From afar, one could imagine a glorious, fairytale getaway, complete with meals crafted by world-renowned chefs and service befitting royalty. Indeed, within these walls, along the red-carpeted hallways, and beneath the dangling crystal chandeliers, such a getaway exists.

It exists all under the perceptive eyes of one, Wu Yifan, in South Korea’s most prestigious accommodation, Exodus Hotel.

Keeping the grounds impeccable, the staff in order and the guests satisfied, all while maintaining its five-star rating for the fifth year in a row, was no easy feat. Employees referred to Yifan as the Dragon Manager, often quivering under his cold glare and sharp tongue. The hotel would be no more than a dingy, unkempt building of utter chaos without the constant guiding hand of the General Manager. Yifan took his job very seriously, handling every which problem with the swiftness and austerity of – well – a dragon, hence the nickname. He was the best there was at what he did and he had developed quite the reputation for himself, even catching the eyes of hotels from around the world. He had taken positions in establishments across China, as well as in North America, but none of them drew him in quite like Korea’s famous Exodus Hotel.

Yifan knew this hotel, he practically breathed it; knowing every nook and cranny, and every trick and secret. It had been nearly six years since he had taken up his position in Seoul’s most successful resort and there truly wasn’t anyone more capable than he.

Perhaps, that was why Yifan was given the massive responsibility of keeping the establishment running smoothly while the CEO was making business deals in China for the next three weeks.

Then again, he wasn’t alone in his work, gratefully using the skilful hand of the Assistant General Manager, Xi Luhan to manage some of the larger projects. One such project was the annual Spook event that ran for two weeks leading up to Halloween. Traditionally, Halloween was a Western holiday, but Exodus Hotel openly embraced many different festivities, anything to attract more guests.

For the last week, the preparations for the Spook event have been in a flourish, carefully being overlooked by the Assistant General Manager, and even the Dragon Manager himself. Hotel staff and hired help had been in and out of the floor portion of the hotel that had been roped off to be used for the attraction, carrying gruesome looking decorations and a variety of special effects equipment to be set up in specific rooms.

Byun Baekhyun, the hotel’s Event Planner, had sketched up a floor plan with his team, and the layout was finally starting to come together.

Yifan, upon ducking through the “entrance” of the Halloween setup, found himself in a classic graveyard scene, often seen in American horror films. What used to be one of the smaller lobbies for guests to relax in had become a place of crumbling headstones and sickly limbs sticking out from between blades of fake grass, all in various states of decay. Yifan quickly made his way through the nearest doorway, finding himself in an old, Victorian styled house, one would immediately assume is haunted. According to the plans Yifan had read over the week before, a few hotel staff members would be dressed up as ghosts to scare guests. Moving on and passing through a torture chamber and then a mad scientist lab, Yifan finally found who he was originally looking for.

A head of light brown hair was among a whirl of hardhats and safety glasses, barking out orders left and right with a clipboard in hand. Yifan let a light smirk ghost across his face, before he approached the blond, leaning down to murmur a soft, “How is it going?”

Luhan let out a very feminine sounding shriek, whirling around to chew out whoever it was who had snuck up on him. Upon seeing that it was his superior, he promptly let whatever curse that was on his lips die, schooling his features into an air of professionalism. They were in the presence of other workers, with reputations to uphold (though that had never stopped Luhan in the past).

“I was wondering where you had gone off to,” Luhan muttered, giving the taller male an irritated glance, completely forgoing the respectful bow Yifan was always given by hotel staff as a greeting. He and Luhan had known each other for so long that it didn’t seem to be necessary between the two of them, unless in the presence of guests. “Everyone is utterly incompetent.”

As if to further prove the brunet’s words, a loud bang was heard to the left and the two males snapped their head in that direction, a gruff command already falling from Luhan’s lips.

“Be careful with him!”

