I Have Awaited You
I could feel a gaze on me.
From somewhere impossibly far, as though it could never reach me. From somewhere close enough to graze my fingertips.
It clung from the crown of my head down to the tips of my toes, pressing in so tightly it seemed to seep beneath my clothes — a crawling, skin-prickling sensation.
"Seon Yuhan, are you all right? What's wrong?"
"Is it affecting his body in reality too?"
Without realizing it, my hand slipped off the button and rose to cover my mouth.
Nausea welled up in my throat.
"...I'm fine."
⟨YOU⟩ I AM FINE
Click.
Doing my best to shake off the intrusive thought, I set out along the path again.
As long as it didn't mean me direct harm, there was nothing to be done but ignore it. I had to act like I didn't know.
Pad. Pad.
Only the sound of my own footsteps.
Pad. Pad. Pad. Pad. Pad. Pad. Pad. Pad. Pad. Pad. Pad. Thud. Pad, pad. Pad. Thud. Pad, pad. Pad. Thud.
Someone else's footsteps.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud...
Thudthudthudthudthudthudthudthudthud!
＊ YOU HEARD IT
Footsteps pounding toward me from the darkness dead ahead.
I didn't turn around, and I didn't stop.
The lesson that running the other way through this maze was impossible — I'd already learned that the hard time.
"Huh? Something showed up over there. What is that? A demon?"
"Looks like a mob... The weapon— oh, even that torch might count as a weapon. It didn't drop when it broke, and the character kept holding it, after all..."
At last, the monster of the maze appeared on the screen.
Its shape came into sharp focus right before my eyes.
＊ YOU ENCOUNTERED IT
Click.
Crack!
The instant I pressed the interaction button, the character on screen swung the torch at the monster with all its might. The flaming staff sheared off both of the charging creature's arms, splintered — and my own body lunged forward on its own.
Click.
Crunch!
If I hadn't had the strength buff, I would be dead right now.
Graaagh...!
Weathering the attacks of the thing rampaging like an enraged bull, I studied its appearance closely.
Its shape was close to a bipedal human form. Of course, even through my one and only eye, calling that thing human was a stretch.
The grotesquely bloated muscles of its limbs, the eerie white horns jutting from either temple, the blackened eyeballs where only the whites barely remained — like an eclipse ringed in fire — and as if any of that weren't enough.
Click.
Crack!
Then the horned head swung threateningly in front of my eyes.
Shraaak—!
The character on screen flickered like a sprite losing health. The jagged, splintered tip of a horn had raked across my chest.
My white clothes soaked black-red. My mouth began to go dry.
Apparently blindly mashing the interaction button to attack wasn't enough — I had to move at the right moments and dodge, too.
＊ YOU TURNED FORWARD
＊ YOU TURNED RIGHT
＊ YOU TURNED BACK
＊ YOU TURNED LEFT
No choice but to eat the damage, turning this way and that while I waited for my timing.
＊ YOU TURNED BACK
...Now.
Click.
Screech!
One hand seized the creature by the throat, and with the other I snapped off and wrenched free the bloodstained horn buried in its skull.
I had a weapon again.
Click.
Crunch!
The broken skewer of a horn drove into the creature's right eye socket.
Click.
Squelch.
Crimson threads trailing from the horn tangled together with the threads inside the left socket.
Kkeeeeak...
The fallen creature's filthy claws raked at my arms.
Click.
Crunch!
The red horn plunged through hide, wedged itself between the ribs, and churned the heart inside.
＊ YOU ENDED IT
I'd take it home with me. It might make good fertilizer.
Pad, shff, pad...
Between each step of the walk home, I could hear the monster's corpse dragging along the floor.
The whole way back, that unidentified gaze clung to me, stubborn and relentless — like a brush tracing every inch of my body, a disgustingly slick sensation that made my hair stand on end.
Shff.
Don't acknowledge it.
Shff.
Don't look back.
Pressing forward one step at a time with my left eye forced wide open, I finally made it out of the maze.
＊ YOU ARE HOME
The gaze that had been shadowing me like a second skin vanished — as if the whole thing had been my imagination.
Click.
Shff.
I dumped the bull-like monster's corpse carelessly onto the ground and stood there, staring at it.
Its jawbone must have shattered, because the lower jaw had come loose, hanging unnaturally low with its mouth gaping open.
Should I bury it like this and head back into the maze?
Aside from this, I'd gained nothing. No light, no seeds, not even a trace of water...
"Do you think... we could climb down that well...?"
Lee Jinsu spoke up suddenly.
"How?"
⟨YOU⟩ HOW
Ah. That makes sense.
Click.
I tried it right away.
Rrip.
The pixel-art corpse came apart piece by piece. I tore off the limbs barehanded and peeled away the skin. I pulled out the bones one by one, then scooped up double handfuls of the soft, steaming entrails.
＊ YOU DISMEMBERED IT
So this works. It would've been cleaner with proper tools, though.
I hung the dismembered hide and entrails across the well. There was nowhere suitable to lay them out, and drying them inside the house felt like a bit much.
But the real problem was...
"About how long will this take to dry?"
⟨YOU⟩ HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO DRY
The question was how long it would take for this to dry. About fifteen minutes had passed in the real world.
Conversely, whenever I spent a long stretch walking in the maze, the feeling was different.
When I asked about the mismatch with my own sense of time, Lee Jinsu answered like this:
"If everything ran in real time, players would get bored and quit pretty quickly... And this is a labyrinth — if you really had to spend that much time on it here, honestly it'd be a terrible trade, so I figure that's why it's like this..."
Two conclusions could be drawn from that.
＊ YOU ARE IN
I rubbed at the corner of my eye and went back into the maze. Boredom, at least, was something I was used to.
＊ A PRESENCE IS FIXED UPON YOU
The moment I set foot in the maze, the gaze latched onto me, thick and patient.
Click.
Shff.
All I could do was press on, ignoring the shadows that flickered into view at every corner.
At the first fork — the one with three paths — I took the middle. At the second fork — the one with the stitch marks — I took the left.
"Oh, this is a dead end here too. I figured it was the right way, since I ran into a monster."
Past the point where I'd faced off against the minotaur-like monster, a wall stood waiting. No forks, no branches — a complete dead end.
＊ YOU TURNED FORWARD
Back at the second fork, I took the path directly opposite.
Pad. Pad.
After walking on and on, another fork appeared. Again, I took the left first.
Shff.
The moment I rounded the corner, the shadow flickered into being behind me, right on schedule — and then...
Fwoosh!
Something came hurtling at me from dead ahead.
A trap.
Click.
Shraaak!
I slammed the button in a frantic dodge, but apparently it wasn't enough.
Pop—!
"Uh, the screen... what's wrong with it?"
The screen, dim enough already, went completely dark. The left side of my face had gone from burning hot to utterly numb. The world was black.
I had no eye left to look upon the light.
An agonizing pain I still hadn't grown used to swept through my entire body. The world tilted, heedless of my will. Just before the unbearable flood came crashing in —
one single thought surfaced like a dream.
＊ YOU SMIRKED
It doesn't itch inside anymore.
"You don't look all that different from the outside. Are you all right?"
"I'm... fine."
My words hadn't converted into script — and seeing that, I slowly shook my head at the question.
The moment those words left my mouth—
⟨root⟩ YOU AWAKE
Beneath the darkened screen, script appeared.
⟨root⟩ I HAVE AWAITED YOU
Someone's breath touched down upon every inch of my body.