The Motel Manager Who Crossed the Line

"Now, the author has apparently decided to shift the narrative weight onto another reincarnator."

Chunrok tilted his head with calculated indifference.

"There aren't any other reincarnators in this novel."

"There weren't supposed to be, no. But last month, a supporting character named Tenesa Shirley successfully reincarnated through the Hoe-Bing-Hwan Motel."

The vice manager swiftly pulled up the synopsis of The Mage Is Too Good at Farming and handed it over. Chunrok read it intently, line by line, and then began to laugh in sheer disbelief.

"It says here that Enoch, the protagonist who returned, is going to be made into a helper for the supporting character Tenesa? Is the author out of their mind?"

Everyone pressed their lips shut. Disparaging the author's intentions was, without anyone needing to say it, taboo in this place. But there were few in Wicheon who wielded power rivaling a hotel general manager's, so Chunrok didn't care in the slightest.

"Enoch and Tenesa died together in battle, and since Enoch is the protagonist, his reincarnation was only natural. That's how the original story was supposed to begin… but the reason Tenesa reincarnated is — what?"

Chunrok slammed the paper down.

"For world peace?"

The protagonist had died, been reborn, and the story was finally stepping up to the starting line — and just then, a mere supporting character had reincarnated for world peace?

Hoe-Bing-Hwan for supporting characters was normally anything but easy, and the motel manager had gotten one through like this…

"Wrapped up all prettily, for a mere supporting character."

The corner of Chunrok's eye twitched. A supporting character sent back by that tacky, run-down motel manager across the street was now daring to threaten the seat of his protagonist client. It was an absurdity that should not exist.

Sensing the atmosphere turning uglier by the second, Vice Manager Dongi — who had already resigned himself to taking the blame on behalf of everyone — opened his mouth carefully.

"Th-there has been a report that the story may be altered somewhat… but fortunately nothing has been definitively displaced yet, as the character's direction and proportions are still being adjusted."

"Fortunately?"

As the muscles in his face began to tremble, Vice Manager Dongi clamped his mouth shut. Chunrok was utterly dumbfounded by the sheer impossibility of the situation.

It wasn't that such things had never happened. But not once since Chunrok had taken over the hotel had a protagonist who achieved Hoe-Bing-Hwan there been displaced by a supporting character.

Even when they did succeed in their journeys, each went on to live out their own lives and depart, never once encroaching on the protagonist's domain.

And yet, barely three months after the new manager's arrival, this outrageous incident had erupted.

The new manager. So Sohee.

He had heard she was the successor who came after Old Man So Youngho returned to his own world. Not that it mattered who came. Wicheon had only two private enterprises, but they were of entirely different tiers, each with its own separate domain.

"I hear the motel's new manager has quite a talent for Hoe-Bing-Hwan."

He had let rumors like that slide right past him. At best she was handling one or two clients a month, and it had nothing to do with this hotel anyway. Truth be told, he'd even viewed it positively — she'd come to Wicheon and quickly gotten her bearings, working hard.

But if she's going to cross the line like this, we have a problem.

A hotel was a hotel, and a motel was a motel. A protagonist was a protagonist, and a supporting character was a supporting character.

She had poked at a seat she had no business coveting. It was clearly time someone taught her where she stood.

"If a guest shows up, get them settled in the parlor for me. I'll be right back."

After a brief word of instruction to Riri, Sohee hefted her bag firmly onto her shoulder. Today was the day she was due at the Wicheon Happiness Center to pay her taxes.

She rode a motel bicycle so old it was impossible to tell how many years it had been in service, and reached the Center in no time.

Once she'd passed the general civil affairs office — packed to bursting even on days that were supposed to be holidays — and the counseling rooms with their endless waiting lines, a corner office marked Tax Division came into view.

"It's always so empty in here."

Which made sense — unlike the other departments that heard out the grievances of every character in Wicheon, this office handled nothing but taxes from the hotel and the motel.

She'd heard they occasionally lent support when someone in another department collapsed under their workload, but for the most part they didn't meddle, and nothing ever came out of this room.

Sohee hitched her bag up once more and opened the door to the Tax Division.

"Hello, Section Chief Choi!"

Inside the office, about the size of a single studio apartment, a woman with round glasses and long hair braided neatly over her shoulder looked up.

"Oh, Sohee! It's been a while!"

The head of the Tax Division, whose nameplate read 'Choi', greeted her with a warm face. She studied Sohee for a long moment as the girl took a cautious seat in the visitor's chair, then spoke.