The workers responsible for the sound looked frightened of the short male, quickly adjusting their hold on the heavy looking throne they dropped almost completely on its side. The “him” Luhan seemed to be referring to was in fact a marionette doll, sitting rag-doll-like in the chair with a large silk hat casting its face in shadow. Yifan could just make out two onyx eyes, sparkling from the overhead lighting being installed in the room. There was something about the doll that sent a shiver down Yifan’s spine.

“He goes in the Doll Room because, if you haven’t noticed, he’s a doll,” Luhan barked, jerking a bony finger in the direction of an open doorway. A few grumbled apologies and the marionette was carried into the other room.

Luhan huffed, turning on his heel to lay a heavy glare onto his superior. “It would be nice if you could stick around. The Dragon’s fire breathing would really be useful in kicking some around here.”

Yifan fought the chuckle trying to make its way up his throat. “I have to meet Kyungsoo for last minute adjustments to tomorrow’s dinner. It was just brought up now that some guests for tomorrow evening’s reservation have specific dietary needs.”

Cue an eye-roll from the frazzled brunet. “Of course. At least come see what’s been done so far.” Without waiting for an answer, Luhan turned tail and headed for the doorway he had just commanded those workers through, expecting Yifan to follow.

The room had originally been the smaller of the two theatres in the hotel; the one that had a complex seating mechanism installed that allowed the seats to be moved, to open up the floor below the stage into accessible space, originally meant for dancing and such. Now, the room was roped off into a path that would lead guests through the attraction. The stage had been decorated with large painted toy blocks and velvet stools, arranged in a semi-circle to draw eyes towards the throne that was just now being situated in the center of the stage.

Luhan quickly ducked under the security rope and jumped up on the stage, shooing the workers away before they could even touch the doll seated upon the throne. The Assistant General Manager shouted over at a worker who was seated atop a ladder, tying a curtain to the ceiling rafter. The worker quickly climbed down and ducked around the stage, reappearing on the long platform above the stage meant to house staff working the lights, following Luhan’s every snippy command. Soon, the marionette’s loose strings were attached to the rail up above, lifting the dolls body into a more lively sitting position. Luhan played with the marionette’s limbs a little, adjusting the pale joints until he was pleased with the posture. As the plans stated, during the event, a staff member would be up on the platform, controlling the strings to move the doll and freak out the guests.

“So,” Luhan started, stepping out of the way, with his eyes on Yifan, “how does he look from over there?”

Yifan looked at the doll but quickly adverted his eyes to Luhan, uncomfortable with the way the doll was staring at him with that shadowed onyx gaze. “Like it’s alive. Where did you even manage to get a doll like that? I swear if you went over the budget-”

“Oh, relax Yifan. I stayed within the budget; you should really be worrying more over Baekhyun’s overspending. You know how he gets those crazy ideas.” Luhan waved his hand as if dismissing the topic. “Anyway, it’s not ‘it’, it’s ‘he’, and his name is Zitao and I ordered him especially from China, after Yixing recommended this old specialty doll shop in his hometown. He’s made from porcelain, instead of wood and he was perfectly affordable. Isn’t he just beautiful?” Luhan looked ready to clap his hands and dance in glee.

Yifan felt differently. “It’s a doll, Luhan; a very creepy and unbelievably life-like doll.”

“You’re such a stick in the mud,” the brunet huffed. “He’s going to be the most popular attraction and you’re going to be so glad that I went through such lengths to get him.”

“Whatever you say,” Yifan relented, glancing around anywhere in the room, except at that doll. “I have to go meet with Kyungsoo now, and handle a few housekeeping things. Don’t blow up the place while I’m gone.”

“If you see Chanyeol or Sehun, let them know that I could use some extra muscle around here!” Luhan called just as Yifan left the last Halloween themed room.

Now, next order of business.

Yifan headed for the front desk before going off to the kitchens, respectfully bowing to guests and giving hotel employees curt nods along the way. The front desk was bearing its usual image: three uniform clad employees all cheerfully chatting away.

“I’d like to book a room,” Yifan announced in fluent Cantonese, with the intention to fool his slacking employees into thinking he was a foreign guest.

