How to Die in a Company That Turned Into a Labyrinth

Clank, rumble.

Along with the familiar sound of the subway, a scene entered my field of vision that was also familiar, though only to a certain extent.

I had even taken the subway today to come to the interview.

But the passengers traveling with me then had not been made up of those masses of black letters.

“What the hell?! What are these things?! What is this place?! And how did those mannequins follow us here?!”

“Aaah! What is this…? Hey! Mr. Choi Jaeha?”

“Kyaaa! A-A monster!”

Ah.

I immediately knew where Choi Jaeha, Hwang Juyeon, and Lee Nahyun, the MD from Moment O’Clock who had accidentally dragged all of us here, were.

Then the fact that I couldn’t cut my finger with the paper and failed to avoid bad luck wasn’t the cause.

After all, the people who had successfully avoided that unfortunate event were also here.

『What’s going on…?』

『Why are they acting like that…?』

“Please calm down and gather over here.”

I pushed through the murmur of floating phrases, gathered everyone, and led them toward the priority seating area, where there were fewer people.

It wasn’t difficult to find people made of flesh and blood among those humans formed from broken letters.

“You’re Mr. Seon Yuhan, right? What is this place, seriously…? Why does everyone have black bodies made of strange cockroach-like letters…? I can’t even properly see your face or Miss Hwang’s.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Mr. Seon Yuhan, are these the mannequins we saw earlier? They’re imitating us and… it’s creepy.”

However, there was something strange.

I knew these people had normal faces, but I was unable to remember what they looked like.

I could clearly see their eyes, nose, and mouth.

But my brain couldn’t connect all those parts into a single face.

It was as if each feature had an information value of one, but together added up to zero.

Simply put.

I couldn’t recognize them.

I was looking directly at them, yet I didn’t know who they were.

And if they turned around, I probably wouldn’t be able to remember their faces either.

“And you must be Lee Nahyun, right? I think I saw your name earlier. I’m Seon Yuhan.”

“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you… When did you even find time to see that…?”

“Huff, this feels so strange. It’s like not knowing who someone is while also knowing who they are.”

Yet, oddly enough, I could still tell who was who.

I couldn’t recognize their faces, but it was as if each person carried an invisible nameplate.

“Anyway, um… Lee Nahyun? Was that it? It seems you did something, and that’s why we all ended up here, so maybe you could explain…”

Just as Choi Jaeha was about to ask Lee Nahyun something.

Bang.

Rattle.

The door to the next train car opened.

“So everyone was here. I was wondering where all the noise was coming from.”

“Ah, Director. Oh… Jiho. You’ve grown a little… Even so, I’m glad I found you right away.”

The child I identified as Jung Jiho now appeared to be the age of an upper elementary school student.

Even for a seven-year-old, this must have been too confusing, because he couldn’t stay still.

“It seems we’ve all ended up inside someone else’s body. Though it looks like we’ve been assigned bodies relatively similar to our own. By the way, you are…”

“Ah, I… my name is Lee Nahyun.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Yoo Hyunjae.”

“What…? T-The Director Yoo Hyunjae?”

“Yes. It seems you know something about this situation.”

His calm and somewhat detached tone had a strange ability to steer others wherever he wanted.

His voice was completely different from the original.

And yet, it was unmistakably Yoo Hyunjae.

“Well… I was reading an article about an incident where a lot of people died from some kind of toxic gas inside a subway train. Then I accidentally pressed a button. I got startled when all of you suddenly came in…”

“In a labyrinth, it’s always better to be careful. A single mistake can cost you your life.”

A beautiful scene of mutual responsibility transfer.

“But I didn’t mean to do it either! I was trying not to touch anything and just hold out…”

“I see. But labyrinths usually aren’t kind to people who stand still without making progress. You’re lucky nothing happened before we arrived.”

I didn’t feel like taking either side.

But I also couldn’t underestimate a CEO’s ability to control a conversation.

“Then what exactly did the article say?”

Hwang Juyeon stepped in at the perfect moment to change the subject.

“Ah… I didn’t have time to read it in detail. It was something about toxic gas or something. It said most of the passengers had died. Did something like that really happen?”

“No.”

Yoo Hyunjae pointed at the passengers with his chin.

“At least not that I know of. And even if something similar did happen, the labyrinth probably altered it. Look at what those passengers are carrying.”

“Huh?”

Only then did I carefully observe the passengers.

It looked as if someone had looted a museum of mobile phone history.

Some were holding flip phones.

Others had smartphones.

Some were reading paper newspapers.

Others were reading books.

“Can you identify the era?”

I had suspected that the articles saved as drafts described events that might happen someday in the future.

But it seemed the labyrinth was incapable of displaying exact dates.

Though, thinking about it, that made sense.

The future is something that can change.

“That’s why it doesn’t matter much whether these events are real or not. In a labyrinth, something else is important.”

Yoo Hyunjae concluded.

“What matters is whether we can get out or not.”

After saying that, he remained motionless for a few moments.

He seemed to be looking at something.

