WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 103: Waiting for Death to Come Seems Too Passive

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Kim Hee-sook stared at the message on the monitor in shock.

"Floor 4? Why......? What on earth, no, why? There were other choices too!"

The fact that she didn't mention the 'Escape' choice meant Kim Hee-sook wasn't someone who knew nothing about Labyrinths.

At the very least, she knew a Labyrinth wasn't the kind of place that did us any favors.

"We need to be cautious in a situation like this. Don't get too greedy."

Though I didn't know what she wanted to download or export.

"You know survival is what's most important."

"Ha...... You're right, Seon Yu-han."

The eyes she raised toward me were unexpectedly fierce.

"But if that thing on the fourth floor is a trap too, then really......"

Kim Hee-sook went silent for a moment, as if choosing her words.

Maybe she'd been about to swear, or say something equally harsh.

"You're really going to get it. I won't go easy on you just because you're like a son to me. I really won't let this slide."

It sounded cute, but her rigid expression was completely serious, without a trace of playfulness.

Well, as long as she didn't kill me.

"Yes. Please do."

I could take that.

Besides, my choice would be right.

* * *

Click.

"Oh, what? That was faster than I thought..."

"Do you have a first-aid kit in the office? I just need disinfectant, saline, and gauze. Something stabbed Kim Hee-sook in the back."

Without giving Yun Geon-min time to think, I hurried toward the Management Support Division hallway.

"Uh, yeah, yeah, we do. There should be supplies there. I'll get them!"

The Human Resources Team employee rushed off and brought back the emergency kit.

"Whew...... Here."

"Thank you. Kim Hee-sook, go to the IT Operations Room. Don't use the restroom. We don't know how it might have undergone Labyrinthification either."

Since treating the wound on her back meant taking off her top, Kim Hee-sook awkwardly gathered the gauze and medicine before going inside.

The location of the wound made it a little inconvenient to handle alone.

But it would be far more uncomfortable if I helped.

"No, what happened in there, oh, what the hell."

I motioned Yun Geon-min back as he was about to turn away.

"There's a monitor deeper inside the server room. When I went to it, something like a wire got stuck in my back. Is it...... here?"

"Uh, yes, right there. Ugh......! No, the hole's almost as thick as a finger."

A finger was an exaggeration.

Though it did seem about the size of Jeong Ji-ho's finger.

"It's not fatal, so I'm fine. It didn't go that deep."

Swipe.

Relying on the feeling in my hands and Yun Geon-min's half-squinted eyes, I began treating the wound.

I pressed a clean cloth against it until the bleeding fully stopped. Once it had, I cleaned the area with saline, lightly disinfected only the surface of the wound, then placed gauze over it.

"But you're really good at this. Did you study something like this? Medicine?"

Everything I knew about first aid came from memories from ten years ago.

"No, I've just picked things up here and there. I knew someone who was a paramedic."

"Ah. Wow, I heard that's a really tough job too. And the pay is terrible for something like that..."

Click.

By the time I'd put my clothes back on and straightened myself up, Kim Hee-sook had also returned to the hallway.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I did what you told me, Seon Yu-han, so don't worry."

As long as she'd treated it properly, that was enough.

"Then let's go."

"......Hm? Where?"

"Oh."

I'd forgotten to explain things to Yun Geon-min.

So I decided to summarize the situation in three lines.

"We unlocked access to the fourth floor in the server room. It seems to be the floor directly above us. So we're going there."

"Are you seriously out of your minds......? I told you it's dangerous, seriously!"

Yun Geon-min's face turned bright red as he practically shrieked, looking like he was about to cry.

He really didn't want to go, but he didn't want to let us go alone either.

"I know. But what are we supposed to do by sitting still? This is an invasive-type Labyrinth, and Red Threads won't come in to resolve it like they would with a contact-type Labyrinth."

"That's! That's...... Still, no, fuck, seriously."

He looked like a child throwing a tantrum because he didn't know what he wanted, or how to explain it.

So he did know.

He knew that the idea of doing nothing being the safer course didn't apply in an invasive-type Labyrinth.

He was just denying it.

"I already feel wronged enough as it is......! Why do we have to go out of our way to die? We can just stay still!"

In other words, rather than needlessly bring forward the time of our deaths, we should sit here and wait for death.

"Why are you people so desperate to die?"

"Because I can't die."

"What did you say?"

"I can't die here. I'm getting out alive."

"No, this isn't the kind of place where you can decide that for yourself! If you're putting it like that, I can't die here either! Why should I die here..."

"Yun Geon-min."

I gripped his shoulder, putting a little pressure into it. Yun Geon-min flinched and froze completely.

"Do you know what I regret most in my life?"

"W-what...... is it, all of a sudden?"

"Not moving sooner. I still regret it so much. If I'd found the courage a little earlier, the person who raised me wouldn't have died like that."

"What are you......"

"Yun Geon-min, doing nothing doesn't mean nothing will happen."

What was going to happen would happen.

There was no way to escape it.

To run from it, you first had to step onto the path.

Life was like that, and so was death.

You couldn't be born because you wanted to live, just as you couldn't die without first being born.

"You'll just let everything happen to you while doing nothing. If you truly want to die that way, I won't stop you. Stay here."

