Chapter 41: For a Good Person, the Labyrinth Is █

‘Anyone who remains trapped in a labyrinth for too long eventually becomes part of it.’

It was a phrase that spread like a trend during the early days, thirteen years ago, when the phenomenon of labyrinths had only just appeared.

An urban legend?

A proverb?

Nowadays, thanks to years of accumulated experience and information, response teams solve contact labyrinths as quickly as possible, and the survival rate has increased considerably.

But it wasn’t like that before.

Contact labyrinths claimed as many victims as invasive labyrinths.

Especially in the early days, when there were barely any countermeasures against the rifts that swallowed nearby people like black holes.

If you listen to the testimonies of survivors from that era, contact labyrinths were nothing more than hellish scenes and real-life versions of low-grade death games.

That was why the phrase emerged.

That if someone remained trapped inside a labyrinth for too long, they eventually became part of it.

In other words, they ceased to be human.

They lost their humanity.

Of course, it was a phrase lazily repeated by people who had never truly reflected on humanity and who simultaneously overestimated and underestimated the concept.

But now that I think about it…

Perhaps it also contained some truth.

‘▶ Seon Yuhan’

‘▶ Seon Yuhan’

‘▶ Seon Yuhan’

The person I believed had died and disappeared ten years ago had become something incomprehensible within the labyrinth and kept speaking to me over and over again.

‘Verify.’

And I had thrown away a seven-year-old child’s chance to escape the labyrinth in order to discover that truth.

That person.

And I.

Had remained trapped in the labyrinth for far too long.

***

“Interviewer. Please listen to me.”

I have to get out.

I have to get out of here.

That is the only thing I can still do.

And the only thing I must do.

Pushing aside those thoughts tangled like an impossible knot, I descended floor after floor.

“Huh? No, seriously, what the hell are you talking about?”

I pulled Choi Jaeha out of the elevator.

“Haa… You’re really crazy… No, sorry. Anyway, this really was a labyrinth, right?”

I met Hwang Juyeon while descending the endless staircase after hearing the fire alarm.

“Ugh… blegh…”

I killed the librarian by myself.

“Thank you for playing so well with our children. Have a safe trip, guardians. Jiho, you take care too.”

I brought Jung Jiho out of Our New Day Daycare.

“Mm. I’m fine.”

I met Yoo Hyunjae pretending he hadn’t just vomited in the parking lot.

“Go Bae Seowoo.”

I watched as the chrysanthemum ashes were placed into the funeral urn that had regained its name.

“Wait a moment, Lee Jinsu.”

I stopped someone who was trying to continue the Happyland game by pressing CONTINUE, a suicidal man courting death through reckless indifference.

This time I was faster.

“I’ll continue. Get some rest.”

“…Okay.”

Lee Jinsu looked at me briefly with his one remaining eye before withdrawing weakly.

I think I was the only one who noticed the vague disappointment reflected in that gaze.

“For now, I’m only going to keep choosing ‘Be unhappy.’”

I didn’t take out the Jaerae Diary during this run.

I didn’t want to give any opportunity to a certain conspiracy theorist who claimed he would lock anyone who had experienced time regression inside another labyrinth to study them.

Unless a situation arose where it was absolutely necessary to use it, I intended to continue like this.

【▶ Be happy】

【▶ Be unhappy】

I have no intention of being happy.

I probably don’t even have the right to be.

【Be unhappy!】

【Correct. You are unhappy.】

But I continued choosing unhappiness over and over as I remembered.

The red tears that fell during those happy moments.

The screams that sounded like sweet songs.

The texture of their bodies being crushed between my teeth.

And that hunger that never disappeared no matter how much I swallowed.

【Those incapable of desiring happiness have no right to exist in the Kingdom of Happiness. Leave.】

【EXIT】

“Eh? It really lets you leave if you always choose to be unhappy?”

【EXIT!】

【Your stupidity has caused you to lose the opportunity to be happy.】

【However, even that stupidity must have a price.】

I hoped some part would disappear without killing me.

Like that time I lost a small piece of my liver.

【Do not worry! It will hurt. A small curse will make you more unhappy, brain】

Ah.

The brain, of all things.

What terrible luck.

I closed my eyes, prepared for the death that was approaching.

Thinking that, at least, I wouldn’t feel pain.

“…Mr. Seon Yuhan?”

“Mr. Seon Yuhan? Are you okay?”

And then I opened my eyes again.

Choi Jaeha.

