The Purple Key
The message glowing on the monitor left Kim Heesook aghast.
"The 4th floor? Why...? What on earth—no, hold on, there were other things on that list too, weren't there!"
Since she never once brought up an "Escape" option, Kim Heesook was clearly no stranger to labyrinths.
At the very least, she was someone who understood that a labyrinth is not some place that exists to do us favors.
"In a situation like this, we need to move all the more carefully. Without getting greedy."
Not that I had any idea what it wanted to take in — or what it wanted to send out.
"You know as well as I do. Staying alive comes before everything else."
"Haah... Right. You're right, Seon Yuhan."
The eyes gazing up at me were surprisingly fierce.
"But if that thing on the 4th floor turns out to be a trap after all this, I swear..."
Kim Heesook shut her mouth for a moment, as if picking her words with care.
She had probably been about to say a curse word, or something in the same family.
"I'm telling you, you'll be in real trouble. Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're like a son to me. I won't let it slide."
It sounded almost sweet, but looking at that rock-hard expression, there wasn't a shred of playfulness in it. She was dead serious.
Well, as long as she didn't plan on killing me, whatever.
"Yes. Please do."
That, I could take.
My choice would turn out to be the right one anyway.
Click.
"Oh, what— that was quicker than I thought—"
"—Would the office happen to have a first aid kit? Some antiseptic, saline, and gauze would do. Something stabbed me in the back."
Without giving Yoon Geonmin a second to think, I pushed toward the Management Support Department corridor, the words spilling out rapid-fire.
"Uh, uhh, yeah — there is. It's over there, both of them. I'll go get them!"
At that, the former HR employee scurried off on his own initiative and returned in short order, emergency kit in hand.
"Phew... Here."
"Thank you. Ah — Ms. Kim Heesook. Use the computer room, please. Don't go to the bathroom. There's no telling how that's been labyrinthified as well."
Treating a wound on the back meant removing one's top, so Kim Heesook gathered up the gauze and medicine and headed inside, looking rather sheepish about it.
Given where the wound sat, doing it alone would be a little awkward for her — but my helping would be overwhelmingly more awkward.
"No, but what on earth happened in there? Geez, what the—"
Yoon Geonmin made to turn away, and I gestured for him to come back around.
"There's a monitor at the back of the server room. When I went up to it, something like a wire stabbed into my back. The spot... is it around here?"
"Uh, yeah, right there. Ugh...! God, the hole's like, almost finger-sized."
Finger-sized was an exaggeration.
Though it was probably about the size of Jeong Jiho's finger.
"It's nothing life-threatening, so don't worry. It's not that deep, either."
Swipe.
Relying on the feel of my own fingers and Yoon Geonmin's half-screwed-up eyes, I set about treating it — pressing a clean cloth over the wound until the bleeding had stopped completely, wiping around it with saline once the bleeding was under control, lightly disinfecting just the surface, and laying a piece of gauze on top.
"Still, you're awfully good at this. Did you study something along those lines? Medicine, or...?"
"No. I just picked things up here and there. There was a paramedic around me, growing up."
"Ohh. Wow, but I heard that's seriously brutal work. And for what they pay, you'd think—"
—Click.
By the time I'd gotten my clothes back on and straightened myself out, Kim Heesook stepped out into the corridor as well.
"Are you alright?"
"Yep. I did everything just like you told me, so don't you worry."
As long as she'd treated it properly, that was all that mattered.
"Well then, let's get moving."
"...Hm? Where to?"
Oh.
I'd forgotten to brief Yoon Geonmin.
So I decided to give him a three-line summary of the situation, late as it was.
"We opened the 4th floor from the server room. The 4th floor seems to sit directly above us. So we're going."
"No — are you actually insane...? I'm telling you, it's dangerous. Seriously!"
Yoon Geonmin's face went scarlet as he flew into a fury, on the verge of tears.
He really didn't want to go, apparently. And he didn't want us leaving him behind, either.
"I know. But what good does sitting still do? This is an invasive-type labyrinth. Unlike a contact-type, the Red Weavers who'd come in and resolve it for us aren't coming here."
"That's—! That's... even so, no, damn it, seriously."
He looked exactly like a child mid-tantrum — one who didn't even know what he wanted, let alone how to put it into words.
And yet he did know, didn't he.
That the old saying — sit still, and you'll at least come out half ahead — doesn't hold true in an invasive labyrinth.
He knew it perfectly well. He was simply refusing to accept it.
"I'm already fit to die from how unfair this all is...! Why should I have to go out of my way to walk into death?! Can't I just stay put!"
In other words: don't go needlessly moving your date with death closer — just sit down, stay quiet, and wait for it to arrive.
"What is with you people, so desperate to die you can't stand it?!"
"Because I can't die."
"What?"
"Because I cannot die here. I'm going to walk out of this place alive."
"That's not something you get to decide, this place! By that logic, I can't die here either! Why should I have to die here of all—"
"—Mr. Yoon Geonmin."
When I took his shoulder and gave it the slightest squeeze, Yoon Geonmin flinched, then froze rock-solid.
"Do you know what I regret most in my life?"
"Wh-what... is that? All of a sudden?"
"Not moving sooner. I still regret it more than anything. If I had found my courage just a little earlier, the person who raised me wouldn't have died like that."
"No, what do you—"
"Mr. Yoon Geonmin. Doing nothing does not mean nothing happens to you."
What is going to happen, happens.
There is no road that leads away from it.
If you want to run, you have to set foot on that road first.
Life works that way, and so does death.
No one is born because they wished to live — and no one dies without ever having been born.
"All that changes is that you'll be the one who did nothing while everything happened to you. If you truly want to die like that, I won't stop you. Stay here."
