Chapter 18: “Welcome to a place like this.”
h7AO2I 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…….z8iS
jRyTYes.dNh0
5ZwohfOLet’s kill her.AMmSrPo
PNf2ryOThis.modj
Bhr“Seon Yuhan……? What’s wrong with you?”cPY
YEwWhat I’m seeing right now.h9Tz
5vLF“Don’t worry.”FScZ
rjA8zH5Kim Gilyeong.ePZH
w0n7“This will be over soon.”frAv4BC
iP8lIs not human.Ry5Z
1XOI***UUU
bM0j[“Munrim Elementary students who will write a new story―!”]NW8O
yZhl8[“You came from Sangnim too, right?”]sv9
N3n1UThe name of the elementary school could be overlooked by assuming she had simply transferred schools.bLi4
zh9e[Kim Gilyeong was born on September 16 at 7:32 p.m.]pmm0co
z0JpUd[Kim Gilyeong absentmindedly gazed outside the window. Completely white snow fell like flower petals. As if celebrating her birthday.]czRSJBC
okJBut how could it snow in September?6gScL
7VaK[“It looks like only you and I came from the same elementary school in our class. Let’s eat together later!”rPWL
VLHDark skin, a smile so wide you could see her throat, steps always full of energy. Hong Donghui became Kim Gilyeong’s favorite friend.]xtI
b8QLFVI[“What was the name of your best elementary school friend?”netGeCu
VPFhLOVKim 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.]Bx9bh
0fKHITThe name of a friend she met in middle school appeared as the name of her best elementary school friend.o7hKb
GjIEZYRAnd on top of that, her appearance was completely different.CTAU
kIT8V[(“Omitted”) That’s why, after reading this book, I would open the closet door a little every night.”AyH0
6U9《Alice in Wonderland》 became Kim Gilyeong’s favorite book.]4UD
IEDk0w[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.]4Usz
NzMmdhAnd that damned “Alice in Wonderland.”Zuc
EMaxAfter all, it really was strange.MiJMpPs
qUEvqwIt wasn’t that, as a child, she confused “Alice in Wonderland” with “The Chronicles of Narnia.”rNr
zdAULKNor that she later changed her favorite book.4XGKU
Fxz4qv8There were more contradictory details scattered everywhere.VDb
KcjvAnd they were contradictions so small and placed so subtly that you would overlook them if you weren’t reading carefully.3YWEoy
RlVHY“While reading, I wondered something. Whether Kim Gilyeong’s favorite childhood book was 《Alice in Wonderland》 or 《The Chronicles of Narnia》―”89TbK3
1iOHZV“..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.”TFUf3B
Oa9QAll those contradictions were proof that the librarian was a monster, so naturally the inconsistent parts were censored as spoilers.ak84D
QT8h“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?”iZAd6cy
jVlXbJAt some point, the goose teacher from the daycare had said that while looking at Kim Gilyeong’s corpse.Owh0l
zON“Do you really think that would work? Especially with such a defective product?”ask0i
EMwTWGXFrom 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.kU2RQW
NY3w10“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…….”d7Lew
VywJust as Choi Jaeha said, similar monsters appear in the two movies shown in the auditorium.JWib
1F8Monsters that take human form, deceive people, and keep them trapped inside the labyrinth.OO4u
BbmlcAnd one of those monsters was here.82I9H
dEnR1DgRight in front of me.8q1w
hctuFlThe instant I realized that.82xC
2blsI 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.3JPU
VbzbI wanted to die.QpvXa
ebcIOIf only I could.qh2Ta3e
Xm4But I couldn’t die.eX7J
oUI2nWThen I had to kill.tWg
1w9p***84b58
mpvK“It took longer than I expected.”655Z4
52sThat was the thought I had right before collapsing.Pzi
vp1O3“Ugh…….”p0FxBF2
vEVNThe moment I raised my body, the world began spinning violently.AOq
TXmqVThe back of my neck and both sides of my forehead burned as if I had been scorched.Cxph
