Chapter 34: Let There Be Carnival

【Be happy!】

【Be happy!】

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Eat!】

【Be happy!】

【CONTINUE!】

【If it were possible to turn back time, what would you do, Mr. Seon Yuhan?!】

【Eat!】

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Be happy!】

【CONTINUE!】

【If it were possible to turn back time, what would you do, Mr. Seon Yuhan?!】

【Be happy!】

【Prayer Room!】

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Be happy!】

【CONTINUE!】

【If it were possible to turn back time, what would you do, Mr. Seon Yuhan?!】

【Be happy!】

【Eat!】

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Be happy!】

【Be happy!】

【CONTINUE!】

【CONTINUE!】

【CONTINUE!】

【Seon Yuhan?】

…

【You have finished resting. Now it’s time to be happy again!】

My vision was somewhat blurry, but I was not dead.

I could still continue.

【What is your name?】

【▶ Kim Minjun】

【▶ Hyunjae】

【▶ Seon Yuhan】

【▶ binary】

【▶ I forgot】

I wish they would stop asking me this already.

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Correct. You are Seon Yuhan.】

“Mr. Seon Yuhan, you don’t look well. How about at least taking this?”

“No. It’s fine.”

This was not the time to take medicine.

【An employee dressed as a rabbit is selling churros. They look delicious. You can’t bear the hunger.】

【▶ Eat】

【▶ Hold back】

If it were real food, maybe.

【Eat!】

Crunch! Crack! Craaack!

【A crispy, hot churro dusted with sugar, dipped deep into a thick, steaming sauce! You pat your stomach in satisfaction. It seems you won’t be hungry for a while.】

“Hmm, Mr. Seon Yuhan. Mr. Seon Yuhan?”

“…Yes? What is it?”

“Ah. Nothing. It’s nothing.”

‘Hyunjae’ shook his head.

‘CJH,’ ‘Hwang,’ and ‘Jyo’ had stayed behind at the daycare and came down later.

By now they were probably already dead in the parking lot.

It didn’t matter much.

【Who will be the fastest? Enjoy the speed while trying not to fall off the horse! Be happy!】

【▶ Be happy】

【▶ Be unhappy】

I never intended to give them the chance to be happy anyway.

【Be happy!】

…

【After the greatest deliberation of your life, you chose the bulgogi pizza.】

Crunch! Splash! Crack-crack-crack!

【As expected of the chef’s recommended dish! The soft, chewy crust, the cheese with its wonderfully crisp texture when bitten into, and the sweet stir-fried bulgogi topping create a perfect combination!】

【You have finished your meal happily. The only regret is that you will never taste this chef’s cooking again.】

Dinner ended pleasantly as well.

Now only a little more time remained before the parade would begin.

【Do you remember your name?】

【▶ I remember】

【▶ I forgot】

【I remember!】

Why do they keep asking?

【What is your name?】

【▶ Lee Siun】

【▶ ■■■】

【▶ Hyunjae】

【▶ Seon Yuhan】

【▶ I forgot】

You already know.

You know what my name is.

I selected the correct answer.

【Correct. You are—】

Just as the sentence was about to continue.

“Ha.”

I suddenly lowered the screen and turned around. ‘Hyunjae’ widened his eyes as he quietly inhaled.

That was normal.

Humans find what lies beneath the skin unpleasant.

A left eye whose half had been cleanly removed vertically, completely exposing the vitreous humor.

Or a missing right cheek, clearly revealing both the upper and lower rows of teeth.

“You can relax. Don’t worry.”

The words came out distorted through the hole in my cheek.

“I won’t pass the turn to you.”

I licked my lips as I walked past an empty stall.

No one was selling snacks anymore.

There stood the Haunted House.

Right. Earlier, during the day, I never had the chance to visit it.

This time I was going to enjoy myself happily.

A dark corridor.

Faint breathing audible with every step.

And the metallic scent of fear brushing against my nose along with that breath.

【Where are you? Where are you hiding?】

There were no longer any ghosts in the first-floor kitchen that were crisp like apples.

Only soft, sticky ghosts remained, like overripe persimmons.

It seemed they had spoiled on their own.

Organic waste should be removed quickly.

But since I had already eliminated the Cleaning Cast, there was nothing to be done.

【Are you here?】

There was no one in the first-floor living room.

No toys either.

I had expectations.

I stood still and listened.

Slowly, I made a complete circle around the room.

And then.

【I found you.】

I leaped.

Craaash! Crack! Crunch!

