Chapter 30

Chapter 30. Happy Pass

Lee Jinsu’s head looked as if someone had scooped out one slice from a hyperrealistic cake named Lee Jinsu and left the rest behind.

Scalp, skull, brain…….

From that cross-section, layered like cream, sponge cake, and mousse, not even a single drop of blood flowed.

【Happyland’s lovable cutie! Are you ready to become happy with Pipi?】

No. I was not.

【Just in case, let’s check only the most important thing!】

【Do you remember your name?】

【▶ Remember】

【▶ Forgot】

Ah.

He said choices asking whether you remembered your name would appear every now and then, so this must be it.

【Remember!】

I had entered ‘Seon Yuhan.’

【What is your name?】

【▶ Seon Yuhan】

【▶ Hwang】

【▶ binary】

【▶ Hyunjae】

【▶ Forgot】

So this was the method.

Then there really did not seem to have been any particular need to use my real name.

【Seon Yuhan!】

But what is ‘Forgot’ supposed to be? Ominous.

【Correct. You are Seon Yuhan.】

【Now then, from here on, enjoy Happyland, the Land of Happiness filled with freedom, liberation, and joy, to your heart’s content!】

【A dazzling light is rising above the horizon and warmly embracing Happyland. It is a scene that makes you happy just to look at it. You will have a very happy time today. With Pipi. Until the very end.】

While the script was being printed, chaos erupted beside me.

“Ugh, uup…….”

Choi Jaeha, one hand over his mouth, accidentally opened the break room door, discovered the corpse of Lee Jinsu’s colleague, screamed, and vomited up the contents of his stomach.

“Khp, uwegh…….”

Jeong Jiho also saw a scene even an old person would have difficulty looking at, and while he could not even cry properly and only groaned, he vomited as well.

“Drink this. You too, Jiho. Slowly.”

Yoo Hyunjae brought bottled water and snacks from the break room refrigerator.

“I hope we won’t need them, but we might…….”

Hwang Juyeon opened every drawer in Neosoft and gathered various emergency medicines and first-aid kits.

“Do not go in there anymore.”

I pulled Lee Jinsu’s corpse, which was slumped in front of the darkened monitor, back against the chair, dragged it away chair and all, and moved it into the break room.

I returned, sat in the chair, and took out the diary and pen.

“Ah, you’re going to record it?”

“Yes. I need to write down what Mr. Lee Jinsu told us earlier, and it may help if I briefly note down the choices and results that come up from now on.”

I would memorize most of it anyway.

Still, there was no harm in recording the game script.

【You own a Happy Pass, so you may freely use everything for free, from fun attractions to sweet snacks and hearty meals.】

Soon, the screen changed, and choices appeared with a dot-graphic illustration.

【A clerk wearing a rabbit mask is selling churros. They look delicious. You are not hungry yet.】

【▶ Eat】

【▶ Endure】

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

Judging by the speed at which it decreased, it was about three or four minutes.

【Endure!】

If you are not hungry, endure.

【You smack your lips and pass the stand. Seeing delicious food somehow makes you feel hungry.】

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

Hwang Juyeon, who was probably next after me, came closer and looked at me worriedly.

“I’m not sure. This kind of game is just a game where you choose options, so being good or bad at it doesn’t particularly…….”

Text adventure games did not require advanced control skills, so anyone could play them without much burden, but in exchange, they were heavily affected by probability.

Even if you chose the same option, a different result could appear, and it was difficult to know which route was correct. Just like an Invasive Labyrinth, where everything was an unknown variable.

……Unless you could start over multiple times.

【There is the ‘Typhoon Express’! Fierce and fast as a typhoon! But the eye of the typhoon is the highest and most thrilling place of all! There, you will be liberated. Become happy!】

【▶ Become Happy】

【▶ Become Unhappy】

Looking at the pixel art, it was a roller coaster with three 360-degree loop sections.

I had no idea how I was supposed to become happy.

“Ugh, oof…….”

Choi Jaeha, who had been groaning as if his stomach hurt, dragged his chair over and read through the script.

“Well…… Isn’t it something like this? Here, the biggest loop in the middle. Maybe you hang upside down at the top with the safety bar released and hold out.”

At his strangely specific guess, I was momentarily at a loss for words and looked at Choi Jaeha.

“Why did that occur to you?”

“It came out in a movie I saw when I was in middle school. Honestly, I still can’t go to amusement parks because of it.”

I genuinely had no idea what kind of movies he watched.

“But I was wondering what happens to the employees if I ride this.”

“Exactly. Maybe the employees ride it together and have to hold out too? If they hold out, they live. If they don’t, mm…….”

Choi Jaeha trailed off.

I did not think for long before choosing an option.

【Become Happy!】

After all, I would not know unless I pressed it.

Even if I chose ‘Become Unhappy,’ it would only make me pay the price. The dead would not come back.

RUMBLE!

After the sound effect of the roller coaster moving quickly, a sharp scream tore through my ears.

AAAAH—!

【The highest and stillest place. At the bottom of the inverted world, you are released from the shackles binding you.】

SCREECH, CRUNCH.

The sound of a steel frame crumpling.

【Free as you are, you grab the steel road and move quickly ahead. Now, you can catch the prison running far ahead and leaving you behind. It will make a perfect souvenir!】

“Uh, this is…….”