Not something that was here.

But something that was no longer there.

“Director?”

“Ah. Sorry.”

Yoo Hyunjae shook his head as if waking from a dream.

“It’s been a very long time since I last rode a subway.”

Sometimes he manages to irritate me in very specific ways.

「Dear passengers, we would like to make a brief announcement.」

At that moment, an announcement sounded through the speakers.

「Our train is temporarily reducing its speed to maintain a safe distance from the train ahead. We appreciate your understanding.」

Clank. Rumble.

The train’s speed decreased slightly.

“Anyway, this is that train, right?”

“Yes… it certainly looks like it. Then do we just need to get off at the next station?”

Now fully accustomed to labyrinths, Hwang Juyeon and Choi Jaeha asked the question with resignation.

“Mmm… Miss Lee Nahyun. I think I remember seeing a message earlier that said an edit would begin. Is that correct?”

I recalled the pop-up window that had appeared just before entering the article.

‘This article is currently being published by Kim Youngho. An edit will begin under another name. Seon Yuhan, Yoo Hyunjae, Lee Nahyun, Jung Jiho, Choi Jaeha, and Hwang Juyeon.’

“Publish” was what I had pressed the previous time when I read the article about the murdered family and had to choose between “Edit” and “Publish.”

And as soon as I became Young A, I only killed Mr. C and left the house with Young B, and I failed.

According to my theory, “Publish” means making the events of the article occur exactly as written.

While “Edit” means the opposite preventing those events from happening.

“Uh… Yes? I guess so. There were edit and publish options. The cursor was probably on the edit button. But… is that important?”

This Lee Nahyun.

She’s exactly the kind of person who would end up dying absurdly in a labyrinth.

Even worse than Choi Jaeha.

“Then I think our objective must be to prevent the incident described in the article from happening. If nothing had to be changed, there would be no reason for the ‘Edit’ option to exist.”

“Ah. Then we have to stop the gas attack in the subway?”

The leader of the Jaerae Group showed interest.

“Yes. I think we should use the emergency intercom, shout that there’s a fire, and open the doors.”

“Mmm.”

“What is it?”

“No, nothing. Don’t worry. It would be nice if it were that simple.”

Yoo Hyunjae waved his hand.

「Dear passengers, we would like to make a brief announcement. Our train will temporarily stop to maintain a safe distance from the train ahead. Thank you for your understanding.」

Rumble.

The train stopped.

As if it were a starting signal.

“Then let’s give it a try.”

***

「…Please remain calm and follow the instructions…」

Before we could even make our way through all the cars shouting “Fire!”, an announcement began playing and the doors started opening.

『Get up! They said there’s a fire!』

『Aaah! Don’t push!』

『Hey! Move out slowly!』

The sight of those masses of black letters, like a colony of ants, throwing themselves over one another to escape felt strangely unreal.

Since there wasn’t actually a fire, I decided to stay out of the way and wait quietly so I wouldn’t get swept up in the crowd.

That was when—

『Excuse me.』

Someone grabbed my arm.

And at that instant.

As if a digital distortion effect had occurred, my vision filled with static and the entire scene changed.

Only for a moment.

Like a hallucination.

“……”

A subway car so silent it could make you deaf.

The subway hand straps looked like nooses.

And from every one of them hung a hanged person.

Faceless corpses swaying to the rhythm of the rattling train.

『What company do you work for?』

The voice addressed me again.

I shook my head to clear away the lingering image.

“Excuse me?”

I gently removed my arm from his grip and looked at the person.

Judging by the short hair and body build, he was probably a man.

At first I thought he might be a student because of his small stature and slender frame.

But he wasn’t wearing a school uniform.

『I asked where you work.』

It was a completely unexpected question.

Is this how future cult members start a conversation?

“Why do you ask?”

『Because I’ve been watching you and some of your companions for quite a while now.』

The fragmented letters, twisting like insects, lifted their gaze toward me as they drew closer.

『And I was wondering exactly who you people are to be spreading lies like that.』

Ah.

He must have been one of the passengers who had been riding in the same car as us from the beginning.

If he had been observing us all this time, it was natural that he would find us suspicious.

Did he think about reporting us for making a false emergency announcement?

It didn’t matter.

We just had to stop the gas attack and complete the article’s “edit.”

“The truth is, we suspected something much worse. But it was so absurd that we thought it would be more effective to say there was a fire and evacuate people quickly.”

『Something worse than a fire?』

“Yes. A biological or chemical attack.”

I answered honestly while checking that nearly all the passengers had already left the train.

After all, once everyone got out and the situation was resolved, the edit would be completed and we would leave this world contained within the article.

『What? Are you serious?』

“Yes. So you should leave as soon as possible. Now that almost nobody is left, you’ll be able to get out safely—”

『…How strange.』

The mass of black letters clustered into the shape of a head tilted slightly to one side.

『Where did the information leak from?』

“…What?”

Bam!

I felt a brutal impact on my lower jaw, as if it had been shattered.

And the world went dark.