Chapter 7

Chapter 7. Why Did You Come to Our Daycare?

A small town where mountain ridges looked closer than tall buildings.

A peaceful scene where the residents went about their ordinary daily lives.

「Who…… are you?」

No, it was only that no one had noticed yet. The peace of that village had already cracked.

「My mom…… I don’t think my mom is my mom. She looks exactly the same and talks exactly the same, but something is…….」

Tense background music played, and the serious faces of the residents appeared in turns.

「Isn’t something strange? People have come into our town…… but no one has left.」

「Why doesn’t anyone think this is strange? An entire town is in this state right now!」

「It seems they’re disrupting contact with the outside……!」

「Snap out of it! That’s not your daughter!」

Then the noisy music quietly faded, and the scene changed.

The screen that had been showing a winter mountain beside the village from afar gradually drew closer, and the crunching sound of footsteps could be heard.

In that mountain valley, there was a place everyone called “Moonwell,” too modest to be a lake and too grand to be called a pond.

「Ha…….」

The back of someone climbing the dark, bare winter mountain path alone came into view. They were dressed too lightly for the weather and location.

The strange hiker’s youthful face flashed between the tree branches, and the screen darkened.

[COMING SOON]

Judging from that caption, it seemed to be a post-credit teaser for a sequel.

CLAP―!

The stage lights came on, and the inside of the main auditorium brightened.

「The, next, mo, vie, will, start, screen, ing, at, 6!, 30, p.m.?」

For some reason, I felt nauseous and could not bring myself to stand up.

「To, min, i, mize, in, con, ve, nience, to, view, ers, please, en, ter, by, 10, minutes, be, fore, the, start, of, the, mo, vie!」

“Let’s get out. Quickly.”

Choi Jaeha hurried over and shook my shoulder.

He had been sniffling behind me again this time, and his eyes and nose were red.

“What are you sitting there spacing out for……! Hurry!”

“Ah, uh, yes…….”

The accountant grabbed me and pulled me up as if he were yanking out a radish.

“Ugh, seriously, how can they call this kind of thing a movie? Even if it’s a Labyrinth……. Those kids died like that. As if I’d ever come here again.”

As I dazedly got up and left the main auditorium, my head remained complicated the entire time.

I was not sure whether I should watch the next movie.

If those two movies, including the film about the Seonghwa High Labyrinth, were hints needed to leave the second floor.

Then that gave me even less reason to watch the next movie.

Because anyway…….

“But what came out in that post-credit scene just now, that was also an Invasive Labyrinth, right? One that happened a really long time ago, almost in the early days. The name was…….”

“Dalumul-ri, Cheongwol-myeon, Muwon-eup.”

“Ah, right. The Dalumul-ri Labyrinth. That village didn’t have a single survivor either, so no one knew what happened there. Did it have something like body snatchers too……? Like the ones at Seonghwa High that pretended to be students and attacked teachers…….”

Choi Jaeha, who had been muttering, suddenly turned his head.

“But Mr. Seon Yuhan, your memory is surprisingly good.”

“It is not that my memory is good. It is that people forget easily.”

At that, the accountant’s mouth twitched as if he wanted to say something, but he simply pouted and stopped.

“Anyway, let’s go to the daycare center. I wonder if the kids here are all right.”

“Indeed.”

6:03 p.m.

After we came out from watching the movie, the sun was starting to set, so the blacked-out corridor was much dimmer than it had been at first.

We passed the daycare center’s outer wall, which had lively accents in colors like yellow, light green, and orange, and stopped in front of the entrance.

[Uri Saenal Daycare Center]

Because of the window film, we could not see beyond the glass door.

Feeling uneasy because I sensed no presence at all inside the daycare center, I opened the door.

“Excuse me. Is anyone here……?”

Tap.

As soon as I opened the door and went in, something struck my foot.

I slowly lowered my gaze.

“Gasp. What the hell are those?”

“Shh. Step back.”