6oWdfMj“Seon Yuhan looks toward the floor.”BPy
JoLWhat?PMimBh7
pgQFhEven in the middle of my confusion, my body faithfully obeyed the library’s instructions.VIrq
1vRQPp2“There was a corpse there.”HwiW
Uq5The moment I saw the marks clearly engraved on the librarian’s neck, the memories came flooding back all at once, like a delayed flood.F0oJ
u51TaPWhat I had done.7B2L31X
jo5uwd“Seon Yuhan observed the librarian’s corpse, lying there staring at the ceiling.”kkuG
HIaux“Ugh, guhk…….”zaB43
p8zI barely suppressed the nausea rising into my throat and took a deep breath.kloFg
AUzdl7dWhen the sensations sleeping deep within my consciousness awoke and rose to the surface, my entire body started trembling again.dHSzZny
mQE3mZmI couldn’t bear to look directly at “that,” so I tightly shut my eyes.TBCBDCt
cznK2AA desecration and mockery of everything alive.xLh85gH
YrbEven now, the desire to tear it apart and burn it alive throbbed beneath my skin.XQSmlv
BbpalaBI hate them.Z67
toGThose things that wear human skin without being human.TlO1FM
lV4They terrify me.wqXygR
MT3An unbearable fear.zti8
mejThqIMore than the guilt of having shown a child something he should never have seen, that disgusting terror dominated me.t4hNKE
tNdVwf“Turning his gaze away with effort, Seon Yuhan discovered four books scattered on the floor and an abandoned child’s backpack.”m9UH
SA2KuIt seems Hwang Juyeon had been too bewildered to stop me immediately.mzu5bmg
7SkCWAnd instead of stopping me, she chose to buy even a little time to escape with the child.b9rRB2
MNSs7jHonestly, I couldn’t blame her either.W1G
PihjSiIf a man you just met suddenly goes insane and kills a woman you also just met…2jsN
gHqrocAnd on top of that, while trapped inside an invasive labyrinth.vdUY3r7
gCMv4SThe logical thing is to hit that man in the head and run away.RVwosPL
tqc3Although it probably would have been smarter to make sure to kill me to avoid trouble later……3Odz1o
G6m9QpPBut from my perspective, the fact that she didn’t was fortunate.rwN
XY4sZFI picked up the book I had dropped.LD5PsO
HmZ[Kim Gilyeong is]tTzFKK
P31BA badly written story.wCai7a1
ucgdLike a collage made by tearing apart and pasting together fragments from several people’s lives.T0lSL
LGq“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.”UMA
e2iRHD9Though of course, I was already used to it because I had read it several times thanks to the loop…….S6pD
YcK4nPI remembered the round when I found Kim Gilyeong’s corpse for the first time.vhL
jMJEThe wounds reflected confusion and hesitation on the part of the killer.R0M
1SyIf there wasn’t a third person I didn’t know about, then the only one capable of killing the librarian was still Hwang Juyeon.DfLTC
qrCNN8sThat meant Hwang Juyeon, even without memories of regressions, had noticed the contradictions in the librarian’s story and acted after a single reading club.B9Ok
B2QACHm.icF
jZYucI definitely must never make her my enemy.cGCuy9a
qp1When I used my phone screen as an improvised mirror, I saw that my forehead had split open.gS1kd
C9wI 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.m0NBby
xIpZoe“Huh?”f9wHZx4
Sng7XaThe moment the black screen I was using as a mirror lit up, I almost broke the rule forbidding saying “huh.”FIjidZg
Gq7TqZm[4:14]pHk
uMQMESomething felt strange, so I unlocked the phone and checked again.lt6hRnP
LoK7U9The time was still the same.E9kYzJb
rj3aIO[4:14 | SOS | 86%]d3m8v8a
PKy12ZThe clock hanging on the library wall showed exactly the same thing.SOSE
Yge2FPm4:14?DM0
8khfIfzCould the concussion have been worse than I thought?jTyIb
vZxbiPIThe reading club had started exactly at 4:00.e4v
65FYEWzHad only fourteen minutes passed?50narW
DralAnd if I subtracted the minutes I had been unconscious…….KE6Rjy
