Chapter 23: The Sender Is Not in the User’s Contacts

I stared fixedly into the darkness where even boundaries between shadows could not form.

Clank, splash.

The footsteps of mercy echoed beside my ears.

“What’s wrong? You’re suddenly acting creepy. Is there something behind us?”

I looked at the face of the cowardly accountant.

Choi Jaeha’s expression, bent over while checking the tires, looked surprisingly normal.

“N-no. It’s nothing.”

I shook my head.

“There’s nothing.”

In the end, it really had been an illusion.

Mercy is not coming toward me.

“Haa, not this one either.”

“Huh, but don’t you need to look at the pattern photo?”

When I showed him the image on the screen, Choi Jaeha barely glanced at it and waved his hand.

“I’ve already more or less memorized it. Besides, it’s annoying to keep staring at your phone all the time. Ah, Seon Yuhan, you still don’t have a car, right? Look, tire patterns vary depending on the manufacturer, but normally this part has vertical grooves following the circumference, and that’s what’s most commonly used…….”

I half-listened to the explanation about tire patterns from certified public accountant Choi Jaeha, the proud owner of his own car.

It wasn’t anything especially important.

Nor was it something completely unfamiliar to me.

There was a time when I obsessed over the marks left behind like scars in the place where someone had lost their life.

A very long time ago.

Even now, sometimes I calculate the appropriate speed capable of pulverizing my femur.

It’s a bad habit.

“Haa, but even though all the patterns look similar, they’re also different. It’s more complicated than I thought.”

Perhaps because he depended on a rather weak flashlight, Choi Jaeha blinked several times with tired eyes.

“Let’s switch. I’ll check this area.”

This time Choi Jaeha illuminated the area with his phone while I inspected the tires.

What we were looking for was a rib pattern with thick grooves undulating vertically.

Just as Choi Jaeha had said, the details differed on every tire, so we had to check carefully.

Though more than that, those skid marks.

They keep appearing before my eyes.

“For them to be so long and clear……”

“Huh? What did you say? Did you find something?”

“Ah, no. That’s not it.”

I kept comparing the patterns as I spoke.

“I mean the tire marks from earlier. Normally they don’t end up that long or that deep.”

“Mm…… now that you mention it. For the mark to come out that strongly, the car would have had to be going pretty fast. There was probably a lot of empty space in front and behind.”

“Do you think it was an accident?”

“It could be. Or maybe something like a wild animal ran across.”

Choi Jaeha shrugged as if it didn’t matter.

“But who cares, right? What if it’s just a fake created by the labyrinth?”

What matters is not whether it’s fake or real.

What matters is that the labyrinth created it.

“It could be a clue to reach the next floor.”

“Ah…… really? But nothing like that happened on the second floor. Couldn’t it just be that there aren’t any clues?”

“That……”

I was left speechless.

Now that I think about it, this person believes we escaped from the second floor because we “saved Jung Jiho” in Saenal Daycare.

He does not know that the librarian of Book & Allae was not human.

Nor does he know the clues related to her.

At that instant, an inexplicable anger churned inside my stomach.

That the labyrinth is not a place you escape from by saving people.

That saving the child did not help at all in escaping.

That perhaps what I truly wanted to save was not the child.

That what is truly necessary in a labyrinth is not the determination to die, but the determination to kill.

That life is not something given freely, but a “state” barely maintained after miserable and desperate struggles.

That, just like outside the labyrinth, surviving is fighting and fighting can never be elegant.

And that because of that, in the end, inside the labyrinth we all become the same.

That you people know nothing…….

“Maybe there were clues we didn’t find and we just got lucky.”

I forcibly swallowed that blind curse and that frustration.

Spit it out.

Spit it out.

Spit it out.

Spit it out.

Spit it out.

Spit it out.

Spit it out.

I told you to spit it out!

A sharp scream I could not digest clawed at my insides.

“Yeah? Ah, right, you said you wanted to become an agent. Then you know something about labyrinths, huh? Mm, well. Maybe you’re right.”

After that, we switched tasks again.

Choi Jaeha checked the tires one by one while I illuminated them with my phone flashlight at the lowest brightness.

Bzzz.

As soon as I picked up the phone again, messages started pouring in one after another.

[(National Message)

Hello, we are recruiting people to help write delicious reviews for an online store.

You can do it anytime and anywhere regardless of time or space.

We ship the same day, so many customers are satisfied. Don’t feel pressured and contact us comfortably whenever and wherever you like.

More than 1.2 kg per day / more than 30 kg per month.

▾Real-time inquiry▾

https://s.ub-5iK.com

Slots: 11 people (first come, first served)]

What the hell is this suspicious advertisement.

Delete.

[::Web Message::

The first floor at double~♥

There is no

place

this spacious

Escape before

they close

Free cancellation 080730616]

Are they making fun of me?

Delete.

[

We regret to inform you that you passed away today.

Funeral https://r.ly/6e1leV3]

No.

I’m not going to die today.

Even if I die.

Delete.

[Son of a b✱tch d@mn y0u
You too, Seon Yuhan, w1ll d1e✚]

I’m the one working myself to death.

