Checked In Under Duress

The wall was approaching slowly, so it didn’t feel immediately threatening, but it was unmistakably pressuring us to enter that door.

I held out my hand to Won-gyeong, who was frowning in thought, and said,

“Just in case… can we go in holding hands? Like when the rift formed—we might get separated.”

“It might actually be better if we did,”

Won-gyeong muttered in a faintly sardonic tone, but he didn’t refuse my hand.

As I felt his fingers overlap with mine, I took the first step forward. Won-gyeong followed half a step behind me.

Warmth passed between our joined hands, two different body temperatures tangling together.

Won-gyeong’s hand felt slightly cooler than mine, and my heat gradually seeped into his.

As the door drew closer, the large hand that had been holding mine loosely tightened just a little.

Just that much made me feel oddly reassured.

The idea of standing against Won-gyeong was dizzying, but when he was on my side, he felt solid and dependable.

I squeezed his hand and said,

“I’ll open it.”

“No. Don’t touch the door.”

I was reaching for the handle when my wrist was immediately pulled down and stopped.

Won-gyeong lowered my hand and took the handle himself.

The massive door opened smoothly, soundlessly, as if it weighed nothing.

Beyond it was pitch-black darkness, nothing visible at all.

“It looks like the location changes once we enter. Let’s go in at the same time.”

“Okay.”

“Even if you get dizzy halfway through, don’t let go of my hand. Ever.”

I nodded at his warning.

After confirming I was ready, he gave the signal to move.

We stepped into the darkness at the same time.

With just one step, it felt like I had traveled an enormous distance.

For an instant, I thought I saw a long trail of distant light streaking past the edge of my vision.

Won-gyeong must have felt it too—his grip tightened painfully around my hand.

As I blinked through the ache, the world around us grew loud.

The noise of many people crowded into one place filled the air.

When I came to my senses and looked around, we were standing dumbly in the middle of a grand lobby.

I had never seen so many people gathered in one space before.

Especially not inside a building this lavish.

I stared blankly at the impossibly high ceiling and the pristine, undamaged tiles.

Won-gyeong looked just as taken aback.

His gaze followed the elegantly dressed figures strolling through the space like guests at a banquet.

I was just about to say something to him when a polite male voice called out to us.

“Welcome. I am the administrator assigned to assist you during your stay. Shall we begin with check-in?”

“Check-in?”

The man was neatly dressed in a tailored suit.

He was thin, with pale skin that looked almost bloodless, and he bowed politely toward us.

Won-gyeong echoed the word in confusion, frowning.

I felt the same.

‘During our stay?’

Then this place—despite looking like a banquet hall—was supposed to be a hotel.

But there was no way something this luxurious still existed on Earth.

‘Is this like when I entered Jaeyul’s dream—some kind of illusion?’

A sense of unease crept over me, and I grabbed Won-gyeong’s arm.

The administrator’s gaze shifted to me.

His deeply hollowed cheeks stood out sharply.

He was polite, but his eyes looked like those of a starving beast.

I nudged Won-gyeong’s waist to get his attention and subtly shook my head.

There was no reason to stay in a place this ominous.

When I shook my head at him, Won-gyeong nodded back, clearly sharing my reluctance.

But only for a moment.

The administrator, who had been bowing, twisted his neck at an unnatural angle and looked up at us.

From between his pale lips came a mechanical voice.

“If you do not check in, we cannot provide any services. Entities that are not guests are classified as foreign matter, and will be processed for disposal.”

It was chilling.

No—who would agree to stay somewhere like this after hearing that?

But the moment he finished speaking, the entire hall fell deathly silent.

Everyone inside was staring at Won-gyeong and me.

I focused harder, straining my ears in the stillness to pick up human breathing.

…There was none.

No breathing. No heartbeats.

Nothing except mine and Won-gyeong’s.

Only then did I realize that the figures moving around weren’t people at all—they were monsters from within the rift.

And it seemed Won-gyeong, far more accustomed to rifts than I was, had already realized it.

I recalled the monsters I’d encountered before.

Those capable of mimicking human forms were among the hardest to deal with.

By the system’s standards, they were probably equivalent to S-rank threats.

And this wasn’t just one of them.

The hall was full.

Whether Won-gyeong could handle this situation while dragging along someone combat-useless like me was uncertain.

Alone, he might manage.

But with me weighing him down, it was another matter.

Won-gyeong seemed to reach the same conclusion.

In a calm voice, he said to the administrator,

“We’ll check in.”

“I will escort you to the counter.”

As soon as that brief exchange ended, the hall returned to its lively buzz.

The monsters resumed chatting noisily, as if they’d never been staring at us at all.

I pressed myself a little closer to Won-gyeong’s side.

‘If we get separated, we’re dead.’

That was the only thought in my head.

Unlike the first time we entered the rift, when he’d pushed me away, Won-gyeong didn’t try to create distance now.

The administrator glanced back at us, plastering an awkward, smile-like expression onto his pale face, and asked,

“You are lovers, correct?”

There was an unspoken pressure in that question.

Maybe it was something only someone as cautious as me could feel.

Before Won-gyeong could answer, I spoke quickly.

“Yes. We’re lovers.”

“Then we shall prepare a single room for you.”

The administrator said this with a painfully stiff smile.

Won-gyeong shot me a reproachful look, but quickly withdrew it, as if acknowledging we had no choice.

That monster was clearly hoping we were lovers.

And as usual, Won-gyeong hadn’t noticed the pressure at all.

I’d explain it to him later.

Just like I’d pretended to be an old friend of Jaeyul, this time I’d pretend to be Won-gyeong’s deeply involved lover.

It wasn’t a big deal.

As long as we made it out of the rift safely.

I answered the administrator’s trivial questions half-heartedly while scanning the surroundings.

He was leading us toward the front desk, which was quite far from the center of the massive hall where we’d arrived.

Five staff members stood behind it, smiling directly at us.

No matter how I looked at them, they didn’t resemble normal humans.

“Please wait here for a moment.”

After leaving us near the counter, the administrator approached the staff behind it.

They began speaking to each other, and I tried to listen in.

“** **** **** *** *?”

“****** ** * **** ** *****.”

I strained my ears, but couldn’t understand a single word.

Unlike when speaking to us, the administrator was using a bizarre language I couldn’t comprehend.

It sounded like it resonated from deep in the throat.

Feeling frustrated that I couldn’t eavesdrop, I heard Won-gyeong lean down and whisper to me.

His voice was very quiet, very low.

“If we act the way they want, they won’t show aggression. For now, we cooperate during check-in. After that, we’ll figure out the next step.”

As he finished speaking and lifted his head, the administrator was already back in front of us.

His smile was even wider than before, grotesquely twisted, like something wearing human skin.

I recoiled internally.

‘He looked more human when he wasn’t smiling.’

As I struggled to hide my revulsion, he spoke.

“It has been quite some time since a couple last visited, so we have prepared special services for you.”

The words were dripping with bad omens.

“You have been approved for our top-floor suite. Check-in for this suite will be conducted in a private room.”

I wanted absolutely nothing to do with this.

But refusing made it impossible to predict what would happen next.

We had only one option.

To nod.

The check-in process itself wasn’t dangerous.

After being led to a private room, the administrator didn’t suddenly turn into a cannibalistic murderer or attack us—those fears stayed firmly in my imagination.

We sank into clean, comfortable sofas, were served refreshments, and answered a few simple personal questions.

Naturally, Won-gyeong and I lied through all of them—except for our genders.

The process went smoothly, like water flowing downhill.

By the time I’d finished examining the strange objects decorating the private room’s walls, everything was over.