Chapter 37: Labyrinth vs Human

“Time loop, time leap, time slip. Ah, and lately they also use the term ‘regression.’ In any case, I think it’s possible. Any of it.”

When someone who believes in strange conspiracy theories also holds a high social position, it stops being a problem that concerns only them.

“Labyrinths are, at their core, phenomena that distort space. Contact-type labyrinths work by passing through a rift into a space completely separate from Earth. And invasion-type labyrinths, well, you’re seeing them for yourself. If they can distort space like this, why couldn’t they distort time?”

This was precisely the argument used by conspiracy theorists who believed labyrinths could enable travel back in time.

I had always thought it was an absurd escapist fantasy, closer to a religious belief than anything else.

But the problem was…

Even though nobody knew why or how labyrinths existed, they still physically existed in reality.

And that made the theory sound fairly convincing.

And the real problem was…

I was experiencing exactly that kind of phenomenon.

So the truly strange people weren’t the conspiracy theorists.

It was me.

“One of the reasons our company helps labyrinth survivors is precisely because of that. Just in case there might be someone who has experienced temporal regression.”

Yuwi Guild supported PTSD treatment programs for labyrinth survivors.

Even though the probability of dying in a contact-type labyrinth had become comparable to dying in a traffic accident, that didn’t mean psychological treatment could be approached in the same way.

“Because if someone like that exists, I want to be the first to know.”

“Are you saying that’s the real purpose behind helping those people?”

“No? The existence of a hidden purpose doesn’t make the visible purpose false, Mr. Seon Yuhan.”

He didn’t seem to be lying.

And honestly, I had no intention of criticizing him.

“I sincerely want people to escape labyrinths not only physically, but mentally as well.”

Labyrinths are places that are difficult to escape completely.

Yoo Hyunjae added that almost like a murmur.

“Anyway, back to the subject. The interview question is little more than a personality test and a small joke. After all, someone who had truly experienced temporal regression wouldn’t come to such a trivial interview.”

He lacked imagination.

Someone could experience temporal regression precisely after attending such a trivial interview.

“Director.”

“Yes.”

“Why do you really think something like that is possible?”

The moment I asked directly, Yuwi Guild’s conspiracy-minded director widened his eyes as if he had never heard such a question before.

“Then, Mr. Seon Yuhan. Isn’t there a moment you’d like to return to?”

I was speechless.

“I see there is. We all have moments like that.”

“Then… if you found someone like that.”

I tried to keep my voice from trembling.

“If you found a person who had gone back in time, what would you do?”

“I would have to experiment on them. There are too many things to verify.”

The owner of the Jaerae Building smiled faintly, like a figure shrouded in mist.

“Even if I had to lock them inside a labyrinth again.”

I stared at him.

And then I remembered a very famous meme.

Question: What’s scarier, a labyrinth or a human being?

Answer: A human being trapped inside a labyrinth.

***

He can’t find out. He can’t find out. He can’t find out. Ever.

After that, I barely remember what we talked about.

My head was completely occupied by a single thought:

Yoo Hyunjae must never discover that I had gone back in time.

I was trapped inside a labyrinth with a man who had just said he would lock a labyrinth survivor up again to experiment on them.

It was as though I hadn’t merely set the table to be devoured, but had personally shoveled a huge spoonful straight into the predator’s mouth.

If he discovered me in here.

I might end up rotting in this place forever.

I still thought he wasn’t a bad person.

In fact, even now I still believed that.

But it was obvious that he had a few screws completely loose.

You know.

There are conspiracy theorists who are nice people.

Who get along well with others.

The problem is simply that they hold strange beliefs.

“I think we should try going down again. Is everyone feeling okay?”

It was already past five in the afternoon.

Until now, even though the hallway had no electricity, sunlight came through the windows and it was only slightly dark.

But once night began to fall, things would become much worse.

“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”

“Jiho, what about you? Can you walk? Are you okay? Good, come on, get up.”

“But this time the next floor will really appear, right? If the condition was delivering that photograph.”

Please.

I hope so.

“It’s a shame the diary only contains information up to the fourteenth floor.”

“Yes.”

Clank.

I answered naturally while opening the emergency exit door.

I probably shouldn’t keep using the diary so casually either.

Every time I went back in time, the shape of the letters became more distorted and drifted further away from my actual handwriting.

But even so, the content itself could arouse Yoo Hyunjae’s suspicions.

‘It seems to mean he’s not completely sure. For a labyrinth artifact, it almost feels as though it was written by a person.’

I remembered perfectly that he had said something like that.

Maybe it would be better to completely eliminate the possibility of him suspecting the existence of a regressor somewhere inside this labyrinth.

After all, the only reason I started taking the diary out in front of the others was to record the scripts from Happyland.

And now I already knew I didn’t need to write them down.

I just had to keep choosing the option.

‘Be unhappy.’

Even without the diary, getting through the fourteenth floor would only be a minor inconvenience.

It wasn’t actually difficult.

I would simply seem like someone with quick reflexes and disproportionate courage.

Clank!

While organizing my thoughts, I opened the emergency exit door once again.

“Huh?”

“Floor 11?”

“Did this place always look like this?”

At last.

We had left the fourteenth floor.

It seemed my liver really had been used for something important.

