Life Isn't a Boiled Egg—It's a Labyrinth (1)
The three of us gathered in the conference room and looked over the design request. There was an actual, organized brief this time—so this was the official process, and the last job really had been a complete shitshow.
On the projector hooked to the laptop, the following appeared.
Output
A) Main — Logo, brand graphics
B) Variation — Nameplates, flag graphics, souvenir goods
Direction
Thrill Adventure Maze
A theme park. Unlike that grim fortress-city project, surely nobody was going to die on this one. It already looked better than last time.
"World #379237 ran a project with our agency before, so there's research on file. Let's get a handle on whatever's worth using, then head out."
Thankfully, there was market research too. The odds of wandering some dangerous place in blissful ignorance and taking the road to the underworld had dropped a little.
A world crowded with city-states under absolute monarchy. A class system is in force. Caution is advised in one's manner toward royalty.
As entertainment, only performances tied to religion and royal authority have developed, along with storytellers.
The entertainment business—our competition—was just as thin. There wasn't even a comparable brand worth watching, so we'd have plenty of freedom in the design. This shouldn't be hard.
"The client is a prince of one of the kingdoms. Mind your manners, and don't let anything become a problem."
A prince? What kind of tentacle-monster prince was waiting for me this time.... Ugh. Of course that was the part that worried me most.
"Oh—before the client meeting. Lee-hyun, you install the mobile app for the company messenger?"
"Not yet. Will it work if I install the APK you sent me before?"
The truth was, I'd been about to play dumb, because I didn't want that mobile messenger on my phone.... If I could check messages twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, clocking out wouldn't feel like clocking out at all. ......And the CEO would have an even easier time reaching me on weekends!
"Yeah. With that, you'll be able to communicate from other worlds too."
"Yes, sir. I'll have it installed before the meeting."
Vowing to kill the app notifications every time I left the office, I plugged my phone into the computer. An icon of Vanta's V appeared on the home screen. Vanta Chat had installed without a hitch.
"Let's go."
The teammates who had waited through the install finished getting ready and stood by the door. I slung on my bag, clipped the carabiner on my keyring, and went to join them.
Let today pass without incident, too, so I can quit even one day sooner.... I recited the wish like the Lord's Prayer and stepped into the swirling black.
We arrived inside a stone building. Against the central wall, at the top of a high flight of steps, sat an enormous chair. Through the wide-open windows, the sea showed far in the distance.
...Salt.
The wind carried a briny scent, and waves broke apart under a blinding sun. It was a lively maritime city, where people were sorting the fish they had hauled in.
"......"
Wait. Hold on. People?
"!!!"
This time, it seemed, I had landed in a world where people actually lived. Right—another world didn't have to mean squid monsters all the way down. A human client. I was still soaking in the relief that this project might actually be fine in every possible way when—
THUD—!
THUD—!
THUD—!
A heavy sound struck my eardrums.
"......"
Strange. A person's footsteps had no business being that heavy. A prince who was morbidly obese. A royal custom of iron shoes. A bad back, and a heavy cane to lean on. I applied myself with desperate sincerity to every possibility I could invent.
"His Highness the Prince approaches—!"
The servants called out the procession, and at last the prince showed himself. Broad shoulders. An imposing bulk. A frame like three or four grown men put together. And—
......the head of a bull.
"......"
From those enormous nostrils, breath hissed out in sharp jets......
"Thank you for coming all this way, sirs."
The bull-headed monster said it in a voice that was, unnecessarily, kind.
"I'm building a new maze theme park, and I was told it would be good to leave the branding in your hands.... I don't know the first thing about this sort of work, but I've had the honor of receiving you."
The bull-headed monster said it with a face that was, unnecessarily, shy.
"......!"
No, no, wait! I dragged myself out of the sting of betrayal, and something snapped into place. A bull-headed monster, and a maze. Basic cultural literacy no Korean could fail to possess.
This... this is Greco-Roman mythology, isn't it?!
The meeting went on regardless of the tap dance inside my head. Before I knew it, the bull prince was explaining his maze theme park.
"Visitors enter the maze and set out to find the exit. The structure changes constantly, and there are traps all through it."
It was already a maze that, aside from a single person, no one had ever cleared. The visitors who walked in would simply die that much faster.
