WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ How to Die in the Office Labyrinth ◈
Chapter 97: ▢ Remember me
──────
Good news, item one.
I finally found out what happens when you get trapped in an elevator inside a Labyrinthified building with scrambled floors and fall to your death.
Good news, item two.
I found out where Yun Geon-min had disappeared to.
Good-ish news, item three.
The accountant still seems to be hungry.
* * *
2-1. If the door of a fallen elevator opens, run.
* * *
"If it were possible to turn back time, what would you do, Seon Yu-han-ssi?"
I need to get Chae Jae-ha out of that elevator.
My own life matters, sure, but...
There's also something deeply unpleasant about watching that thing, wearing Chae Jae-ha's twisted body like a shredded rag, consume what's left of him.
Chae Jae-ha deserves a better death than that.
'▶ Did you forget?'
'▶ Seon Yu-han'
At least a death that leaves behind a body worth burying.
* * *
Trrrrrrrrring!
If I sound the fire alarm on the third floor, Chae Jae-ha gets off the elevator on his own without me having to tell him.
Ninth floor.
The panel number had stopped at 9, so that was where he'd gotten off.
He steps off at the nearest floor the moment he hears the alarm.
That's the pattern I'd been exploiting before, timing the alarm to go off right as Chae Jae-ha was nearing the third floor.
Thud!
Crash, smash, bang!
Boom, thunk!
[ Special Seminar
〈The Secret to Well-Being〉]
I walked into Conference Room D to the soundtrack of the fall.
"Hello, Teacher!"
"Ah....... Yes, hello."
The students, still unsettlingly identical.
"I have a question too, Teacher!"
"Go ahead."
"I've seen large specimens bring small specimens averaging around 3.2 kilograms and 49.6 centimeters from a place called a hospital. Is there a special qualification required to purchase a small specimen, Teacher?"
"No, that's not a purchase..."
I dragged out every ounce of social grace and politeness I had left and dealt with the monsters until the seminar was over.
It had to be higher than the three-star score from last time.
Three stars was too precarious.
"Don't you want to leave the Labyrinth, Teacher?"
"Of course I do."
"......"
The students ended the seminar again without the follow-up question about whether they'd let me out.
"Congratulations on passing, Teacher!"
[★★★★☆]
Fussy things, every one of them.
I'd answered everyone as sincerely as I could, and still some of them found ridiculous complaints. One said I was cheap for not even giving out my name. Another demanded to know why I wouldn't let them look inside my back. And then, good grief, why hadn't I acknowledged them when we met again after so long.
Reading through the evaluation sheets, the nausea hit so hard I almost threw up on the spot.
"Goodbye, Teacher!"
"......"
I pinned on my badge and fled the third floor.
I still find them revolting.
Monsters wearing human faces.
* * *
"Hello. My name is Seon Yu-han."
"Oh, oh! You startled me, standing there so still like that. Anyway, I'm Kim Hee-sook. I do the cleaning here."
"Um....... I'm Yun Geon-min, from Human Resources. And you, Seon Yu-han-ssi, where are you from...?"
On the twelfth floor, I ran into Kim Hee-sook from the cleaning staff and Yun Geon-min from HR.
"Ah. Aah....... You came to interview at our company...?"
We exchanged introductions for the second time, and the conversation naturally drifted to where to go next.
"Oh, right. I was just talking with young Geon-min here about―"
"―Please don't call me that. Do you think this is some neighborhood association meeting?"
"Oh, sorry, Yun Geon-min-ssi. You just remind me of my son."
Kim Hee-sook laughed it off with a warm smile, completely unbothered by his irritation.
"Anyway, I was going back and forth on whether to go in with Yun Geon-min-ssi. Want to come along, Seon Yu-han-ssi?"
"Yes, that works for me."
And so we decided to go into the IT Operations Room together.
"What? I'm not going. Who knows what's in there."
Minus Yun Geon-min, of course.
"You're really going in? You're going to get yourselves killed...? Fine. Do what you want. Some people just can't learn from advice. Have to find out for themselves..."
I didn't try to bring him along.
I'd gotten Chae Jae-ha out of the elevator, but I still needed Yun Geon-min to serve as a canary, just in case.
If he was gone when we came back out to the corridor, things had gone wrong. If he was still there, we were fine.
"Then we'll be off. The paths might not line up on the way back, so Yun Geon-min-ssi, please don't wander anywhere you shouldn't―"
"―I know, I know. I've been in a guild. I know better than you do."
'I've been in a guild.'
I turned those words over quietly and gave a mild nod.
"Right. Let's go, Kim Hee-sook-ssi."
When Kim Hee-sook and I reached the IT Operations Room, the cleaning cart was half-blocking the door, same as before.
"Oh dear, I must have been scattered. I left it just anywhere......"
Scrrrape.
She moved it with the same sheepish expression.
I still had no idea why she felt the need to explain herself to me.
My guess was she'd been called out before, some complaint about the cart's position dressed up as constructive feedback.
"I'll go in first. Follow behind me."
"Oh, yes, all right."
After that, things unfolded the same as last time.
Kim Hee-sook reacted with shock to the Information Support Team office buried under tangles of cables like creeping vines, nearly tripped, then caught herself with surprising balance.
