Chapter 4

Chapter 4. Mo, Vie, Starts, In, 10, Minutes

“Mr. Choi Jaeha! We need to get out!”

“H-Huh?”

The power was out, but the lights came on?

That was not normal.

The instant the lights above the stage came on, I instinctively knew that something had started, and opened the front door of the main auditorium.

CLUNK!

“Damn it!”

The door was locked.

I should have expected this.

Because a Labyrinth was that kind of place.

“What, it is locked? Then what about that side?”

Choi Jaeha, his face gone pale, ran to the opposite front door.

“This one, this one is locked too!”

“Let us try the back doors!”

Choi Jaeha and I each began climbing the stairs on either side of the seats.

The main auditorium occupied two floors here, the second and third, so the back doors were connected to the third floor.

RUMBLE, SWISH.

While we ran up the stairs, shaving years off the lifespan of our knee joints, a white screen descended over the stage.

“This one is locked too! Mr. Seon Yuhan, what about your side?”

“This one too!”

“What do we do? What are we supposed to do? What should we do?”

Choi Jaeha, who had somehow already strode up to me, grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

“You are the one who brought me in here!”

It was true that I had dragged Choi Jaeha into the main auditorium because I felt uneasy staying in the hallway, so I had nothing to say.

“If I die here, you are responsible—”

「Wel, come, dear, au, di, ence, mem, bers!」

The voice from the speakers drowned out Choi Jaeha’s booming voice.

「The, mo, vie, will, start, short, ly?, so, please, take, your, seats.」

It was a bizarre announcement.

As if each and every syllable had been stitched together from different places, the pitch, gender, and age range of the voice changed with every syllable.

“What, what the hell is this now?”

“Let us sit down for now.”

“No! How do we know what it is? What if skewers suddenly shoot out from under the seats or something?”

What kind of movie had this man watched?

“Please, I am begging you. A Labyrinth is a place where rules matter.”

“Let go! You can sit there all you want!”

Choi Jaeha shook off my hand, which had been pulling at his collar, and pressed himself tightly beside the locked back door.

「Du, ring, the, screen, ing, move, ment, is, pro, hib, it, ed, due, to, the, risk, of, safe, ty, ac, ci, dents.」

“Mr. Choi Jaeha, please do as it says! We do not know what will happen if you do not!”

“I said I do not want to!”

I opened my mouth to persuade that disaster of a man further, but then shut up and listened carefully to the sound that followed.

「For, a, pleasant, mo, vie, view, ing, ex, per, i, ence, please, re, frain, from, talk, ing!, and, turn, off, your, cell, phones…, or, switch, them, to, si, lent, mode.」

A string of common-sense instructions followed, such as prohibiting illegal filming and recording.

「To, min, i, mize, in, con, ve, nience, to, view, ers, exit, ing, is, pro, hib, it, ed, from, 10, minutes, be, fore, the, start, of, the, screen, ing, un, til?, the, end, of, the, screen, ing.」

I switched my phone to silent mode and checked the time.

「Please, en, joy, the, show.」

3:45 p.m.

Did that mean the movie would start ten minutes later, at 3:55?

I took advantage of this moment to try to make Choi Jaeha sit down.

Mr. Choi Jaeha I am sorry that you ended up trapped in here because of me but I hope you understand that I am in the same situation as you as I said earlier a Labyrinth is a space made up of all kinds of rules and the problem is that if we do not follow them the maximum penalty is death but we do not know what those rules are however when it tells us the rules ahead of time like this it is actually on the safe and kind side and besides you survived because you got out of the elevator thanks to me earlier did you not so please trust me just one more time why would I deliberately put you in danger out of some grudge against you and if it is a movie it will probably run for about an hour are you going to keep standing all that time would it not be better to sit and conserve your strength so please just follow the announcement from earlier…….

“F-Fine! Then that is enough, right?”

This annoying accountant who was far too old to be acting like this replied coyly, then sat down at the end of the row behind me.

To my eyes, it looked as though he sat down because he did not want to keep standing.

Well, whatever the reason, as long as I avoided corpse-viewing.

FLASH―!

The screen suddenly brightened.

What was this?

It was not time for the movie to start yet.

「The Taste of Memories! Nectar!」

A noisy video, as if it had been shot on a film camera.

The nightingale-like voice of a beverage can character with arms and legs.

Hiss, the model opened the can, gulped the drink down in one refreshing shot, then let out an admiring “Kyaa.”

……It was an advertisement. The kind that played before a movie started.

If there was one small problem.

First, like a crudely AI-generated video, every form was blurred, blended into the others, and lumped together, giving off an unpleasant and grotesque feeling.

The only thing that could be seen clearly was the beverage can named “Nectar.”

“Uh, that thing?”

“Shh……!”

Second, Nectar was a Labyrinth Relic.

A Relic.

In the broad sense, it meant “every object that exists in a Labyrinth,” but in common usage, it referred to “an object that Raiders brought out of a Contact-type Labyrinth and that causes abnormal phenomena.”

In the case of Nectar, they said its taste changed depending on the person drinking it.

Supposedly, it tasted like what the person missed most.

