The Unfinished Story

My spine went cold. Jeong Jiho. Why didn't I bring that kid out with me? Why did I leave him behind? I knew he was there—I saw it with my own eyes. How could I have done that? Me. How. No matter what kind of trash I am. When did I ever become capable of something like this? Me. I…… "Seon Yuhan? Why are you suddenly breathing like that—" I promised myself. That I would never become that kind of adult. I swore it. That I would never be the adult who pretends not to see a child who needs help. I made that vow. "Seon Yuhan?" Right. Seon Yuhan. I put my name on the line for this. I said it, didn't I. Clearly. Only then did I come back to myself and open my mouth. "Hwang Juyeon." Me. What I really— "Didn't we stop by the daycare on our way here?" ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ Did I really leave that child behind? "Hm? No? Why would you bring that up out of nowhere—" "—Book club participants read their respective books." "Ugh, can't I even grumble for a second? You're strict." Muttering, Hwang Juyeon lowered her eyes back to her book. Right. Just as she said, we—I—never stopped at the daycare. Not this time. No matter how many times I retraced my steps, there was no memory of it. And yet, that made no sense. I. I, who knew there was a child being punished in that daycare in the form of a giant music-box doll. There was no way I could have skipped that place and come straight to the library. Son of a— I barely swallowed the rest. So that's it. My memory was erased. It had to be. I don't know exactly why it was erased, but. If I had to guess, it was probably a penalty. For failing to follow the library's instructions.

Reading a story that lays out someone else's life, page by page, is an uncomfortable thing. It's uncomfortable to have someone read mine, too. "Book club participants read their respective books." I looked at the freelance magician to my right. Where was she in the book right now? Which moment of my life was she reading? Reading me wouldn't mean understanding me. She wouldn't be able to accept any of it without becoming me. She would know about me, but she wouldn't be able to trust me. Understanding is a mirage, acceptance is a deception, and belief is nothing but an illusion.

"Book club participants read their respective books." "Seon Yuhan." My vision was swimming…… the black letters crawling on the page writhed like living things. I'll kill them. Leeches! Those strips of paper! Something sticky was crawling up my fingertips and across my whole body. I want it off me, it's revolting, I'd peel off my own skin if I had to. I want to wash my hands. I'll kill you. Just give me today, please— "Book club participants read their respective books." "Seon Yuhan……!" "Y-yes?" Kim Gilyeong had called out to me in a voice edged with urgency, so I lifted my head. "Are you feeling unwell? It seems like you're having trouble reading your book……." "Oh." I looked down. The paper in my hand was crying. Crumpled beyond recognition. For some reason, I thought it looked like the librarian. That face, brows knitted, wearing an expression on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry. I just—my nerves caught up with me late, I suppose. I couldn't focus. Thank you for telling me." If it had torn and the book had been ruined, would I have died again? Thinking that, I turned my eyes back to the page. 'What was the name of your closest friend in elementary school?' Kim Gilyeong recalled the memory as vividly as if it had happened yesterday. A friend with an angelically pale face, like a child who had never once seen sunlight, with charming dimples that appeared when she occasionally smiled. Hong Donghee. Kim Gilyeong wrote down the answer without any difficulty. Even if it's hard to read, you have to read it. Because that's the rule. Rules must be followed. Children who don't follow them are bad children. I couldn't concentrate at all.

I somehow forced my way through the chaos of the text, and it was at this line that I stopped. This was apparently the point at which the Jaerae Building had transformed into a labyrinth. The very next line read as follows.

I glared at that sentence for a long while before closing the book and raising my head. Kim Gilyeong, who had been reading Hwang Juyeon's story, had already closed her book, while Hwang ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Juyeon still had a few pages ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠left. If the story after the labyrinth's transformation couldn't be read, then at the very least Hwang Juyeon wouldn't know that I was stuck in a loop. Not that it mattered much at this point. "All participants have finished reading their respective books." Before long, once Hwang Juyeon closed her book too, the library's ghost-like voice rang out again. "Participants will now freely share their impressions of the books and introduce what they have read. However, spoilers at a level that would interfere with others' impressions will be censored." "Censored?" An ominous word. Did it mean we mustn't spoil things, or that spoiling was fine but we'd simply be cut off mid-sentence? "Since we don't know what the consequences might be, I'll speak carefully for now." The three of us spent a moment watching each other in silence. It was only natural to be afraid of opening our mouths for the first time in a situation where one wrong word could get us killed. "For me." But. "After reading Kim Gilyeong's story……" We couldn't move forward without taking that first step.