The three staff members tensed and turned around in sync, bright smiles plastered on their faces. A response was forming on the brunet’s lips before his smile disappeared upon realizing that it was the General Manager asking.

All three employees dropped into deep bows, rising with innocent smiles on their faces.

“Good morning, General Manager,” Minseok greeted, orange dyed bangs falling into his eyes from bending over.

“Assistant General Manager was looking for you this morning,” Jongdae chimed in, the corners of his mouth curling as if he wasn’t just guilty of practically feeling up the former male, right across the front desk.

Amber on the other hand, was busy shuffling around papers, making it look like she was indeed doing work, while skillfully avoiding the heavy gaze of her superior.

“I’ve already spoken with him,” Yifan explained, raising an eyebrow in the direction of the two culpable males. “Now, I am very certain that I’ve said this before, but I suppose I’ll have to say it again. I’ve chosen to overlook the fact that you two have decided to begin an office romance, given that, public displays of affection are strictly prohibited while on the job. I expect nothing less from Jongdae, but Minseok, as his supervisor, I hoped that you’d be able to avoid such advances.” Said male seemed to shrink a little under Yifan’s sharp glare. “I do hope this doesn’t happen again, for I’d hate to have to reprimand either one of you, or worse, bring up this issue with Siwon.”

Jongdae visibly shivered from the suggestion, while the Front Desk Supervisor dropped into another bow, mumbling out a quick “sorry, it won’t happen again”.

Yifan nodded shortly and glanced around the front lobby. “If either Chanyeol or Sehun have a free second, send them down to the west wing. Luhan needs some extra hands.”

A chorus of “yes, sir” echoed behind the General Manager as he strolled away, giving a few passing guests respectful bows and heading straight for the area of the hotel where all the behind-the-scenes action happened.

Here, employees in various departments were scattered amongst rooms, some enjoying break in the staff cafeteria, some dealing with piles upon piles of dirtied bedding and towels, and others were carrying large boxes of supplies, delivered by truck, right from the loading docks. Yifan was off to find Kyungsoo to speak about dinner, following the familiar halls to get to the back entrance of the hotel kitchens.

The kitchens were of course absolute chaos, though a controlled sort of chaos. It was just passing dinner hour and the rush had yet to settle down as kitchen staff whipped up extravagant sauces and mouth-watering main dishes. Waiters rushed in and out of the two swinging double doors as they came to place orders and gather prepared plates.

“Sir,” a dark-haired male greeted Yifan with a bow, Exodus’ restaurant’s black and red apron wrapped around his waist. His nametag read Lee Taemin.

“Where might I find Chef Do?” The General Manager asked, scanning the multiple white-uniformed chefs behind the counters and stoves for a familiar head of bright, red hair.

“He is out on the floor, greeting VIP guests, sir,” Taemin informed, supplying another bow when the dishes he had come for were placed on the gleaming silver shelf, ready for being served. The waiter skillfully balanced the four steaming plates up both his arms and used his elbow to push open the doors that lead into the restaurant floor. Yifan followed after him a moment later, finally catching sight of the Head Chef chatting with a few seated guests.

As soon as the redhead was finished his conversation, Yifan stepped forward to grab his attention.

“Yifan,” Kyungsoo greeted first, giving a swift bow, thin, round, wire-framed glasses sliding down his nose a little.

“There have been a few requested changes to the dinner for tomorrow’s reservation,” Yifan started, fully expecting the chef’s wide-eyed glance that shone with irritation.

“Oh?” was the steady, but dangerous reply.

Before Yifan could request to bring the conversation back into the kitchens or perhaps Kyungsoo’s office, there was a sudden commotion at one of the nearby tables, involving a pissed off – and possibly drunk – guest, a fallen waiter and a shattered china bowl with a pool of what looked like tomato soup escaping across the carpeted floor.

Kyungsoo was over there in a heartbeat, helping the fallen waiter up with a firm hand and smoothly inquiring about the problem. Yifan recognized the waiter from the couple of dance performances held by the hotel during various times of the year, that the young man had participated in. His name was Kim Jongin, if Yifan’s memory was correct – which it nearly always was.

