WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ How to Die in the Office Labyrinth ◈

Chapter 60: One-Year Button

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【Don't worry! It will hurt. The minor curse will make you miserable: tongue】

I found the light on the run where I had my tongue cut out down to the root, right after clearing the Happyland game.

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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗦

𝘛𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴

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Maybe that was why, but the moment the game started, a debuff message like that appeared, and I had no real sense of what kind of curse it was.

It seemed to be some debuff that made resistance impossible, but I felt no particular change.

Going through the maze, nothing seemed off.

No problem even when the monsters came charging at me.

But the instant I picked up the fragment of light that had spilled from the sphere of radiance and turned to retrace my steps back through the maze,

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𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚈 𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴𝙻 𝙸𝚂 𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚁𝙾𝚁

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a song drifted in from somewhere.

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𝚆𝙾𝙴 𝙸𝚂 𝙼𝙴

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A melody as soft as a lullaby, as mournful as a funeral march.

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𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝚈𝙴𝚃 𝚂𝚃𝙸𝙻𝙻, 𝙺𝙽𝙾𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙾𝙵 𝚈𝙾𝚄, 𝙸 𝚂𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚈𝙾𝚄, 𝙰𝙻𝙼𝙾𝚂𝚃 𝙳𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙻𝚈 𝙱𝙸𝚁𝙳𝚂 𝙾𝙵 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚂𝙾𝚄𝙻

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A song only I could hear.

Only me, the one inside.

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𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙰𝚁𝙴 𝚈𝙾𝚄

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I...

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𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚈 𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴𝙻 𝙸𝚂 𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚁𝙾𝚁

==========================

As the song slowly faded, a dark presence shouldered its way roughly into the silence.

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<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙳𝙾 𝙽𝙾𝚃 𝙽𝙴𝙴𝙳

<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝚃 𝙷 𝙰 𝚃

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My whole body froze and I dropped the light.

Both legs stopped dead, as if nailed to the ground.

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<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝙰𝙼 𝙱𝙴𝙻𝙾𝚆 𝚈𝙾𝚄

==========================

Like invisible, thick roots had coiled around me.

Something was waiting for me.

In the darkness crawling before my eyes.

Beyond the light, cradled in shadow.

A chill cold enough to make the real me flinch.

𝙵𝙾𝚁𝚆𝙰𝚁𝙳

𝙻𝙴𝙵𝚃　✛　𝚁𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃

𝙱𝙰𝙲𝙺

I forced my fist open and closed and put my hand on the game panel.

Click.

Left. Left first.

But my in-game self didn't respond, like a character that had lost its connection.

Instead of a script saying I had turned left, something else appeared on screen.

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<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝙽𝙾

<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝙽𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁 𝙷𝙰𝚅𝙴 𝙻𝙴𝙵𝚃

<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝙽𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁 𝚆𝙸𝙻𝙻

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Is this lunatic seriously playing word games right now.

Click.

Right.

I couldn't move right either.

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<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝚆𝚁𝙾𝙽𝙶

<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝙺𝙽𝙾𝚆 𝚆𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙸𝚂 𝚁𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃

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Back.

I couldn't go back either.

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<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙽𝙾𝚃 𝙶𝙾 𝙱𝙰𝙲𝙺

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Only one path remained.

Forward.

Move forward.

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<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝚈𝙴𝚂

<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙴 𝙸𝙽𝚆𝙰𝚁𝙳

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Go inward.

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<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙰𝚁𝙴 𝙸𝙽 𝙼𝙴

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Step into the embrace of a presence so formless it was as if shadow had been carved away and draped over something like a second skin.

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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗦

𝘛𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴

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Truly irresistible. A force majeure of a curse, exactly as advertised.

I had found the light by the shortest possible route.

All I had left to do was find the seed, till the soil, tend the garden.

One wrong curse and the whole plan was falling apart.

This was my first time running into this thing in the current loop, but I had a feeling I couldn't bluff my way out of it the way I had when I woke up in the maze.

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<𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚝> 𝙸 𝙰𝙼 𝙸𝙽 𝚈𝙾𝚄

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A black shadow slipped into the mouth of the dot-character swallowed by the dark.

I didn't even scream. I accepted it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

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𝙴 𝚅 𝙴 𝚁 𝚈　𝙰 𝙽 𝙶 𝙴 𝙻　𝙸 𝚂　𝚃 𝙴 𝚁 𝚁 𝙾 𝚁 ⸎

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The distant sound of my companions panicking reached me faintly from outside.

Strangely, though, it didn't feel like it was doing me any harm.

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＊ 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙻𝙾𝚂𝚃

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Oh. Guess it was.

Harm very much done, you piece of garbage.

* * *

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

......Come to think of it, I had never seen a "YOU LOST" script before.

Even when I took a wrong turn in the maze and died, nothing like that had appeared.

Why did it only show up now?

