WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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◈ How to Die in the Office Labyrinth ◈

Chapter 75: That Crying Will Last Forever

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"What the hell are you talking about...? You're seriously going to kick people out one by one every time you think someone might be a wolf? You know people will die if you do that, right?"

"...As I said, I don't want to die either-"

"-If you don't want to die, that makes it okay to kill?"

So then, is quietly dying without killing anyone the truly righteous path?

Since I'll just be brought back anyway, is it enough to simply die clean?

If I die as a "good and innocent" being, is that sufficient?

"You want to win that badly? Badly enough to kill for it?"

So what, I should just die? Do nothing and let myself die? Is that what you all want? Is dying nobly the righteous thing? You'd rather not survive? You'd rather die than kill?

Why?

Is dying easy? Is living easy?

Is it not okay to survive? Not okay to keep living? Can't you try a little harder to stay alive? Even if your desperate struggle kills me over and over again, can't you keep living anyway? Can't you fight for life itself, the living breath of it, rather than for some noble principle in death? Instead of lying there dying quietly, can't you kill if you have to and keep going?

"You're not saying you'd even, no. Ji-ho. That little kid...? You wouldn't touch them, right?"

"That's..."

I will win. Someday, without fail.

If I lose this time, then next time. If I lose next time, then the time after that. If I lose the time after that, then the time after that.

A future where I have been defeated does not exist. Whether I want it to or not.

On the premise that I win, anyone who is not on my side dies.

In effect, I'm the one killing them.

"The more you win at the games, the more wonderful things will happen to you."

That is why this Labyrinth offers a chance to buy back death with the gold coin of "life."

"And if you lose?"

"Something sad will happen."

Here, a chance not to die means a chance not to kill.

That I couldn't place that chance in their hands.

That alone I feel sorry for.

"Then what, exactly, are we supposed to do...? If we sit here and do nothing, nobody gets out. So you're saying it's fine if we just stay trapped here and die?"

"That's...! Even so, we have to find some way where not everyone dies!"

These people don't know about "life."

I made sure of that.

I didn't give them a chance to find out or time to look into it. I pushed them straight into the final game.

Purely for myself.

Because I was afraid the numbers might drop below seven during one of the other games. Because I might have to watch that many people die again just to get another group this size together.

The moment an opportunity to play the final game arrived, I led everyone into it and seized that chance.

Knowing that at least two people would die in this game.

"Whether there's really a way for everyone to survive... I honestly don't know either. You know where we are."

So even if I come back someday and win all seven "lives" on my own and rescue every last one of them from this arcade, that doesn't cancel out what I've done.

Because I'll still remember, even if it's as though it never happened?

Not at all.

Not for some romantic reason like that.

Simply because this isn't that kind of equivalent exchange.

I die and come back to life.

But just because I come back, is my death truly something reversible?

Is life compensation for that death?

Killing and then saving is no different.

Taking a life is taking a life, and salvation is salvation.

That's all there is to it.

Killing and then saving does not lighten the sin, and saving and then killing does not make it compoundingly heavier.

"So, if there's someone I suspect of being a wolf..."

Sin accumulates as much as it is committed, and atonement does not live inside a reversible cycle of life and death.

"I will exile them."

So please. Let no one forgive me.

So that I can make it out alive.

* * *

"Is there really no one you want to exile?"

As the sun neared setting, Hosoo made a slow circuit behind the group, checking each person's answer one by one, then asked again with a sulk.

Secretly signaling the host with the intention to exile was impossible.

A truly cruel game.

"Can't be helped."

The host, who had drooped his shoulders in exaggerated disappointment, smiled brightly as if none of that had happened.

"The sun sets beyond the pasture, and no one has left."

Hosoo stretched one hand out softly, as if tracing an invisible horizon far in the distance.

The hem of his old, worn shirt, fraying through at the wrist cuff, fluttered like a breath of wind.

"Night falls, and the famished predator who cannot sleep creeps out."

Hosoo's hand traced another line through the air, and a familiar darkness seeped in.

Once again the surrounding scenery and the faces of the people around me were swallowed by shadow.

Only the empty table where I sat and the host's infuriating smile remained.

"Identity check."

"Yes, Seon Yu-han-nim. Who do you think is the wolf?"

I jerked my chin toward the empty seat on my right.

"Yu Hyun-jae."

The reason I had talked about voting and then didn't follow through during the day was obviously because of this identity check. You have to secure the cards the game requires before the hand begins.

"Yes. Seon Yu-han-nim suspects Yu Hyun-jae-nim of being a wolf. Confirming the truth."

Yu Hyun-jae, who had introduced himself as a sheep, had looked like a lying wolf no matter how I looked at him.

"Yu Hyun-jae-nim is not a wolf."

"...What?"

For a moment I thought I'd heard wrong.

"Yu Hyun-jae is a sheep? One of my own?"

Then why had he acted like that?

He'd just been genuinely nervous and shaking?

Wait.

Or had he deliberately crafted that expression?

Did the wolves know how to read his face?

Was he trying to seem like one of their kind?

If so, he was a truly frightening person.

"Ha..."

My protection card was gone, just like that.

A penalty was confirmed.

"Is the penalty not being able to vote tomorrow?"

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

"True... You're right."

Nothing to be done about what's already passed.

