Chapter 32

Chapter 32. Unhappy Lucky Man

“Mr. Seon Yuhan. This…… he was shot, right? Just now?”

“Why is there someone with a gun? Is it there because it’s a game?”

“Ah! It must be an agent sent in by the Labyrinth Bureau!”

“They agreed not to do that ten years ago, after Dalumul-ri. Happyland was eight years ago.”

As I listened to Choi Jaeha and Hwang Juyeon’s conversation, I forced the hand holding my phone to relax.

Those Labyrinth Bureau bastards.

I knew those dog bastards could not give up their old tricks.

Bastards who knowingly send people into Invasive Labyrinths even though they are obviously going to die, just to get some data and add more corpses.

Judging from the movie, it seemed that at least they had not shoved their own agents into Seonghwa High four years ago.

Ah.

Back then, there had been that incident where parents secretly entered.

Astonishingly, while the government agency’s control had ‘loosened.’

“Well, they probably only said that and sent them in anyway. Otherwise, why would a gun appear? Judging from the contents, it was not just a pistol or rifle, but something like a heavy machine gun. That is hard to see even in the military, and to begin with, one person cannot carry it alone. They clearly deployed it on purpose.”

“Ah, really……? But then they went that far…… and it still never became known…….”

Had those parents been unknowingly guided into infiltrating the Labyrinth and then tolerated?

Or had there been some sort of deal?

From only the fragmentary scenes shown in the movie, there was no way to know.

Either way, the Labyrinth Management Bureau had effectively inserted parents while taking into account the characteristics of a place called a school.

Because they judged that parents might actually be more advantageous than special agents who would look out of place in a school.

Should this be called progress in its own way?

“I have some business ties with the Labyrinth Management Bureau.”

The representative of Yuwi Guild feigned modesty in a dry voice.

“It is a place with a dishonest side. Much like Labyrinths.”

Then would they come into this building too?

Given the characteristics of a guild building, it was not particularly strange for people from the Labyrinth Management Bureau to come and go, so there would be even less burden.

Even then, they were more likely to be found as corpses. Especially with the floors already mixed up.

【CONTINUE】

【EXIT】

“Then I will continue.”

“Huh? No…….”

Choi Jaeha looked back and forth between my right foot without a heel and my face, at a loss for what to do.

“You know, I thought about it. Honestly, once was more than enough for me. No, even that was more than enough…….”

The accountant lowered his head as if ashamed and opened his mouth with difficulty.

“So, Mr. Seon Yuhan.”

【CONTINUE!】

“Hey, you lunatic.”

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

“You’re driving me insane, you lunatic!”

“No, why, why are you hitting m—”

“—Good grief, does it even hurt? Are you not scared? If something goes wrong, you’ll die like that person earlier! Even if you don’t die, you’ll have to live disabled for the rest of your life!”

【However, happiness always requires a price!】

Was I afraid? Of what? Dying? Living? Was I supposed to be afraid? Of what? Becoming an ‘incomplete’ existence?

“Ha, look at your expression. What the hell is wrong with you? You’re smiling now? You…… you really aren’t normal.”

My honorary qualification as a normal person had been revoked.

In the end, I had returned to where I started.

“You look perfectly fine, so why on earth are you like this? It’s seriously scary…….”

“That is.”

“What?”

That was the very question I had always screamed like a cry. At this world. At this life.

But no answer had come back to me.

So I had no answer to return either.

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

“Hup, hrrk…….”

It was a very strange sensation.

The breath I inhaled passed down my throat, vividly as a breeze.

Yet my rib cage did not swell.

“Hah, haa…….”

No matter how much I breathed in.

No matter how I sucked in air until my mouth dried out.

Like a thirst that would never be filled.

“……What should we…….”

“……Into the lungs…….”

“……Yuhan, Seon Yuhan…….”

There was an emptiness as deep as a well inside my chest.

And in that empty well, there was far too much death…….

