Chapter 1
There was no trigger. No reason. No warning signs.
It was, quite literally, lightning out of a clear sky. Overnight, my world flipped upside down.
Today was supposed to be the happiest day of my life—
the day I finally received my long-awaited college acceptance letter after a hellish extra year of studying.
My whole family cheered, danced, even cried a little.
We rushed to buy a cake and opened a bottle of wine we’d been saving for holidays.
(Except my kid sister, of course—she’s not old enough to drink yet.)
Everything was perfect.
Dinner was my favorite—spicy braised pork ribs.
Tomorrow I planned to celebrate properly with my friends.
That night, I went to bed with a rare feeling of peace and optimism.
Yes, everything had been just right.
Until—
“…Huh?”
Why the hell did I wake up here?
“What is… this?”
It looked like a luxurious greenhouse, the kind you’d find on some aristocrat’s estate.
Sunlight streamed through crystal-clear glass, shining down on white, red, and yellow flowers in full bloom.
All around, rabbit dolls were scattered between the plants—making eerie little bird-chirping noises.
And in the ornate mirror before me stood a girl.
Long golden hair falling past her chest.
Crimson eyes gleaming beneath sharp lashes.
A small, delicate build.
A black dress and a white frilled apron on top of it.
The girl looked like her world had just ended—staring straight at me.
Every time I blinked, she blinked too.
And that’s when I realized—
That girl… was me.
When I went to sleep, I’d been me—
but now, I’d somehow woken up as some cat-faced anime beauty?!
‘This has to be a dream. It has to be.’
But the sunlight warming my skin felt far too real, mocking my desperate attempt at denial.
Suddenly, I remembered what my sister had said the night before.
“Careful, sis. You’re in the perfect state to get possessed right now.”
“Oh wow, I raise you for years and this is the thanks I get—cursing me?”
“It’s not a curse! Look, in all those possession stories, it’s always people like you—
overworked office drones, students about to take exams,
or someone who just escaped a grueling year of college prep—”
My sister had been completely addicted to webnovels lately.
Drunk and blissfully cozy in bed, I’d mumbled back,
“I’ve seen stories where you get possessed too…”
“You read romance-fantasy novels? Which one?”
“The one where the drunk big sister pinches her little sister’s butt for talking nonsense.
Short title: ‘Butt-Pinch Reincarnation.’ Come here, I’ll show you.”
“You perv!”
She’d shrieked dramatically and stomped out of the room.
I yelled after her, “Hey! Turn off the lights! Lights off—!”
And then I’d fallen asleep.
When I opened my eyes… I was here.
‘You’ve gotta be kidding me.’
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
No way. Don’t tell me…
‘I’ve actually been possessed?!’
Why? How?
Aren’t there supposed to be certain conditions for this sort of thing?
I mean, I’ve read enough stories to know the basics—
you usually drown, get hit by a car, or something dramatic like that.
But I was literally just sleeping!
It’s not like a car crashed into my seventh-floor apartment in the middle of the night.
“Wait, hold on…”
If this is really possession, who have I possessed?
And how do I get back to my body?
I stared into the mirror again.
Blonde hair. Red eyes.
Familiar somehow…
‘But then again, there are a ton of characters with this color combo…’
Okay, first thing’s first—I need to gather information.
Maybe start by exploring this place.
Just as I was about to take a step—
“Come sit down already, Miss Alice. Daydreaming in the middle of an interview?
How brave of you.”
A calm, gentle male voice came from behind me.
‘Someone’s here?!’
I slowly turned around.
A small, elegant tea table stood there.
And sitting in front of it—
a man with long silver hair tied loosely at the back.
“Honestly,” he continued, flipping through a stack of papers,
“you could start dancing and singing for all I care. I don’t exactly have many options, you see.”
When he finally looked up, my breath caught.
A pristine white half-mask covered most of his face—so realistic it looked like actual rabbit fur.
The lower half of his face, the only visible part, curved into a playful smile.
“At last, you’re looking at me,” he said lightly.
“Feeling awake now?”
Instead of answering, I looked down at his outfit.
A white suit dotted with tiny red hearts,
a red tie embroidered with white hearts,
and a sheer black mesh shirt underneath.
Add that creepy rabbit mask, and—
‘Pervert.’
No question. The guy was a walking red flag.
God, is this really the kind of freak that appears in the novels my sweet little sister reads?
And why does he look familiar somehow…?
“Come here, Alice,” the man said, beckoning.
I didn’t want to go anywhere near him, but a quick glance around told me he was the only person here.
And since he called me Alice without hesitation, he probably knew the body I was in.
If I wanted answers… I had no choice.
‘Damn it.’
Reluctantly, I walked over.
“Um—”
“Yes, yes, that’ll do,” he interrupted, not even looking at me.
He just scribbled furiously on his papers.
Then, with a sigh, he suddenly crumpled them up and hid the wad in his fist—
like a student about to snap from studying twenty straight hours.
‘Yeah… I’ve been there.’
As I watched, he exhaled softly onto his closed hand.
And when he opened it again—
The crumpled paper had turned into a plain silver pocket watch.
‘Magic?!’
So there was magic in this world!
My eyes widened. The man stood and pressed the watch into my palm.
“Good. Take this, Miss Alice. You’re officially hired.”
“…Huh?”
That snapped me right out of my daze.
“Hired? Hired for what?”
He looked at me like I’d just asked whether water was wet.
“For our hotel, of course.”
Hotel?
Hotel?!
A jolt ran through me.
A perverted rabbit-masked man.
Me, a blonde red-eyed girl named Alice.
A job offer at a hotel.
No way.
“Good luck, Alice,” he said, smiling brightly.
“I hope you’ll make a story worth remembering.”
He lifted a finger and gently tapped my forehead.
“Until we meet again.”
Before I could react, I was pushed backward—
and the world flipped.
By the time I opened my eyes again,
the greenhouse was gone,
and I was rolling across soft grass.
“Gah—!”
I scrambled up, gasping.
Huge white flower buds—each nearly the size of my head—filled my vision.
No, wait. Those weren’t flowers. They were flower-shaped lamps.
Panting, I looked around.
The place could best be described as an indoor artificial forest.
Tall pillar-like “trees” without leaves held up a towering ceiling.
Lush green grass spread across the floor,
and glowing flowers—each a different color—served as light fixtures.
But instead of feeling awe,
a chill ran through me.
Because everything was broken.
Most of the lights were shattered, leaving the place dim and eerie.
The grass was burned in patches,
and one of the supporting trees was split open, ready to collapse.
Among the ruined décor lay overturned tables, torn sofas,
scattered shoes and belongings—signs of chaos.
My throat tightened.
‘This place…’
I couldn’t deny it anymore.
I knew exactly what this was.
This was the main lobby of a hotel.
And if I recognized that—
then I also knew what world I’d fallen into.
‘Oh, hell no.’
This wasn’t a novel.
It wasn’t even a webtoon.
I’d somehow been possessed…
into the world of a hotel management simulation game called Hello Happy Hotel.
‘I’m so screwed.’
Some people might say,
“Hey, at least it’s not a horror or a tragic romance.
A management sim can’t be that bad, right?”
That’s because they don’t know.
Hello Happy Hotel was anything but an ordinary management game.
Back in its heyday, players had a nickname for it—
“The Neapolitan Urban Legend Healing Game.”
Yeah. It was that kind of game.
A world that defied every rule.
