Hotel Mortis - Chapter 1 Part 5

Part 5

He woke up alone. When he opened his eyes, the ceiling seemed farther away than he had thought. As he turned his head while lying down, he could see the legs of furniture.

That’s right. He was lying on the floor.

The carpeted floor wasn’t exactly cold, but it wasn’t comfortable either, so he sat up. Stretching his languid muscles, he thought to himself.

‘For having slept on the floor, I strangely feel refreshed.’

His body felt incredibly light. To exaggerate a bit, it was as if he had been reborn.

“By the way, where is this place?”

He spoke out loud, questioning himself. It was to confirm that this room, lacking a sense of reality to an unusual degree, was not a dream. Fortunately or unfortunately, his voice was more vivid than anything else. The echoing sound of the large room assaulted his eardrums.

“Ah.”

Overwhelmed by the eerie sense of the room, he sat there dazed for a moment. He realized why this place felt unreal—it was too quiet.

Even the natural sounds that should typically be present were absent. No car noises, no chirping birds, no rustling wind, not even the faintest sounds that should naturally be heard if there were people around…

He slowly flexed his wrist joints and looked around.

The room was so vast that it was difficult to take it all in at once. There was a king-sized bed, large enough to accommodate three people lying down, and it was adorned with luxurious white bedding. An artificial fire flickered and danced in a model fireplace, and there was a large wall-mounted TV screen that seemed to replicate a movie theater experience. The walls were adorned with various large and small paintings…

‘Why on earth was I lying on the floor when there’s a perfectly fine bed?’

He even caught a glimpse of a bedroom beyond the wall where the TV was mounted, and it looked even larger and more luxurious than the current bedroom. There were several beds, and lying on the floor seemed like a waste.

He dusted off his buttocks and stood up, deciding to explore this unfamiliar room carefully. 

As he exited the bedroom and made a half-turn around the spacious living room, he instantly what kind of place this was.

‘It’s a hotel?’

Not just an ordinary hotel room. With its size and extravagant decorations, it wouldn’t be surprising if it was the most expensive suite room.

His face turned pale as he realized this fact.

“Who on earth brought me here?”

He searched his empty pockets for any money, hoping that the hotel bill had been paid in advance. Since he had no recollection, he must not have walked into this place on his own. Someone else had to have left him here, and he could only hope they had taken care of the hotel expenses. Otherwise, he would end up being unfairly burdened with a huge debt and forced to work as a hotel dishwasher.

“By the way, how did I end up here?”

However, the reason for coming to this hotel room and the memories just before that didn’t come to mind at all. No. It wasn’t just that he couldn’t remember anything; it was as if his memories didn’t exist at all. His mind was completely clean, like an emptied trash bin.

But he didn’t feel particularly bothered by this fact.

‘What’s there to know? I probably can’t even afford the hotel bill right now.’

He soon stopped worrying and wandered around the spacious hotel room. As he explored the room, he noticed a wall clock on the wall, and the hour and minute hands pointed to about three fifty. Looking out of the wide, open window, it was so dark that he couldn’t see anything just a step ahead, indicating that it was at least not 3:50 in the afternoon, but rather 3:50 in the early morning.

As the thought of reporting himself as an unidentified person to the police crossed his mind, he picked up the telephone placed in one corner of the living room and held it to his ear. However, the phone was completely dead. He couldn’t hear any dial tone.

“The suite’s equipment are broken?”

He put the receiver down with a bewildered expression. It was not just an ordinary room; the telephone in the suite room was an item commonly used for various tasks in the hotel.

-Swish.

He shrugged and plopped down onto the soft sofa in the living room when he heard a faint sound as if something had brushed past. Startled, he recoiled. Aside from the noise he made himself, the interior was eerily quiet, making him sensitive to even the slightest sound.

‘What was that?’

He looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. However, the noise had passed by in a split second, making it difficult to determine its direction.

“Did I hear it wrong?”

Frowning, he crossed his legs and sat down. He had already explored this suite room, roughly experiencing the extravagant lives of the wealthy, as there was no one else here.

‘Maybe if there were anyone else, they’d be hiding in the wardrobe.’

The only unopened door in the room was the built-in wardrobe.

But he didn’t feel the need to waste effort and time by checking it. Instead, he buried himself in the soft sofa.

-Swish.

Then, the sound echoed again. It was the sound of someone quickly crawling on the floor.

‘Or could it be the sound of the wind?’

But it didn’t sound like the wind; the sound was too close. He looked around again, and as expected, there was nothing.

He curled up, muttering to himself.

“Could I be hearing hallucinations?”

The sound continued, even when he tried to forget about it.

-Swish, swish, swishhh!”

There was nothing as maddening as the irregularly echoing constant sound. Setting aside any paranoia about the sound, this small noise was enough to fray one’s nerves.

“Where on earth is this sound coming from?”