"But shouldn't we try over there first...?"
Kim Hee-sook pointed at the server room door, where black cables spilled out in every direction.
This was where things needed to be different.
"No, I think it's better if we check the nearby things first and then go in together."
"Ah, well, I suppose?"
She followed without protest.
Toward the one corner of the darkened office where a monitor was still on.
―――――――――――――――
Name |
Employee ID |
Password |
▢ Remember me
| LOGIN |
―――――――――――――――
"Hmm? What's this. Weird."
Kim Hee-sook looked at the intranet login screen and tilted her head.
"What part seems strange?"
"Hmm, well, everything else looks exactly like our company's site. It's just this one part that's different."
Her finger pointed at the screen.
Specifically at the '▢ Remember me' part.
"Was that not there before?"
"Right, it wasn't. And....... ah, I can't show you on my phone right now. No signal......"
Check that box and it would probably save your login information.
That's what I'd thought the first time, and I'd moved on without giving it much weight.
But if the Labyrinth had touched it, that changed things.
"Ha......"
'Remember me.'
Too loaded. I had no urge to click it.
But what if checking it was a condition for entering the server room?
"Kim Hee-sook-ssi."
That was why I needed someone else here.
"Would you mind logging in? Since I'm not an employee....... If you're worried, you can tell me your employee ID and password and I'll type it in myself."
"Um....... Ah, so you have to log in to get inside? Something like that?"
"Yes, it seems so. I figure there's a reason this login screen is up."
"Aah......"
Kim Hee-sook went quiet for a moment, expression serious, as though working something through. Then she nodded like she'd made up her mind.
"For now, let me do it. I'd feel bad leaving this kind of thing to someone young enough to be my son."
Which made me the person leaving it to someone old enough to be my mother.
"If you're willing, I..."
Not that any of that arithmetic meant much at this point.
Not after a day that had already included killing someone young enough to be a nephew.
"All right......"
Kim Hee-sook settled carefully into the chair.
―――――――――――――――
Name |
Employee ID |
Password |
▢ Remember me
| LOGIN |
―――――――――――――――
Tak, ta-da-da-tak.
I watched Kim Hee-sook's fingers move quickly across the keyboard.
Surprisingly soft hands, for someone doing hard physical labor.
Ta-da-da-da-tak, ta-da-tak, tak!
She lifted her hands from the keyboard all at once, like finishing a short piece of music.
―――――――――――――――
Name | Kim Hee-sook
Employee ID | 2451017
Password | ●●●●●●●●●●
▢ Remember me
| LOGIN |
―――――――――――――――
The first three characters of the password were Cor, then lowercase letters, and at the end, the numbers 123 and one exclamation mark.
The numbers and special character were easy to catch from their keyboard positions, but the letters in between I'd missed a few of, given the angle I was watching from.
She typed faster than I expected, too.
One more look and I'd have it.
I stood watching the back of Kim Hee-sook's chair, then leaned my left arm onto it with some weight.
"Oh, by the way, aren't you going to check that b―AUGHK...!"
Crack!
The back of the chair flexed and swung out and I nearly toppled over entirely, but managed to grab the desk and catch myself.
"Oh! Are you all right? Not hurt?"
"Ah....... sss, yes. I'm fine."
I rubbed my stinging forearm and looked at the screen.
"Oh...! I'm so sorry...! The password......"
―――――――――――――――
Password | ●●●
―――――――――――――――
The backspace key had just gotten pressed while I was flailing and grabbing for the desk.
Entirely by accident.
"Oh, a password you can just type again. Good thing you're not hurt."
Kim Hee-sook curved the corners of her mouth slightly, that same easy warmth, and put her hands back on the keyboard.
Ta-da-da-da-da-tak, ta-da-tak, tak!
―――――――――――――――
Name | Kim Hee-sook
Employee ID | 2451017
Password | ●●●●●●●●●●
▢ Remember me
| LOGIN |
―――――――――――――――
The password was 'Cordla123!'.
Responsibility.
'Cordla' wasn't an English word. It was the Korean word for 'responsibility,' typed out on an English keyboard layout.
"Oh, so what I was going to ask earlier, aren't you going to check that box?"
"Hm? That one?"
I pointed at the empty checkbox and Kim Hee-sook's eyes went wide.
"I mean, isn't that just a bit....... unsettling?"
"The Labyrinth added it, which means it's tied to the rules of this floor. Playing along with that is what we're here to do."
"Hmm...? Who says...?"
I do.
"Ah....... I'm sorry, I made it sound like I was telling you what to do. The risk falls on you, Kim Hee-sook-ssi......"
"Oh no, no, no. Don't worry about it......"
I bowed my head in apology, and Kim Hee-sook took hold of my shoulder, straightened me back up, and waved it off.
"I think Seon Yu-han-ssi has a point, though......"
She said it while reaching for the mouse.
―――――――――――――――
▢ Remember me
| LOGIN |
―――――――――――――――
Click.
"So, how about we try without checking it first, then try with it after...?"
―――――――――――――――
Welcome!
―――――――――――――――
In the end, Kim Hee-sook logged in with the box left unchecked.
No good.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried