WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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◈ How to Die in the Office Labyrinth ◈

Chapter 63: Labyrinth Turtle Soup

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A young woman with bleached yellow hair in a semi-punk style. Across from her, the host, who looked like a saint with horizontal pupils dressed in casual clothes.

Lee Na-hyun and Hosoo sat facing each other at the table.

On the table sat a board game box barely the size of a palm.

[True Stories]

She'd been mulling it over for a while.

Looks like she'd finally decided to play.

"Let me give you a quick explanation."

Hosoo said in his easy, warm voice.

"'True Stories' is a game where you figure out the truth behind an incident through questions and answers. The front of each card shows a short problem description and a cute illustration related to that incident. The back, which describes the full story, can only be checked after Lee Na-hyun-nim has declared the correct answer."

I listened quietly to the rest of the explanation and drifted toward the four people standing further back.

Hwang Ju-yeon, Yu Hyun-jae, Lee Jin-su, and Jeong Ji-ho.

"So have the three of you decided on a game as well?"

It wasn't like anyone could skip the games entirely.

The host had warned us, indirectly but clearly enough, not to spend our time doing nothing.

"We're still thinking. Honestly, none of us feel confident about anything......"

"I'm considering one of those arcade games over there."

Didn't he say something about board games?

"If we can play as long as Seon Yu-han-ssi did earlier, it would be a good way to kill time until someone new arrives and we hit seven people."

Ah. He probably figured games with playtimes as long as Garden of Psyche would do.

Yu Hyun-jae was still expecting someone new to show up.

I'd stopped believing we could reach seven without someone dying again. But from Yu Hyun-jae's perspective, there wasn't really another option.

"So I was actually going to go first. But she turned out to have more spine than I expected."

The co-representative of Uiwi Guild glanced toward Lee Na-hyun and let out a small, rueful smile, brow furrowed.

Fair enough. He probably wasn't used to people ignoring his lead.

"Lee Na-hyun-nim, all you need to do is ask me questions and use my answers to figure out the truth behind the incident. Simple, right?"

I turned my attention back as Hosoo's explanation continued.

Even for a game I wasn't playing, it paid to listen carefully to the rules.

"However, you only get one chance to declare the answer per incident, so choose carefully."

"What happens if I get it wrong?"

"If you're curious, you'll have to find out for yourself. Where's the fun if you know everything going in?"

"Ugh, that's so mean."

"Minor errors in unimportant details will be overlooked. I'm a very flexible host."

"That's still mean no matter how you spin it......"

First muttering about how good-looking the Labyrinth's monster was, and now sulking like this. That attitude itself was proof of what made Lee Na-hyun tick.

"Lee Jin-su-ssi, have you decided? On a game."

I picked up the conversation during the brief lull while Hosoo's explanation paused.

"Oh, uh, yeah, well...... I was thinking about those screen games over there at first, but I want to think a bit more......"

That surprised me.

I'd half-expected him to shoot his hand up first and volunteer to die.

...... Maybe because his entire right arm got blown off during the Happyland game.

I wasn't going to stop anyone who wanted to die at this point.

We were already down to six after Chae Jae-ha died. What difference did five or four make?

"My arm being like this, and all...... Someone told me it might be better to do games later......"

Lee Jin-su said quietly, eyes darting around.

Ah. So that's why he wasn't going first.

He was the type who couldn't push back easily and got swept along by the mood. Even when he worked up the courage to do something, it fizzled fast.

"Ji-ho......"

My gaze moved to the child gripping Hwang Ju-yeon's sleeve.

"Is anything bothering you? You can sleep if you want. Or maybe I should have grabbed more snacks on the way back."

"Oh, Ji-ho says it's fine."

Hwang Ju-yeon took the child's hand and gently drew them closer.

"By the way, how are you doing, Yu-han-ssi? Your face looks a little swollen. Hmm, would medicine help with something like that?"

I'd been looking at the child half-hidden behind Hwang Ju-yeon and now looked up.

"Yeah. Normally you'd ice it. It's not bleeding or anything."

"Oh, then should I go grab some ice from the convenience store?"

"I'm fine. I considered it, but it looked like it would go down on its own, so I just came back."

"First. I will only answer closed questions. Please ask questions that can be answered with 'yes' or 'no.'"

Hosoo's explanation resumed, and my conversation with Hwang Ju-yeon wrapped up naturally.

"Second. I will not answer questions that are unnecessary or off-topic. Knowing what's relevant is a timeless virtue. I know the truth, but I cannot tell you."

I stood there listening to the rules and quietly thought.

He's being unusually guarded around me.

Why?

Too many things to pin it on.

Was it because I'd already earned one coin of Life?

Or had I been too forceful with Chae Jae-ha just before he died?

Or did it look strange that Chae Jae-ha had gone crazy and killed himself while I hadn't?

Or......

'How. How...... can you do something like that without even flinching...... Get away from me! Don't touch me! If you can do that to yourself, what wouldn't you do to others? You monster......'

Was it those words?

Maybe something had been said while I was away for a bit.

Not that it mattered much.

It wasn't a bad sign, either.

Even if they'd conspired to stab me in the back and steal my gold coins the moment things got dicey, that was fine.

It wasn't like I'd survive again just to spite them.

Wanting to live that badly was normal.

Having to go that far was right.

Having to go that far.

You should have gone that far. All of you......

"The more incidents you solve correctly, the larger your Fragment of Life grows. Also, please know that every incident in this game is based on a true story."

The True Stories game was about to start.

I took a few steps toward the table to get a better view of the card.

Hosoo wasn't stopping me, so watching seemed fine.

