Ch1 - Ah, I Committed Suicide

“Ding dong!” A man with a face full of blood raised a single finger and revealed eight neat teeth. “Voting has ended!”

A beam of light landed on a girl not even twenty years of age, signaling the end of the game. She had been voted out. 

According to the rules, the girl would have to disappear from this world. Before her departure, she shook Hai Ri by his shoulders, tears streaming down her face. “You’re clearly the murderer, so why didn’t you say it? Why didn’t you say it!”

The blood-soaked deceased walked over and dragged her out by her hair. Hai Ri took a deep breath before turning towards everyone.

AD

The deceased looked back. The blood-stained corners of his mouth lifted up in a smile. “The game has ended, the murderer escaped.”

The girl pointed at Hai Ri before leaving, yelling, “He’s the murderer! You’re all blind, blind!” 

She was dragged off by the deceased, vanishing with no trace left.

Hai Ri apologized, “I truly am sorry.”

He wasn’t at all relaxed, because he had weaved three days’ worth of lies, put on a good person’s act for three days, and allowed an actual good person to lose the competition.

Hai Ri stated, “I am the murderer.”

Honoring the rules of the game, Hai Ri said, “I will take everyone’s points, except for… Sheng Canyang.”

The deceased made his way back, the girl no longer in his hands. He clapped his hands and declared, “Of course, of course. As you wish, murderer.”

A few people walked over, all of them somewhat vexed. Placing their arms around Hai Ri’s shoulders, they said, “F*ck, you really can put on an act.”

Hai Ri let out a long breath, turning to ask Sheng Canyang a question, “My lord, are we going home or eating first?” 

Clad in baseball attire, the peaked cap on Sheng Canyang’s head covered half his face. His legs were long and perfectly straight. Picking up his bag, he walked over and sized up the rest. “Together?”

“Which district are you from?” They asked.

Hai Ri replied, “Northern Hua, district 9.”

“Let’s not then,” A man said. “It’s too far apart, we’re from the Southwest 3 district. Brother, you play well, it’s very gratifying. Hopefully I won’t meet you again next time.” 

Hai Ri laughed. “Wishing you an early death.”

“I’ll take your lucky words!” The man said with sincerity. “I hope you obtain your desires as well and successfully die. Let’s work hard together.”

Hai Ri’s reply was also very sincere. “Let’s work hard together.”

It was Hai Ri’s fifth day in this strange world. When he arrived here, it was because he committed suicide once. Like everyone in this place, he had no desire to live. This world was the polar opposite of the normal world. In the normal world, everyone did their utmost to survive, but in this world, they went all-out to die. 

Their lives were the most worthless things, nobody wanted it whether alive or dead.

Five days ago, Hai Ri placed a plastic bag over his head in an attempt to suffocate himself to death. He didn’t succeed, but he succeeded in arriving at this place.

“Name and surname.”

“Hai Ri.” 

“Your full name.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“Aera Ljl El, P’w Zbcubiljc.”

Ktf qfgrbc yftlcv atf mbecafg gjlrfv atflg fsfilvr jcv abbx j uijcmf ja tlr jqqfjgjcmf. “Cuf.”

“23.” 

“Gfjv ja remt j sbecu juf?” Ktf mbecafg rajoo jrxfv mjrejiis, “Lbk vlv sbe mbwwla relmlvf?”

“Veoobmjalbc.”

Ktf fwqibsff: “Qts mtbbrf ab vlf ys reoobmjalbc?”

Ljl El jcrkfgfv rlcmfgfis, “Pa’r fcnlgbcwfcajiis oglfcvis.” 

The counter staff: …

Having been tormented by the repetitive work to the point of dreariness, the employee’s lips curved up with some difficulty as he went through the form in his hands. “Were you in debt before committing suicide?”

“No.”

“Where did you commit suicide? Your own home, or a rented place?” 

Hai Ri sluggishly looked back on his not very miserable life, his mind feeling like toilet paper that had been tossed around in a washing machine. His mouth moved to answer, “My own house.”

