Chapter 18: “Welcome to a place like this.”
SpbI have to kill her…… I have to kill her, right? This is wrong. She has to be killed. Kill, kill her? If I don’t kill her…… should I try killing her? Would it be okay not to kill her? Kill her? This is wrong. I have to kill her…….I7t
0dxvYes.zioR
61YaLet’s kill her.J54
nm4PnyThis.h5F
N2JiPA“Seon Yuhan……? What’s wrong with you?”CLKMHeD
vqp3ejWhat I’m seeing right now.GFCiz6q
cjsbzi7“Don’t worry.”ootY1oA
PgNKim Gilyeong.n0qId
76ws6io“This will be over soon.”hl0Oa
NzyilZ9Is not human.ev2VBW
sVnp***Cfwe6
sKZ[“Munrim Elementary students who will write a new story―!”]4pO
ThUBSZH[“You came from Sangnim too, right?”]nPG
AZe8RfThe name of the elementary school could be overlooked by assuming she had simply transferred schools.ETang8
Suvm[Kim Gilyeong was born on September 16 at 7:32 p.m.]I4W
fhZkyJ[Kim Gilyeong absentmindedly gazed outside the window. Completely white snow fell like flower petals. As if celebrating her birthday.]BM7wVL
dl4L6gEBut how could it snow in September?e54WG3c
US1YWAG[“It looks like only you and I came from the same elementary school in our class. Let’s eat together later!”eN62j
d3ADark skin, a smile so wide you could see her throat, steps always full of energy. Hong Donghui became Kim Gilyeong’s favorite friend.]t9A1k
ss5AF[“What was the name of your best elementary school friend?”bNnhYS
h5FKim Gilyeong recalled a memory as vivid as if it had happened yesterday. A friend with skin as pale as someone who had never seen sunlight, with charming dimples when she smiled. Hong Donghui.]P0JA50
nrWThe name of a friend she met in middle school appeared as the name of her best elementary school friend.FOpsqg
5kjhkmAnd on top of that, her appearance was completely different.RBEW
E7HwBTr[(“Omitted”) That’s why, after reading this book, I would open the closet door a little every night.”sUc
DfN《Alice in Wonderland》 became Kim Gilyeong’s favorite book.]hDidT
Sa0Rxn[Stopping in front of an empty space on the bookshelf, Kim Gilyeong placed a novel by C. S. Lewis there. Secretly reading the book she had loved most in childhood, even though it no longer had demand among users of the corporate library, was a privilege exclusive to the librarian.]BlrQB
CNE4wAnd that damned “Alice in Wonderland.”KqMRp
Kn2e0mAfter all, it really was strange.cJOL
Cn9uIt wasn’t that, as a child, she confused “Alice in Wonderland” with “The Chronicles of Narnia.”y4fM
wkSAwXeNor that she later changed her favorite book.FEGdF
TdhThere were more contradictory details scattered everywhere.U7a
Fd7JJqTAnd they were contradictions so small and placed so subtly that you would overlook them if you weren’t reading carefully.BmO5an
enH3e“While reading, I wondered something. Whether Kim Gilyeong’s favorite childhood book was 《Alice in Wonderland》 or 《The Chronicles of Narnia》―”CksXHHJ
Viod“..Seon Yuhan, I think that counts as a spoiler. I can’t understand what you’re saying, but we probably shouldn’t talk about that part.”ErPC6A
Ymzh1All those contradictions were proof that the librarian was a monster, so naturally the inconsistent parts were censored as spoilers.aj9q
syupRv0“Who exactly is the crazy person dragging around such an ugly doll that nobody would even accept for free and bringing it into the daycare?”PMRG
4UtEAt some point, the goose teacher from the daycare had said that while looking at Kim Gilyeong’s corpse.GFTJ
LOkT“Do you really think that would work? Especially with such a defective product?”rcfjRbR
bUNiFrom the perspective of those living toy monsters, Kim Gilyeong was probably the real defective doll someone who looked normal on the outside but was stuffed on the inside with all kinds of badly assembled things.zpoL1W3
6BQCa“Ah, right. The Dalumul-ri labyrinth. There weren’t any survivors there either, so nobody ever found out what happened. Could there have been something like body snatchers there too……? Like those monsters at Seonghwa High pretending to be students in order to attack teachers…….”Iiq2
wTOJust as Choi Jaeha said, similar monsters appear in the two movies shown in the auditorium.mN7xiq3
dkJMonsters that take human form, deceive people, and keep them trapped inside the labyrinth.ylGdz0
WnEAnd one of those monsters was here.x5J5Y
I2XRight in front of me.cet4
V1PThe instant I realized that.PPH