The reason Choi Jaeha freaked out and I grew wary.

Countless toys and dolls had gathered there.

Like soldiers surrounding a castle wall.

A train and its tracks drew a defensive line in the rear.

In front of that, robots and dinosaurs, stuffed animals including bears, magical girls, and all kinds of toys were mixed together to form a battle line.

“The door is locked……?”

I was not even surprised anymore.

The toys, true to being toys, did not move in the slightest, but they looked as if they might be given life and wake up at any moment.

“Oh my!”

Oh my?

I turned my eyes toward the direction of the lively voice.

“Hello!”

There lay a somewhat stupid-looking stuffed goose.

It was the thing my foot had just struck.

“May I ask what brings you here?”

For a moment, I stared blankly at the stuffed goose, which was about as long as my arm.

Those eyes that seemed devoid of intelligence. That beak, strongly stitched and unmoving.

No matter how I looked at it, this friend was not alive.

“Perhaps the two of you are here regarding an admission consultation?”

Even so, the stuffed goose spoke just fine.

“Uh, that is not the case.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and began speaking.

A Labyrinth truly had aspects of a fussy superior who was difficult to please. There was a possibility of danger whether one did this or that.

Some things pounced the moment you answered their questions, as if they had been waiting for it, while others flew into a rage because you did not answer.

If this had been a Contact-type Labyrinth, there would have been at least some strategy information accumulated, but in an Invasive Labyrinth like this, everything was a first, so there was no way to know the pattern.

“Ah, I see.”

It seemed this was not the kind of development where it said, “Then why did you come? Die!”

I quietly sighed at the goose’s reaction.

“Then are you perhaps guardians of our children?”

“Uh, no.”

“Ah, I see. As expected.”

Phew. This time too, it was not the “Then why did you come? Die!” development.

“You are both people I have never seen before, and none of our parents informed us that another guardian would be stopping by in their place.”

Wow. If I had lied, I would have died.

“But you are employees of Yuwi Guild, correct?”

“Mm. That is not the case either…….”

I trailed off without confidence.

Choi Jaeha was someone from a completely different company.

But I was technically an applicant who wanted to become a Yuwi Guild employee.

“Ah, I see. Mm.”

Instead of suddenly turning on us and saying, “Then why did you come? Die!” the stuffed goose fell silent.

Of course, its mouth had been closed from the beginning.

For several seconds, only Choi Jaeha’s breathing could be heard in the daycare center entrance.

During that time, my gaze was fixed on the daycare center’s shoe rack.

Foot-shaped stickers were attached to every place where shoes were supposed to be placed.

I could read the names written on the stickers.

Because there were no shoes placed on top of those stickers. They were empty.

Except for just two spaces.

One pair of sneakers that seemed to belong to a teacher, and one pair of sneakers that seemed to belong to a child.

I did not know why there were only exactly two pairs of shoes, but maybe they had disappeared like the interviewer.

Still, I could guess that at least two people were here.

One child and one adult.

“So.”

The stuffed goose’s gentle voice broke the silence.

“Adult men from outside, who are neither Yuwi Guild employees nor guardians of children enrolled in Uri Saenal Daycare Center.”

Its limp white neck slowly moved, and its black eyes looked at us like periods at the end of a sentence.

“Why did you crawl into a daycare center and start snooping around?”

The cute toy soldiers standing guard behind it finally twitched and woke like creations that had received the kiss of God.

“Uri Saenal Daycare Center prohibits entry by outsiders.”

So it was the “Then why did you come? Die!” development after all.

Damn it.

1. Do Not Enter the Daycare Center as an Outsider.

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

“I need to find an employee…….”

“Pardon?”

I shook my head, shaking off the illusion that my whole body had been bitten all over.

“Mr. Interviewer, this building has become a Labyrinth now. Around 3:33, communications will be cut off, and there will be a total blackout. Yes, I am serious.”

