Chapter 40: Lost Boy the Last Boy

[Incident ③ – Statement for 4]

[Testimony C: “Hey, you know I really did think of you as my own little brother, right? Mom and Dad said the same thing. They said they felt reassured because it was as if they had gained another son. So if someone had asked me how many people there were in our family before that happened to me, I would have answered with exactly this number.”]

Bang!

[××｜(Verify)]

The red seal of doubt was stamped onto the white paper.

“Do not doubt.”

One, three, six, ten, fifteen, twenty-one.

Those beautiful eyes watching me.

They stung.

They stung.

They stung.

They stung.

They stung.

They stung.

And they laughed.

Another gulp of the Breath of Judgment seeped into me.

“Kugh… Ugh…!”

Everything before my eyes was red.

The whole world swayed like a red haze.

I had seen a scene like this when I was very young.

The world turns upside down.

My parents are dead.

I’m losing too much blood.

Everything before my eyes was white.

As I collapsed onto the cold floor, I saw a white ceiling.

Some days, instead of the ceiling, I saw my aunt.

A woman who sometimes smiled, often cried, frequently got angry, and seemed pitiful every single day.

I looked at that dazzling light.

Everything before my eyes was black.

I closed my eyes for only a moment.

The die’s eyes were twenty-one.

Or perhaps I had fallen asleep for a very long time.

After that time when I woke up screaming after falling asleep at school, I stopped taking naps.

I opened my eyes.

And finally.

I could no longer see anything.

“Ha… Khk… Ngh…!”

I couldn’t stop laughing.

I had gone blind.

My lungs felt full of blood instead of air.

It was as if someone were driving a burning rod into my abdomen.

Another death was brushing against my fingertips.

And yet, I couldn’t stop laughing.

That he had died considering me family until the very end.

That for that brief time, he had considered me part of his family.

That there were no longer people in this world absurdly kind like that.

And that all of it was my fault.

It was so ridiculous I couldn’t bear it.

I truly couldn’t.

“The incident has concluded.”

That strange beautiful voice of Do was barely reaching my ears properly anymore.

Something warm was flowing from my ears as well, leaving them numb.

“Hng… Uugh…”

With great effort, I pushed myself back up and sat down again.

Clack.

Rattle!

I heard the sound of the die rolling across the hard table before gradually coming to a stop.

Naturally, my now-blind eyes could no longer see the number on the top face.

“I can… check it… with my hand, right?”

“I allow it.”

Ah.

How kind.

And how cruel.

Do had surely anticipated this would happen.

That I would voluntarily keep verifying statements to learn the truth until I eventually lost my sight.

That was why, if he had forbidden touching the die from the beginning, my victory would have been guaranteed at this point.

Because I would have simply continued choosing “Accept.”

If I didn’t know what number had come up on the die, then even if I wanted to verify a statement, I wouldn’t gain any useful information.

I wouldn’t know which number it was related to.

In other words, Do wanted me to know the number generated by the die.

Because only then would I want to know whether the testimony related to that number was true or false.

And only then would I end up verifying it even at the cost of my own death.

“Four…?”

I carefully felt the surface of the die, counting the eyes with my fingertips.

“Ah, no. It’s five.”

Top face: 5.

“An incident has occurred. I will begin the testimony.”

The document in front of me probably said something like:

[Incident ④ – Statement for 5]

[Testimony D:　　　]

“Oh, I’m waiting for you on the floor corresponding to this number of eyes.”

The voice had something that resembled Do, though it was much more masculine and spoke in a gentle tone.

“I’ve prepared many fun games for you. However, the final game requires a minimum number of participants for us to enjoy it together. After all, it’s less tragic for a quarter of my players to die than for half of them to die.”

Isn’t that just a matter of proportions?

In the end, the absolute number of dead people is still the same.

“So if you want to play until the end, you’ll have to bring more friends. That way you’ll reduce the chances of those friends you cherish most from dying. Of course, you probably think that as long as you survive, nothing else matters. But even so, you’re also the type who thinks it would be nice to save someone, aren’t you?”

A very long statement.

But there was no need to complicate things.

Truth is always truth.

And a lie is always a lie.

Both cannot coexist within the same statement.

If a single sentence is true, then the entire testimony is true.

And if a single sentence is false, then the entire testimony is false.

“Accept.”

And I knew at least one of those sentences.

I knew whether it was true or false.

Bang!

It sounded as though a stamp had been pressed onto the document.

[(Accept)｜××]

That was probably how the Accept and Verify section now appeared on the statement.

“The incident has concluded.”

Fortunately.

I had been worried another testimony would appear that I would be forced to verify.

Now that I think about it, I believe this was the first time I had accepted a testimony since the actual game of Breath of Judgment began.

I hope I can get through the remaining two incidents this way as well.

By the way, I don’t know where the fifth floor is, but it seems I’ll have to play another life-or-death game there.

And I’ll also have to save more people than I have now.

“Cough, ugh…”

Even while sitting still, blood-stained coughs kept escaping.

