How to Die in the Office Labyrinth - Chapter 95

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

◈ How to Die in the Office Labyrinth ◈

Chapter 95: ★★★☆☆

──────

I flipped through the seminar evaluation sheets one by one.

[★★★★☆

It is a shame that you did not take the hand of I/we/our kind, but your determination to see the seminar/rite/greeting through by any means is commendable. That too is something I/we/our kind should look to emulate.]

So it could be a seminar, a rite, or a greeting. Depending.

What kind of rite. What kind of greeting.

[★★★★★

One. Did not flee outside

Two. Rooted in experience

Three. Sincere

Four. Lies

Five. Has things humans can learn from]

So not running out of the conference room at the start really was the right call.

And lying was fine too, apparently.

[★☆☆☆☆

Are there really still teachers who talk down to students these days? I genuinely don't know, lol; And how does a teacher use words like "get lost" and "shut up" to a student....; Teachers like this should fail;]

What are you on about?

I never told anyone to shut up.

[★★★★★

I want to attend this teacher's seminar again next time]

Shut up.

[★★★☆☆

Like, sometimes you were kind of nice? But then all of a sudden you'd answer super stiffly? You're way too all over the place? Is that allowed for a human being?]

That's what being human is. Being unpredictable.

[★★★★☆

I liked the name but you said you couldn't give it away, which is a shame. Still, you answered well, and above all, just the fact that you didn't leave and stayed to the end counts for something. If you ever return to a state of permanent deactivation someday, could we share your name, teacher?]

I want to say no, but.

That probably isn't my right. Not after I'm completely dead.

[★★★★★

T h e f i n a l l i e w a s m o v i n g !]

.......

[★★☆☆☆

Did you think nobody noticed the favoritism toward certain students^^]

What is wrong with this one.

Favoritism? What favoritism?

I hate all of them equally.

Besides, they all looked the same to begin with. Only the clothes and hairstyles were different.

[★★★★☆

At first you were kind of clumsy and shy around us/the archetype/the blank slate, but it was interesting to watch you gradually blend in. But how did you manage to turn down our/one/everyone's proposal TT]

There are a lot of lunatics here.

[★★★★★

∞☇,◫♪⚖♿♡☘⚁☑☣⚉⚘¿☈☵☹⚡☤☕▥₩◫■☎███████⚰　☻]

What.

This is.......

[★★★★☆]

...

[★★★☆☆]

...

[★★★★★]

...

[★★★★☆]

...

I kept flipping through like that until I'd skimmed all thirty-odd pages of the evaluation sheets.

Rustle.

Finally, the last page.

[Overall Seminar Assessment]

Beneath another title in rounded font, a star rating followed by a comment.

[★★★☆☆]

Three out of five.

A delicate score.

The kind that could go either way, kill or spare, depending on the mood.

Looking at the individual student ratings, most had clustered between three and five stars, with the occasional one or two scattered in, which was probably what dragged the average down to this.

[Answers to certain topics lacked expertise and quality, and the educator's attitude left something to be desired.]

I don't even know where to begin with this.

The fact that I'm not an educator? That I stumbled in here and was forced into the role against my will?

[That said, the fact that the seminar was not abandoned midway and the instructor fulfilled their duties diligently to the end, the skill with which answers were given that were simultaneously true and false, and the moments of genuine instruction offered by becoming, at times, one with us, serve as a model for students.]

I feel nothing.

[Accordingly, Seon Yu-han, the instructor of this special seminar "The Secret to Well-Being," is hereby designated as PASSED.]

......Ah. That's a relief.

"Congratulations on passing, teacher!"

Something was pressed into my hand as I stood there in a daze.

A small, round gold badge.

Engraved in the center was a flower shape in dark, blood-red.

A carnation, maybe?

"By the way, what happens if someone fails?"

"......"

Every time I asked something, these wretched things would clam up and go stiff like that.

Can't a teacher even ask students questions.

"Well, then......"

I'd been about to leave, but I stopped and turned the badge over in my fingers.

The impudent stares from those things felt oddly heavy.

Click.

I ended up pinning the badge to the left chest of my jacket.

"Goodbye, teacher!"

"......Yeah. Practice smiling a little more, all of you."

Clack.

I shut the door behind me and stepped into the corridor, practically fleeing.

Shaking off the lingering afterimage of those monsters' bright, unsettling expressions.

* * *

22. Please be a good teacher. A good teacher knows how to draw lines with students.

* * *

3:52.

The moment I stepped out of the conference room I checked the time, then headed straight for the emergency staircase to avoid running into that creature who kept asking about the time.

Clunk.

If playing teacher in that bizarre seminar and getting a passing grade was the condition for escaping the third floor, I should be able to go up now.

Thump, thump.......

I gripped the railing and climbed one step at a time, careful not to trip and go tumbling backwards.

Clunk.

"......No, but that woman......"

A young man's voice carried through the corridor the moment I opened the door, buzzing faintly against the walls.

"......So, uh, just now......"

A woman's voice followed, then faded, and a cold silence settled over the hallway.

I didn't rush toward them. I checked the floor number at the elevator first.

Twelfth floor.

On the directory board, "Management Support Division" and "IT Operations Room" were in bold.

Still, this alone wasn't enough to figure out how the Labyrinthification had shaped things here.

Scuff, scuff.......

While I stood there thinking, the sound of someone trying very hard not to make noise drew closer.

The two of them were approaching.

If you want to move silently, you need at least as much dedication as someone who takes their shoes off entirely.

"......Um, hey."

"Wait, is that a real person...?"