Hai Ri sat on the chair lazily, the hands resting on the marble counter casually turning a pen around. As the pen turned and turned, his consciousness wandered and he recounted the incident without much care. “I have a house on the 18th floor. In my own house – the house that I paid for in full – I suffocated myself with a plastic bag, committing suicide. I guarantee my death was not detrimental to anyone’s assets. I didn’t even bleed, it was very environmentally friendly.”

The counter staff: “No worries. Are you mixed-blood? Or do all Mongolians look like you?”

“I’m Chinese,” Hai Ri said. “But my mom is ethnically Russian while my dad is Mongolian. I’m a fake mixed-blood.” 

The employee, “You don’t seem like you lack money. Do you have relatives? How’s your family situation?”

“Both father and mother are around,” Sliding a little too far down, Hai Ri sat up a little straighter. “Family situation…”

He thought about it and found a more suitable phrase. “Is not bad.”

The employee once again shot him a glance from behind the mirror, gesturing for him to continue. Clearly, he hadn’t said enough. 

Hai Ri: “My mom married a very wealthy globetrotter and my older sister also married a rich person in the jewel-selling business. I’m dragging them down… Do you have someone suitable? Introduce them to me.”

The employee: “Would you have a chance if I had someone suitable? Your family’s already wealthy enough. Last question – what’s your sexual orientation?”

Hai Ri enquired, “How many more questions to go?”

“This is the second last question.” 

“Gay,” Hai Ri casually made a ‘0’ sign. Sitting up, he looked at the employee. “I’m a 0 through and through.”

That was a lot clearer. After hearing this, the employee made a profound ‘oh’ sound  and then awkwardly evaded Hai Ri’s gaze when their line of sight collided. Hai Ri was very familiar with this expression; he was scared that Hai Ri would take a fancy to him.

Therefore, the employee skipped all the superfluous questions and cut straight to the chase, “Then this is the last question – what’s your reason for committing suicide?”

Hai Ri spoke without thinking, “Unable to marry a rich person.” 

The employee: ?

“You can write that down,” Hai Ri gestured at his book. “Or you can also say it was out of boredom.”

“Because of boredom,” Hai Ri spat out a breath of air. Taking measure of his surroundings, he asked, “Can I leave now?”

“Yes,” The employee nodded. With an imposing manner that appeared out of nowhere, he tore out the form and handsomely slammed it down in front of Hai Ri. He tapped the signing line with his pen cap, saying with aloofness, “Sign here.” 

Hai Ri carelessly signed it in flamboyant cursive.

The employee glanced at it before saying, “Okay, I’ll be telling you about your identity card now – a bank card will be disbursed to you, your card to the room in the hotel upstairs is linked to it.”

Hai Ri: “What are you disbursing that for?”

The employee responded formally, “When you’re not supposed to die, you can’t die – that’s the rule in this world. Welcome to the third branch of the country’s suicide and health surveillance office. Whether or not you can die is dependent on your abilities. Tutorial for novices – turn right after going through the door, find your room after going up the lift, and take a look at the tiny card placed at the door.” 

Hai Ri stood up. “Just one question.”

The employee: ?

“Is it me who’s unlucky, or does everyone who commit suicide end up like this?”

The counter staff: “Everyone’s in the same boat. Anyone who succeeds in committing suicide walks into this place. If you fail here… you might wake up later and find yourself lying in the hospital, with your mom clasping your hand, sobbing, and talking about how she nearly lost you. Since I’ve already said so much, let me say ‘very happy to meet you, have a pleasant journey’ in advance. You won’t remember what happened here, it’ll just be a nap for you.” 

The counter staff said in a cool manner, “Welcome, I pray you will obtain what you desire.”

Hai Ri asked politely, “Is your face cramping?”

The employee erased the smile that made his face look like it was cramping.

“You’re not my type,” Hai Ri took his room card, picked up his jacket and did a comparison of their faces. “Relax, your ass is safe.” 