Jongin had his eyes downcast, looking very much like a reprimanded puppy. Kyungsoo was speaking to the agitated guest, the man still looking ticked off at whatever had made him loose his cool. Yifan couldn’t hear the conversation from where he was standing, but Kyungsoo’s face was a mask of calm, until the chef noticed something on Jongin’s wrist. Yifan could just make out a splotch of angry red skin contrasting against the rest of Jongin’s healthy bronzed complexion.

Kyungsoo said a few more words and all of the guests at the table hesitantly stood up, gathering up their things. As soon as they were properly escorted out of the establishment by a few waiters, Kyungsoo turned to Jongin, immediately resembling a fawning mother.

The young waiter looked flustered and kept trying to drag his eyes away from his superior’s face when they lingered for too long. Yifan definitely noticed the affection in those wandering eyes, but decided to remain quiet about that potential development and just keep an eye on the two of them in the future. It was his job to know everything about the hotel after all, employee relationships included.

As soon as the Head Chef handed Jongin off to the waiter Yifan had spoken to earlier, Taemin, to be given treatment for his wrist, Kyungsoo asked Yifan to follow him to his office. The office space was typical of a world renowned chef like Kyungsoo, walls covered with pristine certificates from famous culinary schools and a few paintings with a common kitchen theme. The chair Yifan was offered was comfy, easy to sink into and pick up their previous conversation.

The menu that needed to be changed had previously included one of Kyungsoo’s most popular seafood dishes, but Yifan had just been informed that day that certain guests under that reservation had seafood allergies. The whole menu had to be changed in order to properly compliment the main dish, which would now have to be some form of a red meat dish. Kyungsoo wasn’t pleased with having to change so last minute, especially since he wouldn’t have time to order any new ingredients and would have to choose carefully to make sure nothing would go wrong. It was a lot to ask, but Yifan was confident that the Head Chef would be able to pull it off flawlessly.

With some discussion and suggestion from his superior, Kyungsoo managed to scribble down a newly made menu in no more than twenty minutes. “Would you be able to run this by the reservation holder before tomorrow, so I can start preparing?”

Yifan nodded shortly, taking the piece of paper and neatly folding it up, before pocketing it. “I’ll personally deliver the confirmation later this evening. After tomorrow night, treat the staff to dinner as compensation for the sudden switch and their hard work.”

“I will,” Kyungsoo replied, rising when Yifan did and giving him a soft smile as the taller male left the room.

Before leaving for his next area of business, Yifan stopped by the front desk of the restaurant, asking to speak to the Restaurant Manager, Jung Krystal.

“General Manager,” the pretty brunette greeted, bowing respectfully.

Yifan nodded to the woman in reply. “The waiter who was burned earlier, Jongin, grant him a few days off, fully paid and cover all of his hospital bills.”

“Consider it already done.”

“Good. I trust that you can handle any other mishaps.” Yifan took his leave and finally headed to his last big operation, at least for the next few hours.

Work as the General Manager never really ever ended.

“I’ll call a meeting as soon as all the nightly rounds are done. This won’t happen again,” Joonmyun promised.

The Housekeeping Supervisor took his job just as seriously as Yifan at times, doing whatever he was capable of to ensure that the guests were satisfied with the work done by the housekeeping staff. There wasn’t ever a speck of dust in sight when Kim Joonmyun was around.

Recently, there had been a few complaints from guests about not having enough towels on hand and missing extra bars of soap in their suites. Yifan trusted that once Joonmyun was through with reprimanding his staff, the complaints would cease.

His discussion with the Housekeeping Supervisor had just finished and Yifan was free to do his nightly rounds, wandering the hotel grounds, chatting with VIP guests, keeping an eye on staff and offering his assistance or admonishing when necessary.

Yifan hadn’t even made it to the lobby when a tall, familiar male in a porter’s uniform nearly ran into him when his long legs became too quick for him to manage.

