WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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◈ How to Die in the Office Labyrinth ◈

Chapter 51: Songsong Labyrinth Arcade

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[FUTURE ARCADE]

The arcade sign was designed in colorful pixel lettering with a retro feel.

Future Arcade.

True to its name, the moment you opened the door, arcade game cabinets were the first thing you saw.

There were also console gaming setups with large monitors for groups to play together.

Along one wall, a wide variety of board games were slotted into storage shelves, with plenty of tables big enough for several people to sit around.

Beyond that, darts, screen games, analog and digital alike, all of it was there.

"Ji-ho, be careful. Touching things without looking could be dangerous."

I held out my good right hand to Jeong Ji-ho.

If I let him wander and touch whatever he liked, there was a real chance the kid would end up playing the most dangerous game in the room first.

Jeong Ji-ho took my hand, eyes going wide, and looked all around him with obvious fascination.

Of all the expressions I'd seen on his face so far, this one was the closest to bright.

[𝐩 𝐫 𝐞 𝐬 𝐬　𝐚 𝐧 𝐲　𝐛 𝐮 𝐭 𝐭 𝐨 𝐧]

The power was out and the ceiling lights were dark, but every old arcade cabinet was on, sitting at its attract screen.

[𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬▸]

On a large screen mounted to the wall, an image like old VHS footage was displayed.

A wide open field with a dark forest at its back.

Low resolution, blurry outlines, an atmosphere of creeping unease.

One look and it was obvious something was off. I had no interest in touching it.

"It'll be fun," the host said.

He had trailed us from the lounge with quick little steps, and now stood there wearing an infuriating smile, clearly with no intention of telling us what any of these games actually were.

If we wanted to know, we'd have to find out ourselves.

"Representative, does anything look noticeably different to you? A new machine, maybe?"

"Let me think. On the surface, nothing seems particularly changed. The contents appear to have shifted somewhat, though."

Honestly, that surprised me a little.

If the games had changed but the layout itself was the same as before, that meant this arcade had always been like this.

The space was a strange blend of PC room, indoor game hall, and board game cafe.

Not just a couple of machines thrown in and called an arcade. This was the real thing.

"At the end of the year, we hold a game tournament here."

Yu Hyun-jae walked slowly through the arcade as he explained.

Every year they picked one of these games, opened registration to employees, and ran it as a tournament. Apparently so many people wanted to enter that they had to hold a lottery and qualifying rounds just to manage the numbers.

"And the winner gets a prize? Cash?"

I gave what I hoped was an appropriate response while quietly scanning the board game boxes with my eyes, one by one.

There were so many different games I couldn't tell whether I just didn't recognize them or whether the Labyrinth had been playing tricks.

"Neither."

Yu Hyun-jae answered flatly.

"What they get is the chance to face the representative in that game. One on one."

For a moment I thought I'd misheard. I paused.

"...With the representative?"

I kept my expression neutral and asked. The co-representative of Uiwi Guild shook his head.

"I don't run this myself. Personally, I have no talent whatsoever for video games."

"Ah, right."

I answered as sincerely as I could and moved toward the darts section.

Well, either way it made sense. Both co-representatives were popular. That one was even a celebrity, originally.

Plenty of people would jump at the chance to compete against them.

Still, even so.

A one-on-one game against the company representative as your prize for winning?

If it were me, I'd just ask for money.

"Representative."

I cut off that train of thought, stopped in front of the wall, and called to Yu Hyun-jae.

"Take a look at this."

The dartboard was strange. Not surprising, given the Labyrinth, but still.

The basic shape was identical to a standard dartboard.

Wide alternating black and white sections along the outer ring, the single line.

Red and green alternating on the outermost border, the double line.

The same red and green pattern on the inner ring, the triple line.

The red circle at the center of the board, the bullseye.

The problem was the words scattered across every section.

[Pupil of the Pupil], [Void of Pain], [Pupil of Jieut], [Pupil of the Aorta], [Pupil of the Right], [Pulmonary cavity].

Given what a dart's sharp tip does, the word appearing repeatedly here, "pupil," likely meant a physical hole, a cavity. Hit the wrong section and whatever body part was written before it would get one.

Hit "void" and... did that mean something disappears?

Whatever it was or however it worked.

Either way, pupil or void, it seemed best not to hit either if you could help it.

"Here. This one section is a little different."

I pointed to what would normally be the highest-scoring zone on a standard board, the 20 triple line.

[Fragment of Life]

"Ah. It said the more games you win, the happier you'll be."

Yu Hyun-jae glanced toward where the host stood.

"Is that what this Fragment of Life refers to?"

"If you're curious, you'll have to play and find out. Where's the fun if you already know everything?"

Hosoo tilted his head.

Those rectangular horizontal pupils, like a grazing animal's, stayed level with the floor as always.

"Still, going by the name, it sounds like it might function as an extra life of some kind."

If it could be transferred to someone else, or carried over to the next run like the Jaelae Diary, that would be ideal.

"Hm."

Yu Hyun-jae touched the corner of his mouth, as if working something out.

"If it's an extra life, could it perhaps be used as a substitute for a missing person?"

"If you're curious, you'll have to earn it yourself. Where's the fun if you already know everything?"

The host gave a nearly identical answer as before.

Smooth, but somehow mechanical.

"I'm going to try the darts."

Nothing to lose... well, no. The losses were already piling up past any point of recovery.

"Are you sure?"

"Whatever game it is, we have to play eventually."

Hosoo had warned us. That giving up would make him very sad.

"True. None of these are going to be easy."

