WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 115: Yumi Bird

──────

There were quite a few artifacts that could only be used once in a lifetime.

For example...

―――――――――――――――

Artifact Name｜Sal (Common Name:　)

Management Grade｜Pieup-Tikeut

Recipient Entity Name｜

―――――――――――――――

Sal was a palm-sized artifact with an incomprehensible pattern engraved on it and a handle-like protrusion on top.

"It looks like a seal... Doesn't it need seal paste?"

"Considering it's an artifact, it might use blood as seal paste! It looks like Seon Yu-han will have to bleed, but I wonder if there's a suitable tool..."

Fortunately or unfortunately, I didn't need to use my blood as seal paste.

I pressed Sal firmly against the back of my hand, just to see what kind of pattern it made...

"Uh, um... Your face right now... What the hell is that?!"

I wasn't sure whether to say my body had gradually melted away or collapsed.

Either way, that was what happened.

The feeling of staying fully conscious until I was completely stuck to the floor...

It didn't hurt, so that was fine, but it wasn't pleasant.

"Hm? The texture is a little soft, but firm, and it stretches... It's like a rice cake!"

Hyeon Je-won diligently analyzed me to the very end.

Thanks to that, when I came back, I could easily write down the correct requesting entity for Sal.

―――――――――――――――

Requesting Entity Name｜Yusangun

Request Details｜"Give me a rice cake and I won't eat you."

―――――――――――――――

Another artifact I remembered was a fountain pen called Claw Horn.

―――――――――――――――

Artifact Name｜Claw Horn (Common Name:　)

Management Grade｜Mieum-Pansios

Recipient Entity Name｜

―――――――――――――――

It looked so ordinary that I let my guard down a little.

I had used it early on because it seemed relatively harmless.

...It wasn't ordinary or harmless at all.

"Uh, um? Seon Yu-han's face..."

"Not just their face, their hands too...!"

"These are characters I can't read. They look like the Labyrinth's language."

The moment I picked up the fountain pen, black markings began appearing on my skin.

"Argh, ngh..."

The letters burrowed beneath my skin as if they were alive.

My cause of death then had probably been either acute sepsis or catastrophic organ failure.

The problem was that even after using it, I had no idea which request Claw Horn matched.

In the end, I had to test every other artifact, then use the process of elimination to fill in the one requesting entity name left over.

―――――――――――――――

Requesting Entity Name｜Oiri

Request Details｜"Someone stole our horns."

―――――――――――――――

I understood that Claw Horn referred to an animal's claws and horns.

What it had to do with a fountain pen, though, I still couldn't understand at all.

After dying so many times I was sick of it, I was finally able to match every recipient entity name in the Artifact Management Ledger with every requesting entity name in the Artifact Request Form.

"There's something I want to show you! Hurry!"

As always, Hyeon Je-won invited the three of us into the Artifact Management Room.

"It seems like we need to write the appropriate requesting entity names in the blanks in the ledger. Some can be filled in just by guessing from their names and appearances, but others are difficult. As you know, the Labyrinth doesn't necessarily conform to human reason."

"May I try filling some in?"

"No. We don't know what will happen if you write just anything. I only wrote Nectar and Somdori down because I was completely certain. No matter how ordinary these documents look, they're still Labyrinth artifacts, so they'll recognize the words written here and produce some kind of effe-ack...!"

I didn't want to listen anymore, so I snatched the binder away and started filling in the recipient entity names in the Artifact Management Ledger.

"What the hell? The expert is telling you not to, and you're still..."

Yun Geon-min started shouting, then trailed off as soon as our eyes met.

At first, I didn't know why, but after similar incidents happened several times while I was dying because of artifacts, I thought it over and figured it out.

Every time Yun Geon-min entered and left my guest room in the Corridor of Unforgettable Memories, he watched my reaction.

Kim Hee-sook seemed to do the same, but hers was closer to pity.

...Aunt was always in my room.

Nothing else needed to be said.

"Seon Yu-han! You can't write just anything! If you handle artifacts that carelessly..."

"Yes, I know I could die. That's why I'm not writing just anything."

Swish.

Tap-tap-tap...!

I moved around to avoid Hyeon Je-won's interference as I filled in the blanks.

Despite their appearance, Hyeon Je-won's athleticism was surprisingly poor, so they weren't hard to evade.

"What are you writing...? Let me see too! I won't interfere!"

"...Will you really stay still?"

"Yes! It's already too late anyway. If I'm going to die, I'd rather learn even a little more first!"

We maintained our standoff with the desk between us, then called a truce.

Swipe.

―――――――――――――――

Artifact Name｜Scream Without Reason (Common Name:　)

Management Grade｜Rieul-Pieup-Sios

Recipient Entity Name｜Jang Eon-seo

―――――――――――――――

I had finished filling in all the blanks anyway.

Thud.

"Huh?"

The moment I closed the yellow binder, the Artifact Management Room immediately changed.

"The display cases..."

Every display case, covered in transparent glass and bathed in brilliant light, suddenly went dark as if blackout curtains had been thrown over them.

"Huh? What? The nameplates changed too..."

