Chapter 11: The Culprit is Inside This Reading Club

“Hmm……”

The suspect in the librarian’s murder put on a serious expression.

“Then, how about we leave right when someone else opens the door from outside?”

“It won’t work.”

The rules of the labyrinth are absolute.

That kind of trick doesn’t work.

Unless there is a rule that precisely seems like a trick.

“Even so, can’t we try it?”

“In any case, we would end up coming back. In fact, that’s an optimistic assumption. The part of the body that sticks out through the door could even disappear.”

The woman in the three-piece suit opened her eyes wide.

“Really?”

“I’m saying it’s possible. In the labyrinth you always have to assume the worst.”

The woman’s eyes, which resembled a fox’s, narrowed.

“Are you a jeoksa?”

“No, I’m just an applicant who came today for an interview at Yuwi. My name is Seon Yuhan.”

The woman showed a slight expression of pity.

“My name is Hwang Juyeon and, well, sometimes I do magic performances. My main job is teaching piano at an academy. Today I came because there was a magic show at this daycare.”

Daycare?

Then that means this Hwang Juyeon can also enter Woori Saenal Daycare.

She is not an employee like the librarian, but she is not a complete outsider like me either.

Although she is still a murder suspect.

I slid my gaze toward Kim Gilyeong.

“Ah, I… am Kim Gilyeong. I’m the librarian here.”

The librarian extended her ID, clean of blood.

“Yes, nice to meet you. I am……”

The certified public accountant Choi Jaeha, who works at the accounting firm Howol on the 16th floor of the Tarae building, took out his card again and finished introducing himself.

Meanwhile, I was thinking about a murder that had not yet happened.

“Were only you two originally here? I mean before this turned into a labyrinth.”

“Huh? Yes……”

Kim Gilyeong nodded.

“At this hour there are almost no users. The employees of the companies are also working. But suddenly the power went out… and there were sounds like collapsing outside… I tried to leave, but the door was closed. I tried to call administration, but the phone didn’t work……”

The last part wasn’t important.

In other words, if no one else enters this library, the person who killed Kim Gilyeong last time is Hwang Juyeon, the piano teacher and freelance magician.

“It is time for the reading club.”

“What… who said that?”

No, it’s certain.

“The reading club will not accept additional participants until it ends.”

“What is that? Where is it coming from?”

“I’m not the only one hearing it, right?”

“What the hell is this?”

“It seems the labyrinth is starting something. Let’s stay calm.”

3:50.

Under the absolute rule of the labyrinth, “Chaekbang Ollae” became a perfect locked room from which one cannot enter or exit.

The one who kills Kim Gilyeong is Hwang Juyeon.

“The participants of the reading club sit comfortably gathered in the reading area.”

That sentence in present tense is not a simple statement. It is an order.

“I think we should follow what it says.”

“What if it kills us?”

Hwang Juyeon asked with narrowed eyes.

“We could also die if we don’t follow it. With luck, only one person would die. If you are sure of that, I won’t stop you.”

“Huff, it’s scary even to talk.”

The freelance magician raised her eyebrows and stepped back slightly.

“Sorry for arguing first. I got sensitive without realizing it.”

“No, I understand.”

Really, that is quite a mature reaction.

Even recognizing one’s own state and apologizing is not easy even under normal circumstances.

How did someone like that end up killing Kim Gilyeong?

“Well, the situation is the situation. I also reacted badly. Sorry.”

“The participants of the reading club sit comfortably gathered in the reading area.”

“Yees, we’ll sit. Let’s sit for now. I don’t know what they’ll make us do, but at least as long as we obey we won’t die, right?”

Each of us chose a sofa and we sat in a circle awkwardly.

It was the same circular space where before there had been a single book lying.

On my sides sat Kim Gilyeong and Choi Jaeha.

I tried not to direct my gaze too much toward the piano teacher in front of me.

I don’t know the reason for Hwang Juyeon’s murder.

Considering the nature of the labyrinth, it could have simply been a sudden mental breakdown.

The labyrinth makes people irrational.

I hope it’s not that she thought that by killing everyone she could escape the labyrinth.

That would already be complete madness.

Although, technically, it’s not a completely wrong idea.

If everyone inside dies, the labyrinth is resolved which means she would also die.

And besides, it wouldn’t be easy to kill everyone here.

But leaving aside the motive there is something that unsettles me.

Time.

Last time, when I came here after losing time in the interview room, it was around 4.

Now, about 10 minutes before that, the relationship between Hwang Juyeon and Kim Gilyeong does not seem at all like that of an imminent murder.

“The reading club has begun.”

Perhaps the reading club is a dangerous event capable of making someone kill another person in just ten minutes.

***

“A life is a story. This is the theme of today’s reading club.”

Along with the voice that pierced into my mind, a book fell into the hands of each participant.

I observed the completely white hardcover book I held in my hands.

It was thicker than a finger, but thinner than two. The typical thickness of a single-volume novel.

The cover had nothing written on it. No title, no author, no publisher.

