Chapter 166

Chapter 166.

"Above all, it's difficult to define a relationship where only one side remembers as 'friendship.'"

The General Manager caught the cat leaping into his arms with practiced ease.

"'Old bond' might be more accurate."

"Affection? Attachment? Loss?"

"I don't feel anything that specific."

This was likely in large part due to his current state as 'General Manager Mode.'

"That's fortunate."

He couldn't imagine how startled he would have been had he encountered Cha Do-hyeon in his former state. He might have felt the attachment and loss Coco suggested. Or perhaps,

"......"

Hard to say.

"He was one of my closest friends."

"No."

"Right now, that would be you, Coco. My partner."

"Heehee!"

Coco purred and flopped belly-up, nestling fully against the General Manager's abdomen.

Its front paw waved lazily, so he caught it. Having readjusted to this soft, squishy texture, this kind of intimate contact was no longer terribly difficult.

"That man, however...."

The General Manager looked at Do-hyeon on the monitor.

"Is one of the very few humans who ever made me throw punches."

"Threw punches."

"And perhaps the only one the bond didn't break with after that."

"Hello?"

"I hit him more."

Having said that, the General Manager tilted his head.

"Is there residual emotion?"

How absurd to fixate on something with no substance or value.

"There is such a thing as emotion rooted in memory, so it isn't strange. In 'General Manager Mode,' the emotional dysfunction simply becomes more pronounced--it doesn't mean I feel nothing at all."

External emotions were poorly understood, and absorbed stimuli did not accumulate.

'By that measure, the function is indeed degraded.'

"No?"

"Thank you for the encouragement."

The polar opposite of 'Yeon-woo Mode,' where external emotions were acutely felt and absorbed stimuli accumulated as-is. He wasn't sure which was the higher-performance mode.

But personally, the current state was convenient in many ways.

"While this equilibrium holds, let me add one more surprising detail."

The General Manager watched Do-hyeon on the monitor, curiously petting the white owl.

"The Cha Do-hyeon I knew was not an actor."

"Yes."

"He was a kendo dojo master."

"Yes."

"And above all, I was the one who received that man's funeral urn."

"Yes."

At that answer, the General Manager looked down at Coco.

"Is this also a consequence of 'Lee Yeon-woo' disappearing?"

"Yes."

"I see."

He didn't particularly feel regret.

"So this is why I can never reclaim my forty-five years."

In a world where 'Lee Yeon-woo' had vanished, 'Cha Do-hyeon' had apparently not died. And so the General Manager intuited that he would never return to his original life.

"Hello?"

"No."

That part he did regret.

"I'm unsure how to handle Mr. Cha Do-hyeon."

***

"I'm unsure how to handle this labyrinth."

Do-hyeon, having released the owl, continued.

"How about we start by sharing whatever information each side has?"

"Information."

"You couldn't have been sitting idle all this time."

"True enough."

Seung-jae nodded.

"From what I hear, you've come to help us get out. Our method is straightforward--bring back four items the General Manager requested, and we can leave."

"Tch."

Do-hyeon scratched his chin.

"Your owl looks like staff here but seems to be on your side. Hasn't it been showing you the way? Why haven't you found everything yet?"

At that, Do-heon clutched the returned owl tightly and said.

"When did you get a good look at our owl to just--"

"My, that's a funny thing to say. How is it 'your' owl? It's obviously staff here."

"You can just see that?"

"I happen to be a labyrinth-specialized talent~"

With a crooked smile, Do-hyeon shrugged.

"A completed theater like a labyrinth is my home turf."

"Then why doesn't the homeowner let us out?"

"Let me rephrase."

"I'm listening."

"More like a friend's home turf."

Do-hyeon continued.

"Think of it as borrowing someone else's set."

"What does that even mean?"

"Since filming's already underway, I'm just finding a spot to stretch out. I can't call the shots, but I can at least sneak a peek at the script."

Gyeong-yeon asked.

"...? Then you don't need me?"

"Oh no, our writer is so innocent."

"Hearing that from an actor feels deeply insulting."

"To get those people out safely, we'll need a revised script, not the original. Right?"

Do-hyeon added.

"There's already a finished script and filming's in progress--you can't just kidnap the actors."

Seon-hae's eyes went round.

"Wait, are you saying this is an actor turf war between film crews?"

"More precisely, it's a writer-versus-writer fight, Director. We need a new script that can subtly warp this stage using the same set and same cast."

Do-hyeon looked back at Do-heon, who clearly wasn't following.

"So my second question: why hasn't the owl been guiding you all this time? From when I examined it earlier, it seems to roughly know where things are. You need the second item next, right?"

"Are all Artists this... perceptive?"

"Pretty much."

He didn't bother denying it.

"So?"

"You're not trying to turn us against each other?"

"Trust my purely curious heart."

"It's just been like this all day today."

Do-heon held the owl with almost no strength in his hands, and Seung-jae picked up the thread.

"It was eager up until we found the first item, but when we said 'let's rest and try again today,' it just blinked and went completely unresponsive. Didn't seem broken, so I figured orders came from above."

At 'orders from above,' Seon-hae and Gyeong-yeon's expressions turned very peculiar.

"......"
"......"

"Goodness, why those faces?"

"N-no, please continue."

"Yes, please go on."

"Alright?"

Seung-jae shrugged.

"Then it suddenly perked up and flew to the lobby. Probably meant to lead us to you. I don't know the exact intent behind it...."

He lowered the gun he'd been propping on his chin and waved it.

"I thought it got punished for helping us too much."

"I don't see signs of that."

"Oh, really?"