Two heads finally peeked around the corner near the elevator bank.

A middle-aged woman in a dark navy cleaning uniform, her hair tied low and loose below her shoulders.

A man around my age in a suit that looked slightly too big for him, wearing thick-rimmed glasses and carrying a black backpack.

Both had employee badges hanging around their necks, and given the floor, they were almost certainly from Uiwi Guild.

"Hello."

I bowed politely.

"......"

These two had worse manners than those monsters from before.

"My name is Seon Yu-han. And you are?"

"Oh. Oh!"

The woman, who looked somewhere in her forties or fifties, brightened slightly, like she was waking from a dream.

"You're actually a person, then? Goodness, you gave me a scare. Um, I'm Kim Hee-sook. I do the cleaning here."

Facilities Management Cleaning Team 2, Kim Hee-sook.

"Nice to meet you, Kim Hee-sook-ssi."

I stepped a little closer as I greeted her and got a look at her badge. That's what it said.

The photo matched her face too.

Thinking of Kim Gilyeong's case, employee badges could easily be fabricated inside a Labyrinth, but.

"I'm Yun Geon-min, Human Resources Team, Uiwi Guild."

Management Support Division, Human Resources Team, Yun Geon-min.

The badge he held out with such pride also looked fine, on the surface.

"So where did you come from, Seon Yu-han-ssi...?"

"The third floor. The floor right below this one was the third floor. The floors seem to be all mixed up."

"What? The floors are mixed up? But what I was asking was which department you're from. You don't look like you work here......"

Is he slow?

Being on the Human Resources Team, I'd assumed he could at least deduce that there might be an interview scheduled on the third floor at this hour.

The building's own co-representative knew the schedule. Why doesn't he?

Then again, maybe he simply wasn't in charge of Red Thread recruitment and genuinely didn't know.

"I came for a Red Thread interview on the third floor today. No particular department affiliation."

"Oh. Ahhh......"

His voice carried a blend of dawning understanding and a faint, dry laugh.

A strange expression crossed Yun Geon-min's face, then vanished just as quickly.

"Oh, right, I see."

Half muttered to himself, though obviously meant to be heard.

The eyes narrowed behind those glasses couldn't be explained away as just a matter of height difference.

Ah.

I covered my mouth as if adjusting my expression and hid the corner of my smile.

People like this are easy to read, which I appreciate.

The type who never doubts their own social skills for a second while being completely transparent to everyone else. Extremely honest with themselves.

I don't find people like that unlikeable.

At the very least, they don't go throwing their lives away for someone else.

"By the way, how did you get up here? The stairs were completely blocked no matter how far down we went."

And there went the formal speech, just like that.

Genuinely honest.

"I answered some questions from students in a conference room and ended up here."

"Students? Questions?"

"Ah. They weren't normal students, obviously. Anyway, do you two know this place has become an invasive-type Labyrinth?"

"Oh, we obviously know that. You think people from the guild wouldn't?"

......Honesty is fine, but constantly acting like this is going to be a problem.

Putting him in his place wouldn't be hard.

But if it feels like too much of a waste of time, maybe I should just...

"Oh, right, there it is."

Kim Hee-sook's voice pulled my attention sideways.

"I was actually wondering whether to go check the offices or not. Would you want to come along with us, Seon Yu-han-ssi?"

Kim Hee-sook, with her warm, easy manner, shifted the mood without missing a beat.

"Sure. Let's all go."

"What, I'm not going."

I let that go and kept my eyes on Kim Hee-sook.

"So you haven't tried going into any of the offices yet?"

"Ah, that, I was in the―"

"There's nothing in the HR office. Not worth going in."

Yun Geon-min's blunt voice cut in.

"Everyone just vanished all at once. Other than that, nothing."

"That's what I heard too......"

Kim Hee-sook gave a small nod and murmured.

"Then let's start somewhere else."

I wasn't ruling out the HR office entirely. I'd check it later.

Given that Yun Geon-min had gotten out of the HR office safely right after the Labyrinthification, there was a good chance nothing was wrong there. But you never know.

"Um, then, this way?"

Kim Hee-sook pointed down the right corridor.

The side where the IT Operations Room was.

"Yes. Let's go."

If I were alone I'd have gone left first, but.

"No, wait, you're seriously going in? Both of you?"

Yun Geon-min scrunched up his face and grumbled as Kim Hee-sook and I started walking.

"By the way, Kim Hee-sook-ssi, were you cleaning up here on the twelfth floor?"

"Oh, yes, I was......"

"Are you two actually out of your minds...!"

Apparently deciding our lack of response meant we couldn't hear him, Yun Geon-min's voice rose from where he'd stopped behind us.

"Fine, do whatever you want. Live or die, your problem...... Honestly, you try to help people and they just don't listen."

With his muttering as background noise, we turned down the corridor toward the IT Operations Room and I spotted a cleaning cart sitting alone in the middle of the hallway.

"Oh dear, what a mess. I just left it anywhere in all the chaos......"

Clatter.

Kim Hee-sook made an embarrassed face and pushed the cleaning cart that was half-blocking the IT Operations Room door out of the way.

I didn't understand why she was embarrassed when dropping things wherever you can in an emergency is perfectly normal, but.

"Well, then...... I'll go in first. Please step back for a moment."

No telling what strange things might be happening inside.

The seminar on the third floor had been child's play, but luck like that doesn't keep going.

Tap.

I could feel the faint dampness of sweat on the hand gripping the door handle.

Slowly.

I carefully opened the door to the IT Operations Room.

Footnotes:

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