WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

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◈ How to Die in the Office Labyrinth ◈

Chapter 86: Leap of Faith

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"Why is this..."

So it wasn't only invasive-type Labyrinths like Seonghwa High or Happyland. A contact-type Labyrinth like "Dollhouse" could show up too?

"I can roughly see why," the co-representative of Uiwi Guild said, dry as ever.

"Among the Red Threads handled by Agent Team 3, there's one whose specialty is the Dollhouse Labyrinth."

"Ah."

I had a feeling I knew who that was.

That Red Thread was a former competitive climber. Word was that whenever a Dollhouse Labyrinth appeared, they were always assigned to it.

Because the dollhouse is a contact-type Labyrinth built around rock climbing patterns.

The solution is simple. You grab or step on objects clinging to the walls or floating in midair, defying gravity, and make your way up to wherever the doll is placed at the top.

Intuitive, and finding the optimal route isn't particularly hard.

On top of that, only one person has to succeed.

A genuinely simple Labyrinth.

The only real problem is the physical difficulty.

Which is why, back in the early days, people died often enough. Falling deaths.

"Representative... do you know the way through?"

"I know it."

The co-representative of Uiwi Guild standing beside me glanced toward where our right and left arms had been.

"Whether we can actually do it, that I don't know."

Of course, even climbers with disabilities can scale walls, as with paraclimbing.

But whether we could do it was an entirely separate question.

That is to say, whether people who had each lost an arm less than thirty minutes ago could manage it.

"For now, let me work out the route."

Not every Dollhouse Labyrinth has the same internal layout. Each new occurrence shuffles the placement of objects and the position of the doll a little.

That's precisely why a Red Thread with a climbing background, specialized in finding the optimal path to the target mid-ascent, gets to shine.

"Even so, certain patterns and rules hold consistent within those variations. You're aiming to be an agent, Seon Yu-han-ssi, so you'd know."

"Yes. I memorized them."

An agent is a representative and manager for Red Threads, not someone who goes into the field directly.

Even so, knowing the patterns of contact-type Labyrinths is basic. You need to understand which Labyrinths your Red Thread is suited for, how to resolve a Labyrinth more efficiently and effectively, and what kind of support that requires.

"Things like always having to take the route that passes the cupboard, or the sofa exploding if you stay on it for more than three minutes, or the cake on the dining table being a trap, or never looking into the mirrors..."

The Labyrinth Management Bureau publicizes this kind of information and supports its distribution through schools, workplaces, and similar institutions. A precaution against situations where ordinary civilians can't wait for a Red Thread to enter, or simply won't, and have to handle things themselves.

Of course, whether people who've been educated actually memorize all of it or let it go in one ear and out the other is a different matter.

"You know all the important warnings, then."

Given our national character, I privately thought they'd get better results if there were a test, but the Labyrinth Management Bureau doesn't push that far.

"Shall I tell you something the Bureau doesn't? Something only we know. It won't cause any major problems if you don't know it, but."

There were also rumors that this was the result of some quiet arrangement struck with the guilds behind closed doors.

After all, the rarer and more essential Red Threads become, the more the guilds stand to gain.

Or perhaps it was a deliberate looseness intended purely to reduce civilian casualties. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and there was always the risk of civilians getting themselves killed trying to handle it on their own.

"To start: the route doesn't have to pass the cupboard."

The co-representative of Uiwi Guild pointed toward the cupboard filled with white dishes far across the room.

"Research simply concluded that it was the safest and most efficient option."

Next, a gesture toward a green sofa floating in midair.

"The three-minute sofa rule is actually a lie."

"A lie?"

"The sofa explodes if you stay on it too long. But 'too long' means something different to every person, so there's no fixed time limit. That's why the three-minute cap was introduced, to manage what people believe."

The rule that you can't stay on the sofa past three minutes naturally leads to a specific assumption in people's minds.

That three minutes is the point at which you've been on the sofa too long.

Which means you effectively buy yourself three minutes on that sofa.

"So couldn't you go longer than three minutes? Ten, thirty minutes even?"

"That seems too long, doesn't it? Long enough that even the person sitting on the sofa would start thinking, maybe I've been here too long. Three minutes is about right. Red Threads don't bother trying to override that instinct; they just train to the three-minute mark."

Yu Hyun-jae finished that calmly and pointed to the chocolate cake on the dining table.

A Kirsch cake, red cherries set into it like jewels in a crown.

"That table with the cake doesn't need more explanation. It's a phantom, no physical substance."

Step onto what looks like solid surface and you drop straight down.

Someone must have done exactly that for the data to exist.

"And those mirrors."

Yu Hyun-jae pointed out each one in turn: an oval mirror on the wall, a hand mirror tilted at an angle and floating above a vanity, a mirror lying flat on its side like a stepping platform.

"Glancing at them briefly once or twice is fine. What you have to be careful about is not spotting any differences between the reflection and reality."

Like one of those spot-the-difference puzzles.

Except here, you were trying not to find them.

"What happens if you do?"

"That, I couldn't say. There's no way to know for certain."

The co-representative of Uiwi Guild's eyebrow twitched slightly.

"No one's come back from inside one of those mirrors yet."

