WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 134: I Want Off the Wheel Where Hamsters Died
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Why had I forgotten this?
“Ha.”
I should have remembered the moment I realized humans were merchandise on this floor.
I’d completely forgotten.
“‘Idle Hamster’ is a game where you raise these children well and sell as many as possible.”
That all of us were “hamsters.”
“By the way, these children are better suited as pets than food.”
The soft voice of Hosoo, the host of the arcade, lingered in my ears.
“Idle Hamster.”
The game called Idle Hamster in English.
Its rules were complicated, and it took so much time that it was inefficient for earning a Fragment of Life.
That was why I’d only played it myself once.
I’d only watched Hwang Ju-yeon play it once, too.
“Why? What is that?”
“Take it. I think this one’s yours, Yun Geon-min.”
“Huh? Mine?”
―――――――――――――――
Individual Number｜545
Rescue Location｜Jaelae Building, 12F Human Resources Team
Special Notes｜A timid, aggressive, simple, and coy child
Health Status｜Health screening passed, feeding completed (see: labtube.com)
―――――――――――――――
When I handed him the identification tag, Yun Geon-min accepted it, looking baffled.
“Timid and aggressive...? Simple... coy...? What the hell is that supposed to mean? This is mine? Why? And what’s with the individual number? Why not use our names?”
Clunk.
While Yun Geon-min read through his “notes” in confusion, I opened the other three lockers and began checking their identification tags.
―――――――――――――――
Individual Number｜546
Rescue Location｜Jaelae Building, 3F hallway
Special Notes｜A quiet but highly aggressive and suspicious child
Health Status｜Health screening passed, feeding completed (see: labtube.com)
―――――――――――――――
546.
Mine.
Jaelae Building, third-floor hallway...
I paused at the rescue location.
If it referred to where I’d been when Labyrinthification began, then it should have said Conference Room A.
Not “hallway.”
“......”
No. This wasn’t the time to dwell on something like that.
I shook my head, forcing the thought away, and kept reading.
For some reason, being called quiet felt insulting.
Much more than being told I was highly aggressive and suspicious.
Clunk.
I opened the next locker and took out the identification tag.
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Individual Number｜555
Rescue Location｜Jaelae Building, 12F IT Operations Room
Special Notes｜Gentle. Quick on the uptake. Somewhat timid child
Health Status｜Health screening passed, feeding completed (see: labtube.com)
―――――――――――――――
The IT Operations Room...
“Kim Hee-sook. Here.”
“Oh, okay...”
Clunk.
Keeping the information in mind, I opened the final locker.
―――――――――――――――
Individual Number｜756
Rescue Location｜Jaelae Building, 8F Artifact Management Room
Special Notes｜Curious, gentle, and extremely shy around strangers
Health Status｜Health screening not conducted, feeding completed (see: labtube.com)
―――――――――――――――
“Hyeon Je-won.”
“Yes...!”
The artifact researcher, who’d been fidgeting like a dog waiting for its food bowl, accepted the last identification tag and examined it closely.
“This link... I think the ‘feeding completed’ part refers to what happened in the cafeteria...!”
I nodded.
I already knew that basement level one and this ninth floor were connected somehow.
Ppyok-Ppyok had served food on a tray identical to those at Haruda Dining last time.
“Um, Seon Yu-han...”
Kim Hee-sook ran a fingertip over the raised lettering on the tag.
“This health screening thing, could it be...?”
“Yes. I think it was what happened at the hospital.”
TooYou Wellness Center on the fourth floor.
There, we ended up answering strange questions that resembled a health-screening questionnaire without even realizing it. By the time we came to, there was a piece of mail waiting for us, its envelope labeled Children’s Hospital.
Inside was a simple document titled “Children’s Health Screening Results.”
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#Kim Hee-sook
Overall Assessment｜Passed
#Seon Yu-han
Overall Assessment｜Passed
#Yun Geon-min
Overall Assessment｜Passed
―――――――――――――――
“Passed.”
It hadn’t simply meant we’d passed the fourth floor.
It meant they’d assessed the “quality” of the “children” who might one day arrive on the ninth floor and approved them.
...What would have happened if we hadn’t passed the screening?
Though perhaps it was better not to have been screened at all, like Hyeon Je-won.
Ah.
I could roughly guess why Chae Jae-ha had remained unsold in that white room for so long.
He’d reached the ninth floor directly, without livestreaming or undergoing a health screening, so he must not have been very appealing merchandise to the anonymous buyers.
Still, he seemed to get sold after around three hours, like this time.
Not that it felt like a good thing.
“My god, so everything was connected from back then...?”
“Yes. It seems that way. Just the fourth floor and basement level one.”
There was no need to tell them, but strictly speaking, the 5F Arcade was connected as well.
No, maybe the fifth floor was the most important part.
If a card game down on the fifth floor could change the outcome of merchandise sales on the ninth...
“Don’t worry. The condition of the originals may affect the children’s cards, but the children’s condition almost never affects the originals. They aren’t closely connected.”
That was what Hosoo had said, at least.
Still, it didn’t seem completely impossible for the children’s condition to affect the originals.
It was worth checking.
Maybe Hosoo knew something else.
