Chapter 107: All's Well In Hell's Hell

"Am I going crazy?" He mumbled to himself.

It was as he stood there, reaching towards the wall did the true nature of his environment begin to unravel itself before him; the walls around spiraled and extended outward, leaving him stumbling as he reached out towards something fleeting.

Those dull, clammy wooden planks began to peel, releasing a miasmic air as cockroaches began to seep out from the spaces between the boards.

The corridor had been forcibly widened, being triple the width it was just a moment ago as soot and grime clung to the floorboards now.

"What the…?!" He yelled out, stumbling back.

It rang in his ears; something inexplicable, and something inhuman.

This was not the hall he fell asleep in; it was something malicious–that much he knew from his instinct alone.

As he stood there for a moment, breathing heavily as he stood in a now widened space, forcibly contorted by supernatural forces, his back pressed against the wall–immediately finding a wet sensation running against him from behind.

"Ghh–?!"

He moved forward, spinning around to see a black ooze leaving the cracks in the peeling, wooden walls now.

As he was left frantic and confused by this sudden shift in environment–a repetitive thumping sounded out, echoing off the walls and coming from somewhere unknown.

…Does this have to do with Hell seeping into Earth? Is this part of that darkness? He questioned.

He quickly began to rush down the hall, opening each door to look for his companions, but–nobody occupied a single room on that floor.

It made little sense, but it caused his heartbeat to hasten as he failed to find Sol, Yeong-Un, or Xiaodan on the fifth floor.

He could already feel it through the suffocating, unseen mist that swayed all around him, but he needed to confirm it–that he was alone here.

By the smell of moist, rotting wood and the constant thumping around him, he could hardly stop to think as he forced himself to run down the stairs to look for the others.

The structure of the building was no different from the hotel, but it was clearly different; it was as if he had slipped into an alternate world.

Reaching the lobby after sprinting down the stairs at full speed, he found it to be just as desolate as the other floors, stopping there and looking around as he gathered his breath.

"Yeong-Un! Sol! Eunji! Anybody–!" He yelled out.

It was only after finding nothing on the lobby floor that he looked outward past the front windows–finding a perplexing scenery beyond the walls of the hotel.

Gray fog filled the atmosphere, just as blinding as the sheer darkness from before; swaying and moving, but never leaving the streets.

"...This doesn't make any sense…" He muttered to himself.

Again, he tried yelling out for anybody, "Korain–! Dae-Seong! Ma-Ri! Anybody…!"

His screams echoed out, reaching seemingly nothing as he began to venture towards the front doors to check outside.

However, he was stopped just before leaving those doors–

"All's well."

It was a deep, croaky voice, coming from directly behind him as he spun around to see something that was not in the center of the lobby just a moment prior:

A man with long, straightened hair of astral platinum sat reversed on a chair with his arms resting on the wooden piece of furniture. He was dressed nicely, wearing a black waistcoat that held spiral patterns, with matching trousers and dress shoes, worn over a long-sleeved, white-collared shirt.

"Wha…?" He let out quietly.

The man, whose facial features were difficult to make out due to his dark El Dorado hat and long fringes that obscured his expression, though his softly luminescent, magenta eyes could be seen as he casually took a breath from his held cigar.

"All's well in Hell's Hell."

Those croaky words were spoken directly to him, but he had no clue what they meant, or why he was even being spoken to in the first place.

But most importantly–he had to know who this man was.

"Where…where is everybody?! Did you do something to them?!" He yelled out.

As he stepped forward, preparing to launch an assault against the strangers, he reached to his sides to unsheath his daggers only to find his hands meeting with nothing.

"Huh…?"

He had only just noticed it, but he wasn't in [Equip], only dressed in a casual, black T-shirt and gray sweatpants.

"...Equip!"

As he commanded his System, nothing came.

He looked up to see the peculiar, seated man still casually taking hits from his cigar, watching him from across the room before he tried again:

"Equip–!"

Again, nothing came in response to his call.

"I'm not in the mood for fisticuffs right now," the long-haired man called out, finally addressing him with decipherable words, "...So settle down for a minute, would you?"

It was an impossible request as a million thoughts were running through his mind, with the forefront of them dictating this odd man to be the cause for this nightmarish ambience.

"Settle down…?"

"That's right," the man responded, breathing out a cloud of smoke from his scarred lips, "--All's well, Jeong-Hui."

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He went quiet for a moment, staring right at the cigar-smoking, enigmatic stranger who watched him with those odd eyes of his.

I don't want to admit it, but without "Equip"...I'm helpless. He doesn't seem aggressive, at least…Think rationally, Jeong-Hui…If there's anything you've learned…it's to take things carefully, he thought.