WJ8tUW0I felt a humiliation as if someone had ripped every vein from my body, rolled them into threads, woven a thick fabric on a loom, stuffed that fabric with my organs like cotton, and then, with the leftover red threads threaded through a needle, sewn stitch after stitch a doll identical to someone I will never see again, proudly showing it to me.Mwnk
Aen8I wanted to die.O21aBrE
4CQs8lTIf only I could.pfBY2qR
ttF0TBut I couldn’t die.0ZWklYM
13uThen I had to kill.Izlq
jHKh3***xkVHk
1I2UVE“It took longer than I expected.”jvX36U
M1oThat was the thought I had right before collapsing.Askf
PbS“Ugh…….”Dp0hjrl
ptPoThe moment I raised my body, the world began spinning violently.W3g4
zL35j1The back of my neck and both sides of my forehead burned as if I had been scorched.rvdC
Mym“Seon Yuhan looks toward the floor.”qomI0O8
RZPoshWhat?uN6Krl
PrlfQvnEven in the middle of my confusion, my body faithfully obeyed the library’s instructions.GiboA
EuByk“There was a corpse there.”TPMr9F
pPPcrcUThe moment I saw the marks clearly engraved on the librarian’s neck, the memories came flooding back all at once, like a delayed flood.51I9SWJ
YxjWhat I had done.cY6jWS
FQXkz“Seon Yuhan observed the librarian’s corpse, lying there staring at the ceiling.”1qmc
IMSMu6“Ugh, guhk…….”wu2h
tn3CGGI barely suppressed the nausea rising into my throat and took a deep breath.Nf6
Wx9AJWhen the sensations sleeping deep within my consciousness awoke and rose to the surface, my entire body started trembling again.Nrc3YS
0swNI couldn’t bear to look directly at “that,” so I tightly shut my eyes.mel
UAbkmB5A desecration and mockery of everything alive.nqjcDo5
ashMnEven now, the desire to tear it apart and burn it alive throbbed beneath my skin.3rLo
OEmHAYI hate them.SRhDQ
0wupfThose things that wear human skin without being human.rN9u
qQljojzThey terrify me.9vBv
EjJgAn unbearable fear.qgNHz
Qh03BDAMore than the guilt of having shown a child something he should never have seen, that disgusting terror dominated me.kF9
hTz6NN“Turning his gaze away with effort, Seon Yuhan discovered four books scattered on the floor and an abandoned child’s backpack.”2FSH7
HA1DIt seems Hwang Juyeon had been too bewildered to stop me immediately.lbNYcVJ
YIFWbAnd instead of stopping me, she chose to buy even a little time to escape with the child.ks8
mDt0VJrHonestly, I couldn’t blame her either.FnAdq
bVi5If a man you just met suddenly goes insane and kills a woman you also just met…JcDX
cmFXAnd on top of that, while trapped inside an invasive labyrinth.3zI2a
LXQThe logical thing is to hit that man in the head and run away.qz6Pg
fXuAlthough it probably would have been smarter to make sure to kill me to avoid trouble later……CMx
NmNRBut from my perspective, the fact that she didn’t was fortunate.luub3zD
2OHzI picked up the book I had dropped.GXT
V927[Kim Gilyeong is]lPws4mI
06FAOA badly written story.2iczg
YmKwLike a collage made by tearing apart and pasting together fragments from several people’s lives.G0i
Hntfs9“Seon Yuhan finally understood. That the librarian was the true monster of this labyrinth. That he could not truly escape the library without killing the librarian. That he could not solve the labyrinth without killing the monster. That the story could not end unless someone died.”gTOZCTo
DvG0spbThough of course, I was already used to it because I had read it several times thanks to the loop…….sxJTsaQ
Nxw4GLI remembered the round when I found Kim Gilyeong’s corpse for the first time.ym2P
YWckDaThe wounds reflected confusion and hesitation on the part of the killer.TgMf
hDYmIf there wasn’t a third person I didn’t know about, then the only one capable of killing the librarian was still Hwang Juyeon.h6oZw
16jzThat meant Hwang Juyeon, even without memories of regressions, had noticed the contradictions in the librarian’s story and acted after a single reading club.ML5FQn
YgATWHm.13A9Q2
kIOoI definitely must never make her my enemy.nUDJ
j71When I used my phone screen as an improvised mirror, I saw that my forehead had split open.yQhabg
7wWNI hadn’t passed out because of the blow to the back of my head, but because after taking the hit I fell forward and smashed my forehead hard.ybk
ejWZht“Huh?”7YuR
AqmacThe moment the black screen I was using as a mirror lit up, I almost broke the rule forbidding saying “huh.”seQoOCw
LdASaTE[4:14]ieWUG
