Chapter 30: Happy Pass

Lee Jinsu’s head looked as though someone had taken a slice out of an ultra-realistic cake called “Lee Jinsu” and left the rest behind.

Scalp, skull, brain…

That cross-section, layered like cream, sponge cake, and mousse, did not spill a single drop of blood.

【Happyland’s adorable mascot! Are you ready to be happy together with Pipi?】

No.

I was not.

【Just in case, let’s first check the most important thing.】

【Do you remember your name?】

【▶ I remember】

【▶ I forgot】

Ah.

So this was the question about names he mentioned.

【I remember!】

I had entered “Seon Yuhan.”

【What is your name?】

【▶ Seon Yuhan】

【▶ Hwang】

【▶ binary】

【▶ Hyunjae】

【▶ I forgot】

So that was how it worked.

There definitely had been no need to use a real name.

【Seon Yuhan!】

And what the hell was that “I forgot” option? It sounded very unsettling.

【Correct. You are Seon Yuhan.】

【Very good! From now on, freely enjoy Happyland, the land of happiness, freedom, liberation, and joy!】

【A dazzling light rises over the horizon and warmly embraces Happyland. It is a sight that makes you happy just by looking at it. Today you will spend a very happy day. Together with Pipi. Until the very end.】

As the text advanced, chaos reigned around me.

“Ugh… ugh…”

Choi Jaeha, after accidentally opening the infamous kitchen door, found the corpse of Lee Jinsu’s coworker and ended up vomiting while screaming.

“Khk… ugh…”

Jung Jiho could not endure the sight either.

He could not even manage to cry properly and ended up vomiting.

“Take this. Jiho too, slowly.”

Yoo Hyunjae brought bottled water and some snacks from the kitchen refrigerator.

“I hope we won’t need them, but they might become necessary…”

Hwang Juyeon searched through every drawer in NeoSoft and gathered emergency medicine and first-aid kits.

“Don’t go back in there.”

I dragged the chair with Lee Jinsu’s body, slumped over the dark monitor, into the kitchen.

Then I returned, sat down, and took out the Tarae Journal and a pen.

“Ah, are you going to take notes?”

“Yes. First, we should record what Lee Jinsu told us. It might also help to write down the options that appear and their results.”

Even though I would probably remember most things.

There was nothing to lose by recording the game’s script.

【As the owner of a Happy Pass, you can freely enjoy attractions, sweets, and plentiful meals.】

The screen changed once again.

A pixel-art illustration appeared along with new choices.

【A rabbit-costumed employee is selling churros. They look delicious. You are not hungry yet.】

【▶ Eat】

【▶ Endure】

At the top was a bar slowly decreasing, showing the time limit.

At that speed, it looked like it would last about three or four minutes.

【Endure!】

If you are not hungry, endure.

【You lick your lips as you pass by the stand. Curiously, seeing delicious food seems to have awakened your appetite.】

“Mr. Seon Yuhan… are you good at games?”

Hwang Juyeon, who would probably be the next one to play, approached me with a worried look.

“I don’t know. This kind of game is just choosing options, so I wouldn’t say there’s such a thing as being good or bad at it…”

Text adventure games do not require mechanical skill.

Anyone can play them.

But in exchange, they depend heavily on luck.

Even choosing the same option can produce different outcomes.

And it is difficult to know which path is the correct one.

Exactly like an invasion-type labyrinth where everything is unknown.

…Unless you can start over several times.

【Look! It’s the Typhoon Express! Fast and intense like a typhoon! But the eye of the typhoon is the highest and most thrilling place of all. There you will find liberation. Be happy!】

【▶ Be happy】

【▶ Be unhappy】

Judging by the pixel illustration, it was a roller coaster with three complete 360-degree loops.

I had no idea how the hell that was supposed to make anyone happy.

“Ugh… ah…”

His stomach was still unsettled, so Choi Jaeha dragged a chair next to mine and read the entire script.

“Well… couldn’t it be something like this? Look, here. The part where it spins the hardest. Maybe they hang you upside down at the top with the safety bar open and you have to hold on.”

His speculation was so oddly specific that I was speechless for a moment and looked at him.

“How did you even come up with something like that?”

“There was something similar in a movie I watched in middle school. To be honest, I haven’t been able to go to amusement parks since then.”

Honestly, I have no idea what kind of movies this man watched.

“But I was curious about what happens to the employees when someone gets on.”

“Right. Couldn’t it be that the employees get on too and have to hold on? If they endure, they survive, and if they don’t… well…”

Choi Jaeha left the sentence unfinished.

Without thinking too much about it, I chose an option.

【Be happy!】

In any case, I would not know until I tried.

Even if I chose “Be unhappy,” I would be the one paying the price. The dead would not come back.

Rumble!

After the sound of a roller coaster accelerating at full speed, a shrill scream that seemed capable of tearing apart one’s ears rang out.

“Aaaah—!”

【The highest and most motionless place. From the depths of an inverted world, you free yourself from the shackles that bound you.】

Creeeak, Craaack.

The sound of a metal structure deforming.

【Now that you are free, you cling to the steel track and move swiftly forward. At this moment, you can still catch the prison that left you behind and is disappearing into the distance. It will be a perfect memory!】

“Uh… this…”

Choi Jaeha looked confused.