* * *

"Oh, there are exactly seven of us, aren't there?"

The moment Hosoo finished his explanation in the lounge, Lee Na-hyun looked around and called out.

Right. Exactly seven.

Somehow Lee Jin-su had not died, I had gotten out of the Happyland game with nothing worse than a missing toenail, and I had tracked down Lee Na-hyun right away and brought her along.

"Yeah. So... can't we just start that final game right now and get off this floor?"

"Hold on, let me check a few things first."

I cut Chae Jae-ha off before he could go any further.

Someone always died in Hosoo's final game. Two people at minimum.

'The final game does have a minimum number of players required to enjoy it together. It's less upsetting to me when only a quarter of the friends playing my game die rather than half.'

That was the truth I had won from Doi in our showdown.

"So how many people die in that final game?"

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

"Then does playing the other games first help?"

"The more games you win, the better things will happen."

Like the Fragment of Life listed on the Puncture Darts board.

That was probably the chance to reverse those deaths.

Win the other games and you earned extra lives as a reward.

[𝙶𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚜𝚢𝚌𝚑𝚎]

[𝙰𝚆𝙰𝙺𝙴]

That was the reason I had to clear this game on this run, no matter what.

Win it and I would know for certain.

I somehow talked the other six into sitting down at the game cabinet.

"All right, let's try."

I was almost there.

I knew how to get the water, knew the path to the light. My tongue was intact, so no force-majeure curse to worry about.

All I had left was to find the seed.

It was possible the system only revealed the seed after you gathered both water and light, came home, and finished tilling the soil.

So I could not afford to waste this chance.

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＊ 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙰𝚆𝙾𝙺𝙴

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* * *

What is this?

The dot-character holding the fragment of light was just standing quietly in the front yard.

I stared blankly at the maze I had just cleared without any trouble.

Why wasn't anything happening?

I had tilled the soil, cleared out the swan remains, made rope from the monsters I had killed in the maze to refill the well. Everything done.

Where was my seed?

"Maybe you have to wait a little...... The whole thing feels like a game meant to be played slowly, with some wandering. Maybe the system just can't keep up because you cleared the maze so fast, Seon Yu-han-ssi......"

The anxiety churning in my gut slowly settled.

"Sometimes when users speedrun through the late-game content, the system can't follow along. It hasn't even been a full day in the game yet, has it......"

Lee Jin-su was right.

There was no point rushing.

A plant couldn't sprout and grow in a day or two to begin with.

I should rest at home for a bit.

Sleep a few nights and something would change.......

* * *

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＊ 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙵𝙴𝙴𝙻 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚁𝚂𝚃

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I snapped awake.

A fierce thirst hit me like my insides were shriveling up.

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＊ 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙰𝚆𝙾𝙺𝙴

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Thirsty. So thirsty. So desperately, unbearably thirsty.

My throat felt dry enough to tear apart like paper.

Water. I had to drink water. Where was it?

Water. Well. Dry throat. Water. Gut. Hide. Water. Rope. Water. Water. Water. Water.

Click.

Click.

Click.

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＊ 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙾𝙿𝙴𝙽𝙴𝙳 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙳𝙾𝙾𝚁

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I barely managed to open the door and stumble outside.

The unbearable thirst split my head open.

Dizzy, like every drop of blood had drained from my body.

Click.

Gulp.

Click.

Gulp.

Click.

Gulp.

I plunged my head into the well and drank in a frenzy.

Each mouthful was sweet as something heavenly.

So sweet it made my throat ache.

The thirst finally passed only once every vein felt flooded, full, satisfied.

Then at last the desperate, parched cry of instinct searching for water beneath my scorched throat went quiet.

Oh.

―――――――――――――――

Q: "How often should I water it?"

A: "Every time the cry of thirst is heard."

―――――――――――――――

Oh. Oh.......

I finally understood.

Where the seed was.

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＊ 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙰𝚆𝙾𝙺𝙴 𝙰𝚃 𝙻𝙰𝚂𝚃

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It was inside me.

From the very beginning.

From the moment I first opened my eyes in this garden.

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＊ 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙵𝙴𝙴𝙻 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙿𝚁𝙴𝚂𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽 𝚈𝙾𝚄

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* * *

(Ugh, this isn't some kind of parasite thing, is it? Something like this shows up in Alien movies...... The host gets it inside them and then later, like, gives birth to an alien......)

(Seon Yu-han-ssi, you said you were still conscious inside the game. Are you all right? It might be better to find a way to stop here.)

I knew what I was going to do to myself.

Same as always.

(Did I? I was so tense earlier I must have gotten too absorbed in it. I'm fine.)

Even if it would break me apart.

(I have no intention of stopping here.)

* * *

That is nothing but a character.

A scrap of data made of zeros and ones.

Footnotes:

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