Check-In... and Pray You Check Out
Introduction
Four brothers. One cursed hotel. Zero survival instincts.
They just wanted a break. Maybe a little fun. But instead, they got a room full of haunted mirrors, creepy whispers, disappearing doors… and each other.
Welcome to the hotel where ghosts aren't the scariest part — your siblings are.
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👥 Characters
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😓 Ryo Takahashi
The Oldest Brother
Calm. Tired. Basically the part-time mom and dad.
The only one who seems sane — unfortunately for him.
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😎 Taka Takahashi
The Menace Middle Brother
Sarcastic and loud.
Can turn any ghost hunt into a full-blown circus.
Judges everything like he's running a roast show.
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💪 Jade Takahashi
The Confused Gym-Rat
Looks tough, screams like a toaster.
Loves protein shakes, hates dark corners.
Is he scared or flexing? No one can tell.
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😜 Jariot Takahashi
The Youngest Chaos Machine
A savage with zero filter.
Takes horror like a game, talks nonsense in crisis.
Ghosts avoid him because he's the real problem.
Chapter 1: Who Booked This Cursed Place?!
From the shiny black luxury car, four brothers spilled out — or rather, exploded out.
It wasn't calm. It wasn't quiet.
It was chaos.
"I TOLD you not to let Jariot use Google Maps!"
"Bro, it's not my fault the app thought a haunted jungle road was a shortcut!"
"You literally typed in 'quickest route with zero survival chance'!"
"Okay but to be fair… that sounded fun."
The youngest, Jariot, swung his arms and grinned like this was a school trip.
Meanwhile, Ryo, the tired eldest, rubbed his temples and stared at the glowing hotel sign ahead — the only light in the middle of the pitch-dark forest.
The sign flickered:
"Hotel Kurokawa – Welcome to Eternal Rest"
"...That doesn't sound suspicious at all," muttered Taka, the sarcasm king, already pulling out his phone — which had, of course, zero signal.
Jade, big and buff but wide-eyed like a kitten, pointed at the hotel's creaky gate.
"Guys… the door just opened by itself."
A long pause.
Creak.
Wind howled.
A crow cawed dramatically.
"So…" Taka blinked, "We're just going in? No screaming, no arguing, no one peeing themselves?"
"Give it five minutes," Ryo muttered, already walking forward. "Jariot's about to trigger a ritual or something."
And just like that… the real chaos began.
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They all started walking toward the hotel, the gravel crunching under their shoes.
The closer they got, the more it felt… wrong.
The wind grew colder. The lights inside flickered like they weren't sure they wanted to stay on. And the building — though grand and fancy — looked like it hadn't been cleaned since 1920.
As they stepped inside, a wave of cold air hit them — like the hotel was exhaling.
Marble floors, golden walls, chandeliers.
And yet… it smelled like mothballs and ghost sweat.
"Bro," Taka muttered, eyes scanning the lobby, "why does this place look like a haunted mansion wearing Gucci?"
The other three paused.
Sitting behind the front desk, in a grand red velvet chair, was an old man — completely motionless.
His head tilted slightly downward, as if asleep… or stuffed.
"Also," Taka continued, "why the hell is there a half-dead grandpa as the receptionist? And why is he not doing his job? We could be robbing this place right now."
Jade leaned closer to the front desk, squinting. "Wait… is he even breathing?"
Jariot, grinning, suddenly banged the desk bell. DING-DING-DING!
"WAKE UP, OLD DUDE! WE'RE HERE TO DIE—uh, I mean, check in!"
Ryo slapped his forehead. "Can we not commit crimes in front of ancient possibly-haunted people?"
A moment passed.
The old man's eyes slowly opened.
Crack. Snap. His neck twisted upright like he hadn't moved in a hundred years.
He smiled.
Too wide.
"Welcome... to Hotel Kurokawa," he rasped.
And that's when they all knew — they should've just stayed in the car.
The old man's creepy smile still stretched wide across his face.
He didn't blink.
He didn't move.
Just… stared.
That didn't stop Taka Takahashi, the Judgment King, from stepping up with his usual attitude.
"Old grandpa, everything's fine, your creepy smile and sleep-dead vibe included…" Taka tilted his head, "But why the hell is this place so dusty?"
