WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

The Legendary Newbie of the Ghost Story Labyrinth

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 18 - VTuber (3)

"Take this."

The man with glasses pointed to a suspicious-looking pill.

"...What is it?”

After the whole truth serum incident, having forced him to write a dark chapter in his life history, just looking at a pill made Park Minho feel like breaking out in hives.

"It’s a memory eraser. Depending on the dosage, it can wipe anywhere from a few weeks to several months of memory.”

"What…? Aren’t you supposed to be a mole? You’ve been helping me this whole time. If you erase my memory, doesn’t that make everything kind of pointless?”

As Park Minho looked at the man in disbelief, the man spread his hands dramatically.

“Tada~ it’s actually a sleeping pill.”

"......."

"You’re supposed to take a memory eraser as part of the standard procedure, but instead, you’ll just take a nap and sleep it off."

Park Minho couldn’t help but feel like he would never be able to get along with this guy.

Anyway, after hearing the rest of the process, it turned out there was a whole scenario prepared for his return to society.

"Normally, we erase the memories of your time in the Backrooms and transfer you to a hospital. From your perspective, things will feel quite confusing, right? Then a doctor will come in and diagnose you with short-term memory loss.”

"Wow......”

“Then you’ll think, ‘Wow, I’m experiencing something I’ve only seen in dramas.’ And just like that, you forget everything about the Backrooms and return to being a proper member of society.”

"A proper member of society by NCE standards, right?”

"Of course. Ignorance is bliss. Isn’t that a wonderful phrase?”

Park Minho had gotten lucky. Instead of losing his memories, he just had to wake up and act like “Doctor, I can’t remember anything…” and be done with it.

"Haah......"

As Park Minho let out a sigh, the man with glasses added,

"If you use gold coins, you can gain resistance to anomalous drugs, like truth serums or memory erasers.”

"Really?”

"Yes. And about the contact I gave you. They don’t just sell things. They also handle various types of dirty work in exchange for coins. You might want to consider it…”

"I don’t know…I really don’t want to get involved with anything strange anymore……”

At that, the man cut him off firmly.

“If that’s truly what you want, then give up the laptop and the coins. I’ll retrieve them and take care of everything. And then live quietly like a mouse, careful even with the sound of your breathing. A powerless civilian who can’t raise their voice no matter what happens.”

"......."

"If you do that, neither the NCE nor the Backrooms will ever be involved with you again.”

With that, the man pushed up his glasses and asked,

"But can you accept that kind of life? Before entering the Backrooms, maybe it would’ve been natural, but what about the present you, Park Minho-nim?”

"......That’s..."

Park Minho was about to respond but then stopped. Because even he wasn’t sure.

In the end, he carefully tucked the business card deep into his pocket. The man smiled and gently slid a plate with a single strange sleeping pill toward him.

"Well then, I wish you the best of luck.”

"...Thank you.”

Park Minho immediately put the pill in his mouth.

-Thunk!

Despite taking it so confidently, he collapsed in the most pathetic way possible, face-planting straight onto the table.

* * *

The faint, sterile smell of disinfectant hung in the air. When he woke up, he was in a hospital.

'An unfamiliar ceiling.’

Soon, a doctor came in, and Park Minho did exactly as he’d been advised.

"Doctor, my memory…”

The doctor nodded, clearly used to this kind of situation.

"It’s short-term memory loss. Your body is fine, so we’ll observe you for a few days before discharge.”

After that, the doctor rattled off some generic explanations and quickly left.

Thankfully, things were proceeding exactly as the man with glasses had said.

'I didn’t lose my memories.’

That was the most important point. His memories of the Backrooms were filled with fear, but there were also things he didn’t want to lose. Unit 1 and Unit 2, Seol Suyeon, and the gallery.

Soon after, his pizza shop boss came to visit, apparently having been contacted.

"Good grief, Minho! Just what happened to you?”

"I don't know either, Boss. Huh? Daom came too?”

“Mister, is your head okay…? Does it hurt?”

It made him realize again what a good person his boss was. Sure, the missing person report had led to him encountering the NCE, but still, it was rare for an employer to care this much about a part-timer.

"Minho, just focus on resting. Come back whenever you feel better.”

“...Thank you, boss. But you should hire someone for now.”

"You can just come back.”

"Still. It must be tough for you day to day…"

Back when he was in the Backrooms, Park Minho had desperately wanted to return to normal life. But now that he was actually considering going back to his part-time job, he felt some resistance.

