WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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◈ How to Die in the Office Labyrinth ◈

Chapter 35: How Many Funerals Has It Been

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

* * *

[The Late　　　]

I tore through the basement 5 parking garage with Chae Jae-ha, Hwang Ju-yeon, Jeong Ji-ho, and Yu Hyun-jae all in tow, and found Bae Seo-woo's urn in no time.

All I had to do was act like I was following the diary. Easy enough.

[The Late Bae Seo-woo]

"Huh, Bae Seo-woo......? Wait, wha-?"

Whoosh.

Five flowers caught fire on their own and crumbled to ash.

"That's......"

Hwang Ju-yeon stared at the scene, visibly thrown, then worked her mouth open.

"What's the matter? Are you seeing or hearing something?"

"No, nothing like that. I just, I don't know whether I should say this or not. It's not certain."

What was she going on about out of nowhere?

Honestly, up until that moment my head had been completely full of clearing that game. It was random anyway, and losing plenty of body parts wouldn't kill me. I just wanted to win this time. That was the only thought I had.

Then Hwang Ju-yeon carefully pointed at the urn and said one sentence, and it shocked all those ugly thoughts right out of me.

"I think I know this person. Bae Seo-woo."

"......Pardon?"

Out of nowhere, what?

But then why hadn't she said anything before......

Oh.

There had never been a good time.

The first time, I heard something and bolted straight for the emergency exit. The time after that, Chae Jae-ha had only just died. And from then on...... I had left Hwang Ju-yeon behind entirely. Lost in the game.

"When I saw the name in the diary, and even when I heard about the radio and the unidentified skeletal remains from Youngun Mountain, I couldn't quite place it...... The connection wasn't there."

The piano teacher fidgeted with her slender fingers as she continued.

"There was a girl named Bae Seo-woo who went missing. Twenty years ago. I was in middle school then. We went to the same church for a while."

"Ah......"

"I ended up drifting away after a while, so I hadn't heard anything about her in a long time, but I think that Bae Seo-woo and this Bae Seo-woo might be the same person......"

Wait.

Church?

If it was a church...... a cross?

My mind went to the cross car charm that had been inside the delivery box at the start. And then to how I had used it as a clue to search for vehicles with a cross ornament, and how Hwang Ju-yeon had died because of that.

Had it not been a trap?

No. No, that's wrong.

The thread that leads to the name "Bae Seo-woo" is the shipping label. Not the cross inside the box.

"Ah. That emblem."

Yu Hyun-jae raised an eyebrow slightly.

"The emblem on the sedan the snake got into. There's a cross drawn next to the snake on it. That might have been a clue of sorts after all."

"Ah...... I suppose so. I'm sorry I didn't catch it......"

This was too much to be coincidence.

The others didn't know what was inside the delivery box since they hadn't opened it.

"Still, I'm glad we know now...... Well, shall we head down? The floor below, was it the 14th......?"

Hwang Ju-yeon changed the subject with visible effort, pressing her feelings down.

But I made note of it.

The cross might be a clue to finding the culprit.

* * *

[Neosoft]

The sight of a game company office with the power out was familiar by now.

"Um. Hello......"

Living Lee Jin-su, on the other hand, was not. I had only seen him once before.

He had his tongue. He had his hair. He had his ears. He looked a little short on fingers and one leg, but either way, he was alive.

"Oh. You came down from the parking garage...... My assistant manager and I were playing this game, and, ah. There was a coworker, but they passed away, so I moved them to the representative's office over there......"

He confessed plainly that his coworker had died, then had not quit the game simply because he found it interesting. He felt both different from that person and strangely similar at the same time.

Not cold. But not exactly lively, either.

Dark hollows under his eyes. A bleak look.

Rare with expressions.

Ding.

While we exchanged brief introductions, a familiar pop-up appeared on Lee Jin-su's monitor.

【Hello, binary! It looks like you're happily playing our Labyrinth Software title, "Lost In HAPPYLAND"! Shall we invite some new friends to share the fun?】

【▶ Invite】

Lee Jin-su sighed, mouse in hand.

"Sorry, I'll send the invite. There's no other way......"

"Yes. Go ahead."

【Invitation complete!】

Five screens lit up, including Jeong Ji-ho's, who had received a new device.

【Please enter your name】

【＿＿＿＿】

"Be careful with that...... I'm not certain, but it seems like the order you enter your names determines the order you play......"

Lee Jin-su began explaining what he knew, quietly, in a listless voice.

Pressing EXIT would probably let you quit, though he wasn't sure. Pressing CONTINUE would make you lose a random body part.

"But you can lose something like your heart and die. That's how my coworker went......"

I watched Lee Jin-su trail off and understood.

I could see which choice he would make between CONTINUE and EXIT.

I pushed down a faint surge of anger and checked the monitor of the man who wanted to die, the pop-up now gone.

【Your name is?】

【▶ Kim Jin-woo】

【▶ kmj1234】

【▶ Yu Min】

【▶ binary】

【▶ I forgot】

That had been exactly what I wanted to ask about.

"Those names...... are they like usernames? Do you know any of them?"

Lee Jin-su nodded slowly.