"Adding it all up, including leading them to us...."

Do-hyeon stroked his chin and rolled his eyes.

"Maybe it was saying 'if you keep going like this, you'll die'?"

Seon-hae asked.

"So what, we're alive because we're here?"

"Of course--we're pretty decent survival consultants~ This team comp is quite good."

Do-hyeon summarized.

"I read this labyrinth's script and stage info, Director Seon-hae identifies viable escape routes, and our Ms. Hong writes the survival script based on that."

"And then those people act out the survival script?"

"Honestly, I'm not expecting that much."

At that blunt remark, Do-heon got riled.

"Don't be like that when you haven't even let us try. You haven't given us anything yet."

"That's a separate issue. You've been tangled in the existing script for a long time now, so catching a new wind at this point won't be easy."

Do-hyeon smiled coldly, arrogantly.

"And I'll help with that part."

"How exactly...."

"It's the senior actors' job to guide the clueless ones, after all."

He rolled his eyes playfully.

"But to do that, we'll need to get on the set owner's good side."

"You mean the General Manager?"

At Do-heon's prickly question, Do-hyeon snapped his fingers to draw attention.

"Right, that fox-like fellow. I came to rescue you, but to twist the script I need to understand what the stage owner is like. You've all had experiences."

"Experiences?"

"I know him the least among everyone here. Tell me everything you know about the General Manager, or the entity called Lee Yeon-woo. I need to know the homeowner's temperament to find my spot."

"Hmm...."

A strange silence settled over the Room 1209 living room. Seon-hae broke it first.

"What Gyeong-yeon and I know is more about the 'Lee Yeon-woo' side, but if I may add."

"Add what?"

"He needs a psychiatrist."

"Huh?"

"I've been planning it."

"......"

"For a while now."

Do-hyeon scratched the corner of his eye and asked again.

"Huh?"

"I'd say he's the kindest kind of insane person I've ever met in my life."

"Is 'kind' even right? Why does it sound like there's so much resentment?"

"Mr. Yeon-woo really can't keep living like that."

"Who says that to a Dokkaebi, Director Seon-hae?"

Do-hyeon's expression soured considerably. Seon-hae ignored it.

"Whether you can even call him kind is debatable, because aside from being suppressed by this hotel, the man is so proactively unorthodox in his methods...."

"Regardless of method or result, the direction itself is altruistic."

Gyeong-yeon nodded.

"Fundamentally, he prioritized others' safety. I only know as much as a civilian, but from a civilian's perspective, he was a General Manager who put guests' safety first."

After a slight hesitation, she added.

"He was a victim."

"A victim?"

Seung-jae stroked his chin and grinned.

"I knew the Manager was tangled up in all sorts of ways, but there's more interesting stories than I imagined~ Altruistic, a victim."

After a beat, the rest followed.

"A psychiatrist?"

"I think everyone here should visit one at least once."

"Oh, what a wonderful opinion, thank you~"

Seung-jae shrugged and asked.

"If you two are saying that much, then it's what I'm thinking, right?"

"Your thinking would be correct, Master Nakdo."

Do-hyeon nodded in agreement.

"He's a victim of The Foundation."

***

"They say people get talkative with age, but I didn't expect it to include this much nonsense."

"Unsightly?"

"For the sake of a friendship only I remember, I'll refrain from answering."

The General Manager sipped his coffee.

***

After a long while.

"......"
"......"

"...So basically...."

Right after the lengthy information exchange, Gyeong-yeon and Do-heon wore exhausted expressions.

"There was a cult villain group called The Foundation, with a mad scientist called 'the Devil' and a test subject called 'Lee Yeon-woo.' This place is a labyrinth created as The Foundation's last-ditch gambit, and the 'General Manager' is a composite life-form created by their project?"

At Gyeong-yeon's summary, Do-heon went pale.

"What is that... that's terrifying...."

"Same...."

"And the words are way too complicated."

Seung-jae laughed at Do-heon's complaint.

"So it's Jekyll and Hyde--like split personalities of good and evil."

"In this case it's more like a good-leaning human and an evil-leaning human fused together, but since they're sharing one body now, the result is similar."

Do-hyeon shook his head in disgust and empathized.

"God, how revolting~ The Foundation, what scary people."

"Not many in The Gaps don't know about them."

"This goes way beyond hidden remnants. If people knew a big fish like this survived, any self-respecting vigilante corps would flip."

Do-heon, hearing yet another unknown term, blinked.

"Vigilante corps...?"

"Unofficial hero groups, basically. Drunk on playing savior."

"Why so cynical?"

"They call themselves heroes, but most are zealots high on their own convictions."

With a friendly explanation and a narrowed smile, Do-hyeon said.

"If those people found out, they'd try to take 'Yeon-woo's' head first, no questions asked. They'd exploit whatever gap that poor kid is holding open and try to kill him by any means. You get the picture?"

"...Uh...."

"I doubt just taking his head would kill something like him, but simply put, these are people who value the many over the few. Every single Gaps faction in vigilante form."

His gaze reached Hyeon Si-gyeong, who was still staring into the void.

"That friend, Number 12 too."

And so 'the Hanged Man's' gaze also met Do-hyeon's.

"......"
"......"

Once again, heavy silence descended on the Room 1209 living room.

***

"......"

"Director."

"Yes."

The Director of the Sensitivity Bureau didn't even look at her secretary as she asked.

"Have they found the labyrinth?"

"An entry point was discovered near the 'Fox Den' in Gapyeong."

"Anything notable?"

"You've received an invitation."

A black, red letter.

"Well, well."

A sneer bloomed on the wrinkled face.