Taking in a breath, he stood tall, maintaining eye contact with the man, "Do you know what's going on here? Is this some sort of alternate world?...Is it a dream?"

"Heh."

"What's so funny?" He squinted at the man.

The croaky-voiced, middle-aged man breathed out another billowing cloud of smoke from his lips, "You asked me if this was a dream. How would you expect an aspect of a dream to answer that for you? Tell me, does this feel real to you?"

He looked around, watching the wooden walls of the once contemporary hotel now turned old-fashioned. The smell of wet wood filled his nostrils alongside the cold air of the fog that clouded the exterior; that brisk wind could be felt against his bare arms.

It was an easy answer.

"...It does."

"So that eliminates one possibility, then," the man told him, twiddling his lit cigar between his fingers as small embers rained down, "...Now, an alternate world? That's an astute observation."

"Wait, are you saying…?"

"--Perhaps it is," the enigmatic man answered vaguely, "Perhaps it's many things. I could give you many answers; many truths, many lines…but, none of it matters from the lips of somebody who you don't trust."

Slowly, the man stood up from his seat, almost unraveling himself into a surprising height as his lanky physique likely surpassed two meters easily.

Along the walls, large, centipede-like creatures slithered, moving their countless legs along the smooth surface in an orchestra of skin-crawling movements; somehow, he didn't notice this before.

"Am I wrong, Jeong-Hui?" The man asked, placing his cigar between his scarred lips.

He shook his head, "...No, but you're responsible for whatever this is, aren't you? Even I can gather that much…"

"And what gives that away?" The man asked, taking a step towards him but appearing by his side instantaneously.

The phantom pace of the man threw him off, causing him to lean back as he was suddenly brought face-to-face with the pale, enigmatic stranger.

"Are you afraid?"

"--"

"Coax your words from your throat if you wish to dissuade that obvious answer," the man told him, pulling back as he stuffed one of his hands into his pockets, puffing out smoke from his lips towards the ceiling.

He couldn't speak while in the direct presence of the lanky, well-dressed man. It was an overwhelming, cold air that exuded off of him; a primordial darkness, so deep and thick it seemed boundless.

"Enough games–you've entertained me so far, so I'll give you some crumbs," the man finally told him, "I rescued you."

"Huh? Rescued me…?" He replied quietly.

The long-haired man breathed out another ball of rich, fragrant smoke, "It's dangerous to sleep so carelessly now that Hell's domain stretches over Earth. You were slipping right into the realm of many, hungering spirits, Jeong-Hui."

"Then…what is this?" He asked.

It seemed odd to him that the enigmatic man was implying that this place is a safe haven from something potentially worse, going off of the eerie atmosphere hanging in the decrepit, alternative realm.

"Where you're standing right now is my world," the man told him, tossing his ember-sparked cigar to the ground and stamping it out, "This is Hell's Hell–Welcome."

For being an implied sanctuary from evil spirits born of Hell, the name of this domain wasn't very comforting to him: "Hell's Hell."

"...Hell's Hell? Your world?"

"Don't worry yourself; "All's Well in Hell's Hell". Just remember that," The lanky, magenta-eyed man assured him with a vague smile, "...Nothing will gobble you up here."

Now that he thought about it, for some reason, he didn't sense any malice around him. None of his instincts were flared for being in such an unorthodox environment.

"I don't get it…Your world? What are you?"

"Don't rack your brain too hard trying to process everything. That's a swift way to lose your sanity," the man warned him, "Keep on stumbling about and I imagine you'll find your answers naturally. It's no fun if I spoon feed you everything."

"--"

It was clear there was something beyond the superficial kindness the platinum-haired man pretended to have, as it seemed his main motive was simply to satisfy himself with a bit of company.

As he stood there, unknowing of what he should ask, he suddenly found himself experiencing a pounding headache, grabbing onto his own head.

"Ngh…" He groaned.

Suddenly, the man snapped his pale, bony fingers, resulting in a crack of wind that echoed in his ears repeatedly, throwing him off of his balance.

"That's right; stay here too long and your mind will wither. I suppose I should return you to the normal world now; I did what was necessary. It was a fun talk," the man smiled a bit with his cut lips, "I do hope you enjoyed your stay, albeit a short one, in Hell's Hell."

Just as those words left the enigmatic figure's lips, he felt his consciousness flickering, causing the world around him to become more and more hazy.

"Wait…! I still have so many questions…!" He reached out to the man, "...Who are you?!"

The last thing he could see were the magenta eyes of the platinum-haired, smoking man who smiled just a bit:

"You can call me Flueric," the man told him, "--Try not to have any more nightmares, Jeong-Hui. Oh, and you should be ready for a certain "visitor" to appear by your doorstep."

–Just like that, it all faded.

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