As soon as we got to the twenty-first floor, we tossed our backpacks on the floor and fell side by side onto the bed, our shoes still on. Gyu-ho stretched out an arm and gently rubbed out the frown between my eyes with his hand, and I stuck out my tongue to lick it. His unwashed hand had a hint of salt. Lying on the bed, we stared out the windows that surrounded us. There was a clear view of the grounds of someone’s grand house below, so grand and well kept that it looked more like a theme park than someone’s house. After staring at it for ages, I was desperate for a quick nap and so took off my shoes and clothes. Gyu-ho dug his nose into my chest, and I could smell a familiar scent in his hair. I probably smelled the same way. I pressed the button for the curtains to close. The light slowly dimmed. About to close my eyes, I noticed that the curtains hadn’t closed completely, and light was streaming through about a palm’s width of space.

—You have got to be kidding me.

—Let’s just sleep.

—No, look. The curtain won’t close completely.

—Sleep, damn it.

—How can you sleep with this light streaming in?

As I called the front desk to tell them the curtain was broken, Gyu-ho covered his face in the pillow and mumbled, “Here we go again.” A handyman came up to our room, checked the curtain, and called up the concierge to take a look as well. He was a middle-aged Frenchman in a suit. The concierge politely informed us that because the hotel was still in its preopening stage, there were some kinks to be worked out, and they would upgrade our room. When I passed on this information to Gyu-ho, he smiled his usual weary smile. The concierge slung our backpacks one on each shoulder. His sleek suit and our ragged backpacks looked oddly good together. We followed him down the corridors like two giant hamsters. And the room he ended up putting our backpacks down in happened to be right below the penthouse. As he handed us the keys, he said my family name, Park, and pointed out that we were in the Park King Suite, which made Gyu-ho pipe up that the name of the suite sounded like an RPG boss that was tough to defeat. As an additional gesture of apology for the inconvenience, the concierge invited us to a party being held at the rooftop bar at nine, adding that drinks were free. I did my Very Fancy Person impression and said that we would endeavor to make it. But as soon as the doors closed behind the concierge, Gyu-ho and I hugged each other and screamed. The room was vast and luxurious beyond what we ever could have imagined.