oAa6Something felt strange, so I unlocked the phone and checked again.pLP
1ovymLSThe time was still the same.9TJ
bdBCx[4:14 | SOS | 86%]dwd0eF
z00FU6qThe clock hanging on the library wall showed exactly the same thing.9nJqxGY
zYY314:14?mvFMha
C30XCould the concussion have been worse than I thought?kis
pklb0The reading club had started exactly at 4:00.dgK3A
NmPWHad only fourteen minutes passed?vuPAck
HzhtAnd if I subtracted the minutes I had been unconscious…….cPC
oo3HTen minutes.vrnUK29
v8t72iRThe reading club had ended in barely ten minutes.nlGq
q8rYkNEven though I ruined it halfway through, we had read an enormous amount.nGXaop
J1pvcFAt least thirty minutes should have passed.snAjTs
PfOxc6r……Now that I think about it, ever since the reading club started, I never once tried to check the time.zbXZmw
NTmiThe thought never even crossed my mind.rbgFqoS
i6VBaIn a situation where I should have been desperate to escape the labyrinth as quickly as possible…pjpLS
jym29I quietly sat there reading books.yrS8SL
rZr6I literally “lost track of time.”KWfi
g65BnB“Seon Yuhan awakens to the power of stories.”7EBskCu
X51PmYcHa.q5o4gS
zk4FSo twisting time is no big deal for this thing.7o2deC
EDVyhWell, considering I myself have died and returned several times…….ODw9z
0VxO0At the end of my exhausted gaze, Kim Gilyeong appeared again.B8Xqpw
gIkH0“And some stories can only reach a complete ending when the protagonist dies. Isn’t that right?”X9EPRlv
fy2EOFragments of memories shattered like broken glass tore through my mind.99P
fX6JThe whites of eyes no longer white because of burst blood vessels, those black pupils stabbing into me like needles, and ragged breathing connecting and cutting off like incomprehensible Morse code.aL45F
TkZt3TKehk, weh-ek, kkeuek…….AqVTmN
RcnbAs if.pRkh
papWhy?1xbfcny
KRcpWhy?9Zfd4
pN3OXWhy……?2HCq
CtjBKLz“The bloodshot eyes that never even managed to close seemed to stare at Seon Yuhan.”gj8RJf
OgvpqhKAs if asking for the reason.aXUxL
MqoXAs if unable to even imagine why she had to die.vCbOki
5rrAs if she sincerely believed herself human.EFp
tM1WRight up until the instant she stopped breathing.2oN
sSl“Monster.”Xkk
Yc21vw8And then I ran away.jTgpn
fW02kp“Isn’t that exactly what a labyrinth monster is?”2x7tGJ
opcar4VTo escape that sticky gaze still clinging to me.chy
EErcTzB***BfuQyT8
kLk1The moment I left the library, I headed straight for the emergency exit.rD4
XdbBCThere was no longer any human presence in the second-floor hallway.VwwUAk
AHvA movie was playing in the auditorium, so the doors couldn’t be opened from inside or outside; Hwang Juyeon and Jung Jiho also couldn’t have entered there while escaping from me.ygth8lX
IiWvThere wouldn’t be anyone in the merchandise shop either.fbZ
KHgtWhy would I go there anymore? I don’t owe anything now. I’m not even going to buy anything. I’d just be a nuisance to Tara’s manager.jk6T2f
9OsKgAnd they wouldn’t have gone to the daycare because of Jung Jiho.aDLw0
N477wHwang Juyeon and Jung Jiho definitely went down to the lower floors.OTE
o0x1hPIt seems killing the librarian really was the correct answer.Uhqff
JXWuTap.eFQy5u
K35PWhile holding the emergency exit doorknob, I unconsciously looked back.2t5n
Fk5UyI could see the elevator area.jbqzIB
egDrc4I thought about a certain large and cowardly accountant.sZvoP7
X0OYI wondered what floor he was on now.KLRbN
SrbOr if he was even still alive.dZ2hRZ
jnfkrI6To begin with, if it hadn’t been for me, that man would have died trapped inside the elevator from the very start.1NDcuB
2vBzWith his luck, after escaping when he heard the alarm, maybe he had already died absurdly somewhere else.oQb0
B3NIt was something simple, but he wasn’t a bad person.ikGkO1X
M39But even so, I couldn’t die for someone whose location or even survival I didn’t know.Nrrc4
8hoGOd……Yes.4M6Cx
cdUTNtvThe labyrinth is that kind of place.WWp
H9MKKNAnd I am that kind of person.aGh
a9EB6PnThere’s no turning back now.1Dm
O5JI0Clack.m5hWI4
RsrDJAThe alarm had sounded.9JwxfiU
KotAnd the door opened.nuj
BZEt“Ha.”mwdwa
ctjC9KThe moment I opened the first-floor door, I inhaled without realizing it.TrjRk
0NSOThat damned second-floor hallway was no longer there.s9nq70
1yGI had finally escaped the second floor.yI0f
9MiP“Ha… ha.”dFhfXb
QjGMSAnd that place.aMGa0
4WZwWasn’t even the first floor.KZCXHkC
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