"Wh... what?"
Yoon Geonmin's expression warped into something between confusion and rage, while Kim Heesook, visibly startled, said my name and jabbed me in the forearm — poke, poke.
"But — I would like you to come with us, Mr. Yoon Geonmin. Sincerely. I need you."
I had learned my lesson: with no telling what kind of labyrinth would appear next, it was better to gather as many people as possible.
"Two are better than one, and three better than two. Besides, Mr. Yoon Geonmin — you know this company, and you know labyrinths, better than we do."
Truthfully, when it came to the building itself, a cleaning staff member like her would know it far better than any desk jockey, and as for the labyrinth — well, I suspected I was the better expert there.
"...Um."
I held Yoon Geonmin's gaze straight on, trying to read every emotion flickering rapidly through his eyes.
"Fine. I'll come with, then."
Having apparently made up his mind about something, Yoon Geonmin slapped my hand from his shoulder, his expression stiff.
"...You made a good decision."
"See? What did I say. Look at that — don't you feel safer already?"
"Ah, don't grab me. We're not here on an outing, you know."
"Okay, okay, I hear you."
Watching that bizarre tableau — the man who had done nothing at all until five minutes ago scolding the man who'd come back with a wire stuck in his back — I headed for the emergency exit.
I prayed Yoon Geonmin had steeled himself properly.
Even if what he'd steeled himself for was to use me or Kim Heesook as bait, bolt, and survive alone.
Clunk.
We climbed the stairs and pushed open the emergency exit of the floor that, inside the passage, was marked as the 13th.
"Oh my — it really is the 4th floor..."
The 4th floor.
"Huh. So they really are jumbled together."
Yoon Geonmin, who had never once been connected to the server system, made it safely onto the 4th floor as well.
Apparently, all it had taken was one person choosing the right option and opening the door.
[ ToYou Wellness Center ]
"Oh, right — you wouldn't know what this place is for, Mr. Seon Yuhan."
As I swept my gaze across the directory board and floor map near the elevator, Yoon Geonmin launched into an explanation.
"It's one of our company's perks — there's a fitness center, a medical center, and a rest area, all in one place."
Much like the 5th floor, with its food court, lounge, and game room.
"Can outsiders use it?"
"They can, but it costs money. Only the rest area is completely free. Honestly, though — watching people who don't even work here use it is a bit of a joke. The moment anything's free, their eyes bug out and they come swarming. No awareness, no shame, nothing."
...CEO Yu Hyeonjae seemed to think somewhat differently.
"Aigoo, who cares about any of that right now? What do you say we start here first — the gym?"
Kim Heesook pointed to the left.
"Yes. Let's do that."
I took the lead, walked over, and opened the gym door.
Swish.
The first thing to greet a visitor was a cozy counter space.
"Seriously... no fear at all..."
Muttering this, Yoon Geonmin followed Kim Heesook into the fitness center.
"Here, look at this."
Kim Heesook pointed at the countertop.
"Isn't this a locker room key? You don't suppose someone's still inside...?"
A single key sat on the white counter.
Hanging from it was a purple tag marked "26."
"Huh? Who leaves a locker room key sitting out on the desk like that?"
The former HR man shot back, his characteristically sulky mouth twisting into an even deeper scowl.
"And it's purple, look. Men's are blue and women's are red."
What Yoon Geonmin pointed to were the small signs above the two corridors — the one leading to the men's locker room, the other to the women's.
Just as he said: blue for the men's, red for the women's.
Which meant this purple key — matching neither — was...
"Then this may well be a key the labyrinth itself created."
"...Ah. Right."
"So it would open number 26 on either side, then? Aigoo — what if there's something weird in there? Like, a corpse or...!"
That was possible.
If anything, finding a person inside would be the better outcome.
"So is the layout one where we each go into our own locker room and regroup by the exercise equipment in the back? Or does it stay segregated, men and women, all the way through?"
"I heard it was shared, but... I've never used it myself, so I couldn't say. Well — this place was always so packed with people."
"On a typical day, how many hours of high-intensity physical activity do you get — the kind that leaves you short of breath?"
"Uh, uh...? Lately I've been too busy to exercise at all... No, hold on — what's that question supposed to mean? Why all of a sudden?"
I pointed toward the men's locker room.
"Then how about we all go in through this side, look around, and come out the women's side? No telling what might happen if we get separated."
"Yep, that works for me. Mr. Yoon Geonmin? What do you say?"
"Fine. Whatever."
And so the three of us filed into the men's locker room in a line — me first, then Kim Heesook, then Yoon Geonmin.
"Aigoo, it's dark as anything in here..."
With the power out on top of it, and no windows to speak of, the room was pitch-black.
I switched on my phone's flashlight and swept it across the interior first.
Lockers stood in long rows, each column split into a tall upper and lower compartment.
"Looks like there wasn't anybody in here after all? I mean, it's not quitting time, and it's not exactly prime workout hours either."
Just as Yoon Geonmin said, there was no sign of anyone — not even a trace that anyone had used the place right up until the moment it became a labyrinth.
22... 24...
"Number 26 is here."
Locker 26 on the bottom row — the only one without a key already sitting in its lock.
The moment I pointed at the number, the two people pressed close behind me each took a step back.
"We're opening it... right?"
Yoon Geonmin, fine — but I'd thought Kim Heesook was the fearless type.
She was always volunteering to go into the computer room alone, after all.
"Yes."
Regripping the purple key I had been holding this whole time, I slid it straight into the keyhole.
Clack.
It went in smooth, all the way to the back.
Clink.
As I turned the key to the right, I felt the lock give way, the sensation traveling up to my fingertips.
"Then I'll open it."
I pulled the handle of locker number 26.