Hwang Juyeon.

Jung Jiho.

Yoo Hyunjae.

Lee Jinsu.

I could see them perfectly.

I recognized them without any problem.

And my memory seemed intact.

“Mm. I’m fine.”

I moved my body around.

I couldn’t detect any abnormalities.

“It seems only a very small and unimportant part of my brain disappeared.”

“Haa… Well, if that’s the case, that’s a relief.”

“Are you really sure you’re okay? What if something suddenly happens later…?”

“If I were going to die, I would’ve died already.”

【Lost In HAPPYLAND】

【CLOSED】

Shortly afterward, the photocopier would print a photograph.

“I’m going to get some water and food from the break room.”

I made up a reasonable excuse and deliberately lingered for a while.

“Whew, that scared me…”

A little later, the photocopier began operating.

“It seems to be printing… a photograph.”

[Seon Yuhan’s One of the Happiest Moments]

This time it wasn’t the roller coaster.

It was the dark view of a room without any visible light, seen through a slightly open wooden door.

The small second-floor room of the Haunted House where I had stayed for a moment.

It looked happy.

“Hmm? Mr. Seon Yuhan isn’t in this one… Huh? Another one is coming out.”

Surprisingly, a second photograph emerged.

“This one… is Lee Jinsu’s.”

It seemed they didn’t only hand out commemorative photographs to those who completed the game.

They also gave them to everyone who actually played it.

[Lee Jinsu’s One of the Happiest Moments]

The tip of a Viking ship soaring high into the air.

No one was seated in the back row of the ship in the photograph.

“For now, keep it, Mr. Lee Jinsu.”

“Ah, yes…”

It seemed Lee Jinsu did not recognize the person in the photograph as himself.

Something incomplete.

Perhaps I should have let him continue.

Though I don’t know whether it would have served any purpose other than increasing the number of people.

“For now, let’s leave.”

***

“Ah! At last, the first guests have arrived.”

We handed the Happyland commemorative photographs to the mysterious entity in the empty office across from NeoSoft.

And we returned to the 11th floor.

To the Strategic Planning Department.

“If you defeat me, I will let you leave this labyrinth.”

Once again, the flesh die offered escape from the labyrinth as the prize for the wager.

“I’ll participate.”

This time, Yoo Hyunjae was the first to raise his hand.

Unlike before, I remained silent.

After all, as Do had said, a game like the previous one would never happen again.

Nor could I wager my companions’ lives in exchange for my own escape.

The weight wasn’t equivalent.

Not even if I offered all five people here.

“Have you already decided what you’ll compete in?”

“Texas Hold’em.”

“Poker. A classic choice.”

“I’m not so sure. I intend to modify the rules a little.”

Do swayed his cubic body as though asking him to continue.

“We’ll use hwatu cards as betting chips, and when the cards are revealed, each player’s hwatu cards will also be revealed…”

The more he spoke, the more specific the rules became.

This wasn’t something improvised.

It was undoubtedly a game he had played before.

“Mm. Explaining all the combinations and scoring would take too long.”

“Oh, I see. There will also need to be some adjustments. Discuss those in private.”

Do pointed toward a private office located at the back.

“Director.”

Choi Jaeha called out to Yoo Hyunjae as he stood up.

Judging by his expression, he seemed even more nervous than Yoo Hyunjae himself.

“Are you sure you can win? From what I heard, it sounds like you’ve played before…”

“Sure of winning? If I had that kind of confidence, then it wouldn’t be a wager.”

Yoo Hyunjae toyed with the ring on his left pinky finger.

It was probably an unconscious habit.

“The only people convinced they’re going to win fall into two categories. Cheaters. Or addicts who should be in rehabilitation.”

Doesn’t he want to live?

He isn’t even planning to cheat in order to win.

Though that’s none of my business.

“I hope we can all meet again outside.”

After saying that, he entered.

“Good. In the meantime, you may read this record.”

Just before following Yoo Hyunjae and closing the door, Do made a yellow folder appear on the table around which we were seated.

“It will help you decide whether you wish to play against me and, if so, which game you should choose.”

The door to the private office, now transformed into a gambling room, closed.

“What is this? A match history?”

I examined the folder Do had left behind.

[Match History]

A neatly written title in the designated space.

He probably would have left it for us last time as well after I entered first.

When we opened the folder, we found A4-sized documents divided into several sections, similar to an actual report.

‘Opponent,’ ‘Game,’ ‘Result,’ and ‘Remarks.’

