Chapter 27: Conflagration

Chzzzt, chzzzt…

Yoo Hyunjae and I simply kept our mouths shut and looked each other in the eyes, reaching the unspoken agreement that the radio sound was not an individual auditory hallucination.

For a while, music filled with static played, as if someone were tuning the frequency.

Eventually, the signal became clearer.

「Hello, listeners of .」

It was a veteran radio program that had accompanied the history of that station for many years.

「…Here is today’s story. “Hello, Jeong-DJ! Tomorrow I’m going on a trip alone with my girlfriend. I’m going to forget about grades and everything else and just enjoy myself.” Oh, you must be very excited. “We’re going to drive around, go hiking, eat delicious food, and I’m also going to show her my villa.” Oh! A villa too? How impressive. Ahem. “I’ll also show her my villa. By the way, Jeong-DJ, do you know any good places near Mount Yeongun?” Ah, Mount Yeongun…」

Mount Yeongun?

Did people actually go there for trips?

「…Hoping you have a wonderful journey, we’ll listen to a song by a charming mixed-gender duo that has recently been gaining popularity…」

A song began playing with the typical low audio quality of radio broadcasts.

Although calling it “recently popular” was an exaggeration.

At best, it was a song from the early 2000s.

“It sounds like an old broadcast.”

“It does.”

Then the content of the story started making sense too.

“Seon Yuhan-ssi, does anything come to mind when you hear Mount Yeongun?”

I stared at Yoo Hyunjae.

He did not look like someone asking because he did not know.

I did not understand why he was wasting time like this.

“Yes.”

Yoo Hyunjae opened his eyes slightly, inviting me to continue.

“It became a labyrinth a few years ago.”

More precisely, five years ago part of Mount Yeongun became an Invasion-type Labyrinth.

It was a rarely visited area, but a small road passed through the affected zone, so every vehicle that crossed that point disappeared.

“As far as I remember, a forest fire broke out a week after the labyrinth’s existence was discovered, and the labyrinth disappeared.”

Whether it was an accident or deliberately caused by the people trapped inside.

In the end, they escaped the labyrinth.

By dying.

“You remember it quite well. But there’s something else you should know.”

I looked at him as if asking what it was.

Yoo Hyunjae pointed at the silent radio.

“In addition to the bodies of the people trapped inside the labyrinth, they found fragments of unidentified human bones. Remains that had been buried in that mountain for a very long time.”

“Unidentified remains…? Ah, now I remember.”

Come to think of it, when I followed the news about the Mount Yeongun Labyrinth, public attention had suddenly shifted to those discovered bones, which was why I barely obtained any information about the labyrinth itself.

“As I heard it, the condition of the bones was so poor that they couldn’t properly obtain DNA. Even so, by assembling the remaining fragments, they estimated that they belonged to…”

The director of Yuwi Guild stroked his chin while trying to remember.

Then he frowned.

“I think they concluded they belonged to a middle school or high school girl.”

If…

Feet…

Regardless of my will, the puzzle pieces began fitting together by themselves inside my head.

About twenty years ago.

In the early 2000s.

An adult traveled around Mount Yeongun with his “girlfriend,” a middle school or high school student.

For some reason, that girl was struck by a car traveling at practically full speed.

Her body must have been twisted exactly like the dummy we found in the truck.

Afterward, she was buried in Mount Yeongun.

And roughly fifteen years later.

Five years ago.

Part of Mount Yeongun became an Invasion-type Labyrinth.

After everyone inside was wiped out and the area was subsequently cleared, fragments of that girl’s bones were found…

“Ha…”

“And even knowing all that, we still don’t know that girl’s name. Perhaps we’ll find the clue here.”

Yoo Hyunjae lightly waved the automobile catalog in his hand and opened it so both of us could read it.

I slowly turned the pages, searching for any unusual mark or sign.

Flip.

Flip.

The sound of thin pages turning filled the interior of the vehicle.

“Ah. I think this is it.”

“Hmm?”

“There’s something stuck between the pages. It looks like a note.”

Yoo Hyunjae stopped at a page featuring a dark green SUV.

But my gaze remained fixed on the note trapped between the pages like a bookmark.

“Seon Yuhan-ssi?”

I slowly reached toward the note.

For some reason, it felt as though my fingertips were trembling.

“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

“The drawing. The drawing…”

A hand had been drawn on the paper in red ink.

And there was also a drawing of a scale tilted to one side.

Tap—

The moment I dropped the note as though it had burned me.

Chzzzt, chzzzt…

The radio turned on again.

First came a song filled with static, then the signal gradually cleared.

Eventually the introduction ended.

「I’m on my way to you」

And the song truly began.

「You be there, my dear」

I know this song.

I know it far too well.

So well that it felt as though blood were pouring out of every opening in my body.

No.

No.

No.

That’s not it.

Even if all the blood leaves me, I cannot die.

Not until balance is achieved.

“Seon Yuhan-ssi, are you seeing something strange?”

I don’t see anything.

No.

There’s nothing there.

I already paid everything.

“Clench your fist and then relax it. Breathe slowly. One, two…”

No.

This is wrong.

There are too many hands.

Do I have to cut them off?

“105 seconds.”

Someone grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard.

“The average between a minute and a half and two minutes is 105 seconds.”

What… is he talking about?

“A moment ago you muttered between a minute and a half and two minutes, right? After Hwang Juyeon died. You were calculating the time between the snake bite and the monster’s arrival.”

That’s right.

Hwang Juyeon died.

Because of me.

Or didn’t she?

Was it in the previous iteration?

Or the one before that?

“Seon Yuhan-ssi. Forget about death and focus on the rules. If you know the rules, you can escape the labyrinth. Think only about that.”

The rules.

The rules.

The rules.

But if I don’t know them, how am I supposed to escape?

“For approximately 105 seconds, Hwang Juyeon’s heart rate almost never dropped below 110.”

In other words.

If a heart rate remains above roughly 110 for approximately 105 seconds.

That monster appears.

“And that monster…”

And that monster.

Crudely imitates a Buddha.

While speaking about freeing oneself from worldly afflictions.

What does 105 seconds mean?

What does a heart rate of 110 mean?

Between 105 and 110.

Somewhere between the two.

108…

Clank.

Hearing the footsteps of that grotesque and sorrowful Buddha Tathagata, his voice flooded my mind as if I had suddenly attained enlightenment.

‘You do not understand for yourself that your heart remains bound by the 108 afflictions. Then how could you cut them away? How could you free yourself from them and attain perfect enlightenment?’

108 afflictions.

“108.”

“I suppose that’s the correct answer. There’s a certain margin of error, but it took approximately that long this time as well. Though I want you to understand something. I never intended to use you as a test subject. I didn’t expect it to happen like this either.”

There’s no need to make that expression.

I don’t think you did anything wrong.

“I couldn’t help. I’m sorry.”

Crunch.

Crack.

The sound of metal deforming and glass shattering echoed through the car.

**

Escape from the 108 Afflictions. The Venerable One is listening to your heartbeat.

**

“If it were possible to turn back time, what would you do, Mr. Seon Yuhan?”

“……”

Even so.

Now that he had discovered the rule, he could have told us earlier.

Though, of course.

He probably wasn’t certain enough either.

And even if he had known it beforehand, I doubt he would have been able to calm his own heart.

“Mr. Seon Yuhan?”

“Interviewer. This building has become a labyrinth.”

This time.

Please.

Let’s get out of here.

***

“Aaaaaah!”

“W-what the hell! Are you crazy…?!”

In the parking garage, we decided from the beginning to eliminate any concerns related to screaming.

A loud sound from the voice.

And a loud sound from the heart.

It seemed better to worry about only one thing instead of two.

However, I didn’t mention anything about 108 seconds or 108 beats.

I hadn’t measured them exactly myself.

And I had no way of convincing anyone.

“Wow. This dark green one looks pretty nice too.”

The five of us finally arrived in front of the vehicle that appeared in the catalog.

Woo9356, dark green SUV, D09.

How much effort it had taken us to get here.

Next to the Go1020 black sedan where the package appeared, Hwang Juyeon saw the image of her former piano teacher and screamed.

Inside the Bae9502 delivery truck where the crash-test dummy was located, Jung Jiho saw what seemed to be his mother’s ghost and barely managed to hold back his tears.

And Choi Jaeha, inside the Seo8102 sports car.

No.

Better not talk about that.

It’s a miracle he’s still alive.

“Alright. Let’s open it and search.”

While Choi Jaeha, Yoo Hyunjae, and Hwang Juyeon checked the driver’s seat, passenger seat, and rear seats respectively, I took Jung Jiho’s hand and went to inspect the trunk.

“Choi Jaeha-ssi! Open the trunk from there!”

“Yeees, wait a second.”

Click.

The trunk opened.

And I froze.

“Seon Yuhan-ssi? Did you find something? There doesn’t seem to be anything here…”

Yes.

There was something.

Five white chrysanthemums placed in a container.

…What a coincidence.

There were exactly five of us.

I wish we were the ones bringing flowers to someone.

And not the other way around.

“Why aren’t you answering? What is it?”

“Ah.”

My gaze fell on the container.

It was too low and wide to be a flower vase.

It was decorated with golden edges and an elegant orchid painting on white porcelain.

Ah.

This…

I quickly turned it over.

Then the engraved character appeared in the center.

[Deceased　　　]

I see.

It wasn’t a flower vase.

“It’s a funeral urn.”

“What?”

“A funeral urn…?”

All of us gathered around the urn holding the chrysanthemums.

It was completely empty.

Except for the flowers.

The chrysanthemums carried the scent of incense.

“It doesn’t have a name. I think we’re the ones who have to figure it out.”

“Then the clues are the story we heard on the radio and the skeletal remains found in the Mount Yeongun Labyrinth.”

“But how are we supposed to figure out the name of someone we don’t even know?”

I felt the same frustration.

But.

“Probably we can. Labyrinths don’t present unsolvable problems…”

As long as you remain alive.

In theory, any labyrinth can be solved.

The problem is dying before you do.

If there exists a labyrinth that remains impossible even after dying and coming back to life.

Then it probably means a clue provided by the labyrinth itself was overlooked.

I pulled out my phone and reviewed once again all the information I had photographed and memorized in that parking garage.

Go1020, black sedan, D11.

Bae9502, white truck, E02.

Seo8102, red sports car, A11.

Woo9356, dark green SUV, D09.

That was all the information I had obtained there.

So it was highly likely that the answer was there as well.

[Deceased　　　　　　]

Furthermore, the name that had to be engraved on that urn could not exceed four syllables in Korean.

So, eliminating the numbers from the four vehicles.

Go.

Bae.

Seo.

Woo.

“Go Bae Seo Woo…”

I found the deceased’s name.

[Deceased Bae Seou]

The moment I spoke her name, three characters appeared neatly engraved on the urn.

“Huh? Bae Seou…? Seon Yuhan-ssi! Smoke is coming out of the flowers!”

“Ah? What?”

“Hey, drop it! It’s catching fire!”

The five flowers began to burn.

And in an instant they were completely consumed.

“……”

Inside the urn, only ashes remained.

The ashes of those incense-scented flowers.

They looked like charred bone fragments.

As I stared at them, a memory from that day returned to my mind.

“What day?”

The moment I heard that voice.

That terribly longed-for voice.

“The day you threw my ashes down the drain?”

My breathing stopped completely.