WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 125: How Could This Be Fate

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"Let's get up and return our trays. Looks like everyone's finished eating."

I swallowed the nausea rising in my throat and stood.

Scrape.

Hyeon Je-won got up after me, and Kim Hee-sook rose hesitantly.

"Yun Geon-min."

Scrape!

Yun Geon-min was the last to stand. Then he shoved past us and hurried to the tray return ahead of everyone.

Clang!

After returning his tray and utensils, Yun Geon-min headed straight for the vending machine.

"Yun Geon-min?"

I set down my own tray and utensils, then went straight over to him.

Click. Clickclickclickclickclick.

Yun Geon-min pounded the vending machine buttons as though he meant to break them.

"Why...! Why isn't it selling any more? Why...? It just keeps eating my money..."

"Come on, stop, Yun Geon-min..."

"Ah, seriously!"

Bang! Crash!

When someone beside him tried to stop him, Yun Geon-min kicked the vending machine even harder in his frustration.

"I just want one more. Just one more drink..."

He was proving firsthand that Nectar, at its core, was both a drug and a Labyrinth trap.

Still, it was much better than seeing him dead like a mummy or leftovers.

"Let go...! I'll just press it one more time, ngh."

"Yun Geon-min."

I gripped both his shoulders tightly and looked him in the face.

"Be glad it isn't selling any more. If you'd had another drink, you wouldn't have been able to take a single step out of here."

Some people were especially vulnerable to Nectar.

People trapped in the past, unable to face the present or move toward the future.

In that respect, I was lucky.

I missed that taste desperately, but found it just as revolting.

* * *

28. Remember! Eating is providence! Providence is consumption! Consumption is Nectar!

* * *

Clunk.

I practically dragged Yun Geon-min up to the tenth floor.

Going by the time, Yu Mi-rae would still be trapped in the Legal Affairs Office.

"Let's go this way first."

Instead of the PR Planning Team hallway, where there was nothing worth peeking at except press releases, I pointed to the Legal Affairs Office corridor immediately to the right.

"Mhm, okay."

"Yes...!"

Kim Hee-sook agreed as though it made no difference to her, while Hyeon Je-won nodded enthusiastically.

That researcher really was good at doing what they were told.

'Yes, that's right! I'm that kind of...'

'You don't understand it, do you? Like the Labyrinth.'

Whenever I filled out the Artifact Management Ledger in the Artifact Management Room, we had similar conversations. Since then, Hyeon Je-won had somehow decided I understood them well and followed me readily.

They'd even said Representative Yu and I were somewhat alike.

They were about to meet Yu Mi-rae for real. They'd be thrilled.

Swish.

Thinking that, I opened the door to the Legal Affairs Office.

"Hm?"

The co-representative of Uiwi Guild tilted her head.

"Oh?"

"Mhm?"

The Human Resources Team employee and the Cleaning Team employee both hesitated when they came face-to-face with their highest-ranking superior.

"Representative Mi-rae...!"

The researcher from the company's in-house research institute was delighted like a dog seeing its owner.

Only then did Yu Mi-rae's expression soften faintly.

"Oh, Je-won. I wasn't supposed to call you in today."

"No! Today was the only day that worked for me too..."

As Yu Mi-rae spoke apologetically, Hyeon Je-won fidgeted.

"Still, I'm glad you're alive...! Ah! Um, about Manager Kim..."

"Oh. You came from downstairs? Then what was down below must've been the eighth floor, right? You must've stopped by the Artifact Management Room first after coming to the company."

Still eerily perceptive.

"Yes, that's right...! There, the artifact..."

"You don't have to tell me."

And just as consistent about not wanting to know everything.

"Anyway, it's good we ran into each other. But..."

Yu Mi-rae trailed off and looked at the three of us besides the researcher.

"Ah...!"

At the look from a superior asking for introductions, Yun Geon-min flinched as though pricked by a needle and hurriedly introduced himself.

"Hello...! I'm Yun, Geon-min...! I'm with the Human Resources Team..."

"Oh! I know you."

Yu Mi-rae clapped her hands and greeted him as though glad to see him.

"You're the one leaving the company this month. That team hardly ever has changes in headcount, so I remembered."

This company was seriously too creepy to keep working for.

"Ah. Uh, ah... Yes..."

The employee about to quit lowered his head, his face red enough to burst.

I'd figured out what had happened when I tore apart the Human Resources Team office before, but...

His situation was tragic in its own way.

The company had turned into a Labyrinth on his final day of work.

"And..."

"Ah! I'm Kim Hee-sook... I work in cleaning. Ah, I guess you could tell from my clothes..."

When the Cleaning Team employee awkwardly smiled and introduced herself, Yu Mi-rae smiled even more brightly.

"Oh, Kim Hee-sook? I remember you've been here quite a while. This company is seriously awful, isn't it? It made you suffer right to the end."

Kim Hee-sook's eyes darted wildly, as though she had no idea how to react to that.

Yu Mi-rae's jokes really were terrible.

...But Yu Mi-rae really did speak casually to anyone at all.

And so naturally it was almost frightening.

"Once you get out, sue our company. You have to. Once you're out. All right?"

"...Uh, okay."

"I said, all right?"

Yu Mi-rae had been speaking lightly, as if joking around, but suddenly snapped at her.

Kim Hee-sook startled and widened her eyes. Yun Geon-min, who had quietly edged back to stand behind everyone, flinched as well.

Hyeon Je-won seemed used to it, but they didn't look entirely comfortable with someone raising their voice.

"Yes...! All right, I understand..."

Kim Hee-sook answered like a student being punished, then fell silent.

