Chapter 34

Chapter 34. Let There Be Carnival

【Become Happy!】

【Become Happy!】

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Eat!】

【Become Happy!】

【CONTINUE!】

【If it were possible to turn back time, what would you do, Mr. Seon Yuhan?!】

【Eat!】

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Become Happy!】

【CONTINUE!】

【If it were possible to turn back time, what would you do, Mr. Seon Yuhan?!】

【Become Happy!】

【Prayer Room!】

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Become Happy!】

【CONTINUE!】

【If it were possible to turn back time, what would you do, Mr. Seon Yuhan?!】

【Become Happy!】

【Eat!】

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Become Happy!】

【Become Happy!】

【CONTINUE!】

【CONTINUE!】

【CONTINUE!】

【Seon Yuhan?】

***

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

My vision was a little hazy, but I was not dead.

I could still do more.

【What is your name?】

【▶ Kim Minjun】

【▶ Hyunjae】

【▶ Seon Yuhan】

【▶ binary】

【▶ Forgot】

I wish it would stop asking this now.

【Seon Yuhan!】

【Correct. You are Seon Yuhan.】

“Mr. Seon Yuhan, your expression is not good. How about eating this, at least?”

“No. I am fine.”

Now was not the time to take medicine.

【A clerk wearing a rabbit mask is selling churros. They look delicious. You cannot endure your hunger.】

【▶ Eat】

【▶ Endure】

If it were food, perhaps.

【Eat!】

CRACKLE! CRACK, CRUNCH!

【Crispy, warm churros sprinkled with sugar go deep into hot, moist dipping sauce! You pat your stomach in satisfaction. You do not think you will be hungry for a while.】

“Mm, Mr. Seon Yuhan. Mr. Seon Yuhan?”

“……Yes? What is it?”

“Ah. No. It is nothing.”

‘Hyunjae’ shook his head.

‘CJH,’ ‘Hwang,’ and ‘Jyo’ had been at the daycare center and come down too late, so they were probably dying in the parking lot by now.

It did not particularly matter.

【Who will be the fastest? Enjoy speed while being careful not to fall off the horse! Become happy!】

【▶ Become Happy】

【▶ Become Unhappy】

Because I never had any intention of giving them a chance to become happy anyway.

【Become Happy!】

***

【After the greatest deliberation of your life, you chose ‘bulgogi pizza.’】

CRUNCH, SPLAT! CRACKLE—!

【As expected of the Chef’s recommended menu! Chewy and tender dough, cheese with an excellent crisp bite, and sweetly stir-fried bulgogi toppings!】

【You finished your meal happily. The only thing you regret is that you will never again taste this Chef’s touch.】

Dinner, too, ended very enjoyably.

Now, after just a little more, the parade would begin.

【Do you remember your name?】

【▶ Remember】

【▶ Forgot】

【Remember!】

Why does it keep asking?

【What is your name?】

【▶ Lee Siun】

【▶ ■■■】

【▶ Hyunjae】

【▶ Seon Yuhan】

【▶ Forgot】

You already know.

What my name is.

I chose the correct answer.

【Correct. You are”

Just as the sentence continued.

“Ha.”

When I suddenly lowered the screen and turned around, ‘Hyunjae’ drew in a small breath, his eyes widening.

Well, of course. Humans considered what lay beyond skin disgusting.

A left eye with half of it neatly missing lengthwise, exposing the vitreous humor clearly, or the upper and lower teeth fully visible because the right cheek had vanished.

“Please remain at ease. Do not worry.”

Slurred speech leaked through my pierced cheek.

“I will not pass the turn to you.】

I smacked my lips and passed the empty stand.

No one sold snacks anymore.

There was the Haunted House.

Yes, I had not had the chance to go there during the day earlier.

This time, I would play happily.

A dark corridor. The faint sound of breathing heard with each step. The scent of fishy fear brushing the tip of my nose on that breath.

【Where are you? Where are you hiding?】

In the first-floor kitchen, instead of a ghost crisp like an apple, there was only a ghost mushy like a ripe persimmon.

It seemed to have spoiled by itself.

Food waste had to be cleaned up promptly.

Since I had cleared away the Cleaning Cast, it could not be helped.

【Are you here?】

There was no one in the first-floor living room. No toy either.

I had been looking forward to it.

I stood still and listened.

After slowly circling the living room with unhurried steps.

【Found you.】

I leaped.

CRUNCH! CRACK, CRUSH—!

The ghost was on the second floor, right above my head.

Ah. Not anymore.

I examined the ghost’s toy carefully.