But...
That could wait.
Right now, I was here.
“I said earlier that it seemed like we’d been sold. Looking at this, I think we were sold as something like pets. Then that stream was probably an advertisement. And the health screening was literally part of the adoption... no, the rehoming process.”
“What... pets? I’m, we’re people!”
At Yun Geon-min’s desperate, almost innocent cry, I couldn’t help feeling both surprise and pity for him.
Even envy.
“Yes. We are people.”
There was nothing wrong with believing people deserved to be treated like people.
I even wanted to protect that belief.
“And we’re in a place that doesn’t give a damn about that.”
I just didn’t want to see them cling to that belief, unable to accept reality, and do something pointless.
“Ha. Seriously... no...”
“Let’s go outside first. Everyone, wear your identification tags around your neck, just in case.”
When I looked toward the door of the square room that resembled a shared dormitory, Yun Geon-min jumped.
“Go outside?”
“Yes. Whoever bought us must want something from us. We need to find out how they might send us back.”
“But... we don’t know what’s out there...”
“We can’t stay here forever. We don’t have any food.”
“That’s true, but...”
Kim Hee-sook gently placed a hand on Yun Geon-min’s shoulder as he hesitated.
“Yun Geon-min, okay? We don’t have a choice...”
Her face was just as grim as his.
Hyeon Je-won, on the other hand, had been fiddling with the identification tag around their neck with bright-eyed fascination.
They seemed terrified of human violence, yet oddly unmoved by the violence of the Labyrinth.
Then again, they probably needed nerves like that to work as an artifact researcher.
“Ha... Fine. Fine, I get it.”
Yun Geon-min finally sighed and nodded after realizing nobody would agree with him.
Without waiting any longer, I grabbed the doorknob.
“Then I’ll open it.”
Click.
The door opened.
“......”
A deep blue-green forest spread out before us.
A dark, vast forest thick with greenery.
The air wasn’t refreshing, but bleak enough to chill me.
I don’t like places with lots of trees.
Better than mountains, though.
“Wow...”
“Holy shit...”
Kim Hee-sook fell silent, Hyeon Je-won gasped in awe, and Yun Geon-min recoiled.
Crack!
A strange, thunderous noise came from behind us.
“Ah, what the hell?!”
When I turned around, the four walls of the white box we’d just stepped out of were collapsing like Styrofoam.
Crack, thud...
The ruins of a model dormitory in the middle of the forest.
“Why is it collapsing...?!”
The reason was obvious.
“I think it means we have nowhere to return to.”
No safe place to hide.
No place to rest.
We had nothing like that anymore.
“Then what do we do now...?”
“Huh?”
Hyeon Je-won’s voice cut through Kim Hee-sook’s murmur.
“There’s something over there...!”
I looked closely at where the artifact researcher was pointing.
A dark wooden box visible through the overgrown brush in the distance.
“Could that be supplies or something?”
“Wait.”
I barely caught Yun Geon-min’s arm before he could rush ahead.
“It might be a trap, so let’s be careful. Watch your surroundings.”
Rustle, swish...
We moved slowly, watching the ground.
Nameless grass, fallen leaves, broken twigs, exposed roots, dirt mixed with pebbles...
An ordinary forest landscape.
But as we drew closer to the wooden box that looked like supplies, a faint, out-of-place color suddenly caught my eye.
Swish...
I carefully pushed aside the surrounding brush.
Something cleverly hidden there came fully into view.
“This is...”
Gray.
The sharp, cold color of metal.
An iron hunter with its jaws wide open, as if proudly displaying its pointed teeth.
“There’s a trap. Be careful.”
Clang, snap!
When I tossed a rock into the center of the trap, it shut its jaws with a loud crash, as if it had been waiting.
“Oh my god, that scared me...”
“Shit...”
Kim Hee-sook flinched, and Yun Geon-min, who’d nearly had his ankle torn off by walking in carelessly, went pale.
Beside them, the artifact researcher inspected the trap from every angle.
“It doesn’t seem to have any special function or effect...”
“No. I think it’s just meant to catch people.”
Still, it was fortunate that it was that simple.
At least it was fairly easy to spot.
“Ha. No, seriously. This place, don’t tell me...”
Yun Geon-min seemed to have grasped something about this forest, this place, and his situation. He couldn’t continue.
Swish.
I cautiously stepped past the trap and placed my hand on the wooden box that appeared to be supplies.
At that moment.
Beeeeeeep!
A shrill whistle echoed through the entire forest.
“Wh-what is that?!”
“Wait, be quiet!”
I gestured for the others to be silent and listened.
「Human Ticket sales have closed!」
...Sales of what?
The strange, static-filled voice continued, as though coming through a loudspeaker.
「The Jaelae Cup Race will now begin!」
A race?
「Spectators who correctly predict the race results will receive payouts based on the odds!」
Ah.
They were going to race humans like horses.
That was why they had sold Human Tickets instead of betting slips.
But the race itself was just a sideshow.
The trap here made that clear.
「Quite a few of you have bet on ‘all eliminated’!」
At least they were committed to their theme.
「We will meet your expectations!」
Hunting.
A human hunt.
Footnotes:
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