The Special Question
“No.”
……So that's a no.
I couldn't tell whether what I felt just now was disappointment or relief.
In the end, I would go on living without ever knowing why the aunt died.
Please, let her have been killed by a person — I prayed a prayer I couldn't even confess aloud.
At least the old man knew what he died from.
Question: A woman and a man died. What happened? (Question opportunities: 14)
Now I had fourteen questions to uncover how this man and woman of unknown identity had died.
“Was the woman killed accidentally?”
Inside a labyrinth, even trivial things stack up emotions until they writhe.
Worse, spaces beyond the physical reach of society's laws have a tendency to egg on people's impulses.
“No.”
A premeditated murder, then?
That was unusual in its own right.
Planned murder meant there was some significant relationship between victim and perpetrator — and even inside a labyrinth, it revealed a perpetrator who thought ahead about the future.
“Did the perpetrator who killed the woman believe they could get out of that labyrinth?”
It was possible they had deliberately dragged the woman into the labyrinth to commit the murder.
Taking advantage of the fact that incidents inside labyrinths were nearly impossible to adjudicate legally.
It wasn't just an urban legend — such cases had actually happened, rarely.
This was before the current system took root, back when even Red Weavers, who made their living clearing contact labyrinths, had to appoint a guild as their representative and negotiate with the Labyrinth Management Bureau before entering one.
“…….”
The host's silence.
That was strange.
If the labyrinth was the backdrop, why would that question be unnecessary and irrelevant to finding the answer?
It made no sense.
For people trapped in a labyrinth, the single most important question was whether they could get out or not.
It was because they didn't know that answer that people went mad.
Assault, suicide, murder, massacre…… All of that violence and suffering were secondary problems branching from that one single issue.
“Don't tell me…… that perpetrator didn't even know they were in a labyrinth?”
The host's mouth slowly opened.
Until the red uvula was visible. Wide.
“Yes!”
“That's……”
How was that possible?
Could a human being with the cognitive capacity to commit premeditated murder really be unaware that they were trapped in a labyrinth?
Because it was an invasive labyrinth?
Even for an invasive labyrinth, could that really happen?
Was this from the early days, when people barely understood what labyrinths were?
But…… even back then, could anyone fail to notice that?
Still, the premeditated murder part made sense to me now.
If the perpetrator didn't know they were in a labyrinth, they would have needed to plan the killing in advance to protect themselves in its aftermath.
“Did the woman perhaps not know she was in a labyrinth either?”
“No.”
It was getting stranger by the question.
The one who was murdered knew; the one who did the murdering didn't.
I would have to dig into the circumstances of the death under that premise.
……If I had been in the woman's position, what would I have done?
Suppose I was trapped in a labyrinth, and there was someone there who didn't even know they were in one.
What would I need to do?
What would I need?
What on earth could I have done that would make some unidentified perpetrator kill me?
“Did the woman threaten the perpetrator first?”
Only then did the host smile.
“Yes.”
Supplies, weapons, information.
That was all anyone needed inside a labyrinth.
And sometimes, all three were one and the same thing.
There were many ways to obtain that survival trinity, but the action most likely to be repaid with death was, broadly speaking, threats.
But not a physical, straightforward threat.
First of all, the other party didn't know they were in a labyrinth. Hard to believe, but so it was.
That belief had to stay unbroken to maintain an informational advantage.
So the woman would have applied psychological pressure.
Question: A woman and a man died. What happened? (Question opportunities: 9)
Someone capable of committing premeditated murder must have found an extremely fatal weakness to blackmail with.
And a threat of that caliber wouldn't have been for the modest purpose of securing food and shelter.
It was weapons or information, whatever the woman wanted.
Presumably a weapon or piece of information so powerful that no ordinary person could approach it through normal channels — powerful enough to justify killing for.
“Did the perpetrator who killed the woman hold high sociopolitical standing?”
“Yes.”
So that was it after all.
“The woman threatened the perpetrator to obtain a weapon or information they possessed, and was killed for it — is that right?”
The corner of Hosu's mouth curled upward.
“Yes.”
Then the woman's side was more or less settled.
Question: A woman and a man died. What happened? (Question opportunities: 7)
Now I had to figure out which rule the man had broken to die.
“Was the man aware of the rule he broke?”
“Yes.”
It wasn't suicide, so that meant he'd known the rule and still broke it unintentionally.
“Did the man break the rule by accident?”
“No.”
If it wasn't an accident, then it wasn't the kind of rule violation the man could control of his own volition.
Anomalous phenomena that triggered without warning, monsters that chased too fast to escape, conditions that couldn't be fulfilled no matter how you wanted to fulfill them, and so on.
The possibilities were many.
“Was there, perhaps, a condition that required saving someone — and the man died because he failed to meet it?”
For instance, the woman in the question dying and making the condition impossible to satisfy.
“…….”
The host stayed silent.
Wearing an unreadable smile.
Unsettling, but I let it go.
This was no time to fixate on matters irrelevant to finding the answer.
Question: A woman and a man died. What happened? (Question opportunities: 4)
“Was the man killed by a phenomenon with no physical substance?”
“…….”
What did this silence mean?
“Was the man killed by an entity or object he could physically touch?”
“…….”
Silence again.
Don't tell me the manner of the man's death just wasn't very important?