「The taste of kimchi stew your mother cooked for you while she was alive! (Even that moist meat texture, exactly as it was!)」

The sound of gulps played in the background.

Something that looked like a middle-aged woman, something that looked like a teenage boy, and something red that looked like kimchi stew merged into one.

The scene changed.

「The taste of jjajangmyeon you secretly ordered after climbing over the school wall! (Even that fishy scent, exactly as it was!)」

The sound of gulps played in the background.

Something that looked like students in school uniforms and something black and thin that looked like jjajangmyeon merged into one.

The scene changed.

「The taste of sacred wine from the 13.7910th year, drunk while raising a toast to victory! (Even those hard thorns, exactly as they were!)」

The sound of gulps played in the background.

Something that did not look human and something that looked human merged into one.

The scene changed.

「The taste of nutritious porridge greedily licked up in a basement! (Even that tough skin, exactly as it was!)」

The sound of gulps played in the background.

Something I desperately hoped had not been human and something I desperately hoped had been nutritious porridge merged into one.

The scene changed.

「Drink your memories! Nectar! Whether you are happy or sad, Nectar always gives you the finest experience!」

In other words, it was a kind of drug.

Because it was rare, and because it let people taste flavors from memories they could no longer experience, Nectar traded at extremely high prices.

But in essence, it was a Labyrinth trap.

Outside a Labyrinth, perhaps it would be one thing, but inside a Labyrinth, one must never drink it. Especially if it was Invasive-type.

Because a Labyrinth did all kinds of things to make people wander inside it for longer.

「Remember! Consumption is Providence! Providence is Ingestion! Ingestion is Nectar!」

The cheerful background music grew softer, and the advertisement ended.

FLASH―!

The screen brightened again, and from the edge of the pure white screen, a bipedal bull character with a cute art style appeared.

“Hello, I am Mimi. Uh, over there!”

Whether it was Mimi or Crazy.

Its eyes went round, and it pointed straight ahead with its index finger.

As if pointing at the audience seats beyond the screen.

“Person sitting in Row H, Seat 7!”

No way.

I lowered my gaze and checked my seat number.

“Yes, I mean you. This…… ah, your name is Seon Yuhan?”

What was this, some game of house? The bull-headed thing muttered that and snickered mockingly.

“Still, you do have a fairly adult look. Ugh, but you are a little creepy.”

It made a face as if it had chewed something foul.

Damn Labyrinth.

That was simply a persona of the Labyrinth made in a way humans could understand more easily.

There was no malice in it. It was only a mechanical output.

Even so—no, precisely because of that—I answered with the same expression.

“Anyway, Mr. Seon Yuhan. Do you know the ‘Jaerae Diary’?”

When the mini Minotaur stretched out its hand with a ta-da, an image of a reddish-brown leather notebook with a clean design appeared.

“It is a business diary provided to all executives and employees of Jaerae Group!”

Four logos appeared on the screen.

Hyunjae Sports Agency, Mirae Entertainment, Yuwi Guild, Jaerae Holdings.

“On the second floor of Jaerae Building, at the goods store ‘TRE,’ for one day only! There is a special event where the Jaerae Diary is also being sold to general customers outside the company!”

No, but what was I supposed to do about that?

Why was it advertising this garbage?

There had to be a reason.

I had to treat everything as a clue.

“Oh, and building information for each floor of Jaerae Building is written on the very first page!”

No, what would I need that for?

All I needed to do was find the condition to go down to the first floor, and then I would leave without looking back, so what on earth…….

Ah.

Wait.

For some reason, a chilling premonition flowed down my spine.

No way…….

The horned bull head smiled with its eyes like a salesperson who had successfully earned an incentive.

My heart began to race.

“Then the movie will begin now!”

Without giving me even a moment to organize my thoughts.

CLAP!

All the lights above the stage went out, and the screen brightened again.

I looked behind me.

The projector had been off since earlier.

[Produced/Presented/Distributed by Labyrin Pictures Co., Ltd.]

Even so, the screen was displaying the video perfectly.

[Will Spring Come to Seonghwa High School Too?]

A title in stylish typography.

As soon as I saw it, my blood ran cold.

“Huh? Seonghwa High, hup.”

Choi Jaeha shut his mouth at the look and hand gesture I gave him, begging him to please be quiet.

I turned my gaze back to the screen.

Sweat seeped into the hand gripping the armrest.

「Hey. What is for lunch today?」

「Kimchi duruchigi.」

「Oh! Duruchigi! I should get a lot. What else, what else?」

「Tofu, seasoned seaweed stems, steamed eggs, black soybean rice, and bean sprout soup.」

「Ugh, I hate bean rice.」

Seonghwa High School was the most famous high school in our country.

「Hey, but what is that? What kind of concept freak is that supposed to be?」

「All right, everyone, are you bored of self-study? If you keep talking, we will just move on with the lesson.」

「Ah, teacher, that is not it. There is someone standing outside the door. Wearing a strange mask.」

「Hm? ……Do you need something from this class? But in front of a teacher, you should take something like that off—」

「―Aaaaaaagh!」

As an Invasive Labyrinth that had been resolved only after all two hundred or so students and faculty members died.