The ghost was on the second floor, directly above my head.

Ah.

Not anymore.

I carefully examined the ghost’s toy.

How did ghosts play with something like this?

Wasn’t it too large for such short limbs?

Click.

Clack.

Ah.

A familiar sound.

So that was how it worked.

As I fiddled with it, a delicious smell began seeping through the crack beneath a door.

Creeeeak…

【Hello? I’ve been waiting for you.】

Ratatatatatatata—! Bang! Thump!

Huff.

This toy smells very bad after being used.

I’ll have to throw it away.

Crack! Crunch!

Though I don’t like other people using it either.

“The final festival of Happyland, the Happy Carnival Parade, will begin shortly! Please gather in the plaza in front of the Merry-Go-Round!”

Following Pipi’s instructions, I walked toward the plaza.

“Your name is—”

“▶ I forget”

“▶ I forget”

“▶ I forget”

“▶ I forget”

“▶ I forget”

Now I knew the correct answer.

【I forget!】

A cheerful fanfare rang out.

“Correct. You forget. You forget all that sadness.”

Three riders.

The Red Liberation.

The Black Freedom.

And the White Joy.

They sang of the end of suffering while leading an army of corpses.

Everyone looked happy.

“This is the land of happiness we have always dreamed of. A place where no one suffers. Where no one is bound. Where no one cries. Where everyone is freely liberated…”

They no longer feared the sound of someone opening a door.

Nor unexplained laughter and crying.

Nor the weight of bodies that had been dead for a very long time.

I would become like that too.

“Look up. We will all become stars rising into the sky and merge into a single song…”

Bang! Bang-bang!

Those ascending into the sky exploded into brilliant flashes of light.

Tap…

Thud…

Red tears ran down my cheeks.

In the midst of it all, I sang and danced.

I savored liberation.

I closed my eyes, intoxicated by happiness.

I became one.

I became eternity…

“Seon Yuhan!”

【How noisy. Don’t ruin the festival.】

“Seon Yuhan!”

【Be quiet. Am I not allowed to be happy?】

“▶ Seon Yuhan”

“▶ Seon Yuhan”

“▶ Seon Yuhan”

【You know it. That is not my name.】

“Your name is—”

【I’m telling you it’s useless.】

“▶ Lee Hyunseon”

【…What are you doing?】

“▶ Kim Jeyu”

【What are you trying to do?】

“▶ Kim Byeonghan”

【That is not my name. You know that.】

“▶ Did you forget?”

【No. No. I didn’t.】

“▶ Seon Yuhan”

【I… No. I am not…】

“Hello.”

“Seon Yuhan!”

“We are LabyrinSoft. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused during your playthrough. We have immediately corrected the detected error and once again apologize to ■■■ for any inconvenience caused by the game malfunction.”

At last, peace arrived.

There was nothing left that could make me sad.

No one blamed me.

No one called out to me.

No one made me unhappy.

The dead are dead.

And therefore they do not exist.

What is dead and does not exist cannot make me unhappy.

It was quiet.

So quiet that it was impossible to understand why I had suffered so much.

Beautiful.

“That is happiness!”

Pipi said.

“Aren’t you happy?”

【Yes.】

I answered Pipi.

【I am happy. I feel nothing but that.】

“Right?”

Pipi smiled brightly.

I stared at him.

Soft, distant music began to play, as if announcing the ending.

“Then it’s time to close Happyland! Good. Before we finish, let’s check one last thing.”

【Yes.】

I knew exactly what I was about to do to myself.

“Do you remember your name?”

“▶ I remember”

“▶ I forgot”

【I remember!】

“Your name is—”

“▶ ■■■”

Beneath that six-syllable placeholder existed only a single path to happiness.

【Seon Yuhan!】

And I knew I would willingly choose to be unhappy.

“What did you say?”

Pipi’s face twisted viciously.

【Seon Yuhan!】

I repeated my name.

Again and again.

Without stopping.

“Wrong! Wrong! You are ■■■! Not that miserable gray trash! The happy ■■■!”

【And why should I be happy?】

Pipi’s round face turned so red it looked ready to explode.

“Because happiness is the supreme goal of all existence! You’re happy right now! Why are you trying to escape? You clearly said you were happy!”

【Yes. That’s why I no longer feel like myself.】

Me, who no longer felt anything when remembering the things that made me unhappy.

Me, who was no longer crushed beneath the weight of my name.

Me, who was happy after forgetting myself.

“How could that be me?”

That was a monster.