How did ghosts play with things like this?

Was it not too large to play with using such short arms and legs?

CLACK, CLICK.

Ah. A familiar sound.

So this was how it was done.

As I fiddled with this and that, a delicious scent came through the gap in the door.

CREEEAK…….

【Hello? I have been waiting.】

RATATATATATA—! CRUNCH, THUMP!

Ugh.

This toy did not smell very good after using it.

I should throw it away.

CRACK! CRUNCH!

But I also did not want anyone other than me to use it.

“Soon, Happyland’s final festival, the Happy Carnival Parade, will begin! Please gather at the plaza in front of the ‘Merry-Go-Round’!”

Following Pipi’s guidance, I walked toward the plaza.

“Do you remember your name”

“▶ Forget”

“▶ Forget”

“▶ Forget”

“▶ Forget”

“▶ Forget”

I now know the correct answer.

【Forget!】

A cheerful trumpet sounded.

“Correct. You forget. All that sorrow.”

The three horsemen of red liberation, black freedom, and white joy sang of the end of pain and led an army of corpses.

They all looked happy.

“This is the Land of Happiness we have dreamed of, a place where no one suffers, a place where no one is bound, a place where no one cries, a place where everyone is freely liberated…….”

They were no longer afraid of footsteps entering through the door, no longer afraid of laughter and crying whose reasons they did not know, no longer afraid of the weight of bodies that had died long ago.

I would become like that too.

“Look up there, let us all become stars floating high in the sky and sing with one voice…….”

BANG! BANG-BANG!

Those who flew toward the sky glittered brilliantly and poured down.

PATTER, THUD—!

Red tears flowed down my cheeks.

In the midst of it all, I sang and danced.

I savored liberation, and with happiness swelling inside me, I closed my eyes.

I became one.

I became eternity…….

“Seon Yuhan!”

【Noisy. Do not disturb the festival.】

“Seon Yuhan!”

【Shut up. Am I not allowed to become happy?】

“▶ Seon Yuhan”

“▶ Seon Yuhan”

“▶ Seon Yuhan”

【You know. That is not my name.】

“What is your name”

【I told you it is no use.】

“▶ Lee Hyeonseon”

【……What are you doing now?】

“▶ Kim Jeyu”

【What are you trying to do?】

“▶ Kim Byeonghan”

【That is not my name. You know that.】

“▶ Forgot?”

【No. No. It is not.】

“▶ Seon Yuhan”

【I am. That is not, I am.】

“Hello,”

“Seon Yuhan!”

“This is Labyrinsoft. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused during play. Corrective action regarding the error has been taken immediately, and we once again apologize to ■■■, who may have felt discomfort due to the in-game error.”

At last, peace came.

Now, there was nothing that made me sad.

No one blamed me, no one called me, and no one made me unhappy.

What was dead was dead. Therefore, it was gone.

Things dead and gone could not make me unhappy.

It was quiet.

So quiet I could not understand why I had suffered so much.

Beautiful.

“That is what happiness is!”

Pipi said.

“Are you not happy?”

【Yes.】

I said to Pipi.

【I am happy. I feel nothing but that.】

“Right?”

Pipi smiled brightly in happiness.

I stared blankly at Pipi.

A wistful and soft sound of music rang out, as though announcing the end.

“Then it is time to close Happyland’s gates! Now, shall we check one last time?”

【Yes.】

I knew what I would do to myself.

“Do you remember your name?”

“▶ Remember”

“▶ Forgot”

【Remember!】

“What is your name?”

“▶ ■■■”

Beneath that six-syllable signpost lay the single happy road I had to take.

【Seon Yuhan!】

And I knew that I would willingly choose to become unhappy.

“What did you say?”

Pipi’s face twisted hideously.

【Seon Yuhan!】

I repeated my name. Again and again, endlessly.

“Wrong! It is wrong! You are ■■■! Not that gloomy trash! The happy ■■■!”

【Why should I become happy?】

Pipi’s round face turned so red it looked as though it might burst at any moment.

“Because happiness is the ultimate direction all beings seek! You are happy now too. Why are you trying to escape? You clearly said you were happy.】

【Yes. That is why I no longer feel like myself.”

The me who felt nothing when I recalled the things that made me unhappy.

The me who was not crushed by the weight of my name.

The me who had forgotten myself and become happy.

“How is that me?”

That was the monster.

“Now, it is closing time.”

【hahahahahahahahahahaha】

Happyland’s mascot laughed so wide its mouth seemed to split open.

【You think you have beaten me.】

“Because I have.”

