WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 152: Be Careful When Housing Them Together
──────
No, perhaps not entirely unharmed.
“Uh...”
I took in the scene before me as quickly as I could.
A huge desk in the shape of a ⨅, something out of a drama.
And sitting in the executive chairs arranged along both sides, including the seat of honor at the center farthest from the entrance...
Seven mirrors.
Medium and large mirrors of various shapes sat in the chairs.
They looked ordinary enough, but their mere presence here made them anything but ordinary.
In the seat of honor sat a large jade mirror with an antique design, befitting its position.
...It would be best not to look at it for too long.
On the wall opposite the seat of honor, closest to the entrance, hung a large-screen television.
A young man sat in a chair before it.
His entire body was bound by strange cords that gleamed sharply, like mirrors.
Even criminals being interrogated would not be restrained like this.
“Are you al-”
“-Mm.”
With his lips pulled inward out of sight, the man rapidly darted his eyes from side to side.
As if he were shaking his head. As if he were telling me not to do something.
Was there a rule against speaking carelessly?
Scrrrape.
Then cords identical to the ones binding the man crawled out from somewhere like octopus tentacles...
Scrape. Clack.
They dragged me into the empty chair beside him.
The chair was faintly warm.
Perhaps someone had been sitting here before I arrived.
Scrrrape.
These glittering cords really did seem to be made of something like mirrors. Even a light touch sliced the edge of my clothes.
Just as I turned my head to get a proper look at the man beside me...
【Let's resume the meeting.】
A clear voice came from one of the mirrors.
It sounded like a glass harp played with wineglasses, crystal clear, yet something no human could ever produce.
【And your name?】
This time, the mirror right next to me asked.
A small laugh escaped me at such a worldly, human question.
“Seon Yu-han.”
【How old are you, Yu-han?】
The next mirror asked.
It seemed the seven mirrors were taking turns.
“Twenty-nine.”
【How many family members do you have?】
...Ah.
Whatever this was, were they starting to probe now?
Judging by the man's behavior, there seemed to be some rule requiring caution in what we said.
“I have no one.”
The woman I had wanted to become family for, and the people who had cared for me like family.
None of them were alive anymore.
...At least, not in human bodies.
【What are your hobbies?】
No, these questions were a little...
“...Writing a diary?”
If that counted as a hobby.
【Oh my, how interesting.】
“Uh... thank you...?”
【What food do you like?】
“There's nothing I particularly like...”
I glanced at the human beside me.
There was something that made me happy, though.
【What books do you like?】
“《The Pillowman》.”
【What movie did you watch recently?】
...Should I answer this honestly too?
“《Will Spring Come to Seonghwa High School?》”
The man beside me slightly furrowed his brow, as though displeased.
【The title is wrong.】
What were they talking about? I had it right.
【What is your ideal world?】
...What?
My ideal world? Not my ideal type?
No, wait.
'Let's resume the meeting.'
That “meeting” did not mean a business conference, did it? Surely it meant...
Then what was I supposed to say?
What would happen if I answered?
What would happen if I did not?
“I don't know.”
Scrape. Snap.
The mirror cords tightened further around my body, slicing my clothes.
Apparently, that was not the answer they wanted.
If I gave a few more wrong answers, they would soon cut into bare flesh.
【Let's ask Jun-gyeom.】
Their attention seemed to shift to the man beside me.
【How many family members do you have?】
“There are two of us, including me. Arm.”
...What was “There are two of us, including me. Arm” supposed to mean?
Only then did I begin examining the man called Jun-gyeom more closely.
He did not seem older than me. He looked about the same age as Lee Na-hyun.
His seated height was about the same as mine, though he had a sturdier build.
Short, neat hair. A small hoop earring wrapped around his left ear. Rimless glasses with an unexpectedly delicate design.
His shirt, tie, and suit were all black. Though the mirror cords had badly tattered and disheveled them now, they must have originally been impeccably neat.
Sweat beaded across his forehead as though he were nervous, but even in this situation, he sat straight with a hard look in his eyes.
He had the air of a soldier.
There was something forceful and mechanical about him, and therefore, paradoxically, a frailty that could be endlessly obedient...
What was this?
I had never met him before.
Yet he seemed familiar somehow.
Did he resemble a celebrity? A Red Thread?
Had I simply passed by him at some point?
Or had the Labyrinth tampered with my memories again?
Jun-gyeom, Jun-gyeom, Jun-gyeom...
It did not seem like a name I remembered.
Ah.
｜#457｜
｜Status｜Hunger: 2｜Prettiness: 4｜Obedience: 8｜
｜Trait: 457 has black fur. They have a cheerful personality.｜
Could he be that hamster?
Among the hamsters I did not know, 457 was the only one whose individual number matched the stroke counts in the name Jun-gyeom.
Still, I did not know why he seemed so familiar...
【Do you have plans for a family?】
“One child at most. Can't.”
At the mention of children, I briefly checked on the 'home.'
555 and 655 seemed to have fallen asleep from exhaustion, while 475 sat quietly reading a book.
I was glad they were all doing well.
【What music do you like?】
“Songs without lyrics. Lift.”
...But was there really something wrong?
Why was he talking like that?
【What color do you like?】
“Black or navy. It.”
He kept adding one unnecessary word at the end of every answer.
There are two of us, including me. Arm.
One child at most. Can't.
Songs without lyrics. Lift.
Black or navy. It.
...There was a rule.
All of his answers were eight Korean syllables long.
And every eighth syllable was completely out of place.
Then if I gathered only the eighth syllables...
'Arm. Can't. Lift. It.'