‘The boss is a good person, but…that endless dishwashing and the constant financial struggle……’

For some reason, it all felt suffocating, like a prison. And the thought of the gold coins kept creeping back into his mind.

"Minho, I should get going. Daom’s mom is watching the shop right now, so I can’t stay long. Sorry.”

"No, it’s fine, boss. Please head back.”

In the end, Park Minho couldn’t bring himself to promise he’d return, even as his boss left.

"..."

He glanced out the hospital window. The ordinary cityscape somehow looked different today.

He couldn’t shake this feeling that somewhere between those tangled buildings there was a passage leading back to the Backrooms.

To Park Minho, reality itself suddenly felt thin and fragile, like a single sheet of paper.

* * *

A few days later, after being discharged, Park Minho stayed holed up at home, waiting for the surveillance period to end.

"Ah…what should I even do?"

After working every day, suddenly staying inside all the time made him feel restless and strangely uncomfortable.

Eventually, he decided to watch VTuber streams. There was nothing better for zoning out and passing time.

Park Minho watched a variety of VTubers, but he had one clear favorite.

A VTuber named ‘Sommong.’

She was usually soft-spoken and elegant, but when she got mad, she’d suddenly start raging and going on a shooting spree. That contrast was her charm.

'Let’s see......'

While casually scrolling through the app, Park Minho realized something.

'What? She was gone this whole time?'

Sommong had been completely inactive for nearly ten days without any notice. Only today had she finally posted, apologizing profusely and saying she’d return immediately.

Naturally, the commenters were a complete mess.

ㄴDownfall downfall downfall.

ㄴExplain yourself. Explain yourself. Explain yourself.

ㄴShe got a boyfriend.

ㄴBro, my hopes and dreams just shattered. 😭

ㄴ(insert dying unicorn meme)

It was unexpected. Sommong had always been consistent with her streams.

'Her comeback stream is in a few hours?'

As soon as the notification rang, Park Minho grabbed his phone.

The moment Sommong’s familiar 3D avatar appeared, she rubbed her hands together vigorously.

“Mongchi, I’m sorry! Please spare me! Eeek!"

'Mongchi' was the nickname for her viewers. Those usually peaceful and quiet people were now genuinely angry.

ㄴVTuber these days sure are bold. Gone for ten days and thinks ‘sorry’ is enough?

ㄴSommong, let’s just graduate at this point.

ㄴWe won’t miss you.

ㄴMaybe let her explain first……;;;

ㄴYeah, let’s at least hear her out???

The explanation wasn’t anything special. She said she’d been struggling, dropped streaming, and was now bowing her head in apology.

As she kept apologizing, the angry atmosphere gradually calmed down. Even if their tone was rough, they were all die-hard fans of Sommong.

Soon, more concerned comments began to appear.

ㄴListen to her voice. Can’t you hear how hoarse it is?

ㄴShe somehow sounds like the sick older sister type now…kinda nice tho.

ㄴWhoa…kinda got that decadent vibe now? I’m into it.

ㄴIs that her real voice, not her streaming voice?

ㄴThe difference is bigger than I thought.

ㄴAlright, let’s chill. There’s probably a reason.

ㄴLook how fast everyone went soft lmao

Her voice was definitely different. Usually it was thin and cute, but now it was lower and more mature, almost like an older sister-type of voice. On top of that, it was rough, as if she had a cold. No wonder the viewers were worried.

However, Park Minho was shocked for a completely different reason.

"Huh…? What?”

It was because Sommong’s voice was exactly the same as Seol Suyeon’s, the girl he had struggled alongside in the Backrooms.

-Is your arm okay?

-I should return the armband to you soon……

-Minho-nim! Minho-nim!

-Step back!

-You want them to die for nothing, you idiot?!

Their conversations in the Backrooms overlapped vividly in his mind. No wonder her voice felt familiar from the start. However, he’d mostly heard Sommong’s streaming falsetto voice and never once imagined that he’d meet his favorite VTuber inside the Backrooms.

'Even just looking at her hiatus period…it matches perfectly.'

The comeback stream ended sooner than expected.

"I’m really sorry! I’ll do my best starting tomorrow! It’s been a while, so I’m all over the place, haha. Okay then, Som-bye, Som-bye!”

ㄴSom-bye, Som-bye.

ㄴBut her energy feels kinda off today, right?

ㄴYeah, it’s forced, like she’s twisting her body to squeeze it out.