I was still me.

I had not forgotten.

【This is Happyland, the Land of Happiness. You, who are not happy, have no right to exist here. The only choice remaining to you is to become happy.】

“Ah.”

Pipi was telling me I had only one choice.

If I was not happy, I could not be in Happyland.

【Or die by Pipi’s hand hahahahahahahahahahahaha】

【▶ Become Happy】

【▶ Die】

“So that is it.”

Then I only had to not be happy.

【Ha?】

Pipi’s laughter stopped.

【Die!】

Then Pipi began to rage wildly.

It repeatedly shrank smaller than an ant and grew larger than a building, trampling over Happyland.

【You are a fool! An idiot! There is only the path of becoming happy!】

“No.”

A Labyrinth always has countless paths.

There is not only one path out of a Labyrinth either.

Even if it looks as though there is only one.

“There is a path I have never taken even once.”

In Happyland, I had tried eating, enduring, riding this, and riding that.

But there was one thing. Just one thing I had not chosen.

【Foolish as you are, you die.】

As I looked at the enormous hand grasping my body like an insect, I thought.

If it were possible to turn back time…….

***

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

I will become unhappy.

***

【Become Unhappy!】

“Huh. Mr. Seon Yuhan, is that really all right?”

“I know. Even if it was written that way in the diary, it still makes me uneasy.”

After returning this time, at Book Bang Ollae, I had scratched out all the scripts I had written down so far and scrawled only one sentence over them.

[Become Unhappy!]

【You take one step into the shadow of unhappiness of your own will. Pipi will remember this choice. You must become happy. This is the Land of Happiness.】

“Please do not worry too much. We do not know what will happen, do we?”

“No, you’ll become unhappy……!”

Choi Jaeha looked at me with his usual ‘is this person seriously insane?’ expression.

I had grown so used to it that I could tell without him saying it.

“Am I not allowed to become unhappy?”

“Obviously not, I think……!”

Ignoring the accountant who looked ready to jump up and down in madness, I suddenly recalled the conversation I had had with the representative of Yuwi Guild beside him.

‘Mr. Seon Yuhan. Is there a need to endure?’

‘Because there’s no need to eat either.’

‘While not wanting to become unhappy?’

‘Then why should I deliberately make myself unhappy?’

In the end, I had been wrong.

I had to become unhappy deliberately.

【There is the ‘Happy Swing’! The fun of holding onto poles spinning whoosh-whoosh on the hill and moving forward one space at a time! Become happy! You must become happy.】

【▶ Become Happy】

【▶ Become Unhappy】

【Become Unhappy!】

Now that I had learned what I truly wanted was not ‘happiness.’

“Well, there must be a reason it is written like this.”

【You take another step into the pit of unhappiness of your own will. Pipi asks you. Why will you not become happy? You can become happy.】

“Besides…… there is no need to follow the suspicious happiness of a blatantly suspicious Labyrinth at face value, is there?”

Of course, saying this was like spitting in my own face.

But I was the only one who knew that anyway.

【Become Unhappy!】

【You are kicking away the happiness given to you. Pathetic, pitiful, foolish thing.】

…

【Become Unhappy!】

【How long can you refuse happiness? You can become a more complete happiness.】

…

【Become Unhappy!】

【Correct. You are unhappy.】

“Ha. There.”

The breath I had been holding finally opened up.

Only after repeating it several times did a script appear, as though finally acknowledging my stubbornness.

【An unhappy thing that does not know how to desire happiness has no right to exist in the Land of Happiness. Leave.】

【EXIT】

“No way. This…… actually works……?”

【EXIT!】

【Foolish as you are, you missed your chance to become happy.】

【However, even that foolishness requires a price.】

What?

No, wait.

【Do not worry! It will hurt. A small curse will make you unhappy：blood】

“Hrk, ugh……!”

My limbs froze like a machine with its power drained, a creepy ringing like SCREEECH hammered at my ears, the hollow heart that existed only in name beat emptily in my chest, the familiar pain of being unable to breathe struck me, and my entire body screamed at the cellular level, as if I had been stabbed with a red-hot iron skewer.

All of that happened simultaneously in the blink of an eye.

“Mr. Seon Yuhan!”

The world, blinking on and off, finally turned dark.

【Lost In HPPYLN】

Just before my memories cut off.

The last thing I saw was that damned game screen.

【CLOSE】

Damn luck-based trash game.

Next time, I will absolutely not die.

1. Do Not Become Happy. Unlike unhappiness, it will not be satisfied with a single price.