Chapter 8
“Sohee!”
Liri happily opened the door for her.
As soon as Sohee stepped inside, she took a deep breath out of habit.
“I always feel better whenever I come here.”
Liri beamed at those words.
There was nothing more joyful than knowing the space she had created was loved.
She dabbed a little of an herbal fragrance excellent for relieving stress onto a piece of cloth and held it out to Sohee.
Sohee had spent the past few nights staying up late to work on stories, so both her body and mind were probably exhausted.
“This should help clear your head a little.”
“Thanks.”
Sohee buried her face in the cloth and breathed in deeply.
Just as Liri had said, the refreshing fragrance seemed to awaken her mind, which had felt foggy for days.
Liri originally came from the village, the largest community in Wicheon.
“The village is a place created by those who have nowhere else to go.”
A few days after Sohee became the motel manager, the Moon Jar had explained the village that made up the largest part of Wicheon.
Wicheon was an afterlife for characters from fictional worlds created through written works such as novels, poems, and essays.
Naturally, the villagers living there were also all fictional characters.
There was only one difference.
Not a single one of them had ever appeared in an actual work.
“They never appeared in the story? Why?”
“Because the author stopped creating the character halfway through, or finished creating them but decided they didn’t fit the work and never used them.”
“…I see.”
“Those kinds of characters gathered here one by one, and now more of them live in the village than anyone can count.”
In simple terms, the villagers were characters who had either been discarded or kept in reserve just in case.
Naturally, they had never even been given names.
So the villagers were assigned simple names made by repeating the same syllable twice.
Like Liri here.
Or Kuku in the kitchen.
When Sohee first heard that explanation, her heart had remained heavy for quite a while.
People without families.
People no one searched for.
People no one wanted.
People with nowhere to go.
It reminded her far too much of herself.
But it did not take long for Sohee to realize how arrogant that pity had been.
After watching Liri with a warm gaze for a while, Sohee finally spoke.
“Hey, Liri. There’s a scent I need.”
“Did another guest arrive?”
“No.”
“Then what are you going to use it for…?”
Sohee looked at Liri with a serious expression and lowered her voice.
“Do you happen to have some kind of scent that can seduce people?”
“I do?”
“What if we hung something like that outside?”
Liri tilted her head before asking again.
“…Is this for attracting customers?”
“Yeah.”
It was a new promotional method Sohee had been thinking about for the past few days.
If the Moon Jar heard about it, it probably would have scolded her for wasting her time on nonsense again.
Liri, however, smiled brightly.
From everything she had seen so far, Sohee was someone who was constantly thinking about how to make the motel succeed somehow.
“Just smelling something pleasant can make people feel comfortable, right?”
Sohee continued eagerly.
“So I thought we could soak wooden sticks in fragrance and hang them near the entrance. What do you think?”
“Then we don’t necessarily need to use a seductive scent.”
“…I was just checking.”
“Fragrance isn’t some magical potion that entrances people, you know?”
Liri playfully scolded her, but she still rose from the sofa and walked toward the cabinet containing all her fragrances.
Then she began pointing at different bottles one by one, mentally blending possible combinations.
“Hmm. Honestly, I can’t guarantee it’ll help attract customers, but I’m in favor of the idea.”
She thought for a moment.
“At the very least, I think it could help people form a positive impression of this place.”
“Right?”
“Yes. Pleasant scents leave pleasant memories behind.”
Sohee smiled in satisfaction.
“Good. Then I’ll leave choosing the right fragrance to you, Liri.”
“Okay. Since we’re already doing this, I’ll prepare some for the lobby and consultation room too.”
“Perfect. You’re the best, Liri.”
Liri’s face immediately turned red.
Even that reaction was adorable, so when it came to Liri, Sohee never wanted to hold back on praise.
Liri, the maid who had never been given a proper name.
Sohee had been slightly surprised when she first looked into Liri’s character information.
Compared to most villagers, she had been given a surprisingly detailed character setting.
A perfectionist maid whose senses for color and fragrance are far sharper than those of ordinary people.
She is the protagonist of a dark romance in which she is hired by the Crown Prince, who spends his entire life longing for the scent of his first love, and eventually falls in love with him.
She saves the Crown Prince by detecting the faint scent of poison in his food and discovers that the royal jewels have secretly been replaced by noticing differences in their light and color that no one else could see.
She has a gentle heart and cheerful personality, but when it comes to work, she becomes so sensitive and meticulous that not even a needle could slip past her.
Highly talented, but looked down upon because of her status.
In the end, the author had decided the difference in status between a Crown Prince and a maid was simply too great and abandoned Liri’s character.
Instead, the author created a foreign princess with exceptionally sensitive five senses and wrote a romance about her entering a contract marriage with the Crown Prince.
Sohee watched Liri’s back as she worked, genuinely looking as though she was enjoying herself.
Highly talented, but looked down upon because of her status.
Why did that particular setting bother her so much?
From the moment Sohee brought Liri here, she had decided that, if nothing else, she would make sure Liri’s abilities were recognized often.
She’s this good at what she does. Why hold back on praising her?
Leaving the deeply focused Liri behind, Sohee quietly slipped out of the workshop.
Exactly one day had passed since they hung up the scented sticks.
“Sohee.”
Sohee, who was sitting at the front desk, looked up.
She had been organizing information about upcoming salaries and taxes.
“Yeah? What is it?”
Kuku, who had just arrived for work, was walking toward her.
