Chapter 22

Chapter 22. VIP Lounge (2)

[22. Tea time lasts 10 minutes. Conversation alone serves as the only proof of time, so please enjoy a pleasant chat with Ellis.]

Twice. Su-myeon had moved the hourglass.

The group listened to those exchanges and formed a hypothesis, then saw the new rule on their Heartphones and became certain.

'Time.'

Time only passed when someone mentioned that time had passed.

But knowing that didn't make it easy to move the hourglass.

"Don't you find it sad? That time keeps flowing, moment by moment."

Ellis, as if aware the rules had been announced, continued the conversation about time.

The problem was that answering her too earnestly would raise her affection too much.

If that happened, she might award them a stay at this hotel before the 10 minutes were even up.

"I like apples, personally. As they ripen…."

Su-myeon had been about to add a remark about time again, but he caught himself.

As they ripen, time passes and they grow more delicious. That's why I like apples.

That could be taken as a proper response to Ellis's question.

It could serve as a reason why time's passage wasn't sad — so Su-myeon hastily cut off the thought.

"They're tasty, so……."

In the end, Su-myeon trailed off vaguely, and this time the hourglass didn't move.

"Oh."

Someone let out a disappointed sigh.

Mentioning the flow of time while maintaining almost no logical connection to Ellis's question and deliberately missing the point.

The strategy for this tea party could be summarized in a single sentence, but it was far easier said than done.

Su-myeon felt he should guide Ellis using the question-and-answer patterns he remembered from the game, but that too was no simple task.

"Damn it…."

Du-pal just wanted to pass out cold and have someone carry him out when it was over.

He was at his limit holding back the nausea caused by the bizarre monster beside him, which kept acting friendly and showing off the entrails it had pulled from its own belly.

"I, I didn't come here to drink. You go ahead and have that yourself. Yeah……."

Just fending off the thing — made of flesh that was neither plant nor animal — as it kept filling a soju glass and clinking it against his was enough to bring him to tears.

"Do you happen to know what time it is right now?"

"Look, Ellis. The sugar cube you put in the tea earlier has dissolved — that's how much time has passed."

Meanwhile, Su-myeon was still fighting tooth and nail to answer Ellis's remarks.

Du-pal had figured out this tea party's rules too.

But he had zero confidence he could come up with a better answer than Su-myeon in this situation.

[AM 10:03]

They'd barely managed to squeeze out one more minute, and there was no telling how much longer they could keep moving the hourglass.

"Really? How long has it been now? It must be past three minutes, right?"

Ellis persistently steered the conversation toward time, seemingly determined to get Su-myeon to answer her directly.

Su-myeon's eyes and voice wavered as he searched for the right words, barely managing to speak.

To avoid creating an unnatural silence, he pushed the conversation along a bit too hastily — and that was the problem.

"The fruit that was sliced earlier has already changed color. That much time must have passed."

[AM 10:04]

Time moved after Su-myeon's answer, but unfortunately, the conversation had connected.

Su-myeon's expression twisted with a flash of regret as he bit his lip, and the moment the sand fell, every one of Ellis's many faces broke into a wide grin.

"Hahahahaha!"

As if delighted that someone had properly answered her. Ellis's laughter exploded.

It echoed through the hollow space, and when Ellis laughed with joy, all the monsters around her joined in.

Clapping and celebrating, there was no sense of self in those things.

They were merely components, riding the highs and lows of Ellis's every action.

Du-pal thought he was going to lose his mind from the laughter of the monster that had been fawning over him.

Ellis's dozens of heads were no longer just watching Su-myeon.

They craned their necks toward him, tilting, lips stretched so wide they seemed about to tear.

[Han-su: At this rate, Su-myeon is going to be in danger.]

Du-pal glanced at the Heartphone buzzing in his hand and squeezed his eyes shut.

As if anyone doesn't already know that, Detective?!

"That's right! The fruit ages with time, and our time has slipped away too."

When Ellis's voice followed up, the tension returned — so sharp it felt like the air itself stung.

"Time will rot that fruit to mush, and in the end, we'll all be nothing more than something squishy and sticky, won't we?"

Su-myeon tried to fire off a quick response to Ellis's cryptic words, but Ellis was faster.

"It's a shame, truly, but even so — time will keep flowing, won't it?"

Du-pal squeezed his eyes shut once more.

Damn it, what kind of answer to that could be a non sequitur while still mentioning that time had passed?

Su-myeon seemed similarly stuck, and for the briefest instant an uneasy silence stretched on for several seconds.

"Candles."

Han-su suddenly spoke up.

Dozens of Ellis's heads whipped around in unison toward the source of the voice.

"It would have been nicer with candles for the atmosphere."

"Y-yes! By now the wax would've dripped into beautiful shapes — that's how much time has passed!"

Ju-hee scrambled to add on to Han-su's remark.

Ellis looked between the two of them, her smile fading into a puzzled expression.

The sight of dozens of eyeballs rolling around in their sockets was fairly horrifying.

[AM 10:05]

"……Candles?"

Ellis glanced around her impeccable tea table for a moment, then nodded.

