Chapter 16 — Room 404 Sea View

The construction unit began dismantling the fourth floor even though there was no official survey conclusion. A team of workers suddenly appeared early in the morning with cutting machines and lifting equipment, carrying a permit signed by Ms. Hanh. She said the bank has sent a fixed disbursement schedule. If the project delays further, the loan is at risk of being revoked and the main investor will officially withdraw according to the signed terms.

Nhi stood in front of the cutting machine as soon as she discovered that the construction team was preparing to enter the sealing area and asked to stop immediately. The construction team manager, a middle-aged man who seemed unaware of the special status of this area, produced a repair permit issued by the project management office, which clearly stated that the fourth floor area had no historical or structural value that needed to be preserved.

“This permit is not valid for the area being sealed,” Nhi said, her voice determined, her hand tightly holding the investigation scene warning sign that the team had placed in front of the door of room 404 a few days ago.

Vu, who rushed in immediately afterward, pointed out that the permit did not include the 404-B salvage warehouse area and that there had been absolutely no new structural assessments performed since the team discovered the unusual traces. Dat, standing nearby, immediately called the local government representative who had worked with the group before on the compensation issue.

While the group waited for a response from the authorities, a piece of wall outside the main sealing area was dismantled by the construction team according to an old schedule that they had not yet updated, and suddenly fell, revealing another piece of cable and another piece of yellow paint mark that had never been recorded by the group before, extending beyond the scope of room 404 that they had surveyed.

"Stop! Stop now!" Nhi screamed and ran to stop the worker from continuing to work. Her heart was beating rapidly for fear that important evidence could be completely destroyed in just a few seconds.

The cutter stopped in time, but the piece of evidence that had just been revealed was damaged at one corner due to a direct impact from the falling wall piece. Nhi immediately returned to the current situation with a camera, numbering each fragment according to the procedure for handling unplanned disturbed scenes, trying to record as much as possible of what could still be saved.

“I can't prevent all the loss,” she told Vu, her voice trembling slightly from a stressful moment, “but I can record the rest as accurately as possible.”

Ms. Hanh, who arrived at the scene immediately after receiving an urgent call from the construction team manager, said Nhi was ruining the entire project with constant requests to stop without clear grounds. Nhi replied, her voice unflinching even though she was facing her investor directly: "Any project that needs to delete a room before knowing what it is, then that project has serious problems right from the foundation, not of my creation."

The bank, after receiving an urgent report from Ms. Hanh about the construction interruption incident, requested a new, more complete report before continuing to disburse funds according to the scheduled schedule. The main investor, through a tense video call that afternoon, announced the withdrawal of part of the initial capital commitment, citing unclear legal risks related to the fourth floor area.

Khoa, the project's consulting lawyer, who closely followed the entire survey developments in recent weeks, proposed a new direction in an emergency meeting convened that night: if the hotel reopens in the future, it should have an official memorial space and a transparent public safety process, instead of trying to completely erase traces of the past as originally planned.

Ms. Hanh did not agree immediately, her face revealing the tension between financial pressure and moral responsibility that was gradually becoming clearer. Dat, speaking at the meeting as a temporary representative for the families of the missing workers, said frankly that their families did not want the hotel to become a place that simply sells beautiful sea views while forgetting the price paid to get it.

Linh, who arrived at the construction site immediately after hearing about the incident on Nhi's phone, stood quietly next to her sister during the tense meeting. She did not talk about her mother, and did not participate directly in legal or financial arguments. She only helped reclassify all personal and technical documents that had been mixed up during the chaos, reorganizing them according to the system Nhi had established.

Nhi realized that this was the first time she was working in a crisis situation without having to shoulder all the pressure alone, with people around her willing to share each part of the task, no matter how small, so that she could focus on the most important decisions.

The cutter and the entire construction team were taken out of the fourth floor hallway that night, following an official suspension order from local government representatives after reviewing the urgent report of the survey team. Room 404 lost a piece of the outside wall due to a sudden incident, but it was not completely lost, and the newly discovered yellow paint mark, although damaged in one corner, was still enough to provide important clues for the next steps of investigation.

The next morning, when the construction team had completely left the construction site, Nhi and Vu returned to the area of the fallen wall to fully assess the extent of the damage and note the new yellow paint mark. This painted line extended about three meters beyond the one they already knew, leading to another small door, smaller than the main door of room 404, almost completely hidden by old wall tiles.

“This could be a secondary exit,” Vu said, sweeping the flashlight along the small door frame, checking with a metal detector. “The size is much smaller, probably just enough to pass wires or small equipment through, not the main path for people.”

Nhi recorded the new discovery in the file, marked the location on the updated drawing, carefully distinguishing that this was a new detail, never mentioned in any documents they had before, including her mother's hand-drawn drawing.

At noon, a representative of the local government, a woman named Ms. Thu from the construction management department, came directly to the scene to make an official record of the construction interruption incident. She carefully reviewed the license the construction team used, compared it with the scope of the survey the Nhi group had previously registered, and confirmed that there were serious overlaps in the licensing process.

“This is a system error in coordination between departments,” Ms. Thu said, recording it in the minutes. "The repair permit was issued without fully referencing the survey documents that are running in parallel. I will request a temporary halt to all construction activities on the fourth floor until until the official survey report is completed.”

Ms. Hanh, present at the minutes-taking meeting, did not object to this decision, although her face clearly showed concern about the mounting financial pressure. “I understand your decision,” she told the government representative, her voice weary. “I just hope the survey process can be completed as soon as possible, so that the project has a chance to be saved.”

Nhi pledged to speed up the survey process without sacrificing the necessary accuracy, proposing a specific timeline for the preliminary report, enough for banks and investors to have a basis to re-evaluate their decisions without having to wait until every final detail is completely clarified.

After Ms. Thu left, the whole team sat down in the construction site office to plan the next two weeks, breaking down the remaining work into specific items that could be completed in parallel. Vu assumed responsibility for completing a comprehensive structural report, including the newly discovered secondary exit. Dat continues to pursue verification of the survivor's identity through the remaining medical channels. Linh assists in synthesizing all witness statements into a coherent document that is easy to present to any agency that may need to review it later.

“And I will complete the final state drawing,” Nhi said, looking around at the group, “with all the notes about what is known for sure, what is still well-founded speculation, and what may forever remain unanswered.”

No one objects to that clear division. After weeks of work, they learned that honesty about the limits of evidence is as important as the evidence itself, a lesson Nhi believes she will carry with her not only to this project, but to other works throughout the rest of her career.