Without caring in the slightest whether anyone was wary of her, Yu Mi-rae turned her gaze to me.

"My name is Seon Yu-han. I came here for an agent interview."

"Then why are you speaking so formally to me?"

This was the third time I had met Yu Mi-rae, and all three times, Yu Mi-rae had said exactly this.

"We're friends."

Everyone's eyes fixed intensely on me.

Hyeon Je-won's eyes, in particular, went wide as they looked back and forth between Yu Mi-rae and me.

"You said you didn't know each other...!"

"Did Seon Yu-han say that?"

"Yes! You two felt kind of similar, so I asked if you were close, but they said not at all..."

Hyeon Je-won tattled as though they'd been wronged, and Yu Mi-rae giggled like a child again.

"We are friends. We went to the same school. Singyae Middle School's forty-second graduating class."

What kind of world made every same-age schoolmate a friend?

"Yes. We just attended the same school. We've never even spoken to each other."

"Really...? Not once? That's strange. I guess I got confused."

Yu Mi-rae's shoulders slumped helplessly.

For a moment, I had nothing to say.

...Confused about what?

I knew that because of Yu Mi-rae's hyperthymesia, Yu Mi-rae mistook things that had only happened in her mind, things that had never actually happened, for reality.

But why had Yu Mi-rae gotten confused?

Why had Yu Mi-rae imagined having conversations with me?

We really had nothing to do with each other. Not Yu Mi-rae, nor Yu Hyun-jae.

Other than the one-sided, unsettling sense of kinship I felt toward the two of them.

That was why I couldn't bring myself to ask.

The question itself would have been ridiculous.

Besides, Yu Mi-rae's condition seemed to be a secret that had never been publicly revealed, and the fact that I already knew it was also a secret.

It was something I could only learn after sharing the judgment document.

"Oh, right."

As though she had never been downcast, Yu Mi-rae opened her eyes wide and checked the time.

"Oh. There's still some time. Come over and open yours, everyone."

Yu Mi-rae pointed to the four document envelopes on the desk.

Rustle.

Instead of asking what they were, Kim Hee-sook and Hyeon Je-won immediately picked up the envelopes with their names on them.

"Uh, what... kind of documents are these?"

"You can read them, can't you? Instead of wasting my time making me say it several times."

Yun Geon-min barely managed to speak up, wary of Yu Mi-rae, only to get scolded for it.

Yu Mi-rae was a difficult boss to please.

Rip.

When I opened my envelope first, the others slowly followed suit.

As I took out my judgment document, I kept my eyes on the documents the others had received.

I had to check them quickly, before they fully grasped the situation.

They might try to hide them.

"..."

Yu Mi-rae, whose eyes had just met mine, seemed to have the same thought. Her face was full of mischief.

First, Hyeon Je-won.

―――――――――――――――

　　　　　　JUDGMENT

Case

Defendant　Hyeon Je-won

　　　　　　VERDICT

The defendant is found not guilty.

―――――――――――――――

There was nothing to see.

So not-guilty verdicts did appear.

The judgment had fabricated facts so cunningly that I thought it would invent crimes, whether they existed or not, and force a sentence on everyone.

Next, I glanced at Yun Geon-min's judgment document.

―――――――――――――――

　　　　　　JUDGMENT

Case　Theft, Property Damage

Defendant　Yun Geon-min

―――――――――――――――

Theft was probably for going through his coworkers' drawers in the Human Resources Team office.

And property damage? Was that the vending machine he had kicked earlier?

Slap!

Yun Geon-min hastily lowered the document, so I couldn't see the sentence.

I immediately turned my eyes to Kim Hee-sook.

―――――――――――――――

　　　　　　JUDGMENT

Case　Attempted Theft

Defendant　Kim Hee-sook

―――――――――――――――

Attempted theft?

Kim Hee-sook also gasped and lowered the judgment document right away, so I couldn't see the rest.

What had she tried to steal?

These judgment documents only ruled on incidents after Labyrinthification.

If that was the case, either Kim Hee-sook had tried to steal something before reaching the twelfth floor, where I first met Yun Geon-min and her, or after I had joined the two of them...

"Looks like you two have something interesting written there."

Yu Mi-rae gestured toward the judgment documents in Yun Geon-min and Kim Hee-sook's hands.

Both defendants went pale and avoided Yu Mi-rae's eyes.

"But both of you should read through them carefully. Don't be too scared. The Labyrinth twisted the accusations a little to keep us trapped here."

This time, Representative Yu reassured them in a gentle voice without a trace of mischief, then turned her gaze away as if she had no interest at all.

"What do your documents say?"

"Mine just says I'm not guilty...!"

Hyeon Je-won held out their one-page judgment document.

"Really? What about you?"

"I got a not-guilty verdict too."

Mine was the same.

―――――――――――――――

　　　　　　JUDGMENT

Case

Defendant　Seon Yu-han

　　　　　　VERDICT

The defendant is found not guilty.

―――――――――――――――

This was the first time I had received such a simple judgment document.

"What? Boring. You didn't do anything on the way here? In a Labyrinth?"

I had a great deal to say about that, but I couldn't say any of it.

"Then you two can come upstairs with me. My time is up too."

When Yu Mi-rae declared it brightly, Hyeon Je-won blinked in confusion.

"What? Just us?"

"Yeah."

"W-wait. You're... leaving only us behind...?"

Yun Geon-min stammered in alarm, and Kim Hee-sook lowered her head as though she had just been sentenced to death.

"Yeah."

Representative Yu answered as though it was nothing.

"Your sentence is one hour and seventeen minutes. Kim Hee-sook's is twenty-one minutes. I don't want to wait."

Footnotes:

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