……No.

Delete.

[〔International Message〕 Oppa, I’m hungry. Let’s go outside together. There won’t be anyone there. It can only be now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Ah……]

But I don’t have a younger sister.

Though I really do want to go outside.

Right now.

To somewhere with nobody there.

Delete.

[(Advertisement)

The one who wanders between time and space

The one who moved forward facing destiny

The one who gave love without reserve

This body born upon the gallows

Now becomes one formed by three

Yahweh, do you know my name?]

No. That can’t be.

……Delete.

[DC3※8※ Card

Customer: 3,185,000

Transaction at va.rious merchants?

Inquiry regarding suspicious activity ▶ In-person visit required]

Delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete dele—

“Eh? Found……, huh?”

“Ple……ase.”

That damned exclamation nearly made my heart stop.

It better not be anything important.

“Huh?”

It was important.

“What the hell is this?”

What Choi Jaeha was pointing at was.

“Looks…… like a package.”

A small delivery box rested alone on top of the hood.

A compact box, smaller than an adult man’s hand in width, length, and height.

“No, I mean. There was definitely nothing there just now! But I was looking at the tires, thought ‘this is it,’ looked up, and suddenly this thing appeared……!”

“For now, don’t open it. Let’s take it back and check it with the others.”

First I took pictures showing the vehicle number, the appearance, and the location.

Go1020, black sedan, D11.

Meanwhile, the accountant stared curiously at the box sitting on the hood.

“Sammae Delivery…… is there even a company like that? The address says Seoul…… this is this building and, huh? What kind of address is Go1020? What lunatic uses their own car as a delivery address?”

“……The labyrinth is insane.”

After reading the recipient address written on the label, it was obvious this was a gift sent by the labyrinth.

I picked up the box with one hand.

The box itself was small, and whatever was inside seemed even smaller.

“Let’s go back.”

“Yeah. But do you think there’s actually something inside? It feels super light.”

“I don’t know…….”

We walked through the darkness relying on tiny lights, while at the same time trying not to look directly at those lights.

We only lifted them briefly to check for obstacles ahead or confirm we were still heading the right direction, then immediately pointed them back toward the floor.

Sometimes a dim light is scarier than absolute darkness.

“By the way, this is the first time I’ve seen Director Yoo Hyunjae this close. He’s so handsome it’s actually terrifying.”

The accountant leaned slightly closer and whispered.

“I mean, I totally get why he’s so popular. And well, even though he was vomiting and all…… hm, he still feels kind of human. I’m definitely bragging later that I met Yoo Hyunjae.”

……If we get out.

Choi Jaeha’s voice trembled slightly when he added that at the end.

Even though he looked anxious, he was holding up surprisingly well.

He didn’t seem to be seeing strange things.

Not like me.

When I heard Yoo Hyunjae’s theory that we shouldn’t make loud noises like screaming, honestly, I worried more about Choi Jaeha than Jung Jiho or Hwang Juyeon.

Because despite his size, he’s extremely timid and dramatic.

I thought he would be the real problem.

“Ah. My niece is a fan of Director Yoo Hyunjae…… no, actually, isn’t it weird to be a fan of a CEO? Last time she asked me to buy her some Yuwi Red Snake figures, so I went to look, but they don’t even sell merchandise of the director. So how are people supposed to fangirl over him? Though honestly, if they did make merchandise of the directors, it’d probably sell better than the Red Snake stuff. Ah, right, those tiny figurines are ridiculously expensive. How the hell does something the size of your palm cost tens of thousands of won? But what could I do? She likes them. That kid is seriously scary. She’s always calling me saying ‘Uncle, buy me this,’ ‘Take me there,’ ‘Do this for me.’ She knows perfectly well I’m weak against her. I seriously spoiled her too much. And she doesn’t even take after my brother or sister-in-law. She just had to resemble her aunt…….”

“Ah, I see.”

This man is the type who talks nonstop when he’s nervous.

I take back what I said about him “holding up surprisingly well.”

Choi Jaeha’s words poured out like machine-gun fire until one of my ears started going numb.

When we were searching tire patterns, he was calm because he had something to focus on.

But now that he no longer had that, it seemed the fear was finally catching up to him.

In a situation like this, I feel like if he so much as sees a bug crawling by the wrong way, he’s going to scream immediately.

……And I don’t want to see that again.

Or go through it again.

Bzzz.

Then.

I felt a faint vibration in my hand, and the locked screen suddenly lit up.

“……Ha.”

The moment I saw the incoming call screen, I inhaled sharply.

[Aunt]

[Swipe to answer]

It felt as if someone had pulled my lungs aside and squeezed my heart directly.

A call from “Aunt.”

I quickly pressed the side button to reject it.

It vibrated again.

[Aunt]

[Swipe to answer]

I rejected it.

I must not answer.

Never.

And not just because the internet doesn’t work, calls shouldn’t work either, and messages shouldn’t work as well.

[Aunt]

[Swipe to answer]

But because.

I don’t have anyone saved as “Aunt” in my contacts.