Apparently, he had guessed correctly about being freed from the safety bar.

But after freeing himself, the monster was chasing the roller coaster that had departed without him.

And there were probably people riding it.

【Ouch! Something keeps falling from the moving prison and hurting you. But do not give up.】

Craaack! Boom! Splaaash!

The screen filled with blood once again.

Red stains appeared all over the pixelated roller coaster.

【You have tasted freedom. Freedom has a salty and metallic flavor. It seems you will become addicted to it.】

The screen changed immediately.

The illustration of the stand that I had already seen during Lee Jinsu’s playthrough appeared again.

【A raccoon-costumed employee is selling ice cream. It looks delicious. Right now you are full.】

【▶ Eat】

【▶ Endure】

If you are full, endure.

【Endure!】

【You lick your lips as you pass by the stand. Seeing delicious food seems to have awakened your appetite.】

“Mr. Seon Yuhan. Is it necessary to endure?”

Yoo Hyunjae finally spoke after quite a while.

And that was the first thing he said.

Completely innocently.

“It’s not necessary to eat either.”

“But you don’t want to be unhappy either?”

I had just chosen “Be happy” on an attraction where people were killed.

And now I was refusing to eat people.

Was he asking whether that was hypocrisy?

If so, I already had my answer prepared.

As always.

“Then why would I deliberately choose to be unhappy?”

Yoo Hyunjae watched me silently.

“There was no indication here that choosing ‘Endure’ would harm me. That’s why I chose it.”

“Ah.”

Yoo Hyunjae nodded naturally, as if he understood.

Surprisingly, he did not seem annoyed.

There really was something strangely easygoing about him for someone in his position.

“So that is the best result Seon Yuhan-ssi can achieve.”

Huh?

Was he annoyed after all?

Was he provoking me?

“Ah. What I mean is…”

Yoo Hyunjae smiled faintly and waved his hand.

“That I understand. I understand that you did everything you could. Within the limits that were given to you.”

Was that so?

I did not know.

“I hope you keep doing so. When people try to go beyond their own limits, they end up breaking.”

“Ah… yes.”

Did he mean that I should not take on unnecessary penalties and should simply pass the turn?

I could not tell whether he meant it sincerely or not.

【Do you remember your name?】

【▶ I remember】

【▶ I forgot】

This again.

【I remember!】

【What is your name?】

【▶ Jyo】

【▶ Seon Yuhan】

【▶ JunSeo】

【▶ Hwang】

【▶ I forgot】

“Hmm?”

Who the hell was JunSeo?

“Ah. This person.”

Yoo Hyunjae pointed at the screen with a look of recognition.

“…You know him?”

“Yes. He’s in the kitchen.”

While gathering food from the kitchen, did he also take the time to check the dead coworker’s ID?

And did he consider that a sufficient reason to answer so naturally that he knew him?

This man really did have a few screws loose.

Fortunately, they were not loose in the wrong direction.

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Correct. You are Seon Yuhan.】

【Look! It’s the Rolling Cup! The cups spin and spin! Crash! Be happy!】

【▶ Be happy】

【▶ Be unhappy】

This seemed like an attraction where people were smashed apart like porcelain cups.

【Be happy!】

Just as expected.

Clang! Crash! Craaack!

【What a perfect spinning attack! You struck with precision a cup moving freely across a trembling table.】

The sound of something made of solid and liquid matter being crushed and bursting apart echoed out.

【You bite, tear apart, savor, and happily enjoy the cup.】

“This game… is too much. Too much…”

Hwang Juyeon’s face was filled with emotions that were impossible to describe.

As if she did not even know where to begin cursing this thing.

“All of this must have happened to real people…”

Some things are especially cruel precisely because they have no malice.

And labyrinths, for the most part, have no malice.

Just like a natural disaster that drowns people or burns mountains and fields.

I thought about the Seonghwa High School Labyrinth, the Yeongun Mountain Labyrinth, and the Happyland Labyrinth.

I thought about why stories from invasion-type labyrinths kept appearing.

And also about the true nature of labyrinths.

‘Labyrinths are graves of unresolved problems. And those things simply wait for someone to come and solve them.’

Ninety percent of invasion-type labyrinths end with the complete annihilation of everyone trapped inside.

That is why there is almost never any way to know exactly what happened there.

That, in itself, makes them unresolved problems.

Because nobody managed to solve them.

Perhaps that is why they keep reappearing as the problems of other labyrinths.

Because they want someone to solve them.

Even if only a little.

【There is a box on a bench! Maybe it contains a gift that will make you happy!】

【▶ Open it】

【▶ Leave it】

There was not going to be any happiness.

Only misfortune.

【Leave it!】

Shhh…

【How could you abandon such an adorably wrapped box? You return to the bench and open it.】

“No, haa…”

Then why the hell are you asking me?

【What did you find inside the box?】

【▶ Doll】

【▶ Trash】

【▶ Headband】

That was why I wanted to leave it alone.

Both the doll and the headband looked as though they were made from people inside the game.

And the trash seemed like an option intended to harm me, a person from the outside world.

If that was the case, then the answer I should choose was obvious.

【Headband!】

I would choose the path that did not kill me.

Because I could not kill someone who was already dead again.

Even if I wanted to.

【Incorrect!】

What?

【You found trash inside the box.】

Are they insane?