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Chapter 01
I’m screwed…
Seorin knew it the moment she stepped out.
Today’s interview was a failure too.
After failing nearly a hundred hotelier interviews, Seorin had developed razor-sharp instincts.
And of all things, this place had started with the question she hated most—education.
The moment she revealed she was only a high school graduate, the interviewers barely looked at her again.
All Seorin managed to say during the entire interview was a twenty-second self-introduction.
And my seat luck was the worst today, too…
The two applicants seated on either side of her both happened to be graduates of prestigious overseas universities. They competed with each other, fluently explaining in English how they had prepared themselves to become professional hoteliers.
No one paid any attention to Seorin sitting between them, and she spent the entire interview silent, as if she’d swallowed honey.
Before she ever got the chance to present the language certificates she’d earned through self-study or her various national technical licenses, the interview ended.
As she left the room, Seorin burst into tears.
Then don’t write “education doesn’t matter” in the posting in the first place…
How many hotel internships had she already gone through just to become a full-time hotelier?
All she wanted now was to find a hotel she could call her own and bring happiness to its guests—but no one would give her that chance.
Ding—
A message notification rang not long after she stepped outside.
It was from the hotel she’d just interviewed with.
Hello, this is the recruitment team from ○○ Hotel.
Thank you sincerely for your interest in and application to ○○ Hotel. However, we regret to inform you that your profile does not align with the type of candidate we are seeking…
“Wow. I barely even left the interview room.”
Ding—
Another message arrived immediately.
When Seorin checked it, her heart sank.
Noona, I’m sorry. I got a job opportunity in the U.S., but I needed money, so I took the deposit. By the time you read this, I’ll probably be on the plane. I packed my things roughly. I’ll pay you back once I succeed!
“…You’re insane!”
She immediately pressed the call button, but her brother’s phone was already turned off.
“Oh Changhee—!!”
Seorin roared at the empty air, but her voice could never reach her younger brother, who was probably flying high above the clouds by now.
“Ughhh…”
Her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. Passersby glanced at her, but she didn’t have the energy to care.
Her past flashed before her eyes.
Back in high school, she’d always ranked first or second in her grade. When she told her homeroom teacher she would give up on college, how desperately had they tried to stop her?
They said it was a waste—my grades were good enough for a top university…
But college had been a luxury she couldn’t afford when she had to raise her younger brother.
And now, after giving up even university to raise him like her own child, she was stabbed in the back.
It felt like the world was collapsing.
“…Mom. Dad.”
As mascara ran down her face, Seorin cried until she could hardly breathe. At that moment, she missed her late parents unbearably.
On impulse, she turned on her phone and searched for directions to their graves.
“What? Two hours?”
But so what? She had plenty of time today… and no family waiting for her at home anymore.
…That bastard.
Even so, rather than anger, worry came first.
There’ve been so many overseas job scams lately. He checked it properly, right?
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Seorin decided to visit her parents for the first time in a while and boarded the red intercity bus heading to Paju.
* * *
Paju-si, Gwangtan-myeon, Yongmiri.
The place where her parents were buried.
After getting off the bus, Seorin bought some simple ritual offerings at a nearby convenience store and began climbing the low mountain path.
The moment she saw her parents’ graves, she burst into tears again.
The grass had grown so tall it nearly covered the gravestones—she hadn’t visited in far too long.
She pulled weeds around the graves with her bare hands, crying all over again.
“Mom… Dad… I’m so tired….”
After setting up the offerings and bowing, Seorin poured out all her grievances—about the hotels that had ignored her and her immature younger brother.
“Haah…”
How long had she stayed like that?
Once she felt a bit lighter, Seorin cleaned up and gathered her things to head back down.
That was when she noticed a brown signboard.
“Huh? Hye-eum-won… site?”
As if possessed, Seorin followed it. Soon, a two-story gray building appeared, marked Hye-eumwon Site Visitor Center.
Before entering, she pulled out a compact mirror—and gasped.
“Oh my god! I rode the bus like this?!”
Her mascara had smeared everywhere, turning her into a panda.
No wonder the driver stared at me like he’d seen a ghost!
She wiped her face roughly with wet tissues and approached the entrance—but the door was locked.
“Huh?!”
Only then did she notice the sign: Closed on Regular Holidays.
“Ugh. I came all this way…”
Next to the center, beyond a large information board, a wide open space stretched out. Curious about what it had once been, Seorin walked closer.
And then she saw the massive title.
[Goryeo National Hotel Hye-eumwon]
“…Huh? Ho–tel?!”
On the very day she failed another hotel interview, she’d stumbled upon a place that used to be a hotel?
“So what, this is the only kind of hotel I’m destined for now? A ruin?!”
After failing a hundred interviews, Seorin had grown a bit cynical. She spun around and muttered bitterly as she headed back toward the entrance.
“Fine! I’m exhausted too! If no matter how hard I try, no hotel recognizes me, then I quit! I’m the one rejecting them now!”
But she stopped after only a few steps.
She knew the truth.
She could never quit being a hotelier.
When she was young, her family had once won a hotel stay through sheer luck. It was like a gift dropped into their exhausting lives, and for the first time in a long while, they spent a happy day together.
The palace-like grandeur of the hotel, the unfamiliar facilities—and the hotel staff who treated them kindly despite their awkwardness.
Seeing her parents and younger brother smile again after so long—that moment defined Seorin’s dream.
One day, she would become a hotelier who gave smiles and happiness to others.
From that day on, Seorin carried that sparkling memory like a lighthouse in her heart.
“…Well, since I’m already here, I might as well look around.”
She was curious. Hotels had existed even back in the Goryeo era?
“They must’ve had hoteliers too. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get some good luck from my seniors and finally pass an interview.”
She had already forgotten her vow to quit.
After reading the information board, Seorin walked toward the open grounds where the hotel once stood.
Soon, she plopped down on the grass, pulled out a bottle of soju from the bag of offerings, popped it open, and gulped it down.
“…Ahhh.”
She usually got tipsy after just one or two shots, but today, she craved it—and impulsively drank nearly half the bottle.
The sun was setting, and the air grew chilly, but with the alcohol warming her, she felt she could handle it.
“Feelin’ gooood~ I feel like somethin’ nice is gonna happen today~”
She flopped backward, grinning foolishly—and quickly fell asleep.
So she failed to notice the clear sky suddenly filling with dark clouds.
—Rumble.
In an instant, the world was swallowed by pitch darkness, and raindrops began to fall. What started as a drizzle quickly turned into a downpour, but Seorin, passed out cold, didn’t move an inch.
—KRAAASH!!
Thunder roared as clouds collided, and the wind howled like a giant beast, threatening to uproot trees and grass alike.
And then—
The moon burst through the clouds, and everything froze.
The rain, the wind, the lightning, the thunder.
Moonlight poured down on Seorin as if alive. Wherever the light touched, the landscape crumbled away, and her body slowly dissolved into the glow.
Then, everything returned to normal.
* * *
Neighhh—
“…Ugh, so loud…”
The unfamiliar sound pulled Seorin from sleep.
“…Huh? Where am I?”
Trees. Grass. Everywhere.
As she tried to sit up, the last thing she remembered surfaced.
Drinking soju at the Hye-eumwon site… and then…?
Her head throbbed with a hangover as she tried to recall more.
Something was covering her body.
“…A hanbok? What the hell is going—urk!”
As her senses returned, a foul stench hit her nose.
Frowning, Seorin looked around.
Horses. Everywhere.
“This place… don’t tell me it’s a stable?”