"What......?"

Yun Geon-min's expression twisted with something between confusion and anger, while Kim Hee-sook looked a little startled, saying my name as she poked my arm.

"But I want you to come with us, Yun Geon-min. I mean it. I need you."

I'd learned that, with no idea what kind of Labyrinth might come next, it was better to keep as many people together as possible.

"Two are better than one, and three are better than two. Besides, you probably know this company and Labyrinths well."

The cleaning staff would know much more about the building itself than some desk worker, and I was probably better informed about Labyrinths.

"......Well."

I met Yun Geon-min's eyes directly, trying to read every emotion that swiftly passed through them.

"Fine. I'll come with you, then."

As if he'd made up his mind, Yun Geon-min smacked my hand off his shoulder with a stiff expression.

"......You've made a good decision."

"That's what I'm saying. See? Doesn't that feel reassuring?"

"Hey, don't grab me. We're not here to have fun."

"Okay, okay."

Watching the odd sight of someone who'd done nothing scolding Kim Hee-sook after she'd come back with a wire in her back, I headed for the emergency exit.

I hoped Yun Geon-min had truly made up his mind.

Even if that determination was only to use Kim Hee-sook and me as bait while he ran away and survived alone.

* * *

Clunk.

After climbing the stairs, I opened the emergency-exit door at the end of the passage on a floor marked thirteen.

"Oh my, it really is the fourth floor......"

It was the fourth floor.

"Huh. It really did get mixed up."

Even Yun Geon-min, who had never connected to the server system, entered the fourth floor without trouble.

Apparently, all it took was for one person to select the right choice and open the door.

[TooYou Wellness Center]

"Oh, Seon Yu-han, you don't know what this place is, do you?"

As I looked over the directory and map near the elevator, Yun Geon-min spoke up.

"It's one of our employee benefits. There's a fitness center, medical center, and rest area all here."

The entire fourth floor was for employee welfare.

Like the fifth floor, which had restaurants, lounges, and an arcade.

"Can outsiders use it?"

"They can, but it costs money. Only the rest area is completely free. Honestly, though, it's kind of ridiculous seeing people who don't even work here use it. The moment something's free, everyone comes running with their eyes wide open. No tact, no shame."

......Co-representative Yu Hyun-jae seemed to think differently.

"Come on, what does that matter right now? How about we start here? The gym."

Kim Hee-sook pointed to the left.

"All right."

I walked ahead and opened the gym door.

Swoosh.

A cozy reception area was the first thing to greet visitors.

"You're really not scared at all......"

Muttering that, Yun Geon-min followed Kim Hee-sook into the fitness center.

"Over there, look."

Kim Hee-sook pointed to the reception desk.

"That's a locker room key, isn't it? What if someone's inside......?"

A single key rested on the white counter.

A purple tag marked '26' hung from it.

"Huh? Who leaves a locker room key on the desk like this?"

The Human Resources Team employee countered, his usually sullen mouth sinking into an even deeper frown.

"And it's purple. Men's keys are blue, and women's keys are red."

Yun Geon-min pointed at the small signs above the two passageways leading to the men's and women's locker rooms.

Just as he said, the men's side was blue and the women's side was red.

Then this purple key, which belonged to neither......

"Then it could be a key created by the Labyrinth."

"......Ah. Right."

"Does that mean it can open locker number 26 either way? Ugh, what if there's something weird inside? Like a corpse......!"

That was possible.

It would be better if there was a person inside.

"Do the locker rooms meet up by the exercise equipment, or are the men's and women's sections separated all the way through?"

"I heard they connect...... I haven't been here myself, so I don't know. It's always so crowded."

"How many hours of high-intensity physical activity that leaves you short of breath do you usually do each day?"

"Uh, uh......? I've been busy lately, so I barely exercise...... Wait, are you a doctor or something? Why are you suddenly asking that?"

I pointed toward the men's locker room.

"Then how about all of us go in through this side, look around, and come out through the women's side? We don't know what might happen if we split up."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Yun Geon-min, what do you think?"

"Sure."

So the three of us entered the men's locker room in order, me, Kim Hee-sook, then Yun Geon-min.

"Oh dear, it's so dark......"

With the power out and no windows, the space was pitch-black.

I turned on my phone's flashlight and looked around first.

Rows of tall lockers stood before us, each divided into upper and lower compartments.

"Didn't look like anyone had been here. Then again, it hadn't been quitting time, and it wasn't exactly the time people normally worked out."

As Yun Geon-min said, there wasn't so much as a sign that anyone had used the place right up until Labyrinthification.

Twenty-two...... Twenty-four......

"Locker 26 is here."

Locker 26 on the bottom row was the only one without a key in the lock.

When I pointed it out, the two people pressed close behind me each took a step back.

"You're opening it......?"

Yun Geon-min was one thing, but I'd thought Kim Hee-sook was fairly fearless.

She'd always tried to enter the IT Operations Room alone.

"Yes."

I adjusted my grip on the purple key I'd been holding and immediately inserted it into the keyhole.

Clack.

It fit perfectly and slid all the way in.

Click.

As I turned the key to the right, I felt the lock release beneath my fingertips.

"Then I'll open it."

I pulled the handle of locker 26.

Footnotes:

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