**

12. Keep the photograph that contains your happiest moment. The entity in the vacant office across from NeoSoft will accept it.

**

Floor 11.

[Strategic Planning Department | Future Strategy Team | Budget Planning Team]

That was what the sign beside the elevator said.

The words “Strategic Planning Department” were written in slightly bolder letters.

“Ah. On this eleventh floor, the Future Strategy Team and the Budget Planning Team were located on opposite sides.”

According to the brief explanation from Yuwi Guild’s director, the Strategic Planning Department consisted of the Future Strategy Team, the Budget Planning Team, and the Planning & Public Relations Team.

The Planning & Public Relations Team was on the tenth floor.

“It’s changed a little.”

“I don’t think this can be called just a little…”

The Jaerae Building originally had a hollow square-shaped structure.

“I take that back. It’s changed a lot.”

However, the current eleventh floor looked more like an 工-shaped structure.

On this side was a straight hallway containing the elevator and emergency exit.

There was a single corridor connecting this side to the other.

And on the opposite side, the Future Strategy Team and the Budget Planning Team, which would originally have faced each other, were now merged side by side.

“I wonder if the employees are safe…”

The eleventh floor was eerily quiet.

There wasn’t the slightest sign of life coming from the offices on the other side.

“What would happen if someone fell from here…?”

We crossed the new corridor that cut straight through the eleventh floor.

“They’d probably die… or fall right back onto this same floor.”

When I looked out the window from the fourteenth floor, I was sure this corridor hadn’t existed.

Though, considering labyrinths could distort space, it wasn’t that strange.

“What on earth is in there…?”

Since there was only one door, it seemed both teams in the Strategic Planning Department had been completely merged into a single office.

“I’ll open the door. Be careful.”

Slide.

What appeared when the door opened was—

“Ah! Finally. The first guests.”

A scarlet cube.

A cube larger than a human head.

It looked as though it had been made from flesh, blood vessels, and mucus kneaded together like clay.

The twisted folds writhing across its surface resembled both intestines and a brain.

That mysterious cube floated in the air.

“I was so bored my eyes were about to fall out.”

“Ugh…”

“What the hell is that…?”

Eyes were embedded into all six of its faces.

One face had one.

Another had two.

Another had three.

Four.

Five.

And six.

“A die?”

“What an observant guest. Or are you simply quick to catch on?”

Whoosh!

The flesh die flew directly in front of me and began spinning in the air, displaying all of its faces.

Blink.

Blink.

Each time one of those enormous eyes blinked, the reddish membrane surrounding it twitched slightly, and a wet sound could be heard as the eyelids touched the mucus.

As though all twenty-one eyes were singing in unison.

Was it my imagination?

It was only for an instant.

But I could have sworn it frowned while looking at me.

“Games of chance with someone like you are fun.”

The voice speaking that unpleasant word was a beautiful androgynous voice that seemed to cling to one’s ankles like a shadow.

Of course, it had no mouth.

Nor any throat.

“Betting! Gambling! Challenges! Gambling!”

Suddenly, the die began bouncing around while shouting as if it were singing.

The veins covering its surface pulsed in rhythm with its voice.

“A contest where money, time, lives, and everything one possesses are wagered against an uncertain future! The reason for my existence!”

Was that why it had appeared precisely between the Future Strategy Team and the Budget Planning Team?

“My name… yes. Call me Do.”

It was obvious he had just made that name up on the spot.

“Good. Everyone, take a seat.”

Do spun around a large white round table that could comfortably seat several people.

“Go ahead.”

“I suppose we should sit down…”

“M-maybe we should…?”

They say that if a dog spends three years at a school, it eventually learns poetry.

And it seems that if you survive three floors of a labyrinth, you eventually become obedient.

I took a seat and quickly surveyed the surroundings.

There didn’t appear to be any Yuwi Guild employees.

Not even corpses.

I had assumed we would find at least one or two people per floor.

But it seemed some floors were completely empty.

“Hmmm.”

Do floated around the five of us while blinking his fist-sized eyes.

One by one.

As though inspecting us.

“W-why… is it looking at us like that…?”

The flesh die ignored Choi Jaeha’s pitiful protest and continued onward.

It stopped in front of Jung Jiho, a child nearly three times its size.

Jung Jiho squeezed his eyes shut and began trembling.

Then it moved on to Hwang Juyeon.

She met the creature’s gaze with a stiff expression for a few seconds before looking away.

Then Do flew again.

And stopped in front of me.

“……”

Just as I thought.

It wasn’t my imagination.

The bloodshot eyes trembled around their eyelids once more while looking at me.

It was literally the blink of an eye.

Only an instant.

Then it moved away.

Finally, Yoo Hyunjae tilted his head, apparently fascinated by a die that possessed nineteen more eyes than he did.

“Excellent. I like it.”

Do remained floating there for a long while, savoring our reactions with all those eyes.

Only then did he speak again.

“This will be a very interesting competition.”

“A competition?”

“That’s right.”

The scarlet die replied cheerfully.

“A competition between you and me. You may call it a game. Or a wager. Or a challenge. Or gambling. Any name will do.”

His voice sounded as though the mere idea filled him with happiness.

“The competition will always be one-on-one. And it will take place in private.”

Then the red-eyed die made a declaration in a strangely seductive voice.

“To whoever defeats me…”

“I will let them leave this place.”