How to Die in the Office Labyrinth - Chapter 150

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

Chapter 150: Belonging

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"Pardon?"

When asked where she belonged, Kim Hee-sook's eyes widened as she hesitated.

As if she'd never expected someone as lofty as the representative to ask her a question like that.

"Um, I, I'm on the cleaning team...? The department is probably Facilities... Oh dear, I'm sorry. I suddenly can't remember the exact name. Honestly, what am I doing...?"

"Facilities Management. The Facilities Management Cleaning Team."

"Oh, that's right. Facilities Management, yes, yes. Look at me, losing my mind."

The cleaning team employee lowered her head.

I thought it was a very strange exchange.

You could tell just by looking at her uniform.

"Hee-sook."

Yu Hyun-jae bent forward, met Kim Hee-sook's gaze head-on, and gently enclosed her small hand in his own.

All while wearing an easy smile.

Hmm.

Was that really okay?

It felt unbelievably kind and, at the same time, utterly destructive.

"Kim Hee-sook?"

"Y-yes? No, why are you holding my hand...?"

It felt like either her face or her heart was bound to burst.

"How hard you must work, with such delicate hands."

Kim Hee-sook fidgeted as she tried to pull her hand free, glancing at the document envelope on the floor.

I caught the fear in her eyes.

Which meant this wasn't some performative show of appreciation from a disingenuous corporate executive.

"Having people like you, Kim Hee-sook, is what makes directly employing all of you worthwhile."

Jaelae Group was famous for having an extremely low proportion of contract and dispatched workers.

'If you work for Jaelae, you are a Jaelae person.'

I thought that was roughly the company's slogan.

Directly hiring cleaning staff instead of outsourcing them to subcontractors probably came from the same philosophy.

"I know that our Kim Hee-sook is on Cleaning Team 2 of Facilities Management. Of course I do."

Yu Hyun-jae turned Kim Hee-sook's employee badge around so that its front, which had been facing backward, was visible.

[Facilities Management Cleaning Team 2 Kim Hee-sook]

The face in the photo looked exactly like the real thing.

The only difference was her expression.

Kim Hee-sook in the employee badge photo was smiling brightly, while Kim Hee-sook outside it looked close to tears.

"I look through the personnel records from time to time. Wouldn't it be nice to remember everyone who works for us?"

Not nice at all.

I shifted only my eyes and looked at Chae Jae-ha and Hwang Ju-yeon.

I could tell the two working adults felt the same way I did, though they were watching Yu Hyun-jae and Kim Hee-sook far more anxiously.

Ever since Yu Hyun-jae returned alone from The Executioner’s Stage, they had seemed privately uneasy around him. Maybe that was why this situation seemed so unsettling to them.

"......"

Whether the people around him were uneasy or not, the representative simply held the cleaning team employee's hand firmly and stared into her eyes.

There was something so sinister about the sight, like a hunter playing with an animal they had no intention of eating.

"I believe you've worked here for quite some time, Kim Hee-sook."

Yu Hyun-jae broke the brief silence.

"Long enough to develop a sense of belonging as a member of Jaelae, at least."

The co-representative of Uiwi Guild wore a false expression of regret as he finally turned to the audience around him.

"Take a look at the people gathered here."

Then he pointed to each of us in turn and began reciting our personal details one by one.

"Seon Yu-han, an applicant who only came to this building for an interview today. Hwang Ju-yeon, likewise invited here for a children's daycare magic performance. Chae Jae-ha, a certified public accountant from Hoewol Accounting Firm. Jeong Ji-ho, a child attending our in-house daycare. Lee Jin-su, the Neosoft employee who died earlier."

At first, I wondered what on earth he was talking about.

"Not one of them is a Jaelae person. Except for Kim Hee-sook. Doesn't that strike you as strange?"

......Ah.

Yu Hyun-jae was talking about what the people trapped in this Labyrinth had in common.

"What, no, what exactly do you mean...? Then what about Yun Geon-min? He was an employee of the Human Resources Team...! And that artifact researcher from earlier!"

Oh dear.

I didn't know the exact circumstances, but trying to refute him like that already meant she'd fallen right into Yu Hyun-jae's trap.

"I didn't tell you out of respect for the deceased, but today was Yun Geon-min's last day at work. Recommended resignations aren't common, so I remembered it."

As if he'd been waiting for Kim Hee-sook's objection, Yu Hyun-jae immediately struck back.

"Ah, so that's why..."

Chae Jae-ha muttered quietly.

'What... what is all this stuff? Why is there so much in here?'

When Yun Geon-min died in the parking lot, Chae Jae-ha had opened Yun Geon-min's backpack to collect his belongings, and the stolen goods inside had made things rather awkward.

"And Hyeon Je-won is someone with a somewhat unusual disposition. They don't easily feel a sense of belonging anywhere."

"Then, the secretary at the cafeteria and the representative's driver were also..."

"No."

His voice was very calm and dry.

"Those children weren't merely Jaelae employees. They may have been on paper, but Manager Kim Si-hyeok belongs only to my younger sibling, and Driver Kim Si-yeong belongs only to me. For a very long time."

Could that be called affection too?

For some reason, it made me think of an owner who bought children.

"No, but more than anyone, you're a Jaelae person yourself, Representative..."

Kim Hee-sook trailed off with great difficulty, almost sobbing.

"Me? I am not a Jaelae person."

Yu Hyun-jae spoke.

"I am Jaelae itself."

Then, apparently remembering co-representative Yu Mi-rae, he corrected himself.

"We are Jaelae."

In a way, it was an overwhelming speech.

