How to Die in the Office Labyrinth - Chapter 72

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

◈ How to Die in the Office Labyrinth ◈

Chapter 72: Come One, Come All, Let's Play

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"It's the school lunch! It must be because of the school lunch... I bought bread from the snack bar today, you see. The menu looked awful, so... You didn't eat it either, did you, teacher! Right?"

Monsters without faces, without names, without voices. Existing only as words on a page.

"Stab. One shot. You can do it."

"Yeah. They'd all be dead."

"I wonder. What if you all just killed yourselves?"

The Singyae Daily: a Labyrinth of monsters that could no longer live as human beings.

Every article in the Singyae Daily was set against a real backdrop, but none of the events had actually happened.

At first I thought they were incidents that would occur in the future. Later, I stopped thinking about it much at all.

I'd simply assumed it was a space where you had to survive against monsters in the shape of teenage boys and girls, set in reality the way an invasive-type Labyrinth would be.

"By the way, please note that all of these incidents are based on true events."

But all of it was real?

[Problem: W skipped lunch due to a stomachache. X had snack bar food for lunch. Y skipped lunch due to a lack of appetite. Z ate lunch in the cafeteria. All four were found dead several hours later. What happened? (Questions remaining: 21)]

But these events clearly hadn't happened in the past.

The same was true for the other articles, and nothing even remotely similar had occurred at that middle school.

...And this arcade just happened to be called Future Arcade.

There was even a game here that delivered oracles.

So maybe it really was tied to the future.

Those draft articles from the Singyae Daily, too? All of them?

But that made no sense. The idea that two teenagers could be responsible for every single one of those incidents.

Maybe the future branched at certain turning points, and depending on which branch was taken, one of those incidents would come to pass.

Or maybe I was overcomplicating it, and the floors were simply connected to one another in small ways, the outcome shifting based on what each person experienced on each floor.

"Were all four deaths homicides?"

Not that I had to believe the host's claim that the incidents in this game were true.

"Yes."

Looking at that strangely mechanical, almost programmed way of responding, I got the sense that while it might conceal things, it wouldn't actually lie.

"Was Z the only one who was poisoned, because Z ate the cafeteria lunch?"

The co-representative of Uiwi Guild had noticed, too, of course.

The only person who had read that article about the mass death at their own alma mater carefully enough.

"Yes."

"Were all four killed by the same person?"

That would be a no.

If this was really based on the events in that article.

"No."

There were two killers. If the question was whether it was the "same person," it could only come back as a denial.

"Were there more than two people responsible for their deaths?"

"No."

So two it was.

"Did the killers directly attack the people who hadn't eaten the cafeteria food?"

"Yes."

Hosoo had been smiling the whole time since the third problem started. From what I'd observed, he tended to smile like that when someone asked a question that was closing in on the truth.

"Ah... wait. Could this incident be the one from earlier..."

"Hm? Which one?"

Around then, Hwang Ju-yeon recalled the article she'd skimmed at the Singyae Daily and explained it to Lee Na-hyun.

"No way, so those articles were real too?"

"I'm not sure... As far as I know, most of those articles described things that never happened. That's right, isn't it, Seon Yu-han-ssi?"

"Yes. Probably none of it ever happened. You could think of it as something that will happen someday, but..."

"Hmm."

Yu Hyun-jae let out a faint sigh and studied the card, apparently piecing together the incident from the clues given so far.

Most of the important threads were already on the table. The shape of the case had probably already taken form.

Two killers poisoned the school lunch to kill whoever ate it, so Z died. Then they directly attacked the three who hadn't eaten the cafeteria food and killed them, so W died.

But that couldn't be all there was to it.

"I'm not afraid to die if it means I can kill someone else. We're prepared. We have been for a long, long time."

Those kids had been prepared. Not just to kill, but to die.

And even though the incident no longer existed, Yu Hyun-jae had said it with their own mouth.

That those kids were included among the "entire student body" who had died.

"Ah."

Yu Hyun-jae's mouth finally opened.

"Among W, X, and Y, two of them are the killers?"

The host's lips split into a grin that threatened to tear the corners of their mouth apart.

"Yes."

"Wow... so the students were the killers? That's hard to believe..."

The distress from moments ago had vanished completely. Lee Na-hyun was already absorbed in the problem.

"Is W one of the killers?"

Going through them one by one, it seemed.

"No."

The corners of Yu Hyun-jae's mouth lifted ever so slightly, then settled back down.

Lucky.

If two of W, X, and Y were killers, and W wasn't one of them, then X and Y were confirmed by elimination.

"Correct answer."

"Yes, Yu Hyun-jae-nim. Please state the answer."

"X and Y poisoned the school lunch to kill everyone who ate it, resulting in Z's death as the primary method. Then X and Y directly attacked and killed those who hadn't eaten the cafeteria food, resulting in W's death. Finally, X and Y must have ended each other's lives."

"A perfect answer. Yu Hyun-jae-nim has solved the third incident."

Hosoo said that, then immediately tilted his head.

"That's puzzling to me. Didn't you take quite a long way around?"

What?

"You could have gotten there faster. Yu Hyun-jae-nim is very cautious."

He was saying that having read the article, they could have arrived at the answer using fewer questions.

"Being careful never hurt anyone. That's what I've learned from living."

"......"

The host gave no reply to that either and moved on.