The same Korean syllables could mean either 'I can’t lift my arm' or 'They can’t hear eight.'
Was he saying he could not lift his arm?
...No. That was not it.
【Mountains or the sea, which do you prefer?】
Those mirrors' questions.
They were always seven Korean syllables long.
They could not hear the number eight.
More precisely, they could not recognize an eighth syllable.
《Will Spring Come to Seonghwa High School?》
It seemed answers longer than eight syllables were fine, but...
'The title is wrong.'
Perhaps they entirely skipped over the eighth syllable when they heard it.
The full Korean title asked whether spring would come to Seonghwa High School too. That was probably why they had heard only, 'Will Spring Come to Seonghwa High School?' The syllable meaning 'too' was missing.
But the important thing was whether this loophole would actually help us escape...
“I prefer the sea. Make.”
I needed to listen to more of what this man called Jun-gyeom had to say.
Even now, he was trying to decipher the mirrors' conversational rule and convey it to me. He seemed fairly useful.
Besides...
'For instance, people who are not part of Jaelae. Strictly speaking, people who perceive themselves as not being part of Jaelae...'
The commonality among people trapped in this Labyrinth.
The facilities on this floor were Uiwi Guild's Audit Office and executive conference room.
Putting those two facts together, the most likely conclusion was that this man had come down from an upper floor.
It was not impossible that he was an Audit Office employee with an issue regarding his affiliation, like Yun Geon-min or Kim Hee-sook, or someone who had escaped the Sales and Marketing Division on the ninth floor by themselves and made it up here.
Either way, it was time to speak with him.
A very slow conversation, using only eighth syllables.
'Make. Them. Like. You. Es...'
The problem came when the man's sentence had reached that point.
【What animal do you like?】
Animals.
At the word, my children came to mind again. The moment I looked into the 'home'...
『Madness.』
Crash.
I tried to rise in a hurry, but instead fell face-first onto the floor, chair and all.
It did not matter whether the mirror cords dug into my skin, whether my face scraped painfully across the floor, or whether the man beside me was looking at me.
None of that mattered.
『475.』
〔Ah, Mr. Seon Yu-han. You're back.〕
475 spoke while staring into empty space.
〔Is 475 my name, by any chance? Then what about these two?〕
『555. 655.』
555 and 655 lay bound side by side on the floor.
Their arms and legs were tied down with belts.
〔There are a lot of fives.〕
I tried removing the belts, but nothing happened.
They were not dead.
I could feel the children's breathing.
〔Ah. Is it the stroke count? Not difficult, then.〕
『Current. Action.』
〔You must mean, “What are you doing right now?” Not my name, Hyun-jae, which can also mean “current.”〕
475 held a shard from a broken mug.
I removed it again.
〔Well, it doesn't matter.〕
Unbothered, 475 sat beside the two children's heads.
〔Tools are not strictly necessary.〕
I had already returned myself, and all I had left was the status of an owner.
And no owner could fold themselves up and enter their own hamster cage.
〔Still, it is remarkable. You hid something like this from me... Perhaps I had grown too lax.〕
475 let out a short breath that was neither quite a sigh nor a laugh.
〔I knew there were things you had not told me about the arcade... But I never imagined it would be like this.〕
475's dry eyes stared straight ahead.
It did not matter where. I was looking back from everywhere.
〔If I had known, I would have followed you.〕
The tone was chillingly calm.
〔Mr. Seon Yu-han.〕
The only things I could directly affect were changing the structure of the 'home,' and creating or removing objects the children needed.
〔I know you locked us up because you do not want us to die painfully. I understand. But what if...〕
475's hand closed around 655's throat.
『Stop.』
The hand tightened further, and 655 began choking.
〔What if I killed others painfully?〕
『Silence. 475. Silence.』
〔Then what would you do?〕
I thought of a way to stop 475.
But just as 555 and 655 were my children, 475 was my child too.
I did not want to hurt 475.
〔Could you let me out?〕
『Madness.Madness.Madness.Madness.Madness.Madness.』
I knew this child, 475, was capable of doing it.
〔Wouldn't it be better to release only me? Rather than send these two out into that dangerous world, or...〕
I remembered how this shepherd had won The Silence of the Lambs.
〔Rather than have both of them die in this 'home.'〕
〔Kgh, cough...〕
“Don't!”
I was screaming with my face pressed to the floor.
Looking only into my own 'home.'
“Don't go. You can't leave... It's dangerous. You'll die... Don't come. You can't enter... Please, please, just stay here...”
【Did you hear that just now?】
A fragile chorus, on the verge of shattering, rose from the seven mirrors.
【We all heard it.】
At that moment.
Scrrrape.
All seven mirrors changed angle at once, every surface turning directly toward me.
In the mirror, there was me.
In the mirror, there was it.
In the mirror, there was Seon Yu-han.
In the mirror, there was an upside-down me.
In the mirror, there was ■Time░.
In the mirror, there had been me.
In the mirror, there was a bro
ken
thing.
“If it were possible to turn back time, what would you do, Seon Yu-han?”
...What exactly was Yu Hyun-jae's problem?
I could understand the mirrors, assuming I must have broken some rule.
But Yu Hyun-jae?
Sure, I had acted a little excessively...
Still, was it not better to send the children away painlessly with my own hands than let the Labyrinth kill them?
What was the problem?
Ah.
Next time, I should separate the rooms.
That was probably the problem.
Footnotes:
“Meeting” can mean either a business meeting or a casual blind-date gathering in Korean. The mirrors' eight-syllable limitation also causes them to miss the Korean syllable meaning “too” in the film title.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
