Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 128

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Labyrinth Exploration 101 Episode 128

 

In the house(15)

 

─The popularity of Labyrinth Exploration NaN shows no signs of cooling down. Currently, the total theater audience for episodes 9 and 10 is 6.53 million, and it’s still showing an upward trend. This means many people are visiting theaters even without special screenings, but what could be the reason?

 

A particularly eerie evening with Mitamnan-related content flowing from the SUV’s radio.

 

A sociology professor responds to the announcer’s question.

 

─Besides the audiovisual reason of seeing explorers in more detail on the big screen, fandom culture has a big influence too. Many Mitamnan fans are posting proof of multiple viewings. They’re even voluntarily doing something like election campaigns to encourage voting. I just got a text from my grandchildren… Grandpa, please vote for Kim Dong-ha and send me proof.

 

─Your grandchild must be a fan of Explorer Kim Dong-ha?

 

─Yes. They say his hammer is cool. Haha.

 

Ring ring ring. At the ringtone, Inspector Lee Young-ho turned off the radio.

 

“Oh, Yoon-seo. What’s up.”

 

It was a call from his daughter.

 

“I’ll be there in an hour~ Work’s almost done~”

 

He had already arrived at his destination.

 

“It’s nothing serious~ This much overtime is nothing, are you worried about daddy~?”

 

He smoothly turned the steering wheel to park, switched the phone to his other hand, and got out of the car.

 

“No, I told you not to talk about the Kim Yoon-jun case. Just study, study.”

 

He smiled with his mouth while scanning the surroundings with his eyes.

 

No one was there. He couldn’t sense any presence either.

 

“What?! What did daddy say he’d do if that kid talks about becoming an explorer again!”

 

Lee Young-ho’s brow furrowed deeply.

 

“Explorers~ only look cool when you’re watching them~ They’re not cool at all~”

 

In his opinion, the profession of explorer was merely a means to redirect the destructiveness of ‘magic power’ elsewhere.

 

“Daddy only did it briefly and then took the civil service exam right away.”

 

Explorers are not allowed to use magic power in residential areas. Naturally, they’re also not allowed to carry weapons. The reason for imposing countless other restrictions is because they can kill ordinary people far too easily.

 

“Daddy would like Yoon-seo to become a doctor~ Or an astronaut. If not that, then start a company and achieve financial freedom… You’re hanging up?”

 

He took out a coffin from the trunk.

 

An oak coffin containing an adult male’s corpse. It would weigh hundreds of kilograms, but for a five-digit ranker, this much was light even with one hand.

 

“Okay. Daddy will be right… What.”

 

The call had already ended.

 

He put away his smartphone and looked ahead. There was an abandoned building.

 

“D-Detective sir.”

 

A man grinned and waved his hand at the entrance.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I-I didn’t know the detective would use us.”

 

A guy with messy hair like a beggar and one eye covered with an eyepatch.

 

Underground vault operator, nicknamed One-Eye.

 

“…Shut up, you bastard. I didn’t know I’d kill someone either.”

 

Lee Young-ho casually made excuses as he entered the building.

 

“Heh, hehe. I-I told you, sir. People like us are bound to k-kill someone someday, even by accident.”

 

“‘People like us,’ he says. I’m a former ranker, man. How much? I’ll pay for 3 months at once.”

 

Today, he hides Kim Yoon-jun’s corpse.

 

He had already reached an agreement with the mother. She too willingly endured this to uncover the truth about her son’s death.

 

“I-I’ll take 20 million with a discount.”

 

“Damn expensive.”

 

He pulled out a bundle of cash from his inner pocket.

 

“You. Don’t get curious about anything.”

 

“A-Anyway, I can’t get in without the key either. I-It’s a space designed that way. H-Here’s the key to Room 78.”

 

One-Eye handed over the key.

 

This guy will store anything if you pay him. Working as a ranker for the National Police Station, you meet all kinds of people, and this one is quite decent by comparison. At least his work ethic is thorough.

 

“L-Let’s go in, Detective sir.”

 

One-Eye guided him to the basement of the abandoned building. There was a long corridor with various rooms lined up on both sides.