He pointed to a cobweb literally hanging from the chandelier into the check-in logbook.
"Do you even have workers here? Anyone who still cleans? This hotel smells like sadness and expired perfume. Also, where is everyone?"
Jariot, the Savage King himself, chimed in without missing a beat.
"Second bro, no one's dumb enough to end up in a haunted hotel like us... except us."
The hotel echoed with silence.
Then suddenly —
Ryo, Taka, and Jade all turned at once and yelled:
"IDIOT, THAT'S BECAUSE OF YOU!"
Jariot blinked innocently, still holding the folded, crushed map in his hand like a trophy.
"Oh right. I was the GPS."
Taka facepalmed.
"Our death is going to be blamed on Jariot's sense of direction. That's so embarrassing."
"Technically," Ryo sighed, "we're not dead yet."
Jade looked up at the cobweb-covered ceiling. "...Give it five minutes."
Jade as a scaredy cat , was the first one to panic
His eyes darted around the dim lobby, landing on a flickering light, a creepy painting, and what suspiciously looked like a bloodstain on the wallpaper.
"Dude," Jade whispered, voice already cracking, "this is so scary…"
Jariot didn't even blink.
"You are literally wasting your entire gym membership if you've got that many biceps and abs—yet you're still a scaredy cat."
He flexed mockingly.
"What's the point of muscle if one 'boo' makes you scream like a flute?"
"Just wait," Jade said dramatically, "you'll be crying when the hotel ghosts start licking your soul."
Ryo, ever the peacekeeper, groaned and rubbed his temples.
"Shut up. All of you."
He turned to the old man behind the desk, whose expression hadn't changed in the slightest.
"Uhm… sir, do you have any room left for the night?"
The old man's smile twitched — just barely.
He reached below the counter with a creaking noise and pulled out a single, dusty, brass room key.
"Yes," he rasped.
"Room 402."
The key glinted under the dull chandelier light.
The air around them suddenly felt… heavier.
Taka raised an eyebrow, folding his arms as the old man handed over the key.
"Old man, at least tell us where to go. You clearly have no staff, no signs, and no working brain cells."
He glanced around the empty lobby. "Since there's no service here, we can't even Google 'cursed room directions'."
The old man's smile didn't move.
"Don't get lost, kids…" he rasped.
"You're too young to die."
Taka rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we're too young to die — except you, grandpa. Now can you just tell us where the room is?"
The old man slowly raised a bony finger and pointed.
"You see… that staircase over there?"
All four brothers turned to look.
"That's not the staircase to your room."
They blinked.
"...Okay?" Ryo muttered.
The old man continued, calm and creepy.
"See that other stairwell at the far end?"
All four heads turned again.
"That one's also not the way to your room."
This time, the brothers slowly turned to glare at him.
"And that middle staircase between the two?"
Their eyes followed — already bracing.
"Not that one either."
Dead. Silence.
Jariot threw his hands in the air.
"Old man, just TELL us already! Don't turn this into a Dora the Explorer episode in a haunted hotel!"
The old man chuckled softly — too softly.
"Room 402…"
A long pause.
"Is the one right behind you."
The four brothers froze.
Slowly… they turned around.
A long, narrow hallway had appeared behind them.
At the end of it… was a single black door.
A plaque read in dust-covered gold:
402
The hallway stretched long and dark, the only light coming from a flickering bulb above.
At the very end, it waited — Room 402.
Black door. Gold numbers. Creepy silence.
The brothers stood frozen in front of it.
"You see?" Taka huffed, tossing his hands in the air. "That old man was trolling us the whole time! The room was literally right behind us, and he turned it into a scavenger hunt for ghosts!"
Jariot nodded dramatically. "Pretty sure that dude lost all his brain cells sometime around 1870."
"Can you two shut up?!" Jade snapped, eyes darting around. "It's already creepy enough that this door was here the whole time and none of us saw it!"
Ryo pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You three… shut up. Now come inside. And please, just once in your lives, behave like moral children who respect their elders — even if the elder looks like a half-dead raisin."
With a deep breath, he turned the key in the lock.
Click.
The door creaked open slowly…
Darkness leaked from inside.
Chapter 1 ended....
Continue...
See you in chapter 2
I hope you are liking this novel ...❤️