Of course, any discussion between spectators and participants about the answers would count as a rules violation.

Even without the host spelling that out, it was obvious enough.

This was the same guy who hadn't mentioned the throwing line on the floor during the darts game.

A friendly manner doesn't change what a monster is.

"Now, the first incident!"

Hosoo held out the top card from the deck.

A simple hand-drawn illustration of a single-door refrigerator, nothing else.

Below the drawing was the problem.

[Problem: A man opened a refrigerator door, then closed it again. A few minutes later, the man was dead. What happened? (Questions remaining: 21)]

"Wait. Questions remaining...... does that mean questions are limited?"

"Yes."

[Problem: A man opened a refrigerator door, then closed it again. A few minutes later, the man was dead. What happened? (Questions remaining: 20)]

"Ah! Ahhh! No! That wasn't a question! Ugh, that's so unfair! Who does something like this...!"

"......"

[Problem: A man opened a refrigerator door, then closed it again. A few minutes later, the man was dead. What happened? (Questions remaining: 19)]

"Eek! Ngh-aaaaaugh......!"

That person, honestly.

So even a muttered rhetorical like "who does something like this" counted if it was phrased as a question.

"Was the man inside a Labyrinth?"

A solid start, for someone who'd just wasted two questions.

Whether the incident took place inside or outside a Labyrinth completely changes the range of things that could have happened.

"No."

If it was an incident outside a Labyrinth, at least the guessing could stay within the bounds of normal physical laws.

"Did the man kill himself?"

"Yes."

Then the question was why he'd killed himself.

Lee Na-hyun, who'd been yanking at her yellow hair a moment ago, now stared at the host with a focused expression.

Every question had to count.

"Was what was inside the refrigerator a decisive cause of the man's suicide?"

The corners of Hosoo's mouth curved up.

"Yes."

What that established: the refrigerator wasn't empty, there was something inside it, and whatever it was, it was the kind of thing that could drive a man to kill himself.

"Hmm, was what was in the refrigerator a person?"

An obvious question.

The incidents in this game often involved crimes. The most famous problem in the game has always been about human flesh.

"Yes."

As expected. What was in the refrigerator was a person.

That gave the story some shape.

A few more confirmations and she'd reach the answer.

Lee Na-hyun still had 15 questions left.

Plenty of room.

"Was the person inside the refrigerator a family member, friend, or romantic partner of the man?"

"No."

No?

I'd assumed he'd been driven to suicide by the shock of seeing a loved one's body.

Lee Na-hyun looked mildly thrown off too, which suggested she'd been thinking along the same lines.

"Then was it someone the man had never met?"

"No."

Not a stranger either?

Someone he knew, but not family, not a friend, not a partner?

How were you supposed to figure that out. The possibilities were endless.

"Augh...... Was the identity of the person in the refrigerator the decisive factor in the man's suicide?"

"Yes."

"Ha, then how on earth was anyone supposed to figure that......"

Lee Na-hyun caught herself and stared wide-eyed at the card.

[Problem: A man opened a refrigerator door, then closed it again. A few minutes later, the man was dead. What happened? (Questions remaining: 12)]

She hadn't lost one that time.

"Did the man die in his own home?"

Lee Na-hyun seemed to decide she couldn't figure out who was in the refrigerator within 12 questions, and shifted toward other details.

"No."

So whose refrigerator was it, and why was the man there?

"Was the place where the man died the home of the person in the refrigerator?"

"No."

"Uh...... Did the man kill the person inside the refrigerator?"

The corners of Hosoo's mouth curved up again.

"Yes."

So the man himself had been the one to put a body in the refrigerator. The setting was some third location, not the man's home or the victim's.

It wasn't unusual for someone to flee into death when they couldn't live with what they'd done.

"Did the man kill himself because he was afraid his crime would be exposed, or out of guilt?"

"No."

"Then what on earth......"

That was Hwang Ju-yeon's voice, not Lee Na-hyun's.

I looked over. Hwang Ju-yeon and Lee Jin-su both had their brows knitted in confusion, and Yu Hyun-jae was staring somewhere into the middle distance with a focused, inward look. Jeong Ji-ho was tilting his head trying to follow along, and the moment our eyes met, he ducked back behind Hwang Ju-yeon and Yu Hyun-jae.

"Did the man know who was in the refrigerator before he opened it?"

"Yes."

Stranger and stranger.

He already knew who was inside, so why suddenly kill himself.

And the person wasn't close to him. He hadn't feared exposure. He hadn't felt guilt.

"Hmm, ummm...... Did the man kill himself by swallowing something lethal or by cutting himself to bleed out?"

"No."

If it wasn't poison or blood loss, there weren't many ways to die.

"Uhh......"

Lee Na-hyun grabbed her own head again.

Only 6 questions left now.

"Nngh......"

She stared hard at the front of the card, not caring that a few strands of yellow hair were dropping onto the table.

"Hm?"

Then she stopped cold and looked up.

"Did the man absolutely have to close the refrigerator door again?"

"Yes."

Which meant closing the refrigerator wasn't just an incidental, meaningless action. It played a critical role in the incident.

I turned the problem over again in my mind.

[Problem: A man opened a refrigerator door, then closed it again. A few minutes later, the man was dead. What happened? (Questions remaining: 5)]

The man opened the refrigerator door and closed it. For some reason, he had to close it.

Then he successfully killed himself. In just a few minutes.

I looked at the front of the card again and paused.

A single illustration of a firmly shut refrigerator, alone on the card......

......Oh. Could it be.

Now I understood.

What I'd been misreading this whole time.

Footnotes:

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