WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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◈ How to Die in the Office Labyrinth ◈

Chapter 66: ex Machina

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【18】

A parricide who castrated his own father?

Come to think of it, there was a figure in mythology famous for exactly that.

【17】

Kronos.

Or Saturn.

And Saturn in English is "Saturn."

Saturn the planet.

So "those who circle him" would mean the moons orbiting Saturn.

"The one who went mad spinning without rules" would describe one specific moon among them.

【16】

Yu Hyun-jae went past two seconds for the first time.

His lips parted slightly, twitching, as if shapeless words were tied to the tip of his tongue.

【15】

Watching him, I felt a strange unease.

I didn't know much about moons, but this didn't seem like a riddle he should have any trouble with.

Why was he hesitating?

What was throwing him off?

【Among those who circle a parricide who castrated his own father, who is the one who went mad spinning without rules?】

As though he had his own separate answer in mind.

【14】

"Hyperion."

Yu Hyun-jae finally said the name.

【Correct!】

"......Is there a moon called Hyperion?"

"Ah. Right. I stumbled a little. The sentence was twisted too many ways."

Was that really all it was?

His expression did look genuinely thrown.

"In any case, among Saturn's moons, Hyperion is famous for its irregular rotation."

"Wow, really......"

Lee Na-hyun, who had been wide-eyed throughout Yu Hyun-jae's game, breathed out in admiration.

"But how do you know something like that? Was your major in that field when you were in school?"

Ah.

Hwang Ju-yeon went quiet. Lee Jin-su just moved his eyes.

That was when I realized it. Lee Na-hyun was a genuinely unusual person.

"I simply read quite a lot of books."

Most people already knew. It had been chewed over and discussed for years.

"I never attended university."

The fact that this prominent, highly visible businessman had only a high school diploma.

"Oh. Ah. Um. Er. I'm sorry......? I just didn't know......"

She had almost certainly come across that information at some point, through one channel or another.

She just forgot. That was all.

That was exactly the kind of person who would brush off Yu Hyun-jae's offer to go first and insist on playing True Stories herself.

"Hm?"

The co-representative of Uiwi Guild widened his eyes slightly and gave a light laugh.

"It's fine. I don't think that's something to apologize for. I understand why people do it, but to me it's not a flaw."

"Oh, then...... I'm not sorry?"

Yu Hyun-jae's laughter grew a little louder.

"Thank you for taking it back. Not many people do that. Even when I say I'm fine, most of them seem to want to stay in a position where they can pity me and find me admirable."

As he said it, he lowered his eyes calmly, as if he pitied and found admirable the very people he was describing.

Only it looked nothing like the smug superiority that drove them.

What his gaze held was something closer to tenderness. Deeply sincere tenderness.

In the end, it seems there are traits that survive unchanged no matter what.

Even after more than a decade of living through everything imaginable. Even when the world you inhabit has become something else entirely.

【Press right on the cross (✛) button to proceed to the next question.】

Click.

Yu Hyun-jae turned back to the game screen.

【Question IV】

The fourth question appeared.

【Does the well where the moon pools belong to the sea, a lake, or a pond?】

A pond.

【13】

"A pond."

【Correct!】

In the mountain valley of Muwon Township, Cheongwol District, Dalumul Village, there was a pond. Too small to call a lake, yet too wide and deep to feel like just a pond.

Every night the moon floated on the surface of the water as though pooling there, and that was how the place came to be called Dalumul, the "Moon-Well."

"A well where the moon pools, could that mean Dalumul? That village that was Labyrinthified years ago?"

"So you do remember. That's baseline knowledge for anyone joining our guild."

The co-representative of Uiwi Guild shrugged.

"In this country, Dalumul Village was certainly the first invasive-type Labyrinth at a village scale."

"Yes. That's how I know it."

"It was a tragic disaster in many ways. Labyrinths had only been around for three years at that point, and the Labyrinth Management Bureau's response was sorely lacking."

