Labyrinth

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🌈This is the third episode from Tales of the Unusal, aired in 2003. Click here for other episodes.

(Translated and arranged by Saya)

【Prologue】

The presenter is walking inside a labyrinth. But as he walks, his doubles appear out of other pathways and join him. Now there are three of them walking side by side. 

"Do you like labyrinths? Labyrinths are strange places. They are constructions created purely for the purpose of making people get lost in them, and people enter them willingly, seeking to get lost."

"Oh? I see over there another group of people who have become drawn to the magic of labyrinths..."

The camera follows his gaze and lands on three people standing at an entrance to a labyrinth...

【Story】

Three people stand at the entrance to a vast labyrinth.  

Meizu (a man and a scholar on labyrinth) explains to the other two that a number of amusement parks have closed down in the recent years, with large labyrinths like this one remaining intact inside them.

"Are we allowed to go inside?" Kureta (the protagonist. A man and a journalist) looks a little apprehensive. 

Meizu eggs him on, saying, "Who's watching? There is only us here."

Once inside, Meizu is impressed by the artistry with which the labyrinth is constructed, and Arisa (a woman and a journalist) is astonished at how clean and undamaged it is. 

The labyrinth, as far as they know, has been abandoned for a decade. At the time it first opened, its selling point was "the largest and most complex labyrinth in the world." 

The person who designed it was a man called "Rokuro Daida," who was once a professor of mathematics and nominee for a Nobel prize, and who conceieved what is known as "Möbius Theory." 

Kureta complains about the heavy weight of the thread they have carried with them into the labyrinth, but he is told by the others to endure it. 

The thread, Meizu says, is called "Ariadne's String".

This labyrinth gained notoriety when, due to its highly complex structure, it caused a large number of people to get lost in it, and moreover, some of them even went missing, never to be found again.

The designer Daida himself, perhaps out of a sense of responsibility, has disappeared from the society, and no one knows his whereabouts now. 

On the first day it opened, 10 years ago, the amusement park organised an event in which the first person who arrived at the centre of the labyrinth would be awarded the right to take the "lump of gold" set on a pedestal. 

14 people participated in the event, but none of them ever came back. 

 The police helicopter took aerial photos from above but found no sign of people anywhere. All searches proved futile. 

This scandal was what led to the closure of the labyrinth.

However, the recent aerial photos, taken only a few days ago, show that the labyrinth has been evidently "growing." 

It has become even more complex, with many more twists and turns, and the number of rooms in it has increased too. 

But this time, the three of them have come equipped with a GPS device and the "Ariadne's String" too.

Being confident that they will be safe, Meizu leads the group deeper and deeper into the labyrinth.

Some time passes before they find a hexagonal room. 

At the centre of the room sits a sculpture in the shape of a pointing finger. 

Arisa says, "No one is here."

Kureta replies, "Of course. How can there be anyone he -- ....!?"

Before Kureta can finish his sentence, they find an old man sitting slumped on the floor.

When the old man notices them, he tries to hide a box he is carrying.

Meizu, catching him doing that, goes up to the old man, and shouts, "have you found it!?" and then wrenches the box away from the old man's grasp. 

Inside the gold-coloured box, there is a bottle of water.

Meizu sips the water from the bottle, but the old man says, "don't..."

As is expected, Meizu spits the water out immediately. It seems like it has gone bad. 

Meizu tries to complain to the old man, but the latter runs away quickly, disappearing into the labyrinth. 

Meanwhile, Arisa has been pondering on Meizu's words: "have you found it?" 

Meizu reveals grudgingly that the "lump of gold at the centre of the labyrinth" has not been recovered yet. 

"Is that why you are here?" 

The other two demand him to answer, and Meizu admits that it is so, and attempts to pacify them by saying, "if we find it, we will split it among us." 

Then they discuss where they should go next, and decide to go in the direction of where the statue is pointing. 

While they walk, Meizu gives the others a lecture about the origin of labyrinth.

The oldest labyrinth was supposed to have existed on Crete island in Greece, which once imprisoned the cruel, half-bull and half-man monster Minotaur inside it. 

As Minotaur devoured humans, seven maidens and seven youths had to be sent to the labyrinth every nine years as sacrifices. 

The hero Theseus, hearing about this, decided to go inside the labyrinth to slay the monster. 

Ariadne, the princess of Crete, who loved Theseus, handed him a ball of thread to help him find his way out of the Labyrinth. Upon entering the Labyrinth, Theseus tied one end of the string to the door and marched on into the labyrinth, just like the three of them have done at the entrance.

But then, right at that moment, Kureta notices that there is something wrong with their thread. 

He pulls the thread towards him only to find it torn and blackened, as if it has been burnt off. 

Now they are without the Ariadne's String, and to make matters worse, the GPS device has stopped working too. 

They are all thrown into a panic, but Meizu reminds the others that when you get lost, the cardinal rule is to backtrack. They thus try to retrace their steps to the best of their ability.

But despite their efforts, they end up arriving in a small room with a stone statue inside it. They have never been to this room before.

