Chapter 31

Chapter 31. HUNTER×HUNTER

【Too bad, it was a dud.】

What do you mean, buzz? What do you mean, dud?

While transcribing it into the diary, I was so dumbfounded that I nearly dropped the pen.

【You peer into the trash.】

BUZZ.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated, and the screen began blinking on and off.

【Ugh! You feel a repulsive sensation, as if your whole body is twisting. This trash is something half-formed, something incomplete.】

The dot-graphic ‘trash’ was so horribly distorted that it was difficult to recognize its original form.

It looked like a long-haired girl in a red dress, like tomato spaghetti with burnt noodles, and like a finger with a bruised fingernail stained with balsam dye.

【You will not become like this. You cannot leave without watching the parade that opens at the end, can you?】

Who did ‘you’ refer to here?

Me, the one playing the game?

The monster I was playing as?

【You wonder how to dispose of the trash. Should you throw it into the trash can? The Cleaning Cast will quickly sort it for recycling. Or should you eat it? If you swallow something that disgusting, you may get sick.】

【▶ Throw It Away】

【▶ Eat It】

【Throw It Away!】

If I ate it and got sick, that would be my loss.

【As soon as you throw away the trash, a Cast member working hard to keep Happyland clean appears and collects it.】

【Happyland’s Cast are all happy and diligent! Through that trash, they can study how to make you even happier. After all, that trash was once a guest too. Just like you.】

That trash. So that was the setting.

It was probably an in-game monster that Lee Jinsu or his colleague had played as and died as.

Was it something like a member of the same species?

“Ah……. Then maybe I shouldn’t have thrown it away.”

“Why?”

Hwang Juyeon, who heard me mutter, asked.

“If the Cast study the guests, they may be able to counterattack us later.”

Because we are in the guest position for now. When Hwang Juyeon’s expression turned strange, I added hurriedly.

“Mm, but it said I might get sick even if I ate it instead of throwing it away. Then isn’t throwing it away the right choice?”

“Either way, there will probably be options that make us lose by probability. This is not an ordinary game.”

Only then did Hwang Juyeon nod as if she understood.

【Over there, you can see the thrilling ‘Dancing Viking,’ the chilling ‘Haunted House,’ and the refreshing ‘Waterfall Ride’! They all look fun. Which will you ride first?】

【▶ Dancing Viking】

【▶ Haunted House】

【▶ Waterfall Ride】

At times like this, it was better not to agonize over it and choose the top option first. To make things even a little less confusing.

【Dancing Viking!】

【Every time you fall from the highest point, rise from your seat and have fun to the music! Become happy!】

【▶ Become Happy】

【▶ Become Unhappy】

【Become Happy!】

An illustration of the Viking appeared, and music began to play.

There were no lyrics, but from the melody, it was a song by the idol group that had been trapped here.

It was not the sort of music an amusement park would play while operating a Viking ride.

【Ugh! You writhe in pain. What is this dreadful music?】

BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ.

The phone vibrated madly, and the screen kept blinking over and over again.

【Drumbeats repeat as if pounding heaven and earth, the flow of the melody is unpredictable, whipping about like a storm one moment and like a sea without a breath of wind the next, and spells are chanted in an incomprehensible language. You feel a hand cursing you from somewhere deep below.】

BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ.

It vibrated as if my blood was being shaved away little by little.

【This cursed music pried its way into the gap of the wound you received when you saw the incomplete trash, and tore you open from within…….】

The screen that had kept flickering went completely dark.

【Oh dear! Music has the power to save or kill someone! You have entered a state where you can no longer enjoy happiness. Still, you can continue becoming happy.】

【CONTINUE】

【EXIT】

I died. Because of the dead idol’s song.

Beside me, Hwang Juyeon gasped in surprise and looked at me anxiously.

Choi Jaeha and Yoo Hyunjae also only stared at me in silence, as if they could not bring themselves to say anything.

Because they could neither force me to take the penalty and continue the game nor tell me to stop and pass on my turn.

If the game was played in the order we had entered our names, then Hwang Juyeon, who had entered her name after me, was next.

So if I pressed ‘EXIT’ here and quit.

“…….”

First, I summarized the script and choices in the Jaerae Diary and organized my thoughts.

Honestly, I wanted to quit. Of course I did.

But if I quit here?

Hwang Juyeon, who would probably be next, would likely want to quit as soon as her turn came too.

Then Yoo Hyunjae after her, and Choi Jaeha after him, would probably do the same.

And when it finally became Jeong Jiho’s turn, the last in order?

I glanced at the child sitting in a chair larger than his own height.

Perhaps exhausted from vomiting earlier, his eyes were half-closed.

Not only could we not entrust such an important and dangerous task to a child who had not even entered elementary school, but before matters of justification and so on, in the end, if we could not clear this game, no one would get out.

Could this child clear the game?

A child who had not even fully learned Hangul, and who had closed his own mouth, making communication difficult?

A game that the adults had all given up and passed on in order to save themselves?

“For now…… I will continue. As far as I can.”

So I had to go as far as I could from the front and gather records first.

Even if, inevitably, the turn reached Jeong Jiho.

If the data collected by then was sufficient. If we were lucky.

This child might clear it.

“Mr. Seon Yuhan…….”

The emotions contained in Hwang Juyeon’s trembling voice felt exactly like my own.

Concern for me, who would lose a part of my body. Relief that her own turn had not come. Guilt and self-loathing toward herself for feeling that relief.

And lastly, gratitude toward me.

The moment I felt it, I covered my mouth.

【CONTINUE!】

I held back the laughter that was about to burst out convulsively and chose to continue.

There would be no pain anyway. Whatever I lost.

【Wise as you are, you do not miss a chance to become happy.】

【However, happiness always requires a price!】

Everyone held their breath and watched the screen.