I’m sleepy.

Everything is dark.

Maybe I’m simply deeply asleep because of some medication and all of this is nothing more than a horrible nightmare…

Crunch!

“Ghh, aaagh…!”

Pull yourself together.

Six incidents completed and six minutes.

Even in this state, if I can endure just six minutes, I’ll be able to get Jung Jiho out of this labyrinth.

“Hurry… continue.”

“A competition against such an enthusiastic opponent is pleasant.”

Clack, rattle.

The sound of the small die rolling eventually came to a stop.

Once again, I slowly extended my hand and felt the die to count the eyes.

Two… No, three.

Top face: 3.

“An incident has occurred. I will begin the testimony.”

Shhhk.

I heard the sound of a new statement being placed before me.

[Incident ⑤ – Statement for 3]

[Testimony E:　　　]

It probably said something like this.

“This is the weight of the deaths you engraved onto your own name.”

This time it was simply Do’s voice.

A beautiful androgynous voice, impossible to imagine from hearing it alone, a voice that seemed capable of enchanting anyone who listened to it for too long.

“You should not have done it.”

“Don’t… lecture… me.”

“This is the testimony of an incident that happened to you. You live carrying at least this many other people’s lives upon your name.”

His voice sounded as though he were looking at something pitiful and pathetic.

What expression are Do’s eyes drawing right now?

“My cowardly and foolish opponent. Even if temporal distortion did not exist, you still would not have the right to sit at my gambling table. Because within the name that makes you who you are, there is not a single fragment that truly belongs to you. I know your life has no value as a wager. Just as you know it too.”

“…Accept.”

Bang!

I heard the sound of a stamp marking the statement.

Why the hell is he saying so much useless nonsense?

Does he no longer intend to stop me from accepting the testimonies?

There is only one incident left.

If I clear it without problems and survive for six minutes, I win.

Or does he think that, after already inhaling two breaths of the Breath, I’ll simply die on my own anyway?

“The incident has concluded. Only the sixth and final incident remains.”

Or perhaps…?

Does he still have one final blow prepared?

“If you resolve the incident the same way you just did, you’ll be able to take that small and young companion out of this labyrinth. You won’t live much longer, but six minutes isn’t very long. It shouldn’t be difficult for you.”

Clack, rattle…

As an ominous feeling slowly rose from the tips of my feet, the sound of the die ceased.

I extended my hand and slowly traced the top face.

One…

Two…

The circular indentations carved into the die.

“It’s a two.”

Top face: 2.

“An incident has occurred. I will begin the testimony.”

I heard the soft sound of a document appearing in front of me.

It probably said.

[Incident ⑥ – Statement for 2]

And then…

“The number of people I want to kill more than anyone else, but cannot kill.”

A voice that sounded strangely familiar.

My own voice.

Two people.

Wouldn’t one have been enough?

No, were even two not enough?

Could I ever be satisfied with two?

I don’t know.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s true or false.

I have to accept it.

I have to close out this incident no matter what.

“Accep—”

“—The number of people who did not die ten years ago in the Dalmul-ri labyrinth.”

“…What?”

What does that mean?

“W-what… what do you mean by that…?”

I tried to stand up in a hurry, but my strength failed me and I collapsed again.

I could barely feel pain anymore.

“W-what do you mean… they didn’t die? That there were two people? Say it again. Keep talking… ngh… Keep talking!”

The only response I received from Do, whose location I could no longer determine, was silence.

“Besides me… was there someone who survived? Back then… that day… the bodies…”

One body was missing.

His body was missing.

More precisely, it disappeared immediately after he was trapped in a situation where death was certain.

It made no sense.

But labyrinths had always been places devoid of sense.

But if he didn’t die…

Of course, I’m no longer naïve enough to be easily deceived by a labyrinth’s wordplay.

From a medical standpoint, he surely died.

But if, somehow, he’s still alive…

‘▶ Did you forget?’

That voice that woke me during the happiest moment of my life in Happyland…

Maybe.

“Really? Really…? Is it true?”

“I already told you. What matters is what you choose to believe and what you choose not to believe.”

Do was no longer imitating my voice.

“Ah… ah…”

As if the entire universe had compressed into a single point, the whole world fell silent.

The temperature of the blood running down my neck.

The pain of my body’s membranes burning away.

The deafening ringing echoing inside my head.

Everything converged into a single point, as small as one of the eyes drawn on a die.

Within that tiny world, only two things existed.

Me.

And the truth I had to face.

It was only within that darkness, where I couldn’t see even a step ahead of me, that I was finally able to look directly into all of Do’s eyes.

“Verify.”

I…

I want to know the truth.

I need to know it.

Even if I have to wager the future of that seven-year-old child.

No.

If it were possible, I would wager the future of every person here.

“Do not doubt.”

And so, in exchange for abandoning the child’s future, I obtained the truth.

“Ha…”

And I willingly accepted the final Breath.

***

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

There is one thing I am completely certain of.

I will never be forgiven.