Meizu is at his wit's end and becomes panic-stricken.  Kureta tells him to calm down, and suggests that he carries Meizu on his shoulder, so that he can look over the wall and take a view of the labyrinth. 

Meizu does as Kureta suggests, but what he sees over the wall is ---

--- the labyrinth spreading out endlessly to the edge of the horizon. 

Suddenly, Arisa points at something. 

There is a man standing in one of the paths. 

The man slowly walks towards them, and puts out his hand. 

"Do you have it --- an item? Give it to me, because I need it."

Meizu recognises the man's face the moment he sees it, and takes out a newspaper from his own bag. 

There is an article on it about the 14 people who went missing in the labyrinth 10 years ago.

The man turns out to be one of those 14 people, and his name is "Minoru Kuno."

Arisa is surprised that although Minoru's clothes are dirty, he looks as young as he looked 10 years ago.

  

Just as Minoru asks them to sell him "the item," Meizu hands him the newspaper, dated 2003. 

Minoru is astonished to see articles about 9/11 and the Iraq War.

Arisa tells him that the labyrinth closed down 10 years ago, and asks him what happened to them in here. 

According to Minoru, some of them went mad while trying to find the way out, and others killed one another in an attempt to keep the gold to themselves. 

"The lump of gold is still here?" Meizu asks him in excitement.

Minoru tells them that the lump of gold still sits at the centre of the labyrinth, but it's useless because there's no way to get out of here. 

In reply, Meizu says, "I will get all of us out of here, so please lead me to the place where the lump of gold is." 

Kureta objects to this, stating that he feels Minoru isn't telling them the whole truth, and since all of them have gotten lost now, they should make searching for the exist their number one priority, not the lump of gold. 

Meizu replies to him, whispering low so Minoru won't hear him: "We should pretend that we believe him, for now."

Arisa also agrees with Meizu, saying "We are possibly about to secure a major scoop!"

The three of them follow Minoru who leads them to the centre of the labyrinth where the lump of gold is. 

On their way, they encounter countless forked paths, corners, dead ends, and walk through seemingly many circuitous routes, before they finally arrive at the centre of the labyrinth.

At the centre of the room sits the "lump of gold," which is shaped like Minotaur's head. 

They all stand still for a few moments to admire the sublime beauty of the object. 

They "make a toast" to the statue by drinking the coffee Meizu has brought with him. 

"It will be a hell of a work to split this lump of gold equally among four of us," Meizu observes, as he secretly throws away his own coffee when the others are not looking. 

Presently, the other three collapse on the floor.

Meizu grabs the lump of gold and runs. 

"No way I'm sharing this!"

Right from the start, he has intended to keep it all to himself. 

He prepared the coffee mixed with sleeping drug beforehand so he can run away with the gold while the others are asleep. 

However, Meizu soon accidentally enters a room where he sees things that makes his blood run cold.

There is a sword at the centre of the room, surrounded by dead bodies lying on the floor. The walls are covered all over by splatters of blood.

He turns around and sees Minoru, who he thought was fast asleep, standing right behind him. 

Minoru also threw away the coffee and pretended to have fallen asleep.

 

Meizu tries to make some excuses for his action, but Minoru ignores him and pulls up the sword, and with it he proceeds to attack Meizu. 

Meizu tries to fend him off and grabs Minoru by his shirt but only manages to rip it, and gets struck down by the sword. New splatters of blood are added to the walls....

Minoru is in a state of extreme agitation.

His aim has also been to take the gold for himself. 

He grubs the gold and exclaims:

"10 years have gone by? You are trying to fool me by telling me such nonsense! You are the same as everyone else!!! I will kill you all !!! You will all die in here!!!"

Minoru's loud cry wakes up the other two. 

Arisa then screams. 

Meizu has used his last ounce of strength to come back to their room. 

"He ... killed me..."

Meizu says, and falls down.

Behind him stands Minoru, naked above the waist and holding a bloody sword; moreover, he is wearing the lump of gold on his head --- he looks every bit as fearsome as the legendary Minotaur.

Kureta and Arisa flee into the labyrinth.

The two people run through pathway after pathway. Minotaur, who has completely gone berserk, follows, running close on their heels. 

Meanwhile, Meizu, who is about to draw his last breath, mutters to himself:

"No one is going to get out of here... I saw it... This labyrinth is infinite..." 

Minotaur returns to the room where the sword was. 

He has lost sight of Kureta and Arisa. 

But Kureta has been hiding himself among the dead bodies on the floor, pretending to be one of them. Once Minotaur stands with his back to him, Kureta slowly gets up and creeps up on Minotaur, and with the scarf he is holding in his hands, he strangles Minotaur from behind. 

A short time later, Minotaur collapses on the floor. 

Arisa comes out of her hiding place.

"Is he dead?" She asks.

"No, he's just passed out," replies Kureta.

Arisa obtains a piece of paper from one of the dead bodies. It must be one of the "items" that Minotaur was talking about.

Arisa gives a thoughtful glance at Minotaur who is lying sprawled on the floor.

"Let's get out of here," Kureta says, but Arisa hits him over the head from behind with a stone. 