"An unknown world you could never solve—come enjoy the thrill of the action! ...That's the direction I'd like. These days, fighting, smashing, tumbling around—that kind of action is the trend, isn't it!"
Right. A world swimming in action-hero stories about beating down monsters like him.
Still... a brutally difficult maze, and branding meant to push it even further. The bull wanted this theme park to draw people in on a massive scale. A great many visitors would go in. No question. And if the company's special ability worked the way Pascal had described it last time....
If we just give the client exactly what he asks for again... this is going to be a catastrophe, isn't it?
A chill ran down my spine. Sure—looked at a certain way, it was none of my business. As long as the client evaluation comes back good, that's all that matters. It wasn't anyone I knew who would die. Just the people of some strange world I didn't even know, thrown into chaos.
...But still.
I don't want blood on my hands!
That's right. I was an ordinary little citizen. The perfectly common salaried-worker mind: no taste for burdensome work, and a strong preference for staying clear of blame. My greatest wish in life, at present, was to keep quietly going to the office without guilt hounding me, and then resign in one piece.
Ever since the tentacle-monster incident, I've even been having nightmares! Dreams in which the thousands of eyes on a bursting slime screamed blame at me.
...This time, I'm going to protect a good night's sleep. Somehow.
But the bull snout, with no way of knowing any of this, kept unloading one shocking remark after another.
"Since you're here, why not take a look at the soft-opened theme park? You'll need to understand the service if you're going to brand it."
......I'm sorry?
He wanted us to walk into the maze that only a hero of myth had ever cleared?! Hold on! I needed to worry about my own life before the locals'!
"Yes, since we've come for the meeting, we might as well stop—"
I cut my boss off in a panic.
"We'll need equipment to cover it! Tomorrow—tomorrow...! We'll bring it and come back!"
"Oh, so professional equipment is required. How rude of me, telling you to walk right in. Please visit whenever it's convenient!"
Pascal gave me a puzzled look, but he didn't say anything more until the client had offered his farewells and left. I'm sorry. Please don't bite me just for cutting you off......
"Something going on? Either way, let's head back and talk it over."
No! We couldn't just return like this either. Going back to the company this instant wouldn't change a thing.
If I'm right, the answer is here. So I grabbed at whatever excuse I could find.
"I—! Just a second, the bathroom! I need the bathroom!"
"The transfer only takes a moment, so once we're back at the company—"
"I have to go right now! Excuse me, where's the bathroom in the palace!"
I caught one of the servants still watching us in the room and asked. He led me to the palace bathroom.
"...?"
Pascal and Hena looked thoroughly baffled, but apparently they couldn't just leave me behind, because they followed. The sudden performance was embarrassing... but there was something I needed to confirm. A faint memory wasn't solid enough to stake anything on.
The moment I was alone in the bathroom, I turned on my phone and opened the company messenger.
He said the messenger works even in other worlds, right? ...Then wouldn't research through the AI be possible?
There it was—the AI chatbot on the employee list. I tapped the profile, a futuristic mascot all of two heads tall, and the chat opened on its own.
I agreed at once, approved a handful of permissions, and asked my question.
...Hm. So the AI wasn't all-powerful. Questions about the world I was standing in would be useless. I'd already seen the agency database before we left, so I might as well have it research the human world.
With a soft buzz of vibration, the AI began laying the material out.
The Minotaur was imprisoned in the labyrinth of Crete, where it devoured people.
Theseus, the hero of Athens, entered the labyrinth as a sacrificial tribute and slew the Minotaur.
Theseus escaped the labyrinth unharmed by means of the spool of thread given to him by Ariadne, princess of Crete.
Yes! This was what I'd been looking for. Ariadne's Spool of Thread—the reason only the hero Theseus had ever come back alive from the maze.
This place isn't exactly the same as the myth, but enough of the resemblance remains. Details had changed—the Minotaur was acknowledged as a prince, among other things—but a bull monster bound up with a labyrinth was still standing right here, plain as day. Going in with no preparation at all was worse than taking the direct route and bringing along anything that resembled the myth. It would be at least a little safer.
But to do that....
...Did that mean I had to give the servant the slip and lie low in the palace? Me, a mere company man?
"......"
......A salaried employee, it seemed, was always handed work beyond his ability.