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We escaped the Sin-gye Daily on the fifteenth floor and arrived on the floor below: the fifth.

"There's a convenience store over there, so let's rest for a bit and pick up whatever we need while we're at it."

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This time, as before, we gathered individually wrapped snack bars, water, medicine, and the like.

Rustle.

I was loading things into a basket when, from beyond the shelves, came the sound of plastic crinkling. The moment Lee Nahyeon's silhouette showed through the gaps, an inexplicable dread swept over me.

"Lee Nahyeon! Don't!"

I shouted a point-blank don't with no explanation and hurried around the shelf toward her. And there she was, a chocolate bar clamped between her teeth. Right before the wrapper got torn open with her teeth, that is.

"You can't eat that!"

"Hm? Oh, does it taste bad?"

Like a dog spitting out a pill it had somehow singled out, Nahyeon pulled the chocolate bar from her mouth.

"No, that's not it. Don't open it yet—you have to pay for it first."

"Huh? Do we really have to?"

"Yes. We really do. There's a reason the register works perfectly fine during a blackout."

To me it was such an obvious thing—and since neither Yu Hyeonjae nor Hwang Juyeon was the type to reach out and take first, ask questions later—I'd forgotten to give her a heads-up.

"Oh... I see."

"I'll pay for everything, so put whatever you need in this basket."

Having narrowly averted Nahyeon's dine-and-dash incident, we all sat down at a table together and finally let out a breath.

"Thank you for the foooood."

For the whole of our quick meal, Nahyeon's voice never let up.

But you all came from different floors, right? Wow, oh wow, so the floors really are completely jumbled up? So our goal is to find the first floor and get out? Oh, so we keep going down in one direction, and if there's no first floor we head all the way back up? What were the other floors like? Oh, I see. Oh, so there used to be more people? That must've been hard. Mm, hmmm. Oh, right, I'm twenty-seven—how old is everyone? Wow, two of you are the same age! Wait, but Ms. Juyeon, I thought you were our age too. Come to think of it, what's-his-name, there's that really famous magician, right? He looks super young too. Is there some kind of connection? Then can I call you unnie?

"Ah, haha... Yes, sure. That's fine."

Somehow, the baptism of Nahyeon's questions had been gradually pouring down over Hwang Juyeon instead.

I had at least answered everything she needed to know. Apparently that hadn't felt very warm to her.

This freelance magician seemed to have a soft spot for people who looked like they needed taking care of. Once upon a time, she'd shown the same gentleness to Kim Gilyeong, the librarian of Chaekbang-Ollae. Though that was only back when we didn't know she was a monster.

"Let's get up now, everyone."

I rescued Hwang Juyeon—whose soul seemed to be slowly draining out through her ears—from the swamp of questions.

When the four of us entered the lounge, the host was there to greet us: worn shirt, ripped jeans, staff in hand.

"Welcome, Seon Yuhan, Yu Hyeonjae, Lee Nahyeon, and Hwang Juyeon. I'm your host, you see. Please, call me 'Hosu.'"

"And what is it that you host?"

As Yu Hyeonjae asked the same question as last time and the two of them traded questions and answers, Hwang Juyeon and Lee Nahyeon simply stared holes through the host—apparently fascinated by a man who, horizontal rectangular pupils aside, spoke like a Korean raised overseas.

"Unnie, are you thinking exactly what I'm thinking right now?"

Nahyeon gave Hwang Juyeon's shoulder a playful, friendly bump with her own and lowered her voice.

"Honestly, isn't he kind of handsome...? His eyes are a little scary, though."

"I'm sorry—what?"

Across every one of those loops, this was the first time I had ever seen Hwang Juyeon make a face like that. Bewilderment, indignation, shock, and unease, all mixed together and worn plainly on her face—what a complicated, delicate expression it was.

"No, not that. I was, um, going to say he looks a little like... Jesus."

The lapsed Catholic—who had once attended church—stumbled over her words, flustered more than a little.

Dark skin that brought the Middle East to mind, large, heavy-set features, black hair long enough to tie loosely back.

Honestly, a little...

I stopped myself from thinking any further there.

"Please enjoy the other games I have prepared while you wait for your friends to arrive."

"Wow, it's kind of eerie seeing the place empty..."

The Moment O'Clock employee wandered around the arcade, eyes shining.

"Did our employees ever give the tenant staff dirty looks over it? There's no rule saying it's for employees only. It isn't some space reserved just for them, either."