It wasn't like I'd planned to use it on myself today anyway.

"Aren't you worried? You might get hunted."

"I'm not sure... If I were a wolf, I don't think I'd kill someone like me. I'd watch a little longer."

For now, in a situation where no one could vote carelessly, someone like me who had openly stated a willingness to vote could create a kind of pressure that nudged others to vote. Meaning the wolves could trim the sheep count not just at night but during the day too.

On top of that, if a person who keeps insisting they're a sheep keeps surviving night after night without getting hunted?

"And when I'm no longer useful, it's easy to stir people up, call me a wolf, and get me killed."

A wolf with the ruthlessness and nerve to single out prey ahead of their own allies from the very first round wouldn't kill me early.

There was no point wasting that.

Thinking it through, I had a rough idea of who would be hunted tonight.

"Today, too, the moon retreats and a new sun rises."

Night ended.

"Oh my! Whatever could have happened in the night?"

The host pointed dramatically to one spot.

"Nothing remains in Chae Jae-ha-nim's empty seat but a faint smell of blood......"

Chae Jae-ha was dead.

No trace was left behind.

Gone the same way everyone's presence disappeared in the night.

He had simply been cut out of this world forever.

"Oh......"

Lee Na-hyun drew a sharp breath and Hwang Ju-yeon clapped a hand over her mouth.

Lee Jin-su was staring open-mouthed in shock, and Yu Hyun-jae wore a heavy, complicated expression.

Jeong Ji-ho looked like he was fighting back tears.

"......"

I'd anticipated the outcome, but I kept my expression in check.

Chae Jae-ha had told me we should be looking for a way for everyone to survive.

If you were going to hunt someone, the person voicing that kind of opinion was the one to take out.

He'd happened to square off against me in a reasonably visible way too, so framing him was convenient enough.

"Could it be that... no. It wasn't you, right? Seon Yu-han-ssi......"

Hwang Ju-yeon glanced at me carefully and eyes converged on me again.

"......"

What?

"Seon Yu-han-ssi. Why aren't you saying anything...?"

"......"

What's going on.

"Yu-han-nim, you don't mean... for real?"

"......"

Damn it.

My blood ran cold for the first time in a while.

"Were you pretending to be a sheep?"

"......"

I couldn't speak.

Literally, no words were coming out of my mouth.

Even shaking my head to signal no was impossible.

So this was the penalty. Being silenced.

Was that why it was called "The Silence of the Lambs"?

I rolled my eyes toward the host, who gave that infuriating grin right back at me.

"How could you......"

This was a little dangerous.

Everyone's eyes had taken on a strange edge. Hwang Ju-yeon and Jeong Ji-ho especially.

"You were going on about how you'd exile anyone you suspected of being a wolf... Was that all just laying groundwork?"

If the mood kept going like this, I'd be exiled on the spot.

Unlike yesterday when no one had been exiled, today it had been revealed that Chae Jae-ha died in the night.

Someone had been killed.

That gave everyone "justification."

Justification to kick over the flimsy moral hurdle they'd been struggling to hold themselves back behind.

"Even so, how could you from the very start-"

"-One moment."

Yu Hyun-jae raised a hand slightly and cut Hwang Ju-yeon off.

"Doesn't something seem off. Seon Yu-han-ssi isn't the type to keep silent even in a situation like this, is he."

I take back what I said about him being frightening.

"Seon Yu-han-ssi. Did something happen to you in the night?"

I suspected you of being a wolf, named you, got it wrong, and now I'm taking a penalty.

"Everyone, think carefully."

Yu Hyun-jae pointed at me and spoke.

"In a situation this disadvantageous, he would have used my question just now as an opening and defended himself immediately. Yet he hasn't said a single word, and hasn't so much as moved his head."

"...So?"

"Isn't Seon Yu-han-ssi less likely to be a wolf with nothing to say, and more likely to be a sheep who's had something done to them. For instance."

Yu Hyun-jae looked steadily at me.

With an expression that held just a trace of awkwardness and apology.

"Perhaps he mistakenly identified someone as a wolf, named them, got it wrong, and received a penalty."

No. I take back the take-back.

He is frightening, all right.

"Is there really no one you want to exile?"

But in the end I had survived because of that sheep who was more frightening than any wolf.

"Hold on."

As the promised thirteen minutes of daytime neared its end.

When the host asked whether anyone wished to vote for exile, Yu Hyun-jae, who had said nothing until now, raised his head carefully.

"Come to think of it, Hwang Ju-yeon-ssi."

"Yes?"

"As far as I know, Hwang Ju-yeon-ssi spent the most time with Seon Yu-han-ssi out of any of us, relatively speaking. Am I right?"

"...Yes. Though it was only about fifteen minutes more than you, Representative. That's all."

A subtle current ran between the two of them as they faced each other.

"Ah, I see. Still, I'd imagine you know something of Seon Yu-han-ssi's character, so when you immediately suspected him like that... No, never mind. Given the circumstances, it couldn't be helped."

Unbelievable.

"Night falls, and bloodthirsty beasts prowl in the dark."

He had already seeded suspicion toward Hwang Ju-yeon, and then the darkness descended without a vote.

"Ha."

I stared blankly at the empty seat where Uiwi Guild's representative had been.

This guy was something else.

Footnotes:

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