Pink hair fluttered through the air.
“Senior!!!”
The voice was familiar, so I instinctively opened my arms. The one who came rushing over leapt straight into my chest with all his might. He hugged me with such force that it nearly knocked me back.
“…Lulu?”
Lulu. A member of the organization, and for some reason, a colleague who’d been playing the role of staff member all over the place.
I’d wondered where he’d gone—turns out he’d been in my room.
“Senior….”
“Lulu. Calm down.”
Lulu rubbed his face against my chest. When I tried to peel him off, he burrowed in even further.
It was a needlessly persistent movement.
…This bastard.
Watching him cling on so desperately, it clicked. It felt like he was deliberately acting overly dramatic to hide something.
I let him have his fill of clinginess for a bit, then started questioning him.
“Why are you coming out of my room?”
With our bodies pressed together, I could clearly feel Lulu stiffen.
“Th-that’s…”
I grabbed his waist as he tried to slip away.
It was a relief that it wasn’t Jang Ijung. But the fact that a thief had gotten into my room was unpleasant in its own right.
Holding back a frown, I slipped my hand inside Lulu’s jacket.
“Hyaht.”
Lulu’s body shrank. Ignoring that, I rummaged carelessly through his clothes and pulled out whatever I caught hold of.
The creature pressed its nose against the item caught in my hand and sniffed.
My gaze turned cold on its own.
“Senior….”
“……”
The item Lulu had been trying to steal. It was the sock I’d taken off yesterday.
“Why would you try to steal Ijung’s sock?”
“What?! That wasn’t senior’s sock—?!”
I dropped the sock on the floor. It landed limply in front of the door. Unpleasant, I stepped on it once for good measure before walking into the room.
Yeom Hajae, who’d been standing awkwardly, followed, and Lulu, coming in last, was left holding the footprint-stamped sock.
“That’s a lie, right? There’s no way Lulu would mistake senior’s scent.”
I had no time to respond to nonsense.
“Is Ijung not here?”
“There was no one in the room when Lulu arrived.”
So Jang Ijung apparently hadn’t come back since dawn.
While I was checking over the things in the room, Yeom Hajae, who’d been quiet, spoke up.
“Is Lulu… hyung’s friend?”
“That’s…”
Since things had come to this, I considered just being upfront, and glanced at Lulu. His eyes blinked rapidly. A plea to keep things hidden.
If you really want to hide it, maybe start by doing something about that “senior” title.
While gathering up valuables, I answered.
“I come to the hotel often for work, and we got close.”
“…Sounds like you’re pretty close.”
The word choice was peculiar. This time, before I could answer, Lulu beat me to it.
“Yes! Lulu and senior are very, very close.”
“……”
The intent was obvious, but I didn’t bother denying it.
He’d just seen us hugging, after all. Denying closeness now would only seem strange.
“Very close, huh….”
Yeom Hajae looked away and muttered quietly to himself.
Whatever the case, while checking if anything else was missing—
Hm?
I noticed a small inconsistency.
“Did you eat the bread, Lulu?”
“What?”
The bag of bread that had been on the table was gone. When I pointed that out, Lulu jumped.
“No! Lulu’s not so clueless as to touch someone else’s food!”
Looking at his indignant expression, he didn’t seem to be lying. If not Lulu, the culprit was obvious.
Jang Ijung must’ve taken it.
I was pretty sure it had still been there this morning…. Well, it wasn’t important.
I finished gathering my things and turned around.
“Lulu, I have something to ask.”
“Yesh?”
“If you’re staff, can you disable that security system?”
Lulu looked toward the window in the direction I pointed, then shook his head.
“It’s possible, but I don’t know where the control room key is.”
“The control room key?”
“Yes. If we get into the control room, that should probably solve it.”
Lulu put a finger to his chin.
“The key might be on the 31st floor, or the Director might have it….”
“What? Isn’t the 30th floor the top?”
Yeom Hajae, who’d been listening quietly, tilted his head.
“Ah, that!”
Before I could even stop him, Lulu chirped brightly.
“It’s not written in the lobby, right? There’s actually one more floor.”
“!”
If he says that…
Realizing this was bad, I glanced to the side. Yeom Hajae’s eyes narrowed.
“I thought the stairwell ended at the 30th floor too.”
