Chapter 39

Chapter 39. In This Case, Accept 6

The demonstration game of 'Breath of Judgment' continued.

"Now then, you may take one of two actions. One is to 'Accept,' the other to 'Verify.'"

If the testimony is true, Accept. If false, Verify.

"Go on, decide."

The die's current top face was 6, and Mr. Do had testified to this event as 'first and foremost the perfect number'—that is, the smallest perfect number.

Therefore the testimony was true.

"Accept."

SLAM!

[Testimony x: "Kyaaaaaaah! What I saw was, first and foremost, the perfect number!"]

[(Accept)｜××]

Beneath the statement, between 'Accept' and 'Verify,' a red seal stamped down over Accept, and a cancellation mark was struck through Verify.

"Upon Accepting, the truth or falsehood of the testimony is not disclosed. Even if you judged a false testimony to be true, the Breath shall not pass judgment on you."

It meant that if I judged a testimony true and Accepted it, I couldn't tell whether I'd been right or wrong.

And there'd be no penalty even if I was wrong.

"This time, try Verifying."

Another statement, identical to the last, appeared.

"Verify."

SLAM!

[Testimony x: "Kyaaaaaaah! What I saw was, first and foremost, the perfect number!"]

[××｜(Verify)]

"Do not doubt."

A solemn pronouncement came crashing down, and a hiss of escaping air sounded from the gas mask.

"Mmph......!"

Startled, I held my breath first and reflexively tried to pull the mask off.

In vain, naturally.

The mask wouldn't come away from my face. Like skin.

"As this is a demonstration, no event harmful to you shall occur."

"Haah....... Please, warn me about things like that in advance."

Paying that no mind, Mr. Do went on with its explanation.

"Conversely, upon Verifying, the truth or falsehood of the testimony is disclosed at once. Verify a false testimony, and it passes without incident; but judge a true testimony false and Verify it, and the Breath shall pass judgment on you."

"Is it instant death if I breathe it in?"

"The Breath of Judgment is but a single mouthful at a time. One mouthful alone will set blood flowing from your eyes, nose, and mouth. The more of the Breath you take, the greater the rate and volume of the bleeding."

So it seemed to be a gas with a hemorrhagic-poison effect.

Holding my breath wouldn't help.

With the mask refusing to come off, even holding my breath would kill me in a minute or so.

"After roughly three mouthfuls, the game will be over. You may drown in your own blood before you die of internal hemorrhage."

"Ah."

So that meant I could take up to two mouthfuls.

Three, if I was lucky.

"You will indeed make a fine gambler."

The twenty-one eye-corners curled, as if itching, as though it had read my mind.

"The events to come number six in all. If you bring all six events to a close and remain alive past six minutes, the victory is yours."

"I don't have to get the true-or-false right?"

Just survive?

Regardless of whether I'd properly Accepted the truth or properly Verified the lie?

"Does that matter? What you believe, and what you do not—that is what is truly important."

Something was off.

When I Accept a testimony.

Regardless of whether it's true or false, I take no penalty and the event closes.

But when I Verify a testimony.

If it's false, fine; but if it's true, I breathe in the poison gas.

So as long as I just keep Accepting, don't I win?

I eyed the gambling-addict die suspiciously.

No way that thing didn't know that.

No way it'd propose a game that easy.

'There is no gamble without trickery.'

This 'Breath of Judgment' game.

It seemed it wouldn't be easy to win.

I had no idea exactly what trick it would pull.

Somehow or other, wasn't it scheming to keep me from Accepting?

But I didn't think there was not a single shred of a chance I could win.

Because every problem in a Labyrinth is, in theory, always solvable.

Assuming you don't die while solving it.

"Then—let us begin the Breath of Judgment."

In other words, the fact that Mr. Do had proposed this game to me meant a chance for me to win existed.

So if I played it right, I could win.

Win, and I could get Jeong Jiho out of the Labyrinth at once.

......I could send someone out of a Labyrinth alive. With my own hands.

"Right. Begin."

Clatter—the die rolled, then stopped.

Top face: 1.

"An event has occurred. I begin my testimony."

[Case ① - 1 Statement]

[Testimony a: 　　　]

"I saw it plainly!"

Next, the testimony was given in some young man's voice.

"The number of these pips is the same as the floor where this Labyrinth's exit lies!"

"Hey, you lowlife bastard."

I realized I had no choice but to lose.

***

A shock like being struck hard in the back of the head with a thick book rattled through my skull.

[Testimony a: "I saw it plainly! The number of these pips is the same as the floor where this Labyrinth's exit lies!"]

This is a game I cannot help but lose.

Given a Labyrinth's nature of respecting 'doors,' I'd guessed the exit was on the first floor—but it would be good to have certainty.

The Labyrinth had vouched for it, so no further proof was needed.

"This......"

If I wanted to know the truth, I had to Verify.