The counter staff said, “Sorry, I’m a straight man, and a broke one at that.”

“Sorry,” Hai Ri said in response. “I was referring to your pants.”

The counter staff looked down and upon seeing his zipper wide open, hated that he couldn’t go die right on the spot – but that was impossible, dying was beyond him.

Which was why many jokes could not be uttered at this place. If you said ‘go die’, the other party might respond with a ‘I’ll take your lucky words’. 

Everyone here took little pleasure in living and had no fear of death. Making threats was all they could do–

The counter staff said, “If your savings in the bank are used up, you’ll be sent back home, and your suicide this time would have failed.”

Hai Ri shook the silver bank card in his hands and commented in surprise, “There’s money in this?”

“You have around…” The man glanced at his computer. “Two hundred.” 

The man continued, “The hotel upstairs charges a hundred every night.”

Hai Ri: “What about food?”

“Breakfast is free of charge. Fifteen points a meal for lunch and dinner.”

Hai Ri had never been this poor in his entire lifetime. He instantly sat back up and asked, “How bothersome, send me back home now then.” 

The employee: ?

The employee: …

“Also possible,” The employee was silent for a moment. “But you died from suffocation and was delayed for a while on your way here. If you go back home, you might not be saved in time. Of course, you won’t die but the likelihood of becoming a vegetable is high.”

It had been a very long time since Hai Ri’s mood had fluctuated so much. 

The employee explained, “Suffocation is a less common method of death, so the money given is slightly less. Those who hanged themselves are given 1500, 3000 are for those who drowned or jumped from a building, while 10 000 is given to those who slit their wrists. I came in via slitting of wrist.”

Taken aback, Hai Ri stared at him once more. His wrist was clean.

“We’re used to giving the dead some dignity,” The employee said.

The employee consoled him, “It’s okay dear, you can go out and make money tomorrow. Here’s hoping you’ll bump into a wealthy person along the way and realize your life’s dream!” 

Hai Ri questioned, “But if I don’t bump into one, I can only go back and be a vegetable, correct?”

“No no,” The employee said. “It’s only a possibility, with a roughly… ninety percent probability.”

Hai Ri: “Oh.”

The employee said again, “Praying that you’ll obtain your desires.” 

Hai Ri was thoroughly blindsided. Him wanting to marry a wealthy person was fake, what was real was his wish to die, but… f*ck, what f*cking direction was this heading in? On one side was becoming a vegetable and on the other was death, but if he wanted to die he still needed to marry a rich person?!

Where on earth would such a thing happen? Look, this was what someone in truly desperate straits was like.

He’d originally thought that dying was enough, but now he was forced into a situation where neither death nor life was possible. Why exactly had he insisted on suffocating himself to death? Because he had seen an idiotic piece of news this morning about how a man had suffocated to death after putting a plastic bag over his head. He’d been tempted, and that was how he ended up in this situation.

Hai Ri, who had already left, ended up turning back around. Looming over the employee, he asked, “There was a man this morning who died from suffocation, has he arrived?” 

At the very least, he had to take his revenge.

“Not from what I’ve heard,” The employee replied. “But if he didn’t suffocate himself to death on purpose, then it won’t be considered suicide but a matter of IQ. He’s probably already dead now.”

Hai Ri: …

The employee once again put on that cramp-like smiling expression of his. 

Damn it.

Hai Ri truly felt like he had reached a dead end in life.

Ilyz: About the scenarios in this novel – they fall into two categories, role-play or the game werewolf. Role-playing instances are based on folk stories and the judge for every round is the deceased. The goal is to find evidence and vote the murderer/werewolf out. I didn’t add the horror tag to this novel since it’s pretty tame and not a major theme, but expect there to be some horror elements. 

Disclaimer as well to read the tags. This story does touch on mental health issues (mainly depression) and of course suicide. Although it is overall more lighthearted than somber, there will be moments when the somber is more dominant. If at any time you feel triggered or overwhelmed, please click the x button for your mental wellbeing.