I stood quietly with my hands clasped behind my back, opening and closing my fist.

"Of course, I was just a kid about to finish high school at the time, so I didn't know the details. Looking back now, though...... the failures become visible."

At the very least they could have reduced the total amount of suffering, Yu Hyun-jae murmured, with a bitter edge.

Perhaps.

But now even that kind of reflection felt entirely hollow.

【Press right on the cross (✛) button to proceed to the next question.】

Click.

When I said nothing, Yu Hyun-jae cleared his throat and pressed the button.

【Question V】

【What is the opening line of the first book you ever ate?】

What does "ate a book" even mean.

【12】

A metaphor?

Or did it literally mean tearing out pages and eating them?

【11】

"'Call me Ishmael.'"

Yu Hyun-jae recited the line with an uncertain look.

【Correct!】

A brief silence settled over the arcade.

Even Lee Na-hyun said nothing.

I didn't feel much need to ask about that one either.

Yu Hyun-jae blinked a few times, then slowly opened his mouth.

"Didn't everyone eat a piece of paper at least once as a kid?"

So he really ate it.

"Oh! Now that you mention it, I think I tore up some worksheets and ate them too, back in the day. Because I didn't want to do them."

Lee Na-hyun was the only one who responded.

If only Chae Jae-ha had been here.

That man was so good at keeping up with Yu Hyun-jae.

"Hm. Is that so."

Yu Hyun-jae smoothed his expression, straightening the corner of his mouth as if trying to hide his embarrassment.

【Press right on the cross (✛) button to proceed to the next question.】

Click.

The co-representative of Uiwi Guild moved straight on to the next question.

【Question VI】

Already the sixth question.

I didn't know how many there were in total, but if it kept going like this, Yu Hyun-jae would probably clear the game without much trouble.

【List the following in order from most to least painful when removed with a kitchen knife.

㉮ Eye ㉯ Cheek ㉰ Tongue ㉱ Ear ㉲ Finger ㉳ Liver ㉴ Genitals ㉵ Toe】

What?

【10】

What kind of question is that.

I glanced at Yu Hyun-jae. In those pitch-black pupils staring blankly at the screen, green letters rippled.

【9】

How would anyone answer this.

Consulting with spectators had to be against the rules, and I couldn't have helped him even if it weren't.

Besides, wasn't this the kind of question where the answer differed from person to person?

【8】

【㉮ Eye ㉯ Cheek ㉰ Tongue ㉱ Ear ㉲ Finger ㉳ Liver ㉴ Genitals ㉵ Toe】

I read through the options again.

As luck or misfortune would have it, all but one had been severed or lost at some point. Thanks to the merch store's golden scales and the Neosoft Happyland game.

Though some of them were hazy now.

The things I went through at TARAE especially. Past a certain point, the memory gets unclear.

【7】

When unbearable pain goes on long enough, a person eventually, at some moment, separates themselves from it.

The concept that I am myself is an illusion.

The feeling that I am alive is a delusion.

I am a lump of flesh that can feel nothing.

【6】

Time kept counting down.

Yu Hyun-jae said nothing, turning the ring on his little finger over and over, like an old habit.

【5】

"Eye."

At first I thought he was talking to us.

Telling us to go.

It was only after the next word that I understood he wasn't.

【4】

"Finger."

Yu Hyun-jae was working through the question. Staring hard at the screen, boring through it.

Listing them one by one, whatever answers he believed were right.

The most painful places when removed with a kitchen knife, in order.

Eye. Then finger.

【3】

"Liver. Tongue."

【2】

"Toe. Genitals."

【1】

"Cheek. Ear."

Last of all, cheek and ear.

The countdown stopped at the same moment.

"......"

Everyone held their breath and stared at the screen.

【Incorrect!】

"Well."

"Ha."

I covered my mouth and let out a small breath.

Not a sigh of disappointment. Relief.