How was I supposed to guess which rule he broke without knowing that?
“……Then the rule that caused the man's death. Is it the kind of rule where breaking it means death in one way or another?”
Only then did Hosu break into a bright smile.
“Yes.”
A rule that, once broken, brought automatic death by some means or another.
Which meant that wherever the man was in the labyrinth at that moment, something in that space would kill him.
A death that came for you wherever you were, however you were, without fail……
What kind of rule could do that?
Even in this Jaerae Building labyrinth alone, the conditions and rules were different on every floor.
I had never seen the same monster appear across multiple floors. At least, not so far.
Question: A woman and a man died. What happened? (Question opportunities: 1)
What rule applied across every space, that you inevitably broke no matter where you were?
What exists in every space?
What's present in all spaces is……
“Time.”
Time.
“The man broke the time limit. Am I right?”
At last, the lines of Hosu's eyes softened into gentle curves.
“Yes.”
Question: A woman and a man died. What happened? (Question opportunities: 0)
I had scraped all twenty-one of my chances down to the bone.
“Correct answer.”
“Yes, Mr. Seon Yuhan. Please state your answer.”
It wasn't a satisfying answer, but with no question opportunities left, there was nothing to be done.
“The woman threatened a third party of high political and social standing in order to obtain information necessary for surviving the labyrinth. The threatened party devised a plan to eliminate her and killed the woman. Meanwhile, the man, against his will, exceeded the labyrinth's time limit and died as a result.”
For the ambiguous parts — like whether the woman wanted a weapon or information — I made a rough guess and narrowed it down to one.
If I'd answered vaguely and expansively, I risked having it marked wrong for no good reason.
Hosu's head tilted slightly to one side.
“There's a small piece missing, but I'll count it as correct. You have now solved twenty-one cases, Mr. Seon Yuhan.”
“Hah……”
“Thank god……”
Sighs of relief burst out from all around.
“You worked so hard……! It looked really difficult!”
“Seon Yuhan, seriously, you did it. Now the rest of us can clear ours too.”
“Well solved. I don't think I could have managed it.”
Lies, every time any of them opened their mouths.
I tried in vain to peel the shepherd's hand off my shoulder, where it lay heavy as a yoke, then gave up.
……Fine.
This one had his own story too, no doubt.
In a place like this, having no story would be harder.
“So what's the actual answer?”
The moment I read the first line on the back of the card, I felt heat shoot up my spine and burst out through the top of my head.
……To find a way to reach the intelligence agency, the woman exploited the weakness of a certain politician known to be close with the head of that agency……
“You're making me guess this? What is this, a movie screenplay?”
“…….”
Hah……. Breathe.
Just breathe.
Honestly, with this level of detail, the host exercising some flexibility and counting it as correct was fair enough.
……Terrified, the politician lured the woman out that very night under the pretense of handing over the information, seated her in his car, and used an errand man already waiting in the back seat to murder her……
“Is this actually a labyrinth?”
“…….”
For something like this to happen inside a labyrinth, it would have to be at least the size of a district, and potentially as large as a whole city.
No city-scale invasive labyrinth had ever occurred.
If one had, the whole world would have known.
But only at that scale would it make sense that the perpetrator in this question didn't know they were inside a labyrinth.
Could this really happen sometime in the future?
Like those draft articles in the Sin-gye Daily's temporary storage?
……The man had been searching for a way out of the labyrinth, but unavoidably exceeded the appointed time, and so he died.
The instant I finished the last line of the answer, another question flickered through my mind.
Could this labyrinth have a time limit too?
As I recalled, the longest I'd ever lasted was somewhere between seven and a half and eight hours.
“Director.”
“Yes.”
“Until what hour does this building stay open? Is there a set time when the building closes entirely?”
“It's open twenty-four hours. Even if there were some kind of time limit, I'd imagine anything before midnight would be fine.”
Dealing with him was exhausting, but at least he understood every word you said.
That said — midnight, was it……
The labyrinth transformation began around 3:30.
So did that mean this labyrinth was, theoretically, solvable within eight and a half hours?
“Mr. Seon Yuhan. Would you like to continue on to the next case? Or shall we stop enjoying ‘True Stories’ here?”
“Stop.”
At that, the host beamed and went on.
“For Mr. Seon Yuhan, the first person ever to solve twenty-one cases, we've prepared a special question.”
“Yeah, no.”
Who knew what would happen if I took it for no reason?
It's not like I haven't been burned once or twice.
“Hand over the gold coin.”
“I promise nothing unfortunate will happen even if you answer wrong. I won't tell you the correct answer, but the ‘Life’ token is yours to keep regardless.”
“……You'll stake the labyrinth on it?”
“Yes. I promise upon the supreme rule of the labyrinth itself.”
Now that was a different story.
“And if I get it right?”
“Something pleasant will happen, I expect.”
“Fine. I'll do it.”
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
“A wise choice. Now then — a special question, exclusive to Mr. Seon Yuhan!”
Tap.
The moment Hosu lifted the hand he'd rested on the table, a new card appeared. Like magic.
And so I read the question written on the front of the card —
Question: On the verge of escaping the labyrinth, you took your own life. Why? (Question opportunities: 0)
I rose from my seat and drove my fist straight into the host's face.