Chapter 9

Chapter 9. Installments

“Kh, khh…….”

The force gripping the back of my neck was so brutal that I could not move even one step forward.

“Kgh…….”

It felt as if some kind of grabber truck was strangling my neck.

Even if I struggled, all I could do was flail my hands and feet in the air.

The self-defense I had learned long ago was utterly useless. It only worked on the premise that the target was a ‘person.’

Strength gradually drained out of my body.

I hate this.

I can’t die.

“Ugh! Khh…….”

Around the time I felt as if I was definitely about to suffocate to death, I was thrown hard onto the floor.

I felt someone raise my body and tie me to a pillar.

“Let……. sob……. go…….”

I was short of breath. My head was dizzy. My body had no strength. My eyes would not focus properly.

I had to get up.

I had to get up and run away.

“Ugh, ah…….”

Panting harshly, I barely lifted my head and confirmed the identity of my would-be strangler.

“Ha……! Seriously…….”

It was a mannequin.

A mannequin dressed in apparel goods.

The faceless mannequin, like an egg ghost, looked down at me.

It would have been one thing if we had been standing face-to-face, but as I sat collapsed and looked up, I felt a chilling pressure.

BANG, BANG!

I turned my gaze toward the store entrance.

Through the small window in the door, I could see the accountant wearing an urgent expression.

The soundproofing must have been excellent, because I could not hear his voice.

‘The door’s locked!’

Judging from the shape of his mouth, that seemed to be what he was saying.

“Go. Please go.”

I did not know what would happen, so I weakly waved my hand.

Standing still outside the door like that was probably not very safe either.

「There’s something yo cannot lose」

The mannequin moved with creaks and groans, ignoring me, then stood in front of the LE screen.

「Even if yo want to」

Crack.

Then it lifted both arms and plucked off its own head.

Thud.

I stared for a moment at the faceless head that had fallen so anticlimactically, then looked back at the mannequin’s back.

And immediately afterward, I lost my senses while trying to interpret the visual information that entered my eyes.

What is that?

「Yo know I’m the one」

The headless mannequin stretched out both hands and brought the golden scale out of the LE screen.

Literally, it pulled a balance scale with physical mass out of the digital screen, then floated it above its own neck.

It was a sight more natural than computer graphics made by grinding up astronomical capital and manpower.

Before I could even marvel at it, a new emoji appeared on the blank white screen.

A knife.

It was a kitchen knife emoji.

「The only one」

Thump, thump. The beat of the song sounded like the footsteps of the grim reaper.

The mannequin, now armed with a glittering new head and a sharp weapon, turned its body toward me.

「Who sees yo jst the way yo are」

For a moment, I had the illusion that our eyes had met.

The dishes of the golden scale looked exquisitely like a person’s two eyes.

Scales and a knife.

For some reason, the combination made me think of the goddess of justice.

“Nice to meet you, customer Seon Yuhannn?”

However, the guardian deity of this goods store was wearing black techwear instead of a white himation.

“Thank you for purcha……sing a product from Tarae, customer. You paid with a three-month interest-free installment plan, yes?”

That mechanical voice, dragging and cutting off in that strange rhythm, still flowed from the LE screen.

The mannequin’s golden-scale head merely swayed softly like a wind chime hanging from the edge of an eave.

“Judging from customer Seon Yuhan’s current financial situaaation, it has been confirmed that you can sufficiently pay the first installmeeent?”

Because it was saying something obvious, it was even more frightening.

“Howeeever?”

I knew it.

Korean was a language one had to hear through to the end.

But I did not want to hear it at all.

“χρήματα money पैसे money Деньги 金 пари…… It is something like life itself, something that exists and then does not?”

No way.

Surely not.

“Your repayment ability for the second and third installmeeents is in doubt?”

“Hey! I have that much money! I can pay for it all right now without installments!”

In the end, I could not hold back and shouted.

Of course, if I paid in one lump sum, for at least a month I would have to season plain rice with tears and salt.

“Yes, but customer, you paid with a three-month interest-free installllllllllment plan?”