 

“H-Here it is.”

 

[Room 78]

 

“I-I’ll be going now. Hehe.”

 

Lee Young-ho inserted the key and opened the door. As ordered, a long cold storage was prepared.

 

Clank.

 

He placed Kim Yoon-jun from the duffel bag onto the metal plate. He was about to put him in right away, but opened the zipper around the face area again.

 

Eyes.

 

He spread the eyelids with his fingers and looked into that person’s eyes.

 

“…What’s supposed to be there.”

 

He couldn’t see anything. At least not to him.

 

“Anyway, please bear with this for a while.”

 

This is all to catch the culprit.

 

Lee Young-ho came outside and locked the vault door. One-Eye had already disappeared.

 

Having all these miscellaneous skills, he’s a guy who makes customers very comfortable.

 

“There is a reason for raking in money.”

 

20 million for 3 months with a discount, and if there are rooms up to number 78…

 

How can a civil servant live with such sorrow.

 

Lee Young-ho, who left the abandoned building, got into his SUV.

 

Ring ring ring-

 

As soon as he grabbed the steering wheel, a call came in. It was Kim Yoon-jun’s mother.

 

“Yes, ma’am. What’s the matter?”

 

─Inspector. A bomb exploded at my son’s grave.

 

A voice filled with sadness and anger.

 

Lee Young-ho’s complexion turned coldly pale.

 

“Which one?”

 

The first device.

 

Lee Young-ho had consulted with Kim Yoon-jun’s mother and set up two fake graves.

 

One was the place where even reporters gathered to bury a coffin containing a fake corpse.

 

The other was a place known only to Kim Yoon-jun’s mother and police officials.

 

The excuse was grave robbers.

 

There are so many bastards these days who dig up and sell explorers’ corpses. They say it becomes quality magic stones when melted down, but they’re really crazy bastards.

 

─The place that wasn’t publicly disclosed.

 

“…I see.”

 

In other words, information from inside the police had leaked.

 

Did someone leak it? Or was it stolen?

 

“Was it only a bomb?”

 

─Yes. Only the bomb exploded.

 

The second device was a bomb.

 

If Kim Yoon-jun’s corpse contained a truth that ‘must not be discovered,’ the culprit would definitely move to deal with it.

 

Lee Young-ho aimed for that point and set up a trap.

 

─There were no traces of the formula being activated. It was cleanly dismantled.

 

Here, the third device.

 

A double trap.

 

The surface trap is a magic formula. A very clever formula that only a skilled person could see through.

 

It was the skill of Kim Yoon-jun’s mother, who was a former mage.

 

The enemy saw through it, but fell into another trap.

 

A pure analog trap that used not a trace of magic power. A bomb wire was attached to a fake corpse, detonating the moment the corpse was lifted.

 

No matter how skilled a ranker is, if they don’t know engineering knowledge, they can’t help but fall for it, and rankers are usually insensitive at such points.

 

─But there are no traces of injury either.

 

“There must be scratches. I understand for now. I’ll hang up now.”

 

─Yes. Be careful.

 

“…Yes.”

 

They didn’t continue the conversation beyond that.

 

Inspector Lee Young-ho stepped on the accelerator. He gripped the steering wheel and bit his lips.

 

The words “be careful” swirled dizzyingly in his ears.

 

“…This is probably.”

 

A bitter smile formed without him knowing.

 

“Seems like I’ve gotten into something pretty deep.”

 

As Seol Ha-woon said, Kim Yoon-jun’s corpse has secrets.

 

Something beyond just a mere corpse… lurks in the darkness.

 

* * *

 

Whoooosh─!

 

A small spaceship flies up through the hangar. Following the route Eldia mentioned, to the deepest core of Cosmos.

 

“Here.”

 

Julione parked the spaceship. She muttered with a nostalgic tone.

 

“A lowly crew member like me could never come to a place like this.”

 

“Let’s prepare.”

 

In game terms, probably the final stage.

 

Everyone nodded with determined faces.

 

I lay down on the spaceship floor. Seo Ji-woo, Kang Hyeon, and Im Hae-jun stood awkwardly.