"They looked like people from our office, so I was actually talking about that with my assistant manager the first time I saw them. Whether it might be something like an instanced dungeon. We said it would almost be better if it was, because at least that way they wouldn't all be dead. They'd be somewhere, alive."

"Um......"

Hwang Ju-yeon spoke up in an awkward voice.

"Instanced dungeon? What's that?"

"An instanced dungeon."

"So what does that mean?"

"Oh, uh, ah......"

The Neosoft employee, briefly buffering, gave a short explanation of instanced dungeons and parties and his own theory.

"Oh. So in game terms, we're one party here? And the people who disappeared are each in different parties? Stuck in other labyrinths, identical to this one?"

"Yeah. Roughly speaking......"

While the two of them talked it through, the first person I thought of was the Interview Administrator.

The idea that the people who had disappeared might be alive somewhere, and that this wasn't just my own theory, was good news.

The fact that we could not meet them without making it out alive was not.

"Ah......"

Lee Jin-su's voice pulled me out of my thoughts and I shifted my gaze to the monitor.

【Oh dear! Looks like there was a driver a step ahead of you! You have reached a state in which you can no longer enjoy happiness. Even so, you can still become happy.】

【CONTINUE】

【EXIT】

"Don't, wait a moment......"

【CONTINUE!】

"You're seriously. Ha......"

I had never beaten this person's hand.

In one motion I grabbed the front of Lee Jin-su's hoodie and let go.

【Don't worry! It won't hurt. A small contribution will make you happy: lung】

Getting angry at someone about to die was pointless.

I spent the whole time Lee Jin-su was gagging and dying with a pale blue face, just like I once had, curling myself into the smallest shape I could manage.

So you get to find peace alone?

I can't die and I can't be allowed to die.

Why do you get to find peace alone?

Only to hold back that irrational rage.

* * *

【Don't worry! It will hurt. A minor curse will make you unhappy: liver】

"Ha......"

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine...... just a little dizzy."

"Wha, dizzy? Then here, would this, no, would a normal pill not work? Ha, Seon Yu-han-ssi, you're not dying, are you?"

"I'm not dying...... but my head is ringing, so."

"Oh? Okay. Okay, I'll be quiet."

It seemed only part of my liver had disappeared, not enough to be fatal.

【Lost In HAPPYLAND】

【CLOSED】

Every screen changed to show the same thing.

"Wow, it's really over! It's done! Look at this! The door opened! Come quick, oh wait, no. Seon Yu-han-ssi, go sit in that chair. I'll push you."

"I'm fine, I said......"

Chae Jae-ha, a broad-shouldered man in his mid-thirties, was jumping up and down like a child.

The actual child was standing quietly behind Hwang Ju-yeon, holding onto her sleeve, half-hiding.

I knew Jeong Ji-ho was looking up at me with anxious eyes. I pretended not to notice.

Children's eyes can sometimes cut through the world sharp as ice and pointed as an awl.

I did not want to know what about me was frightening that child.

"I can actually walk, I'm telling you."

I was in the middle of arguing with Chae Jae-ha about whether to sit in a chair when.

Click, hum.

"Whoa, scared me!"

The multifunction printer on the wall suddenly switched on.

Shff, shff-shff.

"Something's coming out. Looks like some kind of photo......"

Yu Hyun-jae, closest to it, tilted their head at the page feeding out.

Shff, shff.

We all gathered around to look at what was printed on the A4 sheet.

"It's kind of like those things. The ones that automatically take your photo at the drop on a roller coaster."

The image was very low resolution, like a Polaroid that had been scanned.

A six-seater roller coaster, old and in shadow. The track barely visible in the background. A pitch-black night sky.

And below the photo, written in a cute, childlike font:

[Seon Yu-han's One of the Happiest Moments]

"Seon Yu...... huh? Why is this Seon Yu-han-ssi's. There's nobody in it."

"Right."

I held up the A4 sheet and stared at the photo.

"I'll hold onto it for now. Just in case."

"Sure. Let's just get out. But Seon Yu-han-ssi, you're really okay, right? Your face is still white."

"Yes. I'm really fine."

I folded the photo and slipped it into my pants pocket, hiding my trembling hands.

I knew.

That I had locked eyes with myself inside that photo......

* * *

"I wonder what floor we'll come out on next......"

"Right. Seon Yu-han-ssi, the diary didn't say what comes after the 14th floor, did it?"

"No."

"So maybe this is the last floor? That would be nice."

Voices echoed through the stairwell as we descended from the 14th floor emergency exit.

Clunk!

I opened the emergency door, which said 13th floor on the inside but would surely not open onto the 13th floor.

"What?"

"Huh, why......"

We came back out onto the 14th floor.

"Damn."

The floor......

"There must have been a mistake. Let's try going back down-"

"-Seon Yu-han-ssi."

Yu Hyun-jae's low voice drove into the back of my head as I turned away, trying to deny what was right in front of me.

"The Labyrinth does not make mistakes. That is a human concern."

All the strength drained out of my body at once.

"Hey, Seon Yu-han-ssi!"

So. Everything I had done in that place, Happyland or Crazy-land or whatever you want to call it, had all been for nothing?

My organ donations, every last one, completely worthless?

...... All that time I had dared to forget them, to lose myself, to try and abandon my own name?

Please tell me that's not true.

Footnotes:

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