"You're right, you're absolutely right. What a wonderful idea! Why didn't I think of that?"

Ellis chattered happily, her cheerful tone returning.

But the group couldn't afford to feel relieved.

"Next time I'll have to carve up a corpse, ■■ it, ■■ it, render the fat, and make some nice beeswax!"

"Urgh…!"

The mounting pressure and tension finally got to Ha-min, who shoved his chair back and retched.

Ellis's gaze slowly drifted toward him.

"I'll be needing materials, then."

As if in response to Ellis's words, the monsters cried out in unison.

"Materials!"

"Materials!"

"Fresh materials!"

The situation was taking a dire turn.

Du-pal, gripping the tablecloth so hard it bunched, watched the escalation and finally mustered the courage to speak.

"Wh-when's the next dessert coming out?! It's been long enough for the good tea to go cold, so what's taking so long?! You said you'd prepared a nice tea party, was that a lie?"

Su-myeon was quietly impressed by Du-pal's outburst.

Not bad for someone shaking like a leaf.

[AM 10:06]

It was a bit over the top, but Du-pal's words were enough to reset the situation.

As long as the hotel's rules didn't conflict with each other, they were absolute.

Once Du-pal pointed out that Ellis was the one violating the rules of the "happy tea party," she settled down.

"I'm sorry, dear guest. I'll prepare fresh tea and desserts for you."

Du-pal was drenched in cold sweat from the tension, but the situation was now gradually tilting in the group's favor.

Past the six-minute mark now. Thanks to Du-pal completely resetting the atmosphere, the question-and-answer exchange had returned to square one.

Before Ellis could speak, Su-myeon opened his mouth first.

"I really like the tea you served. The aroma grows richer as time passes."

[AM 10:07]

Almost there.

Just a little more of this miserable charade and they could leave.

"Shall I let you try the freshly prepared tea as well? This one develops a deeper flavor as time goes on."

Once more, Ellis poured tea into Su-myeon's cup.

His cup was still full, he hadn't taken a single sip — and when the tea was added on top, it overflowed.

Su-myeon spoke quickly.

"I bet the sun will be bright tomorrow. So much time has passed that tomorrow will be here soon."

[AM 10:08]

Sand fell through the hourglass.

From here on, impatience crept into everyone's hearts.

Just two more successes and they could go outside. They could escape.

That knowledge made their hearts race more than any time limit could.

"……How strange."

Suddenly, Ellis tilted her head this way and that as though something puzzled her, then her lumpy body rolled up onto the table.

The food covering the table was shoved aside by Ellis's enormous mass, clattering and crashing to the floor.

The sound of dishes and silverware shattering was deafening.

Du-pal tried to protest the ruined tea party again, but this time the words wouldn't come.

"Why?"

Several of Ellis's heads seemed to notice his hesitation and snapped around to stare at him.

Eyes bulging as if they'd pop out at any moment fixed on him and asked.

"Why? Why? Why? Why?"

Overwhelmed by the grotesquely repeated question, Du-pal scrambled out of his chair and stumbled backward.

By then, the tea party was already in shambles.

But Su-myeon refused to let the chaos steal his focus and spoke again.

"The passage of time is an irreversible law. No one stays a child forever. Enough time has passed to prove that."

[AM 10:09]

The sand in the hourglass was nearly spent, only a little remained.

Ellis, seemingly at a loss for what to do, rampaged across the table, spinning round and round.

The food she'd knocked over transformed into cockroaches the instant before hitting the floor, scattering in every direction.

"AHHH!"

The startled group finally couldn't hold back and retreated from their seats.

No one wanted to imagine what would have happened if they'd eaten any of it.

"No! Ellis's tea party must be happy!"

"Everyone must smile!"

"We're all having fun! Fun!"

The bipedal mice reappeared from nowhere, chattering frantically.

The monsters that had been sitting at the table flattering Ellis bowed their heads over and over, murmuring.

"Must be happy… we're happy, happy…."

"Fun fun fun fun fun"

Ellis's tea party was collapsing.

But Su-myeon and his group were untouched by the collapse.

They didn't yet belong to this story.

They were still outsiders, strangers, people who were meant to leave.

Ellis would struggle desperately to keep them, but she was running out of excuses.

Su-myeon fought to keep his focus amid the chaos and delivered his final sentence.

"I've been sitting so long my legs have gone numb. We should be going now."

With those last words,

[AM 10:10]

Shhhhhh.

The last of the hourglass's fine sand trickled down.

"……!"

And then, like a mirage, the scenery around them began to crumble away like sand.

"Everyone, run!"

In an instant, the spotlight-like overhead lights went dark.

As if showing them where to go, the lights now illuminated a distant staircase on the opposite side.

From Basement Level 1 to Ground Level 1. A staircase crossing a single boundary.

"Stairs!"

"If we climb these, we're above ground!"

The group cried out and ran in unison — their voices so jumbled it was impossible to tell who had shouted what.

As though terrified that even the stairs might turn to sand, everyone charged up in a single rush.

Toward a blinding white light.