Accept, and you can't learn the truth; only by Verifying can you know it.

And if, upon Verifying, it turned out the Labyrinth's exit lay somewhere other than the first floor, so the Verification succeeded—well and good.

But otherwise, I'd breathe in the poison gas.

Ha.

A game I could win just by Accepting six times in a row.

To obstruct my Accepting in a way like this.

"This is absurd. This is just too......"

Unfair.

The word rose all the way to the tip of my chin.

"Then—to escape this Labyrinth on a single game. Do you think that makes sense?"

The die's voice settled coldly over my head.

The enormous pupils set in its six faces were laughing at me, itching as though to be scratched from the inside.

"It is because it makes no sense that the gamble holds."

A single game changing a life.

Such a nonsensical phenomenon was indeed a gamble.

"Asymmetry. Irregularity. Irrationality. That is the essence of gambling. If it made sense, it would be no more than a mere transaction."

I'd known that going in.

But still......

"......Verify."

SLAM!

[Testimony a: "I saw it plainly! The number of these pips is the same as the floor where this Labyrinth's exit lies!"]

[××｜(Verify)]

No matter how strongly I suspected the Labyrinth's exit was on the first floor, in the end it was only a guess.

If, by some chance, it wasn't the first floor.

If I missed an exit on some other floor and walked right past it.

I might never get out.

I didn't want that.

That, I couldn't bear.

I have to get out. I......

"Do not doubt."

Hssssss—

"Y-you f— kha!"

At last, a fishy liquid surged and burst out from somewhere deep within.

Before the blood streaming from my nose even reached my lips, I coughed blood up from inside my mouth like a fit, and the blood I spat struck the mask, ran down, and pooled within.

"Khh, urgh......"

My vision blurred.

Blood mixed with tears, dripping down onto my trousers.

My whole body shook.

A pain like a rake scraping out my insides.

My breath came short.

A salty, fishy taste lingering on the tip of my tongue.

"The event is closed."

***

13. Do not doubt. The Labyrinth's exit is on the first floor.

***

Slip.

The statement slid aside.

"Ugh......"

To be in this state after just one mouthful of the Breath of Judgment.

Three mouthfuls wouldn't kill me—I'd just drop dead right now.

Had I done something pointless?

Couldn't I have just believed the Labyrinth's exit was on the first floor......?

No. No, I wasn't wrong.

In a Labyrinth where you can be certain of nothing until you go and see for yourself, if I could turn a guess into a certainty.

If I could settle that price with a cup or two of my own blood.

Wasn't that a bargain?

"A little too much for you from the very first event? At this rate, I wonder if the remaining five will even close."

"Shut...... your mouth......"

"Regrettably, I have no mouth to shut. It would be a shame to lose your sight already."

"Damn it, not...... not even one line...... will you let go......"

"I do not care for losing."

Tak, drrk.

The red-eyed die rolled across the table, then stopped.

Top face: 6.

"An event has occurred. I begin my testimony."

[Case ② - 6 Statement]

[Testimony b: 　　　]

After checking the statement newly set before me, I waited, heart trembling, for the words to come.

"It's been ten years already."

This time, the voice of a woman in her seventies.

"That was exactly how many bodies you fished up from the Moonwell, wasn't it."

My clenched fist trembled, shaking.

"Violence not stipulated in the game's rules is forbidden."

Ah.

Aah.

I swear, I could never count that number. Not with a mere cube of six faces.

"Verify."

SLAM!

[Testimony b: "It's been ten years already. That was exactly how many bodies you fished up from the Moonwell, wasn't it."]

[××｜(Verify)]

"A false testimony lies before you."

A heavy voice, as if pronouncing a death sentence.

"The event is closed."

Slip—and another statement slid aside.

Tak! Ta-rak......

The ivory die, rolling several turns through the air, spun in place, then stopped.

Top face: 4.

"An event has occurred. I begin my testimony."

[Case ③ - 4 Statement]

[Testimony c: 　　　]

"Hey—you know I really thought of you like my own little brother, right?"

"Ah."

A voice. Young, once young. The same age as I am now.

"Mom and Dad said it too. That it felt reassuring, like they'd gained another son."

"Ah......"

I couldn't breathe properly.

Grk, grrk.

The mask.

The mask won't come off.

"So if someone had asked me, before I ended up like that, how many people were in our family, I'd have answered exactly this many."

Why.

Does it still hurt this much, even now?

Why.

Do I still miss them this much, even now?

I'd bailed it out, and bailed it out, endlessly bailed it out—I thought it had all run dry.

"Urgh, ugh......"

Gazing at the four swaying red pips, I sorted through my reeling head.

This was event number three, so three events remained.

I'd already taken one mouthful of the Breath of Judgment.

Two more, and I die.

......So.

I can take one more mouthful of that Breath.

So—just once.

Please, just this once.

"Verify."