Ah.

You get trapped. Inside the mirror.

"That's enough explanation. The route should go something like this."

The co-representative of Uiwi Guild extended a left hand and traced a winding line from the chair at the very bottom of the dollhouse all the way up to the desk where the doll sat.

A route that shifted direction constantly, touching the wall here, leaping onto airborne furniture, moving along, then back to the wall again.

Under normal circumstances, a wildly inefficient path.

"We're both short an arm, so we'll need to favor the floating platforms as much as possible."

But for us, that path was the best we had.

We couldn't alternate both hands against the wall and climb that way.

"Is there anything you'd change?"

"...No. Nothing."

It was a route that left little margin even in our current condition, but I couldn't think of a better one.

Even with two uninjured arms this Labyrinth wouldn't be easy.

There was no simpler path to be found.

"I'll go first. Follow me."

So while Yu Hyun-jae had been talking through the rules, part of his mind had been working out this optimal route.

No question he would have risen to the top in field work or research in this industry.

Tak.

Before I even noticed, Yu Hyun-jae had hopped lightly off a chair, caught a cuckoo clock with one hand, pushed off the wall, and landed cleanly on a tea table.

...Was it really that effortless?

It couldn't actually be easy, no matter how it looked.

"What kind of exercise do you usually do?"

The question slipped out before I could stop it.

"Hm?"

Yu Hyun-jae had been lightly tapping one foot on the tea table to test his balance. His eyes went slightly wide, then he gave a small nod.

"Nothing particular. About as much as anyone else, just enough to stay in shape. Though I did try quite a few different sports when I was younger, so the muscle memory is still there."

"Ah, I see."

A textbook answer. Nothing interesting enough to pursue.

"Is your shoulder all right?"

"For now."

Yu Hyun-jae rolled his left shoulder in a stretch as he answered.

"Though using only one arm will take its toll eventually. I'll need to pace myself."

I'd been asking about the missing right side. Not the left one still intact.

Moving the whole body like that, you'd naturally put strain on the muscles near the amputation too.

Meaning it had to hurt.

Even so, I decided not to correct myself and ask again.

"Ugh, mm..."

I was going to find out firsthand soon enough anyway. Like right now.

"Be careful."

Yu Hyun-jae had moved on to a small side table and still looked relaxed.

I already had a feeling that a few more jumps and every muscle in my body would go on strike.

And in a place where one bad slip could kill me.

"What kind of Labyrinth do you think would have come up if we'd started with Agent Team 4?"

I'd made a point of learning almost all the Red Threads under Uiwi Guild and their specialties, but there was no way for an outsider to know exactly which agent team handled which Red Thread.

"Hard to say. Red Thread teams aren't necessarily divided according to the specialties of the Red Threads they manage."

"Oh, is that so."

"If this seventh floor is based on binary choice, that is, if balance and the weight of decisions are its core principle, then Agent Team 4 would get a Labyrinth solvable even without exceptional physical ability. If not..."

Yu Hyun-jae trailed off, and the remaining left shoulder gave a small shrug.

If not, then Agent Team 4 would face a Labyrinth similar to this one.

Something that would be nearly impossible to clear without a fully intact body.

"That said, assuming it's the former, if I had to guess."

Tak, chaeng!

Yu Hyun-jae sprang off the side table and slipped neatly through the open door of a birdcage lying on its side.

I moved to the vacated side table and followed.

"It might be the Prisoner's Dilemma."

The Prisoner's Dilemma.

The name came from the game theory scenario of the same name. It also named a specific pattern of Labyrinth rules, and served as the collective term for any contact-type Labyrinth operating on those rules.

Unlike the dollhouse, where the arrangement changes within the same environment, the Prisoner's Dilemma always involves a different environment entirely, so it can only be identified by its rules.

"It's the polar opposite of the dollhouse, where only one person needs to perform well, and Team 4 has a pair famous for working in perfect sync."

"Ah, would that be the twins..."

"That's right. Team 4's assignment."

True to the name, it's a Labyrinth where trust and cooperation between partners are what matter.

It goes without saying how many people died in Prisoner's Dilemma Labyrinths in the early days before anyone understood the rules.

A Labyrinth pattern that treats the desire to survive as nothing more than greed and selfishness.

Among the early Prisoner's Dilemma survivors, few are still alive today.

Most ended their own lives.

They were cursed with death. For having come back out alive.

"From here, follow carefully."

I made it safely off the curved surface of the birdcage and continued after Yu Hyun-jae step by step. Before long, the ground below had become a dizzying distance away.

High enough that a fall would mean broken bones at minimum, and quite possibly death.

Tat!

Charaarak...

Even from the cushioned sofa, where each step sank deep, Yu Hyun-jae launched himself high and caught the blind cord hanging on the wall.

Then, body tilted nearly vertical, he braced his feet against the wall and ran along it in quick, driving steps, building momentum...

Chak!

He released the blind cord at the peak of his swing and landed on top of a wardrobe.

"......"

So I had to do the exact same thing.

I took a long breath and shook out my body one more time.

"You can do it, Seon Yu-han-ssi."

You can do it.

I used that steady voice as my marker and leaped.

Footnotes:

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