?

What is the ‘hotel manager’s eye (A)’ and what is the ‘guest list’?

I frowned.

Could that be a new skill?

It was even an A-Class. It’s a very good skill. Can you give me that much skill? 

First of all, I quickly received the skill, wondering if that function could add a healing buff like ‘Housekeeping’.

And I recited quietly.

“Hotel Manager’s Eyes.” 

My face turned red, but nothing happened.

Why are all the skill names like this?

I sighed and wrinkled my face. It was then. 

“P, Paladin! Sungjin’s body is shaking!” 

Hwang Seongjin’s body began to tremble.

It seemed to be an infection reaction.

I didn’t have time to think any more, so I asked Geumdong to carry Hwang Seongjin. 

* * *

It was fortunate that I had ‘Housekeeping (B)’ set up in Room 202 before leaving the hotel.

I was going to use it right away if I got hurt, but I didn’t know that a guest would use it. 

“Student Hwang Seongjin’s trembling has subsided a little, and the wounds are getting better quickly with low-level potions, so just watch for an hour or two.” 

Ah, the low level potion was 10G, but I just bought it with my own money.

It is the duty of adults to protect minors.

I sat in the lobby and looked across to Lim Hyunggeol, who had finished a bowl of soup served by Geumdong.

At first, I managed to drag Lim Hyunggeol down, who was trying to stay in Room 202.

Lim Hyunggeol, who seemed to have tried it, took a few bites of the soup, and looked surprised.

I think I know why.

When Geumdong was making the soup, I took a bite to season it, and I thought of this window.

You’ve consumed ‘Archaeopteryx Breast Soup’ (D), your HP has increased by 100%. 

Thanks to this, the lost stamina was quickly restored.

It was definitely worth going on the hunt.

Lim Hyunggeol greeted me while holding out a bowl of soup that was completely empty, as if he were embarrassed.

“Thank you very much, Paladin. You were really there, weren’t you? After the Porter Hunter news came out, all my classmates told me… Ah, I’m sorry.”  

Lim Hyunggeol hurriedly covered his mouth. I waved my hand. 

“No, it’s all right. But are you two in the same class?”

“Ah, yes.”

I nodded and hesitated for a moment.

I’m not their teacher or guardian, but if I saw two minors in the dungeon, that was the first thing I thought. 

“Perhaps… are you running away?” 

“Yes?” 

Lim Hyunggeol rolled his eyes in bewilderment. 

Is it not running away from home?

“I saw it often on the news. It is said that runaway teenagers are sometimes mobilized for illegal farming raids. If you happen to meet a bad adult—”

“N, no. It’s not like that. We just…” 

Lim Hyunggeol lowered his head, his face was flushed red for some reason.

“Just…?” 

“…we’re trying to buy a full set of gaming computers…” 

The moment I heard that, my face hardened rapidly.

That’s why there was 150G.

That also meant that this was not the first unreported raid.

At that time, Geumdong approached to give Lim Hyunggeol a few more pieces of bread, and when he saw my expression, he was surprised. 

“What’s wrong?”

When I asked, Geumdong tilted his head.

“No. The expression a bit… how should I say it… it looks like you want to hit him hard on the back…” 

Haha… I got caught.

I answered, trying to control my expression.

“No, it’s not. Go away.”

I do want to hit him hard on the back, but he is a teenager and has his own desires and problems.

Besides, seeing Lim Hyunggeol’s face flushed red, it was clear that the experience of losing a friend this time would be engraved in his bones.

Adding nagging to that is just too much.

“First of all, eat a little more bread…Student Hyunggeol must have been tired too, I’ll give you one more blanket, so take a rest.” 

It was the moment when Lim Hyunggeol accepted the bread I offered.

A window popped up in front of me.

View the guest list of ‘Lim Hyunggeol (general guest)’.

Lim Hyunggeol (general guest) (Awakening Grade: B)

Title: None

Skill: Ice Bolt (B), Prison Spear (A)

*Prison Spear (A) is an unacquired skill.