 

“…What are you doing?”

 

“You guys lie down too. We need to sleep for 2 hours before going.”

 

Right now fatigue has accumulated in the entire brain and nervous system, so we need to refresh before the mission.

 

From now on, there won’t be any time to sleep at all.

 

“Robot. Please guard us.”

 

〔Confirmed.〕

 

I turned on Dream Bubble. The other three people looked puzzled but lay down next to me.

 

…2 hours later.

 

We woke up after adequately relieving our fatigue. Everyone had much cleaner faces than before.

 

I said while loosening my muscles.

 

“We’ll get off and do our job.”

 

“Right. Want to take the robot too?”

 

At Julione’s words, I looked at the robot.

 

〔I will protect Agent Seol Ha-woon.〕

 

The robot flashed its panel as if appealing, but I shook my head.

 

“No. Now you’re Truck, Julione’s secretary. Protect Julione.”

 

“What?”

 

Julione’s eyes widened in surprise.

 

“You’ll need a companion when going back. Julione was the one who saved the robot too.”

 

〔Confirmed.〕

 

The robot accepted its new duty.

 

“…Then. I won’t refuse.”

 

Julione smiled broadly.

 

“Yes. Let’s go down.”

 

We got off the spaceship and stood in front of the gate. Rattle rattle rattle. Truck, who had approached at some point, opened the door with Eldia’s supervisor card.

 

─I’ll assist you until you reach there.

 

“Yes. Good.”

 

Hissss.

 

The gate opened, and tap. Tap. The moment we arrived at the depths of the mothership, tapping our walking stick.

 

We discovered a desktop.

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

We all fell silent at the same time. We rolled our eyes and read each other’s expressions.

 

Im Hae-jun materialized that concern.

 

“Boss. Isn’t terminal level-up kind of important? That terminal is level 3.”

 

“Ah, I’m tired… Again?”

 

Seo Ji-woo placed her fingers on her temples.

 

I also gave a bitter smile.

 

“…Let’s decide later.”

 

“Later?”

 

Kang Hyeon tilted his head.

 

“Yeah. Let’s save it. We don’t know what skills we’ll need yet.”

 

─Hey! I found the supervisor’s office!

 

Truck, who had taken the lead, waved his hand and called us.

 

“Yes.”

 

Truck opened the supervisor’s office door with the card. It was a space composed of quite many monitors and complex panels.

 

“Can we see the internal footage?”

 

─Should be possible.

 

Truck turned on the CCTV screen.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Oh!”

 

We immediately discovered another party. Kate, Lee Jun-ho, Yoon Hwa-rim, Jo Woon, and the supervisor.

 

“That’s a solid party.”

 

The standard composition of warrior, swordsman, archer, mage, and they’re all elite.

 

“Right. That’s why they arrived before us.”

 

Seo Ji-woo was also impressed. Im Hae-jun gave a hollow laugh.

 

“They’d probably think the same thing if they saw you, boss, and big brother and sister?”

 

“Well~ that’s true~”

 

Seo Ji-woo raised her nose proudly. Kang Hyeon muttered while looking at them.

 

“Right now… they seem to be trapped.”

 

We all stared at the screen.

 

Certainly, over there they seemed to be discussing something with very serious faces.

 

I asked Kang Hyeon.

 

“How’s the terminal communication range? Does it reach?”

 

“No. It doesn’t reach. Should I level up? Then it might work.”

 

“…Truck. Where is that place?”

 

I quickly turned to Truck.

 

─It’s called the Maintenance Room of the Core Research Lab.

 

“Please connect the external CCTV.”

 

─Alright.

 

Click.

 

The CCTV screen changed. At that moment, everyone’s mouths fell silent.

 

Zombies were sprawled outside.

 

No, they weren’t just sprawled. The zombies formed a mountain, completely blocking the entrance…

 

─I think this is that substance.

 

Click. Truck showed the screen of the Core Research Lab. It was an object floating in a tank, resembling a brain.

 

─The substance the Mothership acquired from space…

 

The surrounding area also had an enormous number of zombies.