“You went up the regular emergency stairs, right? You’d need to use the other stairwell. There’s a separate keycard too….”
After that, a long detailed explanation followed.
…….
And so, we ended up back on the 1st floor.
“Then, straight to the Director’s office!”
I grabbed Lulu’s arm as he tried to head off ahead of us.
“Before that, mind if I use the restroom for a moment?”
I gripped Lulu’s shoulder firmly.
“Lulu’s coming too.”
“S-senior?!”
Yeom Hajae nodded weakly. For some reason, he’d seemed down ever since earlier.
But that wasn’t my concern. I grabbed Lulu and started walking briskly toward the restroom.
“Ah, that’s the men’s restroom though….”
Left behind with Whitey, Yeom Hajae’s quiet muttering could be heard from behind.
“To the restroom… just the two of them….”
Bang!
The moment the door shut, I shoved Lulu against the wall.
“Lulu.”
I grabbed one side of his pink pigtails. Lulu let out a small whine.
“Ah!”
“Are you trying to sabotage my work right now?”
“…Senior.”
Lulu looked up at me with the corners of his eyebrows drooping.
“Explain yourself.”
“The control room key really is with the Director. I wasn’t lying about that.”
“Not that.”
The reason he’d brought up the 31st floor.
If Yeom Hajae got in there and something went wrong, it would be the junkie who’d be in trouble. The very person who’d guided me up to the top floor yesterday couldn’t possibly not know that.
With that thought, I smiled and pressed him.
“……”
For some reason, the other party looked completely dazed.
Is he thinking about something else in this situation?
Only after I tapped his cheek a couple times did focus snap back into Lulu’s eyes.
“So kind of you to point out the stairs. Why not just guide him straight to the 31st floor while you’re at it, hm?”
“B-but there might be a reason to go there someday….”
“Enough excuses.”
I irritably yanked the pigtail I was holding.
“Ohh, senior….”
The way his face flushed was unpleasant.
“Want to die?”
“Noo….”
I squeezed harder, and Lulu’s head bent at the angle.
“You steered Yeom Hajae’s interest toward the 31st floor on purpose, didn’t you?”
“That’s right. Lulu was wrong, senior.”
“Apologizing is fine, but tell me why.”
“……”
After a long hesitation, Lulu spoke up.
“I— actually…”
He pulled the other side of his hair to cover his face, as if embarrassed.
“I thought it’d be… more fun that way….”
“……”
Thud!
“Gack!”
My fist flew out on reflex.
When I let go of his hair, Lulu, who’d been bent forward, collapsed onto the floor. He fell over, clutching his stomach, then began trembling.
“Hah….”
Even seeing him in pain, I didn’t feel particularly better. As expected, I didn’t share the boss’s hobby of hitting people.
Annoyed, I just turned away. I was about to walk out first when—
Tap.
My ankle was grabbed.
Tilting my head back to look down, the eyes looking up at me were completely gone.
“Senior, more, mo—”
“……”
I shook off my ankle.
“Aahh….”
I wanted to give him a satisfying beating just as he wanted, but…
Knock knock knock!
I couldn’t ignore the faint voice coming from outside the door.
“Is everything alright?”
“It’s fine. I’ll be out in a moment.”
I lowered my voice again and spoke.
“This had better be the last time you pull something like this.”
“Senior….”
After being nothing but a nuisance, he was acting all pitiful by himself. Ignoring his call, I walked over to the sink. I wanted to wash my hands, which had gotten dirty.
I turned the faucet. No water came out.
A hand holding a handkerchief appeared beside me.
“…Senior. Just trust me on this one.”
I slowly lifted my eyelids. In the mirror, Lulu’s reflection showed one side of his hair almost completely undone, looking messy.
When our eyes met through the mirror, he smiled brightly.
“Lulu just wants to be helpful to senior.”
“……”
I took the handkerchief and wiped my hands.
“Um, senior….”
Lulu lifted his shirt. The skin of his stomach, starting to redden, was revealed.
“That thing from earlier, could you do it one more time?”
“No. Now get yourself together.”
so is lulu a boy or a girl? i can’t remember if its been mentioned but the pronouns they’re addressed with keep confusing me. other characters call him a woman but he’s addressed with he/him, does he just look feminine?