When going down the stairs, do this. If someone asks you for the time, do that. If you enter the main auditorium, do this. Through the Raiders, post on social media, and so on…….

Lastly, I added information about the daycare center too.

Since the interviewer would go to the daycare center, it was especially important.

I was not certain what would happen after they disappeared, but just in case.

“The dolls there…… seem to care a great deal about security.”

Thanks to them, I had been bitten all over, beaten with a magic wand, had my eyeball stabbed by a robot arm, and in any case, all sorts of things had happened.

Still, a princess holding scissors had landed a fatal hit on my artery, so I died quickly.

“Since you are an employee, Mr. Interviewer, I think you might be all right, but…….”

It felt a little unfair to die just because I was an outsider.

But honestly, if this had happened outside the Labyrinth, I would have had nothing to say even if I had been kicked out, so it was a fairly understandable rule.

“Understood. Be careful, Mr. Seon Yuhan. I will see you outside later.”

“Yes. Please be careful.”

After sending the interviewer to the stairs, I headed for the elevator.

5… 4… 3… DING!

「The doors are opening.」

As soon as the doors opened and I came face-to-face with the accountant, I widened my eyes.

“Huh? Mr. Choi Jaeha?”

Having learned from what happened last time, I pretended to be surprised that we had run into each other by chance.

“What perfect timing! How did we meet here like this……. I actually have something to tell you. Could you step out for just a moment? It will really only take a moment.”

“Pardon? No, what is this?”

The office worker, who could not simply ignore someone acknowledging him inside a company building, helplessly fell for my ploy.

“Excuse me, but I have a meeting with a client right now, so I need to go. What is this about……?”

The blackout would begin at 3:33.

I decided to stall until then. It would only be a moment.

“It is just, uh……. Do you perhaps have any interest in rock festivals?”

“Mm? All of a sudden? Why? No, but I cannot remember where I have met you, so what is your name?”

“Ah, I should have introduced myself first.”

I politely placed a hand on my chest and put on a natural interview smile.

“My name is Seon Yuhan. I am an applicant who came here today for an interview at Yuwi Guild, and this is our first time meeting.”

“What?”

Choi Jaeha stopped like a broken clock.

But this clever accountant soon finished repairing himself and produced the correct response.

“What the hell is this crazy bast—”

BOOM!

“Agh!”

RUMBLE, CRAAASH, BANG!

“What is it?! What the hell is it?!”

CRASH, THUD!

“An earthquake!”

The certified public accountant of Howol Accounting Firm fully enjoyed the honor of front-row viewing at a rock festival that was not in his destiny.

“It is not. The elevators fell.”

A fall is a rock too.

***

“So what are you going to do?”

The accountant, who had accepted that this place was a Labyrinth and that we could not go directly down to the first floor, asked sullenly.

This person had naturally started speaking casually from the moment he looked at me like I was a lunatic.

“I intend to start with the goods store and make one full loop around this way, then come back here.”

The goods store, the library, the daycare center, then back in front of the main auditorium.

I decided to explore the second floor by circling it in the opposite direction from last time.

“We do not know where there might be a clue that will let us leave the second floor, so I plan to stop by each place once.”

There would probably be employees in the goods store and the company library.

Whether those people would also count as employees was something we would only know after we went there.

At minimum, would they not be less of an outsider than me?

“And also…….”

There was something I might have to buy.

I could not quite bring myself to say that much, so I closed my mouth.

‘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!’

The Jaerae Diary advertisement that had played right before the movie screening in the main auditorium.

A Labyrinth was made up of rules, and every rule had a reason.

Although there was no guarantee that reason would always fall within the range of human understanding.

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

Still, this case was on the obvious side.

In that sense, this Labyrinth was on the kind side.

So, if I, who had assumed the Labyrinth’s exit would appear if we went from the second floor down to the first, needed “floor information.”

Then the answer was one of two things.

Number one. There was no Labyrinth exit on the first floor.

Number two. The floor beneath the second floor was not the first floor.