Small stickers had appeared on the nameplates of every display case.

[Shipment Complete]

"Seon Yu-han."

Hyeon Je-won looked directly at me.

Their two eyes neither wavered nor blinked.

"Did you fill them all in?"

"Yes."

"Correctly."

"Yes. You can tell by the fact that I didn't die."

Thud!

Before I could even hand over the Artifact Management Ledger, Hyeon Je-won snatched it from my hands.

"압권, Im Jao, 'I love you, customer'... Sal, Yusangun, 'Give me a rice cake'... Claw Horn, Oiri, 'Someone stole our horns'..."

The artifact researcher's eyes were so serious as they murmured through the documents that they were almost unsettling.

They didn't even refer to the Artifact Request Form separately.

It seemed like they had already memorized every request.

...A scholar was a scholar, I supposed.

Kim Hee-sook and Yun Geon-min could only watch Hyeon Je-won in silence.

"..."

The researcher, who had been reading the papers with manic concentration, finally closed the binder.

Then they stared into empty space and spoke.

"...You were definitely here for an interview..."

"Pardon?"

"The interview."

When I asked again because their mutter was too quiet to hear, Hyeon Je-won looked me directly in the eye again and spoke.

Hyeon Je-won, who could never hold someone's gaze for long.

"You said you came for a Red Thread team interview."

They wore a very strange expression.

Puzzlement, anxiety, and irritation overrode their usual fascination with artifacts.

"Yes. I was interviewing to become an agent..."

"Did Representative Yu Mi-rae call you here, by any chance?"

"What?"

What was that supposed to mean?

Why was Yu Mi-rae coming up here?

I hadn't seen them since graduating middle school.

Of course, they were such a famous public figure that I often saw them in the media.

They had debuted before I entered high school.

"What did you answer to the final interview question?"

I couldn't follow the flow of the conversation at all.

"...Why are you curious about that? I have somewhat bad memories of that question."

I remembered the Interview Administrator's unchanging voice.

'If it were possible to turn back time, what would you do, Seon Yu-han?'

The signal tone that announced the beginning of this Labyrinth.

Until now, the only person who had personally wanted to know that answer was Representative Yu Hyun-jae.

'If you met someone who had turned back time, what would you do, Representative?'

'I'd have to experiment, wouldn't I? There would be much to confirm. Even if it meant locking them in the Labyrinth again.'

That was when I realized Yu Hyun-jae was a deranged conspiracy theorist.

So I truly didn't have good memories of that question.

"I... That question, it's..."

Hyeon Je-won stammered with the expression of a child who had been struck on the back of the head for the first time in their life.

"It's a good memory for me!"

"God, you scared me..."

"W-why are you suddenly shouting?"

Like Accountant Chae Jae-ha's car suddenly accelerating after crawling along at a snail's pace, Hyeon Je-won went from mumbling indecisively to suddenly yelling.

That was why they were hard to keep up with.

"Ah, right... It was a good memory for you. Then shouldn't we go see whether the next floor has opened now?"

Thud.

"Please tell me. Your final answer."

I lowered my gaze.

A pale hand was pinching the end of my jacket sleeve.

A faint tremor traveled through my skin.

"Is my answer really that important in this situation?"

Hyeon Je-won nodded with their head lowered.

"If you let go, I'll tell you."

Rustle.

The artifact researcher hesitated, then carefully released my sleeve.

...They reminded me of a dog.

It brought back the time at the convenience store when I told Lee Na-hyun she couldn't eat snacks she hadn't paid for.

"What I answered then was..."

I told them the answer I had given during the first interview, which now felt somewhat distant.

The answer I had prepared purely for the interview.

Then Hyeon Je-won caused another scene.

"That's a lie."

"Well, you could say it was a lie. That's what interviews are like, isn't it?"

"No. It isn't... Someone like you couldn't possibly have given an answer like that!"

For a moment, I looked at their face as it reddened and drained of color, and my thoughts wandered elsewhere.

Maybe next time, instead of filling in the Artifact Management Ledger alone, I should borrow the Jaelae Diary's power...

Ah, but the Jaelae Diary was an unusual artifact too, so Hyeon Je-won would probably make things exhausting if they saw it...

"Then what answer should I have given? What did you answer, Hyeon Je-won?"

"I can't tell you that. It's forbidden to share!"

That was strange.

I had thought someone like them would be naturally unable to stand double standards.

"My answer is also forbidden to share, if we're being precise."

"Th-that's different."

Hyeon Je-won fidgeted with their hands again without properly meeting my eyes.

"M-my answer would actually get me disciplined. In the worst case, I could even face legal responsibility if I shared it..."

"Ah."

"Wait. Seriously?"

The Human Resources Team employee, who had been quiet until then, immediately understood and reacted.

"Hyeon Je-won was that person? Wow. I'd only heard rumors. You really existed."

"Um, what is that supposed to mean...?"

When Kim Hee-sook cautiously interrupted to ask, Yun Geon-min spoke excitedly as if he'd spotted a celebrity.

"You know our final question, the one asking what you'd do if you could turn back time?"

"The person who passed based only on their answer to that final question!"

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried