Everything Has Its Due End

The moment.

The character stopped dead. Its body juddered and swayed, quivering as though something inside it were writhing loose.

Every inch of the body had gone rigid. It was, at last, trying to assert its life.

It isn't me yet.

That's what it should have answered.

Only now has it become me.

The pixelated character splits clean down the middle. From the seam of flesh gaping open like a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pomegranate, something crawls out — pale white roots, a stem, and branches draped in glistening scarlet flesh. A ghost-white tree pries its way out of that tiny body, tearing it apart as it goes. It tramples the body that once cradled it and sinks its roots down into what remains. Deep. Deeper still.

It stretches its branches upward. Higher. Farther. As if it had been suffocating all this time, cooped up in there. Ravenously. There is neither malice nor goodwill in it. It is simply budding into its own life.

On the screen, the white tree grows larger, little by little — its rendering turning so delicate it's hard to believe this is supposed to be dot graphics at all.

"Huh……?"

The moment the towering sapling has blanched the entire gloomy garden on screen pure white and looms so close it seems about to burst clear ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out of the display—

"Huh? It ends just like that?"

The screen cut out with a pop, and the ending credits began to roll.

An 8-bit tune drifted out, tragic as a pipe organ and yet somehow hopeful somewhere deep inside it. I stared blankly at the screen. It felt as if something had just broken off and fallen away from inside me.

Ah.

I was……

I was in there too. At first, anyway.

Another me, forking and spreading like roots or branches growing out in every direction, had been in there. That was how it had been. I know that it had been — with my head, at least. But even that knowledge rang hollow. Like waking from a dream.

"No, but seriously — who even was 'I' supposed to be in there? And what the heck was that white tree at the end? And what is 'Root' even doing in all this? Honestly, I was sure Root was Apollo and the player character was Daphne. It was way too obsessed. What did you think, Seon Yuhan?"

I knew, though.

I was pretty sure I knew.

So what am I supposed to know?

"……I honestly don't know. It was far too cryptic."

Right.

I don't need to know.

None of that matters. Dreams aren't reality in the end — it's all just a fake that amounts to nothing.

"……"

Click, clack!

"Oh."

"Congratulations, Seon Yuhan. You have completed one 'Life.'"

A golden coin. A symbol of the 'chance' to start over. Right — this was the truly important thing I needed to know. The things that kept me alive and moving forward. I turned the round gold coin over in my hands, examining it closely. It was larger than a fifty-cent coin and thicker too, with a satisfying weight to it.

"The dimensions are closer to a casino chip, I'd say."

Both faces were stamped with raised engraving. One side was ringed by a wreath of laurel leaves, with the number '1' at its center — perhaps a likeness of the cane the host carried. I flipped the coin over. This side bore an intricate maze, etched with meticulous precision. I assumed it was the maze from the Garden of Psyche, but on closer inspection the structure was entirely different.

"Whoa, is this actual gold? Gold prices have been climbing like crazy lately — that'd fetch a decent chunk of change if we sold it outside."

……Hold on a second.

"What did you just say?"

"Uh, uh? Me? Are you talking to me right now……? No, I was just wondering whether it was really gold…… it was fascinating, that's all……. I was only joking, why are you looking at me like that……. Of course I know a person's life is worth more than that……."

I hadn't said a word. Why was this woman suddenly falling over herself like that?

"I asked the host. Say what you just said, one more time."

"Congratulations, Seon Yuhan. You have completed one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠'Life.'"

Completed.

A fragment.

"Ah……"

"What's wrong?"

I pointed at the dartboard and explained it to the others. That was why the host had said I'd 'completed one coin' — because the system had you gather 'fragments' until you could 'complete' one.

Choi Jaeha settled into the seat I'd just vacated.

"Then maybe I'll give this a try too."

Should I stop him?

The question floated up from some corner of my mind. But when I reached for a reason why I should, none readily came. I already knew how to wake up now, and what was wrong with earning gold coins the easy way? An hour or so of simple labor, and a life came free of charge.

No — wait.

Something about this is off……. Since when had the labyrinth ever been this accommodating?

"You memorized that whole maze, didn't you, Seon Yuhan? Then help me out."

While I was still wrestling with an unease I couldn't name, Choi Jaeha started up the Garden of Psyche.

"Can't do it. Can't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠do it. Can't do it. Can't do it. I can't do this, I said."

Choi Jaeha's sweat-slicked face was deathly pale. Every bit as pale as the tree the character I had…… been controlling had birthed.

He couldn't stay still in his seat — he rocked his body this way and that, bouncing his leg against the floor.

"What could be the problem, I wonder. You never reacted that way, Seon Yuhan."

"Indeed not! Everyone receives their opportunity to tend the Garden of Psyche."

"Really? Then what on earth is it……"

"If he keeps that up and something actually happens to him…… there's no separate option to quit this thing, right……?"

Behind us, the rest of the group had all been watching with mounting anxiety too.

"Choi Jaeha, what are you doing all of a sudden? If you go that way, you die."

"Yeah, I'm gonna die. I can't do this. I can't take it. I'm going to die. It's too—too horrible. Please. I'm scared. I can't do it. I want to die. Just make it stop."

"You may not."

I seized him by both shoulders as he babbled and tried to haul himself out of the seat, and pressed him back down.

"If you quit here, you will genuinely die. You have to see it through to the end — now that you've started."

"I said I can't! Damn it — let go of me!"

Ah.

He's in bad shape.

He was never like this before.

"Gah — Yuhan, are you okay? Your face—"

"—I'm fine. Everyone, step back a little, please."

I watched the group retreat one step at a time, and for a moment my eyes met Jeong Jiho's. Children's eyes really do see everything……

"Choi Jaeha, calm down."

"Calm down? Do I look like I can calm down? Right now, in there, I'm the one going through all of it——"

"No. What you're feeling right now is nothing but an illusion — I went through the same thing, remember. And it isn't you. Not yet."

"How in the world did you……"

Choi Jaeha, who had been mumbling without really hearing a word I said, froze with his mouth hanging open. Then, slowly, he turned to face me. As if he had just grasped some truth too terrible to bear.

"You…… you're a genuine psycho, you bastard."

Choi Jaeha was like a clock running a minute slow.

"How. How…… could you do something like that without so much as blinking…… Get away from me! Don't touch my body! If you can do this to yourself, what wouldn't you do to other people? You monster……"

Was the clock broken, then?

"And you — how did you…… yourself…… through all that time……"

"That wasn't me. You'll stop feeling it soon enough too, Choi Jaeha. There's not much left now."

Once more I gripped his shoulders hard and held his gaze.

"You'll forget it all. Forget it. It's for your own good……"

Click.

Pop—

Thud!

"Hah……"

Why do people die so easily? How does everyone manage to die this easily? Skip that one part, and the rest was boringly simple.

"I have a question."

I fished out the gold coin and held it up for the host to see.

"This — can't I spend it on this person?"

"I'm afraid I don't follow. By what means would one who is already dead make a trade?"

Which meant a 'Life' could be transferred — but the dead could not be brought back.

So it could still be spent on someone who was still alive.

I looked at Yu Hyeonjae in silence for a while, then looked away. The host, evidently judging those words not to be a question, offered no answer.

"Then……"

"I'll move him somewhere else and come back. Everyone, please rest a while."

"By yourself? That'll be rough. I'll come with—"

"—No. I can just seat him in a chair and drag it along, so please…… let me go alone. I'll be right back."

Shff.

As I hauled Choi Jaeha's body down the corridor toward the row of restaurants lining the far side, I sorted through my thoughts. At the very least, I now had a rough idea of how that reward was actually accumulated.

"……"

Clunk.

As it happened, there was a free space in one of the restaurant freezers. Here, at least, I could be reasonably assured things would stay hygienic.

Thmp.

Maybe it was the sheer bulk of him — getting him into the freezer compartment meant folding his torso and limbs just so. We were about the same height, but hefting him myself, he was heavier than I'd expected.

Click.

I felt a light sheen of sweat gathering on my forehead.

Honestly.

What a high-maintenance human being……

"Lee Nahyeon. Would you care to enjoy a round of True Stories?"