"You look so much better than you did back then. Settling in a little?"

"Being forcibly settled in, anyway."

Section Chief Choi let out a hearty laugh.

Back when Sohee had first tumbled into Wicheon, it was Choi — the Tax Division chief herself — who had come to personally give her a rundown on paying taxes. That was why she remembered Sohee in those early days, so despondent and heartbroken.

Choi turned her eyes from Sohee to her laptop. She scrolled down with a soft whir, then stopped.

"It's been one quarter since you arrived, so normally the taxes wouldn't be much at all, but—"

She patted the laptop in front of her, then pulled out the motel's filing binder from the shelf beside her and slid it across to Sohee.

"As I mentioned before, there's some arrears. Your predecessor, Manager So Youngho, failed to pay his taxes a few times."

"Right — that's why I'd like to pay it all off in one go today. Would this work?"

Sohee began rummaging through her bag. A round, glossy blue orb, just a touch larger than her two fists put together, was placed in front of Section Chief Choi.

Choi gave her glasses a little push and looked at Sohee.

"A… bead?"

"Yes. It's an 'Orb of Foresight' I received as payment from someone I reincarnated recently. I'd like to have its value appraised."

"Okay, sure. One moment, then."

Choi picked up something that looked oddly familiar and pointed it at the orb on the desk.

A barcode scanner…?

Why on earth was that scanner — the one they used to ring things up at the grocery store — here?

As Sohee stared at it, bewildered, a moment later came the familiar beep! Text floated up across the transparent partition separating Section Chief Choi from Sohee.

"Oh, that's quite a valuable item. Shall we proceed with the payment, then?"

"Ah… yes!"

Sohee, who had momentarily lost herself in thought, nodded quickly. A scanner that appraised the value of items without even a barcode on them.

Having taken possession of the orb, Section Chief Choi pressed the payment-complete button and picked up the filing binder once more. She recorded the payment date and the item received, then stamped the assignee's box with her own seal, no bigger than a pinky nail.

"These days there's nothing that can't be verified electronically, but the higher-ups are hopelessly fond of this sort of thing."

With that, she brought the Tax Division stamp down with a decisive thunk and handed the completed tax receipt to Sohee. Sohee took it in a daze and stared down at it for a moment.

It was just one small slip of paper, but it felt like confirmation that the three long months she had spent getting here had not been for nothing.

"Looks like you're doing good work, Sohee. Your guests must trust you, handing over something this valuable."

At the compliment, Sohee awkwardly tugged up the corners of her mouth. Unaccustomed to being praised, she quickly added an excuse.

"Honestly, I had no idea it was worth this much either."

"That makes it all the more impressive, then. Giving something precious to someone who doesn't know its value — that's only something you do out of genuine gratitude."

Think of it as handing a check to a three-year-old.

At the addendum, Sohee finally broke into a bright smile.

"Anyway, congratulations. Two quarters of arrears plus this quarter are now paid off — that's a real milestone. There's still a bit of a shortfall left, but you can clear all of that with your next payment. You can manage that, right?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Then get home safe. See you next quarter."

Sohee rose from her seat, clutching the receipt with a swell of pride. On her way out, she faltered — and stopped in her tracks.

"Um — could I maybe stop by from time to time?"

"Why?"

Sohee had been about to say she'd just drop by for fun, then caught herself. Telling a working person you'd come "for fun" felt a bit like mocking them.

"Just… to say hi?"

Section Chief Choi tilted her head slightly.

"I'm doing just fine, so you don't need to come all this way to check on me. Besides, what are you doing visiting the Tax Division — the place where you hand over money — so often? Best to come as little as possible."

"Ah…"

Only two places in all of Wicheon paid taxes: the hotel and the motel.

It went without saying that one of their assignees dropping by constantly would look terrible — quite apart from the fact that Choi was a good person, the two of them were bound together by this peculiar relationship of taxes and nothing else.

"Oh, right. That was shortsighted of m—"

"Then I'll come to you."

"…I'm sorry?"

"What's the point of meeting in this stuffy little office anyway?"

Section Chief Choi was smiling with her eyes behind her round glasses.

"Once I'm off work, I'll drop by the motel now and then. I hear you've got an incredible cook over there?"

"Yes, we do! You absolutely must come for a good meal. Oh, but…"

"……?"

"If word gets around that we're meeting privately, wouldn't that cause trouble for you, Section Chief?"

"Oh, please. Don't worry about things like that. You might not know this, Sohee, but the truth is I…"