ㄴTwisted like a pretzel.

ㄴShe must not be feeling well.

Because he had spent so much time with her in the Backrooms, Park Minho could tell that this wasn’t because of some illness. She seemed scared and tense.

'What happened after she came back? Did she get caught by the NCE like me? If so, did they erase her memories?’

He wanted to reach out, but if she’d taken the memory eraser, he’d just come off as a complete lunatic.

‘And besides… If Sommong really went back to a normal life, contacting her might just be a nuisance.’

Park Minho tossed his phone aside, his heart heavy.

* * *

For the next few days, he kept watching Sommong’s streams.

He was glad to see her again, especially since he’d thought they’d never meet again, but he still didn’t feel like reaching out.

Yet for some reason, Sommong seemed to be looking for him on stream. Not directly, but she kept dropping hints that only the two of them would understand.

"Today, I’m going to draw characters I saw in a dream.”

ㄴCharacters? Out of nowhere?

ㄴIsn’t Sommong really bad at drawing?

ㄴHey, for MS Paint mouse clicking, she’s actually sorta not bad.

Honestly, it was kind of a random stream idea, but when Park Minho saw her drawings, he bit his lip. It was because of the expressions on the characters.

( ⚆ .⚆)

( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )

It was Unit 1 and Unit 2. When chat kept asking what they were, Sommong stayed silent for a while, then answered softly.

"They’re…the coolest heroes in the world.”

ㄴ?????

ㄴWhy you talking like it’s some inside joke?

ㄴWhat was with that voice just now?

ㄴWait, r u crying?

That wasn’t the only signal.

At some point, her 3D avatar had gained a yellow armband. Since her outfit already had a school-uniform vibe, no one thought it was strange.

ㄴYou cosplaying as the student council president now?

ㄴIf she starts bossing people around with that armband, I’m in ;;

ㄴHow much for the bullying package?

ㄴSommong, why are you using your real voice so much lately?

At some point, Park Minho became certain that she was looking for him.

"..."

After a long period of hesitation, he finally made up his mind.

"If I’m going to do this, I should do it properly.”

The moment his surveillance period ended, he started moving.

* * *

"Minho-nim, please……"

Sommong, no, Seol Suyeon, turned on her stream every single day, her heart restless. But she had no certainty he’d ever reach out.

'He said he liked VTubers.'

They’d talked about all kinds of things in the Backrooms. That was how she’d learned that Park Minho often watched VTubers.

For a moment, she’d panicked, thinking her identity as Sommong might be exposed, but thankfully, her strained voice from everything they’d gone through had covered it up. She quickly changed the subject back then, so she still didn’t know if he watched her streams.

'I mean, I’m not exactly small either…’

Sommong averaged over 5000 viewers. Even casually, he should’ve come across her at least once. So Seol Suyeon deliberately leaned into more attention-grabbing stream ideas.

<Viewer participation stream! If I fail the challenge, I’m getting a Brazilian wax!>

Naturally, the viewers, who had no idea what was going on, were confused.

ㄴWhy is Sommong suddenly so desperate lately?

ㄴHey, ur doing fine. It’s probably just cuz you went on hiatus for a few days. Don’t push yourself!

ㄴBrazilian wax?! Are you insane;; ?!! You’re a VTuber…Protect the illusion.

ㄴSommong, what VTuber uses that as punishment……

“Ugh, that’s not it…”

Seol Suyeon bit her lip in front of the monitor.

She never thought she'd regret not getting a guy’s phone number this much in her life.

It’s not like calls even worked in the Backrooms, and everything had been so chaotic, so getting his contact info hadn’t even crossed her mind.

"What do I do, seriously…?”

The reason she wanted to see Park Minho again was to thank him, and because after everything they'd been through together, she didn’t want things to just end like this.

But that wasn’t the biggest reason.

Seol Suyeon was in a situation where she needed help.

"This is bad…”

She was currently streaming from her bedroom with just a laptop and minimal equipment.

She couldn’t even enter her properly set-up studio. But even so, she had to check on it today.

-Gulp.

Swallowing nervously, Seol Suyeon got up and walked toward the studio. Then carefully opened the door.

"...Ah! It got bigger."

In the middle of her studio floor, there was a pitch-black hole. A bottomless-looking void that clearly wasn’t normal to anyone who saw it.

In fact, the reason Seol Suyeon had ended up in the Backrooms in the first place was because while streaming, she had suddenly fallen straight through that very floor.

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