“Yifan!” the lanky male, one Park Chanyeol, gasped. “There’s a problem over… in the west wing. Luhan… wants you there… ASAP!” He had trouble getting out the words, gasping in air periodically, short of breath after probably practically running to find the male standing before him.

“What’s the problem?” Yifan asked, raising an eyebrow in question. Luhan really could have just called him if there was a problem, but knowing the brunet, he probably just wanted to make Chanyeol suffer.

The curly-haired Porter inhaled deeply before trying to gather up all of the things he needed to say, “Workers…” Another gasp. “Doll… ghost… help!”

It had to do with the workers, and probably the Doll House, and involved ghosts? Yifan figured Chanyeol meant the ghosts that would be spooking guests in the Victorian Room. It probably wouldn’t be anything he couldn’t handle. Meanwhile, the Porter in front of him looked like he was about to collapse any second.

The older male sighed. “Go sit down. I’ll head over now.”

At least the curly-haired male managed a half-bow before bracing himself against the nearest wall to head for the employee lounge. Yifan went in the opposite direction, passing the front reception desk with a quick warning glare – only Minseok tensed up, while Jongdae and Amber continued talking animatedly. Yifan didn’t have time to scold them again and continued on his way.

The issue probably wasn’t even that drastic but Luhan was known to blow things out of proportion often. Hopefully, whatever the problem was, it would be solved quickly and easily. This project couldn’t be postponed.

As soon as he stepped through the Doll House entrance, Luhan was calling out Yifan’s name, voice full of frustration.

“What could have possibly happened in the past two hours, Luhan?” The taller male asked, quickly glancing around the room and taking note of the significantly smaller number of employees moving around the room. Decorations were sitting abandoned, some still in their boxes and some only half set up.

The brunet threw his hands in the air exasperatedly – clipboard bound papers creasing under his clenched fingers. “Everything.”

Yifan sighed at the older male’s dramatics. “Start from the beginning. All I got from Chanyeol were gasps that I think he meant to be words.”

“My workers are suddenly calling it quits,” Luhan explained, “Apparently, something has freaked them out; some are even refusing to step foot in the room. I’ve threatened to cut their pay or even fire them, but nothing I do is getting them to continue working. They’re even convincing others to leave too; whispering about ghosts and hauntings in a ing haunted house.”

Sighing at the shorter male’s choice language, Yifan scanned the stage area, noticing how a few remaining workers were keeping clear of the creepy marionette doll that Luhan had set up earlier, shrinking away from the doll’s dark lifeless gaze, still shadowed beneath a wide-brimmed top hat.

“Their reluctance to work wouldn’t have anything to do with that doll, would it?”

Luhan gave his superior a look that spelled out ‘well, obviously’. “According to the first few guys that quit earlier, his fingers were tapping on the armrest when no one was even near the platform to be able to pull his strings. Then others started claiming that he was changing position when no one was looking. Now, it’s escalated to his mouth stretching into a smile and his eyes following workers around the room.”

“We lost more than half of our staff because of a few ghost stories?”

The shorter male shrugged. “Now, it’s your turn to knock some sense into them, Mr. General Manager, while I go enjoy a nice long break.” With a bright, conniving smile, Luhan turned tail and left Yifan with minimal workers and a massive amount of work to finish in a very short amount of time.

The next day, in the ungodly hours of the morning, Yifan was making his morning rounds, greeting newly arriving guests and ensuring that the staff weren’t sleeping on the job. So far, model employee, Zhang Yixing seemed to be doing just that.

As a concierge, Yixing was usually on the top of his game, fulfilling every request without fail. The front desk often used him to translate when they had Chinese guests since Minseok wasn’t the most fluent in the language and Yifan really had more important things to deal with. Yixing and his fellow concierge, Lau Henry (the hotel’s English translator – again because Yifan had better things to do) were a solid team, all friendly words and bright smiles.

Except in the young hours of the day, when Yixing resembled more of the walking dead than a chipper, innocent child on a sugar rush.

After sending the half-slumbering male off with his unnaturally, cheerful co-worker to get him a cup of coffee, Yifan changed his original destination – the hotel gardens – in favour of checking the progress of the Spook event before any of the remaining workers arrived.

The General Manager was pleased with how the first few rooms were coming along, imagining how the atmosphere would feel with sound effects and fog. There was still a large amount of work left to do, majority of it in the Mad Scientist room and Doll Room. It was a little uncomfortable standing in the Doll Room while it was completely empty, only the lifeless glass gazes of the dolls on the stage to watch him.

Yifan purposely attempted to avoid looking at the life-sized marionette, seated upon his throne of skulls and gold. Baekhyun had designed the set so well though, that the eye was dragged back to the centre stage, regardless of what you did to stop it. Yifan began to move closer, climbing up onto the stage without really thinking about it, until he was standing right in front of the room’s main attraction.

The doll was leaning against the velvet backrest, looking very much like a regal Prince, demanding all attention in the room. His skin was like creamed milk, contrasting beautifully with the blood red of his collar and deep midnight of his hair. Slender, ball-jointed fingers were curled against his temple, giving the illusion of holding the weight of the doll’s head while the invisible strings running from all of his limbs did all the work. The hat perched on his head was tilted forward at such an angle that a mask of shadow hid all of his features, all but his rose painted lips, twisted up into a frozen smirk. Yifan was drawn to the glass eyes, shining onyx with a gaze so heavy, it seemed alive.

The glass orbs rolled to the left.

Yifan blinked; startled, automatically telling himself that he was seeing things.

The head lolled the same way, following a step behind the eyes.

Yifan let out a little shriek and took an unconscious step backward.

The body heaved, lifting from the seat until the face was inches away from the tall male.

Yifan choked on the next scream that tried to break from his throat and he stumbled back, tripping on some loose wiring and falling backwards. The wooden floorboards of the stage made contact with his tailbone but the General Manager couldn’t register the pain over the fright of what his eyes were witnessing.

The marionette doll was standing, fingers no longer ball-jointed together but now encased in smooth, soft-looking skin. The thin strings, previously only visible shimmering under certain angles of light, were now completely gone. The movements of the doll were no longer dependent on pulled threads and robotic motions, but were fluid, stepping closer and closer to Yifan’s terrified form with a silent grace.

“You…” the doll croaked out, in Mandarin surprisingly. Its voice sounded as if it had gone unused for a while, which was probably the chase since it was a doll and shouldn’t be able to talk in the first place. Its pale lips stretched into a smile and it held out a hand, the black frills of its costume sleeve brushing against human skin.

Yifan would be suicidal to even consider taking that offered limb.

“You… gave me life,” it rasped. Mandarin did make sense, Yifan supposed, since the doll was from China, but it was a ing doll. “You brought me back to life.”

The doll was talking nonsense. Yifan did nothing to bring the thing to life; it shouldn’t even be living. Maybe he had fallen and hit his head and was now having a vivid nightmare? The Spook event was stressful and the doll Luhan brought in was creepy, it was possible that he could have finally snapped.

“You can’t be alive,” the tall male mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut and desperately willing this to go away. “This is just a dream. You’re just a doll and I’m sleeping and this is all just a nightmare.”

Yifan heard a creepy giggle reach his ears, before the matching voice rang out, “You scared the bossy, pretty boy earlier. That fear was so good, I wanted more. I scared the workers, played with them. It was fun, the way they all squirmed and ran away screaming.”

A hand suddenly wrapped around Yifan’s bicep and a startled scream slipped out from between his lips, as his eyes snapped open and the doll’s face was suddenly a lot closer than before. Its eyes were black as pitch, gazing into Yifan’s brown gaze with a sort of life that a doll wasn’t able to possess, no matter how realistic the glass eyes were made to be. Instead of staring past him like they normally would, this marionette’s eyes seemed to stare into Yifan’s soul.

This wasn’t happening.