"There's something I was curious about while reading. Was the book you loved most as a child Alice in Wonderland, or The Chronicles of Narnia—" "—Seon Yuhan, I think that part's a spoiler or something. I can't hear what you're saying. Maybe we should just skip that part." At Hwang Juyeon's remark, I paused and cleared my throat with an apologetic cough. Spoiler censorship meant that any remark containing a spoiler was automatically filtered out before it could be heard. Fortunately, the price of a spoiler wasn't our lives. But how on earth was the name of a childhood favorite book a spoiler? C. S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia. Alice in Wonderland was Lewis Carroll. Maybe she'd been confused as a kid, or simply switched favorites later on, but no matter how I turned it over, it didn't seem like the sort of thing that warranted censorship. I couldn't figure out the criteria for spoilers. "Seon Yuhan?" "Oh—yes. Anyway, as I was saying, personally, I think Kim Gilyeong……" It was hard to share a long, proper impression of the book that held Kim Gilyeong's story, or to introduce it the way it deserved. Partly because I hadn't been able to concentrate, but honestly, there simply hadn't been anything remarkable or memorable in Kim Gilyeong's life. "I'm jealous." I knew how absurd it was to envy a single excerpt of someone's life while barely knowing them at all. But I only envied that excerpt anyway. It wasn't as if I wanted every last piece of it. "Um, ah, th-thank……you?" The librarian trailed off uncertainly at the end, rolled her eyes, and gave an awkward bow. "Since you introduced my story, Seon Yuhan, um, I guess it's kind of my turn this time……? I read this one—Hwang Juyeon's book……" Speaking haltingly and with great care at first, Kim Gilyeong gradually sank into her own impressions and then began pouring them out in a rush. "But do you not really like piano anymore?" "No, it's not that I dislike it. I just don't have the same passion I had back in my prime." Listening to her, it seemed Hwang Juyeon was fonder of the freelance magician she'd become late in life than of her work as a piano instructor. Apparently, whenever she appended her day job of piano instructor to an introduction, she couldn't help feeling like she was making excuses for herself. "It broke my heart to hear why you became a lapsed Catholic, too……. A girl who went to the same church as you went missing, and how could you say those things……" "Well, it wasn't that one incident exactly—it's more that memories like that just kept piling up over the years. Honestly, I'm no saint either. I barely even remember her name anymore." Hwang Juyeon was an ordinary person, all the same. Ordinary enough that it was hard to believe she was a prime suspect in the librarian's murder. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠"?!�?▓▒6░?█?███!" The censored speech was utterly unintelligible, as if the audio had been masked a hundred times over. Could some secret worth knowing be hidden inside that spoiler—perhaps the motive for the murder? But I wasn't a detective, and if no one had actually died, there was no need for me to step in and solve anything. And yet…… I stared at Hwang Juyeon, my mouth shut. The moment her eyes met mine, she turned away, smooth and natural. Like someone who knew something. No—like someone who knew it all too well. Some stories are better left in the dark.

"The book club has concluded." We held our breath and waited for the next announcement. But no further voice came. "Wait. Is it really over? Done? Really?" "I—I guess so……" "Wow……" Hwang Juyeon collapsed onto the sofa as if every ounce of strength had drained from her body, let out a long sigh, and then shot straight back up like a spring. "Then let's get out of here, quickly!" She didn't need to say it—I was already at the door. "Please……" Hands clasped together as if in prayer, I gripped the door handle. And pushed with all my might. Ssss—click. "Hah." The door opened smoothly. Not the slightest jolt or catch of something blocking the way. "It opened! It opened!" Hwang Juyeon threw her arms around Kim Gilyeong and jumped up and down. Terrified the door might slam shut again, I held it fast and stepped out into the corridor. It was the first time that endless, maddening second-floor hallway had ever felt welcome. "Uh, uhh……" Hwang Juyeon, following behind me, must have felt something similar; she was smiling a strange, complicated smile when the librarian's voice made her turn around. "Gilyeong, what are you doing? Aren't you coming out?" "Kim Gilyeong……?" The librarian was standing behind the library's wide-open threshold. As if an invisible, transparent wall stood there, knocking her palms against empty air. "I—it won't let me out……!" Something had gone wrong.