[Opponent｜Lee＊＊ (50 years old, male)

Game｜Matgo

Result｜Victory

Remarks｜－]

Result: victory.

It appeared to refer to Do’s victory.

In other words, the human had lost.

[Opponent｜Choi＊＊ (40 years old, etc.)

Game｜Futures Investment Ladder

Result｜Victory

Remarks｜The concealed maneuvers and deceptive tactics that did not rely on luck were interesting]

“Could these be people who played before we arrived?”

“I don’t think so.”

Hwang Juyeon contradicted Choi Jaeha’s question.

“A moment ago he said we were his first guests.”

“Ah, that’s right? Wait. Then that means there really are other people in labyrinths identical to this one…”

The record contained information about people who were not here.

Just as the Happyland game had displayed the names of players who were absent.

That further reinforced Lee Jinsu’s theory that participants were divided among separate labyrinths, similar to instance dungeons.

“Let’s keep reading. It would be better not to choose games that have already been played…”

I ignored the conversation and continued reading the records.

[Opponent｜Shin＊＊ (50 years old, green)

Game｜2-Player Riichi Mahjong

Result｜Victory

Remarks｜During the second North round, the opponent won with a Pure Nine Gates Hand. As a sign of respect, I crafted mahjong tiles from his blood and bones and have preserved them]

[Opponent｜Lee＊＊ (20 years old, purple)

Game｜Subway Game

Result｜Victory

Remarks｜Opponent transported to ■■’■■■■ Station]

[Opponent｜Kang＊＊ (50 years old, wall)

Game｜Go

Result｜Victory

Remarks｜In the second half, the opponent decided to live, which proved entertaining]

[Opponent｜Kim＊＊ (30 years old, yellow)

Game｜Mathematical Rock-Paper-Scissors

Result｜Victory

Remarks｜During the third set, the opponent understood the ‘■■-■-■■■ Theorem’ and voluntarily destroyed his own wager. Victory by forfeiture]

“What the hell is this…? No, how could he have won all of them? He won every single one?”

“Pass it here. He must have lost at least once against a human…”

“Ah! Here’s a loss!”

[Opponent｜Park＊＊ (20 years old, white)

Game｜Thief Poker

Result｜Defeat]

Do’s defeat.

Which means the human won.

However, the remark was interesting.

[Remarks｜As previously agreed, the opponent was transported to Floor ■ according to his request]

“My God…”

After being speechless for a moment, Hwang Juyeon changed the subject.

“W-well… at least it doesn’t seem to be a guaranteed loss.”

“That’s true… It looks like there is a chance to win. Ah, Jiho. What’s happening right now is…”

Choi Jaeha began patiently explaining the situation to Jung Jiho.

“Have you already decided what you’ll do?”

I looked in turn at Choi Jaeha, Hwang Juyeon, Jung Jiho, and Lee Jinsu.

As for Lee Jinsu, he was a passive suicidal type, so he would probably participate.

“I don’t know. Looking at this record, it seems very difficult to win. If I participate and die…”

“Exactly. I have no idea either…”

“Still, why not try? Jiho could also play something simple…”

“—No, what kind of madness is that? If he loses, he dies. What do you mean by ‘try’?”

“Ah.”

For them, death was the end.

At least from their perspective.

“I forgot.”

“There are things that shouldn’t be forgotten… Ah, wait. Could it be a side effect of losing part of your brain? Memory problems? What do we do?”

“Mm. I don’t know.”

“Don’t talk as if it’s someone else’s problem. Anyway, what do you think, Mr. Seon Yuhan? We’re talking about a wager where they could die…”

They’re so concerned about dying.

…Ah!

Why didn’t I think of this sooner?

I just had an excellent idea.

“I’ll participate.”

I’ll convince everyone to wager.

“We still don’t know where the exit is. We don’t know how much farther we have to go. We don’t know what we’ll encounter ahead.”

So what if they lose and die?

After all, when I die, I’ll start over again.

They only believe they’re wagering their lives.

But in reality, they aren’t paying any price.

“I myself survived through pure luck after losing only a useless part of my brain. If we reject this wager, lose our luck as well, and keep descending honestly, I’m afraid to imagine what might happen.”

If they win, great.

And if they don’t, it doesn’t matter.

“So you should also…”

I’m merely placing in their hands a worthless opportunity for salvation that they were about to waste.

Shouldn’t they be thanking me instead?