"Why...?" Kureta looks at Arisa with sad eyes as he falls down. 

Arisa replies, "I know you were planning to take away my gold, too. But it's OK. If I have this map..." 

She places her hand on the head of Minotaur. 

But a moment later, her arm gets grabbed by Minotaur.

That is the last thing Kureta sees before he blacks out ----- 

----- Kureta opens his eyes. His head is throbbing, but otherwise he seems fine. 

He notices Arisa lying next to him, but she is already dead. 

Minotaur is not in the room. 

He probably thought Kureta was dead too, and has gone somewhere else.

Kureta pries the map from Arisa's hand, and opens it. 

It was a map of the labyrinth. But there is no break in the walls --- meaning, there is no exit. 

Now Kureta knows why Minotaur hasn't taken it. He gets so mad at himself for getting his own hopes up that this useless piece of rubbish might save him.

Kureta then begins exploring the labyrinth, all by himself. 

He walks on and on and on --- how many hours, or days, have passed? He can no longer tell.

He at last arrives in a certain room. He sees a bottle of water on the floor.

He picks it up and tries to drink from it, but before he can do so, he notices there's another person in the room besides him. 

It is that old man he met at the beginning. 

"This must be your water... Please, go somewhere else and hide. Everyone here is killing one another for the gold..."

Kureta says, and gives the bottle back to the old man. 

The old man looks at him and says, 

"You... It seems like you are different from the others."

The old man tells him that the space inside the labyrinth is warped like a Möbius strip. 

"The Möbius Theory" states that within a highly intricate construction, such as this labyrinth, entropy continues to increase infinitely, resulting in the distortion of space and loss of the conception of time. 

Of course, the scientific society scoffed at such an idea, so in order to prove that his theory is true, the old man designed this labyrinth, and entered it himself.

So it is now revealed that the old man is no other than the professor "Rokuro Daida," who created the labyrinth. 

His story explains why Minoru's face hasn't changed for the past 10 years and Kureta has been able to survive so far. 

The labyrinth is growing even now, absorbing people's "greed" in its process. 

The monster "Minotaur" is perhaps an embodiment of the greed and suspicious heart of the people who are only focused on their own survival and keeping the gold to themselves.

But Kureta has vanquished Minotaur. 

Not only has he not taken interest in the gold at all, but he has also tried to save Arisa and fought with Minotaur and defeated him too.  

 

One story in Greek mythology says that the only person who was able to get out of the labyrinth in Crete was the hero Theseus, who fought with Minotaur and defeated him. 

The old man concludes that Kureta is "qualified to leave the labyrinth."

"But there is no exit on the map," says Kureta. 

Daida responds by pouring the water from the bottle on the map. 

The map changes its shape and new black lines appear on it. 

This water Daida has been carrying in his possession turns out to be the last "item" which is actually a "chemical solution to reveal the real map of the labyrinth." 

Kureta uses a compass to determine where he is in the map and check the location of the exit. 

He discovers that the sculpture of the pointing finger in the room, which seems to have been pointing at a wall, is in reality pointing at an extremely narrow path, very well hidden by some sort of optical illusion.

He also spots the "Ariadne's String" in the path which he thought has been cut and lost.

"Let's leave together." Kureta offers, but Daida declines him politely.

"This place is a paradise for me. I intend to stay and continue to observe the changes that are happening in here ."

Daida shows Kureta a notebook, in which he keeps the records of the structural changes that occur inside the labyrinth, together with many different kinds of mathematical calculations.

Kureta shows understanding to Daida's decision to remain inside the labyrinth.

He walks into the narrow path, alone, towards the exit, with the Ariadne's String as his guide.

【Epilogue】

The Presenter says:

"If you ever go exploring in an abandoned amusement park and find a labyrinth there, be careful. You must never go in there.

But wait... Listen... Can't you hear a voice calling you deep from inside the labyrinth?" 

A scream of the golden Minotaur echoes hollowly through the infinite expanse of the labyrinth.... 

END 

------------------------------

Note: 

The characters in this story take their names from the legend of Minotaur from Greek mythology.

Hideo Kureta --- Hideo (英雄) is written in Chinese character meaning a hero. Kureta is the Japanese word for Crete. 

Arisa Doune --- takes her name from Ariadne.

Susumu Meizu --- Susumu (進) comes from a Japanese verb meaning "go forward," and Meizu comes from the English word "Maze."

Minoru Kuno --- Minoru derives its name "Minotaur" and Kuno is based on "Knossos" (pronounced as Kuno-ssosu in Japanese). 

Rokuro Daida --- or Daida Rokuro if you use the Japanese name order (i.e. a family name followed by a given name), the name is derived from Daedalus (pronounced as Daida-Ross in Japanese), who was the architect who created the labyrinth which imprisoned Minotaur. 

⭐YouTube:

Abandoned Theme Park -- Nara Dreamland (Exploring with Josh) 

Abandoned Disneyland Knock-Off -- Nara Dreamland Theme Park Exploration (The Proper People)

I heard Nara Dreamland was once the largest abandoned theme park in Japan. Unfortunately,  it is completely demolished and gone now.