WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 143: Easter Hamster

──────

I looked at Hosoo without saying a word.

"Let me register your name as a customer. What name would you like to be called by?"

"......Seon Yu-han."

At that moment, letters appeared across the blank top of the card.

｜Seon · Yu · Han｜

"Please state your preference. Which children would you like to purchase?"

"Individual number 546."

Naturally, myself first.

Thankfully, since my card was here, it looked like I could buy myself.

And then......

"655."

Chae Jae-ha.

"845. 535. 475. 244."

Hwang Ju-yeon. Jeong Ji-ho. Yu Hyun-jae. Lee Jin-su.

"244 is currently unavailable for purchase."

"I know. 257."

Lee Na-hyun.

"545. 555."

Yun Geon-min. Kim Hee-sook.

"555 is currently unavailable for purchase."

"......Is that so?"

It looked like Kim Hee-sook was dead.

Had she gone into the IT Operations Room alone again? She really was consistent.

"556."

Jeon Yeong-gwang.

"556 is currently unavailable for purchase."

"I know. 756."

Hyeon Je-won.

"756 is currently unavailable for purchase."

"......I see."

Something must have gone wrong in the Artifact Management Room.

"446."

Yu Mi-rae.

It would be even better if I could buy everyone I'd met in this Labyrinth.

So I called out every individual number, one by one, regardless of whether they could actually make it to the Sales and Marketing Division on the ninth floor.

Counting the strokes in each part of their names.

Of course, I wasn't going to overextend myself desperately just to save them.

But there was nothing wrong with aiming high.

"46."

Could I buy that man from another Labyrinth, the one I'd met at the racing competition?

"46 is currently unavailable for purchase."

"......I see."

"Is there no one else?"

"No. There is."

One last person, no, the first person......

"......"

I stupidly opened and closed my mouth, accomplishing nothing.

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

I realized I didn't know that person's name.

I'd forgotten.

Too much time had passed since I'd been introduced to them at the start of the interview.

"Is there no one else?"

There was no way to count the strokes in a name I couldn't remember.

"......Uh. No."

Then more writing began to appear at the bottom of my customer card.

｜Preference: "Individual number 546, 655, 845, 535, 475, 244 (out of stock), 257, 545, 555 (out of stock), 556 (out of stock), 756 (out of stock), 446, 46 (not authorized)."｜

It seemed I wasn't authorized to purchase number 46 because he was in another Labyrinth.

I was participating as a human, so unlike true monsters, I apparently had limits.

"Now, let me explain the rules in earnest."

Rustle.

The dealer placed the hamster cards neatly in the middle of the table, face up.

Two rows of five, lined up in perfect order.

Ten cards in all.

Two belonged to individuals I didn't know.

｜#764｜

｜Status｜Hunger: 4｜Prettiness: 7｜Obedience: 5｜

｜Traits: 764 has dark brown fur streaked with white like patches. They are active.｜

｜#457｜

｜Status｜Hunger: 2｜Prettiness: 4｜Obedience: 8｜

｜Traits: 457 has black fur. They are cheerful.｜

They were probably people still alive beyond the Mechanical Room on basement level two, which I'd never escaped, or the Sales and Marketing Division on the ninth floor.

If I was lucky, I might meet them alive.

Rustle.

This time, the dealer spread out dozens of customer cards.

They surrounded the hamster cards in the center like prison bars, or an audience.

｜Seon · Yu · Han｜

My own customer card was among them.

"Of these customers, there can be up to ten actual purchasers."

Since there were ten hamster cards, that was true in theory.

"Seon Yu-han, you have been granted two rights. One is 'preemptive claim,' and the other is 'calling.'"

Preemptive claim and calling.

I could almost guess what they meant, but not quite.

"Preemptive claim is, as the name suggests, the right to claim children before the other customers. Seon Yu-han has an overwhelming advantage. The other customers can only purchase children once they enter the 'pen.'"

The "pen."

It seemed to mean the white office we'd entered right after opening the Sales and Marketing Division's door.

I'd thought it was a sort of waiting room.

More precisely, it was apparently a display cage.

"Let me tell you how to make a preemptive claim."

Hosoo picked up the three dice that had been in the box.

They weren't ordinary cubic dice.

They were octahedral dice, made up of eight equilateral triangular faces.

Instead of round pips, each face bore an Arabic numeral from 1 to 8.

"First, preemptive claim."

Clatter.

The dealer lightly tossed the three dice.

"You roll the dice, and you always read the numbers on the top faces."

The result of the three dice was......

"1, 3, 6."

Now, what mattered was what I did with those numbers.

"You may freely arrange these numbers to form the number of the child Seon Yu-han wishes to purchase. You may then make a preemptive claim on that individual."

For example, it meant I could only make a preemptive claim on my hamster card if I rolled 5, 4, and 6 on the three dice.

"Ha......"

That bastard......

"Huh?"

Since the explanation of the rules began, everyone had watched in silence. Once again, Lee Na-hyun was the only one who spoke.

"There aren't any 1s, are there? None of those hamsters have a number with a 1 in it."

Of course not.

There couldn't be a name character with a single stroke, at least not in the Korean writing system. Maybe if they were letters of the alphabet.

In other words, I was already at a disadvantage from the start.

"I don't understand."