【Worry! It will not hurt. A small sponsorship will make you happy：foot】

“Haa…….”

“Phew……. Seriously, what a relief. No, not a relief, but anyway, you’re alive…….”

I slowly lowered my head and looked down at my shoes.

While I was sitting in the chair with my feet touching the floor and staying still, I did not feel much of a change. But when I carefully moved my feet, the sensations on both sides were clearly different.

“Mm…….”

It felt as though my right ankle had suddenly sunk.

Tap.

When I took off my shoe, I saw exactly which part had disappeared.

“Is it your heel?”

“Yes.”

The heel part of my sock hung loose.

My instep, ankle, and toes were all intact, and only my heel had vanished cleanly.

I considered taking off my sock to check the cross-section, then stopped.

It was not something to do in front of people.

“Representative.”

“Yes.”

“Can this be processed as an industrial accident?”

I knew it could not, and so did the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

I had only said it because the atmosphere had grown too heavy.

“I can move your official date of employment forward at my discretion, at least.”

Fortunately, the representative of Yuwi Guild accepted the joke in a voice laced with laughter.

“Making the impossible possible. That is what I do best.”

I believe those words.

Because this is not a world where one can reach that position by ability alone, without parental backing. Especially not at his age.

【You have finished resting and stood up. Now, it is time to become happy again!】

The game resumed.

【Do you remember your name?】

【▶ Remember】

【▶ Forgot】

【Remember!】

【What is your name?】

【▶ CJH】

【▶ Kim Jinwoo】

【▶ Seon Yuhan】

【▶ binary】

【▶ Forgot】

Who is Kim Jinwoo now?

Without realizing it, I looked at Yoo Hyunjae just in case, but he shrugged as if he had no idea.

“There isn’t…… someone else here besides the seven of us, is there?”

CJH’s accountant muttered ominously, like the person who dies first in a horror movie.

“I do not think that is it…… but this person may also be a Neosoft employee.”

If so.

If the employees who were said to have vanished were also playing this game.

“Hm? Then where is this person?”

Like the Interviewer or the children at the daycare center, all the people who had vanished when the Jaerae Building was Labyrinthized were probably…….

“Here. They may be in a Labyrinth exactly like this one.”

They would exist separated in a space-time identical to this place, yet separate from it.

“Ah, that sounds plausible.”

Representative Yoo Hyunjae nodded.

“It would make sense if people were divided for difficulty adjustment. Labyrinths generally become easier the more people there are who seek to resolve them.”

Most problems in the world could be solved through sheer numbers.

Labyrinths were probably not entirely an exception to that rule.

Only, the resources consumed in the process were far too great. Humans included.

Even when every resource such as time, money, and manpower was poured in, an Invasive Labyrinth was a place where it was a miracle if even one survivor emerged.

In short, how could one grind resources into such a ‘low cost-effectiveness’ place?

Whether they were Raiders or special agents eating government rice, people did not want them rushing into an Invasive Labyrinth only to come out dead, nor did they want limitless taxes wasted on something that would not work anyway.

That was the average public sentiment.

Of course, that public tended not to include the people trapped inside the Labyrinth.

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Correct. You are Seon Yuhan.】

I did not particularly want that either, in truth.

Even if rescue personnel or whatever came in, all that would increase was the number of body bags needed.

Because the kind Labyrinth was prepared.

Prepared to create new rules and phenomena so that additional people who entered would not be left out.

That was why the Labyrinth Management Bureau complicated the preliminary procedures required to enter Invasive Labyrinths, and why, once the occurrence of an Invasive Labyrinth was recognized, they stopped anyone from entering.

In principle.

【There is the ‘Haunted House’! The fun of chasing and being chased inside an eerie house where ghosts appear! It seems perfect for lightly warming up before lunch and spending some time. Become happy!】

【▶ Become Happy】

【▶ Become Unhappy】

A haunted house where one chased and was chased.

It seemed the player side would face some difficulty too.

Still, if I went here and came back, it seemed it would become afternoon.

That would bring us one step closer to Happyland’s closing time.

【Become Happy!】

An illustration of a haunted house in dark teal, purple, and black appeared.

【You are walking down a dark corridor. Where will you enter first?】

【▶ Kitchen】

【▶ Living Room】

When I knew nothing, I started with the top option.

【Kitchen!】

TAP TAP TAP……!

The sound of something running.

KYAAAAH!

Blood splattered along with a chilling scream.

【That startled you! But a ghost holding a fruit knife is not enough to frighten you. You bite into the red, ripe apple.】

CRISP, CRACK.

【You hear a sound from the living room.】

CLACK, CLICK.

What kind of sound effect was that? I felt as if I knew, but did not.

【You hear a sound from above.】

CREEAK, THUD…….

This one I understood.

It seemed someone was moving stealthily on the second floor.

【Where will you enter first?】

【▶ Living Room】

【▶ Ceiling】

【Living Room!】

【You found a ghost sitting quietly on the floor. What could that large toy placed in front of the ghost be?】

THUMP—! RATATATAT!

“Ha……!”

“What is this? Why is it making that sound?”

BANG! RATATAT—!

Gunfire struck my ears in succession.

【Ugh! You writhe in pain. What is that ghost tearing you apart?】

BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ.

The screen blinked rapidly.

【You do not lose courage and charge at the ghost. You cannot give up here, can you?】

RATATATA, THUMP! CRUNCH—!

【Oh dear! You defeated the ghost, but no matter who you are, it is difficult to withstand a continuous barrage of 18,000 J of energy! You have entered a state where you can no longer enjoy happiness. Still, you can continue becoming happy.】

【CONTINUE】

【EXIT】

The click I had heard earlier from the living room.

That had been the sound of loading a machine gun.