Choi Jaeha looked flustered.

For now, he had been right that the monster was freed from the safety bar. But after being freed, it was chasing the roller coaster that had started off without it.

People were probably riding that roller coaster.

【Ouch! Something keeps falling from the running prison and hurting you! But you do not yield.】

CRUNCH! CRASH! SPLAT!

Blood splattered across the screen again.

Red stains appeared here and there on the pixel roller coaster.

【You savored the taste of freedom. Freedom tastes salty and fishy! You think you may become addicted to this taste.】

The screen immediately changed, and this time, the stand illustration I had seen on Lee Jinsu’s play screen appeared.

【A clerk wearing a raccoon mask is selling ice cream. It looks delicious. You are full right now.】

【▶ Eat】

【▶ Endure】

If you are full, endure.

【Endure!】

【You smack your lips and pass the stand. Seeing delicious food somehow makes you feel hungry.】

“Mr. Seon Yuhan. Is there a need to endure?”

The words Yoo Hyunjae spoke after a long silence were these. Very innocently.

“Because there’s no need to eat either.”

“While not wanting to become unhappy?”

Was he asking why I would choose ‘Become Happy’ for an attraction that killed people, but not eat people?

Was he asking if that was not hypocrisy?

If so, my answer had been ready. Always.

“Then why should I deliberately make myself unhappy?”

Yoo Hyunjae stared at me quietly.

“In this case, there was no hint that choosing ‘Endure’ would harm me in particular, so I endured.”

“Ah.”

Yoo Hyunjae nodded obediently as if he understood.

Unexpectedly, he did not look offended.

As expected, there was something light about him compared to his status.

“That is your best, Mr. Seon Yuhan.”

No, was he offended? Was he picking a fight right now?

“Ah. What I mean is.”

Yoo Hyunjae smiled slightly and waved his hand.

“I understand. That you did your best, Mr. Seon Yuhan. Within the limits given to you, as much as you could.”

Is that so? I was not sure.

“I hope you continue to do so. If you try to accomplish something beyond your own limits, you are bound to break.”

“Ah……. Yes.”

Did he mean I could pass my turn without overexerting myself and accepting a penalty?

I did not know if he was saying something he did not mean, or if it came from the heart.

【Do you remember your name?】

【▶ Remember】

【▶ Forgot】

This came up again.

【Remember!】

【What is your name?】

【▶ Jyo】

【▶ Seon Yuhan】

【▶ JnSeo】

【▶ Hwang】

【▶ Forgot】

“Hmm?”

Who is JnSeo?

“Ah. This person.”

Yoo Hyunjae pointed at the screen, looking pleased.

“……Someone you know?”

“Yes. He is in the break room.”

He even checked Lee Jinsu’s dead colleague’s employee ID while getting food from the break room?

And how was that a reason to confidently answer ‘yes’ to the question of whether he knew him?

This man really had a screw loose in strange places.

Fortunately, it was not loose in a bad direction.

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Correct. You are Seon Yuhan.】

【There is the ‘Rolling Cup’! Spin, spin, go the spinning teacup, and shatter! Become happy!】

【▶ Become Happy】

【▶ Become Unhappy】

This was probably…… an attraction that broke people like teacups.

【Become Happy!】

Sure enough.

CLANG! SHATTER! CRACK!

【A perfect spinning attack! You scored a direct hit on the teacup moving fearlessly atop the shaking table.】

I heard the sound of something made of both solid and liquid being crushed and bursting apart.

【You happily bite, tear, taste, and enjoy the teacup.】

“This game…… is really too. Too…….”

Indescribable emotions surged across Hwang Juyeon’s expression.

As though she did not know where to begin or how to say it, and even curses would not come out.

“These must all be things those people actually went through…….”

There are things that are vicious precisely because they have no malice.

And Labyrinths usually have no malice.

Just as natural disasters that sink humans into water and burn mountains and fields have no malice.

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

About why the stories of Invasive Labyrinths kept appearing.

And about the essence of Labyrinths.

‘Labyrinths are graves of unsolved problems. And those problems are waiting for someone to solve them.’

Nine out of ten Invasive Labyrinths ended with Total Wipeout of Internal Personnel.

Therefore, there was almost no way to know exactly what had happened inside.

That itself made them unsolved problems. Invasive Labyrinths did.

Because no one had solved them.

Perhaps that was why they appeared as another Labyrinth’s problem.

Because they wanted someone to solve them. Even a little.

【There is a box on that bench! It may contain a gift that will make you happy.】

【▶ Open】

【▶ Leave It Behind】

There would be no happiness at all, only misfortune.

【Leave It Behind!】

SWISH, RUSTLE.

【How could you leave behind a box wrapped this cutely? You go back to the bench and open the box.】

“No, ha…….”

If it was going to do this, why ask?

【What did you find inside the box?】

【▶ Doll】

【▶ Trash】

【▶ Headband】

This was exactly why I had wanted to leave it behind.

Every single option was ominous.

The doll and the headband seemed likely to use people inside the game as materials, while the trash seemed likely to put me, the person outside the game, at a disadvantage.

In that case, the answer I had to choose was fixed.

【Headband!】

I would take the path that did not kill me.

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

Even if I wanted to.

【BUZZ!】

What?

【You found trash inside the box.】

Is this thing insane?