"Yu Hyun-jae-nim. Would you like to continue to the next incident? Or would you prefer to stop enjoying True Stories here?"

The same question every time.

Stopping here would probably earn them as many Fragments of Life as problems they'd solved, and that would be that. Pressing on and getting one wrong the way Lee Na-hyun had meant losing all accumulated Fragments of Life and receiving a penalty on top of it. That seemed to be the system.

The real trick was correctly judging the difficulty of the next problem and whether the remaining questions would be enough to crack it.

Fourteen questions remaining.

Still plenty, but if the next problem had nothing to do with the Singyae Daily articles and turned out to be complicated, it might not be enough.

"Regrettable as it is, I'll stop here."

A business smile that looked not the least bit regretful.

"Congratulations. Yu Hyun-jae-nim has obtained a Fragment of Life."

Yu Hyun-jae examined the newly acquired gold coin fragment, then compared it to Hwang Ju-yeon's one-third piece.

"About one-seventh, I'd say."

Three problems solved, one-seventh.

So it would take twenty-one problems total to complete one coin.

"What if Seon Yu-han-ssi or Hwang Ju-yeon-ssi tried the next problem? You both already know the answers up through the third incident, so you should be able to solve the fourth with twenty-one questions to work with."

"Oh! That works! If we keep rotating like that, we could collect coins pretty fast, right? Leaving Ji-ho's friend aside."

Oh.

You could do it that way. Like trading off labor.

Each person solves what they can, then passes the turn to the next player. So whoever goes next has twenty-one questions to work with on the new problem.

A very clever... and "kind" approach.

Far better than a strategy of winning people over and then using the person before you as a sacrifice.

"Actually, wait, can each person only play once? Hosoo-nim?"

"Yes. Everyone only gets one chance to solve the incidents in True Stories."

If people kept rotating like this, someday someone might be able to complete a full coin without asking a single question.

Not that doing something so obvious wouldn't invite suspicion. Though making excuses was always an option.

"By the way, if we combine everyone's pieces right now, we'd have just over one coin. Can we still merge them?"

"Yes. They can be divided into whatever sizes are needed for the combination."

The host caught Hwang Ju-yeon's question on its own and answered it.

"Then I'll transfer mine to the representative. Seon Yu-han-ssi, you transfer yours too, and let's complete one. What do you think?"

"Yes, that's fine. As I said."

I picked up my gold coin fragment from the table where Hwang Ju-yeon had pointed.

"Seon Yu-han-ssi did say he wasn't claiming a share, but honestly, his piece is the biggest. Just so you know. So if there's no one in immediate danger, you're allowed to weigh in on how to use it."

This person genuinely believed the gold coin could "fix" me.

I couldn't bring myself to laugh at that earnest expression, so I just nodded.

"Congratulations. Yu Hyun-jae-nim has completed one coin of Life."

After a series of transfers and combinations, one complete gold coin took shape.

Yu Hyun-jae held the coin up toward Hosoo.

"Can this one Life count as one of the two missing members?"

"That's puzzling to me. Can a coin enjoy a game?"

"Oh dear. A workaround won't fly after all."

"Then I'll give it a go next."

Hwang Ju-yeon pointed at the True Stories box with a slightly disgruntled look.

"I just have to reason toward whatever's most extreme and horrifying, right?"

"Yes! Sort of a 'how could something like this actually exist in the real world' feeling, and you'll probably be on the right track!"

"Hwang Ju-yeon-nim. Would you like to enjoy True Stories?"

"Yes."

Hwang Ju-yeon worked through the third incident without trouble, and they were all about to move into the fourth incident, which none of them had seen before.

"Now, the fourth inc--"

The host stopped mid-sentence.

A bad sign.

"Why... what, what is it..."

Without answering, Hosoo's brow furrowed.

At the same time, his mouth split into a grin wide enough to tear. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Shoulders shaking without a sound.

That was more than a bad sign.

I understood that death was coming.

"What a shame."

Hosoo's panoramic pupils rippled, and tears dripped from those enormous eyes.

Then, still with that smile soaked into his voice, he spoke.

"None of our friends will be able to enjoy the final game."

Ha.

The minimum number of players required for the final game was seven.

Which meant there was now not even the slightest chance of the final game starting.

In other words, the total number of people still alive in this Labyrinth had dropped below seven.

"Well, then..."

Hosoo pressed his lips to the long wooden staff he'd been holding.

A kiss light as a feather, soundless. Yet heavy as a vow, solemn enough to feel sacred.

The moment the lips of its owner lifted away.

Shssss--

The old staff, now breathing, writhed in Hosoo's hand as if shedding its skin, and with a dry, crawling sound, scales began to rise across its surface.

And at last.

"Eeeeaaaagh!"

Shhk--

It became one enormous snake, coiling itself around Hosoo's body.

"It seems time to say goodbye to the friends who weren't worthy of the final game."

A few things I came to know for certain from this incident.

One: Yu Hyun-jae is the sort of person with remarkable character who could lock a Labyrinth survivor back inside just to run experiments, and at the same time the sort of person with strange character who could hand over a Life to a child while moments away from dying.

Two: Mass elimination due to insufficient headcount cannot be averted even with a Life.

Three: The arcade is the kind of space that knows how to lock its doors when it needs to.

Four: Snakes crush people.

* * *

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

From that point until I managed to gather seven people and reach the arcade again, I had to die thirteen more times.

Footnotes:

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