The Dice Are Cast

Sohee's low voice rang out, and she began to read aloud the purpose of regression he had set for himself.

"Tang Jaeik, patriarch of the Sichuan Tang Clan, seeks to regress in order to halt the hellish war against the Heavenly Demon. At great personal risk, he will return to devotedly care for the protagonist, washing away every injustice before the seed of the Heavenly Demon can take root and sprout. He cannot know whether this will truly save the world, but he offers himself in sacrifice so that he may lend even a single measure of strength to its success."

The moment Sohee's voice pressed that suggestion deep into Tang Jaeik's mind, the words took hold. With Hoe-Bing-Hwan, everything began with setting a firm purpose — and nothing mattered more than planting the intended regressor with unshakable conviction through that suggestion. Conviction strong enough to deceive even the man himself.

"…That's right. I must return to save the world."

Tang Jaeik slowly opened his eyes. A faint red glow crept back into the black depths that had lost all their light.

Good.

Mouth still open mid-incantation, Sohee squeezed tight the red Fortune Pouch that held his entire story. As the pouch swelled plump and round, she rose from her seat and stepped aside.

"You may go now, elder."

Tang Jaeik stood before the Door of Hoe-Bing-Hwan. Calling it a door was generous — it was a "transit space," a rectangular frame whose interior had turned opaque, hiding whatever lay beyond.

"Elder, please accept this."

Sohee held out the red Fortune Pouch to Tang Jaeik, who was still gazing at the door.

"It is the token of your chosen regression. Everything is inside. Worry no longer — simply go."

Everything.

Vague words indeed, but Tang Jaeik asked nothing more. If that was how it was, then so be it.

With a small nod, he spoke to her.

"I will not forget this debt."

"May you achieve all that you wish for in the life you are given."

Tang Jaeik stepped into the square frame. A ripple of red light surged within the opaque door and drew him in, and in the next instant he was gone entirely.

The door settled back into stillness as if nothing had happened. Sohee pressed her dry lips together hard and turned away.

The dice had been thrown, and soon the result of the regression would reveal itself. Leaving her hammering heart behind, she darted to the front desk.

One minute. Two…

Unable to sit still, she paced back and forth, staring at the hanging Bottle Gourd. Why did a mere five minutes have to crawl by like this? Just as her chewed lips were about to split raw, the gourd responded.

Vmmm—

A pale golden glow flickered through the translucent gourd, whose hollow interior showed light through its skin — and then,

Plop!

With an endearing little sound, about a spoonful of water rose within it. The regression had succeeded.

"Haah."

Only after seeing it did Sohee let her tense shoulders fall. Bracing both hands on the front desk, she exhaled a long, deflated sigh.

"Seems he made it out safe."

Just then a breeze stirred from somewhere and brushed her forehead. And sure enough, a disapproving lecture soon followed.

"What's the point of all that fuss.ing."

It was a brusque tone, nothing more than a stray gust of wind — and yet, somehow, it put her at ease.

"He is merely a character in a nov.el."

"I know. I know that. It's just…"

If that's true, is this place the reality? Then what does that make me?

As her thoughts began to tangle, Sohee thumped her own crown with her fist and offered an excuse.

"A novel you can just read and close. But this — I meet them in person, hear their whole life story, and then I keep…"

"Keep. What."

"Nothing."

Feeling she was about to say something foolish, Sohee simply thumped her head a little harder.

"Their fate is already sealed either way. If the Hoe-Bing-Hwan fails, there's nothing to be done. If you did your best, then that's the end of it. You earned your pay — the money you love so much. That. Is all."

The Moon Jar clicked his tongue inwardly, seeing plain as day how she'd agonized over the possibility that Tang Jaeik might fail to regress. Sohee's Hoe-Bing-Hwan routine was always the same.

The moment she sent someone through, she would sprint to the front desk and hang on the Bottle Gourd's every drop, staring at it intently for about five minutes. If the regression succeeded, water would collect inside the gourd.

And naturally, if no water appeared after a set time, it meant failure. Her first few attempts had all failed, and on those days Sohee's spirits would hit rock bottom.

"You are only the one who tips the odds. A hundred percent success rate for Hoe-Bing-Hwan does not ex.ist."

The Moon Jar had drilled this into the crestfallen Sohee time and again, but there was no helping how her heart worked.

She threw herself into each regressor's story, picking it apart with meticulous care, exchanging feelings with them face to face — that was how deep her sense of responsibility ran.