Yu Hyeonjae's brow narrowed slightly.

"Do you remember which department it was?"

A bone-chilling question.

"No no no! What, what are you trying to do...? It wasn't anything like that, really. I just, you know, felt self-conscious all by myself...?"

Three of us little people swallowed our sighs in unison.

Then again, no matter how unhinged he was, he wouldn't go so far as wrongful termination. The company itself had an unusually clean image where personnel matters were concerned—it didn't pull stunts in that department.

"Of course, I understand how the employees feel. Their own company's CEO is the one who built this place, so it must feel like an extension of their own office. They might even find it galling to watch people from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠other companies use it. However."

His voice was all business.

"Anyone may use this place. In principle. Being an employee does not entitle one to act against that rule. One has no such qualification."

This was precisely how the world worked. And how the labyrinth worked, too. In the world, inside the labyrinth, I was a being that had no choice but to obey the rules already written.

Always the one without qualification. When someone else writes the rules of the world and deliberates over who counts as a person, I still have to follow them—without the qualification to defy them.

Not that I resent it. Playing along is second nature by now. It's just... a little tiresome, is all.

"Is anyone here any good at darts, by any chance?"

With Hwang Juyeon's question—she who had kept quietly to herself since the Jesus remark—the topic turned naturally.

That damned hole-riddled darts game, or whatever it was.

"If you're curious, you'll have to try it and see. Where's the fun in playing when you already know everything?"

Hosu answered exactly as before, without changing so much as a syllable.

"Then what about the Hollow of Ieung, the Hollow of A... what are those, exactly?"

That question, I had plenty to say about.

"I suspect it means losing your memory. Of that consonant, or vowel, as the case may be."

Possibly a more dangerous penalty than having holes bored through your body. In that it could harm not only me, but everyone around me.

"Ahh," Nahyeon nodded, rolling her eyes as she thought it over. She clearly had no desire to go first herself. If it were everyone together, maybe.

"I'll try it first."

"You, Mr. Seon? Really?"

"Yes."

I figured the seven-player minimum had fallen through this time, but I had no wish to waste time either. You never know how things might go.

"Seon Yuhan."

Hwang Juyeon called my name in a low, sunken voice.

"I know it's shameless of me to say this when I'm alive because of you... but like back at Happy Land—is it really all right, you going first every single time?"

"What difference does it make whether it's all right ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠or not? The labyrinth doesn't care."

"I'm sorry?"

Honestly, I didn't understand what her question was supposed to mean either.

Wasn't this much fine? Whether I snapped my neck tumbling down a staircase or was carved into pieces over installment debt, I couldn't die—and so someday, without fail, I would walk out of this labyrinth alive.

Even if a certain someone was a conspirator planning to cage me inside the labyrinth for experiments the moment he found a regressor, my companions were, for now, honest when it came to survival. Here, there was no need to stand frozen at a crosswalk crushing something down inside me, no need to swallow my curses and my nausea at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠warm bullshit of 'good' people.

That was the kind of place this labyrinth was.

"So."

I am truly fine.

"I'm simply asking you to let me do this. I want to do something—anything. Because I feel like that's the only way I'll stay alive."

I really am a rather despicable human being. In that I know how to put on a face like that.

"...All right. I understand."

Still, this was one of Hwang Juyeon's good points: she was never the kind of person who would sacrifice even her own life on the altar of a petty conscience.

Click.

Beep, ding—.

The mood was mystical, almost lyrical.

The Garden of Psyche.

For something called a garden, the pixel-art backdrop and title design carried a strongly metropolitan cast. A concrete-gray space, a font in a dull, washed-out pink.

There wasn't a speck of green to be found.

The only option written beneath the title.

Awake, it said?

"Oh, wait just a second!"

Just as I was about to press the round button on the panel, Nahyeon cried out and dashed for the door.

"I saw one of those pamphlet things earlier! Ah! Found it!"

Having rummaged through the booklet rack beside the door, Nahyeon came hopping back, a single thin sheet of paper held high.

"Here!"

"Oh, there really is one?"

"Sharp eye you've got there."

Frequently Asked Questions for The Garden of Psyche. That was what was printed across the top of the stiff sheet.

"Hmm, the contents of this are kind of strange. Right?"

Ha.

I swallowed a sigh at an FAQ I hadn't even managed to read half of.