“Good. It’s time to close the gates.”

【Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha】

Happyland’s mascot smiled until its mouth split apart.

【You think you’ve defeated me.】

“Because I did.”

I was still myself.

I had not forgotten.

【This is Happyland, the land of happiness. Anyone who is not happy has no right to exist here. The only choice left to you is happiness.】

“Ah.”

Pipi was saying I had only one option.

That if I was not happy, I could not remain in Happyland.

【Or die at Pipi’s hands hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha】

【▶ Be happy】

【▶ Die】

“I see.”

Then all I had to do was not be happy.

【Huh…?】

Pipi’s laughter stopped.

【Die!】

And then Pipi began to lose his mind.

He shrank as small as an ant and then grew as large as a building, crushing Happyland beneath his feet.

【You’re an idiot! A fool! There is only one path—to happiness!】

“No.”

Labyrinths always have countless paths.

And there is never only one way to escape them.

Even when it looks like there is.

“There is one path I never took.”

In Happyland, I had eaten.

I had held back.

I had ridden some attractions and skipped others.

But there was one choice I had never made.

【The foolish you dies.】

As I watched the enormous hand gripping me like an insect, I thought:

If it were possible to turn back time…

**

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

I would choose to be unhappy.

**

【Be unhappy!】

“Hey, Mr. Seon Yuhan. Are you really sure about this?”

“Exactly. Even if it’s written in the diary, it feels pretty unsettling.”

After returning, I heavily crossed out all the scripts I had written down from Will You Come to the Bookstore? and wrote a single sentence.

【Be unhappy!】

【You have voluntarily taken a step into the shadow of unhappiness. Pipi will remember this choice. You must be happy. This is the land of happiness.】

“Don’t worry so much. Nobody knows what will happen.”

“No, you’ll become unhappy…!”

Choi Jaeha looked at me with that familiar expression that said, Is this guy completely insane?

I knew it so well by now that he didn’t even have to say it.

“Am I not allowed to be unhappy?”

“I suppose not!”

Ignoring the accountant on the verge of a breakdown, I suddenly remembered a conversation I had once had with the director of Yuwi Guild.

‘Mr. Seon Yuhan. Was it really necessary to hold back?’

‘It wasn’t necessary to eat either.’

‘But you didn’t want to be unhappy either.’

‘Then why would I deliberately make myself unhappy?’

In the end.

I was the one who had been wrong.

I had to deliberately become unhappy.

【Look! It’s the Happy Swing. Hold on to the pole spinning above the hill and move forward one space at a time! Be happy! You must be happy.】

【▶ Be happy】

【▶ Be unhappy】

【Be unhappy!】

Because I had finally understood that what I truly wanted was not happiness.

“Well, if it’s written like that, there must be a reason.”

【You have taken another step toward the abyss of unhappiness. Pipi asks you: Why aren’t you happy? You can be happy.】

“And besides, there’s no need to blindly obey something as suspicious as the happiness offered by a labyrinth.”

Of course, saying that was basically spitting in my own face.

But nobody else knew that.

【Be unhappy!】

【You are rejecting the happiness granted to you. How pitiful. How miserable. How foolish.】

…

【Be unhappy!】

【How long can you continue rejecting happiness? You can become a more perfect happiness.】

…

【Be unhappy!】

【Correct. You are unhappy.】

“Ha. Finally.”

The breath I had been holding finally left my lungs.

After repeating it over and over, a line of text finally appeared that seemed to acknowledge my stubbornness.

【One who does not know how to desire happiness and remains unhappy has no right to exist in the land of happiness. Leave.】

【EXIT】

“No way… Did it work…?”

【EXIT!】

【The foolish you has lost the opportunity to be happy.】

【But even that foolishness has a price.】

What?

No.

Wait.

【Don’t worry! It will hurt. A small curse will make you unhappy: Blood】

“Ghk…!”

My limbs froze like a machine without power.

An unbearable screech rang through my ears.

An empty heart beat inside my chest.

That familiar pain of being unable to breathe returned.

My entire body screamed on a cellular level, as though red-hot iron rods were being driven through it.

And it all happened simultaneously in a single instant.

“Mr. Seon Yuhan!”

The world, flickering again and again, finally sank into darkness.

【Lost In HAPPYLAND】

Just before I lost consciousness.

The last thing I saw was that damned screen.

【CLOSED】

Damn luck-dependent trash game.

Next time.

I won’t die.

**

11. Do not become happy. Unlike unhappiness, happiness is never satisfied with a single price.