***

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

“Hah, hk…….”

I gasped for breath.

Like the first breath of my life. Like breathing in the world for the first time. Like I would never inhale again. Like the last breath of my life.

“Mr. Seon Yuhan? Are you all right? Why are you suddenly doing that? Can you speak?”

“Yes……. Yes.”

I grabbed the Interviewer, who had approached to check on me, and stood up.

“Interviewer. This building has become a Labyrinth.”

***

After clearing away the shell of the Librarian at Book Bang Ollae, before heading to Uri Saenal Daycare Center where Hwang Juyeon and Choi Jaeha had gone ahead.

I took a brief moment to check the Jaerae Diary.

[∃, 2, ⒝5, 14]

[㉳ㅣSeou]

“Seriously, of all the…….”

It really did all kinds of things.

The Tarae Keeper’s dreadful mechanical voice played in my head.

‘YesSeonYuhanSeonYuhanSeonYuhanCustomeraslongasyouwantitthatwillbeyoursanytimeanywhereanyhowhoweverdamageincurredinthespecialdeliveryprocessisaverynaturalphenomenonandTaraeisnotresponsibleforitbuynow?’

It had said damage would occur during the delivery process.

The form of the characters had been distorted little by little.

The same was true of the records of the 《Lost In HPPYLN》 game script, which I had written in a separate section toward the back.

Of course, the handwriting had changed.

It looked as though non-human things had imitated my handwriting and ‘drawn’ it.

Was it fortunate that no one would interrogate me, asking why the handwriting looked exactly the same when I showed it to others?

“Ha.”

For now, I closed the diary and headed for the daycare center.

There was a long way to go.

***

“Wow, so what was written in that diary really must have been the floor order……. It really is B5……. Hah, then next is the 14th floor?”

Immediately after extracting Jeong Jiho from the daycare center on the second floor, I had shown Hwang Juyeon and Choi Jaeha the Jaerae Diary.

If I was going to use it in Neosoft, I had to show it to them in advance.

Later, there would be no natural timing to ‘find’ it.

“This is quite a peculiar Relic.”

I also showed the Jaerae Diary to Yoo Hyunjae, who, without fail, was retching in the parking lot as we exchanged names.

“You found this at Book Bang Ollae?”

“Yes. I went to look for the Librarian, but there was no one in the library, and only this had fallen there. I thought it might be some kind of clue, so I took it.”

I gave him the same explanation I had given Hwang Juyeon and Choi Jaeha.

“Librarian?”

Yoo Hyunjae’s eyebrow rose slightly.

“There is no Librarian in our library.”

“Excuse me? Th-that cannot be.”

Hwang Juyeon’s voice cracked.

“There definitely was one. We even talked…….”

“Was there a Librarian even before the Labyrinthization? If so, that is even more frightening to me.”

“Uh, uhh……. Now that I think about it, no. At first, there was no one at the desk, but later, when we came out after hearing the fire alarm, someone was there, so I just thought they must have stepped away for a moment. Naturally.”

And so, a small mystery that was chilling only to those who did not know the circumstances was resolved.

Choi Jaeha died in the parking lot.

Without even getting to see Bae Seou’s urn.

“……Brother-in-law?”

This time, it was because of his brother-in-law, not his nephew.

Because he was rambling so much, I did not know the exact reason. But he was furious to the tips of his hair, and no matter how much we tried to stop him, he could not calm down.

[The Late Bae Seou]

WHOOSH.

I quietly watched four chrysanthemum flowers burn themselves into ashes.

Counting the number of white chrysanthemums that had never even had a chance to burn.

***

[Neosoft]

The atmosphere of the game company office, dim from the power outage, was not much different from last time.

However.

“Hup, over there…….”

Lee Jinsu was very different from last time.

He was not bald. His hair was shaggy and thick, and one ear that had been attached properly before was gone.

“He seems…… dead.”

And above all, he was dead.