 

“…Please switch the screen back to our companions and connect the microphone.”

 

─Alright. Done.

 

I looked at Lee Jun-ho’s party on the screen and spoke into the microphone.

 

“Ah. Hey. Can you hear me?”

 

There was an immediate reaction. They looked around searching for the camera and shouted something loudly.

 

“We can’t hear you, so write down anything you need to say.”

 

Lee Jun-ho quickly found a board and wrote.

 

[ This person next to us is Supervisor James. He came up here with us. ]

 

[ But that substance won’t be destroyed. Its strength is incredible. Kate tried throwing a spear while avoiding zombies, but it blocked it by emitting a magic field. That thing is insane. ]

 

[ And it suddenly called zombies to it. ]

 

[ We’ve been trapped here for almost 24 hours. ]

 

If even Kate the Destroyer couldn’t handle it, it meant there was no physical or magical solution.

 

In this situation, only one method came to mind.

 

“Truck. Where is the nearest black hole?”

 

Like when we swept away the zombies in the Processing Room, we’d need to borrow the power of space.

 

Truck seemed to immediately understand my intention.

 

─It’s dozens of light-years away, but the Mothership has a wormhole generator. We could definitely put it into a black hole’s orbit.

 

“Yes. We throw the entire Mothership into a black hole. I think that’s the only way.”

 

Even a cosmic substance couldn’t dare withstand a black hole.

 

“…Then.”

 

Suddenly Kang Hyeon interrupted.

 

“What about the survivors?”

 

“…”

 

I quietly looked at Kang Hyeon. Kang Hyeon met my eyes and continued.

 

“Truck was also a survivor. There must be people still alive on this ship. Including us explorers.”

 

Such a righteous statement.

 

Such a righteous statement, but.

 

Why are you suddenly saying such things?

 

─Esmos civilian ship.

 

Suddenly Truck spoke up.

 

“…Esmos?”

 

─Right. There are many civilian ships connected to Cosmos, but Esmos is the most advanced among them.

 

Esmos was the ship where I first started this Labyrinth and met Julione.

 

─It has gravity maintenance devices and automatic navigation systems installed. Even separated from the Cosmos ship, it could drift independently through space for years. It could hold out until rescue arrives.

 

Truck moved his head with clicking sounds, looking back and forth between Kang Hyeon and me.

 

─We just need to open all Gates and send a signal to survivors from here. To go to Esmos.

 

“What about the zombies?”

 

Seo Ji-woo asked. She had also become serious.

 

─You just heard. When they threatened that substance, it gathered zombies.

 

Then a confident smile appeared on Seo Ji-woo’s lips.

 

“…If we open all the Gates between ships and threaten the ‘substance’, all zombies will come here?”

 

It was a viable strategy.

 

Since that overmind-like thing was actually drawing zombies to itself.

 

─But opening all Gates requires higher authority than a supervisor.

 

“I have my Hacking.”

 

─Will that work? It’s the highest authority.

 

At Truck’s worried words, I turned to Kang Hyeon.

 

“Kang Hyeon.”

 

Someone even more unreadable than Eldia, but therefore someone I wanted to understand more than anyone.

 

I asked him.

 

“You want to save everyone, don’t you?”

 

Kang Hyeon didn’t avoid my eyes. He met them directly and conveyed his intention.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Are you serious?”

 

“I’m serious. I don’t want to regret not doing my best. No matter if this place is…”

 

A Labyrinth.

 

“Then I’ll take the Desktop. I need to max out Hacking to level 5.”

 

“Yes. Of course you should.”

 

Then Kang Hyeon smiled. It was an excessively bright smile that made his popularity understandable.

 

“Don’t smile.”

 

I might get attached.

 

I left the Control Room. I plugged the Desktop’s cable into my wrist.

 

「Starting download…」「Current location: Cosmos Ship A0 Sector – Mothership Core」「Download successful: Special skill selection available.」□ Lv.MAX Hacking□ Lv.4 Duct Tape□ Lv.1 Mini Map

 

Level MAX.

 

I maxed out Hacking.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————