*Method to Acquire It: Remove Status Ailments

Stats: Stamina 31 Strength 35 Agility 34 Intelligence 21 Luck 11

! Status Ailments !: The accuracy of Ice Bolt (B) is significantly debuffed as a result of guilt towards a friend.

What is it? 

What I’m looking at right now—could it be Lim Hyunggeol’s status window?

The ‘Hotelier’s Eye’ was such a skill.

It was amazing.

A skill that shows someone else’s status window.

I’d never heard of a skill like this before.

Most of the time, hunters could only figure out the rank of their opponents unless they used a device that belonged to the association.

Because of this, in the beginning, there were a lot of fake cases of people cheating on each other’s grades, which led to a lot of mistrust within the raid.

Fortunately, many fraudulent hunters have disappeared because the Hunter Association now requires a superhuman license to be issued.

However, I can see other people’s skills, stats, and status abnormalities, not just the grade like a certificate.

‘But the ‘friend’ that they’re talking about in that condition, no way…’

Lim Hyunggeol started to shed tears.

“Sob… I’m so pathetic, right…? Because of that computer… Seongjin… I just thought it was a C-Class farming dungeon… I thought I could do that enough and asked Seongjin to go with me… I did it last time too. I’m B-Class, so I’m giving a bus ride to C-Class Seongjin… But I… I… I couldn’t protect Seongjin… I’m…” 

I crumpled my face while looking at Lim Hyunggeol’s tears.

No matter how B-Class he is, he is still a minor.

He doesn’t even have the experience to do the raid properly, how could it be natural to protect his friend from C-Class monsters?

I thought Lim Hyunggeol felt too much responsibility and guilt. 

It was then.

“You are funny. You didn’t want to protect me, Lim Hyunggeol.”

The place where the cold voice came from was the place where the stairs were.

Hwang Seongjin, with a pale face, was standing holding on to the handrail of the stairs, staring at Kim Hyunggeol.

Lim Hyunggeol looked at Hwang Seongjin with a red face.

“No! Something like that! Seongjin-ah…!” 

“I regret trying to enter the dungeon with you, really. I just regret that we are friends.”

“I…!”

“Did you actually want me to die? Is that why you wasted your ice bolt?” 

Huh? Wait.

Did Lim Hyunggeol try to save Hwang Seongjin by using an ice bolt and fail? 

Perhaps because of that, Hwang Seongjin thought that Lim Hyunggeol had no intention of saving him?

Then that’s a misunderstanding—.

Because I saw it.

The debuff on Lim Hyunggeol.

“Enough. That’s enough.” 

Hwang Seongjin spoke in a cynical tone and went up the stairs again. Lim Hyunggeol followed Hwang Seongjin up.

But soon there was the sound of a door slamming from upstairs, and the sound of someone talking didn’t continue.

I was taken aback by the situation in which a bloody cruel drama unfolded, let alone a pleasant and refreshing youth story.

I wondered if the two should be separated, but when I thought about it, there seemed to be no need to separate the two because force didn’t work in the hotel anyway.

Moreover, unlike Hwang Seongjin’s misunderstanding, Lim Hyunggeol was suffering from extreme guilt for his friend. So there was no need for the two to fight.

I was a little curious, but I soon realized that Lim Hyunggeol was sobbing from upstairs, so I decided not to go upstairs.

It was because I thought it would be neither porridge nor rice if I intervened now.

However, after calming down a bit, it seemed necessary to listen to Lim Hyunggeol’s story more.

As long as that status ailment remains, it will be hard for them to survive, even if they go back to the dungeon tomorrow, and their friendships will continue to get worse.

Oh, and by the way.

First, let’s get another level-up reward.

The window that kept asking me to receive other rewards besides skill rewards was bothering me.

‘Receive the reward.’

I muttered inwardly.

Level up rewards unlock new facilities in the hotel.

Hotel Facilities: Banquet Hall

Banquet hall…? 

While I was wondering, the stairs that went down to the basement appeared on the stairs that were obviously only going up to the second floor.

And there was a sign attached to it.

B1: Banquet Hall

So this is…… I mean, it’s not illegal renovation, right…? 

It was a very strange thing.

The building I bought was obviously three-story, but it became a five-story building including the basement before I knew it.