4h3QQ3Ten minutes.52c
LDzThe reading club had ended in barely ten minutes.GUrD
WpSYcEven though I ruined it halfway through, we had read an enormous amount.oEsz
Z3VIrAt least thirty minutes should have passed.58y
2vBf……Now that I think about it, ever since the reading club started, I never once tried to check the time.zC7
W5htJThe thought never even crossed my mind.vBbqf1n
DkNt6In a situation where I should have been desperate to escape the labyrinth as quickly as possible…KWUqm
v471LBnI quietly sat there reading books.6RfqVLO
FiiXQI literally “lost track of time.”z3HO06i
EOcq“Seon Yuhan awakens to the power of stories.”yiY
vlHPHa.rhE
gD4So twisting time is no big deal for this thing.xZTeJ
g9QwyA9Well, considering I myself have died and returned several times…….4CtWM
bVtKfAt the end of my exhausted gaze, Kim Gilyeong appeared again.H072N
Gdi8“And some stories can only reach a complete ending when the protagonist dies. Isn’t that right?”XieB
hlczFragments of memories shattered like broken glass tore through my mind.RQs
VNTThe 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.b3w4
rWtKehk, weh-ek, kkeuek…….XLy
JoNEFzAs if.zbsuu
b8YvkWhy?i9od
IDdv11xWhy?McBgE
nuIRmWhy……?d086kMs
xfqWe“The bloodshot eyes that never even managed to close seemed to stare at Seon Yuhan.”8ZLBnQ
2z0IkSAs if asking for the reason.7nRQ3
J5FXf9As if unable to even imagine why she had to die.Gps0b
vuu07sbAs if she sincerely believed herself human.b0pI
N7jXHURight up until the instant she stopped breathing.9m3etYf
spt“Monster.”zbVP9d
eUTKAnd then I ran away.LLCRto
mfLyy“Isn’t that exactly what a labyrinth monster is?”9TSqp
I4WwTo escape that sticky gaze still clinging to me.M5kUq
lsHR***Su6C
VNx9QqThe moment I left the library, I headed straight for the emergency exit.Vykvp1k
ByN7There was no longer any human presence in the second-floor hallway.psYLKfw
cYfdvglA 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.rBkCTY
6Cq5mm3There wouldn’t be anyone in the merchandise shop either.KeRN
1gEWhy 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.UztU
uokPujrAnd they wouldn’t have gone to the daycare because of Jung Jiho.TB5guCA
26SECxHwang Juyeon and Jung Jiho definitely went down to the lower floors.5dLLh
atUIt seems killing the librarian really was the correct answer.talJTT
INGfkNTap.VLW
Psq9fUWhile holding the emergency exit doorknob, I unconsciously looked back.1eWAB1
SKNzYlnI could see the elevator area.KLo
mdiSNtdI thought about a certain large and cowardly accountant.RNn5dJl
fYNaptI wondered what floor he was on now.wfpLVIW
2U8WTBOr if he was even still alive.fXZ0
JWMLfOcTo begin with, if it hadn’t been for me, that man would have died trapped inside the elevator from the very start.5vUo3D
1LPYeWith his luck, after escaping when he heard the alarm, maybe he had already died absurdly somewhere else.ero
4RGgIt was something simple, but he wasn’t a bad person.INmya6
CLKgV7But even so, I couldn’t die for someone whose location or even survival I didn’t know.HLzidt
6LaAZT……Yes.12i
1EDt6c8The labyrinth is that kind of place.krw5
PJyeolvAnd I am that kind of person.AUU
65McOThere’s no turning back now.BC7q
OtuuClack.4wP
vY3The alarm had sounded.DHKSR9r
BATPAnd the door opened.oqj7ZM
iTiv0g2“Ha.”VZU
BWYh0cEThe moment I opened the first-floor door, I inhaled without realizing it.WeuNI
M3ltjThat damned second-floor hallway was no longer there.e6yHpEe
iRmTI had finally escaped the second floor.etV9cX
ew4u1hY“Ha… ha.”mOJQf
71OAnd that place.DhCUGfl
ErCoWasn’t even the first floor.RPWiR
What did you think of this chapter?
Report comment
Please select the reason for reporting this comment. False reports may result in account suspension.
0 Comments
There are no comments yet. Be the first!