“What do you want me to do about it?!”

Thinking about it, I felt wronged.

Had it contributed anything?

“Using a credit card is essentially debt taken on under the belief that your future self can pay the price…… yes?”

“That’s! Mm.”

It was right.

“Howeeever, by what means should I trust you, customer? I am meeting customer Seon Yuhan for the first first first first time todaaaay?”

“No, what kind of dogshit is that? Do you think the card company employees issued me a card because they’re all my friends?”

“If you leave this place, customer, how am I supposed to receive the remaining payment? Am I running this business by digging money from the ground?”

“I’m asking what kind of irritating dogshit this is!”

The scale-head did not listen to a word I said.

“I have decided to receive payment for the second and third installments in advance. Thank you for your understaaaanding?”

“Do you not know what installments are? Do you not know what the word installment means? Hey!”

The two dishes of the faintly glowing golden scale slowly moved up and down like a seesaw as it came closer, one step at a time.

“Installment repayment will now begin?”

「I’m on my way to yo」

At last, the song ended.

***

“Ugh, huu…….”

How much time had passed?

“Khh! Cough…….”

A cough burst out of me.

The unpleasant taste of fishy iron lingered and slid down the back of my throat.

“Urk, kgh, ugh…….”

I could not form a proper sentence.

It was not only because my voice was hoarse from screaming too much.

Bleeding this much should have killed me.

No, before the excessive bleeding, I should have died from shock.

“I am sorry, customer, but until repaymeeent is compleeeete, customer, you cannot die?”

The rules of this damned Labyrinth were preventing my body from dying.

Long live the Labyrinth.

“There is not muuuch left, so please wait a moment?”

The blood-colored scale looked down at me.

Now I knew that my body was not a single unified whole, but the sum of countless parts.

Now I understood the formula that measured my body weight through addition and subtraction.

Eyeballs were too light.

Because they were too light, they were not worth placing on the scale.

So I watched all of it. With both eyes.

If I deceived myself into thinking I was an observer, the pain lessened.

If I believed this body, slowly falling away piece by piece and growing lighter, was ‘something’ separate from ‘me.’

If I broke free from the illusion that I was me.

This pain was an illusion.

I was not Seon Yuhan.

I had died long ago.

“This is the laaaaaast?”

I did not really understand what it was saying.

Only the unfamiliar sensation of my chest being split open like raw meat by a well-honed blade dominated my mind.

“Installment repayment is complete?”

Only then did the world turn dark.

1. Do Not Pay in Installments.

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

“Fu.”

I almost said “fuck” again.

“I will refrain from using credit cards…….”

“That is a realistic answer I have not heard in a while.”

I could not reply anymore and lowered my head.

This kind of attitude was not good in an interview.

It felt as if I was suffocating.

It felt as if I would die with my tongue hanging out at any moment.

I would die. I’m going to die.

No.

I won’t die. I can’t die.

I don’t want to die.

A transition between death and life with no blank space.

The boundary between life and death flipping over like a coin.

Phantom pain with no substance, lingering thickly.

The gap between the death-cry pain remaining in my memories and my vividly living body.

All of it.

I could feel it gnawing away at me little by little.

Why am I alive again?

Why am I the only one alive again?

I don’t want to live.

No. No.

1. I. Seon Yuhan. Must not die.

“Hah, ugh…….”

What did I do at times like this? What did those people do?

Right.

Take a deep breath in. Let it out.

Clench my fists tightly. Open them again.

One, two, three, four…….

Strange.

Why do I have so many fingers?

Disgusting.

“Mr. Seon Yuhan? Are you all right?”

The interviewer’s urgent voice woke my muffled ears.

“Could you try breathing slowly with me?”

Warmth reached me through my fingertips.

I stared blankly at the interviewer breathing deeply, then belatedly followed and breathed.

Only the sound of our breathing echoed in the quiet interview room.

“Water…… you have already finished it. It is all right. Do not worry. You are in a safe place, Mr. Seon Yuhan.”

No, Mr. Interviewer. It is not all right. This place is dangerous.