"Still, I thought it through as best I could."

If it had been correct.

I would have seriously had to think about what to do with Yu Hyun-jae.

A person who could objectively recognize and rank the level of pain from each body part couldn't possibly be all right.

This place already had enough of those.

"People can't always be right."

Yu Hyun-jae said it lightly.

It seemed less for his own sake than to settle everyone else down.

Lee Na-hyun, who had nearly been made to drink tea of unknown composition as a penalty for losing her own game, was watching him with concern, and so were Hwang Ju-yeon, Lee Jin-su, and Jeong Ji-ho.

Then.

New text appeared on the darkened screen.

【...Receiving oracle...】

Oracle?

Right.

The name of this game was Project Delphi.

Quite a grand name for what was just a riddle game. I'd forgotten.

【Oracle received!】

What kind of oracle was it delivering?

Was it some sort of test, using the questions answered so far?

【▾ Thus speaks the oracle to Hyeonje ▾】

【I | 0】

【II | The Monkey's Paw】

【III | Hyperion】

【IV | pond】

【V | Call me Ishmael】

【VI | Eye Finger Liver Tongue Toe Genitals Cheek Ear】

"......"

Wait. Was that all?

No matter how long we waited, nothing changed on the screen.

Yu Hyun-jae, the one who had received the oracle, looked just as puzzled, quietly taking in the green letters on the screen.

That was just a collection of the answers Yu Hyun-jae gave.

In what sense was that an oracle.

I started reading through Yu Hyun-jae's answers one more time from the top.

And without realizing it, I stepped back.

Was it true? Was that the truth? Was the future fixed? Was there something that couldn't be changed no matter how hard you struggled? Like Oedipus, who in the end killed his father and married his mother? How far ahead could the Labyrinth see? Or was it just a joke? Did it only want to plunge people into despair, then draw hope from that despair to make them wander deeper inside?

"Seon Yu-han-ssi? Is something wrong? Your expression doesn't look good."

Yu Hyun-jae, who had been staring at the screen for a while, had turned and was now looking at me.

Eyes that knew nothing. Nothing at all.

"If you're worried about me, please don't. Given the difficulty, the penalty probably isn't that severe."

"Ah. Oh...... yes."

I barely managed an answer and closed my mouth.

The green oracle was still written on the dark screen.

I stared at it again, reading down from the top.

【I | 0】

【II | The Monkey's Paw】

【III | Hyperion】

【IV | pond】

【V | Call me Ishmael】

【VI | Eye Finger Liver Tongue Toe Genitals Cheek Ear】

The oracle that Yu Hyun-jae received, no, the oracle he had delivered to himself.

"Y-o-u-c-a-n-n-e-v-e-r-l-e-a-v-e."

I couldn't bring myself to say those words out loud.

The chapter's central revelation is a wordplay cipher hidden in Yu Hyun-jae's oracle answers. The Korean letters of his answers, read by initial consonant (초성), spell out 영원히못나가 ("yeong-won-hi mot na-ga"), meaning "you can never leave / you will never get out." This is a Korean acrostic/consonant-reading puzzle that has no direct English equivalent. The translation renders the decoded sentence in spaced letters ("Y-o-u-c-a-n-n-e-v-e-r-l-e-a-v-e") to convey the narrator's horrified parsing of the hidden message, while the game panel text preserves Yu Hyun-jae's literal answers as given. Specifically: Question I answer 0명 (0 people), II 원숭이 손 (The Monkey's Paw), III 히페리온 (Hyperion), IV 못 (pond), V 나를 이스마엘이라 부르라 (Call me Ishmael), VI 가마바다아사나라 (the ordered body parts). The initial consonants of each answer's first syllable chain together: 영(ㅇ) 원(ㅇ) 히(ㅎ) 못(ㅁ) 나(ㄴ) 가(ㄱ) -- spelling out the hidden sentence.

Footnotes:

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