I nodded at Yu Hyun-jae's words.

Those cabinets sitting at their attract screens, waiting for us to sit down and press any button. That large screen showing its ominous field. None of them looked any easier than the darts.

If anything, harder.

"Seon Yu-han-nim. Would you like to play the Puncture Darts?"

The host drifted over without a sound and extended his free hand, the one not holding the cane.

A single dart rested on his palm.

The tip was far sharper and thicker than any standard dart. It looked at least twice as long, too.

"Only one throw?"

"Oh no! You can throw as many times as you'd like in Puncture Darts."

Hosoo shook his head, and the hair he'd loosely tied back swayed with the motion.

"That said, some people only ever get one throw in their lifetime."

Right. Drive a hole through your aorta or your lung and you'd be dead.

I took the dart and stepped up to the throwing line marked on the floor.

The fact that the host hadn't even mentioned the throwing line told me everything I needed to know about his personality.

Carefully, I got into position and gripped the dart straight.

That was the moment it started.

Drrrrk, fwsh, fwsh.

The dartboard began spinning, violently.

"...Ha."

Are you kidding me.

Who turns a dartboard into a roulette wheel?

"How is anyone supposed to hit anything with this...? I can't even read the sections."

"You just have to aim carefully."

It wasn't slowing down or stopping. It was speeding up.

Fwwwwsh.

The sound of wind from it grew genuinely menacing.

"...Okay."

Stalling any longer wasn't going to help, so I roughly estimated where the inner triple line should be and threw.

Please. 20 triple. Fragment of Life. Red triple line. Please.

I threw with that desperate prayer in my heart.

Thwack.

The dart hit the board with a clean, solid sound.

At the same time, the spinning dartboard began to gradually slow.

Damn.

It hadn't stopped completely, but I could already see the color where the dart had landed.

Black. Single line.

Fragment of Life? Not even close.

Honestly, it was a minor miracle the tip had stuck at all with the board spinning like that.

Drrrrk, fwsh...

All three of us stepped closer and peered at the board.

[Void of ]

"...Oh."

An error?

I pulled the dart out and looked again. The text in front of "Void of" was blank.

"There's something missing before it. I don't think this section was here before."

Nothing felt any different in me, so it probably was just an error.

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

Yu Hyun-jae turned to look at me with a sudden, serious expression.

"It seems you've lost something."

"Pardon? What did I lose?"

"Oh dear. You don't even realize it. Seon Yu-han-ssi, you've forgotten a... phoneme."

Where was this coming from.

"Giyeok, nieun, digeut, rieul, mieum, bieup, siot, ieung. The phoneme right after that has vanished from your memory. It seems 'void' refers to the phenomenon of a gap forming in one's memory."

What on earth was this man saying.

Giyeok, nieun, digeut, rieul, mieum, bieup, siot, ieung.

The next one after that was obviously...

"Chieut, isn't it? What am I supposed to have forgotten? I think you must be mistaken."

"My name."

"Pardon?"

"My name. Do you remember it? This child's name? The names of our colleagues who died at Singyae Daily?"

I stared at the two of them blankly.

The moment those two pairs of eyes settled into me.

Goosebumps crawled across my entire body.

I understood.

I finally understood.

Wrong. One branch of the root that constituted them was wrong. Twisted from the foundation. Things that should not exist. They need to be removed. They carry within them an error that can never be permitted in this world. Things whose names cannot be spoken. Things that name themselves with a sound no one should dare pronounce. A sound that does not exist in the world. A sound that cannot be forgiven. That is what they have.

And

No no no don't think about it no that's wrong my name is no I can't describe myself without it because that is my promise what did my brother say I can't remember my brother's name I have to get rid of it what was it that said there were 4 people there was a word I longed for even more than family and I want to know that word I'm sure it was

In my roots too.

"Seon Yu-han-ssi!"

Right then, I drove the dart I was still holding into my own neck with everything I had.

Thunk.

Once.

Once was enough.

Unlike the vigorously spinning dartboard, my body just stood there, trembling faintly. No need to worry about missing.

A hot rush of blood, surging up, then falling like rain.

The sharp tip, grinding and pressing through skin.

That was the last sound I heard.

* * *

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

Damn it.

Damn it damn it damn it.

* * *

17-1. Do not hit the Void of ■■. You will forget it, deny it, and destroy it.

The central horror of this chapter turns on a Korean-language pun that is difficult to replicate in English. The dartboard section labeled "공허" (void/emptiness) causes the player to forget a Korean phoneme. Yu Hyun-jae lists the Korean consonants in order: ㄱ(giyeok), ㄴ(nieun), ㄷ(digeut), ㄹ(rieul), ㅁ(mieum), ㅂ(bieup), ㅅ(siot), ㅇ(ieung), and the next consonant in sequence is ㅈ(jieut). Seon Yu-han insists the next one is ㅊ(chieut), the consonant after jieut, because jieut has been erased from his memory. The section label "지읒의 공허" (Void of Jieut) was the dart zone that caused this erasure. The horror escalates because ㅈ(jieut) is the first consonant in 정지호 (Jeong Ji-ho) and 지호, making it impossible for the narrator to mentally process or recall those names. The "동공" (pupil) zones rely on a separate homophone: the word for pupil also means a hole or cavity (the hanja 洞空), matching the dart's puncture. In English, the specific consonant loss cannot be reproduced phonetically, so the passage is rendered to preserve the narrative logic (character insists the sequence skips a letter) while the Korean phoneme names are kept intact to signal the mechanism to attentive readers.

Footnotes:

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