Hosoo's mysterious, sheep-like eyes turned toward Lee Na-hyun.

"Then you simply must not roll a 1."

"What? How can that be a thing? That's seriously too much."

"I don't understand. I'm a very flexible host."

"I don't think you are......"

Lee Na-hyun pouted and grumbled.

At last, Hwang Ju-yeon shook her head and let out a soft laugh, like air escaping. Yu Hyun-jae also smiled faintly.

When the adults laughed, Jeong Ji-ho's expression eased a little.

Even Hosoo was looking at Lee Na-hyun with a gentle smile, no longer arguing that he didn't understand.

Whether it was innocence or boldness, Lee Na-hyun had eased the tension with her characteristic personality.

It was something I could never do.

Tap.

The host had already wiped away the smile. He tapped the table once, drawing everyone's attention.

"Let me explain Seon Yu-han's other right, calling."

Hosoo continued.

"Calling is, as the name suggests, the right to call out a name."

Whose name? The hamsters' real names?

"After deciding whether to exercise the right of preemptive claim, Seon Yu-han may call another customer's name."

The host pointed to the customer cards surrounding the hamster cards.

"......What happens if I call one?"

"They will answer your call."

At that moment.

The curtains in the images on every customer card trembled at once.

"Whoa. It moved. Ju-yeon, did you see that? You saw it too, Representative! Ji-ho, did you see? Ah, you're too short......"

Lee Na-hyun strained as she tried to lift Jeong Ji-ho.

I looked in their direction, then turned back to Hosoo.

"Will I be able to talk to them? The customers?"

"If you're curious, you'll have to enjoy it yourself. What's the fun in knowing everything beforehand?"

"Ha."

How did I keep falling for the same trick every time?

How did it piss me off all over again every time?

"You will have as many opportunities for preemptive claim and calling as there are children. In other words, ten times."

Every bad roll of the dice meant one less chance to save someone.

"Preemptive claim and calling are Seon Yu-han's unique and rightful privileges, and whether to exercise those rights is also entirely Seon Yu-han's freedom."

It meant I didn't have to use either preemptive claim or calling.

Even if I rolled an individual number I wanted.

"It's a very simple game."

Right.

The rules themselves were simple.

Roll three dice, arrange them into the individual number I wanted, and make a preemptive claim.

Then I could call another customer's name.

I didn't know exactly what would happen when I called someone, but it didn't seem like any conditions had to be met beforehand.

Basically, it was a game where I just had to roll the dice well.

As I organized my thoughts.

Click, clack.

The sound of dress shoes struck my ears.

When I glanced up, Yu Hyun-jae had come closer and was studying the table intently.

"......Representative?"

Following Yu Hyun-jae's gaze, it looked like they were examining the ten hamster cards in the center of the table.

Come to think of it, Yu Hyun-jae's card was......

｜#475｜

｜Status｜Hunger: 10｜Prettiness: 0｜Obedience: 10｜

｜Traits: 475 has pure white fur. They like to rest.｜

Those values were extreme.

｜#446｜

｜Status｜Hunger: 0｜Prettiness: 10｜Obedience: 0｜

｜Traits: 446 has pure white fur. They like to play.｜

They were the complete opposite of Yu Hyun-jae's younger sibling, Yu Mi-rae.

Yu Hyun-jae didn't seem like someone whose prettiness would hit the lowest possible score, or whose obedience would reach the maximum.

They didn't seem like someone who liked to rest, either.

Then again, the values on my card were strange to begin with.

They must have been written according to criteria of the Labyrinth that humans couldn't understand.

"This."

Yu Hyun-jae gestured at the hamster cards with their chin.

"That's us."

Their tone suggested they didn't need an answer.

It was eerie how quickly Yu Hyun-jae understood.

Nothing in my conversation with Hosoo had directly stated that the children or hamsters were the humans of this Labyrinth.

And yet they had figured it out.

"......Yes."

Lying seemed pointless.

Yu Hyun-jae had probably even realized that the individual numbers were the stroke counts of their names.

It wasn't that hard to figure out.

Tap.

A hand gently rested on my shoulder, then fell away.

"I'm counting on you."

Yu Hyun-jae was smiling.

"Us."

For some reason, I felt like I understood Yu Hyun-jae's values.

They really were...... a pathetic child.

"......I'll do my best."

"Yes. That will be enough."

Yu Hyun-jae nodded.

Clap.

As if he'd been waiting, the host clapped once.

Now it was time to purchase the children......

"Now, let's begin 'Idle Hamster Deluxe Edition: Easter Hamster'―"

"―Wait."

A question suddenly crossed my mind, and I urgently cut Hosoo off.

I'd been so focused on the rules that I'd forgotten the most important part.

"'Preemptive claim' and 'purchase' are separate concepts."

What I ultimately wanted was to purchase the products, then return them safely.

"How does purchasing work......? How exactly do I buy them?"

What was the most important thing when purchasing a product?

"What currency can I use to buy them?"

Money.

Without money, I couldn't buy anything in the end.

"An important question."

As the dealer's smile widened, my heart rate climbed with it.

As I remembered, this arcade had its own special currency.

'Congratulations. Seon Yu-han, you have completed one coin of "Life."'

A gold coin called "Life."

Footnotes:

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