Even though we had arrived at Neosoft at a similar time to last time, the part Lee Jinsu had lost was completely different, so it seemed the penalty was entirely random.

FLASH—!

Ta-daa, dan, da-dan…….

【Lost In HPPYLN】

【ENTER】

The screens of my phone, Hwang Juyeon’s phone, and Yoo Hyunjae’s phone turned on.

A portable game console fell in front of Jeong Jiho.

【Enter your name.】

【＿＿＿＿】

“This really is exactly as written in the diary…….”

Lee Jinsu, who would have explained it, was dead, but the explanation the Lee Jinsu of the previous round had given had already been written down at that time.

“‘Play order is name entry order?’ There is a question mark.”

Yoo Hyunjae read it with interest.

“It seems to mean it is not certain. For a Relic of the Labyrinth…… it is almost as if a person wrote it.”

That was because there was no way for me to know what the order had been after I died, and because it really had been written by a person.

“For now, let us assume it is in name entry order, and I will try first. With Jiho last.”

“You are going first, Representative? It will be dangerous.”

“I have found that if one is going to take a beating anyway, it is better to take it first.”

Honestly, I was grateful. I was also inwardly surprised.

“Then I will go next.”

I thought I would be first again this time too.

I could not place Hwang Juyeon or Jeong Jiho earlier in the order, and I had never even considered the possibility that Yoo Hyunjae would make himself first.

“Ah. It really does seem to be entry order.”

【Welcome to Happyland, the Land of Happiness!】

The game of Yoo Hyunjae, who had entered his name first, began.

***

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

THUD……. CLATTER!

A ring more expensive than my monthly salary and a wristwatch more expensive than my yearly salary fell to the floor.

“Oh dear.”

Yoo Hyunjae picked up the ring that had rolled away and put it on the little finger of his right hand. Somehow, even with one hand.

The left sleeve of Yoo Hyunjae’s jacket sagged lifelessly from wrist to elbow.

“Are you all right? Here is your watch……. Should I put it on for you? The glass face is broken, though…….”

“No, it is fine. Thank you.”

Yoo Hyunjae placed the wristwatch Hwang Juyeon had picked up on the desk beside him.

“It does not feel real. Because it does not hurt.”

After staring for a long while at the empty place where his left arm had been, he murmured that.

“Perhaps that is what makes it even more dangerous.”

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

Yoo Hyunjae’s game resumed.

***

BOOM—! SPLAT!

【Oh dear! A trap hidden underwater exploded. You have entered a state where you can no longer enjoy happiness. Still, you can continue becoming happy.】

“It seems they installed a booby trap.”

Yoo Hyunjae shook his head as he looked at his phone screen.

After avoiding the machine gun in the ‘Haunted House,’ he had encountered the booby trap in the ‘Waterfall Ride.’

I quickly recorded it in the diary.

Because it would be my turn now.

【CONTINUE】

【EXIT】

After confirming that I had finished recording, Yoo Hyunjae placed the index finger of his sole remaining right hand near the screen.

【CONTINUE!】

“……Huh?”

Yoo Hyunjae chose to continue. Not to quit.

“What? No, why……?”

“Because, of course.”

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

“I want to live.”

A very dry and desperate declaration.

He wanted to live that much.

Even though he had already lost half of one arm. Even if he might lose something greater.

“Because I want to get out.”

A Labyrinth was the sort of place one wanted that desperately to escape.

“I am not very talented at games like this.”

“No, then you should quit. Why…….”

I had thought Yoo Hyunjae would quit here. Naturally.

Honestly, I thought that playing once in the first position, before me, was already enough…….

“But I do like gambling a little.”

Ah.

Only now did I roughly understand why Choi Jaeha had slapped my back.

“This seems like a gamble worth making.”

【However, happiness always requires a price!】

“I am rather lucky.”

A faint smile appeared at the corners of Yoo Hyunjae’s mouth.

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

At that moment.

Yoo Hyunjae’s body collapsed.