Hotel Mortis - Chapter 1 Part 4

Part 4

He was screaming so incessantly that it was almost pitiful. He seemed to be completely lost in his own world, engulfed in fear. 712 approached him slowly and tried to reassure the man.

“Is there anyone here?”

“I am here. Sir, don’t worry. I am a safe person.”

“Is there anyone here?”

“Please calm down. I will come closer, so don’t be too startled.”

By the time he was almost close to the man.

The voice that had been continuously searching for people suddenly stopped abruptly. The corridor, which had been echoing with his deep voice, fell into an abrupt silence.

“… Sir?”

In the eerie silence, as he called out, the man who had been reaching out towards 712 disappeared around the corner. 

712 was worried that the man would be scared of his appearance and run away. He hesitated for a moment and then turned the corner of the corridor.

“Ahh!”

And he collided with someone, stumbling and nearly falling.

“Oh my… I’m… I’m so sorry.”

712 raised his head, rubbing his nose where the collision had happened. It was clearly his own mistake, and he didn’t forget to apologize for it.

And what entered 712’s field of vision was not a person but something like a distant wall. 

It was before he even had a chance to think that something was strange when a familiar voice resounded loudly from above.

“Is anybody here? Is there anyone here?”

At the same time, a bizarre sensation enveloped him.

‘What’s going on? Why does it seem like that person is pretending not to see me, even when he can see me?’

… And, could a person be this dark and huge? The body of the ‘someone’ that came into view was indescribably huge.

712 slowly lifted his gaze upwards. His eyes widened at the unbelievable sight. Yes, what he was looking at was not human.

“What… what is this?”

He stumbled back in shock.

In front of him was a grotesque figure. It had a size equivalent to three grown men combined, and its naked body seemed to be melting and oozing as if it had been burned by fire or dissolved by chemicals. Where the shoulders should have ended and the neck should have begun, there was a head as big as the torso itself. No eyes, ears, or nose were visible. Only a massive mouth was gaping in the center. And inside that enormous mouth…

Inside that enormous mouth was a man’s upper body stuck. The figure that he had thought was a living person turned out to be a part of a human.

The monster’s chest expanded greatly, and then it exhaled. As it did, The man’s corpse, which had been slumped over, stood up straight as if it had been inflated and began to shout.

“Is anybody here? Is there anyone here?”

The monster exhaled like a human playing a flute. With each breath escaping from its wide black throat, the lifeless body cried out, desperately searching for people.

The corpse’s eye sockets were empty. He was a middle-aged man. There were two moles under his right eye, making it appear as if tears were streaming down. The sight of the corpse, stuck in the monster’s throat, wailing with its voice from when it was alive, was both eerie and unsettling.

“Ah… aah, ughh…”

712 trembled and slowly stepped back. Every fiber of his being screamed to turn around and run, but fear rendered him powerless. His legs felt weak, unable to muster the strength to stand up.

‘Please, please, let that monster not notice me.’

He fervently prayed that the monster would not notice him, as it had no eyes, and that it would simply pass by him without a care…

However, the supernatural events happening in this hotel were far from easy.

-Thud, thud!

With a sound of something snapping, the corpse of the middle-aged man stuck inside the monster’s mouth twitched and tilted. Then, it detached itself from the monster’s jaws and fell with a thud. Only the upper half of the body remained on the floor, wriggling violently. The monster seemed not to notice the separated body part as it continued walking forward, stepping on it and crushing it. The sound of excruciatingly gruesome breaking and splintering echoed loudly.

712 vividly witnessed the scene, utterly powerless to do anything. His heart felt like it would explode, and fear made everything in front of him spin. All he could manage was to utter feeble sounds like ‘Ah,’ ‘Ah,’ struggling to breathe.

“Blargh.”

Nausea surged up. He gasped and vomited clear water. It wasn’t just the disgusting sight of the monster treading on the corpse that caused it; it was the realization of the impending doom that his body reacted to, unable to overcome the overwhelming terror.

-Swiiiiiish!

A sound of wind rumbled in the monster’s hollow throat. It couldn’t cry out on its own; it needed something to lure and entice its prey on its behalf…

-Bam!

A grotesque foot curled in an eerie direction took one step closer. With a heavy sound, the monster approached 712, only one step away.

“S-Spare me…”

He pleaded towards the massive figure, devoid of eyes, nose, and ears. It was the only thing 712 could do. His limbs felt as if all their strength had been drained, and he couldn’t muster any force. Like a bird with broken wings, he could only weakly struggle.

712 instinctively knew. That monster would chew and swallow his lower body, leaving only the upper body like a flute. Until it found another victim, it would call out in 712’s voice, over and over.

The monster took one step closer. Now, there was just about a step’s distance between him and the monster.

“I-I don’t…”

Despite its massive size, the monster moved with incredible speed, almost like a flash of light. 712 let out a scream of terrible pain spreading from his calves.

“AAAAHH!”

Its massive throat began to suck 712 in, and his legs started contorting as if being pulled into the gears of a machine. Inside the monster’s mouth, he could vividly feel his flesh being torn, bones breaking, and blood spurting.

“Aah, it, it hurts! Aaaargh!”

712’s limbs convulsed. He couldn’t bear the pain any longer. If he had to feel this pain for even one more second, he would rather die quickly. But his mind was strangely clear. The pain was so intense that it couldn’t be any clearer.

“Heuu, heu, heeuugh, s-save me…”

Even after almost being torn apart from the waist down, 712 remained conscious. Unable to endure the agony, the blood vessels around his eyes burst, and tears of blood streamed down his cheeks.

Something began to penetrate into 712’s abdominal cavity. A thick, elastic, elongated something stirred inside his stomach.

‘Now I can die.’

He finally realized that death was imminent and felt relieved.

The monster’s tentacle pierced through his diaphragm and found its way to his trachea. His organs were in turmoil, but it wasn’t as painful as before. Gradually, his vision started to blur.

The creature inflated its chest and took a breath through 712’s throat. And then, it exhaled through his mouth. 712 felt his throat opening, and his lips moved involuntarily.

“Is anybody here? Is there anyone here?”

With that final cry, 712’s breath was completely cut off.

***