“The participants of the reading club read their respective books.”

In a labyrinth, if they tell you to do it, you do it.

I opened the book in silence.

[Choi Jaeha was born as the youngest of three siblings.]

What is this?

[His older brother, with whom he had a large age gap, was like a distant father due to that strange awkwardness between them. Even when Choi Jaeha caused trouble, he would only say, “He’s at that age. Don’t scold him too much. Surely he won’t do it again.”]

What am I reading?

I doubted my own eyes for a moment and raised my head.

Choi Jaeha was looking at Hwang Juyeon with the same expression as me.

Hwang Juyeon was looking at Kim Gilyeong with the same expression.

And Kim Gilyeong was looking at me, just the same.

“Could it be…?”

“You too?”

“You?”

“A life is a story. This is the theme of today’s reading club.”

We were reading another person’s life.

“But…”

I was about to say something, but I leaned toward Kim Gilyeong.

“Is there any rule that forbids speaking in this library?”

Although we had already spoken before without anything happening, I asked in a low voice just in case.

The librarian shook her head.

“Not really… the library is a place to read, not to maintain absolute silence. In fact, reading clubs are also usually held here by employees.”

She replied with an appropriate volume of voice.

“As long as you don’t make too much noise… although that applies anywhere.”

“That makes sense. Then, are you reading my story? I got a book where the protagonist is Choi Jaeha.”

“Really?”

Choi Jaeha frowned.

“I have Hwang Juyeon’s.”

“Hmm, I have Kim Gilyeong’s.”

“It seems that we all received the book of the person to our left.”

I read Choi Jaeha’s story, Choi Jaeha reads Hwang Juyeon’s, Hwang Juyeon reads Kim Gilyeong’s, and Kim Gilyeong reads mine.

“And what are we supposed to do with this…?”

“The participants of the reading club read their respective books.”

“Uh… we better read. If we don’t, it seems like it’ll pressure us again.”

I looked back at the book.

[His older sister, who was five years older than him, was like a strict mother, unlike the distant older brother. When Choi Jaeha misbehaved, she would firmly reprimand him so he wouldn’t develop bad habits. She always followed it by telling him what he should and should not do.]

I have no interest in reading Choi Jaeha’s life.

But a reading club consists of reading and sharing impressions, right?

Then I have to read it. Even if I don’t want to.

If that is the rule.

[Choi Jaeha cried a lot because of his sister and spent a long time hating her. But that is precisely family. If it weren’t for his sister, who would have shaped him as a person? His parents, exhausted from raising two children? His older brother, who indulged him for not feeling much attachment toward him?]

The book described Choi Jaeha’s life with many trivial details.

Memories of eating ice cream with cousins at his grandfather’s funeral.

Winning math competitions throughout elementary school.

Learning bad words in middle school and being harshly corrected by his sister.

It was literally a book about his life, full of everyday stories without importance.

In the end, life is only interesting to oneself; to others, it is nothing more than boring stories.

[Choi Jaeha, crying under the covers, suddenly got up and began to write a letter in clumsy handwriting that no one could read.]

Why do I have to know the love story of a student that I find pathetic?

Although, at least, it didn’t reach the level of the grotesque.

It seems his sister raised him well.

[“Hey. Where are you going at this hour?”

His sister’s cold voice pierced into the back of Choi Jaeha, who had gone out dressed, determined to go to her house after writing a desperate letter.

Unable to lie to her, he explained the situation with a trembling voice.

After hearing him, his sister sighed instead of yelling at him.

“Hey, friends or partners, everything is like that. If one clings too much, the one who clings gets hurt in the hand, and the one being held gets hurt where they’re grabbed.”

While saying that, she pulled his cheeks.

“Ah, ah! It hurts!”

“Does it hurt? It hurts for me too, idiot.”

“Of course it hurts! It hurts more for me! Let go!”

She released his cheeks.

“See? It hurts more for the one being held. If you don’t accept the rejection and go looking for her, you’ll be the one who makes her suffer. Is that how I raised you?”]

That childish but honest character of Choi Jaeha was proof that he grew up in a good environment.

More precisely, surrounded by people who loved him.

[With his sister’s teachings and a chicken as consolation, he finally accepted the breakup. Although he spent days crying while listening to sad songs until his sister hit him again. And shortly after, he found a new love.]

I leaned my back against the backrest and looked at the ceiling without thinking.

There was an excess of private life without demand.

I couldn’t believe I hadn’t even read half of it yet.

My eyes slid toward the librarian on my right.

She had her face buried in the book.

Seeing her, I thought about the reason she had to die.

Maybe Hwang Juyeon killed Kim Gilyeong because her life was exposed in words.

I glanced at the accountant, who was reading the magician’s life.

If Hwang Juyeon kills for that, this time it will be Choi Jaeha.

So, while I kept reading, I stayed alert to be able to pull him away at any moment.

“Grrk—kgh—shk—!”

“Aaaah!”

Hwang Juyeon stabbed Kim Gilyeong.