Chapter 31: Lua’s Slumber and the Vanished Meat

How much time had passed?

“Mnya… hehe… Manager…”

Lua, after being patted for a while, must’ve been exhausted from the day, as she fell fast asleep in my arms.

Not wanting to disturb the pure, angelic sleep of Lua.

I gently wiped the chocolate cookie crumbs from her sleeping, happy face.

Carefully laid her on the cozy bed, tucking her in warmly to prevent a stomachache, and quietly slipped out of the room.

“Sweet dreams…!”

Despite playing with Lua for so long, I should’ve been tired.

But for some reason, no fatigue lingered from our time together.

Even the exhaustion from my earlier tasks was completely gone.

Working hard, moving until my body ached, yet the happiness of spending time with Lua erased all that fatigue in an instant—this ‘phenomenon.’

No, it’s not just because Lua is cute.

I was certain this warm feeling blooming in my heart was ‘paternal love.’

‘I… I was destined to be Lua’s father(?)…!!’

But now that Lua was sound asleep, I let my newfound ‘paternal love’ grow quietly on its own.

It was time to return to being the motel manager.

‘…So, what now?’

Back to manager mode, I realized there wasn’t much to do.

Lua was fast asleep in her room, and the other guests had checked out early, so no urgent tasks remained.

Checking the time back at the lobby, only about 50 minutes were left until closing.

“Might as well relax for the rest of the time…?”

With that thought, I headed to the staff break room, hoping to catch a quick nap during those 50 minutes.

Just as I started toward the break room.

A final task for the day flashed through my mind.

‘Oh, right, the fridge.’

Because I was focused on keeping up with Lua’s room service schedule.

The image of the fridge I’d left in the dump crossed my mind.

I’d temporarily left it there to deal with Lua’s service.

But if I left it as is, the ingredients inside the unpowered fridge would rot even faster, creating a worse stench.

Even though I’d moved it outside to contain the smell, that foul odor could spread around the motel.

Which could directly harm the motel’s image.

Without delay, I moved to deal with the fridge and its contents.

Rustle.

‘The food waste bags and disposable gloves… Here they are.’

Back at the counter, I grabbed the food waste bags and gloves I’d found while organizing the drawers.

And headed outside to the dump, where I’d left the fridge haphazardly.

‘Phew…’

The thought of handling that disgusting, rotting meat and spoiled ingredients made me sigh.

But what could I do? The previous owner, who bought this faulty fridge, was long gone, and I couldn’t exactly grab him by the collar.

Suppressing my resentment and sighs, I vowed to buy a proper fridge next time.

And slowly grabbed the fridge’s handle.

‘Alright, here goes…!!’

Clunk!!

Prepared for the foul stench, I opened the fridge door.

“…What? Where’s the meat?”

The revolting rotting meat had vanished without a trace.

The vegetables, fruits, milk, and eggs in the fridge.

All the other rotting ingredients remained, still emitting a disgusting stench.

But the biggest issue—the grotesque rotting meat that smelled like a decaying corpse—was gone in just a few minutes.

‘…’

Feeling something off, I closed the fridge door and carefully inspected the surroundings.

Then I noticed ‘bloodstains.’

Long, sticky bloodstains, as if ‘something’ had dragged the meat away, caught my eye.

‘…Where do they lead?’

Following the trail from the fridge to the dump’s entrance, I stepped outside.

The bloodstains stretched across the motel’s outskirts, reaching near the entrance.

But the trail suddenly veered toward a ‘field’ where no human roads existed.

And then it faded, making it impossible to tell where it went.

‘…’

Returning to the dump, I stared at the eerie bloodstains and fell into thought.

The dump’s entrance I broke yesterday, the faulty fridge door that couldn’t protect ingredients.

And the bloodstains, as if something dragged that massive meat away.

Putting all these clues together, I finally understood what happened here.

What occurred while I was patting Lua in her room.

‘…Got it. That’s what happened.’

Common sense says this world isn’t a horror or ‘creature feature.’

That grotesque meat didn’t grow a ‘personality,’ sprout ‘arms and legs,’ and walk out of the fridge on its own, right?

That leaves one possibility.

A hungry wild animal nearby snuck into the open dump.

Opened the faulty fridge door, and dragged the ‘rotten meat’ away.

Based on my ‘sharp’ deduction, the culprit is likely a wild animal—a wild cat.

No, something bigger, like a ‘raccoon’ or ‘fox,’ a carnivorous animal of that size.

Why would it take such rotten, spoiled meat? Simple.

Look around—this vast, desolate field has nothing.

With human roads and cars around, it’s only natural there’s little for carnivorous animals to eat.

‘How hungry must it have been… to drag away that rotten meat whole…’

As someone struggling to get by day by day.

I felt more pity than irritation for the animal that took the food.

‘Alright, we’re all just trying to survive… I’ll leave some feed out next time.’

Like an innkeeper offering water to a weary traveler, I decided to prepare some feed next time.

And focused on cleaning up the fridge again.

Somewhere in the desolate midnight field.

The sound of ‘something being chewed’ echoed on the wind.

Crunch…

The horrific sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing.

The source was a rotting chunk of meat, attacking and ‘devouring’ a lone ‘male raccoon’ living quietly here.

Slither…

Like a slime, the meat enveloped the dead raccoon’s body.

Opening something resembling a ‘mouth,’ it used jagged, writhing teeth to grind the raccoon’s entire body.

Crack…

Finishing its ‘feast’ with the sound of a crushed corpse.

Crunch…

The meat began transforming into the male raccoon it had consumed.

When the eerie sounds finally stopped.

The foul-smelling meat had sprouted fur and a tail.

Perfectly transformed into a ‘raccoon.’

“…”

But the meat—no, now a ‘raccoon’—was still unsatisfied.

Its hunger craved something bigger, more substantial.

Its gaze turned toward the glowing neon sign of the ‘LOVE Motel’ it had crawled out from.

“Phew… Bloodstains cleaned, food disposed of… This should do it.”

Having perfectly handled the food waste and bloodstains.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with a satisfied smile.

‘Never meet again, faulty fridge. In your next life(?), tell the engineer to make a better door.’

After bidding farewell to the fridge, I returned to the motel with light steps.

Checking the time at the counter.

About 10 minutes remained until closing.

‘Ugh… I feel gross… I want a shower…’

My body, covered in sweat and the stench of garbage, couldn’t handle 10 more minutes like this.

‘Is there a manager’s shower room…? Let’s check.’

Hoping for a shower room instead of just a bathroom, I started flipping through the manual.

Flip!!

“Hmm… Nothing? That’s odd…”

While flipping through the manual, debating whether to wash up in a bathroom.

Beep!!

Beep!!*

“…?”

Not the intercom, but an ‘old cellphone’ rang with a call from a restricted number.

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