“I will stay here with you until you calm down, Mr. Seon Yuhan.”

No, Mr. Interviewer. You will not be able to stay with me.

“There is a hospital right on the fourth floor. There is also a break room. I will take you there.”

No, Mr. Interviewer. You will not be able to take me there.

“Is there anything you need? Are you feeling too cold or hot right n.”

See?

3:33 p.m.

The interviewer disappeared.

BOOM!

RUMBLE, CRAAASH, BANG!

CRASH, THUD!

Choi Jaeha died.

***

As I sat blankly in the chair, I suddenly noticed a foreign sensation inside the inner pocket of my jacket.

“Ha.”

The touch of reddish-brown leather brushed my fingertips.

My stomach churned.

That fucking damned diary.

It had been delivered very well.

As advertised, the front of the Jaerae Diary had floor information for Jaerae Building written in it.

From the parking lot to the rooftop, which department was on which floor, which company was on which floor, and so on, but only at the level of visitor guidance.

Damn it.

With this alone, I could not tell exactly where the Labyrinth’s exit was. I could not even tell whether it was on the first floor or not.

Tap. I closed the diary and put it back in my pocket.

In the end, unless I went farther down from the second floor, I would not get an answer.

[3:54｜SOS｜86%]

I checked the time and got up from my seat.

Mm. But my legs were heavier than I expected.

No, since they moved well, should I say they were light?

I did not know.

In any case, if I dawdled here any longer, it was obvious that I would be forcibly removed from the interview room again, so I hurried along.

Without realizing it, I started heading toward the elevator, then changed direction.

Choi Jaeha was already dead.

Still, that man, that cowardly man, had seemed to stay outside the door and worry about me instead of running away anywhere.

Though from the middle onward, I did not remember clearly what happened.

But that did not mean I wanted to start over again for Choi Jaeha’s sake.

Well, even if I tried, I might end up dying for another absurd reason and return soon anyway.

Still, as far as I could. As far as I could go. As long as I could live.

I wanted to struggle.

I did not want to throw away my own life.

Because it felt like an insult to life.

Even daring to imagine it.

I.

At least I.

Must not do that.

***

Without delay, I opened the second-floor emergency door and came out.

Since Choi Jaeha was not with me, I saved myself the trouble of going all the way down to the first floor.

Standing in front of the main auditorium, I chose the left path between the two forks, left and right.

This time, I decided to go clockwise again, passing in front of Uri Saenal Daycare Center and heading to Yuwi Guild’s company library.

I did not want to go near a store that charged in the style of The Merchant of Venice for a while.

There was no clerk anyway, so I could not take anyone from there to Uri Saenal Daycare Center.

Labyrinth Survival Kits?

What would I do with something like that?

If I actually used one, it would definitely be filthy expensive and cheap in quality.

It would probably get caught on something and tear apart with a rip.

Forget it. I did not need one.

After I passed through the colorful daycare corridor, walls with a clean and calm color came into view.

There were wide picture windows here and there, so the inside was clearly visible, but perhaps because the view was blocked by bookshelves, nothing special immediately stood out.

Of course, I could not simply trust what I saw.

A Labyrinth was originally a place one could not know until one stepped inside.

[Book Bang Ollae]

Seeing that the character “come” was written alongside it, the name seemed to have been made using a bureaucratic-style pun.

Wait.

I reached for the door handle, then flinched and stopped.

Come to think of it, were outsiders allowed in this library?

What if some robot librarian appeared and said, ‘Outsiders are forbidden from using the library!’ then smashed the crown of my head with a book spine?

“Ha…….”

But I could not simply avoid going in.

There might be a clue here about the condition needed to escape the second floor, and there might also be an employee who could enter the daycare center.

Ah, I do not know.

For now, I had no choice but to go in.

Slide.

As soon as I quietly opened the door, the library’s distinctive cool yet strangely sweet smell brushed the tip of my nose.

I looked around and slowly took a step.

And before I had taken more than a few steps, I stopped.

“There was a corpse there.”

What?