For all that Sohee had both passion and talent for this work, sadly her heart had never matured enough to tell herself you did enough and find comfort in it.

"Well, he made it out safely, so that's what matters."

"Why did you not tell. Him."

"Tell him what?"

Sohee looked at the Moon Jar with a puzzled frown.

"That he will remember nothing. Of what happened here."

"Ah…"

"I will not forget this debt."

It seemed hearing Tang Jaeik's parting words had reminded him. Sohee shrugged.

"He won't even remember having said that in the first place."

She dropped heavily into her chair and leaned back into its cushion.

She'd been through this whole process before. You won't remember anything from this motel, so live the life you're given happily. That was the standard farewell.

The result was only a longer, more drawn-out parting, and hearts tossed about for no good reason.

No matter how much Hoe-Bing-Hwan was simply one service rendered for payment, once you had listened to someone's story and taken their feelings into yourself, it was not easy to sever the connection with a clean blade.

It would be the same for them, too. A supporting character would never bare their heart this openly to anyone else.

It's better to go knowing nothing.

Sohee gazed quietly at the Bottle Gourd. Faint as it was, the water level had climbed a notch.

The only way to retire from the Hoe-Bing-Hwan Motel and return to reality.

She stared at the gourd, eyes widening for no reason at all.

"Ah! My water drops!"

Not long after she'd first arrived here, Sohee had shrieked at the sight of the gourd — bone dry, without a single drop of water. Thankfully, in those early days there had only ever been a few drops to lose.

"You maniac of a manager. You!"

"……"

"You were the first person in history to dump bottled water into the Bottle Gourd. Did you really think the water drops earned as the price of Hoe-Bing-Hwan would be the same as plain tap water?"

"That doesn't mean the original drops had to vanish, do they?"

"They do. You fool. This is not a place that forgives such. Things."

"I thought it was worth a try."

"Then why not go fetch some well water while you're at. It."

"…If bottled water wouldn't work, I was going to try the spring water from the Village."

"How very creative your mischief is. I have lived long, and I have seen every. Thing."

She had tried every desperate trick to speed up her return home, but in the end none of it had done the slightest good. There was nothing for it but to diligently send the supporting characters and extras through their Hoe-Bing-Hwan, and honestly, patiently, stack the water drops one by one.

Beside Tang Jaeik's name in the guest ledger, Sohee left a short note.

Two o'clock was approaching — the hour when everyone took their afternoon nap. There were hardly any guests anyway, but during these official closing hours, when the doors could be shut for a proper rest, she leaned back in her chair with a considerably lighter heart and closed her eyes.

"This goes here, hmm, and this one is perfect right here."

Riri, one of only two employees at the Hoe-Bing-Hwan Motel, her bright eyes sparkling, arranged the dyes and fragrances in neat rows inside the cupboard.

Not many people had found their way to the motel yet. So for now, Riri had stocked the closet with the most common scents and colors, sorted by variety, ready for whoever might come.

Including Tang Jaeik, who had visited just recently, six people in total had succeeded in their Hoe-Bing-Hwan so far.

Every one of them had been overjoyed to smell the same scents and see the same colors as the rooms that held their most cherished memories of life. Some had spent their final days resting in peace and comfort; others had laughed and wept through their whole stay before departing.

"I never thought I'd get to smell this again."

Each time she heard those words, Riri's heart pounded until it felt ready to burst.

Here, her innate gift was acknowledged for the very first time. From the manager Sohee down to the guests themselves, no one spared her their praise.

I have to do even better.

So that they could all become a little happier because of her.

She was smiling as she gazed at her treasure of a cupboard when slanted sunlight slipped through the gap in the curtains and touched the glass bottles lined up in a row. The colorful dyes inside the clear bottles glittered in every shade of the rainbow.

"…It's beautiful."

Unlike the Village, where everything — herself included — was washed in shades of gray, her little workshop alone here blazed with dazzling color.

But words aside, she hurried to draw the blackout curtains shut, carefully and thoroughly. Sunlight would fade the dyes, and it could spoil the fragrances too.

"There. All done."

She drew in a deep breath. The lily scent she had sampled earlier that day still lingered at the tip of her nose.

With her heart still a soft, fluttering mess, she had just finished putting everything away and was on the point of stepping out of the workshop when a light knock sounded at the door.

"Riri? Can I come in?"