Because it revealed just how troublesome Yu Hyun-jae was as a person.

He seemed to view everything in the world as a puzzle.

"I've been thinking about it all this time. Watching all of you."

I could more or less predict what Yu Hyun-jae was about to say.

"Could there not be a reason for such a diverse and free-spirited group? Could the lack of apparent rules be the rule itself?"

Maybe the people here hadn't gathered at random, and there was a certain pattern to it.

"For example, people who are not members of Jaelae. More precisely, people who don't perceive themselves as members of Jaelae... But there was one person who continued to bother me."

The co-representative of Uiwi Guild quietly looked at the attempted thief.

"Now, let me ask you again, Kim Hee-sook."

He asked with a gaze as heavy as a death sentence.

"Where do you belong?"

At last, Kim Hee-sook broke down.

* * *

Kim Hee-sook took a deep breath, her face red, and pulled a small USB drive from inside her clothes.

"Th-this was for the server room... I'm sorry... The success fee... because of my child... I was going to quit as soon as I got paid..."

The story that tumbled out of her was predictable enough.

Only the scale of the incident was a little larger.

A rival guild had hired Kim Hee-sook, a Uiwi Guild employee, to carry out a hacking job.

A cleaning employee would be less likely to draw attention, after all.

"Ah. So that's why."

An exclamation escaped me before I knew it.

I'd wondered why she kept going to the server room every time.

―――――――――――――――

　　　 What you want␦

𝟣. Permanent deactivation

𝟤. Escape

𝟥. Access floor 3

𝟦. Access floor 4

𝟧. Download

𝟨. Export

𝟩. Refresh

𝟪. Unlock

―――――――――――――――

That must be why the server room choices included 'Download' and 'Export' every time I entered with Kim Hee-sook.

I wasn't sure whether to call her determination to complete the mission despite the Labyrinthification impressive.

Still, since it was an action premised on the hope that she could leave alive, I personally liked it.

"There were probably several other insiders recruited as well. It wouldn't have been easy to get past the IT Operations Room staff and into the server room."

"Y-yes... I think so... I don't know exactly who they were either..."

Chae Jae-ha and Hwang Ju-yeon, who had been anxious until a moment ago, were now watching the conversation between Yu Hyun-jae and Kim Hee-sook with great interest.

I supposed they felt a little more at ease now.

"But, Seon Yu-han, you didn't know...?"

Hwang Ju-yeon tilted her head slightly toward me and whispered.

"It seems like you've come to this Legal Affairs Office several times... Haven't you ever come here with Kim Hee-sook?"

"No, I have. I just didn't ask."

I'd roughly guessed it was because of financial problems.

But I thought it had nothing to do with me, and it turned out that it really had nothing to do with me.

"It must have been difficult for you too, Kim Hee-sook."

Yet even Yu Hyun-jae, who truly was involved, treated Kim Hee-sook as if it were none of his concern.

As though making casual small talk, suitably indifferent.

"I imagine that matter determined your sentence? Judging by the judgment you hid."

"Ah... Yes? Uh, yes, for attempted theft... Seon Yu-han pressed a different choice first, so it became an attempt..."

"Would it be reduced if I forgave you?"

Maybe he'd lost interest as soon as he learned the answer.

"Still, it's strange. Are you sure that guild was behind it?"

"Um, they never said they were... It's just, the things they said and where we met... I just guessed based on various things..."

"Ah."

Only then did Yu Hyun-jae's lips curl up again.

He seemed to have realized something, but I wasn't curious.

Knowing too many things you didn't need to know was poison.

With his personality, there had to be more than one or two groups he was on bad terms with.

With a quick motion, I took out my phone and checked the time.

"How about we all leave now? Kim Hee-sook's sentence should be ending soon too. Twenty-one minutes, right?"

"Y-yeah, that's right..."

"Then let's go."

To be honest, I was getting a little impatient.

Next was the Sales and Marketing Division on the ninth floor.

The culprit that had made me descend to the 5F Arcade and roll dice like a madman.

Maybe I was looking forward to it, wondering what would happen.

This was my first time returning to the Sales and Marketing Division after making a preemptive claim on someone.

Excluding the dead, I had successfully preemptively claimed four individuals.

546, 555, 475, and 655.

Me, Kim Hee-sook, Yu Hyun-jae, and Chae Jae-ha.

I hadn't properly explained the relationship between the ninth floor and fifth floor to the group.

I only told them that currency was needed in the Sales and Marketing Division, that it could be obtained in the arcade, and that it was most efficient for me to go alone.

Nothing but the truth.

I simply hadn't gone into detail about how I could buy them.

Clunk.

"Wait, why is the building...?"

While the others briefly stared in confusion at the ninth floor, where the Sales Team and Marketing Team had merged side by side as its layout changed from a square to an I shape, I strode ahead.

With a quick motion, I opened the Sales and Marketing Division door.

The moment I did, I felt a strange sensation, as if my world had split in two.

I was standing inside a very familiar room.

At the same time, I was looking down at that room.

"...What is this place?"

555 and 655 looked around in confusion, while 475 examined the room with interest, like they were touring a model home.

"Ji-ho and Hwang Ju-yeon aren't here...?"

Only the individuals I had made a preemptive claim on, including me, were here.

In my very familiar room.

'The moment 546 enters the pen, payment and purchase will be completed automatically.'

So that was what it meant for the purchase to be completed immediately upon entering the pen, that white room in the Sales and Marketing Division.

The individuals I had made a preemptive claim on automatically entered the home of the customer named Seon · Yu · Han.